#2 Safe in His Arms! Updt pg 74 22nd Jan - Page 26

Can't wait for you to update, though!

I am sorry for the delay guys!!

I have two reasons...one - I have a lot of things going on at the moment. So, even if I sit down to write something, I'd just go blank and start thinking about something else. This one chapter took me like a month (maybe more) to write. And I am still not satisfied with it...but I figured it is as good as it is going to get for now...

Two - I lost interest in the show. I know some may not like me saying this but the show just lost the charm. It's not the same anymore...I haven't read a post on Arjun forum for about two or three months now...

But I will not discontinue the stories...as long as I have someone reading...I'll keep writing!! :D

Iss baar ke liye please jhoote aur tamatar math maarro...I'll try to write better from next chap...the coming chapters are my favorite and I have been waiting to write those chapters for a very long time now...lots and lots of Ariya and romance...

Okay, done with my ranting. PMs later.

Update in the next post...

❤️ Simar

Part 42...

The phone rang for a full minute only to have the recorded message answer. Riya huffed and pressed the red button on the phone.

"You can leave a message, you know" Arjun said softly as he watched her from across the bedroom.

"I know, I just...I don't know what to say" she replied toying with the phone between her fingers.

"What would you have said if he answered it..."

Riya looked at him blankly, opened her mouth as if to say something and closed it immediately, frowning.

"Pata nahi..." she replied, slumping her shoulders.

Arjun smiled and shook his head, walking up to the bed, he sat next to her.

"Hmm, you could begin with Hi dad'?" he said with a smug smile. Riya rolled her eyes and gave him a look that clearly said are-you-serious?'

"What?! You have to start somewhere..." he added in response to her look.

"Okaaay genius, uske baad kya kahun??" she asked, turning to face him.

"Well uske baad toh technically unhe tumhe hi' kehna chahiye"

"Arjun!!!"

He chuckled as she scowled and turned away to face the opposite direction. He pulled her back against his chest and wrapped his arms around her waist, resting them on her stomach.

"Riya tum..." Arjun began but stopped when her phone started ringing. She immediately picked it up still wrapped in his arms.

"Dad" she gasped looking at the caller ID as Arjun looked down at the phone over her shoulder.

"Well, answer it"

"S-Speaker pe lagaoon??"

"Whatever you are comfortable with Ri..." he whispered softly.

She smiled hearing his response before reluctantly pressing the speaker button.

"H-Hello"

There was silence for a few seconds. All they could hear was breathing from the other end.

"D-Dad?!? Hello?"

"Meine dekha, tumhara missed calls" was all Mr Mukherjee said.

Riya sighed, "Haan, dad...woh b-bahut din hogaye aapse baat nahi ki toh..."

She put her hand on Arjun's, the latter gave it a gentle squeeze in assurance.

"Haan bahut din hogaye, par mujhe laga ki tum..." he trailed off. Arjun and Riya were surprised to hear his voice crack a little at the end but, that was almost instantly covered up. When he spoke again there was no trace of it, his voice had the usual hint of arrogance,

"Kaisi ho Riya?"

"M-mein thik hoon dad. Aap kaise hain?"

"Fine"

Silence followed. Arjun looked at Riya expectantly but she had no idea whatsoever how to continue the conversation. He nudged her lightly but she did not respond,

"Riyaaa..." he whispered in her ear.

"Umm...d-dad, woh.. aap.. office main hain? Work kaise chel raha hain?"

"Humesha toh yehi shikayat rahi hain na Riya, ki work ke ilava aur kuch baat hi nahi karta...aaj mein..."

"Mujhe aapke work ke baare main sunne main koyi problem nahi hain dad...mein toh bas yeh kehti.."

"Pata hain, tumhari saari shikayatein mujhe pata hain. You've put them forward very clearly the last time I saw you..."

Tears rolled in her eyes before she knew it. She felt like a burden was taken off her shoulders when she told her father exactly what she felt when he came to India, but she was also hurt and guilty of how things turned out in the end.

She sniffed and wiped the tears off.

"Dad mein..."

"Riya..." Her father's tone suddenly became soft, just the way she remembered it to be in her childhood.

"Beta, mein thak gaya hoon. Tumse ladna, jagadna... thak gaya hoon inn sabse. Jab meine tumhare liye yeha ka rishta laya tha toh sabse pehle mere mann main yehi khayaal aaya ki, tum mere paas wapas aa jaogi...tum bhi yeha US main rahogi toh aati jaati rahogi, ya mein atta jaata rahunga...

Haan mein jhoot nahi kahunga ki business benefits ke baare main meine socha nahi, woh bhi socha tha lekin...that was a secondary thought...always a secondary thought...

Par tumne sach kaha tha ki mein bas bahane dhoond raha tha...Arjun ko reject karne ke liye...par mera reason different tha..."

Riya just stared at the phone blankly, not entirely sure of how to react.

"Aur beta tumhare mom ko lekar mera jo attitude tha... galat tha. Jab uski heart condition ke baare main pata chela toh, I was shocked and I handled the whole situation in a wrong way. I should have been there for her and for you, instead of keeping myself away from it all...

I am sorry!!"

There was silence again for a bit, in which time Riya took a deep breath, more to keep the tears at bay than anything else. Deep down, she was glad that Arjun pushed her to talk to him, otherwise she'd have never took this step and then regret it for the rest of her life. Just like he said she would.

"Dad aap sorry math...I - I never wanted things to turn out the way they did... I just... "

"Pata hain. Ab chodo sab... Like I said, I do not wish to argue with you anymore. Forget about whatever happened in the past"

She wiped the tears that rolled down her cheeks with a smile. She knew how much her dad despised emotional talk and hence was surprised he even said all that he did.

"Kya dad?! Aapne itna bada emotional speech keh diya aur mujhe kuch kehne ka mauka bhi nahi de rahe ho!!"

"Emotional speech nahi tha... bas.. aise hi..."

"Kya aise hi? See, aapka yehi problem hain, aapko jo bhi kehna hain keh dete ho aur mujhe mauka bhi nahi dete!!"

"Riya ab mujhse phirse argue karrogi? There will be no further discussion on the matter. That's it!"

"Aapne sorry keh diya, ab mujhe sorry kehne ka mauka nahi doge?"

"Tum kiss baat ke liye sorry kahogi? Meine kaha na Riya, no further discussion. Arjun hain waha pe?"

"Aap...aap Arjun se baat karroge?"

"Haan.."

"Dad aap..."

"Nothing rude...I-I promise"

"Yehi par hain. S-speaker pe hain phone..." Riya said and handed the phone to Arjun.

Arjun in the mean while sat looking shocked from Riya to the phone in her hand. All it took was a few minutes for them to reconcile. It was a matter of taking the initiative to set things right. Although, he did think they were arguing again for a second, he soon realised that it was more of a fun, loving argument. Nothing serious.

He talked to Mr Mukherjee for a minute. Nothing serious, just an exchange of pleasantries. When he ended the call and turned to face Riya, she had a huge smile on her face.

"Well!!!! That turned out good!!!" She exclaimed.

"Huh? Ya, that...that was...weird!!"

"What do you mean??"

"Well, I thought there would be like a lot of arguing, and emotional talk and you know that sort...but...well, you guys are weird!!"

"Arjun! Tum mere dad ko weird keh rahe ho??"

"No, tum dono ek saath... weird ho..."

"Arjun tum..." she sat up straight pointing her finger at him but, before she could say or do anything further, Arjun's mom called them to come outside.

"Baat karli beta apne papa se?" Mrs Rawte asked Riya as soon as she came out.

"Haan maa, karli..."

"Bataya apne papa ko ki hum baat karena chaah the hain unse?"

"Nahi maa, mauka hi nahi mila... mein kal baat kardoongi dad se..."

"Maa, Riya ko unse baat karne dijiye phir aap baat kariye..." Arjun said sitting down on the couch next to his father.

"Accha thik hain, aaj raat toh hum nikhal rahe hain Pune ke liye... unka number dede na. Hum ghar jaake aaram se baat karenge..."

"Thik hain maa.."

~oOo~

Few days later. Late in the evening.

Riya was in the kitchen putting away the dishes and clearing the dining table after dinner. Anu had recovered well enough to go out for dinner with Shree, so Riya and Arjun were alone in the house. Riya was lost thinking about Arjun and in particular his weird behaviour in the past couple of hours as she stacked the washed plates.

He was way too quite all through dinner and usually he helps her around in the kitchen after eating but today he went straight back to living room and started watching TV. She even asked him what was wrong but he immediately denied of anything being wrong.

"Tumhara yeha pe kaam khatam ho jaaye, toh bata dena...mujhe tumse kuch zaroori baat karni hain..." Arjun said appearing suddenly at the kitchen entrance.

Riya looked at him to see he was very serious. Wondering what it could be, she nodded and watched him leave the kitchen. She went back to cleaning and finished it as quickly as she could.

"Aagayi...bolo kya baat hain??" she crashed onto the couch next to Arjun. He smiled at her and then brought a file to the front and held it in front of her. Then very reluctantly lifted the pen that lay on the coffee table, holding that on top of the file,

"Inn papers par tumhari sign chahiye..."

Riya looked at the pen and file held in front of her and then back at Arjun, seeing if he will give any more information than just the tumhari sign chahiye'.

"Oookay. Can I read it?" she asked.

Arjun sighed and shook his head indicting that she can't. Riya shrugged and took the pen and file. Opening the file she saw that there were tiny sticky notes indicating where she needs to sign so, she put the file on the table for support and was about to start signing when she heard Arjun chuckle,

"Mazzak kar raha tha Riya. Read it before you sign it!"

"That's okay Arjun..." she said and was about to sign but Arjun held her wrist firmly stopping her from signing it.

"Koyi aake tumhe papers detha hain toh sign kar dogi?? Paagal hogayi kya? Padlo Riya!!"

"You are kidding right?? Arjun tum koyi' nahi ho...tum, TUM ho! Aur agar tum par bhi wishwaas nahi kar sakthi toh kis pe karoongi??"

Arjun looked at her for a few seconds and loosened his grip around her wrist. He smiled slightly, lifting his hand up to her face he caressed her cheeks with the back of his fingers,

"With the amount of trust and love you have for me...I just hope I'll never let you down!"

She smiled and flung her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly to herself,

"You just can't!" she whispered into his ear, earning another chuckle from him. He kissed her shoulder and brought her closer. They stayed like that for a few more minutes before Arjun finally broke apart and pecked her lips before she turned to the papers again.

"Ek baar phir keh raha hoon padlo..."

"Tum keh do kya hain" Riya said and started signing. Arjun smiled and waited for her to finish signing and give the file back to him,

"Tumhari saari property hadap liya hain!"

Riya laughed and snuggled into his chest. He leaned back on the hand rest of the couch so she'll be more comfortable and hugged her.

"Socha tha ki sign karwaani hain toh tumhe batana padega, toh surprise karaab ho jaayega...par tumne toh..."

"Wait..." she looked up at him, "...this has to do with the surprise?"

Arjun nodded.

"The surprise? The one you have been planning for days now..."

He nodded again.

"Thank god I didn't read it then! Surprise karaab ho jaatha..." she went back to her previous position on his chest as he kissed her on top of her hair and caressed it.

"Sach main nahi dekha kya hain??" Arjun asked after a while.

"Hmm...they are some legal documents obviously...par..."

"C'mon Riya, you just signed those papers...you couldn't have just turned blind to everything on the paper...you should have seen something..."

"Nnnahhiii main kuch nahi dekha...abhi aur kuch math pooch, mujhe surprise karaab nahi karna..."

He saw her smile lightly but decided to leave it at that not wanting to ruin the rest of the plan.

Yayyy finally everything sorted out btwn Riya n her dad...!!!!!!

Awww now her dad also seemed fine with Ariya's relationship...!!!!!!

Loved Ariya moments in the end...!!!!! Wht is in those paper...????

Loved it...!!!!! Continue soon...!!!!!

welcome back simar...

awesome update!!!!!!!!!!

is that riya's dad i couldn't believe...

wat was in that papers...

do update soon...

p.s plz update ur intezaar...dying to read...