Chapter 89

"But Dake is a word!"

Arnav heard Vivek's petulant whispering as the latter shoved the screen of his phone literally into Khushi's face causing her to punch him harshly into the shoulder shaking her head insistently at Vivek. They had been on it for the last hour or so, playing hang man on the notepad on his phone, only coming up with more ridiculous words every single turn. Infact it was surprising they hadn't really published a dictionary of Most idiotic words in existence' by now seeing as they really seem to make a word out of thin air, which literally meant rubbish and to top it all kept arguing over its validity every single time. Really you would think after an hour they would give up and be quiet but the endless energy that the two of them pocessed disgusted him if not entirely surprised him.

"What does that even mean?" Khushi now asked exasperatedly, still discreetly trying to rub off the loop that was supposed to be a loop for the stick man to hang him,that they had drawn to indicate the number of chances they had to guess the correct word. Vivek though held on to his phone like life support and threw a dirty glare her way at her not so subtle attempts at cheating, as unintentionally Arnav found himself giving an ear to Vivek's absurd explanation of his just invented word.

"Date-fake. Geddit? First two letters from date' and last two from fake'? (Khushi looks at him like hes mad) Its brilliant c'mon!" Vivek insisted audibly, throwing an apologetic look at the air hostress who glared at him for probably the 99^th time now, reverting his attention back on Khushi who seemed ready to put a gun to his head.

"That is the stupidest word I have ever heard! And damn Punchy it doesn't exist! (Vivek continues to shake his head) fine I am not playing then!" She put her hands up in the air frustrated, Vivek muttering something that sounded like sore-loser' under his breathe at which he was awarded with one more punch by Khushi. Arnav watched the two of them from his seat next to Khushi trying to concentrate on his book but with such amazing company that was a task as easy as climbing Mount Everest.

Exhaling an audible sound of relief, he welcomed the silence, shifting his gaze back to the book, the words in which barely seemed to make any sense to him right now considering they had been stuck on this flight since the last 5 hours, and another 4 excruciating hours were yet to pass. Vivek and Khushi's constant banter, which for the most part was annoying and constantly ticked him off did nothing to make the journey easier but he appreciated the distraction all the same. Truth be told he was actually pretty nervous to start off with the final dance practice much less in a real setting, the setting, actually and though it completely shamed him to admit he was more than just a tad bit nervous about the whole gig. There was one thing practicing in the familiar isolation of their dance room back at school, but it was completely different with doing the same thing in front of an audience of hundred and more, coupled with the fact that his screen time on the stage, his alone screen time on the stage had been increased, thanks to everyone, leaving him here dreading the ordeal altogether.

"Nervous Raizada?" He snapped out of his thoughts immediately, as he her heard voice, craning his neck sideways to see her holding a wistful expression on her face, the kind that he knew said that she knew what he was thinking. It annoyed him to know that she could read him so well, it was almost like his thoughts were transparent to her, and that Arnav decided was actually the most uncomfortable feeling of it all. But for some reason he had stopped begrudging her for it, because for all it was worth he knew she didn't do it to irk him, it just sort of happened when you spent so much time with someone.

"Hard not to be." He shrugged, looking away from her so that he was spared the brief flash of incredulity on her face at his unlikely modest answer, but he really didn't need her character analyses of him at the moment considering he had been doing a fair bit all week, all month really, hell since the time he met her actually.

"You were the first one to be chosen Raizada. I don't think you should find it surprising that everybody believes you will nail it." Khushi told him understandingly, keeping her hand briefly on his shoulder, the tension in his muscles subsiding only marginally but that was enough for her for the time being.

"Do you? (Khushi looks at him blankly) Do you believe it?" He asked her nervously, locking his gaze with hers so that she couldn't look away, not that she wanted to, and slowly as the blank look from her face turned into one that expressed undeniable confidence he found himself calming down instantly.

"What's not to believe?" she smiled confidently at him squeezing his shoulder, and he nodded in response not knowing how else to grace her answer.

"And hey for all its worth you could probably just charm your way in with the jury too you know? I am sure your looks have helped you so far, they wont fail in future." Khushi teased him an amused smile on her face but he only scowled at her in response, but almost a beat later his face portrayed a smug expression.

"So you think I am good looking Gupta?" He questioned one eyebrow raised at her skeptically, but instead of blushing furiously like she was very much inclined to and definitely wanted to, she controlled her inner involuntary reaction and stared at him unperturbed before answering him.

"You have the honor of being my first kiss. Doesn't that say something?" She stated dead pan, his expression turning one of shock and instantly becoming red, definitely in no semblance to the haughty Raizada everyone associated with, and at that she burst out laughing, having Vivek cast a sheepish look at both of them, and Arnav glare at anyone who so much as bothered to even look at them.

"Its incredibly rude not to share a joke with your best friend Chun." Vivek complained, pouting as he said so, ignoring the death glare Arnav was aiming his way while Khushi was still trying to, but failing miserably at controlling her abnormal spurt of hysterics.

"Well Raizada was blushing because I told him he was my first kiss." Khushi final attempted to tell him still between hysterics while Arnav made it a point to not look anywhere where Khushi or Vivek got in his line of sight. That unfortunately left him staring at a senior citizen couple who were attempting to not so subtly make a huge show of their everlasting love if that's what you call it, by sticking their tongue down eachother's throat. Arnav mentally gagged at the image, cursing the two imbeciles sitting next to him for the millionth time whatsoever to having had subjected him to this disgusting show of horniness.

"As much as I really don't appreciate this uncomfortable piece of trivia Chun, I have to say, what the hell man? (Khushi looks at him with a highly entertained expression) You are supposed to blush you know like NORMAL girls, and he is supposed to laugh or smirk or whatever like NORMAL guys.(Khushi burst into laughter again, Vivek mentally checks her off into a psychiatric ward) But no! Instead you laugh your butt off and he blushes and gets the kicks by witnessing that repulsive snog fest between those two old hags!"Vivek shrieked his eyes bulging, over dramatizing the whole thing, as Khushi only realized where Arnav had his entire concentration invested and craned her neck side ways to see what the whole fuss about, while Arnav had finally gotten a reason to drag his eyes away from the horrible display of senior citizen PDA to give Vivek his best I-will-murder-you-in-your-sleep' look.

"I am one second away from puking. (glaring incessantly at Vivek who just smirked) ON YOU." Arnav hissed at him viciously, causing only Vivek to burst out into a fit of laughter like dealing with a mentally ill Khushi wasn't enough for him.

"Were you picking up tips from them Raizada?" Khushi joked elbowing Arnav in the ribs who only narrowed his eyes at her and brought his face closer to hers, effectively causing any remaining signs of hilarity to vanish from her face being replaced by that of a complete unarmored briefly mesmerized look at their astounding proximity.

"Want to help me try them?" He whispered huskily, his eyes trained on her as she blushed furiously and slowly backed away from him refusing to look at him, or to see the triumphant smirk that had claimed his face.

"Whatever Raizada." She muttered without any conviction still blushing heatedly, and made a very interesting, not so compelling act of grinding her fingers into the denim of her jeans and scratching at them like a wild cat, since she really had nothing else to do to distract her from facing Arnav.

"Nice to know you resort to cat like habits when you are embarrassed Gupta." Arnav commented idly, before Khushi directed a quick glare his way but quickly looked away, he still wearing his ever satisfied smirk thrilled to be back in his element and away from the momentarily lapse of emotion where he had found himself blushing for no reason what so ever. He had a reason to blush though, mostly because he had been caught unaware by Khushi's sudden candid nature but also because she really wasn't blushing about the whole thing, and that like Vivek claimed, was not normal. Definitely not.

"And that ladies and gentlemen, brings us to the end of round 1080 between Arnav Singh Raizada and Khushi Kumari Gupta. Stay tuned for more." Vivek announced in his best imitation of Jimmy Kimel but what turned out more of Caeser Flickerman than the former renowed host as compared to the famous fictional prodigy. Before he even had time to give an appropriate self satisfied reaction to Arnav and Khushi, not that it would have mattered, two pillows came soaring towards him smacking straight into his face, followed by another harsh telling off to the three of them by the air hostess who was one second away from chucking all three of them out of the plane, without parachutes mind you, or so she claimed.

Surprisingly the rest of the ride went uneventful, except for Casey returning from her meeting with the rest of the creative team from the last row, and for Arnav back to pointedly glaring at Nikhil whenever he got the chance, while Nikhil in his defense did not so much as retaliate to Arnav's hostility and determinedly stared at the hazy clouds outside the window, Khushi next to him pinched him atleast a dozen times reprovingly to which Arnav unsurprisingly paid no heed much to her frustration. So all in all the dynamics between the group of teenagers somehow remained unchanged, up until they finally reached New York International Airport, resulting into them getting into another immature squabble over their luggage's, Sir Brendon lingering over them like a dark cloud, hopelessly trying to keep order but with a bunch of tired antsy teens on his hands that was hoping for too much really. Finally what seemed like a decade later to most of them, except maybe Saloni who had finally gotten a seat in the ride back to their hotel in Brooklyn next to Arnav much to nobody's pleasure, and Khushi's insane jealousy, did they finally reach their destination hobbling out from their van, lethargy etched in their every movement, as the crew traipsed into the now mostly silent hotel at 2 in the morning.

Sir Brendan checked them all in as soon as possible handing in the key to their rooms to one member responsible for each room out of the 3 that resided inside each room, the total coming to 8 rooms. He gave them quick instructions to their agenda for the next day, waking up at 9, which was followed by complains and groans by everyone, going on to brief them of what they will be doing all day, most of it concerning Arnav and Khushi, the latter barely even awake to process anything hanging limply on to Vivek's shoulder which she was most certainly half asleep on. For his part though Arnav remained quite unfazed, hiding whatever nervousness he felt and absorbing every word Sir Brendon said to no one's surprise Vivek doing that for Khushi who had a second ago definitely fallen asleep, much to Sir Brendons dull irritation, and everybody else's amusement. After what was like a 3 minute lecture and half the crowd already in a state of eyes open sleeping, Sir Brendon allowed them to follow the porters who carried their luggages and showed them to their rooms. Much to Khushis relief, who really had no energy to process any sort of emotion or word or anything in her mind, she did find herself glad to know that the boys room was right next to the ones she was to be staying in for the next week. That atleast made the task of Vivek dragging her all the way to their room, and cautiously handing over Khushi's half drowsy state to Casey as they parted their ways to their respective rooms that much more easier.

"See you in the morning girls." Vivek called back cheerfully, though his haggard appearance begged to differ, Casey bidding him a shy good night while Khushi muttered something incomprehensible under her breathe which no one made an effort to even uncode, their third room mate Priyanka just smiled at the boys wishing them a good night and closed the door behind her. Outside Vivek proceeded inside his own room, Arnav still shooting hostile looks at Nikhil who was incredibly uncomfortable but silent went over to his bed and fell asleep, Vivek running an aggravated hand through his hair but decided to save his animosity towards Nikhil for some other time, muttered good night to Arnav before stripping off and burying his face in his pillow letting his beauty sleep claim him.

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"Yo Smiles!"

Khushi grinned as the tall scrawny boy walked towards her taking a seat next to where she currently sat in her hot pink and black tracks; after an exhausting practice, calming her nerves down.

"Hey Troy" She found herself greeting him, his infectious happy energy, lifting up her mood in a matter of seconds, falling back in a relaxed position to lean against the pillar behind her wiping the beads of sweat that had formed on her forehead and were in a not so lady like fashion dripping down all over her face. At some other time in the presence of a good looking raven haired boy she might have let herself feel embarrassed for her downright atrocious appearance, but considering she really was bone tired and couldn't even be trusted to conjure up an emotion let alone feel it there wasn't much she could do about the matter. Besides, since the last three days ever since the first day they had come here at Brooklyn Academy of Music, specifically backstage at the Harvey Theatre for practice, it had only gotten more tougher, more stressful with every passing day and so looking rubbish was the least of her worries at the moment.

"Where is Hottie Pants #1?" Troy asked casually, his never dropping smile still firmly etched to his face, though he now sat crossed leg in front of Khushi who was practically lieing on the stairs instead of sitting, but since that really was normal procedure in such a tense atmosphere you wouldn't find anyone complaining about this.

"In a battle with Nik..Hottie Pants#2." Khushi laughed making a grab for her Bolognese sandwich that lie by her side and taking a huge mouthful of it, nearly choking, but really it didn't matter as long as she got to gorge herself on divine food like that. She had met Troy three days ago, when they had first reached New York Arts auditorium only to be greeted by a tornado of students from different schools already hoarding the place, millions of props and instructions being thrown all over, in short pure chaos. In the midst of that when she had tried making a sincere attempt in her sleep induced state to find Vivek and Arnav both who had mysteriously disappeared for at least 15 minutes leaving an aggravated Khushi behind him, she had found Troy. Troy who was apparently from Los Angeles High School had been utterly helpful who had helped her find Vivek and Arnav both of who were together with the rest of the team, so it appeared that it was Khushi who had mysteriously disappeared and not the other way around. With that embarrassing start for a friendship, not so surprisingly she had hit it off with Troy, every break spending most of her time with him while Vivek ran God knows what errands with Casey or Priyanka or someone, and Arnav went on for his extra practice which mostly ended with him screaming on Nikhil and Nikhil disappearing into the shadows.

"Again? Never gets old for him does it?" Troy remarked sipping on to his glass of coca cola, when Khushi let out an audible sigh of exasperation clearly not happy with the situation.

"Ask me about it." She snorted taking another bite of her sandwich and downing it simultaneously with a bulky sip of 7-up almost sending her into a coughing fit, until she felt a hand gently or so the owner of the hand thought patting on her back while she was pretty sure the whole experience was nothing less than a hammer being knocked into her repeatedly.

"Damn Punchy your hand is mad heavy!" Khushi complained, as the beating of the supposed hammer stopped on her back and Viveks face came into view from behind, covering her in his shadow, his trademark amused grin painted on his face as he climbed the stairs to seat himself cross legged between herself and Troy.

"Why is it that when I am always coming around, you are either choking on your food or dieing of exhaustion? Honestly you'd think the latter shouldn't be happening because of the former but with a holey truck of a stomach like yours what can I say?" Vivek snickered, receiving the trademark punch from Khushi after any such comments on her expense accompanied of course by her exclusive-to-Vivek' glare.

"I love it when you talk logical, Cu-ll" Troy quipped in dreamily, making Vivek positively shudder, an expression of discomfort tainting his face, as he visibly inched towards Khushi, who had taken the task of charging into derisive laughter upon herself.

"Right. Hello Troy." Vivek said after a beat, rewarded by Troy's best gentleman grin, but if it was possible for Vivek to feel anymore uncomfortable, here he was experiencing that, no thanks to his best friend who was as usual making brill entertainment out of his distress.

"Is it too much to ask to see your handsome face around more?" Troy whined, batting his eyelashes at Vivek who was very certainly going to gag, or maybe kick Khushi down the stairs the way she was still laughing like a mad hyena, but he did neither instead shoot a pleading look at Khushi who effectively ignored him and stuffed the last of her sandwich into her mouth much to his complete horror and annoyance.

"Uhh..(Khushi continues to flash him her best mischievous smile) its not easy to be a multi-tasker you know? (He lets out a disconcerted smile, only to have Troy look at him unarmored, making him groan) So why do you insist on giving us all nick names?" Vivek asked, rapidly changing the subject from the commentary on his looks, sending Khushi into another choking fit but only because she was trying so hard to not laugh. Shooting her his best maddened look, he tried to pay attention to Troy who actually had a pretty comical expression on his face like he was trying to figure out a particularly complex math problem.

"Its what I have always done Cu-ll. Too hard to remember names. Jesus knows too many weird names going on around here, why bother? Life is nice when it's interesting." Troy explained passionately, ending it with a wink at Vivek who was too amused by Troy's careless explanation to even feel discomfort at his constant flirtations with him.

"Why is he Cu-ll again?" Khushi asked Troy innocently, the mischief in her eyes not going undetected by Vivek who groaned audibly, as he became the object of Troy's affection all over again.

"Cute and tall is such a mouthful you know. So Cu-ll it is. Suits you doesn't it Cu-ll?"Troy asked Vivek smiling pleasantly, Vivek forming some semblance of a demented smile on his face as well.

"Indeed. Very witty." Vivek muttered under his breathe, nodding his head apprehensively at Troy who looked pleased with his answer and flashed another one of his brilliant smiles at Vivek who was decidedly becoming just a tad bit sick now from the over doze of affection from the same sex.

Before Khushi could resurrect the conversation to result in further embarrassment for Vivek, one of Troy's team members called for him from the other end of the call, and after hollering back his response Troy departed with a last smile at Vivek and ruffling Khushi's already messed up hair.

"That guy is an absolute nightmare" he heard himself say once Troy was out of sight, exhaling a sigh of relief, slumping up next to the pillar Khushi was leaning on, his legs outstretched in front of him, closing his eyes to let the exhaustion of the day seep out of his body.

"No hes not. Hes awesome alright? (Vivek pooh-poohed) He is! Just because he's gay doesn't make him a nightmare!" Khushi protested, raising her voice only a few octaves, Vivek not even bothering to open his eyes to look at her face, as an expert on Khushi's facial working he really didn't have to.

"That's only because he doesn't hit on you Chun, but on me, Arnav, Nikhil, or anything with a crotch really." Vivek retorted back curtly, his eyes still closed but hands now massaging his temples since his head was throbbing insanely and any attempt to make conversation or say anything looked like a herculean feat just about now.

"Tired are you?" Khushi asked him concerned, her voice infinitely more soft, keeping her warm yet sweaty palm on his shoulder, as he without opening his eyes faintly nodded.

"Well c'mon then take a quick nap." She suggested immediately guiding his head to her shoulder even though he was atleast nearly a foot taller than her, but having been his personal pillow for a number of times ever since she had met him, it was easy to adjust into a position of comfort now for the both of them. Letting himself free, Vivek let himself go, falling asleep on her shoulder his arms loosely wrapped around her like a child hugging his mother, the occasional sound of her munching on her chocolate bar making its way to his ears, until there was nothing but silence.

"Dozed off again?" Khushi tilted her head to the side half an hour later, registering the familiar voice of Arnav who was walking towards the pair of them in a sweaty black vest with matching track pants, a rather wet towel hanging around his neck. She ignored the curious looks a lot of people still gave her when Vivek slept off on her like that, but really at this point she could hardly find herself caring, because for one her energy was better of invested elsewhere and secondly because people liked talking regardless of what she did.

"He was bone tired." She told him when he took a seat one step below her drinking vitamin water from his bottle, gulping it down efficiently, nodding his head silently at Khushi's answer both of them falling into their much associated state of comfortable silence.

"Was practice any better today?" Khushi asked him after sometime, an underlying layer of hope hidden in her tone which Arnav most certainly did not miss and responded with a bitter scowl framing his face.

"I am not letting him off the hook like you Gupta. (Khushi opens her mouth to argue) You might not think of it as a big deal but I do. And I couldn't care less about his situation because the one he has put you in is nothing but completely ridiculous. (Khushi cuts in toargue again but Arnav continues bitterly) And no I am not fighting your battle for you Gupta. God knows I have no hidden desires to be your knight in shining armor. (Khushi rolls her eyes) I am just doing what I think is right, and I didn't like the guy anyway. So don't tell me to quit it, or give me your sermon on being unfair to him, he deserves it,(Khushi opens her mouth to protest) He does! And Vivek agrees! (Khushi scoffs) So that's two against one here Gupta. Don't force us to like him because you do. It's not going to happen. Not for me atleast." Arnav finished harshly, his body becoming tense, pulling in at the seams of his tight black vest giving in for an extremely swoon worthy sight, but as much as Khushi's hormones created a ruckus inside her seeing him like this, she shoved those thoughts back into a pit that led to oblivion, and only glowered at him severely, him as was the norm ignoring her hostile reaction.

"Well if you atleast stopped screaming on him every chance you get, it would only save you energy Raizada. Why do you even bother with giving him a hard time? He doesn't even talk to me! And I have no desire to have a full fledged friendly chat with him either now or ever, so really why do you two even bother with him? Leave him alone." Khushi countered him with the same argument for the millionth time now, but even she knew that as thick as Arnav was and what with Vivek's backing he was even thicker not even a single word she said would make its way through his iron crusted skull.

"We are not having this conversation again Gupta." Arnav reprimanded sternly, folding his arms across his chest stretching his legs in front of him as Khushi threw him another dirty look and huffed audibly.

"Fine. Do what you want. You two are too thick for my liking." Khushi snapped back savagely shaking her head at the two of them, one of whom was completely unaware of the conversation and was thoughtlessly sleeping while the other feigned himself blissfully ignorant to her cutting remarks.

"Yet here you are." He drawled bored, receiving a vindictive pinch from Khushi which they were both aware he did not really register but she felt satisfied by inflicting some sort of harm to him, even if it really wasn't doing any harm, all the same. As silence fell she decided to finish her incomplete bar of chocolate and open a fresh packet of jelly beans popping them in her mouth childishly much to Arnav's amusement and utter bewilderment.

"Do you even want to fit in those dresses of yours Gupta?" Arnav asked her amused as she without further ado chucked the remaining jelly beans on his head, glowering at him with the heat of a thousand suns, her eyes narrowed to slits and nose flaring at him obviously ticked off,what with her face going tomato red.

"You are such a prick Raizada!" She hollered at him fiercely kicking his leg for good measure as she detached herself from Viveks hold on her unceremoniously dropping his head on to the cold stone floor, and with a last deathly glare aimed at Arnav who only smirked in return she stomped away from the two of them cursing him under his breath and ignoring a positively in pain grumbling Vivek back on the floor.

"Ow! (Shouting at Khushi raspily) Chun you cracked my skull open! (No response from Khushi. To Arnav who is looking at him amused) Can't you keep your insulting act to a minimum when I am sleeping? I really don't appreciate having my skull cracked open on daily basis." Vivek moaned groggily, pushing himself off the floor and sitting up straight his head still throbbing faintly inside his skull, thanks to the unworthy dumping of his head by his best friend.

"Then don't sleep on her next time. Maybe she'll push you off the stairs next time, and I wont even be sorry for you then." Arnav told him dismissively though his lips twitched with letting go of the grin threatening to come at Viveks mildly furious expression.

"Thanks for the support Arnav. Great mate you are." Vivek retorted sarcastically, picking up the fallen jelly beans from the stairs and Arnav's lap that Khushi had earlier chucked on him and eating them, much to Arnav's disgust but he refused to comment on Viveks less than hygienic habits.

"I try." Arnav offered humbly, or not so humbly, whichever way you choose to view his answer, Vivek falling in the latter category kicking Arnav on his leg, the same spot where Khushi had, much to Arnav's complete displeasure who kicked Vivek back, letting the recently popped jelly bean in Vivek's mouth to shoot right across the hall from his mouth and hit some petite blond right on her head, Vivek blushing apologetically when she gave a dirty accusing look to them while Arnav ignored the entire ordeal and casually took a swig of his vitamin water again.

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It was a heavily lethargic group of teenagers that made their way hap hazardly at 8 at night on that Tuesday, sleep walking their way to their respective rooms. Arnav, Vivek followed closely by Nikhil entered their room and closed the door behind them, Vivek not taking a second to throw his weight on his poor bed which groaned audibly under his weight, while Arnav sat down without restrain on his own bed chucking his shoes and socks off to a corner, by the time Nikhil ever so silently rubbed his eyes furiously and sat on his bed careful not to make any sound or evoke any unwanted discussion with his room mates. As accursed as he was though, his mobile phone took that exact moment to ring, breaking in the newly established silence of the room, making him victim to one of Arnavs deathly customary scowls while Vivek let out a strangled sound from under his pillow where he had buried his head.

"Sorry" Nikhil muttered hastily under his breathe as he slipped outside the room, receiving the call with dread. A few minutes later when he entered inside his features withdrawn and arranged in a worried frown, Arnav looked up at him suspiciously almost asking him what was going on before firmly shutting his mouth and throwing one last vicious glare in his direction disappeared inside the washroom leaving Nikhil behind to deal with this new set of complication in his life.

Falling back uncermoniously on his bed, he closed his eyes, forcing all negative thoughts away from his mind with limited success, flashing on the screen of his cellphone the ever familiar face that he yearned to see, greeting him bringing a small but permanent smile on his face.

"I wish you were here." He heard himself wishing quietly, trying his very best to control the twisted pain in his heart at the very thought of her and the deep sinking feeling in his stomach that he carried with him on a daily basis, wallowing internally in his own misery, friendless as he now was.

"Who?' He heard Viveks half conscious voice from the bed beside him, thoroughly startling him, as his eyes flew open only to find the lanky boy on the next bed staring at him oddly.

"My girlfriend." Nikhil found himself confessing mournfully, the yearning in his voice not lost to Vivek who despite his sleep deprived state couldn't help but show interest in this boy who he was desperately trying to despise every single day but failing if not totally at the task.

"She must be a huge deal for you if you were willing to (his lips curling in distaste) spy on somebody for her safety. (Nikhil looks at him guiltily but nods) You do realize I dont have anything against you personally like Arnav right? (Nikhil nods stiffly)..its just..(tapping his fingers on the bed) its Chun you were spying on. And when its Chun..then..I am hardly rational. (looking at Nikhil with a torn expression) But I am trying to be. For..for everyones sake. (His voice becoming steely again) I wont pretend to understand your reasoning because it does sound overly stupid and dumb (Nikhil opens his mouth to argue) No! I mean I get the part where you want to protect your girlfriend because I can see she means alot to you, but there must be some other way to protect her you know? Something more sane and morally just? To help her with her money issues? You could have told me. Or Chun. Maybe not Arnav since he never liked you, but you could have told me or Chun. It's just I thought we were friends Nikhil. You should have trusted us and told us before it all went so far. (Nikhil is unable to meet his eye) I am not trying to give you the guilt trip...I just..what you did was irresponsible and very stupid. I can't stress it enough. I dont want to be angry with you. I did think of you as a good friend however short and limited my contact with you might have been and when Arnav told me everything, even though my dominating emotion was anger I was mainly just disappointed with you. The fact that you gave so little thought to our friendship. How little you trusted us." Vivek spoke glumly, still tapping his fingers on his bed, his eyes looking away from Nikhil who he could see from the corner of his shuffling on his sheets and sitting up on his bed his gaze boring into Vivek.

"I couldn't trust you. No matter how hard I tried.Or confide in you for that matter. (Vivek looks up at him) I wanted to! Believe me I wanted to..but..(hesitating) But I knew when I told you the truth..about all of this..you guys wouldnt want anything to do with me. You guys would never trust me. (Vivek snorts) Which is quite obvious. If our situations were reversed I would have killed the bas***d. (Vivek grimaces) Dirty looks is me getting off pretty easy after what I did..and I understand thats all because Khushi sees me as the victim..or.. something like that. (Vivek nods) I dont understand her reasoning either. It would make me feel better, as selfish as I am, it would make me feel better if she threw a tantrum or aimed a few knives at me (Vivek reluctantly grins slightly) But instead she chose to let me off, and it just makes me all the more guilty. It makes me berate myself for all of this all the more because she makes this sound like its not a big deal but I know it is!(running a hand through his hair) Hell I have known all along that its a big deal and no matter what her differences are with her father I cant say that I am a victim. Because I chose to be one. I chose to be one for my own benefit. (Miserably) I just wish she would atleast be curt with me instead of being nice and distantly friendly. It makes this all the more hard. (Vivek looks at him surprised) I dont want to sound ungrateful for her forgiveness but..its honestly more of a curse than a blessing." Nikhil told him depressingly, the frown that had previously dominated his face becoming even more darker at this proclamation though his eyes did not waiver off Viveks and continued to be fixed on him.

"As sadistic as I sound saying this, I can't say I am not glad that you feel that way. Depressed and unhappy. (Nikhil grimaces) Though I do see why Chun's dominating emotion for you is pity instead of anger. I might be on the same path." Vivek said distractedly, his entire form attentive to Nikhil though his thoughts were running wild inside his head. Before he had even registered what was going on he saw Nikhil's entire demeanor change and becoming fiercely defensive, his look cold and furious.

"You know what? Dont. Dont pity me. I do deserve your anger, and I deserve your hostility but I have done nothing to deserve your pity and I wont take it. Go find someone else to pity on!" Nikhil snapped back angrily, his features now blazing with unwarranted fury and in a giffy he was off his marching hurriedly out of the room before Vivek's firmly planted his hand on his shoulder and forced him back onto his former seat that quizzical expression on Vivek's face lingering as if trying to figure out the complex mathematical problem that was Nikhil who right now was seething in anger.

"You are one odd bloke. That attitude (pointing his finger at Nikhil) is the kind that I expected from you the first time I met you. (Nikhil's anger turns into confusion) Instead you were mostly quiet and meek and just mainly curious. (Nikhil looks at him bewildered) Well I get the curious part now..but the meek tolerant behaviour never really went with what I thought of you. And it was odd but I didnt give it much thought. I guess I should have. Why do you hide so much?" Vivek voice out his thoughts, the confusion in his tone at the fore front, well aware of Nikhil's increasing bewilderment as well who looked at Vivek like he was half mad.

"Hide? Are you forgetting that i was spying on your best friend? That I became friends with you guys BECAUSE of that? What part of that and me hiding is difficult to connect?"Nikhil asked him surprised, though his tone was still edgy, but Vivek ignored the bite in his voice and still held that puzzled expression on his face.

"I think you would have become friends with us even if you didnt have an underlying motive. C'mon were you really going to stick around with Purab and his cronies?" He stated dryly like he had given a lot of thought to the matter when infact he really hadnt and he was just saying the first thing that rolled off his tongue.

"Obviously not. That guy is a twat. I wouldnt associate with him on my death bed, but who I am kidding? I spent most of my time with him. I HAD to. I didnt have alot of choice." Nikhil answered back in a disgusted voice, the unwarranted image of Purab swimming into his mind, which he with all his might forced back trying to focus on the conversation at present rather than his overwhelming hatred for his cousin.

"Must be traumatic. (Vivek makes a displeased face) That pervert is a complete nightmare. (Shuddering mildly) Even more so than that gay Troy bloke. (Nikhil unexpectedly laughs diffusing the tension) Which brings us back to my first observation. (Nikhil stiffens) You would have been friends with Khushi and me regardless and perhaps if you werent a decent likeable chap maybe Arnav too because God know's that that madman cant be civil with anyone." Vivek conversed back, Arnav's impressive track record of being incompatible which to say the least wasn't really the sort of knowledge he wanted to have but then there no was getting around it either.

"Maybe. But we come back full circle to the fact that I had underlying motive and its asking too much to have a fresh start isnt it? (Vivek nods. Nikhil's mood falls again) Yeah I thought so. (Viveks brow is furrowed in thought.) So I dont see what I can do about it, except say that I am sorry." Nikhil said dismally not knowing what else to add since the conversation had evidently reached a dead end, despite the startling topics Vivek had brought up out of nowhere, an impressive feat keeping in mind the fact that the guy was dead on his feet only 20 minutes ago.

"What did you tell her dad anyway?" Vivek broke the unceremonious silence after a few minutes taking Nikhil by surprise but he to his credit recovered quickly and slightly hesitantly relayed the details.

"Umm just stuff about her life in general. The people she meets at school, her relationship with you and Arnav, the ongoings with her life, like the play and all, just everything I knew about her or found out about her."

"Right. But Purab could have told her all of that couldn't he? Why did he have get you to do it? (Nikhil shrugs Vivek frowns) Does he know about Purabs unhealthy obsession with her?" Vivek asked his brow furrowed in deep concentration like he was considering every single dislocated piece of this absurd puzzle that was Aryan Gupta's mind.

"I dont think so. Purabs never prompted him about it. Purab certainly doesn't know about his connection with Khushi. (Vivek's face turns into an inscrutable expression) And Mr Gupta, He's a bit of a nutter if you ask me. And I do believe he thinks Purab is daft. Not that isnt obvious to anybody in a 1000 mile radius of that imbecile." Nikhil answered back, the drowsiness that had earlier invaded him fading away slowly.

"ON POINT. Or maybe he doesn't want Purab to know Khushi is his daughter. (His face turning ugly) It would make him a cougar if he was keeping tabs on a young girl without any apparent reason. Even Purabs not that dense to not catch on that. But that guys as demented as Mr Gupta I bet he doesn't give a rat's ass as to why his step father wants information on a stranger. (Nikhil nods) Did you ever ask him why?" Vivek considered though if he could gag right now he probably would keeping in mind the vile people they were discussing.

"Every time. He threatened me to shut up. Mad old bat." Nikhil answered back darkly, the look on his face portraying the venom he felt for the man in question. Vivek chuckled at this response receiving an obviously confused look from Nikhil.

"That's the most emotion you have shown in days man. (Nikhil pales slightly) We could be friends if you acted more like you actually are, and not what you think you should be, you know." Vivek explained after a beat, though that probably did nothing to improve Nikhil's confusion or mood who was still looking at Vivek skeptically.