Dare to Love#2(DMG) Special Request on Page 100 - Page 33

"Hi Armaan" Anjali greeted with a big smile.

"Ummm...............I............." Armaan stuttered seeing Anjali infront of him. The knowledge that Riddhima lived with her elder sister and husband had momentarily been forgotten in the haste of seeing Riddhima after days. He half expected Anjali to start hitting and strangling him after his behaviour towards Riddhima. He knew that Riddhima hid nothing from her elder sister and was a bit surprised that he was not on the floor gasping for air by now with Anjali on top of him straddling him. And then it hit him, of course she was pregnant, and pregnant women do not straddle.

"Armaaaan...........hellooooo" Anjali waved a hand infront of him seeing him lost in thought.

"Huh............" Armaan's diction did not improve and he still stood there with his mouth open gaping at Anjali.

Anjali decided to intiate the conversation seeing how Armaan was in no situation to speak,"You know something I must remember to thank Mr. Khurana" she said looking at Armaan with a half thoughtful and half amused expression.

That got Armaan out of his reverie and he asked with a mix of confusion and interest,"Mr. Khurana??????".

"Oh yes, you see an hour ago the poor man had a heart attack and thus required the services of an excellent cardiologist, now as you know, my husband is quite a success in the said field, so the hospital paged him and he had to leave immediately, otherwise you would have got to meet each other finally!!!" Anjali explained wickedly. She knew just how anxious Armaan was to meet Atul and vice versa.

Armaan found himself thanking the unknown Mr. Khurana himself. It was not that he did not want to meet Atul but he thought that meeting him under better conditions would be beneficial to his relationship with Riddhima. He had no wish to meet him just after a fight and make up with Riddhima.

"Thanking Mr. Khurana yourself ey???" Anjali asked enjoying herself.

Armaan smiled for the first time after his fight with Riddhima. Trust Anjali to relax him and make light of the situation. He enjoyed talking with Anjali on the few occasions they met, she was a practical and reasonable person and he felt almost as if she was his own elder sister,"Yes I am, and I hope he makes it so I can thank him personally and show my gratitude, although I am not sure whether he will appreciate when I say Thank You Mr. Khurana for having your heart attack when you did, you saved not only my life but also my love life" saying so he laughed loudly soon joined by Anjali.

"Hahaha, cmon in, as much as I enjoy having this conversation with you on the door step I am rather hungry and would prefer to satisfy my cravings, so if you would excuse me" saying so she turned and started walking to the kitchen but stopped midway to look at Armaan,"Oh by the way Riddhima is in her room, if you want you can go talk to her or if not then I am sure we have many interesting magazines to keep you occupied" winking at him she started leaving.

"Anjali wait" Armaan called out. Anjali stopped and looked at him with a questioning look. "Thanks" Armaan said looking at Anjali with a small smile.

Anjali smiled at him,"You are welcome Armaan, I know relationships are not easy, I am in one, you have to try really hard to make them work, I am just glad you and Riddhima realized and want to try, all the best" saying she left.

Armaan gave a sigh of relief. He was really happy that Anjali was not mad at him and understood his dilemma. After all he was counting on her support when he would finally have to face the head of the house, Atul Joshi, and he knew for a fact that his girlfriend Riddhima Gupta would be of no help when the time comes. That is precisely why he had been delaying and avoiding their inevitable meeting and it seems that even Atul was not very anxious to meet Armaan otherwise he would have had to face him.

Armaan walked up the stairs and knocked on Riddhima's door hoping that she would not be too mad at him stomping out like that after her explanation. Riddhima sat on her bed lost in thought. She was trying to figure out where Armaan had gone to, if Rahul had guessed the place then it must be something simple but for the life of her she could not understand what could be so important that he had left like that with only a few words. Striking out options she pondered over her question when there was a knock on the door. Riddhima frowned, nobody knocked on her door, Di, jijs and Muskaan all just barged in if her room was open or banged the door loudly if she had made the grave mistake of locking it.

She got up and opened the door only to find Armaan standing outside smiling at her. A bit surprised at seeing him, she looked at him for a minute wondering if she was hallicunating, but soon frowned when she found out that he was real. Leaving the door open she stomped back to her bed and sat down with her arms folded muttering curses under her breath.

Armaan sighed, he should have guessed, she was not going to make it easy for him the second time. "Hi sweet heart" he greeted happily but stopped when he recieved a nasty glare from Riddhima. "I am sorr........." he started but was cut off by a very angry Riddhima.

"Don't!!!!!!!! Don't you dare apologize to me, you nut. What the hell do you think of yourself??????? How dare you treat me like that?????? How could you just leave without even saying anything??????? After all we have been through I expected some support from you, but oh no, what do you do????? You go off somewhere leaving me all confused to your whereabouts, I don't even know whether you are angry at me or not. If you even believed what I told you".

"Of course I believed you" Armaan interrupted Riddhima's rantings.

"DON'T INTERRUPT ME" Riddhima shouted pointing a finger in Armaan's chest menancingly. "And then of course your all time friend won't even tell me where the hell you had gone, oh no, he had to create a whole show of how he knows and will not tell us, stupid boys, I don't even know why I am going out with you in the first place. All men should be tied and tortured for the headache they give us" Riddhima finished and then stopped to breathe.

Armaan watched nervously wondering when his time to speak will come. Riddhima looked at him in anger and when sometime passed without her speaking, Armaan took it as a clue to start his apologies and explanations.

"Riddhima, look I am really sorry, I know I behaved like a jerk these past few days but I swear I had no intention of hurting you. When I saw you and Sumit the other day I got so angry that I said whatever rubbish that came to my mouth, I should have listened to you but I got carried away in the heat of the moment, and kept believing that it was all your fault. I missed you so much but never had the guts to call you, I wanted to see you so badly and it hurt me that I made you cry, I am really sorry basket" Armaan looked at her waiting for her response.

Riddhima came forward and hugged Armaan tightly,"I am sorry too, I should have told you about Sumit, but I was scared to bring it up, I love you Armaan, I missed you too".

Armaan wrapped his arms around Riddhima and placed a kiss on the top of her head,"I love you basket".

They stood there hugging each other with Armaan kissing her hair every few minutes while Riddhima drew small circles on Armaan's back. Riddhima broke the silence,"Armaan???".

"Hmmm" Armaan mumbled with his head in her hair, smelling its famaliar fragrance after a long time.

"Where did you go???" Riddhima asked. She felt Armaan stiffen at her question but he soon relaxed,"Nowhere, its not important basket".

"Not important???" Riddhima said backing out of the hug,"You left me in the middle of our conversation and tell me that it was not important, do you really wanna fight with me so soon".

"Ah........Riddhima, leave it na yaar, it was something I had to do, its over now" Armaan said hugging her again.

"Armaan Mallik, you tell me where did you go this instant, I hate to be left out of the loop, heck even Rahul understood where you had gone, now tell me" Riddhima threatened him. Riddhima had figured out one thing about Armaan in all these months, if niceness did not work, then anger sure will.

"Ok, ok, fine, but you are not going to be angry" Armaan said giving up. Riddhima narrowed her eyes, whenever Armaan used those lines, it was sure to be something to be angry about.

"I kinda went to see Sumit" Armaan said in a small voice.

"YOU WHAT??????" Riddhima said in a loud voice.

"Hey, you are not supposed to be angry" Armaan protested.

"Armaaaaan, are you crazy????? Why the hell did you go to see Sumit????? Oh no!!!!!!!! What have you done?????" Riddhima wailed fearing the worst. She knew what Armaan's anger and his muscles were capable of.

"What do you mean why????? I had to!!!!!!! He tried to molest you, not once but twice and it was because of him that we had a fight" Armaan said getting angry at the mention of Sumit.

"Armaan, jijs already took care of it. He got Sumit suspended, there was no need of you to go and...........and you know, hit him".

"Oh so you are saying that I have no responsibility towards you, damn it Riddhima, he hurt my woman, how could I just let him go????? I know your jijs is capable of protecting you, but I am in your life now, and its my responsibilty to see that you are taken care off. Nobody messes with you. So you better accept the fact that alongwith your jijs you also have Armaan Mallik as your bodyguard" Armaan said angrily as he grabbed Riddhima and hugged her tightly. Riddhima just sighed loudly and gave up trying to control and make the two sensitive men in her life see reason.

Rahul groaned when he saw the pile of books infront of him. Finals were fast approaching and he knew he had to study, but just looking at a book made him feel sick. He knew that one day he would regret taking up medical as a profession. He threw the books a dirty look as if cursing them for their existance. Just then the door bell rang interrupting the war between Rahul and his books.

With a scowl on his face Rahul got up to open the door but his scowl soon vanished and he started smiling when he saw Muskaan smiling brightly at him. Wow this day just got better, Muskaan is here which means I don't have to study and it looks like she forgot our fight and is happy with me, yippeeee!!!!!!!! Rahul did a victory jig in his mind and stepped aside to let Muskaan enter.

"I figured out where Armaan went" Muskaan declared happily.

Rahul's smile vanished as if by magic. Uh oh, this can't be good. "Really??? Umm........wow, great Muskaan" Rahul said with uncertainty.

"No really I did, I mean I thought and thought and then finally it came to me" Muskaan beamed at Rahul who shifted uncomfortably.

"Sooo........." Rahul said waiting for the bombardment to start.

"So what???" Muskaan asked confused at Rahul's behaviour, she continued when he gave no response and just looked at her,"Neways, I don't understand why you just could not tell me, I mean me and Riddhima would have understood".

"You would have???" Rahul asked astounded.

"Of course, I mean it must have been an emergency, otherwise he would'nt have left like that" Muskaan said.

"Yes, thats why you are my girlfriend" Rahul said hugging her happily,"You understand all these things, it was an emergency for Armaan".

"Exactly so he had to go" Muskaan added.

"God Muskaan, you have made me so happy, I love you, I can't believe that you would understand these things" Rahul said.

"Why would'nt I understand it Rahul, its natural" Muskaan asked confused at his behaviour.

"Ya I know, but not for Riddhima, she would'nt understand" Rahul sighed.

"Of course she would, although I still don't understand why Armaan did not just go in the college, why did he have to go outside".

"Coz it was not possible in the college" Rahul explained.

"Why was it not possible in the college???" Muskaan asked getting confused.

"He had left the college" Rahul said.

"Who Armaan?????".

"No Sumit".

"What has Sumit got to do with any of this???" Muskaan asked getting more and more confused.

"Sumit had to be there for it to happen" Rahul explained the obvious.

Muskaan's eyes widened when she heard Rahul and then she let out a loud yelp,"Ewwww, why did Sumit had to be there when Armaan did it??????".

"How could Armaan do it without Sumit?????" Rahul asked rolling his eyes at his weird girlfriend.

"You mean that everytime Armaan does it, Sumit is there?????" Muskaan asked shocked.

"What do you mean everytime????? Armaan has done it for the first time" Rahul said.

"WHAT????? How could Armaan do it for the first time, he has to do it atleast once everyday".

"What the hell are you talking about???" Rahul shouted when the conversation got way too weird for him.

"What the hell are you talking about???" Muskaan shouted when the conversation got way too weird for her.

"I am talking about where Armaan went!!!!!!! But what crap are you talking?????".

"Thats exactly what I am talking about, when Armaan went to the loo, now where the hell did Sumit come in all this???".

Rahul became numb when he heard the conclusion Muskaan had come to. Shit, thats what she was talking about all this time. Man, I am in big trouble.

"What were you talking about Rahul?????" Muskaan asked suspiciously.

"Uh nothing, that only, you know Armaan and the loo, hehehe" Rahul grinned like an idiot as he tried to cover up his faux.

"Don't you hehehe me, tell me the truth!!! Armaan did not go to the loo, right???".

Rahul wished for the earth to open up and swallow up or maybe he could sprout wings and fly away from the situation. He had no idea how he could escape Muskaan's wrath and Armaan's anger when he comes to know what his friend had tried to make of his character. Gulping he tried to save what was left of the situation,"No he did not, but hey you were quite close" Rahul said hoping to cheer her up but Muskaan only gave him a death glare.

"How the hell can you say that I am close, are you insane, just stop talking rubbish and tell me the truth, I am going crazy trying to understand where Armaan went" Muskaan shouted.

"Hey, you know I take offense that you have been thinking about another guy except me" Rahul said trying to divert her attention.

"Don't do you dare try that tactic on me, now tell me where the hell did Armaan go before I murder you" Muskaan warned.

"Ok sheesh, he went to see Sumit ok" Rahul said giving up, he knew he would not last long before Muskaan, so why even bother trying.

"Why did he go to see Sumit???" Muskaan asked getting a bit confused.

Rahul cocked an eyebrow at her and realization dawned. Muskaan clapped her hands over her mouth to stop herself from screaming. Then she shook her head as if reprimanding Armaan in her mind. Then she rolled her eyes when she thought about his foolishness, and finally she let out a giggle imagining how Riddhima would handle him after she finds out. Rahul just watched the crazy antics of his even crazier girlfriend. Seriously, loo???????? Thats what she had come up with??????

"Are you done with your craziness" Rahul finally asked keeping his hands on her waist and bringing her close to him.

Muskaan frowned when she heard him,"Don't call me crazy, after what your friend has done, he is the crazy one".

"Oh cmon Muskaan, he did the right thing, any guy in his situation would do the same, even I would do that if any guy dared to misbehave with you" Rahul explained.

"Would you???" Muskaan asked amused at the relevation.

"Of course, you are my teekhi mirchi, I have to protect you, although I am pretty sure you can do it by yourself, seriously I can't even imagine what would happen to a guy who would rub you in the wrong manner" Rahul said teasingly.

"Rahul!!!!!!!!" Muskaan smiled when she heard him and hugged him to stop the blush.

Rahul hugged Muskaan as he felt her shy a little at his words,"Hey what say we go out" he suggested.

"Huh???" Muskaan looked at him confused.

"Off ho Muskaan lets go out for dinner, its been a long time since we went out" Rahul asked.

"No Rahul, I don't wanna" Muskaan refused as she thought about eating outside.

"Why not???" Rahul asked upset.

"Rahul, I am tired of eating bahaar ka khaana, lets eat at home" Muskaan suggested.

"Ok" Rahul agreed immediately,"Tell you what why don't I cook you dinner tonight".

"You will???" Muskaan asked surprised. Rahul nodded happily.

"I was thinking that maybe we could eat at my place but heck its ok, infact its great, thank you Rahul, you are the best" Muskaan said hugging him. Rahul's mind went into fast mode, you idiot, of course you could have eaten at her place, why the hell did you say that you would cook for her??? Are you crazy??? You don't know anything about cooking and neither does Armaan, and moreover Parshuram is on holiday.

Muskaan hugged Rahul as she thought what a wonderful boyfriend she had while Rahul wondered what he had got himself into.