Do I have to say the words (AR) #2 - Note pg 147 - Page 22

Originally posted by: mansibharti

aww kitne shweet hain mere little devils and i dnt like chocolates can i have something else instead 😳😳

Part 18:

He had good reason to believe so because Riddhima not only gave a very bland reply to his enthusiastic "Hi" but was also looking quite lost in thought. Right now they were sitting in one of the coffee shops at the mall and he was the only one who was doing the talking, while she was either replying in short sentences or monosyllables.

"No Ayush, it's nothing like that. I am just a little surprised that Di never said anything about you coming here. As far as I know, it was supposed to be a get-together for me, Jiju and her."

Ayush looked a little satisfied with her reply, which put her at ease. However, there was something that was eating her out and it was Anjali's misconception about her relationship with Ayush.

"How can Di even think that I am in love with Ayush? I never said or did anything to make her believe so. God help me, I am caught in a very sticky situation!!"

She had also realized by now that there was some sort of an understanding between Ayush and Anjali as the thumbs up sign her sister flashed at him didn't go unnoticed. It was totally evident that it was all a pre planned set-up and Ayush knew about it.

"I need to clear it up, or else I don't know what I will be getting into" thought Riddhima.

"There you go again Riddhima. Why are you so lost today?" said Ayush as he snapped his fingers in front of her face.

"Ayush, can you tell me something?"

"You just need to ask Riddhima"

"Did Anjali di ask you to come here?"

"Yup"

"What exactly did she tell you?"

"She said it has been a long time since we caught up, so here I am."

"But you knew I would be here too, right?"

"Riddhima, why are you grilling me like this?" asked Ayush with an uncomfortable laugh.

"Umm, nothing" she said after pondering over it for a few minutes. Much as she wanted to blurt out everything, she controlled herself as she hadn't spoken to Armaan about revealing their relationship to the world. Moreover, she wanted her family and close friends to know about it first, instead of Ayush. But at the same time, she knew that Ayush shouldn't have any false hopes, as the woman in her already knew that he wanted their relationship to be something more than just friendship.

"Ayush" she continued, "I am not sure about Di's motive behind this, but I just wanted clear some things, lest you have any false expectations from me."

As Ayush looked at her with a blank face, Riddhima continued, "You are a very sweet friend, but I have never thought of anything more than that"

"Riddhima, I think being good friends can also contribute greatly to a happy life together"

"I believe so too Ayush, but things are different here"

"Maybe you have inhibitions because you never looked at our relationship from that angle but I just want to ask you to give it a chance Riddhima"

"Well, if you ask me, I would like both of us to work towards strengthening our friendship instead. We shouldn't let anything spoil this beautiful bond" said Riddhima.

Ayush looked down for a few moments, as if he was absorbing the words. Riddhima felt a little bad for him, but she knew it was necessary and she tried her best to put it as delicately as possible. However, she was surprised to see him look up at her with a smile.

"Sounds good Riddhima, we will work on it" he said with resolve.

As Riddhima made her way out of the mall a few minutes later, she was relieved that at least she cleared everything with Ayush. The next task at hand was to talk to her Di, who had slipped out soon after bringing her and Ayush together.

"I will talk to her soon, but in the meantime, I need to get back to the office. This lunch break turned out to be longer than I expected" she sighed.

***************************************************

The television in Armaan's room was blaring at its loudest best as he tried to catch the latest business news. However, his devil of a brother was busy strumming a guitar and kept disturbing him with no regret.

"Can you hold off on that for some time?" asked Armaan with an annoyed look.

"Yup, but on one condition" said Rahul with a devilish grin on his face.

"Kya?"

"The truth"

" I don't get it"

"Ab bata bhi do bhai, kitne der tak chupaoge?"

"Kya chupaya maine?"

"Oh, that innocent look on his face!!!" exclaimed Rahul. "Well, if you want me to be more precise, main wahi sun na chahta hoon jo aapne meri best friend cum bhabhi ji ko bataya"

"Huh?"

"Bro, stop putting up this act now, you aren't good at it anyway. Moreover, your face has been saying it all since the last couple of days"

Armaan suspected all along that his little kiddo somehow got to know that he and Riddhima had confessed their love to each other, but now that Rahul gleefully disclosed it himself, he started wondering how many more people knew it already.

"Are you serious kiddo?"

"Hehe, I am just kidding, but yeh sach hai ki mujhe sab pata hai. After all, I am your bro" added Rahul with a wink.

"Main tujhe warn kar raha hoon, agar mere kehne se pehle kisiko pata chala to main tera murder kar dunga"

"Bhai, mujhe meri jaan bahut pyaari hai, so until I receive the green signal from you, my lips will be sealed" promised Rahul.

"Hmm, that's better" said Armaan with a satisfied grin, happy that he could still scare his little bro.

However, at that very moment, his phone started ringing and on seeing the name of the caller, Rahul made a mad dash for the phone.

"Oho, bhabhi ji ne aapko goodnight kehne ke liye phone kiya hai. Aaj to meri best friend se main hi pehle baat karunga" shouted Rahul as he held the ringing phone like a trophy.

In return, Armaan just grabbed him and both of them crashed on the bed, with him on top of Rahul. As Armaan was stronger of the two, he easily managed to get hold of the phone and took the call.

"Hello" he said in a panting voice.

"Armaan" asked Riddhima in a concerned voice, "Are you ok? You sound very tired"

"No, it's nothing Riddhima. I was downstairs and had to run all the way to my room to get hold of the phone" he said with a glare at Rahul who was enjoying every bit of the scene in front of him.

"Armaan, I would have called again but you shouldn't be indulging in any strenuous activity till you are fully fit. I hope you remember that."

"Hmmm, I will remember that in the future" he said with a sheepish voice.

Rahul was amazed to see his big bro listening to Riddhima so meekly and he gleefully did a victory jig on the bed before Armaan kicked him out of the room.

"I will come again" Rahul mouthed the words before disappearing.

"Thank God!" sighed Armaan after seeing him leave.

"Huh?" asked Riddhima in a confused voice.

She could sense something going on in the background even as Armaan talked to her but she decided to ignore it as she was no more focused on scolding him for his carelessness.

"Dawai le li?"

"Hmm. After all, I didn't want to be at the receiving end by not having my medicines on time" he said with a laugh and Riddhima also joined in.

"Aaj tum lunch time pe kahan chali gayi thi?"

Riddhima was silent for a few moments before she decided to speak. She really wanted to tell him everything about her conversation with Ayush, but then felt that a face to face conversation would be better.

"Armaan, woh Di ne mujhe bulaya tha. We hadn't met for a long time, so she thought of meeting over lunch"

"That's good, hope you had a nice time"

"Hmm. Chalo woh chodo Armaan, tell me when is Smriti aunty coming?"

"Mom and Dad are coming after two days and I am so happy Riddhima"

"Of course" said Riddhima with a smile as she thought about the wonderful bond he shared with his parents, especially his mother.

Their chit chat went on for another hour. Rahul made several trips to Armaan's room during those 60 minutes and every time he did so, Armaan chased him away by throwing something or the other at him. By the time the call ended, Rahul had a lot of things thrown at him starting from a pillow to a CD case.

***************************************************

It was early morning and Armaan was woken up by his mother's frantic voice that was floating in from the living room below.

"Where is he?" she was asking someone.

Within a couple of minutes, Smriti was at his door, closely followed by Yash and Niki.

"Armaan" said Smriti with a sob before she rushed to hug him.

"Mom, kya hua? Aur aap yahan kaise?" asked Armaan in a surprised voice as his parents were supposed to return after two days.

"Kya hua? You were involved in an accident and no one even had the sense to inform us."

Armaan gave a small sigh. So the news had finally reached Yash and Smriti. It wasn't surprising as the bandage on his forehead and the fact that he was away from office for a long time made people add two and two together and the end result was a tearful Smriti who was getting hyper with every passing second and a more than worried Yash. However, no one in his office knew how serious the accident was and he decided to play it down.

"Mom!! Trust me, it was just a small accident. I bumped my car into a pillar due to my own carelessness. However, there were no serious injuries, except the small one you can see here" said Armaan as he pointed at his forehead.

Niki and then Rahul also joined in and soon they were able to convince Smriti. Yash still looked a little doubtful, but decided not to say anything.

Later, as all of them were having breakfast, Smriti suddenly said, "Mujhe lagta hai ki jald se jald mere bete ki shaadi kara deni chahiye. I guess that will make him a little more careful about himself as there will be someone to keep an eye on him all the time"

Everyone looked at each other with sly grins as Armaan almost choked on his food.

"Mom, yeh kya keh rahi hai aap?"

"Theek hi keh rahi hoon beta. I think it's high time"

"Haan Badi Mom, it's high time" added Rahul.

"Badi Mom ke chamche, just wait and watch, I will kill you soon" muttered Armaan under his breath.

"You said something?" asked Smriti.

"I just wanted to say that I am not ready for it Mom. There are many other things I need to focus on at the moment" said Armaan, trying to come up with valid excuses to put Smriti off this topic for some time at least.

"Even if I find the right girl for you?"

Armaan shook his head.

"MJ, kya pata...........maybe Bro has found someone for himself?" suggested Niki with a smug smile.

"There goes another one" thought Armaan helplessly.

"Please, no more discussions on this topic" he said before walking away, leaving four people at the breakfast table smiling at each other.

"I guess the day is not far" said Smriti.

"Yes Badi Mom" said Rahul.

"I wish I didn't make that promise to Muskaan and later to Bhai that I wouldn't disclose anything right now. Otherwise, I would have been sharing this wonderful news with Badi Mom and Bade Papa"

Sitting next to him, Niki was also thinking along the same lines.

***************************************************

Armaan sat at his desk, furiously typing on his laptop. There was a new product launch coming up in a few days and as the marketing cum PR head, he had a lot on his plate. Moreover, his absence for the last two weeks had put many things in the backburner and he was trying his best to come up to speed. There were so many meetings to attend, so many emails to send out and it was all getting a little overwhelming as he was still not fully fit. On top of it, there were those secret meetings and calls with Kumar, the private detective, who was still trying to convince Armaan that he should tell someone from his family about the truth behind the attacks.

Indeed, all these things were wearing him out, but whenever things got out of control, he would just sit back, take a deep breath and think about the brightest spark in his life, his Riddhima. He did not know how, but at that very instant all his tiredness would vanish.

True, Armaan was not being able to give a lot of time to Riddhima, but from whatever time they got together, he used to make sure that he gave her all his love and attention. Both of them were new to all this, but they made every effort possible to give this new relationship the care and nurturing it needed. They used to meet for short coffee sessions and lunches in the office itself as there was hardly any time to go out after they were done with their work, but come evening, both Armaan and Riddhima used to wait for the one hour they always spent together before leaving the office. Armaan always used to work till late, but it was different when Riddhima suddenly announced to her friends that she would be working late for a few days. What she didn't notice were the happy smiles Rahul, Muskaan and Niki were trying to stifle.

As Armaan leaned back in his chair, he heard a soft knock on the door and a couple of seconds later, Riddhima peeped in to check whether he was in a meeting.

"Hi"

"Hey" said Armaan cheerfully before bounding towards her and crashing her into his arms.

This very demonstrative Armaan was quite new to Riddhima, but she was slowly getting used to this change. Nevertheless, this sudden action of his shocked her but she was soon lost in the wonderful feeling of being in his arms again.

"Mmmmm, I was missing this so much" he continued as he buried his face in her hair.

"Armaan" said Riddhima, remembering that they were still in the office. "If someone decides to walk in at this moment, do you even realize the shock that person will be in for?" she added with a laugh.

"Don't worry about that as it is almost 8 PM now and the office is practically empty. Moreover, I have given strict orders that no one disturbs me today, but of course, this doesn't apply to you" he added with a smile.

"You have been working a lot during the last two days Armaan. I realize there must be a lot of things pending, but it doesn't mean that you will overexert yourself as you are still recovering from your injuries" she said worriedly.

"By the way, is there any pain now?" asked Riddhima, lightly touching the small bandage on his forehead.

"Not at all" he lied. However, the truth was that it was giving him splitting headaches from time to time, the main reason being that he never gave himself a moment's rest and was glued to his laptop all throughout the day. On top of that, even his injured shoulder was starting to trouble him now.

"See, I can also move my shoulder freely" he said and tried moving his right shoulder, but had to stop midway as he felt a sharp stab of pain.

"Armaan!!!!" exclaimed Riddhima in a concerned voice but she realized that he had been lying all along.

"Sit down" she ordered.

Though surprised at her strict tone, he meekly obeyed. He had faced the brunt of her anger a couple of times before and didn't want to take any more chances. However, at the same time he was happy to see the way she bossed over him.

"From now on, you are not going to exert yourself any more and I seriously mean it Armaan"

"She looks so lovely when she is angry" he thought with a sigh as he sat admiring her.

He was happily occupied with his thoughts when he felt her soft hands on his shoulders. Armaan looked up at her questioningly, but an angry stare from her silenced him. Within a few seconds, Riddhima was gently kneading his tired shoulders and it really felt very good. Armaan slowly started relaxing under her touch. Being so caught up in work the whole day never made him realize how tired he was, but now as the stress started draining away, he closed his eyes and savoured her fragrance, the proximity and most importantly the feeling of having her in his life forever.

"Feeling better now?" her soft voice invaded his thoughts.

"Hmmm" he said with his eyes still closed.

"Tabhi to kehti hoon, you shouldn't be so hard on yourself. You are always in one meeting or the other throughout the day and same goes for me, so it gets difficult to keep tabs on you all the time. You never take care of yourself and it really gets me worried Armaan. I wonder how Smriti aunty handles this irresponsible streak in you, but I will make sure that you reform yourself by the time we........."

Riddhima bit her tongue, her cheeks going red as she alluded to the future course their relationship would be taking. As she stood lost in thought, Armaan caught her off guard by getting hold of her hand and pulling her into his lap.

"So, you were saying something?" he asked with a mischievous smile as she suddenly went quiet.

"Well, let me assure you Riddhima, I will surely reform myself by then."

With this, Armaan's hands slowly circled her waist, leaving her too zapped to even breathe properly. As his touch sent millions of shivers down her spine, Riddhima felt Armaan's warm breath caressing her neck. She was totally new to such physical proximity with a man but it was awakening many emotions she wasn't even aware of earlier. The next moment brought another shock as Armaan lightly kissed her cheek and then followed with more kisses along her jaw line.

"It feels strange, yet so right" she thought to herself as she closed her eyes to regain control of her failing senses.

"Armaan........" she gasped as a blush started making its presence felt now.

"I really don't know how I managed to stay away from you all these months" said Armaan honestly as he looked at Riddhima with a soulful but intense gaze. In return Riddhima lightly ran her fingers through his hair and placed a soft kiss on the bandage on his forehead.

"And I don't know how I managed to live through that scary night" she said, recounting the harrowing moments before the doctors declared that he was out of danger.

"What would I have done if something happened to you that day?" she continued in a choked voice, her eyes suddenly growing moist.

Armaan's hold on her waist tightened when he saw those tears shining in her eyes.

"Riddhima, I told you before that I hate to see you cry"

"Sorry, I just couldn't control myself" she said very cutely, which brought a smile to Armaan's face and they sat gazing into each other's eyes, talking in that unknown language they had mastered by now.

The sound of a new email alert emanating from Armaan's laptop shook them out of the eye lock.

"I guess this is not the right place to romance dear, there are way too many distractions" said Armaan helplessly.

"Do you think we can meet up for dinner tomorrow? It will be a good chance for us to spend some time together and for me to show off my newly acquired knack for romancing" he added with a laugh.

"I would love to see that Mr Mallik" she said playfully before getting off his lap. "However, it's time for you to get back home."

Armaan tried protesting, but Riddhima was totally adamant and he glumly got up to leave. She could make out that his shoulder was troubling him, so she asked one of the stand-by chauffeurs in the office to drive him home.

"So you coming with me, right?" asked Armaan hopefully.

"Sorry Mr Mallik, I need to get my car home along with me"

This started another round of arguments, but Riddhima finally won. However, that was not the end of it as Armaan bombarded her with calls all throughout her drive back home. Only a reminder that how dangerous talking and driving can be made him see sense and he bade her a reluctant goodbye over the phone.

Riddhima was surprised to see no calls or messages from him after that, and to say that truth, she was a little disappointed. However, as she snuggled into her bed, she saw a message flashing on her phone's screen and it read "Goodnight Sunshine.............miss you!!!!!"

As she typed a reply, Riddhima smiled to herself and exclaimed, "Indeed, love has changed a certain Mr Armaan Mallik in a way no one could have ever imagined."

***************************************************

Love can move mountains and can even make a person reach for the stars, but its biggest achievement comes when it also manages to change a person and that too for the better.

Hello guys......hope everyone's doing great. So here's the delayed part 18. Let me know your thoughts. 😉

Love,

Richa

Originally posted by: namita18

yesss but aap ko tabhi kab kuch milega jab aap jaldi update karoge joki i dont think so ki hone wala hai...

by the way a biggg hugg ang muahhh for u for that part...

Originally posted by: mansibharti

nammu beta the word MASOOM and YOU run in opposite direction...😆

Originally posted by: coolvini4u

par mujhe toh pasand h na........😍😆😆
i knw.. this tym m really pissd off with her EB.......😡😆

Updated...............Phew!!!!!!!!!!