"Shilpa yaar! Maza aa gaya, dinner bohot tasty thha!" praised Rahul as he patted his stomach.
Shilpa shrugged and waved it off, saying, "I know...I know.."
Anjali stood up from her chain and picked her now empty plate to place it over the others, said, "Nahi, seriously, that was an amazing dinner I had today. Especially that curd thing. What was that by the way?"
"Hhhmm...even I liked that most, thha kya woh?" asked Riddhima.
"That was Dahi Tadka. A Panjabi cuisine, bohot simple hai, bas jaise hum normal dal wagerah ko tadka lagate hain na, bas waise hi dahi use karna hai. Nothing difficult." told Shilpa.
"Kya yaar tum log bhi na."Abhi shook his head and sighed, "Yeh recopies baad mein discuss kar lena, shall we continue Amaan and Shilpa's story first?"
"Haan yaar! I am getting shudders of excitement thinking what would have had happened next!" Nikki squealed.
"Arre ab bata bhi do!" everybody yelled while Armaan and Shilpa laughed out loud.
"Well for that, we still have to discuss about food." Replied Armaan as he wiped his hands using the napkin.
"What?" asked Atul with his usual confused expressions on.
"Actually after mine and Armaan's fight over his diary issue, it caused some awkwardness between us, especially Armaan. Woh toh mujhe ignore karne laga, behaving like a total professional robot man. So I had to do something." Shilpa clapped enthusiastically that had others eyeing her with a questioning gaze while Armaan just chuckled.
"Kya kiya tumne?"
Shilpa dramatically gestured over to Armaan and said, "I personally gave an invitation to Mr. Armaan Malik to have the honor of having dinner with me."
Everybody except Armaan was looking at Shilpa with a bored expression now.
"Nautanki band karo tum. Sahi se batao ki kiya kya tunne." Rahul said rolling his eyes.
"Aurr sirf dinner invitation se kya hota hai? Tum kabhi itna seedha kaam nahi kar sakti. Kutte ki poonch seedhi ho sakti hai, tum nahi." Added Nikki, shaking her head in a taunt like manner.
"Hhhaaawww.." Shilpa threw an angry glare at both Rahul and Nikki who were giving hi-five's mto Armaan.
"Bilkul sahi kaha tumne." Sid said smilingly, "Ab batao bhi, ki hua kya aage?"
Shilpa huffed and crossed her arms in front of her. Armaan threw his arm around her shoulder and said, "Main batata hoon. Actually in order to say and prove that she's sorry for what she had done and said to me, she asked me out for dinner at her place. Mujhe lag raha thha that she's upto something but guess what I was in my bechara mode, so I just accepted her invitation..."
"See it was my fault, so I have to do something for you to rectify my mistake. A delicious treat by me! I'll cook the food tonight, come for dinner at my place.", she pouted, batting her eye-lashes multiple times.
"Just leave me alone. Tumhe yeh sab karne ki zaroorat nahi hai." Armaan had his fists clenched tightly.
"Kyon zaroorat nahi hai?" Shilpa asked but Armaan just turned around and started walking away.
"Arre re!!" Shilpa ran behind him and held his from his shoulders. Armaan lightly tumbled but managed to balance himself. He then took Shilpa's hands off his shoulders and growled lowly, "Bola na tumhe. I don't want to do anything with you. Just go away. Nahi chahiye mujhe tumhaari jhooti hamdardi."
"Wow!" Shilpa exclaimed, jumping lightly, "Itne bhaari bharkam words kahan se sikhe tumne? Hamdardi and all. By the way, I am not offering you any kind of hamdardi and stuff, I am just offering you some dinner. Seedhe seedhe haan karte ho or should I use my fists of furry and then drag you over at my place and stuff food forcibly in your mouth?"
"Dekho, maine aaj hi new apartment mein shift kiya hai, so I have to set all the stuff, I can't come!"
Shilpa thought for a bit and then replied, "Toh theek hai, hum dinner tumhaare ghar pe karte hain, infact I would also help you setting up your new apartment. So cool na!" she said with an excited shrug.
"Fine! Chalna tum mere saath. Ab jao aurr mera peecha chodo!", he muttered, sighing in surrender.
"Pata thha mujhe, na Armaan itni aasaani se maanne waala thha aurr na Shilpa peeche hat-ti." Nikki laughed pointing at Armaan and Shilpa.
"Fists of fury? What was that about?" Muskaan asked.
"Oh! I'll tell you about it." Rahul said excitedly. Everybody diverted their gaze from Armaan-Shilpa to Rahul.
"On my first day at school where Armaan and Shilpa studied already, I was cornered by some of Armaan's friends and he himself." Rahul said rubbing his forehead and smiled widely as he remembered that particular day.
"You were such a bully!" Riddhima rasped.
"Oh please! Me in comparison to Shona? I am the innocent one babe." Argued Armaan while Shilpa smirked wickedly.
"What happened next? Kya kiya tumhaare saath Armaan ne?" Muskaan asked while she gave Armaan a deathly glare.
"Well not much.." chuckled Rahul, "Except that he wanted to eat my lunchbox, take all my stationery stuff, wanted me to call him Sir and treat him like my master."
"Armaan..." his friends looked at him with a glare that would rival that of Hitler's.
"Then comes my favourite part. Shilpa." Rahul said, effectively diverting the attention back on himself.
"Armaan was this large and fat boy and his two minions were the exact replica of his. I was so afraid of them and I was so ready to submit in front of them but then came Shilpa. She was this cute little girl with courage more than anyone could muster." Praised Rahul and he stood and went to hug Shilpa.
"She came and stood in front of me. At first she just glared at Armaan and his friends and showed them her fists, asking the same thing, "Do you want my fists of fury?". Armaan ko mujhe lagta hai, pata thha ki Shilpa ke kehne ka matlab kya hai, but I guess uske minions ko nahi pata thha. Unhone ek galati ki, Shilpa aurr uski dhamki pe has spade. And then they were attacked by her fists of fury.." Rahul started laughing in the middle of all this. As he couldn't quite explain it, Armaan then took this to himself to explain.
"Her "fists of fury" means "Back off or I'll throw a punch at your nuts"." Armaan ruffled Shilpa's hair who was still in the arms of Rahul who was laughing his head off.
"Shit!" everybody else wheezed.
"Bohot khatarnaak ho tum yaar. Mujhe toh pata hi nahi thha tumhaare iss side ke baare mein. Badi chupi rustam nikli tum." Sid tickled Shilpa a little.
"Arre abhi toh aisi bohot si baatein hain jo tumhe hamare baare mein pata hi nahi. These are all layers hon. Layers." Smirked Shilpa.
"Achha ab aage batao ki kya hua. I so want to know what happened at dinner." Nikki spoke.
"You must have enjoyed it. Shilpa's cooking is awesome." Anjali remarked.
Armaan sulked, "Kya awesome? Do you even know what she did to me that night?"
"Tell us about it."
"Armaan.." Shilpa mock whined as she pulled Armaan's shirt sleeve. Together they were riding back to Armaan's new apartment, and Shilpa was trying to do everything she could to make Armaan feel miserable.
"Ab kya hai! Pareshaan karti rehti ho mujhe jab dekho!" chided Armaan.
Shilpa pouted, "Time pass kar rahi hoon yaar."
Armaan glared at Shilpa and gritted his teeth, he so much wanted to bang his head somewhere. Instead his chose to ignore.
After 5 minutes
"Armaan..." Shilpa drawled.
"Ab kya hai meri Maa!!"
"I am not your Maa!"
"Aaarrgghh...stop irritating me on the name of passing time!"
Shilpa acted innocently and placed a finger on her lips. For the next few minutes she kept quiet but just as Armaan took a turn and started driving on that road, Shilpa couldn't help but speak.
"Armaan yeh,..." she tried to point out but was interrupted by Armaan. He had just stopped the car in front of a building and Shilpa had started to speak once again. Not wanting to hear her blab, he silenced her by putting his finger over her lips.
"Ssshhh..." shushed Armaan.
Armaan stared into Shilpa's wide eyes. She was still the same yet so different. He hadn't noticed her before, as he was too busy with his own miserable life. Today he got a chance too. She still looked adorable as before. Her forest green eyes shining brightly with mischievousness. He didn't wanted to admit but he had missed his Shippu a lot. He needed her in some way, but didn't have the courage to ask for her support, and after what she had did, he just didn't want to.
Both of them kept staring at each other, while everything else in the background faded to oblivion. Feeling of familiarity surrounded them. After so much time, so many years, they were back together like this. So close yet the distance between them was still evident.
"Uuurrmmaannn.." Shilpa mumbled, as Armaan still had his finger pressed over her lips.
This was enough to bring Armaan out of his past memories. He removed his seat belt and was about to get out of the car, when he noticed Shilpa's perplexed expression.
"That's new! The being who confuses others, is now confused by herself?", he tried to joke. Tried.
"What are we doing in front of my building Armaan? My building?" asked Shilpa with her brows raised high.
Armaan made a face at her and got out of the car, followed by Shilpa. "Your building? Tum kab se construction field mein aa gayi"
"Ha Ha!!" Shilpa came and stood in front of him, "That was one lame attempt at joke..!! By "my building" I mean that I live here, in my apartment, in this building! We were going to your apartment na, they why in the world we came at mine?"
"You live here?"
Shilpa nodded in positive.
"Don't say that you live at 15th floor."
"Okay, I won't say!"
"Damn!!!" Armaan whined and tapped his feet in frustration. "Tum na bhootni ban ke mere peeche pad gayi ho!! Chipku!" Armaan now took long strides and walked to the lift. He pushed the buttons and waited for the lift to come.
Shilpa came there, running after him, "Oh hello!! I am not chipku, okay! I am living here from many months! You came here just now...!! STALKER!"
Just then the lift came and both of them entered inside. "I am not a stalker! And itne bhi bure din nahi aaye mere, that I'll be stalking you!" Armaan argued.
Shilpa could see the real Armaan coming out of his shell. But still she needed to do some more efforts for that.
"What?!! Am I not a stalk-able material?" asked Shilpa as she pointed at herself.
Armaan looked amused at this and said, "You and stalk-able! LOL!! Don't joke Shilpa!"
"Listen you Golu!! I am not joking okay. There are many men who dream about me!"
"Haaww...I didn't knew that all the blind men dreamt of you Shippu!!"
"Golu!"
"Shippu!!"
Just then the lift stopped and with a ping sound the doors opened. The sound brought Armaan and Shilpa back from the argument they had got lost in. And Armaan had this immediate realization that he had called Shilpa, Shippu in the flow. And even Shilpa called him Golu. They were just behaving like they used to do before.
A smile formed at his lips but vanished as soon as he remembered that Shilpa had left him and what happened after that. He clenched his fist trying to control his anger, and walked out.
Shilpa could see the expressions at Armaan's face. She guessed them all right. She knew what Armaan must be feeling like, and he had every right to do so. But he also needs to come out of his shell, and be the man he was.
Shilpa ran behind Armaan, who now stood in front of his apartment and his back was facing hers. A wicked smile played on her lips as she looked at Armaan and then up as if talking to God. She murmured a quick thank you and went towards Armaan.
"Hello Mr. Padosi!", she said tapping his shoulder.
"Padosi..?! WHAT!!!" shrieked Armaan.
"Yup, see this is your apartment", she said gesturing at the door of Armaan's apartment and then turned her finger towards the door of hers and added, "And this is mine. So hue na hum, neighbours!! Wow!! Me excited!"
And Armaan just opened the door of his apartment, cursing his fate silently!
"Ha hahahahahahahahahahaha..,..." everybody started laughing hard in between the story which Armaan was narrating.
"You guys are crazy!!!" laughed Anjali.
"Stalk-able!! My God Shilpa, that was too much!" said Muskaan in bits as she laughed hard clutching her stomach.
Abhi wiped tears from the corner of his eye and added, "And on the top of it, you two turned out to be neighbours!" he laughed.
Armaan made a face again, which lead to another episode of laughter.
Riddhima covered her mouth with her hands as she tried to control her laugh, "Really Armaan, you were right! You were so innocent in all this! My God, my favourite part was your car moment!
Armaan blushed and Shilpa kissed his cheek and hugged him tight, "Mine too!"
Sid who was now hiccupping because of laughing so much, drank some water and sighed, "Yaar tum dono na!!" he laughed some more. Panting he added, "God chose to get you together for a reason! You two are alike still so much different from each other."
"Exactly, I never thought a love story could be this interesting!", added Atul.
"This is love story?" Nikki laughed.
"Haha! Hass lo sab! I won't tell you what happened the next." Warned Armaan.
This sobered up everyone. Now they all looked as if they were 5th class students, silenced by a strict teacher. But as we know that there's this one student who doesn't even listens to the strict teacher. And..
"Hahahahahaha...", laughed out Shilpa, making Armaan turn red in embarrassment!
"You are chhooo cute when you behave like this!", she said giving Armaan's cheek a kiss.
The others tried to hide their smiles, as Armaan glared or at least tried to glare at Shilpa.
Edited by dmegha - 10 years ago
Mannat Har Khushi Paane Ki
Arjun
Cricket
9