Chapter 25

"They are all in Chotte's room, come see for yourself what happened" he told her shortly and grabbing her hand, pulled her into Arnav's room a horrifying sight meeting Anjali's eyes. She rushed over to Arnav almost shoving Vivek off his feet and pushing Khushi to a side leaving her to gain balance using the side table on the corner of the bed.

"Chotte what.. what happened..why are you all green?" Anjali asked a sick Arnav in a panic stricken voice, roaming her hands around him her next words taking everyone by surprise.

"Did you drink alcohol? Why? Are you crazy? You know you are allergic to it, no wonder you were dancing?" Anjali shouted at him, his immediate reaction being his eyes going all wide, as if on the verge of popping out of his sockets.

"Does my forehead read N.U.T? *cough* Why would I drin..*cough* drink alcohol knowingly? *sneeze* (rubbing his nose) and dance? What dance are you talking about?" Arnav asked her with narrowed eyes looking at everybody else in the room who he thought seemed to know something that he didn't excluding Khushi who was as shocked as he was.

"How would you know, you and Khushi dancing on ' Ouch!" Anjali said unconsciously , until a hurtful pinch from Aakash on her hand caused her to let out a piercing wail of pain.

"Aakash that was hard a budge would have done it" Anjali told Aakash annoyingly who for the first time in his life was in no mood of jokes. While Arnav was only baffled mad, just like Khushi, Aakash briefed Anjali on the events, stopping in between to give her space to curse Purab. However the story was discontinued with the sudden vibration of Khushi's mobile in her pocket. Shooting an apologetic look at all of them, she kept her mobile on her ear, after receiving the call.

"Khushi? Why aren't you home as yet? Is everything alright, didn't Aman Bhaiyan come to pick you and Payal up?" the voice of Aparna Gupta crackled from the other side of the phone her voice covered in utter bother.

"Maa Jiji's gone with Aman uncle, I have to stay behind a sudden urgency has arrived" Khushi said in a metallic tone, everybody else darting puzzle looks at her, Aakash and Anjali both looking at her in utter dissatisfaction, while Vivek kept signaling her to not do it by forming two crosses out of his fingers.

"Khushi go home, there is no need to stay behind, me, Anji and Karan will handle it" Aakash told her in a brotherly tone, urging her to go, but Khushi was not to be moved, she wasn't listening at all, because her mind was made and she was just going to do exactly that.

"What urgently? What's going on Khushi? (Scared) Are you alright?, Your voice sounds heavy." Aparna Guptas words buzzed from the other side of the line, concern for her only daughter evident in her voice.

"I am alright Maa, Don't worry about me. I'll tell you everything once I am back home, I might have to stay for the night, is that fine with you?" Khushi asked her mother softly Vivek looking at her with surprise, jerking her hand continuously to tell her she was doing the wrong thing but she was just gracefully ignoring all the stares. Arnav was looking at her stunned to his insides at her willingness to stay behind, after his immediate family and Karan as far as knew she was admittedly the only person who cared for him so much.

"You are at Arnav's home na?"

"Yes Maa, I am at his home."

"Okay alright then, you can stay, but keep me posted and try to make it home early" Aparna Gupta advised her daughter and hearing her answer in the affirmative disconnected the line from her end making her way towards her room to tuck her self to bed.

"What did you do that for? Why are you staying over? If he was drunk, you were drunk too, you need the rest Chun, C'mon I'll drop you home" Vivek told her holding her hand trying to pull her out but he had magically turn into steel and did not move an inch instead had freed her hand from his grip.

"I am perfectly alright. I am not going anywhere and that's final, unless (looking at Anjali and Aakash) you people have a problem with me staying over." Khushi questioned them in such a soft manner neither of them could say anything against her request, because for what she was known and very much capable of, Khushi Kumari Gupta could leave absolutely anyone tongue tied.

"But I have a problem with you staying over" Arnav said breathlessly all eyes in the room now on him especially Khushi's which were very uneasy penetrating right through him.

"You don't need to take the trouble to stay over for me. I will be okay by morning you can go home" he told her trying to sound as reasonable and firm as possible, but with his raspy pained filled voice, nothing that he said held much authority or change anything than was already done.

"Nobody asked for your permission. You are the patient so keep quiet, when Di and Bhai have no problem you shouldn't either" Khushi snapped at him, infuriated how with everybody protesting on her decision to of staying over. What was the problem? Why was every body over reacting so much?

If he was in the state to do so he would have cut her tongue for being so rude t him, the hilarious looks and muffled laughter of the others making him go only crazier at her.

"Vivek you should be going its getting late," Khushi said walking towards him and looking at him gratefully for all the help he had offered.

"Yeah, I guess, you sure you are fine?" he asked her again evidently still not convinced of her physical state was as apt as she was show casing it to be.

"Yeah, it's cool. Relax. *pause* (holding his hands in hers) I am so sorry for spoiling your time with Vishaka, she must be pretty offended with you suddenly disappearing for the party" Khushi apologized embarrassed at her ability to spoil not only things for her self but for others as well.

"Don't fret. I am sure she will understand. You take care, give me a call in the morning when you reach home" he told her putting up an assuring smile on his face when she aptly returned their eyes holding that merry glint of friendship.

"Text me when you get back home" she called out to him, as he after bidding everybody goodbye exited out of the room and then the house escorted by Khushi who did not close the door until she had been assured that he would be fine, and after fiddling a bit with the mechanism of the locks she secured the locks and went inside the room going to sit down next to a drowsy Arnav. She kept her palm on his forehead, immediately retreating back as her sensory neurons registered the hot touch of his body temperature. Taking out the thermometer, she placed it in his mouth, much to the astonishment of everyone and after taking the readings placed it back looking at Anjali and Aakash worriedly.

"Fever. He's got fever. Di can I have some cold water and a dry cloth it will help wash the fever away" Khushi asked for it, as Anjali and Aakash hurried outside to get the required things, while Karan now very guilty for behaving so harshly with Khushi kept his face down, making Arnav look at him in wonder.

"Khushi I am so sorry for what happened earlier, actually I was in a bad mood to think rationally at all" Karan said apologetically, that flash of remorse flashing right across his face.

"Nah, its cool, I understand, I would probably be reacting the same way if it was Vivek in Raizada's place, maybe worse" she told him comfortingly, to which Karan smiled a small smile at her, and the hurriedly looked away, not much use to of maintaining direct eye contact with people he had once been angry with. Arnav on the other hand, even with all that hammering in his head, had his brains set to work, regarding the comparative study of his relation with Khushi and that of Vivek's with her. If it was simply comparison than it was alright but at the back of his head more evil thought were invading his rational capacity to think. Did comparing actually indicate that he was jealous? Did it imply on to how he had gotten so fond of her that her taking care or showing sympathy towards someone else was irking him? Was this the start of something new? No, he almost growled to himself, annoyed with the quality of questions that were buzzing inside his head. Secretly pinching his left bicep to knock himself back into thanking real and not fantasy. Hadn't it been for him knowing that the dabbing of water soaked cloth on his forehead was to lighten the effect of fever he would have actually stabbed Karan death right there and then, even Di and Bhai who were hovering over him like quarreling bees for no reason at all, as most of the time they were only talking gibberish about some Shyam character. If there was someone that he was thinking to spare out of his 'Stab To Death' mission it was Khushi, because erm well he didn't know, stabbing her to death was a far fetched idea, he had even forgotten to be ruthless with her.

On the other hand from the corner of her eye, Khushi was noticing the fluctuating emotions on his face, the way he had pinched himself had only left her with an inward burning desire of laughing out loud. He didn't know, she thought to herself, that is his forehead actually read N.U.T it wound't be too wrong, he was after all one anyway.

For the four people in the room the rest of the night had turned intensely sleepless because while Arnav was suffering from nauseous sickness, Khushi and Karan were sleepless seeing him like that while Aakash and Anajli had for the 100^th time considered the prospect of calling their mother, which they had profusely turned down themselves every time it was brought up. Soon enough only a hour or so before daylight broke, the room became silent with all of them arrested in the enthralling essence of slumber.

There was an uncanny whirling in his head, and with much effort he opened his eyes to see something soft and silky rubbing against his cheek and as he moved his gaze down, his eyes turned instantly soft seeing the wary looking face of Khushi, her head lying ideally on the corner of the bed, knees buckled up on the ground, and hands lying freely by the edge. The sleet black hairs of her were still tied up in a messy pony tail; strands of hair were out hanging loose and scattered all over the bed. But what interested him most was the way she was holding on to his hand and had entirely covered them up with her own white hands the mound of the two lieing close to her lips.

He dared not disturb her, since he realized she had stayed back for him, without much of a personal connection with her. Di and Bhai were his siblings, it was obvious that if they stayed up the night it was not much of a great deal, Karan was his best friend, and was in a habit of spending sleepless nights when Arnav got into trouble, not like he didn't return the favor by doing the same. But her? He couldn't understand even if he thought keeping all angle under consideration, why had she stayed behind. They were nothing to each other, not even friends, just project partners and even that was over, just class mates but then there were 22 other people he studied with too, why amongst all of them had she stopped behind for him? It was puzzling him more and more as he thought of it, there were so many questions in his head, why had Karan said sorry to her? What dance was Di talking about? He had to find out as soon as possible, what had really happened when the two of them were drunk, because the more he thought of it the more it triggered his sixth sense that something big had happened, that had led to everything that had happened last night.

Slowly, using his free hand he tried too draw away his hand from her grip, to restore some activity in it, as he felt it going numb, closed her hands for almost the entire length of night. But in the process of drawing out his hands, he had woken her up, much to his distress, as she fluttered open her eyes, her eye lashes making funny blinking movements to adjust her iris to let in light through to make a sharp picture on her retina, instead of the blurred one, she was seeing currently, it gaining focus pretty slowly. She was supposed to be a heavy sleeper, he thought, last time I picked her up she didn't even as much as stare open her eye, and now just a small movement had broken her sleep, funny, he thought, the things the body can do.

For a while or so, she was looking at him with a queasy expression, trying to remember what exactly she was doing here, and as that dawned on her, she straightened herself and in a second was standing on her feet, much to his surprise, sitting on the bed beside him and putting her palm on his forehead, as if checking his temperature.

"The fever's gone, (sighing in relief) and you don't even look green anymore" she said smiling at him, and he due to the lack of any more words just nodded and tried to get up and sit straight on the bed, his movement triggering Karan to wake up from his sleep, who had been resting his head in a sitting position on the head rest of the bed, his hands lying freely next to Arnav. He opened his wife, giving the same whirly expression as Khushi's and straightened himself up in record time, yet his voice still very drowsy, face pale.

"What's happening here? (looking at Arnav who was sitting now) Are you alright now?" Karan mumbled, half asleep, blinking his eyes in a disorderly fashion to get rid of the spell of slumber on him.

"Yeah, I am good. I told you people I'd be fine in the morning, there was no need to stay back" Arnav said grumpily, apparently now feeling guilty of having disturbed so many people's sleep for something that he knew only had a temporary severe effect on him.

"What's done is done, you cant change that Raizada, so stop being so grumpy" Khushi retorted, and Karan nodded at her in agreement, leaving Arnav wondering if his best friend was going to high changing parties now and then.

"I'll go wash my face, otherwise there is less chance of me not turning into Donald the Duck" Karan said light heartedly, and got up from the bed, disappearing inside the washroom.

There was a different kind of silence now in the room, with Arnav and Khushi not having much conversation to put up, looking here and there away from each other, due to the lack of any constructive talk taking place between them.

"I think I should be going back home too" she broke the silence finally, and got up from the bed, pulling her clothes straight, feeling extremely uncomfortable in them, since she was use to of sleeping in her night dress, or something light, not all the frilly and body fitted. She was about to step away from the bed, when Arnav swiftly grabbed her hand, and himself got up from the bed, feeling a bit wobbly at first since his body was restoring sensation in his body, but then he seemed fine enough to walk, Khushi the entire time looking at him puzzled.

"What?"

"You cant go without breakfast, Maa must be coming so wait till then, and then you can go" he said, trying to sound polite with her, but it not being in his nature, he just couldn't get words straight for being nice to someone.

"No, I'll eat breakfast at home. I should be going"

"Okay fine, if you are in that much of a hurry, let me fix you something" Arnav said, not maintaining much eye contact with her, since he knew her reaction already, wide eyes arched up in a full circle at him, that non believing expression which he usually got from people when he was trying to be nice with someone.

"What? I can make sandwiches. Go freshen up in Di's room, I'll have something by then" he said annoyingly, and walked out of the room, without waiting for her to respond, who in theory was too stunned to say anything anyway. She too went out and towards Anjali's room, going in the bathroom to wash her face, and bring on the freshness to it, since her eyes had been dropping low for quite a while now, and rubbing them was only making them turn into an ugly blood red.

She stepped out of the washroom and outside in the living room of the Raizada's the clatter of utensils in the kitchen dragging her towards it where Arnav was busy applying mayonnaise on the bread, leaving that aside and grating some cheese. Sensing that he was in a mess right here, she closed up behind him, right behind his back, and when he turned the enlarged picture of her face on his retina, send him jumping up in fright, taking Khushi equally taken aback, her more scared than him.

"Don't creep up like that, it makes you look like Nemo" he said, squaring his face, with her giving him a horrible expression, and then taking care stood by his side, doing what she could to make the sandwich until finally they had fixed up three sandwiches, the third one coming due to Karan sneaking up on their backs, and expressing the state of his grumbling stomach. The three carrying their plates walked out towards the dining table, munching on their sandwiches, when only a while later two drowsy looking sleep laden people, Anjali and Aakash stepped outside, their faces looking pretty wary, Aakash ruffling his hair, while Anjali was itching her scalp the difficulty of keeping their eyes open creeping up on them.

"What's going on here? Chotte are you fine now?" Anjali asked in a lethargic manner, sleep evidently taking the better of her, while Aakash had been snapping his eyes open and close in some stupid discreet fashion.

"He's eating that means he is fine *yawning* For once Anji cant you ask something sensible?" he remarked sleepily, finally successful in putting his glasses straight, his brain now processing the specie of food on the three plates, what he after good scrutinzation deciphered were the crumbs of a eaten sandwich left behind.

"Well you don't seem to have much sense to say anything sensible either" Anjali remarked rudely.

"Where is my sandwich?" Aakash asked in a flimsy tone, at the three people on the dining table, ignoring Anjali's rambling gracefully.

"Oh, I am so sorry Bhai, I'll go make one for you" Khushi said quickly embarrassed, and got up from her seat fetching her plate when Aakash's voice stopped her in between.

"No, you don't need to make it. Let Chotte make sandwiches for me and Anji, and probably a second one for you and Karan since it because of him that we had to spent the night sleepless" Aakash said teasingly, well aware that Arnav even in his wildest dreams would do nothing of that sort.

"I am not that Papa Chef of yours go make the sandwich yourself" Arnav snapped at him rudely, making Aakash frown at his comment.

"Don't say anything about Papa, he's my favorite chef of all time (looking at Khushi) ever played those Papa games on y8.com? They are awesome seriously!" Aakash remarked joyfully, getting a quirky look of Khushi who was apparently not aware of any such game.

"No, erm Bhai I haven't played that game. I'll check it out if you say its good" she said half heartedly, amazed at Aakash's childish hobbies, but anyways she loved the siblings banter a lot now, there was no denying that she could do anything to stay a part of them.

Aakash nodded and went over to his room, pulling Anjali behind him who had went off to sleep again on his shoulder. While the two went back, Arnav shook his head muttering something like crazy under his breathe, having Karan and Khushi both exchanging hilarious looks with each other.

"I should be going home now. Thank you for the sandwich Raizada" she said gratefully, and for the second time got up from her chair followed by Karan who offered to drop her on his way back home, and the two after having put their dishes in the sink, left after bidding a very sleeply Anjali and Aakash , and a perfectly normal looking Arnav goodbye. They had just only stepped out of the door, when Anita Raizada's car pulled up in the driveway, and she walked out of it towards the two teens and Arnav at the door surprised to see the two of them there.

"Karan, Khushi, what are you two doing here?" Anita Raizada asked them astonished at their presence, to which in a summarized form Karan and Khushi told her what had happened last night, her expression fluctuating with every event that they narrated.

"I'll have a talk with the parents of this Purab fellow. *pause* Why don't you two stay back for breakfast, I'll get something up soon" she offered smiling at the two of them, but they rejected it, and told her of how Arnav had already served them sandwiches, and right now they were in a hurry to get back home.

"Alright then. Thank you so much darlings for your help, (looking at Arnav) Did you say thank you to them?" she asked with a straight face at Arnav, who hurriedly saying a small thank you disappeared inside the house, not in a habit of saying any graceful greetings at all.

"Don't mind him, he's like that. *pause* Give a call at the land line to let me know that you two have reached home safely" Anita said with motherly affection, kissing their foreheads, as they nodded at her and went off to their way back home. In no time at all, Karan and Khushi had reached Khushi's home, and her after saying thank you to him, he left for his own home, that was in the next neighbor hood Khushi walking up the pathway that led to the front door of the Gupta house.

Khushi rang the bell of her house for the seventh time now, feeling dread creeping on to her as to why nobody was answering from inside. It was mid day right now, and no way was her mom sleeping, or maybe she had left for somewhere, she thought to herself, but then it was inhumanly of her to do so, when she knew Khushi was coming home. She wondered if she had the spare key to the door with her and checked her two faux hip pockets, a small smile coming on her face glad to gave found the key in there.

The tension inside her growing she inserted the key in the door knob, and turned it left and right, the lock finally snapping open, as she pushed the door to a side and walked in, closing it behind her. The entire house was quite, no hustling bustling nothing, it seemed as if she had just stepped right into a deserted moor. Perplexed she checked the kitchen for her mother, and then her own room, going now directly to her mothers room, the door half open.

Her heart thumped inside her chest at the sight in front of her wailing for the torture of seeing a miserable person for the second time in the last twenty four hours. She rushed over to her mothers side, who was pressing her hand on her heart, crying and perspiring heavily at the same time, howling or what seemed more like sheared screams coming form her mouth. Upon seeing Khushi, who was now sitting on the bed, moving her hands all over her mothers slithering body, going frantic with every passing second.

"Ma, Ma, Ma. What happened, what'what..happened?" Khushi asked confused, looking in her mother blood shot pain filled eyes, her entire body getting rigid with the grief she saw in them.

"Doccc'..t'.err'.I'.needdd'aa'doc'torr" Aparna Gupta managed to put words together to form one sentence in a breathless tone, her request making Khushi escape into another state of deep trauma and bafflement.

Life changed with every single moment, for only minutes earlier she was blooming in happiness, and now for everything she knew, their was only panic and darkness around her.

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Regarding The Title

The Cradle Of Life- A title that does not explain itself, and that is what I am here for.😆 I didn't know actually what to name this Chapter, because their was so much going on, it was difficult to fit in every important feature of it. But this one I guess fits aptly with the situation, the title actually means of the essential components that are life is filled with. Care, love, guilt, happiness, sorrow, worry, panic, these are all part of our everyday lives,and you got to see all these emotions individually highlighted in this entire update. Moreover, the title also implies on the bonds in the FF, friendship, siblings, parental, attractive love, and all these bonds were I think emphasized in this update hence the title has been name this.

A something little for you all, if anyone of you can guess what inspired me to write this title, the nest update shall be dedicated to him/her.😉

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Events In The Chapter



I dont have much to say about in this particular section, since I have made the update self explanatory, just a little something I wanted to let you all know, this is exclusively Teenage Love, all the characters in this FF, at Standford are between the age group of 15-18, so their thoight process go according to that. Anybody thinking of why they think immaturely at time, its because they are still not fully grown up, and are in fact light years away from our Arnav and Khushi in the show. Please don't mix the two different characters with the same names.




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Precap


"Chun? Chun?" Vivek entered the Gupta house feeling increasingly worried seeing the front door wide open, no sign of Khushi anywhere in the living room.


In the room she felt as if she heard the familiar faint call of her best friend, she turned around and walked out from the room, only to find Vivek utterly worried standing on the front door roaming his eyes here and there in search of her. Upon seeing him, she coudnt control herself, the overwhelming rush of adrenaline consuming her as she made a sprint towards Vivek directly, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly crying away bitterly, not having noticed the silent spectator who was seeing the scene from the corner of his eye.


Arnav looked as she hugged a confused Vivek, who was trying to calm her down, remembering the way she had earlier hugged him, and that moment was the one when truth dawned up on him, this was different, she didn't need a 'You can share' assurance to pour her out to Vivek, she didn't need to hesitate even a moment with him around, and that is what, Arnav realized made the two of them different, because he was just not the same to her as him.


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P.S: How was the update, sorry for the delay, but I did give a notice that I wont be able to update. I hope its good and worht the read, since I wrote it ina rush and didnt have much to to proof read it all over again.



Do leave back your comments behind, I love them, in fact I am happy that even without sending Pm's I already got two pages of comments.😆 Too many people stalking TL, I reckon.😆


Love,


Batool😳