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Rohan looked at the two men. Men, who, for many years, had only been on the periphery of his life because he’d never let them in. Because he hadn’t trusted people easily. Now, he had a newfound respect for them. They were good people, and he understood why Rithwik was friends with them. And he was going to ensure his brother didn’t lose any of them because of him.
“Raashi, Keya, please,” Rohan pleaded. “I don’t want you all to fight because of me. What I really want is to end this irksome situation between us. I want to fix what has always been broken between the three of us. I do love Jiya a lot. And I want your help to win her back. You’re the only ones who can help.”
Sameer stared at Raashi. It was as if some non-verbal communication happened between the two of them because Raashi sighed and turned to finally face Rohan.
She studied him for a long moment. “Does my sister love you?”
“At one time, she did,” Rohan lamented. “Then I pushed her away, so now I’m not entirely sure.”
“What are you willing to do to win her back?” Raashi asked.
“Anything; I swear it, I’ll do anything.”
Raashi exchanged a look with Keya before she neared him. “Keya and I met Rithwik and Aditya at a summer camp all those years ago. We were two lonely souls who didn’t have many friends we could count on. Before we knew it, the two of them became our backbone. Rithwik introduced you to us at that time, and we tried to befriend you. But you rejected all our attempts.”
Keya nodded. “And then, each time Rithwik sided with us or wanted to be with us, you became madder at us. You treated us like we were the bad ones. Over the years, our mutual distrust, resentment, and dislike grew.”
“And I heard you frequently calling me names in front of Rithwik,” Rohan said. “That wasn’t nice of you.”
Raashi’s eyes popped. “Really? You’re saying that when all you ever did was crib when he was out with us?! You hated that we all were friends.”
“I never spoke ill of you, though.”
“Like that is any different!” Keya remarked. “You would sulk all the time when we were around.”
Sameer chuckled. “He still didn’t call you girls names. That is something, I suppose.”
Raashi glared at her husband. Sameer threw his hands in the air and backed away.
She faced Rohan. “Let’s talk about that time with that girl Maya in college.”
“The one you knew I had a crush on,” Rohan said.
Raashi pursed her lips. “We knew you had a crush on her in college, but we also knew she preferred Rithwik over you. We liked her and thought she’d be good for Rithwik. So, we encouraged him to be with her. That, however, was the breaking point of everything.”
“Wait. Who’s Maya?” Aisha interjected.
“No one,” Rithwik said quickly.
Aisha crossed her arms over her chest. “She must have been someone if you all got into a tiff because of her.”
“Relax, Aisha,” Keya said. “Rithwik barely dated her for a few months. She wasn’t important to him and vice versa.”
“You know you’re the only woman in my life!” Rithwik winked at Aisha before putting an arm around her.
Aisha rolled her eyes. “I swear, each time I think I’ve heard it all about you, some new escapade comes tumbling out. I hate it.”
“I was wild before you, baby,” Rithwik placated her. “But this is the last one, I swear.” He whispered something in her ear that made her blush.
Rohan smiled, watching them.
“Anyway,” Keya continued. “After that Maya debacle, you barely even spoke to us. It was like we became enemy number one.”
Raashi breathed out. “We didn’t like you because we were always worried that one day you’d force Rithwik to choose between you and us.”
“I never did that,” Rohan said softly. “I chose to walk away from him instead.”
“That was worse. We saw how that affected him,” Raashi said. “It just further fueled our contempt. Then Aisha came into his life and forced the two of you to sort things out, and you did. We were, are, very happy that Rithwik has you in his life. We’d hoped that you would mend things with us. But you kept your distance all the time. It’s like you still held a grudge against us for being his friends. You didn’t like us, and we didn’t like you. That disdain has just worsened over the years.” She looked at Keya. “Bloody hell. I sound stupid verbalizing this. This whole thing sounds ridiculous. He didn’t like us, and so we didn’t like him… Ugh!”
