AN: Yes! Back with an update. As always, thanks for the reviews everyone. I am so glad you guys are finding this one cute but realistic. That's all I wanted to write. Not a fairytale romance, where everything is just perfect. All I have ever wanted this story to be was realistic and I am glad that I am able to convey that. Anyways happy reading...
Tarika was working in the lab as usual. She was then interrupted by a phone call.
"Tarika tum cafeteria mein aa sakti ho just for 2 minutes? Mein tumhe kisi se milwana chahta hu. " Said abhijeet on the phone sounding excited.
"Haan abhi aa rahi hu. " She said as she left the lab immediately.
As she entered the cafeteria, she saw abhijeet sitting with the exact same girl she saw him having lunch with.
"Hi! I wanted you two to meet since a long time. So tarika, meet my girlfriend. "
"Hi! Its so nice to meet you. " Said the lady as she shook hands with tarika.
"Hi! " Was all tarika managed to say coming out of the shock she had just received.
.
.
.
Suddenly she could hear a music from somewhere. She then figured out it was her alarm. She woke up, finding herself in her bed and not in the cafeteria.
'what a weird dream to wake up with!'
'weird? really? This kind of a dream shouldn't come as a surprise to you given that, all you are doing for 2 days is just thinking about who that girl was. Why don't you just ask him?'
'Ask him? Why should I ask him? If he doesn't feel that I am important enough to tell me about his relationship then I am not interested. '
'But, what if she isn't his girlfriend at all? What if she is just a friend or if he was disguised for some case? You can't just make assumptions. '
'Friend? huh. He always tells me that he has like 3 friends and I am one of them. One of them is surely daya and other one is his school friend. And if this was case related, then he could have just told me the next day, when I asked about where he was that afternoon. He just told me that he was in a meeting. A big fat liar!'
'Okay. Even if she really is his girlfriend, what is so wrong in that? Has he ever directly told you that he was interested in you? Has he ever even expressed a desire that he wants to date you? What if he just considers you his friend? He was once your college crush tarika. Actually dating him, is too good to be true isn't it? '
'Aaaaah... whatever it is I need to know who is this girl! '
After having this long argument with her own self, she realized that she is getting late to work and she pushed herself out of her bed. Working was actually a break for her from thinking about abhijeet and the girl he was with.
It was 2 days since she had seen them. Since then, whenever she saw abhijeet, she would just remember the incident and that would just make her... angry. Yes, angry was the word.
Hence, since the past two days, she forced a smile when he smiled at her. Didn't talk to him about anything other than work. Even declined his dinner offer last night.
Needless to say, this made the inspector suspicious of her behavior. Just 2 days of not having a proper interaction with her, felt like 2 years to him. He really wanted to ask if something was wrong but he didn't get the proper chance to. How would he? Forget talking, she avoided even looking at him. Moreover, when he tried to ask her what was wrong through his eyes when he went to the lab, Dr. Salunkhe chased him away asking him not to disturb her.
'Damn the old doctor! ' He cursed salunkhe in his head as he unwillingly left the lab.
And now, it had been 3 whole days since this had started and abhijeet was loosing his patience. He was just standing by the window in the bureau when he saw Dr. Salunkhe driving away from the lab. He checked his watch it was 9 PM. Which meant that there is a good chance Tarika was still there in the lab. Without wasting a second he rushed to the lab.
Here in the lab tarika had already packed everything and was about to leave when abhijeet entered the lab.
"Sir abhi abhi nikle hai aur saari reports jo aaj due thi wo submit ho chuki hai aur kuch tests ke reports baaki hai wo kal tak aayenge. " She said in a very formal tone.
"Meine pucha reports ke baare mein? " asked abhijeet in a calm voice.
"Toh fir? "
"Khana nahi khaya hoga na abhi tak? Kal busy thi toh aaj chalo dinner pe. "
"Nahi mujhe kaam hai thoda abhi. "
He glanced at her purse.
"But, I can see you are all packed up. Kaam toh ho gaya hai tumhara aaj ka tumne abhi abhi bataya. " He said in senior inspector abhijeet mode.
"Toh? Mujhe aur koi kaam nahi ho sakta? " She asked sounding annoyed.
"Achha? Kya kaam hai? "
"Hai kuch. Tumhe kyu batau? Tum batate ho mujhe sab kuch? " Tarika asked, her tone clearly showing anger.
"Kya? " Abhijeet asked with a confused expression.
"Kuch nahi. Jaane do. I am not hungry anyways so, you please go ahead. "
Abhijeet let out a sigh after hearing her.
"Kya baat hai tarika? Aaj 3 din ho gaye mein dekh raha hu you are acting kind of distant... kya hua hai? "
"Kuch nahi hua hai. Everything is fine. " she said with a straight face.
"Are you on your... I mean the monthly thing which women have... causes mood swings and all... Is all of this because of that? " Said abhijeet hesitating.
She glared at him.
"First of all "The monthly thing" Is called the menstrual cycle and second of all, everytime a woman is in a bad mood it is not because of that. " She snapped.
"Okay. So what is it then? I am really trying to be patient with this but I can't anymore. Just tell me what the damn thing is tarika... Hua kya hai? " Said abhijeet controlling his rising temper.
"Let me get this straight. If you don't consider me important enough to tell me about what's going on in your life, Its ok with me. But don't expect me to do that as well. "
"What? What is going on in my life that I didn't tell you? " Abhijeet asked clearly confused.
"That you have a girlfriend. You just keep calling me your friend but apparently I am not important enough to know about your relationship. " She finally blurted out.
"Kya? Girlfriend? " He asked totally confused. "Kisne bataya tumhe meri koi girlfriend hai? Aur agar hoti toh mein tumhe nahi batata kya? "
"Kisi ke batane ki kya jaroorat hai? Meine khud dekha hai. "
"Kisko dekha hai? Kab? "
"3 din pehle mall mein you were having lunch with her. Aur fir baad mein jab meine pucha tumse ki tum kaha the toh tumne mujhse kaha ki u were in a meeting. What was the need to lie abhijeet? "
"3 din pehle mall mein? " He said as he tried to remember what happened 3 days ago.
When he remembered the incident, the whole thing became clear to him. He couldn't help but smile.
"Oh god tarika! " He chuckled. "There has been a huge misunderstanding. Just listen to me. First of all, this apparent "girlfriend" that I have, has a name. Neha. And for god's sake she is not my girlfriend. "
"Then? "
"She used to be my neighbour some years back. Fir, she moved to London. Abhi thode din ke liye aayi thi because she wants to sell her house and paperwork mein thoda problem ho gaya tha. Isliye usko meri thodi madat chahiye thi toh isliye hi milne gaya tha usse bas. "
"Achha... Then why did you tell me you were in a meeting when I asked you where were you in the afternoon? " Asked tarika feeling her anger bar going down.
"Because I was. Lunch karne se pehle hum meeting mein hi the with the property dealer. Wahi issue sort kar rahe the. Fir we were hungry isliye lunch ke liye gaye the waha mall mein. "
"Oh! " Tarika was starting to feel embarrassed already but still she asked, " aur fir you met her again in the night? "
"Tumne koi bug plant kiya hai kya meri body pe? How do you know this? Anyways, uska kaam ho gaya toh she had the flight back to london in the night. So, I just went to see her off. And some bonus information for you, London mein uski 1 mahine baad shaadi hai which I obviously won't be able to attend. So this was kind of our last meeting. "
"Oh okay. " Said tarika. Her anger now being replaced with embarrassment. "And to answer your question... mein shreya aur purvi us din mall mein hi the.. and I kind of heard you saying that u will see her tonight thats why I came to know... "
"Arre toh mili kyu nahi mujhse? Milwa deta mein tum dono ko... kamaal hai yaar. "
"Woh... I was a little angry on you so... "
Abhijeet smirked at this.
"Angry? ya jealous? "
"Wh- Why would I be jealous? I just thought that she is your gf and you didn't tell me about her... and later I thought you lied to me so I got upset. Thats it. " Said tarika stammering.
"Really? So you were just upset? And out of all the things that you could've thought, you just assumed that she is my girlfriend and you didn't talk to me for 3 whole days based on your assumption. And then, you call all of this, just upset? " He asked his smile getting more evil with every sentence.
"Wh - whatever. But why are you so happy about this? " asked tarika seeing his wide smile.
"Because you seem to have a problem with me having a girlfriend. Me having a girlfriend makes you jealous. " He said in a mocking tone.
"Huh. As if me having a boyfriend doesn't make you jealous. " She said in the same tone.
His smile vanished on this.
"What makes you say that? "
"Really? You don't remember the dinner with the team? *cough* *cough* your boyfriend? *cough* " She said imitating him.
"Hey! That was just a coincidence. " Abhijeet said in an embarrassed tone.
"Really? Was it? " She said crossing her hands.
"Yes. Even if I got jealous it was just for like 2 seconds, YOU didn't talk to me for 3 DAYS just because you saw me with a girl.
You are such a possessive person Dr. Tarika. " Said abhijeet his grin making its way back to his lips.
"Yes. I am possessive. But so are you. " She said looking into his eyes.
"Yes. yes, I am. " He said. Feeling his heartbeat in his ears.
Their moment was interrupted with abhijeet getting a call.
"Hello. Senior inspector abhijeet here. Kahan pe? Thik hai hum log pohoch rahe hai. Waha pe kisi chij ko haath nahi lagna chahiye. Okay. "
"Chaliye madam, ye jealous- jealous khelne mein hi dinner ka time nikal gaya. Call your boss. Let's get back to work. " He said turning to her.
She nodded and they left for work but now, in a light mood and an empty stomach.
AN: Dono taraf aag barabar lagi hui hai it seems ;)Please leave a review on how you liked this chapter. See you soon :)
