|AN Writing Challenge~Closed*UPDATE pg 150* - Page 31

Nice one dear Tia modi soon find about Abhi's love interest Nikki.yipee......................

Abhi still didn't confess his feeling to Nikki.Now all the ppl around what fuss is goin to create😆.I am eagerly waiting to read the next part now.

Update it fast..........................

When she turned just before leaving the room, to give Abhi a last look, she was amused to see Abhi, standing at the same place, but now leaning on the table, his hands balled into fists, resting on the table, his face scowling, and mumbling something while staring at Sid's back. Nikki was sure that his mumblings had something to do with killing Sid! She gave him a mischievous smile, turned her head and walked along with Sid to the cafeteria, leaving a fuming Abhi behind!

As Nikki and Sid, walked to the cafeteria, Sid looked at Nikki. Even though, there was a certain calmness on her face, he asked her in a concerned voice, 'You okay?'

She looked up with a surprise on her face,

'Yup! Why did you ask?' she asked him.

'I don't know! When I walked in on you guys, I thought Dr. Modi was angry at you. He seems to be doing that very often. I don't understand how anyone can get angry at you!' he said shaking his head but looking intently at her.

'Oh Sid! You are so sweet! But don't worry! I am fine! Dr. Modi's anger does not affect me anymore. That's his way of showing that he cares!' she said in good humour as they reached the cafeteria.

Armaan noticed both of them as they entered, and was glad to see Sid with Nikki. He came towards them, and asked Nikki,

'You okay?' Nikki smiled at him and then looked at Sid knowingly. Both of them had asked her the same thing.

'Guys! Guys! I am absolutely fine. I can handle Dr. Modi anytime! So don't worry!' she said.

'But Nikki you told him to keep away from you, na?' Armaan asked her with a bit of irritation.

'Armaan, how can I do that? He is my boss. We work together all the time. We are working on New Sanjeevani project together. So how can we keep away!' she asked him.

'Nikki, you know what I mean. You know I have never liked you working with him. I just do not know why you agreed to help him with this project. He is not a very nice guy. He is only using you to get his work done.' He said once again.

Nikki got a bit irritated with him as he started accusing Abhi.

'Armaan! Please don't start this again! I told you this earliar too! Dr. Modi is not a bad person. He is great at his work, the best, if I may say so. He is extremely intelligent and knows everything there is to know about hospital business. I have learned so much by working with him on this project. If anything, I have gained more than what he has by being on this project. So there is no way you can accuse him of using me. He works much longer hours and puts in much more than any of us at Sanjeevani, so I cannot say that he is using anyone. Yes, he has an attitude that lot of people cannot stand, is stiff necked and gets angry at drop of a hat. But that doesn't make him a bad person!' she read a riot act to Armaan.

Armaan was taken back. He had never seen Nikki defend Dr. Modi like this before. Sid was also looking at her with appreciation in his eyes. He was slowly understanding the relationship Dr. Modi and Nikki shared. Not an easy one to understand though!

But Sid decided to create a diversion before things got too hot between the two friends!

'Hey Armaan, dude, cool down! I want to discuss with you something about this weekend! I know of this place just outside Mumbai, where they have great water sports. Do you think we should plan for a picnic this Sunday!' saying that he put his hand over Armaan's shoulder and started walking towards the table where everyone else was sitting.

Nikki threw Sid a thankful glance as Armaan got distracted from their argument and he winked back to her.

After finishing his meetings, as Abhi walked into the children's ward he was surprised to find Goofy there too. As soon as the little mutt saw him, or rather smelt him, he started to bark at him. He was amazed at his guts. Inspite of his small size he was always threatening Abhi, glowering at him, growling or barking at him! Abhi was not sure why the goof ball didn't like him at all ....

As he approached Ayesha, he saw the biggest smile on her face,

'Hi boyfriend! How are you today? How's your hand? Have they removed the stitches?' she asked him giving him a hug.

'Hi girlfriend!' he hugged Ayesha but was looking at Nikki over Ayesha's shoulder as he said this. 'I am fine! My hand has healed! And my stitches are gone! Got them removed just now before coming here! You want to see it?' saying that he pulled away from her, showing her his bandage free hand. He looked from Nikki to Ayesha. Nikki understood immediately that he was answering her questions to him from their afternoon encounter. She gave a little gasp as she saw the pink long scare on the centre of his palm. Ayesha was too busy looking at Abhi's hand to hear it, but it did not go unnoticed by Abhi. He gave her a loving look and told Ayesha,

'It looks bad, na? But don't worry, girl friend, it doesn't hurt! I am absolutely fine! See I can even make a fist' saying that he closed his fingers to form a fist.

'Dr. Modi, will the scar never go? Will it always be there in your palm?' Ayesha asked with concern.

'No dear, slowly the scare will become lighter, but you will be able to see only when you look very closely. Though it will always be there to remind me of something very special!' he said with his eyes crowding with feelings once again as he looked at Nikki. Nikki could not look away from him. They both were reliving that incident in Abhi's office. Her heart was shattered once again thinking about how much pain Abhi had gone thru, just to make her accept that she cared for him.

'Is it special because it will remind you of my b'day, boyfriend?' she asked innocently. 'Even after I leave and you are not with me?'

'Yes, sweetheart! It is special only because of you!' once again he took Ayesha in a hug, but kept on looking at Nikki over her shoulder. He was happy to see Nikki blushing!

'So if your hand doesnot hurt u anymore can you take me out for an ice-cream today! Dr. Mathur has given me permission to eat ice-cream! So how about going for that date!' she asked happily.

'Sure, why not? Where would you like to go?' he asked her ruffling her hair playfully.

'Nikki di, where shall we go?' she asked looking at Nikki. But Nikki smiled at her and replied,

'Don't tell me, you want me to go with you on your date with Dr. Modi!'

'Nikki di, you know it is no fun without you and Goofy! You both have to come!' Ayesha said with a pouting face. ' Boyfriend! You tell Nikki di that she has to come too!'

'Nikki di, please come!' he said mischievously joining his hands in front of Nikki. 'And you too Goofy dada!' he said now turning towards Goofy who was happily sitting in Nikki's lap. Goofy once again growled at him, and stared back at Abhi, as if he understood everything.

Nikki started laughing, enjoying the exchange between Goofy and Abhi. Abhi looked at her with a warning, conveying that he was going to get back to her for all this begging.

'Accha baba! Lets go! We will go to Baskin Robin's down the road! It is not too far and we can have all the yummy ice-creams we want there!' Nikki said with a big smile. Abhi knew that her mouth was already watering, just thinking about ice-cream. She was so adorable! And along with everything else, he loved her crazy love for ice-cream too!

So they all headed towards the ice-cream parlour in Abhi's car. They discovered that Goofy was also crazy about ice-creams, just like Nikki and Ayesha. He went in circles with excitement, when Nikki gave him a little bit to taste. Then he kept on waiting for some more with his tongue hanging out begging for more. He looked so cute! They all could not help laughing at him and spoiling him. Ayesha gave him some of her ice-cream. And then it was Nikki's turn.....and this kept on going on till both of them finished their first round of ice-creams. By this time Goofy was standing on the table, with ice-cream all around his mouth, unable to wait for his next bite of ice-cream. Nikki and Ayesha were having such a great time feeding Goofy! They were enjoying that more than eating the ice-cream themselves. Abhi kept on looking at them adorably, enjoying their ice-creams. And in no time between the three of them, they finished 6 large cups of ice-creams! He had to literally drag them out, when they were planning to go for the 4^th round. He knew one of them would surely fall ill, if he let them have any more. Reprimanding Nikki, for behaving like a small kid along with Ayesha and Goofy, he had to literally push her out of the parlour along with Goofy in her arms. Seeing this once again Goofy started barking at him. The unthankful bugger completely forgot that he was the one who actually fed him all that yummy ice-cream. Abhi immediately put his hands up, and backed off laughingly! Seeing this, Goofy was satisfied, and settled back into Nikki's arms. And Abhi looked heaven wards!

After dropping Ayesha back at the hospital, Nikki and Abhi headed to Nikki's place with Goofy. He was standing on his lower two legs in Nikki's lap, and his head out was stuck out of the window. He was enjoying himself, looking out at everyone and barking at them as he owned the road. Nikki sat there holding him safely and laughing at his funny ways. Abhi kept on looking at the two of them from time to time, but did not say anything. He was just enjoying looking at both of them having fun. They reached Nikki's home in no time and Nikki turned to him and asked,

'Abhi, why don't you come in and have a cup of coffee? You didn't even have any ice-cream!' she invited him looking hopefully at him.

Abhi just nodded his head and said jokingly, 'So you noticed! I thought you were so busy eating your ice-cream and feeding this goof ball, that you forgot that I was even there!' he paused and then added, 'You go ahead with Goofy, I will just park the car and come in.'

Nikki unlocked her house door, switched on the lights and let Goofy down. He ran around the house in excitement, showing his happiness to be home! Nikki went into the kitchen and got him his water bowl and some biscuits and settled him down.

As Abhi came in, Goofy was observing him suspiciously but decided not to bother till required.

'Abhi, why don't you sit down? I will make some coffee and bring it out', she said.

'Nahi Nikki! Coffee was just an excuse, you know that! I actually came in to talk to you!' he said trying to stop her from going into the kitchen. He tried to stop her by holding her arm. But Nikki suddenly flinched and cried out in pain,

'Auuuwww' she said putting her hand over her upper arm where he had touched her. There was pain in her eyes as she looked at him. Hearing her, Goofy started to bark once again. He ran and came close to them and started pulling at Abhi's pants holding it in his mouth near his ankle! But Abhi ignored him.

'Nikki, what happened? Did I hurt you?' he said with concern, moving her hand out of the way as he removed her duppata which was covering her upper arms.

'No .... no .... it is nothing! I am fine!' she tried to move away not wanting him to the reason why she had cried out in pain. But she was too late, by then Abhi had moved her duppatta out of his way. And he gasped at what he saw. Slowly, he removed the duppatta completely and looked at her other arm. And what he saw there confirmed his worst fear. He kept on looking at her upper arms with shock in his eyes.

Nikki's skin had become black and blue on both the upper arms, where he had held her in anger in the afternoon today. The bruises looked so nasty on her fair skin. For seconds he just kept on looking at them, unable to believe that he had done that to her. It must have hurt her so much!

'Abhi, it is okay! Really! It is not as bad as it looks!' she said bending to take her duppatta to cover up her bruises. By now even Goofy had calmed down and stopped barking. He was aware that there was something seriously wrong with Nikki. He had moved close to her legs now, touching his wet nose to her bare feet, cuddling close to her. There was a sad look in his eyes too as he looked upto her. As she bent down, she picked him up with her duppatta and petted him and soothingly whispering to him telling him that she was okay. She went in put Goofy in his basket and told him to stay there.

When she turned back she saw that Abhi was looking at her with wet eyes! Her heart pierced to see a trace of tears there!

'Don't lie, Nikki! I know how much that must have hurt you! I heard you scream with pain just now when I had hardly touched it! And I am the one responsible for it!' he turned away from her angrily. He pushed his hands into his pockets with frustration, fearing that he will either hurt himself or her once again in his anger and frustration.

'Abhi please!' she said moving closer to him, putting her hand on his shoulder, she tried to turn him towards her. 'I know you did not mean to hurt me!'

Both kept on looking at each other. Their eyes were locked with each other and the whole world seized to exist.

'Nikki' he said softly, in voice full of remorse, 'I don't know how much more I am going to hurt you still! I just seem to keep on doing that!' he said disgusted with himself. 'I hate myself so much!' he exclaimed angrily.

'I don't know what happens to me when I see you or think about you with anyone else! I just go insane! Jealousy takes over me completely and I forget everything else! I go berserk and lash out at you! I just don't know what to do! I do not know how to control myself!' slowly he was sat down on the nearby sofa with his face in his hands, refusing to look at Nikki.

'Abhi, please! Look at me!' she pleaded. 'We both need to work at this together! Please stop blaming yourself!' she continued in a pained voice.

She took his face in her hands as Abhi looked up slowly! She was shocked to see that he had tears rolling down his cheek. It broke her heart to pieces to see him like this! He looked so vulnerable!

He had never cried like this in front of anyone since he had grown up! Not even his own mother! But today, he was helpless, he could not stop himself! There was so much pain and regret within himself, he was unable to control himself. He had never hurt anyone physically like this before. Boy fights and collage brawls were different, but hurting someone as fragile as Nikki, was too much! He had hurt the person he loved the most in his life! How can he forgive himself this! No wonder all Nikki's friends along with Goofy did not trust him! They all had sensed that he was capable of hurting Nikki! That's why they did not trust him near her. If anyone else had done this to Nikki, he would have killed that person! Right now that is what he felt like doing to himself! He wanted to hurt himself so much that he would never be able to feel any pain ever again!

Nikki took him in her arms, and just let him cry. She had tears in her eyes too. She kept on holding him till his tears dried up and some of the pain in his heart subsided. Finally when he calmed down a bit, and he realized what was happening, he moved away as Nikki loosened her hold. He looked at her, with hurt eyes, and said,

'Nikki, I don't know what to say! My sorry has no meaning at all! I would not be surprised if you never want to see me again or never want me to come close to you again! I deserve that!'

'Abhi, please ! Will you stop now!' she said a little firmly.

'As I already told you, we both are to be blamed equally! I was so upset with you too! I decided that I was going to ignore you for a few days. And all that for what? Just because you told me that u did not want to see me on Sunday? I should not have reacted like that. Obviously, you were very upset with me', she said trying to excuse his behaviour.

'That is no reason for me to hurt you like this, Nikki! There is no need for you to make excuses for me!' he said once again reprimanding himself.

'But all this would not have happened in the first place, if I was not got angry at you' she said softly still looking into his hurt eyes.

'Nikki, do you know why I stopped you from coming over on Sunday? It was not because I did not want to see you! But it was because my sister and mother decided out of the blue to surprise me. They flew in without telling me from US on Sunday morning. I did not want you to get a shock of your life, and find yourself in an awkward situation, so decided to tell you not to come over. I wanted to tell you in person about them before springing them on you.' He told her trying to explain to her.

Nikki was surprised at hearing this! She felt even worse than before for thinking that he did not want to see her because he was not missing her. She was also shocked to hear him mention about his family. She had no idea that Abhi had a sister or any other family members.

'Abhi! I am sorry! I should have known that you would have a valid reason for not seeing me! I should have trusted you! But do you realize I do not know anything about your family?' she exclaimed.

'Nikki! I was not been dropped on this earth by a stork! Ofcourse, I have a family! Its another thing that we never talked about them!' he said mischievously with a sparkle in his eyes. 'I want you to meet them soon, infact, as soon as you are ready, okay?'

Both kept on staring at each other realizing how much more they needed to discover about each other. Slowly, Abhi moved close to Nikki, collected her in his arms gently and hugged her tightly. This time he was very careful making sure he did not touch her upper arms. Slowly, he bent his head down to where her bruises were and softly kissed them. He went on and on ... for what seemed like forever.

'Abhi, really it is okay! Please don't worry .....!' she started. But Abhi sealed her lips with his own. He showered her with million soft feathery kisses.

'Nikki! Please forgive me this once! I promise you, I will never hurt you again!' he said lifting his face from hers and taking her face in his hands.

Gently Nikki lifted her eyes up to look at him. She had a small smile on her lips.

'Chodo Abhi! That is impossible! You are too passionate a person. It will always be impossible for you to control your feelings! I doubt you will ever be able to control your anger especially where I am concerned.' She said mischievously. 'And even if you succeed, I will end up pushing all the wrong buttons with my crazy mad ways. So now you see there is no way out for us, but to just suffer with each other!' she said laughingly.

Then slowly she turned her face till her lips touched his scar on his palm. She planted tiny loving kisses on his scar. Abhi kept on looking at her with all the love in his eyes. He knew right then, that she was his angel who had come into his life to teach him how to live a complete life, full of love ............... and passion.

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Part 14 - Updated -

Don't tell me this is the end! 😲 The way this update ended gave me that bad, bad feeling But I guess Nikki still has to meet her to be mom-in-law and that means there's a lot left, right? 😃 And then Armaan has to know everything, Tia has to tease Abhi and Sid has to tease Nikki...hehehe okay so there's a lot more left. And there goes my fear of this ending so soon...😆

I loved how Goofy gnawed on Abhi's jeans! 😆 That's so cute...the little furball trying to take on the Great Invincible Abhimanyu Modi 😳

I once had my teacher's labrador try and chew up my jeans she loved me a bit too much for my comfort, and almost gnawed a hole in my favourite jeans and wet the ankle area completely Sometimes I wish dogs aren't that affectionate...😆 My own is a little more subtle and normally stays happy with licking someone wherever he can reach and by running around with a ball 2 times his minute size, but his conceit never allows him to express how much trouble he has while trying to handle the toy 😆 Cute little being, really 😳 Makes me want to pinch his cheeks but when I try to do it, I can't find his cheeks to pinch 😕 How mad am I? 🤣

Okay so there I go blabbing again...😳

Coming back to the point...😆

I can't believe he held her so tightly 😲 he never does that! He must've been mad...I can just imagine his jealousy burning through the rooftops and the fire brigade coming with that ringing bell irritating the \hell out of the neighbourhood and when it comes, spraying ice-cold water on Abhi to cool him down 😆 😆 😆

I loved the kisses...amazing how he can transform from fire-breathing dragon (to borrow Mich's words 😉) to the cutest guy ever! 😳 And that's Abhi for us! 😃 Don't I love him!!!! 😍

Oh yes...and coming to that picture you posted...can I say that it's my most fav expression of Abhi as well? 😳

I simply LOVED that scene...the way he held up her dupatta but when she reached out for it he let go. His expression and gestures said everything about the state their relationship was in at that time...I can't help loving Abhi so much...a man of few words in all it's meaning but he always manages to say so much with the little things he does! And those eyes...aaah, to die for!!! 😍😍😍 I can just stare and stare...

That expression was priceless...he said EVERYTHING she ever needed to know but of well did she ever read it 😕 I love it Annie...I keep staring at that pic and getting lost! 😳

You're on a roll with the fast updates! Don't break the rhythm! 😉

P.S. - Oh! I just noticed that "(To Be Continued)" at the end 😃 I guess I was too engrossed in Abhi's eyes to notice anything else! 😆