"He's amazing Lavanya!"
"Now you realise!"
"Honestly La! He's so good looking!"
"Better than Nikhil?"
"Way better!"
"You're over him?"
"I guess I am. He ain't worth it. He never was and I guess you were right, I was wasting my time on him."
"Wow Khushi, what's Arnav done to you."
"Nothing, that's got nothing to do with Mr Raizada, I've just realised Nikhil isn't worth it."
"Why do you always call him Mr Raizada?"
"That's his name the last time I checked."
"Khushi, we all call him Arnav, you should too!"
"You know Lavanya, when he said my name, it sounded so nice."
"He's been addressing you by your name for ages."
"No, when he called me Khushi. It sounded so nice."
"He called you Khushi!?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"He doesn't address anyone by their names, not even the guys! Khushi, don't you see! You mean something to him!"
"Don't be silly!"
Arnav was sitting in his room. He had a small place of his own in the teacher's quarters, near the dormitories. He had a pile of paper in front of him, yet his attention was diverted somewhere else.
"Arnav, get a grip! What kind of things are you thinking? She's your student and she's clearly not interested in you. But what if she does have feelings for you? Maybe she doesn't want to show them. What should I do!?"
Khushi was lying in bed. She closed her eyes and began to fall asleep. The moment her eyes shut and she was asleep the dream came back. She woke up with a start and looked towards Lavanya.
"La, wake up! Please wake up!"
"What's the matter Khushi?"
"I had the dream again!"
"Oh god, are you ok babes? Look your safe, you've got me. I'll always be here for you Khushi you know that. We've been through everything together and we always will."
Khushi started to fall asleep again. Although there was no space for two, Lavanya moved up and allowed Khushi to get into her bed.
Lavanya thought for a moment and then she too began to fall asleep again.
"You'll get over everything Khushi, I promise you."
Khushi was an orphan. Her parents had died when she was 8. One day she left for school and came back to find her parents dead on the floor of the living room. She searched for her 15 year old brother, but couldn't find him. Unable to think, she ran out of their house and ran all the way to Lavanya's which was about 2 blocks away. She knocked on the door, crying her eyes out. Lavanya's dad opened the door.
"Khushi? What's the matter darling?"
"Ma, Papa!"
"What happened?"
Khushi was unable to say any more. Lavanya's dad called Lavanya's mom who came and took Khushi inside. Lavanya's dad made his way to Khushi's house, only to find his best friend and his wife dead on the floor. He called for the police and ambulance. They were murdered.
That was the day Khushi lost all. She assumed her brother was alive, but where she didn't know. Lavanya's parents adopted Khushi. Khushi and Lavanya grew up together, they were best friends and now sisters and both loved each other dearly. If one cried, so did the other. If one laughed so did the other. They shared everything with each other.
Everything that belonged to Khushi's parents was transferred to her name. Yet their money was never used. The Kashap's never used Khushi's money on her. It was all in her account waiting for her to use once she was old enough. They bought Khushi up as their own. Khushi didn't want to carry on and get a degree yet the Kashap's insisted that she continued and got herself an education. Luckily they didn't have to pay as Khushi managed to get herself a scholarship. She was delighted. Never in her life did Khushi feel that she had lost her parents. The Kashap's were her parents and she loved them. There was nothing that could ever tear her away from them.
On the other hand, there was Arnav. Arnav Singh Raizada. You must have heard the name. His parents too had died when he was 14. He however was taken in by his maternal grandmother. His uncle was their, his aunt; he had a cousin that was a few months younger than him, named Akaash. But the person he loved the most was his older sister, Anjali. His sister meant everything to him. A few months back she had got married to the man she married the most, Shyam. Akaash too had got married to a lovely lady named Payal. The unity in their family was amazing. So much love! However everyone was worried. Akaash had got married, yet Arnav who was older refused to do so. Originally, the family had wanted Arnav to marry Payal, but when he refused, Akaash had got to know her and had fallen in love with her. Arnav simply claimed he was waiting for the right women.
Arnav father was rich. Scrap that, he was very rich. His father had started a business and had his wife's brother handling it for him. The business was for Arnav. He wanted Arnav to take over the business and make it successful. AR designs were Arnav's life. Once he got his degree from America, he worked his butt of to make it successful and within the first year, AR designs was huge. Arnav never wanted to be a lecturer, but had only come because the main governor of the school was a close family friend who felt that Arnav was the perfect person. Arnav couldn't refuse. That's why he was here now.
Maybe it was coincidence or maybe it was fate, but Arnav felt that he was finally getting close to finding the women he was looking for after joining the university.
But who could this woman be? Where was she?
252