too stubborn to bloom... LAST PART page 84 dec 4 - Page 7

Chapter 3

"Hello" a rough voice answered.

Arohi was a little hesitant about answering but it was her pendant so she had to.

"Hi, I am Arohi. The pendant you got from 'The Mystic' is mine. When can I meet you to have it back? And thank you for not throwing it away" Arohi tried to be extra polite with him.

"Umm you can have it back but how can I believe the pendant is yours? How can I believe you are not lieing?" asked the rough voice which had somehow softened a little.

A little irritated Arohi replied, "Ok. It is a small heart shaped pendant with an 'A' in it decorated by diamonds! Also the pendant has a scratch in its back. Check it for your assurance."

"Yeah alright! You can have it back this afternoon if you can come to 'The Niche' around 1.By the way I am Arjun."

"Ok" said Arohi.

"But how I will recognize you" asked Arjun suddenly.

"I will be wearing a black jeans and black tunic shirt. Recognize me by that and please be there on time!" saying this Arohi cut the phone.

I really can't believe I am going to get my pendant back! I just have to go to 'The Niche'. I seriously didn't like that guy's attitude! He actually thought I am lieing! If it's not my pendant I wouldn't have called him in the first place! He can't be that handsome that girls would call him for no reason! He can't be that handsome that I would call him with a false reason! Forget him and his life. I just need my pendant back!

Just then her phone rang and it was Shefali.

"Hi Shefu! Before you say anything I need to tell you that I am getting my pendant back this afternoon! I am sorry I ran out of the house without telling you guys!" told an excited Arohi.

"That's great news! I just called to make sure that you are ok and since you are in a good mood I am going to count you in!" said an equally happy Shefali

"Count me in for what exactly?" asked a suspicious Arohi.

"Just be at 'Le Cafe' around 5. I am going to introduce you and Swayam to Romit and his brother."

" Yeah alright. Ok Shefu I really need to go to my work otherwise I would have listened to your eternal love story but now I really have no time" said Arohi in a teasing tone

"Yeah yeah but you really are going to listen to me this evening" said a smiling Shefali.

After having her happy and small conversion with Shefali Arohi walked into her class to find an eagerly waiting class. Her class had a total of 15 students all of whom deeply committed to their form of arts.

"Ok guys we are starting our first class with a little activity. You give form to the most beautiful thing you have seen. It can be a person, scenery or anything in this world. You can draw it, or take photo or shoot it. Your wish but do it with sincerity! And your time starts now!" said Arohi with a smile that could make anyone do anything.

After half an hour she was showered with drawings or video clips or poems or stories. Most of the boys had drawn her picture to which she smiled. There was a girl and boy who had drawn each other's drawings. Arohi raised her eyebrows to which Arunima replied "Ma'am don't be confused they are lovers!"

"Yeah lovers practically from the time they were born!" joined Rethuvansh.

"Both Arnav and Khushi are childhood sweethearts ma'am! They are the cute cupids of our class" said Neelu.

"Ok that's nice! So we have our love experts here!" said Arohi winking her eyes.

"Ma'am where is your pendant? It was such a nice one!" asked Khushi who had been silent for some time.

"Oh my pendant! Don't worry about that. It has taken a short vacation and will return this afternoon!" said Arohi with a naughty smile. Before anyone could ask anything the bell rang and Arohi went out to get her pendant back.

Arjun was going through a file when the phone call came and was utterly amused by the girl's polite but impatient response. He wanted to continue her conversation with the girl. He really liked it when he recognized the impatience in her tone. He likes to play with girls. His gaze accidentally fell into his watch. It was afternoon. He took his keys and within minutes he was outside 'The Niche' with the pendant. Walking in Arjun noticed a girl in black shirt and jeans. She was listening to some music in her I-pod and he walked over to her. The girl had a questioning look on her face but as realizing who he was she hastily removed the earphone from her ear and phone forgetting to stop the song. Once again Arjun was surprised to know that she was listening to Sufi music. Somehow he assumed that she was listening to rock music.

"Hi, I am Arjun"

"Hello, I am Arohi. Can I have my pendant back? I really have to return to college my class starts in 1 hour." Said Arohi suspecting that he may drag the conversion.

"Oh yeah here is your pendant. So you are studying?" Arjun did exactly what she suspected he may.

"No, I am not. Actually I am an arts teacher." replied Arohi and took her bag and headed outside.

Arjun stared at the girl who walked away from him without even looking back. It was a first for him.

Arohi walked away without looking back. She knew that if she did she may be spell bounded by the guy. Well, one of her doubts got cleared. Girls would call him for no particular reason but to just talk. She may be attracted by his handsome features but she is definitely feeling a different vibe from him. Something she couldn't categorize into good or bad. So she conveniently put it into the bad category. She had always run away from such feelings. She didn't feel safe in feeling those feelings. She may sound crazy but she had an inexplicable fear for love stories. She believed that every love story would end in bad climax.

Rest of her classes went by her giving activities and getting friendly with the students. By now she was friendly with Arunima, Rethuvansh, Arnav, Khushi and Neelu. These five were best friends and the heart of the college. They participated in every programme of the college and would always win prizes. Somehow they made her remember her college days in Singapore. Swayam and Shefali weren't there with her but she had a different set of friends there. They know nothing about her and her family but they had been quite a company there.

Arohi walked into 'Le Cafe' around 4:45 so that she could fill her friends in about the day's happenings. There had been a surprise for Arohi. Swayam and Shefali had gifted her with a silver chain so that she could put her pendant in the chain. She was very happy that her friends always knew what she wanted. She was just filling them in about 'the guy' when Shefali exclaimed "Romit!"

Arohi saw a guy entering the cafe and Shefali running into his arms. Just as Arohi was to withdraw her eyes from the entrance she saw him entering.

sorry for updating late. this update may not be that good. there may be lot of mistakes. i also wanted to say sorry to those ff writers whose ff i couldn't read because of my illness.

Chapter 4

Ok what the hell is happening? Am I dreaming with eyes open? Seriously what the hell is happening here! Wait a minute! Why am I acting like I had seen a ghost? He can go anywhere and obviously can come here! Just because he gave back my pendant and I behaved rudely with him doesn't mean he couldn't come to places where I am?

Arohi was going through her usual dramatic mental response that she did whenever something unexpected happened when Romit introduced Arjun to everyone as his brother. Arohi felt somebody had thrown a glass of cold water on her face. She couldn't believe she behaved rudely with her bestie's boyfriend's brother. If the guy told them about her behaviour she would have to go through a long session of lectures by both her besties. So she decided to give the guy sorry Arjun a big smile and greeted him as if he is the most important person there. " Hi Arjun! Nice to meet you again!"

Obviously Arjun was dumbstruck by her behaviour. When he had seen her there he had expected that she would give him a cold shoulder. But no she is determined to give him surprise after surprise. He smiled back at her and settled down with the rest of the group while Arohi recounted that he was the guy who returned her pendant. Arjun was watching Arohi closely. He was trying hard to decipher her. He didn't understand which is the real Arohi, the scared one who glued to him during the chaos in the pub or the rude one with attitude or the current pleasant one? Only if someone could tell him that Arohi is a mixture of all this. She can be rude and arrogant at one time, happy and cheerful at another time or scared and silent at a different time.

"So Arjun what do you do?" asked Shefali who noticed that he was watching Aru closely.

"I am in family business" said Arjun without withdrawing his eyes from Arohi who had apparently noticed that Arjun was staring at her. She knew at once that he is confused at her behaviour and her only wish was that he doesn't convey it to her friends.

But to Aru's bad luck Shefali had already understood it since she can decipher anything from Arohi's face.

"She showed you some attitude, doesn't she?" Shefali asked Arjun

"Umm'what?" mumbled Arjun.

Oh damn! She understood everything! Now get ready for a long lecture Arohi!

"I know she did. Never mind it Arjun. She is puzzling for an outsider." Said Shefali.

Swayam and Romit were apparently listening to all this and the former was able to understand what is being discussed.

"Yeah Arjun never mind! She does it with strangers." Swayam tried to justify Arohi.

Romit who had been oblivious to what others were discussing tried to ask Shefali and when he was told he couldn't help but smile. His brother Mr. Arjun Singhania was shown attitude by a girl. He knew that's a rare event. But he knew enough that if he slips that fact here his brother would possibly kill him.

"No nothing like that happened. I assume she was busy then." Arjun said.

"Yeah exactly! I was busy then. My class was due to start in just half an hour. Otherwise I wouldn't have been so rude!" Arohi lied. She would have done exactly the same thing even if she had time. Don't ask why because she wouldn't be able to tell. It may be because of the fact that she had a pull towards this Arjun. Yeah she knows it but is not going to disclose that fact to anyone.

I am going to play cool. I am never going to show anyone I found myself attracted to this guy. Calm Arohi calm. This is just a passing fancy and you are going to deal with this fancy the way you dealt your past passing flings. You are going to be friends with him. I know I would sound crazy to some but it's the best way. I had done it before. You make friends with the guy and you would come to know everything about him and your fling would go into oblivion. But if you run away without facing it, it would follow you everywhere. You would find yourself thinking about him if you try to avoid him. My philosophy is my way out!

Arohi was thinking this when Arjun said,

"So you work as an arts teacher. To be honest I never expected a young girl like you would opt for teaching. But I like it. It kind of makes you special. Following your dream is something most people fears to do."

Arohi never expected Arjun would say something like this and she immediately knew that friendship with him would be fun.

The rest of the evening progressed with everyone becoming acquainted with one another. Arjun and Arohi really hit it off. Still Arjun was puzzled by her totally different behaviours at different times but this time he asked her why she behaved differently. To this Swayam replied "She is our enigma. Shefali had even made expansions for her name. Two different sets actually!"

"Why two different sets?" asked Romit who was remaining silent.

"Two different sets for two different Arohi. Let me tell you guys'" began Shefali "first set go like this

A ' ARROGANT

R ' RUDE

O ' OBNOXIOUS

H ' HITLER

I ' IMPATIENT

And the second set is

A ' AFFECTIONATE

R ' RESPECTFUL

O ' OUTSTANDING

H ' HELPFUL

I ' INTELLIGENT." Finished off Shefali.

Everyone broke into a laugh and Arohi sent a death glare to Shefali.

"Oh Shefali you are hilarious! When I heard Romit is dating I thought the girl would be an idiot but really you really are intelligent." Said an Arjun who was laughing his head off.

"Yeah bro you should really joke about me here!" said an irritated Romit.

"Chill Romit! Now Shefali tell me one thing how come Romit had never met your friends? I mean you and Romit were in the same college, weren't you?" enquired Arjun.

"We were but these two weren't. We are childhood friends. We were in the same boarding school in Shimla. After school Aru went to Singapore and Swayam came back here to Chandigarh and I went to Delhi, my place." Shefali explained.

"So this is a reunion here in Chandigarh for you guys? Which is your hometown Arohi?" asked Arjun.

Before Arohi could reply Shefali said "She is also from Delhi but her daddu sent her to Singapore for further studies."

"Don't feel like I am intruding into your personal life but why are you two in Chandigarh? I mean Delhi is a nice place and your families would be there too." Said Arjun.

"Umm' that...it's... It is just that Aru's daddu gifted her a house here so she shifted to here after his death six months before. Ok guys it is getting late for us to be sitting in a cafe. Let's call it a day and meet tomorrow at the new pub in downtown. What was the name'?"

"You mean 'Chill' Shefu?" asked Romit.

"Yeah that's it. Let's meet there tomorrow." Said Shefali.

"So let's part guys. Bye and take care." Swayam said to both the brothers and he and the girls left.

Arjun was sure about two things now. First Arohi is really puzzling and attractive. She had the most beautiful and magnetic eyes. Second she is hiding something. There is another Arohi deep down there, an Arohi who is totally different from any of her forms he had seen. He had noticed how her face had changed while mentioning her family and how conveniently Shefali safeguarded her by changing the topic.

But there is one thing that even Arjun didn't realized. Arohi was occupying a larger portion of his mind and thoughts. Even he didn't realize that he got connected to her.

ok guys i hv no idea wat i hv written! i just wrote wat came to my mind! avoid the mistakes as i didn't edit it.

criticisms are welcomed😊