ArHi FF! Freeloop Chapter 9A, Page 40, 09/Sep - Page 17

Tht was really sweet! Pls update soon and thnks for the pm.

I love the way they both communicate. Can't wait to read more! Thanks for the update and PM. :)

Numbers are fascinating and I totally stole the idea :=) So thanks!

I am hoping these random moments will come together one day and everything will start making sense again. It's fascinating how they each look at things in contrasting ways yet for strangeness of it all, it actually makes sense.

I am no fan of finding pattern but there are certain moments when whimsical discoveries of these underlying coincidences with patterns make absolute sense.

Take CN and QT for example :=)

QT

PS: Flashpoint broke my heart. DC is trying to loot us with this BS.😭

Chapter 6B

"Who is the girl you were having lunch with yesterday?" He heard Lavanya ask from corner of this room.

"Is there anything you need Lavanya? If there isn't, please go," he replied ignoring her question. Lavanya tightened her grip on cellphone.

"This is your new assignment," Lavanya slammed a file on his table. "Don't f**k up," she added in a tone intended to intimidate him. He picked up the file ignoring her warning.

"Aman is the client?" Arnav asked Lavanya's retreating back.

"They have been our longest clients Arnav. I thought you knew?"

"They are?" Arnav was surprised. Lavanya nodded distractedly.

"You introduced me to Aman as your friend when we were dating. Did you forget?" She asked browsing through her emails on blackberry.

"What does he want?" Arnav asked. Lavanya looked up from her phone and glanced at his chair. "We can discuss this now if you wish to," Arnav said gently, noting displeasure in her features. Their on and off relationship over the years had only given them immense mood swings whenever they were in same room.

"Aman wants to have an expo of sorts where young economists, students pursuing their masters in finance or even bachelors can attend - learn and present basically. He wants to expand trading sector of his company," Lavanya said sitting opposite to him.

"I thought he had enough resources to do this on his own. Why would he need us for this?"

"I don't ask that question to our customers Arnav. It's bad for business," she grinned. He chuckled at that. "He wants to meet you and discuss it personally." Lavanya added. Arnav looked up from the file and stared blankly. "Yes, it's weird. Their PR department handled visits and payment and he never really got involved directly. This time he wants to." She said standing up.

"Do you know anything?" He asked her hoping to be equipped before he met Aman.

"Nothing Arnav. When I asked our contact, he said that this was something Aman was personally driving and he would talk only to you. Since you guys know each other very well I didn't bother to dig deeper," she said. "Aman is expecting you in fifteen minutes. Don't be late." She said and walked out of his office without waiting for a response. He pressed his temple with both his palms and wished the mild headache to go away.

"Arnav?" Lavanya called him. He looked up and saw her standing by the door. "When you are there, say hello to Asha for me, okay?" Lavanya smiled and closed the door leaving him alone with the files.

His small headache blew to a fully-fledged migraine at the prospect of meeting Asha.

******

"What are you doing here?" Khushi asked looking up from stack of files. Arnav was standing at her cubicle's entrance.

"I just finished a meeting with Aman given how this company - your company is our client." He said.

"Which means I am your God," she said leaning back on the chair. He smiled weakly at that and groaned. "Is everything okay?" She asked him noticing his discomfort.

"Migraine," he sighed collapsing on the extra chair in her cubicle. "And I am anti medication," he said leaning forward banging his head on table rhythmically.

"Masochistic much?" She commented at his state.

"I don't like being dependent on anything or anyone. They never end well," he said closing his eyes. "And meeting Asha only made it worse," he grumbled resting his head on his arms. She didn't know why meeting Aman's sister - his half-sister worsened his headache.

She had realized quite late that, on the night when Arnav had spoken about his family, he had kept Asha completely out of it; he hadn't even mentioned her name during narration. Only when she heard few women talking about their CEO's sister's presence in office that day, she had it deduced.

Arnav closed his eyes giving into intense headache and slowly relaxed his facial muscles.

"Let's go home," he said not opening his eyes. He said it as if it was the most natural thing to do and also the most frequent when in reality it was neither. She looked at his face ' the slight arch of his eyebrows, tensed cheeks and eyes heavy with memories.

He looked vulnerable in this state but the grip on her palm was strong. It was this involuntary hand holding action which had rendered her speechless. She squeezed his palm gently and retracted.

"Give me twenty minutes," she said straightening her back and getting back to work. He hummed in response.

She didn't find the strength in her to tell him that she didn't live in his building anymore.

"I wonder what made her come back to India after all these years of being away. It took me months to move on but I finally could get away from clutches of confusion and a faint notion of...love, I think. I am not sure if my emotions were as strong as love but there was something...tangible," he said, his voice hoarse. Khushi's hands stilled at his revelation. "I used to get severe migraines whenever... my heart hurt. Have you ever heard of this kind of dichotomy?"

"Are you talking about Asha?" She asked, tremble in her voice. The implication of his words were huge - no, ginormous.

Arnav, however seemed to have dropped into some sort of limbo where his reality concave-d and spit out another variant of himself.

"Did you know that she is Aman's mother's friend's daughter? Pretty long winded isn't it?"

"Are you convincing yourself that she isn't your sister?" Khushi asked with a heavy voice.

"She just came to live with them Khushi because her parents died in an accident. She isn't Aman's sister. She isn't my father's daughter. Hell, she isn't even a blood relative of mine. But why does the prospect of me loving her sound so...wrong?" He had opened his eyes and was looking straight into hers.

"You never told her how you feel about her, did you?" Khushi asked, already knowing the answer.

"I couldn't. How could I? My father and my step mother treated her like his own daughter. Aman treated her like his own sister. She isn't even legally adopted for f**ks sake. And I was just confused; was she my sister merely by association or just a girl who lived with my step family after loss of her own family? It was truly f**ked up." He still held her gaze and showed a part of himself which he had never shown to anyone before.

"And your heart hurts now after seeing her," Khushi finished for him.

"Wait. What?" He shot up and straightened his back, all traces of dopiness gone from his face. "How did you arrive at that conclusion?" She looked at him for one full moment.

"You just said that you get migraine when you have heartache," she rallied.

"I said I 'used' to get. And that was when I was a teen. Past tense. Eons ago." He replied little peeved at her implication.

"Then why do you have migraine now?"

"Because I played 'Assassins Creed' video game till four AM this morning." He said as if he was explaining to a three year old.

"Oh."

"Yes."

"I thought..." She trailed.

"I know. But I am not. Really, I am not."

"Glad to hear that."

"Why?" He asked his interest spiking.

"None of your business," she said primly stuffing all her things in her bag. "Let's go home," she said before he could continue his questioning. He swallowed a smile at her discomfort and followed her out.

To be continued.

They have developed a real good friendship.. Arnav's behavior is quite difficult to understand tho..
the friends talk was something we all can relate to!

Secrets come rolling in and as he put, all of this is truly f**ked up...

Hey I am really really enjoying it! Arnav is a confused soul as usual!!! Thnks for the pm and eagerly waiting for more updates. Thanks.