Arvi FF: The Three Mistakes: Completed - Page 23

Chapter 18: The Change of Heart
April 7^th, 2012: Karanjkar Chawl, 11:30 p.m.
She was pacing the room's length back and forth. She seemed worried—genuinely. But… couldn't she just call her?
Kunjal: Aunty, don't you think you've had enough exercise for today?
Archana: Kunjal beta, it's 11:30 and Purvi isn't home yet. She said soon when I called her at like 6:00.
Soham: Aai, then just call her na.
Archana: I tried, but her phone isn't reachable. If she doesn't show up in the next half hour—
Kunjal: Well, I'm going to the kitchen. That way, she won't see me directly when she shows up—oh! And I'll make chai while I'm at it. Sounds good na?
Soham: Haan.
Archana: Soham, Seher's sleeping right?
Soham: Haan, Aai.
Archana: God, where's Purvi. First of all it's almost midnight, and second of all her phone's not reachable.
Soham: Aai, I'm pretty sure nothing happened. Purvi can take care of herself.
Archana: *I know, she can—to some point. All I know is that Arjun promised to keep her safe. If Purvi won't answer her phone, then I can't help but worry for Arjun too…*
*walking in and steadily getting louder*
Purvi: It's soo cold!!! Aai, I'm home!
Soham: Dekha Aai? You were worrying for no reason.
Archana: Purvi! *hugs her* What took you so long? I was so worried, I—
Purvi: Aai, I'm fine. There was… um a lot of traffic on the way so we were late, and my phone's battery died. I'm so sorry for worrying you.
Archana: Nahin, it's okay. As long as nothing happened to you beta. How'd the trip go?
Purvi: Aai! It was great. I presented everything, and even bagged 5 deals. It was great. Seher's asleep…?
Soham: Haan Purvi—*loud crash*
Purvi: Aai… who's in the kitchen?
Archana: *smiles* No one.
Purvi: Aai! Something just fell and— wait. You're hiding something. *starts walking to the kitchen with Soham following suit.* *turns into the kitchen and sees Kunjal cleaning up a mess on the floor.*
Purvi: Kunjal!?
Kunjal: Purvi!
Purvi: Kunjal! It's been so long and—all of a sudden—how? I mean…?
Kunjal: Come on! No hug?
Soham: Yeh ladki bhi na!
Kunjal: Hey. Chup karo.
*Purvi and Kunjal hug*
Kunjal: Actually, I finally finished med school, and I decided that I wanted to come here for a while… a lone while. Dad and Aunty arranged everything… and here I am!
Archana: *walking in* Chal, teek hain. You guys have forever to catch up. First at least clean up this mess…
Kunjal: Sorry Aunty.
____
*Out in the living room*
Purvi: Aai! Kunjal!
Archana: Purvi. Kunjal. At least speak in full sentences, beta.
Purvi: Sorry Aai, I'm just so happy right now. Everything went smoothly, nothing bugged me either! It was just all so great and then on top of that Kunjal's here! I'm really happy Aai.
Archana: Hmm. Not even your Khadoos boss annoyed you?
The emotions on Purvi's face were wiped off as Archana brought up her boss's name, and Purvi went into a deep thought.
*Flashback: Close to Mumbai, An hour ago*
All I remember is that in my head, I was worrying about the fact that we were staring at each other, that too while he was driving. I was too shocked by his unexplained sorry that I wasn't able to spit any words out of my mouth. But, that's when I saw it. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw headlights of another car coming straight towards us. I couldn't tell if it was us or them, but one of us was on the wrong side of the road. All I could muster was a scream, which surely brought him to attention. I grabbed the nearest thing I could find, which just so happened to be his shoulder, and turned away.
Never did I realize that as we stared at each other, the distance between us had shortened too.
____
I remember her screaming and digging her fingers into my shoulder, which for some reason didn't hurt. I don't know what she was trying to do, but she turned her head and did this awkward hug type thing where it just so happened that her loose hair was flying into my face, which didn't help the situation either. I didn't realize that we were so close too.
My first instinct was to turn the wheel. So I did. Turns out that we were still alive, and the car that was coming towards up was the one on the wrong side of the road. Go figure. I may just be that good of a driver. Driving without looking... at the road at least.
____
The car had stopped. I opened an eye after what seemed like ages, and found that we were still alive. It silent, but what I opened my eyes to was worse than what I had seen before they closed. At least in my opinion. He was sitting there turning away from my hair that was flying into his face. I had one hand gripping his shoulder so tight that my knuckles were white. His eyes were closed too; he was taking deep breaths. The other hand, I had was on the seat. His free hand, also happened to be my hand. Squeezig it as hard as he had that day at the mall. His other hand, was on the steering wheel. He sat there with his eyes closed for a long time. I know. I was staring at him the whole time. When he finally spoke, he didn't open his eyes.
____
Arjun: Miss Deshmukh, we're still alive. You can let go now.
Purvi: Um… I'll let go when you let go.
____
I jerked open my eyes, and realized that I had been holding her other hand the whole time. Just like that day at the mall. We looked at each other momentarily and let go synchronously. And that was that. I drove her home the rest of the way in silence. Awkward silence.
*End of Flashback*
Archana: Hello? Purvi?
Soham: Earth to Purvi!
Purvi: *snaps back into the real world* Huh!?
Archana: You've been standing there staring off into space for a while now. What happened.
Purvi: Aai, I was just… thinking about how it's true that… uh…. Mr. Khadoos wasn't annoying me the whole time. Shocking huh?
Kunjal: Who's a Khadoos?
Purvi: HUH! I have to tell you everything!
And with that, Purvi dragged me to her room before Aunty could ask any more questions.
********
Two Weeks Later
April 22^nd, 2012: ADK Industries, 5;00 p.m.
It's been two weeks since the conference. Two weeks since I yelled at Arjun to treat people better. To my surprise, he has been. The office has been just so much cheerier without Arjun and Purvi constantly bickering. In fact, they've kept conversation to a minimal. Even when they did talk, it was… nice. Very nice and calm. Arjun didn't complain about Purvi anymore. Probably because they stopped annoying each other. Maybe I'm missing something though. Even I've been happier with everything considering that Arjun's been nice to Purvi. But—has Purvi noticed it too, or am I just imagining things?
____
Purvi: *Now what's up with this Khadoos? He's not even being a Khadoos anymore! It's no fun calling him that.* *frowns* *First, he starts everything, then he changes his mind all of a sudden. It's like, "Oh yeah, I hate you." Then a while later, "I think I'll be awkwardly nice to you. I wonder if he knows something I don't… All I know is that him being nice isn't being digested well by my mind…
Riya: Hey… Purvi? Everything's alright between you and Arjun… right?
Purvi: What's your definition of alright?
Riya: Like, you guys can deal with one another right?
Purvi: Yeah, we—I'm fine. You might want to check with your brother though.
Riya: He said that he was find and everything was alright, but to ask you the same.
Purvi: *Maybe physically, but not mentally.* Oh… mhm.
Riya: I know what you mean Purvi. He's been… a lot nicer…. Lately.
Purvi: He has been nice….
Riya: Yeah… Hey, anyways I'll let you work now.
Purvi: Okay.
____
It's as if they enjoy annoying the hell out of one another! God, please help these two…
Riya: *to herself* I wonder if God himself knows what's wrong with them…
*****
Precap: Shock laga, shock laga, shock laga—kis ko?
Now this is the point. No one has been able to explain recent happenings in their lives.
With Archana, she can't help but wonder about Manav and if he's here or not since Arjun is. She also wonders who Seher really is, since her arrival was so abrupt. With Manav, he can't help but wonder if Archana is okay. Where she is, who she's with—and if she's moved on or not.
With Siddarth, he can't help but wonder why Viren came back. He also wonders if his little sister is alive. He can't help but wonder if Rajesh is still on the hunt for Seher and Anushka. With Seher, she wonders why her parents told her to live with Soham for a while. She wonders why Purvi naturally takes to her.

With Kunjal, she still wonders how Soham came back into Archana's life. She also wonders why Archana is so overprotective of Purvi. With Nikhil, he can't help but wonder if he'll ever be able to relieve the burden he put on Arjun. He can't help but wonder why Manav took it out on Arjun, and why Arjun sees it so necessary.
With Riya, she can't help but wonder if she'll ever be able to have a real brother-sister feel with Arjun. She also wonders what his problems are in life, since he's been acting out of it. With Sachin and Teju, they still wonder if they'll ever live happily with their whole family. The one Teju's never experienced. With Soham, he wonders if he'll be able to find that one person that Purvi will trust. He also wonders if his Aai is truly happy—or if he need to dream of a happy family.
With Arjun, he can't help but wonder a lot of things. He wonders if he'll ever be able to open up to Riya. He wonders if he'll get Manav's forgiveness for Nikhil. He wonders if he should help his uncle whom he looks up to like a second dad reunite with his family. He wonders if he will ever understand why he seems so emotionless. Why he needs to hide from everyone. He want to know why these weird things have been happening in his life, especially with Nikhil, Manav, Riya, and Purvi.
Same with Purvi. She wonders why her Aai is so protective of her. SO what if her mental state won't allow her to trust anyone… (yet). She wonders if she'll be accepted by her family—by Manav. She wonders why her real family gave her up. She wonders who her true family is. She wonders if she'll ever trust anyone. She wonders why she hides the truth from everyone. She also wonders why these weird things have happened in her life—like her family leaving her, her not being able to trust anyone, her relationship with her Aai's family, with the weird things that happened between her and Arjun.
_____
NOTE:
This is a turning point in the story. I apologize for the abnormally long update, and the little rant after the story. Very soon, everyone will bluntly get their answers. To some, it may be a joyful, heart happy experience. To others, it may tear them apart and break them down. To others, it will seem of a thing of the past—something they'll get over. To others, they'll never get over it, no matter how happy they truly are.
Back into normal, non-preaching mode, I apologize again for the long update. It would have been shorter considering the long rant I added to the end about everyone's questions. These questions will be rapidly answered soon here on out in the story, and I hope to please everyone with this. I'm really interested in writing my own story, as I hope you all are too.
You'll also get to see deeply now how the title of the FF plays a part in the actual story. Characters who may have seemed minor til now, (Sachin, Teju, Kunjal, Siddarth, Anushka, Seher, Viren, Rajesh, DK) will get to show why exactly they're in the plot. Major Characters, (Arjun, Purvi, Manav, Archana, Soham, Riya) will lead the "kahaani" with all it's twists and turns. I've got a great story planned ahead for you guys, but for now all you guys can do is wonder…
-Esha

Originally posted by: J12L85

Wow just caught up from chapter 17 n omg I'm speechless cause u are the most captivating writer I've come across thus far literally, the intricate details and descriptions on each scene is outstanding. So so looking forward to the next update and btw love long lenghty pieces like this and u definitely know how to hold our attention be it with a precap or no precap lol...update soon dear and thanx for the pm:)

Originally posted by: AshaNegiFan

just awesome, mindblowing, amazing, fantabulous, marvellous, breath-taking, magical, epic...

anythin i missed, in that case you deserve that word of appreciation also...👏👏👏