Heart wrenching adoration,Part-17

“Bye.Take care!” Arnav whispered softly as he left me on the doors of my class. He stared at me for a second with an unfathomable look in his beautiful caramel eyes before he turned on his heels and was gone. I gazed at his retreating figure until it disappeared in the surrounding crowd of teachers and students  and  then entered the class only to get caught in the ambush of my friends.

“Have I cropped two thorns or have got a wagging tail sprouting up on my back?” I asked tersely as soon as I drew level with my friends, to which they shamelessly giggled annoying me more.

“Will anyone bother to give me an answer? Why were you guys staring at me like that as if it were the first time you were seeing me? You all have suddenly not become too interested in homosexuality I hope!” I said sarcastically, making them laugh harder.

“Oh its not you, its him!” Dabba managed to chock through paroxysms of giggles.

“What?”I was still uncomprehending. God, was I that  dim-witted, or I had to do the ultimate  treachery of booking mental asylum for my buddies?

“Khushi, don’t tell me you haven’t noticed it till now!” Quru said incredulously, further entangling the perfect chaos in my head.

“What are you guys talking about? Why do you have to be so cryptic” I asked stupidly again. Seems like there was no escape from calling the mental asylum guys.

“Its Arnav! I mean he has feelings for you.” Shivani said matter-of-factly as if stating Dalton’s theory.

“What the hell....Now, where does that comes from? Have you guys gone mad?  Eaten something intoxicating or what? For God’s sake we are just friends and I don’t know how or why or where you guys saw even the teeniest tinge of impending romance in that! Seems like all those romantic novels of Durjoy Datta, Stephenie Meyer and Chetan Bhagat are getting to your head!” I admonished them , absolutely startled by their assumptions.

“Hopeless romantic, are we? Have you ever noticed the way he looks at you, the way he almost subconsciously orients around you? The way he gets possessive whenever he spots you with any other guys? You yourself told us how he cheers you up when you are low, how he cares about you, how despite not knowing you for even a fortnight, he considers you an integral part of his friends circle? In fact, we ourselves have seen how worried Arnav was last night when you didn’t turn up for dinner, how he scolded Akash , Aman and Anvesh for their little spat and whatever transpired last evening in the study room, how he himself didn’t even touch his food till Payal di fed you a chapatti forcefully!” Quru harped, glaring at me.

“Exactly! Khushi one has to be more than blind and absolute fool to not to see his feelings for you. We are not saying that he is in love with you, but he’s surely falling and falling fast. I’ve seen him talking with many girls before, chatting, laughing but that was mere civility, but with you there is something different! Arnav is very protective about you...very serious!” Ritu reasoned, nodding her head sagely.

“ I’m sure, you guys are misconstruing the things!”I mumbled, though even I couldn’t hear any kind of conviction in my voice. In fact, their reasoning had hit the bull eye. After all, even I had noticed Arnav’s possessiveness several times, especially when I were with Nk.

“Let her be guys! She will realise the apparent truth sooner or later and may then get on with the third law of motion.” Nikki commented glibly, her eyes dancing mischievously.

“Huh? Third law of motion?” I asked her foolishly, utterly perplexed.

“Oho Khushi! You are truly a tube light! Third law of motion! Ever action has equal and opposite reaction! Our eagerness may not be at par with Arnav’s but we shall definitely wait to see you reciprocate his feelings too!” Nikki said condescendingly, and darted out of the way and hid behind  others, giggling, before I could find something to throw at her.

“Guys, please go away! Let me do my work.” I was irascible since morning, unable to think of anything other than what my friends had said in the morning. Though they hadn’t broached the subject again, their words buzzed  persistently in my ear and mind!

“Woah! Chill girl!” An unfamiliar and annoying nasal voice boomed and I looked up from the diagram of Adipose tissue that I was drawing to find a tall, fat guys looking down at me. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbow as if he was hanging out with friends instead of being in the school and buttons were barely holding his shirt together and were in the danger of getting detached and thrown haywire any moment! His overly narrow trousers could even put jeans to shame ! His face was a jumble of moustache and his over-sized specs, absurd specs gave him the look of middle-aged uncles!

“I...I’m sorry, but I don’t know you.” I said cautiously not liking the guy a bit.

“I’m Gurucharan Singh Bhatiya, the most well-known boy of this place, the best tennis player and orator!Even our Principal is my fan!” He said coyishly, with a smile that made me feel sick, stretching out his hand . God, the way he looked at me gave me creeps and here he wanted me to shake his hand! I bit my lips, revolted just by the thought of having to touch that flirtatious, pompous brat!

“If you are unable to see then let me tell you. She’s not interested in talking with you Gurucharan, so you’re just wasting your time here!” I recognised Arnav’s husky voice, and a feeling of utter relief overwhelmed me.

“Arnav!” I squealed, getting up from my chair and distancing myself from an unpleasantly surprised Gurucharan or whatever was his name to skip over to Arnav’s side, without caring for all the watchful eyes in the Library for once.

“Oh hello Arnav!I was just introducing myself to this newbie!” Gurucharan greeted regaining his composure and winking at me. I had to work hard to not let my shudder show, but I could see that Arnav’s hand flexed his tendons rising.

“There’s no need of that! Besides, if I were you I’d definitely stay away from her.” Wow! That was a real threat!

“Hey ease out mate! I didn’t know she was your girl! Just...” Gurucharan 

stuttered but he never got to complete his sentence as Arnav had already pulled me out of the Library.

“Khushi, really! What am I going to do with you? You automatically end up with idiotic flirts like her even if you are left alone for a nanosecond!” Arnav said exasperatedly and I flushed.

“Well, that isn’t exactly my fault!...Besides who was he?” I asked curiously and I could clearly see Arnav gritting his teeth.

“He’s as big a flirt as you can ever find...literally worse than psychotic or something...no seriously! You should hear him brag in front of the girls! Your metabolism will fail digesting his...er talk! He opines himself greater than Bill Gates in personality and money!” Arnav asserted when he saw me look dubious.

“In fact, he is famous as Gurucharan Singh Ghatiya in the entire school!” Arnav winked making me giggle harder. I laughed freely, but sobered up when I saw him looking intently at me.

“ What are you staring at ?” I asked  self-consciously.

“Nothing! You have got a very enchanting laugh khushi. Always keep smiling!” He blurted fervently and stopped abruptly, his cheeks reddening as if he had said more than he wanted me to know.

Arnav turned back on his heel abruptly and walked away the way he had come, leaving me to ponder whether my friends were right after all!

Hi guys,

I’m taking your leave for a month guys. My class 11^th annual exams are on my head and are beginning from 19^th of February. There’s hell lot of course to complete and I’m barely getting time to update. I’m really sorry guys, but I can’t help it. I’ll be back on 1^st March onwards as my exams are ending on 28^th. Please forgive me guys and bear with me and please, please, please, don’t leave this blog. I’ll be back again with longer updates once my exams are over. Sorry again and bye! I’ll miss you all a lot. Take care!

Love,

Akansha