RosesHaveThorns#2(AR) Note: Page128 24th September - Page 23

i knowww :( we haven't talked for like a week but it feels like forever 😳 if you're free tomorrow (which you should be because its half-term) come to our place 😉🤣 i bet your too slow to even realise what i'm talklng about 🤣

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

idk 🤣 and btw i'll comment sometime this week :) i haven't commented on any FFs for like a month but now i'm catching up 🤣 i better go and comment on MTB now or maitree will kill me :| and then DD and then yours and then a few others. guesss 😆

Chapter 8

He didn't know how long he had been staring at her. He wanted to capture this moment in his mind forever; this would probably be the only time from now on that he would see her looking so peaceful. When she would wake up, he knew she would back to her old bitchy self which he detested.

Finally deciding to check the time, he saw that it was already 6:45. Martha would be here in 15 minutes to open up the library, which gave them an hour to go home and get ready before University started. He sighed, and sat up straight stretching his arms. He glanced once again at Riddhima, and had the urge not to wake her up he wanted her to be always at peace, let her live in her dreamland rather than face reality, but he knew he had no choice.

"Riddhima"he said softly, he tapped her shoulder making her frown and turn her face to the other side. "Riddhima wake up, we are getting late."

Riddhima rubbed her eyes and looked at Armaan with a frown; in a weird way even with all that scary make- up she looked cute to Armaan. He smiled looking at her.

"What time is it?" she yawned, stretching out her arms.

"6:47, Martha will be here at 7 so we need to pack all our stuff away." Riddhima nodded and got up quietly, she started putting all of her notes in her bag. They silently cleared their things, not saying a word to each other. Armaan kept glancing at her every few seconds, he thought to say something to her but stopped each time, he didn't know why but it felt awkward between them. The silence was broken by a loud creak; they looked towards the door and saw the librarian come in.

"Oh, what on earth are you two still doing here?" Martha asked confused.

"It's a long story Martha, I will tell you some other time." She nodded and he gave her a small hug. "But right now we need to go, school starts in an hour and we have to get changed."

"Sure bye Ammy." She smiled at them as they got out; Riddhima looked away and didn't smile back. She felt a pinch of guilt because of the way she behaved with her but didn't have the guts to face her and apologise, it was something she couldn't do. They walked in silence, until Armaan couldn't take it anymore.

"Er, shall I drop you off home?" She shook her head as a reply. "Are you sure?" she nodded walking ahead to the front gate leaving Armaan to go his own way home. He sighed; this wasn't going to be easy for him.

As she was walking, she couldn't help but think of that dream, the one she had last night. It was of her, but what really confused her was what was happening in the dream. She was falling, off a building. She was wearing a white gown a few inches below her knees and she felt like she was floating. One name came out of her mouth whilst she was falling 'Armaan', she was calling for him but he was nowhere to be found, her hand was stretching out to hold something, but what? Armaan? Why was she calling HIM? She could feel her whole life slowly freeing itself out of her, as she fell lower and lower. Riddhima shook her head trying to get the thoughts out of her mind; it was just a dream, nothing else. It couldn't be, she would make sure that nightmare would never come true; she will make sure to never rely on him again. Armaan and Riddhima, two totally different people with different motives in life. And right now her motive was to get her sister's lecture off her back. She reached home and opened the door.

"Riddhima where have you been?" Here she goes again, she saw Anjali angrily walking towards her. "No actually don't answer that, I probably already know the answer. Out with some friends, having fun huh? Riddhima I was worried sick, I tried to ring you a billion times but I couldn't get through? Why are you so careless?"

"Oh stop it okay? Don't put that 'big sister' act on me okay? And FYI I was not with my mates last night, I was with some guy," Anjali eyes went wide at the mention, and Riddhima knew what she was possibly thinking, she scoffed at how low her sisters thoughts could go, "At the library. We had to do the project again because some parts were missing. But then we got locked inside, and there was no signal there, that's why you couldn't get through to me. And if you don't believe me, you can ask the librarian, or even Armaan himself."

"Armaan? Armaan who?" Riddhima rolled her eyes at the question, "Armaan Mallik? He still goes there? You still hang out with him?"

"Yes Armaan Mallik, and yes he does still go there, and no I don't hang out with him, I had no choice but to do the project with him. My jackass teacher chose us two to work together." She grimaced. "Anyway I was thinking you would be happy."Anjali scrunched her eyebrow in confusion, "You know, me being missing, I thought you would be celebrating. I mean, you got rid of me and you wouldn't get blamed for it either. You would be free." She said sarcastically.

"You know that's not true Riddhima." Anjali said trying to hold back her tears.

"Do I?"With that, she walked off in to her room to have a shower, leaving her sister behind to hate herself. She tried so much to understand Riddhima, but there was always something that got in the way. Whenever Anjali got a step forward in to understanding her, Riddhima would make sure she would fall straight back. She didn't understand, why did she hate it all? Why couldn't she understand her own sister? The sister she knew inside out a few months ago was not the girl upstairs, she was her worst nightmare, and her sisters own nightmare come true.

The house was empty again, Armaan sighed dropping his bag on the sofa. Nothing new here, he thought. He went up to his room to have a quick shower before he would head off to school again. As he was getting changed, he thought about Riddhima's behaviour earlier. Normally she would give a snide comment back but she was silent, he didn't know why. What was she thinking that whole time? He knew she was deep in to her thoughts, he could tell by her expressions, but what? He decided not to pay too much attention to it, he was probably thinking too much about it. He goes back downstairs and sees his parents in the living room, his mother watching some fitness show on television and his father reading the newspaper. He was about to walk out when he said the voice behind him.

"Where have you been?" His mother asked sharply keeping her eyes on the television.

"Like you give a s**t." He muttered, Naina glared at him. "I was at school."

"All night?" She raised her eyebrows.

"What is this? 21 questions? I don't need to tell you anyway." He snapped back.

"Armaan. Behave yourself." Billy spoke pointing his index finger at him.

Armaan rolled his eyes at his fathers 'dad act', "Whatever." He walked out of the house leaving his parents angry and disgusted with his behaviour, but he didn't care anymore. He had given up on them a long time ago.

"The nerve of that boy I tell you! Billy did you see how rude he was with us? This is not how we raised him." Naina complained.

"I know." He said calmly, deep in to thought.

"How can you be so calm about this? Our son is becoming a mess!"

"Hmm."He scratched his chin, "Why don't we get him married?"

"What?"She was shocked by his sudden idea.

"Let's get him married, he is almost 20 now, we should at least get him engaged and then marry him off after a few months or when he finishes University."

"But who will marry him?"

"Naya. Imran's only child, who is my best friend. Once he is married he will take over the business, and start a family."

"But will he agree?" She asked uncertain.

"You leave that to me." He folded up his newspaper, placed it on the table and stood up. "I will make sure he will agree." He kissed her on her cheek and went to work.

"Ouch!"They both yelled rubbing their foreheads. Armaan looked up to see who he bumped in to and it was no other than, Riddhima. As a habit he scanned her attire, nothing new just black and more black. He frowned thinking how she could like wearing all that. Riddhima saw him gawking at her and felt uncomfortable by his gaze, he was judging her look she knew that, but she didn't care.

"Ahem."Armaan looked at her to see her looking at him expectantly.

"What?"he asked confused.

"Say sorry then."

"Huh?"Did he just hear right? HE should apologise to HER?

"Say sorry to me." She replied.

"For what? You bumped in to me!"

"No I didn't! You weren't looking where you were going, if you did we wouldn't have bumped in to each other."

"Yeah, like you were looking. If you saw me not looking where I was going, why didn't you move out of the way?"

Riddhima fell silent, he was right but she wouldn't let him know that, "Just say sorry to me!"

"No I won't! It was your mistake." He crossed his arms across his chest and they stood there glaring at each other.

"Is there a problem Ri?" They both turned to see Vicky standing there, his eyes on Armaan.

"Er, no Vick. I was just talking to him, I was about to come and find you." She replied smiling nervously.

"Yeah so why don't you mind your business?" Armaan muttered, but it was loud enough for the other two to hear.

"What did you just say?!" Vicky started charging towards him, when Riddhima grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Vick, just leave it come on." She started tugging on his arm but he didn't move an inch. "Come on!"

"But Ri-" he started to protest.

"Just ignore him; he's not even worth it. Come on lets go." Vicky looked back at Armaan who had a smug smile on his face.

"This is not over." He warned him. He let Riddhima drag him to the other side of the field where the rest of their friends were waiting. She turned around once and saw Armaan smirk and give her a wink. She looked away in disgust, leaving Armaan chuckling.

Armaan walks in to the classroom to see Riddhima already there, sitting quietly whilst reading through some notes of hers. The rest of the class started entering after him, taking their seats. He walks to the professor's desk, and hands in the project.

"Well done Armaan, I'm glad you two could leave your issues behind to do this project. I will mark it tonight and give you the result tomorrow." The professor gave him a smile which he happily returned. He walked to where Riddhima was seating and pulled out the seat next to her.

"What are you doing?" She asked, holding the chair place.

"What does it look like? I'm sitting here obviously. Now move your bag off the chair."

"No, sit somewhere else. Most preferably away from me."

"Trust me if I could sit somewhere else I would, but sadly all he seats are taken."Riddhima looked around the class and he was right, the seat next to her was the only one available.

"Fine."She grumbled, moving her bag off the chair. Armaan grinned and sat down. They both sat in silence listening to the lecture and taking notes, he occasionally stole some glances at her, he didn't know why but he felt like making sure she was there and not to disappear. Half an hour later, he noticed that Riddhima had stopped writing, and there was no noise of papers flipping. He looked up to see her staring out of the window at something, he moved nearer to her, curious to know what she was staring at. His expressions turned to disgust when he saw what she was looking at. She was staring at Vicky and the gang in their corner laughing at some sick joke probably, he could comprehend from her expressions that she wished she was with them, he shivered at the thought of it.

"Why do you like them?"

"Huh?"Riddhima came out of her reverie hearing Armaan's voice. She turned to face him and saw the blank look on his face but his eyes full of curiosity and disgust.

"Why do you like them?" he repeated, analysing her face for any sign of vulnerability.

"Erm because they are my friends." She fumbled.

"But they are wrong for you, they are the wrong type, you know that." He stated, a slight plead in his voice.

His words only fired Riddhima up, "First of all it is NONE of your business, and second of all, if they are the 'wrong type' then you are saying that I am too because we are all alike and have same interests." She snapped back at him, furious at his judgment on her and her 'friends'.

"Riddhima that's not what I meant. I mean that you were never like this before, I knew you inside out. They made you like this, before the sight of people like them used to scare you, disgust you, but now you become like them because THEY made you." He defended himself, slightly shocked by her accusation.

Riddhima stared at him expressionlessly for a few moments, until they heard the bell ring for break. She looked away from him and gathered her things, she got up and walked passed him but not before whispering, "Just leave my life alone.", but he heard it. Was there a sign of helplessness in her voice? Was she just saying that because she was scared? Was it requested from her or forced?

..."Armaan! Where were you? I was looking everywhere for you." She demanded from him angrily seeing him running towards her.

Armaan stopped in front of her, gasping for breath, "Sorry, I was just quickly handing in my essay on Humans Dreams Connect with Reality."

"You still didn't give that in? It was due months ago!"

"Yeah well, mine got lost by the professor so I had to write it all over again." He said. "Luckily I didn't miss you, I came just in time."

"JUST in time Armaan, I was about to go, im getting late. My flight is in less than 2 hours."

His face dropped, "So you actually are going then?" Riddhima could sense the disappointment in his voice and felt pit of guilt hit her.

"You know I am." She said softly.

"I know, but I was hoping you might change your mind." He shrugged.

"Sorry but I can't. Anjali di is about to finally get her degree in medicine, so I want to be there when she gets it. And then for the rest of the summer we will all be spending time together, its been 3 years since I seen her Armaan. I miss her." She added sadly.

"I know, sorry for making you sad." He pouted his lips making Riddhima chuckle slightly.

"It's okay, I would've been sad anyway, I have to say good bye to you." They both stood there quietly, letting the silence do the talking for them.

"You will come back, right?" Armaan finally spoke.

"Armaan! It's not like I'm going forever. Just for a few months, of course I will be back. I got another 2 years of Uni left yet." She teased slightly, decreasing the awkwardness between them.

"Yeah I know but I will miss you." He said sincerely.

"I know you will." She winked at him making him raise his eyebrows, "I will miss you too." She confessed. She went forward towards him and hugged him tightly, which he happily accepted and returned. They both were worried for something, scared even. They felt a storm coming towards them, one that would ruin them, but decided they didn't want to tell the one another since it will get them worried for nothing.

They drew back from the hug and smiled at each other, "So I see in you in a couple of months then." Riddhima nodded.

"Bye."She walked towards her car, turning around to give him a final wave. Just as she was about to open the door, she heard Armaan calling her.

She turned, and saw him making his way towards her. He stood in front of her with a nervous expression, "Erm I need you to promise me something."

"What?"she asked slightly confused by his request.

"That nothing will change?" His hopeful eyes told it all.

"Armaan, I swear you have gone too filmy since you have met me. I'm not going to war, im just going to India for a while."

"I know but a lot can happen in a few months. Plus I have this weird feeling in me, so just promise me, please?" he pleaded.

Riddhima smiled at his cuteness, "I promise. Happy?"

"Pakka promise?" Riddhima laughed seeing how stubborn he was, but she knew deep down he needed some reassurance.

"Pakka promise. I promise nothing will change between us."...

Her words were echoing in his mind repeatedly, 'I promise nothing will change between us.' 'I promise', but everything did change, nothing and no one was the same as before.

"Armaan you okay?" He looked to his side to see Rahul looking concerned. He realised, yet again, he was lost in the past.

"Yeah, sorry I was thinking of something." Rahul smiled and nodded, knowing he didn't want to share it. They then started talking about football, and the lectures they had, with Armaan trying hard not to think of the past.

'You never were like this before' 'I knew you inside out' Was he right? For the first time Riddhima was questioning herself, was this the real her? Did she enjoy all this? Did she like being like this? All the questions were swimming in her mind, for the first time someone's word hit her so strong, she was actually thinking about them. She was actually questioning herself, but why? Why did HIS words have so much effect on her? No, she decided, he is wrong, he doesn't care about her. He is just messing with her mind. Confident with her choice, she headed back to the building to attend her next lecture, leaving her group behind. She was right and he was wrong, this was what lingered in her mind for the rest of the day.

Riddhima returned home mentally exhausted, she tried to make herself understand what was going on in the lectures but it was too much. She has to take some time to catch up, she thought.

"Riddhima how was your day at school?" Anjali asked, walking in to the living room. Riddhima looked at her blankly, and headed up to her room. Anjali's heart dropped at the behaviour of her sister, but as usual she quietly headed towards the kitchen to make herself dinner.

Armaan opened the door to be welcomed by silence but instead he heard voices. Two voices, a female and a male. Confused, he walked inside to see his parents in the living room whispering to each other.

"What are you two doing here?" Being in shock, he didn't realise his tone was rather rude to his parents. His parents turned to see him at the front door with a confused look; they looked back at each other and nodded.

"Armaan sit down, we need to talk." His father spoke with authority. Armaan warily took his seat opposite them thinking what brought this 'family reunion'.

"You are getting married." His father said simply, ignoring his son's stunned face he continued, "The girls name is Naya, she is my friends daughter and she is just a few months younger than you. She is really sweet and beautiful, and we want her to be welcomed in to this family by you. The engagement will be in a few weeks, and then after you finish your second year of University, you will get married to her."

Armaan watched his parents' expression and didn't see any sign of regret or pain for him, only superiority in this situation. No words came out of his mouth, what could he say?

"No."His parents' expressions didn't change, they were this reaction. "I still got another year of Uni left; I'm not going to waste it because of one girl!"

"That girl is going to your wife in a few months Armaan, learn to respect her. And as for University, well you won't need it anyway; you will be joining the family business when you are married."

"What?! No, the whole point of me doing Psychology as a course is to have a job that has something to do with it. I am NOT going to join your business."

Mr Mallik was starting to lose his patience but showed no sign of it, "Fine, if you disobey me then I have no choice to disown you." He said calmly.

"What?!"

"You will leave this house and never return, and you will not be classed as our son anymore to the world. You will have to find your own way to live without us."Armaan fought back the tears that were threatening to overflow his eyes. His father, his own father, would stoop this low to get what he wanted. He knew they didn't love him, but he didn't know they hated him.

He couldn't look at them anymore, he felt ashamed of himself for being their son,"Fine, whatever." He mumbled, looking away.

"Not whatever, you are going to meet Naya tomorrow. You're only going to University for half the day, I will ring in to say you have important work to do; you will meet her at Red Hot Buffet on Deansgate at 2 o'clock. Okay?" Armaan nodded once. "Good you can go now."

Armaan stood up, and looked at his for a moment, waiting for the moment where they would say they were just joking, it didn't come. Fed up, he stormed out of the house to Rahul's house across the street. He couldn't break down yet, not yet, he had to be strong for himself.

Rahul heard a knock on the door, and went to open it. He wasn't surprised when he saw his destroyed best friend there, with a helpless, needy expression. He sighed and opened the door wider to invite him in.

"Coffee?"He asked him with a small smile.

Armaan nodded, "Make it strong please." He took a seat in the living room whilst Rahul went in to the kitchen to make them both some coffee, they definitely needed it for what was about to come. He sat next to Armaan and handed him the coffee with a smile.

"Thanks."Armaan said gratefully taking a sip.

"So what happened this time?" Rahul asked, waiting patiently. Armaan sighed, and looked at him. He narrated the whole story from when he entered his house, to when he stormed out. Rahul listen to him quietly, not letting his expressions tell Armaan what he was thinking, it wouldn't help the situation at all or Armaan. Armaan slumped back on the couch closing his eyes as he finished the story.

"What are you going to do now?" Rahul asked.

Armaan opened his eyes to look at him, "I'm going to meet the girl."

"You sure you want to do that?"

"I have no choice." Armaan shrugged.

"Everything is going to be okay Armaan. Just try your best at making everything alright."He gave him a genuine smile which Armaan returned happily, how did he get such a good friend like him?

"Yeah, I just have to try." He sighed. He stayed over at Rahul's that night; his parents wouldn't be expecting him at his house after what had happened. He slipped in the bed, hoping to clear his mind, but his thoughts were against him. Finally after so long, he fell in to a deep sleep with the thoughts of tomorrow.

Well there's the chapter. Shocking? There's a lot more to come ;)

Sorry for any errors, i didn't have time to check it over. PM's in a while.

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KAMEENI why do you only put this erm emo for me? What about your feet and medzi? 🤔 BMJ :| and OMG i'm reading nowww! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU FINALLY UPDATEDDD EEKSSS

zarqaa OMG lovely part

u r making me addicted to AR(KASH) again

kash/ar is just perfect😳

i want to read it baby

and i make it obivious

u want to write more😆

i want to read more

i'm addicted get me more