One Week Later........

A girl was waiting for her coffee at the coffee shop. She looked into her bag searching for her phone.

" Can I sit here?"

She heard someone and looked up to see who it was.

She gasped as she recognized who was the person who was smiling at her. She just stared at his beauty for sometime. She was mesmerized by his smile and his eyes speak volumes.

Meanwhile he also observed her. He wondered how simple she is and yet beautiful. He never met such a girl whose beauty lies in her simplicity. Her eyes shone with warmness and care. Her smile makes his heart skip a beat.

Two of them stared at each other until waitor came and kept her coffee on the table. Both of them came out of their stance. She blushed looking down while he just smirked at her.

" You still didn't answer." He said.

"What?" She asked confused.

" Can I sit here or not?" He said amused at her.

" Yeah..... Of course." She said embarrassed.

He laughed a little and took a seat in front of her. She looked around for the waitor and saw every girl in the Cafe is ogling at him. She frowned at them and turned to look at him who is not affected by their stares and infact was looking at the menu cooly.

She turned and glared at the girls who in turn glared at her. She rolled her eyes at them and looked at him who raised his eyebrows at her.

" What?" She asked.

" Why were you glaring at them?" He asked her.

" They are looking at you like they will eat you." She said to him.

" So what's it to you?" He asked curiously.

" I didn't like that." She said abruptly and bit her lip when she realized what she said.

She looked at him who is smirking at her.

" I.I mean I don't like such girls who behave like that without any shame." She tried to convince him or rather herself.

" Yeah sure." He said still smirking.

She rolled her eyes at him to avoid blushing.

He ordered black coffee for him and they both talked to each other about their lives while sipping their drinks.

Both felt like they have known each other from ages as they felt very comfortable around each other. They became very good friends in a short period of time. It was their third meeting after they got bumped at the mall where they met for the first time.

They talked for sometime and came out of the Cafe.

" It was nice talking to you Ananya." He said smiling at her.

" Same here Siddharth and please call me Anu, my friends call me Anu." She said smiling back at him.

" Hmm..... Ok, in that case I will call you Anu only if you call me as Sid." He said to her.

" Sid? It sounds like a foreign name to me." She frowned.

" Huh? All my friends call me that. " He said to her.

" Oh." She went silent with her face scrunched.

" You can call me any name you want." He said looking at her thoughtful face.

" Really? " Her face lit up like a thousand watts bulb.

Seeing her face like that he decided that he would do anything to see her face lit up like that.

" Yes." He smiled.

She grinned and tapped her chin thinking deeply. He thought she looked cute like that and stared at her.

" I got it." She exclaimed happily.

" What?" He laughed at her excitement.

" Siddu." She said.

And he froze.

The name rolled off her tongue so beautifully that he fell in love with that name. He felt special when she gave him a nickname which no one had ever called him.

He looked at her intently who is waiting for his response eagerly.

" You didn't like it?" Her face fell.

" No, I loved it." He said immediately laughing slightly making her grin widely.

" So I will call you that from now onwards." She said to him.

" Yeah you will and only you can call me that, no one else." He said to her honestly which made her stun but she ducked down her head shyly.

She felt special as only she got the previlige of calling him as Siddu.

" Ok." She smiled shyly.

When they reached his car, he turned towards her who is going towards her bike.

" By the way Anu, I loved when you got jealous of those girls." He said winking at her and laughed loudly when he saw her blush.

" I wasn't jealous." She defended.

" Yeah right." He said and got inside his car.

" Siddu." She called him sweetly.

His heart beat raced when he heard her call him by Siddu. He looked at her and she is smiling at him sweetly.

" Shut up." She said and sat on her bike.

" Hey not fair! Atleast say bye." He yelled.

" Bye Siddu." She yelled back and drove off.

" Bye Anu." He whispered to himself smiling like an idiot.

******

He snapped out of his memory land when he heard some noise and looked up to see both Raj and Neha plopped themselves onto the seats in front of them.

" Ahh we got you!" Neha exclaimed.

" Finally. " Raj added.

" What are you both doing here?" Siddharth scowled at them.

" You know this thing here is called as phone and you should lift it when it rings." Neha said smiling sweetly showing his mobile on the table.

Siddharth rolled his eyes at her sarcasm.

" So care to explain why are you not answering our calls?" Raj asked him.

" I don't need to explain anything to you people." Siddharth huffed.

They both sighed loudly at him.

" Siddharth please don't isolate yourself like that, we were worried for you." Neha said seriously.

" What are you doing here? " He asked them sighing.

" As it is weekend we were on our search mission of Anu." Raj said to him.

" Did you find anything?" Siddharth asked with hope.

" No." They said sadly.

" And you?" Neha asked him.

" I have been searching for her from last one week at all the public places like malls, restaurants, temples and even hospitals also but I couldn't find her anywhere." Siddharth said with hurt.

" Where she could have gone?" Raj voiced out.

" Once she said to me that they have no relatives anywhere. Her grandparents are also not alive and her parents are her only family. She is born and brought up here itself and their family is staying here for years." Neha said to them.

" So? " Sid asked her frowning.

" So I think they couldn't have gone far away from this place. I mean, where they will go? I am sure her parents wouldn't agree to miss her appointments and treatment regarding her illness. I guess that they must be in some nearby places to the city." Neha said thoughtfully.

" OK, you are right. From now on I will search her in all the places that are nearer to our city." Siddharth said thinking deeply.

" If we also search with you in different directions then we can cover more places in less time." Raj said and they both nodded their heads.

" Got any news from Karthik?" Neha asked him.

" No, he said that the detective told him that the details we gave aren't enough to search her in such a vast place." Siddharth said disappointed.

" What? Is he mad? That idiot friend of yours is good for nothing, hired such a wonderful detective. If we had all the details then we could have only searched for her right! Why would we hire a personal detective? It's that detective's duty to trace her details." Neha shouted angrily.

" Yeah I know, I said the same thing and Karthik said that the detective needs a little time to figure out." Siddharth said to calm her down.

" Tell that idiot detective of yours not to go too far away places but to search in nearby places." Neha huffed angrily.

" Yeah I will." Siddharth said and Raj told her to calm down.

" We cannot totally depend on such hired detectives, we need to search for ourselves also." Raj said and they nodded.

" Did you come to this coffee shop just to sit down and think?" Neha asked sweetly to Siddharth.

" Huh?" They raised their eyebrows at her.

" Why don't we order something? " She asked them battling her eyelashes.

Raj rolled his eyes at her while Siddharth just looked at her blankly.

" We didn't stop anywhere while searching for Anu and I am exhausted now. I need something for this poor stomach." She explained dramatically pointing at her stomach.

"Please." She showed her puppy dog face when they both stayed silent.

But still Siddharth wasn't effected while Raj just ignored her. Neha glared at Raj and turned to look at Siddharth who is looking at her with his brows raised.

" If Anu was here then she wouldn't have said no to me. I miss her so much." Neha said sadly looking down which earned concerned looks from both boys.

" Fine." Siddharth sighed.

" Yay!" She squealed loudly smiling widely.

" Such a Drama queen."

Raj muttered under his breath which earned a smack on his head by Neha making him scowl at her and Siddharth chuckled looking at them.

Soon they ordered some drinks and they talked a little while about what to do and how to do. They parted their ways in determination of searching Anu.

******

It was past ten and Siddharth was lying on the floor staring at the ceiling remembering all the memories he had shared with his love. Tears will be flowing from his eyes but he was just staring at the ceiling with his hands clutching her photos to his chest.

He has been spending past few days like this only. All the day time he spends searching Anu and in the nights he just lies on the floor looking at her photos not even knowing when he dozes off to sleep.

His phone beeps indicating a call but Siddharth is so deep in his thoughts that he didn't hear. When it rang for the third time, he snapped out of his daze and looked at the phone.

He didn't care to pick up the phone and it rang again. He looked at the phone frustrated and saw that Neha was calling. He frowned thinking why is she calling at this time and answered the phone.

But before he could answer he heard........

" Raj! That grumpy boss of ours is not answering my calls!" Neha exclaimed at the other side not knowing that Siddharth answered the call.

" Try again!" He heard Raj.

" I already called him for more than 5 times." She huffed.

" He must have slept, try again." Raj said.

" It's only 10 'O clock now, he wouldn't sleep so early. He is not picking up my calls wantedly." Neha whined.

" Then call that idiot friend of his." Raj said annoyed.

" Who? Karthik? " She asked.

" Yes!" He hissed at her.

" I already messaged him and he will be here in few minutes." Neha said to him.

Siddharth shook his head listening to their conversation.

" This idiot! Why he isn't picking the calls? I will strangle him when I see him next time......." She will be ranting but gets cut off.

" I am on the line Neha." Siddharth said a little loudly so that she can hear  him.

Neha gasped loudly while Raj snickered.

" Oh! Siddharth!..... Umm..... How are you? Had your dinner?.......... "

" Why did you call me Neha?" He asked annoyed.

" Always grumpy...... " she muttered.

" What?" He asked her.

" N.Nothing....." She stuttered and Raj laughed at her.

" What's the matter? " He asked her.

" Will you come to meet us once? " She asked him.

She didn't need to ask him. He would do anyways because he trusts them. For whatever they are calling him, he would go and do it.

" At this time? " he asked getting up.

" Yes!" She said firmly.

" For what?" he asked again.

" Uff you ask too many questions. Don't ask me anything now but just come." She shouted.

" Ok, no need to shout. Where should I come?" He asked her.

She told him the address and he frowned at it. Why is she calling him there? He hung up the phone and got ready to reach the place.

He trusted them as they were not only good friends of Anu but also been very helpful to him for the past few days. If it weren't for them he would be still locked in his room mourning over at his lost love. He should be strong for them, for himself and for her.

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To be Continued..........

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