Whoever that man was, why had he needed to bring Sathya here? And didn’t she have any sense to come with him? Hari fumed inwardly.
As he watched more carefully, Hari realised that although he had never seen him in person, the man who had brought Sathya there seemed to be Manoj.
Confusion showed clearly on Sathya’s face. She did not know that Hari had followed them, so she did not look for him. Not knowing what else to do, she walked up to the man, who was standing there looking somewhere else.
“Manoj, you said you had something important to discuss, so I came. But why did we have to come this far? It will get dark soon, and I need to reach home on time. Otherwise everyone will worry. Tell me quickly what you wanted to say.”
He said to her, “Sathya, you said you would help me with my love, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I did. But you never told me who the girl is. Tell me, and I’ll go and speak to her. You could have told me this at the office itself!”
“Hmm…” he sighed.
“If I could have told you, why would I have kept quiet?”
She remained silent.
“You are engaged, aren’t you?”
“Yes. You know that. So what?”
“Tell him that you cannot marry him.”
“Why?”
“Because I am the one who loves you. So shouldn’t I be the one to marry you?”
“What?” Shock was written plainly across her face.
“You are like a younger brother to me. You are four years younger than I am. More than anything else, I have never thought of you that way. If I had known you were going to say something like this, I would never have come here with you.”
“What’s four years? Is that such a big deal? Even now, look at you—you seem younger than me. I have no problem with it. Is any of this really such a big issue? Why, Sachin…”
“Hey, stop it! Listen to yourself! Just because Sachin got married doesn’t mean there is love between his wife and him, and that there is something like that between you and me. I’ve told you again and again, and still you keep talking nonsense!” she exploded.
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