Chapter 15
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Chapter 29- Truth or Dare
"Truth." Vidya said, her eyes challenging him openly.
"Who is the most important guy in your life?" He asked, interested. Vidya bit back a smile, taken aback by his attempt.
"My dad."
"Besides him…"
"Only one question allowed." She teased, reminding him.
His lips curled as he looked away. He was planning something. "You, truth or dare?"
"Truth."
"If society had no boundaries and everyone was allowed to do whatever they wanted…" Uh oh, intelligent question. "What would you do right this minute?" She tilted her head in anticipation.
"I'd wrestle you to the ground and kiss every part of you till my lips went numb and then fall asleep on top of you and then when morning came do it again." He said, looking her dead in the eye. That was much more of an answer then she had expected. She looked away and her cheeks flushed red. She thought to herself, you know what I think? I think you're in love with me.
"Funny Sagar…let me tell you, Truth."
"If society had no boundaries and everyone was allowed to do whatever they wanted…" He echoed her, mocking lightly. "What would YOU do?" I'd let you…She thought, unsmiling.
"Well, I'd order Chinese every day, and I would never pay for any of my books. And I'd have someone live here with me, I hate living alone." Sagar frowned, she was such a tease. Vidya smiled at Sagar's expression. I'm not a tease darling, just a reminder of what you can't have.
"I should stay the night." Sagar concluded firmly.
"No, you should go home and let me spend the rest of the night in peace."
"Oh c'mon, Vidya. Don't you trust me?" He said, winking. She shook her head.
"Nope. Eat." She served him a plate. He ate the pasta quietly, frowning the whole time.
"You can stay till tomorrow…" Vidya sighed. Truth was, she hated being alone too. It was hard and scary. In this huge house, being alone was terrifying. It was like in that movie Kaun? With Urmila….wait, wasn't she the psycho murderer in that one? Whatever, Vidya thought, it's still scary.
After eating, Vidya went in her room; she didn't come out for a long time. The door was open, Sagar peaked in. Vidya was carelessly strung on her bed, asleep with a hardcopy version of Angels and Demons by Dan Brown lying across her chest. Her hair was oiled back into a thick braid and she wore her reading glasses. Sagar smiled, she was still adorable. Stepping into the room, he saw her shiver. He pulled a blanket over her and gingerly pulled her glasses off.
Twisting, Vidya caught Sagar's arm in her sleep and pulled it under her.
"Great." Sagar laughed quietly, sarcastically applauding his timing. She held his hand tightly beneath her cheek. Sagar looked at her; she looked angelic in her slumber. His thumb traced the outline of her lips.
"Mmm…" Vidya mumbled in her sleep, parting her mouth. Warm breath ran across Sagar's hand. He smiled. Slowly he pulled his hand away.
He walked out of the room, silently making his way downstairs. He turned the TV on and began watching whatever was on…the title song to Kaisa Yeh Pyaar Hai played. He groaned, thinking out loud.
"I don't get what she sees in him." He said, scoffing at Angad signing a mass of girls with lipstick.
He heard a loud yawn and saw Vidya come down stairs, her hair wet. She had washed the oil out. She glowed in her teal mesh basketball shorts that sat comfortably along her waist; it went down, brushing against her knees. She wore a tight black tank, complimenting her curves. It was simple but so gorgeous.
"Did you come in my room?" She asked, frowning when Sagar changed the channel away from Kaisa Yeh Pyaar Hai.
"Yeah. Why?" He smiled, he wanted to hear her excuse.
"Cuz it felt like I was holding your hand in my sleep,
it was weird."
"Why did you feel that?" He mused.
"I dunno. I recognized your scent." She cursed herself, not the best statement to say to Mr. Bighead but whatever. She waited for him to say something witty and teasing when he didn't, she silently thanked him and
moved on.
"You wanna continue that game of ours?" Sagar said, heading to the kitchen. She raised an eyebrow before it registered that it was her house that he was so comfortable in. She rolled her eyes.
"I don't care. What are you doing in my kitchen?" She shouted behind him.
"I'm hungry. Aren't you?"
"We ate like…three hours ago. You're a pig." She said, standing before the storm door. She heard him argue something but was lost in the weather.
"What's wrong with you?" said Sagar, with a bowl of popcorn seeing Vidya entranced. Her face lit as she watched the raindrops fall to the heated red earth. Sagar shook his head.
"You like the rain. Me too. Remember that day in Chemistry…"
"When I left to go to the bathroom and went to the courtyard and came back like half an hour later?"
"And you were completely drenched. And I commented on how dumb you were."
"And then we completely dissed each other out." Vidya threw her head back and laughed. She noticed Sagar's eyes on her, her laughter stopped.
"What is wrong with you these days?" She asked him, dropping some popcorn in her mouth.
"Me? What's wrong with me?" He ate some popcorn, making his way to the entertainment center, changing the subject, "Wanna watch a movie?"
She mumbled something angrily. Sagar smiled, "I guess that means yes. Oh my god, you have this movie? It's the best." He held up Naina, a thriller that she forgot that she owned. Oh god, she thought as he popped the
DVD in.
"I don't really do well with horror movies… I get nightmares."
"I'll sleep with you if you want." He smirked, pressing the eject button on the DVD, taking the disc out replacing it with DDLJ. Vidya rolled her eyes, "You can if you want." She said, joking. Sagar's eyes grew wide as he was about to say something filled with mischief, Vidya added quickly, "I was joking."
"I know, tum kya samjhe?" He winked. Vidya rolled her eyes again. She was immersed into the movie completely when the power went out. She looked to her side, only to find Sagar not there.
"Sagar…?" She called out, lighting a candle. She liked candlelight but it was raining hard and she saw lightning. Thunder roared in applause as she made her way into the kitchen. "Sagar, yaar where did you go?...this is really not funny you know."
"What's not funny?" Sagar asked, holding a bowl of popcorn. She held onto him tightly.
"What?" He laughed, rubbing her back, putting the bowl down.
"I was scared. I am scared…I thought you left me." She said, hugging him still tightly. It sounded so childish but she wasn't the most articulate in expressing her fears. Especially her fear of being alone which was seemingly baseless.
"I'm here. Why would I leave you?" He said, talking down into her hair. He feared what he might do if she wouldn't let go. He peeled her off him and said, "Let's go back into the living room." She nodded and led him back. They sat in candlelit darkness for a while in silence.
"You wanna finish that game?" Vidya asked, breaking the silence. Sagar looked at her questioning, "Sure. Truth or Dare?"
"Truth." She smiled.
"Have you seriously forgiven me for that day at the poolhouse?"
"Completely." She smiled, "I think you should forget about that day. Anyways, you…T or D?"
"Truth."
"Are you in love with someone?" Vidya beamed brighter than the lone candle. He sighed. Was he?
"I don't know…how can you tell?" He groaned.
"You'll care about her a lot, and you'll never hurt her
and you won't be able to see her cry. You'll always want to keep her happy, even if it means staying unhappy yourself…" Her voice trailed off, she wondered what was wrong with her that no one felt like that for
her.
"Vidya…?" Sagar asked, pulling her out of her trance. She nodded, "Dare."
"Sing for me."
"What?" She asked, he smirked and nodded. She groaned. "Not much, okay?"
She closed her eyes and thought of a song, she picked her favorite bridge of the song Aa Bhi Ja by Ganesh Hegde's album G. (Great Song, you should hear it…it's a long song, but the bridge is GREAT, according to me.)
tu meri basam , tu hi tanhai hai
tu hi meri ghazal, tu meri ruahai hai
tu mera hamkaram, to mera hamnawa,
tu hi mera sanam, tu hi mera khuda.
radha pukaare kahan koye ho kanhaiya
radha pukaare kahan koye ho kanhaiya
Aa bhi jaa
Aise na tharsa
Aa bhi jaa
Aa bhi jaaa…
yeh nazar ka dhoka hai ya dil ki dillagi
door milte dikh rahe hai aasman zameen
faasalon ki rehguzar hai darmiyan
paas reh kar bhi yeh kasi hai dooriyan
Khoj rahi hai piya
pardesi akhiyan
Khoj rahi hai piya
pardesi akhiyan
Aa bhi jaa
Aise na tharsa
Aa bhi jaa
Aa bhi jaaa…
"Vidya…" Sagar said, breathless and wide-eyed. "That was amazing."
"Thank you, liar. Anyways, your turn…"
"Dare."
"I dare you to let me stay at your house for a night."
"What? Nnn-nn-o. My parents are home…." He said stuttering obviously, his parents were good, old-fashioned people. They thought girls and boys could NOT be just friends. They barely went any where, and they barely let anyone into their homes. Everyone knew how Sagar Pratap Singh's parents were.
"I know." Vidya smirked.
"So tonight I stay at your place and tomorrow night you stay at mine?" Vidya nodded happily. "You're gonna get me in sooooo much trouble." Sagar groaned.
"I know." Vidya clapped her hands in glee.
"It's getting late," Sagar said, suddenly tired. "You should go to sleep."
"No. I don't sleep much these days; I'd rather…do something." Vidya said happily. Like a spoiled sport, Sagar laid down on the sofa, turning his back to Vidya. "Tomorrow is going to be a long day…" He groaned. Vidya sat on the floor behind him for hours, not moving not making any noise. Hours later, she shook him awake.
"Sagar." She said, tapping his arm.
"Vidya…what the heck? Can't a guy sleep?" He asked groggily, his hair was disheveled and eyes were puffy. Vidya wished she had her camera, she bit back a smile.
"Are you mad at me?" She asked childishly.
"Yes. It's 3 in the morning…I want to sleep, so yeah I'm mad."
"Not about that…about the dare. If you want, you don't have to do it."
"Sagar Pratap Singh never goes back on his word. Let me sleep. Didn't you sleep any?" He asked, sitting up scrubbing his face. He ran his hands through his hair with vigor.
"No, I couldn't sleep." She said embarrassed.
"Why?"
"Um…I couldn't with you here. I don't know. I told you I'm weird with these things…I thought you were mad at
me."
"You couldn't sleep cuz I was here?" Sagar mused, Vidya glared at him. "No, I'm not mad. Scared out of my mind, yes but mad? No."
"Scared? Sagar Pratap Singh never gets scared…" She teased, he smiled sarcastically.
"When it comes to his parents, like hell he does." Sagar said, quite obviously. He got up and stretched his arms, his shirt rode up to reveal his abs. Vidya tried not to look, uncomfortably she asked, "Want coffee or something?"
"Hm, sure. Power's back." He proclaimed.
"I know, it came back at 2: 48…I was bored. I felt like waking you up then but I decided not to."
"So you've been up since…"
"Eleven. And it's four now. I was bored out of my mind." She laughed guiltily.
"Why didn't you wake me up?" He asked, annoyed. She shrugged and handed him the mug of coffee. He sipped it, it was luke warm and prepared just the way he liked it.
"You make the best coffee." Sagar said, Vidya smiled as she sipped her own mug. "You don't drink coffee." He stated.
"I do now. Black. The best." She smiled.
"Gross, Vidya." He joked. Vidya rolled her eyes. She sighed, still bored. Waking Sagar up was a bad idea, she presumed. He was no fun.
"Let's finish that movie." Sagar said, noticing her boredom. She nodded and he pressed play, since the DVD to DDLJ was already there.
"Can you imagine going through all that trouble for someone you like?" Sagar mocked the movie.
"Someone you love." Vidya corrected angrily.
"Whatever. Love…right. I'm going to get something to eat."
"Bring me popcorn!"
"Vidya all you've ate yesterday and today is popcorn. Don't you want any real food?"
"Nah. Food no fun. Me want popcorn. Sagar, you know I could live off popcorn, right?"
"I noticed." He said, putting a bag of Pop Secret in the microwave.
"Why, are you hungry? I'll cook you something, unless you don't want my cooking." She glared at him.
"No, I'll eat anything. I'm starved."
"What do you want?" Vidya asked, scrimmaging through her cabinets.
"I want chicken." He said, searching the fridge.
"I'm vegetarian…" She glared.
"Yeah, I know, That must really suck."
"Nope. It's GREAT. What do you want besides meat?"
"Um…chinese sounds good."
"I'll make you some vegetable fried rice."
"Whatever, I'm starved." Sagar said, opening the drawer
and took out a knife. He pulled a carrot out of the fridge, he began peeling the carrot above the sink. Vidya smiled, and kissed him on the cheek "I've taught you well, I'm sure your future wife will be very pleased."
"No way. My wife will be doing all the cooking." He said, frowning despite the kiss planted upon his cheek.
"I'd want my husband to cook for me sometimes…it gets tiresome…"
"Well maybe sometimes, but the rest of the time, it'll be all you."
"Whatever. I refuse to cook and clean all the time."
"Well you're gonna have to." Sagar laughed at her. Vidya glared at him. "Okay, we'll have a few servants, okay?"
"Fine. But you're still gonna cook for me sometimes. I don't want servants."
"Fine, you can cook for me till Monday through Saturday and on Sunday I'll cook for you, okay?"
Vidya huffed and laughed, "Fine." An hour later, Sagar had eaten and Vidya was into the movie again. She ate her popcorn happily. She yawned loudly, it was five AM.
"Sagar, I'm sleepy. Good night."
"More like good morning. But whatever, I'm sleepy too." Sagar stretched out on the sofa again. Vidya stomped upstairs. She changed and slept. Hours later, she felt shaking.
"Vidya, it's noon. Wake up." Sagar said urgently.
"Shut up. So damn loud. Go back to sleep." She groaned, Sagar shook his head.
"No, it's late. You don't get it. I was supposed to be at my house hours ago, eating breakfast with my family. You realize how much trouble I'm in?" He shook her harder. "I could get killed!"
"Don't talk about dying so early in the morning." She said, sitting up. Stretching, she yawned and said, "I sleep better with you here. So you were supposed to be at breakfast?" She asked, stepping out of bed. Her tank top rode up revealing her otherwise secret bellybutton ring and her basketball shorts were replaced with hoochie shorts. She stretched and touched her toes.
"Cute ass." Sagar muttered. She straightened quickly, "What?"
"Nothing." Sagar smirked. Vidya shook her hair out. It was a mess.
"I need to take a shower." Both said at once. "I go first." They both continued. Vidya glared at Sagar.
"Okay, it's your house. Go take a shower. I'll wait. I'll make breakfast." He grinned. Vidya rolled her eyes and grabbed a red towel, heading toward the bathroom.
Fifteen minutes later, she reported downstairs. Her hair was dripping but it was hot and she knew it would soon dry. She wore a green and orange salwar kameez with white choodiyan. She wore little to no jewelry but had silver jhumke on.
"Dude, what's up with you?" Sagar eyed her.
"Thanks, you look nice too."
"What's up with the outfit?" Sagar popped the toast out of the toaster.
"What's today?"
"15 August…Oh. But a salwar kameez? C'mon Vidya, that's a little much."
"I wear a salwar kameez every year today." She snatched the toast from his hand.
"Don't. You're staying at my house…oh man. Please wear something tiny…" He started. Vidya raised an eyebrow at him. "Why? I have to make a good impression."
"No you don't, it's not like we're getting married." Vidya smiled and stayed quiet. "We're not, are we?!?!" Vidya laughed.
"Just because I don't HAVE to make a good impression doesn't mean I don't want to. Your parents…they're very influential people." She replied diplomatically.
"As are yours. But you don't know my mom. If she likes you too much, then we're screwed. And I'm hoping my dad is off somewhere cuz if he sees me and you together then we're DEFINITELY screwed."
"We won't be screwed. Chill Sagar." She said, rubbing his back.
"Don't touch me in front of them!" He said, panicking. Vidya held back laughter.
"I wont, okay? I'll hope they don't like me okay?"
"No, you're just the type of girl they want for me to marry. Please don't be you…." He pleaded.
"Sagar, I think I'll be better off not coming. Would you like a new dare?" He looked at her expectantly, he nodded.
"I dare you to go without me for a week."
"What?"
"Yeah. No calling, emailing, meeting me for a week. You have a choice. Risk your parents liking me or go without me for seven days."
"Vidya…" He groaned, whining. She looked at him, waiting. She was biting back a smile truthfully, tormenting him was so much fun.
"Eat your breakfast, Vidya," He sighed, "Then I'll take you to my house."
"And tell them that you spent the night at my house?" She asked, biting into her now soggy toast. He glanced at her, angry but saw it had no affect. No body did the glaring except Vidya, he assumed.
"C'mon." He said, walking out the door.
"You're driving?"
"Yeah, what else? Are you?"
"You don't have a driver?"
"I do. Not for this though. This is Rhonda, no one
drives Rhonda but me."
"You named your car? That's lame." She said, turning the radio on. Sagar looked at her truly angry this time, she brought her hand back. "Sorry."
"You wearing a salwar kameez is lame."
"You're lame."
"Hence, you spent the night with me?" He smirked.
"I thought you didn't want to mention that?"
"I don't. Not in front of my parents, anyways. Say something like that to them and you'll end up with me as your husband for the rest of your life."
"That can't be that bad." Vidya smiled. Sagar smiled, glancing away at the road to see her.
"I'm starting to think you WANT to impress my parents." He said.
"You're the one volunteering to cook for me every Sunday."
"You volunteer to cook every other day." Sagar retorted tartly.
"No, I volunteered to do that for my husband not you. You however, volunteered to cook for me."
"So I did." He concluded. Sagar tried to glance at her again but couldn't without her taking notice.
"That could be taken as a proposal."
"My proposal will be far more extravagant." Sagar said, Vidya rolled her eyes.
"With your parents choosing your wife it better. Anyways, what's it to me?"
"You musn't remind me." He rolled his eyes. "So you seem to take this very seriously. Isn't yours arranged too?"
"Nah. Love. If I can find a guy that doesn't wanna beat the crap out of me." She laughed. Sagar looked at her, pained. Guilt crept over him. Vidya saw his frown.
"Oh no, I didn't mean you…I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Sagar, I'm sorry. I'm dumb." She laughed. Sagar pulled over.
"Why are you apologizing?" He sighed.
"Because I made you feel bad."
"I deserve to feel bad. I was wrong. You know what your problem is Vidya?" She looked at him. "You dwell on my words, you trust to easily, you believe too easily and then when things go wrong you blame yourself."
"Hmm." Vidya replied, looking into her lap. Sagar sighed; he wasn't getting through to her. He felt what she was emoting. She was ashamed, even now. He sensed it.
Hid voice went stern, but his eyes soft, "Look at me." He touched her face. She looked at him.
"Sagar…" Vidya smiled softly, fake. "I'm fine."
Sagar stared ahead to the unmoving road; he saw from the corner of his eye Vidya brush away a tear.
Sagar stared at her; she looked at him and then away. "Can we please go?" Sagar was angry, this was enough with being gentle.
"You think no guy can love you." Sagar stated matter-of-factly, he didn't care is she knew that he read her diary. "You think you're not worth it. You think everything that happened to you was somehow your fault."
Vidya looked at him, shocked. She snapped herself out of it. She brushed another tear off and laughed. "Sagar, this is a dumb conversation. I'm going home." She was about to open the door when he locked all of them with the automatic lock.
"You're not going anywhere."
"Sagar let me go." She said, stubborn.
"Why do you think that, Vidya?" He asked, confused. "I
don't get it."
"You're an insensitive jackass! You wanna hear? Listen!" She finally let a tear roll down her red cheek, she didn't brush it off. "I do believe no guy can love me. And I'm okay with that, so what is your problem?! Yes, everything was my fault! You were right I trust too easily, hence every guy I care about…"
"Hurts you?"
"Yeah! Harsh, Ali…"
"Me."
"And I'm so tired of everyone telling me it wasn't my fault! It was my fault! I went to that pool house, I wasn't good enough so I got cheated on, I was the one who slapped you…it was ME!"
"You went to the pool house, which was a lapse of judgment. Every one has those. Nobody deserves what happened to you. You got cheated on because the guy you dated was scum. And that day at the pool, I should've been slapped. I told you, I was way outa line."
"Sagar." She sighed. "My logic is very circular." She stated calmly, ceasing her tears. "Baby, I understand you want to help me. I've gone over this SO many times in my head, I'm fine. I'm over this. Please don't make me talk about it again."
"If you were okay with it, you would be able to talk about it. But it's okay. I won't press it on any further."
"Thank you. But I can handle myself quite well. Why do you care so much?" Vidya asked.
"I don't know…" Sagar muttered. He keyed the ignition. "Let's go meet my parents."
"Yay." She smiled childishly.
"This should be fun…" He said sarcastically.
kIrAn...E>GA<3 39309.9141435185
"Truth." Vidya said, her eyes challenging him openly.
"Who is the most important guy in your life?" He asked, interested. Vidya bit back a smile, taken aback by his attempt.
"My dad."
"Besides him…"
"Only one question allowed." She teased, reminding him.
His lips curled as he looked away. He was planning something. "You, truth or dare?"
"Truth."
"If society had no boundaries and everyone was allowed to do whatever they wanted…" Uh oh, intelligent question. "What would you do right this minute?" She tilted her head in anticipation.
"I'd wrestle you to the ground and kiss every part of you till my lips went numb and then fall asleep on top of you and then when morning came do it again." He said, looking her dead in the eye. That was much more of an answer then she had expected. She looked away and her cheeks flushed red. She thought to herself, you know what I think? I think you're in love with me.
"Funny Sagar…let me tell you, Truth."
"If society had no boundaries and everyone was allowed to do whatever they wanted…" He echoed her, mocking lightly. "What would YOU do?" I'd let you…She thought, unsmiling.
"Well, I'd order Chinese every day, and I would never pay for any of my books. And I'd have someone live here with me, I hate living alone." Sagar frowned, she was such a tease. Vidya smiled at Sagar's expression. I'm not a tease darling, just a reminder of what you can't have.
"I should stay the night." Sagar concluded firmly.
"No, you should go home and let me spend the rest of the night in peace."
"Oh c'mon, Vidya. Don't you trust me?" He said, winking. She shook her head.
"Nope. Eat." She served him a plate. He ate the pasta quietly, frowning the whole time.
"You can stay till tomorrow…" Vidya sighed. Truth was, she hated being alone too. It was hard and scary. In this huge house, being alone was terrifying. It was like in that movie Kaun? With Urmila….wait, wasn't she the psycho murderer in that one? Whatever, Vidya thought, it's still scary.
After eating, Vidya went in her room; she didn't come out for a long time. The door was open, Sagar peaked in. Vidya was carelessly strung on her bed, asleep with a hardcopy version of Angels and Demons by Dan Brown lying across her chest. Her hair was oiled back into a thick braid and she wore her reading glasses. Sagar smiled, she was still adorable. Stepping into the room, he saw her shiver. He pulled a blanket over her and gingerly pulled her glasses off.
Twisting, Vidya caught Sagar's arm in her sleep and pulled it under her.
"Great." Sagar laughed quietly, sarcastically applauding his timing. She held his hand tightly beneath her cheek. Sagar looked at her; she looked angelic in her slumber. His thumb traced the outline of her lips.
"Mmm…" Vidya mumbled in her sleep, parting her mouth. Warm breath ran across Sagar's hand. He smiled. Slowly he pulled his hand away.
He walked out of the room, silently making his way downstairs. He turned the TV on and began watching whatever was on…the title song to Kaisa Yeh Pyaar Hai played. He groaned, thinking out loud.
"I don't get what she sees in him." He said, scoffing at Angad signing a mass of girls with lipstick.
He heard a loud yawn and saw Vidya come down stairs, her hair wet. She had washed the oil out. She glowed in her teal mesh basketball shorts that sat comfortably along her waist; it went down, brushing against her knees. She wore a tight black tank, complimenting her curves. It was simple but so gorgeous.
"Did you come in my room?" She asked, frowning when Sagar changed the channel away from Kaisa Yeh Pyaar Hai.
"Yeah. Why?" He smiled, he wanted to hear her excuse.
"Cuz it felt like I was holding your hand in my sleep,
it was weird."
"Why did you feel that?" He mused.
"I dunno. I recognized your scent." She cursed herself, not the best statement to say to Mr. Bighead but whatever. She waited for him to say something witty and teasing when he didn't, she silently thanked him and
moved on.
"You wanna continue that game of ours?" Sagar said, heading to the kitchen. She raised an eyebrow before it registered that it was her house that he was so comfortable in. She rolled her eyes.
"I don't care. What are you doing in my kitchen?" She shouted behind him.
"I'm hungry. Aren't you?"
"We ate like…three hours ago. You're a pig." She said, standing before the storm door. She heard him argue something but was lost in the weather.
"What's wrong with you?" said Sagar, with a bowl of popcorn seeing Vidya entranced. Her face lit as she watched the raindrops fall to the heated red earth. Sagar shook his head.
"You like the rain. Me too. Remember that day in Chemistry…"
"When I left to go to the bathroom and went to the courtyard and came back like half an hour later?"
"And you were completely drenched. And I commented on how dumb you were."
"And then we completely dissed each other out." Vidya threw her head back and laughed. She noticed Sagar's eyes on her, her laughter stopped.
"What is wrong with you these days?" She asked him, dropping some popcorn in her mouth.
"Me? What's wrong with me?" He ate some popcorn, making his way to the entertainment center, changing the subject, "Wanna watch a movie?"
She mumbled something angrily. Sagar smiled, "I guess that means yes. Oh my god, you have this movie? It's the best." He held up Naina, a thriller that she forgot that she owned. Oh god, she thought as he popped the
DVD in.
"I don't really do well with horror movies… I get nightmares."
"I'll sleep with you if you want." He smirked, pressing the eject button on the DVD, taking the disc out replacing it with DDLJ. Vidya rolled her eyes, "You can if you want." She said, joking. Sagar's eyes grew wide as he was about to say something filled with mischief, Vidya added quickly, "I was joking."
"I know, tum kya samjhe?" He winked. Vidya rolled her eyes again. She was immersed into the movie completely when the power went out. She looked to her side, only to find Sagar not there.
"Sagar…?" She called out, lighting a candle. She liked candlelight but it was raining hard and she saw lightning. Thunder roared in applause as she made her way into the kitchen. "Sagar, yaar where did you go?...this is really not funny you know."
"What's not funny?" Sagar asked, holding a bowl of popcorn. She held onto him tightly.
"What?" He laughed, rubbing her back, putting the bowl down.
"I was scared. I am scared…I thought you left me." She said, hugging him still tightly. It sounded so childish but she wasn't the most articulate in expressing her fears. Especially her fear of being alone which was seemingly baseless.
"I'm here. Why would I leave you?" He said, talking down into her hair. He feared what he might do if she wouldn't let go. He peeled her off him and said, "Let's go back into the living room." She nodded and led him back. They sat in candlelit darkness for a while in silence.
"You wanna finish that game?" Vidya asked, breaking the silence. Sagar looked at her questioning, "Sure. Truth or Dare?"
"Truth." She smiled.
"Have you seriously forgiven me for that day at the poolhouse?"
"Completely." She smiled, "I think you should forget about that day. Anyways, you…T or D?"
"Truth."
"Are you in love with someone?" Vidya beamed brighter than the lone candle. He sighed. Was he?
"I don't know…how can you tell?" He groaned.
"You'll care about her a lot, and you'll never hurt her
and you won't be able to see her cry. You'll always want to keep her happy, even if it means staying unhappy yourself…" Her voice trailed off, she wondered what was wrong with her that no one felt like that for
her.
"Vidya…?" Sagar asked, pulling her out of her trance. She nodded, "Dare."
"Sing for me."
"What?" She asked, he smirked and nodded. She groaned. "Not much, okay?"
She closed her eyes and thought of a song, she picked her favorite bridge of the song Aa Bhi Ja by Ganesh Hegde's album G. (Great Song, you should hear it…it's a long song, but the bridge is GREAT, according to me.)
tu meri basam , tu hi tanhai hai
tu hi meri ghazal, tu meri ruahai hai
tu mera hamkaram, to mera hamnawa,
tu hi mera sanam, tu hi mera khuda.
radha pukaare kahan koye ho kanhaiya
radha pukaare kahan koye ho kanhaiya
Aa bhi jaa
Aise na tharsa
Aa bhi jaa
Aa bhi jaaa…
yeh nazar ka dhoka hai ya dil ki dillagi
door milte dikh rahe hai aasman zameen
faasalon ki rehguzar hai darmiyan
paas reh kar bhi yeh kasi hai dooriyan
Khoj rahi hai piya
pardesi akhiyan
Khoj rahi hai piya
pardesi akhiyan
Aa bhi jaa
Aise na tharsa
Aa bhi jaa
Aa bhi jaaa…
"Vidya…" Sagar said, breathless and wide-eyed. "That was amazing."
"Thank you, liar. Anyways, your turn…"
"Dare."
"I dare you to let me stay at your house for a night."
"What? Nnn-nn-o. My parents are home…." He said stuttering obviously, his parents were good, old-fashioned people. They thought girls and boys could NOT be just friends. They barely went any where, and they barely let anyone into their homes. Everyone knew how Sagar Pratap Singh's parents were.
"I know." Vidya smirked.
"So tonight I stay at your place and tomorrow night you stay at mine?" Vidya nodded happily. "You're gonna get me in sooooo much trouble." Sagar groaned.
"I know." Vidya clapped her hands in glee.
"It's getting late," Sagar said, suddenly tired. "You should go to sleep."
"No. I don't sleep much these days; I'd rather…do something." Vidya said happily. Like a spoiled sport, Sagar laid down on the sofa, turning his back to Vidya. "Tomorrow is going to be a long day…" He groaned. Vidya sat on the floor behind him for hours, not moving not making any noise. Hours later, she shook him awake.
"Sagar." She said, tapping his arm.
"Vidya…what the heck? Can't a guy sleep?" He asked groggily, his hair was disheveled and eyes were puffy. Vidya wished she had her camera, she bit back a smile.
"Are you mad at me?" She asked childishly.
"Yes. It's 3 in the morning…I want to sleep, so yeah I'm mad."
"Not about that…about the dare. If you want, you don't have to do it."
"Sagar Pratap Singh never goes back on his word. Let me sleep. Didn't you sleep any?" He asked, sitting up scrubbing his face. He ran his hands through his hair with vigor.
"No, I couldn't sleep." She said embarrassed.
"Why?"
"Um…I couldn't with you here. I don't know. I told you I'm weird with these things…I thought you were mad at
me."
"You couldn't sleep cuz I was here?" Sagar mused, Vidya glared at him. "No, I'm not mad. Scared out of my mind, yes but mad? No."
"Scared? Sagar Pratap Singh never gets scared…" She teased, he smiled sarcastically.
"When it comes to his parents, like hell he does." Sagar said, quite obviously. He got up and stretched his arms, his shirt rode up to reveal his abs. Vidya tried not to look, uncomfortably she asked, "Want coffee or something?"
"Hm, sure. Power's back." He proclaimed.
"I know, it came back at 2: 48…I was bored. I felt like waking you up then but I decided not to."
"So you've been up since…"
"Eleven. And it's four now. I was bored out of my mind." She laughed guiltily.
"Why didn't you wake me up?" He asked, annoyed. She shrugged and handed him the mug of coffee. He sipped it, it was luke warm and prepared just the way he liked it.
"You make the best coffee." Sagar said, Vidya smiled as she sipped her own mug. "You don't drink coffee." He stated.
"I do now. Black. The best." She smiled.
"Gross, Vidya." He joked. Vidya rolled her eyes. She sighed, still bored. Waking Sagar up was a bad idea, she presumed. He was no fun.
"Let's finish that movie." Sagar said, noticing her boredom. She nodded and he pressed play, since the DVD to DDLJ was already there.
"Can you imagine going through all that trouble for someone you like?" Sagar mocked the movie.
"Someone you love." Vidya corrected angrily.
"Whatever. Love…right. I'm going to get something to eat."
"Bring me popcorn!"
"Vidya all you've ate yesterday and today is popcorn. Don't you want any real food?"
"Nah. Food no fun. Me want popcorn. Sagar, you know I could live off popcorn, right?"
"I noticed." He said, putting a bag of Pop Secret in the microwave.
"Why, are you hungry? I'll cook you something, unless you don't want my cooking." She glared at him.
"No, I'll eat anything. I'm starved."
"What do you want?" Vidya asked, scrimmaging through her cabinets.
"I want chicken." He said, searching the fridge.
"I'm vegetarian…" She glared.
"Yeah, I know, That must really suck."
"Nope. It's GREAT. What do you want besides meat?"
"Um…chinese sounds good."
"I'll make you some vegetable fried rice."
"Whatever, I'm starved." Sagar said, opening the drawer
and took out a knife. He pulled a carrot out of the fridge, he began peeling the carrot above the sink. Vidya smiled, and kissed him on the cheek "I've taught you well, I'm sure your future wife will be very pleased."
"No way. My wife will be doing all the cooking." He said, frowning despite the kiss planted upon his cheek.
"I'd want my husband to cook for me sometimes…it gets tiresome…"
"Well maybe sometimes, but the rest of the time, it'll be all you."
"Whatever. I refuse to cook and clean all the time."
"Well you're gonna have to." Sagar laughed at her. Vidya glared at him. "Okay, we'll have a few servants, okay?"
"Fine. But you're still gonna cook for me sometimes. I don't want servants."
"Fine, you can cook for me till Monday through Saturday and on Sunday I'll cook for you, okay?"
Vidya huffed and laughed, "Fine." An hour later, Sagar had eaten and Vidya was into the movie again. She ate her popcorn happily. She yawned loudly, it was five AM.
"Sagar, I'm sleepy. Good night."
"More like good morning. But whatever, I'm sleepy too." Sagar stretched out on the sofa again. Vidya stomped upstairs. She changed and slept. Hours later, she felt shaking.
"Vidya, it's noon. Wake up." Sagar said urgently.
"Shut up. So damn loud. Go back to sleep." She groaned, Sagar shook his head.
"No, it's late. You don't get it. I was supposed to be at my house hours ago, eating breakfast with my family. You realize how much trouble I'm in?" He shook her harder. "I could get killed!"
"Don't talk about dying so early in the morning." She said, sitting up. Stretching, she yawned and said, "I sleep better with you here. So you were supposed to be at breakfast?" She asked, stepping out of bed. Her tank top rode up revealing her otherwise secret bellybutton ring and her basketball shorts were replaced with hoochie shorts. She stretched and touched her toes.
"Cute ass." Sagar muttered. She straightened quickly, "What?"
"Nothing." Sagar smirked. Vidya shook her hair out. It was a mess.
"I need to take a shower." Both said at once. "I go first." They both continued. Vidya glared at Sagar.
"Okay, it's your house. Go take a shower. I'll wait. I'll make breakfast." He grinned. Vidya rolled her eyes and grabbed a red towel, heading toward the bathroom.
Fifteen minutes later, she reported downstairs. Her hair was dripping but it was hot and she knew it would soon dry. She wore a green and orange salwar kameez with white choodiyan. She wore little to no jewelry but had silver jhumke on.
"Dude, what's up with you?" Sagar eyed her.
"Thanks, you look nice too."
"What's up with the outfit?" Sagar popped the toast out of the toaster.
"What's today?"
"15 August…Oh. But a salwar kameez? C'mon Vidya, that's a little much."
"I wear a salwar kameez every year today." She snatched the toast from his hand.
"Don't. You're staying at my house…oh man. Please wear something tiny…" He started. Vidya raised an eyebrow at him. "Why? I have to make a good impression."
"No you don't, it's not like we're getting married." Vidya smiled and stayed quiet. "We're not, are we?!?!" Vidya laughed.
"Just because I don't HAVE to make a good impression doesn't mean I don't want to. Your parents…they're very influential people." She replied diplomatically.
"As are yours. But you don't know my mom. If she likes you too much, then we're screwed. And I'm hoping my dad is off somewhere cuz if he sees me and you together then we're DEFINITELY screwed."
"We won't be screwed. Chill Sagar." She said, rubbing his back.
"Don't touch me in front of them!" He said, panicking. Vidya held back laughter.
"I wont, okay? I'll hope they don't like me okay?"
"No, you're just the type of girl they want for me to marry. Please don't be you…." He pleaded.
"Sagar, I think I'll be better off not coming. Would you like a new dare?" He looked at her expectantly, he nodded.
"I dare you to go without me for a week."
"What?"
"Yeah. No calling, emailing, meeting me for a week. You have a choice. Risk your parents liking me or go without me for seven days."
"Vidya…" He groaned, whining. She looked at him, waiting. She was biting back a smile truthfully, tormenting him was so much fun.
"Eat your breakfast, Vidya," He sighed, "Then I'll take you to my house."
"And tell them that you spent the night at my house?" She asked, biting into her now soggy toast. He glanced at her, angry but saw it had no affect. No body did the glaring except Vidya, he assumed.
"C'mon." He said, walking out the door.
"You're driving?"
"Yeah, what else? Are you?"
"You don't have a driver?"
"I do. Not for this though. This is Rhonda, no one
drives Rhonda but me."
"You named your car? That's lame." She said, turning the radio on. Sagar looked at her truly angry this time, she brought her hand back. "Sorry."
"You wearing a salwar kameez is lame."
"You're lame."
"Hence, you spent the night with me?" He smirked.
"I thought you didn't want to mention that?"
"I don't. Not in front of my parents, anyways. Say something like that to them and you'll end up with me as your husband for the rest of your life."
"That can't be that bad." Vidya smiled. Sagar smiled, glancing away at the road to see her.
"I'm starting to think you WANT to impress my parents." He said.
"You're the one volunteering to cook for me every Sunday."
"You volunteer to cook every other day." Sagar retorted tartly.
"No, I volunteered to do that for my husband not you. You however, volunteered to cook for me."
"So I did." He concluded. Sagar tried to glance at her again but couldn't without her taking notice.
"That could be taken as a proposal."
"My proposal will be far more extravagant." Sagar said, Vidya rolled her eyes.
"With your parents choosing your wife it better. Anyways, what's it to me?"
"You musn't remind me." He rolled his eyes. "So you seem to take this very seriously. Isn't yours arranged too?"
"Nah. Love. If I can find a guy that doesn't wanna beat the crap out of me." She laughed. Sagar looked at her, pained. Guilt crept over him. Vidya saw his frown.
"Oh no, I didn't mean you…I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Sagar, I'm sorry. I'm dumb." She laughed. Sagar pulled over.
"Why are you apologizing?" He sighed.
"Because I made you feel bad."
"I deserve to feel bad. I was wrong. You know what your problem is Vidya?" She looked at him. "You dwell on my words, you trust to easily, you believe too easily and then when things go wrong you blame yourself."
"Hmm." Vidya replied, looking into her lap. Sagar sighed; he wasn't getting through to her. He felt what she was emoting. She was ashamed, even now. He sensed it.
Hid voice went stern, but his eyes soft, "Look at me." He touched her face. She looked at him.
"Sagar…" Vidya smiled softly, fake. "I'm fine."
Sagar stared ahead to the unmoving road; he saw from the corner of his eye Vidya brush away a tear.
Sagar stared at her; she looked at him and then away. "Can we please go?" Sagar was angry, this was enough with being gentle.
"You think no guy can love you." Sagar stated matter-of-factly, he didn't care is she knew that he read her diary. "You think you're not worth it. You think everything that happened to you was somehow your fault."
Vidya looked at him, shocked. She snapped herself out of it. She brushed another tear off and laughed. "Sagar, this is a dumb conversation. I'm going home." She was about to open the door when he locked all of them with the automatic lock.
"You're not going anywhere."
"Sagar let me go." She said, stubborn.
"Why do you think that, Vidya?" He asked, confused. "I
don't get it."
"You're an insensitive jackass! You wanna hear? Listen!" She finally let a tear roll down her red cheek, she didn't brush it off. "I do believe no guy can love me. And I'm okay with that, so what is your problem?! Yes, everything was my fault! You were right I trust too easily, hence every guy I care about…"
"Hurts you?"
"Yeah! Harsh, Ali…"
"Me."
"And I'm so tired of everyone telling me it wasn't my fault! It was my fault! I went to that pool house, I wasn't good enough so I got cheated on, I was the one who slapped you…it was ME!"
"You went to the pool house, which was a lapse of judgment. Every one has those. Nobody deserves what happened to you. You got cheated on because the guy you dated was scum. And that day at the pool, I should've been slapped. I told you, I was way outa line."
"Sagar." She sighed. "My logic is very circular." She stated calmly, ceasing her tears. "Baby, I understand you want to help me. I've gone over this SO many times in my head, I'm fine. I'm over this. Please don't make me talk about it again."
"If you were okay with it, you would be able to talk about it. But it's okay. I won't press it on any further."
"Thank you. But I can handle myself quite well. Why do you care so much?" Vidya asked.
"I don't know…" Sagar muttered. He keyed the ignition. "Let's go meet my parents."
"Yay." She smiled childishly.
"This should be fun…" He said sarcastically.
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