AshDeep OS: Am I in Love?

Am I in Love?

The Friday night party had been a tiring one! Since, Randeep's place was the nearest, the gang had decided to crash there for the night. Sanjay and Raghav were snoring on one side, while Ayesha and Kristina were huddled in a corner mattress on the other end of the living room. There were only two people in the house, who somehow could not get sleep that night.

Ashi turned for the seventeenth time as she looked at her wrist watch. They'd been so tired that they hadn't even changed from their party clothes, and here Ashi was trying to sleep from the past one hour but couldn't. All she could think of- was him. Why? She didn't really know. But somehow these days, thoughts of Randeep, about Randeep, frequented her mind more than she'd would've liked to admit. She was beginning to get convinced that she was falling for Sameer- well the one who was Sameer in real life. A year back- she had not even known that such a man could exist who could bring in thoughts of love in the career oriented girl that she'd become. Years of struggle had finally yielded fruit, when she'd bagged the female lead role in a new venture by Sony TV and Shashi- Sumeet Productions. Yes, the show which relived the 90s era, was a nostalgic treat to many of its viewers, the show which explored the times when love was pure, innocent and true, the show with which Shashi Aunty and Sumeet Uncle were reliving their own love story- well the show which had redefined love for Ashi.

'Yeh Un Dinon ki Baat Hai' had definitely brought a huge change in Ashi's thinking. She'd started identifying with the female protagonist. She recalled how she used to be exactly like Naina in school! How scoring one mark less than someone hurt her more than a heartbreak could- if only she'd fallen in love then. And then, the way Sameer's character was written, and the way he was redeemed, Ashi knew that along with all the lady fans of the show, she could die for a man like Sameer in her life. The only problem was- the man who was like Sameer, well 80% like Sameer, as Ashi chuckled remembering his words, was already there in her life. And he was the one who was roped in to play her love interest on screen- the male protagonist- Sameer Maheshwari. And now, Ashi had started admitting to herself that Randeep Rai had become more of an off-screen love interest for her as well. She could totally relate to Naina's condition, when she was smitten by Sameer the moment she saw him. And he never even gave her a thing as half a glance. Girls were drooling over Randeep! Would he also want a Naina in his life...like Sameer wants? Damn these two! Can't they put a bet or something for him to make me fall in love with him, she looked at the sleeping figures of Raghav and Sanjay. And then Ayesha- she'd been teasing her with Randeep's name for the past two months. Obviously, Ayesha was too smart not to notice the tinge of red in her cheeks whenever she did so.

Randeep was lying on his bed, eyes wide open. Sleep had deserted him too. Well, Randeep could be stubborn. He'd said he can't sleep if he's not sleeping on his own bed, when Raghav and Sanjay forced him to sleep with them. He always put his privacy first anytime. But here he was, lying awake like an owl, that too, after binge drinking on alcohol, dancing till his feet hurt, on his own bed- yet his mind could only think of one girl- Ashi- the Naina of his life. Randeep turned to a side as he smiled. Was he really in love? That too with Ashi? He remembered how when the show started, he'd hardly talked to any of the cast. Because that was the demand of the show at that time. His character, Sameer hardly knew anyone in the school; so Randeep too wanted to replicate Sameer's emotions. And as Sameer opened up to Munna, Pandit, and Naina; Randeep too opened upto Sanjay, Raghav and Ashi. God! He wasn't the Sameer of 90s. But the truth was, he was almost like Sameer, and Ashi was almost like Naina- no? And then the age old adage- opposites attract. Sameer and Naina had finally fallen in love. But was the same happening with him and Ashi too? He definitely seemed to be losing it. He'd caught himself staring at her point blank, and then he could realize he was blushing whenever she was around. And when she touched him- didn't his heart flutter everytime. Randeep had tried flirting with her too- casually though. And her reactions did tell him that maybe Ashi was feeling the same flutters that he was. But then, she was a beginner- very ambitious. And he'd been in the TV industry for long enough to know the fickle nature of relationships here. Randeep was an old-world romance shipper. Only he knew that. And then playing Sameer in 'Yeh Un Dinon ki Baat Hai' was like living the romance he would've wanted to be in. With time, Randeep was realizing that Ashi was growing on him. Finally, he couldn't take it any longer. He got up to make a cup of coffee for himself.