My family and I - Chapter 13

I knew better than to ask. I grabbed Neeta’s hand and ducked into the nearest corner. What the heck was going on? Samrat with Sona?? Who would have ever thought! Was this my doing?

Hmmm, maybe I could play cupid here?

“What is all that about?” Neeta asked, her eyes following Samrat and Sona.

“I think they are on some kind of date..” I commented in amazement.

Turns out, we weren’t the only one watching this turn of events with great anticipation. More than half the crowd had stopped talking. All eyes were silently following Samrat and Sona. I wish I could say that they were so into each other that they were unaware of this but it was just painfully obvious that they were uncomfortable with all the scrutiny.

One thing that caught my eye, but would have missed the others’ was that Sona was wearing the same pair of shoes I had told her Samrat liked. It seemed like a classic case of –I-hated-you-so-much-because-I-actually-like-you.

I think eventually Sona got weary of all the speculation. She started walking away from Samrat towards the exit. Samrat waited for a moment before he followed her.

“We’ve to go!” Neeta whispered in my ear.

“No wait, this is getting interesting!” I shushed her and turned around.

“No no! Sona will kill us!” Neeta tugged at my arm and started slinking away.

I was getting exasperated, “Fine! Go!” I said, a little too loudly in the heat of the moment.

“Pinkoo, is that you?” Sona had heard me. I came out of my hiding place acting casual as though hiding in corners was the most natural thing to do.

“Oh hey Sona, I didn’t know you were coming..” I said, acting surprised to see her.

“I’m going to kill you!!” She said glancing at the crowd, some of whom had stopped staring at her. “Come on, let’s go.” She grabbed my hand and looked around. “Where’s your side kick?” She asked, referring to Neeta, I think.

“Sonam.. Hold on!” Samrat appeared. “Look, I’m sorry.  I don’t know what I said wrong, but I’m sorry!!” He seemed oblivious to my presence.

“I’m leaving.” Sona declared quietly. “Neeta?!” She called out, “We’re leaving, come on now.”

It was then that Samrat noticed my presence, “Your sister,” he said talking to me, “is a difficult person.”

I nodded in agreement as my sister caught hold of Neeta and marched out, calling my name.

“I got to go!” I declared and started slipping away.

“One last thing. Next time, ask your sister to keep her messages to herself.” I stopped in my tracks.

“Did you talk about that?” I asked, positively petrified.

He looked mystified at my confusion, “Of course!”

That’s it, I was dead.