Chapter 54

Batool Imran

@nav_bat

"Raizada?" She asked a bit startled to see him here, since she didn't really expect him to come, him nodding in the partly darkened room, despite all her fears regarding his intense questioning session again, she still invited him upstairs, and moved toward the edge of the bed, with him climbing up the small hobbly stairs, placing himself right next to her. Her book rested on her lap and she turned it around to check the title on it his face showing signs of recognitions reading the title.

"Wuthering Heights." He said to her, or to himself he didn't really know, he was just announcing it as if she didn't know already.

"I just started reading it. Have you read it?"

"I have. Sad stories make good books." He ideally commented, taking her by surprise since he wasn't really use to ideal commentary, or keeping up with a talk, but she nodded, her smile seeming enchanting in the sparsely lit room.

"Why did you come here? I mean, do you want something? Everybody's having dinner outside, aren't you going to have it?" she asked in genuine concern, allowing him the brief moment he took to study her expressions.

"You aren't eating either." He countered back his eyes still boaring into her spectacle guarded eyes.

"I don't feel hungry." She said modestly, that not being the truth, since there was no time of the day when she would say no eating, unless she was pre occupied with something very important.

"That's surprising. You are always hungry. (Khushi makes a screwed up expression) Don't make that alien expression. It makes you look like from another planet." He said, bringing his hands to her face, and trying to adjust the expression on her face himself, leaving her speechless.

"That isn't surprising either. You keep saying I am from another planet all the time." She scorned and he had to manage a smirk on her face, something inside him telling to pull her cheeks, but he pulled the desire back, keeping up with smirk for now.

"So? You are, I am sure Aparna Aunty agrees with me. Who breeds such dis figured species on Earth." He commented, and she poked her elbow into him sharply, him doubling back in pain, putting up a poker face expression.

"That's hurts idiot." He said, restoring his position back, her grinning mischievously at him, the two drowning into another session of awkward silence, until Khushi staring blankly at her book, spoke something that triggered talk again.

"I wonder what's going on in Stanford right now. I hope everything's alright. (Arnav looks at her confused) Remember I told you about what Anita Aunty planned, about Maa and Arjun uncle, they must have met if everything went to plan." Khushi wondered, remembering Anita's plan, Aparna and Arjun and everything else, she had almost forgotten about it in her problems, not entirely forgotten though, she ahd been facing come cellular issues.

"Did you talk to her?"

"No. I don't know, my cellphone seems to detect no signals." She said with a hint of disappointment in her voice, causing Arnav to fish out his cellphone from the pockets of his pants. Checking if it detected signals much to his greatest relief there were good signals being detected.

"I have signals. You want to talk to her?" Arnav asked her and she immediately nodded, him going through his contact list and dialed Aparna's number handing over the phone, to Khushi, who instead of keeping it on her ear, kept it on the bed sheet in front of the two of them, turning the call on loud speaker, Arnav's expression showing clearly that he expected an explanation from her for what she had done.

"I have nothing to hide from you. Its no use keeping it on my ear. Besides I think she's at your home right now." Khushi explained, and he kept silent, the ring going on the two of them waiting for her to receive the call.

In Stanford, Aparna still had her arms tightly wrapped around Arjun, until her ringing phone broke the ecstasy of it as the two of them pulled away from each other, both smiling, Aparna extending her hand towards the side table where she had kept it, her face shining seeing Arnav's name appear on the screen.

"It's Arnav." She informed Arjun and kept the phone on loud speaker as well, pressing the receive button the voice on the other end immediately crackling to reach to them.

"Maa, its Khushi." Khushi said from the other end, Arnav sitting right next to her, happy to see her smile again, after what was a very worried expression that he had sensed on her face.

"Khushi? What are you doing with Arnav's phone? Where's your phone? You didn't forget at home did you?" Aparna asked immediately, causing Khushi to shake her head at the other end, her eyes meeting with Arnav, him aware of Aparna's hyper ventilated nature.

"My phones not detecting any signals. So I called from his phone. Are you alright? Did you take your medicines? Where are you right now, Raizada home?" Khushi asked troubled suddenly of her mothers where about's, Arnav putting his hand on her, giving her the look that stated clearly to give her mother some time to respond. She let her eyes meet with him and flinched a bit, waiting for her mother to respond from the other end.

"I am fine love. Yes I am at the Raizada's, is Arnav with you?" Aparna queried which was as it is Arjun's question, signaling her through gestures to ask of Arnav's presence. Inside the tent, Arnav made signals with his hand indicating her to tell that he was not there, and despite her making perplexed faces at his request she did as he had said.

"No, he's not here. (Arnav gesturing towards his mouth) He's out having his dinner. (Arnav heaves a sigh of relief, Khushi's tone changes) Maa, have you been crying? Your voice is croaky. What happened?" Khushi asked worried, her eyes flickering from Arnav's eyes to down to the phone waiting for Aparna to answer.

"Nothing dear. I am fine. Just got a little emotional, sorting things out." Aparna replied, her eyes glinting in happiness, joining with Arjun while on the other side a small smile appeared on Khushi's face, which became larger and larger, eyes twinkling in the faint light around them.

"So everything's good between you and Arjun Uncle now?" Khushi asked, a huge smile playing on her face, hands squeezing Arnav's hand in joy, him merrily lost in her ability to be happy for others more than herself.

"Yeah. (Aparna twitches her face) So even you knew about Anita's plan? Did you two do it together?" Aparna asked teasingly, as Khushi blushed hard on the other side, embarrassed to hide things from her mother, Arjun, smiling genuinely at the easy going flow of the conversation.

"I am so sorry. Anita Aunty told me not to tell you."

"Well played sweetheart. Well played. *pause* How's the field trip going? Good? You didn't get into a fight with Arnav did you?" Arjun commented from the other end, taking Khushi by surprise, however Arnav looked like he already knew Arjun was present with Aparna and remained expressionless hearing his voice. However, this both exchanged uneasy looks with each other considering Arjun's question a sly grin playing on Khushi's face.

"That's not possible is it? Even if we were kept in remote places we would still manage to find some way to fight with eachother." Khushi said light heartedly, winking at Arnav, who was narrowing his eyes at her, as if knowing what she was going o say next.

"It must be my rowdy son at fault." Arjun piped in lovingly from the other end, causing Arnav to scowl real bad, Khushi not being able to resist the need stated to pull his cheeks much to his greatest irritation.

"Obviously. You don't expect your sweetheart to fight do you? (Grinning at Arnav's screwed up expression) Uncle you really need to tell your son, to cut me some slack, he's always on my throat." Khushi added, making Arnav more and more furious, who tugged roughly at her arm, her entire weight falling on him, her practically half sitting in his lap now.

"Gupta, you are going to end up such a gonner." Arnav whispered, under gritted teeth in her ear, much to her greatest amusement, she grinned even harder, throwing all the remaining weight on him too purposely, as it looked she was resting against his folded leg body.

"No worries honey, that's the first lecture he gets when he's coming back tomorrow. *pause* What time do I come to pick you guys up?"

"We'll be leaving by 8:30 in the morning as far as I know from here, so will be there by 1:30 maximum." Khushi replied stressed, still busy putting her weight on Arnav so that he was getting more and more annoyed with her stupid antics. Arjun noted the time in his head on the other end, quickly saying good bye, and the phone call ending, leaving the tent and its inhabitants to succumb back to silence.

"You aren't supposed to drag all my family members on your side. That's un fair." Arnav complained, as she adjusted herself on the bed, getting off him, and for the first time in the last few minutes allowing him to take breathe freely, instead of her jamming her head into his lungs the whole time.

"Its not. You took my mother on your side as well, she's all I have, that is unfair too." She countered back and he looked at her sheepishly, going silent now, the two not knowing what to say to each other, creating a rather awkward situation.

"Do you hate Vivek?" Khushi asked after some while breaking the silence, as well as diverting his concentration towards herself, his entire thought processes getting a bit hap hazard with her sudden question.

"No." he replied back shortly, not knowing what else to add as an answer to her question.

"Good. I don't want you to. Whatever happened yesterday at the lake, (Arnav expression tightens) was nothing that he did on purpose. (her eyes meeting with his) he's just wants to protect me that's it, maybe that's why sometimes he starts acting like a bitch." Khushi said her entire features drawn into a very serious expression, but Arnav remained silent as an answer, another round of quietness taking over them, but just a little while later Khushi reached out for his hand, keeping her hand on it.

"Promise me, you'll never bring me to the point where I have to choose between you and Vivek." She said in a hopeless tone, the idea of losing either of them haunting her senses since the first time she realized how complicated the web of their relationship's was.

"Why would I do that?" he asked her back confused, as to what she was prompting on, but her eyes were fixed on him, expecting nothing less than a yes or no answer from him.

"Never mind that. Just promise." She said stubbornly, holding more tightly to his now, the puzzlement that he felt on her sudden request rising to no bounds.

"Wh? I think you should go to sleep now Gupta. Your brain seems to be mal functioning." He charged back on her, lightly removing his hand away from her grip, and made his way down the stairs, almost when he was half way through she leaned in towards the edge of the bed, holding on to his hand, to stop him from moving. He looked up at her baffled, and before he knew what was happening, hanging on the thread of falling, she drew her lips closer to his cheeks and planted a loving kiss on cheek. The amazement that he felt could not be seen clearly in the dimly lit tent, nor the furious way she was blushing, which she was most thankful too but he stood there staring at her, as she let go of his hand and moved in back inside towards her bed. Instead of going down out of the tent, he had started to take steps upwards, her entire state going frenzy right then.

Just like he did not know when it happened, she did not know when he entire body had inched towards her half laying form, and leaned in closer to plant a kiss on her cheek, his hot lips appearing to be distantly foreign to the cold temperature of her body.

Regarding The Title

Eventual Conclusions- Well, you see there were quite a lot of things that got to their conclusions in this chapter. Like that hold toilet paper-shaving cream trick. Like Aparna and Arjun's relationship and its difficulties. What remains is the question that Arnav asked, that hasnt gotten its conclusion as yet, well he'll get in the next chapter assuredly.

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Events In The Chapter

Let me tell you one thing, all the events in this chapter are leading to something big, a big dilemma that everyone would wish would have never came. The scenes here might seem a dragged, and boring but trust me people you'll be missing these light hearted updates alot during the next few chapters, because TL is just about to enter the most difficult phase of its journey.

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Precap

"Gupta, listen, I can explain..I can.." he said out loud, in a final saving grace attempt successful in stopping her, but that he was to know later, that he completely regretted stopping her.

"Gupta does not exist. Its' Khushi." She said icily turning around, locking her eyes with him in a venomous, dreadful manner, her tone piercing him just like the winter breeze from the window outside hit the naked skin on his neck, and she stomped away not looking back once her own misery too advanced to handle. Memories rushed into his mind, that last dialogue of her making him whince with pain, the kind of pain that he was not aware that anybody was capable of inflicting him with anything like that.

"You know, you are so adorable..Raizadaa (he looks at her annoyed, she stops pulling) I know..I know..you don't like it..sorry..but well just so you know..call me with my last name..I love it when you do that okay? You don't need to go with Khushi, and honestly saying I don't think I hate my last name so much when you say it"

"Don't call me Khushi." She said quietly, her eyes cutting off any eye contact with his, in fear that he would read her eyes, like he said he could.

Arnav closed his eyes in slow motion, letting his temple rest against the cold metal of his gray locker, trying to stop the uneasy churning of thoughts inside his head, but he knew for a fact, that what he had done was right. For both them, he just knew that.

Marz bhi hai deti, Chain bhi hai deti
Dard bhi hai deti, Jaan bhi hai leti
Yaariyan

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"I don't believe anything I say or do now. Forget about us for a minute, and think about her. You saw that hope that happiness in her eyes when she came, that excitement was so evident. She had a good reason for it all, why did you toy here Arnav? That girl, she really liked you. Believe me, I have seen it in her eyes, she really cared, like no other girl ever has. *pause* When are you going to stop seeing a Sarah Andrew in every girl? When Arnav?" Karan asked in a aggravated voice, charging the tiger within Arnav and in a minute Arnav bolted up, his body shaking with fury, taking quick steps towards Karan, and in no time he was holding his collar, pinning him to the wall behind, eyes exploding with rage.

"I don't see that s**t in any girl. I don't. Don't you dare ever say that dirty name ever again.Especially when we are talking about Khushi. Don't you dare." Arnav growled in between gritted teeth, his hold on Karan's collar loosening up a bit as he tried to control his anger, but now all that anger had gotten transferred into Karan.

"Shutup alright? Just Shut up! Who are you trying to fool? Me? Me? Seriously Arnav? I might have been wrong about the Khushi thing, even though I still think it's you who is purposely forcing yourself to get delusional, but I have never been wrong about Sarah (Arnav flinches at the name) I have never been wrong about Sarah! You see her in every girl. You see a desperate betrayer in every single girl. And if you saw that in Khushi then Arnav I am ashamed to call you my best friend." He said in a nauseating manner, every body part of his shuddering with the effect that this fit of anger was leaving on him.

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