You're My Serendipity

An uninvited guest

About 5 months later 

The sun shone bright and warm on that chilly October morning. 
'Go, take a bath. This is our first Diwali without mom. You'll do half of the work, I'll do the other half.'

'Let me wake up first, RHEA!', I said sleepily. I had just gotten up from bed and I really, REALLY needed some time to wake up. 

'You're already up!! Also, the guys and girls will be visiting us tonight, after the ceremonies!', she screamed from the other room. Oh shoot, I forgot to invite Krish. Rhea literally asked me to invite one person and I couldn't do that. Why am I so irresponsible?!

I dialed his number swiftly. His is one of the few numbers I have memorised, for some reason. I almost never call him though. One of us is always busy. 

'DUDE. I'm so sorry, this is so short notice. Could you come by for like an hour or two after 8pm? Diwali celebration.'

'No problem, I will be able to join you. Rhea already called me. She knew you'd forget. But like, I have an office party so I might be late.'

For the next 5 hours, Rhea and I cleaned the entire apartment. I assissted her mostly. This was a perk living with her. I actually learnt how to survive on my own. Her maturity with respect to all this is actually quite higher than mine. 
(It also helped me to divide the workload with my (future) wife. Boy, do I love spoilers)

At around 6, we both hopped into our respective showers and got out all dressed up for a blast. We took out thesnacks, hung the fairy lights and lighted the diyas. 

We began the pooja at around 7 and finished in about 45 minutes. Our friends started arriving by 8:30pm. Everyone except Krish had arrived by 9. We all were having food, and sharing stories about work and the pranks few of them played on their employees. I gotta admit, I was inspired. 

Someone's phone started ringing and every single human in the room checked their phones. It was Rhea's. She went aside to speak and came back after a minute or so. 
'Krish called. He'll be here shortly.'

She sat back down and whispered something in Adhira's ear, she passed it on to Daksh, he passed it on to Divya, and the cycle continued until it stopped at Ansh, who was sitting beside me. For some reason, the news was something that excited the hell outta them. Shrey even shrieked with happiness. I wanted to know about it too. But, before I could ask why I wasn't told anything, the bell rang. 

'That, is probably Krish.', said Rhea, getting up.

'And his guest.', someone said. I didn't pay attention to who said it. But what they said mattered. He's bringing a guest. Was all that whispering about that? Did he get a girlfriend? Why wasn't I told about her? Was it someone I hated? That Asshole.

Rhea opened the door, and stepped aside so we could all view Krish. I wanted to go and hug him.. But just as I was about to get up, I saw a girl's hair behind him. He stepped aside to reveal the face of the girl. 

The woman with the Silver Jhumkas!

It was Jiya! But why was she with Krish? Was she his girlfriend? Yes, needless to say, my breath pace accelerated again. Jiya might've noticed it, because she ran to me and said to me, in a low voice,
'Before you have another panic attack, I met him at the restraunt, today, about an hour back. I was out as I needed a break and he was there 'cause he had an office party. He told me that he was coming here and I thought it'd be a nice surprise.'

The night continued with loads of reminiscing the old days, a game of cards, delicious food cooked by me (I told you, I can work) but all I could do was look at that woman in her beautiful yellow sari and at her no make-up face adorned by her smile and a yellow bindi. 

That night, I jumped on the bed and was casually scrolling through my phone, looking for something interesting. And thats when her notification popped. 

*Jiya Shekhawat sent you a follow request *

I couldn't stop, so I texted her, and jumped straight to the point.

"Did you feel a vibe between us tonight? I know I did."

"Wow, okay. Even if I did, it doesnt matter. Alright?"

"Why?" I contemplated on sending that text. 

"You ask me why? I crushed on you 6 years back! Its a lot longer ago than you realise. You disappeared suddenly, and now you ask me if there's a vibe?"

"I'm sorry"

"It doesn't matter anymore."