Chapter 10

Chapter 22- Biz-natch!

"Hey." Suhani smiled shyly. Rajvir gave no reply and pulled her into a kiss.

"Suhani dear, would you give me a hand with this??" Maya asked, grinding her teeth pathetically. She was holding a tall pile of boxes. Suhani took one box. "Well Suhani. I have to finish up that sketch I started so could you please take these boxes to our cabin for us?" Suhani smiled fakely and took two boxes and said, "Raj, dude help me." He was about to pick a box up.

"Beta. Could you be a darling and help Maya with her sketch? You know she has problems with charcoal. Since it's all black and white, its impossible for her to get the shading right."

Rajvir grinned wide, "Well Maa, I'd love to. But I suck at shading too. Maybe you could teach her. I think I'll help Hani instead." He smiled, picking up a box and following Suhani to her cabin. She was already unloading the boxes, when Rajvir held her waist from behind. His lips rested along her neck.

"You're so bad." Suhani laughed.

"I know. But I didn't want to spend time with that witch…" He talked into her neck. The warm air tickled her back.

"And you're mom?"

"She's being a witch too." He whined. Suhani turned around, facing him. Their faces were centimeters apart.

"Your mom is nice." Suhani defended. Rajvir nodded, "Sometimes." Suhani continued, "And Maya is a biznatch. I hate her already. And I get to live with her for a month."

Rajvir groaned. "After a month, you'll leave."

Suhani stood thoughtful, it was true. Only one month left. "Yeah." She said sadly.

"Well, what then?" Rajvir said. He sat on the bed, and pulled Suhani into his lap.

"Then…we go back to normal?" She asked.

"I don't want you to leave." He pulled her closer into his embrace.

"Me neither." She said. "Why do you live in Mumbai anyways?" She said, a little angry.

"Because my mother wishes me to. Where SHOULD I live?" He asked, amused.

"Benaras." She said indignantly.

"Well maybe you should come to Mumbai sometime." He smiled. She nodded in agreement.

"So are WE going to be over?" Suhani asked, naively.

"Of course not. You can not possibly imagine to get rid of me that easily." He kissed her softly.

"I'm supposed to abstain from this. You are absolutely mad." Suhani stated. "May I ask you something?" Suhani asked, loathing her slight British accent. If she spent more time in him, she would surely sound like a Brit.

"Why I sound British?" He asked. She nodded with relief. "I'm a bit….culturally confused, let us say. My mother is a hardcore…"

"Bengali." I finished, he nodded.

"And my dad was Punjabi. They didn't get along very well. It was arranged." He explained. Suhani nodded her head.

"I was born in Mumbai. Then when Maa and Dad broke up we moved to London. A couple years we moved back. So I'm a Bengali-Punjabi British Indian mess of confusion."

"You're not a mess of confusion. You're an amazing, diverse guy. I couldn't imagine you without every bit of it." She kissed him lightly.

"Well, at least I turned out pretty alright," He sighed. Suhani kissed him again. "You came out as a quality gentleman, and finding a gentleman in this day and age…? Very hot." She gave him a series of short pecks on the lips.

"Hot, eh? Interesting. Finding a girl that still blushes is quite hot also. And this…" He pecked her on the lips, mimicking her kiss, "is prohibited, is it not?"

"In my cabin, everything I say goes. Kay?" She smiled flirtatiously.

"Okay. So tell me is this…" He kissed her longer and harder, slipping his tongue between her pursed lips, abruptly pulling away, "allowed?"

"Hmmm, shayad. Oh, lord. You do speak hindi, correct?" She asked.

He nodded, laughing "You're quite the riot, I must say Suhani." She laughed sarcastically.

"Well then…" He started as the speakers came on.

"All Workshop members will be released from camp in 3 minutes. Any members who are found in the premises will be escorted by security. Workshop members will be expected to return on 7 AM sharp Monday morning. Have a great weekend."

There was a loud bell ringing.

"Let's go." Rajvir said, mischievously.

"Where are we going?" Suhani asked quizzically.

"Somewhere…" He said with a fake evil grin on his face.

Chapter 23- Meeting the Brother

"Bhai." She gasped, "This is Vedant."

"Vedant. This is my brother, Ishaan."

"Hello." Vedant said. He sounded chirpy almost, this was a first.

"Hello. So you and Niharika are dating?" He eyed suspiciously.

"Yeah. Why SHOULD'NT we be?" Niharika slapped her hand to her forehead.

"You're nineteen. Are girls your age not interested in you?" Ishaan asked like a true immature brat.

"Okay, dude. I understand your Niharika's big brother and all but seriously, I'm older than you."

"So you are." Ishu stated. "Why are you going out with her?"

"Why? Is there something particularly wrong with her?" Vedant asked sassily.

"Yes. She's a bit young for you. And you were her coach."

"Am." Vedant corrected.

"That's worse." He glared. Vedant rolled his eyes at him and answered. "Two years is NOT that big of a deal. It's not like me and Niharika are already --"

"Okay…" Niharika cut him off, loudly. Ishaan glared at Vedant.

"If you were going to complete that sentence with what I thought you were than you will be returning home in a body cast."

"Really?" Vedant asked, sarcastically.

"Touch my sister and I turn every bone in your body into soorma…"

"I'm so scared." He said sarcastically.

"Oh, and yes. I WILL not hesitate handing you over to the police if any such thing does occur."

"What? Why?" Niharika asked, cutting in.

"It's a thing called statutory rape." He said smartly.

"Bhai! We aren't….doing that." Niharika argued.

"Damn straight, you ain't! And it better stay that way." He glared at Vedant. Vedant had no reply. At this point, he was actually intimidated. As was Niharika, for a large man Vedant looked odd being scared. And for a considerably shorter man, Ishaan looked quite comfortable in the role of the dude with the upper hand.

"Whatever." Vedant muttered.

"Pardon?" Ishaan said like the idiot he was, Vedant rolled his eyes.

"So…Ishaan, are YOU seeing anyone?" Vedant asked smugly. Niharika grew a sudden interest, "Ariana does NOT count."

"Well, actually…there is this one girl. But I would never go out with her…"

"Why?" Vedant asked, all of a sudden becoming civil.

"She's one of Niharika's friends." He smirked. Niharika's jaw dropped.

"Who?!" She nearly shrieked. Ishaan's mouth opened and a name came out….

Chapter 24- Losing ( By My Love, Abhilasha!  I was having Writer's Block but she RockS!! )

"Mahi, please. I need to talk to you." Shabd knocked at the door.

"I don't open the door for strangers." She said coldly, from behind the wall.

"Mahi. I know, I've been a complete idiot lately, but I was scared…" He said.

"And I wasn't?" She asked, opening the door.

"Of course, you were. I was being selfish." He hugged her. She tried to push him away, but he held fast to her.

"What were you thinking?" Mahi asked, crying.

"Obviously not much, if I said we should break up." He answered, feeling Mahi sob into his shirt.

"Shabd, did you seriously think I would go off to Angad if you broke up with me?" She asked looking up at him. He nodded and shrugged.

"Well, you know what? I don't need any of you. Not him, not you. I don't need anyone." Mahi said firmly, pulling away.

"Mahi, I love you." Shabd argued.

"That's so obvious from you leaving me when I needed you most." She said coldly. He looked at her wide-eyed.

"I'm sorry." Shabd said, turning to leave.

"See?" Mahi said, tearing up. "You won't even TRY to put sense into me." She whined.

Shabd turned to see her, she was in tears. Sitting on the bed, she instinctively clutched her stomach.

"What am I supposed to say? That Mahi, you're an idiot for saying you don't need me because you need me as much as I need you? Am I supposed to repeat I was such a moron for leaving you? I love you dammit, I'm not going to beg though." He said oddly confident.

"FINE! But no one's asking you to beg. Don't blame me if you refuse to put in any effort." She huffed, slamming the door.

"I'm guessing you want me to leave." He said, sarcastically rolling his eyes. Mahi opened the door, tears streaming down her face.

"No idiot! I don't." She sat on the couch, staring at her feet, sobbing.

"Mahi." He came to her side and pulled her into his embrace.

"Shabd, you don't even care about me anymore." She sobbed softly.

"Mahi, I care about you. I love you. I'm just…angry?"

"Angry? I'm angry. What are you angry about?" Mahi said, surprised and still crying.

"You were to marry Angad, and if your dad came to know about it…" he trailed off. " I know I was being an idiot, so just forget it." He said and rubbed her arm lightly consoling her. He shouldn't say anything right now he thought, she was already in the worst state possible. After a while Mahi pulled away, brushed her tears away and looked at him, frowning slightly.

"You know what? You can go to hell for all I care" she said and took a step back, "I don't need you!" she said remembering how he had just backed out from the responsibility.

"Mahi try to understand. I was….scared, confused, thrilled?" he said trying to get hold of her, but she shoved his hands away.

"You backed out when you THOUGHT I MIGHT have been pregnant… what if I WAS pregnant?" Mahi asked. When Shabd stayed quiet she threw her hands in the air, "See!?" she said, "You don't think about me, you don't care for me. And how the hell can you EVEN think I would marry that Angad just because my dad said?!" Mahi turned around and brushing off the last drop of tear off her eyes she faced him again "I am done fighting with you Shabd." she said, her tone softer than before. " and if you're done too, which I think you are, you can leave " she said crossing her hands over her chest stubbornly.

Shabd hung his head low and turned around to leave, as he got to the door he turned around said " I don't know what I want, what I thought, what the heck I was thinking but the thing I know for sure is that I LOVE YOU!" he said and left. There was no point in talking to her now, she wouldn't understand or even try to understand him.

As soon as she heard the door close she collapsed to her chair and broke down, she hadn't meant to cry, not now, but she just couldn't help it. She felt helpless. She had a mind to go after him, stop him and say 'I love you too Shabd, don't leave me' but she knew better. She grabbed the phone and dialed Vidya's number. She REALLY needed someone right now. But just as she was about to hit the talk button she heard a knock on the door. She brushed off her tears, composed herself, and in a firm tone said "Come In"

She watched Angad walk in with a stern face. He gave her a look and raised his eyebrow, "You okay?" when she nodded he smirked and shook his head.

"You really need to work on that no-problem-expression" he said he plopped on the small sofa in her room "Had a fight with lover boy huh?" he asked.

She gave him a why-do-you-care look. "Do you mind? I was gonna call my friend." She said curtly.

"Nope, I don't mind at all. Go ahead, call your friend. I'll just…. Hang around" he said and got up. He looked around.

Mahi got up furiously "Look Mr. Angad Khanna!" she said grabbing his attention. "You might be some big superstar, and might not know what privacy means, but I care a lot about my privacy. It would be safe for both you and me, if you just leave now, before I do something we both regret" she said sternly.

Angad raised an eyebrow in a perfect way. Damn this girl was something, he thought. But also he knew something was really wrong and it wouldn't really be good for him to be around her much, he knew she wanted to be left alone. He shrugged "I don't know what privacy is but I do know what heart break means, if you need someone, I am always there" he said and left.

Mahi stood there confused and surprised, did Angad Khanna just say to her he is there if she needs him. Till now all she has seen him do is think, speak, talk about himself, himself, and he, that same Angad Khanna was actually…concerned about her? She thought confused. Whatever, she thought. She dialed Vidya's number quickly and called her over.