SS:A Little More Than Friends---ON HOLD!! - Page 8

Originally posted by: arshiarnav14

i love this stoy...pls add me on ur pm list...pretty pls...

thnq

Recap:Khushi and Arnav are best friends since their childhood. Both are now 20 years old and in the same college with Akash and Payal who are a year older to them. Khushi has a crush on the charming NK who is Arnav's friend and soccer team mate. So, she wants him to get her a date with NK to which Arnav refuses point blank for reasons unknown to him. Oh yeah, Akash and Payal are in love but I don't think that is really important😆 Now read on.

Chapter 3

He was brought out of his confused thoughts and feelings by a hand on his shoulder. His eyes snapped open and he turned to look at the person who had interrupted his chain of thoughts. He turned so quickly that the person got startled and nearly stumbled back because of his quick reflex.

"Di? What are you doing in my room right now?" asked Arnav, as he helped Anjali regain her balance.

"Nothing much. I was just planning on pushing you down this balcony so that I wouldn't have to share Dad's property with you. But you and your reflexes! Hmmph!! I'll have to think of something else now."

Arnav rolled his eyes at his sister's poor excuse and said," If you had googled 'How to kill your sibling?', you would have found better options than pushing me out of a balcony which has a parapet. For a businessman's daughter, you are not at all conniving and strategic. You still have a lot to learn. May be I'll teach you when I have time but before that, tell me why you are really in my room at nearly eleven o'clock at night. Shouldn't you be tucked in your bed like a good Daddy's girl?"

Anjali crossed her arms extremely annoyed with her brother and said," Firstly, I used to sleep at eleven o'clock when I was ten. Secondly, thank you for the tips. I'll surely improvise on my techniques and modus operandi the next time and will even consult you before I try to murder you but for now, can we just talk like a brother and sister do when they meet after a long time? Normal people call it 'catching up'. I know it's so hard for you to act normal but I won't let you feel like you are different."
Saying this, she patted his arm sympathetically.

Arnav grinned," You are a quick learner Di! Anyways, because I am so alien to the concept of' what's that phrase you used? Ah...'catching up', why don't you start off and then help me blend in?"

Anjali shook her head at her brother's unchanged behavior. She decided to let it go because their war of words would probably last longer than the longest battle in history and then she would never get to ask what she had come to ask in the first place.

Arnav looked at Anjali deep in thought. It looked like she was going to take time to choose their subject of conversation. So, he asked, "Do you mind if I trim my plants while you decide on how to start the 'catching up'?"

Anjali nodded and mumbled something like, "Sure, go ahead", still in thought.
He gave a weird look to his sister and promising himself that he was never going to stay in London for a long time, he put on his hand gloves and fetched his shears and started trimming his plants.

Anjali thought for a long time. She really did. And yet, she had no idea how she was going to broach the topic. She cursed herself for never reading those romantic novels and vampire movies that all her friends were always hawking about in school and college. May be if she had done that, then this would have been easier. The awkwardness at bringing up a topic which she or any other sister would NEVER discuss if they had a brother like Arnav was not ready to bid her farewell. The more she thought about it, the weird feeling at the pit of her stomach grew. The constant 'Snip snip' of the shears was not helping her think better.

So, without beating around the bush, she went ahead and asked, "So, while I was you know, away in uhh...London, did you say anything?"

Arnav turned, raised an eyebrow at his sister who was fumbling for words. Why were women hesitating to speak around him around these days? First Khushi and now Di. Something was so wrong. He knew it. And he also knew that he was not going to like this 'wrong' one bit.

"Di, you know I don't socialize much. But I'm pretty sure, when one is trying to 'catch up' with something, in this case the events in your absence, one is supposed to be a lot more specific about it. 'Say anything' is not at all specific. So, let's try again, okay?"

Anjali agreed with Arnav after a long time. She said, "Umm'okay. Let's see. More specific. Hmm' got it!! Did you tell Khushi anything?"

Arnav didn't even turn around this time. He just frowned, continued trimming his plants and asked her back, "What was I supposed to tell Khushi? Seriously Di, you can do way better than this. I am not playing 20 questions with you all night."

Anjali was trying to be subtle about the whole thing but her oh-so-smart brother's brain was unbelievably slow and ignorant at that time. She felt like banging her head with his pots but then, it wouldn't help her get the answer.

Never being good at talking about emotions, highly frustrated at the moment, and at her wit's end at how she was going to get through his thick skull, she blurted out, "You dimwit!! Did you finally tell Khushi that you love her?"

Arnav dropped his shears and he turned around faster than The Flash and asked her with wide eyes, "Wait... WHAT?"

And hence, Arnav Singh Raizada was proven right once again. This was wrong and he definitely did not like it. At all.

This time it was his turn to fumble for words. He spluttered as if a teenager's first crush had been caught," Me and Khushi...no ways Di...love...me...Khushi...not possible...how? What even made you think something like that?"

All this while he had the shears in his hands which moved with his hands dangerously as he made gestures with them.

Anjali eyed the shears which were potentially dangerous and incredibly sharp and said," Firstly, put those shears down. They are scaring me. Secondly, stop overreacting. I just said you'll were in love. I didn't say you'll were terrorists. Oh, and if you think that I'm the only one who thinks that you'll are in love which was not realized till now then you are sadly mistaken. Everyone and I mean everyone thinks you'll are in love. Even HP, OP and JP think you'll are in love. They have even suggested me the names of your children. "

Arnav stared at his sister in horror as she told him how their unbreakable friendship had been mistaken for love. HP, OP and JP were going to surely hear a few things from him tomorrow morning. But right now he had to deal with the misconception that his Di had in mind. He edged forward to his sister, the shears still in his hands and pointing the shears in her face unaware of her sister's increasing fright and said," Khushi and I are not in love. We are best friends. Not the kind of friends that they show on that show F.R.I.E.N.D.S or that How I Met Your Mother where everyone keeps on falling in love with the every other person. No. We are just friends. The bond between two people who like each other 's company and are an important part of each others life. Do you get it? Now you are not going to say a single word about this anymore. You are going to walk away and sleep in your room.NOW."

Anjali nodded. She was not intimidated in the least by her brother or his glaring eyes. Except the shears. Yeah, that scared her. But, she decided that the present time was not the best time to talk to her brother about an emotion that she knew he will realize soon. If not now, then later. But he would.

She reached the door of his balcony and before leaving she said,"I'll just say two words in response to your whole justification."

Arnav prodded her to go along and she said with all the sarcasm that she could muster in her voice,

"Yeah. Right."

Arnav ran a frustrated hand through his hair and left his half-pruned plants to sleep because probably that would be the only thing that would help him forget the events of the entire day. For at least sometime.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gupta's House

Tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock...
Damn it! Why won't the clock stop ticking? thought Khushi, as she turned over once more on her bed next to Payal, trying her best to block out the monotonous sound of the wall clock.

It was weird how when one couldn't sleep or rather, didn't want to sleep, the most insignificant sounds could be heard as though someone had placed a mike next to it just to amplify them.

Frustrated with the fact that while Payal slept like an animal in hibernation, she couldn't even yawn.
Counting sheep had never helped her as she always lost the count mid way and would start all over again because the continuity broke. So, she just sat upright on her bed, her back resting on her bed rest and thought why she couldn't sleep while flicking her bedside lamp on and off as she thought.

It must be because of NK she thought. Yeah that's it! She couldn't sleep because Arnav wouldn't ask NK, she thought, feeling triumphant.
No , her always over thoughtful brain said. If it would be because of NK, then she wouldn't have been able to sleep for the last two days too. But she had slept and snored(according to Payal) like Goldilocks had on the Little Bear's bed.

Maybe it was because of the dinner . It had been quite heavy to begin with and she had probably eaten a bit too much, she thought placing her palm on her flat stomach.

Or may be, it was because what Payal had said at dinner. She scowled at her sister and her stupid words which had made her stay up till now. She had no idea why the words affected her so much. Partly she, herself was to blame for it too. She had been the one to start it all. Stupid Khushi and her stupid plans which always backfire on her, she thought, berating herself.

2 hours ago, Dinner at the Gupta's dining table

Khushi rubbed her hands in glee looking at the delicious and sumptuous food in front of her. Trying to imitate Gollum, she fingered the sweet dishes and said, "Mine, only mine. Precious...my precious. "

Then Payal came and sat down next to her and started serving herself. You know the times when something happens for the first time in everyone's life? That happened to Khushi too that night. She forgot about all the food that she was planning to devour when she saw Payal.

She stared at Payal for a long time as if she was a Martian and then the picture of Mandark laughing evilly rose in her mind and there were only two words that rang in her ears as if an entire soccer field was chanting it ,"Tease Di! Tease Di!"

Mandark's laughter

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXi0V-s_FqM[/YOUTUBE]

Payal gave her a weird look and muttered something like "Pagal ladki" which was enough to make Khushi look away and she started plating her food with everything she could get her hands on.

Shashi and Garima joined them and soon they were having a peaceful dinner joking about the day's events. Just then Khushi spoke up,"Hey , guess what Mom? I saw Di at that cafe that Arnav and I always go to with a GUY." Then wiggling her eyebrows, she continued, "And not just any other guy, she was with Akash!!"

Her mother was so shocked that she stared at Payal and she was joined in by Shashi and Khushi couldn't help giggle looking at Payal flushed. Garima asked ,"Akash... as in Arnav's elder brother, Akash right?"

Khushi shook her head and said half-seriously, "No, our gardener's son, Akash. Obviously Arnav's brother, Akash!!"

Now, Payal was not going to stay quiet and blush all the time while her sister teased mercilessly. She sighed and said," So what? We were just sitting there and discussing the assignment that we have to submit the next week. What's the big deal in that? You'll are just over-reacting now."

Typical Di, Khushi thought. She placed her trump card and asked," A project which involves a bouquet of roses, holding hands and staring into each other's eyes?" When Payal glared at her, she shrugged her shoulders and said, "Weird assignment that colleges come up with these days. Sheesh, what's happening to the good old assignments that we completed burning the midnight lamp?"

Then grinning wickedly, she nudged her sister suggestively and asked," Now Di, forgetting the lame excuse that you gave us, be a nice girl and tell us...what is going on between you and Akash?"

All this while the parents simply looked on as spectators looked at a tennis match being played because they knew that interfering would be stepping out of their territory. The delicious food that was waiting to be mixed with their intestinal juices, lay untouched in their plates as they looked at the two sisters, one teasing and winning and the other losing and that too terribly.

They saw as a beet root red Payal glared daggers at Khushi and then said quite angrily which was rare, "Firstly, you need to be sent back to pre-school for spying because that was just too immature, even for you. Secondly, I'll tell you what is going on between me and Akash the day you finally accept that you and Arnav are not just friends. Deny it all you want, but that isn't going to change the fact."

Saying this, she stomped off, not realizing what she had just said, leaving behind three people with their mouths hanging open at what had just happened.

And ever since the dinner three words kept on ringing in her mind,

More than friends.

More than friends.

More than friends.

And those were exactly the three words that reverberated in her mind before she fell asleep.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Whoa...Congratulations!!!you managed it till the end!!!👏

So...how was it??It took me a lot of time to write this. So like every other writer, I am no exception to the fact that likes and comments will be highly appreciated...Thank you for reading it...😊

DEVANSHI