LONGING FOR….. ( CHAPTER 6 )

“Hey Giraffe, you here?” She asked in a slow tone to that guy. Though her tone may be slow, but it showed her excitement of seeing that guy clearly. Well, she wasn’t excited like this, when I came home after 3 months. My crew and the other members were so much involved in the party that they failed to notice this.

“What is this gal? We’re meeting after ages and you’re asking, ‘you here?’ Not fair, beautiful lady!” That guy told HER in a complaining tone.

“Idiot, you didn’t even attend my marriage! Were you so busy, flirting with your 28 girlfriends, that you didn’t attend my marriage?” She scoffed.

“Oh.. That’s the reason, tigress is angry on me. My sweety, I was in the states that time, you knew that I was pursuing my masters.”
He said.

She hugged him and flashed a smile at that guy.

I was feeling so uncomfortable seeing this. Obviously, I will. SHE is MY wife, for god’s sake. How the hell all these are happening? That guy is looking pretty handsome as well. Who on earth that guy is? Where did he emerge here all of a sudden? He might be her friend. I was about to move from there, when she held my hand and stopped me.

“This is my best friend, Vidyut. He is my best friend since childhood” She introduced that guy to me. That so called Vidyut, smiled at me and I did that in return.

“This is Harsha, My husband.” She said pointing towards me.

As soon as she said that, his eyes widened. “Don’t tell me that yours is an arranged marriage!” He exclaimed.

“Shush! Vidyut, shut up!” She frowned.

“You’ve become more short tempered! I wonder how is he managing you!” He said.

“I hate you, Giraffe! Still, You are the same Vidyut, with whom I have fought the most.” She said, smiling at him. I don’t know why… I am not able to tolerate this. I excused myself and went from there. Am I feeling jealous? What nonsense? Why should I? I sighed. What’s happening? I am feeling so frustrated right now.

Damn! What kind of a man, I am? When I had to perform romantic scenes onscreen with other girls, She hadn’t exposed her feelings like I did. She would have also felt the same, like I am feeling right now. May be, I am over reacting. She told me that he is her best friend. Then, why am I feeling like this?

Till now, I haven’t opened up with her seriously, to be honest. I married, because of mom’s insistence. And being in this profession, made it difficult for me to start a personal life. But, It doesn’t mean that I hate her or I don’t want her to be my wife. The thing is… I like her. But whether my like is love or not, I don’t know. I like her frankness, her love for my mom and Ishaan, considering them as her own. Her smile is what I like the most. I don’t know what she feels for me. During the initial days after our marriage, We both had to perform many rituals and I didn’t have enough time to talk to her or spend time with her. That’s the biggest blunder, I think. I feel bad, when everyone other than me are able to talk to her normally. I am basically an introvert. It takes time for me to mingle with a person. You might think that 6 months is pretty long, but the thing is, I was not with her at that time.

“What are you planning now, Mr. Harsha?” I heard her voice. I turned and found her smiling at me. Thank heavens, that guy is not there. He has left, perhaps. I nodded in no and let out a small smile. She sat beside me.

“When are we leaving?” She asked me.

“In another 15 minutes.” I replied. I hate parties. I attend them for namesake.

“Who’s he?” I asked.

“Come on! Now don’t prank me again. Just now, I told you that he is my friend.” She said.

Damn! What am I doing? What will she think of me now? She will think that I am probing too much. Urgh!! I am getting restless now. I plastered a smile on my lips and muttered “Sorry”.

“Shall we leave?” I asked her. She gave me a suspicious look and she nodded. I clasped her hand tightly and proceeded towards the exit. I informed my crew and scanned the surroundings. Vidyut was not here. I took a deep breath. Gosh! I am going mad now.

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It was a pleasant morning. The sun hasn’t rose yet. The morning breeze made me feel fresh. Here I am, jogging. Harsha has not woke up yet. He has a later schedule today. And lately, he is behaving too odd. Yesterday, he seemed so restless. He is anxious about his new movie, I think. Astonishingly, I met my best buddy, Vidyut after ages. He was dad’s best friend’s son. We both were family friends. After Mom’s death, his mom was my second mom. She took care of me showered love on me like her own daughter. He is a naughty brat and a HUGE flirt. I don’t know till now, how many ever girlfriends he had. The list goes on. I, Sandy and Vidyut were the cool trio during our school and college times. Then, he went to the United States for his higher studies. We were in touch, but after my marriage, I had lost touch with him. I know all his deepest secrets. I was so happy when I met him yesterday, in an unexpected manner. I was upset, when Harsha left us both and went to enjoy the party. Well, I am expecting too much. It was an official party for him and how can I expect him to be with us. Vidyut told me that he had come here for an official trip for a month. So, he’ll be here and Sandy, I and him will have an awesome trio time together. I will call Ishaan too. I had invited Vidyut here for lunch today. When I told Mom, she was more excited than me.

“Good morning, duffer!” Ishaan’s voice made me jerk.
“Good morning, idiot! What an unpleasant surprise! Ishaan has come for jogging at THIS time? Wasn’t this your supposed to be midnight?” I mocked him as I continued my jogging.

“Ha ha.. Very funny.” He frowned as he jogged beside me.

“How was the party, yesterday night? Any improvement?” He asked me raising his eyebrow.

“Yeah. There’s a very good improvement. Your brother who used to talk at least in public places has started to isolate himself from me there too.” I replied.

“Lord! When will you learn to talk directly? Exaggerating always!” He said.

I narrated the previous night’s events. The frown on his face transformed into a smile. He grinned at me broadly.

“Smile Ishaan! Smile. Already, your brother laughs at me always. Now you have joined him” I told him.

“Idiot Annie! This is a very good improvement indeed!! When are you going to throw a party?” He asked me eagerly.

“Are you mad? Come on Ishaan! This is a very crappy joke.” I snorted.

“You’ll not understand now, Annie. I’ll make you understand soon. I don’t know, how mom chose a stupid like you? Argh!” He said dramatically. I glared at him.

“Okay, tell me when are you meeting that Vidyut?” He asked me.

“I have called him here to join us for lunch. Harsha has an evening schedule today. So, I thought of inviting Vidyut that we can have lunch together. It will be so much fun together. Ishaan, you know what, Vidyut is a very good company. We three will enjoy a lot today.” I chirped excitedly.

“Annie. For the very first time in your life, you have proved that you have a brain too. You did a very good thing by inviting him.” Ishaan said in a very calm manner.

Though I am happy that Ishaan is happy too, something is fishy. I could sense from his talks. I ignored.

“Wait and watch, we 3 are going to have loads of fun” I told Ishaan smiling.

“Yeah. We will have a lot of fun today.” Ishaan said. I don’t know what he is up to.
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“Who’s this?” I shrilled as I felt a pair of rough hands covering my eyes. My heart had a deep yet impossible desire that those hands should be of Harsha’s. But, my brain knew that would never happen. “Come on, Annie! Guess it!” Ishaan shrieked. “Giraffeee!!!” I yelled. I realized that late.

“You spoilt the game man!” Vidyut complained as he removed his hands from my eyes. Ishaan and I laughed.

“Ishaan, this is Vidyut. Giraffe, this is Ishaan, My brother-in-law.” I introduced. They both shook hands with each other.

“Welcome, Bro! Annie said much about you. Hope we’ll have much FUN today” Ishaan said. He stressed the word, ‘fun’ adding fuel to my suspicion.

“Anu, Ishaan! Where are you guys?” Mom said as she came there.

“Mom, this is Vidyut, My best friend” I introduced him to mom. Mom smiled at him.

“Anu, where’s Harsha?” Mom asked.

“I’ll call him mom.” I said. Harsha hasn’t waken up yet. It is gonna be lunch time. He would be tired. As I was about to go, I noticed Ishaan and Vidyut discussing something among themselves and laughing.

“Why are you both laughing?” I asked them.

“Well, I noticed that you’re wearing traditional stuffs. I asked Ishaan and he said that you’re trying to impress your actor husband.” He said in between his laughter.

“I will kill you both!!” I glared at them while those 2 laughed.

“Anu doesn’t need to impress Harsha by these things. She has already impressed him. Am I righg Anu?” Mom said. Ishaan chuckled and I looked at him angrily.

“What’s going on here?” I turned as I heard Harsha’s voice. He was coming downstairs. I could sense the same restlessness on his face. I need to talk to him. I will talk to him after Vidyut’s departure.

“Hello, Harsha!” Vidyut embraced him. Harsha reciprocated.

“Guys, let’s have lunch!” Mom said. I served them.

“Did you cook all these?” Vidyut asked.

“No bro. Actually, she wanted to. But, I don’t want to take any risks, you see.” Ishaan said. Everyone laughed, while Harsha looked at me amused.

“Thank heavens! She didn’t. Once, she wanted to surprise me on my birthday and she attempted to make a cake for me. I was told to guess the dish and….”

“He guessed it wrong. He said that it was custard!” I interrupted him before he could complete it. As soon as I said that, there were peals of laughter. Gosh! I had damaged myself. I closed my eyes in frustration.

Ishaan and Vidyut gave HiFi to each other. They mocked me like hell. After lunch, harsha excused himself and went to our room. What’s wrong with him? I sighed. We 3 talked about many random things. Vidyut and I reminisced about our childhood fun.

“Ananya!!” Harsha yelled from upstairs. I looked at Ishaan doubtfully, while he shrugged his shoulders. I made my way towards our room.

“Where’s my black shirt? Did you see that anywhere?” He asked me as soon as I entered the room. What’s wrong? He had never called me for all these stuff. What happened to him today? I went near the closet and opened it. “Harsha, any problem?” I asked him. He looked at me. “Here is your black shirt, placed on the first rack.” I told him. He didn’t respond. I went downstairs.

“Ananya!!” Harsha called me again while Vidyut winked at me. It has been just 15 minutes since I came down after that black shirt fiasco.
“Did you see my power bank?” He asked me. “Harsha, there it is, on the bed side table!” I said. “Oops… Sorry for disturbing.” He said and I returned downstairs.

“Where’s Sandy?” Vidyut asked me. “She is in Hyderabad too. We will meet her tomorrow” I told him.

“Ananya!!” Harsha’s ca this time made me angry. What’s wrong with him?

“I think, I am disturbing you guys.” Vidyut said. “Nothing like that, giraffe” I told him. My phone beeped. It was Ishaan.

“What’s the matter? Your husband man is calling you for the fifth time as of now. Any improvement? ?” His message read. I shot an angry glare at him and went upstairs.

“What’s wrong Harsha? What do you want now? I am noticing that you are calling me here for some useless things. My best friend has come here to spend time with me and you are hell bent on spoiling it!!” I shouted as my anger was at its peak.

He looked at me. “You never call me when I am free.” I continued. “You always….” I was about to speak more, when he placed his finger on my lips. I was shocked to the core. Is this the same Harsha, whom I got married 6 months ago? I felt sudden gush of blood over my cheeks. His black orbs met mine and I am feeling strange. I could feel adrenaline rush. Gosh!! What’s happening?

I was so drowned in his black orbs when he uttered in a husky tone,

“DON’T GO AWAY FROM ME!!”
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