Chapter 4: Housemate Troubles
She turned around and stomped back towards his window while giving him her best glare. "What did you just call me?"
He only smirked, as if he found it highly amusing to see her flustered and angry. "I will repeat it for you since your hearing seems to be messed up…I said…Now I. Don't. Have. To. Worry. Abou–"
"I know what you said!" She snapped angrily and gave Reihana a fleeting look. She had a finger over her lips and pulled out a bobby pin from her hair with the other before winking at her and dropping it out the window.
Her lips pulled up in slow, small smirk as she walked around the car and picked the bobby pin up, before poking it inside the valve stem, watching satisfied as slowly the tire of his car started deflating.
"What the!"
She heard his door slam and got up, putting her hands on her hips as he came up next to her and watched the now deflated tire with an angry expression on his face. "Now you don't have to worry about putting trash in your car because either way, it's not going anywhere." She perked up and walked around him.
"Reihana, you coming?!" She smiled and turned back around to hail a cab as Reihana caught up to her. She was all too aware of his angry glare on her back.
And all too aware of the unwanted tingles it was causing to shoot up and down her spine.
****
"This is stupid." She grumbled for the umpteenth time while slamming her book shut and sighing sullenly. Reihana got up off her bed and looked out through her French windows. "Tell me about it! Let's go for a swim."
Right when she was about to tell her she was crazy to even think about swimming in this weather, her cell phone started blaring.
"Yes, Bua ji!" She quipped into the phone.
"Sanka Devi! Listen, I have to leave for Lucknow tomorrow for a few weeks for a wedding. Will you be able to come with me?"
A wedding? Tomorrow? Lucknow? "But Bua ji, I've got exams next week."
There was silence on the other line, and for a second she almost thought she'd hung up on her. "Then you need to find a place to stay at for a month."
"WHAT?!"
Khushi listened with her mouth hanging open as Bua ji rambled on about how she was too young to live in a house all by herself for a whole month and how she wouldn't be able to handle the cleaning or the cooking.
"So…you want me to find a place to stay at for one whole month? But that's crazy!"
"What? You need a place to stay at for a month?" Reihana spoke up.
She nodded absentmindedly, still trying to figure out where exactly she was going to stay for the next month when Reihana grabbed the phone out of her hands and started speaking enthusiastically to Bua ji.
"Yes…yes…she can…no we will come over now…no, it's no problem at all! Of course Bua ji!…okay!"
Khushi raised her eyebrows at her curiously as she handed her phone back to her and grabbed her purse and phone. "Where are you going? And what did you and Bua ji talk about?"
"We're going to your house to get your clothes."
"WHAT?!"
"Yeah, you're going to stay here for the next month."
****
Every body's hands froze mid-air as Reihana and Khushi walked up to the dining table. She shifted her feet, feeling highly uncomfortable under everyone's curious gazes and trying to ignore Arnav's hard glare.
"Everyone, this is Khushi, she is going to be staying here for the next month." Reihana explained briefly before tugging her hand and sitting down on one of the empty chairs at the table.
"Actually," she started, feeling the need to explain further, "my Bua ji is a wedding planner, so she has to go to Lucknow for the next wedding that she is planning. I would have gone with Bua ji but we've got exams next week, so I hope you don't mind if I…"
The eldest lady out of everyone seemed to be the first one to get out of her shock because she stood up with a smile and walked over to her before pulling her into a hug.
"It's okay dear, you're welcome to stay as long as you want."
Arnav groaned.
****
Hot water cascaded down her form, easing her tense muscles as she stood under the shower, thinking about her nightmare from last night.
This was the first time she'd dreamt of him in months.
This was the first time it'd felt so vivid, the first time the fear had felt so raw.
No, he couldn't be back.
It was impossible.
She shook my head, trying to get those thoughts out of her mind, making wet strands of hair stick to her face before she turned off the water and stepped out of the shower.
She frowned, looking under the bathroom counter and behind the shower wall, she could've sworn she'd brought a towel inside with her.
Now that she thought about it…had she?
She groaned as she realized she'd left it on the bed of the guest room, which was all the way down the hall.
What was I going to do?
She opened the door and heaved a sigh of relief as she saw all the lights were turned off, which meant everyone had most likely retired to their rooms.
Moving methodically, almost robotically, she stepped out covered in nothing but a plain white shirt that she'd found hanging on one of the walls in the bathroom, and tip-toed towards the guest room slowly. Light was filtering out through the cracks of one the doors and she could only pray to God that whoever was inside didn't open the door and see her.
Of course, luck was never on her side, because Arnav opened the door at that exact moment and stepped out.
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