Fear & Love

Seven

The next five days, Anand and Gita were super busy. Anand's schedule didn't leave him a space to breathe. As most potential couples,  Gita and Anand could not have long chats on WhatsApp or call but they managed to atleast drop a message to each other at the end of their excruciatingly tiring day.

Anand's 'good night' message can be someone's good morning message as well. Gita used to send him the message at the end of her day, when she was done with her pending jobs, dinner and little social media stalking at around 12 am or latest by 12.30 am and he used to reply 'GN' by 3.30 or 4 am. By that time, Gita was obviously in her deep sleep. But Gita had no complaints. It was so much better than him ignoring her as he did all these years. She was happy that he is acknowledging her presence in his life.

For Anand, it became a routine to put a message to her at the end of his day. He knew that by the time his day ends, she would not be awake to reply but he had to give her this, she deserves this little act. Unlike other people in relationships, she had not asked him to have long chats with her or demanded anything till now. He knew the norm. The couples in arranged marriage go out together, be on chat and video calls to get to know each other better. The 'cute' dating phase. And his Gitanjali could have very well demanded this from him but she never once expected anything from him. Even though he is not a romantic person, well very far from it, he thought sending out a good night message is the least he could do. Plus, she is cute. Her giggles always amused him.

It was almost a week later and as usual before going to bed, Gitanjali put out a message at 12 am.
'Good night :)'

She waited for few minutes. The thoughts in her mind spinning like the fan above her. She lied down on the bed for few more minutes and then suddenly got up. Today, she thought of taking the conversation forward. She wrote "hey" and sent it. For the next few seconds, she kept her phone aside and took it back. There was no reply. She convinced herself that he is busy and slept. In the back of her mind, she did expect a reply but better luck next time.

It has been a week since she had sent "hey" but he never replied to that message. Like an automatic reply, he used to just send good night before he slept. And now Gita believed that even though he was nice to her that day, which she is extremely grateful for, it was just a good day. His arrogance from years ago had not gone away. If it did, he would have replied to her message with a simple hello but he didn't.

A call from Isha distracted her.

"Hey baby!" A chirpy voice greeted her.

"Helloo baby", Gita replied back laughing.  It was their way of greeting each other on chats but she was surprised seeing Isha's call.

Anand's younger sister had been in constant touch with her on social media since the day they came to visit her. It will always astonish Gita how Isha and Anand are two different personalities. No one can tell they are siblings. Isha and Gita shared constant memes and enjoyed gossiping about reality shows. It was rare that their views differed on  a show. Gita found a great friend in Isha and she hoped that nothing ruined it.

"It's been days, Bhai won't tell me anything  but I expected better from you. Atleast tell me where did you all go and what did you do?" Isha asked.

"Oh. Anand didn't tell you?" Gita asked surprised. If she had a sibling, they would be the first one to know or atleast Gita would have given them an idea.

"Lol Geets, why would Bhai discuss his date with me and I am too scared to ask." Isha replied casually.

Is there a rift between Isha and Anand? But she never saw them fight or whatever little she knew, she knew they don't have problems. So why didn't he tell her about their outing? Was it not important for him to share with Isha? Or they simply didn't talk on a personal  level?

"Nothing much Isha. We went to a restaurant and talked a bit. I never knew Anand can be so chilled and relaxed. I had fun." Gita replied, a bit shy.

"Ooohhhhh. I see you had fun." Now, she was just teasing Gita. "Well, he can be chilled but only around few people." Isha said.

They talked about few more things and hung up. It was so refreshing to talk to Isha. She was her personal energy booster. Gita laughed at the thought of athletes having Isha talk to them instead of taking energy drinks. She wondered what will Anand have to say about this joke. He would have definitely puked.

The next day, while having her lunch break at the school, she thought of calling him. Her mom constantly talked about fixing the engagement date and her cousin  was on about shopping. But she and Anand had not discussed anything related to this. Her motive of calling him was to just have a normal conversation but she would hint at the topic if she sensed his mood is good. She dialed his number and she could hear the ring. Her heartbeat was too fast and her stomach dropped. But after
few rings, he still didn't pick it up. She thought of calling him later.

At night, when Gita was in her bed and it was time to send him a good night message, she thought of asking him what is he doing instead.

"Wassup?" She sent.

Its been fifteen minutes and the message was delivered to him. What angered her was the double ticks she saw. It meant he must have seen the notification and yet chose to not reply to her. She tried to not get angry but how hard was it to type "busy" for him? Just four letters. Can't he send it?

"What are you doing?" She sent again. Incase, he was too outdated to understand  wassup. Okay, she knew this was mean thought but he deserves it. 

Gita was hell bent on getting a reply and thought of calling him. So, she just did that. She called him twice and twice he declined. She was sure that he was not in office. Otherwise, his secretary  would have informed her when called him the second time. Another half and hour passed and her impatient self had enough. She didn't think through it and called him again. If he picks up the call, he was going to have it from her. Gita thought of telling to have the courtesy to reply to people. How much ever he is busy, she is his to-be-something and just for that, he should reply. She was too much engrossed in thinking how she would give him a piece of her mind that she didn't hear the phone was picked up on the other side.

Her eyes widened once she realized that he finally picked up the call. And her stomach dropped. All the stuff that she had in mind of telling him and giving him a piece of her mind vanished into thin air.

For few milliseconds, there was silence on both the end.

And then that authoritative cold voice spoke.

"By the eagerness you displayed to message and call me, I thought you are running for president or something."

Taken aback by his sarcastic remark, she still didn't say anything.

"If you don't have anything to say, I am going to hang -"

Before he could complete the sentence, she hung up.

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Hey!! I updated. And I will try to upload more.

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