When Two Worlds Collide//Arvi FF//Ch. 5, Pg. 14 - Page 8

On impulse, Arjun pulled Purvi into a warm embrace. Her safety was the most important thing for him at the moment. Purvi grasped on to his shirt and buried her face in the crook of his neck.

"What's going on. . ." she mumbled, lost in a daze from being so close to Arjun.

"Nothing, everything's fine," he reassured in a soothing tone. "We should go though."

Teju watched the shy duo. She knew very well that a matter of life and death was probably on the line, but she just didn't have the heart to interrupt Arjun and Purvi. After a few minutes, she finally mustered up the courage. "You guys. . . everyone's running and hiding, don't you think we should be doing the same?"

Arjun and Purvi finally took heed of their surroundings. Purvi went wide eyed when she saw what havoc the festival had turned into. They both unwillingly pulled away from each other.

"Come with me Barbie doll, Arjun will be fine," Purvi heard Teju say as she grabbed on to her hand. Next thing Purvi knew, she found herself running past a group of sketchy people that she didn't recognize as her classmates. The two friends finally stopped when they were far away from the field, in the front of the school behind the gates.

"Why did you just leave Arjun?!" Purvi exclaimed.

"He'll be fine, trust me," Teju breathed.

"WHAT IF HE'S NOT?!" Purvi shouted. "What's even going on?!"

"I'll tell you later kiddo, but I'm really sorry for ruining your little carnival," Teju sincerely said with a hand on Purvi's shoulder.

Purvi's lips quivered as if she was about to cry. "I don't care about the carnival! I care about Arjun!"

Teju said nothing. Purvi released herself from Teju's loose grip and started walking towards the field, making Teju put a stronger hold on her. "If you go in there, Arjun will kill ME."

Purvi pouted and crossed her arms over her chest. She peered over the gate and saw a herd of her classmates leaving in panic. The one girl that caught Purvi's eye was Ovi. She was screaming to someone on the other line on her cell phone. This made Purvi recall the moment when Ovi was complaining to the police officer about Arjun and his gang. Could Ovi's dad have sent this guy? Purvi thought to herself.

Purvi tried to calm herself down, but it was hard with all the anger boiling up inside of her. She just wanted to go over to Arjun and defend him. The sound of police sirens awoke Purvi from her thoughts.

Next thing Purvi knew, Ovi was stalling the police in the name of her dad. Romil came up to Teju and Purvi and motioned for them to leave. "Do you guys want to be in jail or do you guys want to be free? Just go now!" Romil motioned.

"Purvi follow me!" Teju yelled, hold on tighter to Purvi's wrist as she ran.

The two girls finally stopped running when they reached a local park far away from the scene. "Tej, what's going on? What are you guys not telling me?" Purvi pleaded while squeezing her teddy bear.

Teju had a stern smile on her face. "You'll find out eventually."

Distant sounds of sirens scared Teju, but she suddenly perked up as she saw something. "Okay kiddo, I've got to go. See ya later!"

"Wait, what? You're just leaving me?" Purvi asked out loud and watched as Teju ran off.

Purvi looked around at where she was and sat down on a bench. After that, she closed her eyes. "See Purvi, this is why you don't let random strangers into your life because they'll bust a mission at your school carnival and ditch you at a park," Purvi said to herself with a sigh.

When she opened her eyes back up again, she saw something familiar a motorcycle. "Arjun?" Purvi asked to no one in particular. She stood up and saw Arjun standing behind her.

"Hey," he said, nonchalantly.

"Hey? HEY? Where were you? Are you okay? What's going on? I'm never letting you guys come here again, that's settled. It seems way safer in Darbhanga," Purvi exclaimed, talking quickly. Arjun motioned for her to take a deep breath before he answered and she did so.

After a few moments of silence, Purvi spoke again. "Was that a guy from a rival gang? Or was that a goon that was sent by the guy who's project you stalled?"

"YOU KNEW?" Arjun exclaimed. He was furious beyond belief. Arjun couldn't believe how crazy this girl could be! She knew he was in a gang yet she led him on, decided to be friends with him, and invited him to a SCHOOL event?

"Yes. . ." Purvi said in a low voice.

"Purvi, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? Do you not understand that you're putting your safety in danger just by being with me?!" Arjun shouted.

"I don't care! That doesn't matter right now you're hurt!" Purvi exclaimed, cleverly diverting the subject.

"That doesn't matter right now," Arjun began.

"Yes it does!" Purvi yelled while tearing off a part of her dupatta and wrapping it around Arjun's bloody hand. She looked into his eyes, but quickly broke the gaze when she saw blood on his cheek. She gently placed her thumb on his cut, causing him to wince. "Sorry," she said sheepishly. "What happened out there?"

"I got in a fight," Arjun said beyond ashamed. "The nerve of that idiot to come and put innocent people's lives in danger!"

Purvi smiled. She knew her Arjun couldn't do something without reason. Wait, her Arjun?

"What about you? You're okay right?" he asked, carefully observing her face and exposed skin for anything that shouldn't be there.

"I'm fine," she said after she let out a sigh.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm just. . . so angry!"

"Why?"

"I didn't defend you! I just ran away like the cowardly girl I am!"

"You are NOT a coward. Don't say that!"

"I'm a puppet in my parent's hands, I couldn't even stand up to my own boyfriend, and now I didn't stand up for you! One of the only people that actually likes me for me and doesn't want to change anything about me!"

"I think you're pretty damn strong for living a life like that."

"Sure you do."

"Well, then again. . . it's not that hard to stand up for yourself Purvi. You have the potential."

"There you go again!"

"What now?"

"You're always doing everything for me and it makes me feel so bad! Looking out for me, protecting me, making sure I'm okay, and now you're making me feel better! What did I do in return? Nothing!"

"You're so confusing. Despite the fact that I'm in a gang, you still befriended me and didn't break off contact with me like any normal person. You walked all the way to Darbhanga just to visit. You flirt with me. You ripped apart your nice dupatta for me."

Purvi stood speechless. "F-f-flirt? So you kne-e-ew?" she stuttered. Her fear of rejection came back to bite her in the form of Arjun. She knew he didn't like her, he was just being nice.

"There you go again! You're not scared to frolic around with a gang member, yet you're scared when I find out your feelings for me?" Arjun questioned, running his fingers through his hair.

She felt like crap. Purvi had no idea how to respond to Arjun. "I-I don't know! Why'd you get so angry when I mentioned I had a boyfriend?" she spat out. Purvi was clearly not in her right senses she felt like this night was happening TOO fast, she couldn't catch up.

"Maybe because I like you!" Arjun said on impulse.

Purvi froze. Had she heard Arjun right? He said he liked her! "Say that again,"

"It's getting late, we should go,"

Purvi grabbed on to Arjun's wrist to stop him from leaving. "Please?" she pleaded as if her life depended on hearing those words one more time.

Arjun sighed. "Why? You know you heard me the first time,"

"Ever since I met you, I'm having difficultly differentiating between dreams and reality and I need to know if I'm just dreaming or if you actually like me because someone like you wouldn't like someone like me right? But I really hope this isn't a dream because I really do want you to like me, but I kind of hope this is a dream because I'm blabbing like there's no tomorrow!" Purvi said in one breath. After taking a deep breath, before Purvi could speak again, Arjun interrupted her.

"I like you! I want you to be my girlfriend!" Arjun looked at her with pleading eyes with what Purvi thought to be desire.

This was real. She knew this was real. Purvi didn't know how long she had been lost in her thoughts, but Arjun brought her back to reality.

"Here, I'll take you home I don't know where Teju went," Arjun said as he started to walk to his motorcycle.

Purvi slowly walked towards the motorcycle and got on behind Arjun. "I like you too."

"What?"

"I like you! And I kinda. . . sorta. . . want to be your girlfriend!"

"Wow. . . so mutual feelings, huh?"

"Yeah. . . I guess so. . ."

"Don't you have a boyfriend?"

"Not anymore."

"You guys broke up?"

"Yeah. . . my parents don't know yet, but they LOVE him to death. . . God knows how they're going to react."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you guys break it off?"

"He was a jerk."

"Well, that's the first step."

"What do you mean by that?"

Arjun handed Purvi his helmet to wear as he put the key in the ignition. "To not letting people treat you so badly."

Purvi remained silent. After contemplating on what to say, she finally spoke and changed the subject. "What's our relationship now?"

"What do you want it to be?"

"Well. . . I don't know! I just want to be yours."

"Will you be mine?"

"Yes."

"Ok."

"That's it?"

Arjun didn't respond. Instead, he kept on driving until they reached the flower shop where they first bumped into each other. To Arjun's dismay, it was closed. However, he still hopped off his bike and went over to a bush that was growing hibiscus flowers. After picking a few, he went back to his angel.

"Here," Arjun said while handing her the flowers.

Purvi smiled as she took them. "Arjun. . . this is all so weird. . ."

"What is?"

"Like everything! It's only been a week and everything's changed so much!"

"Do you like the change?"

"Yes."

Before the two knew it, the motorcycle had stopped in front of Purvi's home. She grunted as she got down.

"You don't want to go home again?"

"No. . . this was fun."

Arjun smiled and got down as well. He took his helmet off of Purvi's head. Arjun couldn't help but be mesmerized as the wind caused wisps of Purvi's hair to fly in front of her face. He took pieces of her hair and put them behind her ear.

Purvi looked up at him and locked eyes. They were naturally drawn to lean into each other. When their faces were inches apart and their lips about to touch a voice scared Purvi.

"Purvi? Is that you?"

Purvi whined and hid her face in Arjun's chest, causing him to chuckle.

"Okay Purvi, I'll see you soon okay?"

"Okay. . ."

Arjun kissed Purvi's forehead goodnight and hopped back on his bike. Before he took off, he watched Purvi run across the street and made sure she reached home safely. When he saw Purvi's father put his arm around her shoulder, he sped off.

"Was that Onir who came to drop you off?" Purvi's father asked her.

"Um. . . yeah!"

"I didn't know he rode a motorcycle. . ."

"Er. . . he's learning. . . there's a lot of things you don't know about Onir, daddy."

Purvi's father mumbled something inaudible while Purvi raced up the stairs to her room.

"God I don't know what you have in store for me, but I'm ready to go for the ride!" Purvi exclaimed while looking up at the ceiling.

Next chapter: https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/post/100576850