RosesHaveThorns#2(AR) Note: Page128 24th September - Page 45

Riddhima slumped on to her bed mentally exhausted; she checked the time to see it reading 11:34pm. She sighed closing her eyes, hoping to get some rest. She had spent all weekend using Armaan notes to catch up on what she had missed, there were a lot of them, but she stayed in her room and made sure she got through all of them. She didn't talk to anyone and only took short breaks to get some food, or have a bathroom break, she was really in to all the studying that she didn't even realise herself what she was doing. All she knew was that she wanted to revise all those notes but at the same time she didn't comprehend that fact that she wanted to revise. It seemed to slip out of her mind. And now all she wanted to do was get some sleep before she would head off to school tomorrow morning, she was dreading it, but only one person came in to her mind when thinking about it, Armaan. She hadn't seen him or spoken to him after Friday morning, and she felt weird? She was utterly confused.

"Armaan! It's 11:45, at least now put down the phone." Naya was sitting on her bed with her back against the headboard, smiling.

"Nope, I want to talk to you all night. I love the sound of your voice." He sighed dreamily.

"Listen Mr Filmy, you got Uni tomorrow unlike me, so I suggest you get some sleep now or you will be exhausted in the morning. And then don't come complaining to me saying you're tired." She bossed.

"Of course I will blame you. It's all your fault I don't get any sleep at night, when I'm awake I talk and see you, and when I'm trying to sleep, you invade my dreams making it impossible." Armaan teased.

"Armaan!" He laughed loudly hearing her annoyed tone.

"Okay, okay I'm done with the teasing. Now tell me how did you find the date last night?"

Naya smiled slyly, it was her turn to have the fun, "That was a date?"

Armaan's face dropped hearing her, "Of course it was a date. Why? Didn't you like it?" he asked confused.

"Oh, never mind. My opinion doesn't matter, erm it was good Armaan." She put a hand over her mouth to control her laughter imagining his face.

"Good?" Armaan almost jumped out of bed, hearing that response, "That's it? Just good?"

"Of course, what else did you want me to say?"

"Romantic, beautiful, one of the best dates of your life, maybe?"

Naya grinned mischievously at a new thought, "Well I can't say what it isn't."

"What?!" She started laughing hearing his stunned voice, it didn't take long for Armaan to finally realise it was her way of getting him back. "Ha-ha go on, carry on laughing." He frowned.

"Aw is baby upset?" she said in a childish voice. He nodded cutely, as if she was there and could see him. "Good. You deserve it for annoying me so much."

"Whatever. Listen, come with me to Uni tomorrow."

"Why?" she asked confused.

"Because I want to introduce my girlfriend to everyone," Armaan grinned knowing she was blushing deep red right now, "So will you come?" he requested earnestly.

"Okay, I will."

"Good, I will pick you up tomorrow, be ready by 9:45, okay?"

"Sure, now good night."

"Do we have to go to sleep?" he whined.

"Armaan!" She said in a mother-like fashion.

He mumbled in annoyance, "Fine, good night."

She giggled at his state, "Armaan?"

"Yeah?"

"I had a great time last night. It was the best date. Good night." She quickly cut the phone off shyly, making Armaan's dimple appear. He sighed staring the phone, the feeling he was having inside him was not one that he wanted to disappear. He closed his eyes, smiling, satisfied, and waiting for the next day to begin with her.

...

"Naya, calm down. There's nothing to be worried about." Armaan tried to reassure her, but it didn't work. They were standing in front of the University, as Armaan tried to calm Naya down. She was really nervous; she was meeting his friends for the first time, what if they didn't like her? What if Armaan broke up with her because his friends didn't like her? She didn't want to lose him; they had gotten really close over the weekend and she thought she was starting to like him.

"Easy for you to say, you're not the one in my state." She mumbled.

"Ha, really? You should've seen my state in front of your dad when I picked you up for our date on Saturday; I swear I almost wet my pants." Naya chuckled slightly, remembering when he had that awkward moment with her father at the door when he came to pick her up, his expressions were priceless. He smiled seeing her relax a little and reached to hold her hand, he squeezed it slightly to sooth her, "Don't worry, I'm here, no one will say anything to you. They will all love you." She smiled at his tender words and they both walked in to the campus, hand in hand.

Rahul was the first one to spot them and knew instantly who the girl was with Armaan, "Hey Armaan, who's this beautiful lady?" Their friends turned their focus on the couple, making Naya blush at Rahul's comment and everyone's stare.

Armaan grinned thanking his stars for bringing Rahul in to this world; he knew his friend would be there to lighten the tension for Naya, "This is Naya, my girlfriend." Everyone's eyes went wide for a mere second, and then all eyes were on her, analysing her. Naya blushed even redder, feeling uncomfortable under everyone's stare. After a few seconds of awkward staring and silences, everyone's face broke in to huge smiles.

"Wow, lucky you Armaan."

"She's really pretty."

"Hey Naya, nice to meet you."

Armaan sighed in relief hearing everyone's approval towards her; that was one less thing she had to worry about. Armaan saw Rahul raise his eyebrows at him in question, and he just nodded making Rahul smile and give him a thumbs up.

"Okay, okay, enough of all of your jabbering. Don't get too used to her okay, she's my girlfriend." He pulled her towards him possessively making his friends roll their eyes at his little childish act and Naya blush. Her phone rang suddenly and she took it out of her jeans pocket to answer it.

"Hello?" the person on the other line said something making her frown, "Okay, yeah I will be there. Bye." She cut off the phone and looked at a confused Armaan, "Sorry, my friend rang. I have to go to Uni because my professors announced a meeting for all the people doing my course, apparently it's something important. I will be back in a bit, okay?" Armaan nodded upset by the news; he really wanted to spend the day with her. She could sense the disappoint he had and hugged him, "Its only for a little while, I'm sorry."

He hugged her back, "It's okay, it's not your fault. But come back soon okay?" She nodded and he kissed her on the cheek making her blush and his friends go 'oohhh', she walked off to find a taxi embarrassed after mumbling a small bye to everyone. The school bell rang and everyone headed off to their next lecture. Since Armaan's time table didn't start till 10:30, he didn't have to go tutorial and went to his first lecture of the day, but what he didn't notice was a pair of eyes watching him since he walked in to the grounds.

Riddhima had noticed him walk with a girl, both holding hands and focused her attention on them ignoring her friends continuous talking. There was something different, different about the way he was behaving, the way he walking, talking, laughing. The way he was with her, the way he admired her. She had never seen him like that with anyone before; the girl was bringing out a new side of him. Was it a better side? He seemed... happy. Satisfied. Was that a good thing? She saw him kiss the girl on the cheek and before she could react, the bell rang. She mumbled a quick bye to her friends and walked in to the building.

Armaan walked in to the room with a smile on his face portraying his emotions. He took his seat next to Riddhima, too absorbed in his own thought to actually acknowledge her presence; all he could think about was how Naya made him feel. He never felt like this before, it was only 3 days since he had first met her, but it felt forever. What was happening to him? He could hear the professor's voice in the background, and snapped out of his thoughts to pay attention.

"So, new girlfriend?" He turned to his side to see Riddhima looking ahead, taking notes.

"Yeah, her name's Naya. Why? Jealous?" he replied back.

Riddhima scoffed, "Yeah right. I feel sorry for the girl; you will probably break her heart like you did to all those other girls. Poor girl."

"No I won't. I really like her and I don't plan on losing her." He stated simply, he continued writing down the notes from the lecture. Riddhima didn't bother to reply back. They both remained in silence whilst they listened to the lecture, ignoring each others company. "Did you get my notes?" Riddhima paused for a moment but then continued with her task, ignoring his question, "I take that as a yes then?" No reply.

He sighed knowing he wouldn't get any response and continued listening to the lecture, taking down some more notes. Before he knew it the lecture ended and it was time for lunch, he saw Riddhima pack her stuff and stand up to leave the room. He bent down under the desk to grab his bag, and when he looked up he saw a pile of notes in front of him. His notes, which he'd given to Riddhima. Grinning, he looked around to see her gone; he put the notes in his bag and walked out on to the field towards his friends.

"Armaan!" he turned around towards the source of the voice to see Naya running towards him.

"Hey what's wrong?" He asked confused.

"I need to tell you something." He gestured her to continue, "I need to go to America for a while. My course is doing this study which requires me to go to America to work on a special case. I was lucky to get this shot and they needed an answer right away and I said yes. I'm sorry." She said in a small voice, not daring to look in to his eyes.

Armaan felt like his happiness was being taken away from him yet again, why did it always happen to him? "How long for?" he managed to speak out.

"I don't know. It could be weeks, months." Months?! How would he survive without her for so long? He had grown so attached to her, he felt like crying.

"When you going?"

She finally looked up at him, "In a couple of hours. My flight is at 4.30." She could how much it hurt him and she wished she could take it away, but she couldn't now. "I'm sorry." She said again.

They stood in silence when Armaan finally managed to give a smile, "Don't be, you had a choice and you chose it. If I was in your position I would've said the same thing. We both want the best for our careers, and we decided to put it first, I'm not letting you lose this opportunity because of me. You go, but you better be back or I will come to America and drag you back." They both chuckled at his joke, and she moved forward to hug him which he happily returned. He grabbed her hand and started walking towards his car.

"Armaan, where are we going?" Naya asked following him.

"Well we are going to spend some time together before you go. I'm not wasting anymore time, and I will do the honours of dropping you off at the airport."

Naya stopped him before he could place her in the car, "What? No Armaan, you have lectures to go to. I thought we said we would put our studies first." He reminded him.

"Yeah well, it's only half a day anyway. Plus I only miss one lecture; I can get the notes off someone else." Before she could argue, he kissed on her cheek and opened the car door for her. She sighed in defeat and got in, he closed the door and went round to side and drove off. Riddhima saw Naya run up to Armaan and could tell it weren't a happy conversation they were having. But then she saw her hugging him and them two smiling. What were they talking about?

"So Ri, what do you think?"

"Huh?" she turned her attention back to group and realised Vicky had asked her something, "What did you say? I didn't hear properly."

"Yeah I'm not surprised. You hardly have time for us anymore Ri. You are so caught up in your 'studies' that you forgotten all about us. Are you sure you're really doing this so that your sister doesn't chuck you out, or are you actually enjoying it?" he accused.

Riddhima frowned hearing his harsh words, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ignore you all. I just been busy, these lectures are getting to my head."

"Then take a break, come with us to have a smoke in town."

"I can't. I have a lecture to go to." She said apologetically.

"Of course. Just go sod off to your lectures Ri, forget we even exist." He snapped at her. She was about to justify herself when she saw Armaan give Naya a kiss on the cheek and get in the car with her.

"Actually, let's go. One lecture won't make much of a difference."

"Really?" Vicky asked her shocked by the sudden change of mind.

"Yeah come on." She dragged him out of the grounds with their friends tagging along. She had no idea what she was doing but it felt right.

''..

Armaan was driving back from the airport with a mixture of emotions running through him. He was upset that she was leaving, he was just starting to know her and he already felt incomplete without her, weird right? He knew it sounded filmy, but that was how he felt; he never thought he would feel like this again, he was happy to finally find someone he could be happy with. He was happy that he found someone who reciprocated the same feelings as him; he remembered their little moment in the airport and smiled'

Armaan and Naya spent the rest of the day together before she would have to leave. He took her shopping, then to an ice cream parlour, and just sat down and talked to her. They talked about everything, as much as they could fit in in the time they had left together. They told each other everything, yet nothing; they still didn't express how they felt for one another. Armaan decided before she went he would tell her exactly how he felt, he didn't know when he would see her again, and he didn't want her to think he didn't care for her. They reached the airport and went through the luggage check in silence, and now it was time for her to go. She was in the queue to hand ticket to go through to the waiting area, when Armaan grabbed her hand and pulled her out.

"Armaan what's wrong?" She was confused by his action.

"Nothing, I need to tell you something." He breathed in slightly preparing himself for what he was about to say, "I like you. A lot. More than any other girl I have dated, you are different. And I can't wait to see where this relationship leads us." He waited for her reply, dreading any kind of rejection.

Finally she gave him a small smile and said, "Thank you." She was about to walk off when he stopped her once again.

"Wait, what? Thank you? That's it?!" He was stunned by her reply. He'd rather have her reject him, than have that as a response. It hurt his ego bad.

"Yeah, what else do you expect me to say?" she asked in mock innocence, he narrowed his eyes at her knowing what she was doing. He grabbed her by the waist and brought her nearer to him; Naya was shocked by his sudden boldness but didn't show it.

"Maybe that you feel the same way?" He suggested bringing his face closer to hers.

Naya smiled knowing his plan, but was one step ahead. She wrapped her arms around his neck drawing him even closer, surprising him even more, "Not so fast mister." She brought her lips just inch away from his, "You are gonna have to earn it first. You just have to wait till I get back. Bye." She breathed on his lips, making his eyes go wide, and goose bumps appear on his skin. She looked up in to his eyes and gave him a quick wink; she pecked him and the cheek and ran off giggling at his frozen state. He finally got out of the spell quick enough to grin and wink back at her before she went out of his sight. He sighed and walked out of the airport, feeling light and content, he knew they were steady now, they both knew about each other's feelings and didn't need to worry about whether or not the other liked them. Even though they were more than 1000 miles away, it didn't matter, as long as they knew they weren't nothing for each other that's what mattered. Plus they would be able to call each other every day, so it wasn't like they were never going to hear or speak to each other again'

He stopped the car as he saw the traffic light go red, and saw a familiar figure. He brought his head forward to get a closer look and saw a figure, definitely female, with a bottle in her hand, wobbling down the street, mumbling to herself. He waited until she stepped in to the light of the street lamp so he could her face, and when he did he regretted it. He parked his car on the side of the pavement, and got out and started walking towards her.

"Riddhima?" He saw her trip, dropping the bottle of alcohol and her bag, and fall against a wall trying to steady herself, "Riddhima!" he ran up to her, catching her before she fell.

She looked up at him, scrunching her eyebrows, "Who are you?" she asked in a slurred voice, slowly closing her eyes.

Armaan shook her to keep her conscious, "Ridhima, what happened? Come on, let's go and get some help." She just giggled in response, smiling, and then her body became a flop. "Riddhima, come on. Wake up!" He was completely terrified, what happened to her? He shook her, tapped her on her face whilst calling out her name, trying to get some response from her, but nothing.

The worried side got a hold of him, and he lifted her in his arms, grabbing her bag, and took her to his car. She remained still as a dead body, making Armaan even more concerned about her health at this stage. He placed her in the passenger seat, placing her bag near her feet when he saw a small packet drop out. He picked it up, and received the third shock of the day; it had white powder in it. Hoping it wasn't what he thought it was, he opened it and sniffed it slightly, almost chocking by the horrific smell. He grabbed her arm, rolling up the sleeve to see her upper arm all red and some blotches of wet blood there. He knew she smoked, but he didn't know she did drugs too! That was even more dangerous than just doing drugs, having both of them could kill her. He looked at her in pain and fear, what had happened to his best friend? He pushed her hair off of her face softly, and closed the door. He wiped the tear that escaped from his eyes, and looked at the packet in his hand; he gave a disgusted look and threw it on the pavement before getting in to the car and driving off. He drove rapidly towards her home; luckily he still remembered the address, watching her from time to time hoping for some kind of movement but she didn't move an inch. He drove even faster and reached her home in less than 10 minutes. He picked her up, and almost ran to the front door. He managed to ring the bell, and tried shaking her, whispering her name hoping she would come back to her senses.

Anjali got up from the sofa hearing the door bell, and ran to it hoping it was her sister, but what she hoped for wasn't in front of her. Instead it was a man, with a dead looking body in his arms which sadly carried the face for her sister. Tears started appearing in her eyes, and she started to sob quietly.

"I found her on one of the pavements. She was drunk and had taken some drugs; by the time I got to her she fainted in my arms." Hearing his words made her cry out, and she covered her mouth with her palm. "Where's her bedroom?" Armaan asked urgently. She pointed to the door on top of the stairs and he ran towards it, Riddhima still in his arms, with Anjali following. He laid her on the bed, dropping her bag on the floor. He sat next to her, and touched her arm, "We should call a doctor." He said turning to face Anjali.

His words alerted her and she quickly stopped him before he could do anything, "No, we can't. If they find any sign of drugs in her, she could get sent down. I don't want to lose her anymore than I already have. I have a first aid kit downstairs, I will check her." Armaan thought for a second and then nodded reluctantly knowing she was right. She ran downstairs and grabbed the first aid kit and some of her medical equipment. Armaan stood up so she could sit beside Riddhima and do a check up on her. She wiped the dry blood with a shaky hand, scared if she would hurt her. Armaan watched carefully as he saw her clean her up; he could see the terror in her eyes, in her actions. She was scared just as much as he was. She took out her stethoscope, and checked her heartbeat to see if it were regular. And then got out her small torch to check her eyes, to see any signs of a bad reaction. After checking, she put it away and started bandaging up her arm.

"She's always like this." Her sudden voice almost made Armaan jump; she looked at him and gave a weak smile, "Every night. It hurts me so much to see her like this, but she doesn't let me help. She keeps pushing me away, making me feel like an outsider." She finished bandaging it and put away her equipment. She caressed Riddhima's hair, and looked at him once again, but this time not hiding her emotions, "What can I do? Why her? Why my sister?" She pleaded desperately. She cried covering her face with her hands, Armaan walked up to her, and hugged her, trying to sooth her. He helped her stand up and took her downstairs so their voices wouldn't disturb Riddhima; he made her sit on the sofa, still soothing her. But she didn't stop crying, she let it all out today, she finally had a shoulder to cry on, even though it wasn't the one she wanted.

When her crying started to slow down, he asked her softly, "Where are your parents Anjali? Did you ring them yet? Do they know about her state?" He felt her body go rigid, and saw her head snap up, looking at him as if he had a knife in his hand. Her eyes started to produce more tears whilst her face displayed astonishment. He looked at her confused wondering why she reacted like that; all he did was ask about their parents, what was so wrong about that?

"You don't know?" Her question puzzled him more, what didn't he know?

"Know what?" he asked seriously. His question made her produce silent tears and her expression turned to pain.

"Armaan, our parents are gone." She whispere.

"Gone? Gone where?" Anjali started crying even more, "Anjali where are they gone? Tell me dammit!"

"They're dead. They died in a car accident almost 4 months ago."

"What?" The news was new to him. He felt a rage of emotions surge through him, horror, pain, sympathy, confusion, hurt.

"W-we were on hol-holiday when it happened. Rid-dhima came to stay for the summer and-and 3 weeks before the summer ended they had an accident and di-died on the spot." She hiccupped between her cries. "Didn't she tell you?"

Her words didn't play through his mind; his thoughts were somewhere else, at a memory...

It had been a few days now since they returned to University and Riddhima's sudden change. Armaan never got a chance to speak to Riddhima, she kept on ignoring him or making herself busy with her friends, making sure she wouldn't have to see him. But now he was fed up, what had he done to get this? He was in a lecture when he saw her wandering the corridors alone, he took the opportunity and ask the professor if he could go to the restroom, he granted im permission and he walked out. He ran up behind her and grabbed her arm, and pulled her in to a nearby empty room. Riddhima wasn't expecting this and didn't have enough time to realise what was happening and break away from him. He pushed her in, and locked the door.

"What the f**k do you think you are doing?" He was taken aback by her harsh tone and words, she never used to swear. He knew she knew all the swear words but she never used to like to use them.

"What am I doing!? What are you doing Riddhima? What the hell happened to you? Why are being like this?"

"It has nothing to do with you Armaan." She said blankly. "Now let me out of here." She moved towards the door but he blocked her way.

"It has everything to do with me Riddhima. You are ignoring me. Why?" she looked away from him, not planning on telling him anything, he sighed, "I'm your friend Riddhima. Please tell me." He pleaded, but it just infuriated Riddhima even more.

"Friend? Some friend you are. You are useless, a good-for-nothing, you are just a waste of space. No wonder your parents ignore you, you don't exist to them Armaan. You are nothing to them, you are nothing to me," She spat at him, not affected by his wounded expression, "They don't need you Armaan, and neither do I." They both remained in silence staring at each other, suddenly his hurt expression changed to blankness with his eyes showing hatred, hatred for her.

He stepped up to her until they were just inches away, looking down at her face which remained unaffected by his near presence, "Fine, I will never bother you again Miss Riddhima Gupta. I shall let you be. The hatred you feel towards me, well, let's just say it mutual now. I hate you Riddhima, and I never want to see you again." With that, he stormed out of the room, and her life...

How could he do this? How could he jump to such conclusions without knowing the whole truth? He despised her for what she said, but he didn't even get to know why she did it. How could he not she was pain? Of course, Riddhima would never become like this unless something traumatic happened, how could he have realised that? When his best friend was destroying her life, he was just thinking about his own feelings. He didn't even think for a moment after what she said, why she said it. They were best friends, and he couldn't see that there was a major reason behind her behaviour. All he cared about was how much he was hurt. But what about her? He felt disgusted with his behaviour, he ignored her and let her deal with it all by herself and it lead her to this.

"So this is why she's like this." Anjali nodded in affirmative.

"After their death, that's when she started doing all the drugs, and drinking. When we came back here she was quiet for a few days, just ate and slept. But then she met Vicky and his friends and she used to come home late at night, completely drunk. I tried to help her but she wouldn't let me, then I finally had the courage to at least save her education, I blackmailed her in to going to lectures by saying I would throw her out of the house. It worked, and I'm glad that I did it, even though she hates me even more, I'm glad I saved one part of her. I have known my sister all my life, and I know something like this wouldn't lead her to becoming this, it's just not her. She copes, she's strong. If there is another reason, then what is it? Why can't she tell me?" She cried for a while, leaving Armaan in his thoughts. After some time, she wiped away her tears, and breathed in trying to handle herself, "They are not good people Armaan. The Vicky guy and his friends. They will hurt my sister."

"I know." He barely whispered, his blood boiling, thinking about what Vicky has done to Riddhima. He looked at Anjali, calmer, and held her hand "I'm sorry Anjali, for not being there. For Riddhima, for you both. But I will make it up to you, I will change her and bring the old Riddhima back, I will take care of her. I promise. Nothing will make me stop; I will do this for all of us."

Anjali smiled at him, overjoyed by the love and care he had for them, she was so glad someone else cared for Riddhima as well as her. She knew she wasn't alone in this anymore, someone would be there to help her, to make her strong again to bring her sister back. "Thank you. And I know you will succeed, I trust you enough." Armaan smiled back, grateful by the amount of trust she had on a guy she didn't know. She sniffed and looked at the clock on the wall, it read 9pm. She realised it was pretty late and they should go get some rest. "Armaan, it's getting late. You should go home now."

He glanced at the clock and was shocked at how long he had been here for, "Yeah I should." They both got up and were about to step towards the front door when Armaan stopped, "Actually is it okay if I go check on her? I don't think I will be able to sleep not knowing how she is." He admitted.

Anjali smiled at his anxiousness, "Yeah sure. Just close the door when you leave, and if you see any bad sign on her just yell for me okay? I will be in my room." Armaan nodded. They both went up the stairs and said goodnight before disappearing in to different rooms.

He entered Riddhima's room shutting the door quietly, trying not to wake her up. He walked up to her bed and sat beside her, she was sleeping peacefully but with no smile dawning upon her face. He felt tears filling up his eyes remembering the past few hours. If he hadn't seen her, he wouldn't have realised how wrong he was, and they still would've hated each other, which would've lead to Riddhima continuing doing drugs until it brought her death. He winced of the thought of her dead body, it was all his fault. He wasn't there to support her through all this, comfort her. When he was in pain, she was there for him always, then how could he not do the same? He smiled memorising how much she used to love her parents'

"Armaan!" She hugged him almost knocking him over, shocking him by the sudden attack.

"Someone's happy today." She nodded grinning, "Are you going to tell me what?"

"Well I was looking through my room, and I found these." She passed him a bunch of photographs, "It's of me, Anjali di, and mom and dad. Look." He smiled at her excitement, and looked through the photos. There was a one when it was all four of them, and the rest where them separately and in pairs of three's. He noticed the glint of happiness in her eyes in the photos as she hugged her family members. He chuckled at the one where she was on the floor with a 'O' shape mouth, and Anjali was standing laughing at her. They were all one big happy family. "They are all from different moments, dad used to find any chance to take pictures especially of important moments that we would love to see 10 years later." He smiled seeing the one where she only around 3-4 years old and had a pink frock and 2 pigtails hanging from the side of her head.

"These are so cute, Atti. You were so adorable when you were a kid. Look at those pigtails" Riddhima frowned.

"Armaan, don't start again okay?" she warned.

"Start what?" He said innocently, Riddhima narrowed his eyes at him, "Okay fine. But they are great; you guys look so good together." Riddhima smiled hearing his words, thanking him as he passed back the photos. "So was this why you were happy? Because you found some photos?" He teased slightly.

"Shut up Armaan. I get excited over anything." They started to walk towards the University.

"You can say that again." He mumbled.

"Armaan!" and it of course ended up another cat and mouse chase'

Remembering all they had been through, he felt like he let her down, no he knew he let her down. He didn't do his bit for their friendship, it was always her. When he had the chance, he didn't even see it and let it go. He couldn't believe because her little words, he broke everything kind of relation with her, he should've known that it wasn't his Riddhima saying that, it was the hurt Riddhima, the transformed Riddhima. But he was hurt, how else was he going to react? Anyone in his place would've reacted similarly if not exactly the same; they wouldn't have forgiven her easily. But now seeing her in this state brought all those warm feelings he had for her, made him realise that he didn't hate her, he still cared about her and couldn't see her in pain. She was still his friend.

The worst part for him right now was he was on his way to getting her back, but he messed it up. He went against his plan and ignored her all weekend, in school because he was so caught up in his own life. If he hadn't done that, she may have not been in this position. But this time he wouldn't let anything get in the way. He knew the risk of repeating his mistake, and he didn't want her to get any more pain. He would bring her back, even if it took weeks, months, he would make her happy again. He would make her consider him as her friend again, even if it was the last thing he would do. He was not going to ruin it this time.

He kissed her forehead lightly, moving her strands off of her face, making her fidget a little. He got up and tucked her in properly, and walked out but not before glancing at her one more time. He left the house as a different person, he was her Armaan again and he would always be. The old Riddhima would come back; he was set on doing it.

...

Okay so there's the chapter, a lot happened of course.😆 Please do let me know what you think of it, i put a lot of effort in this chapter and it took me FOREVER to write, so i would aprreciate it if you left me your thoughts on it :)

I love you meri Devilish Angel! You are the best! 😃 I can't believe you actually updated this! Like, wow! You are really one of the best writers on here! 😃 Now be happy that I'm commenting today. Otherwise I was thinking about reading and commenting during the weekend. 😆

Okay. So I'm not gonna lie here. I h-a-t-e-d the Armaan-Naya scenes. No, I'm not saying you wrote it bad but it was making me soo mad when Armaan was getting all lovey-dovey with Naya. Like seriously! If he's feeling so 'amazing' with Naya, how the heck is he gonna feel with Riddhima? Just wondering. 😳 Anyways. I just loved how Riddhima got all jealous seeing Armaan and Naya together. That's like a dream come true for me! 😆 But I freakin despise that Vicky. That @!#%!@@#! 😡 He's spoiled my Riddhima yaar.

OMG! I feel soo bad for Riddhima. Like seriously. Losing your parents like that is a not a good feeling. Now I see why she's like that. But I'm glad Armaan realized his mistake and is gonna try to bring Riddhima back. I really want to see what he does and HOW he falls for Riddhima now!

Zarqaa. Warning chhe. Update super soon. I wanna read more! And thanks for the PM. Love you chweetu.

Medzi.