Chapter 18

Shruti's POV " He is no one bhai... I have no relationship with him. I don't even know him well. " I said as I was really scared of the consequences. I started pleading with him but Nihal was very furious. He caught my hand and pulled me towards home when Siddarth got up and came back. " How dare you?? How can you hit a girl like that? " He looked furious and was about to punch him back. No !! Please !!! Nihal turned to him and his back was towards me. I shook my head and folded my hands in front of Siddharth. I didn't want him to fight or say anything. I knew that it was going to cost me all the hard work I had put in to date. " She is my sister, who is she to you?? Why are you so bothered?? " " Oh sorry, bhaiya !! You are just overreacting. She is no one to me. I don't even know her name. I just wanted to ask her about a friend of hers. " " What?? A friend of hers?? But why are you asking her? " " I wanted her to ask about her friend's phone number or address. My parents and Bua ( paternal aunt) wants to go and meet her parents Please bhaiya, tell her to help me. My Bua Ji came to the hospital a few days back. She saw the girl and is really after me to find her as she wants her to be her daughter-in-law. " " Listen, I don't care... I will not tolerate you anywhere near my sister. Go and find that girl on your own. " Nihal said glaring at him. " Ok, sure but please if you could help me. Please ask your sister. My Bua will keep pestering me. You know how women are. Please bhai!! I will never bother your sister again. " He continued doing that drama. " Do you know that girl?? " Nihal asked me. " I don't know her... We were given the same project so we were working on it together. It is over, I don't know her." I said and burst into tears " Did you hear that? She does not know much about her. Now stay away from my sister. If I ever see you around her, I will beat you to a pulp. " Nihal said. " Ok !! Sorry for all this. " Siddharth said looking at me and left. " I am sorry, Shruti !! I should not have hit you. Please forgive me. " Nihal said touching his ears and I nodded. He went to drop me at college and told me that I must tell him if he bothers me again. I nodded and he left. About after an hour, Siddharth came to me and asked me If I was fine but I was angry with him so I just nodded and told him to stay away. " Are you sure you are fine?? " " I am till now... Please have mercy on me, just stay away. I can't afford to leave my studies in the middle of it. I have put in so many efforts. Please. " Siddharth went away but kept away from me. He never came to talk to me again though his eyes still seemed to follow me everywhere. But I always ignored him. It has been 2 years since that happened. Present time He is the Head Dermatologist in the Hospital as the former senior doctor who was the head of the department, retired 2 months back. I completed my MBBS and I had to do the internship. I was a bit apprehensive as I didn't want to work under him or any of his friends especially Dr Parth. But that was unavoidable. All the doctors were his friends. If only, I knew that I would meet him at the Holi party, Vidhi's brother was throwing, I would have never come to it. I was annoyed with Vidhi, why did she give my new number to him? I called her and she picked up the phone. " Hey, Shruti !! How are you?? " She said in a low sad voice. " Hi, are you not well?? What happened to you?? " I asked. " No, I am fine, back to Jodhpur. " " But you are sounding very sad... " " I am fine, Shruti. How are you?? " " Not fine, Vidhi !! Why did you give my number to him?? " " Because he wanted to talk to you. Shruti, listen please, calm down!!! " " Calm down?? Do you even know, what he did?? " " Yes, he told me everything. From the beginning to the Holi party. I guess it was all a misunderstanding, Vidhi. Talk to him for once. He cares a lot for you. He is in Delhi and so are you. Please meet him and clear everything. " " You trust him?? " " Yes, I do. I know him since childhood, I know he was not lying. He cares a lot about you. He literally pleaded me to give your number. " " What kind of a relationship do you have with him?? You both seemed very comfortable with each other. " " He is just like a very good friend, more like a brother to me. " She said and I felt very relieved all of a sudden. " Oh !! And Sandhya Bhabhi's brother, Shubh ?? " I asked as I knew something was definitely there. " Nothing!!! He is like a pain in the neck. I hate him. " " But, what we saw ... He was behaving as if he liked you a lot. " " It was ... I don't know... Hell!! I don't know. He was under the influence of Bhaang. He did not intend to say or do any such thing. It is a painful topic. Leave it Shruti. !! " " Why?? You like him, don't you?? He seemed to be a good man. Then what is the problem??" " Yes, I like him... I like him a lot, he is a good man. Maybe I am not good enough for him." She said. " Don't be stupid... " " Yeah !! He is too good for me. We are exactly opposite to each other. But I am really attracted to him. The problem is that he does not think that ways for me. " " But it looked that he was going to kill Sid... I mean Dr Jindal when he was playing Holi with you. " " I don't know what was going in his complex mind. He is really beyond me. But Sid is different, a happy go lucky type of guy. His whole family is like that. You should meet his dad. Such a great man. And his brother Gautam bhai is my bhai's best friend. He is an awesome man. Siddharth is not at all a rich brat. His family gave him very good values. He is just over-friendly with everyone. He didn't bet on anything. I know he could never do that. Please talk to him. " " I don't know... " " Well if you don't know, then trust me. I know him as well as you. He is a nice man. " " I will think about it. " " Ok, but keep everything in mind, whatever I said. I would love to see you together. " " There is nothing like that, we were just friends... " " Oh !! Please, don't be stupid. You saw how was Shubh looking at me, but didn't you see how desperate Sid was, to talk to you?? " " He was not... He was enjoying his Holi more than anyone else. He was not bothered about me. " " What nonsense?? Even I was enjoying playing holi... But I was interested in Shubh. I wanted him to play Holi with me. I wanted him to notice me. I wanted him to feel jealous, that I was playing Holi with Sid. Maybe Sid also did that. Maybe he wanted to make you feel jealous too. I am sure, he was doing just that. Give him one chance. " " I don't know... But anyway, you just take care. I am sure Shubh will realise very soon that he loves you too. He looked possessive about you. Why would he glare at Dr Jindal if he didn't feel anything for you? " " I don't know... But I wish that he does... Bye. Talk to Sid, please. " " Bye! " I said and disconnected the call. Whatever Vidhi just said seems to be right. She knows him since childhood. But People change when they grow up. I wanted to believe what Vidhi said but I can't ignore what I saw too.