Chapter 7

Batool Imran

@nav_bat

Inside the room, Arnav felt his ears ringing at the sound of the sudden blabber of his nonsensical siblings, shouting out 'Khushi's' name as if they were standing in the market place selling vegetables. Where did all of a sudden did there crazy talk take U-turn to Khushi? Or had his siblings become victim to constant insanity yet again? He put his hand on his forehead, cursing his fate for the millionth time now, for having him born in such an utterly crazy household.

"Di who is it?" he asked out of curiosity, and half out of double checking if he had heard right, what he had heard his two siblings shouting about. Was that Gupta actually here? Or were his ears ringing from their earlier encounter at school? Nah. She couldn't be here, why would she be here? To say sorry? No, he had made an image of her character in her mind already, she was not one of those types, well at least he assumed her not to be the 'I am sorry, forgive me.'types.

"Chottey, Khushi is there to meet you". Anjali happily chirped out loudly, irking the hell out of Arnav with her overly happy tone. From all the people in the world concerned for his good will, she had to be here? No please, he corrected himself, she being concerned for his goodwill? Nope, that was some nightmare he hadn't even begun to imagine about. She wasn't here without a purpose, and from what little he knew of her, it was definitely something for her benefit, or to clear up something she dreaded to be get caught into. Gupta, without interest? Never.

Anjali smiled at a entirely taken aback, Khushi, whose face did not seem even a bit amused, at the humor Anjali though might just having been created, with the sibling unleashed hell with their loud pitches. She face an inward smile to herself having been exposed to Arnav's nickname. Chootey. She smirked. Interesting. Fighting back the urge to cover her ears with her hands to block the voices, she tightened her fists, and continued to look into Anjali's eyes, who only minutes earlier were maintaining perfect eye contact with her, but now looking at the LCD screen in front with a disappointed look in them. Khushi followed her gaze to where it concentrated at the end of some episode, and it wasn't a very difficult task for her to know which one the titles belonged to, her favorite, Super Natural of course. The disappointed look on Anjali's face explained a lot of things to her, mainly of the common interest the two girls shared, freaking die hard fans of the Winchesters.

While the girls gazes were transfixed on the screen, Aakash trotted out of the kitchen having difficulty managing his extra large club sandwich, and seeing Khushi sitting their, head to toe clad in black, greeted her cheerfully, to which she turned around. Understanding her plea, to get to Arnav, Aakash directed her to Arnav's room, and wished her 'Best of Luck' before he closed the door behind her having her fully exposed to a gray room, sparsely furnitured, but adequate enough for someone with little interesting interests.

She stood their, for the merry few seconds taking in the scene of the dull however, captivating room. Even in all its simplicity, what caught her attention was the blending of colors in the room, which apparently were her favorite, and so their was a faint resemblance of this room with her own room, which too consisted of only two colors, black and blue. She craned her neck to see the wall in front adorned with black and white pictures, of the three siblings with their parents. She narrowed her pupil purposely to closely look at a cute Arnav, holding a baseball bat, and even in the picture scowling for God knows what. Stupid Appie Raizada. She thought to herself. She shifted her vision to the wall on her left sight, which was painted in a two color shade of blue and black mixed together in the most magnificent manner ever, giving the wall a totally astounding look. On it was pinned a notice board, too covered with blue and black velvet which was hardly visible due to the endless amount of 'To Do' tasks, and some witty quotes pinned in an exceptionally aligned uniform manner on the board.

She moved her head once again, her eyes drifting towards the ceiling which was painted blue, adorned with planterian fluorescent solar system stickers. Moving her sight downwards, the main wall of the room, was patterned in ringlets with silver glitter adding a sparkle to it, however half of it was hidden as her eyes continued to move down towards the bed, on which sat the beast himself, Arnav Singh Raizada, who to her surprise was looking at her with a amused look on his face, and from the time she had known him, it was apparently the first time she had actually seen him smiling.

Arnav had been looking at her in the beginning in a nonchalant manner, but as he looked carefully at her awing the dcor of his room, a unknown smile immediately crept over his, and as if their reflexes worked in a synch, seeing him smile she involuntarily smiled back too, for a moment both forgetting their previously held enmity. Gradually they looked away from each other, as realization of their previously held relationship status seeped in their brains, suddenly bringing a scowl on both their faces.

"So why are you here? To break my other leg too?" Arnav said breaking the abrupt silence, that had prevailed between the two.

"I just wish I could" Khushi mumbled to herself in a non audible tone, but who knew that Arnav had the hearing sense of a dog, and promptly caught her words.

"Just so that you know, this is my room, and I can hear every single thing people utter here" he scowled at her negative remark.

Khushi gave him a, 'I hardly care' look, to which he just raised his eye brows with accurate precision, and brought them down with the same speed, leaving a pretty offending impact on Khushi.

"I didn't know it would get this bad, I mean I had not intended it to be.." she said struggling with words, under his heated gaze that was fixed on her fury bursting out of his eyes.

"Of course, you had intended to make it even more worse, hadn't it been for luck, I would have been in the hospital now" he cut her short in between, making her all the more embarrassed seeing him in such a condition.

She walked in towards the bed that he was lying on upright, and sat on it, where his legs were resting, swollen and bandaged, his head in better condition which too was bandaged, but did not seem much hurt.

"I had no idea those books.."

"Books! Omg! Surprise! Gupta knows that they were books that fell on me and not papers! When did you see that, with those buttons of yours? (pointing to her eyes)" Arnav remarked snidely, to which her reaction was pretty expected, eyes widening, and insulting remarks hitting square at her conscience.

"By the way, what Grade did you get in Physics?" he asked her out of nowhere, another harsh comment he had to throw her way, cooking up in his devils box.

"Whatt? Physics?...erm..A*" she said totally taken aback by his blue question. If she had previously thought of him as only crazy, that was definitely an underestimation, he was something worse than that.

"I am surprised." He said blankly, in returning getting an irritated look by her shot on him. "Someone who doesn't even know the basics of Physical quantities and measurements, gets an A*?"

"Raizada stop going about in roundabouts. What are you getting to?"

"As expected you are dumb too. Someone like you who doesn't know the difference between a stack of papers and large hard back encyclopedias, is surprising to have qualified for an A*." he said imitating a thoughtful look, making her loath over his not-so-witty comments that were being aimed at her.

"Oh please, you Shut up! I know everything, just that I don't waste my knowledge applying it on circumstances that involve high headed baboons" she remarked with equal venom as him, causing him to move his body away and towards where she sat, pointing out his finger at her directly touching her nose.

"How dare you" he said threatening to move more closely to her if she dared other anything in defense.

She raised her finger equally, and purposely collided it with his, touching his nose which was barely inches away from her own.

"How dare I? My words, my tongue." She replied back narrowing her eyes, an expression of some lady out on war with men around her.

"What the? This is my room, and you threaten me?"

"So? Do I care if it's your room, or school, I can threaten you whenever, wherever I want to, who are you anyway?"

"Shut up Gupta! Get out of my room right now!" he growled at her ready to physically attack her, if she didn't oblige by his command.

Outside, Anjali and Aakash crouched at the small gap of the slightly open door, kept their ears on the door, and were busy peeking inside, to get highlights of their younger brothers assumed love life.

"Aakash, what the hell is Chootey doing? He doesn't have to talk to the poor girl like that. Didn't even give her a chance to say sorry" Anjali whispered with a disgusted look on her face.

"Shutup Anji! Let me see hear." Aakash replied indignantly, receiving a light punch from Anjali on his shoulder to which he momentarily glared at her and went back to concentrating at the events inside the room.

"What do you want to hear now? She must be coming out now, you heard Chootey clearly state get out to her."Anjali said matter of factly.

"She's not. They are arguing again over who says sorry first for tripping each other. Man. I love this girl, she's some atom bomb." Aakash whispered away excitedly, to a bewildered Anjali who seemed to be a bit shocked at Aakash's growing interest in the new comer.

"Be quiet Aakash. You don't have a chance! She is Chottey's piece" she said back to her brother naively, causing him to turn his head facing her directly, a clearly offended look on his face.

Keeping his finger, on Anjali's forehead, he circled it indicating a sign that meant crazy. "Anji are you seriously crazy? I mean you actually thought I was interested in her in THAT way?, God! I keep telling mom to take you to a physiatrists, big mistake of hers she hasn't till yet" Aakash said in a voice that was only audible to Anjali, and shaking his head turned to concentrate inside, which seemed that events inside were getting pretty heated, with both of the arguing mad now, and constantly throwing punches at each other.

Aakash grinned to himself seeing his brother talking well precisely fighting with a GIRL that long. For what he knew of him, he avoided girls to no extent, and when he actually thought he would get into a contest with a girl, he would back out in witty way on his way. But here it seemed, that neither he was willing to back down nor was she, it looked like some game they were both enjoying unconsciously.

Anjali turned to walk away seeing nothing of much interest, but was held back when Aakash held on to her wrist and pulled her back, nudging her to look at what was going on inside. She gave him an irritated look, and tried to catch sight of the events inside, which were absolutely absurd to her and in no way indicated a start to some love story

"What is it Aakash? Let me go, I have homework to do! They have been just fighting since the last 30 minutes, I don't think they are going to get anywhere at this rate"

"Anji, you fool, don't you see the connection, they have been fighting for '30 minutes' (stressing at this instance)"

"So?"

"Arey, did you go with a sieve when God was distributing brains to the people! You don't understand, we know Chottey doesn't get into fights unnecessarily, not with girls at least, he doesn't even talk to them, but she, he has been talking about her ever since we returned, he has been talking to her ever since she came, and it really doesn't look like he's willing to let go" Aakash reasoned out to her, mentally congratulating himself for deriving hidden meaning in fierce actions.

Shaking him, "Aakash? Have you read too many Pride and Prejudices? Or is it those crummy Two and a Half Men shows you have started seeing?" Anjali asked him out of fake concern, exasperated at his odd reasoning.

"Anji, get lost, its no use talking to you," he said, lightly pushing her away, having her snorting and taking her place back at the couch opening her bag, and simultaneously watching one of her other favorite shows 'Castle'.

Inside, a heated argument was taking place between the two youngsters, Arnav and Khushi, who were busy keeping their forces up in fear that the other might crush it down.

"Fine. (making a face) Fine, I am sorry for what I did, I shouldn't have you tripping with books in your hand (getting up from the bed, smirking now) it would have been better if they were rocks" she laughed out loud, violently changing the expression of victory on Arnav's face, to deep annoyment. He moved his hand forward to catch hold of her, before she fled away, but to her utter bad luck, Arnav's baseball bat lie under the bed, half of its side that was painted black, outside, causing Khushi to trip and fall with a large thud on the bed, directly in Arnav lap.

She kept her eyes tightly closed, shifting in his lap now and again. Her arms were winded around his neck firmly, giving tingling sensations to her having come in contact with his warm skin. She covered her ears with her palms for a verbal lashing from Arnav. 1 minute. 2 minute. But nothing came from his side. She slowly opened one eye, and then the second only to see Arnav cutely staring at her face, and slightly amused at her silly antics. His molten bronze eyes bore into her caramel brown ones, hitching both of their breathes, none being able to acquire oxygen properly lost in each other eyes.

Aakash who was by now, unable to close the big 'O' his mouth had formed, rapidly snapped it shut, and quickly pulled away a struggling Anjali from the couch, and told her to peek through the small gap in the door at the event going inside. Anjali gave a similar reaction to Aakash's, and held on to his shoulder tightly, in fear of fainting, at seeing the two youngsters locking eyes with eachother completely covered in black. It seemed like a human statue of Greek Gods had merged, however the only difference instead of off white, they were both covered in black.

"See I told you there was something" Aakash chided an Anjali who was still gasping for breathe, out of utter shock and amazement.

They kept looking into each others eyes, as if they knew each other from day one of their life on Earth. It was an equal feeling of fondness occurring between both of them, which none would consciously ever accept. Khushi moved her eyes away from his, and looked up the forehead which was bandaged, and since the time she had first arrived, it was now that she noticed carefully, that the cut on his forehead was pretty deep and brutal, spoiling his otherwise, close to perfect features.

Without conscious control, she withdrew one of her hands which was tied around his neck, and brought it upwards to touch the ugly scar which was exposed even through the ill applied band aid. And circled her fingers around the scar, a deep grieved expression on her face, causing him to twitch his nose unexpectedly at her soft touch on him.

"Is it too bad?" she asked softly, and this time out of genuine concern.

"Maybe." He said quietly, losing his brain state to the wonders her touch was doing to him. Slowly she moved a little away from him, flustered at her sudden actions, withdrawing her hand from his neck and simultaneously from his forehead, shifting uneasily on his thigh. Her restless movements caused him to snap back from his trance, taking him a little while to restore his demeanor. As she shifted and backed away, from she unknowingly put a little to much pressure on his right thigh, resulting in him letting out a painful 'Ouch' from his mouth.

Concern grew back on her and she quickly moved away from him, standing next to him, and before he could even react, she started rubbing his thigh, to soothe the pain she had caused.

Not liking the effect she had on him, and sensing that he might gave away to her touch's silent assault on him, he shoved her hand away from his thigh away harshly and gave her good 2 minute glare, drowning all the goodness her that for minutes had surfaced back for him.

"Stay away from me! You are nothing but trouble! Now go" he shouted at her angrily, mostly out of her guilt and confusion of the earlier moment they had shared together.

"Screw you Raizada. I am not interested in hanging around here either! You have already wasted much of my time!" she said haughtily, concluding their visit with an abrupt end, and walked away out away out the room, this time avoiding the stupidly sticking out baseball bat.

Only seconds earlier, that she had forced open the door, had Anjali and Aakash, walked away stumbling in their steps, trying to busy them selves into something, so that a fuming Khushi wound't know that they had been eaves dropping on her and Arnav's conversation.

Without saying a word to anybody else, she just gave a polite smile to Anjali and Aakash, and walked out of the door, in a wild confusion, half of her consumed in extreme anger.

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He closed his eyes tightly, trying to wash away the memories of their earlier meet, hopelessly failing in the attempt. It had been hours that the thing at happened, but all eh could think about was her, and the fall, her concern for him, everything. It was disgusting him to instead of having feeling of utter hate for him, what he feared when he first saw her was happening. Feeling s of fondness, and attachment that he had always ran away from, feelings that he knew came only from a girl. Di and Bhai had maddened him with their senseless rambling of his rude behavior, but he hardly cared and busied himself doing homework, but now it was getting late. He was tired of waiting for mom to come, she was late than usual, and the pain in his thigh and forehead was giving in rapidly, sleep was the one thing he needed, but before there was one important thing still to do.

Opening the drawer of the side table he took out his black neatly covered diary, and flipped through pages, to the last date, and opened a fresh new page, busily opening drawers to find a pen to write with. Finally finding a pen he began writing, but frowned seeing it had black ink, instead of blue, however being extremely tired he chose to subside the color difference, and continued to write with the black pen.

Date: 12^th September'2010

Day: Monday

Dear Diary,

Today I had a horrible day at school the worst one ever, I mean today what has never happened did come to happen; I met her, that new lady in our class Khushi Kumari Gupta. The moment I saw her, I fell so giddy about her seeing her, and you know what, I couldn't look away from her? Imagine me, me, couldn't look away from her. But when I did manage to, she kept looking at me, although I didn't even let her know that I knew that here eyes were on me, but a think that tall guy, her friend, was busy introducing me to her, no wonder she just kept noticing me all the time.

And you know diary, just to think, only earlier we were like a calm ocean, and later the two of us here are now on loggerheads, there is such a huge rift between us, its like the gap will never fill up. We both hate each other, and then I have every reason to hate her, she made me fall, I have this utterly gruesome pain in my right knee, it wont even move properly, I guess my hinge joints broken or something. So long for that girl, I bumped into her, and I swear it was not on purpose, fine I didn't help her pick up the papers, but why should I, she was the one jibber jabbering with that friend of hers, she should have looked where she walking. I wasn't even at fault, at all. Anyways, I would like to know more of her, because I think her entry means competition for me, and you know how much a I love competition, healthy competition. Haha, right, I know diary this competition isn't being healthy at all, we two are head on with each other, I can't let her win, and I'll make sure she knows how I am, so the next time she thinks of messing up with me, she thinks twice before even doing that.

She came home and said sorry, I shooed her off, if she ever thought that her sorry would make me feel good about her, and then she was so wrong. And AK bhai and Anji Di, urgh these two siblings of mine they are so crazy, you know that right? Remember that time they hid you somewhere to annoy me, and when I did find you, in all the snatching pieces of yew got torn. I was so furious back then, I even hit Bhai, but he kept laughing away mad. I am sure he's lost his marbles; I only wonder how he manages a straight A with that quirky behavior of his.

Diary, I am really tired, and I am feeling really sick too right now, will write to you tomorrow,

Bye,

Yours, Arnav.

Penning that down, he shut his diary, kept it safely in the drawer of his side table, closed his eyes, and dozed off to sleep.

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Regarding the Title

Intervened In Black- This one would be pretty easy to interpret for you people, it was easy how everything in their world connects with black. Let me list down the most significant events that signified black and unknowingly brought them face to face yet again, tying them together.

1. Sleet Black Nokia E-70- It was Khushi's cell phone which acted as a medium of letting her know of the unintended damage she had caused to Arnav with the fall.

1. Her Dress- The in formals she wore were also black, signifying that she was going to meet him in black. It also showed of how their feelings were so complete black for him that is full of hatred.

1. His Room- His room was devoid of any colors and that is what fascinated her in the first place. Instead of getting a feeling of 'boring' from seeing it, she was captivated in the kind of magic the black was creating with blue.

1. Their Choices: Seeing the colors in the room, she could connect with it really well, since his room was adorned with colors that were her favorite. This shows that they share common likes.

1. Argument: Even though she had come with the intention of not getting indulged in an argument with him, she however was stuck with him in an argument, that too a offending one, which further shows the kind of effect colors have on peoples nature. You might be knowing and if not, it's a universal fact that colors influence behaviors, and even though she was out to maintain peace, due to the dark alignment of colors around them, things had gotten heated.

1. The Fall: She had tripped due to the baseball, and its end was covered in black, making it the absolute reason for her losing balance, and following in Arnav's lap, connecting the black with black. Her black avatar, merged with his, making them look like two bodies, but one perfect couple.

1. His Diary: The diary in which he writes about his days events, is covered black, and he significantly uses a black pen to write about her meet with her, out of uniform order, in which he would always use a blue pen to write his diary with.

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I am sorry for the unnecessary promotional publicity paragraphs of having adding 'Super Natural' and 'Castle' out of nowhere, and adding it as Anjali and Khushi's interest. I really coudnt help it, I simply love these two shows, and Winchesters, Man seriously I could die for them. They are so hot *drools*, Sorry for getting carried away, paidaieshi masla hain cant help it. This chapter was eventful, and basically focused on the lead characters of the story, that is Arnav, Khushi, Aakash, Anjali and Vivek. You will get to see a lot of these characters in the story. I am sorry for not adding Karan in this, he seems to be the only one missing, but really it made no sense adding him in.

So after this chapter, it should be pretty clear to you all, that why Arnav's so rigid towards her, because she in only a matter of hours had made such an influence in him which he hasn't allowed anyone to ever do. He hates the fact, that she is doing things to him that are out of his control. On the other hand she is fumed over him, being aggressive and bossy all the time, never listening, and it appears to her that he purposely tried to indulge himself into arguments in her.

Anjali-Aakash conversations are fairly significant, especially parts where they talk about Arnav-Khushi's bonding do read them carefully, will aid you in the upcoming chapters.

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They didn't know how long they stood like that stealing glances at each other, and then looking away, however none could make a proper picture of the other, due to the pitch black darkness that surfaced them, with little streaks of light entering from the gap in the cupboard door. Their breathing was hitched, and the close proximity they were at could be measured easily, as the air they exhaled, caused pressure on the face of the other, arousing unavoidable sensations in the two teenagers.

Khushi felt uneasy, as her claustrophobic disease crept over her once again, making her feel uneasy, and a nostalgic ugly feeling raised in her, eventually causing her hands which were by now resting by her sides, to make their way towards her stomach holding it tight in pain and sickness. She was frightened, of collapsing suddenly and landing on the wooden base with a thud, she reached out for a totally dismantled Arnav, and held his free hand tightly into hers, keeping the other one on his shoulder in case she lost support.

Her touch on him, evoked sensations in him, and caused him instantly to put his free hand around her to stabilize her position, feeling her rising hot temperature.

"Gupta,..why are you so hot?"he asked a bit worried, and as soon as he uttered the words, he realized how weird they must have sounded like.

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P.S: Oh I guess, I am in a habit of saying sorry again and again, for updating so late, but so consumed up in my own life, had a farewell at my school, I have board exams next month, so just couldn't find the time to update.

Please do with this update, its long enough for a good read I guess, Leave back your comments, and loads of like.

Just to let you know, I am deleting people from my list after May 22, in full force, so all those wishing to stop getting from me, kindly de-buddy me. Also commenting and giving likes to the least is mandatory, otherwise you are out of my list.

Love,

Batool😳