Meant to be

Chapter 20: By my side even from across the ocean

Sidharth felt full and happy seeing how these little things brought out the innocence in Shehnaaz. She was never apologetic about how all of this was new to her and the way she consumed these new experiences without any filter or pretense was so refreshing. He wanted to be a part of every of her rise and cheer her on and be the first voice of encouragement she heard! As he was eating breakfast before he went to get ready himself he heard some murmurs from the bathroom area and some shuffling and the next thing he knew was that Shehnaaz was rushing out and Rashmi interjecting her and leading her to the glass room and it was obvious that Shehnaaz was in copious tears and Rashmi calming her down.
Sidharth knew Mahira and Paras had done something to further taunt her, he very well knew how they demeaned her, the thing about Sidharth Shukla that everyone massively undermined was how hyper aware he was about everything. It was not something he had to work hard to hone that is something that came super naturally to him, he was hyper aware. He knew exactly what Paras was upto, for Paras pumping Mahira's ego up had become a reflex action, the more Paras was hung up on Mahira and her tantrums and Sidharth reckoned that between the two
Of them they would run themselves to the ground in doing that, it did sit on him uncomfortably that they demeaned Shehnaaz so much but they more they did that the
More her genuinely shine through.

In all this, in this house there were only a handful of things that he was fully confident of, one his integrity, the next Shehnaaz and her authenticity, it irritated him, it drove him up the wall and all was only because sometimes she was far too strung on her emotions than she should be but he knew what frustrated him was something he and she can work on together outside but right now he was going to let her fight her own battles. What Paras and Mahira did to her made her shine on more brightly, when pegged against them it really shone through how she was as a human and a player eons ahead of them. What really got him was how she played into Asim and Rashmi, they had found her weak spot and had learnt the art of speaking to her how she liked to spoken to.
He was at a loss to understand what happened last night and this morning. He deeply sighed because he knew she was hurt but for the life of him could not figure out why exactly, he knew some of it but not all of it. He clenched his jaw and went to get ready. He needed to start communicating with her, he was physically tired and everyone was coming at him with full guns ablazing and his balm, his calm his voice of reason seemed to have lost her way to him. He decided to park it till after the shooting before he did something about it.

Shehnaaz was amongst the first to get ready, she was sullen and sad, she knew she had crossed the line in playing the fool with Asim during his task yesterday. It was getting to her that Sidharth was looking so tired and worn out and yet he seemed to be indulging in everything that Rashmi and Asim were throwing his way and in between all this also falling into it further along with Mahira and Paras. While all these thoughts were going on she gasped, she saw Sidharth scurrying into the bedroom as the blinds were being drawn for the task set up. He was looking so handsome despite the stress and the illness he looked so fine. She gasped and stared at him, and he noticed it and gave his cocky smirk, she quickly looked away embarrassed, cursing under breath. And that started a staring and looking away match between the two of them, they were for the casual
Observer having conversations with their friends and fellow
Contestants but in essence the only person they saw and observed was each other. Shehnaaz could not help chuckle that he and she were in such similar colours. These things set her heart flutter, to be wanted to be yoked with him, to be associated with him in every sense of the word. She deeply sighed, there was no use in being apart from him. She wanted to be next to him, she wanted to calm him, she wanted to soothe his anxiety and stress, even if it meant him pushing her away ruthlessly, she was willing to take the risk. He was worth it, they were worth it. She decided to Bare her soul as always. After the shooting she decided.

In the middle of their staring match the captain's room blinds opened and there was the sultry Mallika Sherawat in all her sultry and glorious self was sashaying to her famous number.  She was definitely the master of her craft and she played her part to the hilt. She began with a bang by flirting provocatingly with Sidharth who being so used to female attention played along perfectly. Mallika Sherawat on cue of the creatives dropped the jealous word often and tried to get a rise out of Shehnaaz, Sidharth sitting on that sofa literally started getting palpitations because he soon got drift of what was happening. The channel
Seemed to be feeding off shehnaaz's vulnerability. He had been in the industry far too long and recognized how vulnerabilities were exploited for higher ratings and trp. Shehnaaz in any mode was good entertainment and he saw how they were now taking cues from her to extrapolate and exaggerate her vulnerabilities. He wanted to get by her side and somehow ask her to tone it down. Ugh he was getting irritated with this jealousy narrative and in a desperate bid to deflect from her kept poking at Vishal. Not that any of it mattered really because this crazy and completely unbridled, brilliant,  sexy, sweet, frustrating Shehnaaz who he was so desperately in love with this Shehnaaz was not making any of it easier for him or her or them!
She again called on Paras when she had the opportunity to get up and in one fell swoop put all aspersions at rest but instead of that she further dug herself into a deeper pit!  Even the the task of him and Arti was all done to poke her at her weakest. He wanted to go back in time and
Erase every moment when Shehnaaz lived with her heart on her sleeves...He closed his eyes in exasperation and waited for the day to be over.