Gehraiyaan.

Chapter 50

"Are you measuring the house, or something?", Tia question, whilst snacking on a packet of Lays, and I simply look at her in silence, expecting her to complete her sentence.

"You have been walking around the living room and checking your phone for the past two hours. All okay, Di?", she looks worried. "Are you expecting someone's call?".

"No. Absolutely not. Who'd call me this late in the night?", I shrug my shoulders off, casually.

Truth to be told, I've been restless ever since Darsh went out on the 'date' with...I don't even know her name! It has been almost 5 hours since he was Last Seen on WhatsApp; he usually doesn't stay off his phone that long, no matter how busy he is. What makes today so different? It's not that I want to control him - or anything of that sort - but I wish I'd reacted a little when he revealed the news to me.

"Come watch a movie with me? It's our favourite!", Tia points at the TV in excitement, and without sparing a second I jump onto the couch with her. At least, it'll help me get my mind off worrying about him; moreover, he's not a kid. He should have known to message me! If he doesn't care, why should I waste all the little time I have thinking about him? Screw you, Raval.

Tia and I rewatched an old Tamil movie together; it's one of our favourites. The two of us have watched it simply way too many times that I can understand the movie without subtitles. Midway through the movie, my phone vibrates and I take a glance at it only to find out that it's Mr. Raval.

"Do you have to go now?", Tia makes a puppy face and I take a moment. "No. Let's finish the movie", I tell her, silencing my phone. The call - and the person - can wait...the way I did.

Ten minutes later, my phone vibrates again. And another ten minutes later, yet again.

When it vibrates for the third time, Tia let's out a loud sigh, pauses the movie and turns in my direction. "Are you sure you don't want go take that call? You aren't putting your phone on silence, nor are you answering it".

I obviously won't put him on silence; what if he calls me a thousand times, and starts worrying about me? He's the kind of person who would show up at my doorstep in the middle of the night if he even has the slightest doubt that something's wrong.

I ditched the movie plan with Tia, and hurried back into my room.

"Let me guess - you're mad at me", the moment I turn on the video, he voices out, while casually unbuttoning his shirt.

"Why would I be mad at you?", I shrug my shoulders and look away. "Why didn't you answer the call, then?", he questions, removing his shirt and sits on the chair with his sleeveless vest on. Did you answer my call?

"I have a life of my own, Mr. Raval. Do you think I'd spend the whole night waiting for your call?", I answer and he smiles.

"So, you weren't waiting for my call?", he cues. "No", I tell him. "Then, you carry on with your life, Ma'am. I'll cut the call", he tells me. "Fine", I mutter in an unbothered tone, but deep down I don't want him to do it. He actually hangs up on my face, and the way that shocked me. The audacity this man has. I literally gawked at my phone for a whole minute, digesting what just happened.

But he calls me back a moment later. I let it ring and cut on its own. This goes for about two more times, before I answer his call out of pity.

"You don't wait for my call, but I do", he fixes his hair, looking into the camera. "What white, sugar-coated lies", I whisper.

"Nivi", he calls out, tilting his head to the side. "I'm sorry. I turned on the Silent Mode in the studio and forgot about it. And once I reached there, Mr. Jamwal's daughter started talking about her life. Now, I did think about you way too many times, but it's not nice to look into your phone when someone's opening up about their life to you, right?", he explains.