Posted:
MEANT TO BE ………
Sitting on the window sill she stared at the gardens of her huge mansion
…… illuminated by the pale light given off by the moon .she thought the
landscape architect had indeed done a great job…..
The huge overgrowing grass had been neatly trimmed and the
unattended and now dead plants had been cut off completely…..the
result being spectacular.
She wondered if she could do something like that to her own life…cutting
off the past totally which was eating her up slowly and deliberately….or
perhaps if someone could do so for he..someone who knew her history..
someone who had been there that night… someone like HIM.
**********
It had almost been a year since that day but the memories still haunted
him as if it had been just a day before .. as fresh as ever…
Sitting on the porch swing he let his mind wander into the details of that
day..
#FLASHBACK#
Enjoying the cool wind blowing on his face he made way for his usual
hangout…. Thinking how the day had gone by he realized it was perhaps
the most hectic day he had yet gone through since the past 6 months in
his university, crossroads….. the best college in whole of suniville , a
small town in the outskirts of New York city.
He had taken part in the trials held for the selection of new members in
of the basketball team and had even got selected to play at the inter
college level...
So obviously in the mood to party after working out for around 3 hrs. and
then catching up with his books …. He decided to head out for his usual
stress buster and party place …the dawson club.
The Dawson club had somehow over the past few years managed to gain
the reputation of the coolest hang out place in the whole of suniville.
Everyone cool enough to be called cool came and hung out there …… and
he was amongst them.
It seemed the entire of his class had come there to party and cheer upon
the newest member of the basketball team which was not exactly
surprising as he was rich, handsome , popular and even came top of the
form ….. he was what the guys wanted to be and someone the girls
wanted.
He atlast felt that he had managed to do what he wanted…… to be
something in life and being the only son of the greatest tycoon ever it
sure was not easy to come out of his fathers shadow .
" " Armaan over here " shouted his best buddy Mark …as soon as he
enterd into the club. Making way there he stood infront of him while he
kept shouting" ppl listen up ..meet the newly selected basketball
champion Mr.
Armaan Mallik … the stud of Crossroads"
"aww come on man don't do this" said armaan " if u start shouting out my
name like this you know na wat'll happen ..all these beauty without brains
and I cant talk sense girls will come and start swooning over me…and…."
He added threatningly" if that happens Mark you are gonna be so dead
man..coz you know I don't like to be around the likes of these women
when I want to enjoy…..genuinely and not simply waste my time" he
added in one breath…
"ok man ok..just chill wont tell dem u r here no more k? so chill!!"
" yeah thnx a lot ..but no thnx… coz the damage has been done and I am
not sticking around here any more …k thnx buddy for letting me enjoy a
party for the shortest duration ever."screamed Armaan into Mark's ear
coz he was right all the girls had started approaching them already……
Armaan left in a hurry and in frustration and went to his favorite place….
The beach.
He loved the sound the waves made and thought that the water looked
absolutely serene especially at night with the moonlight dancing on them.
After a 15 minute drive in his smart car he reached his destination…
Sitting right next to the water always seemed to rejuvenate him. It made
him calm and composed…
"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…… heellllllppppp" a scream
brought him out of his luxurious moment with mother nature.
Startled he got up to see someone running… a girl…a beautiful one…
right toward …HIM.
PART 2
He grabbed her from the waist as she stumbled on reaching him …." PLZ
PLZ HELP ME ..they will kill me and " she started sobbing while holding
armaan tightly.
" but who is after you and why?" armaan asked her while trying to calm
down the girl. But all his efforts were in vain because she was hysterical
and failed to respond at all.
Armaan could not understand what exactly was going on becaue so far he
could not see any body ..as far as he could make out the beach was
absolutely deserted.
He was proved wrong as within a few minutes 3 men arrived upon the
scene…
' Oh! Dear there she is ..gosh rids why don't you ever tell us where you
go ? and who are you mister?" asked one of them while raising his head to
the man the girl was hugging." me.. well..ummmmm" stammered armaan
.he had never been so confused in his entire life ...this girl it seemed to
him had been running from goons but here standing were 3 quite well
made men…
" neway ! come one rids ..come wid us..we need to go back.k?" said the
other man before armaan could actually answer.
"nnnnnnnooooooooooo….dont lemme go …dey'll kill me!! Please help
me..save me.." screamed rids shattering the peaceful silence surrounding
them when armaan tried to move her away from him.
" I guess ..she has told u that some one is trying to kill her…" started the
man and lokking at the expression of complete confusion armaan was
sporting he continued "well actually she has a mental problem..she thinks
every one is trying to kil her… don't worry we will take care of her" he
said while finally managing to extract her grip from armaan.
Rids meanwhile was yet again trying to struggle to get out but before
either she could react or armaan could actually get what was happening
the 3 men simply took her away!...
" WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!!!!????" a baffled armaan asked himself …."
That woman was mentally ill…jeez…seriously I mean looks can soo be
deceptive..she looked so innocent..beautiful..serene..and mad .nah nah
definitely not an adjective I would have used had I not known her" he kept
on mumbing to himself" she was different…NO WAY Armaan u r not
thinking of that MAD woman..just forget her"
thinking before the day possibly got worse he simply decided to head
back home…
He had reached halfway when he heard a loud thud coming from
nearby..getting down from his car he looked around wat was the
cause..the sight could not have repulsed him more!.....There lying in a
ditch was a woman who seemed to have been …..raped.
"jesus Christ !!!1 what the hell" cursed armaan and started running toward
her ….on reaching her he realized that she was upside down ..blood
oozed out of everywhere…he turned her….it was then that he realized
with a start the same girl….RIDS!
"omg!!!! She was not lying! Oh man m such a fool!" he started cursing
himself while picking rids up and taking her to the car…
a nervous armaan had never been prepared for such emergencies after all
how could he even think of facing one his job was not at all wat you
would call dangerous..he was not a doctor,,,for heaven's sake he was a
landscape architect!!!!!!!
#END OF FLASHBACK#
PART 3
sitting on the porch swing after 3 months he recalled how he had rushed
her to the nearest hospital and begged and pleaded with the doctors to
operate on her immediately…. They had told him the cops had to be
called in. but that had freaked him out bad… very bad ..he was not
prepared to meet a dozen officers and answer their queries coz
something told him that he would be ultimately put to blame.
He had slipped out as soon as he could .. of course after making sure that
the girl had been taken to operate…
He never saw her again yet even after 3 months since the event took
place , he would still dream of that face ..the innocence in her eyes had
captured something deep inside him and till date he did not know wat.
*************
"Riddhimaaaaaaaaaa" a voice brought her out of her trance. Turning
around she saw her best friend serena running up to her"omg rids I have
been searching for you since like forever …n you have been HERE!!!!!!!
God I seriously fail to understand you sometimes" she carried on while
rids simply looked at her . she was her best friend and her lifeline … she
could not imagine a life without her. They had been buds since when they
were just 2yrs … and ofcourse having your best friend as your neighbour
had its own advantages. "rids .rids..hhhhhheeeeeeellllllllloooooooooo u
dere ???"
serena screamed at rids who once again seemed to have gone into a
trance…she had been doing that lately.. since the past 2 months to be
exact .. since she came back from that job interview.
"yup sers m here ..temme was sup?" finally coming back to earth rids
realized she better start some convo. Else this topic could go close to that
night and she could not bare to talk about it anyone..not even serena!!
"did you finally decide to ask him out your version of the GREEK GOD ?
huh? Or is this excitement all because of some shopping center that has
opened up recently…" and sensing serena was about to put up an
argument "and don't u dare say u don't like shopping..coz that would be
a lie…." Continued rids while moving away from her balcony and going
into the room to sit on her double poster bed..
"yeah yeah k rids I agree I love shopping but m not talking about that
here k? n yes u r rite I finally convinced mark to come for dinner with us
so that you can finally see himand i get to enjoy too!!
..yyyyyiiiiippppppeeeeee!!!!!!!!!"
"hey congrats sers…m sooooooooo glad for u honey!!!!" cried out rids
..she knew how much courage it would have taken serena to ask one of
the most popular students at crossroads and she was proud of it.
She herself did her courses for interior decoration via correspondence so
she had never seen the man serena had been crazy for such a long time.
But never mind she thought she would finally meet mark at the party…..
"oh! N yeah I had to invite his best frend as well ..his name's armaan and
he is an Indian so do you mind making him feel comfortable wen he
comes in the evening tomorrow.plzz rids imagine just the 4 of us ..it
would be great fun!!!"
"I m sure it wld be serena" replied rids closing her eyes preparing herself
for the night!!!
As evening came the next day rids heartbeat doubled ..for some reason
that she could not understand she felt restless…. "ok. Relax rids .. u
don't need to panic. U r feelng so weird coz its been a long time since
you have been out with friends " she kept mumbling to herself to
maintain her calm while she got dressed for the big event...but to no
avail. "you have finally got your life back on track and nothing just
nothing will go wrong now!!"
"what the hell are you trying to do?" serena's voice boomed into her ears
…as she saw hat serena was looking at she realized that she standing
infront of the mirror placing her dress upside down…
"ok!!! Rids out wid it??? Wat have you been thinking??"
"me nothing sers u no……ummmm…..well….uhh..yeah . was just
thinking wat your guy might look like!!"saved thought rids else who
knows what might have happened….
'k neway …will u go get dressed quickly? " said an irritated serena" or do
u plan on staying here for the rest of the night??"
"gee…ser m going k? gimme 5 mins!" replied rids while hurrying into the
washroom…
*****************
Armaan dude you gotta come wid me man..!!" pleaded mark for around
the 1000th time. It had been almost an hour since he had started
pesrtering armaan to come with him to the dinner with him after serena
did say she was getting her friend along…
" no way man ..i know ur serena ..she is weird n m sure so will be her
friend.." said armaan ' and plus u guys go njoy y drag me along??"
"coz her friend's gonna be there and she's Indian so it'll be easy for u to
distract her n mean while I can put my moves frwrd with serena…."
"jeez ..dude ..fine!!...i'll come" picking up the first shirt he saw , he went
to get ready.
PART 4
Mark and Armaan were already seated and were now waiting for the girls
to show up. Looking around him into his surroundings he had to admit
whichever of the 2 girls had chosen this place sure had class and
taste."dude …. So you like it??? Huh the place???" mark barged into his
train of thoughts.."yeah sure I do ..its nice and trendy"
"so you think serena and her friend are no longer weird rite??"
"hey sometimes even the biggest fool can be like sooooo intelligent and
we are just taking about a choice out here…so chill k ? armaan mallik
does not decide about the character of a girl looking t her choice…'
yeah yeah k .. I know" interrupted mark before armaan could go on and
on about wat he did and what he did not!!
" hey here they are" an enthusiastic mark told armaan while himself
getting up and motioning for the girls come forward…
meanwhile armaan who ws sitting with his back towards the girls
entering now rose and turned…….
Time it seemed had suddenly stopped for both of them , everything was
going in slow motion … both were lost in their own whirlpool of thoughts
..THINKING BACK TO THAT DAY…the day that altered the course of their
lives…
Riddhima could not believe what she was seeing… she was sure her eyes
were deceiving her … it could not be him!!
She thought of that day…she had gone for a job interview in a caf to
work as a part time waitress but the boss had been a creep and had tried
forcing….. somehow managing to escape from his cabin she ran towards
her house..knowing that the creep had sent 3 of his men behind she did
not know which way to go…
She had lost all senses of the road but just went on wherever her legs
would take her…. Finally reaching the beach ….. at that time of the day
she had not expected anyone to be there but she had been in luck…or so
she thought….she spotted a man there..running up to him she hugged
him hard and when his hands instinctively encircled her waist she had felt
secure .. but this feeling was to be shortlived…..
And today standing infront of her was the same man who had pushed her
into the trap of death….she would never forgive him..it aws a promise
she had made to herself…..
Looking at her today after 3 months in a stunning yet decent black dress
that hugged her curves just at the right spots he felt she still looked the
same except that the innocence in her eyes had been replaced by hurt
and on seeing him there by hatred…
"hey serena dats my best bud armaan ..n she must be the gorgeous …."
Started off mark which brought both rids and armaan out of their trance .
"rids!" finished off armaan …. This stunned riddhima even more as to why
did this man remember her name … did he feel guilty of what he made
her suffer?? Did he know???
"hey … wait a sec how do u know her???" questioned a surprised serena ..
" we met 3 months ago ………" not giving armaan a chance to complete
rids continued" at this party u no sers the one where I met atul …."she
traile off.
"oh! I see but how come ou did not temme dude that u knew sers
childhood friend ??" mark asked his friend clearly agitated." I did not
know she was the same rids..u know" stated armaan clearly getting the
hint that she did not want to press that day's events any further and
perhaps she had not told her friend about it… he wondered why her eyes
showed hatred when there should have been ….. well he had been at fault
partly aleast he debated with himself ….
Would she forgive him for not trusting her..the question slowly started
eating up his entire head…….
PART 5
She could not believe someone as coldhearted as him could actually have
friends and funnily according to her he seemed to care about them ….if
the way he was treating mark and serena was any indication.
He had insisted on paying the bills , asked the dj to put serena's favorite
number so finally managing to get both her and mark on the dance floor
and even she had to agree that it was a good move as the two looked
sooo much in love!!! Of course she was in no way neglected…. He had
asked about her choices before ordering the food , her fav songs , her
likes etc etc…… it seemed like anything to start a conversation but she
had replied curtly and avoided answering any question which required her
to answer anything more than a yes or no…
Looking at him dance now with some random girl she felt uneasy…. Of
course it was her fault dat she was not there in place of that girl whom he
hardly knew but felt that they were dancing too close …. Toooooo close.
He had asked rids to dance as soon as mark and serena had made their
way to the dance floor but she had simply ignored him and not bothered
answering at all…. She had kept on meddling with the food on her
plate……. Though now for some unknown reason to her she felt she had
committed a mistake …. And she wondred why….
*****************
For the past half an hour armaan had been on the dance floor dancing
with what seemed like the most random girls one could meet. So far
exactly 3 out of 5 had tried to put their moves on him but to no avail….
Because his attention had already been taken by rids sitting all alone on
the table.. pretending to eat.
" damn her!! " a furious Armaan slammed his beer can on the bar counter
. after having successfully managed to get away from the building crowd
on the dance floor , he sat at the bar trying to make sense of whatever
was happening." I know it was my fault , I should have believed her … but
what the heck those men…. They were so convincing" he mumbled to
himself trying it seemed to convince himself of his actions." And its not
like I did not help her at all .. I did take her to the hospital… when I
could have just left there .. then why the hell is she behaving like it was
my fault entirely????"
"and why the hell do you care soo much ? huh dude?" looking up he saw
a well built man of around 30 sitting with a glass of rum in one hand and
what seemed like a small black colored pouch in the other.
" look I don't mean to pry .. but obviously you seem to be in a lot of
confusion … so if u want I could perhaps help u out… but only if u want
me to" said he man.
"no I don't need your help …. Plus why do u want to help??? Just finish
your drink and go from here…"
" are u sure ?? I could really HELP!!1" emphasizing on the help he forsed
armaan to look at him.
On looking at the man's eyes for some reason armaan saw love… care…
and a genuine desire to help him. He cold no longer hold it then…. He
simply started telling him whatever was disturbing him and once he
started there was no stopping… breaking down at certain points he
completed his tale of meeting rids , not trusting her, helping her. Then
the days events…everything!!!
" I see so u helped her but u still think she hates you and for some
reason what she thinks matters a lot to you…. Do I get this right? The
man asked armaan after he heard the entire tale..
nodding his head slightly so as to confirm that whatever the man had
summarized was more or less the exact description of the situation he
looked to see the man's eyes glinting with mischief … and with the same
spark the man said" ok den I have a plan which I think should solve all
problems!!!... listen closely now………
PART 6
Stepping outside into the parking lot atlast riddhima felt free . sitting in
the resaurant for the past 2 hrs she had felt trapped in the events of her
past….
" what is wrong with you rids? The guy is a live walkin talking disaster…. "
she tried to reason with herself
"I mean he let me be screwed but weirdly remembers my name and oh!
The concern his eyes fake…. His eyes wow..*sigh* "
UUUURRRRRGGGGGHHHH riddhima gupta get a grip ….. he for heavens
sake was practically the reason u got raped n u are thinking of him on
such lines…"
" nonononnnoooooooooooo……. Never him n me IMPOSSIBLE" by this
time she had started screaming in frustration thus managing to make
quite a handful of people turn back to look at her.
" now I make a fool off myself in front of all these ppl .. n all bcoz of him"
she mentally scolded herself.
" hey…" turning to look at the person who had had interfered in her train
of thoughts…. Only to find the man in question right next to her.
" what do you want?" it was not the queson but the tone she had used on
him that made him cringe.
Composing himself he carried on" well mark just told me that he would
drop off sers and well i thought I could drop you?"
"no you can't " saying this rids went forward only to be stopped by his
strong grip on her arms.
" look I …i.." armaan stuttered " I don't think you should go alone at this
time of the night .. I mean it's not safe" he cursed himself as he was
about to bring up the events of that night.
" sounds hilarious ….. such a concerned comment regarding my safety
coming out of the mouth of someone like you. … changed your mind
about women safety have you since ….. ?" she stopped in the middle of
her sentence not wanting to bring up her past as it still hurt .. if not
physically , definitely emotionally.
Looking at her look away armaaan wanted just wanted to pull her into a
hug and cuddle her… assure her that nothing or no one woud ever harm
her again .. he would not let that happen.
" look please lemme drop u… infact I m going to do so.. u ain't going on
your own!! … " and seeing rids was abot to interrupt he waved his hand in
a dismissing motion and not giving her a chance to say anything he
continued " and so don't even think about replying negatively … so shall
we?"
not waiting for her to reply he marched toward his car dragging her with
him. Opening the passenger door he motioned for her to sit and when she
did not do so after waiting for exactly half a minute he pushed her inside
and then went and sat down at the wheel.
" now gimme the directions to you home !!"
******************
riddhima was surprised and stunned beyond words at armaan's sudden
display of a certain amount of ownership on her …. But it would be wrong
to say she had not liked it… she thought.
Ooking at his profile while he was driving she realized she had loved
every single ounce of love she got from him…. It was strange … why did
she feel for him even if she had promised to hate him…. Could it be
attraction?? Or perhaps LOVE ?? …
She mentally screamed at herself as how she could judge something like
this to be love?? Sure she had felt all tingly when he touched her ….
Looked at her with those amazing blue grey eyes of his …but love no
way…
coz even though she did not know anything other than the fact that it
was a man who had taken her to the hospital …. She had at that moment
given her heart to the man who had saved her life… ….
PART 7
armaan was not at all shocked to see rids reacting so negatively towards
him . infact he was surprised she let him boss her around even though
she did put up a good fight in the start… he wondered why though.. had
she forgiven him finally??
All these questions running through his head made him turn his head
sideways to look at her at the red light. Seeing she had her face turned
towards the window he studied her carefully .. for the first time so
closely.
he felt the jet black hair hanging loose reaching till below her shoulders
suited the shape of her face perfectly. Even watching her from the side
pose made him realize she had what seemed to be the perfect skin.. her
cheekbones perfectly placed and her lips.. all evening he had noticed how
soft her lips were … he wondered how they would feel like to touch with
his own!!!
" what? Is there something on my face?" hearing her speak out armaan
came out of his daze…
" ummm no well actually ….. yeah there is … umm there right there on
your cheeks…" armaan stutterd… he knew what he had for her was not
lust but at that moment he could not stop himself … he wanted to see if
her skin was as flawless as it looked.
Rubbing her cheeks with a tissue she asked him" is it gone??"
Shaking his head negatively armaan came closer before she could protest
and caressed her cheeks with his thumb . looking up in her eyes while
doing so he found himself staring at the most beautiful eyes he had ever
seen.
They had every emotion he could think of
. without realizing his thumb went lower right next her lips and feeling
her stiffen slightly he smiled inwardly at the effect he had on her. Not
breaking the eye lock even once he bent even closer….
BEEEEEEEEPPPPPP BEEP BEEP….. THE CARS HONKING shook him out of his
deep slumber and he suddenly realized what he was about to do. It
seemed to him that even rids realized it at the same moment as she
pulled herself away immediately.
"um sorry…. I didn't mean to.." a nervous armaan started while he drove
to her house .. only to be interrupted " my house is the first one on the
left … so plz turn …. And I don't want to discuss whatever happened
right now!! DISCUSSION CLOSED!!"
stunned and shocked… but more so hurt by her response he silently took
a turn and reaching her house he stopped the car.
" rids…." Armaan tried again
"its riddhima …. And thanks for the lift" saying so rids opened the door
and was about to get out when armaan pulled her back….
" will you just listen to me once??" he literally screamed out of frustration
…
even though shocked at his sudden outburst she regained her composure
and replied negatively with a curt no.
' but why ?? dammit what have I done???" tightening his grip around her
wrist when she tried to free herself he pulled her near him .
' look I know I was a fool not to trust you but those were bloody
convincing rids" and seeing she was about to correct him " yes, its rids for
me and always will be!!"
" you have no idea since that day I have been only thinking of you .. your
eyes it seemed looked deep into me and .. holding you that day close to
me ..well I have never till date felt something so blissfull"
" what the hell are you talking about ......"
" sshhh … lemme complete" placing the index finger of his other hand on
her lips he tried too continue but somehow could not…. Holding her near
to him was finally making him feel something … and so without thinking
and just following his heart he moved in closer to her … bent down and
kissed her ..gently in the beginning but as he felt her melting in his arms
the kiss became deeper and more demanding….
The passion they had for each other unknowingly fulfilling its desires…
*************
as rids realized what she was doing she pulled back ….
" um sorry .. I mean I shouldn't have…" she stammered
"don't be honey! " interrupted armaan " I for one loved it " looking at her
blush he chuckled and gave her a kiss on her cheek.
" no armaan …don't … don't ever do that again... !!!" a now furious rids
shouted at him …" u are sick!!" and before armaan could understand she
left him in the car and ran to her house sobbing.
she cursed herself sitting o her bed that night ...
" i will never let that man near me again .. never.".... she screamed at the
walls of her room " and i will make sure he repents what he did then and
what he did now!!"...........
PART8
pacing up and down in her room rids could not get armaan's words out of
her
head.... he seemed genuine .. but then the kiss?? why did he kiss me ...
was it
out of pity.... but he doesnot know what happened to me that night so
why
pity??
he must have figured out that i was not mad when he saw me with sers
today
..... yes!!! thats it... he ia a characterless man who thought i would be one
of
his conquers.... a typical use and throw siyuation... oh! so thats what he is
playing at....
finally having reached a conclusion she stopped walking and sat down on
the
window sill.
aloud she said" all right mr. armaan ... bring it on!!! u wanna play dirty ,,,
fine u
will get dirty.... it will be exactly what u want... use and throw .. but the
odds
shall be in my favour!!!!!!
********************
leaning against the terrace balcony armaan thought back to the events of
the
evening ..... how rids had first ignored him.... then replied curtly and
finally
the talk with the stranger.....
# FLASHBACK#
" the only thing i feel that can be done acc to me in dis situaton is .." the
sranger continued with the plan" make the girl believe u care about her....
and
watever u did earlier was ll a huge mistake and that u r guilty!!"
looking confused and feeling even more confused armaan asked the
million
dollar question...
" dude watever u told me... well no offence but i alresdy know that ... and
have
even tried working on these lines by being nice to her ...and it did not
work... "
" thats coz ur approach was wrong!!"
" uhhuh ... so wat does the man suggest .. wat pray tell me is the right
approach????"
" now u r asking???? " the man continued.." well first of all she needs to
know
that you have also been affected by whatever happened and she is not the
only
one who suffered.... you have to let her know that you think about her till
date
and you have not been able to take your life casually anymore.... she
changed
your life armaan by being that someone who made you realise life is not a
game and everyone makes mistakes..... now its your turn... become that
someone in her life who teaches her to live ....again.... without holding
onto
the past... be the armaan you were before you knew her....
make sure she lets out all her emotions and unchains the burden of her
past!!!"
the man walked away before armaan could say or ask him anything and
by the
time armaan realized that the man was about to leave .. it was too late!!!
*******
seeing rids walk out of the restaurant he made it a point to do watever
the
man had said... but somehow he thought maybe one more try to talk to
her
would not be bad.....
# flashback ends#
now he knew that had been a bad idea... so now he had to make sure he
met
her everyday.... he knew it was not an easy task as seeing after what
happened
today she might never wanna come near him again .... the kiss even
though
from the heart was something that he wished he could edit.
he had been wrong as when she kissed him back he felt she had
forgotten and
forgiven but the nxt moment she had pulled away... and to make her feel
that
whatever happened was not wrong he had furtherd what was happening
between them by saying the next few lines... but she had taken it totally
in the
wrong way and something told armaan he wa sup for a good and long
battle ...
one which he had to win as it had his heart at stake!!!!!....
*************
as the morning came and the first rays of the sun hit her face rids got
up….
Hoping that whatever had happened yesterday night was all a
nightmare…but
she knew it was not.
She had stayed awake for quite a lot of time at night but her mind had
refused
to work and she did not come up with anything to teach armaan a lesson
….but now sitting straight on her bed her mind was working overtime ….
Formulating a plan to teach the armaan mallik a lesson in his own
game…. A
plan she thought was the best anyone could come up with….
A plan that would eventually change the course of her life.
*********************
" come on sers .. u have to come…. I mean there will be so many of your
desighner stuff ….. and for heaven's sake you have discount coupons….
So
why don't u wanna go???"
" oh! Sure I'll go but first u r going to tell me why do you want me to go
and
even more weird why do YOU want to come along? …. I mean correct me
if
um wrong but did u not ALWAYS have a problem with my shopping?? "
BUSTED … shit um soo dumb .. how could I forget …. Thought rids … it
had
been over an hour she had been trying to convince sers to come with her
to
this store. Mark had called her early in the morning and asked her to
bring
sers to the store where he planned a surprise for her and was also
planning to
propose to her.
Rids had thought it would all be a piece of cake but she had been wrong
as she
had forgotten one detail that even though sers loved shopping …SHE did
not….
" so u wanna know the truth??" an exasperated and reluctant rids spoke
up
"now v r talking!!!!"
"well its just dat you know yesterday night when v .. I mean when I went
out
…after a long time…ummmm…i…ummm I enjoyed it a lot and …umm I
would
like to do it again…u no just having fun and I feel … I need new stuff so
that I
can go out more often….."
saying all this rids just grabbed sers who had her mouth wide open with
shock
and ran toward the car before sers would change her mind…..
************************
Standing infront of what looked like the biggest women shopping store
he had
ever seen … armaan looked at mark. He had never seen mark so nervous
before. Armaan had always known mark to calm and composed , infact
both
of them were known for their charms which seemed to work wonders for
all
girls. But today he knew that both of them had changed… both of them
would
now he knew always be nervous and fidgety when the ladies in question
would
come towards them … both looking as beautiful as the stars on a dark ,
starry
night. He knew now that their lives would be filled with the brilliance of
the
2most angelic women either of them had ever met!!!!
"dude!! Stop dat…" looking at mark rebuttoning his hand cuffs for what
looked
like the millioneth time armaan lost his calm and shouted at mark for
being so
nervous." You know what sers would not eat you up!!!"
"yeah… easy for you to say… you r not the one whose proposing!!!!! "
"omg!!!!!!!!! What if she says no?????" mark was sweating like a pig by this
time…
"jeez…dude listen to me… last night I saw the way she looks at you and
belive
me she loves you… I can guarantee that k??!!!"
"really u think so armaan .." "yes I do…"replied armaan in an attempt to
pacify
his best friend.
************************
finally reaching the destination rids heaved a sigh of relief ... through out
the
car journey sers had literally eaten up her head. first she refused to be
convinced with the excuse rids was giving.the whole conversation was
taking
an ugly turn and she knew for a fact if she would not have reached
soon.... she
would have had committed a murder. but thankfully they had reached.
and
now she was bracing herself to meet the man who was the cause of the
disastrous life she was meeting.... now would begin phase 1 of her
plan.......
PART 9
"omg!!!!!" thought rids as soon as she spotted mark and armaan… armaan
more specifically."shit .. the black and white combo does wonders for
him.. he is looking so totally like some .. no not some…. The one greek
god….and omg! Why the hell is he looking at me like that???and wats up
with the smile…the cute dimpled smile….nonoonononononnononoo
CONCENTARTE rids concentrate on the plan and not on him…"
"rids why are you gaping at armaan "sers interrupted her train of
thoughts.
"huh?? Who me?? Oh! Puhleeeses….he is sooo not my kind and I was NOT
staring.."
"yeah rite n I am a mummified person standing who has risen from the
dead and now come to you to take revenge….wat say??? So.." and without
giving any time for rids to interrupt continued"wats the deal?? Do u like
him???"
"no way sers .. I ..i.. don not..k?? and please drop this topic for now coz
he is on his way here…"
"not he sweets ..they!!! hehehe….. u are sooooo a gonner hehehe!!!!"
"shut up!!!"hissed a now totally red rids.
"HEY gorgeous " mark said it in his sweetheart's ear while armaan was
busy staring at his angel who he thought looked absolutely serene and
soo elegant in her white skirt which went down to her knees and a black
sleeveless tightly fitted black halter. "ooohhhhh " mumbled an ecstatic
armaan to himself "who wld have thought our choices match so much …
v r wearing the same combination …just opposite ….hmmmm OPPOSITES
DO ATTRACT!!!!"
"uuummmmmm…ok….uh….why is everything so dark in here?? Asked a
nervous sers into rids ear while digging her nails into mark's arm .
SURPRISE" As all 3 of them yelled into sers face rids thought she had
never seen her happier!!
"OMG!!!!what the hell!! " looking around her sers realized that the entire
store had been converted into this huge ball room sort of a thing and
then she saw it…. Right I the middle of the room a chain of 21 ballons ..
each having a single word written on them in red against the black
background.
It read: ARE YOU WILLING TO SPEND YOUR ENTIRE LIFE WITH ME IF I
PROMISE TO LOVE YOU FOR EVER AND EVER ?????
"YES !!! you fool … I will spend the rest of my life wit you even if it means
I have to tolerate the biggest jerk ever!!"
sers gave mark her reply as he came near her and held her hand.
"hey no fair …. " and before he could continue complaining sers cut him
off"coz I love this jerk!!!i love you" and sealing their relationship with a
kiss they both felt happy!!!
"hey rids why have you not eaten anything??" a worried sers asked rids
after being seated for lunch in a restaurant that mark had booked for
them . "oh! Comeon.. sers cant u see she is on a diet…. Have u not seen
she has not even touched the glass of iced tea that she specially ordered
for herself???"
mocked armaan and before an angry rids who had just turned to look at
him while shooting daggers with her eyes could defend herself armaan
continued irritating her even more…" u no wat I think u should not
trouble yourself with her… u both.."he said gesturing to sers and
mark"have a reason to celebrate and don't let anything spoil it…not even
her"he said in an undertone so that only sers could hear . watching her
face twitch from the nose he knew she was trying to control her anger…
he had seen her do the same thing the entire evening that they had been
together…
"u no what?? U r rite… lets go and leave the love birds together " rids said
apolegeticaly to mark and sers while motioning for her and armaan to
move out. Surprised at her gesture armaan silently got up from the table
and gave his hand to rids so as to help her up.. not that the gestsure was
needed.
Taking her hand into his own armaan knew that it was the one he would
never leave!!!!....
While giving him her hand she disguised her nervousness with the
pretense of picking up her purse, talking to sers and mark,pushing away
her plate and other things…but as soon as his fingers touched her she
felt a jolt … she had experienced the same thing when he had taken her
in his arms last night…. And when he held her hand she felt as if his
tight grip was a promise that he would never leave her….
Pushing away such thoughts she got up to face him . "so where do v go?"
she asked once they were out and into the bright daylight."aha I see so its
v now " looking at a confused rids, armaan continued "hmmm and not u
and I huh??? " "ofcourse its us and v and not u and I " replied rids now in
a sugar coated voice which she could see had its impact as armaan looked
ready to fall with his mouth wide open"after all V are in it
TOGETHER…!!!" she continued."HAIN????????? I MEAN KYA???? I MEAN
WHAT??? R Y OKAY????DO U HAVE FVER???? " a shocked armaan asked
while checking her pulse and feeling her neck. he was sure that this time
rids had certainly gone mad.. why was she being soo sweet?? Wats going
on in her head?? As all these questions made their way into armaan's
head he could do nothing but stare at her…
She felt herself getting hot. one of his hand was still on her wrist and the
other one on her neck while his eyes stared at her with an intensity she
could not match . lowering her eyes she tried getting out of his grip but to
no avail. Finally getting tired she simply screamed at him" YOU PIG….
WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?? DON'T YOU KNOW HOW HOW TO USE YOUR
HEAD OR DO U SIMPLY ARE DEVOID OF SUCH A THING..????!!!!!" As
armaan came back into reality he yanked of his hands off her .."um
sorry… I ..ummm"not giving him a chance to complete rids continued "so
do u have some place in mind where v can go to or r u going to simply
going to drop me home??" sayng so rids walked towards the car only to
be stopped by an amused looking armaan . bending close to her he
whispered in her ear letting his lips touch her ear lobe slightly "and what
makes you think I shall drop u home??" stiffening with his touch rids felt
herself trapped.. not wanting to give him the satisfaction of winning she
was about to answer when once agin he continued but this time coming
closer still and letting his lips kiss her ear completely "whatever it is … I
domt care…coz um not gonna let this opportunity to be the knight in
shining armour of this wonderful woman pass me by at any cost" and
pushing away abruptly he opened the passenger door and shoved her
inside as rids at that moment seemed to be stupefied…
He had not planned any of this but he knew if there was any way to get
rids to open up it was this and there was no two way about it..
Pulling in front of the most popular ice cream vendor in their home town
he came out of the car . making his way to the passenger side he opened
the door to dee rids still completely dazed. The perfect dimples that his
face made deepened as he realized that she had been dreaming through
out th e drive thinking about he was sure at that moment of not him not
herself but THEM!!!
"HELLOOOOOO ANY BODY HOME ??????" he screamed into her
ear."aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" as she shouted armaan could not
help but double up with laughter..and now looking at her giving him the
most indignant look ever he tried speaking in between his laughs
"omg!!!..... rids ur face……it seemed as if..as if u just saw a ghost …omg
u were sooo scared!!!!...
"indeed I was "rids answered haughtily and wlked off towards the
entrance to the shop while leaving an a hysterical armaan to himself …
turning halfway slightly agitated with the fact that armaan was still
laughing his head off and had made no attempt to join her..she walked
back to him and keeping a finger on is chest said"coz..u were ight .. I did
c one…"
finally having stopped and recovered his breath armaan looked at the
position rids was standing in and asked curiously" c what??? Rids a
ghost???"looking at his efforts to try and not laugh again she smiled
sweetly and replied"EXACTLY!!!!"
woooa thought armaan she was definitely one smart girl..and a lot of
effort ….. just what he loved…challenges and she was the biggest oe
ever…..
PART 10
"hey bhai …. How are you????? Omg um sooooooooo excited I will be
meeting you exactly after ummm yeah 4 years 1 month 2 days and 3
hours…."
As armaan thought of what his darling sister payal was saying …. He
realized how much he had missed her. Even though 3 years younger to
him she had always known how to cheer up armaan. She acted like the
grown up in their relationship while armaan put up tantrums and like a 5
year old had to be pacified with a treat of his choice. Payal knew
everything about him … when his parents though seldom home had
suddenly decided to take a keen interest in the lives of their children
armaan had simply refused to let them interfere with his life but payal
being the younger one and with her heart of gold gave their parents
another chance.
Armaan had been shattered when he came to know that his little sister
who was with him every single moment would leave for London to
complete her studies there… each day since then had been waiting for
her to come back and take control of his life like before as he was too
tired to do anything on his own any more…
"hello…. U still there??? " not getting any response from armaan for the
past minute which was very unusual ..coz when they chatted it was
impossible to quiten any of them ..they had soo much to tell each other.
Coming out of his thoughts armaan replied to his screaming little sister"
yeah .. yeah kiddo.. um here… just thinking its been time … a long time
since we last saw each other…"
"FIRSTLY DO NOT CALL ME KIDDO.. YOU KNOW I HATE IT!!! AND PLUS IT
DOESN'T EVEN SUIT ME CONSIDERING YOU ARE THE ONE WHO NEEDS A
CHOCOLATE ICE-CREAM AND THE LATEST EDITION OF HOT WHEELS TO
BE PACIFIED….AND SECONDLY…" she continued not giving a laughimg
armaan a chance to protest "FOR HEAVENS SAKE STOP BEING SO SENTI…
DUH WAT IS WRONG WITH YOU ANYWAY..YOU SOUND LIKE THE OLD
NANNY FROM …FROM.. I DON'T KNOW WHEREVER OLD PPL COME FROM!!"
"OK …OK I get it … um just missing u loads k?? come over sooon … so
wen is ur flight reaching???
"bhai…. Um standing infront of the house…SURPRISEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "
"SHIT!! WHAT????? OMG WAIT UP A SEC!! UM GONNA B DWN IN A JIFFY K??
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH……
WHAT THE HELL?? WHO ARE YOU????" a baffled armaan screamed at his
little sister who according to him had grown too much within a short span
of time. Last he remembered she had long black hair , a slim figure, large
brown eyes …..but now well except for the figure everything had
changed. She had been a rebel but standing infront of him now armaan
knew what they meant when they said 'A NEW REBEL WAS BORN
EVERYDAY' .
"JEEZ BHAI… CHILLAX… UM HOME…R U NOT GONNA LET ME COME IN???
"and sensing that armaan may take some ..okay scratch that a lot of time
getting used to the new radical her she simply pushed her way in.
"shit payal….????" Realizing the questioning tone in her brother's voice
she sat down comfortably on her favorite ciuch while motioning for
armaan to sit beside her.
"BHAI …its pam now..n before u say something else um just
experimenting with a new look… and its all temporary .."giggling at the
relief that washed over armaan 's face she could not help but add"except
for the coluor in my hair and the navel ring ofcourse…"watching armaan
once again getting into the angry young man mode she started
laughing…..and iw was an hour of armaan's shouting which finally calmed
her down ..she just could not help it..each time she looked at armaan a
new fit of giggles would make their way…it was a long time after which
they finally sat down to talk … something both needed to do….
Sitting on her study table with her diary lying open to the day's entry rids
tried to make sense of whatever was happening… she rememberd the
day's events.
#FLASHBACK#
armaan had taken her to an ice-cream shop..she loved ice-cream..it was
her fetish. Sitting own on a corner table for two he asked the waiter to
get him a cup of 21 love mixed with chocolate. He said the name of the
ice-cream looking into her eyes sending chills through her. When asked
for her choice she could not help but forget everything else on her
mind..hey it was ice-cream after all. She ordered a tripe sundae with extra
nuts and chocolate syrup.looking at the stunned expression armaan had
on his face she started giggling like a small school child . something told
the credit for the famous expression would be the order. But she could
do nothing about it…she was known for over indulging in sweets.
"whoa!!! U sure can eat!!!"armaan taunted her "I know I can …eat"retorted
back rids."duh…u sure have an iq less than umm lets see a child…I mean
hello but u don't even understand a simple logical question…now now I
guess I have to explain..what I meant was u eat A LOT!! We just hsd lunch
and now u eat a triple sundae!!!!!!!!!!!"
even after listening to all this she did not react but silently dug into her
sundae which had arrived by then .. all this was done purposely to irritate
armaan and test his patience ..after all that was her plan she reasoned get
him to fall for her and what was the oldest trick to do it again..hmm
something you could call grandma's recipe for disaster ..to give the guy
mixed signals and there was…the REVERSE PSHYCOLOGY …IT NEVER
FAILED…..
She knew it had an effect because now armaan was trying all sorts of silly
things like making lame jokes to make her look up from her sundae after
she did not respond to even one of his questions… and one of them she
did remember ..coz actually she could not believe what a child he was..his
comments unknowingly giving his real self away….he had started the joke
by pointing out to a bunch of dogs standing with their owners outside the
shop..and having a table right next to the window they had a clear view.
She had looked from the corner of her eyes to see where he was pointing
.."what did that male dog say to the female dog??"tell me tell me…cumon
ridsie tell me????pleeeeeeeessssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeee" giving in to his
pleas she gave him the answer ..she knew it was the correct one coz she
had heard this one before .."bhaou bhaou….""I have a crush on you"he
whined…and this made her look up…fast…."what????..u have a crush on
me???" "nonononon….dats the answer….how dumb of u how can I have a
crush on YOU??"…"if I m soo bad n sooo not ur level" an angry rids said
while trying to put away the dissapointment she was feeling after hearing
his answer .."fine then I shall leave…."and with out she went of the shop…
"rids listen up..m just kidding..n plus do u want me to say dat I do have a
crush on you??" armaan asked her after ctching up with rids.
Shit…um dead now!!! She had failed in the first part itself….
He held her arm and pulled her closer…look can we b frenz atleast??k
now y is he saying atleast ..does he want to be more …thinking all this
she looked into his eyes …bluest eyes she had ever seen….. lets just talk
k?general stuff??"no armaan I don't think so ….um tired n gotta
go…."with that she had taken off.
# FLASHBACK ENDS#
She put out the lights and went to sleep coz her mind was too worked up
to give her the reply of his question..could they be frends????? A part of
her which she decided she could ignore no longer was screaming out the
answer in negative…as she wanted to be more…more than just frnds!!!
&nb sp;&nb sp;&nb sp;&nb sp;&nb sp;&nb
sp; &n
bsp; PART
11
Armaan was observing how much his sister had changed -the pink short
spiked up hair..actually scratch that he thought it was not pink hair it was
shocking pink… the blue lenses she had picked for her eyes..the logic
given coz she loved armaan's blue eyes and wanted hers to be like his
too!!! What has this woman been thinking…what planet aliens have
abducted my little sister.. this one looks ready to kill..aaaahhhh…mama
… save me….even the dressing sense seemed to have undergone a
change.. she was wearing a short tight tee which was perfect to reveal her
navel ring and the huge tattoo of the skull that was around the navel…a
mini skirt which was toooo mini according to armaan and the cowboy
boots…. ..he was still thinking what could have happened to payal..no
pam …..
"so bhai..tell me wats up with you huh??? Y r u so spaced out???" payal
asked her brother who could not help asking her then "payal… seriously I
want the truth .. whats with your look .. I mean you have never done
anything sooooo radical …what wre you thinking??"
"bhai… look when I was studying .. I made friends who were like I don't
know really…independent and I for one have always considered the
results of my actions…they on the contrary were spontaneous, impulsive..
they knew how to have fun while I was like this controlled freak ..thats
when I decided I would give myself a chance..to live and do whatever that
I wished!!"
"payal .. what r u talking about.. u have been independent here… but .. is
it some boy ??"
the red coloured cheeks of her sister were enough proof for armaan that
indeed there was a special someone in his little sister;s life who had
brought about this change..he wondered who it was.????
"neway bhai..u tell me ne new girl huh???" … "ofcourse not… u no ur bro I
have no time to waste… "even as he said it flashes of riddhima loomed
infront of his eyes..her child like cute expressions, the sparkle in her eye
when she ordered the ice-cream… just everything ..thus obviously it was
very difficult to keep in check the color rising to his face..
"yeah right!!! So tell me who is the lucky one THIS TIME???? " asked an
excited payal to her now totally dreamy and red brother.
"well its tricky payal…coz I don't know I feel for her like I have never felt
for anyone..but she hates me "he added the last part grudgingly. " it so
happens that……" and armaan seeing the questioning look in payal's
eyes continued telling her of his past with her…their past…and how it
was connected .
it had been around 2 hours since they had settled down to talk. Now as
armaan slid down from the couch he was sitting on … he felt relaxed for
the first time since the incident..it had not been easy to bottle up all his
emotions and he had been having quite a lot of difficulty holding them
up.. especially since the last few days. Finally having some one to talk to
about the matter at hand he felt happy.
"hmmmm..i see "payal having heard the whole story was now trying to
drive up to some kind of conclusion…"so u r trying to tell me that she is
giving u the cold shoulder one moment and the next she kisses you…
woa..she sure is confused in life.. bhai could u not choose some one
easier to sort out???"
"PAYAL!!!!!!! YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO B GIVING ME ADVICE NOT MAKE FUN
OF MY CHOICE!!!!! "
he seems serious thought payal and she was sure that she was right as
just calling this rids woman complicated was enough for armaan to give
her a murderous look … I have to do something for this man to realize
that he is in love with this rids woman and make the woman realize it
too???? Omg wat the hell have I gotten myself into???? This is sooo totally
worse than I thought!!!!
Phew that was hard thought rids. She had come out shopping with sers to
buy her start of the term clothes. "gosh u r so lucky!!" an exhausted sers
exclaimed to rids while sitting down next to her in the caf near the mall
they were shopping in. " lucky??? Me??? Why do u say dat???".."well its just
that u don't go to uni I mean u do these corresponding courses so.. I
mean u don't have to shop!!!!!" ..
"oh!! Of course … I mean um so lucky….lucky" even as she said this rids
cursed her fate … she had been dying to go to the uni but the events in
her life had changed the course of her life.
"hey u okay???" peering closely into her frend's face sers could make out
rids was upset but she had no idea y.. it was happening for the first time
that she did not know something about her .. should she ask her?? … her
train of thoughts however by interrupted by a loud noisel..
"OUCH!!!! WILL SOMEONE GET ME A CHAIR HERE????? " as both rids and
sers turned they saw what looked like the contents of an entire covering
her face from the world, held by a girl who apparently could not find a
place to sit.
Grabbing the empty chair on their table rids asked the girl to join them
and helped her to place the bags on the table nearby.
"hey um payal but u can call me pam .. and u r…??"
"hi ridhima n u can call me rids.. this is serena also called sers"
"ridhima????? Coming across that name a lot dese days!!!!"
"huh whatd o you mean??" but before she could answer a tall dark and
handsome boy stepped up to their table.."hey pam come on v gotta rush
na I thought u wanted to go home???"
"nah not nemore I got a place to sit so its k!!" and turning to rids and sers
she continued"n this is my …uh..my very very good friend ..yeah.. raj."
"oh! Hey raj please join us um rids and this my friend sers "
"thnx so umm what do u guys do?".."well um doing interior decorations "
"n um doing electrical engeenering.. "piped in sers."uh huh so which uni
u ppl go to??
" I go to this local college in our town and rids does her courses via
correspondence and wat about u ppl??"
"well we have just transferred here.. we shall begin with our course for
photography!!" informed pam with a slight note of pride in her voice.."
"PHOTOGARAPHY!!!! DATS AWESOME!!! As both sers and rids chorused in
unison , all four of them started laughing.. and it was as if long lost
friends had met up that day..they were no longer strangers!!"
they had been sitting there chatting for the past 3 hours and now as pam
rushed out to get to her home before it was too late she stopped and
turned to rids and sers"look I know this is short notice but I have this
party in my house tomorrow..u know it being the last day before uni
begins and all and I would really like u both to come ..this is my address
and phone no.//plzzz try to make it!!"and with that she left.
"jesus Christ!! Where the hell does this girl disappear off to when I need
her the most?" armaan questioned himself..it had been a good 7 hours
since payal had left in the morning and he was growing fidgety.he had to
talk to her about the party they were having.. there was so much to do for
it!!
He flipped his phone shut for the 50th time after having got a constant
unreachable all times while trying to contact payal.
"hey bhai um home!!!!" as he heard her shout coming from the front door
armaan rushed downstairs"you fool u donkey!! Where the hell have u
…."he stopped short noticing the huge shopping bags in her sisters
hands."umm payal " he contd. Now scared " did u just by any
chance..umm u know empty my entire bank balance???"
"haha very funny !!these r things for the party .. oh! N b4 I forget I invited
these new frends I made today… 2 GIRLS!!! They will come too.. so just be
at your best behaviour will you?? I mean um gonna feel so bad if they
mistake u for a bad mannered gorilla!!!!" and stifling a laugh she walked
to her room while armaan was left there looking as if he could murder her
at the spot and was apparently thinking of a witty comeback….
PART 12
"okay..so everything's done and the guests will be arriving any moment
so y don't u finally go change bhai?" said payal. They had been working
on the arrangements since morning especially armaan as most of the
people coming for the party were his best buds and also because it was
his way of distracting his brain from thinking about rids every waking and
sleeping moment as his heart he could not control in necase.
"yup I'll go and dressed said armaan while moving up the stairs to his
room.
People had started coming before the allotted time as it was ARMAAN
MALIK'S paty something only a fool would miss if invited. But it was
expected by both armaan and payal who were now making conversation
with all their friends .
As armaan spotted payal talking to some guy whom he had never seen he
like any possessive elder brother headed her way.."hey payal..wanna
introduce me??"…"huh?? "a surprised payal turned around to see armaan
standing there with a glass of wine In his hands looking straight at her
'friend'.
"of course bhai..thats raj…raj my bro armaa…"but she could not continue
as armaan had cut her off with another question"who raj??" "bhai….he is
my very very good friend .. I met him in London at the uni…."she trailed
off as she saw armaan giving out his hand to raj as a warm gesture.
Looking away from the scene her eyes landed on two girls standing at the
door and as excitement took over her she rushed past the 2 men toward
the girls..
"HEY!!! RIDS , SERS OMG u guys made it!!!!!!!!!!!!!" a hyper payal was
actually jumping up and down as she led them in. "hey payal.. ummm this
is for u "said rids with a huge smile on her face as she handed over a
bouquet of tulips ..payal's chirpiness was infectious.
"okay I need u to meet my bro..but where is he??" as rids looked around
she noiced how huge their hall was. She was rich…very rich. As she stood
their absorbing the details while sers went on and on about mark and
payal had gone away to find armaan…her eyes landed on
mark…"MARK!!!!!"she cried out.."rids.. I know um saying mark was…"
"nonono.." she cut off sers "mark is here I mean there..look" she said
pointing her hand toward the correct direction.."oohhh mark!! Um just
gonna go tell him um here too k?? I guess he knows the bro..he was telin
me he had to go somewhere but I was busy so could not talk to him
properly..k??" and without waiting for an ans. She went leaving rids alone.
Hmmm so what do I do now?? Rids thought of walkin to the bar and ask
for a coke but she spotted this huge bunch of guys doing tequila
shots..she presumed it was some lame comp. thing ..max. tequila shots
equals winner. I think I should go the lawn .. no one's there .
As she stepped into the lawn she could not help but notice the neatly
trimmed grass and the rows and rows of orchids. She thought it was
beauty personified. She went and sat on the swing letting the cool wind
kiss her face..
"there u r… I have been ooking for u since forever… here meet bhai..n
bhai meet my frend.."
as she turned around it seemed as if the world had turned all topsy-
turvy.there stood infront of her was
&nb sp;&nb sp;&nb sp;&nb sp;&nb sp;&nb
sp;&nb
sp;&nb
sp; &nbs
p; ;
"ARMAAN.."
"something similar had happened to armaan but he for a sec thought he
was perhaps hallucinating but her voice proved to him that it was not a
dream
&nb sp;&nb sp;&nb sp;&nb sp;&nb sp;&nb
sp;&nb
sp;&nb
sp; &nbs
p; ;
"RIDDHIMA"
"ummm…u guys no each other?? How …omg!!!!" payal finally put two n
two together and was startled to see them both in an eyelock. She not
wanting to be a witness to this scene went away from there …to hide
nearby ..afterall she had to see how rids reacted with armaan so that a
proper analysis could be made …
"hey… u know payal?" asked armaan after finally coming out from the
daze.."yeah i..met her while shopping with sers for her college stuff.." "um
sure u must have shopped for urs ages ago.."and looking at the
questioning look in her eyes armaan contd."I don't know but u seem like
a perfectionist..u know someone who is prim n proper n mayb a teacher's
pet"getting a murderous look from her he quickly added"just kidding ..
honey!!"
"honey??"rids asked sounding incredulous" um NOT ur HONEY!!!! And no
um not the teachers pet .. infact I do my courses by corres. I dnt go to
uni."she finished off with her rms folded . "u don't go to college??? But y
rids??"
rids could see that this time armaan had asked her not out of curiosity
but out of genuine concern for her .. his eyes could not lie every time and
unable to hold onto his piercing gaze any longer she looked away from
him only to feel his finger on her chin making her look towards him
again.
"y ridsy.. tell me.. "armaan continued now resting his hands on her waist.
Somehow this time riddhima's heart did not allow her to lie and she spoke
up"armaan … u don't know but things in my past… that day when u did
not trust me… I .. I .. was armaan I was' she trailed off..as armaan began
"ssshhh ridsy.. um sorry.. I shld have trusted u but I can promise u one
thing I will NEVER RIDSY NEVER EVER leave u again..um gonna be there
for u FOREVER!!"as he said those words something triggered off in rids's
heart and she leaned her head on armaan's chest and started sobbing
letting off months of pent up emotions.
As armaan held rids close to him hearing her hearbeat speed up when
she started sobbing he held her tighter gently caressing her hair
consoling her.
A scream from inside interrupted their moment "aaaaaahhhhhhh."
Breaking apart from their hug they looked at each other letting their eyes
do all the talking . it seemed as if a neww bond was formed between
them .. one of trust and faith.
But before they could get any word spoken they were interrupted by all
the people rushing towards the lawn with mark and raj as the leaders. As
they went past the 2 towards the garden table armaan caught hold of
payal and interrogated her about the whole mess"what the hell is going
on payal??" "actually bhai.. these ppl are gonna have this eye locking
competion with their partners and whichever couple goes on the longest
wins the PRIZE!!!"she said motioning toward the rush of ppl. And contd.
"and u KNOW THE prize….. chocolate fudge which shall be spcially
prepared by me and only for that person and no I will not make it for u
later on in the middle of the night" and turning now toward rids she
elaborated"actually rids bhai..here LOVES chocolate fudge and makes me
get up in the middle of the night so that I give up on my beauty sleep and
mix the huge chunks of ice-cream that fill our freezer with chocolate
syrup.."she ended while hurrying on to keep up with the crowd.
"soo FRIENDS???" Armaan asked rids while handing out his hand for her
to shake which rids now gladly took as she was sure that whatever had
happened between them was all a misunderstanding but not thinking for
a minute how armaan knew something happened that night…"yes
armaan..friends.."and noticing his longing gaze toward the comp. table
asked him"u really like ice-cream don't you??" running his hand through
his hair he answered"nah… not ice-cream in general just chocolate
fudge.."he trailed off now watchng mark and sers in an eyelock." So u
wanna go try ??"
"huh? Try what?"
"u no the game..v cld. Give it a shot u know..i mean if u want.." she
trailed off letting her words hand in mid air"DEFINITELY!!!" and saying so
he took her hand and led her towards the table…
sitting infront of each other looking into their eyes they cld. Not think of
anything else but them.. their eyes speking volumes to each other a if
connecting their hearts for ever and ever. After what seemed like only a
few seconds to rids and armaan a loud cheering brought them out of a
land where only the 2 of them existed.
"omg bhai u won!!!!" an enthusiastic payal slapped her bro on the back.
'yeah I know..now my ice-cream.."he said with a childlike pout.
On seeing his expression rids cld. Not help herself from letting out a
giggle and as armaan turned around to face her with the same expression
her laugh increased and she pulled armaan's cheeks"shit u r soo CUTE!!!!"
and armaan's frown finally became a smile and kept deepening as he
realized that he was in love with the most extraordinary woman in the
world…yes he was in LOVE..TRUE LOVE..LOVE THAT HELD NO BOUNDS…..
PART 13
As the morning rays of the sun hit her face rids got up with a huge smile
on her face and remembering yesterday nights events her smile
deepened.she could not believe she had actually forgiven armaan and was
now actually looking forward to their chats and the best part she felt was
that armaan knew at least a part of her past if not the entire thing. Also
another thing which made her look at armaan in a different light was his
non-interfering nature. He had not once asked her about that night infact
on the contrary he made sure that whatever they talked was miles away
from it.
As she tilted her head and saw the clock she nearly had a heart attack , it
was 7:30 and her classes began at 8:00 giving her exactly half an hour to
get dressed before her professor came and started the lessons for the
day. She got dressed and grabbed an apple to eat while waiting for the
teacher.while waiting however her mind could not help thinking of last
nights events yet again ….
After they had won the comp. he had got the 2 cups of chocolate fudge
that payal had made for them to this seclused area in the lawn and
instead of gobbling them up as rids had expected he took atleast a
minute to finish with each bite.. infact rids had finished with hers even
before armaan had reached the half of his. Watcing him eat the ice-
cream so slowly while hardly making any convo. She could not help but
eyeing his cup …"forget it ridsy.. u aint getting even a single bite out of
this " embarrassed on being caught she looked away from the cup and
looked directly into his eyes"I was NOT eyeing the cup… " "yeah .. yeah ..
like I don't know how much u love ice-cream.. for heavens sake u had 2
sundaes.. no triple sundaes immediately after lunch … "
"hey its my tummy… I can eat what I wish to…"rids retorted while
pointing her finger to her stomach. "I know its your tummy mummy" he
rubbed her stomach with his hand over the thin material of her white
shirt . as his cold hands made contact with her warm body she felt a
sudden jolt.. an electric current she thought and for a few seconds she
forgot to breathe and simply savoured his caressing touch on her belly
which seemed to be laying the foundation for fireworks inside her body.
She slapped away his hand as soon as she regained her composure but
had missed out on what he said to her during those few seconds or was it
minutes she mused.." hey that hurts!!" "precisely the reason I did it"
while trying to get the cup out of his hands which by now he was
transferring from hand to hand …."no ridhima.. u r not getting it"he said
in an firmer voice making her stop in her tracks..
"ridhima???? "and gauging from his look that he did not understand what
she meant simply said" anyway.. it's okay.. u can have the cup.."and
looked away.
"hey whats wrong?? U k??"he was surprised by her sudden reaction and
keeping his cup on a nearby slab went upto her..
"ridhima?? "his tone gave away worry for her . when she still did not turn
he held her shoulders gently and turned her around . looking in her eyes
he saw something he had not noticed ever before .. not knowing what was
happening he asked her yet again "ridhima !!!! say something dammit!!"
"I was not ridhima for u .. I thought I was.."
"rids!!!! Omg u r crazy.. absolutely crazy.. u insane woman" he knew
something had disturbed her but thought it was something related to
that night .. never had he thought that the reason would be this and
sighing in relief he pulled her into a hug. "stupid girl.. I freaked out so
bad rite now..n yes u r rids for me k???"
unhugging herself from him she did not know why she said what she did
when she looked into his eyes "I like it when u call me ridsy.. it's more
informal.. every one calls me rids … " "fine that's what I ll call u
always"chuckled armaan while rids contd. "oh and it's okay u can have the
cup …just give me the ice-cream"and she grabbed the cup and ran away
with an amazed armaan trying to catch her. He knew now the look inher
eyes spelt mischief and a lot of innocence even if she had faced a lot of
hardships in life…and this was how they had spent their entire evening
bickering, making up and bickering again.
She had loved every single moment and so when armaan asked her to
lunch with him today she did not refuse but now she thought how he
would make it // she had forgotten he had college..
"I guess he forgot too… maybe we'll just go some other day"she could
not stop the dissapointment she felt surfacing in her voice.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@
he had got her orchids when he was on his way to pick her up from
college..he knew she would love them . now ringing on her door bell for
the 3rd time he felt irritated… WHY THE HELL IS SHE NOT OPENING THE
DOOR … IS SHE OKAY??? DID SHE JUST STAND ME UP??? NO ARMAAN
CALM DOWN MAN … SHE'S A NICE GIRL SHE WONT DO SOMETHING LIKE
THIS!!!
Finally seeing the handle turn he felt relieved..standing in an apron
around her black spaghetti and navy blue long skirt she looked tooooo
cute acc. To armaan. As he gave her one of his famous bear hugs he
asked"Ridsy..what took u soooo long to open the door huh??"
"sctually armaan I thought u won't come today.. I mean u have ur coll n
al…so " now that he actually saw her properly he registered the surprise
on her face ..HMM SHE THINKS I DON'T KEEP PROMISES ??? SHE HAS A
THING COMING UP…. OK WHAT IS SHE LOOKING AT ..SHIT THE ORCHIDS
….
"UMM YEAH .. dese" he said pointing to the bunch in his hand"not for u .."
"ARMAAAAAAAN!!" rids whined as she knew he was troubling her and
snatched away the flowers from him."n no thnx!!"
"r u gonna lemme come in??"rids realizing that they were still at the door
moved aside for him to enter …"by the way I forgot to mention..love ur
garden..can I take some pics??"
" u want to take shots of my garden?".."yeah .. but if u want then.. then..
"he edged closer to her…pinning her to the wall.. he chukled seeing she
had gone red and came close to his ear brushing her earlobe with his lips
"then..then..i .. I can even click ur neighbour's garden..wah wah..kya
garden hai… nazar naa lag jaaye!!"he screamed into her ear and walked
away to the garden.
SHIT Y DOES HE DO THAT TO ME?? DOES THIS STUPID MAN REALISE HOW
GOOD HE SMELLS??? I DOUBT IT !!!! AND WAIT Y .. Y WOULD HE WANT TO
TAKE SHOTS OF MY LAWN.. I KNOW IT'S A BEAUTY BUT STILL.. MAIN BHI
TOH HUN… HAIN?? WAT THE HELL M I THINKING??? N UM HUNGRY…
"Hey armaan!" she followed him into the lawn" so u wanna go out for
lunch or v could have something at home.. I could make something.."
"ok.. lunch at home nd dinner outside k…n um listening to no excuses!!!"
"but armaan sers.."armaan interrupted her and informed her that sers
would go out with mark on a date…
"oh! Fine then… I ll be ready…" … "gr8.. so shall v head back inside coz
um very hungry" ..and linking their arms they went inside to a fun filled
lunch .. it seemed they both had a new past time.. taunting and teasing
each other while at the same time showing concern and love unknowingly
in these small squabblres….
"be ready gorgeous .. I ll pick u up at 7:30 k?"and went off to his car after
seeing rids nod his head in agreement while blushing at the compliment.
she had been doing that the entire afternoon. He was lucky he thought
his imp. classes had gotten over in the morning and the afternoon class
was not imp. So he could easily get out. He had been very excited for this
lunch date and seeing her in that apron..AWWWW SHE IS SOOOOOOOOO
CUTE!! AND I LOVE HER!! HMMM AND NOW FOR THIS DINNER DATE..
SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE IT A SPECIAL NIGHT AND I THINK
I KNOW THE EXACT WAY TO DO SO!!! HEHEHEHEHEHE
RIDDHIMA..NONONO RIDSY MERI PYAARI RIDSY AAGE AAGE DEKHO HOTA
HAI KYA!!!
As she sat infront of her dresser getting ready she thought of the lunch
and she giggled thinking how he had caught her in an apron looking like
some domestic goddess. BUT Y DID HE ASK ME OUT AGAIN? MAY BE HE
LIKES ME? OH!PLZZ RIDS HE KNOWS A PART OF UR HISTORY AND
KNOWING THAT Y WLD HE LIKE ME?? BUT HIS KISS THE ODER NIGHT ..OH!
MAN HOW I WLD LOVE TO FEEL HIS LIPS AGAIN ..WAT? WAIT A SEC
RIDDHIMA GUPTA U R NOT DESPERATE SO FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE DON'T
EVEN SOUND LIKE SOME WIERDO TONIGHT ..YUP THAT'S ME CALM AND
COMPOSED RIDHIMA NO RIDSY FOR HIM… BUT Y M I THINKING ALL THIS??
DO I …NO WAY .. UM GOING CRAZY THAT'S IT ….
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP ……
A car horn jutted her out of her contradictory thoughts and she hurried
out of the house knowing it was armaan and she was eager very eager to
meet him as something told her that tonight's events might lead to a
change in the pattern of her life……
PART 14
As soon as armaan had reached home after having the best lunch of his
entire life payal had bombarded him with around a million thousand
questions and only after being given a detailed description was she
satisfied. "ok. So u r going to dinner with her ..hmm and what exactly
have u planned for the night n don't u lie that u haven't thought of
nething!!!"
"I have fine!!.. but y do I tell u ??" "hmm lets see coz ur neway dumb n I
dnt wnt UR stupid plans to spoil ne LITTLE chance that u have got with
her!!!"even as payal said it she knew it was not the truth .. she had seen
their interaction at the party and later armaan had confided each n every
single detail in her so she was sure that whatever there was between
them it was from both the sides and as far as his plan went , even though
she knew wat a die hard romantic he was .. she still wanted to know to be
on the safe side.
"ok…"armaan started a bit reluctantly.."well I was planning I ll take her
for a movie… u know a horror one "and looking at the confused look on
payal's face he continued"a horror one coz u know.. u girls are such
darpoks.. I mean she ll get scared and hug me tight………..oye oye!!!" as
he finished he was already in lala land and payal had to smack him on the
head for him to come back to planet earth…
"absolutely FAALTU!!! U r trying put moves on her!!!!!" "huh??? Arre I wnt
put my moves… she will.. coz I wont get scared SHE WILL!!!"armaan
whined."u men disgust me!!" payal was livid and to stop her from hitting
him again on the head which armaan feared she would he quicky added
"actually I was thinking about a comedy also.. I mean she ll laugh.. she
hasn't done so u know for a long time " AND PLUS SHE LOOKS DOWN
RIGHT HOT WITH THAT CUTE SMILE PLAYING ON HER LIPS.. HER
LIPS..HMMMM THEY WERE YUMMY JUST LIKE CHOCOLATE FUDGE WITH
EXTARA CHOCOLATE SYRUP..YUM YUM…THEY SHOULD BE IN THE LIST OF
10 MOST DELICIOUS THINGS IN THE WORLD..SHE LL TOP THE LIST ..!!
"worse… okay fine I ll tell u wat u ll do……"and payal went on explaining
her plan.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
he looked at her coming out of the house wearing a black knee length
dress which brought out her curves perfectly and at that moment he had
to agree payal's idea would be better. He came out of his car and went to
the other side just as rids reached him."hey.. ridsy.. u r lookin gorgeous.."
"thnx.."she answered back while lowering her eyes out of shyness.
"so.. shall we??"armaan opened the passenger door and asked her to
settle down.
as he started driving the inevitable question came up"umm.. armaan
where r we going?" he was prepared with his answer"somewhere u will
have lots of fun and where u ll forget all ur worries .. hopefully…"he did
not take his eyes off the road even once while answering coz he knew if
he saw into those green eyes he would drown and this kind of irritated
rids…WAT THE HELL!!!! AM I LOOKING SOO BAD THAT HE IS NOT EVEN
LOOKING AT ME???HEY.. BUT HE JUST COMPLIMENTED ME … THIS GUY I
TELL U IS SOOO CONFUSED ND SO NOT GOOD WTH THE GIRLS… AND
WHATS WITH THE WHOLE TALKING IN RIDDLES ..CAN'T HE SIMPLY TELL
ME WHERE EXACTLY WE ARE GOING… ITS EVEN MORE ANNOYING THAN
FINDING HIM LOOKING TOTALLY IRRESISTIBLE TODAY .. OMG BLUE
SERIOUSLY BRINGS OUT THE COLOUR IN HIS EYES.. AND THE WHOLE KEEP
THE TOP FEW BUTTONS OPEN SO THAT A BIT OF MY CHEST IS REVEALED
AND I GO EVEN MORE MENTAL AFTER JUST ONE LOOK AT IT!!
OOOHHHH!!!!
Her train of thoughts was however interrupted as armaan pulled up
infront of a lake which had a mall narrow path from its side leading to
someplace rids was unaware of .
Armaan opened her door and offered his hand for her to take . "its
beautiful armaan!!" she said taking in her surroundings and as she felt his
gaze on her she looked at him getting lost in those deep blue eyes……
the eyelock would have gone on forever had rids not realized what they
were doing and looked away. As armaan too came back into his senses
he saw rids walking toward the edge of the lake .. he grabbed her wrist
and turned her towards him .."ridsy.. " he said coming closer to
her..:ridsy.. v have to go that way"and saying so he held her towards the
narrow path. As the path came to an end rids could have sworn she had
never seen a more beautiful sight .. there was the entire view of the lake
instead of just a part of it and right there in a corner was this huge ship
which was decorated with ferry lights and looked magnificent…
"U like the ship??" armaan asked her worried she would not like it."no.. I
don't like it…"rids replied and turning her face towards him she
continued"I don't like it armaan…. I LOVE IT!!!! Its just absolutely
mindblowing!!" . on an impulse she hugged armaan tightly.. it seemed as
if to never let go and as he encircled his arms around her waist they both
wanted time to stop. & nbsp;
Satisfied she liked it he led her to the ship. he asked the sailor to start
the ship as they made their way to the upper level . rids saw a table for 2
with a candle right in the middle waiting for them under the stars .
After settling down armaan asked her to select whatever she would like to
eat from the different assortments placed on a table at the corner of the
terrace.
As they setlled with their food rids was surprised to hear music floating
in the air .."armaan wat's that?"he loved the look on her face.. he knew
for a fact that shw was enthralled with the arrangements.."u like this
song??"
"yes.. Its one of my favorites but somehow the voice seems different.. nice
but diff." armaan chuckled at her statement and cleared away all her
doubts.."actually ridsy.. I sung it… n just recorded them…they were for
an audition I gave long time ago for the place of a singer but well the
band was never formed ..so it just has all my favorites in the cd."
"omg!! Armaan u can sing.. I mean u sing wow!!" FORGET WOW!! I HAVN'T
HEARD SUCH A MAGICAL VOICE EVER.. SHIT MAN I HATE U FOR BEING
PERFECT!! N I HATE MYSELF FOR LOVING EVERYTHING U DO.. Y ..Y THE
HELL CANT I NOT BE AFFECTED BY HIM??
"So dance?" armaan got up from his chair and asked for her hand. She
agreed and they went in hand and hand to the dance floor. He made her
place both her hands around his neck and circled the small of her waist
with his own. The song had ended and a new started playing which it
seemed was perfectly fit to their emotions since the day they had first
met specially armaan's who now held her so close to himself that they
could hear each other's heart beats and not even a pin could pass
between them. His grip around was tight yet gentle and rids was loving
every part of it.they started swaying to the new song as it begun….
Kahaan tum khho gaey
When I close my eyes
I can see you all around me
When I close my eyes
there's nothing there
Yeah
When I close my eyes,
I see you all around
It seems so fake to me
coz nothing's there for real
You left my broken heart,
alone out there to bleed
It still hopes that you come back,
will we ever meet
When I close my eyes
I can see you all around me
When I close my eyes
there's nothing there
and you surround me
it hurts me when you say
that I don't care for you
When every time I had,
I always thought of you
You mean so much to me,
without you I can't survive
I want you to know that
I'll love you all my life
When I close my eyes
I can see you all around me
When I close my eyes
there's nothing there
and you surround me
Kahaan tum khho gaey
kahaan tum khho gaey
yeah
When I close my eyes hmmm
I can see you, yeah all around me, oh ooo
When I cloose my eyes there's nothing there
there's nothing there, yeah
(to listen to this song by omer inayat the link is-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuU_J_njnts)
as the song ended both of them stopped still oblivious to their
surroundings and rids could see the passion and love in armaan's eyes
she closed her eyes to savour the moment while amaan's hand went up to
her cheek carrasing it . she could feel him coming closer to her…."uh!..
ridsy I think we are getting late .. v shld head back home.."
"HUH????? OH…fine" she stepped back from him as they made their way
back to the table to collect her purse . "hey um sorry.."WHAT IS WITH
THIS GUY..W HY THE HELL IS HE SAYING SORRY.. N WHY THE HELL DO I
CARE???
"armaan y r u saying sorry?" "coz I shld not have been so rude to u and
asked u to head back home wen the truth is I myself wanna stay here..
with u .."
"oh! Its k.. I mean uh…" ….." actually .. I did not mean to do .. I mean"OH!
SO HE DID NOT WANNA B SO CLOSE TO ME ON THE DANCE FLOOR!!1 IS
THAT WAT HE WANTS TO IMPLY.. OKAY NOW Y DOES THAT HURT ME .. Y
THE HELL UM I CRYING????
"HEY ridsy.. um sooo sorry.. I did not wanna hurt u at all.."SHIT WEN I DO
SOMETHIG SHE STARTS CRYING… NOW WEN I DID NOT DO ANYTHING SHE
STARTS CRYIBG AGAIN!!! WOMAN WHAT THE HELL DO U WANT ME TO
DO????? I WAS NEVER GOOD AT DECISION MAKING ANYWAY….
"U r rite v shld head back home .. "she tried keeping her emotions in
check.."umm okay!!!" and they made their way back to the car in
silence .. each lost in their own thoughts….
PART 14 B
As they silently sat in the car armaan could still not put his finger on to
wat exactly went wrong and looking at the highly was it dissapointment
or hurt expression on rids's face he failed to understand wat he did. As
they neared the car his mind began to work overtime thinking of wat he
cld. do to get her into her cheerful mode again."ridsy… um sorry for
whatever happened ..k?"
As rids looked into his eyes she could tell he was genuinely sorry but she
still cld. not stop herself from wonderng why she felt bad wen he simply
walked off…"so.. I was wndering ridsy.. cld. we like go some place n just
talk.. ?"
"yeah sure.. I wld like that" OKAY THIS IS GOING TO BE WEIRD.. WAT IF HE
ASKS ME Y I FELT BAD ..OH! MAN UM SUCH a GONNER!!!"
they sat in silence through out the car ride and wen armaan could not
take it nemore he on an impulse stopped the car ….
She sat stunned … her legs refusing to move as she registered her
surroundings… they were at the beach…
Armaan sensed wat she was going through and made her get out of the
car. He cld. see the terror in her eyes and he felt the pain with her. Seeing
the tears run down her cheek he simply hugged her. She pulled away."y
have u got me here? " "ridsy.. we I mean u n I .. well it was here that we
first met n I just wanted to clear out all doubts u have right here.. I know
its painful for u but I want u to overcome that fear .. I want u to live ur
life"
"NO!!! ARMAAN U SPEAK OF THINGS U KNOW NOTHING ABOUT"she had
started screaming as images from the past filled her mind."ARMAAN!! U
DON'T KNOW ANYTHING OF MY PAST.. I WAS… I"
He shook her by the shoulders "RIDS!! I know.. k ? know everything!!"
"no u dnt armaan u just know that some hooligans were following me …
but its not the complete truth".."look rids calm down" he tried soothing
her down as he felt her going into a state of shock and looking at her in
this condition he had tears in his eyes. He hugged her again and this time
even as she struggled to break free he held on to her making his grasp
tighter."I know ridsy… I was the one who took u to the hospital that
day…"
she felt as if her world came crashimg down at her feet. He knew.. he
knew .. all along that I was raped.. and he was the one .. the one I was
longing to meet .. the one who I knew would help .. the one I loved!!!
Armaan continued"that day while walking back I heard this noise and wen
I to the spot I saw u dere .. n I took u to the hospital den .. I wanted to
wait rids.. I really did.. but when the docs told me they wld have to call
the cops I got scared riddhima … I did not know how to be around
them… so I went back"he cupped her face lovingly with his hands"but
believe me riddhima I did not once forget u in all these months ..i was
guilty and the guilt kept eating me from inside and wen I met u that day
with sers in the restaurant I felt as if GOD had given me a second chance
to apologize to you.. "
Riddhima looked up and found honesty there and this time she did not
know what she was doing ut followed her instincts and heart..
"armaan thank-you!!!!..for saving me that day.. if u wld. Not have taken
me to the hospital.."she shuddered thinking wat wld. Have happened.
"rids.. u don't need to be thankful to me .. I need to be sorry .. I shld.
Have belived you..um sorry rids.. plz forgive me.. plzzzz' he broke down
and slid to his knees while a stunned rids was finally letting out all her
bottled emotions with the very person shewanted to do so with……
she sat down next to him and hugged him… as they both sat hugging
each other and crying out their hearts the waves and the moonlight stood
still witnessing a new start to their relationship….
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@
as the morning rays hit his face armaan woke up and taking in his
surroundings his face broke into a huge grin which deepened on seeing
rids lying next to him with her head on his chest, his arms around her
stomach holding her close and their legs entangled.. a perfectly natural
position for lovers to sleep inhe felt.WOW!! I CAN'T BELIVE I FINALLY
APOLOGISED TO HER AND SHE FORGAVE ME!! JEEZ.. UM LUCKY!!!!! GOD,
SHE LOOKS LIKE SLEEPING BEAUTY RIGHT NOW.. AND HOW I WISH I
COULD BE HER PRINCE CHARMING.. HEY SHE'S SLEEPING MAYBE A SLIGHT
PECK ON HER CHEEK WON'T MAKE A DIFFERENCE..OFCOURSE IT WONT..
AFTER ALL I LOVE HER!! OMG!!1 DID I JUST SAY THAT I LOVE HER???? LOVE
?? I LOVE HER?? I LOVE HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Lve u sweetheart.."he whispered slowly and bent down and gave a peck
on her nose and cheeks. HEY BHAGGU!!! ISKE TOH GAAL BHI KITNE
YUMMY HAI.. HAI!!!!
He felt her stirring and immediately pretended to be sleeping.
WHERE THE HELL AM I??? she wondered as she opened her eyes. OMG!! I
CANT BELIVE HE IS THE OE I LOVED ALL ALONG!! WELL FINE I NEVER
REALLY LOVED HIM LIKE LOVED WITH ALL MY HEART BUT I DID LOVE
HIM..UUUGHGH UM NOT EVEN MKING ANY SENSE..N JESUS CHRIST LOOK
AT HOW WE WERE SLEEPING TOGETHER…she blushed as the thought
crossed her mind.SLEEPING TOGETHER AND HE LOOKS SOOO CUTE
..AWWWW!!! HE'S SLEEPING LIKE A LITTLE BABY!! AND I LOVE BABIES.she
impulsively bent down and kissed him softly on his cheek and gently
ruffled his hair.
"armaan !! wake up.."she probed him and as he opened his eyes she
lowered hers out of shyness . "armaan.. ..".. not wanting the moment to
pass by armaan just held her tighter and smiled on hearing her gasp ever
so lightly "yeah.. wat is it ridsy??" .."ummm I think we shld leave … its 7
already"she checked the time on her watch but armaan was not ready to
let go of her…."ok .. so u get up first"HEHEHE NOW WHAT WILL YOU DO??
UM SO NOT GOING TO LET U GET UP ..NOT YET ANYWAY… PLUS I LIKE TO
FEEL U CLOSE TO ME …. AND GOSH U SMELL AMAZING.....OYE HOYE!!!!!
"armaan plzzzz I m really getting late …. "he saw something in her eyes
at that moment ..he was not sure what it was… he realized he would have
to work on those eyes..which if he was not mistaken showed fear…. He
understood she was not ready completely for any sort of relationship
even though he knew for a fact now after last night that she too felt
something for him…"Fine fine!! Ridsy.. u win!! Um just kidding…" he got
up and helped her up too.
"so lets head bach home.. I ll drop u k?".."uhuh!! fine lets go…" SITTING
IN THE CAR SHE FINAALY HAD TIME TO ANNALYSE HER THOUGHTS rids
was glad he had not taken any advantage of her vulnerable position .. she
now respected him even more . HE IS JUST THE PERFECT MAN!!! HE IS
CARING, AFFECTIONATE, I KNOW THROUGH HIS ACTIONS NOW.. SO IT IS
SAFE TO SAY ROMANTIC…AND I FEEL SOOO ATTRACTED TO HIM.. AND
OH! MAN THE COINCIDENCE HE SAVED ME … HE WAS THE ONE!! I LOST
MY HEART TO HIM SUCH A LONG TIME AGO BUT THAT TIME I JUST LOVED
SOME GUY WHO SAVED ME AND I KNEW IT WAS NEVER LOVE LOVE.. BUT
NOW WITH HIM..GOSH I FEEL IT SO STRONGLY …HAVE I REALLY FALLEN
FOR HIM?? NO RIDS.. U CANT.. U HAVE TO 100% SURE U CNT GET HURT
AGAIN..BUT HE DOESNY SEEM LIKE THE TYPE WHO'LL HURT ME … OR
NEONE..HE IS SOOO NICE!!!!!!
"Here u go madam… ur home "rids looked up to see armaan holding
open the passener door of his car for her."thnx again armaan.. I don't
know how to … ".."hey its k!! v r frends n I don't think u thank or
apologise to ur close frends ..n the same rule applies here as well..
alright!!"he put out his hand for a handshake"FRIENDS??" .."armaan v
already r frennds.."
"I know we are but from today v r gonna be best frends.. who have no
secrets between them k??.. so frends??" this time aking his hand in hers
she replied positively as ears of joy formed in her eyes..FINALLY A FREND
WHO KNOWS EVERYTHING… WHERE I DON'T HAVE TO PRETEND!!!
Rids decided then and there as armaan wiped off the little tears that had
formed that no matter wat happened she would never lose this frend
never!!!!
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
"rids??? Where the hell were u .. shit I was so worried..!!" sers screamed
into the phone . rids had called her to inform her that she was back home
and also to ask her how her date went ..I WONDER WAS HER DATE WITH
MARK AS GOOD AS MINE WITH ARMAAN.. THE SHIP..THE CANDLE LIGHT
DINNER ..EVERYTHING JUST EVERYTHING HAD BEEN PERFECT FOR ME LAST
NIGHT!!!"oho..sers..me n armaan were talking and did not realize the time
..k? so chill..n now tell me how was ur date??".."oh! rids.. it wa sgr8888.
We had candle light dinner..and ooohh!!!1 it was brilliant! . WHAT IS WITH
MEN AND CANDLE LIGHTS???? OR ACTUALLY I THINK ITS US WOMEN.. WE
LOVE THE AURA… HMMM.. MUST ASK Y ARMAAN THOUGHT OF A CANDLE
LIGHT??CAN I ASK HIM THAT?? OF COURSE I CAN HE IS MY FREND NOW…
AND WE HAVE NO SECRETS…NO SECRETS…..
PART 15
"NO… armaan am soo not agreeing to u.." rids shook her head negatively
while trying to get some sense into armaan's head over the
phone."cumon ridsy..yaar.. I seriously don't understand wat the problem
is ?? I discussed it with u last night and u did see sum sense then u r back
to square one..AGAIN???" armaan was getting irritated now and rids cld.
feel the edge in his voice. After talking to each other every single day for
around an hour in the min. and meeting each other at the first
opportunity they got , both of them understood each other like never and
no one before. UUGHH!! Y DOES THIS MAN NEVER SEE SOME ONE ELSE'S
POINT OF VIEW.. EVER?? I HAVE NOT BEEN TO COLL FOR THE PAST SO
MANY MONTHS AND NOW AGAIN .. NO WAY AND PLUS THE WHOLE
JOINING IN THE 2ND YEAR WILL RASE SO MANY QUES. .. I CANT ANSWER
THEM!!!
As if sensing her thoughts over the phone he sais quietly"ridsy .. hun.. u
don't have to answer anybody anything..no one has any right to ask u
anything and if they do.. they have to answer me first"
"its not that easy.. I need to think about it.. I need time armaan.. but I
promise I ll think about it…k? and now we won't talk about it
anymore..".."okay … we won't.. but I m seriously glad u r going to think …
waise I knew u wonul ultimately give up..after all how can u give up on an
opportunity of spending some more time with me .. we will be in the
same campus if not the same classes… "OYE HOYE!!! HUM DONO EK
CAMPUS MEIN BAND HO AUR SAB CHALE JJAYE…. HEHEHE… AM
TOOOOOO GOOD.. OH!SHIT WAT WAS THAT? PAYAL??? WAT IS SHE
DOING.. JESUS CHRIST! WATS WID THE NOISE.. I BETTER CHECK.."ridsy.. I ll
talk to u later I gotta go check on payal k? bye,take care…n see
ya!"…"keeping the phone down ridsy could not help counting her lucky
stars that she got such an amazing friend or was he more?
Meanwhile at armaan's house he was busy counting all the bad deeds he
must have done in his previous life that his sweet sister had gone
mental!!he had rushed into payal's room on hearing noises only to find
her swinging a sword over her head like some madwoman.. actually a
karate chop whatever that was chmpion agter he heard the explanation
she had to give."bhai..look I can ssswwwiiiiiiiiinng…hhhhheheeeeeeee..i
love it. My trainer asked me to practice so … GET OUT OF THE WAY U
DONKEY!! OR I LL HIT U WITH IT N LIKE THESE WALL HANGINGS U LL ALSO
BREAK .."…"payal..look sweety meri pyaari behna. Will u let me know y
exactly r u taking sword swinging classes??".."DUFFER!! karate chopping…
hhaaiieeya!!!" MAMA!!! WAT IS WRONG WID HER..?? NONOONO THAT'S MY
HEAD WOMAN!NOT A PLATE! AAAHH HELP… SOMOENE CALL 911 U FOOL
..
"PAYAL!!!enough…sit down " he shouted at payal who never having heard
armaan speak to her in that tone immediately obliged. Sitting down on
the couch payal finally realized that her brother was kind off out of sync..
he had something on his mind what she did not understand."is something
bothering u bhai? Whch reminds me u did not tell me wat happened with
riddhima that night on the date.. I mean u did tell me u guys had fun but
the details are still missing.." "I know .. but no details to tell just get the
gist of it. We are friends … for now!!" 'friends?? Is that all u wanna b with
her? U love her bhai..n I think it's high time u ask her" "no .. I cant I know
I love her but she needs time I think to realize correctly wat she feels.. I
think she's confused . plus I need her to join college so that she can get
her life back on track in every way. She said she'll tell me tonight over
dinner..yea.. I 4got to tell u I asked her for dinner n u have to be here k?..
" "oh! But y do I have to stay ? I mean won't u rather spend time alone? I
know coz I love spending time alone with….""WAT???? WHO R U TALKING
ABOUT PAYAL? R U DATING SOMEONE? R U ..HUH?R U ROMANTIC WITH
SOMEONE?" "Ummmm hehe bhai common..me involved wid some
one..hehe..uh .umm no bhai umm not at all just kdding around with
you…I gotta go k?so ill talk to u later" with that she rushd out of the
room b4 armaan cld put in another word of protest.
PAYAL IN LOVE?? ALIEN ON EARTH IS MORE LIKE IT!!! WHOZ D GUY
THOUGH? RAJ?? BUTHE WAS A VERY VERY GOOD FRIEND NOT BOYFRIEND!!
I HAVE TO FIGUR ETHIS OUT BUT HOW???? HMMMM KUCH TO KARNA
PAREGA!!!
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
that evening when rids came to his home for dinner she was more than
surprised to see payal open the door for her instead of armaan."hey
..payal..hi..long time did not see you in a while.. busy with studies?"
"huh?no actually…just studies!!" WAT?? OK..WAT IS WRONG WITH THIS
GIRL? I ASK IF SHE IS BUSY WID STUDIES N SHE ANSWERS NO SHE IS BUSY
WID STUDIES..HAIN?? IT DOES NOT MAKE NE SENSE…WHERE IS SHE LOST?
AND WHERE IS ARMAAN?? "rids bhai ws telling me u were gonna think
about coming back to uni n all.. so have u decided nething about it?"
"actually pam.. I ..i think will come back u know ur brother for a change
does make sense.. so yes I will..but don't tell armaan yet .. I wanna give
him a surprise k?" getting up payal gave rids a big hug conveying to her
that she was actually very happy about her decision of coming back to
the uni. As they parted from their hug armaan came running into the hall
all out of breath GOD!! I AM NEWAY ALL OUT OF OXYGEN FROM ALL THIS
RUNNING AROUND FOR THE PERFECT GIFT TO GIVE RIDSY AS HER
RETURN TO UNI PRESENT AFTER ALL SHE WILL SAY YES I KNOW THAT BUT
Y THE HELL DOES SHE HAVE TO LOOK O GOOD EVEN IN THIS SIMPLE
OKAY CUT THAT VERY SEXY BLACK OH MAN I MUST BE DREAMING SHORT
SKIRT???!!!! WOW!!! I THINK AM GONNA HAVE AN ASTHMA ATTACK!!!!!
SOMEONE CALL THE AMULANCE… ARMAAN MALIK CALM DOWN!!!! RELAX
DUDE.. BREATHE IN . BREATHE OUT…PHEW!!
"hey ridsy"he hugged her taking in the smell of her shampoo as her hair
made their way onto his face."hey armaan.." GOD HE SMELLS SO NICE.. I
REALLY NEED TO ASK WHICH SCENT HE USES… MUST RECOMMMEND IT
TO SERS FOR MARK..WAIT A SEC!!! HOW CAN I DO THAT?? THIS IS HIS
SMELL.. I CANT LET MARK SMELL THE SAME!! POOR SERS SHE HAS NO
IDEA WAT SHE IS MISSING..HEHE.. WENEVR I HUG MARK HE REMINDS OF
SOME CHIMP..HEHE.."hey armaan sup?u look bummed out! Ne probs?"
"nah…tell me have u decided nething about the uni?"looking at his face
she cld not help but tell him the truth ..he looked so expectant that rids
did not have the heart to break his heart"yes armaan..i have n I ll be
coming to the uni.. infact already got the paper work done today
afternoon…""WHAT???? IT'S DONE!!u coming..k so tom. Morning um
comin to pick u up.k?" "armaan wats wrong?" even as he showed his
happiness jumping around the room and taing her along as he did so she
was not satisfie..there was something missing and as pam had left them
to cook something for the 2 wen he came she seized this moment to ask
him wat was troubling him.
Lookin into her eyes he realized he cld not lie and that he wld have to tell
the truth "rids I think ..actually..the problem is that I think .payal..she I
guess is romantic with someone…." Hearing her laugh out he raised his
head to see her sliding down on the floor next to him . taking his hhand
into hers she squeezed it gently and finally after her laughter eneded she
gently spoke to him"armaan she is a big girl now..i know you conside her
a kid but the fact remains she has grown up and I think if she is seeing
someone it's nothing wrong." 'I know..but that's not it .. the thing is I
don't even kow who she likes!! U know I tell her everything.. big or small
n here she does not tell me ids!!" "mayb coz she knew u wld react in
exactly the way u did!!y don't u talk to her?i think It ll help…both of u" "I
tried but she just escapes the whole thing some way or the other …I just
wish I knew who he was' "hmmm mayb I can help…" "u ?? how??" "that's
none of ur business… u want answers n ill get them for u k? happy now?"
"yea.. happy.. but I still don't get it how wll u do that?" "armaan leave
that to me.. jut trust me …""I do …. "and squeezing her hand back hwile
interlocking their fingers he whispered right next to her earlobe his lips
lingering on for a few xtra seconds"u r the best .. n dats y …I LOVE
YOU!!!!"
PART 16
" WHAT??" she turned around abruptly to face hm , armaan's words still
ringing in her ears like a melodious song which she felt she cld hear
through out her life STUPID MAN!! WHY IS HE AFFECTING ME LIKE THIS??
N Y DID I LIKE IT WHEN HE SAID THAT HE LOVES ME?? WAT THE HELL!! Y
IS HE STARING AT ME ..GULP.. LIKE THIS?? OH GOD PLZZ HELP ME!! UH…
Y DO I FEEL HE WANTS ME TO ANSWER.. SHIT!! HE SO DOES!! N NOW HE IS
SNAPPING HIS FINGERS IN FRONT OF ME.. PROBABLY TO WAKE ME UP
FROM MY DREAM.. CRAP!! AM DREAMING !?!?!?!?!
"hehehehe.. armi.. ur sooo funny "she tried tackling the situation in some
other way than the obvious "u love ME??... seriously u really had to crack
this one did u not?" she got up and turned her back towards him.
"I am not joking ridsy.. I love you.. I really do!" he went and stood infront
of her. She lowered her eyes unable to stand his gaze any longer and not
being able to laugh on the matter ne more either." Ridsy look at me"
"no armaan of course u don't love me.. u r just mistaken"
"I said look at me ridsy" his voice was gentle yet firm. He took hold of her
trembling hands and kissed them. Finally raising her eyes she looked into
his deep eyes filled with love that held no bounds and instantly got
captured into them.
Armaan understood very well the impact he was having on her and also of
the battle of emotions raging inside her at that moment.. but somehow
he felt the moment was right fo rhte confession to take place. WHAT
YAAR!!! THIS GIRL SO TOTALLY LOVES ME THEN Y DOES SHE NOT SIMPLY
SAY IT!!!!????? HAVE V NOT BEEN FRENDS FOR ENOUGH TIME ALREADY.. I
THINK V HAVE AND THIS CRAZY WOMAN I HAVE FALLEN CRAZILY FOR IS
CRAZY NOT TO SAY NETHING…UGHHHH CRAZY WORLD WITH CRAZY PPL!!
UFF!!
A;oud he said" ridsy.. I am deeply in love with you n .. I know u feel the
same.." she looked back at him with utter shock written all over her
faceHOW DID HE KNOW THAT I FEEL 4 HIM!?!?!? AM I THAT OBVIOUS???
NO WONDER MY SCHOOL CRUSHES WLD START AVOIDING ME!!! SOB SOB!!
RIDDHIMA WAT R U THINKING?? THI GUY LOOKS LIKE HE WANTS AN ANS.
OH OH..
"armaan .. I wont lie that I don't feel nething for u but I really don't know
if it's …love…I mean I like u .. a lot .. n I know this likeness is more than
friendy likin.. but love..i don't know armaan"
still holding her hands In his he gently squeezed them and removed one
hand only to plce it on her cheek . caressing it he said "ridsy u really don't
know?!?!... come on rids whom r u kidding?? I know u feel as strongly as I
feel about u so then y all this??"
"armi I love u .. as a best friend and even more perhaps..but I wanna b
sure b4 I commit myself to nething as serious as this…plzzz armaan give
me a little time…"
"given rids .. I give u my entire life to decide.. but I am sorry that…" he
saw rids getting tensed about his upcoming sentence. He cld almost
sense the bad thoughts going through her mind .
riddhima placed her hand on his which was still on her cheek he
continued "I am sorry ridsy sweetheart.. but I really cannot be just a frend
with u and I ope u don't expect me to do so"
"no armi I don't.. coz that wld kill me.. I like u more than a frend.. am
sure.. but love.. mayb.. as I said I just wanna b sure." Nodding his head in
understanding he bent and kissed her cheek which had a small tear
running down from her eye . sucking the tear he went towards her ear
and spoke in a husky voice which electrified rids till the core"never ever
do I wanna see these precious crystals coming out from this beautiful
ocean of expressions, warmth and love k?" he kissed her eyes one at a
time.
"ahem ahem" they bith turned around abruptly and immediately moving
away from each other to see who was the person who interrupted their
moment .. it was pam.
"I know it took me half an hour to get this stupid dish ready I know.. but I
still cant perfect it and so I think am gonna go get it from the restaurant
.. so I ll leave k?"
"sure kiddo .. go on" armaan said." Just don't be too late k?"
"I wont .. bye' giving a quick peck on his cheek pam left the house.
"sooo wanna watch a movie…?" armi turned to rids and asked her.
"sure.. wld love to!"
"which one?"
"ne…ummm my fav is kate and Leopold… but I don't think u ll have it.."
"u forget hun… I am the proud brother of a die hard romantic.. n though
am not much into it I do buy some of these movies for payal.. so u r in
luck .. I have the one u want."
'armi.. it's k.. v can watch some comedy.. if u don't wanna watch this?'
"nah…nething for my princess" he pinched her cheeks lovingly and went
to set the movie.
It had been an hour since the movie started and riddhima was by now
completely involved in it. She was infact too caught up that she did not
even notice armaan slowly making his way towards the couch on which
she sat, though he was sittibg on the sofa right nxt to her. A slight
movement right nxt to her made riddhima aware of armaan's doing. She
turned her head to face him only to find him staring right at her and
sitting so close that she cld sense his breath falling on her face. The
proximity of their closeness made her shudder and close her eyes. she
felt a warmth spreading throughout her body specifically her belly. She
closed her eyes and tried to control her self. She tried speaking but her
voice came out dry and barely above a whisper..
"armaaaan..plzzz"her breathing had become shallow and slow.
"ridsy… what hun?" he was awre of the effect he was having on her , he
took her hand and locked their fingers together.
"plzz.. can u umm.. leave my hand.."
"nah… I think this is the perfect way to watch a romantic movie with ur
loved one..no?"he skirted even closer.
"armaan.. u r missing the best part" she had not known what was going
on in the movi so she ws quite amused to see armaan smirking , mischief
evident in his eyes.
"u think this is the best part huh?.. never knew u then did i?"
turning around to watch the movie she blushed beet root red and looked
down to avoid his ever lingering gaze on her.. the 2 main characters were
in a lip lock…
" I mean they finally meet n all.. so that's y I like it"
"I never said otherwise..did u think I was mentioning the kiss did u?'
'huh? no ..no I did not!" she still did not look up.
"I love you.." armaan kissed her cheek. She blushed and looked up ready
to to tell him not to say so when he interrupted and continued "I love u
soooooo much n there is no way am I gonna stop sayin so…. And it will
take much more than ur don't statemet..i know u r not sure that u love
me or not but I m sure for the both of us… u need time fine.. but I will
keep showering my love on u n nothing u do or say will stop me coz I
know I love u n u love me too…n whatever am doing is not wrong!!"
she saw his eyes filled with love and passion and she knew at that
moment he was right.
Getting the silent yes from her armaan held her from the waist and made
her put her head on his chest. Settling back finaaly he felt at peace after
such a long time… a long long time he mused. He kissed her head and
snuggled closer to enjoy the remaining of the movie.
"armaan when will payal be back?" rids asked , not changing her position
even a bit.
"I don't know… shld b here soon.."
"I ll go get some coke frm hthe kitchen k?" she got up to go only to be
hugged by armaan again from the back. His chin resting on her shoulder.
"nah..it , I ll go get it.. u wait n relax" saying so he moved towards the
kitchen whistling a tune to himself.
"hmmm..now where is the coke?" he was peering into the fridge to find
some but cld not find any.
He looked inside the freezer when a plate kept on the shelf caught his
attention .. it was covered and went to look , hoping to find something to
eat coz he was truly starving by now. He lifted the lid to find steaming hot
risotto inside it, made like the way he wanted.
It him hard when he realized payal had gone out to buy a dish …. The
same dish.. which she cld not perfect.
PART 17
"WAT THE HELL??!?!?" armaan's scream brought rids running to the
kitchen totallu ot of breath."wats wrong armaan y did u shout?" she
went fwd and placed her hand on his shoulder"ridsy didn't payal say
she went to take food coz she cld not make risotto properly?"he turned
towards her fear and hurt that his little sister had lied to him clearly written
on his face."armi I think she did say that she went out to take food
but she I don't think mentioned risotto.. I mean maybe she
was talking of sum oder dish .. so calm down"
"no ridy I know it.. she has sneaked off some place without telling me
and and I remember clearly her telling me this morning that she wld
make risotto for us coz I love it wen I told her u coming over for dinner
and I said k coz I know u like it too. "
"look maybes she went out to buy something for herself.. I don't know
armi I just don't get y u makng such a big deal out of this issue?"
"SMALL ISSUE???." Anger evident in his eyes he
continued" MY SISTER WHO HA SNEVER LIED TO ME EVER SNEAKING
OUT BEHIND MY BACK.. N U SAY IT'S A SMALL ISSUE?? WATS
WRONG WITH U RIDDHIMA?" riddhima winced as she heard his tone
and her full name but matching his tone she ranswered back"YEAH WELL
SO U SHLD KNOW BETTER DAN TO MISTRUST UR SISTER WHO
HAS AS U SAY NEVER LIED TO U EVER B4. .. I FACT I THINK
SHE WENT OUT PROBABLY AFETR SEEING US TOGETHER.. MAYB
SHE THOUGHT WE WANTED TO BE ALONE!!!!!"
her words caught armaan off guard. He had not thought of it in that
angle. SURE SHE HAD SEEN THEM MAYBE.. IN THAT POSE
, AND SHE LEFT THEM TO BE ALONE BUT Y DID I FEEL SHE
WAS TELLING THE TRUTH.. NO ARMAAN U TRUST PAYAL
N NOTHING'S WRONG.. SHE DID NOT LIE U R OVER ANNALYSING THINGS..
his train of thoughts was put to rest by
riddhima's voice " y don't we wait till she comes back coz I just tred her
phone and it says unreachable"
"yeah mayb I will… n am sorry to burst out on u .." he cupped he
r face with his hands " I just am really possessive about her and am sorry ."
"armi I understand but u have to understand that pam has grown
up.. she has her own life and u will and can not be with her forever.
Stop being so over protective about her. "
"I know… lets go watch the remaining movie k?
I don't wanna talk about this anymore"nodding her head
riddhima followed him out of the kitchen.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
"pam hun wat took u so long " a broad chested man with
brown eyes had pinned payal to the wall of a dark and
narrow alley and had snuggled his head in curve of her
neck. Feeling him nuzzling her neck she let out a small moan
and answered him" we had guests over at home."
"ok.. well did u bring the money?" he moved back and looked
at her still having his arms around her waist.
"hmm.. but I dnt think I ll be able to continue doin this .. u
better start lookin for a job.. coz if bro finds out he really will freak out!"
"I know, but where is the money? " he stood further away his eyes
showing suspicion.. he was not yet convinced she had brought the money.
"it's in the car. And have u spoken to alima ur leader?"she asked him
hoping to get a positive answer.
"about wat?" he went back closer to her and once again nuzzled her
neck and was now slowly making his way dwnward.
"wat do u mean.. abt wat? Of course abt u leaving him coz
he is not giving u ne money for whatever wrk u do 4 him. " not getting
a response frm him she realized he had not even heard her… he was too busy
getting physical with her. She had noticed this had become the scenario most of the
days now and she felt weird but somehow she cld never protest against his passionate
kisses and plus she mused he never crossed his limits.
"hun I think u shld head back home .. armaan must be waiting for u " she was
surprised at his sudden reaction. He had left her the minute she
completely melted and had started craving for more. "huh? Yea… I shld .. I guess.'
With that she left for her her car with him beside her. With the
bag filled with currency notes he felt a satisfaction and smirked at
pam's innocence … his boss had been right she truly had been
the softest and easiest target for them to reach that some one bigger.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
as the movie was about to end riddhima looked at armaan
siting right nxt to her .. only physically she cld not help
thinking bcoz looking at his face she knw for a fact he
was miles away. She nudged him gently."armaan u still thinking of pam?"
"I m tryin not to.. but I wnt feel at rest till the time I dnt see her..
I mean it's been almost an hr since she has been gone." He turned
his face towards her , worry showing clearly in his eyes.
on an impulse to ease him out riddhima gently placed her hand over
his and leaned to kiss him on his cheek."don't worry honey.. she will be back soon"
armaan was completely taken aback by her sudden gesture but realized
it was to make him feel better once she started moving her hand up
and dwn his back in an attempt to calm him.
Finally pushing all his negative thoughts behind he hugged her tight
so as to let her know that he was thankful that she had stayed with
him and supported him.
"thnx a ton ridsy.. I really wld not have been ok if u wld not have
been her e with me.."still in the hug he mumbled.
"hey it's k .. n plus u dnt need to thnk me for this.. we r frends " at this
he moved back their arms stilla round each other and spoke
up finally coming back to his mischief "just frends?"
she blushed and was also relieved that he had at last stopped
worrying. As she was abt to answer they heard payal's car
pull up in the drive way and both jumped to get the door
as the bell rung through the house.
"WHERE HAVE U BEEN PAYAL?" pam gulped she cld see the anger
in armaan's eyes and most of all it was the first he had
called her payal .. he always called her kiddo… and he
had never shouted at her this bad.
"bhai I told I went to take food.." she cld not meet his eye..
she never cld wen she lied and lately she was doin that a lot.
"wat food? N it took u an hr?" armaan softened his voice seeing
the look of terror on his sister'sface. He loved her
too much to ever scold he r for anything but today something told
him all was not right and there was definitely more to payal's story
which she was not admitting to.
"jeez bhai , I went to take chineese and there was this big line so
I got late.. n y r u asking me all this?"payal regained her
composure as hse heard armaan's voce go down.
She stried throwing im off the track.
"payal?" that was enough for pam to know her brother
was not buying all this .. he was not going to let her off the
hook so easily.. and she knew then that he was suspicious of her where abouts.
"bhai!!!" she matched his tone and went to the kitchen .
she cld not stand under his searching eyes any longer.
It suffocated her to be guilty.
Deciding to diffuse the tension riddhima went fwd and spoke to
armaan once pam had gone with the food.
"look armi u wanted me to talk to her right?
So gimme some tme k ?.. tomorrow I 'll take out time
for sure and speak with her ..a s a frend.. she may
not open up to u coz u her brother. "
"ridsy we have shared everything with each oder sice we
were like wat? 2yrs!!"
"I know its hard but plzzzzz for me just let the topic be
for now .. she looks kinda down neway.. whatever it is I promise
I ll help her out n try n get her to talk to u k ? I meanthere
r certain girly stuff which she may not be comfortable sharinf wid u !!"
thinking of wat riddhima said armaan decidedi it was best
to leave the topic alone and he went to the kitchen
to apologise to payal so as to make her feel okay again.
"kiddo…" she turned at this voice while dabbing at
the corner of her eyes so that the tears that had begun to form wld not spill out.
"yea bhai.."
"come here!" he went fwd and that was all he had to
say coz payal rushed into his arms , feeling the sense of security
that always came wen she hugged her brother.
"am sorry kiddo … was just scared.. k ? u ok rite?"
"yea.. m k bhai… m sorry too I shld have called" she
sobbed as armaan tried consoling her.
As the scene was taking place riddhima who stood at the
door of the kitchen was thinking of how to make payal
spak up.. coz once she had seen her face wen she
came she had known smthin was bothering her.. she cld
sense a pain in her eyes… and she was gonna make sure
all was fine again .. she wld do so for her frend payal.. she wld do so for ARMAAN!
Sitting on the window sill she stared at the gardens of her huge mansion
…… illuminated by the pale light given off by the moon .she thought the
landscape architect had indeed done a great job…..
The huge overgrowing grass had been neatly trimmed and the
unattended and now dead plants had been cut off completely…..the
result being spectacular.
She wondered if she could do something like that to her own life…cutting
off the past totally which was eating her up slowly and deliberately….or
perhaps if someone could do so for he..someone who knew her history..
someone who had been there that night… someone like HIM.
**********
It had almost been a year since that day but the memories still haunted
him as if it had been just a day before .. as fresh as ever…
Sitting on the porch swing he let his mind wander into the details of that
day..
#FLASHBACK#
Enjoying the cool wind blowing on his face he made way for his usual
hangout…. Thinking how the day had gone by he realized it was perhaps
the most hectic day he had yet gone through since the past 6 months in
his university, crossroads….. the best college in whole of suniville , a
small town in the outskirts of New York city.
He had taken part in the trials held for the selection of new members in
of the basketball team and had even got selected to play at the inter
college level...
So obviously in the mood to party after working out for around 3 hrs. and
then catching up with his books …. He decided to head out for his usual
stress buster and party place …the dawson club.
The Dawson club had somehow over the past few years managed to gain
the reputation of the coolest hang out place in the whole of suniville.
Everyone cool enough to be called cool came and hung out there …… and
he was amongst them.
It seemed the entire of his class had come there to party and cheer upon
the newest member of the basketball team which was not exactly
surprising as he was rich, handsome , popular and even came top of the
form ….. he was what the guys wanted to be and someone the girls
wanted.
He atlast felt that he had managed to do what he wanted…… to be
something in life and being the only son of the greatest tycoon ever it
sure was not easy to come out of his fathers shadow .
" " Armaan over here " shouted his best buddy Mark …as soon as he
enterd into the club. Making way there he stood infront of him while he
kept shouting" ppl listen up ..meet the newly selected basketball
champion Mr.
Armaan Mallik … the stud of Crossroads"
"aww come on man don't do this" said armaan " if u start shouting out my
name like this you know na wat'll happen ..all these beauty without brains
and I cant talk sense girls will come and start swooning over me…and…."
He added threatningly" if that happens Mark you are gonna be so dead
man..coz you know I don't like to be around the likes of these women
when I want to enjoy…..genuinely and not simply waste my time" he
added in one breath…
"ok man ok..just chill wont tell dem u r here no more k? so chill!!"
" yeah thnx a lot ..but no thnx… coz the damage has been done and I am
not sticking around here any more …k thnx buddy for letting me enjoy a
party for the shortest duration ever."screamed Armaan into Mark's ear
coz he was right all the girls had started approaching them already……
Armaan left in a hurry and in frustration and went to his favorite place….
The beach.
He loved the sound the waves made and thought that the water looked
absolutely serene especially at night with the moonlight dancing on them.
After a 15 minute drive in his smart car he reached his destination…
Sitting right next to the water always seemed to rejuvenate him. It made
him calm and composed…
"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…… heellllllppppp" a scream
brought him out of his luxurious moment with mother nature.
Startled he got up to see someone running… a girl…a beautiful one…
right toward …HIM.
PART 2
He grabbed her from the waist as she stumbled on reaching him …." PLZ
PLZ HELP ME ..they will kill me and " she started sobbing while holding
armaan tightly.
" but who is after you and why?" armaan asked her while trying to calm
down the girl. But all his efforts were in vain because she was hysterical
and failed to respond at all.
Armaan could not understand what exactly was going on becaue so far he
could not see any body ..as far as he could make out the beach was
absolutely deserted.
He was proved wrong as within a few minutes 3 men arrived upon the
scene…
' Oh! Dear there she is ..gosh rids why don't you ever tell us where you
go ? and who are you mister?" asked one of them while raising his head to
the man the girl was hugging." me.. well..ummmmm" stammered armaan
.he had never been so confused in his entire life ...this girl it seemed to
him had been running from goons but here standing were 3 quite well
made men…
" neway ! come one rids ..come wid us..we need to go back.k?" said the
other man before armaan could actually answer.
"nnnnnnnooooooooooo….dont lemme go …dey'll kill me!! Please help
me..save me.." screamed rids shattering the peaceful silence surrounding
them when armaan tried to move her away from him.
" I guess ..she has told u that some one is trying to kill her…" started the
man and lokking at the expression of complete confusion armaan was
sporting he continued "well actually she has a mental problem..she thinks
every one is trying to kil her… don't worry we will take care of her" he
said while finally managing to extract her grip from armaan.
Rids meanwhile was yet again trying to struggle to get out but before
either she could react or armaan could actually get what was happening
the 3 men simply took her away!...
" WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!!!!????" a baffled armaan asked himself …."
That woman was mentally ill…jeez…seriously I mean looks can soo be
deceptive..she looked so innocent..beautiful..serene..and mad .nah nah
definitely not an adjective I would have used had I not known her" he kept
on mumbing to himself" she was different…NO WAY Armaan u r not
thinking of that MAD woman..just forget her"
thinking before the day possibly got worse he simply decided to head
back home…
He had reached halfway when he heard a loud thud coming from
nearby..getting down from his car he looked around wat was the
cause..the sight could not have repulsed him more!.....There lying in a
ditch was a woman who seemed to have been …..raped.
"jesus Christ !!!1 what the hell" cursed armaan and started running toward
her ….on reaching her he realized that she was upside down ..blood
oozed out of everywhere…he turned her….it was then that he realized
with a start the same girl….RIDS!
"omg!!!! She was not lying! Oh man m such a fool!" he started cursing
himself while picking rids up and taking her to the car…
a nervous armaan had never been prepared for such emergencies after all
how could he even think of facing one his job was not at all wat you
would call dangerous..he was not a doctor,,,for heaven's sake he was a
landscape architect!!!!!!!
#END OF FLASHBACK#
PART 3
sitting on the porch swing after 3 months he recalled how he had rushed
her to the nearest hospital and begged and pleaded with the doctors to
operate on her immediately…. They had told him the cops had to be
called in. but that had freaked him out bad… very bad ..he was not
prepared to meet a dozen officers and answer their queries coz
something told him that he would be ultimately put to blame.
He had slipped out as soon as he could .. of course after making sure that
the girl had been taken to operate…
He never saw her again yet even after 3 months since the event took
place , he would still dream of that face ..the innocence in her eyes had
captured something deep inside him and till date he did not know wat.
*************
"Riddhimaaaaaaaaaa" a voice brought her out of her trance. Turning
around she saw her best friend serena running up to her"omg rids I have
been searching for you since like forever …n you have been HERE!!!!!!!
God I seriously fail to understand you sometimes" she carried on while
rids simply looked at her . she was her best friend and her lifeline … she
could not imagine a life without her. They had been buds since when they
were just 2yrs … and ofcourse having your best friend as your neighbour
had its own advantages. "rids .rids..hhhhhheeeeeeellllllllloooooooooo u
dere ???"
serena screamed at rids who once again seemed to have gone into a
trance…she had been doing that lately.. since the past 2 months to be
exact .. since she came back from that job interview.
"yup sers m here ..temme was sup?" finally coming back to earth rids
realized she better start some convo. Else this topic could go close to that
night and she could not bare to talk about it anyone..not even serena!!
"did you finally decide to ask him out your version of the GREEK GOD ?
huh? Or is this excitement all because of some shopping center that has
opened up recently…" and sensing serena was about to put up an
argument "and don't u dare say u don't like shopping..coz that would be
a lie…." Continued rids while moving away from her balcony and going
into the room to sit on her double poster bed..
"yeah yeah k rids I agree I love shopping but m not talking about that
here k? n yes u r rite I finally convinced mark to come for dinner with us
so that you can finally see himand i get to enjoy too!!
..yyyyyiiiiippppppeeeeee!!!!!!!!!"
"hey congrats sers…m sooooooooo glad for u honey!!!!" cried out rids
..she knew how much courage it would have taken serena to ask one of
the most popular students at crossroads and she was proud of it.
She herself did her courses for interior decoration via correspondence so
she had never seen the man serena had been crazy for such a long time.
But never mind she thought she would finally meet mark at the party…..
"oh! N yeah I had to invite his best frend as well ..his name's armaan and
he is an Indian so do you mind making him feel comfortable wen he
comes in the evening tomorrow.plzz rids imagine just the 4 of us ..it
would be great fun!!!"
"I m sure it wld be serena" replied rids closing her eyes preparing herself
for the night!!!
As evening came the next day rids heartbeat doubled ..for some reason
that she could not understand she felt restless…. "ok. Relax rids .. u
don't need to panic. U r feelng so weird coz its been a long time since
you have been out with friends " she kept mumbling to herself to
maintain her calm while she got dressed for the big event...but to no
avail. "you have finally got your life back on track and nothing just
nothing will go wrong now!!"
"what the hell are you trying to do?" serena's voice boomed into her ears
…as she saw hat serena was looking at she realized that she standing
infront of the mirror placing her dress upside down…
"ok!!! Rids out wid it??? Wat have you been thinking??"
"me nothing sers u no……ummmm…..well….uhh..yeah . was just
thinking wat your guy might look like!!"saved thought rids else who
knows what might have happened….
'k neway …will u go get dressed quickly? " said an irritated serena" or do
u plan on staying here for the rest of the night??"
"gee…ser m going k? gimme 5 mins!" replied rids while hurrying into the
washroom…
*****************
Armaan dude you gotta come wid me man..!!" pleaded mark for around
the 1000th time. It had been almost an hour since he had started
pesrtering armaan to come with him to the dinner with him after serena
did say she was getting her friend along…
" no way man ..i know ur serena ..she is weird n m sure so will be her
friend.." said armaan ' and plus u guys go njoy y drag me along??"
"coz her friend's gonna be there and she's Indian so it'll be easy for u to
distract her n mean while I can put my moves frwrd with serena…."
"jeez ..dude ..fine!!...i'll come" picking up the first shirt he saw , he went
to get ready.
PART 4
Mark and Armaan were already seated and were now waiting for the girls
to show up. Looking around him into his surroundings he had to admit
whichever of the 2 girls had chosen this place sure had class and
taste."dude …. So you like it??? Huh the place???" mark barged into his
train of thoughts.."yeah sure I do ..its nice and trendy"
"so you think serena and her friend are no longer weird rite??"
"hey sometimes even the biggest fool can be like sooooo intelligent and
we are just taking about a choice out here…so chill k ? armaan mallik
does not decide about the character of a girl looking t her choice…'
yeah yeah k .. I know" interrupted mark before armaan could go on and
on about wat he did and what he did not!!
" hey here they are" an enthusiastic mark told armaan while himself
getting up and motioning for the girls come forward…
meanwhile armaan who ws sitting with his back towards the girls
entering now rose and turned…….
Time it seemed had suddenly stopped for both of them , everything was
going in slow motion … both were lost in their own whirlpool of thoughts
..THINKING BACK TO THAT DAY…the day that altered the course of their
lives…
Riddhima could not believe what she was seeing… she was sure her eyes
were deceiving her … it could not be him!!
She thought of that day…she had gone for a job interview in a caf to
work as a part time waitress but the boss had been a creep and had tried
forcing….. somehow managing to escape from his cabin she ran towards
her house..knowing that the creep had sent 3 of his men behind she did
not know which way to go…
She had lost all senses of the road but just went on wherever her legs
would take her…. Finally reaching the beach ….. at that time of the day
she had not expected anyone to be there but she had been in luck…or so
she thought….she spotted a man there..running up to him she hugged
him hard and when his hands instinctively encircled her waist she had felt
secure .. but this feeling was to be shortlived…..
And today standing infront of her was the same man who had pushed her
into the trap of death….she would never forgive him..it aws a promise
she had made to herself…..
Looking at her today after 3 months in a stunning yet decent black dress
that hugged her curves just at the right spots he felt she still looked the
same except that the innocence in her eyes had been replaced by hurt
and on seeing him there by hatred…
"hey serena dats my best bud armaan ..n she must be the gorgeous …."
Started off mark which brought both rids and armaan out of their trance .
"rids!" finished off armaan …. This stunned riddhima even more as to why
did this man remember her name … did he feel guilty of what he made
her suffer?? Did he know???
"hey … wait a sec how do u know her???" questioned a surprised serena ..
" we met 3 months ago ………" not giving armaan a chance to complete
rids continued" at this party u no sers the one where I met atul …."she
traile off.
"oh! I see but how come ou did not temme dude that u knew sers
childhood friend ??" mark asked his friend clearly agitated." I did not
know she was the same rids..u know" stated armaan clearly getting the
hint that she did not want to press that day's events any further and
perhaps she had not told her friend about it… he wondered why her eyes
showed hatred when there should have been ….. well he had been at fault
partly aleast he debated with himself ….
Would she forgive him for not trusting her..the question slowly started
eating up his entire head…….
PART 5
She could not believe someone as coldhearted as him could actually have
friends and funnily according to her he seemed to care about them ….if
the way he was treating mark and serena was any indication.
He had insisted on paying the bills , asked the dj to put serena's favorite
number so finally managing to get both her and mark on the dance floor
and even she had to agree that it was a good move as the two looked
sooo much in love!!! Of course she was in no way neglected…. He had
asked about her choices before ordering the food , her fav songs , her
likes etc etc…… it seemed like anything to start a conversation but she
had replied curtly and avoided answering any question which required her
to answer anything more than a yes or no…
Looking at him dance now with some random girl she felt uneasy…. Of
course it was her fault dat she was not there in place of that girl whom he
hardly knew but felt that they were dancing too close …. Toooooo close.
He had asked rids to dance as soon as mark and serena had made their
way to the dance floor but she had simply ignored him and not bothered
answering at all…. She had kept on meddling with the food on her
plate……. Though now for some unknown reason to her she felt she had
committed a mistake …. And she wondred why….
*****************
For the past half an hour armaan had been on the dance floor dancing
with what seemed like the most random girls one could meet. So far
exactly 3 out of 5 had tried to put their moves on him but to no avail….
Because his attention had already been taken by rids sitting all alone on
the table.. pretending to eat.
" damn her!! " a furious Armaan slammed his beer can on the bar counter
. after having successfully managed to get away from the building crowd
on the dance floor , he sat at the bar trying to make sense of whatever
was happening." I know it was my fault , I should have believed her … but
what the heck those men…. They were so convincing" he mumbled to
himself trying it seemed to convince himself of his actions." And its not
like I did not help her at all .. I did take her to the hospital… when I
could have just left there .. then why the hell is she behaving like it was
my fault entirely????"
"and why the hell do you care soo much ? huh dude?" looking up he saw
a well built man of around 30 sitting with a glass of rum in one hand and
what seemed like a small black colored pouch in the other.
" look I don't mean to pry .. but obviously you seem to be in a lot of
confusion … so if u want I could perhaps help u out… but only if u want
me to" said he man.
"no I don't need your help …. Plus why do u want to help??? Just finish
your drink and go from here…"
" are u sure ?? I could really HELP!!1" emphasizing on the help he forsed
armaan to look at him.
On looking at the man's eyes for some reason armaan saw love… care…
and a genuine desire to help him. He cold no longer hold it then…. He
simply started telling him whatever was disturbing him and once he
started there was no stopping… breaking down at certain points he
completed his tale of meeting rids , not trusting her, helping her. Then
the days events…everything!!!
" I see so u helped her but u still think she hates you and for some
reason what she thinks matters a lot to you…. Do I get this right? The
man asked armaan after he heard the entire tale..
nodding his head slightly so as to confirm that whatever the man had
summarized was more or less the exact description of the situation he
looked to see the man's eyes glinting with mischief … and with the same
spark the man said" ok den I have a plan which I think should solve all
problems!!!... listen closely now………
PART 6
Stepping outside into the parking lot atlast riddhima felt free . sitting in
the resaurant for the past 2 hrs she had felt trapped in the events of her
past….
" what is wrong with you rids? The guy is a live walkin talking disaster…. "
she tried to reason with herself
"I mean he let me be screwed but weirdly remembers my name and oh!
The concern his eyes fake…. His eyes wow..*sigh* "
UUUURRRRRGGGGGHHHH riddhima gupta get a grip ….. he for heavens
sake was practically the reason u got raped n u are thinking of him on
such lines…"
" nonononnnoooooooooooo……. Never him n me IMPOSSIBLE" by this
time she had started screaming in frustration thus managing to make
quite a handful of people turn back to look at her.
" now I make a fool off myself in front of all these ppl .. n all bcoz of him"
she mentally scolded herself.
" hey…" turning to look at the person who had had interfered in her train
of thoughts…. Only to find the man in question right next to her.
" what do you want?" it was not the queson but the tone she had used on
him that made him cringe.
Composing himself he carried on" well mark just told me that he would
drop off sers and well i thought I could drop you?"
"no you can't " saying this rids went forward only to be stopped by his
strong grip on her arms.
" look I …i.." armaan stuttered " I don't think you should go alone at this
time of the night .. I mean it's not safe" he cursed himself as he was
about to bring up the events of that night.
" sounds hilarious ….. such a concerned comment regarding my safety
coming out of the mouth of someone like you. … changed your mind
about women safety have you since ….. ?" she stopped in the middle of
her sentence not wanting to bring up her past as it still hurt .. if not
physically , definitely emotionally.
Looking at her look away armaaan wanted just wanted to pull her into a
hug and cuddle her… assure her that nothing or no one woud ever harm
her again .. he would not let that happen.
" look please lemme drop u… infact I m going to do so.. u ain't going on
your own!! … " and seeing rids was abot to interrupt he waved his hand in
a dismissing motion and not giving her a chance to say anything he
continued " and so don't even think about replying negatively … so shall
we?"
not waiting for her to reply he marched toward his car dragging her with
him. Opening the passenger door he motioned for her to sit and when she
did not do so after waiting for exactly half a minute he pushed her inside
and then went and sat down at the wheel.
" now gimme the directions to you home !!"
******************
riddhima was surprised and stunned beyond words at armaan's sudden
display of a certain amount of ownership on her …. But it would be wrong
to say she had not liked it… she thought.
Ooking at his profile while he was driving she realized she had loved
every single ounce of love she got from him…. It was strange … why did
she feel for him even if she had promised to hate him…. Could it be
attraction?? Or perhaps LOVE ?? …
She mentally screamed at herself as how she could judge something like
this to be love?? Sure she had felt all tingly when he touched her ….
Looked at her with those amazing blue grey eyes of his …but love no
way…
coz even though she did not know anything other than the fact that it
was a man who had taken her to the hospital …. She had at that moment
given her heart to the man who had saved her life… ….
PART 7
armaan was not at all shocked to see rids reacting so negatively towards
him . infact he was surprised she let him boss her around even though
she did put up a good fight in the start… he wondered why though.. had
she forgiven him finally??
All these questions running through his head made him turn his head
sideways to look at her at the red light. Seeing she had her face turned
towards the window he studied her carefully .. for the first time so
closely.
he felt the jet black hair hanging loose reaching till below her shoulders
suited the shape of her face perfectly. Even watching her from the side
pose made him realize she had what seemed to be the perfect skin.. her
cheekbones perfectly placed and her lips.. all evening he had noticed how
soft her lips were … he wondered how they would feel like to touch with
his own!!!
" what? Is there something on my face?" hearing her speak out armaan
came out of his daze…
" ummm no well actually ….. yeah there is … umm there right there on
your cheeks…" armaan stutterd… he knew what he had for her was not
lust but at that moment he could not stop himself … he wanted to see if
her skin was as flawless as it looked.
Rubbing her cheeks with a tissue she asked him" is it gone??"
Shaking his head negatively armaan came closer before she could protest
and caressed her cheeks with his thumb . looking up in her eyes while
doing so he found himself staring at the most beautiful eyes he had ever
seen.
They had every emotion he could think of
. without realizing his thumb went lower right next her lips and feeling
her stiffen slightly he smiled inwardly at the effect he had on her. Not
breaking the eye lock even once he bent even closer….
BEEEEEEEEPPPPPP BEEP BEEP….. THE CARS HONKING shook him out of his
deep slumber and he suddenly realized what he was about to do. It
seemed to him that even rids realized it at the same moment as she
pulled herself away immediately.
"um sorry…. I didn't mean to.." a nervous armaan started while he drove
to her house .. only to be interrupted " my house is the first one on the
left … so plz turn …. And I don't want to discuss whatever happened
right now!! DISCUSSION CLOSED!!"
stunned and shocked… but more so hurt by her response he silently took
a turn and reaching her house he stopped the car.
" rids…." Armaan tried again
"its riddhima …. And thanks for the lift" saying so rids opened the door
and was about to get out when armaan pulled her back….
" will you just listen to me once??" he literally screamed out of frustration
…
even though shocked at his sudden outburst she regained her composure
and replied negatively with a curt no.
' but why ?? dammit what have I done???" tightening his grip around her
wrist when she tried to free herself he pulled her near him .
' look I know I was a fool not to trust you but those were bloody
convincing rids" and seeing she was about to correct him " yes, its rids for
me and always will be!!"
" you have no idea since that day I have been only thinking of you .. your
eyes it seemed looked deep into me and .. holding you that day close to
me ..well I have never till date felt something so blissfull"
" what the hell are you talking about ......"
" sshhh … lemme complete" placing the index finger of his other hand on
her lips he tried too continue but somehow could not…. Holding her near
to him was finally making him feel something … and so without thinking
and just following his heart he moved in closer to her … bent down and
kissed her ..gently in the beginning but as he felt her melting in his arms
the kiss became deeper and more demanding….
The passion they had for each other unknowingly fulfilling its desires…
*************
as rids realized what she was doing she pulled back ….
" um sorry .. I mean I shouldn't have…" she stammered
"don't be honey! " interrupted armaan " I for one loved it " looking at her
blush he chuckled and gave her a kiss on her cheek.
" no armaan …don't … don't ever do that again... !!!" a now furious rids
shouted at him …" u are sick!!" and before armaan could understand she
left him in the car and ran to her house sobbing.
she cursed herself sitting o her bed that night ...
" i will never let that man near me again .. never.".... she screamed at the
walls of her room " and i will make sure he repents what he did then and
what he did now!!"...........
PART8
pacing up and down in her room rids could not get armaan's words out of
her
head.... he seemed genuine .. but then the kiss?? why did he kiss me ...
was it
out of pity.... but he doesnot know what happened to me that night so
why
pity??
he must have figured out that i was not mad when he saw me with sers
today
..... yes!!! thats it... he ia a characterless man who thought i would be one
of
his conquers.... a typical use and throw siyuation... oh! so thats what he is
playing at....
finally having reached a conclusion she stopped walking and sat down on
the
window sill.
aloud she said" all right mr. armaan ... bring it on!!! u wanna play dirty ,,,
fine u
will get dirty.... it will be exactly what u want... use and throw .. but the
odds
shall be in my favour!!!!!!
********************
leaning against the terrace balcony armaan thought back to the events of
the
evening ..... how rids had first ignored him.... then replied curtly and
finally
the talk with the stranger.....
# FLASHBACK#
" the only thing i feel that can be done acc to me in dis situaton is .." the
sranger continued with the plan" make the girl believe u care about her....
and
watever u did earlier was ll a huge mistake and that u r guilty!!"
looking confused and feeling even more confused armaan asked the
million
dollar question...
" dude watever u told me... well no offence but i alresdy know that ... and
have
even tried working on these lines by being nice to her ...and it did not
work... "
" thats coz ur approach was wrong!!"
" uhhuh ... so wat does the man suggest .. wat pray tell me is the right
approach????"
" now u r asking???? " the man continued.." well first of all she needs to
know
that you have also been affected by whatever happened and she is not the
only
one who suffered.... you have to let her know that you think about her till
date
and you have not been able to take your life casually anymore.... she
changed
your life armaan by being that someone who made you realise life is not a
game and everyone makes mistakes..... now its your turn... become that
someone in her life who teaches her to live ....again.... without holding
onto
the past... be the armaan you were before you knew her....
make sure she lets out all her emotions and unchains the burden of her
past!!!"
the man walked away before armaan could say or ask him anything and
by the
time armaan realized that the man was about to leave .. it was too late!!!
*******
seeing rids walk out of the restaurant he made it a point to do watever
the
man had said... but somehow he thought maybe one more try to talk to
her
would not be bad.....
# flashback ends#
now he knew that had been a bad idea... so now he had to make sure he
met
her everyday.... he knew it was not an easy task as seeing after what
happened
today she might never wanna come near him again .... the kiss even
though
from the heart was something that he wished he could edit.
he had been wrong as when she kissed him back he felt she had
forgotten and
forgiven but the nxt moment she had pulled away... and to make her feel
that
whatever happened was not wrong he had furtherd what was happening
between them by saying the next few lines... but she had taken it totally
in the
wrong way and something told armaan he wa sup for a good and long
battle ...
one which he had to win as it had his heart at stake!!!!!....
*************
as the morning came and the first rays of the sun hit her face rids got
up….
Hoping that whatever had happened yesterday night was all a
nightmare…but
she knew it was not.
She had stayed awake for quite a lot of time at night but her mind had
refused
to work and she did not come up with anything to teach armaan a lesson
….but now sitting straight on her bed her mind was working overtime ….
Formulating a plan to teach the armaan mallik a lesson in his own
game…. A
plan she thought was the best anyone could come up with….
A plan that would eventually change the course of her life.
*********************
" come on sers .. u have to come…. I mean there will be so many of your
desighner stuff ….. and for heaven's sake you have discount coupons….
So
why don't u wanna go???"
" oh! Sure I'll go but first u r going to tell me why do you want me to go
and
even more weird why do YOU want to come along? …. I mean correct me
if
um wrong but did u not ALWAYS have a problem with my shopping?? "
BUSTED … shit um soo dumb .. how could I forget …. Thought rids … it
had
been over an hour she had been trying to convince sers to come with her
to
this store. Mark had called her early in the morning and asked her to
bring
sers to the store where he planned a surprise for her and was also
planning to
propose to her.
Rids had thought it would all be a piece of cake but she had been wrong
as she
had forgotten one detail that even though sers loved shopping …SHE did
not….
" so u wanna know the truth??" an exasperated and reluctant rids spoke
up
"now v r talking!!!!"
"well its just dat you know yesterday night when v .. I mean when I went
out
…after a long time…ummmm…i…ummm I enjoyed it a lot and …umm I
would
like to do it again…u no just having fun and I feel … I need new stuff so
that I
can go out more often….."
saying all this rids just grabbed sers who had her mouth wide open with
shock
and ran toward the car before sers would change her mind…..
************************
Standing infront of what looked like the biggest women shopping store
he had
ever seen … armaan looked at mark. He had never seen mark so nervous
before. Armaan had always known mark to calm and composed , infact
both
of them were known for their charms which seemed to work wonders for
all
girls. But today he knew that both of them had changed… both of them
would
now he knew always be nervous and fidgety when the ladies in question
would
come towards them … both looking as beautiful as the stars on a dark ,
starry
night. He knew now that their lives would be filled with the brilliance of
the
2most angelic women either of them had ever met!!!!
"dude!! Stop dat…" looking at mark rebuttoning his hand cuffs for what
looked
like the millioneth time armaan lost his calm and shouted at mark for
being so
nervous." You know what sers would not eat you up!!!"
"yeah… easy for you to say… you r not the one whose proposing!!!!! "
"omg!!!!!!!!! What if she says no?????" mark was sweating like a pig by this
time…
"jeez…dude listen to me… last night I saw the way she looks at you and
belive
me she loves you… I can guarantee that k??!!!"
"really u think so armaan .." "yes I do…"replied armaan in an attempt to
pacify
his best friend.
************************
finally reaching the destination rids heaved a sigh of relief ... through out
the
car journey sers had literally eaten up her head. first she refused to be
convinced with the excuse rids was giving.the whole conversation was
taking
an ugly turn and she knew for a fact if she would not have reached
soon.... she
would have had committed a murder. but thankfully they had reached.
and
now she was bracing herself to meet the man who was the cause of the
disastrous life she was meeting.... now would begin phase 1 of her
plan.......
PART 9
"omg!!!!!" thought rids as soon as she spotted mark and armaan… armaan
more specifically."shit .. the black and white combo does wonders for
him.. he is looking so totally like some .. no not some…. The one greek
god….and omg! Why the hell is he looking at me like that???and wats up
with the smile…the cute dimpled smile….nonoonononononnononoo
CONCENTARTE rids concentrate on the plan and not on him…"
"rids why are you gaping at armaan "sers interrupted her train of
thoughts.
"huh?? Who me?? Oh! Puhleeeses….he is sooo not my kind and I was NOT
staring.."
"yeah rite n I am a mummified person standing who has risen from the
dead and now come to you to take revenge….wat say??? So.." and without
giving any time for rids to interrupt continued"wats the deal?? Do u like
him???"
"no way sers .. I ..i.. don not..k?? and please drop this topic for now coz
he is on his way here…"
"not he sweets ..they!!! hehehe….. u are sooooo a gonner hehehe!!!!"
"shut up!!!"hissed a now totally red rids.
"HEY gorgeous " mark said it in his sweetheart's ear while armaan was
busy staring at his angel who he thought looked absolutely serene and
soo elegant in her white skirt which went down to her knees and a black
sleeveless tightly fitted black halter. "ooohhhhh " mumbled an ecstatic
armaan to himself "who wld have thought our choices match so much …
v r wearing the same combination …just opposite ….hmmmm OPPOSITES
DO ATTRACT!!!!"
"uuummmmmm…ok….uh….why is everything so dark in here?? Asked a
nervous sers into rids ear while digging her nails into mark's arm .
SURPRISE" As all 3 of them yelled into sers face rids thought she had
never seen her happier!!
"OMG!!!!what the hell!! " looking around her sers realized that the entire
store had been converted into this huge ball room sort of a thing and
then she saw it…. Right I the middle of the room a chain of 21 ballons ..
each having a single word written on them in red against the black
background.
It read: ARE YOU WILLING TO SPEND YOUR ENTIRE LIFE WITH ME IF I
PROMISE TO LOVE YOU FOR EVER AND EVER ?????
"YES !!! you fool … I will spend the rest of my life wit you even if it means
I have to tolerate the biggest jerk ever!!"
sers gave mark her reply as he came near her and held her hand.
"hey no fair …. " and before he could continue complaining sers cut him
off"coz I love this jerk!!!i love you" and sealing their relationship with a
kiss they both felt happy!!!
"hey rids why have you not eaten anything??" a worried sers asked rids
after being seated for lunch in a restaurant that mark had booked for
them . "oh! Comeon.. sers cant u see she is on a diet…. Have u not seen
she has not even touched the glass of iced tea that she specially ordered
for herself???"
mocked armaan and before an angry rids who had just turned to look at
him while shooting daggers with her eyes could defend herself armaan
continued irritating her even more…" u no wat I think u should not
trouble yourself with her… u both.."he said gesturing to sers and
mark"have a reason to celebrate and don't let anything spoil it…not even
her"he said in an undertone so that only sers could hear . watching her
face twitch from the nose he knew she was trying to control her anger…
he had seen her do the same thing the entire evening that they had been
together…
"u no what?? U r rite… lets go and leave the love birds together " rids said
apolegeticaly to mark and sers while motioning for her and armaan to
move out. Surprised at her gesture armaan silently got up from the table
and gave his hand to rids so as to help her up.. not that the gestsure was
needed.
Taking her hand into his own armaan knew that it was the one he would
never leave!!!!....
While giving him her hand she disguised her nervousness with the
pretense of picking up her purse, talking to sers and mark,pushing away
her plate and other things…but as soon as his fingers touched her she
felt a jolt … she had experienced the same thing when he had taken her
in his arms last night…. And when he held her hand she felt as if his
tight grip was a promise that he would never leave her….
Pushing away such thoughts she got up to face him . "so where do v go?"
she asked once they were out and into the bright daylight."aha I see so its
v now " looking at a confused rids, armaan continued "hmmm and not u
and I huh??? " "ofcourse its us and v and not u and I " replied rids now in
a sugar coated voice which she could see had its impact as armaan looked
ready to fall with his mouth wide open"after all V are in it
TOGETHER…!!!" she continued."HAIN????????? I MEAN KYA???? I MEAN
WHAT??? R Y OKAY????DO U HAVE FVER???? " a shocked armaan asked
while checking her pulse and feeling her neck. he was sure that this time
rids had certainly gone mad.. why was she being soo sweet?? Wats going
on in her head?? As all these questions made their way into armaan's
head he could do nothing but stare at her…
She felt herself getting hot. one of his hand was still on her wrist and the
other one on her neck while his eyes stared at her with an intensity she
could not match . lowering her eyes she tried getting out of his grip but to
no avail. Finally getting tired she simply screamed at him" YOU PIG….
WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?? DON'T YOU KNOW HOW HOW TO USE YOUR
HEAD OR DO U SIMPLY ARE DEVOID OF SUCH A THING..????!!!!!" As
armaan came back into reality he yanked of his hands off her .."um
sorry… I ..ummm"not giving him a chance to complete rids continued "so
do u have some place in mind where v can go to or r u going to simply
going to drop me home??" sayng so rids walked towards the car only to
be stopped by an amused looking armaan . bending close to her he
whispered in her ear letting his lips touch her ear lobe slightly "and what
makes you think I shall drop u home??" stiffening with his touch rids felt
herself trapped.. not wanting to give him the satisfaction of winning she
was about to answer when once agin he continued but this time coming
closer still and letting his lips kiss her ear completely "whatever it is … I
domt care…coz um not gonna let this opportunity to be the knight in
shining armour of this wonderful woman pass me by at any cost" and
pushing away abruptly he opened the passenger door and shoved her
inside as rids at that moment seemed to be stupefied…
He had not planned any of this but he knew if there was any way to get
rids to open up it was this and there was no two way about it..
Pulling in front of the most popular ice cream vendor in their home town
he came out of the car . making his way to the passenger side he opened
the door to dee rids still completely dazed. The perfect dimples that his
face made deepened as he realized that she had been dreaming through
out th e drive thinking about he was sure at that moment of not him not
herself but THEM!!!
"HELLOOOOOO ANY BODY HOME ??????" he screamed into her
ear."aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" as she shouted armaan could not
help but double up with laughter..and now looking at her giving him the
most indignant look ever he tried speaking in between his laughs
"omg!!!..... rids ur face……it seemed as if..as if u just saw a ghost …omg
u were sooo scared!!!!...
"indeed I was "rids answered haughtily and wlked off towards the
entrance to the shop while leaving an a hysterical armaan to himself …
turning halfway slightly agitated with the fact that armaan was still
laughing his head off and had made no attempt to join her..she walked
back to him and keeping a finger on is chest said"coz..u were ight .. I did
c one…"
finally having stopped and recovered his breath armaan looked at the
position rids was standing in and asked curiously" c what??? Rids a
ghost???"looking at his efforts to try and not laugh again she smiled
sweetly and replied"EXACTLY!!!!"
woooa thought armaan she was definitely one smart girl..and a lot of
effort ….. just what he loved…challenges and she was the biggest oe
ever…..
PART 10
"hey bhai …. How are you????? Omg um sooooooooo excited I will be
meeting you exactly after ummm yeah 4 years 1 month 2 days and 3
hours…."
As armaan thought of what his darling sister payal was saying …. He
realized how much he had missed her. Even though 3 years younger to
him she had always known how to cheer up armaan. She acted like the
grown up in their relationship while armaan put up tantrums and like a 5
year old had to be pacified with a treat of his choice. Payal knew
everything about him … when his parents though seldom home had
suddenly decided to take a keen interest in the lives of their children
armaan had simply refused to let them interfere with his life but payal
being the younger one and with her heart of gold gave their parents
another chance.
Armaan had been shattered when he came to know that his little sister
who was with him every single moment would leave for London to
complete her studies there… each day since then had been waiting for
her to come back and take control of his life like before as he was too
tired to do anything on his own any more…
"hello…. U still there??? " not getting any response from armaan for the
past minute which was very unusual ..coz when they chatted it was
impossible to quiten any of them ..they had soo much to tell each other.
Coming out of his thoughts armaan replied to his screaming little sister"
yeah .. yeah kiddo.. um here… just thinking its been time … a long time
since we last saw each other…"
"FIRSTLY DO NOT CALL ME KIDDO.. YOU KNOW I HATE IT!!! AND PLUS IT
DOESN'T EVEN SUIT ME CONSIDERING YOU ARE THE ONE WHO NEEDS A
CHOCOLATE ICE-CREAM AND THE LATEST EDITION OF HOT WHEELS TO
BE PACIFIED….AND SECONDLY…" she continued not giving a laughimg
armaan a chance to protest "FOR HEAVENS SAKE STOP BEING SO SENTI…
DUH WAT IS WRONG WITH YOU ANYWAY..YOU SOUND LIKE THE OLD
NANNY FROM …FROM.. I DON'T KNOW WHEREVER OLD PPL COME FROM!!"
"OK …OK I get it … um just missing u loads k?? come over sooon … so
wen is ur flight reaching???
"bhai…. Um standing infront of the house…SURPRISEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "
"SHIT!! WHAT????? OMG WAIT UP A SEC!! UM GONNA B DWN IN A JIFFY K??
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH……
WHAT THE HELL?? WHO ARE YOU????" a baffled armaan screamed at his
little sister who according to him had grown too much within a short span
of time. Last he remembered she had long black hair , a slim figure, large
brown eyes …..but now well except for the figure everything had
changed. She had been a rebel but standing infront of him now armaan
knew what they meant when they said 'A NEW REBEL WAS BORN
EVERYDAY' .
"JEEZ BHAI… CHILLAX… UM HOME…R U NOT GONNA LET ME COME IN???
"and sensing that armaan may take some ..okay scratch that a lot of time
getting used to the new radical her she simply pushed her way in.
"shit payal….????" Realizing the questioning tone in her brother's voice
she sat down comfortably on her favorite ciuch while motioning for
armaan to sit beside her.
"BHAI …its pam now..n before u say something else um just
experimenting with a new look… and its all temporary .."giggling at the
relief that washed over armaan 's face she could not help but add"except
for the coluor in my hair and the navel ring ofcourse…"watching armaan
once again getting into the angry young man mode she started
laughing…..and iw was an hour of armaan's shouting which finally calmed
her down ..she just could not help it..each time she looked at armaan a
new fit of giggles would make their way…it was a long time after which
they finally sat down to talk … something both needed to do….
Sitting on her study table with her diary lying open to the day's entry rids
tried to make sense of whatever was happening… she rememberd the
day's events.
#FLASHBACK#
armaan had taken her to an ice-cream shop..she loved ice-cream..it was
her fetish. Sitting own on a corner table for two he asked the waiter to
get him a cup of 21 love mixed with chocolate. He said the name of the
ice-cream looking into her eyes sending chills through her. When asked
for her choice she could not help but forget everything else on her
mind..hey it was ice-cream after all. She ordered a tripe sundae with extra
nuts and chocolate syrup.looking at the stunned expression armaan had
on his face she started giggling like a small school child . something told
the credit for the famous expression would be the order. But she could
do nothing about it…she was known for over indulging in sweets.
"whoa!!! U sure can eat!!!"armaan taunted her "I know I can …eat"retorted
back rids."duh…u sure have an iq less than umm lets see a child…I mean
hello but u don't even understand a simple logical question…now now I
guess I have to explain..what I meant was u eat A LOT!! We just hsd lunch
and now u eat a triple sundae!!!!!!!!!!!"
even after listening to all this she did not react but silently dug into her
sundae which had arrived by then .. all this was done purposely to irritate
armaan and test his patience ..after all that was her plan she reasoned get
him to fall for her and what was the oldest trick to do it again..hmm
something you could call grandma's recipe for disaster ..to give the guy
mixed signals and there was…the REVERSE PSHYCOLOGY …IT NEVER
FAILED…..
She knew it had an effect because now armaan was trying all sorts of silly
things like making lame jokes to make her look up from her sundae after
she did not respond to even one of his questions… and one of them she
did remember ..coz actually she could not believe what a child he was..his
comments unknowingly giving his real self away….he had started the joke
by pointing out to a bunch of dogs standing with their owners outside the
shop..and having a table right next to the window they had a clear view.
She had looked from the corner of her eyes to see where he was pointing
.."what did that male dog say to the female dog??"tell me tell me…cumon
ridsie tell me????pleeeeeeeessssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeee" giving in to his
pleas she gave him the answer ..she knew it was the correct one coz she
had heard this one before .."bhaou bhaou….""I have a crush on you"he
whined…and this made her look up…fast…."what????..u have a crush on
me???" "nonononon….dats the answer….how dumb of u how can I have a
crush on YOU??"…"if I m soo bad n sooo not ur level" an angry rids said
while trying to put away the dissapointment she was feeling after hearing
his answer .."fine then I shall leave…."and with out she went of the shop…
"rids listen up..m just kidding..n plus do u want me to say dat I do have a
crush on you??" armaan asked her after ctching up with rids.
Shit…um dead now!!! She had failed in the first part itself….
He held her arm and pulled her closer…look can we b frenz atleast??k
now y is he saying atleast ..does he want to be more …thinking all this
she looked into his eyes …bluest eyes she had ever seen….. lets just talk
k?general stuff??"no armaan I don't think so ….um tired n gotta
go…."with that she had taken off.
# FLASHBACK ENDS#
She put out the lights and went to sleep coz her mind was too worked up
to give her the reply of his question..could they be frends????? A part of
her which she decided she could ignore no longer was screaming out the
answer in negative…as she wanted to be more…more than just frnds!!!
&nb sp;&nb sp;&nb sp;&nb sp;&nb sp;&nb
sp; &n
bsp; PART
11
Armaan was observing how much his sister had changed -the pink short
spiked up hair..actually scratch that he thought it was not pink hair it was
shocking pink… the blue lenses she had picked for her eyes..the logic
given coz she loved armaan's blue eyes and wanted hers to be like his
too!!! What has this woman been thinking…what planet aliens have
abducted my little sister.. this one looks ready to kill..aaaahhhh…mama
… save me….even the dressing sense seemed to have undergone a
change.. she was wearing a short tight tee which was perfect to reveal her
navel ring and the huge tattoo of the skull that was around the navel…a
mini skirt which was toooo mini according to armaan and the cowboy
boots…. ..he was still thinking what could have happened to payal..no
pam …..
"so bhai..tell me wats up with you huh??? Y r u so spaced out???" payal
asked her brother who could not help asking her then "payal… seriously I
want the truth .. whats with your look .. I mean you have never done
anything sooooo radical …what wre you thinking??"
"bhai… look when I was studying .. I made friends who were like I don't
know really…independent and I for one have always considered the
results of my actions…they on the contrary were spontaneous, impulsive..
they knew how to have fun while I was like this controlled freak ..thats
when I decided I would give myself a chance..to live and do whatever that
I wished!!"
"payal .. what r u talking about.. u have been independent here… but .. is
it some boy ??"
the red coloured cheeks of her sister were enough proof for armaan that
indeed there was a special someone in his little sister;s life who had
brought about this change..he wondered who it was.????
"neway bhai..u tell me ne new girl huh???" … "ofcourse not… u no ur bro I
have no time to waste… "even as he said it flashes of riddhima loomed
infront of his eyes..her child like cute expressions, the sparkle in her eye
when she ordered the ice-cream… just everything ..thus obviously it was
very difficult to keep in check the color rising to his face..
"yeah right!!! So tell me who is the lucky one THIS TIME???? " asked an
excited payal to her now totally dreamy and red brother.
"well its tricky payal…coz I don't know I feel for her like I have never felt
for anyone..but she hates me "he added the last part grudgingly. " it so
happens that……" and armaan seeing the questioning look in payal's
eyes continued telling her of his past with her…their past…and how it
was connected .
it had been around 2 hours since they had settled down to talk. Now as
armaan slid down from the couch he was sitting on … he felt relaxed for
the first time since the incident..it had not been easy to bottle up all his
emotions and he had been having quite a lot of difficulty holding them
up.. especially since the last few days. Finally having some one to talk to
about the matter at hand he felt happy.
"hmmmm..i see "payal having heard the whole story was now trying to
drive up to some kind of conclusion…"so u r trying to tell me that she is
giving u the cold shoulder one moment and the next she kisses you…
woa..she sure is confused in life.. bhai could u not choose some one
easier to sort out???"
"PAYAL!!!!!!! YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO B GIVING ME ADVICE NOT MAKE FUN
OF MY CHOICE!!!!! "
he seems serious thought payal and she was sure that she was right as
just calling this rids woman complicated was enough for armaan to give
her a murderous look … I have to do something for this man to realize
that he is in love with this rids woman and make the woman realize it
too???? Omg wat the hell have I gotten myself into???? This is sooo totally
worse than I thought!!!!
Phew that was hard thought rids. She had come out shopping with sers to
buy her start of the term clothes. "gosh u r so lucky!!" an exhausted sers
exclaimed to rids while sitting down next to her in the caf near the mall
they were shopping in. " lucky??? Me??? Why do u say dat???".."well its just
that u don't go to uni I mean u do these corresponding courses so.. I
mean u don't have to shop!!!!!" ..
"oh!! Of course … I mean um so lucky….lucky" even as she said this rids
cursed her fate … she had been dying to go to the uni but the events in
her life had changed the course of her life.
"hey u okay???" peering closely into her frend's face sers could make out
rids was upset but she had no idea y.. it was happening for the first time
that she did not know something about her .. should she ask her?? … her
train of thoughts however by interrupted by a loud noisel..
"OUCH!!!! WILL SOMEONE GET ME A CHAIR HERE????? " as both rids and
sers turned they saw what looked like the contents of an entire covering
her face from the world, held by a girl who apparently could not find a
place to sit.
Grabbing the empty chair on their table rids asked the girl to join them
and helped her to place the bags on the table nearby.
"hey um payal but u can call me pam .. and u r…??"
"hi ridhima n u can call me rids.. this is serena also called sers"
"ridhima????? Coming across that name a lot dese days!!!!"
"huh whatd o you mean??" but before she could answer a tall dark and
handsome boy stepped up to their table.."hey pam come on v gotta rush
na I thought u wanted to go home???"
"nah not nemore I got a place to sit so its k!!" and turning to rids and sers
she continued"n this is my …uh..my very very good friend ..yeah.. raj."
"oh! Hey raj please join us um rids and this my friend sers "
"thnx so umm what do u guys do?".."well um doing interior decorations "
"n um doing electrical engeenering.. "piped in sers."uh huh so which uni
u ppl go to??
" I go to this local college in our town and rids does her courses via
correspondence and wat about u ppl??"
"well we have just transferred here.. we shall begin with our course for
photography!!" informed pam with a slight note of pride in her voice.."
"PHOTOGARAPHY!!!! DATS AWESOME!!! As both sers and rids chorused in
unison , all four of them started laughing.. and it was as if long lost
friends had met up that day..they were no longer strangers!!"
they had been sitting there chatting for the past 3 hours and now as pam
rushed out to get to her home before it was too late she stopped and
turned to rids and sers"look I know this is short notice but I have this
party in my house tomorrow..u know it being the last day before uni
begins and all and I would really like u both to come ..this is my address
and phone no.//plzzz try to make it!!"and with that she left.
"jesus Christ!! Where the hell does this girl disappear off to when I need
her the most?" armaan questioned himself..it had been a good 7 hours
since payal had left in the morning and he was growing fidgety.he had to
talk to her about the party they were having.. there was so much to do for
it!!
He flipped his phone shut for the 50th time after having got a constant
unreachable all times while trying to contact payal.
"hey bhai um home!!!!" as he heard her shout coming from the front door
armaan rushed downstairs"you fool u donkey!! Where the hell have u
…."he stopped short noticing the huge shopping bags in her sisters
hands."umm payal " he contd. Now scared " did u just by any
chance..umm u know empty my entire bank balance???"
"haha very funny !!these r things for the party .. oh! N b4 I forget I invited
these new frends I made today… 2 GIRLS!!! They will come too.. so just be
at your best behaviour will you?? I mean um gonna feel so bad if they
mistake u for a bad mannered gorilla!!!!" and stifling a laugh she walked
to her room while armaan was left there looking as if he could murder her
at the spot and was apparently thinking of a witty comeback….
PART 12
"okay..so everything's done and the guests will be arriving any moment
so y don't u finally go change bhai?" said payal. They had been working
on the arrangements since morning especially armaan as most of the
people coming for the party were his best buds and also because it was
his way of distracting his brain from thinking about rids every waking and
sleeping moment as his heart he could not control in necase.
"yup I'll go and dressed said armaan while moving up the stairs to his
room.
People had started coming before the allotted time as it was ARMAAN
MALIK'S paty something only a fool would miss if invited. But it was
expected by both armaan and payal who were now making conversation
with all their friends .
As armaan spotted payal talking to some guy whom he had never seen he
like any possessive elder brother headed her way.."hey payal..wanna
introduce me??"…"huh?? "a surprised payal turned around to see armaan
standing there with a glass of wine In his hands looking straight at her
'friend'.
"of course bhai..thats raj…raj my bro armaa…"but she could not continue
as armaan had cut her off with another question"who raj??" "bhai….he is
my very very good friend .. I met him in London at the uni…."she trailed
off as she saw armaan giving out his hand to raj as a warm gesture.
Looking away from the scene her eyes landed on two girls standing at the
door and as excitement took over her she rushed past the 2 men toward
the girls..
"HEY!!! RIDS , SERS OMG u guys made it!!!!!!!!!!!!!" a hyper payal was
actually jumping up and down as she led them in. "hey payal.. ummm this
is for u "said rids with a huge smile on her face as she handed over a
bouquet of tulips ..payal's chirpiness was infectious.
"okay I need u to meet my bro..but where is he??" as rids looked around
she noiced how huge their hall was. She was rich…very rich. As she stood
their absorbing the details while sers went on and on about mark and
payal had gone away to find armaan…her eyes landed on
mark…"MARK!!!!!"she cried out.."rids.. I know um saying mark was…"
"nonono.." she cut off sers "mark is here I mean there..look" she said
pointing her hand toward the correct direction.."oohhh mark!! Um just
gonna go tell him um here too k?? I guess he knows the bro..he was telin
me he had to go somewhere but I was busy so could not talk to him
properly..k??" and without waiting for an ans. She went leaving rids alone.
Hmmm so what do I do now?? Rids thought of walkin to the bar and ask
for a coke but she spotted this huge bunch of guys doing tequila
shots..she presumed it was some lame comp. thing ..max. tequila shots
equals winner. I think I should go the lawn .. no one's there .
As she stepped into the lawn she could not help but notice the neatly
trimmed grass and the rows and rows of orchids. She thought it was
beauty personified. She went and sat on the swing letting the cool wind
kiss her face..
"there u r… I have been ooking for u since forever… here meet bhai..n
bhai meet my frend.."
as she turned around it seemed as if the world had turned all topsy-
turvy.there stood infront of her was
&nb sp;&nb sp;&nb sp;&nb sp;&nb sp;&nb
sp;&nb
sp;&nb
sp; &nbs
p; ;
"ARMAAN.."
"something similar had happened to armaan but he for a sec thought he
was perhaps hallucinating but her voice proved to him that it was not a
dream
&nb sp;&nb sp;&nb sp;&nb sp;&nb sp;&nb
sp;&nb
sp;&nb
sp; &nbs
p; ;
"RIDDHIMA"
"ummm…u guys no each other?? How …omg!!!!" payal finally put two n
two together and was startled to see them both in an eyelock. She not
wanting to be a witness to this scene went away from there …to hide
nearby ..afterall she had to see how rids reacted with armaan so that a
proper analysis could be made …
"hey… u know payal?" asked armaan after finally coming out from the
daze.."yeah i..met her while shopping with sers for her college stuff.." "um
sure u must have shopped for urs ages ago.."and looking at the
questioning look in her eyes armaan contd."I don't know but u seem like
a perfectionist..u know someone who is prim n proper n mayb a teacher's
pet"getting a murderous look from her he quickly added"just kidding ..
honey!!"
"honey??"rids asked sounding incredulous" um NOT ur HONEY!!!! And no
um not the teachers pet .. infact I do my courses by corres. I dnt go to
uni."she finished off with her rms folded . "u don't go to college??? But y
rids??"
rids could see that this time armaan had asked her not out of curiosity
but out of genuine concern for her .. his eyes could not lie every time and
unable to hold onto his piercing gaze any longer she looked away from
him only to feel his finger on her chin making her look towards him
again.
"y ridsy.. tell me.. "armaan continued now resting his hands on her waist.
Somehow this time riddhima's heart did not allow her to lie and she spoke
up"armaan … u don't know but things in my past… that day when u did
not trust me… I .. I .. was armaan I was' she trailed off..as armaan began
"ssshhh ridsy.. um sorry.. I shld have trusted u but I can promise u one
thing I will NEVER RIDSY NEVER EVER leave u again..um gonna be there
for u FOREVER!!"as he said those words something triggered off in rids's
heart and she leaned her head on armaan's chest and started sobbing
letting off months of pent up emotions.
As armaan held rids close to him hearing her hearbeat speed up when
she started sobbing he held her tighter gently caressing her hair
consoling her.
A scream from inside interrupted their moment "aaaaaahhhhhhh."
Breaking apart from their hug they looked at each other letting their eyes
do all the talking . it seemed as if a neww bond was formed between
them .. one of trust and faith.
But before they could get any word spoken they were interrupted by all
the people rushing towards the lawn with mark and raj as the leaders. As
they went past the 2 towards the garden table armaan caught hold of
payal and interrogated her about the whole mess"what the hell is going
on payal??" "actually bhai.. these ppl are gonna have this eye locking
competion with their partners and whichever couple goes on the longest
wins the PRIZE!!!"she said motioning toward the rush of ppl. And contd.
"and u KNOW THE prize….. chocolate fudge which shall be spcially
prepared by me and only for that person and no I will not make it for u
later on in the middle of the night" and turning now toward rids she
elaborated"actually rids bhai..here LOVES chocolate fudge and makes me
get up in the middle of the night so that I give up on my beauty sleep and
mix the huge chunks of ice-cream that fill our freezer with chocolate
syrup.."she ended while hurrying on to keep up with the crowd.
"soo FRIENDS???" Armaan asked rids while handing out his hand for her
to shake which rids now gladly took as she was sure that whatever had
happened between them was all a misunderstanding but not thinking for
a minute how armaan knew something happened that night…"yes
armaan..friends.."and noticing his longing gaze toward the comp. table
asked him"u really like ice-cream don't you??" running his hand through
his hair he answered"nah… not ice-cream in general just chocolate
fudge.."he trailed off now watchng mark and sers in an eyelock." So u
wanna go try ??"
"huh? Try what?"
"u no the game..v cld. Give it a shot u know..i mean if u want.." she
trailed off letting her words hand in mid air"DEFINITELY!!!" and saying so
he took her hand and led her towards the table…
sitting infront of each other looking into their eyes they cld. Not think of
anything else but them.. their eyes speking volumes to each other a if
connecting their hearts for ever and ever. After what seemed like only a
few seconds to rids and armaan a loud cheering brought them out of a
land where only the 2 of them existed.
"omg bhai u won!!!!" an enthusiastic payal slapped her bro on the back.
'yeah I know..now my ice-cream.."he said with a childlike pout.
On seeing his expression rids cld. Not help herself from letting out a
giggle and as armaan turned around to face her with the same expression
her laugh increased and she pulled armaan's cheeks"shit u r soo CUTE!!!!"
and armaan's frown finally became a smile and kept deepening as he
realized that he was in love with the most extraordinary woman in the
world…yes he was in LOVE..TRUE LOVE..LOVE THAT HELD NO BOUNDS…..
PART 13
As the morning rays of the sun hit her face rids got up with a huge smile
on her face and remembering yesterday nights events her smile
deepened.she could not believe she had actually forgiven armaan and was
now actually looking forward to their chats and the best part she felt was
that armaan knew at least a part of her past if not the entire thing. Also
another thing which made her look at armaan in a different light was his
non-interfering nature. He had not once asked her about that night infact
on the contrary he made sure that whatever they talked was miles away
from it.
As she tilted her head and saw the clock she nearly had a heart attack , it
was 7:30 and her classes began at 8:00 giving her exactly half an hour to
get dressed before her professor came and started the lessons for the
day. She got dressed and grabbed an apple to eat while waiting for the
teacher.while waiting however her mind could not help thinking of last
nights events yet again ….
After they had won the comp. he had got the 2 cups of chocolate fudge
that payal had made for them to this seclused area in the lawn and
instead of gobbling them up as rids had expected he took atleast a
minute to finish with each bite.. infact rids had finished with hers even
before armaan had reached the half of his. Watcing him eat the ice-
cream so slowly while hardly making any convo. She could not help but
eyeing his cup …"forget it ridsy.. u aint getting even a single bite out of
this " embarrassed on being caught she looked away from the cup and
looked directly into his eyes"I was NOT eyeing the cup… " "yeah .. yeah ..
like I don't know how much u love ice-cream.. for heavens sake u had 2
sundaes.. no triple sundaes immediately after lunch … "
"hey its my tummy… I can eat what I wish to…"rids retorted while
pointing her finger to her stomach. "I know its your tummy mummy" he
rubbed her stomach with his hand over the thin material of her white
shirt . as his cold hands made contact with her warm body she felt a
sudden jolt.. an electric current she thought and for a few seconds she
forgot to breathe and simply savoured his caressing touch on her belly
which seemed to be laying the foundation for fireworks inside her body.
She slapped away his hand as soon as she regained her composure but
had missed out on what he said to her during those few seconds or was it
minutes she mused.." hey that hurts!!" "precisely the reason I did it"
while trying to get the cup out of his hands which by now he was
transferring from hand to hand …."no ridhima.. u r not getting it"he said
in an firmer voice making her stop in her tracks..
"ridhima???? "and gauging from his look that he did not understand what
she meant simply said" anyway.. it's okay.. u can have the cup.."and
looked away.
"hey whats wrong?? U k??"he was surprised by her sudden reaction and
keeping his cup on a nearby slab went upto her..
"ridhima?? "his tone gave away worry for her . when she still did not turn
he held her shoulders gently and turned her around . looking in her eyes
he saw something he had not noticed ever before .. not knowing what was
happening he asked her yet again "ridhima !!!! say something dammit!!"
"I was not ridhima for u .. I thought I was.."
"rids!!!! Omg u r crazy.. absolutely crazy.. u insane woman" he knew
something had disturbed her but thought it was something related to
that night .. never had he thought that the reason would be this and
sighing in relief he pulled her into a hug. "stupid girl.. I freaked out so
bad rite now..n yes u r rids for me k???"
unhugging herself from him she did not know why she said what she did
when she looked into his eyes "I like it when u call me ridsy.. it's more
informal.. every one calls me rids … " "fine that's what I ll call u
always"chuckled armaan while rids contd. "oh and it's okay u can have the
cup …just give me the ice-cream"and she grabbed the cup and ran away
with an amazed armaan trying to catch her. He knew now the look inher
eyes spelt mischief and a lot of innocence even if she had faced a lot of
hardships in life…and this was how they had spent their entire evening
bickering, making up and bickering again.
She had loved every single moment and so when armaan asked her to
lunch with him today she did not refuse but now she thought how he
would make it // she had forgotten he had college..
"I guess he forgot too… maybe we'll just go some other day"she could
not stop the dissapointment she felt surfacing in her voice.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@
he had got her orchids when he was on his way to pick her up from
college..he knew she would love them . now ringing on her door bell for
the 3rd time he felt irritated… WHY THE HELL IS SHE NOT OPENING THE
DOOR … IS SHE OKAY??? DID SHE JUST STAND ME UP??? NO ARMAAN
CALM DOWN MAN … SHE'S A NICE GIRL SHE WONT DO SOMETHING LIKE
THIS!!!
Finally seeing the handle turn he felt relieved..standing in an apron
around her black spaghetti and navy blue long skirt she looked tooooo
cute acc. To armaan. As he gave her one of his famous bear hugs he
asked"Ridsy..what took u soooo long to open the door huh??"
"sctually armaan I thought u won't come today.. I mean u have ur coll n
al…so " now that he actually saw her properly he registered the surprise
on her face ..HMM SHE THINKS I DON'T KEEP PROMISES ??? SHE HAS A
THING COMING UP…. OK WHAT IS SHE LOOKING AT ..SHIT THE ORCHIDS
….
"UMM YEAH .. dese" he said pointing to the bunch in his hand"not for u .."
"ARMAAAAAAAN!!" rids whined as she knew he was troubling her and
snatched away the flowers from him."n no thnx!!"
"r u gonna lemme come in??"rids realizing that they were still at the door
moved aside for him to enter …"by the way I forgot to mention..love ur
garden..can I take some pics??"
" u want to take shots of my garden?".."yeah .. but if u want then.. then..
"he edged closer to her…pinning her to the wall.. he chukled seeing she
had gone red and came close to his ear brushing her earlobe with his lips
"then..then..i .. I can even click ur neighbour's garden..wah wah..kya
garden hai… nazar naa lag jaaye!!"he screamed into her ear and walked
away to the garden.
SHIT Y DOES HE DO THAT TO ME?? DOES THIS STUPID MAN REALISE HOW
GOOD HE SMELLS??? I DOUBT IT !!!! AND WAIT Y .. Y WOULD HE WANT TO
TAKE SHOTS OF MY LAWN.. I KNOW IT'S A BEAUTY BUT STILL.. MAIN BHI
TOH HUN… HAIN?? WAT THE HELL M I THINKING??? N UM HUNGRY…
"Hey armaan!" she followed him into the lawn" so u wanna go out for
lunch or v could have something at home.. I could make something.."
"ok.. lunch at home nd dinner outside k…n um listening to no excuses!!!"
"but armaan sers.."armaan interrupted her and informed her that sers
would go out with mark on a date…
"oh! Fine then… I ll be ready…" … "gr8.. so shall v head back inside coz
um very hungry" ..and linking their arms they went inside to a fun filled
lunch .. it seemed they both had a new past time.. taunting and teasing
each other while at the same time showing concern and love unknowingly
in these small squabblres….
"be ready gorgeous .. I ll pick u up at 7:30 k?"and went off to his car after
seeing rids nod his head in agreement while blushing at the compliment.
she had been doing that the entire afternoon. He was lucky he thought
his imp. classes had gotten over in the morning and the afternoon class
was not imp. So he could easily get out. He had been very excited for this
lunch date and seeing her in that apron..AWWWW SHE IS SOOOOOOOOO
CUTE!! AND I LOVE HER!! HMMM AND NOW FOR THIS DINNER DATE..
SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE IT A SPECIAL NIGHT AND I THINK
I KNOW THE EXACT WAY TO DO SO!!! HEHEHEHEHEHE
RIDDHIMA..NONONO RIDSY MERI PYAARI RIDSY AAGE AAGE DEKHO HOTA
HAI KYA!!!
As she sat infront of her dresser getting ready she thought of the lunch
and she giggled thinking how he had caught her in an apron looking like
some domestic goddess. BUT Y DID HE ASK ME OUT AGAIN? MAY BE HE
LIKES ME? OH!PLZZ RIDS HE KNOWS A PART OF UR HISTORY AND
KNOWING THAT Y WLD HE LIKE ME?? BUT HIS KISS THE ODER NIGHT ..OH!
MAN HOW I WLD LOVE TO FEEL HIS LIPS AGAIN ..WAT? WAIT A SEC
RIDDHIMA GUPTA U R NOT DESPERATE SO FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE DON'T
EVEN SOUND LIKE SOME WIERDO TONIGHT ..YUP THAT'S ME CALM AND
COMPOSED RIDHIMA NO RIDSY FOR HIM… BUT Y M I THINKING ALL THIS??
DO I …NO WAY .. UM GOING CRAZY THAT'S IT ….
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP ……
A car horn jutted her out of her contradictory thoughts and she hurried
out of the house knowing it was armaan and she was eager very eager to
meet him as something told her that tonight's events might lead to a
change in the pattern of her life……
PART 14
As soon as armaan had reached home after having the best lunch of his
entire life payal had bombarded him with around a million thousand
questions and only after being given a detailed description was she
satisfied. "ok. So u r going to dinner with her ..hmm and what exactly
have u planned for the night n don't u lie that u haven't thought of
nething!!!"
"I have fine!!.. but y do I tell u ??" "hmm lets see coz ur neway dumb n I
dnt wnt UR stupid plans to spoil ne LITTLE chance that u have got with
her!!!"even as payal said it she knew it was not the truth .. she had seen
their interaction at the party and later armaan had confided each n every
single detail in her so she was sure that whatever there was between
them it was from both the sides and as far as his plan went , even though
she knew wat a die hard romantic he was .. she still wanted to know to be
on the safe side.
"ok…"armaan started a bit reluctantly.."well I was planning I ll take her
for a movie… u know a horror one "and looking at the confused look on
payal's face he continued"a horror one coz u know.. u girls are such
darpoks.. I mean she ll get scared and hug me tight………..oye oye!!!" as
he finished he was already in lala land and payal had to smack him on the
head for him to come back to planet earth…
"absolutely FAALTU!!! U r trying put moves on her!!!!!" "huh??? Arre I wnt
put my moves… she will.. coz I wont get scared SHE WILL!!!"armaan
whined."u men disgust me!!" payal was livid and to stop her from hitting
him again on the head which armaan feared she would he quicky added
"actually I was thinking about a comedy also.. I mean she ll laugh.. she
hasn't done so u know for a long time " AND PLUS SHE LOOKS DOWN
RIGHT HOT WITH THAT CUTE SMILE PLAYING ON HER LIPS.. HER
LIPS..HMMMM THEY WERE YUMMY JUST LIKE CHOCOLATE FUDGE WITH
EXTARA CHOCOLATE SYRUP..YUM YUM…THEY SHOULD BE IN THE LIST OF
10 MOST DELICIOUS THINGS IN THE WORLD..SHE LL TOP THE LIST ..!!
"worse… okay fine I ll tell u wat u ll do……"and payal went on explaining
her plan.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
he looked at her coming out of the house wearing a black knee length
dress which brought out her curves perfectly and at that moment he had
to agree payal's idea would be better. He came out of his car and went to
the other side just as rids reached him."hey.. ridsy.. u r lookin gorgeous.."
"thnx.."she answered back while lowering her eyes out of shyness.
"so.. shall we??"armaan opened the passenger door and asked her to
settle down.
as he started driving the inevitable question came up"umm.. armaan
where r we going?" he was prepared with his answer"somewhere u will
have lots of fun and where u ll forget all ur worries .. hopefully…"he did
not take his eyes off the road even once while answering coz he knew if
he saw into those green eyes he would drown and this kind of irritated
rids…WAT THE HELL!!!! AM I LOOKING SOO BAD THAT HE IS NOT EVEN
LOOKING AT ME???HEY.. BUT HE JUST COMPLIMENTED ME … THIS GUY I
TELL U IS SOOO CONFUSED ND SO NOT GOOD WTH THE GIRLS… AND
WHATS WITH THE WHOLE TALKING IN RIDDLES ..CAN'T HE SIMPLY TELL
ME WHERE EXACTLY WE ARE GOING… ITS EVEN MORE ANNOYING THAN
FINDING HIM LOOKING TOTALLY IRRESISTIBLE TODAY .. OMG BLUE
SERIOUSLY BRINGS OUT THE COLOUR IN HIS EYES.. AND THE WHOLE KEEP
THE TOP FEW BUTTONS OPEN SO THAT A BIT OF MY CHEST IS REVEALED
AND I GO EVEN MORE MENTAL AFTER JUST ONE LOOK AT IT!!
OOOHHHH!!!!
Her train of thoughts was however interrupted as armaan pulled up
infront of a lake which had a mall narrow path from its side leading to
someplace rids was unaware of .
Armaan opened her door and offered his hand for her to take . "its
beautiful armaan!!" she said taking in her surroundings and as she felt his
gaze on her she looked at him getting lost in those deep blue eyes……
the eyelock would have gone on forever had rids not realized what they
were doing and looked away. As armaan too came back into his senses
he saw rids walking toward the edge of the lake .. he grabbed her wrist
and turned her towards him .."ridsy.. " he said coming closer to
her..:ridsy.. v have to go that way"and saying so he held her towards the
narrow path. As the path came to an end rids could have sworn she had
never seen a more beautiful sight .. there was the entire view of the lake
instead of just a part of it and right there in a corner was this huge ship
which was decorated with ferry lights and looked magnificent…
"U like the ship??" armaan asked her worried she would not like it."no.. I
don't like it…"rids replied and turning her face towards him she
continued"I don't like it armaan…. I LOVE IT!!!! Its just absolutely
mindblowing!!" . on an impulse she hugged armaan tightly.. it seemed as
if to never let go and as he encircled his arms around her waist they both
wanted time to stop. & nbsp;
Satisfied she liked it he led her to the ship. he asked the sailor to start
the ship as they made their way to the upper level . rids saw a table for 2
with a candle right in the middle waiting for them under the stars .
After settling down armaan asked her to select whatever she would like to
eat from the different assortments placed on a table at the corner of the
terrace.
As they setlled with their food rids was surprised to hear music floating
in the air .."armaan wat's that?"he loved the look on her face.. he knew
for a fact that shw was enthralled with the arrangements.."u like this
song??"
"yes.. Its one of my favorites but somehow the voice seems different.. nice
but diff." armaan chuckled at her statement and cleared away all her
doubts.."actually ridsy.. I sung it… n just recorded them…they were for
an audition I gave long time ago for the place of a singer but well the
band was never formed ..so it just has all my favorites in the cd."
"omg!! Armaan u can sing.. I mean u sing wow!!" FORGET WOW!! I HAVN'T
HEARD SUCH A MAGICAL VOICE EVER.. SHIT MAN I HATE U FOR BEING
PERFECT!! N I HATE MYSELF FOR LOVING EVERYTHING U DO.. Y ..Y THE
HELL CANT I NOT BE AFFECTED BY HIM??
"So dance?" armaan got up from his chair and asked for her hand. She
agreed and they went in hand and hand to the dance floor. He made her
place both her hands around his neck and circled the small of her waist
with his own. The song had ended and a new started playing which it
seemed was perfectly fit to their emotions since the day they had first
met specially armaan's who now held her so close to himself that they
could hear each other's heart beats and not even a pin could pass
between them. His grip around was tight yet gentle and rids was loving
every part of it.they started swaying to the new song as it begun….
Kahaan tum khho gaey
When I close my eyes
I can see you all around me
When I close my eyes
there's nothing there
Yeah
When I close my eyes,
I see you all around
It seems so fake to me
coz nothing's there for real
You left my broken heart,
alone out there to bleed
It still hopes that you come back,
will we ever meet
When I close my eyes
I can see you all around me
When I close my eyes
there's nothing there
and you surround me
it hurts me when you say
that I don't care for you
When every time I had,
I always thought of you
You mean so much to me,
without you I can't survive
I want you to know that
I'll love you all my life
When I close my eyes
I can see you all around me
When I close my eyes
there's nothing there
and you surround me
Kahaan tum khho gaey
kahaan tum khho gaey
yeah
When I close my eyes hmmm
I can see you, yeah all around me, oh ooo
When I cloose my eyes there's nothing there
there's nothing there, yeah
(to listen to this song by omer inayat the link is-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuU_J_njnts)
as the song ended both of them stopped still oblivious to their
surroundings and rids could see the passion and love in armaan's eyes
she closed her eyes to savour the moment while amaan's hand went up to
her cheek carrasing it . she could feel him coming closer to her…."uh!..
ridsy I think we are getting late .. v shld head back home.."
"HUH????? OH…fine" she stepped back from him as they made their way
back to the table to collect her purse . "hey um sorry.."WHAT IS WITH
THIS GUY..W HY THE HELL IS HE SAYING SORRY.. N WHY THE HELL DO I
CARE???
"armaan y r u saying sorry?" "coz I shld not have been so rude to u and
asked u to head back home wen the truth is I myself wanna stay here..
with u .."
"oh! Its k.. I mean uh…" ….." actually .. I did not mean to do .. I mean"OH!
SO HE DID NOT WANNA B SO CLOSE TO ME ON THE DANCE FLOOR!!1 IS
THAT WAT HE WANTS TO IMPLY.. OKAY NOW Y DOES THAT HURT ME .. Y
THE HELL UM I CRYING????
"HEY ridsy.. um sooo sorry.. I did not wanna hurt u at all.."SHIT WEN I DO
SOMETHIG SHE STARTS CRYING… NOW WEN I DID NOT DO ANYTHING SHE
STARTS CRYIBG AGAIN!!! WOMAN WHAT THE HELL DO U WANT ME TO
DO????? I WAS NEVER GOOD AT DECISION MAKING ANYWAY….
"U r rite v shld head back home .. "she tried keeping her emotions in
check.."umm okay!!!" and they made their way back to the car in
silence .. each lost in their own thoughts….
PART 14 B
As they silently sat in the car armaan could still not put his finger on to
wat exactly went wrong and looking at the highly was it dissapointment
or hurt expression on rids's face he failed to understand wat he did. As
they neared the car his mind began to work overtime thinking of wat he
cld. do to get her into her cheerful mode again."ridsy… um sorry for
whatever happened ..k?"
As rids looked into his eyes she could tell he was genuinely sorry but she
still cld. not stop herself from wonderng why she felt bad wen he simply
walked off…"so.. I was wndering ridsy.. cld. we like go some place n just
talk.. ?"
"yeah sure.. I wld like that" OKAY THIS IS GOING TO BE WEIRD.. WAT IF HE
ASKS ME Y I FELT BAD ..OH! MAN UM SUCH a GONNER!!!"
they sat in silence through out the car ride and wen armaan could not
take it nemore he on an impulse stopped the car ….
She sat stunned … her legs refusing to move as she registered her
surroundings… they were at the beach…
Armaan sensed wat she was going through and made her get out of the
car. He cld. see the terror in her eyes and he felt the pain with her. Seeing
the tears run down her cheek he simply hugged her. She pulled away."y
have u got me here? " "ridsy.. we I mean u n I .. well it was here that we
first met n I just wanted to clear out all doubts u have right here.. I know
its painful for u but I want u to overcome that fear .. I want u to live ur
life"
"NO!!! ARMAAN U SPEAK OF THINGS U KNOW NOTHING ABOUT"she had
started screaming as images from the past filled her mind."ARMAAN!! U
DON'T KNOW ANYTHING OF MY PAST.. I WAS… I"
He shook her by the shoulders "RIDS!! I know.. k ? know everything!!"
"no u dnt armaan u just know that some hooligans were following me …
but its not the complete truth".."look rids calm down" he tried soothing
her down as he felt her going into a state of shock and looking at her in
this condition he had tears in his eyes. He hugged her again and this time
even as she struggled to break free he held on to her making his grasp
tighter."I know ridsy… I was the one who took u to the hospital that
day…"
she felt as if her world came crashimg down at her feet. He knew.. he
knew .. all along that I was raped.. and he was the one .. the one I was
longing to meet .. the one who I knew would help .. the one I loved!!!
Armaan continued"that day while walking back I heard this noise and wen
I to the spot I saw u dere .. n I took u to the hospital den .. I wanted to
wait rids.. I really did.. but when the docs told me they wld have to call
the cops I got scared riddhima … I did not know how to be around
them… so I went back"he cupped her face lovingly with his hands"but
believe me riddhima I did not once forget u in all these months ..i was
guilty and the guilt kept eating me from inside and wen I met u that day
with sers in the restaurant I felt as if GOD had given me a second chance
to apologize to you.. "
Riddhima looked up and found honesty there and this time she did not
know what she was doing ut followed her instincts and heart..
"armaan thank-you!!!!..for saving me that day.. if u wld. Not have taken
me to the hospital.."she shuddered thinking wat wld. Have happened.
"rids.. u don't need to be thankful to me .. I need to be sorry .. I shld.
Have belived you..um sorry rids.. plz forgive me.. plzzzz' he broke down
and slid to his knees while a stunned rids was finally letting out all her
bottled emotions with the very person shewanted to do so with……
she sat down next to him and hugged him… as they both sat hugging
each other and crying out their hearts the waves and the moonlight stood
still witnessing a new start to their relationship….
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@
as the morning rays hit his face armaan woke up and taking in his
surroundings his face broke into a huge grin which deepened on seeing
rids lying next to him with her head on his chest, his arms around her
stomach holding her close and their legs entangled.. a perfectly natural
position for lovers to sleep inhe felt.WOW!! I CAN'T BELIVE I FINALLY
APOLOGISED TO HER AND SHE FORGAVE ME!! JEEZ.. UM LUCKY!!!!! GOD,
SHE LOOKS LIKE SLEEPING BEAUTY RIGHT NOW.. AND HOW I WISH I
COULD BE HER PRINCE CHARMING.. HEY SHE'S SLEEPING MAYBE A SLIGHT
PECK ON HER CHEEK WON'T MAKE A DIFFERENCE..OFCOURSE IT WONT..
AFTER ALL I LOVE HER!! OMG!!1 DID I JUST SAY THAT I LOVE HER???? LOVE
?? I LOVE HER?? I LOVE HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Lve u sweetheart.."he whispered slowly and bent down and gave a peck
on her nose and cheeks. HEY BHAGGU!!! ISKE TOH GAAL BHI KITNE
YUMMY HAI.. HAI!!!!
He felt her stirring and immediately pretended to be sleeping.
WHERE THE HELL AM I??? she wondered as she opened her eyes. OMG!! I
CANT BELIVE HE IS THE OE I LOVED ALL ALONG!! WELL FINE I NEVER
REALLY LOVED HIM LIKE LOVED WITH ALL MY HEART BUT I DID LOVE
HIM..UUUGHGH UM NOT EVEN MKING ANY SENSE..N JESUS CHRIST LOOK
AT HOW WE WERE SLEEPING TOGETHER…she blushed as the thought
crossed her mind.SLEEPING TOGETHER AND HE LOOKS SOOO CUTE
..AWWWW!!! HE'S SLEEPING LIKE A LITTLE BABY!! AND I LOVE BABIES.she
impulsively bent down and kissed him softly on his cheek and gently
ruffled his hair.
"armaan !! wake up.."she probed him and as he opened his eyes she
lowered hers out of shyness . "armaan.. ..".. not wanting the moment to
pass by armaan just held her tighter and smiled on hearing her gasp ever
so lightly "yeah.. wat is it ridsy??" .."ummm I think we shld leave … its 7
already"she checked the time on her watch but armaan was not ready to
let go of her…."ok .. so u get up first"HEHEHE NOW WHAT WILL YOU DO??
UM SO NOT GOING TO LET U GET UP ..NOT YET ANYWAY… PLUS I LIKE TO
FEEL U CLOSE TO ME …. AND GOSH U SMELL AMAZING.....OYE HOYE!!!!!
"armaan plzzzz I m really getting late …. "he saw something in her eyes
at that moment ..he was not sure what it was… he realized he would have
to work on those eyes..which if he was not mistaken showed fear…. He
understood she was not ready completely for any sort of relationship
even though he knew for a fact now after last night that she too felt
something for him…"Fine fine!! Ridsy.. u win!! Um just kidding…" he got
up and helped her up too.
"so lets head bach home.. I ll drop u k?".."uhuh!! fine lets go…" SITTING
IN THE CAR SHE FINAALY HAD TIME TO ANNALYSE HER THOUGHTS rids
was glad he had not taken any advantage of her vulnerable position .. she
now respected him even more . HE IS JUST THE PERFECT MAN!!! HE IS
CARING, AFFECTIONATE, I KNOW THROUGH HIS ACTIONS NOW.. SO IT IS
SAFE TO SAY ROMANTIC…AND I FEEL SOOO ATTRACTED TO HIM.. AND
OH! MAN THE COINCIDENCE HE SAVED ME … HE WAS THE ONE!! I LOST
MY HEART TO HIM SUCH A LONG TIME AGO BUT THAT TIME I JUST LOVED
SOME GUY WHO SAVED ME AND I KNEW IT WAS NEVER LOVE LOVE.. BUT
NOW WITH HIM..GOSH I FEEL IT SO STRONGLY …HAVE I REALLY FALLEN
FOR HIM?? NO RIDS.. U CANT.. U HAVE TO 100% SURE U CNT GET HURT
AGAIN..BUT HE DOESNY SEEM LIKE THE TYPE WHO'LL HURT ME … OR
NEONE..HE IS SOOO NICE!!!!!!
"Here u go madam… ur home "rids looked up to see armaan holding
open the passener door of his car for her."thnx again armaan.. I don't
know how to … ".."hey its k!! v r frends n I don't think u thank or
apologise to ur close frends ..n the same rule applies here as well..
alright!!"he put out his hand for a handshake"FRIENDS??" .."armaan v
already r frennds.."
"I know we are but from today v r gonna be best frends.. who have no
secrets between them k??.. so frends??" this time aking his hand in hers
she replied positively as ears of joy formed in her eyes..FINALLY A FREND
WHO KNOWS EVERYTHING… WHERE I DON'T HAVE TO PRETEND!!!
Rids decided then and there as armaan wiped off the little tears that had
formed that no matter wat happened she would never lose this frend
never!!!!
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
"rids??? Where the hell were u .. shit I was so worried..!!" sers screamed
into the phone . rids had called her to inform her that she was back home
and also to ask her how her date went ..I WONDER WAS HER DATE WITH
MARK AS GOOD AS MINE WITH ARMAAN.. THE SHIP..THE CANDLE LIGHT
DINNER ..EVERYTHING JUST EVERYTHING HAD BEEN PERFECT FOR ME LAST
NIGHT!!!"oho..sers..me n armaan were talking and did not realize the time
..k? so chill..n now tell me how was ur date??".."oh! rids.. it wa sgr8888.
We had candle light dinner..and ooohh!!!1 it was brilliant! . WHAT IS WITH
MEN AND CANDLE LIGHTS???? OR ACTUALLY I THINK ITS US WOMEN.. WE
LOVE THE AURA… HMMM.. MUST ASK Y ARMAAN THOUGHT OF A CANDLE
LIGHT??CAN I ASK HIM THAT?? OF COURSE I CAN HE IS MY FREND NOW…
AND WE HAVE NO SECRETS…NO SECRETS…..
PART 15
"NO… armaan am soo not agreeing to u.." rids shook her head negatively
while trying to get some sense into armaan's head over the
phone."cumon ridsy..yaar.. I seriously don't understand wat the problem
is ?? I discussed it with u last night and u did see sum sense then u r back
to square one..AGAIN???" armaan was getting irritated now and rids cld.
feel the edge in his voice. After talking to each other every single day for
around an hour in the min. and meeting each other at the first
opportunity they got , both of them understood each other like never and
no one before. UUGHH!! Y DOES THIS MAN NEVER SEE SOME ONE ELSE'S
POINT OF VIEW.. EVER?? I HAVE NOT BEEN TO COLL FOR THE PAST SO
MANY MONTHS AND NOW AGAIN .. NO WAY AND PLUS THE WHOLE
JOINING IN THE 2ND YEAR WILL RASE SO MANY QUES. .. I CANT ANSWER
THEM!!!
As if sensing her thoughts over the phone he sais quietly"ridsy .. hun.. u
don't have to answer anybody anything..no one has any right to ask u
anything and if they do.. they have to answer me first"
"its not that easy.. I need to think about it.. I need time armaan.. but I
promise I ll think about it…k? and now we won't talk about it
anymore..".."okay … we won't.. but I m seriously glad u r going to think …
waise I knew u wonul ultimately give up..after all how can u give up on an
opportunity of spending some more time with me .. we will be in the
same campus if not the same classes… "OYE HOYE!!! HUM DONO EK
CAMPUS MEIN BAND HO AUR SAB CHALE JJAYE…. HEHEHE… AM
TOOOOOO GOOD.. OH!SHIT WAT WAS THAT? PAYAL??? WAT IS SHE
DOING.. JESUS CHRIST! WATS WID THE NOISE.. I BETTER CHECK.."ridsy.. I ll
talk to u later I gotta go check on payal k? bye,take care…n see
ya!"…"keeping the phone down ridsy could not help counting her lucky
stars that she got such an amazing friend or was he more?
Meanwhile at armaan's house he was busy counting all the bad deeds he
must have done in his previous life that his sweet sister had gone
mental!!he had rushed into payal's room on hearing noises only to find
her swinging a sword over her head like some madwoman.. actually a
karate chop whatever that was chmpion agter he heard the explanation
she had to give."bhai..look I can ssswwwiiiiiiiiinng…hhhhheheeeeeeee..i
love it. My trainer asked me to practice so … GET OUT OF THE WAY U
DONKEY!! OR I LL HIT U WITH IT N LIKE THESE WALL HANGINGS U LL ALSO
BREAK .."…"payal..look sweety meri pyaari behna. Will u let me know y
exactly r u taking sword swinging classes??".."DUFFER!! karate chopping…
hhaaiieeya!!!" MAMA!!! WAT IS WRONG WID HER..?? NONOONO THAT'S MY
HEAD WOMAN!NOT A PLATE! AAAHH HELP… SOMOENE CALL 911 U FOOL
..
"PAYAL!!!enough…sit down " he shouted at payal who never having heard
armaan speak to her in that tone immediately obliged. Sitting down on
the couch payal finally realized that her brother was kind off out of sync..
he had something on his mind what she did not understand."is something
bothering u bhai? Whch reminds me u did not tell me wat happened with
riddhima that night on the date.. I mean u did tell me u guys had fun but
the details are still missing.." "I know .. but no details to tell just get the
gist of it. We are friends … for now!!" 'friends?? Is that all u wanna b with
her? U love her bhai..n I think it's high time u ask her" "no .. I cant I know
I love her but she needs time I think to realize correctly wat she feels.. I
think she's confused . plus I need her to join college so that she can get
her life back on track in every way. She said she'll tell me tonight over
dinner..yea.. I 4got to tell u I asked her for dinner n u have to be here k?..
" "oh! But y do I have to stay ? I mean won't u rather spend time alone? I
know coz I love spending time alone with….""WAT???? WHO R U TALKING
ABOUT PAYAL? R U DATING SOMEONE? R U ..HUH?R U ROMANTIC WITH
SOMEONE?" "Ummmm hehe bhai common..me involved wid some
one..hehe..uh .umm no bhai umm not at all just kdding around with
you…I gotta go k?so ill talk to u later" with that she rushd out of the
room b4 armaan cld put in another word of protest.
PAYAL IN LOVE?? ALIEN ON EARTH IS MORE LIKE IT!!! WHOZ D GUY
THOUGH? RAJ?? BUTHE WAS A VERY VERY GOOD FRIEND NOT BOYFRIEND!!
I HAVE TO FIGUR ETHIS OUT BUT HOW???? HMMMM KUCH TO KARNA
PAREGA!!!
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
that evening when rids came to his home for dinner she was more than
surprised to see payal open the door for her instead of armaan."hey
..payal..hi..long time did not see you in a while.. busy with studies?"
"huh?no actually…just studies!!" WAT?? OK..WAT IS WRONG WITH THIS
GIRL? I ASK IF SHE IS BUSY WID STUDIES N SHE ANSWERS NO SHE IS BUSY
WID STUDIES..HAIN?? IT DOES NOT MAKE NE SENSE…WHERE IS SHE LOST?
AND WHERE IS ARMAAN?? "rids bhai ws telling me u were gonna think
about coming back to uni n all.. so have u decided nething about it?"
"actually pam.. I ..i think will come back u know ur brother for a change
does make sense.. so yes I will..but don't tell armaan yet .. I wanna give
him a surprise k?" getting up payal gave rids a big hug conveying to her
that she was actually very happy about her decision of coming back to
the uni. As they parted from their hug armaan came running into the hall
all out of breath GOD!! I AM NEWAY ALL OUT OF OXYGEN FROM ALL THIS
RUNNING AROUND FOR THE PERFECT GIFT TO GIVE RIDSY AS HER
RETURN TO UNI PRESENT AFTER ALL SHE WILL SAY YES I KNOW THAT BUT
Y THE HELL DOES SHE HAVE TO LOOK O GOOD EVEN IN THIS SIMPLE
OKAY CUT THAT VERY SEXY BLACK OH MAN I MUST BE DREAMING SHORT
SKIRT???!!!! WOW!!! I THINK AM GONNA HAVE AN ASTHMA ATTACK!!!!!
SOMEONE CALL THE AMULANCE… ARMAAN MALIK CALM DOWN!!!! RELAX
DUDE.. BREATHE IN . BREATHE OUT…PHEW!!
"hey ridsy"he hugged her taking in the smell of her shampoo as her hair
made their way onto his face."hey armaan.." GOD HE SMELLS SO NICE.. I
REALLY NEED TO ASK WHICH SCENT HE USES… MUST RECOMMMEND IT
TO SERS FOR MARK..WAIT A SEC!!! HOW CAN I DO THAT?? THIS IS HIS
SMELL.. I CANT LET MARK SMELL THE SAME!! POOR SERS SHE HAS NO
IDEA WAT SHE IS MISSING..HEHE.. WENEVR I HUG MARK HE REMINDS OF
SOME CHIMP..HEHE.."hey armaan sup?u look bummed out! Ne probs?"
"nah…tell me have u decided nething about the uni?"looking at his face
she cld not help but tell him the truth ..he looked so expectant that rids
did not have the heart to break his heart"yes armaan..i have n I ll be
coming to the uni.. infact already got the paper work done today
afternoon…""WHAT???? IT'S DONE!!u coming..k so tom. Morning um
comin to pick u up.k?" "armaan wats wrong?" even as he showed his
happiness jumping around the room and taing her along as he did so she
was not satisfie..there was something missing and as pam had left them
to cook something for the 2 wen he came she seized this moment to ask
him wat was troubling him.
Lookin into her eyes he realized he cld not lie and that he wld have to tell
the truth "rids I think ..actually..the problem is that I think .payal..she I
guess is romantic with someone…." Hearing her laugh out he raised his
head to see her sliding down on the floor next to him . taking his hhand
into hers she squeezed it gently and finally after her laughter eneded she
gently spoke to him"armaan she is a big girl now..i know you conside her
a kid but the fact remains she has grown up and I think if she is seeing
someone it's nothing wrong." 'I know..but that's not it .. the thing is I
don't even kow who she likes!! U know I tell her everything.. big or small
n here she does not tell me ids!!" "mayb coz she knew u wld react in
exactly the way u did!!y don't u talk to her?i think It ll help…both of u" "I
tried but she just escapes the whole thing some way or the other …I just
wish I knew who he was' "hmmm mayb I can help…" "u ?? how??" "that's
none of ur business… u want answers n ill get them for u k? happy now?"
"yea.. happy.. but I still don't get it how wll u do that?" "armaan leave
that to me.. jut trust me …""I do …. "and squeezing her hand back hwile
interlocking their fingers he whispered right next to her earlobe his lips
lingering on for a few xtra seconds"u r the best .. n dats y …I LOVE
YOU!!!!"
PART 16
" WHAT??" she turned around abruptly to face hm , armaan's words still
ringing in her ears like a melodious song which she felt she cld hear
through out her life STUPID MAN!! WHY IS HE AFFECTING ME LIKE THIS??
N Y DID I LIKE IT WHEN HE SAID THAT HE LOVES ME?? WAT THE HELL!! Y
IS HE STARING AT ME ..GULP.. LIKE THIS?? OH GOD PLZZ HELP ME!! UH…
Y DO I FEEL HE WANTS ME TO ANSWER.. SHIT!! HE SO DOES!! N NOW HE IS
SNAPPING HIS FINGERS IN FRONT OF ME.. PROBABLY TO WAKE ME UP
FROM MY DREAM.. CRAP!! AM DREAMING !?!?!?!?!
"hehehehe.. armi.. ur sooo funny "she tried tackling the situation in some
other way than the obvious "u love ME??... seriously u really had to crack
this one did u not?" she got up and turned her back towards him.
"I am not joking ridsy.. I love you.. I really do!" he went and stood infront
of her. She lowered her eyes unable to stand his gaze any longer and not
being able to laugh on the matter ne more either." Ridsy look at me"
"no armaan of course u don't love me.. u r just mistaken"
"I said look at me ridsy" his voice was gentle yet firm. He took hold of her
trembling hands and kissed them. Finally raising her eyes she looked into
his deep eyes filled with love that held no bounds and instantly got
captured into them.
Armaan understood very well the impact he was having on her and also of
the battle of emotions raging inside her at that moment.. but somehow
he felt the moment was right fo rhte confession to take place. WHAT
YAAR!!! THIS GIRL SO TOTALLY LOVES ME THEN Y DOES SHE NOT SIMPLY
SAY IT!!!!????? HAVE V NOT BEEN FRENDS FOR ENOUGH TIME ALREADY.. I
THINK V HAVE AND THIS CRAZY WOMAN I HAVE FALLEN CRAZILY FOR IS
CRAZY NOT TO SAY NETHING…UGHHHH CRAZY WORLD WITH CRAZY PPL!!
UFF!!
A;oud he said" ridsy.. I am deeply in love with you n .. I know u feel the
same.." she looked back at him with utter shock written all over her
faceHOW DID HE KNOW THAT I FEEL 4 HIM!?!?!? AM I THAT OBVIOUS???
NO WONDER MY SCHOOL CRUSHES WLD START AVOIDING ME!!! SOB SOB!!
RIDDHIMA WAT R U THINKING?? THI GUY LOOKS LIKE HE WANTS AN ANS.
OH OH..
"armaan .. I wont lie that I don't feel nething for u but I really don't know
if it's …love…I mean I like u .. a lot .. n I know this likeness is more than
friendy likin.. but love..i don't know armaan"
still holding her hands In his he gently squeezed them and removed one
hand only to plce it on her cheek . caressing it he said "ridsy u really don't
know?!?!... come on rids whom r u kidding?? I know u feel as strongly as I
feel about u so then y all this??"
"armi I love u .. as a best friend and even more perhaps..but I wanna b
sure b4 I commit myself to nething as serious as this…plzzz armaan give
me a little time…"
"given rids .. I give u my entire life to decide.. but I am sorry that…" he
saw rids getting tensed about his upcoming sentence. He cld almost
sense the bad thoughts going through her mind .
riddhima placed her hand on his which was still on her cheek he
continued "I am sorry ridsy sweetheart.. but I really cannot be just a frend
with u and I ope u don't expect me to do so"
"no armi I don't.. coz that wld kill me.. I like u more than a frend.. am
sure.. but love.. mayb.. as I said I just wanna b sure." Nodding his head in
understanding he bent and kissed her cheek which had a small tear
running down from her eye . sucking the tear he went towards her ear
and spoke in a husky voice which electrified rids till the core"never ever
do I wanna see these precious crystals coming out from this beautiful
ocean of expressions, warmth and love k?" he kissed her eyes one at a
time.
"ahem ahem" they bith turned around abruptly and immediately moving
away from each other to see who was the person who interrupted their
moment .. it was pam.
"I know it took me half an hour to get this stupid dish ready I know.. but I
still cant perfect it and so I think am gonna go get it from the restaurant
.. so I ll leave k?"
"sure kiddo .. go on" armaan said." Just don't be too late k?"
"I wont .. bye' giving a quick peck on his cheek pam left the house.
"sooo wanna watch a movie…?" armi turned to rids and asked her.
"sure.. wld love to!"
"which one?"
"ne…ummm my fav is kate and Leopold… but I don't think u ll have it.."
"u forget hun… I am the proud brother of a die hard romantic.. n though
am not much into it I do buy some of these movies for payal.. so u r in
luck .. I have the one u want."
'armi.. it's k.. v can watch some comedy.. if u don't wanna watch this?'
"nah…nething for my princess" he pinched her cheeks lovingly and went
to set the movie.
It had been an hour since the movie started and riddhima was by now
completely involved in it. She was infact too caught up that she did not
even notice armaan slowly making his way towards the couch on which
she sat, though he was sittibg on the sofa right nxt to her. A slight
movement right nxt to her made riddhima aware of armaan's doing. She
turned her head to face him only to find him staring right at her and
sitting so close that she cld sense his breath falling on her face. The
proximity of their closeness made her shudder and close her eyes. she
felt a warmth spreading throughout her body specifically her belly. She
closed her eyes and tried to control her self. She tried speaking but her
voice came out dry and barely above a whisper..
"armaaaan..plzzz"her breathing had become shallow and slow.
"ridsy… what hun?" he was awre of the effect he was having on her , he
took her hand and locked their fingers together.
"plzz.. can u umm.. leave my hand.."
"nah… I think this is the perfect way to watch a romantic movie with ur
loved one..no?"he skirted even closer.
"armaan.. u r missing the best part" she had not known what was going
on in the movi so she ws quite amused to see armaan smirking , mischief
evident in his eyes.
"u think this is the best part huh?.. never knew u then did i?"
turning around to watch the movie she blushed beet root red and looked
down to avoid his ever lingering gaze on her.. the 2 main characters were
in a lip lock…
" I mean they finally meet n all.. so that's y I like it"
"I never said otherwise..did u think I was mentioning the kiss did u?'
'huh? no ..no I did not!" she still did not look up.
"I love you.." armaan kissed her cheek. She blushed and looked up ready
to to tell him not to say so when he interrupted and continued "I love u
soooooo much n there is no way am I gonna stop sayin so…. And it will
take much more than ur don't statemet..i know u r not sure that u love
me or not but I m sure for the both of us… u need time fine.. but I will
keep showering my love on u n nothing u do or say will stop me coz I
know I love u n u love me too…n whatever am doing is not wrong!!"
she saw his eyes filled with love and passion and she knew at that
moment he was right.
Getting the silent yes from her armaan held her from the waist and made
her put her head on his chest. Settling back finaaly he felt at peace after
such a long time… a long long time he mused. He kissed her head and
snuggled closer to enjoy the remaining of the movie.
"armaan when will payal be back?" rids asked , not changing her position
even a bit.
"I don't know… shld b here soon.."
"I ll go get some coke frm hthe kitchen k?" she got up to go only to be
hugged by armaan again from the back. His chin resting on her shoulder.
"nah..it , I ll go get it.. u wait n relax" saying so he moved towards the
kitchen whistling a tune to himself.
"hmmm..now where is the coke?" he was peering into the fridge to find
some but cld not find any.
He looked inside the freezer when a plate kept on the shelf caught his
attention .. it was covered and went to look , hoping to find something to
eat coz he was truly starving by now. He lifted the lid to find steaming hot
risotto inside it, made like the way he wanted.
It him hard when he realized payal had gone out to buy a dish …. The
same dish.. which she cld not perfect.
PART 17
"WAT THE HELL??!?!?" armaan's scream brought rids running to the
kitchen totallu ot of breath."wats wrong armaan y did u shout?" she
went fwd and placed her hand on his shoulder"ridsy didn't payal say
she went to take food coz she cld not make risotto properly?"he turned
towards her fear and hurt that his little sister had lied to him clearly written
on his face."armi I think she did say that she went out to take food
but she I don't think mentioned risotto.. I mean maybe she
was talking of sum oder dish .. so calm down"
"no ridy I know it.. she has sneaked off some place without telling me
and and I remember clearly her telling me this morning that she wld
make risotto for us coz I love it wen I told her u coming over for dinner
and I said k coz I know u like it too. "
"look maybes she went out to buy something for herself.. I don't know
armi I just don't get y u makng such a big deal out of this issue?"
"SMALL ISSUE???." Anger evident in his eyes he
continued" MY SISTER WHO HA SNEVER LIED TO ME EVER SNEAKING
OUT BEHIND MY BACK.. N U SAY IT'S A SMALL ISSUE?? WATS
WRONG WITH U RIDDHIMA?" riddhima winced as she heard his tone
and her full name but matching his tone she ranswered back"YEAH WELL
SO U SHLD KNOW BETTER DAN TO MISTRUST UR SISTER WHO
HAS AS U SAY NEVER LIED TO U EVER B4. .. I FACT I THINK
SHE WENT OUT PROBABLY AFETR SEEING US TOGETHER.. MAYB
SHE THOUGHT WE WANTED TO BE ALONE!!!!!"
her words caught armaan off guard. He had not thought of it in that
angle. SURE SHE HAD SEEN THEM MAYBE.. IN THAT POSE
, AND SHE LEFT THEM TO BE ALONE BUT Y DID I FEEL SHE
WAS TELLING THE TRUTH.. NO ARMAAN U TRUST PAYAL
N NOTHING'S WRONG.. SHE DID NOT LIE U R OVER ANNALYSING THINGS..
his train of thoughts was put to rest by
riddhima's voice " y don't we wait till she comes back coz I just tred her
phone and it says unreachable"
"yeah mayb I will… n am sorry to burst out on u .." he cupped he
r face with his hands " I just am really possessive about her and am sorry ."
"armi I understand but u have to understand that pam has grown
up.. she has her own life and u will and can not be with her forever.
Stop being so over protective about her. "
"I know… lets go watch the remaining movie k?
I don't wanna talk about this anymore"nodding her head
riddhima followed him out of the kitchen.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
"pam hun wat took u so long " a broad chested man with
brown eyes had pinned payal to the wall of a dark and
narrow alley and had snuggled his head in curve of her
neck. Feeling him nuzzling her neck she let out a small moan
and answered him" we had guests over at home."
"ok.. well did u bring the money?" he moved back and looked
at her still having his arms around her waist.
"hmm.. but I dnt think I ll be able to continue doin this .. u
better start lookin for a job.. coz if bro finds out he really will freak out!"
"I know, but where is the money? " he stood further away his eyes
showing suspicion.. he was not yet convinced she had brought the money.
"it's in the car. And have u spoken to alima ur leader?"she asked him
hoping to get a positive answer.
"about wat?" he went back closer to her and once again nuzzled her
neck and was now slowly making his way dwnward.
"wat do u mean.. abt wat? Of course abt u leaving him coz
he is not giving u ne money for whatever wrk u do 4 him. " not getting
a response frm him she realized he had not even heard her… he was too busy
getting physical with her. She had noticed this had become the scenario most of the
days now and she felt weird but somehow she cld never protest against his passionate
kisses and plus she mused he never crossed his limits.
"hun I think u shld head back home .. armaan must be waiting for u " she was
surprised at his sudden reaction. He had left her the minute she
completely melted and had started craving for more. "huh? Yea… I shld .. I guess.'
With that she left for her her car with him beside her. With the
bag filled with currency notes he felt a satisfaction and smirked at
pam's innocence … his boss had been right she truly had been
the softest and easiest target for them to reach that some one bigger.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
as the movie was about to end riddhima looked at armaan
siting right nxt to her .. only physically she cld not help
thinking bcoz looking at his face she knw for a fact he
was miles away. She nudged him gently."armaan u still thinking of pam?"
"I m tryin not to.. but I wnt feel at rest till the time I dnt see her..
I mean it's been almost an hr since she has been gone." He turned
his face towards her , worry showing clearly in his eyes.
on an impulse to ease him out riddhima gently placed her hand over
his and leaned to kiss him on his cheek."don't worry honey.. she will be back soon"
armaan was completely taken aback by her sudden gesture but realized
it was to make him feel better once she started moving her hand up
and dwn his back in an attempt to calm him.
Finally pushing all his negative thoughts behind he hugged her tight
so as to let her know that he was thankful that she had stayed with
him and supported him.
"thnx a ton ridsy.. I really wld not have been ok if u wld not have
been her e with me.."still in the hug he mumbled.
"hey it's k .. n plus u dnt need to thnk me for this.. we r frends " at this
he moved back their arms stilla round each other and spoke
up finally coming back to his mischief "just frends?"
she blushed and was also relieved that he had at last stopped
worrying. As she was abt to answer they heard payal's car
pull up in the drive way and both jumped to get the door
as the bell rung through the house.
"WHERE HAVE U BEEN PAYAL?" pam gulped she cld see the anger
in armaan's eyes and most of all it was the first he had
called her payal .. he always called her kiddo… and he
had never shouted at her this bad.
"bhai I told I went to take food.." she cld not meet his eye..
she never cld wen she lied and lately she was doin that a lot.
"wat food? N it took u an hr?" armaan softened his voice seeing
the look of terror on his sister'sface. He loved her
too much to ever scold he r for anything but today something told
him all was not right and there was definitely more to payal's story
which she was not admitting to.
"jeez bhai , I went to take chineese and there was this big line so
I got late.. n y r u asking me all this?"payal regained her
composure as hse heard armaan's voce go down.
She stried throwing im off the track.
"payal?" that was enough for pam to know her brother
was not buying all this .. he was not going to let her off the
hook so easily.. and she knew then that he was suspicious of her where abouts.
"bhai!!!" she matched his tone and went to the kitchen .
she cld not stand under his searching eyes any longer.
It suffocated her to be guilty.
Deciding to diffuse the tension riddhima went fwd and spoke to
armaan once pam had gone with the food.
"look armi u wanted me to talk to her right?
So gimme some tme k ?.. tomorrow I 'll take out time
for sure and speak with her ..a s a frend.. she may
not open up to u coz u her brother. "
"ridsy we have shared everything with each oder sice we
were like wat? 2yrs!!"
"I know its hard but plzzzzz for me just let the topic be
for now .. she looks kinda down neway.. whatever it is I promise
I ll help her out n try n get her to talk to u k ? I meanthere
r certain girly stuff which she may not be comfortable sharinf wid u !!"
thinking of wat riddhima said armaan decidedi it was best
to leave the topic alone and he went to the kitchen
to apologise to payal so as to make her feel okay again.
"kiddo…" she turned at this voice while dabbing at
the corner of her eyes so that the tears that had begun to form wld not spill out.
"yea bhai.."
"come here!" he went fwd and that was all he had to
say coz payal rushed into his arms , feeling the sense of security
that always came wen she hugged her brother.
"am sorry kiddo … was just scared.. k ? u ok rite?"
"yea.. m k bhai… m sorry too I shld have called" she
sobbed as armaan tried consoling her.
As the scene was taking place riddhima who stood at the
door of the kitchen was thinking of how to make payal
spak up.. coz once she had seen her face wen she
came she had known smthin was bothering her.. she cld
sense a pain in her eyes… and she was gonna make sure
all was fine again .. she wld do so for her frend payal.. she wld do so for ARMAAN!
comment:
p_commentcount