‘The honesty’

“We will talk about it later. Now I really want to sleep,” I replied, ignoring what she had said.

“Okay, I will call you at night,” she answered.

“No, I will call you on my own,” I replied at once while thinking of Neha with whom I used to talk at night.

“Why?” she asked in return.

“I might be busy with my books,” I lied. She didn’t say anything for some time.

“Okay, I will wait for your call then,” she said at last. We said goodbye to each other and disconnected the call. I felt a bit relieved after disconnecting it, which had never happened in the case of Neha. I again lay down on the bed and closed my eyes; this time face of Sneha didn’t come in front of my eyes, and I fell asleep.

By the time I woke up, the night had almost reached. I checked the time on my phone; it was showing at half-past seven p.m. I got up from the bed and went downstairs. Mom also was back and was preparing dinner in the kitchen.

“Did Aniket come to do the study?” she asked as soon as she saw me.

“No,” I replied, not mentioning that her sister came instead.

“Why?” she asked.

“How can I know, mom? I waited, and when he didn’t come, I went to sleep,” I answered.

“That is strange. Mrs. Verma was saying that he would go. Anyways are you hungry? It would take a few minutes for dinner to get ready,” she said.

“That is okay, I can wait,” I replied, sat on the sofa, and turned on the TV.

“Sid, if Aniket was not here, why there were two cups of tea on the table?” Crap, I forgot to pick the cups, I thought and cursed myself. I had to lie and had to do that quite fast.

“One of my college friends came for an assignment today, he stayed for some time, so I made him and myself the tea,” I replied.

“Your friends usually don’t come here; how has that happened today?” she asked while staying in the kitchen.

“Yeah, that assignment was pretty important, and he had to submit that today only; it was quite an emergency,” I made some stuff from my side.

“Okay, okay,” she replied and didn’t say anything further. I have to be extra cautious from now on, I thought. I watched the TV until the dinner got ready and then went to the kitchen to help mom serving it.

“When is dad coming back?” I asked while sitting on the dining chair.

“Maybe in one or two days, he still has some pending work to complete,” she replied.

“Okay,” I answered and started eating my dinner. After finishing it and placing the utensils back in the kitchen, I came back into my room; mom too was a bit tired, so she went to her room to sleep. I checked the time on my phone; it was showing ten minutes past nine p.m. I was thinking of calling Sneha as I didn’t want her to interrupt me during my conversation with Neha, but I was not sure what to talk to her. So, I postponed my thought and decided to talk to Neha only; I was curious to tell her about the whole incident that took place with me. I also wanted to take her suggestion because I was quite in a puzzling state regarding Sneha. I lay down on the bed and commenced to wait for her call. After a few minutes, my phone started ringing even though it was not ten p.m. I picked the phone from my side and checked; it was Sneha calling. I sat on the bed, still looking at the phone ringing in my hand until it got disconnected. After a few seconds, it started ringing again; I again avoided picking it. I didn’t want to begin my conversation with Sneha when there were less than thirty minutes left for Neha to call. The phone started ringing for the third time, and I got sure that she was not going to give up until I pick up that damn phone. But I still didn’t pick it, and then it started ringing for the fourth time.

“If I am not picking the call, there might be some reason,” I said in a bit of irritation as soon as I picked the call.

“Are you busy?” she asked.

“Yes, I am. I told you I might be busy with my study. I have to finish this assignment today,” I lied to avoid any talk with her.

“Okay, I am sorry,” she replied and disconnected the call. I felt a bit bad to show such conduct, but I hadn’t had any other option. I put the phone aside and again started waiting for Neha’s call. My phone rang again at sharp ten p.m.; it was Neha’s call this time.

“Hello,” I said.

“Hello, Sid,” she spoke gently; damn, I loved the tone of her voice.

“What did you mean by the text you sent me before going to sleep?” I wanted to talk about something else before reaching the topic of Sneha.

“Which text, Sid?” she asked.

“That if I was sure my name was Siddharth but not Siddiq,” I replied.

“I asked that because of your appearance, you have some resemblance to him. Anyways I was just unwise even to say that, so ignore that text, and tell me what is going on with you?” she answered and asked me at the same time.

“What is going on mean?” I asked in return. I felt like she knew about Sneha, and she wanted me to tell her everything.

“I mean what you did the whole day? I am just asking about your day, silly,” she replied.

“Oh, I see,” I couldn’t say any more than this.

“Why are you stuttering, Sid. Have I asked a wrong question?” she asked in perplexity.

“No, no, it is not like that. Actually, I wanted to tell you something about my day, about something weird that had happened with me,” I replied. I was ready to tell her about the whole incident.

“What is that?” she asked in curiosity. Then I told her about the entire afternoon, about Sneha, her visit, her attempts at me, her talk, and even her threat. She listened to everything in silence and didn’t say anything for some time even after I stopped speaking.

“What are you going to do about it?” she asked at last.

“I don’t know. Actually, I was looking for your advice because it happened all of a sudden so, I am not sure what to do,” I replied.

“What can I say on this, Sid? I mean, it is your life; it is your decision whether to continue the talk with her or not,” she answered. I was amazed to see how different she was from Sneha. She understood that it was only me who could decide on that, unlike Sneha.

“What about her threat?” I asked.

“Do you think she can be serious about that; I don’t think so,” she answered. Even I was not serious about that intimidation, but still, I thought it would be better to ask Neha.

“I also think she was only talking crazy, nothing else. But I still am not sure whether to talk to her or not,” I still didn’t get the clarity on that.

“I still would say it is your choice. Do you think you can tell her about me?” she asked. I didn’t answer for some time because I had not given any thought to that yet.

“I don’t know. What do you say?” I asked her in return.

“I think you should if you want to continue your conversation with her. I think you should be candid with her, better sooner than later,” she replied. She is right; I must be honest with Sneha, I thought.

“So it means you don’t have any problem if I talk to Sneha,” I asked.

“Why would I be having any problem in it, it is not like we are in any relationship, and even if we were, still I couldn’t stop you from talking to someone,” she replied. She was quite thoughtful. She knew what her limits were. I had no doubt how well she might know about being and growing in a relationship. She was the kind of girl a guy must be wanted to have a bond with, and I felt content that she came into my life even if she had given me a few sleepless nights.

“Okay, so then it is decided. I would let her know about you, and then it would be up to her whether to talk to me or not, right?” I asked.

“Yes, right,” she replied. So that topic got over, and I felt comforted that I discussed everything with Neha.

“When can I come to meet you?” I brought the conversation back on us.

“Whenever you want,” she replied. If only things could happen as I wished, I had assuredly met her right at the moment.

“How long are your vacations?” I asked.

“It is there till mid-January, how about you?” she said and asked in return.

“Same here; what if I come to meet you in the first week of January?” I questioned.

“That is fine with me whenever it suits you,” she replied.

"Okay, great, so it is decided then that we are meeting in January," I replied cheerfully. Then we talked more about her village, the things she could show me around and the places where we could visit. She knew every corner of her location, like the way I knew everything about Chandigarh. We had had quite a cheerful conversation that night. She even giggled on a few of my remarks, which had happened for the first time. I also was enjoying that good-natured banter, which she was showing. We were not talking on one particular topic; instead, our conversation was revolving all around. We were no longer strangers to each other. We shared a few of our childhood moments, which made both of us laugh. I could feel that she had also started liking me; that conversation was leading us somewhere, I could sense that.

“I like you, Sid,” she proved my feelings right by saying that.

“I also like you, Neha,” I replied with a smile on my face. We both didn’t say anything else for some time; a pleasurable awkwardness appeared between us.

“I am eager to meet you,” I said after a few minutes.

“I am looking forward to the same,” she replied, and we both went silent again. We both knew what we were feeling at that moment but were not able to reveal that. I didn’t know whether that was because of shyness or lack of courage, but it was happening.

“What if you start liking Sneha too?” she asked. I suspected a bit of anxiety in her tone.

“I don’t think it would happen,” I replied.

“How can you be that sure?” she asked.

“Because I think she will not talk to me after knowing that I speak with you. She is quite a narcissist, I guess,” I replied with a chuckle.

“I think she really likes you, nothing else,” she said.

“Liking a person is one thing but showing such dominance, that can’t be acceptable. Can you tolerate such behavior by some guy whom you don’t even know except his name?” I asked.

“No, I will not,” she replied and went silent. Even if I had given her assurance still, I could feel that she was not much satisfied. I didn’t know why, but I was enjoying her worry. We talked about a few other things afterward, but mostly it was about our meeting. We both were excited about it. We again had spoken until dawn and wished each other goodnight when we got fully exhausted. I stayed awake for a while after saying her goodnight, turning off the light, and lying on the bed. I was thinking of our meeting that was going to happen soon. It was almost the end of December, and as we had decided to meet in the first week of January, so there were not many days left. I was getting quite thrilled even by the thought of it. I didn’t know when I fell asleep while fantasizing about us together, in person.