Chapter XXXVIII
The Other Side: The Lunch Box Journal

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Story so far:

Gautham was getting ready for his overseas assignment and he is in the middle of things, the things called dilemma, whether to go or not, or whether to get engaged and go or wait until he comes back?
Aryan was still going to that coffee shop almost every other day. No wonder his credit card due is huge. Perhaps, he should keep a check on what he spends his money on.
Neil was amidst getting the wedding cards ready and is exploring the world of internet and instant messaging. And apparently, he is loving it.
Madhav is looking forward to a new addition to his family. He has been going back and forth, trying to take care of all the things he could do.
Sameer had settled nicely in his new home at his overseas assignment while cruising around in his new car that he had taken.
Akhil…

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Meanwhile…

Akhil was spending more and more time with Srestha. Having already told everything about each member of the group, he moved on to tell about his past. But what was more important was when he confessed that he has a crush on her. It was what melted her a little more. He was being the caring guy and now that he had confessed something that was mutual to each other. But what the future holds for them was still very unsure, since there were many things that would not allow either of them to get married. Yes, there was something much bigger than ‘love’. IT was the starts up above and well, the societal, cultural, region prejudice and what not. But still, they wanted to give it a shot, but as friends who have an interest in each other.

Meanwhile, someone else was burning up on the inside. The frustration was quite evident in the way the talks were going on. At some point, the anger was at a level that was drawing a wedge between Akhil and Srestha. The wedge had a name and it was none other than Likhita. A while back she arranged the whole surprise for Akhil by taking him to a dinner in a fancy restaurant. And that wasn’t it, there was a gift as well, a branded watch. Well, Akhil had a collection of watches most of which (actually, all of which) were given as gifts by his special someones. And despite the care, concern and doing everything in her power, she wasn’t as rewarded as she felt she should be. What she wanted was simple, for him to be as receptive to what she was offering. He was receiving and relishing the fact that someone was kind enough to shower all the love in the world while he was channeling all this among various people as it was quite evident.

Sreshta saw the sadness in Akhil’s eyes in one of their scheduled evening meets. She came to know the reason for his sadness. And she was ready to take the high road and told him that she didn’t want to come in between him and Likhita. She would be glad to stop whatever was happening between them and not meet as well. She didn’t want to see him sad or become a reason to break up whatever was happening between the both of them. Akhil sensing that he would be losing out on an opportunity said that there was nothing going on between him and Likhita and that they were just good friends. Sreshta kind of believed that but still she had her inhibitions and wanted to be careful around him. But the attraction that she had for him had a different story to narrate. Meanwhile, she was developing feelings for him, she had an accident.

It was late in the evening and the road was wet, thanks to the incandescent rains that show their face unexpectedly. As she was going back to her home, she fell off the bike due to the slippery road and she was unable to control her bike and it was on the longest flyover in the city. The passerby had advised her to park the bike in the parking bay since she was a little hurt and offered her to drop near her home. In all her panic-stricken state, she reached home and pinged the first person she could think of – Akhil, who had been giving the caring guy so far. And he responded to help her out. Akhil left out to help her out later that evening. It was close to midnight and Akhil picked her up from her place and they headed to get her bike back. Meanwhile, the every 5-minute caller was calling Akhil to get the status update from him. Since he was busy driving, he didn’t pick up the phone and once they had reached the spot where the bike was parked, he had picked up the call only to tell her that he was helping her out. And one can only imagine how furious the person on the other end of the phone had become and Akhil had a nice earful. He was frustrated all the same and this was just getting out of control. But somehow the leash was still around his neck. What he did next was drop her off on the way at almost midnight instead of dropping her at home, and he left to his home.

After all this, Srestha was more inclined towards him because he helped her out in one of her difficult times. She might have as well fallen for him. But then again there was the wedge that someone was hammering in between them and that was one reason she was unsure what to do about all this. Meanwhile, Akhil was dealing with this headache and he was distancing himself from Srestha, thanks to Likhita for getting through to him. And all this while, the former had been insisting on taking a step back since she was unable to see her beloved getting hurt as he was and she didn’t want to be the reason to ruin whatever was going on between him and Likhita. Though Akhil insisted that there was nothing going on between them and there was nothing to be concerned about and that they can go as about like they had been doing the past couple months.

Then one fine day, Akhil might have snapped and the leash around his neck was perhaps tighter than other days and anyone else would have anticipated, he had unfriended Srestha on Facebook and he hadn’t been messaging her since. She was taken aback by all of this sudden development and the cold distance he started giving her. She was literally sad about all this and hoped to get some explanation. And she did get after insisting for a while. He took his alleged girlfriend’s name Likhita that she wasn’t liking him getting close to Srestha and she wants him to maintain distance from her. This was completely a shock to Srestha. She was the one who had insisted on keeping the distance while Akhil said not to do that. And he was the one who had insisting on continuing and was in a way responsible for letting her have feelings for him and now he was being a gentleman and telling her to stay away from him. This devastated Srestha in ways she didn’t know was possible.

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(To be Continued …)

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The Lunch Box Journal

ak, mmxviii