Chapter 63

Batool Imran

@nav_bat

2 days had passed all without a word. Everything from that one moment had changed, and so it continued to be, she felt soulless at times, and even injured the other half of the times, but she knew, the moment she turned around she would fine him standing there, her best friend, brick strong, despite his own cruel faith, he stood their steady enough to hold her in one piece, the very thought of him not being in her life creep ed her to no bounds, if it ever happened, she didn't know what would become of her. Maybe nothing like he had said, maybe she would be living, and yet be dead.

In her room at the moment, the room was a mess of books and notes, scribbles and what not, everything mismanaged, very much her to be quite sure, that's what happened when exams were near, at least 5 days near, and whatever mind she thought was sane was being put into productive use for the time being, since well she had enough sense to build up her priority list in perfect accuracy. Maa. Studies and Vivek. Anjali and Aakash. Miscellaneous people. She wasn't yet sure where to put Arnav, maybe a part of her wanted him to be in the miscellaneous people list, since she had forced herself to stop caring about, but oh well, a big chunk of her resisted the thought so she had left the thing hanging in between, and kept it aside at the moment.

"Khushi. You do remember it's Diwali three days later right?" Aparna entered her room, barging in with the question to be quite exact, as Khushi lifted her head off her Physics book adjusting her reading glasses to look at Aparna with a quizzical bewildered expression on her face.

"Diwali? What no! I obviously don't know anything about it. *pause* Wait, is it seriously three days later?" Khushi said her mind lost in a whirlpool of different thought, all of them ages from studies, but well somehow distantly connecting with it. It was Diwali. Danm. She loved Diwali, but she had to study too, and her mind was not right, and oh well her study timetable was going to get disturbed, and she had no clothes, and well she hadn't even prepared herself for anything, what the hell? Shutting her eyes tight for a brief second trying to think straight and clear up her mind from the mess it was in, she looked at Aparna who had taken her seat on the bed, studying her daughter's odd expressions. Nothing of this was foreign to her, this was the drama that went on every year, every year Khushi was the same frenzied about the whole situation, unaware and then hustling bustling all over the place for God knows how many hours. This year however Aparna doubted is she would show the same reaction, a lot had changed since the day they had come to Stanford, and the last few days had been extremely hectic in terms of emotional stability, she had been quiet and discreet, and Aparna worried for what was going on with her. She had tried asking but had failed to gather any information of substance, however Vivek had assured her that he would get Khushi back to normal, so she had let the thing rest, and trust him with his words. He had proven himself every time; there was little doubt that he wouldn't be able to do it this time again.

"Well Khushi. You don't have much to worry about, just make it first priority to adjust your study timetable, no compromises there right? (Khushi nods) There are like a total of 5 Indian families that we know here, 3 from our locality only, so I talked to the Raizada's they say a hall can be arranged somewhere around here. They will look into that matter." Aparna informed Khushi who nodded, but the mention of 5 families had her face plastered with confusion, until she finally released it out in the form of a question.

"5 families? The Raizada's. Us. The Wakhani's. The Mandvi's. That's just four. Who is the fifth one?"

"The Ahuja's. And Maybe the Chaturvedy's and Bhosles are invited too, I don't know for sure, Arjun was supposed to look into the invites as well. (Khushi is still puzzled) The Ahuja's. Oh, I forget, you haven't met our new neighbors as yet have you?"Aparna asked, blinking her eyes in a melancholic manner as if to signify that it was her merry mistake of not telling Khushi about it.

"We have new neighbors? Since when?" Khushi asked surprised, her mind in a whiz trying to figure out how she had missed something so obvious, and then it occurred to her, she hadn't been out of the house since the last 2 days. Skipping school for exam preparation, and being locked in her room for the whole day wasn't helping her know what was going on outside.

"Yesterday. They just moved in yesterday. Still setting up their things I suppose. I talked to them, they said they would love to celebrate Diwali with us. Good chance for them to interact with the rest of the families here, know?"

"How many people?"

"3. The Ahuja's and one son." Aparna replied, as Khushi nodded, and Aparna got up from the bed, walking out leaving Khushi to get back to studying until she stopped half way out being reminded of something important again.

"Anjali is going shopping for her dress tomorrow. You may as well go with her. (Khushi is about to protest) I know you have last year's dress, that you have already worn two years in a row, so don't care about arguing. Arjun's insisted me that this time your Diwali dress is on him." Aparna said modestly, as Khushi layed back her hips back to the soft mattress and nodded, Aparna disappearing out of the room, leaving her in isolation again. For a good 5 minutes she was pondering over the Diwali issue in her mind until giving up the scenario and the possible tremors she felt facing Arnav again, went back to shaking her head and getting committed to her books again.

She had only about started figuring out Snell's Law, when the door bell rang much to her sheer annoyance. Once. Twice. Thrice. Hell. Her mother had disappeared from the face of Earth, so eventually springing up from her bed, pouring friction back into her cramped muscles she walked out, stumbling for a good two seconds until the door in front of her, was pulled wide open by her, a handsome boy of about 17 staring right at her.

"Can I have a hammer please? Actually we just moved in next to you, and our hammers gone missing so.." The boy standing in front of her said, even though the cape was over his hair, and he was fully covered, she could still tell that he was one of the most handsome guys she had seen in all her life. Tall, almost 6 feet, with dark brown eyes, and hair that matched the same color, skin that was fair and completely devoid of any marks on it, his smile having a charismatic thing about it, that would have any one die for it. There was a friendly twinkle in the way his eyes sparkled, and a good natured twinge to his smile, that she had almost instantly begun to adore, but what struck her most was his heavily cultured accent and the show of respect that he was portraying, so unlike typical teenage boys.

"Yeah sure. Come on in." She said smiling at him, and let him inside, seating him on the sofa, and disappeared inside the store room to find the hammer out of the tool box. Finally finding it she handed it to him, that smile still etched on her face as he began to get up.

"Nikhil." He said, extending his hand towards her which she promptly shook giving in her own name.

"I am sorry I didn't come over to meet you guys, have been caught up with my studies, and exams start in about 5 days, so erm really busy with all of that." She said modestly, placing her self on the sofa perpendicular to him, as he brightly smiled at her, shaking his head as if to say that it was not a problem.

"Oh. Don't be sorry about it. I understand. This is exam season. Tough luck, my whole schedule got disturbed because of all the shifting from Los Angles" He told her and she smiled a bit, already finding comfort in his company, which was somehow even new to her, because she didn't really get comfortable with people that quickly.

"You are from LA? Cool. We shifted here from Chicago. (a twinkle appears in Nikhil's eyes) So which school are you joining? When from? Stanford High I suppose?" Khushi asked almost suddenly, enjoying this chit chat with him and he seemed to be at ease too until she realized the humor spreading across his face, making her know how she was blabbering way too much with a person she had just only met.

"Erm. Sorry. I know I blabber too much. But erm you know..it is well refreshing to have someone over after quite a few days so..sorry." Khushi said embarrassed, blushing a deep red as Nikhil continued to smile at her, the erry feel of it reaching to her, and she forced herself to look up at him, seeing anything but awkwardness in them.

"Its cool. Really. You are cool. I am sure it's going to be fun having you as a neighbor. (Khushi gives a cheesy smile) And yeah it is Stanford High I am joining. From Next Monday. I assume you study there too right?" He asked her good naturedly and she nodded, playing with her fingers now, a sign of nervousness that she felt when she was trying to be extra nice to someone extra attractive. There were quite moments of silence until Nikhil finally got up from his seat, a broad smile all over his face saying his goodbyes to Khushi, her escorting him to the front door.

"I hope to see you around. (Khushi nods) You can call me Nick btw. All my friends call me that. (Khushi nods again). Ta Da." He said waving at her, as she closed the door in slow motion, a natural hearty smile still playing on her face, in a mind dazzling mood, walking back to her room jumping on the bed, when suddenly her eyes fell on her phone, and she pounced on it pressing the speed dial to Vivek's number.

"I was going to call you just now. Stupid Biology lessons." Vivek grumbled obviously annoyed with himself and the lack of attention he gave in class to the Bio lectures, in which he was either sleeping, goofing around or simple eyeing Vishaka. Okay well eyeing Vishaka was old story, but that's what he had been doing since most of the term, so, oh well, so much for relationships.

"Later. I have something important to tell you." Khushi said her voice laced with excitement, having Vivek arch up on his own bed, his hands now scrambling away back to the plank of the bed, all of his senses glued to what Khushi had to tell.

"Okay so we have Diwali after three days. Screw you for not reminding me of it BTW. (Vivek is about to protest) Shut up. Protests later. So listen to this, there is this new family that just moved in next to us like yesterday. The Ahuja's. Small family. Parents and son. The son his name is Nikhil. (her voice drops to an awe tone which Vivek catches promptly) He just came over we had a small chit chat. Going to join our school from Monday. First day of exams. Cool Na?" Khushi related pumped up about the whole situation, even though she didn't know why, it was mostly because of his attractive looks, or well she figured out also because he had an admirable personality.

"Is he good?" Vivek asked out of common courtesy, this was his best friend telling her about a boy, what else could he do but ask, when he could evidently see signs of some attraction going on within her, through her over active voice.

"Are you gay?" She asked back, slumping back flat on her bag, her legs siding away the notes that were spread all over bed, phone attached tightly to her ear, face a little bit annoyed with Vivek's causal response.

"That makes you gay too. You are half a boy anyway. (Khushi snorts) Okay go on now. I know you have more to tell about him Chun." Vivek said causally, the wrinkles on his forehead from using excessive amount of brain on studying relaxing a bit, relieved to have causal talk with her. Not only because it was casual and not mind wrecking, but also because it put him to some peace that she was returning back to normal.

"Well, he's kind nice. (Vivek repeats Nice in a sarcastic tone form the other end) Fine. I adore him okay? Dude, you should check out his personality, I mean seriously he is entering the campus and trust me if half the girl population doesn't faint your entire cafeteria tab for a month is on me." Khushi told him in a convincing dream like tone, imagining the scene of Nikhil entering the campus and all the girls drooling, the typical scene which she intercepted it to happen in.

"Sure. Empty your wrecked pink dabba then. (Khushi scowls on the other end) My tabs on you. The guy can't be any hotter or better looking than the ones in our campus already. Please Chun. You are losing your taste baby" Vivek said in a sarcastic tone, pleasing himself by taking the better of Khushi's supposed infatuation for Nikhil, the entire time Khushi making dreadful faces to herself.

"Wait till you see Nick. You'll know none of you stand a chance then."

"Nick? BUHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH. Chun you are becoming a disgrace now. XD"

"Yeah. Whatever. Arjun Uncle's buying my dress. Going shopping with Di to get it tomorrow."She told him casually, masking the tremors that she felt awakening in her body again, the interception of what would happen at the Diwali party already scaring her.

"Dude relax. Its all going to go good Chun. Don't try to avoid him on purpose that's only going to provoke him, be normal. You get me?" Vivek told her comfortingly, stunning her for a second. He was that one person in the whole wide world who could make out meaning even out of her silence.

"Oh well. Over thinking ruins you. Ruins the situation, twists things around you, and just makes everything much worse than it actually is." Khushi said soberly, her face dry of an expression losing her self back to the horrible memory she was trying to get rid off.

" Okay Chun. Very Okay. " Vivek imitated the words in Charlie Chaplin kind of tone lighting up the mood, and soon disconnected the phone, glancing back at the Bio lessons and then at the walls of his room, his mind blared with merry vision of what she would be going through right now. He didn't even want to know about it, best he could do was, imagine she was tucking herself to bed, and finding some peace in the devastation she was trapped in.

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Regarding The Title

Draped In The Mist- Okay no kidding here, but the title was named after I selected the song in the background. rust me on this, the title is the English translation of the song. Okay lame. Sorry. On a more concrete significant not, the characters in the story have changed dramatically, the relationship that are making it through, or getting stranded in between, is mostly the high point of every update. So yeah, draped in the mist connects to the that blanket of mist between each of the characters that separates them from each other, strong ties tie them together, true enough, but sometimes the mist needs to get cleared out too. Right now it is at its optimum.

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Events In The Chapter

After such a long break from writing, I am apparently surprised how I managed to put up a chapter with some sync in at all. Trust me. This thing is hard, but I have no plans to abandon till the very end. For me the end is the most important part of this story, so relax people, I may disappear but you people WILL get ending to this FF for sure, sometime in this year.

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Precap

He spinned her around, the lemonish green hues of colors of her lehenga twirling about in the dimly lit floor they were dancing on, illuminating such radiance from within her, the sight of the onlookers almost fell short of grasping the full extent of the magic they were creating. She continued to spin, as her wrist twisted with his gentle grip on her, her curled hair all over the place, the sound of his voice making her insides die with craving.

"Ho saari hi duniya ye maani hai" He said in his soft, yet husky voice, the whole tune sounding hypnotizing to her as the twirling stopped and she found her self being pulled closer to him. Closer. Much more closer, until she was directly in his arm, his hands on her naked waist, her hand wound around his neck, the embroidery on his sherwani scratching the soft creamy skin of her hand.

"Shuru hum se teri kahaani hai" Her ears registered the sound of the next set of lyrics spoken by him, her eyes being raised up from where they were previously lowered over his chest as she looked up, to meet his eyes, the twinkle in them not fading, the molten bronze eyes digging their way into her soul, and suddenly she felt lost, at a loss of movement and words, but as quickly as the feeling had come, it had been replaced by delusion and horror, as her world turned blurry for a moment, and the next minute she knew, it was not a pair of molten bronze eyes she was staring in but deep dark brown ones.

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