Hello all,

Hope you are all doing well! Sorry for disappearing for a while, had a lot of assignments and records to complete.

Here's your most awaited chapter!

☆•. Sahiba .•☆

                   "Sai, dear, wake up, you are late." Mom called from the living room.

I slowly opened my eyes and my hand searched for the one who slept next to me last night.

No evidence.

Where is she!

I looked around the room, got off the bed and looked through the window into her room.

"Amshu." I called her.

No response.

I quickly freshened up and went downstairs.

"Mom where is Amshu?" I asked her, taking a carrot from the fridge.

"Devaraj told her to eat at their house. Said he made something special." Mom said putting some rice, two spoonfuls of curd and some potato fries on a plate.

"What would be special?" I doubted and mumbled.

Nibbled the carrot and took my plate where the food was served and came to the dining area.

"Sai, have you paid the electricity bill?" Mom asked from the kitchen.

"I---"

Did I pay?

No. I didn't.

"I will pay today." I said.

"Don't lag. Do it quickly, okay?" Mom reminded me again.

"Haa mom." I reassured.

"Also recharge the TV. Your father got angry saying he missed the astrology episode this morning." She came to the dining area with her food.

"Okay. I'll do it today." I said taking a bite of carrot and a some potato fries.

"It's the end of the month and Mahi's salary must be paid." I said.

"Hmm. Actually you should pay her more. She's been putting up with smoke and dust every day from morning till night." Mom put up her opinion.

"I thought the same thing. Tell dad to find some workers for the restaurant. We can't manage alone. That too after 3 PM." I said.

"Ashok is looking for them, no one is available, what to do? People are bringing in non-state workers for hotel work."

"I don't care from which state or country, I just need some helpers. When I reached the restaurant yesterday evening, I saw Akash helping Mahi with the customers. I felt bad. Really bad for her. And when we get food orders, it's chaos."

I let out a stressed sigh remembering yesterday's restaurant events.

"I'll ask him to find some people right away." She patted my back and confirmed.

I quickly ate and got ready to go to work. Picking up my side bag, I said, "Mom I'm going."

"Okay." She said from kitchen.

I put my slippers on and ride my scooty out of the house.

"Amshu..." I called her.

"Coming." she said from inside the house.

She rushes around and grabs her stuff from every corner of the house, I can see it through the window.

Tied her hair in a messy ponytail and ran towards me with her college bag slung over her right shoulder.

"Papa bye. Go." She sat back and said without waiting for her papa's reply.

I drove forward.

"Mom said uncle made something special today." I said looking at her through the rear view mirror.

"Nothing in particular. Upma with lots of ghee and carrots." She said with a rough face. I laughed at her expression.

I dropped her off at her college. She was about to enter the college, but the watchman stopped her.

"What happened?" she asked confused.

"You can't get in without your identity card." He said.

Damn.

She slapped her forehead for forgetting her ID card during the hair band hunt.

"I have been coming to this college for six years. You still need my ID card to identify me and let me in. Why do I need to go to a college this early in the morning taking this rock sized bag if I'm not a student?" Amshika asked the watchman.

"There's nothing I can do, I can't let you in." He stood his ground.

"Do you know who my father is?" she asked with a hand on her hip.

"Look kid, it's principal's strict order. The principal will punish me if I let you in."

Amshika usurped by playing I'm the Inspector's daughter, but she fails.

"It is  a government college not private. I've been studying here for six years. Don't you understand?" she asked, raising her hands in the air.

Amshika tried hard to please the watchman but he did not let her inside.

Finally she ended up calling Devraj uncle to bring her ID card.

"Sai, he will come, you go to restaurant. You are getting late."

"Fine." I said and drove towards my restaurant.

☆☆☆

"No mam. We prepare it at night not in the morning." I told the customer.

"Alright thank you." She cut the call.

I was about to go back to the kitchen when the land phone rang again.

"Sahiba'z here." I said holding the land phone to my ear.

"Don't need another part of your phone?" Prithvi's voice changed my mood of my day.

"Yep. I can't call you and ask you because I don't have the complete parts for my phone." I mocked my own situation and made him realize how much his action affected me.

"Want it today?" Prithvi asked.

"You made me drink your coffee yesterday, so I need to get my phone parts fast." I reminded him.

"I think I should give you the memory card."

"Oh please." I closed my eyes and hung my head up. "I can't do anything without my phone, I have to pay the electricity bill and recharge the TV."

"Tell me your address and I'll come to your house and give you the memory card."

"Nice try. Come to my restaurant and give it to me." I said in a commanding tone.

"I won't. I have a lot of work in office. Tell me your address and I will come to your house after work"

"You think you're the only person in the world who's so busy? You're the only one who works in the world?" I scrunched my eyes.

"This is a memory card, and you will have to pay a heavy price to get it back, Sahiba." He is trying to get my address so that he can come anytime and torture me.

"No. Come to my restaurant." I insisted.

"I'll give you two options, first, give me your address and I'll come by myself and give you your precious memory card. Second, marry me for a few months."

"Hahaha. Aren't you tired of the same joke?" I laughed, I'm not falling for his blackmail again.

"I'm not kidding. Is the girl in this photo your sister? Is this the one who calls you a thousand times a day? Aw she looks so beautiful." he exclaimed.

Amshu?

Is he looking at our pictures?

How can he pry into our privacy?

Will he do something wrong with her photos?

I can't risk her life for the decision I made on the spur of the moment.

"Hello are you there?" He asked when I was silent for a few seconds.

"Hey, I was just... taking the order." I managed to speak confidently, making sure he didn't realize I was a bit scared.

"Okay. What's your plan?" he asked.

"What plan?" I asked myself as if asking asking to him in a hushed voice.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"When will you close your restaurant and come home? I will wait at your house" he said.

Wait at my house! No!

I jumped up from my chair and gripping the land phone firmly. "No no! Don't come to my house."

"And where shall I wait?"

"You can wait outside my house and people will think you have come to collect the clothes my mother sewed." I said as I looked at the new customers that had arrived and gestured for them to take their seats with a smile.

"Are you serious Sahiba?" He wondered.

"Yes of course." "Mahi...customers here" I put the land phone on my shoulder. I told Mahi.
"Coming Sai." She answered from the kitchen.

"Can you change the place? Come to my restaurant, hehe!" I said, trying to kick out the house visit ritual out of his mind.

"Actually, there's a lot on the memory card, isn't it? You're going to pay a lot for this chip." He sounded like a cigarette ad man. "Amshika's photo pose is superb" He triggered me.

"O.K." I agreed. I had to agree because I had no choice.

Mahi came from the kitchen and went to take the orders of new customers.

"Swastik Bhavan, Kavilingal P.O., Chaitra Nagar. Come at nine o'clock." I told the address and the time.

"Thanks. I'll wait outside your house." He cut the call.

He will wait outside the house !

Hahaha! But not infront of my house!

Swastik is Devraj uncle's house!

I wiped of the imaginary dust from my hands and went to work with some peace of mind.

☆☆☆

"Where's your Mr. Interrupter Sai?" Amshika asked as she sat on the front wall, clutching the iron bars of the gate and swinging her legs.

"Get off Amshu, you'll fall." Dad told her from the sitout.

"That's why I hug this iron bar." She told him turning her head towards him carefully.

"I have never fallen climbing this wall in my childhood, and he is warning me now." She whispered to me.

I laughed.

"Dad, it's cold in here. Go inside, your ministers debate may begin now." I reminded him.

Actually I don't have to remind him about those stupid shows, but what if he decides not to watch it today. His staying out could make the upcoming scene a mess, so I want the upcoming scene to be clear of clutter.

I tried to send him inside.

"Will he come?" Amshika doubted. "He said he'd wait outside the house, and now we're the ones waiting for him."

"I hope so, he must find my house to torture more, of course he will." I confirmed.

"What if he comes home in your absence and mom and dad find out about all this?"

"I don't know Amshu, I don't know why God sent him into my life to make it miserable." I scratched my temples thinking.

"I wish papa wouldn't come in between." She loosened her grip on the iron bar.

"I don't want anyone to see anything for the next few minutes." I closed my eyes and leaned against the wall.

"Sai." Amshu nudged me to open my eyes. She tilted her head to the right and pointed.

A white Rozzol car comes down the street.

"I think it's him." I said.

"Rozzol ! !" Amshika's eyes widened as the car approached us.

"You know what? Chris is the ambassador for this brand." Her words seemed to me like watering the plants when the house is on fire.

"Wonderful." I pouted at her.

Prithvi got out of the car and I peeked into my house to make sure that mom and dad weren't looking at us.

"Am I late?" he asked.

"No." I said reaching for the memory card.

He took the memory card from his coat pocket and handed it to me.

"Thanks. When will you give me the next parts?" I asked.

"Take time to breathe." He said putting his hands in his pants pockets, staring at Amshika's house thinking it's mine.

Prithvi shifted his gaze to Amshika sitting on the wall.

"Is this Humpty Dumpty is that Amshu?" he asked, scanning her position.

Hearing that from him, Amshika frowned with wide opened mouth.

"Yes she is." I folded my arms and said, as it was late at night and not too cold.

"Don't you know? You forgot her face in few hours?" I asked, because he indirectly made me panic by talking about her photo.

"I never seen her before." He said.

What?

"But you told me she is so beautiful in that photo." I wondered.

"Oh that, that photo thing was a lie. I was kidding." He winked his eyes with a slight smile.

You man.

Again I fell into his trap.

"Sit up straight or you'll fall down and crack like an egg." He told Amshika in a commanding tone.

Amshika didn't like what he said.

"Oh really. Do you know who my father is?" she asked in a hoarse voice raising her eyebrows.

Prithvi opened his door and was about to get inside. He stopped and tilted his head towards her,

"No. Don't you know who your father is?"

Prithvi asked narrowing his eyes and literally zipping her mouth.

Amshika's jaw dropped on the floor.

Without waiting for a reply, he got into the car and started reversing.

The white Rozzol scurried away down the street and disappeared, Amshika's jaw still dropped on the ground.

I turned to her.

"Got it?" I shrugged.

"No, I asked for it." She felt bad for asking that.

I opened the gate to enter.

"Sa-- Sai." She called out to me and held out her arms to me to help her down from the wall.

"Come on. Slowly. " I held her hands and she jumped down from the wall holding my hands firmly.

"Careful, don't crack, Humpty Dumpty." I finally got something to tease her about. From the day Prithvi came into our lives she was finding something to tease me and now it was my turn.

Thanks Prithvi for this!

☆☆☆

"How is this?" Amshika asked taking a pink kurti from the garment stand.

"You have too many pink clothes. Try something else." I suggested her to look at a different color.

I picked a light blue kurti with some simple sequence designs. "Here, try this."

"Okay." She put the pink kurti back and took the light blue kurti from me. She went to the trial room near the staircase.

By then I was looking for a good dress for Mahima. After a long search I picked up a yellow colored kurti which would look great on Mahima.

"You don't look good in this."

A comment came from behind the garment stand.

I quickly lifted my eyes from the dress and walked to the back of the garment stand to see who the commenter was.

A man with a white shirt with thin black stripes.

He took a orange kurti from the garment stand and turned to me, "Try this on."

Noodles head!

"I don't like orange." Saying that, I left to mind my own business.

Are they stalking us?

I get stuck with them everywhere I go.

Abandoning thoughts about them, I searched for some formals for myself.

"Hello Sahiba."

The familiar harsh voice startled me and made me shiver. I turned around slowly, clutching the cloth.

"Hey Mr. Interrupter." I said, swallowing the last part of the word.

"Buying for any special occasions?" He walked towards me and started looking for clothes on the kurti stand rack.

"Humpty Dumpty's birthday is coming up. So we decided to buy some clothes." I said.

"Oh. Is Humpty Dumpty your sister?" He asked me, picking up a black sleeveless top from the stand rack.

"I don't wear sleeveless dresses." I said and he put the clothes back at the same speed.

"Amshika is not my own sister but we grew up like sisters and she is my best friend."

"Oh.. that's why she calls you a thousand times." he murmured.

"Is that Noodles-head your brother?" I asked.

Prithvi tilted his head in disbelief and stared at me with parted lips.

"Noodles-head? He has a name Sahiba, don't bodyshame him." He raised his voice.

"I don't remember his name." I shrugged and moved on to another garment stand.

Prithvi followed me.

"His name is Vijay. My friend since childhood." He said calmly.

"Mm hmm." I hummed.

I pulled a white top close to my body and looked in the mirror to see if it suits me.

Prithvi silently put his hands in his pockets and watched my reflection.

I turned left and it didn't look so bad on me. I looked at the price tag, 4500 only.

Only!

Only I have to do is keep it back !

I put it back on the same stand rack.

"That top looks good on you." He said looking at the white top.
"It's too expensive." I ran my fingers through other clothes.

I picked up a violet kurti and looked at my reflection, but I could not see his reflection. I looked back.

Where is he?

Vanished?

Why should I know that? He will go wherever he likes.

If I ask anything, he says, "This is my textile, I can go anywhere I want."

What a man!

Amshika came back, "Sai. Fixed. I love this."

"What took you so long?" I asked her looking from top to bottom.

"I was committed to a photo shoot." She flipped her hair dramatically.

"Ok, hold this, this is for Mahi. We have to go to kid's section for Madhav." I said placing the selected clothes in her hands.

"Sahiba."

We were about to leave when Prithvi came back and he came to me.

Amshika looked at him as if seeing a strange species. Vijay walked behind.

"Try this one." He held out a navy blue kurti with some silver embroidery work.

I looked at Amshika for a moment as if to ask her permission, but she raised an eyebrow as if to try anyway.

Hesitatingly I took the kurti from his hand and kept it close to my body, I looked at the mirror.

Wow!

But I shouldn't say that. I have to reject this cloth because the person I hate the most in the world suggests it.

Still, the fabric works and color combination provoking me to buy it.

I feel like it was made for me.

"Looks so perfect on you Sai." Amshika looked at my reflection in the mirror in amusement.

That means she also liked his choice.

I turned to him, "I like it. Th-- Thank you."

"Welcome." He nodded in agreement.

After purchasing for Madhav and Amshith,  Amshika and I went to the bill counter. Prithvi and Vijay went to the men's category as well.

"Oh no." Amshika hit her head with her palm.

"What happened?" I asked her handing my card to the cashier.

Looks like she forgot to buy something important.

"Mom told me to buy lining cloth." She bit her bottom lips widening her eyes.

"You stay here, I'll go get it now." Saying that, she headed towards the stairs.

I paid the bill. I sat on the sofa near the entrance while waiting for Amshika.

A few minutes later I saw Prithvi and Vijay coming to the counter with their purchased clothes. Prithvi is looking for something, he leans his shoulder on the counter table and looks here and there. His search ended when his eyes landed on me.

Oops!

He smiled at me.

Naturally a smile spread across my lips.

Ahem!

Sahiba, what is happening? He just picked up a kurti for you, that doesn't mean you have to smile at him.

Vijay took the wallet and paid the bill.

A woman came and sat next to me. I took the bag from the sofa and placed it on my lap to give her a place to sit.

She smiled at me. I smiled back simply.

"Did you come alone?" she asked, her voice very soft but her eyes held a certain power.

"No, I came with my friend." I gestured towards the staircase where Amshika had gone and it was behind the counter where Prithvi and Vijay were standing.

She tilted her head to where I pointed.

"Is that boy your friend?" She asked glancing at the counter, maybe at Vijay or Prithvi.

"Who?" I asked, not understanding who she was talking about.

"The boy in the dark grey shirt.” she pointed out.

Prithvi, she is asking about him.

"Yes--- I know him." I don't know how to answer this question.

Do I know anything about him? Of course not.

She doesn't know who I am and who he is, so I can say whatever I want.

"What's your name dear?" she asked with a smile.

"Sahiba." I replied.

"Sahiba." she repeated. "What does Sahiba mean?" She asked the meaning of my name.

"Sahiba means... master or leader. Kinda boss lady... like that." I answered.

"Boss lady, that sounds good." She said with a big smile.

"Thank you."

"What do you do?" She asked for more.

"Aunty, I am running a restaurant in Chaitra Nagar." I said proudly. I am a real boss lady!

"Really?" She was as surprised as everyone else.

I nodded yes.

No one can believe that a twenty-three-year-old girl is running a restaurant.

I sensed some footsteps coming towards us. I looked back and saw Prithvi and Vijay coming towards me.

"Is it over?" I asked Prithvi.

"Yes." He told me looking at the woman next to me.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" Prithvi asked the woman.

Mom?

Confused, I looked at both of them.

"I was bored at home and thought I'd buy something." She got up from her seat

Is she his mother?

Then I'm officially doomed!

I gawked at her with parted lips.

Prithvi turned his face towards Vijay and gave him a death glare, "Did you ask her to come here?"

"I didn't do anything. She called me and asked me where we are now. I said we came here to buy clothes. How do I know she's coming here?" Vijay stuttered over his words.

Prithvi gaped at him in silence for a few seconds, then turned to his mother.

"You're not well, why did you come here?" He approached her and asked.

"Why don't I come here? Did you think I'd ruin your meeting with your girlfriend?" she asked looking at me.

What did she say?

Hearing that, I jumped up from the sofa.

"You got things wrong, I'm not his girlfriend, I just know him." I tried to make her understand.

I shift my gaze to Prithvi for support but he is busy rolling his eyes at Vijay.

Sahiba, do you think he will support you in this? He is trying to make you his wife, will he deny it now? That too infront of his mom.

Girl you are stuck between his family.

I am surrounded by Prithvi, Vijay and his mother and my legs start shivering.

"Stop rolling your eyes at him." Mom said to Prithvi.

Prithvi bowed his head, "Mom, you go home. We will talk later."

"Yes. I'm going, we can talk later but for now, I need to talk to Sahiba." She looked at me for my permission.

I have nothing to talk to you about. Don't look at me like that, I might agree.

"Sahiba are you going?" Prithvi asked me.
"Are you coming dear?" His mother asked after him.

Going or coming?

What will I do?

Not knowing what to do, I looked at both, perplexed.

"She will come with me." She put her hand on my shoulder. "You two wait here."

"Give them these bags. They'll keep it." She asked me to give them the bags.

"It's okay, I'll take it." I denied. Is that mean I agreed to go with her?

"Oh no problem." She insists, I should give it to Vijay as Prithvi is holding two bags already.

She got off the textile and I followed her like a puppy. I looked back and Prithvi is busy in the staring competition with Vijay.

Don't know where is all these going.

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Hope you all enjoyed this chapter.
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