Jab They Met...Again!

"Hey bhagwaan....itni badi line toh bhagwaan ke mandir mein bhi nahi lagti jitni badi yahaan shaadi mein khaana khaane waalo ki lagi hai!" Shikha, who was standing beside me in the queue, rolled her eyes impatiently.

"Tu mandir bhi jaati hai?" Anshika, standing behind me, sacastically asked her.

"Haan, kal abhi main pehli baar gayi thi na di aur aapke saath" Shikha replied looking back and gave her a shot eyes, and then turned around to look frustratingly in the front of the line - where ever that was. It seemed as if the line was not moving at all.

"Why are we standing in line?...Hum guest thodi na hai jo hume line mein khada hona pade, woh bhi KHAANE KE LIYE!!!..." I exclaimed as if I were a politician giving a lecture on fundamental rights and freedoms.

"Shreya theek kehti hai," Anshika agreed and look exasperated as she spoke to Shikha, "Shikha, tu bhi na, hume befaaltu mein yahaan kheech kar laayi..."

Shikha took a quick deep sigh and replied, "Di, agar hum room mein khaana mangwa legne toh ladke mujhe dekhenge kaise?" I could not help but admire her bubbly character, which was clearly depicted by her wink to me after she had finished the sentence.

"Tujhe?...toh fir HUM YAHAAN PAR KYUN HAIN?" Anshika's frustrated voice was starting to turn into anger.

I could not help but giggle. "Hey...almost our turn to grab the plate....Oh Lord! Matar paneer...Aalu gobhi ki sookhi sabji...yumm!!!!"

"Pehle starters then main dish and finally dessert!" Anshika's eyes sparkled looking at the food ahead.

"Wait!" Shikha looked astonished, "I thought you were on a diet!..." she retorted looking back at Anshika behind us.

After rolling her eyes, Anshika started to speak more to herself than to us, "Today is an exception, my dear. It's my best friend's wedding!..." Ohoo...like we didn't know!..."Wait...hang on..." she had received a call on her zombie phone..."Hello?....oh hey!...kidhar hai tu?..."

We called it the zombie phone as she always has her phone on silent mode. Yeh baat ki kab usse koi call karta hai ya toh bhagwaan jaane ya fir khud wahi!

"Di, there's a really cute and handsome guy talking on the phone and looking over here at us..." Shikha nudged me with her elbow to look away from the food line to the guy...

"Who cares!!!!!!" I really did not want to look as food was more important to me than looking at some guy glaring at us while talking on his phone, and "...he's making his way towards us...!" Shikha was now on self-talk spree...."aaaaaaa....he's coming!" She could not hold her excitement and Ansikha was also attending a call.

Grrrr!!!...Why was I here? One was behind me talking to someone on the phone (done talking I suppose) the other was talking to herself and nudging me with her elbow just to -- "OUCH!!! Shikha mujhe nahi dekhna kisi - " I looked on my left and was frozen!!!!!! "- PARAG!!!..." Ansikha and Shikha both looked at me and then at Parag and back at me and back at Parag, who was smiling at me and I could not help but smile back at him! :)

"WHOA!!!! You two know each other?" Anshika asked with amazement. I didn't know whether she asked me or him as I was lost in Parag's smile, his beautiful smile.....Oh beautiful heaven!!!! Where were thou for all these years?

"Hi Shreya!" Oh Lord, his voice!!...His deep charming voice that could floor any girl, or a guy for that matter. AAAHHHH!!! I'm becoming weak, oh no!...Be calm and strong Shreya, be calm and strong!!!!

"Hey!..." I wanted to jump at him and hug him, but...Control Shreya, control! All I did was convert my zeal of jumping at him and giving him a hug into a huge smile on my face trying not to look like an idiot.

"Wait, tum dono ek doosre ko jaante ho?" Anshika asked again as she wasn't answered earlier for the same question.

"Obviously, Madam Einstein, if they know each other's name, they're bound to know each other!" Shikha snarled at Anshika. "But how do YOU know him?" Shikha asked Anshika and without waiting for an answer she quickly turned to Parag and put her right hand forth to shake his hand, "Hi, I'm Shikha Pandey."

Parag looked away from me to shake hands with Shikha, without a change in his facial expression, he sweetly shook her hands and responded, "Hi, I'm Parag." I can tell you for sure what Shikha had been thinking in her mind at that moment: 'I'm never washing my hands ever again!!!' Yea, that's Shikha there for you. A complete cartoon character in her own peculiar way, but that's the best thing about her personality.

"You guys know each other?" Ansikha looked from Parag to me.

I nodded with the slightly reduced smile on my face, but the zeal was still sparkling inside me.

"We were class mates for 4 years, from 7th until 10th." I was telling and moving along the line.

"Oh!"Anshika and Shikha both got a satisfying answer which, for some reason, didn't sound too appealing to them.

"Do logo ke baad humaari baari hai plates grab karne ki." Shikha kept moving at the flow of the line's pace.

"Parag, tumhe nahi khaana?" Anshika asked Parag.

Before he could answer the question, Shikha while grabbing the plate asked, "Aap iss cheez ko kaise jaante hain?" referring cheez to Anshika.

Before he could answer, Anshika replied back, "Yeh iss CHEEZ ke maama ka beta hai!" She grabbed the plate as well.

"Ooooo!!!" Shikha tried to sound tacky, but clearly she was excited to be standing to someone like Parag, who was just standing, trying not to look too embarrassed in the presence of 3 girls at a marriage ceremony. The poor guy's nature was shy anyways, and when he's around someone like Shikha, how can he not be. "Di, are you not going to grab a plate?" Shikha nudged me again.

"Ohhh," I got out of the line and stood beside Parag, "tum dono kha lo, main baad mein khaoongi."

"kyun?" Anshika legitimately queried as she grabbed cucumbers and carrots from the salad bar.

"I haven't talked to Parag," trying not to look into his eyes, I quickly looked up at him and continued to speak to Anshika and Shikha, "...tum log khao, main baad mein kha loongi." I smiled and looked at Parag straight into his eyes, which I should not have done.

They both agreed and kept moving along the line to get their food.

Parag and I walked to a distant place where our voices would not be heard by both of them.

"So, how are you?" He looked at me with a query full of face. This is definitely not what he wanted to ask me at first.

"Fine, and yourself?" I smiled and tried not to give away that I knew his intentions to query me.

"I'm also fine. So how are you here...? I mean when did you come to India?" Here we go!

"The bride, Shivani, is my mausi's elder daughter." I looked at the jaimaal stage.

"Oh" his tacky reply was a clear depiction that he could care less how I was related to the bride, or better, how I was even here, all he cared was that I WAS THERE!

"Are you here with Anshika? And you never told me you had another bua whose daughter's name was Anshika." I started getting speculative as he had told me before he only had one bua who's daughter was younger than him.

"Cousin bua....just like how you have so many cousin buas. I have one cousin bua. But I'm not here with her, I found out she was going to be here just couple of days before." He smiled.

"Oh!...So how exactly are you here? ladko waalo ki taraf sey ho? Shakti ke friend ho?...nahi, Shakti tumhara friend kaise ho sakta hai, tum Delhi ke, woh Lucknow ka, impossible. Toh tum ladko waalo ki tarf sey hoge...hai na?....OH! By the way, Shakti Shivani didi aur Shikha ka bhai hai" why was he staring at me as if he was about to burst into laughter?

"Tum bilkul nahi badli" he controlled his laughter but kept smiling. "Main tumhaari didi-ke husband-ke-bhai-ka-dost hoon. Remember Chirag, my roomie from 1st year?"

"Oh....that's Chirag? Shit!...maine toh recognize hi nahi kiya...ek hi baar toh dekha tha usse woh bhi ek photo mein...he looks differnt now lekin tum nahi badle...same height, same face, same voice, same smile, and same hair....but ek baat alag hai..." my enthusiastic tone turned in a speculative tone again.

"Yea? And what is that?" he asked eagerly.

"I've always preferred you in a t-shirt than in a shirt, except in the school uniform, but today is something different, with the baby blue tieeeee....or maybe I'm just in a delusional state right now..." I tried to control my laugh.

"Yea?" he raised his eyebrows, I nodded with a smile.

He continued, "Hmm..and maybe I'm in a delusional state right now too, thinking that today you're looking the most beautiful I have ever seen you."

"Ahaan!" I exclaimed, "And exactly how many times have you seen me with casual cloths?"

"Well, I'd say a total of about 10 to 15 days I suppose, including the 3 day rendezvous we had 4 years ago in Delhi." he recalled our meeting when I had come back to India after 4 years back then.

We both chuckled and could not help but show our grins to each other, but he spoke and when he speaks in his deep yet charming and sexy voice...OH LORD!!!!....especially when he gives you a compliment, you can not help but be on cloud 9.

"But seriously, you look really beautiful, as always!!! And as I said before, the most beautiful I have ever seen you..." his eyes, oh lord!!! I chuckled and and said, "thanks. You yourself don't look bad either," Oh, maybe I should not have said that or maybe I did the right thing since all he said was a sweet little appreciative thanks as he knew my hidden intention of a compliment behind that remark. Why did he know me so well back then?

I smiled back at him and we kept smiling at each other. There was an awkward pause for some seconds while we roved our eyes around before I asked him, "So, how's your girlfriend, kya naam tha uska, Varsha, if I may recall her name correctly," I sounded trailing off pretending to recall his girlfriend's name.

"Does it matter?" he asked calmly.

"Okay," I shrugged, "if you don't wanna tell, then it's fine."

"Right, I don't wanna tell as you never told me anything in these 4 years."

"Arrey, Kya bataati?"I asked in puzzlement.

"Kuch bhi Shreya, anything!!!" he insisted.

"Anything! Really Parag! Anything?" I retorted and continued talking, "Whenever I told you anything, you always found it boring, whether it was me telling you what I had bought for sabji on a specific day, or what I'll be doing for the rest of my day, or even what I didn't do. Ab jab back then you didn't find anything I told you interesting, then do you really think I'll even bother telling you anything?" I hope all this was going in his brain because I swear to God I would have slapped him if we were not here at a wedding ceremony; and after being slapped he would've just taken my hand and have me slap him more. Such an idiot he is! :)

"Toh? Ab boring tha toh kya karta sun ke? Tumhaari tarah boring cheeze mujhme interest nahi daal sakti ki main unhe suno aur apna time waste karu! Aur tumhaare paas toh kuch interesting hota bhi nahi tha batane ke liye...'I brought aalu today...I will take out the garbage today...I will study after talking to you...I made chai, will you drink?...KAISE PEETA CHAI, SHREYA?" I don't understand how this guy can shout under his breath and still sound cute and adorable.

"Dimaag sey! Aur waise bhi, you don't drink chai!!!"I growled at him with a smile.

"Yea, exactly, so it didn't matter what you made there, Shreya. Chai or coffee, I couldn't drink it. If you had been here....or I would have been there, then...." he sighed deeply and continued, "Well, it doesn't matter. Now I'm here and standing in front of you. But you didn't even care to tell ME that you're back in India. Fine, we were not talking, we never called each other for 4 years, never sent an email to each other, never nothing for 4 damn years!!!!..." he paused to inhale some air fromm talking nonstop rapidly - were we not talking about him and his girlfriend? - and he continued, "...There was nothing about you coming to India on your Orkut status either." Now he started to sound like he was going to lose his cool and yell at me any moment now.

"Parag, I'm not going to make an announcement to everyone that I'm coming to India!" I said as calmly as I could.

He sighed again, "...you could've at least told ME, Shreya" he pointed to himself exaggerating the word me.

I looked at him with a blank face and glared right into his eyes, but he jerked his head around to look away from my eyes. I kept looking up at him. Finally, when he looked back into my eyes, I replied, "Parag, there was no point in telling you, meri shaadi pakki ho gayi hai..."

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BLOGGER'S LAST REMARKS/ P.S.

• Long post. I know! :) Kya karu...mann kar raha tha. Bahut dino sey this was in rough mode. 2-3 din sey prototype mein gaya, and then aaj jaake finally....phew!!!!
• All characters and incidents are fictitious. Any resemblance to any person or incident is just a mere coincidence!
• I WOULD LIKE TO THANK GOD FOR PROCESSING MY REQUEST FROM LAST POST! THANK YOU, GOD! :) I LOVE YOU! :)
• I have my Critical Thinking exam tomorrow and I have not studied a bit! Henceforth begins my all-night 'studying' quest! I'm so excited!!! yipppeee!!!! :D
• I Guess this means more tea for me ;) hahahhaa
• DO LEAVE A COMMENT! :) PEACE!
• Au revoir!