New ArShi FF: Wicked Wings| THREAD TWO LINK UPDATED- PAGE 01 | OCT 13 - Page 30

Chapter 11

As the little paradox outweighs your reality, the grip on one's life begins to loosen..

**

Fixing the straps of the ultra short red dress, Khushi turned to look away from the mirror, to take a better look at the other participants.

"Ready! Jennifer you and your partner first!"

She heard one of the volunteers of the Drama Club say to the chubby girl in the blue attire.

She still failed to understand the whole idea of having a Dress Rehearsal for a mere audition. What was even the purpose of a dress rehearsal when it wasn't even decided in the first place that which couple was going to finally perform at the event once and for all?

But when Khushi had tried to put forth her view in front of the volunteers, it was quite unusual to see no one else holding a similar notion, so reluctantly she had to let it go.

.

But maybe it was ideal in the eyes of everyone else, as there were hardly any days remaining for the event to take place and hence it was taken as mandatory to directly go for a dress rehearsal.

She had tried to reason it that way, finding every other possibility absurd.

But actually, from the core of her heart, she wasn't even bothered about it. About nothing that was currently going around her backstage.

Because she had a million other things to do, than wearing such tiny outfits and performing salsa on the stage.

"Damn you, Rebecca!"

She muttered under her breath, cursing her best friend for trapping her in such a predicament.

As if her life wasn't synonymous with ordeals already that now she had to bear the brunt of a stupid dressed-audition as well!

But in reality, that was not all.

She continued reading her Dan Brown novel standing at one corner, from the page she had bookmarked it before falling asleep last night.

Last Night

If she would have had a genie and a gift of three wishes from him, she would just ask for one.

To erase last night from her memory forever.

She could seriously give away everything for it.

Standing isolated, she recalled how frustrated she was, when she couldn't make out a single thing written in that journal.

How difficult it felt to come to terms with the fact that she really did look like Meredith Marie Vermount.

..And how unbelievable it was to find..

That Book.

SPELLCRAFT.

A chill ran down her spine just at the mere recollection of that word.

She recalled how she wished it was just another nightmare, when she dumped everything in the back of her closet, hoping to never see them again, yet wanting to know every minute detail about it.

She never thought that life would land her in such a paradox.

But if it didn't, why would it be called life?

From the moment she found out the stuff in that box, she tried as hard as she could to distract herself from even thinking about it.

Reading..

Writing..

Even talking to Ree about her endless break ups and patch ups.

She tried all means of distraction.

But nothing worked.

It was as if every second that she lived after that, things were only eating her up from the inside, not letting her be. As if there was a clock ticking somewhere, telling her to hasten, because the sand was quickly running out of her fists and she was going to lose a lot if she didn't delve in.

And now, as if all that wasn't enough already that she had a headache of a salsa performance to deal with.

She leaned against the huge mirror, trying to relax her breathing as she keenly looked at others standing in the green room.

Some were fidgeting out of nervousness, some were gossiping and some were rehearsing with their dialogues for the Romeo Juliet play.

"So much drama for just an audition!"

She thought to herself.

To her surprise, there were only five couples, including her and the wicked devil auditioning for Salsa.

.

As that controversial name of her life knocked the door of her mind, she felt herself at the end of the tethers.

She looked at everyone, wherein they were all busy practicing their steps for the auditions, and here she was, standing all dressed up in a tight red dress, wearing weird spike heels, minus that sadistic, as she called him, dance partner of hers.

And to add further to such an already obstinate situation, she didn't even have an iota of idea about where he was!

It was true that she had no freaking interest in performing with him, or without him, but that didn't mean she was ready to be humiliated in front of the entire college by not doing her steps well.

Agreed, she wasn't interested in this whole deal of a dance performance, but if she was going to do it, she couldn't let herself face embarrassment in front of everyone since her dance partner practically remaining MIA since this morning.

Given, the rapport she shared with that guy, it was next to impossible for them to even practice anything together. Performing was way too distant a concept.

And now, Khushi had no freaking idea of what was going to happen.

.

"All hell will break loose"

Her mind mocked her.

.

She noticed the commotion backstage as people started their hoots and rooting for their friends performing on stage.

Peeping through the wings, she could see Mase and Ree sitting in the front row.

Seeing Rebecca smile in sheer excitement, for a moment Khushi almost totally forgot about her anger on her and she somehow didn't want to disappoint her best friend.

Ree really wished to see her perform, and so she will, no matter what happens.

Khushi promised herself.

But like always, she couldn't deny that nothing was in her hands. The bottom line still remained that if she were to perform here, she had to do so with a partner, else she was not allowed.

With a frustrated sigh, she once again looked around and saw that he hadn't shown up yet.

.

"God this guy is seriously going to drive me insane."

She whispered.

And indeed, Arnav Sciarrone Ray pretty much had driven her to insanity ever since they bumped into each other.

.

.

"Khushi and Arnav. Number 3"

She heard the busy volunteer address her, before disappearing to inform the other couples of their cue.

.

"What the hell?"

"Number 3!?"

She muttered to herself, astonished.

"And the first performance is already going on right now."

And that gave Khushi a mini heart attack.

"Where the hell is he?"

She gritted, as she felt the tension and nervousness rise in her.

Here she thought it was going to be just an audition.

Where they would dance, get rejected, would be done with it.

But every time, she was tending to forget that this was South Eastern Verman International.

Everything was conventionally over rated and extravagant here. And no matter how helpless or careless you were about it, you had to be a part of that same overrated, extravagant bandwagon.

There was simply no escape.

Hence, an audition was going to be equivalent to the main event.

And that thought just added to Khushi's misery, finally pooling her with a cauldron of nervousness and cold feet.

.

She bit her lower lip as she tried to calm herself but nothing seemed to be favorable.

On top of that, the constantly falling straps of the not-so-comfortable dress was making her all the more agitated.

"Damn you, fashion gods!"

She angrily gritted to herself before running to fix it again.

As she made an attempt to place the slightly loose straps rightly back on her shoulders, she realized someone standing behind her.

Before she could even express her curiosity, she saw that the figure held out a red shrug for her.

And that's when her curiosity met astonishment.

For a moment she was taken aback.

She didn't know how to react, what to do, and most of all, she didn't have the answer to why her throat suddenly went dry. At a loss of words, all she could do for the next seven seconds was stare into the depth of those haunting yet intense dark brown orbs, and calm her thudding nerves.

It helped or not, she didn't know. But sooner that she had thought, reality kicked in and it dawned in her head that their performance was fast approaching, and that undid her.

Without thinking of anything else, she expressed her cold feet and her nervousness, and her anger, in the most typically-girly form as ever.

.

"You!"

"Where the hell were you?"

"Do you know there's a word called punctuality?"

"Our performance is NUMBER THREE! And here you are! Coming here NOW! What do you even think of yourself?"

.

She yelled at the devil without a pause, while he stood there still, unaffected by her words.

As always.

Khushi didn't know she would ever have the dare to really throw angry words at him, but now she got a slight idea of the level of anger that she held for him and the extent to which she could actually go to make it evident in her tone.

.

"Take this."

Those were the only two words that she as well as the walls of the backstage heard from that husky voice.

And like always, this time too his words confused her.

She had asked him something, and just like every time, he would always reply with something else.

But at least, he replied this time.'

Her conscience reminded her.

With one hand outstretched, he watched her silently, still holding the shrug, while she didn't know whether she wanted to take it from him.

.

"What makes you think that I'm going to wear the shrug you got?"

Khushi asked, annoyed at the way things were shaping.

She knew somewhere in her mind that now she was being unreasonable. There was no denial that she was in dire need of that shrug to avoid chances of any wardrobe malfunction on stage, but the mere fact that it was him helping her, was not really sitting well with her.

Especially after everything that he had put her through.

.

He didn't reply.

Is this guy seriously a devil who is the rudest brat on planet earth?'

Or is he doing everything on purpose, to get even with me?'

She fought in her mind.

We have a freaking performance in a minute and here he is showing me the attitude of the world, being such a jerk, not even replying to a sensible question, I asked.'

.

"We have a freaking performance next! So without arguing, just wear this, unless you would want every student out there to enjoy a strip tease by you with this cheesy dress of yours!"

He spat.

The ASR'ish devil essence coming to fore in full swing.

His words came as a shocker to Khushi.

This was the first time, he literally spoke to her, in sentences.

"Two sentences."

She noted.

As earlier, she had only been habituated of his monologues.

And so she was suddenly taken aback.

It seemed as if he could already fathom what was going in her head, word by word, thought by thought and he drafted his harsh statement accordingly right after.

As if, he already knew what she was thinking.

"Shut up, Khushi! He's no Edward Cullen."

She sheepishly reminded herself.

But the other words he said..

It felt as if..

As if something bothered him..

As if she affected him.

Khushi felt the same surge of conjecture touch her mind, like it had when the devil had seemed way too affected by her cozy dance with Mason, back in the Fresher's party.

.

The loud claps of the audience however pulled her out of her trance and without any more nuances, she took the shrug from his hand, without having any choice, because she did realize he was right about the weird dress, cheesy dress in his words that she was compelled to wear by the costume designer for this performance.

It would have indeed looked like a striptease, had she gone wearing it without the shrug over it, on stage.

.

As the script was being read, Khushi suddenly noticed that Arnav wasn't there behind her anymore.

She started palpitating once again as she heard their names being announced.

What am I supposed to do now?'

She had never had stage fright before but this guy was hell bent on adding new things to the list of her shortcomings and inhibitions.

Her hands clutched the sides of her dress, as her eyes searched for a way to run away, but she again hit the bar of shock when she saw him.

Standing on the other side of the stage, she realized he had his sight on her.

"So this is how he planned our entry?"

She thought with surprise.

Not even rehearsing once, she thought there was no way they could even share a stage together, and he was showcasing a unique entry?

He must have fled from some mental asylum.

She duly noted.

.

Her thoughts came to an abrupt halt, the moment she realized the crowd shouting screaming out their names, cheering from the performance of the apparently hottest guy of college with her.

The lights were slowly dimmed and only the golden halo remained vaguely around them as Arnav and Khushi entered the stage, facing each other.

One spotlight on him.

And one on her.

She could hear the sound of her heart beating as her mind counted the digits backwards and waited for the music to start.

Three...

.

Two..

.

One

.

Her eyes opened wide as the fast beats took over her body and within a fraction of second, she didn't dwell in that world anymore.

His hands held her waist as he swept her off her feet, like she was weightless, absolutely flaccid in that beat, in that music, in the outrageously magical dance that they weaved together.

She lost the track of time as their eyes remained locked on each other with every twist, every turn, as if they had practiced this since forever, all the steps, all the eye locks, all the moves.

Holding onto his hand, his face so serene, so pure, Khushi realized her fright of all this while to be so wrong.

.

It seemed as if with that eye lock, their bodies moved in sync, so unnaturally natural.

It was like what he thought in his mind, occured to her too at the same time.

But how?

Well, there was no time to think..

One..

Two..

Three..

He twirled her, not even for a second letting her go off his sight.

With so much ease, she felt the fear to be a miniature in front of this unknown, indefinite bond they shared, as if it was something so deep than she could humanly think of.

.

"Now left"

"Now right"

He spoke in her ears, guiding her through every beat, and she almost forgot that it was her who had a degree in the dance form and she had aced it so well long ago, but this.. This was beyond explanations.

She bent and stretched her hand left, then right, as if hypnotized by his gaze, victimized by his ministrations.

She completely became foreign to the world, oblivious to the audience, alienated to her own friends who kept cheering for them, for every move they made during that three-minute dance performance.

.

Holding her from her wrists, Arnav spun her as she lowered herself, her entire weight on her heels.

He pulled her at one go, as she collided on his chest and then he lifted her up in the air in a jiffy, holding her waist, as her hands remained poetically outstretched, drawing a beautiful duo of art in an abstract canvas somewhere.

.

Khushi failed to fathom what was happening, but her heart didn't want it to stop.

"Count to three as the beat changes and run to me."

He averred softly, as he moved away, leaving a huge gap between them.

Although it was only for the dance but somewhere deep within, Khushi didn't like even that temporary gap between the two of them.

But the audience's cheers and reverberation of the loud music was the only thing keeping her from slipping into the horizon of her inner thoughts, inner wantons.

Not leaving a single beat, she continued matching every step with him.

To her surprise, she didn't even need to look on her left side to seen which step he would be doing.

As if, now, even her mind had already envisioned everything beforehand.

Noticing the changing beat, she realized it was time.

Taking a deep breath, she counted the digits, as she turned to face him, with one deep final breath, she ran towards him..

.

Her heart thudded rapidly, but her conscience assured her that he wouldn't let her fall.

.

Putting an end to that run, he caught hold of her and she didn't even feel surprised, as if she already knew, always knew that he would catch her, no matter what.

The catch received endless cheers from the crowd, as he held her hand and twirled her for the umpteenth time, bringing both of them center stage, while the cheers from the crowd knew no bound.

Mastering her with every passing move, he displayed an expertise in the dance form that reached its zenith and she could feel his warm breath on her skin, making a chill run down her spine.

Spinning her for one last time on the floor in a smooth salsa move, his grip tightened on her waist as he bent her down, his face inches away from hers and her arms snaked around his neck, making time itself stand still in shock.

What was happening?

What did all this even mean?

But why did it feel so surreal, so good?

.

The crowd burst into applause and whistles, as they realized the song was over and so was their performance.

Three minutes, that seemed like, felt like three decades.

But they didn't even move a bit, as they continued looking into each other's eyes, staying stagnant in that position.

It seemed as if the moment was frozen right there and nothing else seemed to matter.

.

"That was AWESOME!!"

The loud voice brought from the host brought them out of their reverie, as he quickly let go of her, and she composed myself, slightly taken aback and embarrassed with whatever just happened.

Suddenly it started seeming like she was pulled down from the arena of that beautiful world, beautiful era that was now non-existent.

..

.

CONTINUED BELOW

"Thanks Ree!"

She replied to her best friend, who was all smiles seeing Khushi's performance and was constantly showering her with compliments without a pause.

.

"Whoa! You really rocked it girl!"

Mason spoke, with an equally big smile.

.

"Thanks guys!"

Khushi smiled faintly.

Not really enthusiastic about the appreciations, she turned to take a look at Arnav, but as expected he wasn't there.

She let out a sigh in disappointment, her bubbles of elation from moments ago seeming to be another hallucination of hers, but for a change she did know that all of it did happen, and the proof of it was the still dazzled and cheering crowd right after their performance.

Khushi got down from the stage with her friends glued to her, and sat in the audience, her hazel eyes still wandering in the hall, to find him.

And they did find him..

Standing with the blonde at one corner of the room.

.

Khushi lowered her gaze as everything that happened moments ago, began making no sense once again.

It was unrealistic to expect compassion from the devil, after all, wasn't it?

Maybe all of her thoughts were baseless, senseless, pointless.

Whatever he did was not because he understood her, but just because he had to do it, for the sake of it. Maybe for him, it was just another performance, with just another girl, and here, she felt impeccably stupid, to even think of what she was thinking some minutes ago.

Perhaps he would have done the same, if he had someone else as a partner.'

The blonde..

Or anyone else.

But..

Coincidentally or intentionally, she was his partner..

And he took the decision of being her partner voluntarily..

There was no way she was willing to have him as her partner.

She was not even willing to participate in the first place.

Then what's the matter?'

Khushi had no answer for the question that her conscience asked.

For a moment she had thought that they could get over their differences, but here again, he broke her glass world leaving the shattered pieces recklessly scattered all over.

.

"No doubt. He is indeed driving me insane."

She thought.

.

.

"Coffee anyone?"

Mase asked the two girls as he stood up.

.

"Yeah"

Khushi replied eagerly.

She seriously needed a break out of all the weird thoughts and nothing seemed better than black coffee at that hour.

"Even I will have one."

Ree said with a nasal tone, enacting the voice of a six year old.

.

"Go help yourself!"

Mase retorted funnily.

.

"That's mean! You can fetch it for Khushi, but not me? Why so biased?"

Ree argued, again in that same mock baby tone.

.

"Because she is the star performer and you are the irritating kind."

Mase grinned.

It got Ree furious as Khushi could make out she was ready to pull all the hair out of

Mason's scalp at his statement.

That sight made Khushi chuckle after a long time.

"Such a drama queen, Ree."

She said with a grin.

Like always, it was eventually Khushi who had to settle the matter and there was no way better than acting the mature way.

.

"Okay! Let us all help ourselves!"

Khushi suggested.

Both her incorrigibly childish childhood friends seemed to agree at that and Khushi finally exhaled deeply, as she thought she could manage at least something if not everything.

.

.

As she sipped coffee from the tumbler, she felt her muscles relaxed.

At least one nightmare was over.

The performance.

.

"Khushi Vermount, right?"

She turned around to see where the familiar voice came from.

A smile appeared on her face as she recognized the face, the kind look, the very same dark hazel eyes.

.

"Mr. Aaron Sciarrone."

"What a pleasant surprise."

He reciprocated the smile as he shook hands with Khushi, his aura as warm as always.

Dressed in a formal black suit and his hair back brushed, the man was undoubtedly charming, and subtly so. Though it was just their second encounter, ever since their meet at the Verman Times visitors' room, it didn't stop Khushi from realizing that he was everything that Arnav wasn't.

Polite.

Kind.

Chivalrous.

Those were some words which perhaps Arnav forgot to learn in his early grades, she thought.

Or maybe, he never took any moral science classes back in school.

Yeah, that could be another possibility!'

.

"What are you doing here?"

Khushi asked the older brother of Arnav.

.

"Well, I'm an ex-student of SEV. Presently a part of the event management team since I am a noted alumnus."

He replied, the smile not leaving his face.

.

"Oh! That's great!"

She replied jovially.

He flashed a happy smile at that and averred, "I didn't know you study here."

.

"Yeah, I'm studying English Literature here. By the way, good to hear about you being a part of this event. So your company must be organizing this upcoming charity event?"

.

"Yeah. But it's a joint venture."

.

"Cool."

.

It was really easy for Khushi to get into a conversation with the devil's elder brother.

She wished it was the same when it came to him. The devil with wicked wings.

"Ah! Wishful thinking."

Her conscience mocked.

.

"Well, Mr. Sciarrone, these are my friends, Mason and Rebecca".

Khushi introduced the gentleman to her friends, as they shook hands with each other, greeting one another at the same time.

.

"Well Khushi, I saw your performance with Arnav on the stage and I must say you are such a talented dancer. Such grace! Beautiful."

He spoke with a genuine sense of appreciation on his face.

.

"Thanks Mr. Sciarrone."

She replied with a slight smile, trying hard not to get back to Arnav's thoughts once again at the mention of his name.

.

After some seconds, Aaron continued.

"Seriously, you are a bundle of talent. Being an intern at such a reputated Printing Press, a great dancer. I wonder what other talents you have."

.

"Being freaked out with the weird thoughts of your brother!"

That came instantly to her mind, but of course she couldn't voice it out loud.

.

"Anyways, you guys carry on. I have some discussions to make with the organizing committee."

He said as he shook his hands with Khushi once again.

"Sure."

She replied with a smile, as she watched the kind man going towards the organizers.

.

.

"Now, we have the results for the Salsa Dance auditions."

The announcement sought everyone's attention, excluding Khushi's.

After whatever happened, it didn't seem viable anymore.

Nothing made sense any longer and she simply wasn't interested in knowing what the results were going to be.

But her friends were too happy with it, and she would be really cruel if she stood there with such a face.

"At least I can pretend I'm excited."

She thought.

.

"So out of the five couples, the second runner up is.."

.

As she heard the anchor say the line, Khushi couldn't stop criticizing the concept.

For a freaking audition too they had to start with the runners up and then the winners?'

It seemed as if it was some primary school completion or more than that, the Miss Universe Beauty Pageant that they were starting with the runner-ups.

"Can't they just announce who won and get it over with!"

Khushi muttered to herself.

.

.

She saw Ree uttering "Jesus Christ" without a pause for the 100th time, leaving both Khushi and Mason baffled.

Since when did their drama queen get so religious?

They both thought at the same time.

Her antics always irked Khushi, but this time it was getting way over the top.

Mason on the other hand, just held her hand, giving her all his support.

It made Khushi feel like she was going to donate both her kidneys and her friends were making every possible move to pacify her.

But being the kind of friend she was, she didn't want to break their hopes by telling them that this competition stood nowhere in her circle of interest anymore.

.

"Congratulations to the runner ups."

"AND NOW"

"The WINNER is.."

"Trust me, even at the Academy Awards, the anchor wouldn't emphasize so much suspense and drama while announcing the results, the way this curly-haired girl on the stage was doing.."

Khushi couldn't help spit the words to her friends, who were far too concentrated on the anchor's words than hearing their best friend.

"So theatrical"

Khushi thought.

.

Mason squeezed her hands and Rebecca didn't open her eyes, continuing with her prayers.

She could see every soul in the room anxious to hear the result, except for one.

Her eyes settled on the direction where she could see a pair of eyes fixed on her, as if watching every action of hers.

.

"The WINNING DUO, ladies and gentlemen, it's KHUSHI VERMOUNT and ARNAV SCIARRONE."

The entire hall burst into claps, cheers, whistles and noise as the names were announced.

It was only after her best friends literally pounced with joy on her, she realized that it was her and Arnav who had won the auditions.

.

She could see many people congratulating him, but like her, he had a blank expression on his face and simply nodded to all the wishes that came to him.

Khushi did the same.

.

Rebecca, being the true reporter kind instantly called up her present boyfriend Joe, to share the news with him.

.

Mason hugged Khushi as he told her that she truly deserved to win since her performance was phenomenal.

But all this while, Khushi's mind couldn't register any of the words that came to her ears.

.

Pulling away from the hug, she tucked a lock of her hair behind her ears when she suddenly realized, the devil was standing in front of her.

Right there.

.

Before she could even speak, he grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the hall, leaving behind a puzzled Mason who perhaps thought that we were going for the dance practice, and a laughing Rebecca, who was still busy over the phone.

.

As he pushed her inside an empty classroom, he closed the door behind him and turned to face Khushi.

She stumbled a little, while trying to regain her balance and settled at one corner of the wall.

.

"What the hell do you think you were doing?"

He spat with sheer anger, making her feel like she had committed some blasphemy.

.

She couldn't understand what was this even supposed to mean?

When a moment passed and she still couldn't figure out what his question implied, the pent up frustration and anger in her began to reflect on her visage.

This guy was testing her patience and now she couldn't take it anymore. It was essential to give him a piece of her mind.

.

"Well, Mr. ASR, I think it should be me who should ask you this! What the hell are you doing?"

.

As she spat those words out loud, she didn't even realize how angry she sounded.

.

But the next second, her eyes grew wide and heart raced frantically, as he pinned her to the wall, placing his hands on either sides of her, blocking her ways of escape thoroughly.

.

"So you think, you haven't done anything wrong being close to that Mason?"

"..Or shall I take it this way, that you love tempting guys, luringthem..Hence, you didn't even choose to change this skimpy outfit when our performance was long over, since you wanted to cozy up with him!"

His vehement words came as a thunderbolt to Khushi, whose eyes grew as wide as saucers, hearing those unwarranted accusations from him.

He emphasized on each word, as he spit them out, gritting them through his teeth, his eyes shooting fire as he unblinkingly gazed into her iris.

.

How dare he?'

Bloody Hell!'

Khushi couldn't take it anymore.

.

"Who the hell are you to decide what I shall do and I shall not?"

"You have no f**king right to say such vile things to me, do you get that?"

She spoke with equal rage in her voice.

.

She tried freeing her hands from his grip, but couldn't.

Her efforts were futile.

His eyes captivated her once again as she found myself lost in those hypnotic dark brown eyes.

Helpless in those molten orbs.

Angry, and provoked for sure, but still lost.

.

His lips were inches apart from hers, as she realized the extreme proximity between them, and a chill ran down her spine.

Unknowingly, she could feel her eyes brimming with tears, out of the pain that he caused due to the strong grip, but more than that his impulsiveness and those hurtful words had suddenly brought her to the precipice of feeling crestfallen.

.

As her eyes couldn't hold the tears anymore, she looked away from him, breaking their eye lock, not wanting for him to see her weak side.

And right then he suddenly let go of her.

A moment passed and she had no clue to what was happening. But she was pretty much used to this by now, wasn't she?

Knowing nothing. No reason. No logic.

Free from his strong hold, she swallowed the lump in her throat as the tears continued to stream down her face.

She gathered herself up somehow and looked at him, but to her surprise, he had already lashed out of the room, leaving the door ajar.

But his scent, it still continued to gravely adorn the entire empty room.

*

Sitting on her bed, she was lost in her thoughts as she flipped through the pages of her Dan Brown novel that she wished to finish by tonight, not even aware of the fact that she had lost the track of the story long back.

.

Every time she tried to distract herself, she failed.

The dance..

The song..

The lifts..

The turns..

The twists..

That last pose..

That eye lock.

That heart beat.

Everything flashed in front of her eyes.

How she walked through the corridors from that empty classroom, every second thinking of what was happening, right after he had manhandled her, asked her something that he had technically no right of asking her.

How she had lied to Ree and Mase, that Arnav actually took her for discussing something on their practice schedules now that they were going to perform at the charity event together.

And ultimately.

She thought how the devil was taking control over her life..

Her breathe, her beliefs, and her faith.

.

"Dinner is ready."

She heard Adrienne's voice, which suddenly jerked her out of my thoughts. But it wasn't tough for her to be pulled back into it.

.

One moment, he was so caring.

Then, he was so protective.

Next, he was so understanding.

As if, her savior..

Her Angel..

But suddenly..

It was all back to square one.

He was so repulsive.

The Wicked Devil, once again.

.

The melody of the wind chimes appeared so soothing to her ears, as if after ages of agony she finally landed in a position to identify herself, if not him.

But his thoughts kept her aloof from everything else.

Closing the book, she stood near the windows, as she felt the repercussions of the cold winds from outside on her face.

As she kept the novel back on the shelf, her eyes fell on the bracelet that she had left on her bedside table last night.

There was absolutely no way she wanted to recall last night, but today was something she didn't want to frame either. It was humiliating to her thinking of how he behaved with her, making her feel special one minute, only to throw her in the oblivion the next.

.

Taking the exquisite, antique bracelet in her hands, she watched as the gems and stones in the mystic ornament sparkled in front of her eyes, making her dazzled with its shine.

Staring at it for some minutes, Khushi didn't realize how and why, but she felt a sudden urge of wearing it on her wrist.

She had deliberately decided before not to wear it, not willing to risk the precious jewelry after losing her grandma's necklace, but today, it was seemingly so different.

And so without a second thought, she unhooked the chain of the bracelet.

As she slid the beautiful, mysterious bracelet in her wrist, it felt as if a sudden, inexplicable, yet calming new feeling took over her.

An abrupt switch, as it looked perfect on her thin, milky wrist.

The vibrant stones shimmered brightly, as a strange flow of emotions erupted within her.

Something that definitely looked calmer on the surface, but from deep within it was a storm coming, a storm she couldn't yet foresee, but the universe most definitely could.

.

A change..

A transition..

A strength..

A new life..

**