Author's POV
The air was filled with chatter as students filed out of the seminar hall after attending the personality development workshop. Among the crowd, the six of them walked out looking equally bored.
Naman yawned, "Not even a single second of this workshop was interesting."
Rishi nodded, "For real. I mean, I don't even need to attend workshops like these. I already have a great personality."
"I am totally skipping any upcoming workshops. I'd rather just sleep.", Radhika said.
"Yeah, count me in.", Rishi said casually.
All five pairs of eyes snapped towards him
Rishi frowned, "What?"
Ruhi gasped, "I knew you were bold and flirty and all that, but I didn't know you were this bold."
Rishi blinked, clearly confused, and then realization hit him. He groaned, "Ugh! That's not what I meant! You guys are so dirty!"
Naman narrowed his eyes, "We thought what we thought because it was coming from you."
Rishi scowled dramatically, "What do you guys take me for?"
"Tharki.", Radhika said deadpan, making everyone laugh.
Naman smirked, "You should just disappear from Earth after this, Rishi."
Rishi rolled his eyes, "Shut up.", he then turned to Radhika, "You'll take that back soon, honey."
Radhika raised her chin, "We'll see. Anyway, there is still time for the committee meeting, why don't we go to a nearby cafe and just chill? You guys can go home after that."
All of them agreed with her and walked out of the college.
Siddharth was unusually quiet since the moment all of them met, and it certainly didn't go unnoticed by Ruhi.
While walking to the cafe, she turned to Naman, "Hey, what's up with this monster today? He is really quiet.", she whispered.
Naman glanced at Siddharth before answering, "He got a call from his parents this morning."
Ruhi raised an eyebrow, "And?"
"And it didn't go well.", he shrugged.
"Oh, so he is in a bad mood today, huh?", Ruhi smirked.
Naman narrowed his eyes, "Don't do anything today, Ruhi. You both will end up in a messy fight."
"Yeah, yeah.", Ruhi waved him off.
Naman sighed, knowing there was no point in trying to stop her.
They reached the cafe and found a table in a corner.
Ruhi cleared her throat, "I'll go order cold coffee for everyone, yeah?", saying this, she went to the counter, her mind already running with ideas about how to get back at him for treating her the way he does.
Her order arrived soon and she was about to go back, when an idea came to her mind.
Her lips curled up.
An opportunity.
"Excuse me? Can I get some salt?", she asked the lady at the counter.
She took the sachet of salt from the lady and looked around casually, making sure no one was looking. She then proceeded to empty the whole sachet of salt into one of the cups.
Biting her lips to control her smirk, she walked back to the table and started serving everyone their cups herself, making sure Siddharth gets the salty one.
She acted completely normal as she sat down across from Siddharth and sipped her coffee, her eyes locked on Siddharth to see his reaction.
Siddharth, who was busy scrolling through his phone until now, finally picked his cup and brought it to his mouth.
As soon as he took the first sip-
Splat.
He spat his coffee, and it landed straight on Ruhi's white top, making everyone gasp.
Ruhi's eyes widened, "What the hell?!"
Siddharth scrunched his face, "Why the hell is my coffee salty?!"
The five pairs of eyes immediately turned towards Ruhi, who was busy trying to clean her top with tissues.
Unknown to the eyes staring at her, she glared at Siddharth, "Don't you have manners?! How can you just do that?"
"Oh, it's easy.", he said coolly.
Before Ruhi could even process what he just said-
Splash.
The cafe went silent for a second, heads turning around to look at what happened.
Ruhi gasped in horror, looking down at her now soaked top.
For a second, she was too stunned to react.
Then slowly, very slowly, she looked up at Siddharth, who was now leaning back comfortably in his chair, a little too calmly for the chaos he had just started.
The table was dead silent.
Rishi muttered under his breath, "He is so dead today."
"You started it, Ruhi.", Siddharth said, crossing his arms, "Now don't give me that look."
Aditi shook her head in disbelief and whispered to others, "He is trying to bring his own ruin."
Ruhi's hand tightened on the coffee cup that she was holding, the paper cup crumbling slightly under her fingers.
She gritted her teeth, "Revenge is supposed to be equal, you monster."
And before anyone could process what she was about to do, she flung her coffee straight at him.
He jerked back as the coffee landed on his face, shirt and on the wall behind him.
For a second, nobody moved.
Siddharth ran a hand down his face, wiping the coffee off his skin.
Suddenly, a staff member rushed towards them, "Excuse me, you're ruining the furniture of our cafe."
Before any one of them could say anything, an old, grumpy looking man came up to them with his arms crossed, "What is going on here?"
The six of them shared nervous glances.
Naman cleared his throat, "We're sorry si-"
The man raised his palm, shutting him up, "What am I supposed to do with your sorry, huh? Who do you think is going to clean up the mess you created?"
No one dared to say a word, their gaze downwards.
The man again spoke, "The staff members aren't your servants here to clean your mess. So respectfully, clean the chaos you created before leaving."
After glaring at each one of them, the man left.
"I can't believe this.", Siddharth muttered.
Ruhi narrowed her eyes, "This is all because of you."
"You're-"
"Enough, both of you!", Radhika said, standing up with her arms crossed and a firm face, "Don't you know how to behave?""
From beside her, Rishi clicked his tongue, "Zero civic sense. Zero!", only to receive a glare from Radhika that made him put his finger on his lips.
"You both act so mature, don't you? Where is that maturity now?", she continued scolding them.
Both Siddharth and Ruhi remained seated with their heads down, getting scolded like kids caught stealing candies.
They looked at each other, and as soon as their eyes met, they started throwing daggers at each other, as if fighting with their eyes.
Aditi scoffed, "Look at them, still won't stop!"
Ruhi raised her hands in exasperation, "What do you guys want?"
"An apology.", Radhika said.
Siddharth raised an eye brow, "To whom?"
"To us.", she said firmly, "We got scolded because of both of you."
Ruhi's eyes widened in disbelief, "You guys were clearly enjo-"
Radhika's glare shut her up and she rolled her eyes and mumbled, "Sorry."
She then turned to Siddharth, who said, "What? That was her apology? Ask her to apologize properly first!"
Radhika's glare only intensified, "Siddharth."
He sighed, "Okay, I am sorry."
Radhika gave him a smile, "Good."
Naman stood up, "Now you both go and clean yourself up, we will take care of this mess."
Siddharth frowned, "What? Why would you do that?"
Ruhi nodded in agreement, "Yeah. We created this mess, so we will clean it."
Aditi rolled her eyes, "Oh, so now you're feeling guilty about it?"
"No, seriously, we will clean it.", Siddharth said.
They grabbed a few tissues and both of them stood side by side, wiping the same side of the table.
Ruhi elbowed him, "You go wipe that wall!"
"Don't order me. You go if you want to.", he retorted.
She rolled her eyes, "You're not on the menu for me to order you."
He stopped wiping for a second, glancing at her with a disgusted face, "Was that a joke?"
"Yes, so what?"
"I didn't like it."
"Yeah, and I didn't like-", she suddenly gasped mid sentence, "Wait! That was so KKHH coded!"
"Is that one of your stupid movies or books?", he asked.
"Excuse me! Kuch Kuch Hota Hai is not stupid!"
"Yeah, sure it isn't."
"Don't give me that sarcasm, okay?"
"Oh yeah? What will you do?"
"SHUT UP!", Radhika shouted, "This is the reason we didn't want you to do this. We will do this, you both get lost!"
"Radhika, relax-"
"Ruhi, go!"
Both of them went to their respective washrooms, glaring at each other the whole time.
When they came back a few minutes later, their table was completely clean, the floor was mopped, even the stains on the walls were wiped out.
They walked out of the cafe where everyone was waiting.
As soon as they saw Ruhi's half brown top and Siddharth's messy hair, they all burst into laughter.
Siddharth and Ruhi shared a confused glance, "What's so funny?"
"The whole situation, honestly. But right now, you both.", Naman replied.
"You know what? This deserves to be captured! Let's take a selfie!", Rishi said, pulling out his phone.
"You can take one for memories, but don't you dare post it somewhere.", Ruhi warned.
He grinned, "Oh, don't worry about that. I'll make sure everyone sees it."
Ruhi rolled her eyes, posing for the photo anyway, while Siddharth just stood there, in the frame without any complaints, because he knew none would be taken.
After they completed taking the photos, Radhika turned to the both of them, "Even though you both most certainly deserved it, I am sorry for shouting so much."
Ruhi waved her off, "It's alright. I am habitual to your matashree mode."
"Yeah, but it was definitely new for us.", Naman said, amused.
Radhika looked at Siddharth. He shook his head, "It's alright. In fact, you reminded me of my cousin Emma, she scolds me like this only."
She smiled, "Good. But don't you dare pull such stunts again.", making him raise his hands.
Rishi sighed, "I can't believe how far everything went."
"All thanks to these two," Naman said, glaring at Siddharth. "What even was that?"
"Wait! Why am I the culprit?" Siddharth frowned "She added salt to my coffee first."
Ruhi scoffed. "So? You could've done literally anything else. Put sugar in my pasta next time or something. At least make it an equal exchange."
"I have said this before, and I am saying this again- you're the one who set the bar, I just take it to next level.", he said calmly.
Ruhi's jaw clenched, "Fine. Let's see till what level you can go."
Siddharth smirked, "If that's what you want."
Rishi leaned towards the others and whispered, "World War 3 is officially announced, guys."
Radhika sighed, "And we are the innocent civilians caught in crossfire."
Rishi checked the time, "Oh shit! We're late for the meeting, honey! Let's go."
Radhika nodded, and they both left, not before giving one final warning look to Siddharth and Ruhi.
"Let's go home now.", Aditi suggested.
Naman nodded, "Yeah. You guys should go home and get changed. I also need to go to the market, so I'll go now."
"Are you going grocery shopping? I need to buy some things too.", Ruhi said.
Aditi's eyes lit up, "Let's all go then!"
Naman smiled, "Sure!"
Ruhi scrunched her face, "No, let it be then, I don't want to get bored third wheeling you both."
Aditi smacked her arm, "Shut up!", making Ruhi stick her tongue out.
Naman turned to Siddharth, "Are you coming?"
Siddharth hesitated, glancing at Ruhi, who pretended she didn't care, and then, nodded.
They reached the local market shortly after, the noise of the street vendors surrounding them.
"I have to buy a few dairy products, so you guys complete your shopping here and I'll go get that.", said Siddharth.
"Wait, you're going alone?", Naman asked.
Siddharth shrugged, "I don't mind."
"I can accompany you if you want. I don't have anything to do here anyway.", Aditi suggested.
"I don't mind that either.", he replied.
Ruhi declared, "Okay then, let's meet here in half an hour."
Naman's POV
Today felt like going back to the day we all met for the first time.
Ruhi messing up with Siddharth's food and him throwing drinks at her? Pure nostalgia.
Now we just have to make sure this remains nostalgic and doesn't escalate into a war.
I glanced at Ruhi as we made our way to one of the vegetable stalls, she seemed to be feeling cold all thanks to the coffee all over her top.
Without thinking twice, I removed the jacket I was wearing and held it out to her, "Here, you might be feeling cold."
She smiled, taking the jacket from my hand and wrapping it around herself, "Thanks."
"Anytime.", I gave her a small nod, before continuing, "But yeah, I warned you, and see, it did get messy."
She looked up at me, her lips curling up, "It definitely did not go like I expected, but it's better than listening to your and Aditi's cheesy lines."
I felt my ears warming up, "Shut up!", I laughed.
She chuckled, "You're so easy to tease! But yeah, jokes apart, I am not done with that monster yet."
"I don't understand why you two are still fighting. I thought you'd be past all this since you decided to fake date.", I said.
"I know, right? I don't understand that either! Like, what the hell is his problem? You know, everything was going fine, yeah? We went from fighting to just light teasing and bickering, but then suddenly, he started giving me a cold shoulder! And I am certainly not someone who'd sit quietly and bear with his mood swings.", she ranted out.
I suppressed a chuckle at her frustration, "God, you're so worked up. But yeah, Siddharth can be really confusing sometimes."
"Right? He is such a weirdo.", she sighed in exasperation as we reached a stall.
"Bhaiya, how much are the tomatoes?", I asked.
The guy looked up and said, "40 rupees per kg."
I shook my head, "That's too much, give it in 25 rupees or else let it be."
He shook his head in response, "That's too less. Take it in 35."
"Not a single penny more than 25."
"35 is the last."
"Okay, just give it 30 rupees."
The guy sighed, "Okay, take it."
I grinned, "Thanks, bhaiya."
I turned to find Ruhi staring at me.
I raised an eye brow, "What?"
She grinned, "You're so good at this, man!"
"What else do you expect from a master chef like me? And anyway I am living alone for almost 3 years now, so I got used to it.", I said.
She nodded, "Right.", and then turned to the stall to buy tomatoes.
She randomly started picking the tomatoes and putting them in the basket, not even checking if they are good or not.
"Why are you picking them blindly?", I asked.
She shrugged, "I am not as good as you, okay? I don't have a practice of buying these things. My mom always brings it or I just order online."
I nodded, "Understandable. Let me help you. By the way, when are your parents coming back?"
She sighed, "I don't know. They keep postponing the dates."
"You're not habitual to living alone, are you?"
"Not really. When I was a kid, they'd go for like a week max, and Raj bhai would always be there to do everything. But this time, I am all alone since like 3 months. I usually make do with maggi and instant foods, but Raj bhai won't let me survive on that, so here I am.", she said.
She turned to me as we paid for the tomatoes and moved on to the next stall, "What about you? How did you manage without your parents?"
I smiled, "Honestly, it was horrible at first. I have always been a total mumma's boy, so suddenly having to figure out everything on my own was... a lot. But I guess with time everything just somehow started feeling better, you know? I miss them every single day, of course I do, but this is the life I have always wanted, to be independent, so here I am.", I repeated her dialogue.
"I have so much to learn from you, Naman. You're going to be my mentor before I go abroad for my masters.", she declared.
"I'll try my best."
Siddharth's POV
We walked to the shop in silence, my mind running with several thoughts at once.
Thoughts about Ruhi.
A part of my brain says I did exactly what she deserved. I mean, she was the one who started it, right?
I should be satisfied for making her plan backfire at her, but there's this really tiny part of my brain that says I overreacted.
But I already had a lot going on in my mind when she decided to add onto it.
"Do you think I overreacted?", the words left my mouth before I could stop myself.
Aditi looked up at my sudden question, "What?"
"Did I overreact?", I repeated
She hesitated before speaking, "Umm... you could say so."
"But why would she do that when I am not even talking to her?"
"That's exactly why?"
My brows furrowed, "What?"
"Well, she doesn't like it when you ignore her for no reason.", she explained.
"Really? I didn't expect it to affect her that much."
She just shrugged.
Suddenly, her phone pinged with a notification from her sister. As soon as she read the message, her face fell, and she immediately put her phone away.
"Everything okay?", I asked.
She ran a hand through her hair, "Yeah, it's just... my parents. They just left for Delhi... and didn't even feel it necessary to tell me about it."
"Just... left? So suddenly?"
She nodded, "They've always been like that. Half of the times I won't even know where they are."
I let out a humorless laugh, "Yeah, sounds familiar."
She glanced at me, wanting me to continue, so I did.
"My mom called me this morning."
"Was it bad?", she asked.
"She remembered to ask about my grades.", I paused, "Forgot to ask how I was doing."
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Aditi gave me a bittersweet smile, "But it's okay, you know? Our own families didn't love us enough, so God gave us a whole new one."
I felt my lips curling up at the thought of them, however chaotic they are, but they are the ones who actually care... and who I care for.
I looked at her, "You know what my mom's reaction was after hearing my grades? She was disappointed.", I scoffed.
I saw her eyes widening in disbelief, "No way! But you literally topped your class!"
I shrugged, "Tell her that. But yeah, I have been thinking about this the whole day, and I figured they're never going to be satisfied."
"That must be disheartening.", she looked concerned.
I shook my head, "It used to be... But not anymore."
"No?"
"Do you know why Ruhi calls me a spoilsport?"
Aditi glanced at me, "Why?"
I let out a quiet laugh, "Because I am one."
She frowned, but stayed silent.
For a moment, I just stared ahead before continuing, "Every time I wanted to watch a movie as a kid, or go downstairs and play with the other kids, my parents always had the same answer."
I could still hear it.
Go to your room and study.
Stop wasting time on pointless things.
My jaw tightened, "After a while, you stop asking."
Aditi's expression softened.
"And then one day, you realize you've spent so long believing fun is a distraction that you don't even know how to enjoy things without feeling guilty."
"You can change that now.", she said softly.
I nodded, "I am trying. Why do you think I came to Lonavala? Or the beach? Or the Diwali party?"
"To annoy Ruhi?", she asked with a teasing edge.
I couldn't help but laugh, "Yeah, that might be one of the reasons too."
"So, is that why you've always disliked Ruhi?"
The smile on my face faded.
I frowned, "I don't know."
Aditi raised an eyebrow, "You don't know?"
I shook my head, "It's not that simple."
She pretended to think for a second, humming to herself, "Then tell me, why are you ignoring her?"
I sighed, "She is dis-"
I stopped short before saying distracting.
No, I can't say that word.
She urged me to continue, "Dis what?"
I cleared my throat, "Dis- disturbing."
She snorted.
"And also a little mentally disturbed, to be honest, with all those weird movie references she keeps giving. I wonder how she still manages to score well, despite having so many distractions", I said.
She smiled, "That's something everyone should be learning from her. How to maintain a balance in life. I mean, my girl studies hard, gives time to her hobbies and does a part time job? And let's not forget the occasional torment from a certain monster she has to bear.", she side eyed me.
I scoffed, "Excuse me?"
"What? I am not going to switch sides just because we had a few nice conversations. I will always be team Ruhi. And you have to give that too her, she is excellent at managing her life!", she defended her friend.
I rolled my eyes, "Whatever."
Half an hour later, we all reunited where we left.
I noticed Ruhi was wearing Naman's jacket. She must be feeling cold.
Naman sighed, "Today's been a long day!"
"I know, right? I can't wait to go home and take a long hot shower!", Ruhi added.
"Long shower means wastage of water.", I muttered.
"Yes, and Siddharth Thakkar means wastage of oxygen.", she retorted, which made Naman snort.
I narrowed my eyes, "Whose team are you on, Naman?"
He grinned, "The winning team.", he pointed at Ruhi, making her smirk.
I turned to Aditi, "Look at his loyalty, Aditi! And I thought he would always be on my side."
Aditi shrugged, walking closer to Ruhi, "I am on her side too."
I rolled my eyes, "Of course."
Suddenly, my phone rang.
Rishi.
"Yes, Rishi?"
"Where are you guys?", he asked.
"At the market.", I replied.
I heard Radhika say, "Ask them to come here quickly."
"What happened?"
"We need your help with the decorations at the college.", Rishi said.
"And you think I'm going to come for that?"
"You have to, Siddharth! Consider this your punishment.", Radhika said.
"That's not fair, Radhika!"
"You all are coming here right now. Be quick.", she commanded before cutting the call.
I sighed, turning to the others, "They need help with the decorations, so we have to go back to the college."
They groaned collectively.
"I wanna go home!", Aditi whined.
"We don't have an option.", I said.
So here we are, going back to college.
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