The next few days passed quickly and Randhir and Sanyukta didn't say a word to each other. They barely acknowledged each other's presence. Sanyukta had told him that they could text and speak to each other on the phone, but Randhir's ego got the better of him and he decided that if she felt like it, she should initiate the conversations herself.
So he didn't message her.
Once seven whole days passed though, Randhir began to get fed up. He finally succumbed and sent her a text as he lay in bed that night. He wrote: Can I take you out tomorrow?
Her reply came straight away: I don't know Randhir... I mean you barely acknowledged me after our first date.
What on earth? What kind of double standards were these? She barely acknowledged him too! It worked both ways.
He replied: Okay... I'm sorry.
She replied: It's okay, maybe next week I'll think about it. Good night Randhir.
His mouth dropped open - why did women have so much attitude? On top of that, he was dealing with this. Why? He didn't have the patience for this kind of attitude. He shouldn't be dealing with it. But still - he couldn't fight it either. It was like the door out of this was being shown to him, but he wasn't able to find his feet... he couldn't walk outside himself. He needed support. And in this case, he needed Sanyukta's support.
The next day, after he woke up and went downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast, he heard Sanyukta talking on the phone in the living room. He normally would ignore it, but today there was a certain urgency in her voice, as if she was worried.
His heart started to beat quickly. He didn't like the thought of her being worried.
"What can I do?" she asked over the phone, her tone frantic. "No... no he doesn't know."
Randhir edged closer to the living room to catch more of her conversation.
"It's not right," she said in a hushed tone over the phone. "I can't... no!"
What was she talking about? Why was she worried? What was going on?
"Don't make it an issue! I told you... I don't understand what you were trying to do by bringing him here." she said, sounding irritated now. "I'm trying to avoid him as much as I could. Don't do this. It's not right."
Randhir's heart was pounding inside his chest and his hands started to sweat. Yes, something wasn't right, and it was involving him.
"No... please try to understand. There's nothing like that between me and him," she said, her voice getting quieter. Then she paused for a moment before speaking again. "Please don't bring up college... I was an idiot. I was stupid."
Randhir took a deep breath and walked away from the conversation, feeling like it was wrong to eavesdrop, even if it was concerning him. He lay his hand flat on the dining room table as he felt his heart drop. He didn't like what he heard.
Sanyukta was trying to avoid him... and there was nothing between them. He took a deep breath to try and calm his senses down, but it was hard. He should be happy there was nothing between them anyways. He had hated her just a week ago... surely he could hate her again. Hate didn't go away that easily.
"Sanyukta," he said quietly to himself, feeling a huge ache in his chest, "I don't know what you're up to, but I promise you that I won't interfere with your plans."
If her plan was to get rid of him... then he'd let her continue. He'd be like a puppet, and he'd let her be the puppeteer. He just didn't have the energy to fight. He didn't know why he fell so weak in her presence. Why did he even have to try and hate her when he could just let her take him for a ride? The latter would be easier.