32. Rewind

Aditi's POV

The smell of butter and tadka reached us before we even stepped inside the dhaba, making us even more hungry.

"This feels so nostalgic!", Ruhi exclaimed as we found a table.

The boys sat opposite us with Naman in front of me, of course.

I looked around, a soft smile playing on my lips as I remember the first time we came here. My eyes drifted to Naman, who was looking at the menu. That was the day I had found him again, the day that changed my life completely.

And I am more than grateful for that.

He might have felt my gaze as he looked up, his lips curling up as he gave me one of his dimpled smiles that makes my heart flutter every time.

Uff, those dimples!

I am so gone for this guy.

Our eye contact broke when we heard the others giggling.

They were looking at us.

And giggling.

I narrowed my eyes, "What?"

Ruhi, Radhika and Rishi shared a glance, and then-

"Naan for my Naan!", they said in unison, and then burst into laughter.

Even Siddharth joined them.

Heat crept up my face but I tried to play it cool, rolling my eyes, "Haha. Very funny."

Naman was smiling too, shaking his head in disbelief.

Ruhi and Radhika again smirked, before shouting, "We are just best friends!"

This time, Naman laughed too.

"You too, Naan?", I asked, unimpressed.

He shrugged, "Come on, you find it funny too."

I rolled my eyes again, but the smile on my face gave it away.

The waiter came up to us to take our orders, and the laughter finally subsided.

I finally noticed the others by the time the waiter left.

Beside me, Radhika was beaming for some reason, her gaze downcast.

What's up with her?

My gaze then moved to Rishi who was sitting in front of her, who was stealing glances at her.

Wow.

What exactly happened between these two?

Ruhi might have noticed him too, as she asked teasingly, "Still busy admiring beauty, are we?"

Rishi straightened up, "N-no! I was just... lost in thought."

"Yeah sure!", I said sarcastically.

And even though he said he was 'lost in thought', his eyes slipped to Radhika every other second.

And Radhika?

Well, she pretended to be blissfully unaware of it while secretly smiling.

Ruhi sighed dramatically, "You broke my heart, Rishi!"

"What did I do?", his eyes widened as he pointed at himself.

"I was waiting for you to say, 'I can admire you', but you won't even look at me now!"

I suppressed a laugh.

Drama queen.

Rishi opened his mouth, "I... I just...umm..."

Naman placed a hand on Rishi's back, "What happened to you? Why are you acting so weird today?"

"I... I am not."

"You totally are!", Siddharth opposed.

"I told you, I was just lost in thought.", he tried.

"Oh yeah? What were you thinking then?", Ruhi asked.

His gaze again drifted to Radhika for the tiniest second before he looked away, but it definitely didn't go unnoticed.

"I... I was- why are you all doing this to me? Radhika is quiet too!", he pointed at her.

All the eyes were on her now.

Radhika's eyes widened, "What? Don't throw me under the bus just because you don't have an answer! First tell us what you were thinking."

Rishi looked at her like she'd just betrayed him.

As if he didn't take her name first.

"Can't we just change the topic-", he said.

"No!", the whole table said, making him flinch.

He raised his hands in surrender, before lifting one hand to point at Radhika again, "I was thinking about...", he took a deep breath, "When Radhika said I am cute."

Radhika gasped, all eyes back at her.

"I was just teasing you for being jealous."

This time, everyone gasped.

"I was-"

"Hold on!", Ruhi interrupted him, "What exactly is going on between you two?"

"Nothing is 'going on', okay?", Rishi shifted in his seat.

"You sure? I can tell them how you got jealous of Prakash a few hours ago-"

"Radhika!", Rishi exclaimed.

I smirked, "I smell tea."

"No, Aditi, I think it's the smell of spices-", Siddharth said innocently.

Ruhi groaned, "Tea means gossip, you boring unc!"

"Unc?"

"Uncool uncle."

Siddharth scoffed.

"Guys, focus!", Naman said.

"What was I saying? Oh yes, Rishi got jealous of Prakash over a nickname."

"Radhika, you're exaggerating it, I was just upset because you said you don't like-"

Ruhi stopped him, "Let her speak, Rishi."

"Thanks, Ruhi. So, he didn't like Prakash giving me a nickname, and said only he-"

"Okay, that's enough! Don't say another word, honey.", he looked at her with pleading eyes, "Please."

Radhika sighed, "Alright. But yes, you were jealous."

He whined, "Honey, I was-"

"Hey, both of you! You can't just leave us hanging! Tell us what happened after that!", Ruhi complained.

Rishi looked personally betrayed by the entire table, "Nothing happened after that."

Radhika snorted. "Liar."

"We decorated the fountain."

"Very awkwardly.", she added helpfully.

Ruhi leaned forward dramatically. "OOH, awkwardly?"

Naman folded his arms. "This just became interesting."

"Can everyone calm down?" Rishi groaned.

"No.", the table replied immediately.

"Okay, Rishi, I will let you breathe.", Ruhi said, turning to Radhika, "You called him cute."

"Just to tease him!", she defended herself

"But you still did!", Rishi insisted.

"And you blushed at that!", Radhika retorted.

Everyone collectively gasped.

"Rishi, you can...blush?", Naman asked skeptically.

"Shocking, I know.", Radhika replied before he could.

Rishi turned to her. "You're enjoying this far too much."

"You started it."

"How did I start it?"

She stared at him, "By being jealous."

"I WAS NOT-"

"There he goes again.", Siddharth sighed

The food arrived at that exact moment, making everyone temporarily forget about everything else.

Rishi looked quite relieved.

Okay. Food.

In a matter of seconds, the whole table was filled with a variety of food.

Everyone dived into it immediately.

"We will continue this conversation later.", Ruhi said with a full mouth.

"Mmm! This is so delicious.", Naman said, taking a bite of the sabzi and naan.

I looked down at the butter garlic naan in front of me. It looked so yummy that I could eat it without any gravy.

I tore a piece of the naan and tasted it without the sabzi.

This is the best thing I have had in my entire life.

"This piece of bread here has topped jalebis. Butter garlic naan is officially the love of my life!", I declared.

Naman choked on his food.

Uhm.

I passed him a glass of water silently.

The others seemed too busy munching on their food to notice this small interaction.

The food was gone as fast as it arrived.

Blame the college for making us work so much.

"You know what would be the perfect end of the day?", Ruhi wiggled her eyebrows.

"Going home and sleeping?", Siddharth suggested.

She threw him a glare before continuing, "Going to that garden!"

Siddharth shook his head, "Of course not. Everyone is tired right now. We should just go home. Right, guys?"

He waited for a response.

"... Guys?"

Siddharth's POV

The garden looked exactly the same.

Same rusty swings.

Same questionable slide.

Same group of overgrown toddlers.

Predictably, the second we arrived, chaos began.

Rishi and Naman were already arguing about who gets the swing until thet realized there were two of them.

Radhika and Aditi laughed as they went up and down on the see-saw.

Ruhi had somehow claimed the slide like she owned it.

Childish.

Absolutely childish.

I folded my arms, staying near the bench.

Some things never changed.

"Oye, boring uncle!" Ruhi called from the slide.

I ignored her.

"SIDDHARTH!"

Ignored.

"Uncool uncle!"

I rolled my eyes.

"Come here."

"Not-"

Aditi noticed me, "Siddharth..."

I looked at her, "Aditi."

"Come on.", she offered me a smile.

I knew exactly what she was doing, and it worked.

My mind went back to our conversation, and I couldn't help but wonder why I was not playing.

There were no reason for me to deny apart from the fact that it has become my habit to be a spoilsport.

Always.

And that's what makes Ruhi think I'm a boring unc.

Maybe she was right.

I'm boring and uncool.

But I was raised one.

That doesn't count as an excuse. I had chances to change myself.

But I'm trying, right?

I am engaging in almost every activity the group does.

But I am still not going to play with them.

"Siddharth!"

I came out of my thoughts, "Huh?"

"Look at what Ruhi is saying.", Aditi said.

"What?"

"That you won't come play with us because you're scared.", Ruhi said.

"Of what exactly?", I asked.

"The slides."

"How can slides be scary?"

"You tell me."

"They're not scary, okay?"

"Oh yeah? Then chase me through the slides. Catch me if you can.", Ruhi challenged.

"Challenge accepted."

The words left my mouth before my brain could stop them.

Ruhi's eyes widened for a second.

Then she bolted.

I started toward her, my pace quickening with every step.

She climbed the stairs and reached the top in no time.

I followed quickly, climbing two stairs at a time.

She looked down at me, "Is that your best speed, Mr. Selfish?", she teased.

Just as I was about to reach the top platform, she slid down the slide.

I groaned, going down the slide myself.

The others left whatever they were doing and were now fully focused on our chase.

She ran towards the merry go round, and I followed behind.

We stood on opposite sides of the merry go round. She took a step towards her right, and I mirrored her action, making her reverse her step.

Then she stepped left. The same happened again.

"Where will you go now?", I smirked, stepping on the merry go round.

Worst choice, wasn't it?

I felt dumb for doing it the very next second because Ruhi spun the merry go round with full force and ran away.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!", I panicked as I tightly gripped the rod, "Stop this bloody thing!"

No one moved to stop it.

In fact, everyone was laughing at me.

When it finally stopped moving, I got off the merry go round, the world spinning for a few seconds before everything went back to normal.

Phew! I am still alive.

I blinked my eyes a few times, before they settled on Ruhi, who was chilling on one of the swings.

She laughed when our eyes met, "What happened, monster? Gave up already?"

I narrowed my eyes, "Not so easily, witch."

She hopped off the swing and bolted the other way.

Towards the sand pit.

My foot tripped over a pebble as I started to run behind her.

Thankfully, I was able to balance myself just in time.

She found it really funny though.

"Losing some aura points, are we?", she laughed, standing in the sand pit.

"Just wait until I catch you!", I threatened playfully.

She had now lowered her guard, her hands were on her hips as she breathed heavily, tired from all the running, "Yeah yeah, I'm waiting."

I moved towards her, but she didn't move this time, waiting for me to get closer.

I am going to get her this time.

I took another step.

Then another.

Ruhi stayed exactly where she was, watching me with an annoyingly smug grin.

"What's wrong, monster? Running out of-"

I lunged forward.

She squealed, trying to dodge at the last second.

Too late.

I grabbed her wrist triumphantly, "Got you."

The victory lasted exactly two seconds.

Because the moment she tried to pull away, my foot sank awkwardly into the sand.

"Oh, shit!"

Balance abandoned me.

Ruhi's eyes widened.

"You idiot-"

The next second, both of us crashed into the sand pit.

"Siddharth won!"

"But at what cost?"

"That was so fun to watch!"

"Are you guys okay?"

I ignored their voices, my eyes landing on Ruhi, who was lying under me, her eyes closed.

She has long and thick eye lashes, that rested on her cheeks.

I wonder why her brows were furrowed.

"Get off me, you monster! You're so heavy!"

Oh yeah. Right.

I scrambled to my feet, and only after that did she finally open her eyes.

She looked at me. Then at others who were still bickering something about how entertaining it was to watch our tom and jerry game.

But my focus was on Ruhi.

Her gaze turned back to me, and she looked at me from top to bottom, noticing my now dirty clothes.

Her eyes came back on my face.

And then, she started laughing.

"What?"

Is there something wrong with my face?

"Your face has sand all over it!", she laughed.

"So do you! Look at your hair.", I pointed at her.

She sat up, "My hair! Shit!"

I forwarded my hand, but she ignored it and stood by herself.

Whatever.

She dusted her hair, groaning, "Ugh! I washed my hair today only. First coffee and now sand! Why are you like this, monster!"

"Why am I like this? Seriously? You suggested playing!"

"Yes, but you should have been careful!"

"What did I even do?"

"You made me fall!"

"I fell too, didn't I?"

"That's because you have zero coordination."

"You literally ran into a sand pit."

"Strategically."

"Yes, of course. Choosing a sand pit for a running game is strategic."

"And look! It saved your life. You're welcome."

The others burst into laughter again.

Ruhi crossed her arms triumphantly, "See? Public opinion agrees with me."

"Your public opinion consists of idiots."

"Your honor," Rishi raised his hand dramatically, "the defendant is insulting the jury."

I rolled my eyes.

Unbelievable.

Absolutely unbelievable.

And annoyingly enough-

I was having fun in playing around like idiots.

A few moments later, we all sat on the park benches, no one wanting to go home.

There was a peaceful silence wrapped around us.

Until Ruhi decided to break it.

By playing songs on her phone.

Oh God!

Why is she always against me?

I opened my mouth to ask her to turn it off, but closed it again.

No. She'd just fight about it.

I have to choose a different way.

I cleared my throat, "Can you pass me your phone? I want to play a song."

She raised an eyebrow, "You?"

"Come on!"

She hesitated for a second, but gave her phone to me anyway.

I paused the music.

Scrolling through the app, I found all her playlists.

Too many.

Guess what?

I deleted all of them.

Oh, I feel so good.

What else can I do with her phone to annoy her even more?

Wait.

I opened the settings app, clicked on languages and-

"Hey, what exactly are you doing?"

"Just.. I can't find the song."

"Then give me my phone back."

"Just...just a minute."

"Siddharth!"

"Wait."

She went quiet.

I chose the Chinese language.

And then closed all apps, and turned to give the phone back to her.

Only that she already had a phone in her hand.

Wait.

I checked my pockets.

"How do you-"

"Just a second, monster."

"Give me my phone back!"

"Have some patience.", she stood up and walked away.

I followed her, "Ruhi!"

She did something on my phone, brought it to her ears, and then pressed a few buttons, before giving it back to me.

"Here.", she passed me my phone and took hers back.

"What did you do? How do you even know the password?", I asked, unlocking my phone and checking everything.

"Rishi did. I just- wait, what the hell is wrong with my phone!"

"Oh, nothing much. Just some Chinese."

"Listen, turn the language back to English right now! I am telling you-"

"Did you delete all my notes and PDFs? Ruhi, are you out of your mind?"

"So are you! How am I supposed to use my phone?"

"Hey, what happened?", Radhika asked as she and the others walked towards us.

"She deleted all my notes."

"He changed my phone's language to bloody Chinese!"

Rishi laughed, "He did what?"

"This isn't funny!"

Naman intervened, "Chill guys. Notes can be restored Siddharth. And Ruhi, you know where your settings are, we just use Google Translate to change it back to English."

I spent the next few minutes restoring all my notes, while Ruhi sat with Aditi as they worked on changing the language.

Let's wait until she finds out about the deleted playlists.

"Finally!", Ruhi sighed in relief.

"Already? That was no fun.", Rishi pouted.

Naman rolled his eyes, "Shut up, Rishi. Let's just go home now."

"Yes, before these two start fighting again."

"Wait- Siddharth, don't tell me you forgot my heels somewhere!", Ruhi exclaimed.

Does she think I'm irresponsible?

"It's in my bag.", I replied.

She sighed, "You better give it back to me tomorrow. Repaired."

"You guys are coming tomorrow, right?", Radhika asked.

"Tomorrow's sunday!", Aditi pointed out.

"Yes, but we still have to go. And you guys will help us."

A collective groan was heard, but they agreed anyway.

"Let's go home now.", Rishi yawned.