Chapter 1
"It's almost time! Is Mr. Sharma there? You know he's our special guest! Did you offer him refreshments? Is he comfortable? Did you ' "
"Mrs. Keerti! He's fine'and watching the show with quite a lot of interest!" Anjali said to Mrs. Keerti who was making a fuss about everything to make sure Mr. Sharma was okay.
Mr. Aditya Sharma was a special guest of the Sanjeevani High School's musical, Hamesha. If the show went well, he would put in a lot of money for the next musical, which would be the last one for the school year. Everyone hoped this show would be a success so that the next one would be even better. On top of that, the Sanjeevani drama club was going to lose their most valuable actor, Armaan Malik.
***
Armaan held Riddhima's arms tightly. His eyes burned with fire. He pushed her towards the wall.
Riddhima broke out into tears.
"Admit it Riddhima. You love me. Kehdo ke tum mujhse pyaar karti ho." He said in a husky voice.
"I don't," she said in a small voice and looking down.
Armaan moved away from her. "What makes you think I'm gonna believe that?!" He yelled at her. He raised an accusing finger at her. "I left my home'for you. I left my family'for you. I travelled all the way from England to Canada, for who?! FOR YOU RIDDHIMA! FOR YOU! Sirf aur sirf tumhaare liye!" He raised his voice.
Riddhima still refused to look at him. She walked up to him. "Well, you were too late." She whispered. "You were too late, Armaan!" She yelled at him. "I'm engaged to Sid. I love him! I hate you! I got nothing but sadness from you, Armaan! Sid is the one who makes me happy! NOT YOU!"
"I love you Riddhima." He whispered and pulled her towards him. Riddhima held her head back. "I know you love me too. Just admit it."
"Get out of my house, Armaan."
"No."
"Then stay! And leave me alone!" Armaan only held her tighter and lessened the distance between them if that was even possible.
"I love you," he whispered. "Meri aankhon mein dekh ke bolo ke tum mujhse nafrat karti ho."
At first, she refused to look at him but then she looked up into his ocean blue eyes which she always lost herself in. "I'I'I hate'" she started. "I'I love you'" she whispered tears streaming down her cheeks. "I love you,
Armaan. I really love you!" And with that note, she hugged him tightly. Armaan hugged her back.
The crowd broke into a loud round of applause. Armaan and Riddhima broke apart from each other and turned to face the audience.
"Oh My Gosh!" she squealed still holding Armaan's hand. "We're such a huge success. Look at Mr. Sharma! He's so happy!"
The curtains closed and Armaan and Riddhima walked off the stage hurriedly to get dressed for the final song.
Armaan changed quickly into a suit while Riddhima changed into a black outfit which she didn't like because it was so revealing. She was used to wearing traditional Indian clothing not modern dresses.
"Go Ridzy! Break a leg!!" Anjali squealed at Riddhima. "Not literally!" She added when Riddhima gave her sister a raised eyebrow look.
Muskaan hugged Riddhima and then she let Riddhima walk off to the stage to get into her beginning tableau for the start of the song. The song started and Armaan and Riddhima began the dance.
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYyKvp5oT8Q[/YOUTUBE]
When they finished, the crowd broke in a loud applause once again. The rest of the actors ' Muskaan, Rahul, Atul and Anjali ' came out on the stage and took a bow.
***
"Armaan," Ananya Malik, Armaan Malik's mother, said. "We are moving and that is final!"
"But Mom!" Armaan protested. "I have school. There's one more year left of school and '"
"You're going to be going to Sanjeevani High School ' Cambridge Campus now stop complaining." Ananya snapped at her son and left to put the last box in the moving truck. Armaan and his family were moving to Cambridge from Toronto. Right now, Armaan's parents were going to their new house to put everything there. Armaan was staying behind as he had planned a going-away party.
His mom came back in the house. "When are you going to come back from the party?" She asked.
"Late." Armaan stated through gritted teeth. He shut the door, locked it, and went to the washroom to take a shower. The whole time, he couldn't stop thinking about his friends. In fact, he was thinking of a more special friend of his.
"Riddhima," he whispered. He got out of the shower and changed into his outfit.
He took his keys and drove to Blue Lounge, where he had held the party.
***
Riddhima Gupta stood at the window watching a plane fly away in the evening blue sky.
"Bye Mama. Bye Papa." She whispered. Riddhima's parents were going back to India. They had left Riddhima back in Canada. Her sister and best friend lived with her so they didn't need to worry about anything.
"Ridzy!" Nikkita Malhotra screamed from the washroom. Riddhima snapped out of her thoughts and screamed back. "What?!"
"Pass me my dress!" Nikki screamed.
Riddhima rolled her eyes. "Di! Pass Nikki her dress!" She yelled.
"You do it Ridz! I'm getting ready!" Anjali called from her room.
"For god's sake'I haven't even showered yet!" Riddhima complained. Knowing she had lost the war, she went to Nikki's closet, took out her dress and gave it to her in the bathroom.
"Thanks darling!!!" Nikki called as Riddhima left the room.
Riddhima went to her room and took out a black sari. She quickly went to the washroom, showered, changed and came back out. She put on a delicate diamond jewellery set that Armaan had given her on her 16th birthday. She applied a light shade of lip gloss.
"Done!" she said to herself and went out to meet Anjali and Nikki downstairs.
"Di! Nikki! You two look gorgeous!" She squealed.
Anjali was wearing:
Nikki was wearing:
"Not bad yourself, Ridzy!" Anjali complimented her sister. "But exactly where are your shoes?" She giggled.
Riddhima looked down and noticed that she wasn't wearing any shoes. She looked back up and said with a smirk: "I will be right back." She hurried back upstairs to wear her silver heels and came back down. Nikki and Anjali were laughing at her. "Ha-Ha! Very funny! Now let's go!" She pushed them out the door along with herself.
"Nikki! Lock the door. I'll get the car." Anjali instructed.
"Gotcha!" Nikki called after her.
A minute later, Anjali had come with the car. Nikki and Riddhima climbed in and Anjali drove to Muskaan's house to pick her up. Muskaan finally came out wearing:
"Arre wah, Anjie! Tu toh bari achi lag rahi hai!" She said.
"Thanks yaar!" Anjie said smiling as she started driving again.
"Oye! Humara compliment kahan hai, haan?" Nikki asked.
"Ha-Ha! Tum dono bhi bohot achi lag rahi ho!" Muskaan smiled.
"Thanks!" Nikki and Riddhima said. "You look so cute!"
"Thanks!" Muskaan said.
"Acha ab compliments band karo, I wanna listen to this song." Anjali said.The song was Ek Din Teri Raahon Mein.
Ek din...Ek din teri raahon mein
Baahoon mein panaahon mein
Aungaa kho jaunga
Ek din tera ho jaunga
Ek din...Ek din teri raahon mein
Baahoon mein panaahon mein
Aungaa kho jaunga
Ek din tera ho jaunga
Riddhima remembered the first time she met Armaan at the basketball court of their high school. They had a match. Riddhima had won. She didn't tell her name to him so he had called her "Basketball" at first then shortened it to "Basket."
Yeh dil to na keh saka yeh baatein
Yeh dil to na keh saka
Tu jaane na tu
Chaahat meri kitni betaab hai
Tu jaane na tu
Chaahat meri kitni betaab hai
Ho jo barso meri palkon mein tha
Tu wohi khwaab hai
Armaan listened to the lyrics and remembered when he had met Riddhima the second time. He walked into math class with a few girls following him at a distance and giggling. Armaan had loved the attention he was getting. He walked in and saw Riddhima sitting on a desk chatting away happily with a curly haired girl. He smirked and walked straight to the empty seat beside her and sat down on it. Riddhima had seen him and had tried to move her seat away from him but the teacher hadn't let her.
Har ghadi har ghadi teri yaadoon mein
vaadon mein iradon mein
Aungaa kho jaunga
Ek din tera ho jaunga
Yeh dil to na keh yeh baatein
Dil to na keh saka
Yeh Jhukti nazar
Jaane jigar hosh lejati hai
Mein kaise kahoon
Ek ajnabi dard de jati hai
Riddhima remembered when she had bumped into Armaan in the locker hallway. She had gotten shy and had blushed such a deep red that she thought he would bug her about for life. Surprisingly, he hadn't taken note of her blush and helped her pick up her stuff. Riddhima's hands were shaking out of embarrassment.
Chupke se Chupke se teri neeedon mein
Khwaabon mein khayalon mein
Chaaunga Kho junga
Ek din tera ho jaoun ga
Armaan remembered when he had climbed up the pipe outside Riddhima's house to ask her as his date for the Spring Dance in grade 10. She had first been so angry at him for coming at two o'clock in the night to ask her but then finally said yes to him.
Ek din ..Ek din teri raahon
Baahoon mein panaahon mein
Aungaa kho jaunga
Ek din tera ho jaunga
Yeh dil to na keh yeh baatein
dil to na keh saka
Yeh dil to na keh yeh baatein
dil to na keh saka
Yeh dil to na keh yeh baatein
dil to na keh saka
Yeh dil to na keh yeh baatein
dil to na keh saka
Riddhima and Armaan wiped off a tear from their cheek.
***
So, this was chapter 1! Hopefully you all liked it. 😃 Apparently Nikki's dress wouldn't show up on the post 😛 Please leave your comments...😊
Edited by monaya-fan - 13 years ago
Tum Se Tum Tak
Sampoorna
Jhanak
Shiv Shakti
35