It would be wrong to say that Dia wasn't hurt by seeing Karthik with another girl. What would you expect ? It's not like you were dating, how long did you expect him to be hung upon that?
She thought this was how things were meant to be and there was no need to be sad because they had barely started dating. Although, she couldn't stop herself from wondering about the two of them, together. Then she reminded herself he was seeing someone else so it was over already. She reminded herself again not to be heart broken over something that never happened.
Karthik rejoined her company, to clarify things, but she insisted there was no need. She brushed him off saying, "it's okay". Karthik still chose to tell her that she was just a friend. Dia replied, "pretty close Huh?", apathetically.
Karthik said, "She's not. She tried to..I mean ...um.. ask me out and stuff but I couldn't. You kinda raised the bar here Dia Sethi (surname).
Dia was beffudled. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment then chuckled.
"What did I do? You should see her. She seems nice."
Karthik looks towards her friend animatedly talking to a group then turned back to Dia.
Karthik tried to read her face, wondering about telling her everything he'd thought over the past few weeks. He pursed his lips and asked, "Please be honest with me, not because you have to or feel the need to say anything other than the truth, but, did you really like me that much? You know... before?".
Dia hesitated for a moment, and smiled awkwardly. She was about to say something before he cut her off saying, "C'mon, Sethi, please be real with me."
"Yes. I did. But I'd like nothing more than to go back to normal. Honestly, I'm a little embarrassed "
"Don't be." Karthik quickly insisted. "Would have been nice to know before, you know... Would have been nice to be loved like that." He had turned to walk away then stopped when Dia told him after a moment's pause, "But it would, it could never work... I could never do that to Vik..".
Karthik turned back, "Please stop. You don't have to explain. And you don't have to insist on Vikki being the reason. I mean, it's scary. "Genuine love scares all of us". I understand." he said quoting one of the lines she wrote. She raised her eyebrows and widened her eyes.
"One last question regarding this," Karthik persisted, "Maybe if the three of us didn't have this dynamic, would you have been able to try dating me?
Dia hesitated at the thought of daring to think about them being together. She eventually replied, "Maybe", carefully.
Karthik nodded in thought, and said, "Nah! You can't handle me", Karthik joked
"No, you can't handle me.", replied Dia with laugh.
They both laughed and went back to the party.
Karthik seemed elated than usual and was really enjoying himself, happy at the presence of Dia in the same room as him. Happy that they'd had a conversation, been friendly and laughed around. He liked how comfortable he felt around her.
Unlike Dia who had her heart pounding, her mind longing for Karthik, everytime their eyes met. But she had adapted a system of using denial and humour to keep herself from falling apart.
Vikram and Aadarsh were puzzled by it. But then they share a knowing look that worried Vikram.
"What do you think? Is it a new girl? Or is his new girl someone we know?", Vikram asked Aadarsh with a stern look as he gazed through the crowd towards Karthik and then Dia. Aadarsh quickly snapped his mate out of the thought and cleared his roommates concern by telling him that there was nothing to worry about.
After things settled down, and the party had run its course, Dia found herself on the breezy rooftop staring at the stars and the moon with a drink in her hand. Karthik entered the terrace after seemingly casually looking around the crowd, searching for her in all the rooms.
