Meant to be

Ch 2 contd....

Sana woke up with a huge grin on her face and turned to her right instinctively. Where she caught sidharth's smiling face looking at her. She raised her eyebrows at him in acknowledgement and jumped out of bed to join the rest of the gang dancing.

Once the song ended she walked back to her bed with fifi and dey in two. Sidharth was amused that this girl had started hanging out with the unlikeliest of people in this place. Though she did spend considerable time with Paras, she was her crazy self with Sidharth shukla and fifi.

"Acha Suno, abhi na 4 - 5 din ho chukay hai na! I cannot keep up this act anymore...." both Sidharth look at her with curiosity "meko na yeh aap, ji sab na bohot suffocation lagta hai. Bohot soch samajke baatein bolni padti. Yeh tu tadak kitna apnaapan ka feel dilaata hai na? To mein aap logon ko tum karke bolti hoon, Tum log apnapan mehsoos Karle na thik hai." She says this with this mischief and twinkle in her eye.

Sidharth purses his lips because once again he feels this urge to either grab her and give her this bear hug or to just pinch her cheek. Giving into the mischief and sarcasm in her face and he looks at Fifi and says " itni achi bachi hai na hamaarey apnepan ki kitni chintha hai usme."

Fifi quickly catches on and says "jo bhi bolna hain bolo lekin aise na ho ke hum ko hi gaali sunna padey aur hum hee ko thank you bhi bolna padey."

She guffaws in glee at the way these men get her and at how she is able to connect with them.

Shehnaaz was a person who got along with everyone. She had the ability in her to speak to anyone and everyone. She was here to play the game for as long as she was able to. What she did not realise is that most people who listened to her tapped into her verbal diarrhoea to glean information that they could later use against her.

One of the evening while Paras and she were chatting, Paras happened to show her a tattoo on his wrist with his girlfriend's name. Shehnaaz immediately realised that she is not here to do this and definitely not tread of anyone else's ground. She had started feeling a little bit of an edge from Mahira as well and really did not want any diva type behaviour here. She decided to fall back on her original personality to call a spade a spade.

She was definitely attracted to Paras more than him the fact that someone from television industry who is closer to her in age would
Actually voluntarily connect with her. She also felt a kinship with him because he too was from Punjab. Because of her bitter early year experiences she involuntarily tests relationships before she starts investing in them. This has caused her a lot of heartbreak but also saved her from further heartbreak. In her mind she knows that just because a relationship bears a particular tag it does not mean the people in it remain loyal to it. To a large extent her uncle and aunt should have been second line parents but turned out to be anything but that. Hence falling back on her instincts she decided that she is going to force Paras into a corner and test him and see if what he said about liking her was genuine or a game strategy.
In the meanwhile unbeknownst yo her, she would actively seek the company of Sidharth. This was something that unexpectedly happened and she felt something warm when he was around, sort of like a warm blanket to make her comfortable just as the room was getting a bit too cold. Even before you realise you are uncomfortable, comfort finds you.

She did not delve too deeply into this and just put it down to him being a gentle giant, and though he was a reclusive he always seemed open to her crack conversations and always encouraged her in a not too obvious way.

For Sidharth this chit of a girl evoked in him an inexplicable belongingness that he had never experienced before. He put it down to the fact that he was jaded and tired of all the fake girls he met and also at times hooked upon with, he found her naïveté refreshing. He found it endearing and her tenacity without self pity, her ability to talk about her sufferings without whoring out her problems.

While these two were gravitating towards each other, more than they realised, more than the people around them realised, Rashmi started weaving her web of strategy and had slowly started the rumblings of 'showing' signs of discomfort with shukla, trying to portray him in a less favourable manner. One night she made a huge production of lying down on the ground just to show that she is uncomfortable in sharing bed space with him. He reverted to his expressionless demeanour and has a distant and clinical look on his face. Shenaaaz who has settled into her bed sensed that something was upsetting him as he was not connecting with her as he usually would. "Tu theek
Hai? Kuch chaiye?" She asked . "Pls mera Paani ka bottle fill karlegi" he asked not wanting to get up and go past Rashmi. Shehnaaz readily agreed and as she was going she in jest told Rashmi "dekh tere connection ke liye paani lekar aa rahi hoon" to which Rashmi used this opportunity to taunt Sidharth. Which really made him all the more uncomfortable but this time he was irritated that shehnaaz said this to Rashmi. So when Shehnaaz returned with the water she handed the bottle to him and settled next to him on the bed he was sleeping on.  Sidharth knew his irritation at Shehnaaz was irrational and he himself was unable to articulate it. He took the bottle from her and did not meet her in the eye, she was bit taken aback by his abrupt behaviour and she being so frank and straight forward said "Shaayad aapko pasand nahi hua ke mein aisay aapke bed pe aa baithi"  sidharth lay still and expressionless and did not fail to catch the "aap" that she had reverted to.

Before opening his eyes a sweet smile ran over his face and said "darr lag raha hai bey, itni seva, itni izzat , itni maryaada. He then lazily opened his eyes and said "naa pasand ka toh mein nahi jaanta lekin yeh toh pasand aata ki kaash hum bff's hotay" looking at her expressions changing he quickly says "apni gandhi soch bandh Kar0, mera yeh matlab tha ki yeh paani is seva aur kahin aisay seva karva sakta tha!" She involuntarily laughs at his honesty and familiarity with her and asks "acha ji aur kya kya seva chaihye aapko?" He sighs and says "thoda pair dabana, thoda champi ka...."
She looks at him sweetly and says "yeh sab toh mein karloongi aaram sey isme bff's vaali baath kya hai"

He looks at her and grins at her response and quickly gives her a high five and once again at the end of it squeezes her hand gently before letting go. They wish each other goodnight. And as he falls asleep his frown is now replaced at the thought of the future champis and massages. He felt a wave of calm unknowingly creep over him that quietly took away his irritation as it receeded back. He sighed as he realised that this Shehnaaz had a way of doing that to him.

Hi guys, sorry about the delayed update. Still working on a suitable timeline covering their key point in their journey. If any of you have any suggestions pls feel free to let me know. Cheers!