RosesHaveThorns#2(AR) Note: Page128 24th September - Page 30

Originally posted by: arshluvskash

Ekksss zarqu update ahh KASH THE REAL AR YES

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😆

Originally posted by: Aanya.

LOVE the chapter! I like how the progress of their relationship is slow, and slowly but surely his words are having an effect on her! :D

I don't like his parents 😳 What assholes. Please tell me he is not getting married to that girl...or any girl (not even Riddhima :P) for that matter! I want him to explore his relationship with Riddhima slowly :D

Continue soon <3

xoxo

Aanya

Originally posted by: mak3mesmile

Shocking? Like George Lopez would say, "te loca!" Ofcourse its shocking!!!

Whatever happened to turn Riddhima this way must have been horrible to have such a tremendous effect and poor Armaan...stuck with parents who dont know the first thing about parenting.

The writing was amazing and the story is progressing beautifully...continue very very fast and take care

Love Simran

Chapter 9

"You ready to go?" Rahul asked him waiting beside the front door as Armaan descended from the stairs.

"Yep, let's go." They both yelled the goodbyes to Sirma mom and headed towards school. As he was driving, Armaan was feeling nervous about today; he was going to meet the girl he is apparently going to spend the rest of his life with, which guy wouldn't feel nervous about that? His mind was all over the place and he didn't know what to worry most about. He just sat there driving; letting is thoughts eat his brain as worry took over him. Rahul noticed the awkward silence between them, and knew what was going through Armaan's mind, he knew his best friend from childhood, when Armaan was quiet, he was scared or worried, and his expressions would always turn glum. That was the time when he needed someone the most to help him. He wanted to help him but he didn't know how, he couldn't change Armaan's parents' mind, which would be a first class ticket to death. He could only reassure him, it would ease both of them.

"Armaan?" Rahul asked as they both stepped out of the car. "Don't worry man. Just try to relax, and do what you think is right. Don't let too much invade your brain, it will stress you more and only bring out the negative side of everything. Just think positively, and if you can't then just go along with it all and it may show the positive side of it later." Armaan gave him a small smile and they both walked in to the building, chatting away about anything but that topic. They didn't want it to be any more verve wrecking than it already was for both of them. He went to his first class of the day, with a little less stress on his mind. Rahul had helped him by distracting from the topic, being all chirpy, he smiled remembering his non-stop talking, his friend would do anything for him and it was vice-versa too. They both meant a lot for each other.

He walked in to the classroom, and was surprised to see Riddhima already seated in the class room quietly. Wow she was earlier than him, he thought. "Please sit in the same seats as yesterday, for once you all worked well." Armaan rolled his eyes at his professor's taunt, why did all teachers have to be so moody? No one told them to take this job, it was their own choice, everyone needs to pay a price, and the teachers' price was coping with the likes of children. He took his seat next to Riddhima, and within seconds figured out the awkwardness lingering in the air between them as the professor started the lecture. Seconds, minutes past, it was starting to feel uncomfortable for some reason, but still none said a word. They both thanked their stars as they saw the professor walking towards their desk.

"Well done on your project. The essay was thorough and grammatically correct. I hardly found any glitches in it." He praised, making them gleam with success, he turned to face Riddhima, "Now that the essay is out of the way, I think you should start catching up with the work now. If you fall behind too much, it will be hard for you to maintain it all. I suggest you get a student to tutor you, maybe Armaan- "

"No it's okay. I can get it from the text books." She interrupted him quickly, knowing where this was going to lead to, she was no way in hell asking him for help. She would rather kill herself, correction, she would rather kill him.

"Okay, but make sure you do catch up." The professor spoke unsure, Riddhima nodded her head and he returned to the front to continue the lecture. She ignored Armaan's stare and noted down whatever the professor was saying, his gaze was starting to prickle through her now and she was getting annoyed. Just as she was about to say something to him, she heard him speak.

"You can borrow my notes if you want." He murmured watching her reaction.

"No thanks, I don't need it. I will get my notes from the books." She replied not tearing her eyes away from the professor.

"Are you sure? I don't mind giving them." He pressed on.

"I said I'm fine." Her tone showed her irritation.

"I was only trying to be nice and help you."

"Well I don't need your help. And why do you want to help me anyway? After what I said to you 3 months ago I thought you would never want to speak to me again." She realised what she said and bit her tongue slightly glancing at him to see how he reacted to it. She saw him looking away with a hurtful expression. He still remembered, she thought. Turning away from him, she carried on with her work, ignoring him. They both didn't say a word to each other for the rest of the lecture; neither did they look at each other once. They didn't want to either.

"I will give you the notes." Riddhima almost jumped hearing his voice suddenly. She was about to argue against it when the bell rang and Armaan walked out the classroom hurriedly. She saw him whisper something to the professor, passing him something before leaving but she didn't pay much attention to it. She walked out the classroom, curious at Armaan's behaviour, and headed towards the library.

"Ri, wait up." She heard Vicky's voice from far and swirled around to see him walking up to her coolly. He gave her a quick hug, which she didn't return, "Where are you going? Come hang out with us, we were thinking about going to have something to eat and then go for a cig or something in the park." He offered.

"Erm, I already have a snack in my bag, and I need to go to take some notes in the library. Sorry." She walked away without giving him a second glance, before he could say another word. He glared at her back, watching her go; this was not supposed to happen. She was starting to change again, he couldn't let it happen, he stormed towards his group, angry at the changes present in her, he was losing. He was losing it, he was losing her, he was losing at his own game.

Riddhima slumped down on to the chair, and took out the textbook she borrowed. She flipped to the section she needed to focus most on and started to read it, but her mind started to linger somewhere else. She couldn't understand why Armaan was being so pushy towards her taking his notes, she had insulted him yet he ignored it and still decided to help her. Why? What was going through his mind? Did he really want to help her, or was it for something else? Why did he care so much that she should take his notes? Did he really even care or was she looking too in to it? She could've got it from the textbook, although it is harder for her reading from a textbook rather than someone's notes because it wasn't explaining it to her, it was just telling her what to learn. She sighed closing the book, this wasn't helping her, she gathered her things and decided to go and catch something to eat before her next lecture started.

She hurried towards her class being 5 minutes late, she stumbles inside receiving a glare from the professor and took her seat. Riddhima was confused seeing the seat next to her vacant, as far as she knew Armaan never bunked a lecture, or so she had heard. Something unusual passed through her at the thought of him not being there, but what was it? She felt strange; she was used to him sitting next to her, bugging her. She shook her head, annoyed at her own thoughts, them always being on Armaan. The professor gave the class an essay question to do and then he walked up to her desk. He passed some papers to her, and almost smiled at her confused expression.

"Your partner Armaan left these for you. He said you would need them to study." Riddhima picked up the papers and realised it was his notes. There was a bunch of them, and luckily for her the writing was easy to read and not all over the place.

"But sir I don't need-"

"Armaan said you would try to deny needing them and he told me to make sure you used them. Plus I think he is right, you should use his notes, and they will be most helpful." He turned away leaving a stunned Riddhima staring at the papers. He knew how she would react? He knew she would refuse to use them?

"Er sir?" The professor faced her, "Where is Armaan?" she asked.

"He took half the day off today; he had some important family thing to do." He walked back to his desk, starting his lecture again. Her mind was everywhere at that moment, what would she focus most on? She looked back at the notes and smiled; she folded them and placed them in her bag.

Armaan sat in the restaurant, playing with his fingers on the table nervously, checking his watch from time to time. He wiped a tiny bead of sweat off of his forehead with a napkin placed on his empty plate, and breathed in and out. He was behaving as if he was actually getting married that second, he was just meeting the girl, suck it up Armaan, he muttered to himself. He didn't know why he was nervous, he had met a lot of girls and he always was relaxed with them, but this time it was different, it may be because this was the girl he would spend the rest of his life with. Maybe. He just had this unsure feeling growing inside him, and it scared him slightly, but what was that feeling? Why was he so affected by it? Why was it there in the first place? He decided to divert his mind from the girl, or try to, and thought of earlier on when he had that lecture with Riddhima. That was another thing he was so confused by, he didn't understand his own behaviour. He tried to pass his notes to her to be nice but what he didn't understand was why he was so determined that she would use his notes. Sure he did it to get close to her again, and lessen the distance between them but he didn't know why he was bothered so much that she didn't want to take his notes. It made him feel weird inside, he felt hurt? They used to be friends but now realising how much they have grew apart, too far that they couldn't even share notes, he felt like it was all for nothing. Was it? Was the friendship between them that wrecked, that it was starting to fade?

"Excuse me?" Armaan looked up to see a young girl around the age of 19/20 standing before him, "Are you Armaan Mallik?" she asked innocently.

He realised this must be the girl that his father wanted him to meet, and stood up politely "Yeah you must be Naya, right?" She nodded with a polite smile, "Erm, please sit down." She took the seat across him, and fidgeted with her fingers, mimicking his actions from earlier. An awkward silence lingered between them, they glanced at each other a few times, each time getting caught and passing a nervous smile. "Why don't we order something?" he offered politely.

"Okay." He passed her the menu card, which she thanked him for, and she started looking through it, deciding on what to order. Armaan took this as an opportunity to analyse her, she was very beautiful, he couldn't deny that. She was fair and had chocolate brown eyes which glistened in the light turning in to light brown. She was very modern, she wore orangey- brown chino's with a cream baggy top covered with a khaki coloured army jacket, her hair was black, straight and long, making her look more fairer. She was very striking with her looks, and she sounded very sweet and innocent yet confident. He was glad she wasn't one of those girls who were all s**tty or too behenji, he didn't have anything against behenji types but he didn't want a wife who would worship him, he wanted someone who would treat him equally as he would treat her. Was she the one?

"Sir have you decided what to order?" Both of them look up at the waiter standing patiently at their table with a notebook in his hand. Armaan looked at Naya and gestured her to give the orders, she smiled gratefully.

"Erm, can I have a spicy lobster with white rice mixed with vegetables, some red sauce, grilled mushroom, spicy spring rolls and a diet coke." Armaan gaped at her, "Oh and some crme brulee for desert." She grinned at the waiter passing him the menu car, she turned to Armaan, "What would you like to order?"

"Erm, I will just have some fried chicken, and some red sauce to go with it. And some rice pudding for desert." He handed him the menu card and the waiter hurried to the kitchen to get the orders ready. Armaan raised an eyebrow at her, which she smiled sheepishly at, knowing what was coming next.

"Big appetite huh?" he teased, grinning at her embarrassed face which was turning a slight pink.

"Yeah, I like food. I'm not those girls who eat nothing to become skinny; I don't let anything get in the way of me and food." Big appetite and not obsessed about her looks, great combo, he thought. He was starting to like her, she didn't fear people's opinions and he liked that. She was different. "I bet you aren't used to that, are you?"

Armaan chuckled a little, "No not really. Most girls I have known care more about their body than their health. I find it idiotic."

"Same here, I don't know how anyone can do that. I mean so much food, how can you resist?" He tried to hide his smile at her childlike expression of seeing an ice cream for the first time. He felt light around her, she was easy to talk to, the awkward moment between them before had disappeared out of his mind after talking to her. He wanted to know more about her, something drew him in about her.

"I think I misunderstood you. When I first saw you come in I thought you were the quiet type, I stand corrected, so Miss Naya, who are you?" He asked leaning in towards her more with a curious smile.

She smirked at his question, "I am Naya Malhotra, I am 19 years old, and I am studying Law at Kingston University. I like to read, listen to music, and design my own clothes. I have a tattoo on waist which I have had since college. I like challenges and never back down from dares, which also resulted in my tattoo. I may live in a modern world but I do have my Indian culture in me too. I prefer to wear jeans with sleeveless tops but I do have my sets of salwaar kameez that I do wear every now and then." Armaan was once again baffled, his eyes wide and mouth slightly open. She failed to hold her smile within, "Anything else?" She managed to speak out from the laughter bubbling inside her.

It took a few moments for Armaan to process what she had said and only one thing came in to mind, "What does your tattoo look like?" He breathed out. Hearing that Naya couldn't hold it in, she burst out laughing, knocking Armaan out of his dazed state. He scratched the back of his neck out of embarrassment of getting caught in that state; he looked at her and was awed by her beauty. She looked beautiful when she laughs, he thought. He smiled noticing there was a glow in her face and she had a chin dimple, she looked cute.

She finally was able to hold the laughter in, "It's a dove shape. Now enough about me, it's your turn."

Armaan leaned back against his chair, "My name is Armaan Mallik, and I am 19 years old, going to be 20 in April. I study Psychology in St. Levi University," Naya raised her eyebrows impressed, "I like to ride bikes, and I have many tattoos on me as well. I am known as Mr Hotshot," She rolled her eyes causing him to smirk, "I have a best friend named Rahul who is like a brother to me. I am known to have a very high average grade, and I am really focused when it comes to my studies. I want to help have a career where I can help people with their needs mentally." She looked at her in the eye, "Anything else?" he imitated her, and she giggled shaking her head.

"I'm impressed." She praised him passing a smile, making his heart leap. "Now that we know something about it each other, let's jump to the real reason why we are here. Our marriage." His face dropped and he tried to cover it but she saw. "And from your expression I can tell you aren't too happy about it," he kept quiet, lowering his eyes, "Are you happy with it?" he didn't say a word, he didn't want to hurt her feelings, she seemed sweet, "You can tell me you know, don't worry about my feelings, im a big girl I can take the truth." Was this girl sent specially for him? He felt like she was.

"Erm well the thing is, I want to focus on my studies for now, and get my degree but my dad wants us engaged in a few weeks and then married by the end of the school year, but I don't want anything else to handle as well as my studies. I mean, marriage is a big thing, and requires a lot of time to adjust to and it will be another thing on my list of priorities that I just don't need at the moment. Don't take it the wrong way, its not like I don't want to marry you, its just not yet. I want to accomplish my dream first then think about the rest of the future. Do you know what I mean?" he didn't have to wait long for her reply, a few seconds after she was already prepared with an answer.

"I will tell my dad to postpone the engagement till after you got your degree, and if he doesn't agree with the length of time between now and then, then I will make it at least to the end of this school year. Till then we have a lot of time to know each other before it's secured and during that time we don't feel like we are supposed to be together, we can break it off. No hard feelings." She replied calmly with an understanding smile.

He was stunned by her words, she agreed, just like that? No questions, no arguments, just agreeing? What was this girl, every guys dream? "You are okay with it?" he asked cautiously, still not being able to believe it.

"Yeah sure. I don't have a problem with waiting for it. Plus even I want to focus on my studies but my dad said that you wanted to get engaged now, but now knowing what you actually want, I won't argue because you spoke exactly what I was feeling. There's two of us in this relationship Armaan, and both of us will make the decision not only one of us."

"We are in a relationship?" a slight tease in his voice.

She realised what she had said, and blushed profusely, "If you want to be. Do you still want to do this Armaan?"

He stays quiet for a while gazing at her. She was a nice girl, really sweet and confident and was opposite of every other girl he dated, he was starting to like her. She was everything he wanted, she wasn't too pushy in the marriage part, and she understood so well without even knowing for more than an hour. He would fall for her, he knew it, it would eventually happen and he wanted it to happen, he wanted to be with her. Forever maybe? He didn't know but time would tell him, he would get to know her better and fall for her; yes that is what he would do. He wouldn't let the past ruin his future, he would finally move on leaving the past behind. He wanted to move on from it, he didn't want to be stuck in it anymore, he wanted to be free and that he will be with Naya.

"Yeah, I do." She grinned at his reply which he returned happily. They started chatting away about themselves, their friends, their lives, not wanting the night to end. The food finally came and Armaan was shocked at how much she could eat, she finished all of her food before he did and she didn't even cause a mess. One heck of a girl, he was going to have trouble keeping his food from her, he thought enjoying watching her eat. They took their time eating, talking, and before they knew it hours flew by and it was time for them to leave. Armaan offered to drop her off home which she accepted happily, al through the journey home they asked each other questions about each other lives, told jokes, as if they known each other forever.

"Armaan! No!"

"What? Just one last question please?" They had just reached her home but Armaan wouldn't let her out without her answering one final question.

"Fine one more, that's it." She gave up arguing against him.

"Okay, how many boyfriends have you had?"

"Armaan!" she wasn't expecting that question.

"Gosh woman, I know you love my name but you don't need to scream it. You said I could ask one more question and that's the one I want answered, so go on." He hid his smile seeing her red face.

"Fine. I have had a few boyfriends but it never lasted long. Plus it was all in high school and some in college. I haven't dated a guy for the past 2 years. Happy?"

"Did you like them a lot?"

She frowned at his question, "That's more than one question," Armaan pouted a little, "Okay fine, yes when I was dating them I did like them a lot but it was nothing too serious. Plus we both knew it wouldn't last." Armaan breathed in relief, "So now your turn did you ever have that girl that you loved a lot?"

Armaan smiled softly, "No I have dated lots of girls but never was too serious with them to love them. But I might love the girl that I might have soon." Naya looked away smiling, knowing who he was talking about.

"I have to go." Armaan nodded understandingly. She opened the door and was about to step out when Armaan called her, she turned back around and raised her eyebrows in question. He moved forward and pecked her on her cheek lightly, stunning her.

"Goodnight." He breathed in her ear moving back, grinning at her dazed face. She blushed and got out of the car with a smile on her face. As soon as she got inside her home, Armaan drove towards his home.

He felt like a huge burden just lifted off his chest, he felt at peace. For once, his parents' decision actually benefited him along with them. He knew if he gave it a chance she would be the right girl for him, he would give it a chance, he wasn't going to let his happiness get destroyed again. This could be the girl for him, he was sure of it. He would let go of the past and move on, he would move on from her. He would forget the past; he would forget his love for her.

...

I Really Love The Update :)) Sorry Zarq For This Small Comment :)