Chapter 5 - Meeting Him

Parvathy brings the man her mother chose to meet the best friend she secretly loves. It doesn't take long for the polite boundaries to snap.

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Parvathy adjusted her sweater dress and knocked the snow off her boots. She and Jithin entered the lobby of Siddharth’s building.

“Which apartment?” Jithin asked.

Parvathy was still adjusting her dress. “208”

She heard the keypad tones and looked up. Jithin was tapping into the buzzer machine.

Parvathy stepped forward and entered the code.

“You know the code,” Jithin observed aloud.

“Yeah.” Parvathy shrugged, and then her body tensed. She looked at Jithin, dreading what he would say next.

“I should have known,” Jithin chuckled. “You’re best friends. He doesn’t need to buzz you in.”

Parvathy smiled, and they headed up in the elevator. As they walked the long corridor up to the door, Parvathy’s heart rose. Jithin and Siddharth are finally meeting. The quiet corridor made her heartbeat reach her ears with an intense rhythm.

Jithin knocked on the door. After a few seconds, the door opened. Sid wore a casual green T-shirt and jeans. He had a beer in one hand and a grin on his face, which widened on seeing Parvathy and faltered slightly on seeing that she’n not alone.

“So you’re the famous Sid,” Jithin said. “Congratulations on your promotion.”

There was a pregnant pause when the music from the house leaked into the eerily silent corridor.

Sid managed a wide smile. “Hi Jithin. Nice to meet you. Come on in.”

Jithin walked in. Parvathy and Sid gave each other a quick side hug.

Sid grabbed a can of beer from the kitchen counter, and Jithin thanked him. They moved to the living area where Sid’s office friends and some of Parvathy’s and his University friends were talking. Jithin introduced himself to everyone, and Parvathy chimed in sometimes.

“So glad I could finally meet you,” Neha said. “You keep stealing my roommate.”

Neha laughed, seeing Jithin’s shock. “Thanks to you, I get mine and Paru’s room all to myself a lot.”

Neha and Jithin laughed while Parvathy smiled and turned red. Jithin casually placed his arm on her shoulder. Parvathy turned to look at his arm and then at him. She then looked ahead to see Sid watching them. Her heart stopped.

Sid walked over and joined them. “So I heard you’re here often. Paru said you are renting a room here?”

Jithin nodded. “At my friend’s place. I wish Parvathy didn’t have shifts, else she could stay at my place once in a while.”

“Well, a job is a job,” Sid said and smiled, but he noticed Parvathy glare at him for bringing up the whole thing about the job.

“I guess,” Jithin said. “She should spend more time job hunting, though.”

“I think she’s doing her best,” Sid said.

Jithin held his pursed smile. “If you say so. Maybe you can give her some tips. You’re her best friend, and you not only have a job but also got a promotion.”

“That’s because Sidhhu is the best.” Anjali laughed and clung to Sid’s arm. “Hi, I’m Anjali.”

“Sid’s girlfriend,” Parvathy said.

Jithin made an O with his mouth and shook Anjali’s hand with a smile. “Nice to meet you.”

“So you’re Jithin. Parvathy has spoken a lot about you.”

“Really?!” Jithin looked at Parvathy, who turned red.

“Well, a little,” Anjali said. “You have stolen her away a lot lately. We barely get to see her.”

Jithin laughed. “Sorry about that. But now we four should definitely hang out every time I’m here.”

“I’ll just unbox the food I ordered,” Sid said.

“I’ll help,” Parvathy jumped in and followed.

Sid headed to the kitchen and started unwrapping the fish appetizer and the chicken biriyani. Parvathy grabbed another wrapped-up package and unwound the tape carefully. She inched closer to Sid, who felt his face warm up. He paused at his own reaction and looked at Parvathy. She was looking right at him.

“Sid, why did you have to bring up the job thing?” Parvathy said. “I told you the other day to let it go.”

Annoyance built up in Sid. “I’m surprised he’s still letting you work.”

“He’s helping me get a job like you.”

“I offered to help.” Sid stopped unwrapping. “But you might have been too busy to even read that message.”

“Just be nice, Sid,” Parvathy said. “I was already so anxious about you two meeting. Don’t make it worse.”

Parvathy had finished unwrapping all the packaging and left Sid to get the plates.

Soon, everyone had a plate of food. Some people used spoons while others got to the roots and enjoyed the biriyani with their hands. Neha started gasping for air and coughing. Sid grabbed some water.

“Spicy,” Neha managed to say. Parvathy ran to the refrigerator and brought back a bowl of strawberry ice cream. Neha’s shoulder relaxed as she let the ice cream soothe her tongue.

“You can’t handle spice anymore?” Jithin asked. “Must have been a while since you left India.”

“Actually, even my mom doesn’t cook spicy food,” Neha said. “That way, Canada is perfect for me.”

“We all lost our spice tolerance,” Sid said.

“Well, I’m helping Parvathy gain back hers,” Jithin said. “I make sure at least homemade food stays spicy like back home. We can’t completely lose touch.”

Parvathy smiled, but when she saw Sid open his mouth, her smile faded. He caught her eyes. Her body gave away as she let her mind wander in his pitch-black eyes.

“Sid, you can handle spice, right?” Jithin asked, breaking both of their trance.

“Yeah, of course,” Sid said. “But for Anju, I had told the restaurant to keep it mildly spicy. I guess they missed it.”

“I don’t mean the spicy level restaurants generally say. Real spicy. Our spicy.” Jithin raised his eyebrows.

“You’ve been here for years, Jithin,” Sid said. “Do you really think you can handle the spiciness we all grew up with?”

“Of course, I love my roots. I will do everything to preserve them. I don’t want to whitewash myself,” Jithin said.

Sid gave another pursed smile. “We all love where we came from. We just change.”

“Not me,” Jithin said. “I could eat raw chillies even today. You should try that too, Sid. Otherwise, when you visit home, it’s going to be difficult.”

Sid got up. “Actually, that’ll be fun. Why don’t we have a chilli contest?”

Sid headed back to the kitchen to get some green chilli.

“That’s so stupid,” Parvathy said. “We are not a TV serial. Don’t be so childish, Sid.”

“No, it’s fine,” Jithin said. “It should be fun. It’s been a while since I’ve done something extreme at any party. The parties I go to are so balanced.”

Sid was back with two bowls of chilli.

“I have added ten chillies to each bowl.” He dropped a small bag of green chillies. “And we can refill.”

Parvathy rolled her eyes.

The guys started on their bowl. After 3 chillies, Sid started gasping for air, but stuffed in more. Jithin reached the bottom of his bowl and reached out for more from the bag. Parvathy held his arm.

“No need,” Parvathy said. “It won’t sit well.”

Jithin chuckled, and Parvathy giggled.

Sid had 5 more chillies in his bowl, but he had stopped as he watched Jithin and Parvathy with their inside joke.

“You know what, Sid. You win,” Jithin said between his gasps for air. “Spice tolerance is nonsense. Who cares how many chillies either of us can eat?”

Sid grabbed the next chilli.

“Siddhu, stop,” Anjali said and grabbed his hand.

Sid didn’t stop until he was done with the bowl and grabbed two more chillies from the bowl. He was coughing and gagging. Anjali got more ice cream and fed it to him along with some ice-cold water.

Jithin’s eyes were watering as Parvathy wiped them with her hands. “I’ll get you some curd.”

“There’s ice cream.” Anjali extended the box.”

Jithin opened his mouth, but Parvathy answered. “He doesn’t like strawberry ice cream. I’ll get the curd.”

She headed to the kitchen, and Jithin followed. Sid took another spoon of ice cream that Anjali fed him, but his eyes were on Parvathy, who pulled out a tub of curd and took a few spoons in a bowl. Jithin started scooping up large chunks of curd and drowning himself in it. She rubbed his back as he smiled at her.

In a couple of hours, everyone filed out.

“I think we should also leave,” Parvathy said.

“It was nice meeting you,” Jithin said.

“Same.” Sid shook his hand.

They both smiled.

“Actually,” Anjali interrupted. “I need to get home. My shift starts early tomorrow, and it’s already past twelve.”

“It’s fine, Anju. You go, get some sleep.”

“Parvathy, please help Sid clean up,” Anjali tilted her head and gave a pleading look.

Parvathy stuttered. “Jithin has to work tomorrow.”

“That’s fine, Parvathy,” Jithin said. “I’ll go home. You should help Sid and head to your place. Neha has complained enough. She deserves some time with her friend, too.”

Parvathy smiled. She hugged him goodbye. He left, and Anjali also gathered her things, leaving Parvathy and Sid with the messy house.

* * *

For the first fifteen minutes, Parvathy and Sid cleaned in silence. She picked up all the cups and plates while he cleared the counter. She dumped another batch of used plates into the garbage bag and looked at Sid, who was transferring the food into storage boxes.

“You don’t like Jithin,” Parvathy said.

Sid looked up. “He’s fine.”

“I’m not dumb, Sid. You don’t like him. Why?”

Sid closed the storage box and placed it in the fridge. “Who said I don’t like him?”

“You were looking for a reason to pick a fight with him.”

“It wasn’t a fight, Paru. Just some friendly competition.”

Parvathy shoved the rest of the garbage into the bag and shoved it into a corner.

“I’m not stupid,” She said. “This is what you did when you meant that guy Anjali used to date earlier.”

“That’s because I had feelings for Anjali,” Sid said without a breath. “There’s a difference. Why will I not like Jithin?”

Parvathy felt a pang. She picked up the vacuum and ran it across the living room. She tried to drown the words he just said.

“It’s just.” Sid broke the silence as Parvathy finished vacuuming the living room. “You should be with someone you actually like.”

Parvathy’s heart skipped a beat.

“Are you sure you like Jithin?” Sid stopped wiping the counter and looked at Parvathy.

He felt his energy leave his body, dreading the next words that might come out of Parvathy’s mouth.

“Maybe,” Parvathy breathed out.

Sid dropped the towel. He hitched a breath.

“I don’t know him that well,” Parvathy said. “That’s why we are giving ourselves at least two months. I should give it a real chance.”

Sid dropped his gaze back to the counter and picked up the towel to rub at a clean white spot.

“I just need your help,” Parvathy said. “Just don’t pick fights with him. Maybe you think it’s to protect me, but I can do that myself.”

Sid nodded without taking his eyes off the towel. “I think you already know if you like him. You were all over him with that curd and all that.”

“Come on, Sid.”

“You both looked really cozy.”

“He had ten chillies,” Parvathy’s annoyance crept into her voice.

“I had twelve.” Sid looked right at her.

“You have Anjali to fawn all over you. Jithin was my guest. My date. I should support him.”

“Should or want to?”

“Does it matter?”

They grew quiet again, and the sound of the vacuum roared through the apartment. Sid and Parvathy stole glances, but neither talked. Parvathy turned off the vacuum cleaner and took one last look around. Everything was in order.

“Thanks,” Sid said. “For helping me clean.”

Parvathy tilted her head and looked at him. “I just need you to try and get along with Jithin. He might be around forever. Don’t make me choose.”

Parvathy grabbed her bag and left. Sid stood in the middle of his kitchen with a twisted feeling inside him. A grip that was strong enough to break his heart.

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