AR Oneshot: Distractions
Armaan and Rhiddima
Horribly bored, Rhiddima Gupta restrained herself from drumming her fingers, biting her nails, or playing with her hair. The staff meetings at Sanjeevani were important, but she knew exactly what had been said, was being said, and would be said. Although this was her first year here as an intern, she had been attending these meeting for the past eight months and hence could have carried out the meeting all on her own with her eyes closed. Besides, how could she concentrate with him in the room?
Armaan Malik was three years her senior and according to her he was the world's greatest distraction; with his knee weakening dimpled smiles, his dreamy grey eyes and mouth watering muscular form. At first Rhiddima disliked Armaan because despite being a senior intern he was irresponsible, rebellious and irritating. However as the year progressed, he became more mature, and began outshining most of the other interns in their daily duties. He no longer had these flaws and she was surprised at his lack of flirtatious banter, in fact she missed this terribly.
Sighing, Rhiddima ran a hand through her hair, but froze as her hand reached her neck. Did she just copy Armaan Malik and run her fingers through her hair to make it messy? With a moan, she put her face in her hands. What was happening to her? Oh, Rhiddima knew the answer. She missed Armaan. She missed watching him show off for her. She missed watching him laugh when he successfully tricked one of his friends. She missed the glow in his eyes, a glow that was becoming rarer every day. When had it started?
If you wanted to pinpoint it to a day, Rhiddima would have chosen Armaan's birthday that winter. She had given him the same present he had been given her for her birthday; a certificate. On her 24th birthday Rhiddima had received an red envelope with a slip of paper inside. It read, "One free date with Armaan Malik."
He had arrogantly assumed she'd keep it and eventually attempt to use it. He had been correct. She'd made the certificate a present and gave it to him. He'd accepted it so oddly, like it was a business proposal he couldn't easily get excited about. Rhiddima was put on the alert immediately. Did all this maturity and loss of his old ways cause him to lose his feelings for her as well? Their date had been awkward, since Rhiddima was worried throughout and Armaan was shy. Believing him to be indifferent, Rhiddima shed a few tears before sleeping that night. When he didn't offer to spend another date with her, she bit her lip and bore it without tears, except maybe one as a result of biting too hard.
Her friends suggested that Armaan took her "present" as a token of simple gratitude or pity for his sad state. Rhiddima found the idea ridiculous and didn't think of it again. It never occurred to her that Armaan's feelings had been just that.
Bringing herself to the present, she tried to focus on the subject being brought up. Someone was suggesting a new rule.
"I'm just thinking dating would complicate things. If two interns date and are on duty together, they'll work less efficiently since they'll see each other as a distraction."
Since she'd remained quiet throughout this meeting, Rhiddima decided to voice her opinion now and show some authority. After a quick glance at Armaan, she responded, "I agree. If there were any tension between a couple, it definitely would be hard to focus. Things might slip their notice."
A young, women with a dreamy expression sighed and objected, "I don't think that's a good idea."
"Why?" Rhiddima ventured.
"Well, what if they're in love?"
Rhiddima tensed at the word. "What of it?"
"I don't think we should keep too lovers apart merely because they're work might suffer for it. They could honestly be in love. They could honestly need each other, and this rule would keep them apart. What if they're soul mates?"
This girl had obviously read too many romance novels. "I highly doubt you're going to find your soul mate here at Sanjeevani," said Rhiddima, almost bitterly. "Trust me. Dating is a distraction at best and a disaster at worst. I've gone through it twice. This new rule sounds great."
"You've dated three times," Armaan inserted, as if he was talking of the weather, while his eyes remained locked in a study of his fingers. Rhiddima looked at him oddly.
"No, I've only dated two people, Armaan."
His eyes lifted from his hand to her eyes. Her stomach jolted. He shook his head.
"Three. I counted, and I'm surprised you didn't." Where was he going with this? What made him think he knew her better?
"We'll talk about it later, Armaan," she ordered quietly. He nodded and resumed his faithful study, leaving Rhiddima shocked. After hearing the rule "set in stone," Rhiddima ignored the rest of the meeting.
Searching her mind, Rhiddima still came up with only two boys. The first was Prem Sharma. He'd fancied her for a while. So she'd agreed to date him and they ended up dating for the whole year. But she'd never really felt anything for him so they broke up, he was just an excuse not go to out with Armaan, for the heavens knew she wanted to......
"That's all."
Armaan's voice startled her from her reverie. He was standing and dismissing the rest of the staff to their duties. Rhiddima stood and moved around a few chairs to stand next to Armaan, who was picking up his dropped pen. When he returned to his full height, he nodded unsmilingly at Rhiddima.
She prompted, "What makes you think I've dated three people?"
He blinked. "Well, haven't you?"
"No! There was you and Prem Sharma. I've never dated anyone else."
Armaan shook his head. "No, you told me you were dating him."
Rhiddima's head tilted in confusion. "I did?"
"Yes, you told me all about him." He grimaced and reluctantly choked out a name vulgar to his lips, "Arjun Khanna."
Rhiddima frowned. "That name rings a bell'" Searching her memory, she recalled an Arjun Khanna, only he hadn't been exactly real. "Armaan! Aryan Khanna?" Rhiddima laughed.
Now it was his turn to frown. Armaan answered, "Yes that was his name."
With a nostalgic giggle, Rhiddima corrected, "No, I didn't date him. He's not real, Armaan. I just pretended to date him so I could have a reason not to date you."
"Why would you need another reason to say no to me? Isn't a strong dislike enough?"
Rhiddima's smile was instantly removed from her pretty face. Did she just admit to Armaan Malik that she liked him? Checking her words, she breathed realizing she'd only implied she needed a reason not to date him. What would he think? "Uh' -I have to' -I-I got to go'"
Rhiddima left the room quickly and adopted a quick pace down a Corridor leading to nowhere in particular except further away from Armaan. Turning around, she saw that wasn't entirely true, as he was following her. She gasped and walked faster. Of course, his strong, athletic legs caught up to her quickly. Grabbing her arm, he quickly led her into a Janitors closet. He pushed her to the back and shut the door behind her, blocking her exit and trapping her in the small closet with only two lamps for illumination.
"Answer the question, Rhiddima," came the abrupt order.
Breathing fast from the walking and shoving, Rhiddima gasped, "What?"
He narrowed those beautiful grey eyes of his. "Why would you need a reason other than hatred to reject me?"
Oh, why was he pushing this? She was pinned to her spot by his gaze. "I-I don't hate you'-Armaan."
"Answer the question."
She swallowed. "Why? It doesn't matter. Let me go!"
He shook his head, his dark hair waving everywhere in a way that made Rhiddima's stomach jolt again. "Tell me."
Was she sweating? Her face was hot. She was in a room alone with Armaan Malik. It was dimly lit, and he was glaring at her with an intensity that made her senses swim. "I'-I lied about Arjun' '-because-'-because he was a reason to say no when I wanted to say'-yes'-very much'-because I liked you'"
The corners of his mouth slowly turned into a smile, a triumphant, but not too arrogant smile. He hadn't smiled in so long. Rhiddima's hands shook as he leaned slightly nearer.
"You like me?"
"Past tense," she gulped. "I liked you. I didn't stay I still do."
Moving closer with an almost predatory sway, the arrogant and rebellious Armaan, the one Rhiddima had been missing, was suddenly dug up from his grave and brought back to life.
"So, you think you're over me?"
Shrinking against the wall, Rhiddima meekly nodded.
"Well, what's there to like? Why did you like me before? Was it because I'm the Armaan Malik?"
Again a nod.
He was too close. His gaze dropped to her lips and Rhiddima swallowed, trying to make it past the lump lodged in her throat. He ran a finger along her jaw, causing her to melt against the back wall.
Possessively, he ran his fingers through her hair. She was sorely tempted to close her eyes and enjoy his hands on her. Giving into instinct, her eyelids fluttered and closed. She could smell him. He was so close. Breathing was not an option when Rhiddima heard his voice again and opened her eyes to his lips barely inches from hers.
"Or maybe you like me because you heard that I'm a really good kisser?"
Her almond-shaped eyes turned largely oval at this statement. Her hands grasped the shelves until her knuckles turned white; her knees could no longer support her. Leaning back enough to let her breathe, Armaan took in all he'd done to her, smirking attractively. He then slowly lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her softly on the lips. Rhiddima gasped slightly, but in a second she was kissing him back. It was pure bliss beyond anything she could ever imagine. She melted into his arms, and snaked her hands behind his neck and pulled him closer. She felt her knees goes weak and Armaan put his arms around her waist and held her up, and kissed her deeply. They then stood for a few quiet minutes, holding each other, intense and deeply passionate feelings running through both their bodies.
Armaan placed his hands on her cheek and his mouth next to her ear while whispering, "Oh, but Rhiddima, you do still like me."
So what do you all think?
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Edited by yasu09 - 15 years ago
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