My Heart Goes On

"Can I hug you?"

"Excuse me?" he asked her stupefied, looking at her in the most dumb expression that existed. Now, that he thought she was much crazier than he had imagined, yes his first character sketch about her was right after all she was just a silly simpleton.

"Oh never mind, why I am even asking you anyway, even if you would have said no, I would have hugged" she said in a pre mature kind of tone, throwing her arms around him, hugging him comfortingly, while he struggled for a reaction, mostly because the space between her dialogue and the hug was so less, even if his brain worked at super sonic speed he would never have been able to catch up with the pace of events. She wasn't crying, she was just hugging like normal people did, resting her face on his shoulder as if that is where she was going to cushion the thing and go to sleep. Meanwhile, Arnav hadn't even the sense to wrap his arms around her, the position they were in was making him fidgety, yet he was surprised that he didn't want her to pull away, maybe they couldn't be forever like this, but as long as this lasted he was contented and had no real problems with it.

Khushi moved away from him, and looked into his eyes brightly; her cheeks flushed with red color, which were neither due to blushing nor being embarrassed, as far as he could tell she was perfectly normal, and seemed very happy about hugging him. That one feeling, had lit just a new dimension of happiness within him, and even though awkwardly he managed a small smile, making her already very large smile going more larger until her jaws couldn't stretch more.

"Nah I am not going to be sorry for hugging you, you should get use to of it now, I do that quite often to people I am fond off. *long pause* (extending her hand towards him) Though I think we are friends, but erm can we just make it official?" she asked cutely, making him shake his head violently and grin at her, taking in her hand, the two shaking their hand together, marking the beginning of something new.

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1 new message from Aakash

Come to my room quick, the video of yesterday's dance has downloaded.

Anjali read the message to herself, and grinned madly, despite the sleep that was over coming her senses fast, she was just way to eager to see last night's videos and photographs, in fact she was in a good mind of opening the gifts too, but then that could be only done in their mothers presence, like their family tradition every year. Jumping off the bed, her phone still in her hand, she creaked open the door slowly and tip toed out of the room, stopping in between strangely to hear the muffle of sounds.

Arnav and Khushi meanwhile, busily, lowered themselves down searching for cover behind the couch, the two holding each other closely, so none could be seen by Anjali, even though Khushi had to firmly keep her hand over Arnav's mouth, who couldn't get over grumbling about the fact, that his siblings would never let him live in peace.

"Raizada, Shut up! If Di hears we'll both get into trouble" she whispered in his ear angrily, pushing her palm further into his mouth, to an extent that he was almost out of oxygen to even breathe properly. Roughly he removed her hand from his mouth, and glared at her fiercely.

"You are suffocating me idiot." He told her in a gritted tone, making her pinch him hard, him stifling a loud scream in return jamming his elbow into her sides. But soon enough the two had turned extremely motionless, sticking to each other, as Anjali's voice registered in their ear.

"Who's there?" Anjali asked skeptically, moving her eyes around the dimly lit living room, having trouble seeing anything very clearly since she wasn't wearing her glasses which were meant for her to see distance objects. Sighing to herself, thinking it was only the effect of sleep over her, she quietly tip toed into Aakash's room closing the door behind her. Sensing that Anjali was out of the way, Arnav and Khushi both got up from their crouched up position, stretching themselves, to eradicate the cramps that had occurred in the various body parts of theirs which had been victim to their inhumanly positions.

"What the hell was Di doing here, sneaking into Bhai's room like that?" Arnav questioned in a non chalant manner, evidently displeased over the fact of hiding away in his own house that too from his no good siblings.

"Are you Sherlock Holmes? (Arnav gives her a twisted expression) No na? Then stop pondering over who does what and go to sleep." Khushi told him modestly taking her seat back on the couch, his eyes going wide with surprise at her easy going manners, surprised at her audacity to tell him what to do, in his own house.

"You are in my house right now, and you tell me what to do? (sitting away on the couch stubbornly) I am not going anywhere, in fact you should be the one going to sleep." He said rudely, and she stuck out her tongue at him, making a rude face, but instead of him maddening with anger, he had started to grin at her stupidness.

"Capture that and dp it. You'll get a much more sensible fan club than just a dick head Purab after you." Arnav joked light heartedly, making her pout at him cutely and then giving him a hard punch right in his chest, getting herself victim to his nonstop 'What the's' and grumbling over manners yet again.

"You need not do that. Vivek was enough of a punching bag for you, that you are good with the idea of me turning into one too."

"Yeah, yeah whatever. Arnav Singh Raizada doesn't turn into a punching bag for anyone, blah blah, that's what you were gonna say next right? *pause* Dude I know you quite a lot by now stop toying me." She said in an distant kind of voice, looking at him straight him in the eye and then letting her gaze wander away in seeing the beautiful distractions of the living room. The next few seconds were pin drop silence seconds, where none of the two after their rapid fire back to back snapping at each other knew what to say. Arnav was lost deep in thought about what she had really said in the last, maybe she did know him a lot better than he thought she did, he decided up in his mind, when she had finally started to speak about Hunger Games.

"I did read it *long stretchable pause* The boy was stupid." He said conversationally, not looking at the odd way she had arched her eye brow at him, or the way she was grumbling inwardly to herself about something.

"He wasn't stupid. He was just being normal, what else do you want a bread man's son to do?" she said defensively for the character named Peeta Meelark in the book, head over heel in love, since age 5, with a girl of his own district, Katniss Everdeen.

"What's his fathers profession got to do with any of it? He loved her since he was 5, that alone was the most stupidest thing ever. (rolling his eyes) Kids at that age don't even know what could exist between a boy and girl, how did he even manage to fall for her then? Besides, take for suppose, that he did even love her, so why be the coward for 11 years? Lame." He said, locking his eyes with her, who he had just as it is ignited ready for a counter strike with him all over again.

"He is not Lame, you are lame. What would you have done if you liked a girl since 5? Take suppose, maybe me? Would you throw your love on my face?" she asked in argumentative mood, but only after she had uttered a second later she realized what she had actually said, and looked away embarrassed, while he was only thinking about his and her own distraught words making any sense at all.

"Propose ofcourse. I wouldn't go around throwing breads, and get beat up by my mother for a girl who doesn't seem to consider a moment of thinking about me. But that's really far fetched, since I can never be in his shoes anyways." He retorted conversationally, giving time for her to adjust to her uncomfortable question, but now that she done knowing that he really did not pay much attention to whatever she said, it gave her the opportunity to burst even further.

"It was a game of survival. Probably the bread was the thing that did after all lead her to surviving. I personally found her insensitive at times, the guy had his feelings played with just for the of survival" she sighed, him craning his neck at her and looking at her just as oddly as he had been since the time she had started to talk about the book, apart from that game what interested him about her, was she was talking about the one thing in the story which most people would take as a side story, the thing she said she despised- love.

"Do you have some special affection for that Peeta guy? Why are you heell bent on proving that Katniss was the one at fault no matter whatever she did or said" he asked his eyes trained on her every expression which was changing by micro second speed now, but not once registering what he thought the question would do to her-realization.

"No. I just think he was the one who deserved the sympathy. After all he's the one who had everything to lose, all this way she kept whining over how she had so much to lose, and yet it it is ironic enough that she was the one gaining everything. *long pause* And I really sympathize with people who some what have truly loved, someone really, and that's what I loved the book for, no knight in shining armor, damsel and distress tragedy" she replied back to him, her eyes drifting away to almost every inch of her room, as her memory reverted back to the old good times, where life was just so easy, it was almost the same when she compared, when the people of District 12 would fear for the Hunger Games, and she would fear for what life had to bring next for her, more than anything it had just turned into a game of survival for her as well.

It wasn't very difficult for him to understand what she meant, he could see her own grief highlighting in the words, she said to defending a character that did not even exist. He knew she did not believe in fairy tales, but somewhere after saying all that, he had that tingling feeling inside him, maybe she was not as opposed to love as she potrayed. Maybe once just once, she was going to fall in love.

"That would be a disgrace to call it the usual knight in shining armor-damsel in distress story. He never really helped her anyway, it was always the other way around" he remarked, after which the room felt silent yet again, but only minutes she could feel her self jigging her body was responding to sounds, her feet were tapping in a rhythmic motion, just like they did when she heard some music. She looked at Arnav sitting next to her, holding a similar expression to hers, trying hard to listen as well, but all she did was look at him with considerably wide eyes.

"You can hear it too right? Where is it coming from?" she asked puzzled straining her ears more to catch the location of the sound, when he tapped her shoulder and pointed his finger right at Aakash's room his expression showing the bafflement, and the internal war of peeking into the room that he had encountered.

He got up from his seat, and tip toed towards Aakash's room the door left ajar giving him thankfully a good view of what was happening inside. Before he had even begun to gain some sense of what was happening, Khushi had kept her hand on his shoulder and was leaning heavily against his solid frame, letting her front body stick with his back one, standing on her toes, to look over his shoulder on to what was going inside.

"What.." he stammered away breathlessly, seeing the images that were playing on Aakash's LCD TV.

"What nahin What The" she said in utter surprise, the sight of the two of them comical enough to have even a drunk person laughing away mad. He whizzed around at her comment, almost knocking her off balance, thankfully gripping her hand tightly before she had entirely collapsed to the ground.

"Excuse me?" he asked her crazily, and she giving him an angry look shoved him aside lightly, taking her place in the front of the door, leaving him completely stupefied by her actions. Muttering something un decipherable to himself, he stood right behind her, his breathe almost making her as close to him as he was back in the cupboard. But right now he didn't really need to compare other situations, what he saw on the screen was enough to have him not sleeping for a good many ages, until he gain enough sanity to explain his actions.

"Gosh Chun! You took forever to pick up the phone! I told you to call me up when you reached home, you are at home right? (slapping his forehead) Silly of me to ask! Ofcourse you are at home *pause* listen remember you asked me yesterday, what happened when you got drunk? (taking a long disturbing pause) you and Arnav danced on Tu Mera Hero"

Was this the dance Vivek had intended to tell her about? She and him. The word dance itself triggered something unknown in his heart, the proximity he could see the two of them sharing before the screen made him slightly get confused as to what was he doing. It was good consoling that he wasn't in his sane mind during that dance, but that did not help with much of what he was thinking, making a lump form in his throat, he knew they were drunk, she knew that, their close people knew that, but everybody did not know that, and certainly tomorrow he intercepted from this, was going be a lot more worse than hell.

Khushi craned her neck backwards letting her eyes meet away with him for split second but quickly looked away, getting more and more flustered hearing Aakash and Anjali commenting on the duo of the two of them. As she looked, for the first time she realized that he was right at her back, it was almost like their bodies were sticking with each other. She looked at Aakash replaying the whole thing again, who knew maybe due to obsession or just because the duo of siblings found it fascinating. Arnav scowled from behind seeing Aakash playing the whole Tu Mera Hero dance sequence all over again, none had failed to see that spark that crossed his face when he and Payal were sharing the stage, but as comical as ever, Anjali and Aakash were still gaping at the scene when Arnav and Khsuhi in the closest proximity ever were staring deep into each other's eyes.

"That a** of a guy Puraab, let me get to him tomorrow, I am going to rip him apart", she said in a cold soothingly low whisper, clenching her hands in a tight mound ready to punch anyone's face. He did not object to whatever she said, well obviously because for that moment they were mirroring each other's feelings. Slowly Khushi calmed down still dead flustered, yet her anger had subsided to a few points, making her go red all over again.

"Did you know about it?" she almost whispered, her voice lost somewhere deep due to utter shock that she was heavily overcomed with. He took a split second to answer, and that was enough for her to know that he did have an idea about it.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked in a hurt kind of tone, making space for herself after pushing him lightly away making fair distance between them.

"I didn't know, Vivek only mentioned it to me when he called." He told her subtly, but she was shaking her head in disbelieve to know that of all people Vivek had told him about it. Hearing nothing more, she paced towards her room, worried, hurt, and a lot of other conflicting thoughts consuming her mind, when Arnav's low and some what she thought flirty voice stopped her.

"He had to wait for eleven years, but it was only to his advantage in the end, she was closer to him than she had been to anyone else." He said in a dismissive matter of fact tone, and turned around just as she was looking at her stunned trying to figure out what he was talking about.

"Who are you talking about?" she asked him stammering, and for a brief second when he turned his neck towards her in the signature manner of his, her heart just stopped right in her chest, and it was only his words that let it beat once more.

"Peeta". He smirked at her, and turned around marching towards his room, and she knew what he meant, the blush as beginning to come on her face pretty unknowingly, he had made the spark clear, something was different, it was just not about Peeta and his long childhood love for Katniss, she knew he was implying on something much more deeper than the words said.

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Aparna Gupta tossed about the bed in her ward, the hospital room looking very uninteresting, much of her heart pleading to recollect herself, as she thought of all those memories, all those memories nineteen years back, when life was a fairy tale, like she had dreamed, no imperfections, and yet their had always been a daunting feeling about something not being right, something that did not fit in, and now 19 years later she had discovered what was not right.

She slapped him hard on his back, and shrieked in pain as he pulled her braid, unplucking her clips from them, with a swift move even her hair band in his hand, him waving it on her face, the creamy skin on her face going all red with anger.

"Arjunnn! It's not fair give it back to me! I can't roam about with my hair open!" she wailed, and tried her best snatching it from him, her handsome blue eyed best friend, still mischievously waving about her hair pins and band in her face, making her all the more annoyed.

"You'll need a bit of hard work sweetheart to get that one from me." He said naughtily, receiving another hard kick on his leg from the girl who he trusted with everything. The one person he could be himself with, without any worries, no facades in front of her, she could always read through him, well obviously she could after all she known him since they were in kindergarten.

Aparna Gupta, ran towards him feistily, as he darted another hard blow from her, making a havoc in the entire canteen, amusing all the other students who were busy watching the hilarious banter between the two best friends, which in fact had become a daily routine now. As Arjun moved about, his intoxicating smile capturing many girls, him being his flirty self, winking at a good two of them, having them swoon to the ground with affection, when suddenly a hand pulled on his ear tightly, and he stopped running away anymore, a heavily panting Aparna standing right before him catching her breathe. He craned his neck in embarrassment to see his girlfriend, the one and only love of his life, holding his ear pulling it hard, pretending to be hot on anger, but he knew her just enough to know the difference between real anger and fake anger.

Anita Mittal, narrowed her eyes staring right at her casonava boy friend, with imitated steel eyes, making them look as if they were on the verge of gorging out. Aparna looked at him with a winner smirk, and snatched the hair clips and band from his hand, and until he had known what had happened to him, the two girls standing in front of him were laughing away madly, hi fiving each other for making a public fool out of him yet again.

Arjun looked at the two of them with a disgusting sight, and crossed his arms around his chest, turning his back at the two of them, when the two of them stopped laughing, and grinning at each other, went over to him, Anita to his left, Aparna to his to right, keeping her hand arched up on his shoulder, while Anita slipped her arm, making a band of their hands, but he continued to look away loving the attention he was getting. He was in a very fond habit of girls swooning over him, but these two ladies, they were special, very special, his best friend, Aparna who he just hadn't done anything without, and his girl friend Anita, the love of his life who made him what he was, they were life to him, life without either of them was impossible for him.

The girls looked knowingly at each other, and did what everybody knew was going to happen, everybody glued on their seats to let the girls pull in their final signature trick. Aparna pulling his one cheek with her one hand, and Anita on the left doing to his other cheek, both saying out the same thing in unison, the thing they were known for, the thing that united them.

"Nautanki!"

Aparna snapped out of her blissful memory, tears cascading down her cheeks, the bed cover of her pillow going all damp due to the saline droplets of water being spread on it. She reached out for the phone kept on her side table, and picked it up, opening up the locked gallery in her mobile which nobody but her had access too. Opening it, she clicked on his picture and enlarged, that picture long long back in black and white pixels, which she had recovered from one of her old photo albums from back at school and college times. She looked at his blue eyes, twinkling in the sunlight that she remembered was making him squint her eyes back when she taken this picture of his, his red cap pulled forward shielding most of the sun rays and yet she remembered how she had joked about him being too prone to the sun light. Her eyes seem to go more moist then before recollecting all those beautiful memories, as she hugged the mobile close to her heart, that streak of everlasting, forever resting pain killing her insides.

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*MORE TO COME nav_bat2012-09-03 10:39:02