Little Book Of Red Lies | Shubman Gill ✓

3. Hot chocolate turned cold

Theme song - Ishq bulava

"Hi Budhu! Ye ladki ab tak nahi aayi?" I ask Arjun, as I enter the spacious but almost empty Tendulkar house.

"Nahi Bolbachan, Sara madam ab tak nahi aayi Hain, kuch zyada hi enjoy kar rahi hi hai apni date pe!"

An involuntary smile forms on my lips seeing that the childhood habit of calling each other with Nick names that begin with the same initials, intact.

"Par tu akele kyu baitha hai? Where are Kaka and Kaki?"

"Oh you don't know, Mom has gone to meet her childhood friend and Dad has been called for an award ceremony."

"Kya yaar, Arjun, batana chahiye tha na. Instead of watching Emily in Paris for an hour, main tujhe pareshan karti na!"

"No thanks, I would rather stay alone than have your company."

"Hahah. We both know that's not true. Now scoot over, and let me sit."

He's sitting on the swing that was installed by Kaka when I was 13 and he was 11. Ever since then, both of us have revelled in spoiling the other's alone time on it. There's enough space for the both of us, but there's no greater satisfaction in this world than annoying Arjun.

"Looking at your antics, no one will be able to tell whether you are twenty or two!"

"Yeah yeah, same to you." He rolls his eyes and focuses his attention on his phone. I poke him in the stomach.

"What now?"

"Bhookh lagi hai."

"Nahi toh."

Ugh this guy.

"I meant, mujhe bhookh lagi hai."

"Toh mai kya karoon?"

"Oh hello, Mr. Mai kya karoon! Hospitality naam ki bhi koi cheez hoti hai! Anjali aunty ko aane de, I'll tell her how you let me go empty stomach from her house."

And that gets to him because he sighs and gets up...giving me the whole swing to myself! WOHOOOOO!

I fling my feet in the air, giggling as I move back and forth. My phone pings in my pocket. One shouldn't disrespect a swing by using a phone unlike some. And I never do. But a certain sense of urgency beckons me to reach out to my phone. Weird.

shubmangill requested to follow you

Wait, what?!

Without a doubt, I accept his request only to be doubly surprised by a DM from him.

Thank you for the black currant tip! It really helped!

Aww! How sweet! After he passed his screen test, I told him that Sara loves black currant ice creams. Looks like the information benefited him.

You're welcome, Shubman! How did it go?

His reply is so quick that it makes me happy that he didn't have to think before typing.

I had a great time! Sara is natural at conversations. Bilkul bhi awkward nahi hone diya mujhe.

That's my girl!

Haha, I can imagine! She was really looking forward to meeting you in person. But it was me who kept stopping her.

I realise what I had sent a moment later. When it's too late to take it back.

May I ask why?

Because I believed the rumours about you dating Suhana. And when you messaged her, I thought you were two timing.

That's actually hilarious because I had never dated anyone until Sara.

You got to be kidding me dude! Have you looked at yourself! I'm sure many girls would have been interested in dating YOU!

Yes, they were. And I came close to dating a couple of times but I couldn't. Some way or the other, the universe kept giving me signs that I would be better off as friends with them.

Aahhhaaa and the universe did not give you any such sign about Sara?

Not yet.

I stare at the honesty in his answer with admiration and anger. On one hand, I admire that he hasn't jumped to her being the one and kept the avenue of what if open but on the other, I don't like the implications of his answer. What does he mean by Not yet? If he feels he and Sara work well as friends, he'll just...break my best friend's heart?

Oh boy, he clearly doesn't know what he has gotten into by giving Sara hopes.

Taking a chance, I press the call button on Instagram.

*******

"She's the one who said that she's hungry so I went to make hot chocolate for her. By the time I was done, she was on a call and kept gesturing me to wait. And now that the hot chocolate has become cold chocolate, she's asking me to heat it again! Your bestfriend has some serious issues with manners."

Arjun mutters in one breath as he storms off towards his room. Sara looks at me with bewilderment. But I shrug. I needed to talk to Shubman and clarify his "Not yet" statement. It turns out that he was just pulling my leg and wanted me to get all riled up as if he has nothing better to do in life than boil a poor girl's blood.

"Well, well, who managed to keep Kavya Arora away from Arjun Tendulkar's Hot chocolate?"

The answer was Shubman Gill. Only I couldn't tell her so.

A/n - here comes the first lie! 😌 Do y'all see some spark between Arjun and Kavya? Coz I do 😉