~ArBi FF Jab Lurve Hua~Part 271 pg141 - Page 29

After some time Raj returned to MU and passed his photographs to Jiya and he went to talk to Bharti.

Bharti:Oh hi Raj..

Raj:Heyy you haven't left??

Bharti:actually I was just about to..but I'm sure going to take long time walking...

Raj:Don't mind me if I offer you a lift back home..

Bharti:I totally would have minded if my feet didn't hurt badly...So i don't mind for tongiht..

Raj:Great...I'll get your folder in your bag..Come..

Bharti took her heels and tried to stand.Raj realized that Bharti was struggling and he carried her in his arms and took her outside her cabin. Bharti realized that everyone's eyes were on them but Raj didn't really care and quickly brought her inside the lift and they headed to the carpark where his car was parked. He helped Bharti sit on his car and drove her to Armaan's place. Bharti passed him the house keys and raj carried her further to the house entrance. Bharti thanked him for the enjoyable lift ride. Raj winked at her and asked her to rest and not come to MU till her feet is fully well. Bharti thanked him for his concern.

Raj:Waise bedroom tak cho do??

Bharti:No thanks Raj..I'm fine!!

Raj:Hhmm..Well I would have asked you gor coffee but I'll ask you for that when your foot's well

Bharti:Aapki meherbaan ke liye shukriya..

Raj:Lollz goodnight..Bye!!

Bharti:Bye Raj..

Bharti was practically limping to her bed and quickly changed her clothes. She was simply too lazy to get some foot lotion and she just dropped herself on the bed.

Armaan went back to MU to edit the photographs and he saw Jiya still working in her cabin.

Armaan:Heyy you're still here??

Jiya:Yeah...had a bit more work today..

Armaan:Bharti left already??

Jiya:Yeah..I think so..Yes Mahi said that she already left..

Armaan:How did she even go with her swollen foot??

Jiya:Oh yeah she told me of how you got irritated with her.. Actually main tumse ek baat poochna chahthi hoon...It's because of her that you're talking to Preity now??

Armaan:Yeah..you remmeber what I did to her and Abhishek...Now she's playing the same game with me...

Jiya:Lollz you two are just so cute..I mean you and Bharti..And don't worry about me and Raj..We have no probs with you..

Armaan:Just forget about Preity...Wrap up your work; I'll drop you off...

Jiya:Cool..give me 2 minutes...

Jiya and Armaan were taking the MU lift when they saw Sonali and Pushpak inside the lift.

Jiya:Ahem...Hello lovebirds...Kya chal raha hain??

Sonali:Kuch nahin..Just quarelling with each other...

Armaan:What?(got amused)

Pushpak:Me calling her plump and she calling me unromantic..Stuff like that...

Jiya:Kamaal hai..But why all of a suddne now??Usually you two would have made up by this time...

Pushpak:Actually it started in the evening..This Sonali saw Raj carrying Bharti in his arms and she started going into her dreamworld of how she wishes that I would carry her like that..I mean come on...

Jiya:Lollz Pushpak...Sonlai's a girl...She too has certain lil dreams..you know..Anyways you guyzz carry on..Armaan chalo..

Armaan and Jiya were walking to his bike.

Jiya:Heyy you ok??

Armaan:Yeah..I guess os..

Jiya:Armaan..Armaan!!!(shook him)

Armaan:Huh??Chalo..

Jiya:Ek minute...don't tell me you're taking what Pushpak said seriously..

Armaan:Come on Jiya..it's quite late...

Along the way Jiya wondered how come Raj didn't inform her when he was leaving?? "Actually I was quite busy with work that I might not have noticed and by the way he did good that he gave Bharti a ride today..Poor thing..Bharti couldn't even lift her right foot...But if Armaan's affected by that..Isn't that great news??His growing jealousy when Raj gave Bharti a lift back home...Interesting...hhmm not bad..Thoda zaarthi karungi toh God bhi sunn leta hai...Muahaha!!"

Armaan dropped Jiya home while Armaan left promptly without letting Jiya say anythingg. Jiya smiled and went inside. Meanwhile, Pushpak's words kept echoing in Armaan's mind repeatedly. He reached home and went inside and saw Bharti sleeping. She didn't even take the blankets and the room was quite windy with the open windows. Armaan saw the redness on the sole of her right foot and he wondered how much it was hurting Bharti. In an instant he forgot about Pushpak's words and quickly kept his bag aside to search ofr the foot lotion and muscle sprain spray which his mum often used. He massaged Bharti's foot gently and spread the foot lotion and kept the blanket at Bharti's side within her reach. Armaan realized that Bharti didn't have her dinner and she may probably wake up later to have some as he recollected his mum telling him once about how Bharti woke up late at night when she didn't have her dinner and there was really nothing to eat.Bharti had cooked noodles for herself and while taking the utensils from the ktichen cabinet, Sudha had heard and almost mistook her for a mouse in the kitchen and she ended up eating the noodles with Bharti. Recalling this incident brought a smile on his fac einstantly. Armaan made some noodles for Bharti and kept it closed in a bowl and went to check on Bharti. She was still sleeping soundly and Armaan went inside and gently kissed her forehead and smiled. He went out to sleep on the sofa while letting Bharti sleep in his room.

The enxt day, Bharti woke up and tried to stand up. Her pain was very much reduced and she wondere dif some miracle took place or surprisingly a guardian angel came and took care of her right foot and healed her pain. Her right foot hasn't fully recovered but she could walk much better compared to last evening. She assumed that Armaan must have already left for MU for she didn't see him anywhere at home. She made herself some coffee and saw a bowl and when she opened the bowl, she saw noodles and smiled, wondering if Armaan noticed that she didn't eat dinner last night. Bharti thought about Armaan.

"Sometimes Armaan can be so sweet..aur sometimes woh itna sadhoo bann jaata hai...It's such a funny thing that Armaan loves to irritate me and at the same time, he gets mad at me..He's such a confused soul...Well now that he has become a lil sweet, I shall forgive him for irritating me during lunch that day as well as leaving me on my own yesterday...Maybe a small gift for him to appreciate what he did for me..."

Bharti switched on her laptop, looking at some gifts as she decided to do some online shopping. She got 2 gifts and sent them to the Men's Universe address. Just then she received a call.

Bharti:Hi Bharti here...

Alisha:diot kahi ki..Where the heavens were you???

Bharti:Ohh hi Alisha...you must have received my messages..All credits go to Armaan who told me to leave from there wihtout informing anyone and to Bhaskar for recommending my name to MU boss instead of MWorld...Sorry dear...

Alisha:Aur tum maan bhi gayi..

Bharti:Sorry yaar...Acha how are you and Sanju at MWorld??

Alisha:Quite stressful by the way...But Sanju is here with me so I'm pretty much dependent on her too..Office politics and stuff...

Bharti:PRetty much the same here too...Lollz MWorld and MU are rival competitiors..Can you believe that??

Alisha:Lollz i was just telling Sanju about it...Humein kya hain yaar...We are her ejust for two months..Time will just fly like that...

Bharti:True...it's been a week since I've joined MU and it just feels as if I've just started yesterday..Anyways we've got to meet up soon yeah??

Alisha:Yeah...ok gurl I'll talk to you later..Bye..

Bhati:Yeah ok take care..Bye!!

Both of them hung up snd Bharti shut down her laptop after writing her articles and sending an email to Mahi and she went to lie down on the sofa, browsing through some fashion magazines. Meanwhile at Men's Universe, Jiya just came back from her fashion shoot and Jenny asked her to pass a parcel to Raj. Jiya wondered who this was form for she had never seen any parcels for Raj and that too in Men's Universe. She went straight to his cabin.

Jiya:Mr Raj Malhotra...

Raj:Ufff Jiya..you don't have to give me so much respect yaar...

Jiya:Ahem..(clears her throat) There's a parcel for you..

Raj:Parcel??For me??From you??

Jiya:Yeah right..In your dreamzz Raj...Is this from your previous girlfriends or something??

Raj:In that case you open it for me...

Jiya:And why so??

Raj:Just in case if there's an explosive or something..you can have the first taste of it..

Jiya:Oye!!!You're really annoying..do you know that??

Raj:Chal jaa..Open it!!Ok fine let's open together...

Both of them opened the large wrapped box gently and Jiya just glared at him.

Jiya:Ok now what??Another box within a box??Don't tell me this is a joke...

Raj:I've got no idea..Come on kholo..

Jiya:Yeah continue...

Raj:Just look at this..It's a large glass painting with friendship quotes written on it...Who could have sent it???

Jiya:It's really gorgeous and I've never seen anything like this before...Heyy there's a card with it...

Raj:Open it and read..

Jiya: To a guy who became a great friend in times of need...Glad that you've helped me out last night..May we always be friends forever..Cheers, Bharti..Bharti gifted you this??

Raj:What for...OMG....!!This is just awesome yaar...Wow!!!!Hey tumhe kya hua??

Jiya:Ermm nothing!!

Raj:Arre bol na...

Jiya:If Armaan were to see this how would he feel??

Raj:Bad..Really bad!!But where the hell was he last night??

Jiya:He went with Preity to cover the Elle fashion event and ended pretty late...Actually both Armaan and Bharti had a lil quarrel...

Raj:With Preity??Both have reconciled??

Jiya:Yes and that too on the request of Bharti...Actually she got back at Armaan..(narrated the incident before Armaan and Bharti's valentine dace and how Bharti got back at him by telling him to sort out differences between him and Preity)

Raj:Interesting...Well I'm going home to place this painting and I'll be back in an hour's time...

Jiya:Yeah ok but please hurry!!We've got a lot of work to do...

Raj:Ok ok..I'll be back asap!!

Meanwhile Armaan had taken half-day leave and headed straight home to see how Bharti was doing. Bharti was dozing off and she was dreaming...

There was a knock on the door while she was sleeping. She opened her eyes to see Armaan having some flowers in his hands. Bharti quickly woke up from the sofa and sat upright instantly and wondered what Armaan was doing at home right now. Armaan sat beside her on the sofa and looked at her lovingly.

Bharti:What??What are you doing here??

Armaan:Ntohing really...Just wanted to talk to you..

Bharti:But what about and why are you sitting so close to me??

Armaan:Are you feeling scared??

Bharti:(looked away)Nnnoo..Why would I be scared??(turned to look at Armaan)

Bharti literally got scared as Armaan's face almost touched her and she looked into his deep eyes as he talked.

Armaan:Bharti I just don't know what's happening around me...Whenever I see you, things jsut seem so different..It feels so special and magical..

Bharti:Dekho..dekho tum...

Armaan:Sshh..(placed his finger on her lips) I think I'm falling for you Bharti...

Bharti widened her eyes in shock and Armaan almost leaned forward to kiss her and she quickly woke up from her dream. She quickly opened her eyes widely and sat upright. She went to the washroom and rinsed her face repeatedly, and looked up to face herself in the mirror. She then went to sit on the sofa and shook her head vigorously.

"Goodness..a stupidly horrendous dream..Phew that was such a weird dream..Ugghh i can't believe it..It can never ever happen..I wonder why I even had that dream in the first palce...So crap!!(kept slapping her face repeatedly)This is all that KK's doing...Better listen up KK, I'm not going to buy your words,,Armaan and i ar ejsut best friends and no matter what you're going to do, I'm not going to fall into your trap!!Hah!!"

Just then Armaan came back home.

Armaan:Hi..How are you feeling?

Bharti:TUM???

Armaan:Haan main...

Bharti:What are you doing here all of a sudden??

Armaan:What happened to you??I stay here,remember??

Bharti:But..but..you went to MU na??How come you're back early??

Armaan:Just to see how you're doing...By the way why are yuo reacting as such...Koi booth ya bura sapna dekh liya tha kya??

Bharti:yeah..I just woke up from a frightening dream..

Armaan:If you don't mind sharing....

Bharti:Can you get me a glass of water first??

Armaan:Yea sure...There you go...Ab bolo...

Bharti:(drinking some water and at the same time thinking of what to say) Well ek rakshas aaya tha sapno mein aur kehne laga ki main kisi se pyaar karne waali hoon..

Armaan bursted out laughing...

Armaan:Interesitng..That's a creepy rakshas....Waise did he tell you the name??What's the name of the funny rakshas??

Bharti:I'll call him KK...Such a weird dream after all..So nonsensical!!!anyways did you get my parcel??

Armaan:What parcel??

Bharti:Arre I sent you a parcel t MU..

Armaan:You did what??Ok i'm just going back to MU and get it ok??I'll be back soon and then we'll talk..

Bharti:Ajeeb ladka hain!!!

Armaan rushed to Men's universe and asked jenny for his parcel. Jenny told him that Preity had helped take his parcel and she must have left it in his cabin. Armaan went to his cabin and saw a wrapped box. He unwrapped it and saw a box of chocolates and a CK cologne and a small note. He unfolded the note and read.

"To a guy whom I love to irritate..Thank you so much for the noodles and for talking to Preity...Well I know it's against your wish but I'm truly glad that things worked out between you two and I hope both of you are getting along well, as before....

Hope you like the gift...This is truly to appreciate what you've been doing for me so far...

Thanks!!!

Your secret friend,

Bharti"

Armaan smiled at the note and he kept the gifts in the box and went back home to meet Bharti.Armaan reached home quickly and didn't see her anywhere. Bharti had actually gone to bathe and Armaan decided to prepare some snacks for the evening.Armaan was thinking of having a special dinner with Bharti and he thought of preparing Bharti's favourite dishes, whatever he knew of and he just wanted to make the night perfect. He knew that he was a bit rude to Bharti last night and he wanted to make it up to her and this could be the best way ever. Bharti got out after changing into her casuals and both of them had coffee and pakoras.

Bharti:So you liked the gift??

Armaan:Lurved it....Thanks..but it wasn't necessary....

Bharti:It was Armaan...To appreciate what you've been doing for me....Thanks yaar!!

Armaan:Anytime..Anyways I know I was really rude to you last night...I mean I jsut left you in the lurch...You were having a hard time...

Bharti:Heyy it's ok...Raj had helped me out to give a lift back home..Real sweet of him..Actually he's not that bad as i thought he might appear to be....

Armaan:(thought to herself) "Yeah he isn't...Armaan just control yourself...!!"..Yeah he isn't..he's a great buddy....Anyways how's your leg??I hope i didn't massage too roughly...

Bharti:You did what???

Armaan:Sorry about that..Actually your foot got really swollen last night...And I felt it might worsen so i used Maa's muscle sprain spray as well as the foot lotion to ease the pain a bit....

Bharti:OMG..You're so sweet yaar.....I didn't even realize it and now my feet is so much better....Awww thanks Armaan!!!You're like a Guardian Angel for me yaar....Pehle yeh contract marriage, phir secret friendship aur ab...seriously yaar Thank you thank you thank you!!!!(pinched his cheeks)

Armaan:Oh God..will you stop for now.....Actually I wanted to ask you something...

Bharti:Poocho na...(smiled widely)

Armaan:Will you like to have dinner with me at the balcony tonight???I want to make it up to you for my misbehaviour last night....

Bharti:Misbehaviour??Uffo Armaan....Let me tell you something...

Armaan:Batao...

Bharti:You can never misbehave with me or any other girl...You're such a gentleman yaar.... A girl's perfect dream guy..(raises her eyebrows and smiled at him)You're really nice, sachhi!!!

Armaan smiled at Bharti and Bharti naturally smiled back at her.

Armaan had prepared some food for Bharti and him and Bharti helped lay the table in the balcony with the help of Armaan and she helped to decorate the place with some scented candles and Bharti could practically the feel the aroma coming from the cooked foods. They sat down and were about to eat.Just then the doorbell rang. Armaan and Bharti looked up and glanced at each other and both of them wondered who it could be.

Bharti went to open the door and she was surprised to see Bhaskar and Payal having dropped by without even calling and she invited them inside.

Bharti:Armaan, look who's here....

Armaan:Hey you guyzz...Come in...

Bhaskar:What's going on....

Bharti:Nothing Bhaskar..We were just...

Armaan:Having dinner that the doorbell rang..You could have called...

Payal:Socha surprise kar doo....

Armaan:Indeed it is....Wanna join us for dinner??

Bhaskar:That'll be great..And we've brought some brownies along as well....

Bharti:So shall we???I'll get the chairs...

Armaan:Come...

Bharti:Heyy i'll get the chairs..you guyz take a seat....

Payal and Bhaskar were heading towards the balcony and they were both surprised to see the balcony beautifully decorated. Payal nudged bhaskar.

Payal:Heyy I think both of them were planning to have a private dinner..Gosh...

Bhaskar:So shall we leave???Come on Payal we are already here na....Waise the place is nicely decorated....

Payal:I'm feeling so bad now...

Bhaskar:Uffo chale???

Armaan:Hey you two come have a seat....

Bhaskar:Don't mind Payal...she's feeling terrible that she's ruined your dinner plans...

Armaan:Aww Payal that's fine....Actually Bharti and I thought of having dinner at the balcony and just as we were about to eat you guyzz came but it's fine..Just come...

Payal:Sure Armaan??

Armaan:Sure thing Payal..Waise your show is quite good...

Payal:You mean Pyaar Ka Ehsaas???You listen to it??

Armaan:Actually once i had tuned to the radio in the evening when I was at home and after listening to some songs did I realize that I recognize the voice and it turned out to be yours....Waise Maa and I lurve your show...

Payal:Awww thanks a lot Armaan..It really means a lot to me...See Bhaskar...

Bhaskar:What??Even I listen to your show too...

Payal:Yea right...You listen for 5 minutes and you shut the radio off...and rush for your meetings and all....Don't I know you??

Bhaskar:Don't you know some manners Payal...Why are you speaking ill of me in front of Armaan..Come on now...

Payal:Lollz Bhaskar I'm just stating what you do....Armaan you're real sweet..thanks a lot....

Armaan:(got amused) Hehzz Maa really loves your show...

Bhaskar:Armaan stop it now or else she'll just brag about your comments to me for the entire week...

Payal:I've got the right to do that for you never compliment my show at all....

Bhaskar:Never at all???

Payal:Your compliments once in a blue moon is considered as rare or never according to my perspective...

Bharti:Shuru ho gayi tum dono???Chalo...khaana shuru karo...

Everyone started to eat and Payal just kept thinking to herself of how she should get to know what Bharti and Armaan think about each other but she had no clue of how to begin.Just then she thought of an idea.

Bharti:Waise Payal how's your radio show going along???

Payal:Hear it from Armaan...hehe anyways for today na actually there was a girl..she was asking me some questions on the radio about the ideal guy for her...And she was the last caller and I couldn't answer her and thus I've told her to tune in the next day for the perfect guy response....And i need some of your answers...So help me out,yeah??

Bharti:How do you expect us to help you out yaar???

Payal:Oh come on..Ok let me start with you Armaan...Tell me about your dream girl...

Bharti:Haan haan bata dena..uss khaas ladki ke baare mein...

Bhaskar:Khaas ladki??

Bharti:Whoops!!Mere kehne ki matlab hai...Every one will have a perception of their dream guy or girl...So Armaan, share with us,come on....

Payal:Yeah share with us...

Armaan:Actually there's nothing like that....Ok my dream girl...Ermm give me some time yeah...Ok..She should be a daring and carefree girl who doesn't really care about the world and what people think about her or what she does..Someone who's compassionate and with a loving heart; someone who's there to be by my side always, who likes to bug me often and involve me in her life..Yeah...

Payal:Wow that's interesting....What about you bharti???

Bharti:(almost choked) What??Why are you asking me for??

Bhaskar:Oh come on abhi abhi toh tumne kaha tha ki sabko apne perception hote hai apne dream guy ya dream girl ke baare mein...So shoot it out Ms Bharti....

Bharti:Bhasku!!!Ok fine....Ermm....Maybe a guy who just accepts me just the way I am and loves me unconditionally; someone who gives me respect and trusts me in all sorts of circumstances and perhaps someone who can keep me quiet for I'm such a chatterbox,yeah Armaan???

Payal:Chatterbox..Who named you that??

Armaan:I did..and it's so true..

Payal:Indeed she is...That's a perfect nickname for her...

Armaan:And what about your dream guy Payal??

Payal:My dream guy....He's....(looks at Bhaskar and pauses for a while)..sitting right in front of me...

Bharti:And what about your dream girl Mr bhaskar???

Bhaskar:Well she's smart,suave and intelligent and most importantly creative..And there can be no one like her....My jaanemann...Payal..(winked at her)

Armaan:Ahem...

Bharti:Yeah thanks Armaan...khaana continue ki jaaye...(smiled widely at both of them)

Bhaskar:Waise...Payal and I've decided to throw our anniversary bash at Rheo Pub..and you two make sure you come...Especially you Bharti for it's always because of you that our anniversary celebrations always get delayed...

Payal:And I've even thought of changing our anniversary dates too..Lollz...4 years in a row..Come on...

Bharti:Hehe...I'll surely be there with Armaan....Are we the only ones coming???

Payal:We've invited Raj and Jiya as well....So it will just be the six of us...

Bharti:Cool...so when's the celebration??

Payal:Two days from now and it's in the evening,k??And it's Friday...

Bharti:Lurve Friday nights....The party nights...I so miss those nights...You know Armaan the three of us would just party like mad on Friday nights whenever we could....It's really crazy and wild at times...

Bharti kept talking continously, recollecting those fun days in her college and university days where all of them would party till late night with Alisha,Sanjana, Payal and Bhaskar and Armaan was all ears for her, listening to her without diverting his attention anywhere and Payal was alert of Armaan's expressions and readiness to listen to her.Payal felt her gut instinct was indeed right from the beginning but she decided to keep mum till either one of them reveals to her about their feelings and she'll wait eagerly for that day.

~Two Days Later~

Bharti went to Rheo Pub with Payal and Bhaskar while Armaan reached with Jiya and Raj.Bhaskar and Payal had ordered for a blackforest cake with the words "I Love You" and Payal was all smiles as she whispered the three magical words to Bhaskar and they went to dance on the dance floor after cutting the cake and asking the rest to serve themselves. Bharti and Jiya were just talking random stuff and Bhaskar ordered for some red wine for all of them. Bharti looked at Armaan and told him that she's going to drink tonight for she's extremely excited for both of her bestest friends and she drank several pegs and she was mildly dancing on the dance floor with several other people who were busy dancing as well.Jiya and Raj were helping themselves with the blackforest cake.Bharti was looking at them especially at Armaan and gestured him to come and dance with her. He kept declining her offer and Bharti got slightly irritated and she asked Raj for a dance instead and she pulled Raj's hand and brought him to dance on the dance floor to the song, "Uff Teri Adaa" and both of them were enjoying themselves to the dance song. On one side, Raj and Bharti were really enjoying themselves thoroughly while on the other side, Armaan wasn't taking it too well. Jiya was smiling at Bharti and as she turned to face Armaan, she saw how he was getting quite jealous and before she could say anything to him, she received a phone call and she asked Armaan to drop her home and both of them went off after bidding goodbye to Payal and Bhaskar. Payal and Bhaskar too joined in with Raj and Bharti and after some time Payal and Bhaskar left. Bharti was feeling like having some more drinks and excused herself to get some more drinks from the bartender.

KK:Don't you think this is enough for the night???

Bharti:Tum??Tum phir se peeche padh gaye??

KK:Hhmm...Anyways Raj huh???Where's Armaan??

Bharti:He must be somewhere here....

KK:For your kind information he has already left to drop off Jiya...

Bharti:Hhmm he just left...I'll meet him at home then...

KK:Bharti there's no more drinks for you....Just get back home asap...(smiled at Bharti)

Bharti:Who are you to tell me when I should head for home and all...Meri marzi hai..main jab chahoo tab tak yaha rahungi....

KK:Hhmm....Looks like you'll have a rough night today...Take care!!

KK disappeared from there and Raj went to Bharti.

Raj:Heyy I gotta go..I'll see ya...

Bharti:Hey Raj do you mind if I ask you to drop me home??

Raj:Not at all..Come...I'll drop you...Hold on...Goodness you're so drunk!!!Ok..aaraam se...(while driving) Oh goodness, it's so late...

Raj drove Bharti to Armaan's place and looking at her drunken state, he decided to bring her inside. Raj rang the doorbell and Armaan opened the door to see a really drunk Bharti.