Aarav Kapoor
"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about—
I started but the waiter interrupted us saying "Ma'am, your order please."
I just rolled my eyes at him.
A very huge 6'1 sir is not visible to him!
"Just a minute. Aarav what would you have?" Shanaya asked me looking at the menu.
"Whatever you have." I reply distractedly because waiter was busy oggling at Shanaya and probably day dreaming about her.
I cleared my throat but still he was busy oggling at her.
I was going to speak when Shanaya said
"We'll have two cheesecakes and it would be really good if your eyes won't roam around my cleavage." She said with a sarcastic smile on her face.
"Okay." He said and then her words registered. His face visibly paled and I started laughing.
This girl!
"Sorry ma'am." He said his head hung low and then left.
I was doing nothing to control my laugh and she was just looking at me with brows raised. Alot of other customers were looking at our way and that made me get out of my trance.
Straightening up my shirt, I cleared my throat.
"That was not funny." She said smiling.
"Oh hell it was! Did you look at his face?" I said controlling my laugh.
"I've never seen you laugh like this." She said smiling.
"Because I never laugh like this." I said and cleared my throat.
What's wrong with me?
That wasn't actually funny!
"What were you talking about?" She asked.
"About Pratik & Shruti." I said and she stiffened.
"I was home for a week. In that time, dad has already fixed a date of their marriage and it is in a month." I said gritting my teeth.
"What???" She almost yelled.
"But Shruti did not tell me a thing!" She said.
"I don't about that. I just know that something is not right!" I said running a hand frustratedly in my hair.
I was soo frustrated with her marriage thing and I did not know whom to talk to about it. And ofcourse I called Shanaya.
My solution!
"Even you sensed it? I know there is something wrong, Aarav. She would have been jumping and squealing before me if she was actually happy with this." She said and our orders arrived.
She started eating her cheesecake and suddenly said
"Is it possible that she actually believed you when you told her about his make out session with someone else?" She asked.
"But then the whole sucide thing happened after that." I said confused.
"Yeah, but she was actually happy when she told me about Pratik proposing her but when you told you'll talk about the wedding she wasn't that happy. I sensed something wrong." She said.
Actually, now that she reminds me. Shruti was actually a bit distant after the sucide incident. She used smile for the sake of us.
"I don't know. I don't know anything anymore." I said frustrated.
"She wants the wedding to be a private destination wedding. This is so unlike her. She is always dreamed about her wedding being grand." I said.
"If she wants a private wedding there is definitely something wrong!" She said.
"Aarav, don't worry. Everything is going to be fine. We'll make sure it is." She said keeping her hand on mine and giving it a light squeeze.
I looked at her and she sat there with a smile on her face.
Her smile!
At this moment even if she tells me that dogs meow and cats bark with that smile of hers. I am going to believe that.
Am i risking my heart?
So be it!
Her smile is worth the risk.
.
.
.
I was almost done preparing the dinner and called Shanaya.
"Missing me already?" She said answering the call.
I rolled my eyes at her.
Kid!
"Come here for dinner." I said and hung up.
I heard the door bell ringing but I was busy with the soup. So I just texted her my passcode.
She entered the kitchen and said
"Why do you always hang up on me? Can you not cut the call like normal people do after saying their goodbyes?" She asked sitting on the counter.
"Yeah! But I forgot you aren't normal. You are the Aarav Kapoor. Mr.Almighty." She said rolling her eyes.
"Here have this." I said pushing the water jug towards her.
"Your throat must be dry after all the complaining session." I said & chuckled.
"Excuse me! I am not complaining. I am just try to be a good friend by telling you that you should not hang up like this." She said scowling.
I just scoffed at her.
"Good friend?" I asked amused.
"I don't think of you as a good friend. You're just an annoying neighbour." I said to her and filled the spoon with the soup and held it before her.
"Taste it." I said.
"Oh wait." I said blowing the soup otherwise she would have drank it and then would start running around my house cursing me how i burned her tongue intentionally.
"Umm hmm. It is really tasty." She said tasting it.
"I never knew people care for annoying neighbours too." She said swinging her legs to and fro.
I just looked at her raising my brows.
"Why are you feeding me dinner, if I am just an annoying neighbour?" She asked wiggling her brows.
I just stood their quiet.
What would I say?
I had no answer to that question!
"The dinner is ready." I said and took the containers out on dinning table.
She came and sat beside me.
"Dude, it smells soo delicous! I swear your wife is going to be soo lucky!" She said and served herself.
I chuckled at her excitement.
"Can I ask you something?" I asked out of the blue.
"Umm hmm. Go on." She said drinking the soup.
"How can you be like this smiling and happy always?" I asked the one question which I was itching to ask since day one.
"It is not that complicated. Just feed your hearts with the things it loves." She said smiling.
"What if I don't know what I love?" I asked drinking my own soup.
She chuckled and said
"That's not possible, Aarav. You love your family. You smile a lot around them."
"Yaa.. but I can't stay around them forever. Me and my dad were never on good terms." I said sighing.
"Then search for your happiness. Every person has that one thing that makes him or her happy in any situations." She said.
"What if I don't have it?" I asked.
"Maybe you have just buried it deep inside in some corner of your heart because you had too much responsibilities on your shoulder." She said shrugging.
She kept her hand on my shoulder and said
"You don't try to be happy. It just comes from the within. For some people happiness is in their better half. For some it is in their children. For some it is in some or the other activity. You just need to either discover it or take it out from the corner of your heart."
I smiled at her and said
"I never knew you can behave like an adult, too!"
"You are such an asshole!" She said smacking my shoulder and I just laughed at her.
"See, I think I make you happy. You seem to laugh a lot around me." She said and started laughing.
For her it was just a joke, maybe. But whatever she said was true for me.
Maybe!