Chapter 23

"But to answer the question you did not type out - I am not fine, Khushi. I am not fine after last night."

Khushi would always remember this moment as one where her heart jumped out of its protective cage and lodged itself right in her throat making it impossible for her to even breathe, something that must have made itself apparent somehow because the next whisper Arnav let out was an instruction to do the same,

"Breathe..."

And though she forced herself to inhale and exhale large gulps of air, how was she to tell him that even the way he said breathe' was enough to make her breathless. The low huskiness that persisted as he lengthened the word was what was her undoing?

How was she to tell him that any amount of air taken in or pushed out would not be enough for her system to recuperate from the onslaught unless he moved away from her, unless she was unable to see the strands of caramel in his mocha brown orbs which stood out so clearly right now that she would be able to pick the exact shade from a selection if asked to?

And because she could not tell him all the above, she did the next best thing for her survival.

She pushed him away.

Her palms lodged themselves onto his wide chest and pushed with all the might she possessed till her stumbled back and the caramel was no longer visible.

"What The!" came like an oof' out of him and if Khushi had not been so desperately desperate at that point, she would have laughed out loud at the changed expression on his face which had gone from smoldering to ridiculed in a matter of seconds.

But because she was feeling desperately desperate, she did what anyone so close to the end but pulled out at just the moment would do (especially if that person were Khushi Gupta), she bolted.

Or at least tried to.

Because as soon as she turned with her hand on the knob of the door, she felt herself being pulled back roughly and slammed against his chest as he quickly turned them so that it was he who rested against the door now, effectively blocking her one and only exit.

"I am not letting you out of here, Khushi, till you agree to talk out our differences and before you try and argue with me, let me tell you two things - one, you and I can argue till the end of time as I am sure you know and two, when I want something, I get it and the only thing I want is my best friend back so Khushi, you can either prepare to spend your entire life here in this little room arguing with me or you can agree to talk out what all went wrong between us and give me a chance to win you back again...its your choice but if you asked me for council, I would advise the second option because it would start to get smelly in here in a few days..."

During this rather grand declaration, all Khushi could do was stare at Arnav trying to guess whether he was joking or not, reaching her decision very quickly as she recalled just how stubborn Arnav could be. That was one quality they both shared - stubbornness - and that was one quality she knew Arnav could beat her at...after all he had successfully managed to get his father to agree on letting him keep a puppy he had been gifted by one of his friends after he had refused to be parted with it, staying out in the rain and then after being dragged in by his angry mother, crying hoarse till the puppy was snuggly wrapped in one of his mother's most warm blankets and dozing off in his arms while he was being cajoled with his favourite dishes by his astonished parents.

He had been 10 then and the dog's kids were 4 now, one still living with him - MojoJojo.

And Khushi could recall many such incidents from that time till now if only she had not realized one important detail.

He had not pursued her with the same stubbornness.

A question she asked him even before she could process it for herself.

"Where did this stubbornness go 8 years back, Arnav? You could have cornered me tab also but you did not...why?"

"It wouldn't have been able to take the failure back then, Khushi." Came his reply point blank, his eyes diffused with an emotion she couldn't quite identify but she was too caught up in the moment to hold back and dwell on nameless feelings, the one she was going through too massive and too clear, and only added on to by his candid admission - an admission so like her own epiphany of not being able to take it if things did not work out exactly as she dreamt they would if she were to ever approach him. He had felt the same fear, the same trepidation and something warm descended in her heart - they shared the same apprehensions, the same fears but then what was it that made him break away the shackles that she still found herself confined in, what made him not fear the fears that still lurked in her mind.

"Why are you so confident now then?"

She asked him, her heart aflutter with the ramifications of that single question.

It gave away everything she was feeling, she had felt and inviting with that influences on what she would feel in the future - giving away her doubts, her fears, her insecurities, her hurt, her pain. Giving away the questions she had never voiced, the disappointments she had never aired.

Giving away all that she had ever asked of herself and of him in her heart but never with words spoken out loud to anyone but just herself in those moments of darkness when loneliness had been biting and almost disabling yet she had never had the chance to be disabled, to be overwhelmed always having to put up a pretense for her sake - for the sake of her sanity and pride.

But now that pride was what seemed disabling, was what seemed restricting, was what seemed to be holding her back from getting something that she had always wanted -

Closure.

And so here she was, giving away everything for that one thing and she waited with bated breath for the answer which she hoped would carry to her that one feeling she so desired.

And then he answered,

"Because I realized that failure is not an option here, it never was and it never will be."

Next Chapter - Page 53

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*Not proof read

And here we have Chapter 15 Part A! Hope you guys liked it!

Also it would be great if you guys could help me out a bit? As mentioned above, Arnav had a pet dog when he was young and now has one of his kids.

So the question is what should be the breed of this dog? You can give in your suggestions (with a picture if possible) if you want cos I am confused! And dont forget the dog is named MojoJojo! :D

Your feedback inspires me to write more and write faster. Thanks :)

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