Just Friends-2|NEW UPDATE|pg122|no pms yet|24-3-12 - Page 78

Originally posted by: -vrshn-

its high time i update..isn't it? :)

||Chapter 21||

RECAP:

the very moment his lips touched hers, he felt her body stiffen under his arms and her hold on him tightened. Seeing her eyes that had nearly popped out, he smiled through the kiss, soon he saw her eyes slowly close, with her body relaxing under his arms, And as he felt her kissing back, he almost groaned but ended up pulling her even closer, without even realizing , the kiss deepened with the burning passion that left them breathless, when Miss.Shyla called her again, with a bewildered look she pulled away and ran out.

[Present]:

The look on her face that day was still etched in his mind and the way she managed to complete the play in a flawless manner with the dazed expression still on, he smiled, reviving them has always left him wondering if he would ever be able to relive them. But whatever followed that was an absolute Rollercoaster ride!

[Past]

That night everyone saw a very anxious Arjun at the party, he kept glancing towards the entrance obviously waiting for her. This was so not fair! they kissed and then she runs away for the play. the truth be said he himself did not know how the kiss had turned so intense, so much so that he could still feel her imprint over him. He was suddenly uninterested in anything else. All he wanted was to get out of that boring hall filled with oldies, get some fresh air and... he did not know .

Arohi was nervous, so much so that little bit of the stage fear that she had was buried into this new giddy anticipation of seeing Arjun again. Thank god for that! She had changed into a off-white knee length dress, and was rushing towards hall, when her phone rang.

Arjun had walked out of the hall into plush green lawn, he saw that his angel was on phone and was mostly 'hmm'ing probably her parents he thought, He sat there on the grass, watching her listening intently.

Life was so messed up for Arohi. You are nervous about a thing this moment and the next moment you get something bigger which makes the previous one look smaller. The same happened with her, she got a call from daddu asking her to meet him at his place this week and from his voice she could say that something was wrong. It should be what she had expected from long, but thinking that's happening scared her, she found it hard to breathe, the void she had felt whenever she thought about her parents was growing bigger. Arohi felt Arjun's presence, but she could not even bring herself to turn and look at him. She was scared that the void will eat her up, but she decided that she would not say anything to him or their friends, Last thing she wanted from them was pity. She took a deep breath and turned to him.

'who was that?' he asked as he watched her come and sit next to him. 'daddu.. ' he waited for her to continue. 'he wants me to come stay with him for a while' , 'you going?' , 'yea' she sighed. 'for how many days?' , 'for a week or two, it depends' she said. 'what?! No! you can't!' he said quickly. The ton easily made her smile, 'why not?' ,**imagine Karan stuttering with his words** 'err..m.. you can not.. u have exams.. um very important ones..' , 'really? I have already prepared' she replied enthusiastically, 'no.. no.. you always help me study, before our exams..' he said with a puppy dog face which he definitely knew melted her. She could not control her chuckles anymore. 'You, Monster, you are the worst liar ever' she said before uncontrollable laughter took over her.

'you were teasing me?' Arohi squirmed as he tickled her. Soon, both of them were out of breath and were breathing hard as they held each other to themselves. A moment of peace that was to stay. 'I will be back as soon as possible' she said. 'I will miss you' he said as he kissed her forehead. She found herself clutching his shirt tighter. She was going to miss him too, but it was important that she be there. She kissed him on his chest, 'I'll miss you too..' she whispered,

Without a confession, they were a couple, they knew it. They just did not find the necessity to do so. May be it was important to voice the depth of their feelings but it did not seem to matter at the moment. Being held by Arjun and looking into his deep brown eyes full of sincerity, she found solace, she knew she would be safe there. She did not want think further. She felt Arjun's lips leaving light kisses over her cheeks, and as he moved to her lips, they jumped apart when they heard, Sanchit call out for them. To avoid embarrassment Arohi quickly went inside the hall. 'Damn you and your stupid timing' arjun murmered as he made his way back to the same place.

Once inside, Arohi was appreciated by every one for her performance. Arjun felt himself being proud of her. Arjun being around Arohi or holding her possessively was not new for anyone there, but Shefali could easily say that something had changed between them, She could feel the warmth surrounding them, and the little blushes on Arohi's face made it too obvious.

Arohi was busy talking with her classmates when Sanchit told her that Mr.Sharma wanted to talk with her, and was waiting in the corridor. Why would Mr.Sharma want to talk with her? Must be something important, Mr.Bhagwan, what have you got in store for me, she wondered out aloud when she reached the corridor. She had barely taken five steps when a strong pair of hands pulled her behind the pillar. 'Arjun!!' she squeaked.

[Present]

It was so much fun that night. Arjun thought of all the moments he spent with her after that night, those were the happiest moments of his life but now thinking back, he felt may be he was a bit selfish, he was too wrapped up with his new feelings and relationship that he did not notice her inner struggles. Sure, he made her happy and she made him fly high. But doesn't being in a relationship mean sharing everything? Why did she think sharing happiness rather than sorrows was alone enough? Answer was as easy as Alphabets, she must have thought that we would pity her. There was so much going through her mind every time I was with her but I did not even have a clue. He felt miserable of his own behavior in the past, if only he knew where she was, he would spend rest of his life time making it up to her. Wherever she was, he knew that She needed him and he needed her without any doubt. Sighing, he shut his laptop. These thoughts were not going to lead him anywhere,

[Past]

Arohi had gone to her Daddu's place and everything happened so fast, though expected from long, it hurt her, more than she could explain, to see her parents living separately and behaving as though they have never known each other. They had wanted Arohi to come in terms with the new arrangements. It was nothing big, they had decided among themselves on who would be paying her expenses and stuffs like that. Either way she was getting paid, it did not matter on who did what. But what made a difference was that she would not get more a few hours of time to spend with them. Loneliness was going to be her one constant companion. But she had thought about Arjun and their relationship and how beautiful life would be. She had not told anyone about these proceedings so life back at mumbai will never be interrupted, she thought. And even Shefali would not know about this until the divorce is finalized, which could easily take nearly an year. He was her only escape from her loneliness.

Back in mumbai everything went the way she wanted it to. Her life was perfect, perfect Boyfriend, perfect friends, perfect everything. She had even began taking her singing lessons, over again. She loved Arjun, and everything about him was dear to her. Beginning from his family to his interest to his besharam ways of kissing her right in front of the whole college or the way he used to make every senior jealous, she loved everything about him! It all felt really natural to her, all these years they had been the same way, minus the physical relationship but now their relationship had a name, she loved it all. All these at times left her wondering how could things be this perfect with her? She was the 'unlucky' one, something wrong would soon happen and take away all the happiness from her. Sometimes these thoughts scared her so much that she would sit for hours in the terrace, talking with the brightest star that she imagined to be her brother.

But never once she gave Arjun the doubt about her insecurities.

Note : please do leave your comments.. :) :)

Originally posted by: AAKMH2

re

||Chapter 22||

[end of past] 😆

But never once she gave Arjun the doubt about her insecurities. Soon came the tornado that she had been expecting all the while. It was a month before the final proceeding of her parent's divorce, Hari Prasad uncle and the Agnihotris along with Shefali were informed about the divorce of her parents. Everyone were shocked but were more worried for Arohi, who was sitting in a corner, keeping an expressionless face. They tried convincing her parents with every possible reason but they seemed too adamant to change their decision. They had said that looking at each other reminded them of Arun and that he is no more. They did not want to live with that pain forever. She had wanted to shout, 'Don't you people remember me when you look at each other? I AM STILL ALIVE FOR GOD'S SAKE!'. But she had given up without even trying seeing the indifference for her on their faces. She had already spent enough time thinking about them and hurting herself more than before every time! She could not afford to break herself further. With that she and shefali had returned to Mumbai, she saw what she never wanted to see on their faces, pity, she never wanted it. She wanted to scream that 'She was better without her so-called parents! She could do much better without them in her life.'.

This time when she was back from mumbai, Arjun could very well feel the difference, he noticed that whenever someone was concerned about her, she used to snap back. He did not understand why, but he thought that he was reading too much into things.

But soon he noticed that she did not prefer hanging out with anyone but him. He knew something was up with her, she seemed highly volatile. Shefali was disturbed too.

Shefali was disappointed that her best friend had hid such a big thing from her for almost an year! And she had remained clueless about it all while a part of Arohi was dying inside. But their second year at college was almost ending. So she had made sure Arohi focuses more on her studies than the issues at hand. She and Arjun took extra care in opening her up, considering that they had known her all their lives helped them a lot in cheering her up. Shefali definitely could not tell Arjun everything, when Arohi herself has chosen not to tell anyone. Shefali just told him that she had fought with her parents as usual. He believed her, it wasn't hard to believe, considering the number of times she had been upset with them in the past one year.

Soon, came their summer vacation, for which Arjun had gone to manali with his family, Arohi had to visit her daddu during that time. No one knew at that time, that their lives would take a complete twist soon.

Arohi went to her daddu's place to find it decorated for a function. It did not take her hours to find out that the occasion was her engagement to Shefali's cousin, Shubam Agnihotri, a doctor, who was a trained surgeon from US. Shefali's parents were happy that Sudhir and Amrit had taken their advice on considering Arohi's future before they parted ways. Arohi was shocked, that's when it hit her that keeping her life from Mumbai, separate was a very big mistake. She tried talking to her parents but they seemed to be too involved in the preparations for the arrival of her soon-to-be-fiance. The moment he saw Arohi, Daddu began talking about how sweet this subham guy's parents were and how happy he was that she was going to be married into such a nice family. Finally, the happiness she deserved would be given to her, felt everyone. Shefali did what she could, calling Romit, they tried reaching Arjun, but no one could. When she thought everything was doomed she got a chance to talk with Subham before engagement. He was such a mature and understanding person, who said that he would allow her to break the engagement whenever she likes, when he came to know about the forced engagement and also that if it's not him, they would get her engaged to someone else. The elders planned that till the day Arohi and Subham decide that they are ready for marriage, they would stay engaged, giving them enough time to get used to each other and also settle down with their career.

Arohi returned to mumbai, a day after Arjun had come back from manali. As soon as he reached mumbai, Romit informed him about Arohi's engagement and with his parent's encouragement he took the next flight to Delhi. By then Arohi had reached mumbai. She was so tired with all the festivities, that she wanted to catch a nice day's sleep but she knew she had to meet Arjun. She had missed him so much! It had been days since they have even talked to each other, Not that it really mattered but she felt that she needed his arms around her, she needed to feel his warmth, his assurance that everything was going to be alright, though this engagement did not mean anything to her, it had tired her emotionally too. When she went to Arjun's house, she saw an anxious Rudra and Kumud , they sighed a breath of relief when they heard of what had happened, they mentally thanked Subham for all that he had done for her, indirectly to their son. They were all the more than happy to see Arohi fine. She tried calling Arjun but he kept cutting her calls. His parents told her that he was taking the next flight back to mumbai.

A completely worn out Arohi went straight to bed. The Next morning, hearing the loud bangs on her door, she came out of the bathroom wrapped in just a towel, to find a Arjun with a stubble, and sleep-deprived eyes. 'Arjun' she hugged him tight, he hugged her back, so tight as if he was never going to let her go, she moved away realizing her state, but Arjun did not seem to notice anything, he kissed her with such a force and passion that blowed Arohi's senses away, and his hold was so possessive as if his life depended upon. She was breathless, he did not even seem to realise it, he moved away from her lips and began kissing her ears and neck, frantically, muttering 'you are mine Arohi. Only mine.'. Arohi had never seen this Arjun who needed assurance that she was his, in the past two years. She held his face in his palms and kissed him with everything she had to show him just how much he meant to her. He relaxed under her touch, and slowly pulled her into a hug.

Arohi had got herself dressed and went to Arjun who was waiting for her downstairs. She hugged him from the back, 'I missed you so much', 'while getting engaged to someone else?' he asked back.

She frowned, 'Arjun..i need to tell you something..'

'you could have told me before leaving Arohi', she flinched when she realised that he had just called her 'Arohi'

'I did not know that my parents were arranging this Arjun'

'They got you engaged out of the blue?'

'yes..' , he was not even letting her complete her sentences.

'Why would they do that Arohi?'

'because.. they are want to see to that my future is settled before they..'

'your parents did not know about us?'

'no.. Arjun.. I was going to..'

'you were going to tell them once your marriage was over or did you think that I was not husband material?' he shouted at her.

'stop it Arjun! Listen to me first!' she was not liking the way he was taking the conversation.

'okay I'll listen.. but answer just one question.. Do they even know that you have a Friend named Arjun?'

'no..' she pleaded him with her eyes.. but the person that always understood her without her words had nothing but anger and disappointment in his eyes for her.

'do they even know that you know someone named Arjun?' he asked in a low disappointed tone.

She just whispered a no..

'that was all I meant to you?' he fell to the sofa. 'you are not mine..you are engaged to someone else.' He said with tears that were force its way out of his eyes.

'Arjun listen.. I already talked with Subham, he told me that I can break the engagement whenever I like. He agreed to this because if it was not him, my parents would have got me engaged to someone else! There was no guarantee that the other person would be this understanding. That is all, this engagement means nothing to me!' she cried, kneeled down in front of him.

Shefali could see Arohi struggling to tell Arjun everything. She had come to the room hearing loud voices.

'The engagement means nothing, that's is why you are still wearing the ring? Or are you going to tell me that you are wearing it coz u like the design?' he shot back

'You are being silly Arjun! Here have the ring!' he removed it and threw it away.

'NO Arohi! You don't undertand! for ten whole days I try getting inc ontact with you but I don't get through and i come back eagerly just to atleast get a glimpse of you , only to have romit say that you are engaged! I go all the way to delhi and realise that I don't even know your address! Search you like a mad man for two days and THEN receive a call that you are back and come rushing to you, only to come to know that I DO NOT HOLD ANY IMPORTACE or whatsoever in your life! Hell, My parents even introduced you as their daughter-in-law to their friends! You did not even bother mentioning my name to your parents! I feel CHEATED arohi! Nine years , we have known each other for nine years!! And the last thing I wanted to see was a God Damn ring on your finger which clearly says that you belong to SOMEONE ELSE! How could you do this me Arohi?' he held her tight by her shoulders and shook her as he talked.

'Arju.. Arjun, you are hurting me..' she choked out through her tears. He left her with a jerk and backed away from her.

'My parents knowing you is not important Arjun,'

'the HELL it is. I am not into anything ILLEGAL. I love you and I deserve atleast this much acknowledgement from your side Arohi! Please DON'T tell me that "my parents are not as important as you" shit to me!'

'what do you want me to tell Arjun? Why don't you tell me what you want to hear? I have been hearing a lot from you Arjun for once, will you listen to me!'

'I saw your parents at the airport? I tried to talk with them?'

'you did?' she was shocked.

'they clearly said that you knew your limits and what ever happened in mumbai would have no effect on your present or future. And that guys like ME work to trap girls from respectable families only to get access to their wealth'

'no Arjun.. listen'

'No Arohi.. you listen! I was silly and stupid to believe in a college crush and calling it love and I have had enough of your family already!' he shouted!

Those words of his was all she needed to break her. He was everything to her, she could not even understand what she had done to that patient Arjun of hers, But he knew one thing now, he had shut the only way of hope for her. She felt suffocated , she rushed upstairs to her room. Behind the closed doors, she fell down on her knees, with sobs racking through her. She could neither control herself nor her thoughts. The days she spent all alone, with no one to care and the day her heart broke realizing that she did not even hold a place for herself in her parent's lives. She was a mere responsibility to them, which got over the moment she gets married. All the while, she composed herself thinking that as soon as everything gets over, she would back home, into Arjun's arms. But now he himself did not want her in his life, thanks to her parents.

Arjun sensed his whole body go numb as shefali told him everything right from the divorce of her parents.

Arohi came down with her suitcase, she saw Arjun's shocked face, she knew Shefali had told him everything. 'What did you ask me Arjun? Why my parents did not know you? It was not because you did not deserve to know them but it was because they did not deserve to know you all! They know no one from here, not even my friends. Hell! They don't even know me! They don't even know what I like or don't like? Yes Arjun it was my fault that I did not acknowledge you.. I'm really sorry. I Love you and have always loved you.', 'I love you too Arohi' he said, she continued 'You were my family, my world and meant everything to me. I don't think of my parents before taking any decision but I think of you. You are really, really important to me Arjun. So much so that even the thought of living without you is unbearable to me, but I just realised that I might be able to survive as soul less body but I would not live to see you doubt me or hate me, my family has already shattered me Arjun. I Don't think I'll survive another heart break. You know Arjun? Every time I meet my family, I used to console myself saying that this pain is just for a few days and will get over as soon as I come back, meet you. But I am no longer going to have that. I'm leaving. I'm going to miss you and your family.. tell them that I loved them. They're absolutely adorable. Please tell that I am sorry to mom and dad'

'no no Arohi! You are not going anywhere. This cannot happen. I am so stupid. Slap me Arohi. Hit me. But please don't leave me. My family loves you. You are family. You cannot leave us like this. I'm an idiot! Please arohi. I'm so sorry!' He tried to take her suitcase away from her.

But Arohi was stubborn. She cannot stay here. Was all she thought. She felt suffocated. She did not have the power in her to go through anything more. She would leave, leaving her family and her life in mumbai behind.' She did not need anyone. Having anyone by your side can break you. Need to get away from here. As she said this to herself, she already began feeling the void that settled in.

'Arohi'Don't leave me'' Arjun begged.

'I should Arjun. AND it's OVER.' She left without turning back.