YOU'RE STILL THE ONE
Part 17
Abhi and Nikki were both very quiet as they headed toward Nikki's home after the dinner. Nikki's eyes were closed, her fingers were scratching Goofy at his neck lovingly, as he was sleeping peacefully on her lap. There was a smile on her face as she was listening to their favourite song .......'You're still the one'
Today, for the first time, he realized how close she was to Armaan and her friends! This reality had hit him, when his mother had analyzed Nikki's past! Armaan and her friends were her family now! They were the ones she had chosen to love and who loved her back. Armaan held a very special place in her life ... he was the one who had stuck to her through the ups and downs of her life. And there was no way she was ever going to let Armaan down! She would never let anyone, especially who loved her, down! And this thought brought a wave of satisfaction within him, which he could not even explain to himself!
Today, he had taken a big leap in understanding her better. And one thing he understood very clearly was how different they both were. He on one hand, had closed all the doors to his heart when his father had left him! Whereas, she was the one who had walked out on her parents so that she could open the doors to her heart so that she can choose to love anyone who had love to offer her. He had not only lost his father, but also everyone else along with him, except ofcourse his mom and Tiu. She on other hand, had decided to give up 2 people who did not love her, to gain many more who loved her unconditionally! He had imprisoned himself, where as Nikki had set herself free! She was now on a high, enjoying her freedom after 18 long years . She had been deprived of love in her childhood, and she had chosen to fill each and every corner of her adult life with so much love that there will never be any dearth of it ever again in her life. Now her life was filled with people who loved her ...... Armaan .... her friends .... Ayesha .... Goofy ..... and now Sid too. So where did he fit into all this, what did he mean to her, he wondered?
There were a lot of things he needed to figure out, before their relationship could move ahead, he thought seriously. First, this animosity between him and Armaan had to be sorted out! And now there was Siddhant Shah too! He wasn't sure what was going on there! What did Nikki feel for Siddhant? Was he just a friend to her? What did Siddhant feel for Nikki? Was Nikki going to continue making friends like this all her life? Not before long, he will be a dead man! Diagnosed with extreme case of jealousy! He found it very difficult to share her with anyone! But it was a given .... that he will have to learn to share her with a lot of people and creatures .... like dogs .... cats .... wolves .... and god knows who all ... else he would loose her!
When they reached her home, he saw that she was fast asleep. He tried to wake her up, but she did not move. But Goofy moved his eyes! And for the first time he did not bark at Abhi! He looked around for her purse and then her keys which he found easily.
Coming around the other side of the car, he opened the door. Goofy promptly got out of her lap and jumped out. Abhi slowly carried her in his arms and walked towards her house as Goofy followed them. She was amazing, she kept on sleeping all thru this hustle!
When he reached the main door, he managed to open it with a bit of struggle, with her in his arms. He entered the house and headed straight for her bedroom. He put her down gently on the bed, removed her sandals, covered her with her comforter, tucking her in. Then suddenly, he bent down and gave her a gentle kiss on her forehead and said, 'Goodnight, my love!'. He saw that Goofy had also jumped on to her bed and snuggled close to her, looking very safe and satisfied. He had a smug look on his face as he stared at Abhi, as if telling him to leave! Abhi just shook his head as he starred back at the little devil, and thought now he had one more reason to get irritated with him!
Goofy and Abhi starring at each other -
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Tia sat in her room at her bay window gazing at the moon with her legs pulled close to herself and her chin resting on her knees. They had just seen Nikki off, who left with her Bhai, for her home. She was thinking about what all happened today! A smile erupted on her face thinking how happy she was for her brother! Nikki, as she discovered today, was an amazing person! And a perfect match for Abhi! He was tall, she was short. He was big, she was small. He was serious, she was fun. He was a 'sadu' as they all had called him .... and she was crazy! And she knew her brother was head over heels in love with her, though he may not accept it himself yet, she was sure! His action today proved that she had been right all along. Now all she had to do was find out how deep Nikki felt for her brother! Tia was sure that Nikki too felt something strong for him, but she had to be certain!
/////////
As Nikki and Sid were deeply engrossed, working on their final draft of their report, they heard a knock on the door, they were surprised to see Tia Modi walk into the cabin.
'Hi, Nikki!' she said to Nikki, ignoring Sid. 'Do you have some time? I need to talk to you about something,' giving her a big smile.
'Hi, Tia!' Nikki replied giving her an apprehensive smile. 'How come you are here? I thought you were joining from Monday.'
'Oh, that is a long story!' she said, now looking at Sid's irritated expression.
'Do you mind, Miss Modi? We are trying to get some work done here!' he exclaimed.
'We?' Tia taunted him with a smirk.
Sid looked at her with cold eyes and turning towards Nikki said,
'Nikki, can please finish with her fast so that she can leave asap!' he said getting up from his chair and walking towards the door. As he passed Tia, he heard Tia say,
' Siddhant, you do not need to leave! Whatever I need to say won't take much time', she said sweetly. Then looking at Nikki, she continued,
'Nikki, I wanted to thank you for yesterday! We had such a great time! I am so glad you could come over for dinner! Ma sent her special thanks too and said she hopes that you will come over more often.'
Tia heard Sid swear under his breath as he stopped in his track. Turning back towards Nikki, he asked accusingly,
'Were you at Dr. Modi's house for dinner yesterday?'
Nikki was embarrassed .... and did not know what to say .....
'Sid, listen ......' Nikki tried to explain to him.
'Nikki, I did not expect this from you!' saying this in a hurt tone, once again turned to leave the room.
'Thanks!' he murmured to Tia as he passed her and left without another word.
Tia was shocked to see the hurt look in his eyes. She had never expected her words to affect him so deeply! Then she shook herself out of her thoughts and said to herself,
'Hell, how do I care! He deserves it, for coming in between Bhai and Nikki!'
Then turning towards Nikki, she asked,
'Nikki, what was that? Did I say something wrong?' Tia asked innocently.
Nikki did not reply to her immediately.
'Nikki? You alright?' she asked again, unable to understand Nikki's reaction.
'Oh no, Tia! Now I have hurt him! I shouldn't have let Abhi hijack me like that for dinner yesterday! I had called Sid over to my place for work after dinner, and in all the hustle created by your brother, completely forgot to inform Sid not to come. Finally, when he landed at my place and found that I wasn't there, he was worried if something was wrong. And when he came to know that, all was fine, but there had been a change in my plans he got irritated with me because I had not even bothered to inform him about it. I did not tell him about the dinner at your place, thinking it will make him even more angry .... you see, Tia, Sid and Abhi don't get long too well!' Nikki said with a worried expression.
Tia did not know how to respond. She could see that Nikki genuinely liked Sid and did not want to hurt him.
'I am sorry, Nikki! This is all my fault. I should have just kept my big mouth shut' she said feeling a tad bad about the whole thing. All she had wanted to do was send a signal to Sid to keep away from Nikki. But now she had ended up hurting Nikki.
'Oh no, Tia! It is not your fault. If anyone has to be blamed, it's me. Sid is really a nice person and is trying his best for the project too. But if anything goes wrong now, I am to be blamed. This project is so important for Abhi, and if we loose the financing ......' she said sadly, excusing herself and going behind Sid.
///////
Nikki found Sid, sitting by himself at the basket ball court. He was deep in thought. Nikki went and sat down next to him quietly. Both of them sat in silence with out speaking to each other for some time. Finally,
'Nikki, why did you lie to me?' Sid asked her finally with accusing eyes.
'Sid, I did not lie! I just left out a detail!' she said defending herself.
'An important detail!'
'Yes, but you were already irritated with me, and if you had known that I had gone for dinner with Dr. Modi, you would have been really angry!' she said sadly.
'Why, Nikki? Why do you think I would have been angry?'
Nikki did not reply .... she was very quiet .... then slowly she said,
'Well, Sid, you see, I know you do not like Dr. Modi. Infact, no one likes Dr. Modi. Non of my friends like him. But I ......' she stopped unable to say anything further.
'But you what, Nikki?' he asked softly. 'But you like him?' he asked looking at her intently not moving his eyes from hers. Then he continued, 'You very well know why I do not like him. I have nothing personal against him. He may be a good person, but the way he treated you was not acceptable to me. And I would have stood up to him for any of my other friends too, not just you. And why should it matter to you if I like him or not? We are friends, Nikki .... that does not give me a right to choose your friends too!' he expressed vehemently.
'So are you saying, Sid, that it does not matter to you if I am friends with Dr. Modi or not?' You would not have been angry with me if I had told you that I was with him yesterday?' she asked him innocently, now she was looking straight into his eyes with surprise.
'Nikki, I was angry because you did not inform me about the change in plans. That's it! It does not matter whether you were with Dr. Modi or decided to take a walk with Goofy on the moon! That has no consequence!' he said.
Again there was a silence between them. But this time it was a silence of understanding. Slowly, Nikki turned towards Sid, then holding her ears, making a puppy face said,
'Accha baba, please forgive me! In future, I will never lie to you! Please, apni yeh stupid friend ki stupid galti koh maaf kar do!'
Looking at her innocent sulking face, Sid could make out immediately, that the drama queen was turning all her charms to melt his anger. And she was succeeding too! Slowly a smile erupted on his face, and taping her softly on both her cheeks, he said,
'Nikki, you have to be the biggest Drama Queen I have ever seen! Accha chalo maaf kia! Agge se mujhse kabhi jooth maat bolna, ok?' he said.
And Nikki spontaneously jumped and gave him a friendly hug.
'Thanks, Sid. Thanks for forgiving me. I will never do it again!' she said with happiness and excitement.
What Nikki did not realize was that, their whole interaction was being watched by Abhi and Tia. And now when Tia turned towards her brother, she could see that he was roaring mad. His teeth were clenched in anger and his jaw was held stiffly. His eyes were cold and he was clenching and unclenching his fist, as if trying to control his anger. And then he suddenly pushed his hands inside his pockets and said,
'Chale, Tia?' and without waiting for an answer started moving towards his car in long angry strides.
Tia just followed him. She decided not to say anything now. But after some time, seeing that he was still very angry, holding on to the steering wheel tightly and not taking off his eyes from the road even for a second, she changed her mind. Softly she said,
'You know, Bhai! Sometimes things are not as they appear! Our eyes see what you want them to see!'
Abhi looked at her with a surprise! How did she guess what he had been thinking? He was amazed at his little Tia. He did not know when she had grown up so much and how she understood him so well!
'Thanks, Tiu! I love u, little sis! No one understands me like you do!' he said, covering her hand with his and giving it a loving squeeze.
///////////////
As Nikki and Sid were walking back to finish off their work, Nikki's mobile rang.
'Hi Armaan! Where are u guys? At the cafeteria? Ok, fine we will be there in a bit.' She said with a smile.
'Sid, Armaan says they are waiting in the cafeteria for us to finalize about our picnic, shall we go there for a while? Then we can head back and get our report done.' Nikki said turning to Sid, who she was glad to see was back to normal.
'No problem, lets go! Anyway my body is craving for the caffeine burst!' he said with a smile.
When they entered the cafeteria, they found Armaan and Ridhzi sitting there alone by themselves. Armaan as usual was flirting with her. And Riddhima was blushing.
'Kya Armaan, do you never get tired .... of flirting with her, kabhi toh bechari koh akela chodo?' Sid said jokingly, which made Riddhima blush even more.
'Aare, Sid, didn't u know? These girls enjoy the attention we shower on them. They just like to pretend that they are bored with us. But if you ignore them for a minute also, you are dead, man! They will throw a tantrum, and then you will have to spend next couple of days trying to patao and manao them! Instead better to keep them happy in the first place!' he said with a mischievous look towards Ridhzi.
'Oh ho .... so you were keeping Riddhima happy, is it?' Nikki retorted. Nikki winked at Riddhima and sat down next to her.
'Yes, meri nani!' Armaan replied. 'Sid so tell me, what's the plan for Sunday?' he asked looking at Sid.
Nikki was now looking at Riddhima, trying to tell her something through her eyes. Then she looked at Armaan, and said,
'Armaan, wait! I want to tell you something first! Before we plan anything further!' she looked nervous and they all could see her collecting all her efforts to carry on.
'Nikki, kya baat hai! What is worrying you?' Riddhzi asked her.
'Armaan' she said looking into his eyes, 'I plan to invite Tia and Dr. Modi for the picnic'.
There was silence around the table. All the three of them kept on looking at her as if she had gone mad. But then Riddhima was the first one to recover.
'Nikki, that's a great idea. Tia is such a sweet girl. I am sure she is a fun person too. It will be nice to know her better' she said.
Armaan still did not respond, but gave an angry look to Riddhima.
'Thanks, Riddhima! Armaan tum kya soch rahe ho! Why are you so quiet?' she looked from Armaan to Sid. He had also not spoken a word. 'Sid, what do you think, isn't is a good idea?' she tried to garner in his support.
'Nikki, you know I cannot stand that girl! She irritates me so much with her attitude! She thinks she is Queen of Sheeba and we are mere mortals! But I don't care I will just ignore her, if calling her makes you happy!' he said giving in to her request.
'And Dr. Modi?' she probed him further.
'You already know my opinion about that! If you think you want his company, you can go ahead and invite him too!' he said.
Armaan was really angry now.
'What's wrong with you guys? He is not our friend! Nikki, you know how he treats you! I do not understand why you want to call him! Hasn't he insulted you enough! I just do not understand what you see in that guy! He does not deserve friends like us! He has let us down once and that is more than enough!' he said glaring at Nikki.
'Armaan ....' Riddhima tried to stop his onslaught on Dr. Modi. But it was of no use.
'Nikki, if he comes, I drop out! Do you understand! I am not going anywhere with him!' he continued in his anger.
'Armaan, are you telling me to choose between you and him?' Nikki said with a soft voice.
'Yes', he replied vehemently.
'And you know very well, whom I would choose, don't you, Armaan? You are my best friend and you are my family! You have seen me thru my ups and downs and you have never let me down! Do you think I would ever choose anyone or anything above you? But do you think you are being fair?' she continued as she saw Armaan's eyes softening.
'And I also know that you are against Dr. Modi only because you thought he was taking advantage of me!' she continued.
'Nikki, I did not think, I know. And you also know!' he exclaimed in anger.
'No, Armaan. That is where you are wrong! I had thought at one point in time that he was taking advantage of me. But I was wrong, very wrong!' she said with hurt in her eyes. 'He has never ever taken advantage of me. Infact, he has always looked out for me, protected me, and wanted the best for me!' she said sadly.
'Nikki, you are too innocent! You have no idea how men think ... ' he continued.
'Armaan, you need to trust me on this one, please! I know what I am doing here! Please give me a chance to prove to you that I am right, that I can take care of myself! It means a lot to me! Armaan, just give me some time, to show to you, that he is good person, and there is a lot you do not know about him!' she said pleadingly, with her eyes starting to water now.
Armaan knew that he could never deny her anything when she asked him like that. Even she she knew that. But he was just not ready to risk Nikki getting hurt ....
'Nikki .....' he started, but this time his resolve was weakening. And Ridhzi saw this and took advantage of that.
'Please Armaan. Give Nikki a chance. Even I feel that Dr. Modi is nice guy and if Nikki wants to be friends with him, we should all accept him, please! Please Armaan, can't you do that much for your two best girls!' she asked with her sweetest smile.
'Riddhzi, you keep out of this! This is between Nikki and me!' he said getting irritated at her.
'Armaan, that was so mean of you! What do you mean it is between me and you and Riddhzi has no say in it! Riddhzi is my friend! And she has every right to say anything she wants in all matters related to me! So who are you to tell her no!' Nikki got angry now at Armaan, feeling bad that he had shouted at Riddhzi because of her.
'Jane de Nikki, he never understands me!' Riddhzi told Nikki in a hurt tone.
Armaan was now flustered ... he was the one who was supposed to be angry. But now Riddhima and Nikki were both angry at him ..... uff these girls, he thought ....
'Guys, guys, guys ....., ek picnic ki toh baat haina? What's the big deal? I think we should just let Dr. Modi and Tia join in. Kya pata, we may actually end up liking them. Nikki cannot be so wrong, afterall we all are also her friends, na? And we are not bad, right? Infact, we are the best!' Sid said trying to make light of the whole situation.
Nikki, kept looking pleadingly at Armaan, until finally he accepted,
'Fine! Fine! I give up! You can call them. But please do not except me to talk to him or be friends with him. I will just ignore him.' Armaan said, still not giving up completely.
'Armaan! That's not fair! You cannot do that!' Nikki said sulkingly.
'What now? I have to be decent to him too! Nikki, now you are asking too much! Don't push me, else I will go back where I started from, ok?' he said in mock anger.
'Oh, I love you so much, Armaan! Just promise me that you will not fight with him, that all? Mere liye, please!' she continued manipulating him, not giving up still, walking around the table to stand next to him.
'Nikki ki bachi! Please please kareke, sari batein manvali mujhse! But I tell you, if he hurts you, I will kill him there and then, do you understand? I will not listen to you or your pleases, sumjhi?' he said now hugging her tightly. There was a trace of tears in Nikkis eyes, but she was so happy that finally Armaan had relented and agreed to give her a chance.
She thanked Sid and Ridhzi too, thru her eyes! She was so lucky to have such fabulous friends! And just then they were joined in by some more fab friends, who wanted to know what was going on!
'What, Dr. Modi? No way!' Nikki heard once again ..... and there, she had to start all over again .... to convince the rest of her dear friends to give him another chance ... and how it was never his fault in the first place.
But finally she succeeded! And it was decided that she will be inviting Tia and Dr. Modi for the picnic.
////////////
After leaving the cafeteria, Nikki headed to Sid's cabin along with him. On the way she excused herself and told him that she will join him in a few minutes.
She entered the fire escape and dialled Abhi's number.
'Hello!' she heard Abhi's agitated voice.
'Hi, Abhi! Where are you? In sanjeevani?' she asked even though she knew it was late for him to be here.
'No Nikki, I am at home. What do you want?' he asked her a bit coldly.
'Can I talk to Tia?' she asked deciding it will be better to talk to Tia instead.
After a few seconds, she heard Tia's pleasant voice,
'Hi Nikki! Whatz up!'
'Hi Tia, what are you doing on Sunday? Are you free for the day?' Nikki asked.
'I guess. No plans till now! Why what happened? You had something in mind?' she asked. Tia saw that Abhi, though was pretending to read a magazine, was intently overhearing their conversation. A small smile erupted on her face as she noted this.
'Oh a picnic! That sounds fun! Sure I would love to come! I am sure I will have a ball! I love sea and water sports! What? Wait, I will I ask Bhai. I have no idea about his plans!' she said. But by the time she finished saying this, she saw, Abhi shaking his head and indicating a no. Tia was surprised and asked him why, without making any sound, so that Nikki cannot overhear them. But Abhi just shook his head and indicated that he was not joining them.
'Oh Nikki! Bhai says he has something else planned! He cannot join us.' Tia says a bit disappointedly. Then there was pause as she was hearing Nikki say something. 'Yup. He is right here!' Tia replied. 'Ok!' Tia said with a smile switching the phone to speaker mode.
'Tia, please tell your brother, that he can go and jump into a deepest, dirtiest, stinkiest lake nearby! I know very well that he has nothing else planned for Sunday. He is just being his usual Sadu self. How does it matter to him if I fight with all my friends for him? He will not come down from his high horse. After all he is Dr. Modi, head of Sanjeevani, and we are all just interns! Tell him, that I also do not care if he comes or not, I have Sid to give me company. I do not need him. He can sit at home and enjoy his own company! Oh yes, and tell him that I will drop Goofy with him so that he can take care of him!' saying this she cut the phone, before either Tia or Abhi had any time to react. Finally, seeing Abhi's shocked expression, Tia broke out into an uncontrollable laughter. She had a difficult time controlling it, but managed to do so seeing the thundering expression on Abhi's face and said, 'Bhai, you have met your match! She is the best!'
'Shut up, Tia, before I kill you' Abhi told her angrily and walked out of the room.
Nikki was fuming too. What did he think of himself? Here she was trying her best to make things work between them, and there he was acting like a Mr. High and Mighty! What was wrong with him? Yesterday things were so good between them, now suddenly he was being Dr. Moody again!
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Edited by ANfan_1810 - 15 years ago
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