Tangled | ArShi FF |Thread #1| Link for Thread #2 in Index | Pg 1 - Page 58

Originally posted by: kiran0kumari

Awesome

Originally posted by: sman

Read in one go

Originally posted by: roops82

Awesome...Khushi got to know ...will she confront Arnav..will their equation change??

Waiting eagerly

Originally posted by: Vandie

Hi

Beautiful story n wonderful update

Its been around 20 days since ur last update

Please update soon

Waiting eagerly

Originally posted by: GuruDeep246

Read all the chapters in one go..beautifully written..plz update as soon as possible..waiting..👏

Originally posted by: sunitikapoor

Awww...she figured out, whom she is texting and playing stranger stranger game.

A/N- Thanks for the encouraging response and support. It really keeps me going. Do keep sharing your views/any feedback. And massive apologies for the delay. (Some stuff got in the way). Hope you all enjoy the next part(s)!

Chapter 11 - It's Nothing.

(June 16 -22)

An uneasy feeling was subconsciously bothering Arnav. Currently he was in a restaurant, dining with Payal, Akash and Khushi yet his mind would wander off to the conversation he had earlier in the day with his stranger.

He had told her that he liked her. And he could tell she liked him too. When he wanted to take forth their relationship from the virtual world to the real one, she had agreed. Her last text was that pacts could be reneged on- the pact that they had of not sharing things, which were too personal. She wanted to go beyond the virtual world too. Yet, after that, she hadn't texted him. The conversation was left hanging.

It wasn't the first time. He knew she was always busy with work, so leaving a conversation mid-way wasn't unusual. Yet, today's conversation wasn't a typical one. He couldn't help re-check his phone for a new text... or something from her.

The dinner table had gone quiet. Arnav was busy checking his phone, Payal and Akash were flipping through the menu and Khushi seemed lost in some thought.

"Are you all right?" Arnav asked Khushi in a whisper.

"Ermm..." she muttered in response, "I..."

"Ready to order?" the waiter's voice interrupted them. Payal started placing the order and Arnav decided to check his phone, again.

Suddenly his phone started ringing. Arnav froze when he saw the caller's number- It was his stranger! She was calling him!

"You want to get that?" Akash asked on seeing Arnav shell-shocked.

Before Arnav could respond to Akash or receive the call, it disconnected. Akash and Payal went back to placing their order to the waiter but it was Khushi, whose face Arnav focused on. Her jaw had dropped open and she looked stunned.

"What's the matter?" Arnav asked concerned. The issue of the stranger calling him had taken a backseat.

"I..." Khushi abruptly stood up and picked her handbag. Her gaze wavered from Payal to Akash before settling on Arnav, "I have to go. I have some... urgent work. Sorry guys!"

"Is everything fine?" Payal inquired.

Khushi smiled, rather tried to, "Yes. It's just some work. Please enjoy your dinner. I am really sorry about the trouble." She then turned to face Payal, "I'll see you at home."

"Okay," Payal replied once assured.

Khushi walked out of the restaurant and Arnav excused himself, trying to follow up to her. She was waiting at the pavement when Arnav caught up to her.

"What is it?" he asked again, clearly not believing the excuse, "And don't tell me it's work."

Khushi seemed even more stunned when she turned around to face him, "I..." she stammered like she had earlier.

"Is it because of what happened earlier?" he asked, "In the office? Is this about the cancelled deal?"

This time she shook her head, "No. This is not about the deal."

A white cab pulled up to the side of the pavement and Khushi waved at the driver.

"My cab's here," she informed him, "I have to go."

Before she could walk away, Arnav, without thinking, grabbed her arm, "Wait. I can't let you leave like this. Something is bothering you."

She bit her lip and Arnav could tell that she was contemplating if she could divulge to him.

Khushi gulped, "It's nothing serious. I promise."

Arnav reluctantly nodded and let her arm go. She didn't waste a second and dashed off to the cab. Arnav watched as she turned to face him before getting in the vehicle and driving off.

Sometime later, once he had rejoined Akash and Payal, his phone chimed.

(Friday, June 16)

-Unknown- 10:31pm || Sorry. It was a pocket dial.

That was her explanation for the call that it was by mistake. She hadn't meant to call him on purpose.

-Arnav- 10:31pm || Is everything fine between us? You haven't texted me in hours.

-Arnav- 10:32pm || ... Especially after what I said

-Unknown- 10:33pm || Everything is fine. I am busy.

-Unknown- 10:34pm || Can I talk to you later?

-Arnav- 10:34pm || Sure. I'll wait for your text.

-Unknown- 10:35pm || I'll be quite busy during the weekend. I'll talk to you on Monday. Is that fine?

Unlike an in-person conversation, a text didn't give away the tone. Arnav couldn't tell if his stranger was genuinely going to be away from technology or was she brushing him off? It made him reflect on his past conversation- had he said something inappropriate? Had he offended her in unknowingly?

In a span of few hours, the girl who was willing to take their relationship to the next level was now giving him the cold shoulder. Maybe he was overreacting, he told himself. Maybe she was genuinely busy.

His phone buzzed drawing him out of his inner ramblings.

-Unknown- 10:38pm || Is that fine?

-Arnav- 10:39pm || Sure.

He lied. It wasn't fine but he didn't want to be overbearing. If she needed time, he'd give her.

-Arnav- 10:39pm || Text me whenever you are free.

---------

-Unknown- 10:39pm || Text me whenever you are free.

Khushi sighed in relief when she read the stranger's reply. Oh wait! He wasn't a stranger any more. He was Arnav- Arnav from her office, Arnav the MD, Arnav- her sister's fiance's cousin, Arnav- her friend of sorts!

During the dinner when she put two and two together and deduced that her stranger was Arnav she was shell-shocked, to say the least. To double-check, she dialed the stranger's number from her phone and Arnav's phone rang. With fumbling fingers, she had disconnected the call as soon as she could. After that, she couldn't sit there any more. She had to process all this.

And that's what she had been doing the past hour, ever since she came back home. She went over all the sms that they had exchanged over the past month and a half.

How could she not see it?

Well, her mind started to ration- she never felt the need to contact Arnav on his personal number. Any message would either be sent via his PA or on his office number. Same was the case for her. Moreover, very few people knew her personal number.

The fact that there were 2 pages with phone numbers on that day- Arnav and Mohit's, had completely skipped her mind. She only remembered picking up a page assuming it was the one Lavanya left- the one with Mohit's details.

When the stranger... Err... Arnav, had told her that she had texted a wrong number, she never bothered to check back with Lavanya.

Khushi held her head in her hands and grumbled. She had been texting and flirting with Arnav this entire time! Even when professionally they were at loggerheads till the time they started to become friendly. It was all Arnav.

"God!" she uttered the word and buried her face in the pillow.

She did wonder if Arnav knew about her identity- that she was his stranger. The thought did cross her mind but his reaction of bewilderment, when she had given him a missed call at the restaurant, proved otherwise. Add to that the texting pattern didn't reveal any such thing. Moreover, despite all the confusion, she felt surely about the fact that he didn't know.

For now, she decided that she wouldn't tell Arnav the truth- that she was his stranger. She needed time to figure things out for herself. Involving him at this stage would only complicate everything.

Hence she had texted Arnav (as the stranger) that she needed time and she would contact him in a couple of days. The delay in his response told her that he was skeptical (rightly so). Yet, she couldn't help it.

What was she to do anyway? Walk up to him and say that they had been texting each other this entire time? That he was the one to whom she had sent her picture and he, in turn, had shared his shirtless pic with her? How would that work out, given that they were in the mid of a professional environment?

She raised her head from the pillow and scrolled through the text chain for a hundredth time. She paused at the picture that she had sent him. It was a month back. It was the night she had first met Akash and come to know that Arnav was his cousin. She had sent him a pic in the white gown but due to wine spilling on it, she had to change to a blue one. What if she was wearing the white dress when she met the Raizada cousins? Arnav would have found out that she was his stranger then and there!

Khushi exhaled slowly through her mouth thinking of how the universe worked sometime. They were in close proximity to one another for at least 10 hours everyday. They had met outside the office for coffee and dinner and drinks. They had even talked about their "complicated" relationships. There could have been so many times that one or both of them could've figured it out.

Payal returned home at half past midnight. She was telling Khushi of the dinner and what conversations they had. Khushi nodded and tried to listen but everything went over her head. Her mind and all her thoughts were occupied by one person- Arnav.

---------

Come Monday, Arnav was still restless. Neither had his stranger replied and he noted that even Khushi was acting sketchy in office. During lunch, he had gone to her cabin to see if she wanted to eat together and she tried to dodge, mostly stammering and not being able to form a coherent sentence or an excuse.

This went on for the next two days, till he decided he was going to do something about it. He couldn't confront his stranger but he could confront Khushi and get to the bottom of why she was acting weird.

He cornered her before she could take the lift while leaving office one evening. He grabbed her arm and pulled her into a nearby conference room, ensured that it was vacant and closed the door behind him.

"What are you doing?" Khushi asked, squirming her arm in his grip.

"What is up with you? Why are you ignoring me too?" he asked directly.

"Too?" she repeated, "Who else is ignoring you?"

Arnav shook his head. This was not the time to think of his stranger (who also had it coming). "I want to know. Is this about the deal? Because I can figure out a way-."

"It's not about the deal," Khushi denied immediately.

"Then what is it?" he asked, exasperation evident in his voice, "You've been acting weird since Friday, since almost a week!"

"It's nothing," she put up a weak defense.

Arnav studied her face. She was definitely hiding something.

---------

Arnav was so close to her, Khushi could smell his cologne. He held her upper arm firmly in his grip and was refusing to let go till she answered him honestly. The proximity, the contact was doing something to her senses.

She looked at him and wondered how had she never really observed him- his angular face, the strands of hair that fell on his forehead, his intense eyes, and the way his lips quivered slightly.

She gulped and let out a deep breathe, trying to calm herself.

Arnav's finger bore deeper in her arm and instead of feeling anything remotely close to pain, a completely different feeling had taken over her body. She could feel a heat growing in her stomach. If she took a step forward, she could cover the distance between them and-

"Khushi!" he shook her arm and it jolted her out of her thoughts.

She had to get away from him. She still hadn't figured out how to carry on with this complicated thing between them. Despite of spending a better part of weekend obsessing over the texts, she still was at square one.

"What is up with you? I've never seen you so lost!" the anger in his tone was muddled with surprise. He hadn't let go of her arm.

Khushi smiled weakly, "I... I don't know... what's happening..."

"Does this have something to do with the guy you were telling me about- the one with the complications?" he asked.

"Yes... Maybe..." she bit her lower lip in response.

This made him smile. "My my!" he finally let go of her hand and took a step back. The space between them made her uneasy. When he was near her, she felt good. Now that he was a couple of feet away, something felt amiss.

"Is Miss. Khushi Gupta in love?" he questioned her in a surprising tone.

The question startled her. In love? That was a massive sentiment. Could she be in... love with ... She raised her eyes and looked at Arnav.

The intensity with which her eyes bore into his did make him take notice. He cleared his throat, "Khushi?" his voice was a murmur.

Before she could register what she was doing, Khushi took a step toward him. She was standing right in front of him, their bodies lightly touching one another's.

"Khushi," he spoke again, this time even softer.

It was either his voice or the proximity or something... She didn't think what she was going to do... instead she covered the little distance between them, closed her eyes and kissed his lips.

It was a peck and was over in the flash of a second. Yet, Khushi was experiencing a whole new surge of emotion in her body. She was shy in admitting to herself but she wanted to kiss him again- properly.

Arnav's face had gone pale and it was then she realized that maybe she crossed a line.

Khushi took several steps back and clasped her mouth with her hands.

"Oh my God!" came her muffled voice.

She grabbed the doorknob and muttered a quick "sorry" before dashing out of the room, leaving behind a very stunned Arnav.

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