Stay by my side

Chapter 16

Mallika's POV:

"Mallika..Mallika...Earth to MALLIKA", my mom shouted and waved her hands in front of my face with the hopes of pulling me out of my daydream.

"Yes maa.. what were you saying again?", I straightened myself on the bed.

"Your phone is vibrating. Answer the call", mumma informed me as she kept the folded clothes into my cupboard."Don't know what has happened to her. She's been acting weird from the time she came home...",she murmured to herself and closed the room door leaving me to answer the call in private.

"Hello Mallika ji. I am Sridhar, part of the RK team. Sorry to call you late at night, but I had to inform you about something important", an apologetic voice found my ears.

"It's ok sir. Go on"

"So the promo scene which you shot today will be telecasted on TV soon. We will be leaving to Vrindavan for the press conference next week on Monday. Please be ready."

"Alright sir. Thanks for informing me."

"Ok then. I'll send you the flight ticket details. Good night Mallika ji."

I cut the call and relaxed myself into the bed. Everything that had happened in my life recently felt surreal, like a dream. Auditioning for the role of Radha and being finalized for it; meeting Sumedh again and becoming friends with him, more like frenemies; my big brother kind of relationship with Basant; attending workshops, meetings and photoshoots; giving my inputs and opinions during the meetings; and slowly realising my dream of becoming a professional actress. It certainly feels nice to be independent and to have people around me who respect my decisions. I should definitely feel happier right now, but my heart felt restless and uneasy. And I knew the cause for my unhappiness: Jeevika and Aadi.

My unpleasant conversation with Jeevika in the morning continuously reminded me of the past that I desperately wanted to forget. Every time I closed my eyes, the unwanted memories played in my head.

Two months had passed since Sumedh had accepted Jeevika's proposal. Even though Jeevika studied at a different school both of them managed to find time to spend together. During weekdays Sumedh would constantly be busy on his phone chatting with her and on weekends they went out together. Sumedh drifted apart from me as his relationship with Jeevika progressed. Our friendship was reduced to a few greetings and awkward conversations now and then.

As my interactions with Sumedh reduced, I started to spend more time with Aadi. Both of us went home together after basketball practice and I felt comfortable to talk to him. We naturally became close and I even felt a  little better with my situation regarding Sumedh as I had someone to share my feelings with. Now when I look back I realise that it was one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I shouldn't have trusted Aadi, but my immature 16 year old self did exactly opposite of that.

It was my birthday. Harsh and Kriti had planned to throw me a birthday party with the intention of patching me up with Sumedh. According to them we were an inseparable duo and we should always remain like that forever. I couldn't deny them since I too wanted to mend my friendship with him. I missed him a lot. I had also invited Aadi, but he didn't know that I planned to become friends with Sumedh again as Kriti had requested me not to tell him. She felt that Aadi was the main reason for my rift with Sumedh while I felt that it was because of Jeevika. Anyways I listened to her.

That evening I was very excited, not for the cake cutting and the party, but for finally having the chance to talk it out with Sumedh to forget our differences. But my excitement was short-lived when I opened the door to see Jeevika standing with him. I hadn't invited her, but I figured she would have pestered Sumedh until he let her tag along. Before I could react Kriti pulled us all inside saying that it was time to cut the cake. During all of my previous birthdays Sumedh would be the one to buy my favourite black forest cake and I would feed him the first bite, but the 16th birthday was different. He was standing away from me with his hands linked with Jeevika. I was jealous, angry, hurt all at the same time, but I controlled myself and fed the cake to Aadi who was standing next to me.