Lugubrious Amore

CHAPTER-37

Sameeksha's P.O.V

I was starting to forgive him for kissing me without my consent. But now, after listening to his views upon women, I doubt I would ever be able to— even platonically— like him.

I didn't think Raghav to be like this considering his past behavior. But now that I think about it, he might be faking it for all I knew. He might be pretending to be modern. He might be secretly judging me just because I am an independent woman. Who knows?

"I can't believe we fought over something this petty." Bhabhi said while pacing around the living room like a pendulum.

"It was not petty. It was about our rights. How can it be a petty fight when the matter was pretty serious?" Tanya said while glaring at the vase that contained beautiful roses.

"Stop glaring at my vase. It did nothing wrong. And, yes, what they said was very offensive. But that was the harsh truth every woman ignores." I said.

"What? I thought you were on my side." Tanya glanced at me.

"I am. But, what they said was actually true. Harsh reality, you know."

"And I am sure they didn't mean it that way." Bhabhi said.

"Maybe. Maybe not. But I am still upset at them." Tanya said, stubbornly.

"Even I am. And I don't think I would ever be able to forgive them for what they said. They shouldn't have said that, and we shouldn't have lost our temper like that." I said while picking up a bottle of water and chucking half of its content.
"Anyways, let's go and sleep. We will discuss about this tomorrow at breakfast. Come on, I will show you your rooms." I said while ascending the stairs and looked past my shoulder to see them following close behind me.

***

The ringing of my phone broke my peaceful slumber. I groaned and rolled off to the other side of the bed to pluck my phone out of the charger. I picked up the phone without looking at the screen and waited until someone spoke.

"Hello?" Came Bhai's hushed whisper.

"Hmm?" I said in a groggy voice.

"Shit. Were you asleep? Did I wake you up? I am sorry. I will call you later." This, clearly, was an excuse to postpone something that was important to say but he didn't wish to.

"No, it's okay. I am already awake."

"Uh– invite us to– er– breakfast? We have to sort things out."

"You didn't need to ask me to invite you. I wouldn't have mind if you had barged inside my house."

"Okay then. We will meet you at 8-ish?"

"Sure." I hung up the phone and went inside the bathroom to take a hot shower.

I came out and grabbed a black hoodie that reached up to my thighs. I actually had picked it up from men's section because all the hoodies I saw in the women's section were either not my type or were too short to wear it alone.

I left my hair to dry on their own while I made my may towards the kitchen to make breakfast.

I was positive that they wouldn't like to eat anything western because they had been eating that since 10 days now.
So, I settled upon making some poha and gulab jamun.

When I completed making the breakfast, I went up to my room and combed my waist length hair and then came down to open the door when I heard the piercing sound of the doorbell.

"Hello. Welcome to my humble paradise."

The people, who were still standing out of the gate, chuckled. I stepped aside to let them in and, while they were checking out my house, I brought some water for them.

"Where is Tanya and bhabhi?" Raghav asked.

Oh goodness! I didn't even notice he was here until now. And, God, he looked so handsome in his navy blue hoodie and black pants. His curly hair was dangling on his forehead and he kept running his hands through his hair, and his eyes looked so beautiful. I could get lost in them forever. I ran my eyes over his big frame once. The hoodie stuck to his chest, outlining his abs, and his muscles flexed when he picked up the water bottle. And, oh God, his—

I cleared my throat,"They are still asleep. Would be waking up in a few minutes, I guess."

"Okay. We will wait." Just as Sid said this, Tanya's room's door opened and she stepped out while rubbing her eyes.

She was still a bit groggy but managed to stumble down the stairs. She looked at us with confusion in her eyes before it got replaced by anger.

"What the hell? Why did you let them in, Sameeksha?" She asked while glaring at every man present here. 

"Calm down, Tanya. It's okay. Miscommunication ruins a relationship and we wouldn't want that now, do we?" I asked rhetorically.

"But—"

"Take a cold shower. It will help you think." The owner of this voice was bhabhi. She stood beside Tanya, wearing a floral frock that reached below her knees.

"When did you even step out of your room?" I asked.

"When you were busy conversing. We need to talk, but first, we need to eat. I am fucking starving." She moved towards the dining table and sat on a random chair while filing up her plate with poha.

I sat beside bhabhi and Tanya sat beside me. Bhai, Raghav, Abhi and Sid sat across us.

"Wow! It's been ages since I ate poha. It's delicious, Sameeksha di." Sid moaned and bhai glared at him. For his cool demeanor at this moment, I guess.

Bhai cleared his throat and said,"So, what we did was inappropriate, I agree. But it wasn't wrong, either. I am not an anti-feminist. You know that, Naina. But it's the harsh truth that you need to understand. Women can never be safe in this cruel world. And we were just trying to protect you—"

"We told—"

"First, listen to me, Tanya. Let me finish my sentence and then you will be free to speak anything." He said sharply which immediately shut her up. Then, he continued,"Listen, I am sorry if I sounded like an anti-feminist. But I am certainly not sorry for my actions. You don't know how much worried we were because of you guys. I had the overpowering urge to wring someone's neck. And I would have if I hadn't found you people."

"Can I pretend to stay angry at you?" I said while stuffing a spoonful of poha in my mouth.

"Why would you want to do that?" Raghav asked while looking at me with an indecipherable emotion in his beautiful orbs.

"Because I want to hate you. But I can't."

"Why do you want to hate me?" He sounded surprised and almost sad.

"Because you almost stole my first kiss." I blurted out without thinking of the consequences and then regretted it the moment they came out of my stupid mouth.

"WHAT?" Everyone yelled in a sync.

"Uh– yeah. I am sorry about that. I didn't really mean to do that."

"Wait! When did this happen?" Tanya asked while narrowing her eyes.

"In the hospital. 2 years back." He had a strange type of sadness in his voice which confused me, but I shrugged it off.

Everyone visibly stiffened and nobody spoke for a while. Until a certain someone decided to break the uncomfortable silence,"By the way, it certainly wasn't your first kiss."

"Excuse me? I still have my first kiss."

"Whatever you say." He smirked and resumed his breakfast while I continued gazing at him with confusion etched over my face.

Huh?
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