Love Arranged

Chapter 5

I woke up in the morning to the bright sunlight falling on my face. The heat made me flinch and I opened my eyes to find my best friend grinning at me from ear to ear, showing all his thirty-two teeth to me. For a second, I thought I was dreaming but then he was standing there and looking at me and smiling at me with such a big smile I realized this was not a dream and this man standing in front of me is definitely up to something. I realized he is not going to speak anything so I straightened up to my bedrest and broke the silence by wishing him good morning.

“Good morning to you too Sam!!!” he noticed the sarcasm in my voice

“Good morning sunshine,” he said that and dint stop smiling at me

Now it started to creep me out as he was not getting back to the normal expression from ear to ear grinning. I started to wonder if he was up to something or he did something and now he needs my help. Sam is definitely very notorious and such an expression definitely is something to be suspicious about.

“What did you do now Sam?” I looked at him with that exasperated look

“Why do you think that I did something?” he looked at me with raised eyebrows.

“Your smile is just getting wider and wider… do I look like a joker to you right now? What is with that smile of yours?”

“Ahh… that. It’s nothing, I will be staying with you till the exams are done. So, we can study together just like old times.” After saying this I swear it was like he burst out smiling

“Okayyy… that’s awesome Sam. But still, I don’t get the reason behind your wideeeeeee smile” I gestured wide with my hands spreading out. Showing him how wide he is actually smiling.

The next minute he had his hand on my forehead and checking if I was fine or have a temperature. I was just looking at what he was up to. I mean I swear this guy will be the death of me.

“Alright, move aside now. Let me go freshen up, and then we can start studying. By the way don’t you have college to go to today?”

“Nah!! I just bunked. I was too excited that I will be staying here with you and we will be spending time again like old days. So, I just bunked” he said that by shrugging his shoulders as if it was no big deal and then he walked out of my room. I just stared at him blankly thinking what has got into him suddenly. Does he know that I am planning to leave? No... No.. he can’t know I did not tell anyone, neither gave any hint to anyone. Must be something else. Whatever, let me just go get ready. I am so hungry right now, that my stomach is making weird sounds.

I quickly got off the bed and went into the bathroom. I had a quick shower and brushed my teeth quickly as well. Because I dint want to be late for breakfast. Now that Sam was at home for this month, I better get my act together and put my head into books and start studying. I quickly finished getting ready and went into the dining room only to see Sam stuffing his mouth with the Paranthas my sister made. I mean this guy can never get tired of eating.

“Good morning di..” I called out to my sister and she looked at me and smiled.

“Good morning sweetie.. come sit and eat.” She told me and I did as she said.

“Are you cooking today? Where is the cook?” I asked her curious as she gets late to work if she cooks in the morning.

“Nah… she is there. I just made your favorite paranthas as you will be starting your preparations for your final exams.” Awe… my sister's soo sweet. She made me my favorite food so that I study well. I gave her a big smile while I was also busy stuffing my mouth with some amazing food that she made for me.

If you are wondering what Sam is doing at my place. It's totally normal as we are family friends more like family than family friends. Our mothers were best of friends, after my mom passed away, I used to stay at their place when my dad had to travel out of town for work. That’s how close we are. With Sam and me being like magnets, our parents used to tease as joined at hips. So that’s how he ended up at my place like his own, su casa es mi casa baby!!!

Once we were done with our breakfast, I was so stuffed. I doubt if I can eat anything else for today. We both moved to my room’s balcony with my books, water, and juice. That’s the routine of how we study lots of liquids. It was a sunny day after a constant downpour for the last four days. So, It was warm to sit in the sun and study. When it came to exams and studies, Sam was very dedicated and it helped me to stay focused as well. He would not tolerate me being distracted during exams. And after yesterday’s incident, I am sure my sister would have updated him about my weird behavior or reaction according to her. That would have made him decide that he needs to stay at home with me and help me stay focused. Whatever the reason being, it's nice that he is here. I can sit and study.

Just a few days were left for the exams to begin… I was sitting and relaxing after studying for five hours straight. Yes, that’s right I can actually sit straight for five hours and study. Then I realized that I dint plan a timetable to study for my entrance exams. I was giving other entrance exams like JEE, AIEEE, and Engineering Entrance Examination in India other than SAT. But I am more serious about my SAT exams. So, I sat at my study table started arranging my timetable as per the exams schedules so that I could study accordingly. I was so lost in my timetable preparation I dint notice SAM standing behind me and peeping over my shoulder to see as to what I was doing. The moment I hear “what are you doing Pihu?” I stopped writing and I was so scared hearing his voice because I haven’t told them yet about my abroad plans and this is going to get very tricky if he gets to know me now. No…no…no… please God please give me some more time to break this to everyone together. I knew he was waiting for my response.

I slowly closed my book and turned to him with a small smile and told him “Nothing… just preparing a timetable for all the entrance exams… once these final exams are done, I will have to start preparing for them, right?”  I swear I noticed him scrutinizing me for more than a minute and then he broke into a smile and pulled me over to the bed and held me in his arms and said “Chill Sunshine, you know those entrance exams you can just c***k it without any issues, you don’t need to stress out from now onwards...” I just nodded my head hearing what he said. Phew!!! It was a close call today I so don’t want to keep any secrets from you Sam but I can’t help it for this one time I just have to. I know you won’t let me go otherwise. I just thought it to myself and sighed. I felt him soothing my back to comfort me, he must be thinking I am stressing out. This is one thing so good about Sam, he doesn’t push me to speak my mind out and waits for me to speak out on my own. But he is always there for me whenever I need him. He just knows that I need him and he is there. We stayed in each- other's arms like that for some time and I didn't know when sleep took over me. When I woke up I was covered up by my soft blanket and the lights were out as well. Sam must have tucked me in and left. He is such a darling. By the time I woke up, it was already time for dinner, I woke up and went out for my dinner. I see Sam and Di are talking something in hushed voices and when they saw me standing at some distance, they immediately changed the topic. I could feel they were talking about me definitely. I am so sure about it. But what is it about? I so wanted to know. My curiosity gets the best of me.

When I asked what was the hushing all about. They both just shrugged off saying it was a secret between them and they can’t tell me about me. I mean since when did di and Sam started having secrets? It's weird… it's not like they cannot have secrets. I sat down at the dining table and then we started having our dinner silently. Then I noticed that Pop's chair was empty. I started to wonder if pops were fine, it had been 3 weeks since I last saw him. It's very unlikely for him to be away from home for this long.

“Di…”

“mmm”

“Where is pops? I didn't see him for quite some time? It's very unlikely him to be away from us for this long?”

I saw there was a change of expression and exchange of glances between her and Sam before she answered “uh… dad’s still out of town sweetie. He is visiting all the branches personally this time. So, it is going to take some time before he returns home. But he called up and asked me if you were preparing well for your exams and he promised to be back before your exams start”

“Mmm… why did he want to go to all the branches suddenly? Is something wrong at work? He must be exhausted going to all the branches alone… maybe you should have accompanied him?”

“There were some issues in a few branches and he wanted to go check them out personally and sort them out. You know how he is when it comes to these stores as they were Mom's dream. I didn't go because your exams were more important and Akshay has gone with Dad this time. So, we don’t have to worry.”

“mmmm” weird I thought while eating my food. But it's work and I can’t complain like a small child. After dinner, I went back to my room and plugged in some music, and drifted to sleep while listening to the music.

I don’t know why I have been waking up in the middle of the night. I am just so restless don’t know why. When I woke up this time, the earplugs were off and the phone with earplugs was at the nightstand and I was tucked in nice and comfy into my soft quilt. I thought maybe Di or Sam must have done that. They had this habit of checking on me before going to bed. With all these nice thoughts I just drifted off to sleep again.