• •

"Rohit?" I walked inside with slight confusion.

What is he doing here?

"Harsh? What are you doing here?" Rohit averted his gaze towards Harsh, who had just then entered the house.

"Just came by to drop Suhana" Harsh spoke up as Rohit's facial expressions clearly explained that he was confused.

"That's because I am working as an intern in his hospital " I spoke out to break the confusion.

"In his Hospital?? Ohh-Wow, that's cool" Rohit chuckled half way as Harsh insisted that it would be better for him to leave though I had asked him to stay for awhile.

Within the next few minutes, Harsh had left and after that all I could feel was Rohit's piercing gaze at me, staring with a sullen face.

With awkward silence filling the living room,as everyone hesitated to initiate a conversation, while mom told me that Megha was in her room all this while and didn't bother to welcome him inside.

After enough staring, Rohit spoke in, "So Suha, I think it's time. Let's leave" He stood up from the couch leaving stunned.

"Leave? Where?" I stood up parallel to him with my hands on my hips.

"Of course to your home. How long will you stay here? Planning to ditch us?" He said with a sulky face as I understood where the topic was leading to.

"Huh-Rohit-I think---Maybe I should stay here for some more days and then--"I stammered as the very thought of facing Vikram after that embarrassing encounter we had a few weeks back.

It was embarrassing.

Too much embarrassing!

"-Enough of excuses. You have stayed here enough my dearest sister-in-law. It's time for you to come back home." He folded his hands against his chest.

"Huh--Rohit-but"

"No no no, I am not here to listen to your excuses. I'm actually here to take you home." He said firmly.

"Fine! Let me pack my clothes and--" I said as he interrupted, "-That's not necessary " He said as he gave a sneaky look.

"Why not?" I followed his gaze as it met mom.

"-because I may have already asked your mom to pack all your clothes and stuff" He grimaced as I stared at mom, while dad was chuckling silently on the couch.

••••

"So what's up?" I leaned back on the seat as I pulled in the seat belt.

"Nothing great. Vikram's best friend is coming home tomorrow. I felt you should be there with us when she arrives. That's it"

Yeah Vikram!

Wait, wait wait!

What am I going to say to him when I meet him?

'Hey Vikram! The controversial conversation we had a few weeks back....That wasn't me! That was my evil doppelganger?'

Well he wouldn't hesitate to stab me with his sarcastic comebacks for such a lame excuse.

"Hello? Where are you lost?" Rohit asked as I jumped back to harsh reality.

"Nothing just--" I bragged as his face was unusually weird.

"So what's bothering you?" I turned and asked him.

"Me? Uhm-Nothing!" He answered remotely as I glared at him as he continued, "Why didn't you come back home?" He spilled out.

Haha nothing at all, just bumped into a cute and sweet couple fight with your brother and most probably wanted to bury myself after knowing the entire truth.

Or should I say that I was waiting for his brother to divorce me after encountering what a freak I am.

"Where are you lost again? It was so boring at home back there." He sounded dispirited.

"Aww look at my cute little brother-in-law. Did you miss me" I tried to pull his cheeks like that of a small baby's.

"Haha don't act. Give me one good reason on why you didn't return home." He said with a straight face.

"Well looks like your brother enjoyed a lot while I was here." I mumbled to myself.

"What?"

"Huh- Well You were busy playing cupid the other day with your brother so I thought I should be spending some time alone here to show you that your plan flopped." I smirked.

"Haha but honestly, that day was fun. I tried all I could to freak out Vikram and send him out and throw a search party for you, while I stayed at home and had a whole packet of chips" He laughed out as I hit him playfully on his arms.

"So now tell me what's really bothering you?" I asked again.

"What? Just now I told you" he laughed out again.

"Rohit! Tell me" I laid my hand on his arm that was busy directing the steering.

I knew something was definitely wrong with him. He was unusually different today.

With seconds passing I could see the change of his facial expressions.

"Rohit, What's wrong?" I raised my voice concerned as he parked the car to the left.

"Check backseat" He sounded dejected as I leaned back as my eyes located an envelope.

"What's this?" I asked myself as I opened the envelope and picked out the letter in it and read it.

Words were stuck in my throat as I was left speechless.

"Resignation letter?" I gasped as I turned towards Rohit.

"Megha resigned from our company" He said as a lone tear slipped from his left eye.

Megha hasn't been leaving for office since a month now. But I had always thought everything would be fine as time passed, just like how it had happened with me.

But no! She resigned.

What is running in her head?

"Rohit! I am so sorry." I felt really bad when those words slipped my mouth.

"Is she going to be like this forever? Away from me?

Hating me for the rest of our lives?" His words reflected desolation and despair.

"Oh no Rohit. Not at all!! She is just upset about everything that happened with me and yeah she is emotionally affected beacuse of that.

But at the end of the day she still loves you. I know it and nothing can ever change that" I assured him as I side hugged him.

"Come on Rohit, stop worrying! It's always going to be you and Megha. I will talk to her regarding this. Until then don't pressurize yourself and don't come to yourown irrelevant conclusions" I added as he nodded faintly.

The rest of the ride home was more silent as we were both indulged in our own thoughts.

Rohit has been this happy, talkative and sensible man, from my observation all these days. I have never seen this side of him.

Which yearns only for Megha's unconditional love.

Who would ever say no to such a guy?

Well my sister does. Now I have to do something to mend this.

And only one person can help me with that.

• • • •

"Suha is everything alright?" Rohit asked for the third time with the weirdest face ever.

"Yeah of course I am totally comfortable here. You go to your room and sleep" I insisted.

"-And you're going to spend the rest of the night on this couch that too in the-Living room?" He gave me the 'Are-you-normal ' look.

"Yes! Yes ! Yes!" I continued,"How many times are you going to ask that again?"

"Why don't you go to your room and sleep?" He asked, confused.

"No-its just--"

"Did you guys, have a fight or something?" He narrowed his eyes questioningly.

We had reached home an hour ago , and I have been dodging Vikram since then with my whole life.

I had my dinner in the garden, Changed my clothes in the guest room, and I am currently hiding in the living room as he is busy in his room.

"Fight? Ahem-no--why would we? Of course not" I lied in the worst way possible as he slowly left the place staring at me pitifully.

Spending an hour on the couch, flipping right and left, I realised that the couch in Vikram's room is way better than the couch I'm currently lying on.

As I was immersed in my own world of imaginary scenarios with my eyes closed, sudden clanking from the kitchen stirred me back to reality.

With all the lights switched off and unable to locate anything but could only allure the darkness, my eyes blindly tried to locate my phone on the table.

All of a sudden, distant lights in the kitchen turned on leaving me to shudder in the darkness surrounding me.

Unable to locate my phone, I moved towards the light leading from the kitchen, when my mind decided to make this situation more spooky.

What if it's a thief?

How will I handle him?

Should I take a knife with me?

Wait-wait! What would a thief be doing in a kitchen?

Stealing gas?

Ugh, must be it's someone else, I tried to assure myself half-mindedly as I walked inside the kitchen to find no one inside while the gas was burning with a vessel on top.

Okay.

This is creepy as hell.

Maybe I should go back to my room quietly and pretend like I didn't see anything.

I slowly traced back with my eyes still stuck on the fresh mug and some powder lying in front of me.

As I walked backwards furiously I bumped onto the wall and slipped my balance only to fall on the floor on my left side when two strong arms slid through my waist and caught me a centimeter above the floor before I could break my bones.

Turned out that it wasn't a wall that I bumped into but Vikram.

"You are either clumsy enough to drop and break things or clumsy enough to play tumbling monkeys on the floor" He narrowed his eyes as he pulled me upwards, helping me to stand on my own feet.

With words stuck in my throat, I gazed away, staring at the gas burning, which was probably boiling milk.

"If you want Coffee, just ask for it" He said in a smug tone, mocking me as I turned back towards him.

"I was just--" I grimaced with no clue of how to continue the conversation considering that I was guilty to meet his Cognac eyes.

"How did you come back?" He continued with his third sentence, while I was not successful enough to complete one.

"Rohit picked me up from my house and got me here" I shrugged as he moved forward towards the stove and switched it off.

"So what--you both are best friends now?" He asked with his eyes fixed on the coffee mug as he poured hot milk into it, as I nodded saying a Yes.

Should I apologize now?

Or later?

Thinking on how to apologize or what to say, my own words were choking my throat, making me feel bad for being mean to him that day.

"So are we playing Role-Play?" He narrowed his gaze at me,"Switching roles or something? Because you aren't speaking anything today, while I am speaking non-stop since the moment you walked in" He looked up at me sipping the coffee from the mug held in his left hand.

"No *cough* I was *cough* just *cough*" I stopped midway as the words that were choking in my throat turned into vigorous coughs.

After continously coughing for another minute, he handed over a glass of water to me.

Okay.

Something is definitely wrong.

Why is he being extra nice to me?

Not an insulting comment since the moment I walked in. Lets ignore his clumsy comeback on me though.

"What's bothering that pretty little head of yours?" He asked calmly as I gulped down the entire glass of water into my mouth.

With hesitation tingling, "I should actually--apologise for whatever happened--"

"You're still stuck with that?" He asked coolly as he picked his glass and moved towards the couch as I followed him.

"So-you are over it?!" I exclaimed at the same time confused.

Vikram gave up with something that could have taunted and made me feel guilty for the rest of my life?

That's surprisingly shocking.

"Why not? Making assumptions is human nature" He stared at me while my jaw was on the floor, confused and shocked.

But somewhere deep inside, I was glad he chose to forgive rather than make me feel bad about it.

"Where are you lost?" He mumbled as I folded my legs and sat on the couch beside him.

"There is something I want to tell you" I said in a low voice.

• • • • •