It was a lovely sunny day and Khushi caught a single dandelion on the palm of her hand and smiled. The little things made her happy. She then blew it away and closed her eyes making a wish...
-----
Arnav abruptly threw his phone at the wall. He was shaking with anger, Arnav Singh Raizada did not let himself feel fear, instead it was always contorted into a perfect mask of anger. He had called his Di for the sixth time in the space of 2 minutes and she had not picked up. She knew he would be worried for her, she had a doctors appointment today and they were going to tell her if any improvements could be made on her leg. Why was she not picking up the god damn phone?
He had been walking a complete path of anger lately anyway, ever since two nights ago when he had seen her last and she had blatantly chosen to ignore him. Somewhere deep inside he wanted to talk to her, he wanted to know her name. She had a smile that lighted up the whole room and the guts to face anything and anyone. He closed his eyes, clenching his jaw, "what is wrong with me?" he growled through gritted teeth, clenching his fist and thumping the wall. He rested his forehead against his arm, leaning against the wall, not knowing what to do with himself.
The sound of the phone vibrating brought Arnav out of his thoughts.
"Hello Di! Where the hell have you been? Do you know how many times I've called you?" He bellowed into his phone, concern and fear evident to his sister on the other end of the phone.
"Chote, chote! Calm down! I went to take a shower, am I not even allowed to take a shower?" She laughed, not surprised at her brothers little tantrum.
"Di! That's not an excuse! I told you to call as soon as, not after taking a shower! Simple instructions Di simple instructions!"
"Okay okay baba, I'll keep that in mind okay?" Anjali was all too aware of her brothers erratic mood changes and she knew the only reason he fussed over her was because he cared and loved her more than anything else in the world.
----
"Flat party tonight!" Aryan shouted, actually skipping towards Khushi and Alisha. "We need to go!" He exclaimed again. "I dunno man. I'm not too keen, I don't like lying to my parents" Alisha replied, disappointment clouding her voice. "Oh come on Alisha! Just one flat party and lying once won't kill you!" Aryan tried to convince her, these two didn't seem to be interested in any parties and he wasn't prepared to go alone to another one. "Aryan I'll come with you," Khushi quickly reassured him. "Alishas right, it's not good to lie to your rents, mines don't mind so I'll come," she continued smiling. "Okay done then! Tonight at 7! I'll come get you so that you know where we are going," Aryan replied eagerly, all too happy now that he didn't have to go alone.
----
Khushi was standing at the kitchen counter making mindless chatter when she felt someone's eyes boring into her back. She suddenly turned around to face a shocked looking Arnav, his brows scrunched up in confusion, his eyes large and unreadable.
"This is not good!" he thought to himself. She currently occupied his every thought, he thought he heard her laugh everywhere he went and right now he was sure the back he was facing was hers. "snap out of it Arnav! What is wrong with you?" He was unable to comprehend exactly what game his mind was playing.
She scrutinised his scrunched up, part shocked, part confused face and he quickly averted his gaze. He then gave her a sideways glance, almost afraid to show her he was giving her a second look, tightened his jaw, clenched his fists and abruptly walked away. "That's right!" Khushi thought to herself. "Walk away! Hopefully that'll be the last time he dares to stare!" she rolled her eyes and turned around in satisfaction letting her mind wander back into the conversation.
Arnav went and made himself comfortable in a corner and started to make small talk with a couple of others sitting around. He was in second year now and hadn't been too keen on attending a freshers party but his friend was throwing it and hadnt taken no for an answer. Although his mind was brewing up with irritation, deep down inside he felt an unusual calm and knew she had been the one to cause it. He continued to steal glances at her as she laughed and made conversation. She was so unlike him, she seemed so loud and vivacious. Too outspoken to handle, but he constantly felt drawn to her. That's when he saw another face staring at her with hunger and lust. He felt himself slowly losing control.
Khushi was standing alone at the kitchen counter now. She was tired of talking with uninteresting people and having to make an effort to make conversations. It was only the first week and uni was already draining her.
Thats when she felt someone's hot breath on her back, someone's ragged breathing and felt their eyes almost devouring the curves of her back. She made a move to turn around, to give them a piece of her mind, when suddenly she felt a rough hand grab hold of her half exposed waist. She froze in horror and a sliver of raw terror passed down her spine, sending shivers down her whole being. She willed her mind to let her move her limbs when she felt a rock solid chest in front of her and felt arms almost embrace around her. She wasn't even able to comprehend what was going on, it happened too quickly! "Oi back off!" growled Arnav shoving the slime ball back. "Orite Arnav! No need to use force you could've told me she was your shag and I wouldn't have wasted my time!" spat out James. "Whatever James I don't have time for your nonsense. She's nobodies shag, not everyone's as easy as your ones," he bellowed his eyes violent with rage. James threw a dirty look at him, and winked at Khushi, "Arnav you better watch your back!" He threatened and stumbled off.
Khushi was disgusted. What had just happened? Some random slime ball had just dared to touch her, her body had gone numb and refused to reply and the one person who had irritated her since day one had saved her? She continued to stand frozen to the spot still unable to grasp what exactly had happened. "Hellooo! Hey! Hey!" He snapped his fingers at her, "have you gone into shock?" "Wait what are you doing Arnav, if she has gone into shock she wouldn't be able to answer that anyway. Stupid!" He muttered to himself. "Helloooo!" he shouted once again, this time waving his hands in front of her face. "God it would help if I knew her name!" He muttered to himself once more. "It's Khushi," he then heard her mumble. Khushi blinked several times and repeated "It's Khushi." "Oh okay, Khushi," one corner of his mouth twitched up into a smile, "are you okay?" She almost lost herself in that husky voice, "Huh?" she asked dreamily staring at his face. This time he smirked, "I asked if you were okay" and with that he gave her the tiniest of smiles, but that was enough to send butterflied fluttering through her. She blinked several times and managed to gather her thoughts into more coherent ones. "Yeh, yeh I'm fine," She mumbled still looking as though she was in some other place. "And thanks," she looked up at him with eyes of gratitude, her voice a small whisper. "I'm sorry was that a thanks? An apology would have been enough to be honest." Arnav replied, obviously having turned back into his normal self.
"What? An apology? For what?" Khushi had regained full consciousness now and was slowly heading towards rage. "Erm, let me think, first for walking into me at the airport, then for passing stupid comments and getting in my way again, then gaping at me as if I was some sort of weird alien walking the Earth and finally for making me bellow at a random guy." "What? Are you alright in the head? Why would I apologise to you, I have not committed any mistake!" "You know what none of this would have happened if you had just stayed in your room!" He retorted now annoyed. "Excuse me! Who told you to intervene. I would've handled the situation fine on my own! And who are you to tell me what to do and what not to do?" She was screaming now, who the hell did he think he was? "Yeh coz you were obviously handling it well before I stepped in!" He growled back and he was too late to realise he had crossed a boundary. She froze and then slowly closed her eyes, remembering and replaying exactly what had happened. She felt vunerable and exposed, what if he hadn't stepped in? "Oh shit! Arnav you need to control yourself!" He thought to himself and placed his hand on her shoulder, she flinched. "Okay never mind," he said attempting to change the topic, "lets forget about what happened, plus I think we need a proper introduction, my names Arnav," he smiled extending out his hand. "She smiled, okay she didn't get an apology, nor did she get normal behaviour, but at least he was making an effort to ease out an awkward situation. She grasped his hand "Khushi, it's nice to finally have an introduction." His lips spread out into a broad grin, "he should smile more, he's so handsome," Khushi thought to herself, loosing herself in his eyes. And they stood there staring at each other.
"Hey Khushi! I've been looking for you everywhere! Where the hell have you been?" Aryan shouted breaking up what looked like a staring competition between Arnav and Khushi. Khushi immediately looked away, Arnav also looked down, a smirk now adorning his face. "I'll see you around then," he said looking back at her and walked off. "What was all that about?" Aryan questioned, perplexed. "Nothing," lied Khushi, "it's not important. Come on now we were supposed to have fun?" She questioned. "Yeh sorry! I've found a different flat party. Lets go there!" And with that they walked off.
----
Khushi couldn't get to sleep that night, his face kept on replaying on her mind.
Faili thi siyaah raatein, aaya toh subah leke
Bewaja si zindagi mein jeene ki wajah leke
What was this guy? He was such an enigma.
Khoya tha samundaron mein, tanha safeena mera
Saahilon pe aaya hain, to jaane kis tharah haan leke
Kuch toh hai tujhse raabta
Kuch toh hai tujhse raabta
Kaise hum jaane hume kya pata
Kuch toh hai tujhse raabta
Arnav lay awake, staring at the sky, filled with joy, after what felt like years.
Meherbani jaate jaate mujh pe kar gaya
Guzarta sa lamha ek daaman bhar gaya
Tere nazara mila, roshan sitaara mila
Takdeer ka jaise koi ishaara mila
She lay awake staring at the stars, smiling to herself like a crazy person, oblivious to a changing mind.
Kuch toh hai tujhse raabta
Kuch toh hai tujhse raabta
Kaise hum jaane hume kya pata
Kuch toh hai tujhse raabta....
Lyrics credit - Raabta (Siyaah Raatein)
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