Rules Of Attraction ( Updated Part 21)- Pg 139 - Page 33

Khushi didn't want to get out from bed. She simply sat there, under the sheets, her head resting on her knees. It was five in the morning, a few birds could be heard outside from the window. Her brain was in turmoil, she hadn't got a wink of sleep last night. All she did was replay the events of last night, smile to herself, and cry at times. But she didn't know what to make out of hers or his actions.

She hadn't missed the tiniest tinge of admiration, every time he saw her. She hadn't missed the way his fingers lingered on her cheeks every time he pushed away a strand of hair from her face. She tried to ignore, but couldn't the way his hands had outlined her lips. She hadn't missed the way he was looking at her when she had laughed. She closed her eyes, thinking back of the moment when his thumb had pressed against her lips. She shuddered to think what could have happened, had the rain not interrupted. Would he have kissed her? She couldn't help but wonder how it would feel? The touch of his lips against her own?

Alone tear dropped from her eye. She brushed it away. Of course, she couldn't even think on those lines. She was frustrated with herself. Tired of not being able to just let go of herself. A thought crept into her mind, should she just tell him? But then, getting a special treatment from him, she couldn't live with that.

She thought that her throbbing headache could do with jog. She quickly put on a loose grey t-shirt and went down.

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Arnav's head was jammed. All his thoughts were literally struck on the image of her drenched hair, some plastered onto her face, and her trembling lips. He had tried the whole night, but he couldn't suppress his urge to hold her one more time, see her again. If truth be told, he wanted to be around her, always.

He kept jogging his way down the roads, inhaling the cool morning air. The immense greenery that NSD campus provided added to the beauty of the dark grey sky. He just had looked up to the skies, when something soft crashed onto him with full force, and knocked them both onto the dewy grass that lined the road.

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'Ow, can't you see while….Oh Hi.,' A little irritated at first, she slowed down on seeing his face beneath hers, and smiled at him sheepishly.

'So angry, right in the morning? Last night couldn't have been so bad?' Arnav asked, a small smirk cornering his lips as he desperately tried to ignore the lump in his throat, at the close proximity of her face, and her pliant body pressed down on his chest. He watched at a soft blush crept up her cheeks at the mention of last night. He slowly helped both of them up. He continued, seeing she wasn't replying, her eyes focused on the pebbles sprawled across the road.

'So, I haven't seen you jogging before, first time?'

'Yeah. Just having a bad headache, therefore,' replied Khushi, a little flushed.

They jogged together for around twenty minutes more, when a sudden call came for Arnav. She watched his face go tense, and then relax and then a look of pure joy crossed his face as he finally cut the line.

Then, he hugged her. Tightly, burying his face into her hair, he held onto her for a minute, before he finally let go, his hands still gripping her shoulders firmly.

'Khushi, I'm so happy. I can't believe….' Arnav mumbled, his words came out in rugged breaths as he continued.

'Listen, I've to go, but I'll see you later, okay?' Arnav looked down at her face, as she nodded and taking one last glance at her, he raced off towards the Guesthouse.

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Khushi looked back at his retreating figure, smiling to herself. She was missing the lack of warmth around her already. That look of pure elation on his face, and the way he had hugged her, he trusted her. Was it trust, or what….she couldn't really figure out at that very moment.

She went back to her room, changed and headed for her classes mechanically.

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'Okay guys, I've the next week's assignment for you.'

Prateik Sir went on about their next assignment. They were all sitting inside the Audio-Visual Room. They all had to visit Delhi, parts of the city and make a documentary. Khushi thought, it would be the best opportunity to get her mind off Arnav and everything else. She felt immensely happy as she made her way towards Arnav's studio.

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She waited there, waited for more than an hour. She grazed her fingers on his canvases. His painting of hers, she stared at it for some time. She sat by the window, looking at the people coming and leaving. She ran her fingers over the brushes, the paint bottle, and the dried palette. She simply stood there, looking nowhere in particular. But he never came. Two hours, and the clock kept ticking. He didn't come that evening.

Neither the next. Or the day after.

Khushi used to stand by the window of her room, looking at the window of the Guesthouse, simply for a light to turn on. For any movement of the beautiful white curtains. But all that greeted her was the cold wind. Arnav had probably been called for an emergency meeting. Probably, something urgent with his family. She tried to inject these thoughts into her senses. But she couldn't. Those three days, her heart was numbed. Numbed by the urge to see his face again, look into his black orbs, once more. It was numbed by the thought, what if he didn't return. What if he never came back? It had been a mere three days, yet it felt like months. She missed him, so much. It amazed her how this man, who had entered her life, barely weeks ago, had snuck a way right into his heart. Her heart, that ached to see him. She mentally noted to ask for his number the next time they met. That is, if there was a next time. She cried herself to sleep the third night.

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She couldn't sleep properly that night. She woke up early, went for a jog, and showered, changed into her clothes and was about to leave.

Knock. Knock knock.

Khushi literally ran to open the door, stumbling over a few clothes sprawled across the floor.

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Arnav stood there. Calm, composed, a look of pure joy enveloping his eyes. But then it changed to a look of mild shock at the sight of the woman in front of him. He took in the image of her disheveled hair. Dark circles under her eyes. Her black t-shirt practically hung loosely supported by her shoulders. And then he saw a few tears spill out of her eyes. Her lips that were clenched into a thin line, started to speak, finally.

'I hate you,' the words poured out of Khushi's mouth before she could stop herself, as her hands went to hit his chest.

Caught unaware, he was pushed back by the sudden attack of her hands.

'You couldn't so much as tell me before vanishing into thin air for three whole days,' her words came in short gasps as she continued her assault with her hands on his chest. Then she suddenly stopped, brushed away her tears harshly with the back of her hands, and then went forward and pulling him towards her, hugged him, with full force, her hands on his back, holding on to him, as her tears spilled, letting out her frustration over the last three days.

Arnav was too shocked too respond. He simply stood there, one of his arms holding on to her back, lest he fell. He didn't deny to himself however, that it felt good to have her that close, her face pressed against his chest. He could stand like that forever, if not for her persisting tears that seeped down his shirt.

'Are you okay? Tum theek ho?'

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