Chapter 11: Love Hurts...

Arjun was amused, "Come-on dear, it's a common thing I keep saying to all my friends, and you are a close friend now. It means nothing more than that please don't get serious. I do consider you as a very dear friend, but that's about all and nothing more really. Actually, I'm bit surprised as to how we became close friends so fast, it's been just 2 or 3 days that I met you. I normally take much more time in trusting someone to become my dear friend, but in your case, I guess there is some connection from the past that has made this possible" he went on to say, probably to make things very normal.

Saniya got disappointed at this and became silent. Arjun stopped walking and looked up at her. Then holding her hand he softly said, "Did I hurt you?" he patted her cheek gently.

"No, not at all Arjun" she tried to hide her emotions.

"Then why are you so quiet suddenly? What's wrong, tell me. Look at me; I am sorry if I said anything inside the pub which I don't actually mean, but it was very casual. I just wanted to make you feel that we are close friends and we will always remain so. You had said that you were feeling very lonely while I was away, so I intended to assure you that you are never alone here and I am always there for you, as a good friend."

"Yes Arjun, I expect the same from you," she said.

"Thanks for understanding me" he smiled at her.

Saniya then said, "I wanted to ask you something..."

"Yeah go ahead," he told her, "meanwhile we can go for a walk, just like yesterday"

"Sure, in fact, I was also thinking the same" Saniya responded positively to everything.

"Then let's go to Anjuna beach, I will show you the place from a different prospective, and you might not have experienced this ever before."

They were walking through Flea Market towards the beach when Arjun remembered, "You were about to ask me something ..."

"Yes, but hope you will not mind me asking this, as it is only the second day of our friendship" she was bit hesitant, but Arjun told her it was fine, and she could ask him anything she wanted to know. So she went ahead with it, "Do you love anyone?" (She obviously had Pooja in her mind)

Arjun replied, "Yeah of course" and Saniya got tensed when she heard this. She asked him again, "who do you love, and who's the lucky girl?"

Arjun replied in a very cool manner, "I love all my friends and now, I also have a cute little doll in my life."

She shot another question spontaneously, "who's that little doll?"

Arjun was smiling again, "who else but you my dear! Now you are also one of my dearest friends who I love the most."

Saniya complained, "Arjun stop kidding and answer me seriously who's that lucky girl?"

"There is no one in particular as such" he replied, much to her relief!

Saniya still had doubts and so tried to confirm again. Looking in his eyes, she asked him, "tell me frankly Arjun, you really don't love anyone?"

"Yes Saniya, there is no such girl in my life. I don't even have my parents with me so that I could love them; I have been all alone for these many years. There is no one who will ask me whether I take my lunch and dinner on time, there is absolutely no one to care about me. I have been living alone all these years and I want to stay alone for the rest of my life. I don't want anyone else except a lot of friends to hang around with them, and I enjoy having a nice time with my friends."

Saniya was still inquisitive, "then what about Pooja? How far is your relationship with her? Do you have any such feelings for her?"

"O come-on Saniya, she is my best friend and she is the one who has helped me to become a successful businessman, how can I ever think about her that way? She knows everything about me but we both never developed any such feelings between us." he clarified.

"Now, is your doubt clear??? He asked. "I knew you had a misunderstanding on seeing me dance with Pooja, and this is what people assume in our society when they see a boy and girl little bit closer together. A guy and a girl can be just best friends also, and they can have together some special moments, it's not necessary to be having in-depth feelings always. This orthodox society may be having a wrong impression about us but I don't care and it's their problem, not mine if their thinking is corrupt. To me what matters is that Poo and I are very clear about our relationship" he told her.