Chapter 24

Hey guys! Update after a long time!! Please lemme know if you like it!!

Part 24:

So he walked with her to the cafeteria.

But he stopped short, unable to comprehend the scene in front of him, once they reached the cafeteria…

The entire room was decorated with flowers and balloons. The only other people in the room were Rahul, JP, Jiggy and Kirti waiting near the bench nervously checking if everything was in order.

"Yaha ho kya raha hai?" he turned to Shilpa and she gave him a hesitant smile.

"Just wait and watch…" she whispered.

"But--"

He was soon cut off by the entry of another person in the room… Muskaan.

Rahul turned around to see Muskaan entering and smiled in relief. But he could still see the apprehension in her eyes. He panicked and looked at Shilpa, who nodded and reassured him again. Feeling a little more confident than he was a minute ago, turned to look at Armaan.

Armaan, noticing the shared look between Shilpa and Rahul had pretty good idea of what was going on. So he nodded at rahul in encouragement as well. Although to be frank, he was a little surprised that Rahul had confided in Shilpa but not him.

Rahul smiled. He turned to look at Muskaan.

"What is all this Rahul?" Muskaan asked

He walked up to her. "Muskaan, I know ke maine tumhe bahut hurt kiya hai."

"What are u talking about? Main tumhe bata chuki hu… tumhari kisis bhi baat se mujhe koi farak nahi padta…"

"Jhut! Agar farak nahi padta, toh why are your eyes red? Why do they mirror the deep pain that I have been through these past couple of days… "

"Look, I don't have time for all this… Lets us finish this once and for all.." Muskaan yelled frustrated.

Rahul smiled. "Yes…Lets" and he pulled her into his arms and hugged her. and that was the last straw. Muskaan started crying, heavy sobs escaping from her as the result of all that had happened in the past couple of days.

"Kyun Rahul? Kyun kiya tumne aisa?"

"Main darr gaya tha Muskaan… Uss chude wale incident ke baad, I was scared that I couldn't handle a serious relationship. But I was wrong. I was so wrong. What I cannot handle is living without you. Main tumse durr nahi reh sakta. Ek din nahi, ek minute nahi ek pal nahi."

He got down on one knee and asked her.

"will you marry me?"

Muskaan smiled at her, the love and happiness evident on her face. "Yes.. Yes.." and stared crying as rahul placed the ring on her finger. She got down to his level and hugged him.

Armaan smiled in happiness and looked at Shilpa. She had tears in her eyes. She looked at him and rushed into his arms. He locked her in a tight grip, so happy for his friends.

----

After everything had finally settled, rahul and Armaan were standing in one corner talking to each other with the rest of the gang standing at the other end. A lot of other interns had also joined the so-called engagement party of Rahul and Muskaan.

"Congratuations bro! Finally, we all were wondering when you were going to pop the question…" Armaan hugged Rahul.

Rahul grinned. "Thanks man! Well someone just made me realize that it was high time I do something about my baggage you know, or else I was going to lose Muskaan.."

Armaan looked at him and raised an eyebrow in question.

"You…"

"Me? " Armaan asked, genuinely confused.

"Yes, you and Shilpa… But you know what a pain-in-the-ass I can be. I really had doubts about my relationship with Muskaan. I couldn't decide if I could defy my parents when it came to her. They are after all my parents. But, then I saw two of you together and could feel the magic that is love. And I knew I wanted that with Muskaan. But then again, it was a tough choice. Naturally this was not something I could discuss with Muskaan, because she would have been hurt. But apparently, Muskaan had talked to Shilpa about this already."

Armaan looked up, suddenly realizing the looks that he had seen them exchange. So that's what it was all about!

"Thanks to Shilpa… she suggested that I talk to my parents and convince them to atleast meet Muskaan before they say no. and voila! Here we are together forever finally.. J" rahul finished.

"But Shilpa knew about all this and didn't mention it to me! Did she not trust---"

""I told her not to. I made her promise not to tell you." Muskaan answered from behind them. "You know how loyal she is to the ones she loves. Although in retrospect, I realize the compromising situation I must have put her in, but I was being irrational. You know me!! She's the best Armaan! I don't know what we would have done without her! " she smiled and walked to Shilpa who waved er to join them.

Armaan looked at Shilpa, who was standing with some other interns. He decided to tlk to her about this later.

"I can't believe you confided in Shilpa and not me. I mean she knew that she was going to propose but not me. I am really surprised and a little concerned too…" Armaan turned to Rahul and teased.

"She didn't… nobody knew but me! J" he replied. And saw Armaan tracking Shilpa with his gaze wherever she went. He grinned.

"She's a keeper Armaan… Don't ever let her go…" Rahul said.

Armaan smiled. "Don't I know that…"

kaise mujhe tum mil gayi, kismat pe aaye na yakin

utar aayi jheel mein, jaise chaand utarata hai kabhi

houle haule, dheere se

gunguni dhup ki tarah se tarnnum main tum

chhuke mujhe gujari ho yu

dekhu tumhe, ya main sunu

tum ho sukun, tum ho junun

kyun pehle na aayi tum

kaise mujhe tum mil gayi, kismat pe aaye na yakin

main toh yeh sochata tha, ke aaj kal uparwale ko fursat nahi

phir bhi tumhe banaake woh, meri nazar mein jad gaya

rutbe main woh aur badh gaya

aa aa aa aa aa aa aa...

--

Armaan was waiting for Shilpa at their usual spot, the Sanjeevani terrace. He kept pacing the area, nervous and impatient to sort this mess out. He had a lot of questions whirling in his head. What would he tell her? How was he going to apologize for his behavior and ignorance? How will she react? Will she forgive him?

He turned around at the sound of the door opening to see her come. She closed the door and walked towards him, a quiet apprehension evident on her face.

"Armaan---" but before she could finish, she was in his arms, his hands tightly wrapped around her.

"Shhh… Just listen to me first… I am sorry Shilpa… I know my behavior these past few days has been inexcusable…"

Shilpa was taken aback by his gesture, and soaked up his scent while she could. She had missed him so much these past few days! She was about to wrap her arms around him when she realized she was mad at him.

"Yes! " Shilpa pulled back from his hold. "Do you have any idea what it's been like these last few days? What with Muskaan all sad and you not talking to me!! "

"I know! And I am sorry far that! Its just Muskaan told me about your promise. Its not fault sweetheart. I understand that it was not your secret to tell. I guess I should have been more understanding, but you know me! I can't see you so anxious and tensed all the time. "

"And how does you not talking to me help me reduce that anxiety? How did you figure that out genius?" Shilpa taunted. She knew she was being rude, but dammit she was mad at him. The least she could expect from him is his trust to handle things well.

Armaan gaped at her, unable to say anything. He knew what he did was wrong and had to set things straight.

"I kept trying to talk to you, but I couldn't tell you that Muskaan is planning on breaking up with Rahul. I kept thinking how can I make this right? What should I do so that you try and give me one chance?" Shilpa continued.

"Woah! What are you so fired up about? It's not like I enjoyed not talking to you! The few days have been tough for me too you know! What would you do if you saw me stressed out about something huh? "

"I would atleast give you benefit of the doubt! I will definitely not stop talking to you! You simply don't trust me! What does that tell you about our relationship?"

"How does that even come into picture? Tum kaha ki baat ko kaha lekar jaa rahi ho Bracelet?"

"Sahi keh rahi hu! I mean I am having some serious thoughts about all this!"

"What's that now?" Armaan asked.

"Listen Armaan-"

"No you listen to me. I think you need to sleep in on this one. We'll talk about this tomorrow. Please just let's not discuss this today. Ek din ke liye itni excitement kafi hai!!"

Shilpa sighed. Armaan wasn't going to discuss anything futher today. She turned around to go, but was stopped because her hair got stuck in armaan's shirt button.

She got pulled back so abruptly that she almost fell on him, if not for his arm's support. She raised her eyes and looked at him. And Armaan was lost. She hadn't been this close to him for a long time now. Armaan came closer to her and grinned.

"Dekha Bracelet, God bhi nahi chahte ke hum ladein…" he whispered and kissed her on the forehead, and disentangling her hair at the same time.

"Sweet dreams…" and he walked away from there, a smile on both their faces.

Armaan walked into Sanjeevani the next day, hoping that today he could finnaly win Shilpa over. He was in for a big surprise.

She ignored him in the locker room, in the cafeteria and in the children's ward. She kept looking at him with a somber expression when she thought he wasn't looking. And everytime he tried to talk to her, she evaded giving definite answers and ran away from there. Armaan had enough. He turned around the corner to see shilpa about to pass the door to the fore escape. He saw his one chance to talk to her in private.

He rushed to her and grabbing her hand pulled her into the fire escape. Shilpa looked him, startled by his sudden action.

"Armaan-" she whispered furiously. "What the hell are you doing?"

"What the hell are you doing?" he countered. "You have been ignoring for the whole day!! I wanna know why?"

She looked at him for a long moment and then lowered her eyes.

Armaan sighed knowing he had screwed up pretty bad. He walked closer to her and cupped her shoulders. "Tell me what I can do to fix this. I know you think that this protectiveness is wrong but I can help but feel that way about you. If there's something bothering you, you cannot expect me to just let it go. I will fight till my last breath to do anything to make you feel better. I cannot feel sorry for my emotions for you…"

Shilpa looked up at him and sighed. "I would never ask you to hide what you are feeling from me Armaan… all I ask for is a little trust and patience. But you did not give me that. As for fixing this… you're the love guru not me remember…" she grinned and turned to walk away.

But Armaan was faster. He caught her hand and turned her to face him. "Is that so? Challenge accepted shona…"

"We'll see!" Shilpa grinned and walked away, leaving behind a much more confident Armaan smiling at her.

Precap –

Armaan-Shilpa sweet moements

Padma notices something fishy

So thats it! Lemme know how it was :)

Vanshika