Armaan-Ridhima FF:The Lion and The Lamb - (Note - pg 87) - Page 28

What was that? Background music? My mind questioned me, snapping back to senses.
I am just a teenage girl and Attraction is a common thing but It's just a momentary feeling.. It will pass.. It's not here to last - I assured myself.
Snap out of it Ridzy or it will ruin you - I warned myself.

"We are back" I heard Nut's voice
Nut's, Jo and Nik were back from their sight-seeing round.

We all sat quiet, around the bonfire.
"Oye yaar..kitne boring ho tum log!" Armaan commented
"Excuse me?" Nuts, widened her eyes
"Aise bethe hai jaise ke kise ke chauthe pe bethe ho" Armaan said
"Tho kya kare?" Jo asked
"Let's play a game !! Truth or Dare!?" Armaan said, placing a bottle in the centre
"I'll turn the bottle" Jo said, and turned the bottle

The bottle went round and round and round and stopped on Nuts
"So Nuts Truth or Dare?" Nik asked
"I am a daring girl..so I'll go with DAREEE!!!" Nuts said
"Truth bolne se bada daring kam nahi hai" Nik said
"Ok fine TRUTH!" Nuts, changed her mind
"So your question is - Do you really LOVE Armaan?" Nik questioned
Armaan gave a sarcastic smile to himself hearing the question.
"What crappy question is that?" Nuts rolled her eyes
"Whatever you have to answer it" Nik said
"Armaan and me share a good rapo.. We really have a good tuning with each other.. and that's love for me..so yes I LOVE ARMAAN!" Nuts said, and dropped her head on Armaan's shoulder

I forced a smile. Armaan and Nuts really looked good together. What was I thinking 10mins back.. Me>Attraction>Armaan ?? I feel a bit guilty.

Nik turned the bottle and it stopped on Armaan.
"Yuh hu..Finally uth pahad ke neeche ah hi gaya" Nik chuckled
"DAREEE for me!" The wannbie lion said
"Nuts, give him a dare" Nik said
"BRING IT ON, BABY! I can do anything" Armaan said, confidently
"You had many girlfriends so proposing ka bahut experience bhi hoga?" Nuts asked
"So u want me to propose you again" Armaan asked back
"NO! Not me.. You have to propose - Ridhima" Nuts said, giving a wicked grin
"NAHIII!!!!!!!!" Armaan yelled in a dramatic way "Yeh mujse nahi hoga!!!!" He said with more drama
"Tumse nahi hoga tho main karr leta ho - Ridhima ko propose" Nik said, teasing Armaan
"Mera Dare hai..Main karonga!" Armaan said, pushing Nik away
"That's the first part.. second part of the dare is.." Nuts added
"Second part??" Armaan asked, confused
"Second part is Ridhima has to accept your proposal.. If she rejects you then she will give you a dare which you have to do" Nuts said
"This is cheating! Wo tho mujhe kabhi accept nahi karengi" Armaan said, irritated
"Give it a try" Jo said, encouragingly

Armaan came to me, took out a ring from his little finger and went on his knees and took my hand in his hand.
I blinked my eyes..getting nervous.
"Main pagal, stupid, idiot ho" He said
"Correct!" I said, in agreeing to what he said
"Shhh! Flow disturb math karo. Lemme start again..1..2..3... Main pagal, stupid, idiot ho jo yeh nai jaann paya ke main tumhe kitna pyaar karta ho..I LOVE U!" He said, holding my hand
My heartbeats increased hearing that.. Although I knew it's just a part of the game.
"Aur tum tum bhi mujse utna hi pyaar karti ho!" He said
Hearing that my heart beats stopped
He caught my arms and pulled me close to him
"Bolo ke jab main tumhe dekhta ho..tumhe kuch nai hota!" He said, in full filmy srk style
I remembered the times when his eyes scroll down my face - I lose my conscious
"Jab main tumhe chuutta ho tumhe kuch ehsaas nai hota"
I remembered the times he touched me - A wave passes thru my body
"Aur Jab main tumhe pyaar karta ho...Yeh tumare aankhen barr kyun aati hai?" He said
We just stared into each other's eyes..forgetting the surrounding.
He slowly put the ring in my finger and kissed it.
"Yeh pyaar nai tho aur kya hai??" He asked, shaking me
We kept our focus on each other without any distraction for quiet sometime.

Pyaar - that word ringed in my ears.
"NAHI! Yeh pyaar nahi hai" I said, and pushed him away
Yeh pyaar nahi! This is not love! I kept repeating these words to myself.
"That was so filmy Armaan but I so loved it" Jo commented
"Wo Ridzy decide karengi! So Ridzy, are you impressed? Armaan ka proposal accepted ya rejected?" Nuts asked me
I gave a thumbs up.
Armaan smiled and put his collar up
Then I slowly turned my thumbs up to thumbs down.
"Rejected! Itna ashaan nahi hai mujhe impress karna" I said, narrowing my eyes "So now I will give you - A Dare" I told Armaan
"I'm not playing this stupid game anymore" Armaan said, making a grumpy face
"Boring tied up Wannabie lion" I teased him
He stared back at me "What's the dare?" He asked

I thought for 2 mins and then threw him my lipstick "Like you can see.. there are some foreigner girls in our neighbouring camps.. So all you have to do is - go and make them apply this lipstick and get at least 3 kiss marks..on your face" I gave him his dare. The girls are gonna kill him - I Thought!
Armaan went up to a girl. I dunno what he told her but She applied the lipstick and kissed him without any hesitation.
I was left with my mouth open. How can she?
Armaan found another girl and she too kisses him.
"I should have not given such a stupid dare!" I regretted giving him this dare
He returns back after 5mins with 6/7 kiss marks all over his face.
"Looks like someone had a lot of fun" Nuts chuckled
"I'm Done!!!" Armaan said, throwing the lipstick back to me "Now that was a fun dare..Basket, You're too good" He added
"GOOOD! BUT I SAID ONLY 3 KISSES NOT SOO MANY" I said, staring at the 6/7 lipstick marks on his face
Err..I should have really not given him this task!
"Whatever" Armaan said, with attitude
And turned the bottle

The bottle went round and round and round and stopped on - ME
"You are DEAD NOW!!!" Armaan said, twisting his face wickedly
"I will go with truth" I said
"That was expected from the boring tied up chicken" He said, yawning
"DARE!!" I soon changed my mind
"Basket tumhe patha hai..Kuch saalo pahele..approx 100 years back.. inn junglo mein ek ladki ka kuch logo ne murder karr diya.." Armaan started narrating a story "Tab se uss ladki ka atma yaha batak tha rehta hai..Hai na Nik?" He asked Nik
"Haan yeh news Delhi ke paper mein bhi aaya tha!" Nik said
"Yeah right..100 years pahele tum zinda the ke yeh news paper mein padho??!" Jo giggled
"I mean news yeh tha ke sab tourists ne uss ladki ka atma dekha hai.." He said, damn seriously
For a moment, even I started believing this story.
"Bhoot stories ho gaya ho tho Dare batao?" I asked
"Your dare is.. You have go behind those trees" He pointed towards some trees which was a real far distance away from the camp "And spend 10 mins with that girl's spirit as in atma" He added, and laughed wickedly
Oh so this is why he narrated that made-up story. Like I'm scared..huh!
"Armaan..You are so mean!" Nuts hit Armaan "Ridzy..You don't have to do this" She told me
"I know Darpok ka kahin heart fail na ho jaye" Armaan teased me
"I'm not a darpok OK!! Ridhima Gupta kise cheez se nahi darti" I got up and walked towards the trees

I walked little ahead..It was really dark..Only the moon light.
I turned to go back but no I am a brave girl.
I turned and walked towards the dark forest. I could hear creepy sounds in the background. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath to collect some courage.. "I'm not darpok" I repeated to myself
I stood there for maybe 5mins.
"Kahin Armaan ka wo story saach tho nahi? Kahin uss ladki ka atma saach mein yaha batak tha tho nahi?" I thought to myself and gulped my fear
That scary story started working on my mind and I started imagining scary things.
Now I was really scared.
Ok fine I'm a darpok - I accepted and I turned back to go but by now even the moon light was hidden cos of the shaddy trees.
It was pitch dark..I couldn't see anything.
I kept walking.. Not knowing where am I going.
I walked and walked for 2mins but couldn't find the tent.
Was I lost???? NO!!!!!

I stood there..looking left right but no where I could even see a ray of light and suddenly I saw two 2 glowing eyes front of me
"AHHH!" I yelled and cupped my face. I was almost in tears..
And then I heard Armaan laugh.

He took out the glow-in-the-dark-mask "Whao ho..Ridhima Gupta kise cheez se nahi darti" He repeated my words and mocked me
Now that's why I call him a brat!

I fainted -------------- Pretended to faint.. *wink wink*
Now let's see who is gonna get scared.. Darpok Chicken or Wannabie Lion

"Basket!!!!!???? Ridhimaaa!! Ridhimaaa!!" Armaan lifted me in his arms and hit my face "Utho..Kya hua tumhe????" I could sense the tension in his voice "DAMNNN!!!!!! I should have not given you this stupid task" He was angry on himself.
"BOOO" I opened my eyes and yelled..giving him a start "I scared you !!! I scared you!!" I got up and jumped like a kid
He just kept staring at me "Yeah..you scared me." He said seriously. After long time, I saw a Serious look on Armaan's face "I thought you had.." He didn't complete his sentence
"Tum lakh chaho mujse peecha nahi chuda sakhte" I repeated his dialogue to him
" I KNOW! mere itne ache naseeb kaha!" He said, making a sad face

Suddenly some alien insect flew on me.. I cling to Armaan.
Cringing myself in his chest holding his shirt to feel mentally-secure.
Next moment, I realised what was I doing and I tried to move away but before I could move..Armaan's hand was on my waist. He was holding me.
~aanchal mein hain dhanak chandni,
haaton mein woh chaand hai,
gairon se bhi hai wasta
apno mein pehchan hai~

Slowly I moved away and looked at him.. He was still holding me.. and looking at me.
Moon light fell on us - For the first time I saw some 'emotions' on Armaan's face.
We kept looking at each other for some time.
~tuhse main kya kahun
tu hi mera sukun
sang tere rahun tu zindagi~

We both felt awkward and looked away.
"Let's get back to the camp!" I said, and walked away but he caught my hand and pulled me back
"Jaate hai..jaate hai..! itne bhi jaldi kya?" Armaan said
"Hath chodo! I said leave me!!!" I said
"Yeh hath chodne ke liye thodi pakda hai" He tightened his grip on my wrist literally breaking my hand
"Filmy dialogue marna bandh karo aur mera hath chodo" I said, angrily
"Yeh filmy dialogues nahi.. ROMANCE hai! You know what it means, right?" He asked
"ROMANCE?? I dunno what it is and I don't wanna know what it is!!" I said, trying to pull my hand from his
"shhh!" He kept his finger on my lips "Tumhe aisa nai lagta that there's is some magic between us?" He asked
What was WRONG with ARMAAN? I wondered
"Kya magic..koi magic nahi hai OK" I said, stammering
"Ab aaya magic?" He asked bringing his face close to my face
"NO" I said, closing my eyes
"Ab?" He came even closer
"Nope" I said, gulping my nervousness
"Ab?" and now he was very close to me

No No No No No - My mind yelled at me.
I can't afford being vulnerable - I told myself
"ARMAN! tum pagal ho!" I tried to push him away
"Hum apke hai kaun?" He asked, entangling my finger with his
"DUSHMAN and I hate you" I pushed him
"Hate!!!! Uh Oh.. Bada strong emotion hai.. That's the first step towards love!" He said
"NO! ARMAAN..What's wrong with you?" I said and hit him 2/3 times on his cheeks to get him out of this SRK mode
"I AM IN - LOVEEE!!!!!!" He yelled in my ears
"Who?" I asked
"You know her name? Wo yehi hai.. Ek hi prob hai bahut zyaadha baat karti hai aur harr baat mein koi na koi lecture zarur hota hai..Khud ko bahut smart samajti hai lekin hai ekdum stupid si" He said
"main stupid nahi!!!" I just said
"Tum???? Tum bech mein kaha se ah gayi?? Main tho Nuts ki baat karr raha tha" He said
Nuts loves Armaan - Armaan loves Nuts - Main bech mein kaha se? Now I was really angry on myself.
I didn't say anything and just walked away.

At last, We reach the tent...alive!
Girls sleep in the tent.
Guys sleep outside the tent.
I try to sleep but can't sleep - I keep turning sides and thinking about Armaan's good side and bad side - Which was real? Good? Bad? Both?

Just then, I saw Armaan enter the tent.. I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep.
He covered me with a quilt. And he went.
A smile came on my face.
I thought he was a brat but now I feel he hides the real Armaan beneath the bratty Armaan.
~Tujh say hi hai, meri bandagi,
Tujh say meri jaan hai
Saya tera mera ashiyaan
Tu mera Armaan hai
ta ra ra rat ta ri ra.. tu zindagi~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

At Midnight - I opened my eyes and didn't find Nuts besides me. I went outside looking for her.. But didn't find her anywhere.
Finally, I saw her some distance away.. I walked towards her but then I noticed Armaan was also with her - They hugged each other.
.
.
I looked down. I can't describe in words what I felt that moment.
Slowly, I took my steps back - Away from Armaan and Nuts.