Arshi SS Tumult :: Completed Pg81 :: 17/01 - Page 44

"Omigosh! Omigosh! What is he doing here?"

"I don't know! Do you think he came for me?"

"I think you should go out and talk to him!"

Scowling, Lavanya walked to Andrea and Sandy who were peeking through the window. "Stop it, you two!" she hissed. "He is not here for you and you know that very well."

"What do you mean?" Andrea screeched.

Lavanya sighed in exasperation and left.

***

"Khushi-"

"I know, La, I saw him," she interrupted in a tired voice. She raised her eyes to look at her friend, chewing on her bottom lip. "It's disturbing," she admitted. "I closed the windows and tried studying but I can't! The fact that he is down there makes me uneasy."

Lavanya frowned, sitting down on Khushi's bed. "Do you want me to go and tell him to get lost?"

"What does that mean?" Andrea appeared in the doorway, Sandy close behind her. "Are you two talking about Arnav Singh Raizada?"

"No, we were talking about Matt Bomer," La replied sarcastically. "Use your brains if you have them, Andrea!"

The two girls gasped loudly and turned their glares onto Khushi. "You lied to us! You said you weren't dating him but you were! It you he is here for, right? You are such a bitch, Khushi!" Andrea yelled before storming out.

"How could you do this to us? I thought we were friends!" Sandy complained. Lavanya decided that she had had enough of these drama queens but Khushi caught her hand and squeezed it, gesturing her not to react, when she started to get up, so she shifted with irritation, waiting for Sandy to leave too.

She finally glowered at Khushi after several minutes of silence. "I just don't understand you! These stupid girls keep walking on your feet and acting like they were Miss Universe and Miss World respectively but you never get back at them. How can you even bear them? I am dying to kick their butts! Seriously, Khushi!"

Her broken heart was aching badly, but she managed to smile at Lavanya's frustration and protectiveness. "They are empty steel utensils, La, of course they'll make a lot of noise for nothing. Why should we bother?"

***

She gulped as her hand stretched out to the curtain, curl into a fist, uncurled and reached out again. Her heart leapt up, in her mouth as she felt her fingers crease the thick cotton. Should she open the curtain or not? They had been closed for the whole day. She had opened them on waking up early that Saturday morning, with the plans to study for her next exams in the sunlight all day long but as soon as she had pulled them apart and looked onto the road, she had found his car parked across it. He had been standing right beside it, watching the house with anxiety and relief had flooded his face when their eyes had met.

She had frozen all over, taken by surprise. She had not been able to decide what to do. A tiny but aching part of her wanted her to run out and throw herself in his arms, it wanted him to tell her that she had wrongly understood whatever she had seen that night... Another, the hurt and humiliated part of her, wanted to slap him, berate him for what that scene had done to her innocent heart... But mostly, she wanted to hide, from him, from everyone else, until the pain was gone. She wanted to come out only when all of it was gone, and then she would be able to face the world with renewed strength, with a more stable mind... Then she would be able to judge properly... So, she had simply drawn the curtains closed, swallowed her ache and started revising like a girl gone mad.

Without thinking, she snapped the curtains open and her breath got stuck somewhere in her throat. He was still there, leaning against his car, his arms crossed on his chest, and his eyes fixed her window. Only, there was no expression on his face. Maybe he was angry at her because she had shut him out rudely? Maybe he was disappointed because she had not come down to him? Maybe he was bored? She could not know. It was almost six thirty in the afternoon. He had not yet moved from there? Because she had not heard his car go away... Unconsciously, she had been waiting for the sound of his car starting and rolling off but she had never heard it. Had he had his lunch then, or not? Annoyed, she shoved the speck of concern away and gripped the cloth tighter in her fist to keep it at bay.

She bit her lip as their eyes remained locked. He did not move a muscle but she felt like he was pulling her to him with that magnetic gaze. He still did not lift that unfathomable mask from his face. He just stood there, staring at her. Her lips parted with the intensity of it while her throat went dry. Heat rose up her neck, colouring her cheeks violently. She gulped and shut the curtains on the sunset and on him, only to suddenly realise how breathless she was. She closed her eyes for a bit to calm herself down before running downstairs where Lavanya was guarding Sandy and Andrea while revising. They looked up at her; two with scorn and one worriedly.

"He..." she wrung her hands together, trying not to say the words that were troubling her, trying to ask something more sensible. But it was her concern that gushed out before she could register and stop it. "Did he go from here at point in the day?"

La shook her head, looking rather torn herself. "No, he didn't. Neither his car, nor him."

"He didn't have his lunch?" Khushi gasped, making the other two girls roll their eyes.

"No, I don't think so," Lavanya replied, glancing at the windows facing the street, her lips pursed, and she sighed. "What if he means it? What if he is sincere and he has an explanation for what happened that night? Perhaps you should-"

"What happened on what night?" Andrea interjected, her light amber eyes round like marbles as she ogled at Khushi and Lavanya. "Omigosh! Did you sleep with him?"

Khushi, in her distress, had either not heard her or not bothered to care about her but Lavanya grimaced at her with disgust. "What the f**k? Was I talking to you? No, right? Then shut up!"

"But we don't understand what's happening! And you are refusing to tell us! You don't even let us go out the whole f**king day!"

"Because I knew what was on your mind. And if you could be better friends to Khushi, I would have told you. But both of you are just a pair of self-centred bimbos!" she spat distastefully and got up to drag Khushi into the kitchen. "Khushi, maybe you should listen to what he has to say?"

The girl leaned weakly against the counter and dabbed the corner of her eye. "I don't know, La. I feel horrible right now. My feelings are in a mess, my mind too... I know that I have to hear him out, only not right now. I feel like I am on the point of losing my balance completely. If I listen to him now, because of this turmoil, I might just either believe him blindly or lose my trust in him completely. And that won't be right, will it? If he lies to me and I believe him, I will regret it. If he tells me the truth and I don't believe him, I'll still regret it. And... I don't know, La... But I don't want any regrets... what I want right now is some time and some space until I can sort myself out, but he doesn't seem to get it! He unsettles me like nothing else!"

She released a shaky sob and caught herself hurriedly to act strong but Lavanya could not hide a little smile. She had seen through her friend. Khushi, whether she would admit it or not, had fallen for her handsome, stubborn stalker of a professional hockey player. And she knew that the man's feelings had to be as genuine because one did not just stand outside a girl's house the whole day for nothing! She patted Khushi's cheeks dry and nudged her towards the door. "Go and tell him that, then."

Khushi's eyes widened in alarm. "What? No!"

"Go and make him understand that, Khushi!" La shushed her. "Then he will leave. He will get your point and leave. Go."

"You think so?" she mumbled, darting a glance at the door. La raised an eyebrow and minutes later, Khushi was closing the door behind her and stomping her way to Arnav Singh Raizada, while the three other girls peeked from inside the house. He inhaled deeply when she lifted her head to look at him before crossing over.

"I want you to go from here," she told him calmly.

"Why?"

"Because."

He shrugged nonchalantly. "That's not a plausible reason." She stared at him impatiently. She had thought she would be able to do this well but she had been wrong. Seeing him, being this close to him was so unsettling that she could practically feel the storm of angst, pain, rage, sorrow, of just everything, brew up inside her very quickly. "Khushi, I am not leaving without talking to you," he frowned.

"I don't want to talk to you!" she exclaimed exasperatedly. At least not now, her heart screamed even louder but he did not hear those words. "Just go away! Leave me alone!"

She stepped away from him and caught her wrist, pulling her back. "No! You have to listen to me."

"I don't want to! Why don't you understand? It hurts!"

He did look serious. Gulping, he drew her closer. "Then you admit having feelings for me?" She looked away angrily. "Khushi, that night I was just dancing with that girl and that's it! I was... It was a mistake, okay?"

"No," she whispered tearfully. "This is a mistake," she shook her head. "For both of us. That was you real life. This is an illusion, an infatuation and when it is over, you will..."

"Hell! Khushi this is the most real thing that has happened to me! You have to listen to me, Khushi!"

"And you have to go!"

"I won't!"

"Why are you behaving like a child? Why don't you leave me alone? I need time and space to get over this, Mr Raizada! I need it to sort myself out!"

He gritted his teeth and tightened his hold on her. "Well, I cannot wait."

"Why?" Her tears were threatening to fall and his grip was too harsh on her thin wrist. She had to get away from him.

"Because I love you dammit!"

His enraged, pained roar deafened her for a moment so that his words were all she could hear. It was even frighteningly louder than her frantic heartbeats. They repeated themselves until she felt dizzy with them. And he had hauled her dangerously closer to her, their faces only inches apart. His eyes were burning into her soul, deep in.

Because I love you dammit!

She swallowed in a feeble attempt to calm her heart down and smooth her ragged breaths. Oh, she really needed to get away from him now. She repressed the sob that was bubbling out of her, but a lone tear escaped and clung to her eyelash, shivering and glistening in the orange light of the sunset. His face softened as soon as he seemed to see it and his lips parted with guilt.

"Khushi..." his hands fluttered to her cheeks. "Shh! I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to yell at you. I got angry. I am so sorry..." He kissed the tear away worriedly and slid his arms around her tenderly. His gestures made another tear roll down the curve of her cheek. She wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe she had been mistaken in what she had seen and what she had understood. But how could she know that if she was not in her right state of mind?

She felt his lips catch the tear softly on her cheek, right at the corner of her mouth, and she stiffened in shock. She steeled herself for another heartbreak; she was sure he would prove what kind of a man was by moving to kiss her. But he didn't. He simply lingered there for a second or two more than necessary, after which he pulled away and looked at her guiltily. That face would haunt her for long...

"If I go, will you stop crying?" he asked earnestly. She chewed on her lip and nodded. "But-"

"If you go, I will be able to get stable," she muttered her explanation, looking down at the collar of his shirt. "And then, I will be able to hear you out and decide if I should believe you or not."

He sighed and leaned in to rest his forehead on her shoulder. "How much time?"

"I don't know."

"Fine... I will wait..."

Because I love you dammit!