Best Friends and Cousins? (An Indian Love Story)

Chapter 6

A/N: HeyHiHello people...yes, I'm alive and I have plans on completing this story.

Sorting through the pile of unused articles, deciding what to throw away and what to keep is how I spend the day, after lunch.

Or rather how I imagined I'd spend the day after lunch.

Halfway through my pile, Nikhil and Anya poke their heads into the attic, deciding to disturb me.

"OH MY GOD! I so totally forgot about this place!"

"OW! Anya! This is a closed space with wooden rafters. Sound reverberates and echoes way too loudly. Stop shouting in such a high pitched voice. Chill."

"Sorry, I was just too excited to find this place again." She smiles sheepishly.

"You know what, we should sleep here the next few days. Anya, tell your team mates that you wouldn't be able to contact them due to a family emergency. I'm shutting off my phone and so are you Neha." Nikhil says.

"What! How can you be so cruel to me? You know how much I depend on my phone!"

"We came here to spend time together, talking to each other. Not staring at our phones." He says sternly.

"I'll put my phone away, but I ain't turnin' it off." I huff. "I'm expecting some calls" I add sheepishly, looking at the ground.

"You're ex- WHAT! Is that a blush I see creeping onto you face Neha?" Nikhil asks me.

"Oh my gods, yes it is! Neha is blushing! I never thought I would live to see this day."

" You just said two days ago that you weren't dating anybody! Are you lying to me again Neha?" 

My heart drops to my stomach when I hear his heart-broken voice.

"Nikhil, I promised I wouldn't lie to you anymore. No, we're not dating yet. He texted me yesterday night, asking me out on a date. I said I'm out of town for the next month. So he asked if he could call. I told him I was willing to try it out with him, but if it isn't working, I'm dropping it. He said that it was completely fine with him, if I decided to drop the relationship."

"So you're telling me you are not actually in a relationship, but you are waiting to go on your first virtual date with someone you barely know." Anya sounded incredulous. I was too busy challenging Nikhil with my eyes to notice her expression.

"Yes. My first ever date actually. Virtual or not."

Nikhil lowered his eyes. "I wanna see him."

"What will you do? It's not like your my father or my brother. You don't have to look out for me. I am extremely capable of handling myself." I glare at him. He just sighs and walks out of the attic.

"What happened to you guys? Why are you at each others' necks at every given chance? You weren't like this before. Do you want to talk about this? Maybe I can help." Anya sits down next to me.

"No. I don't want to talk about it. I'm sorry if I sounded rude, but this is something I'd like to keep to myself. I'm not even going to write about this in my diary. It is too much of a burden to relive this. And my feelings. You should stop worrying about me and probably go back to working with your team."

"No one's leaving this attic unless Neha forgives me." Nikhil sets down a tray. I see that there's a plate of cookies, a jug of warm milk and some mugs. 

He opens the old wood and iron almirah to take out three blankets. I'm just staring at the plate of cookies, tears welling up in my eyes, my heart in my throat. I feel Anya turn to look at Nikhil. They must've had a silent conversation, because she gets up and opens the window of the attic.

I feel a gush of cool air, and immediately some warmth, as Nikhil drapes a blanket over my shoulders. Anya sits down and drapes one over herself. I notice that Nikhil isn't covering himself. 

"You'll catch a cold and that wouldn't be pretty. You should wrap yourself too." I tell him.

"Not until I'm sure you have forgiven me." I sigh and get up. I walk over to him, picking up the third blanket, and wrap it around him, careful not to actually touch him. I hand him a glass of milk and put a cookie in his hand. Sitting down again, I grab some milk and cookies for myself.

"I'm sorry for doubting you. It's just that I've been feeling insecure for the past few days, with all my previous girlfriends cheating on me. I just felt like you would be the one person who wouldn't lie to me. The one whom I could read like an open book. After you hid the fact that you liked me and you already knew Vaishnavi, I didn't know what to do. I thought I was the one you trusted everything with. I just broke knowing that you didn't trust me enough to tell me these."

"You think I don't trust you, but the fact is, I don't trust myself. I don't trust myself to keep calm while telling you some stuff. I don't trust myself to not say something that could hurt you. I don't trust myself to stay still when I'm around you. That's why I didn't tell you these things."

My eyes fling open when two pairs of arms wrap around me, tightly squeezing me. Putting one arm around each is also difficult because of the tightness with which Anya and Nikhil have enveloped me. I let out a breathy laugh.

"Guys! You need to let me go or I'm gonna die without going on my first date or without having my first kiss even at 23!" They laugh and let go.

"I'm so sorry Neha. I should've tried to understand what's going on in your life. I've just been so obsessed with my own life that I didn't even notice your problems." Anya mutters.

"It's not your fault Anya. You were in a different country, in a completely different time zone and we rarely talked, with the amount of work we've had to do." I say.

"That is exactly why I am sorry. I should've spent more time with you, at least virtually."

"I think we should drop this here Anya. It isn't your fault that I like to bottle up my feelings. And I'm sleepy." I notice that Nikhil hasn't said anything, and honestly, I'm relieved.

"I'm sorry." He takes my hand and rubs my knuckles. "Promise me you won't hide anything from me or lie to me. I don't care if you can't restrain yourself around me. It doesn't matter to me. All that matters is that you are not happy and you are bottling up emotions."

"Can't do that. You have a girlfriend. I can't jeopardize your relationship and happiness because of my stupid feelings."

"Oh Gods, for the last time, I broke it off!"

"Doesn't matter. You're gonna go after some other girl anyways. I can't promise." I drain my glass of milk, lie down on the mattress and pull the blanket over my head, indicating that I intend to stop the conversation there.

"What about dinner? You can't sleep on an empty stomach!" Anya asks.

"I've had my fill."

A/N: Ehehehe, yeah, I'm alive. I'm sorry I didn't update, but I hope you guys have seen my most recent announcement, whoever's reading my book. I hope you will understand that I required time to get through and over some stuff. I promise to update often now, because I am feeling better, but I might lack meaningful content or creativity as my school just started today. I hope everyone is happy, safe and stable, both physically and emotionally. I am once again sorry for such a slow update.