He got on her nerves. All the time. She successfully came to this conclusion after two months of sitting in front of him (NOT by choice, of course! ) Lavanya and him got along like a house on fire. She was better friends with Akash, who sat next to him. Despite being the son of one of the biggest industrialists of the city, Akash was extremely down to earth, and always sweet to her. As for HIM, well...
After about a week since he asked her Lavanya's name, they had barely even looked at each other. Flirting with Lavanya was his favourite pastime, it seemed. It angered her immensely, of course it had to! Lavanya was her best friend. It was her duty to keep her away from elements that could hurt her, especially spoilt brats like Arnav Singh Raizada that believed the world revolved around them and them only.
She found out he was called Arnav purely by accident. He was, as usual, off somewhere behind Lavanya, and Akash had gone up to the teacher's desk, when some girl had come to her. Her questioning "Arnav? Where is he" had grated on Khushi's ears, and she Khushi felt an immediate dislike this hair-brained creature who clearly had fallen for that flirt's charms.
"It's because of that extra short skirt! I mean who wears THAT to school?" She had convinced herself later, despite a nagging feeling in her brain that kept repeating "Arnav.. Where is Arnav?! How dare she!! ?"
She had successfully tried to keep herself out of his way,but alas, that was not to be for long.
She did not like the way the rest of the class kept tying the four of them together. Khushi-Akash and Lavanya-Arnav. The 4-some, they called them. She was exhausted trying to distance herself from the ridiculousness, attempting to show everyone that she had nothing going on with EITHER of them. And just when her classmates were beginning to accept this terribly difficult fact- HE had to spoil it all.
Akash and Lavanya were out, and so it was just the both of them. "So, Khushi, how did you do in the English test yesterday? Aman told me you usually top?" "Oh.. So you know my name!" she replied with indignation. "Oh Come on! There are just THIRTY people in the class. It is not a supreme effort to know even random girls' names, especially for Arnav Singh Raizada"
With that careless statement, the carefully constructed facade of indifference broke, and she whipped her gaze to him, fire in her eyes. "I would request you to then use your incredible memory to go remember the names of girls who actually give a damn about you, Mr whatever Raizada! I apologise for not remembering what you are called, you see I don't usually engage with names or people that don't matter!"
"I see that your manners have decided to stay at home today. What is your problem Khushi? I was just trying to make conversation!"
"I don't care for pointless conversations, Raizada."
"I have a name. It is Arnav."
"Oh you could be a dog for all I care. Here, Tommy!"
"You are the shallowest, pettiest girl I have ever had the misfortune to meet, Gupta!"
"Oh give me a break Arnav!"
"What the..!"
and so on and so forth.
When this this war of words turned serious, neither knew. The next thing she registered was that he bent down, yanked her shoe off her foot angrily, and threw it up in the air, only to land in the middle of a hushed classroom, wide eyed expressions directed at them from every side.
From the corner of her eye, she could see Akash and Lavanya at the door, with horrified expressions on their faces.
Some of her classmates started smirking. "I told you so", they seemed to be telling each other.
She groaned in frustration, too tired to react. Attention was the last thing she liked, or needed. And certainly not because of this... jerk!
One thing became two, and two became four. The little "happening" in class spread round the school like wildfire. And when Dhruv called her that afternoon, warning her not to get "too close" to Arnav, she decided she had had enough. Arnav was going to get everything back, every bit of it.
The next day in school, her eyes continuously searched for him, and when she did see him, she wished she had not. That arrogant smirk plastered acroos his face, his broken tooth making him look ..dare she think of it... adorable?! Shrugging off these mildly disturbing thoughts, she advanced towards him. With each step, her urge to slap that smirk off his face became stronger.
She reached him, and raised her hand, about to slap him, when she made the biggest mistake ever- of looking into his eyes. His dark hazel eyes held her stare, challenging her, it seemed, with their very depth, and the next instant she felt her hand dropping straight down without even touching him. As if things couldn't get worse, she distinctly felt a bright red blush creeping up her neck, rapidly spreading onto her face.
He grinned victoriously, turned around, and walked away. WALKED OUT. ON KHUSHI KUMARI GUPTA! No one, no one had dared do that before.
With thoughts of revenge, she stayed awake all night, with disturbing visuals of him alternately burning on a barbeque skewer, and his eyes growing bigger till the fire died down, tormenting her all night.
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She herself didn't realise , when they started talking to each other like human beings. Never normally, though. It always seemed like there was this tension between them, every time they even as much as looked at each other. He then shifted to a house about 5 minutes from hers, and she couldn't avoid him as much as she tried. It was fun at times though. The games, the talks, his broken toothed smile, his slightly husky voice..
Her dislike of him slowly ebbed, leaving behind pleasant feelings she never quite understood.
It wasn't supposed to be this way at all. In school, Dhruv and her were supposed to be the next prospective golden couple in the making. Having liked each other for ages, Khushi and Dhruv seemed, well, just natural. Dhruv was the kind of guy she always wanted. Sober, down to earth, simple, not so good looking, but extremely intelligent. He was worlds away from the flirtatious world inhabited by Arnav Singh Raizada. Then why had everything suddenly turned so upside down? Arnav Singh Raizada had ALL the qualities she never wanted - He was an arrogant playboy, flirting with everything that was female and walked on two legs.
Then why...WHY did that irritating patch of red appear on her face everytime he said something to her??
Alright then, here is chapter 1! Please do LIKE or Comment, it literally takes 30 seconds, and it would definitely make my day!!
Love
Saaw
xx
Udne Ki Aasha
Kumkum Bhagya
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