Author's Note:
I had a huge writer's block with this. I must've edited and changed it at least ten times, but I still don't like the result. Be nice and review anyways?
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CHAPTER 4
The fire crackled loudly in the fire place, but sanyukta paid it no mind. She was trapped inside a cabinet, and randhir sat just outside. He was not any scarier to her when she was face to face with him, but confided spaces had always made her uneasy.
"I have something I need to talk to you about." His words echoed in sanyukta's brain.
"Yes, of course." Parth said, and sanyukta detected a bit of concern and worry in his voice. How could he be worried for randhir? It made no sense. randhir was evil, and he certainly did not deserve Parth's pity. She slowly opened the door and peeked outside. "You know you just have to ask, randhir."
She must've moved, because randhir narrowed his eyes and whipped around. sanyukta quietly closed the cabinet door and held her breath. He seemed to find nothing, and after what seemed like hours, he turned back towards Parth. sanyukta waited a couple of seconds before risking opening the door again.
"I'm planning to go back to Shimla in a couple of days." Parth had a look of confusion on his face, as randhir sighed.
"Shimla is where my mother lives, Parth. How many times do I have to tell you?"
Sanyukta was surprised to see a mixture of different elements in his voice, none of them too pleasant. It sounded as if randhir wasn't too fond of his mother, but he didn't seem to be fond of anyone else either, so that didn't tell sanyukta much.
"I see," Parth mused slightly, deep in thought. "What would you require of me, Si-" He suddenly cut off, wrinkling his forehead slightly. sanyukta stared at him. what? randhir had also looked up when Parth had suddenly stopped talking, narrowing his eyes suspiciously, but Parth had bluntly avoided his eye.
"I was wondering if you would like to accompany me," said randhir in a smooth voice. His head was cocked to one side, but his face portrayed nothing. It sounded like an order rather than a question.
Parth stared incredulously at randhir, who met his gaze head on. It didn't seem as if this kind of offer was made regularly. Parth remained silent for a long time, shuffling nervously in his seat. After a few minutes, randhir cleared his throat and sighed. "Spit it out,"
"Erm, is it money you wanted?" Parth asked in a small voice, not daring to meet the other's eyes. randhir raised his eyebrows.
randhir was silent for a while, his eyes trained on the other boy. Parth seemed to be incredibly fidgety today. randhir's face, on the other hand, was far from pleasant. She had expected better behaviour from Parth, who had talked about randhir so much pride.
"You know I enjoy your company," randhir said finally. "Is there a reason you do not want to accompany me?" His voice was calm, but even sanyukta could tell that randhir was angered. Parth was in the danger zone now.
sanyukta could tell that Parth didn't believe it one bit, but he shook his head dutifully anyways. "No, randhir."
randhir raised an eyebrow curiously. "There's no one around, Parth." randhir's voice was still even, but there was an underlying threat to it.
Parth seemed to glance at the cabinet nervously. sanyukta thought that her cover had been blown, but randhir didn't even make an attempt to glance towards her hiding spot. Parth took a deep breath, before saying in a shaky voice, "O"Of course. I apologize, Sir."
SIR?
randhir's mouth curled up into a sinister smile. "Very good. I missed hearing you call that." He paid no attention to the other boy, who was clearly uncomfortable. "I will be leaving on Friday, two days from now. I expect you to be all packed and ready to go before noon. Do I make myself clear?"
"Y-yes."
"Yes what?"
"Yes, Sir."
randhir nodded and rose up slowly and gracefully. Parth seemed to bow his head slightly, before mimicking randhir's action. sanyukta's brain was swirling with confusion. So many unanswered questions and not enough answers. "I will retire for the night. The journey has tired me greatly." randhir said, smoothing out his robes. "Good night, Parth. I will see you tomorrow."
"Sleep well, Sir."
randhir's footsteps got further and further away until sanyukta could no longer hear it. Parth sank down in his chair and let out a shaky breath, and then a laugh. It wasn't the laugh she was used to hearing. It was coarse and raw.
"Parth," she said, stepping lightly out of the closet.
Parth must've jumped a mile, whirling around. sanyukta raised her hands, eyebrows raised. It took Parth a few seconds to recognize who was standing in front of him. He breathed heavily .
"Hey," He said quietly, massaging his head slowly. He suddenly looked tired. Dark, hollow circles were under his eyes. "I forgot you were there."
"Evidently," sanyukta said, sitting down on his bed. It creaked slightly under her weight, but neither of them paid it any mind. "Are you alright?"
"Yes, yes. I'm fine." He looked at her, already beginning to calm down. There was little trace of the vulnerable boy that had just been exposed. "Why would you think I wasn't?"
sanyukta just stared at him, but he seemed to be perfectly serious. Either that or he was stupider and denser than she thought. Sighing, she changed the topic and asked, "Why are you friends with him?"
Parth's forehead creased. "Friends with whom?"
"Randhir."
He blinked; he seemed to have not expected her response at all. He was obviously distracted. "Why wouldn't I be friends with him? He is-" Realization dawned his face. "That wasn't what it looked like."
sanyukta crossed her arms in front of her chest. "What wasn't how what looked like?"
"randhir and my conversation." Parth closed his eyes and sighed. "There were some parts of that conversation that I didn't want you to hear. So even if you ask me about it, I will not answer, at least not now." He looked at her seriously. "I hope you understand."
Millions of questions were in sanyukta's brain, threatening to spew out. However, she wouldn't force him. He would tell her when he was ready, and, well, she always had other methods if he didn't, didn't she? Sighing, she nodded understandingly. A look of relief crossed Parth's face.
"Alright, so," sanyukta added suspiciously. He was not out of the woods yet. "Nothing's going on between you or randhir?"
"Yeah. That was one of our better conversations, actually."
sanyukta bit back any comment her opinion of what the conversation actually was, and instead said, "Why you were so nervous, then?"
"I told you already. I didn't want you to hear a lot of that conversation, but I couldn't stop it either. It would've looked too suspicious." Parth sighed. "I was nervous because you were there. I didn't want you to hear the conversation. It's embarrassing."
"Like the whole 'SIR business." She snickered at Parth's expression. He looked downright horrified.
Parth groaned and buried his face with his hands. "God, you heard that. It's so embarrassing."
"God, you're such a wimp."
Parth's eyes flared defensively. "I'm not a wimp. Stop humiliating me." He glared at her.
"You are a wimp. You're the one getting defensive about a single name. I don't see what's so bad about it.
Parth sighed. "Look, sanyukta. I'm not who you think I am. I have another side of me, and I'm not proud of it. I'm a liar." He paused and looked at her straight in the eye. His eyes had never been bluer. "And it's up to you to uncover my lies.
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"Damn it," sanyukta hissed as her knife grazed her finger. There was a lot on her mind, and sanyukta found it difficult to concentrate on her chores. Parth had refused to talk about the subject and after a while, sanyukta gave up her prying.
Who was randhir, and what did he want ?
"Tough luck," kaustuki chuckled, slicing a potato open. She, however, made no move to help sanyukta. She scowled and reached for a band aid. "What's on your mind, girlie? You seem to be out of it today."
You have no idea, sanyukta thought. Ever since sanyukta had agreed to take on some of kaustuki's jobs in order to prevent the girl from seeing Kabir ,she had become friendlier, though randhir had played a huge role in it as well. kaustuki had questioned sanyukta excitedly about their dark house guest. What made kaustuki think that she knew? She certainly hadn't been seeking randhir's company. In fact, she avoided him whenever she could.
"Nothing," she shrugged. It would not do to waste her time going over such trivial matters. She was sure that Parth would spill some time or the other. She would save her amazing full-out investigation skills as a last resort. She could always try begging as well; not many people could refuse her puppy eyes. Then, noticing the girl still staring at her, she added politely, "What about you, Kaustu? What's on your mind?"
"Two words," kaustuki said dreamily. "randhir randhir."
sanyukta looked at her in disgust, but kaustuki just giggled. "Do I even want to know?"
"Of course you do. You have to admit you're curious." kaustuki winked at her, and sanyukta suppressed a groan. She always wanted to know a lot of things. Knowledge was the path to power, after all. However, this was one thing that sanyukta could live without.
kaustuki took her silence as an approval, when in reality, sanyukta just couldn't find enough effort to respond. "I saw randhir randhir." she said excitedly.
"So?" sanyukta said, decidedly bored already. "Is that something special? I see him every day." Unfortunately.
"Of course!" kaustuki gushed, not picking up on sanyukta's disinterest. "Though, that's not all! He even came over and introduced himself to me. He's so sweet. Have you noticed the way his hair is parted slightly to the side? So handsome." kaustuki squealed, and then went on about how attractive he looked .
Handsome, sanyukta could agree with. Even though she disliked him, sanyukta had to admit that the boy was by no means ugly. However, sweet? randhir? Were they even talking about the same person?
"Oh really." sanyukta said flatly. kaustuki nodded enthusiastically. "What exactly did you two talk about?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" kaustuki giggled, causing sanyukta to scowl. No, she did not want to know, but she was curious as to why randhir was suddenly showing interest in kaustuki. He seemed like the type of person who would only associate with someone if they had something he wanted.
That's it. kaustuki's being used. sanyukta glanced at the squealing girl. Is that it, does randhir just want a quick shag?
"Alright, no need to get angry," kaustuki was enjoying this way too much. "We didn't say much to each other. He just introduced himself, and asked how I was." kaustuki squealed. "I could listen to his voice all day."
"So, that's it?" Maybe he was preparing himself, luring in his prey before he would strike. It certainly seemed plausible. To be honest, anything was more plausible than randhir seeking a relationship with kaustuki.
kaustuki looked offended. "What do you mean, 'that's it?' This is only the beginning! randhir and I will have a beautiful relationship. Just you wait. We'll be happily married before you know it."
sanyukta tried her best not to laugh outright. It was rude, but the girl sounded so innocent and naive. She could easily feed kaustuki a whole bunch of lies, and she would believe all of them. sanyukta wondered if there was anything that kaustuki didn't believe. Thinking about it, sanyukta missed the days where the world seemed so innocent to her, the days where she didn't fear anything but perhaps who got the last cookie. Not that those days lasted very long.
sanyukta was back on her dinner shift the next day. While jignesh had taken over her shift in order to give her some time , he wasn't so lenient today. He had promptly thrown her out of the kitchen, using 'Your Prince Charming is worried about you,' as an excuse. As if jignesh cared what Parth was feeling. kaustuki had wisely stayed out of it, staying in her room the whole time squealing randhir this and randhir that.
Why would Parth be worried about her? jignesh said that because she hadn't been present at dinner nor did she go to his room afterwards that he thought something in the kitchen grew fangs and ate her. Or maybe he thought she had gone to confront randhir and had gotten killed. That seemed like a much more likely story, and sanyukta had no problem imagining randhir murdering someone. He was definitely dark .
Then what does that make me?
By the time she got into the dining room, everyone was already seated at the table. Her eyes absentmindedly strayed to randhir, and she wasn't surprised to see him watching her carefully. His hair was neatly trimmed back, and he wore clean black clothes. Quickly, she broke eye contact and scanned around the room again, this time finding Parth's. His eyes shone with relief, though his face remained indifferent. She gave him a small smile that was noticeable by no one else, and hurried to serve the family.
randhir was scanning Parth carefully. Nothing gets past him, does it? sanyukta thought to herself. He seemed to be a mind reader and an encyclopaedia, all booked in one. Since he had arrived at the Mansion, sanyukta hadn't had enough time to really help Parth with his homework, but he seemed to have gotten it done faster. When she had asked, he had simply smirked and said randhir was a better teacher. sanyukta had fumed angrily to herself; how could he be smarter than her? It just wasn't fair. She had an inkling he didn't spend a minimum of ten hours in the library each day, so he clearly had not worked as her.
"Aww," vidushi said, trying to convince him. sanyukta was sure that if kabir had not been between them, she would've draped herself all over Parth, boyfriend or not.
18 and no girlfriend yet?" Parth raised his eyebrows, but didn't respond. "Come on, youngsters these days are so lazy." She sighed dramatically. sanyukta suppressed an eye roll; vidushi was only two years older than him. "You're almost as bad as randhir."
Parth's eyes quickly flashed to randhir, whose face was absolutely livid. Parth kicked him under the table with his foot, though it was more reassuring than a warning, like he was trying to calm randhir down. randhir suddenly seemed to remember where he was. He blinked slowly, calming the darkness that was swirling around him. By the time vidushi turned around to grin at him, his pleasant mask was already back on. vidushi was the only one who could outright insult someone, and still expect them to like her. randhir smiled politely at her, but sanyukta didn't miss the way he balled his hands into fists under the table.
He beats me in acting as well, sanyukta thought furiously. Or maybe he's just better at controlling his emotions than I am. I would've just punched the girl in the face.
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Parth and Sanyukta sat for a few minutes in comfortable silence. The clock showed it to be five minutes past one, and though the time was quite late, the pair would hear an occasional squeal from vidushi in kabir's room. sanyukta had once brought up the topic of the two of them eventually marrying each other, but Parth had laughed and said,
"It's never going to last. While vidushi has lasted longer than his other conquests, he'll drop her soon. They are so many of them I can't even count them on two hands." He had snorted. "My older brother is such a good example. However, he set the bar so high. I don't think I'll be able to live up to expectations."
sanyukta smiled and looked down at the boy next to her. His eyes were closed, and his chest heaved up and down slowly, but sanyukta knew he was awake. "Parth," she poked him gently. "How many people have you dated?"
Parth opened one eye and yawned lazily. He looked curious at sanyukta's sudden interest but didn't ask. "Me?"
sanyukta scowled. "No, the person behind you." Parth looked as if he was tempted to turn around, but decided against it.
"Zero," he added, seeing sanyukta's amazed face. "Before you get any ideas, no, it isn't because no one's asked. Because I'll have you know that there have been plenty of offers. I am a rather handsome specimen, after all." He smirked as sanyukta rolled her eyes. "I just don't find it appropriate. I'm failing collage enough as it is. I don't need extra responsibility. And, I haven't had a friend that I know well enough yet." He shrugged. "I'm not kabir. I don't just look for a quick shag. What about you, then?" Parth looked up at her curiously.
"What about me?"
"You and the dating prospect. Any lucky guys yet?" He grinned at her, winking devilishly.
sanyukta thought of her father, and what he would do if she ever let herself get that attached to someone right in front of him. "No," she said shortly, her voice sour.
Parth shrugged, but wisely dropped the topic. sanyukta wouldn't have elaborated, even if he wanted her to.
"Tell me about FITE ?"
sanyukta grew irritated when he didn't start.
Parth said. "Patience, young grasshopper." He thought for a while, and then opened his mouth, only to close it, a devilish grin crawling up his face. He tapped his chin thoughtfully with his hand. "Hm, I don't think I will," he smirked at her. "You'll just have to go to FITE yourself and find out."
sanyukta glared at him and he grinned back easily. It didn't seem like he was going to tell her anything anytime soon. Huffing in frustration, she started to tickle him. "Give up," she cackled gleefully as he rolled around helplessly, trying to free himself from her grasp. She knew he wasn't going to be able to get up; she had been trained to be in this position ever since she was born."Tell me everything about FITE and I will stop my fingers,"
"I plead the fifth," he said, trying to sound serious, but failing as he rolled around. Tears were starting to spring in his eyes. sanyukta felt rather foolish, and was about to stop when he had the nerve to smirk at her. All thoughts of silliness flew out of her head, and she attacked him more relentlessly than ever.
"You have five seconds," sanyukta said, grinning. She could count on one hand the number of times she had failed to maintain a poker face, and this was definitely one of them. "Starting now. One. Two."
"Five seconds or else what?"
"Wouldn't you like to know," sanyukta replied. "You'll just have to wait and find out. Three. Four. Fiv-"
The door flew open. sanyukta was sure she closed the door . The intruder would have to make some noise if they tried to get in. Were she and Parth really that loud? sanyukta was all too aware of how her hands were on Parth's chest, the two of them tangled in a heap on a bed. sanyukta was sure that whatever they looked like, it was far from innocent.
"This certainly is interesting."
sanyukta slowly turned herself around, untangling herself from Parth and looked straight into the eye of randhir .
Randhir?
To Be Continued...
Edited by draco_is_mine - 11 years ago
Bade Achhe Lagte Hain
Anupamaa
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Kabhi Neem Neem Kabhi Shahad Shahad
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