The Rest is Unwritten AR FF Pt19 Pg 26 3/11 - Page 5

Chapter 7- Lost in you

Armaan was pacing up and down the room holding his head. According to the Bangalore headquarters, Raghav, the criminal has left them challenging codes to drop hints about his next activity. But from what they could be able to decode so far has revealed something more than what Armaan had expected. Not only was Raghav's gang kidnapping children, but they were murdering them as well. From they have been able to uncover from Veer, he not only kidnapped families from rich households but slaughtered kids from poor backgrounds as well. But the big question was why? Was he a psychotic criminal or did this serve for a bigger purpose. He looked through the blue file he had found and saw medical records of those kids, death certificates and prescriptions dated up to six months ago. That meant someone was ardently collecting this information and had been working on this case. As Armaan was pondering on that thought, someone knocked on his door. He opened it to find Atul's aunt Dr. Juhi outside.

"Armaan beta, could you do me a favor? The priest has not yet come and Anjali tells me you know Delhi well, so could you please go to this address and pick him up", she requested him. Armaan smiled at her, she was a warm lady probably in her late forties and agreed to pick up the pandit. As Armaan was leaving Nikki called out, "Armaan wait, are you going somewhere?" Armaan turned around and sighed, "Yes, Nikki. Juhi aunty asked me to go pick up the pandit", he answered. "Armaan could you drop Riddhima at the tailor's place? The Bride's dress still needs to be picked up for the wedding tonight", she asked him. "Yes sure, where is she?", he asked and turned around to look for her. She came while listening to Anjali's instructions on making sure the wedding dress is on par to her expectations. "Yes, di. I'll make sure everything is okay. Don't worry", she smiled and assuring smile. She waved and Nikki and got in next to Armaan without looking at him in the eye. Ever since that incident on the plane, both pf them have started to become conscious of each other's presence. Their heart beats increased, they often found themselves spacing out and despite the fact that Riddhima was a doctor she wasn't able to recognize these symptoms for a disease called 'love'.

It was really quiet in the car as both of them just sat there stealing glances at each other. "Do you know where the tailor's place is", he asked her. She recited the same address her di told her and he nodded. They parked the car near the store and went inside, Riddima took out the dress from the bad that the tailor handed to her to make everything was okay. She put the lehnga choli in front of her and turned around to look at Armaan. Armaan who was looking at her just sighed at the sight in front of him. He tried to image how beautiful she would look as a bride and without thinking she just answered, "beautiful", when Riddhima asked him about the dress. But the way his eyes were on her face, she could somehow make out it wasn't the dress he was talking about. He saw Riddhima blushing and then coughed and said, "I mean the dress is very beautiful..uh…it's very unique with that embroidery and lace and uhh..that other thing and…You know what, I'll go get the car pulled up, you pay the tailor his fees", and he left there before he could make himself a bigger fool. Armaan just shook his head as he sat in the car. He was such a confident FBI officer who dealt with some of the worst criminals in the world, but never once had he ever hesitated. But when it came to Riddhima, all his rules, his etiquette, the hard stoned image he created for himself everything melted away.

Riddhima got in the car and the silence followed, when suddenly she spotted a panipuri stand and screamed in joy. "Armaan please stop the car, who dekho na panipuri. I heard that Delh's pani puri stands are extremely delicious, let's go and have some please", she exclaimed in joy. Armaan stopped the car and followed her hand to look at the pani puri stall , it was one of those roadside types and looked extremely unhealthy. "Riddhima you'll fall sick if you eat that. You're a doctor how could you want such unhygienic food", he asked her incredulously. "Armaan, screw my doctor degree if it comes in the way of my pani-puri. I love pani-puri. Please Armaan", she pleaded pouting while asking her. Armaan melted a little looking at that but remained firm. "Fine, if you don't come then I'll just go eat it myself", she said and got out of the car and ran to the panipuri stall. Armaan just shook his head and followed her. "Riddhima…", he started. But she just ignored him and started devouring her panipuri. He sighed, "Riddhima, you'll fall sick. If you love panipuri so much I'll take you to a better restaurant", he tried to reason with her. "No, Armaan I don't want that, those panipuri's won't be spicy enough for me, besides these taste heavenly", she said while gulping another one of them down. "Fine, then if you're so hell bent on falling sick, then so will I", he said stubbornly and was about to order a plate for himself when, Riddhima stopped him. "Armaan, these are really spicy, I don't think you can handle it", she said smirking a little. And that set Armaan off, "Oh we will see about that, Bhai saab ek plate pani-puri", he ordered. Riddhima just looked at him, "You won't be able to", she claimed. "Watch me", he answered looking at that challenging smile hiding on her face. "Fine, game on! Let's see who can gulp down three plates of pani-puri first", okay she challenged. "Ready…set…", he started and she finished with, "Go."

Armaan took a bote of the pani-puri and his world stopped for a moment, it was possibly the spiciest thing he had ever put in his mouth, but he kept gulping them down to not look weak in front of her. They started ordering more plates and Armaan's eyes turned red and started to tear up eventually. Riddhima looked at him and realized maybe they had gone a little too far. "Stop Armaan, it okay I admit you can handle it", she said handling him a bottle of water. Armaan stopped and started coughing heavily. He drank the water and one could see his lips swollen up slightly due to the spice. Riddhima looked at him and felt horrible for putting him through this pain. "I'm sorry Armaan", she pleaded and Armaan just waved his hands and mumbled it's not your fault. She handed him another bottle and he started gulping down the water quickly. Eventually he ran out of breath and looked around. His face completely turned red. Without thinking Riddhima, took his face in her hands and wiped his moist eyes, "I'm sorry Armaan", she whispered, while Armaan just stood still electrocuted by her touch. He could see light tears builing in her eyes, which were filled with guilt. "I'm sorry", she whispered again and he moved his hand and placed it on top of hers which was resting on his face. Riddhima looked at his swollen lips and moved her hand to lightly rub them at the corner. Armaan felt another jolt passed through them at her cold touch on his lips. He held her hand that was near his mouth, moved them towards lips and kissed them lightly. Both of them were caught in this magical spell that neither of them could realize what they were doing. Riddhima looked into his eyes again, her heart fluttering at his actions, when his phone started ringing. The spell broke for both of them and Riddhima's cheeks became flushed as she just realized what happened. Armaan told Dr. Juhi, he'll be at the pandit's place in another five minutes. They paid the pani-puri uncle the bill and got into the car silently without uttering a word. They picked up the pandit and were on the way back. This time, Riddhima sat in the back, and listened to the pandit talk about the rituals that were about to be prepared for the wedding. Armaan tried not to look at Riddhima through the rearview mirror and he was completely lost in what just transpired in them, but he failed every five seconds and noticed Riddhima fiddling with her dupatta looking down studiously. He wondered if she felt offended with what just took place, but every once in a while as he saw her cheek turn red, he assumed it might have been the complete opposite. He grinned a little at the fact this girl was evoking unknown desires and driving him completely mad.

Chapter 8 –One Happy ending down, few more to go.

"Uh..Hi, Can I come in", Muskaan asked tentatively. Riddhima who was shocked and slightly displeased at the arrival of Muskaan, stood frozen at the doorstep. She tried to smile a little and welcomed Muskaan in. "By the Way, I'm Muskaan. You must be Riddhima right?", she asked her. Riddhima was a little surprised that she knew who she was. "Yes, Nice to meet you Muskaan. How do you know my name? I mean did my sister, I mean..Anjali tell you", she asked. Muskaan shook her head, "I always knew Anjie had a little sister but, Armaan told me about you. You know..that day at the hospital, the accident..", she continued, "That's when he told me about you. Infact he praised you entirely. You must be a very good doctor to win an FBI officer's admiral", she said giggling a bit. And Riddhima smiled involuntarily at the mention of Armaan admiring her. After that 'incident' that took place between them a day ago, things have started to change. At first, they were uncomfortable to even look at each other, the tension was eased when Anjali had a fight with Atul and it became a complete girls vs boys scenario. And since fighting came so naturally to them, that kind of broke the ice and things started to get normal. But beyond that, Riddhima found herself becoming comfortable with Armaan, something she did not get around with a lot of people. And Armaan on the other hand was so confused with his feelings that he decided not to think once in his life and just do whatever he feels like.

She started to have another conversation with Muskaan while showing her inside the house and realized that she wasn't exactly someone who could be disliked so easily. She did not even understand why she was so prejudiced towards her, so she promised herself she would give her a chance. She looked like a real fun person and she was really easy to talk too as well. She took her to the girl's room where she greeted everyone and started to help in the preparations for the wedding tonight.

The wedding rituals took place and Anjali and Atul were finally married, despite the number of hurdles and complications they faced, they finally made it. Anjali hugged and teared up a little, half out of joy and half out of the fact that her parents weren't present at the wedding. "Ridzi, thank you so much. You stood by me, when everyone else turned their back at me. Thank you for being the best little sister anyone could ever ask for", she said while hugging Riddhima before her and Atul flew to Malaysia for their honeymoon. "Come on, di! What are sisters for? You're embarrassing me by saying thanks! I'm really happy for you and Atul jiju, I can finally call him that now", she giggled and hugged Anjali one last time before she drove away to a new life.