Chapter 6

*Shrishti Pov*

'What do you mean by this message? When did I tell you that I am busy?' I messaged him frowning while lying on the bed on my stomach.

He immediately replied saying, 'I messaged you like two hours back but you are replying right now. So, I thought you are busy and that I can chat later.'

I smiled typing, 'I was just sleeping.' And sent it but didn't glance away from my phone realizing he really replies immediately without letting others wait.

'Until afternoon? Did you even had breakfast?' he asked and why do I hear his scoff in that message.

It is really weird how close we became by just messaging and even calling each other sometimes. At first, it started regarding Grandma's gift and he seems to forget that he was at me for not meeting her before leaving too.

'No! I am bored out of my mind.' I replied with a sad emoticon before sitting up feeling hungry right now after he asked that question.

'Go out and meet your friends.' He replied and I smiled nodding at his words.

'Right! I will call my best friends and go somewhere. Thank you for reminding me about them.' I grinned getting down from the bed.

'Excited about going out with your friends or with your crush?' I paused from taking a step towards the washroom to brush my teeth after reading his message.

What? Why did he suddenly turn the conversation that side? Wait! Is he right? I thought thinking but realized that's not the case.

'No! It's because I am going to spend time with my friends. If I was there with you then I would be excited to spend time with you too.' With that message, I threw the phone on the bed to get ready.

After getting ready, I called Prathap after not seeing any message from Nitish, but his weird words at the beginning of the conversation asking me whether everything is fine along with whether there is any problem with the hotel.

On top of that, he asked whether it will be fine even if Vikranth will not come in a different tone that made me pause.

Why is everyone thinking as if each of my activities would be regarding Vikranth? Did I act that pathetic? I thought frowning before shaking my head.

"Why... why are you asking that? Didn't I tell you that I moved forward from him?" I asked with a confused tone.

"Really?" He asked back as if not believing me and if he was standing before me then I would have kicked him for sure.

"Of course! Before I was not able to feel their marriage and felt they are just strangers but after the last time I got my answer." I explained a bit remember that scene from the car when Vikranth dropped me after the opening ceremony of the restaurant.

"What do you mean?" He asked in a confused tone but I actually don't know how to explain it in proper words.

"Why are we even talking about them? I would have asked you to invite his wife too if she was comfortable with us. She doesn't like talking to us and it is better to ask Vikranth and if she wants to come then it's fine. You can call your fiancé too." I teased but his reaction surprised me for sure.

"She must be busy but I will message her." He mumbled making me pause.

"What is this? You used to scold me the moment I mention as your fiancé but now what is this reaction? Oh my god! Did you fall for her?" I asked in a surprising tone.

"Not for now!" He replied and I chuckled at that reply.

"I should have expected that answer from you. Now, let me know who is going to join us." Saying that I cut the call.

****

"Why did you plan this outing if you didn't even think about where will we be going?" Prathap asked frowning while I leaned forward from the back seat I am sitting right now while Anny is sitting in the passenger seat.

"I was thinking more about meeting you guys and not about how to spend the time. Do you both have any idea?" I asked smiling.

"And you can call your friend too. Vikranth is busy but she can join us right." I added looking at Anny remembering my main mission is to get closer to Vikranth's wife.

I sighed when she said her friend must be busy. It's okay! Maybe Anny will be added to this group later on when these both will become a couple. So, getting to know her is also good.

We ended up having a picnic in the park according to Prathap's suggestion and I just went along with it. The peaceful atmosphere is even better to get to know each other.

However, I didn't expect to be this uncomfortable. I mean, I can see them being this flirty but somehow seeing Prathap like this for the first time in my life making me feel weird.

He looks shy too when he realized I am with them and that they are not alone. Maybe I shouldn't have come with them at all.

Right now, I am nowhere near getting to know Anny except for the fact that she is angry at us for never saying Vikranth's wife's name properly and just talking about her using her relationship status with both Vikranth and Anny.

I don't know why but I am a bit upset too that something changed regarding my relationship with Prathap. I tried to not show my feelings and escaped from this fake or real couple as fast as I can.

After returning home, I added up this uneasiness along with my boredom. Ugh! I thought lying on the bed and realized Nitish really didn't reply after my message.

Should I message him? But he must be tired and taking rest or taking care of Grandma. I sighed calling Jenny whether we got any new contracts as right now we have mini ones which she can handle on her own.

Someone, please just get married or just have any kind of ceremony right now. I am bored! I shouted in my mind before closing my eyes sighing.

Wait! Pramod Uncle's birthday is around the corner. I can help with the preparations regarding those.

I sat up and called Aunty asking, "Aunty! Please tell me you need help with the party preparation this weekend."

She laughed asking, "Of course! Who else is there to help me?"

I grinned hearing that and immediately took out my notepad from the bedside table before writing down the things we need to buy.

"It will be just our families. So, there is no decoration except for informing others about the time and the food preparation." She explained and I nodded.

"Okay, Aunty! Let's meet tomorrow to do the grocery shopping. I will invite Vikranth's wife too." I offered and immediately closed my eyes realizing my mistake.

I forgot that Aunty is upset with her as she was kind of cold every time we met up for any kind of gatherings.

"Why? We will be just troubling her by doing that. She doesn't even think any of us as part of Vikranth's family." She scoffed and I sighed.

"Aunty! Shall we make Uncle cut the cake this time?" I asked changing the topic and she easily forgot about her.

****

"Did you see him walking out like that without thinking twice?" Pramod Uncle shouted while I was still sitting there with my hand hanging in the air.

Today's gathering is definitely a disaster as from me trying to make Aunty talk to Vikranth's wife properly to Anny being harsh with Aunty in return for her remarks.

Now, Prathap just had to get into a war of words with Uncle again regarding his dreams. I tried to stop him by pointing out that it is Uncle's birthday but he just walked away with Anny following him.

I already tried to make the atmosphere a bit casual but this turned into something else. If Uncle doesn't calm down now, then he will ignore Prathap next time they meet.

I glanced at Dad with a pleading look and he gave a small nod before saying, "This dessert is really delicious."

I glared at him for saying something like that right now knowing well, this is prepared by Prathap which will just mess the things more.

"Anyone can prepare this dessert and we have enough helpers who can do the same. What's so great about it?" Uncle asked frowning.

"Our children need to be protected and what else can protect except for the company. If he just works for GH then all these rumors regarding Vikranth's so-called abuse and many more things will calm down and he will have a safe future." He added and I flinched because even I am in the category of Prathap.

"Pramod! He is doing what he is best at. You pay for your helpers, right? He is earning in a major way and you can't force him." Dad commented frowning while I smiled at him.

"Uncle! Do you know what happened in one of the events I conducted?" I asked while cutting him off from continuing.

"What?" he asked frowning while Aunty smiled understanding what I am going to do.

"Well, some guy just approached me talking about how the younger generation is best at doing work and the older generation is really bad at it. Like the architecture and the management of the GH hotels is too old fashioned and needs the younger generation to upgrade it." I explained the incident that happened but in an extravagant way.

"Nonsense!" he mumbled finally diverting his anger to that person in his mind.

"Exactly! Who can compare to the three of you in this business world? No one has a chance at all and I told him the same." I added and he nodded slowly.

"Yes! What can the younger generation do before our experience?" he mumbled nodding while I smiled nodding back.

"And do you know what else they were saying? I got a headache while dealing with them. I mean how can they insult our GH hotel? And that too in front of me? He was even trying to get a contract by talking about Vikranth wrongly." I shook my head sighing and he continued the topic for a few minutes and finally, the whole earlier incident is never brought up again.

When the elders started talking to themselves along with Vikranth, I sat with his wife who turned towards me saying, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah! It's just a headache." I replied smiling and she slowly nodded before opening her handbag to pass a tablet.

"Thanks! Do you usually get headaches?" I asked seeing that she is carrying a strip like that.

"I sit before the computer system a lot and it's natural for these aches to occur." She explained.

I don't know why sits before the computer system but if I ask her that then will she feel uncomfortable?

"Yeah! Usually, my legs pain a lot with all the walking but because of today's incident, this happened." I mumbled.

"You handled it well as usual." We both turned to see Vikranth joining us.

"Wow! A compliment from Mr. Vikranth is something really shocking." I said smiling and turned to share that with his wife but I found her face turned blank and lost all the freeness she showed earlier.

I frowned seeing that while thinking what did I do? I thought recently she finally seems to be accepting all of us and even trying to be closer but in Vikranth's presence that just goes away and she appears to be like she was in the past.

"I will be going then." I mumbled standing up while feeling dejected and she glanced at me for a second before looking down.

"We will drop you." Vikranth offered but I shook my head.

"No! I will go on my own." Saying that I walked away not wishing to be in any of their presence right now.

One after the other nothing went right today except for this tiredness sweeping in. I thought I can finally be closer to her but I am confused about her and also whether I should continue or just give up this mission of removing the awkwardness between us.

*Nitish Pov*

"Are you just going to keep on checking your phone or message her?" I got startled hearing Grandma's voice.

"I don't know what you are talking about, Grandma." I replied placing my phone back on the table.

"Did you both fight? I know friends fight but your friendship is more important." She pointed out closing her eyes.

"She is just silly, Grandma." I mumbled shaking my head before switching off the light to sleep.

It's been a few days since her last message and she didn't even message me again when I didn't reply at all. Maybe I am the one who is silly by being this petty at my age.

Her last message is not something for which I can just reply anything as I am not sure what it meant. Does she mean that I am as important as her friends to her or that her friends are just friends like I am to her?

When my phone screen light up, I immediately sat up seeing her name and, found her message.

'Good night, Nitish!' I smirked before greeting her back and sighed laying back on the bed.

She is silly but definitely fun to have around. I still don't know why I got angry at her for leaving suddenly like that just for her friend's sake.

Maybe I want to be her special friend or just bored out of my mind and craving some company. However, one thing I noticed is that she always talks about both of her friends in the same way and I even get confused about who is her actual crush.

Isn't that a weird thing? I mean, there should be some difference, right? This just gives three reasons behind that.

The first would be she is already over her crush but this fast? The second would be she never liked that friend she thinks she does but really? The third would be she likes both of them but how can it be possible?

Maybe with no work to do, I am thinking too much about her situation and it's like working on some case.

I sat up hearing my ringtone and found her calling me. I glanced at Grandma's sleeping form and calmly walked towards the small balcony available to the room before closing the door behind me.

"Hello?" I greeted her picking the call.

"Did I disturb you?" she asked in a whispering.

"Why are you whispering?" I asked her back smiling.

"Sorry! I just felt like I am in the hospital room and it came out like that." She replied sighing.

"Had dinner?" she asked after I didn't say anything to those words.

"Yeah! What about you?" I asked back leaning over the railing and stared at the sky feeling the fresh air.

As the beach is quite near to the hospital, it feels colder at night but at the same time refreshing for sure.

"Done! My Dad hadn't returned home yet and just waiting for him casually." She mumbled sighing again.

"Did something happen?" I asked her frowning.

"No! What else?" she replied without pausing and that just shows something happened.

"Tell me! I am very much looking forward to giving any kind of advice." I offered and she paused for a minute before calmly explaining what happened.

It would be a lie if I had said it didn't shock me for sure. Her way of thinking is more complex than I thought for sure.

"So, you are right now jealous of your friend who recently got a girlfriend? The one for whom you left in a hurry to attend his business opening?" I asked and she calmly said it is like that.

So, is it option two or three from my earlier analysis? I frowned thinking what should I tell her.

"Listen to me carefully, I am saying this after listening to everything from you." I started to make sure she will not get angry.

"I know! I will listen carefully." She assured me.

"This just means two things, Shrishti. Whether you never liked that friend of yours or you like both friends the same way." I said it out loud but she didn't say anything.

"Are you there?" I asked frowning.

"Are you mad? How could you say that? I never liked him? Then what was I doing all these years? Do you know for how many years I liked him? It's more than a decade for god's sake." She shouted which just made me pull the phone away from my ear.

"And then what? I like both of them? Am I that stupid? How can I like both of them that way? I am not that crazy to like both of them like that." She continued.

"You got jealous! Just try to think what kind of jealousy you felt when you saw your first friend with his wife and what kind when you saw your second friend with his girlfriend." I calmly explained.

"Stop it! I don't want to talk to you anymore." Saying that she cut the call and when I tried to call her again she actually switched off her phone.

I sighed shaking my head thinking maybe I shouldn't have told my thoughts out loud. I can understand her reaction as she seems confused about her own feelings and just hooks to one feeling continuously.

After that she never contacted me and I didn't try to contact her too thinking she may need some time to calm down.

However, when I was just trying to walk on the beach near the hospital thinking about this situation at the agency where I am getting sued along with already losing two important people from my company made me feel numb over everything.

Why did it happen? Was it wrong to entrust everything to my friends and come away like this? But they are my friends and why would they do anything wrong to my business.

Why is GH behind me? I never even got involved with them but now they are suing me? My friends are not even explaining the whole situation and I don't have any chance this whole week as Grandma's situation just turned worst and she is just sleeping most of the time.

I brushed my tear away and glanced up only to see a familiar figure walking on the beach. As it's still ten in the morning, not many people are there and I can easily guess it's her even though she is a bit far away.

"Shrishti!" I shouted her name and started walking faster towards her while she glanced my way stopping.

And to my surprise, she turned around showing her back to me, and just started walking away from me which just made me pause my steps.

What the hell! Why is she running away from me? Is she still mad after all these weeks? It's been so long and I thought she would be over it and felt happy to see her mainly at this moment.

I frowned but continued to walk and even started running towards her and I will just apologize for saying those words but right now I don't want to lose her as my friend.