The Third Wheel
Nidhi alighted from the Metro and looked at her watch. She hated being late and walked hurriedly towards her office which was at a short distance. She was clad in a cotton kurta and jeans. Her hair, a riot of curls was fastened with a hair tie at the nape of her neck. The cat's eyes glasses enhanced her intelligent look. She wore minimum makeup and sensible footwear.
The constant honking behind her made her turn around. It was Shelly, her colleague on her two wheeler. Shelly flashed her a big smile and asked her to hop on and Nidhi gladly agreed. Shelly was dressed in a blazer, silk blouse and skirt and wore stilettos. Her hair was perfect and the makeup glossy.
The contrast was not only in their dressing but also in their personalities. Shelly loved to be the centre of attraction. She loved talking to everyone and knew all the office gossip. She had a happy go lucky attitude and was liked by all. Nidhi, the introvert chose to keep to herself and did her work diligently. She hated any kind of attention and always chose to be in the background. But her work spoke for her and was greatly admired. They had been colleagues for two years now and shared a good friendship which amazed everyone as they were poles apart in everything.
Soon they reached the office and while in the lift, Shelly excitedly exclaimed, “ You know what!! The new finance head Ankit is joining today. I hope he is interesting “. Nidhi just smiled in response. Few hours later a meeting was called to introduce Ankit to the team. Shelly was more than happy to shake hands with the handsome and suave Ankit, while Nidhi chose to shyly mouth a ‘hello’.
Six months down the line, Shelly had developed a great liking for Ankit and shared a good rapport with him. Ankit liked her exuberance but harboured no special feelings for her. He, in fact, was drawn towards the sweet and simple Nidhi. Her shy demeanour seemed to attract him. He greatly admired her work and wanted to know her better but was scared of making the first move.
Ankit decided to confide in Shelly and take her help to approach Nidhi. Shelly was at first disappointed but chose to cleverly cover it up. She truly valued her friendship with Nidhi and was glad to play Cupid to them. Nidhi required a great deal of cajoling from Shelly to meet Ankit. Many meetings later Nidhi has finally managed to open up and is now enjoying her new found love Ankit. Shelly continues to be a good friend to both of them and jokes about being the ‘third wheel’