New day brings new hope. The lives we've led, the lives we've yet to lead. A new day, new ideas, a new you. Shehnaaz cracked her interview for Babylon Public School and was supposed to join from the 1st of the upcoming month. It was a lazy Sunday, she was making lunch,

"AAROHI!! Uth ja yaar! 12 bajne wale hai!" she shouted from the kitchen at her lazy ass roommate, she slept like a log.

"Humne aaj groceries lene jana hai.. Uth ja!" she banged at the door this time, to hear her groan and reply something like yes.

"Morning.." Arohi appeared after sometime, ruffling her messed up hairs and opened the refrigerator's door to grab something.

"Yeh le.." Shehnaaz placed a cup of tea on the kitchen counter.

"Oh thanks babe!" she quickly pecked her cheeks only to receive a glare. Honestly, Arohi was a useless roommate, she hardly helped Shehnaaz in the kitchen, she used to be back home so late that she never got the time to do any house chores.

Shehnaaz was doing both the dishes and laundry apart from cooking, also some cleaning and dusting around the house, she was glad they had a washing machine at least. Arohi never really knew cooking, so her meal was probably anything available at the diner near her office, a totally spoiled brat!

They left for Big bazaar in the next hour, Arohi tried to make it up to her by showing her around, took her to an open street food plaza and they ended up buying her a rack of beer bottles. Shehnaaz had a good time with her roommate today, but she couldn't deny the fact that she missed Sidharth, he left for his mother's place on Saturday morning.

She had seen him talking to his mother over the phone a couple of times and then he had revealed that she lived in the same city and he visits her on weekends. On being asked about her parents she had simply answered she had none, the good thing was that he didn't ask any further. She thought there was no harm in texting and decided to tell him that she got selected in the interview and wondered if her absence made any difference to his life.

Sidharth has been gardening with his mother since morning.

"Rupal ka phone aaya tha.." Rita Ji mentions passing him the shovel.

"Rupal who?" he asked.

"Dharmesh's wife! He used to work with your Dad..!" She stressed her words, her son was not a very socializing kind, especially after his father's demise.

"Okay.. What about her?" he asked to continue.

"Dinner pe bulaya hai hume.. Choti si gathering hai.." she said.

"Ha Mom aap jaiye.." he denied.

"Mai bore ho jata hoon.." he added.

"Nahi hoga bore.. Her children are home.. Remember Nitya and Ashish?" she thought maybe this could make her son agree.

"Acha..Nitya single hai?" he asked with a tint of mischief. Her eyes widened, her son was so not interested in dating and stuff since last year.

"I don't know.. Chal khud puch lena!" she answered, so filled with hope.

"Arey! I was kidding.. Mai nahi aa raha Mom.. Aapko drop kar dunga ready ho jaiye.." he chuckled and laughed when he saw her face fell. He knew his Mom, she wanted all good for him, well, he wanted the same though. Someone who would take care of him and he would do the same for her, but who was he kidding?

He himself did some casual dates, some were even good but back then he wasn't serious. And when there was a time, he became serious, actually looking forward to the future with someone, he ended up hurting himself. Summing up all, he came to the conclusion that maybe there was something wrong with him, that his partner was so tended to leave him, maybe it was his temper or his overbearing presence, or at times his itching possessiveness. He recalled the words they gave him, he might have shown a lot of attitude back then but those words were indeed hurtful.

Rita Ji noticed Sidharth a little lost for the entire day after she came back, she even asked him but he said he was fine. Done with dinner he had retired to bed and it had been a while when his phone pinged.

'Got selected in the science faculty in Babylon' with emojis grinning widely.

He replied right away,
'That's great news.. Congrats' with one smiling emoji.

'Thank you!' she texted followed by blushing emojis.

'Bas? Party chahiye mujhe' he wrote.

'Ok.. Um..Beer chalegi?' she asked. He smirked, this couldn't get any better.

'Sure' he sent it with a thumbs up sticker.

'Khana kha liya?' She asked, it was over 10 obviously he would have! She knew she was being lame, she just wanted to chat.

But Sidharth was having a hard time typing, she typed so fast and so long over the texts, on the other hand his slow replies were implying that he wasn't very interested. Her thoughts didn't linger for long when her phone vibrated with 'Padosi' chiming on top,

"Ha abhi bol" she heard him.

"Ha.. Mai yeh bol rahi thi ke.. Academy me Anna aur Shubh mere ache dost ban gaye hai.. Hum itni masti karte hai! Haye kal toh Shubh ne ek ladke ka bag chhupa diya tha receptionist ke paas..!" and with that she laughed loudly.

"Lekin jab Mam aas paas hote hai.. Himmat nahi hoti kisi ki baat karne ki.. Ekdum chup karke warm up karo aur steps karke dikhao.." she elaborated. They exchanged a few more words about how their weekend had been.

"Oye! Tu itna chup kyu hai?" she asked.

"Bol toh raha hu.." he shrugged.

"Nahi.. Matlab teri awaaz me kuch kami hai..." she mentioned. Well, he had not expected her to say that and notice him that much.

"Nahi toh.. Aisa kuch nahi hai.." he shrugged again.

"Acha.. Ok.. Toh bata tune kon kon se plants lagaye aaj?" she asked, changing the topic for good.

"Snake plants lagaye.." he answered.

"Tu yaha apne ghar pe kyu nahi rakhta plants?" she asked.

"Mom does all that.. Unko pasand hai gardening... Mere paas time nahi hota.. Pehle rakhta tha Bonsai.. Mat gaye sare.." he said recalling once his mother had decorated his apartment with small pots of Bonsai, but they soon died.

"Acha.." she replied.

"Hm.. Dhyaan nahi dene se paudhe mar jate hai.." she said. Relatable, aren't plant like relationships, they die when not taken care of, how long shall one survive without love and care.

"Tune pani nahi diya hoga ache se?" she blamed him.

"Deta tha.. Roz pani deta tha.. Phir bhi.." he sighed. She could sense he was projecting to some other direction.

"Phir kyu mar gaye paudhe?" she asked. "Pata nahi.. Bas mar gaye.." he whispered.

"Unko na.. Sirf pani nahi dhoop, hawa, mitti sab chahiye hota hai.. Aur inme se kuch bhi zyada ya kam ho jaye to vo mar jate hai.." she said, these were like freedom and respect, love wasn't enough.

"Hm.." he agreed, blankly.

"Lekin ye paudhe bade demanding hote hai na? Inko sab lake do.. Phir bhi inke nakhre.. Garmi ke mausam me pani zyada.. Thand me dhoop zyada.. Varna phool nahi aate.. Haina?" she asks.

"Ha.. Vo toh hai.." he agreed.

"Isliye maine kabhi paudhe rakhe hi nahi.. Bhaad me jao! Mai nahi mar rahi tumhare phool ke liye!" she announced, to hear him chuckle. She's right, isn't she? Why do you need to be loved by the one who's so demanding? Self respect is a thing too.

"Right.. Right.." he nodded, he felt better now.

"Toh tujhe paudhe chahiye hai ya nahi?" he asked, she seemed to have the least interest in relationships.

"Chahiye na! Lekin cute paudhe.. Jo bina mange bahut sare phool dede.. Mai bhi uska bahut dhyan rakhungi.." she said, dreamily. That's what made it special, you receive love without asking for it, along with care, freedom and respect of course and this goes vice-versa.

"Mila aisa paudha?" he asked, weren't her expectations too high?

"Nahi na! Yahi toh problem hai.." she whined, he could almost imagine her pouting and shook his head smiling. That was true though, no perfect partner existed.

"Kya kar rahi hai tu abhi?" he asked.

"Terrace pe walk.. aaj mera padosi nahi hai sath me.. Bahar gaya hai kahi.." she answered, hiding the truth that she was drinking too. He chuckled at the last words.

"Miss kar rahi hai padosi ko?" he just wished if she said yes, while Shehnaaz was surprised he just read her mind, she would have denied if was sober, but she wasn't.

"Han.. Bore lagta hai uske bina.." He felt happy knowing that he was missing her blabbering too.

They were indulged in talking until she heard him yawn, "Ja soja.. Tujhe neend aa rahi hai.." she said.

"Han.. Soja tu bhi.. Kal school jana hai.." he chuckled, she was supposed to join from tomorrow.

"Mera sona na sona ek hi baat hai.." she replied, ignoring the pun he made.

"Matlab?" he didn't get it.

"Ek secret hai yeh.. Tu kisi ko batayega toh nahi?" she conditioned.

"Nahi bataunga.. Tu bol.." he nudged.

"Mujhe neend hi nahi aati!" she stated.

"Since when? Koi sleep disorder hai ya stressed ho tum kisi baat se?" he asked, concerned, the doctor side of him kicked in.

"Stress? Ha tha job ka.. But abhi nahi hai.." she answered after thinking for a while.

"What do you do at night then?" he asked.

"Duh! Soti hu.." she answered.

"Shehnaaz! You just said tumko neend nahi aati.. How do you sleep then?" He was pretty serious by now.

"Pills!" obviously. He had not seen this coming, though he had noticed she had a habit of staying up till late night, she woke up early too, but he never connected the dots this way. He simply assumed her to be a light sleeper.

"We'll talk about this tomorrow.. Ja soja abhi.." he said plainly.

"Night padosi" she wished before hanging up, he had totally spoiled her mood. And she smacked herself for letting out her secret, now he was going to question her about things she had leaped over.

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