AR OS and Drabble gallery#2: *The Curse - NOTE UPDATED- 16.06.'20 - Page 2

OMG!! I had not at all expected you to update this. This is super exciting. Thanks!! 😃

Arman is always Arman waiting for update !!!

Arey, i have recently become a fan of your Writing, So pls pls continue to update. and As soon as Possible

Bahut jaldi yaad aagayi??? Wph bhi only teaser???😲🙄

Want update soon

PART 3-A

NOTE: I have tried something new with this chapter, hope you guys like it but just wanted to make it clear that I have no credits over the images/GIFs used , I have simply found them on google and used the once I realllly liked. So the credits to whomsoever it may concern.

The movie had ended long ago and some random commercials started, as she had left the TV on; staring in space mindless. The blanket pretty much offered her warmth but she was numbed.It had been 4 days since the eventful night. Everything was still clear in her memory, it still shook her to the core. Grace sat just a few feet away from her, already dozed off on the couch.

~4 DAYS AGO~

Riddhima had opened her eyes to her own room the next morning, with a throbbing pain in her head.Her mind had probably not been able to take in the events, and digest everything that her eyes had witnessed. She hoped and wished it was just a dream, a weird- bad- pathetic dream. But her hopes were crushed when she saw Rahul sitting right across her. As always Armaan wasn’t seen anywhere around and Rahul was there to take care, but for this once she was not really bothered of his absence. Though she wasn’t quite okay with Rahul’s presence either this time;
“Tu--- tum yaha?”

“Bhai obviously didnot want to leave you alone in such condition, but you wouldn’t really want him to be around so……. Anyway I wanted to make sure you are alright. I know yesterday was a little too much for you to take in……. umm but you----”

Rahul wanted tocomfort her but he could see how uncomfortable and scared she was. He picked upthe glass of water offering her but she flinched making him feel really bad.More so for Armaan than himself as he spoke…..he realized she must be wondering that he was his brother so something was up with him too! If he was so hurtseeing his friend turn away due to fear, he couldn’t even imagine what Armaanmust have gone through to see that look in her eyes for him.
“You can relax Riddhima……. I don’t think you have anything to worry about me.Bhai is not going to hurt you ever either, and there’s no reason you should be scared of him, par kal jo hua uske baad….. we understand you are going to take time. And it’s okay.”

“Tu--- Tum…”

“You can trust me, Iam your friend……. You know I won’t do anything. I won’t Riddhima, besides thefact that I also can’t really!”
He chuckled at his own words though she could not catch up on the meaning, hejust sighed as she asked still a little unsure;
“Bu—but vo kal---”

“I know…. You saw acertain things you weren’t supposed to, and certain things happened whichshouldn’t have. I know what you are thinking about Armaan right now, but youactually shouldn’t be. And just to clear it out, no I have nothing you shouldbe scared of and that’s exactly why he preferred to send me instead of beinghere himself. I am not saying he would have hurt you in anyway, but he knew youwouldn’t probably like his presence. Anyway you just need to relax for now andnot think about anything related to yesterday’s accident.”
She knew he was safe to be with, something assured her he would never hurt herbut couldn’t confide in him either. She simply returned his smile and took theglass from him. He had sat for a while with her and taken care as she hadcaught fever. Obviously her body was tired and confused with all the newhappenings, and not so immune of the shock. Later in the day she finally hadspoken up and asked him if he could contact Grace for her as she really neededsomeone she knew right now. Rahul had quickly obliged and within half an hourGrace was there. They had avoided the topic as Rahul had already told her offthat it was too soon to talk things out, and if at all, it was only Armaan’splace to have that conversation with her. Riddhima wasn’t really in a state toargue much so she had let go, anyway she was not sure how much information shecould really bear right now. But it was clear that she was not to discuss thiswith any one at all, though she was dying to have a word with Grace but hadalready figured without saying, that it wasn’t really a good idea to have aword on this with anyone. Anyway whatever she had to say was only going tolabel her crazy and mentally unstable so there was no point in sharing theincident either.
Grace had figured something was wrong as she met Riddhima; but she just usedher health as an excuse to get away. That very evening Riddhima finally had thehonour of meeting Muskaan, who wasn’t really happy to meet her in this state,when she was down with fever but both the girls had gelled up quickly. Riddhimahad instantly known that this was just an idea to distract her mind fromeverything and she wasn’t really happy about it, but deep down she was a littlethankful because it partly helped. But she also needed some lone time to sorther thoughts and the night had fallen up just for her. In spite of her weaknessand tired body she had not been able to sleep for long and had drowned in deepthoughts, confusions, and questions of everything that she feared to be true.Something wasn’t right about him, but despite everything that she had witnessedher heart did not care. It was not ready to let go of him.
---------------

~PRESENT~

Just as expected, shehadn’t seen or heard of anything about Armaan since that day. She had triedhard to force her thoughts on her heart, trying to convince herself thatwhatever it was, he wasn’t safe to be with. What did she know about him anyway?Her body had still not recovered from the mental shock, her fever had gone downbut she was still unstable to think clearly. She sat fiddling with the pillowin her hand lost in her own thoughts again. However with all her best effortsit had still been impossible to erase him out of her heart, she had not beenable to convince herself against him. Her heart was aching being away from him,her body as if torturing her for cursing him as it denied to move out of bed.

After another day ofgoing through the same torture, Grace questioned her as she had never seen herso restless ever before. Guilt gripped her heart as she could not utter a wordto Grace, and somehow she knew sharing things this once wasn’t even going tohelp.
“Grace it’s nothing really. I guess I just really needed this break. And see Iam much better now, so don’t worry.”

“Yeah but you arealso so quiet suddenly. Is it that can’t-stop-talking-about-BUT-annoying bossof yours? Has he being drowning you with work?”
Grace asked; now sitting up all alert to know the details, is her question wasrelatable.

Riddhima stiffened athis mention and gulped, but the curiosity in Grace’s eyes and the“not-so-needed” adjective she had used for Armaan (well at least the first halfwasn’t necessary), brought a slight smile on her face.
“Oh my God, finallyyyyy! So finally my girl I smiling!!”
Grace ran to her side hugging her, happy to see her smile she nudged;
“So I guess this guy is something special! After so many days, just his namemade you smile! You just keep cribbing about him so much, but lately youhaven’t said anything and now suddenly you smile. Uhuh…… so what’s cookinghuh?”

“Stop it! Nothing’scooking Grace, I was just smiling for your way of addressing him and the curioscat that you are being unnecessarily, when there really nothing to tell! Therejust can’t be ……. *sigh*”
She continued with a lost look only to stop abruptly:
“Because I don’t even think------”
Her words were left hanging as the doorbell rang. Riddhima just chucked thetopic and Grace decided to confront her later and walked away to check the badtiming guest! Riddhima was relieved in a way as she wasn’t sure herself whatwas that she really felt of the whole situation yet, of HIM! Riddhima somehow had this sudden curiosity of who the guestwas, so she walked to her bedroom’s door when she saw Grace standing with thedoor wide open, staring out a little dazed! She wondered what caught herattention, but the husky voice of the yet unknown guest left her equally dazed andshe froze while her heart beat spiked, a sudden gush of wind hit her as sheclearly recognized the voice;
“Umm…… Hi! I need to see Riddhima!”

“Ar…..maan?”
Her lips muttered involuntarily as she tried to move, run back to her room andlock herself as her mind screamed “DANGER”, but her feet budged to move. Andwhat’s worse was, her heart actually still asked her to go and have one look.It seemed as if it was just his voice, his mere presence that made her heart goall wild to be in his presence but calm at the same time. She tried to gatherherself, but wasn’t sure what exactly was she wanting to get ready for; togather enough strength to face him or to make her body move or lock herselfaway from him. All the while Grace was lost in the charismatic guy standing infront of her, Armaan cleared his throat snapping her out of her dreamland;
“Huh? Ye----- yeah she’s in her room. But wait….. who are you?”

“I am Armaan Mallik!She works for me….. I was just passing by so I thought------”
Grace nodded still a bit dazed and moved back to welcome him in. She noticed asudden change in his demeanor, his fists gripped and jaw tightened as ifpreparing for something. She just stared at him silently observing as he lookedas if in some debate with himself.
“Uh…. Hello? You okay there?”
Grace questioned him making him look up at her, he sighed finally moving in andinstantly his gaze moved undoubtedly across the room to catch her sight afteralmost a week. The tension clearly visible on her face which hurt but didn’t surprisehim, that was something he had been expecting after that last encounter.Riddhima simply gasped, still unable to move while he just kept staring at heras if studying her features carefully. Grace did feel the tension in the air,Riddhima did seem a little off but then it made sense as it wasn’t every daythat your boss visited your house to check on you……. so she just decided to excuse herself and get him some water. Armaan couldn’t stand the look of nervousness in her eyes and shut his eyes tight to erase the negative thoughtsand gain some courage. Taking a deep sigh he took a step ahead just to have hergo a step back on reflex.
“Riddhima can we please just talk…..”

Riddhima simply shook her head as she tightly held on to the pillar next to her, her eyes wide and full of hundred questions.
“NO! Armaan ple---ease, I don’t----- I can’t…. Please…… just-----”
Armaan frowned hard about to take another step towards her but her state prettymuch warned him against it. She could read the pain, the helplessness in hiseyes; but nothing mattered at the moment. Her fear, the haunting questions thatthe memory left were too much to care as of now. It was hard but necessary heknew, so he simply just looked up at her one last time and slowly retreated hissteps still looking at her. With every step that he took his heart grew heavy,his hopes faltering, but there was absolutely nothing he could do. She clearlywasn’t ready or willing to be around him, but would she ever
be? ; his heart questioned sadly and he turned away with that last thoughtunanswered.
That was the last she remembered of him,just like that he had turned and walked away giving her just momentary relieffollowed by endless thoughts that left her wanting to meet him just once; butthat seemed just like a dream.
--------------------------

~A month later~

“Yeah I am almostdone, I’ll be there in just 20 minutes, and can you please stop calling me now?Byeeeee!!!!!!”
Riddhima shook her head smiling at her silly friend who awaited her at home fortheir girl’s weekend night all ready, while she was still here finishing herreport.
As she gathered her stuff and turned around to leave she once again came toface with HIS cabin and the smile hadunknowingly dulled out. Just that one empty room made everything feel so quiet,irrespective of hundreds of people working around through the clock. She hadchosen to believe that just his absence in the cabin was what bothered her, andnot his absence around her! Because one thing that she still wasn’t sure ofwas; “Was she ready to meet him? To know the truth; HIS truth? Rather did shewish to?”
However unsure of anything and everything around her, she was sure of one thingthat she couldn’t leave this place. Something just didn’t let her leave,however worried and anxious, she couldn’t let go of this job and the only placethat had brought her to him.

After that she haddenied to talk and rejected his presence the other day, he had never turnedback. Not having heard of him for two days after that she was unable tounderstand if she was relieved or worried. Still confused yet anxious she haddecided to join work after a week, only to find out that he had gone away rightthat evening after he left her house without any details of his return.Everything seemed so incomplete thereafter. She had initially thought that hisabsence was only a good thing as she had no clue of how she had react when shewould have to face him, but slowly as days went by; the emptiness was feltstrongly.

Leaving her thoughtsaside, she made her way home to enjoy the weekend and take her mind off him.She was feeling quite relaxed and happy as they enjoyed the quiet evening aftera long time. Grace seemed to be very excited about the plan too, as ever sinceRiddhima had joined back she was too busy with work hardly leaving any time forGrace. The truth was Riddhima wanted to be deep neck in work, or engrossed withanything that had keep her distracted. However hard she had tried, she had justnot been able to stop thinking about him irrespective of being aware that hemight be a big danger. The fact that being around him wasn’t the safest idea,her heart just wouldn’t listen.
But tonight everything seemed back to normal as she was settled on the couchenjoying the movie time, a big bag of chips in her hand and countless gossipswith Grace like good old days.

But that peace wasshort-lived, as soon Grace got a call and she had to leave immediately. Theplan was ruined indeed and they were utterly upset about it, but a new fearstarted gripping Riddhima slowly that was unspoken of. Ever since the incident,Riddhima always had company at night as she had randomly being getting somenightmares… and the one where she could see the guy’s silhouette had been evenmore prominent now. Earlier not being able to see who the guy was; only lefther curious and anxious, but now it left a very uneasy feeling. Initially shehad thought of giving Muskaan a call but she decided against it as that wouldmean letting Rahul know, and lately he had grown quite protective towards herand would worry too much which was sweet of him but would also become too muchfor her to handle. So now she had no other choice but to simply be on her ownand hope that no nightmares or any dreams were set to haunt her tonight.

Well but what do youknow….. lately nothing went according to the plan, and so was how the nightwent too. Just within an hour of falling asleep; which was after a lot of procrastination to begin with; the dream was right there to greet her. The sweat had just started forming on her forehead and like always she moved ahead with a lot of hopes to touch him, see his face, to know who he was and why he was here! But as always he had stepped back, though this once the dream did notend making her eerie. An itchy feel suddenly crept up her neck as if something behind watched her closely. Suddenly the guy’s silhouette started fading, leaving her all alone, involuntarily she turned on her heels to meet the same enchanting amber- almost golden eyes and the snow white fur covered wolf, growling at her just like the last encounter ready as ever to pounce on her. Just like that she had started sweating much more profusely, panting hard, while she stepped back trying her best to get away. Unknowingly the flashes hit her hard, she remembered how he stood right in her front of her as a shield, and for some unknown reason the wolf had retracted. That made her feel completely exposed making her even more vulnerable and unknowingly his name escaped her lips- a mere whisper, as a cry for help;
“Armaan!!”

With a startle she was sitting up on her bed, the panic, the fear, raised heartbeat and sweatingall intact. As if she was just right taken out from the horrible situation andplaced safely in her room. Where relief was awaited to wash her over, anxietygripped her even tighter; restlessness growing furthermore as his name rang in her head and for the nth time his face flashed in front of her eyes uninvited.The comforter was off her in a second as she thrashed away all the pillows feeling completely lost and helpless. Pacing around the room like a mad woman,fisting her hair trying to calm her heart she cursed herself and him like neverbefore;
“What the fcuk is wrong with me? Why?! I just need some sleep for God’s sake!”

Bursting open herwindows she let some cold fresh air hit her hoping to calm her senses, but allin vain. That did help her sweating, but the anxiety and restlessness was hereto stay.
“What have you done to me you bas****?! Why can’t I stop thinking of you! Afterhaving witnessed such a freak show the other night, why am I still unable toforget you! Why is it so difficult to let you go! Why do I still miss you, youmoron! And why do I feel unsafe without you, when it should in fact be theother way around. I should be freaking out and trying to be away from you andbe happy about it, but why am I not? What is the matter with me!? Am I goinginsane? Why am I so hell bent on a person who probably isn’t even normal?!!”
She sighed and asked herself the only question that had been running in hermind since quite some time now;
“Maybe I should just-----”
Her heart calmed at the thought but her mind instantly rejected the idea,making her groan;
“NO! That’s the most insane thing to do right now.”

But then her heartimmediately fought back, if it was in her control and so easy to get rid ofhim; she could have simply left. In fact he wasn’t even around, it should havemade things easier; but things were just the complete opposite right now. Wherehis absence should have given her relief, it only made her restless with everyother day. However illogical and insane it might have been, the fact stood boldand clear that he was the only person that made her feel safe and secure;irrespective of what had happened, how rude he had been and whatever wrong thatwas with him, nothing really seem to matter for the moment. His mere name, histhought, his memory had made her feel better in her dream as she stood facingthe nightmare. This was indeed insane but unfortunately true. Too long had shestayed in denial, but no more! Enough testing the waters, it was time to getrid of the restlessness. Life wasn’t any better anyway, so if there was a hopeto get something sorted it was only better to give it a try. The decision wasmade and she was up on her feet;
“Yes! I need to see him!!”

The decision initself gave her some warmth, the thought that she was willing to face him gaveher jitters undoubtedly but no more insecurities. The fear was still intact ofhaving known of some dark unsaid truth linked with him; but it couldn’t defeatthe fear of being away from him anymore. But suddenly a new worry cropped upleaving her low on her new found determination; how was she to reach him now?Where would she find him? He had been missing since a month! A MONTH!! Nobodyknew of his whereabouts…..even Rahul. She groaned frustrated; could this getany harder than it already was?

But anyway hopingagainst hope, she ran her fingers against her phone screen, contemplating. Shewas highly doubtful that even if she was able to reach, was he even going torespond? After having a good debate with herself she let her fingers pay aroundhis name on the screen for a while, and finally sighing she connected the call.The determination was already a bit weak when to add to it her gaze caught thewall clock and just before the call could connect or even a ring went off, shecut the call. It was freaking 3 am! What was she even thinking, rather was sheeven thinking at all in the first place? Agreed she was going crazy anddesperate to meet him, get some answers for herself but that could be donewithout being vulnerable. He need not know how helpless she was, he SHOULDN’T!!

Caught in thewhirlwind of emotions and anxiety she settled down on the floor staring intospace once again cursing him for leaving her in such a pathetic state.
“Mera bas chale toh is Mallik ka jeena haram kardu. Yaha meri neend kharab karekhud chain ki neend so raha hoga kahi. How did those even happen? I am justgoing to kill him, this is just too much! He has absolutely no right to beannoying me so much when he isn’t even around. That annoying fr---- *gasp*aaahhhh…..”
She shrieked gasping and almost tossed her phone away as it started ringing loud and clear in the silent night distracting her off the cursing session.With trembling hands she held her phone and saw HIS name flashing leaving her all stumped. She just stared at thephone completely lost and confused until it stopped ringing. But just within afraction of another second it started ringing again snapping her out of herwonderland and she finally took a deep breath as she accepted the call;
“Hello….. Riddhima?”
Armaan checked as there was pin drop silence for a moment.

“Armaan?”
She simply just whispered his name still trying to register his voice that shewas hearing after such a long time.

“How are you doingRiddhima? ……. I just------ ……. I really wanted to…….. Can I please explain justonce? Say it once, and I’ll be there in 10! Just let me know once that you areready to talk to me! Bas ek baar-----”

“It’s just---- Where were you Armaan? Ijust….. it’s too late I…… and you”
Riddhima finally came back to present and uttered a bit unsure and nervous tobe instantly cut off by his instant reply;
“Riddhima just tell me what you want? Tum kya chahti ho main bas vo sunnachahta hu. Are you ready to talk to me? I just need to know that and I fcukingdon’t care about anything else.”

Riddhima could hearthe determination in his voice; after all he never really cared about theworld. He always did what he thought was right. She sighed as she could hearhis calm breathing from the other end, that itself was enough to bring heralive and give some peace to her raging heart. In that moment she had known onething, however she might curse him or think of him; whether he was safe to bearound or not, truth be told- for some weird reason his every slight move hadan effect on her and he was the only person so far who held the power to makeher go crazy but calm her mind at the same time. The way she felt near him, thesecureness that his presence gave was incomparable. But the question stayed ofhow dangerous was he exactly? What would he do had she need some space awayfrom him and denied his presence once again, would that make him in anunpredictable way? With these doubts playing in her mind she uttered slowly;
“Agar….. agar main milne se mana kar du toh tum-----”

“Toh I will wait foryou Riddhima! Main jaanta hu tum bhi mujhse milna chahti ho, Ican pretty much read it clearly in your voice, varna raat ke 3 baje tum mujhsebaat nahi kar rahi hoti!”
She shut her eyes cursing herself for making a fool out of herself; but he continuedimmediately not wanting her to be guilty of anything;
“Par fir bhi agar tum mana karti ho tohI will step back.”

Riddhima smileddespite herself clearly knowing what his words meant, what he wanted to conveyindirectly and his “tum bhi” had reached her in the right intention very well;
“Riddhima I jus----”

“Main tumse milnachahti hu Armaan!”
She immediately cut his words declaring her wish to meet him loud and clear.Nothing more was needed to be thought of and just like that she had brought up asmall smile on his lips after a long time, but unfortunately she couldn’twitness it.
“Fine then, I will wait for you in the morni------”

This time she wasinterrupted by his firm declaration;
“As I said, I’ll be there in 10. I am not going to bother to ask you to stay upfor me; because I am sure you are going to do that anyway.”
With that the line went off before she could even think of any retort. Not thatshe really cared right now, her sleep was far from her anyway….. maybe meetinghim could bring her some peace and take away restlessness that had settled inher since he had gone MIA!

At the exact 10thminute as if an alarm going off, the doorbell rang and she had walked up slowlyhaving too many thoughts going through her mind. With her trembling hand sheheld the door knob silently for a minute taking a deep breath, still trying toprepare herself mentally to face him, while her heart as always had started running at quite an abnormal pacesensing his presence already. Finally the door unlocked and both of them juststared at each other for a good 2 minutes just trying to capture each other’ssight after so long as their hearts were finally some peace.

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

Armaan settledquietly on the window sill sipping his coffee checking or at least pretendingto check her room out, while she stood by the other end of the window staringout.
“It’s really beautiful.”
His deep voice cut through the silence like a knife as nobody had spoken a wordsince his arrival;
“Huh?”
Riddhima finally looked up at him startled and confused while he just gazedinto her eyes, the winds playing with her hair leaving her cheeks pink, whileshe fiddled with her fingers in her cute panda print night dress that ended right by her knees, was a sight to watch indeed. Riddhima too on the other hand was still trying to calm her raging heart off his presence, his slight stubble and tired eyes gave away that he wasn’t having the best time either, but that still couldn’t take his charm away. The black shirt that only complimented him perfectly, was of no help to her already poor heart either.

“Your room, its beautiful Riddhima.”
Armaan uttered bring her out of her revive.

“Hmm thanks. Armaanvo *gasp*”
The silence was quite disturbing now, just as she thought of finally getting to the point with him the lights went out making her shriek and drop her mug.Armaan was up in a moment and by her side;
“Relax…. I am right here. Just a minute”
He very carefully picked up the mug which had somehow managed to survive the fall and placed it aside. Riddhima just stood silently not trying to freak outmuch as he was right by her side anyway. He asked her to guide him so that he could get some candles and as he lit the match stick, the glow hitting her face accentuating her doe eyes in the dark caught him off guard once again.

Lost in the moment he lifted his hand andslightly pushed off the fringe from her face, making her shut her eyes onreflex. The slight touch that his finger made, had her skin on fire and sheleaned into his touch unknowingly. That small act gripped his heart tight asfinally the fear was lost from her eyes, he immediately covered the distancebetween them and let his finger slide down to her cheek. As his hot breathkissed her face she opened her eyes to stare back up into his and just likethat he snapped out and once again retracted two steps away as always as ifcaught on fire. A completely opposite sight met her eyes than she had painted,instead of those deep passionate eyes she could see his eyes shut tight, ,fists gripped so tight she was sure his nails were digging deep in his palm,jaws tightened, the vein on his forehead clearly seen as if all ready to popout. It wasn’t clear if he was mad, upset or disgusted at the moment but happyhe was NOT and that was clear!

“Leave!”

She declared in a sharp tone folding herhands. Armaan looked up at her surprised, the hurt clear in her eyes which he was totally to be blamed so he tried to reason but in an instant she had snapped again;

“I said LEAVE Armaan!”

Armaan sighed and ran his hand on his napestanding his firm stance, as opposed to what she had thought, he utteredequally firm;

“No I won’t. I am not leaving Riddhima, I amdone leaving!”

“Oh really now? What the fcuk do you think ofme? Do you think this is a joke? You can’t keep doing this to me….. For amoment there you hold me, look at me like nothing else matters, like I meanSOMETHING to you, aur agle hi pal mujhe aise jhutla dete ho jaise you can’teven stand me for a minute, as if I am a NOBODY to you! I can’t keep up withthis bipolar behavior of yours!”

“You are EVERYTHING to me! I just-----”

Armaan took a step towards her, uttering every word intensely trying to explain helplessly when she turned away with asarcastic smile;

“Yeah right!”

As he just stood staring down at her, sheshook her head once again completely disappointed in him and decided to justwalk away when he tried to approach her;

“Don’t even try…… Just stay away from meArmaan! Don’t ever EVER touch meagain and I don’t want to see you EVER-----”

“You obviously don’t mean that! Don’t finishthat statement, you know you-----”

He snapped in an authoritative tone and thereshe could see his eyes turn dark crystal clear which she couldn’t care leastabout and looked up at him spitting back lividly;

“Or what? Are you going to hurt me now, is it?Of course…… go ahead, I don’t think you can make things any worse than they areanyway. I have being going crazy here, freaking unable to sleep all because ofyou and I don’t even know why! You have always treated me like shit and I don’tknow why I still can’t stop thinking of you. You left because I didn’t talk,didn’t want to see you after what happened the other day, and now you came inhere in the middle of the night and I thought you cared enough to at least havesome discussion, some explanations. But clearly you don’t care and----”

“I was cursed!”

Armaan interrupted her in a low, inaudiblevoice but she heard it clearly in the quiet night.

“What?”

A prominent frown settled on her foreheadwhile she went completely quiet and she noticed his down casted eyes and ahelpless face;

“I have being keeping myself away from youbecause------- whatever you saw that day was the real me Riddhima! I shouldn’tbe with you, I apparently shouldn’t even be around you, par main khudko rok hinahi paata and that scares me….. for YOU!”

He looked up at her emphasizing on the lastbit while she instantly walked up to him;

“Well guess what, I was scared too. But youhave no right to decide everything all by yourself. Us din jo kuch bhi Iwitnessed…. I agree uske baad mujhe bhi laga ki main tumse dubara kabhi namilu, shayad tumse dur rehna is the best option.. Par fir bhi main us din se ekpal ke liye bhi tumhe bhul nahi paayi hu. Tumhare baarein mein sochna band hinahi kar paayi hu! But you just----”

“I know….. but you don’t understand Riddhima.It’s not easy for me either, you have no clue how desperately I want to be withyou too, but I can’t trust myself. If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have beingchased that night either----”

“What are you even talking about? Wha tchase-----”

She started confused but then it hit her andher eyes grew wide as a saucer;

“The wolf? The wolf was chasing ME, isn’t it? It was a freaking wolf, Iknew it, and I wasn’t over thinking or hallucinating? You LIED to me, you knewit all along and you just made a fool out of me!”
She yelled completely annoyed and disappointed at his betrayal, of how heclearly made a fool out of her, irrespective of knowing very well what she hadgone through was all terrifyingly true!

“Because it was necessary to make you believeotherwise! My life is f**ked enough already, I can’t let that affect you! But Ican’t keep away from you either, so I just don’t know what to do anymore. I was fcuking CURSED Riddhima, do you even understand what that means? I want anormal life too, I never wanted to be this person I have turned into either,BUT there’s nothing I can do about it now, so the best I can do is to keep asafe distance so that I don’t harm you in anyway.”

“So then why did you come here tonight? What brought you here?”

Riddhima spat at him still furious as he wasfirm on his “staying away” theory without a detail explanation.

“Because you needed me, and I couldn’t leave you alone!”

Riddhima sighed as he looked up at her with an earnest reply and his eyes depicted care clearly. As he rested against the cill defeated, she took a seat next to him and demanded;

“Armaan you owe me an explanation. I don’tcare how bad it is, how scary things are, if you care about me at all, you atleast owe me an answer as to why can’t you be with me even though that you wantto be, or at least claim that you do! What exactly is going on, what is it withyou that I witnessed that day?!”

She uttered the last bit with a pinch of saltmaking him look up at her, but didn’t defend as he knew she wasn’t at faultafter all. The way he had been behaving, he did leave a negative and dishonestimpression. Taking a deep breath he decided to be out with it;

“I can’t give you any details……”

Even before he had finished she stood uptotally furious and dejected and he continued immediately;

“But I can just answer a few things for you.”

That made her stop in her track but she justwaited for him to continue still with her back at him;

“A few years ago I had been around here forsome trekking and I crossed some boundaries that I shouldn’t have. You know howthey say the forest has its own rules and they are not to be broken! I wish Ihad taken that a little more seriously.

Main bas kuch aur aage jaana chahta tha, Ijust wanted to rest by the lake as it looked so serene; though it was banned tobe in that zone, to be on the other side of it. I had thought it’s probablyjust because there must be a few wild animals around, but I won’t be longthere anyway, just for a while; aur vaise bhi there were some really greatplants around, some medicinal herbs which I had heard about a lot. One of theprime reasons that I had wanted to visit the place, but I didn’t know that itwould be in the No Entry zone! Actually us waqt Rahul had been goingthrough a really bad phase, uska ek bohot bada accident hua tha and it hadbeing quite painful for him. His legs had been in a real bad shape, the onlygood news was that he could be back to normal and that he was recovering…….. butit was really slow and every day he was in so much pain that it hurt to see himlike that. He didn’t express much as he knew that had hurt me, but I knew hewas suffering much more than he ever let me know. Use theek hone mein lagbhag 6mahine aur lagne wale the, but I just wanted to make things better for him; tomake his pain better in some way.”

“Another fact you don’t know about us is; wearen’t real brothers Riddhima, Rahul was an orphan I had just befriended when Iwas a kid and then we had just grown inseparable immediately. Just after 2years of meeting him, I had lost my parent to a car accident too. Tab se weboth had been the only family either of us had. Though we weren’t bloodrelated, that made no difference to the bond we shared. I couldn’t see him hurtin any way but after the accident I was helpless. So when all the other medicalallopathic ways, exercises and physiotherapy had failed, I had heard of thisherb that helped with the pain, I just thought it wasn’t a bad idea to give ita try, it was worth the risk afterall.”

“I wasn’t supposed to get to the other side, Ihad found the plant I was looking for already, but just as I was about toleave; I heard a groan. I decided to ignore it and head back as it was gettingdark; but I just couldn’t ignore the whimpers; so I looked around a little andafter a while came across a wolf who lay there injured. It was clearly aninsane thing to go ahead and help it, but I guess it was just supposed tohappen. It looked like somebody had hurt it intentionally, it was stabbed inthe foot. I knew it was dangerous but something in me stopped me from moving onwithout at least relieving it from the knife. It was the least I could do,though it was snarling at me, I could see it’s eyes asking for help even in thedark and I just couldn’t ignore it. I don’t regret saving anyone, but I shouldhave just-------”

He shut his eyes shaking his head as ifreliving the moment, a prominent frown settling on his forehead which made hershift closer as she heard every word intently;

“What happened to the wolf? Did it try to hurt you?”

Armaan opened his eyes and looked up at her with a very small almost hard to notice but a genuine smile for the first time ever as he stared at her eyes that were filled with pure concern; she wouldn't even have noticed if she wasn't staring at him from up close, which in turn made her gasp;

“What.....what’s wrong?”

He asked at once all confused as she looked too amused by something;

“I have….. never seen you smile before!”

That in itself was enough to rub if off, just as instantly as it had appeared to which she immediately retorted;

“It looks good on you; it shows off your dimple! You should smile more often.”

“It makes it easier when you are around!”

His reply caught her off guard, but she looked away before she lost herself in his eyes again. She really needed to know his side of the story;

“Aage kya hua Armaan?”

“*Sigh* The wolf didn’t harm me, I just got rid of the knife and realized it hadn’t penetrated deep enough, but must have had caused terrible pain for sure. It was clearly being attacked by some stupid people out there, I had heard of such incidents but obviously hadn't caretoo much back then. Main obviously dara hua tha, ek jungli janwar ke saamne aadhi raat ko baitha hua tha; obviously that terrified me too much, but just the thought that I could save it kept me going. Obviously the wolf tried to defend at first, it was scared too, par kisi tarah I managed to get close andcalm it down and after a while that it realized I wasn’t going to harm and wasonly trying to help; it let me close and help. I was done with my part, Iapplied a little herbal coating that I had in my kit and was about to leavewhen out of nowhere, the wolf who had been quite all the while growled suddenlyand before I could make sense of anything…….. I was attacked.”

Riddhima gasped as she saw the pain creeping upon his face, she was clearly worried too but all of a sudden he grew all quiet;

“Oh my God? Why did it.... And you were just helping---”

She blabbered all curious an worried now whenhe interrupted;

"It wasn't the wolf that attacked me, in factit saved me from the attack."
“What?”
She uttered totally confused now;
"Who attacked you then?!"

Armaan took a deep breath, and looked up only to realize that she looked too perturbed so he tried to wrap it up;
"That's not so important right now Riddhima, it's just that I was saved from the attack, but I was so deeply injured by the time the wolf meddled that I had almost died."
Armaan was about to continue but as she gasped at his last piece of information and tried to retort but he decided to skip the details on that part so he quickly continued;
“Ar----”

“I don’t want to get into these unnecessary details, I just want you to know that------ that I was saved……but-----”
He hesitated to continue, as if the words next were too heavy to utter and that was weird because she knew he wasn’t a guy who was hesitant types;
“But what?”
Taking a huge sigh he continued, his eyes shut tight as if he couldn’t look up at her anymore;
“But that night changed everything for me because in order to save me, there were certain things that were to be done and it left me like----- like this. And I just have no more control over myself, which is why I have been pushing you away. I couldn’t risk you by pulling you down with me, but one thing I promise you----”

He looked up at her with dark eyes filled with fire and determination;
“With me or without me, I would never let ANYONE hurt you EVER! I will always protect you. ALWAYS!”

Riddhima looked up at him a little taken aback as he declared the last bit, still utterly confused about his explanation. Bu this eyes made her shiver, they looked ready to kill and she could see his jaw ticking, he clearly meant each and every word she knew.

------------to be continued------------

P.S: DO NOT forget comment on however you like the part, that's only going to make the update quicker...... if not enough comments wait in for many many more months, years.... or forever maybe. Ok bye! 😉 😏

Was Armaan turned into a warewolf to save him?

Lovely Lovely Update. Please continue soon...Its getting v interesting..... Please don't stop writing any of ur FF. Eagerly awaiting for the next update.

Kya arman werewolf h... ar ye is trh se apne hisab stry ku bta rha pura sach ku h bta de rha h ridhima ko..bhut confusion h😒

Do update soon vrna itne din update milne k baad storyline hi bhul jaate h 😐

SUPERRR AMAZINGGG 👌👌👌

RIDDHIMA ne jo bhi scene witnessed kiya uske baad koi bhi insaan apne right state of mind mein nahi ho skta...Riddhima ne jo dekha us scene ne use shocked kar diya tha...Itna dar uske dil aur dimag mein baith chuka hai ki ek month baad use vahi scene use sapne mein haunt kar raha hai...

Armaan se door rehna solution tha lekin sirf kuch time ke lie agr use Jawab chahiye they toh Armaan se milna hi ek option tha...Aur finally Riddhima ne apne dil ki baat maan li...

I know Armaan ka jo behavior Riddhima ki taraf raha hai vo acceptable nahi hai ek pal mein paas bula lena aur dusre hi pal door kar dena aise koi bhi hurt hoga hi...Bt am glad is baar Armaan ne apne kadam peeche nahi kiye aur pura sach toh Armaan ne nahi bataya bt am sure kuch sawalo ke Jawab toh Riddhima ko mil gaye hai...

Thanks for the update...Loved n enjoyed it soo much...Waiting for the next part❤️❤️❤️

wow mindblowing part.part ki liye bohot sukriya.love the part.ridzy jo dekha uske bad wo shocked hai.wo such bhi nahi paraye hai .armaan ridzy ke sath milne aya.ridzy armaan ko chale jane ki liye bola.armaan ekbar ridzy ke pass ati hai phir ekbar dhur jati hai.armaan ridzy se dhur ke rehta hai uska reason bola.puri sach armaan ridzy ko bola.armaan batana chaie tha.beautiful outstanding story.totally love the story.pls post the next part asap.eagerly waiting for next part❤️😍😘