Kabhi to nazar milao

Dance

The rest of the day went away in a haze for Naina. The trip to library, few classes, dining hall chatters...  nothing brought her out of her stupor...

Sameer had spoken to her... directly.  She tried to pacify herself by thinking that his words were not to be deciphered as concern... he was just being polite. But her heart, which was so occupied with this name and face since last two years, tried to read more in between these lines.

Later that night, she got a call from Ahmedabad. After assuring chachaji and chachiji of her well being, Naina could not control her excitement when Preeti came on line.

"Preeeeetiii... " she tried to keep her voice low but failed miserably, earning a stern look from the guard at the phone booth.

"Kyaaa hai",  Preeti's irritation spilled in her words, "Kaan kyon phod rahi hai?  Salman Khan ko dekh liya kya?"

"Haan."

"Kyaa... tune Salman Khan ko dekha?" Now it was Preeti's turn to scream, "Kahaan, kaise, movies jitna handsome hai ya usse bhi zyaada... mummyyyy... mujhe bhi Mumbai jaana hai. "

Naina could not help but smile at her antics. She heard chachiji's voice in the background, "Beta Tu bhi thoda ache se padh leti to tujhe bhi Naina ke college mein admission mil jaata."

She could almost see Preeti's frustrated expression. "Offo,  sun na... asli Salman Khan nahi." Naina tried to come back to her topic.

"To kya uska duplicate dekha... aur yeh tu mujhe itna khush hoke bata rahi hai... kya yaar Naina... tera standard to girta hi jaa raha hai." Preeti was now clearly annoyed.

"Preeti maine Sameer ko dekha,  apne college mein." Naina could not hold any longer.
 
She went on to describe the events of past few days. There was no sound from the other side. Preeti seemed to have lost her voice.

"Preeti... tu hai?" Naina wondered if the connection was broken.

"H... ha... haan main sun rahi hun." Preeti stammered.

"To bol na, ab main kya karun?" Naina asked for advice from the only person she could speak to in this matter, besides Swati.

"Naina, ab kya karegi? School mein to kisi tarah tune apne aapko sambhal liya tha... main aur Swati bhi tere saath the... ab tu akele kaise handle karegi?" Preeti's voice was full of concern for her sister.

Naina tried to explain the present scenario again to her, "Arre tu baat ko samajh toh sahi... yahan Sameer ne meri help ki... aur phir mujhse poocha ki main theek hun... aur khana khaane ko bhi kaha."

Preeti shut her eyes tight at her sister's naivety, "Nahin Naina, iss raaste ki koi manzil nahi hai... tune bohot aansu bahaye hai uske liye jisne tujhe kabhi nazar uthakar dekha bhi nahi... uski ek baat ko apnapan samajhne ki galti mat kar...  phir se chot khayegi dil pe."

Preeti's words slowly sank in. She was right.

"Maybe I'm too blinded by his love and am not able to see what Preeti can see without being here." Naina's heart sank as she pondered over their conversation later, standing in her balcony, staring into the silhouette of far away trees in the darkness.

Remaining days of the week were full of animated discussions and fewer classes as the day of party approached. Komal tried to include Naina in their dance but she kept refusing. She thanked her stars that no one here knew about her winning the dance competition in her school.

And she did not see Sameer again.

Naina left for Phulla Bua's house on Saturday afternoon, planning to return the next day. The love and pampering the old lady always showered on her made Naina forget everything else for some time.