"What's that?"
Khushi looked up at Andrea's piercing shriek.
"Oh," Sandy grumbled bitterly, having snatched the little box from Andrea's hands. "It's for Khushi."
The cardboard package was tossed at her and she caught it confusedly. La edged closer to have a look as she opened it. Khushi could barely retain her gasp and she felt Lavanya's mouth gape open in wonder too. On the soft black velvet that lined the inside of the box lay a bracelet with a silver coffee grain charm hanging from it.
"This is so cute!" La whispered, grinning at Khushi. "Who sent this? Is there a note or something?"
Her dazed friend, nodded and took out the small red card that had been tucked carefully in the lid.
"I had promised you a date," it read. "Call me if you are interested."
And below, a phone number was scribbled in the same awful handwriting she just had had to decipher. But Khushi did not bother to go to that. Before Lavanya could finish reading the note, she had crumpled it in her fist.
"Arnav Singh Raizada," she whispered harshly, a frown setting on her face.
***
"What are you waiting for?" Arnav drawled.
"The phone call," Nathaniel replied, his eyes intent on Arnav's mobile that sat on the coffee table, as if it would start ringing at any moment now.
Arnav chuckled and handed him a mug of soup as he sat down with one of his own. "I'm telling you she's not going to call, Nate!"
"And I am telling you she will! What girl can resist ASR?"
With a shake of the head, Arnav sighed. "If I guessed her right, she must have taken my note crumpled it, ripped it and thrown it in the bin."
Nate eyed him curiously. "You seem very sure of yourself?"
"I am," he shrugged.
"And what will you do if she really doesn't call, Mr I'm-always-right Raizada?"
A devilish glint in the eyes, he sipped at his soup. "I have my own plan."
***
The nerve of him! If he was thinking she would call, like La had been urging her to do, the he had better flush himself away because there was no way she was calling anyone! Not even if it were the Arnav Arrogant-hockey-on-ice-champion Singh Raizada! Fuelled by her anger, she increased her pace without realising that her lips were moving with her thoughts.
"You walk damn fast!"
Khushi stopped dead in her tracks at that voice, her eyes wide. She looked up in alarm. "What are you doing here?" she squeaked.
Arnav shrugged. "Walking? Just like you?" She huffed and stomped her way ahead, but it was not hard at all for him to keep up, once more. "This is a great place. Do you come here every day?"
She paused again and glared at his grinning face. "What do you want from me?"
His eyes widened with feigned surprise. "Oh, you didn't get the gift I had sent you? The bracelet with a-" He grabbed both her hands and checked her wrists, frowning slightly. "But you aren't wearing it. That's fine, have it on the next time, okay? Well, there was a little note in it. I want a date. A real one, not a make believe one."
"But I don't want one!" she hissed.
Pulling her closer to him, Arnav chuckled. "You know, most of the time, girls say no when they actually want to say yes."
Her mouth fell open in an adorably perfect O and she jerked herself free. "Don't you dare enmesh me in your filmy dialogues, Mr Raizada! I am not that kind of girl!"
"What kind of girl?" he asked humorously.
"The kind you think I am."
He pouted confusedly. "I never, never categorised you in any kind of girl, Khushi. I swear."
"Then why are you after me like this?" she whined.
"Because you're cute and I like you and, as I already told you, I want a date."
Khushi fell her face in her hands and resumed walking, feeling as if her head would explode if he insisted anymore. Her life was complicated enough. She neither removed her hands nor stopped when she heard him call out her name, but suddenly, a pair of strong hands had closed around her upper arms and she felt herself being pulled against a hard body.
"Sorry, mate!" her tiresome stalker hollered.
When she opened her eyes, a burly Afro-American was whizzing past them on his skateboard. Arnav sighed, pulling her even closer, and shook his head down at her.
"So, apart from being a stubborn girl who wants to play hard to get, you are also a klutz?" he grinned. His grin slowly turned into a chuckle. "You would have collided with that ogre and been squished under him if I had not been here."
Hiding a smile, she tried to free herself. "If you had not been here, in the first place, I would have been walking in peace and not clutching my head."
"Because I rile you up?" he gloated, tightening his hold on her.
"Yes."
He sniggered and lowered his head to whisper. "You are the first girl who is not drooling all over me, you know that? And you admit that I rile you up. I like that."
"Well," she shrugged, doubling her efforts. "There's a first time to everything."
"Hmm... It's also the first time I want a girl so bad."
Khushi froze, gulping. The intensity in his eyes stumped her, erased everything else from her mind. She had even almost forgotten how to breathe. He smiled and gently tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.
"Please? One date?" he pleaded sweetly.
Regaining her senses, she wrenched herself out of his arms and walked back until she stood on the other side of the path, flushed and flustered. "Don't act smart with me. I... I don't date."
He quirked an eyebrow at her, his expression making her tingly all over. "You kidding me?"
She crossed her arms under her chest defensively. "No, I don't date! Not you, not anyone. I told you I'm not that kind of girl."
"I know," he smirked. And swiftly, without giving her the time to react, he got down on one knee in the middle of the path. Khushi gasped in complete disbelief. Nonetheless, he pulled a little box from the pocket of his jeans and extended it to her.
"What are you doing? Get up!" she begged as she tried to haul him back to his feet, watching frantically if someone was coming this way. But thankfully, this stop was deserted.
He laughed at her appalled expression, still kneeling."Don't be so scared, Khushi. It's not an engagement ring! I'm asking you to let me be your first date." She looked at him with wide, dazed eyes. "Go on," he urged cheerfully. "It's not going to bite."
She gingerly took the box from him and opened it. The tiny stethoscopeandlittle silver shoein it brought a small smile to her face. "What's this?"
"A running shoe charm that you'll add to the bracelet I had given you before," he explained sincerely as he stood up. "The coffee grain charm was for our first meeting in the cafe, the stethoscope for our second meeting in front of the hospital and the shoe for right now."
She watched him as he spoke, his tone making her believe that he really meant it. But she couldn't help feeling doubtful. These people, these celebrities, they seldom were serious about someone and she did not want just a fling, like it worked for them. She was a girl who loved reading and she believed in the eternal romance that was depicted in literature. For her, it was one person, and no other...
"I'll give you one charm each time we met, for every date, for every special thing that happens to us," he continued. "And you will add them to your bracelet."
She dropped her eyes on the charms and sighed. He was not going to let go so easily. "Fine."
His eyes widened. "What? You mean you're saying yes?"
"If that's getting you off my back, yes, I'm saying yes,"Khushi grunted unwillingly. "But I can't take these."
She closed the box and handed it to him. He caught her hand and tugged her to him. "No, keep them. I want you to have them. I... Well, I chose them myself and..." Arnav grinned boyishly and licked his lips. "Meet me here, tomorrow, five in the afternoon, okay?"
With a peck on her cheek, he was gone, and she was left wondering if she had not just made a horrible mistake...
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