A variation of the story **To tell or not to tell**PG8 update - Page 2

Thanks for the encouragement everyone! I hope you enjoy the next part! I'll keep updating if you guys like it! Please do comment and let me know. Also, try and think of a name for this story. I couldn't come up with one myself.

Kasak was no professional mind reader, but she realized that Mr. Dixit was definitely uncomfortable, if not purely jealous of Darshan. Against her better judgment, she decided to continue teasing Mr. Dixit as they walked from the parking lot towards the garden. "You have no right to interrupt me during non working hours. I was having a great time tonight and then you came and interrupted us," Mr. Dixit shot her a did-you-just-sass-me glance and his right eyebrow elevated slightly, just as it did whenever he was angry.

"Look, Ms. Sheth," he began.

This time, Kasak didn't hesitate: "Dr. Sheth for you,"

Mr. Dixit looked genuinely annoyed: "But, that guy Darshan just called you by your first name; he kept on calling you Kasak' the whole time," he argued in the tone of a teenage boy whose parents had refused to buy him a smartphone.

"Mr. Dixit, Darshan is my..." Kasak paused intentionally. Mr. Dixit didn't say anything. Rather, he stopped walking momentarily, and intently listened to Kasak's next few words. "Darshan is a special friend of mine, okay?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Continued from Dev's POV...

"Special friend...kahan se aaya yeh special friend?" Dev muttered under his breath.

"What was that? Kya kaha aapne?" Ms. Sheth asked.

"Kuch nahi...by the way, kaha se aaya aapka yeh special friend? Aaj se pehle toh maine use dekha nahi kabhi," Dev demanded.

"Kyun? Mere friends aur meri personal life ko aap stalk karte ho jo aapko sab patah ho? Mere bohat saare friends hai. Mein kuch logo ki tarah nahi huh jo na kaabhi haste hai, na muskurate hai. Bus pura time...kam kam kam kam," Dev didn't say anything, but shot her an angry glance again. "There's even a new song about such people... Work, work, work, work, work,'" Kasak smirked at her own joke.

What the hell did she think of herself? She had been taunting him since the first day they met. And yet, for some reason, he kind of enjoyed it. Of all the girls he had known, from those who worked in his office or other businessmen's daughters, only Ms. Sheth had the nerve to reciprocate his comments. And she was very blunt about it also. Something about her mild rebellion appealed so deeply to Dev.

"Kya hua?" she continued. "Oh God...aamne toh music ma pan khabar nai pade (Oh God...this man doesn't even know about music)," he heard her say so under her breath in Gujarati. "Aapko patah nahi hai na, mein kis song ki baat kar rahi huh?" she asked.

"Patah hai. Yeh Rihanna ka latest song hai," Dev said, shocking Kasak. He had heard Nikki play it very loudly on her ipod, to which Ishwari had objected and Mami jee had said:

"Aisa bhi koi gaana hota hai...'kam kam kam'. Are gaane toh hamare zamane mein hote the jaise ki jab pyaar kiya toh darna kya,'"

By now, they had entered the garden where there were still many audience members and other theater goers who were enjoying the food. Someone had gotten speakers from the theater and cranked up the music. They were playing an Arijit Singh playlist. Dev and Kasak continued walking in the garden; Dev's hands were in his pocket and he enjoyed this slow walk with Ms. Sheth. The night breeze blew gustily and ruffled Dev's hair a bit more than he would have liked. He was about to fix it, but then he didn't. He suddenly remembered Nikki's words: "Bhaiyaa, aap jab apne baal tightly comb nahi karte ho na toh bohat hot lagate ho. Koi bhi ladki immediately impress ho jayegi," He decided to test his sister's theory out and shot a glance at Ms. Sheth, who seemed lost in thought. Saare chadjaaye mahi tu na chodna, bolna mahi bolna...Arijit's melodious voice echoed in the background. The lights from the far away reflected off of her curly hair and made it shine ever so slightly. Moreover, the light blue dress she was wearing accentuated her skin tone and just as the wind had ruffled Dev's hair, it also whooshed some strands of brown hair from Kasak's face and jiggled her earrings.

Dev realized that she was awfully quiet and lost in thought, "Kya hua? Apne special friend Darshan ke bare mein soch rahi hai aap?"

Tere sang hasna mein tere ssang rona, tujh mein hi rehna mein, tujhmein hi khona... Ms. Sheth's expression changed from serenity to anger. "Aapko mere friend se kya eitni problem hai? Aapko kya problem hai agar mein Darshan ke bare mein sochu ya Virat Kohli ke bare mein?"

"Nothing," Dev said trying to sound as objective as possible. "What could be my problem? It's just that I never saw him before. Where in Delhi does he live?" Dev asked, trying to see if Ms. Sheth would divulge any more information about this guy so that he could find out everything about him. Special friend, huh? Dev was about to make this fellow's life real special.

"Woh Delhi ke nahi hai. He's from Ahmedabad. Weekend ke liye aaya tha, aur mujhe uske saath time spend karna tha aur aapne aake interrupt kar diya," anger was gradually beginning to build up inside of Dev. Aashiqui baazi hai tash ki, tutte bante vishwaas ki (music)...What the hell? So, she would spend time with that bhukhad (foodie) guy rather than him? Alright, so Dev realized that he wasn't the most interesting or fun person on the planet, but he was better than someone who by the pretext of tasting, ate every single item in a restaurant.

Dev said: "Oh, toh woh yahan ka nahi hai? Weekend mein woh sirf aapse milne aata hai ya fir uski family ya friends hai yahan pe?"

"Mr. Dixit," Ms. Sheth said, no longer hiding her annoyance. "Woh yahan jantar mantar mein dharna karne bhi aata ho. Eise aapko kya? Darshan is my friend, and he's a part of my personal life, which I don't wish to share with you," she finished.

"Why?" questioned Dev innocently. "Aap woh ladake Darshan ke saath aise hi Gujarati mein faltu jokes crack kar sakati hai, uske haath se sweets kha sakati hai, parking lot mein publically usko hug kar sakati hai, toh mere saath ek chooti si baat share nahi kar sakati?" Dev asked Ms. Sheth, frustrated that she was still trying to defend Darshan.

"Because the last time I checked, you were my boss," Ms. Sheth replied after a brief pause. Dev guessed that he had taken her by surprise by noticing such nuances about her interactions with Darshan tonight. But, it was actually Dev who was shocked to see Ms. Sheth with another guy, laughing and enjoying so freely. How could she? Dev didn't think Ms. Sheth was the type of girl to have a boyfriend. He'd thought that she was very studious and very focused on her work only. Interestingly enough, she wasn't. And as much as Dev hated to admit it, she looked really happy with Darshan and he wasn't a bad looking guy either.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kasak's POV:

"Excuse me, Mr. Dev?" called a voice from the other end of the garden near the stage. The owner of the restaurants, Mr. Gujral, was calling Mr. Dixit. He approached Kasak and Mr. Dixit and said: "Thanks so much for coming tonight. I really appreciate it, and it seems like Delhites love Gujarati food. Hopefully, the restaurants will do really well,"

"Congratulations, Mr. Gujral," said Mr. Dixit in his usual formal tone, extending his right hand. After shaking hands with Mr. Dixit, Mr. Gujral asked Kasak: "Madam, aapko food kaisa laga?"

"Bahuj saras, (Very nice)" Kasak said, "Khub khub abhinandan and best of luck," (many congratulations and best of luck) Kasak said smiling.

"Oh you're Gujarati?" Mr. Gujral said smiling.

"Yes, she is a true Gujarati alright," interrupted Mr. Dixit. What was that?! Can he stop taunting her? He had been on top of his sassiness for the entire night. First he relentlessly questioned her about Darshan, and now he was even annoyed when she was giving best wishes for his business. Kasak wasn't sure whether her trick to make him jealous had worked or not, because he was questioning her but not showing any other obvious signs. Sure, he was angry, but that was not all that unusual.

Kasak explained to Mr. Gujral that her family lived in Ahmedabad. She was practicing in Delhi since she wanted to work with the best doctors in India. "Well, I hope you liked the delicacies we made that were similar to some Ahmedabad food," said Mr. Gujral.

"Yeah, she loved it. Waise bhi, einhe Ahmedabad ki kuch cheesein toh kuch zyada hi pasand hai," Mr. Dixit taunted again. Now, this was definitely about Darshan. Kasak shot him an are-you-kidding-me glance. With a laugh, Mr. Gujral excused himself. Kasak was about to reprimand Mr. Dixit for taunting her when yet another voice interrupted them from behind.

"Mr. Dixit?" said the actress who was playing the lead role in the play. "Hi!" Mr. Dixit smiled politely.

" I...I just wanted to say that I'm a big admirer of yours, and that seeing you here tonight was a dream come true," she said profusely blushing. Kasak simply looked at her in disgust. It didn't help that she was really pretty either. She extended her hand to shake with Mr. Dixit. But, Mr. Dixit, extended his arms instead and decided to give her a hug, much like Darshan had done a little while ago with Kasak. That infuriated Kasak! What the hell?! Who was this random girl that Mr. Dixit was being so friendly with all of a sudden? Her case was different. Darshan was a friend and it was merely a friendly gesture. But, Mr. Dixit was blatantly flirting to prove a point. The actress was no less either. She took advantage of the opportunity and gave Mr. Dixit a light peck on his left cheek before taking off.

That was the last straw. Immediately after she had left, Kasak grabbed Mr. Dixit's arm and dragged him out of the garden again, towards the parking lot. "Ms. Sheth?!" was all Mr. Dixit could say. As soon as they had reached the parking lot, Kasak stood in front of Mr. Dixit, her eyes fuming in fury, grabbed the end of her dupatta and wiped off the lipstick marks from Mr. Dixit's left cheek.

"What was that?" she questioned him.

"Ms. Sheth," Mr. Dixit began calmly. "That woman is a part of my personal life and I wouldn't like you to interrupt," With those words, both Kasak and Mr. Dixit sat in his car. They were both silent throughout the car ride and Mr. Dixit dropped Kasak off at her apartment without even saying good-bye.

Originally posted by: blahblahs

<font color="#ff0000">Hey all! Please provide some suggestions for name of this story and how you think it's going!</font>

"Doctor, aapke patient discharge ke liye ready hai," the nurse spoke with a serious tone from the opposite end.

"Okay, I checked everything yesterday. He was doing fine. You may discharge him. But, make sure his family is aware of the precautions they must take when dealing with him," Kasak said as she turned the key and opened the door of her house. It had been a long Monday. She had to observe a surgery, go and check Ishwari's chart, and then she had to go to the bank to send money to her family.

"Finally!" she said crumbling into her bed. Normally, she would catch IPL highlights before going to bed, but today she was just too tired. So, before her mind could argue any further, her body fell asleep.

The next morning Kasak decided to visit Ishwari before going to the hospital. She persuaded herself that it was because of her busy schedule that she decided to visit Ishwari first thing in the morning, and not because she had not seen Mr. Dixit's handsome face in four days. During these four days, she had really tried to not think about him and to ban all thoughts about him. She had even looked up and tried a meditation technique to block unwanted thoughts for a few minutes. Obviously, it hadn't worked.

Instead, Kasak had kept on contemplating what Mr. Dixit thought about her and why he was so interested in knowing about Darshan. She knew it could not be mere curiosity. Maybe it was concern. But, the question still was: why?

During the rickshaw ride next morning, Kasak contemplated about how she would behave with Mr. Dixit today. Would she still be mad after Friday night's encounter? Or should she behave normally? Kasak decided on the later option; she figured there was no point in trying to ignite a fire in the absence of oxygen. In their case, there was not even a single spark between them as the oxygen (love) was clearly missing. In fact, Kasak herself was not sure how she felt about Mr. Dixit. She was definitely attracted to him, and would love to have a boyfriend like him. But, she was very cautious to label this feeling as "love." Love was such an incredibly strong word. Given her own views, Kasak believed that if she ever truly loved a man, she would be his forever. And as far as Mr. Dixit was concerned, she could not yet imagine dedicating her entire life to him and sacrificing her world for him. The way she evaluated her feelings was by comparing them with how she felt about her family. If her family needed it, Kasak would sacrifice her entire life for them because she loved them. But, Mr. Dixit? Kasak was not so sure yet.

Worse yet, what if she admitted it was love and then it was unreciprocated? Well, then her life would be ruined. Not that Kasak wanted her relationship to be a selfish one, but she wanted it to be a satisfying one. She had grown up in a middle class family and as such had to make many sacrifices throughout her life with her parents telling her one thing: "If you educate yourself and get a good job, then you will be very happy in life," And now, after years of hard work, she had finally reached that spot. Yet, where was this happiness? Was it about to come to her?

"200 rupees, madam," the rickshaw driver said.

"Kya? 200? Mein roz yahan aati huh. Kabhi maine 150 se zyada pay nahi kiya," Kasak said, getting out of the rickshaw.

"Madam, aap chup chap mere paise dedo," the rickshaw driver said.

"Dekho bhaiyaa, mein aapse bol rahi huh. Aap meter dekh kar mujhe price boliye, apni imagination dekh kar nahi," Kasak yelled back.

"Madam, maine meter dekh hi bola. Varna mein aur bohat kuch dekh sakta huh," the rickshaw driver said.

Kasak's anger soared when he said that. How dare he misbehave with her publically? But then she looked around. Besides Mr. Dixit's grand house, the area was full of cheap shops and tiny houses. Most of the lower class people who lived there had gone to work and the ones that were around seemed nasty. Why had Mr. Dixit bought a house in such a bad area? A group of four truck drivers were staring at the encounter that took place and especially Kasak.

"Dekho tum..."

Before she could finish the sentence, the rickshaw driver got out of the rickshaw and advanced towards Kasak. "Madam, shanti se bol raha huh. Mere paise dedo, varna mujhe aur bhi tarike pata hai," he said.

"Kya karoge tum huh? I'll call the police," Kasak said, fumbling in her purse. The driver grabbed her hand, which was still inside the purse and started to twist her wrist. With her free hand, Kasak pasted a tight slape across the driver's disgusting face. Upon seeing that, the truck drivers came forward.

"Hey you!" they told Kasak. "Hamare bhai ko marti hai," one of them said. Fear now rose inside of Kasak. Damn it, what did her she get herself into? Before she could do much else, the truck drivers came forward and surrounded Kasak. She began to pray and closed her eyes.

Suddenly, she felt her arm free from the rickshaw driver's grip and someone pulled her from behind. She opened her eyes to see Mr. Dixit standing next to her with a furious expression. He gestured her to stand behind him. She obliged. Mr. Dixit then calmly walked towards the rickshaw driver and punched him.

"Oh hello, hero?" said one of the truck drivers. Mr. Dixit grabbed him by the collar and punched him too. After observing that, the other truck drivers walked away. And then, Mr. Dixit proceeded to beat the hell out of the rickshaw driver. "Aap chaliye mere saath andar," Mr. Dixit told Kasak after he was finished.

"I came to prepare the food chart for Aunty ji. I have to rush to the hospital soon," Kasak said as they walked into the house. Mr. Dixit didn't say anything. Rather, he followed her into the kitchen and handed her an ice pack.

"Here. Put this on your wrist," he ordered.

"It's okay, Mr. Dixit. Really. I'm okay," Kasak said, still embarrassed about the incident. Mr. Dixit didn't argue to with her. He simply put the ice pack back in the fridge, walked out of the kitchen and went to his room. Kasak finished making the chart and looked for Ishwari. No one seemed to be around. Ishwari, Mami jee, Keechu, and the three Dixit girls were all missing. She went to ask Mr. Dixit in his room where they might be.

Mr. Dixit was putting on his blazer as she knocked on his door. "Haan. Kahiye?" Kasak explained that she couldn't find Ishwari. Mr. Dixit told her that she and the rest of the family had gone to a Yoga camp for the day. His tone was offensive, almost as if he was angry at Kasak for a major blunder. "Suniye?" he said. "Please sit," he gestured towards his bed. Kasak sat down, wondering what he was doing. As she sat down, he himself walked out of the room.

"Aa shu? (what's this about?) Kasak thought.

He walked in moments later with the ice pack in his hands. Then, he himself sat down on the bed next to Kasak, gently took her right hand and said, "Pull up your sleeve," After Kasak had pulled up the sleeve of her dress, he started to massage her wrist with the ice pack. Kasak stared at him as he did so. His perfect features were illuminated by the sunshine that seeped in through the window. She noticed that as he moved the ice pack around her hand, his anger slowly vanished and he sighed. Then, he noticed Kasak staring at him and in response, stared back at her. His honey brown eyes stared directly into her eyes and both of them were lost in each other for a few moments. Finally, after about a minute or so, Kasak sensed what had happened and diverted her gaze. She blushed. At that, she thought she saw him smile ever so slightly, but she wasn't sure whether it was her imagination. With her hand still in his and below the ice pack, it was difficult to hide her feelings. A few moments later, she said: "I'm fine Mr. Dixit. Thank you for...everything," she said embarrassed.

"Tu barabar ne (You're fine right)?" Mr. Dixit said in broken Gujarati. Kasak smiled, and stared at him inquisitively. "Google translate," he said smiling. Kasak laughed and told him it was incorrect, but she still appreciated the effort.

"Keep smiling, Ms. Sheth," he told her. "There are jerks and lowlifes everywhere in this world. But, we must learn to conquer them and move on. I learned this lesson very early on as a child. I saw my mother struggle with such things and become stronger from them. I'm sure you'll go through the same process. And besides, you're already a very strong and independent girl," he said, finally removing the frigid ice pack from over Kasak's hand.

Kasak pondered over what he had said for a minute and then replied: "Baat fear ya courage ki nahi hai Mr. Dixit, baat companionship ki hai. Aapki Mom ke paas app the, aapki sisters thi, jo unki takat ban ke unke saath khade the. Mere paas bhi meri family hai, lekin woh log bohat dur hai. Aur phir...mere paas aisa koi saathi bhi nahi hai jinke saath mein sab kuch share kar sakun," Mr. Dixit's eyebrows knitted again.

"Kyun hai na apka woh, special friend?" he teased her. Kasak's expression suddenly changed to anger.

"Waise appki bhi female fans kuch kam nahi hai, she said fixing her eyes on his left cheek. He elevated his eyebrows to display annoyance. It was decided that Mr. Dixit would drop Kasak to the hospital and then go to the office.

Let me know how you like it and where you want this story to go! I'm trying to keep it with the realistic theme of the show.i.e. no crazy romantic adventures etc because stuff like that doesn't necessarily happen in real life. So, I'm trying to create romance out of everyday situations.