Part 4:
"Soumya ! !"
she smiled apologetically at Gaurav who continued to look at her seriously, dropping her bags " I am sorry !"
Gaurav sighed " Why will you be sorry ? after all I am the one who is waiting for last one hour"
Soumya sighed " Hey, I didn't do it willingly, but my senior is strict and he didn't give me permission. " making a childish face " What can I do? I am a small little innocent kid.." she pouted
seeing it Gauravv laughed " Yaa, don't make that pig face. Now go get ready, or will you come like this only "
Soumya looked at her dress which is a red top and black legging and spoke "So what, I will come in this dress only."
Gaurav glared at her " Yaa, at least maintain some sort of etiquette girl, who will come in this dress to a ball, that too my birthday ball"
Soumya made a face " You know how much I hate getting into all those flashy dresses and people making me into a doll"
Gaurav smiled "While you hate it, you also love it. I know that much about you, so go get ready"
Soumya laughed "Be back in half an hour. See ya"
Gaurav smiled faltered for a while but spoke softly "Bye Soumya"
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She sighed as she fanatically checked in mirror once again " Hey is every thing fine na, makeup, hair, dress, there are no folds on my dress na"
Harman smiled at her, but also got irritated " This is thousandth time you are checking it, You are looking good. Now come lets go, or else we will get late for party."
Surbhi glared at him and spoke "This is supposed to be one of the biggest parties in this year, all the celebrities and higher people will be there, I can't afford to be sloppy."
Harman sighed " You are looking good, gorgeous. now shall we go."
Surbhi checked once again in mirror and nodded
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Gaurav smiled as Soumya came down running the stairs, "Only you will dare to run down the stairs in that dress and high heels. Don't blame me if you fall down and break your leg"
Soumya smiled "Don't worry, because of all these parties and galas, I pretty much got used to these high heels and dresses. I can even complete a marathon with out a scratch"
Gaurav laughed as he tucked a tress of hair behind her ear " As usual you look good"
Soumya smiled "Thank you, but you know I don't care even if I look like a demon"
"Haha right, but still you look good"
Soumya gave an exaggerated sigh " Yaa, its not good for the host of the party to be late. so lets go" she hooked around his arm and dragged him.
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As Gaurav and Soumya reached party venue, they got down the car to be surprised with a big flower bouquet ... both looked around perplexed since the guests didn't reach there yet "Is it your plan?" Gaurav asked Soumya who shook her head and shrugged " I don't know. But red flowers, I will not give them to you, you know it"
Gaurav nodded and they felt some one touching both of their shoulders and a big shout "Happy birthday", startled when they turn back Soumya squealed "Parineeti"
"Hey di." she hugged her and then playfully poked Gaurav " Why the hell did you made Di your date, leaving me alone"
Gaurav laughed " Don't shout if Karan listens he will kill me"
Parineeti pouted " Gaurav , I don't care, and you very well know that"
Soumya smiled "he begged me yaar, so I have no chance but to accept"
Parineeti grinned at her "Of course my gorgeous di, he should beg you. or else why will he get my most beautiful di to be his date ! Huh"
Soumya shook her head in amusement and spoke " But you are more beautiful than me. Care to swap the dates"
Parineeti looked at Soumya in horror "No way I am going to be his date, then the whole evening I has to be the perfect hostess and smile to every Tom and Harry. No! you do that, I will have lots and lots of booze"
Gaurav laughed and hugged Parineeti from side " Hey thats why I left you, you know. I love you so much that I want you to enjoy this evening so I dragged your di to be the boring hostess"
Parineeti smiled and spoke "Even if you love me so much, you love my di much more admit it."
Soumya's smile vanished for a moment and she again smiled sweetly "My dear sweet sister if you don't want me to damage your amazing hairstyle, stop and move in. Its time for guests to arrive" Parineeti sighed and she gave an apologetic look to Gaurav who just shrugged .
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Harman stood silently and continued to look around giving a small smile to familiar faces, which probably many because of his family status and he looked at Surbhi who waved at him and continued to talk with her friends. He was getting bored, he always hated parties but this party was birthday of Gaurav Khanna. Heir of the Khanna group which is a famous business group. And considering this guy is also his school friend, he can't afford to miss this party. But Gaurav was a guy whom he hadn't met in past ten years or so, he wasn't sure what to make of the guy. However he came out from his thoughts as announcement started "Welcome Ladies and Gentleman for the birthday of my son Gaurav. Years back this day god gave me a boon in form of my son, who always made me proud. Now with out any delay I welcome my son Gaurav Khanna on to the stage." Harman smiled to himself , and Surbhi came beside him and spoke excitedly " Every one is interested in who will be his date. Who ever the girl is, she will be really lucky"
As all lights became dark, in a filmy style a white light started and fall on to a couple on stairs and suddenly he heard Surbhi gasp and he himself felt shocked.Standing there was Soumya looking most beautiful than ever in a Red and black ball gown holding hands of a handsome guy in tuxedo." As they both smiled he can hear murmurs behind him commenting how beautiful they both are as a couple and felt himself wanting to go there and shut their mouths. Finally they came down and Gaurav's father hugged Gaurav and also Soumya . He spoke again " Meet my son Gaurav Khanna, and this beautiful lady here is Soumya Verma. What many people doesn't know is Soumya here is daughter of our beloved and missed friend Dhruv Verma. And am sure her father would be proud of her today, if he is here." Some one shouted from down "Is Miss. Verma your sons fiance?" Mr.Kaushal looked at Soumya who smiled and took mike from him " With uncle's permission I want to answer this question. I am Soumya Verma as uncle already told and many of you know about my father , but today I am here not as Heir of Verma group , or daughter of Dhruv Verma. I am standing here just as a best friend of Gaurav Khannna, who is accompanying him on his important day. We both are friends since childhood, and I would request every one here not to defile our beautiful friendship by creating un necessary rumours. Now enough of me, because this is not my birthday , but my friends birthday"She smiled and hugged Mr.Khanna once again before giving him mike and came down stage. Mr. Khanna gave mike to Gaurav asking him to speak , and Gaurav glanced around the room " First of all I should thank dad for making lights off in this room, it becomes really scary when I has to speak like this infront of all you big people. " every one laughed at that and Harman himself chuckled .
Gaurav continued " First of all I would again thank Dad for this beautiful birthday party. Now I didn't prepare any speeches or such, because thats really boring both for me and for you people.Majority of the youngsters here, I remember them vaguely because, we are school buddies, but aster school our lives diverted in many ways and I lost contact with most if not all of them. Those very few friends who stayed with me, I thank them a lot for bearing my craziness all these years and others I hope we can reacquaint ourselves again and become good friends.Finally I thank all the elders for coming here and blessing me."
Every one politely clapped at that and Harman can't help but smile, this guy his childhood buddy is truly charming ,blunt and straight forward. He observed Gaurav silently as he came down and sat beside Soumya who commented something making him laugh and wink. He didn't listen to rambling of Surbhi nor did he listen to the comments of ladies behind him. He only has eyes for Gaurav and Soumya, one may misunderstand them as couple because of their closeness, but Harman can see that they have a close bond of friendship , which is near to level of the friendship he used to share with Soumya. Its just near, not to to that level because none can be as close as them; he shook his head coming out from his thoughts as Gaurav came towards him smiling "nandu?"
Harman smiled as he spoke " Don't you remember my name Gau , calling me Nandu"
Gaurav laughed as he hugged Harman " You will never change, do you?"
Harman grinned "Changing is for losers , not for me"
Gaurav also nodded "So how are you. I missed you a lot bro. why didn't you even try to contact me?"
Harman spoke "you know me, I just didn't thats it no reason."
Gaurav smiled nodding "So whose this beautiful lady beside you?"
Harman looked at Surbhi and spoke " Surbhi Kaur. My friend"
Gaurav smiled to Surbhi and asked politely " Surbhi Kaur, I feel the name familiar, by chance did you study in St.Xaviers?"
Surbhi nodded "Yes, I did study there for one year. Did you study there?'
Gaurav laughed "Got you, you are that kiddo who always used to sing in assembly aren't you. Yup I did study my nineth standard there. So are you still that ruly"
Surbhi made a face " I am never ruly . "
Gaurav looked at Harman "know what Nandu, this kid she is a junior of mine in school and once she glowered at me while I attended assembly late."
Harman shook his head " Bro, you know what, You too will never change"
Gaurav grinned "Ofcourse dude, I follow your words only 'Changes are for losers'" they both continued to laugh when some one closed Gaurav's eyes from back and he spoke instantly "Mishu, one will get used to these tactics of yours after you repeat them for hundreds of times"
"Bhai, what to do. I like to surprise you. Next time I will try new tactic, any way where are my chocolates?" Harman looked interestingly at the new comer and its the girl who shouted him that very morning , who is now looking at him like a fish. Gaurav looked between them both and asked " Mish, Are you looking at him because you know him or because he is handsome?"
Misha spoke calmly all that play ful ness gone from her face " I know him, he is my senior in college." She then looked at Surbhi who is holding Harman's arm and asked "How are you Surbhi?"
Surbhi spoke as calmly "I am fine Misha. How is your best friend?"
Misha smiled " She is fine, infact she is the most happiest woman in world." saying that she spoke softly to Gaurav "Bhai! I will tak to you later. I will go and meet Soumya" Gaurav nodded calmly and turned to Harman
"So Nandu, do you know Soumya also?"
Surbhi coughed beside him which Harman ignored and spoke "yeah I am acquainted. she is my junior and class mate of Surbhi here. So how does you know her? You both look pretty close?"
Gaurav nodded "She is my best friend. I used to know her through sports club.In fact she is the one who remembered me and kept in touch wiith me even after I left to America."
Harmant murmured "So you are one of the four" Surbhi who listened it clearly glowered at him and spoke softly to Gaurav "Excuse me, I see some of my friends there, I will meet them , you continue with your boy talk" saying that she smiled and left .
As soon as she left they both heard some one calling for Gaurav and they both moved there only to meet Soumya standing with others and Harman looked at Soumya who looked at him in shock.
Gaurav smiled " Hey Soumya this is Nandu, I mean Anand my school buddy. Nandu this is Soumya. Probably you both know each other "
Soumya nodded her head , "I know him" She looked to Gaurav softly "Uncle called you Gau" Harman looked at her incredulously hearing her calling some other by nickname and Gaurav smiled "Okay my darlings. Now I have to leave , so guys please keep company for Anand till I come."
Misha was about to speak some thing when Soumya stopped her and spoke to gaurav "Don't worry we will take care of our senior . You go."As Gaurav left she spoke calmly to Harman " Just leave " Harman raised his eyebrow "So this is why you wanted to leave early today"
Soumya looked at him equal defiantly "My personal matters doesn't concern my senior. Any way as said senior doesn't permit me to leave, its none of his business. Go to your date or girl friend or what ever you brought along with you".
Harman spoke calmly "you can't order me to do any thing Miss Verma"
Soumya crossed her arms now " OK, if you won't leave I will leave." She turned to Parineeti "I will be leaving, tell Gaurav I has headache so left and say him to call me later.Will you?" Parineeti nodded her head hesitantly 'Okay di, but Gaurav will really feel bad. "
Soumya smiled "I will explain to him , don't worry.Also behave, don't go overboard with Karan"
Parineeti grinned and winked "Jealous huh?"
Soumya rolled her eyes and she spoke a soft good bye to Misha, who argued with her that she too will come "No Mish, I can go. You stay here, Gaurav will become sad if you too leave.Any way collect those choclates, he hid then in his pocket" Mish smiled to her and she gave a final glare to Harman as she left.
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Soumya came into her room and settled onto the coach , why the hell did she even react that way? He just came there, may be apparently a friend of Gaurav, why should she over react, can't she be calm. She got startled as she felt the door open and looked to see Karan coming in , she smiled at him "I am pathetic aren't I?"
Karan sat beside her "Somu tell me one thing, why are you this much upset?"
Soumya didn't speak for a while, she just remained silent gathering her thoughts " I don't know, I am still trying to know the answer."
Karan sat in a relaxed way and spoke " Do you remember the times when we used to fight. The time when you mistaken your crush for me as love, I thought you did love me for a while but something is off, it doesn't feel right. But later when we met after 4 years you didn't have any those feelings for me, you just reacted to me as you will react to Vastav or others. Just as a friend. But to Harman you are never able to, question your self why? "
Soumya spoke calmly "As you said yes, I did confuse my crush on you to love for a long time, even then when I am feeling sad I turned to him. But in his case I did love him truly. I thought my love is so pure that I can even let go of him. Thats why I never tried to stop him, nor pursue him even when I missed him. But one thing I failed to recognise is, if ever I turned back to see him or if ever he comes back in my life, the feelings I have for him are really hard to control. Every minute I face him, there's an Inferno in my heart and mind. But I still try to remain calm. The only soother for this is my friendship with you guys and now when I know some how he is coming into there which is my peace circle I just feel emotional, angry and drained. I just want to shout why can't I escape him?"
Karan continued to look at her with an unreadable face , all the while she spoke she never had an emotion on her face, no tears nothing. She's just saying the truth which is plain and open, words coming from her heart. He spoke to her softly " We are your friends Somu, we will never leave you. Don't even think of that. "
Soumya laughed " Know what Karan? Once I had this strange dream of Parineeti liking Harman, that would have been really horrible atleast for me. Now I am really glad it didn't happen."
Karan almost shuddered imagining it and spoke "I am also glad, or else how will I get the chance to call you Bhabhi?"
Soumya glared at him "yah I am younger than you, despite of you being my younger sisters lover, shouldn't I be the one who should be calling you Jeeju."
Karan rolled his eyes as she continued muttering "How the hell did she even fall for a old guy like you" earning her self a smack on head from him which finally resulted in a pillow fight
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Gaurav frowned as he looked around and asked "Mish , Where's Soumya?"
Mish shrugged "She has a headache bro, so she left"
Gaurav became worried "Hey what happened, did she get any injury or such?"
Mish smiled shaking her head "Relax Bhai, she is fine. Just a small headache thats it, she wanted to stay but I pushed her to go to her room. Sorry"
Harman who stood beside calmly looked around and asked " Did she leave by her self?"
Gaurav shook his head " No she didn't leave alone, looks like Karan left with her. Any way her room is in top floor of this very hotel"
Misha cursed her self silently, and Harman asked interestedly "What do you mean?"
Gaurav shrugged "Soumya owns this hotel, I mean it belongs to her family, so she stays in hotel's pent house"
Misha smiled and spoke " Mr. Singh, why are you so interested in Soumya? Aren't you a stranger to her."
Harman glared at her while Gaurav looked at her confused and Harman spoke " I am interested in knowing my junior thats it, afterall its not every day one see Gaurav smitten for a girl"
Gaurav laughed as Misha glared at them and dragged Harman a side " Bro, you know what you have a really bad timing. "
Harman looked at him questioning and he continued " Love and Soumya just don't go well together. Yup your perception is right , I do like Soumya, but I am not in relation ship with her. For her its just a one time thing."
Harman asked him directly "Is it that Karan or what ever that guy?"
Gaurav smiled "Karan is her first crush, but no he is not her first love. She loved only one guy."
Harman's face became pale and he asked him silently "Did she still love him?"
Gaurav was about to answer when some one called "Harman." Gaurav's face became pale and blank as he looked at Harman and back at Surbhi who is calling him. He asked Harman " Why did she call you that?" By that time Misha came there to silent them but she too stood shocked as she heard Gaurav asking him that question, Harman knowing what happened spoke " Bro, As you remember my name is Harman Anand Singh and now a days I go by Harman than Anand. " Gaurav looked at Surbhi and Harman and looked at Misha who stood there worriedly and spoke in a dangerously low voice "Why did Soumya leave Misha?"
Before Misha say some thing , its Surbhi who gasped "Did you meet Soumya Harman?"
Harman nodded silently and he turned to Gaurav " Sorry bro, yes I am indeed the person who you think I am to be. yes she left because of me. I just hope our friendship is not affected by this. You have my number call me if you wish to speak with me." Saying that he left from there leaving every one including Surbhi.
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