Author's pov
"Aarohi and Rudra were heading back to their rooms from the library after studying, and Rudra's phone kept ringing, but he wasn't answering.
Finally, Aarohi asked, 'Why aren't you picking up the phone? It might be important; just answer it.'
Rudra replied, 'No, it's not urgent. It's just my younger sister calling me repeatedly.'
Aarohi persisted, 'Then why aren't you answering? She might have something important to tell you.' Rudra explained, 'She just wants me to come home for Diwali holidays, but I declined, and she's calling about that.'
Aarohi suggested, 'Why don't you go home? She must be missing you.' Rudra refused, 'No, I don't want to go.' Then he asked, 'Are you going?' Aarohi replied, 'No, I'm staying here to study. Since it's the holidays, I can study more without classes.'
Rudra remarked, 'Oh, you want to study alone? You ask me to go home, but you're staying?'
Aarohi clarified, 'But she's your sister; she must be missing you. That's why I suggested it, nothing else.' Rudra remained firm, 'No, I don't want to go.' When they reached Aarohi's building, she said goodbye, and Rudra said good night aaruh .
"On his way to his room, Rudra saw Myra standing with some boys, but he didn't say anything; he just kept walking. Then he heard Myra's voice, pleading with a boy to let go of her hand, but the boy refused. Myra continued shouting at the boy until Rudra intervened. He grabbed Myra's hand, pulled her away from the boy, and walked on, holding her hand. The boys didn't say anything, knowing how Rudra had punched a boy a few days earlier.
After walking a distance, Rudra let go of Myra's hand without saying anything and continued walking. Myra called out to him, apologizing repeatedly for the misunderstanding she had caused between Aarohi and Rudra, but he ignored her. She followed him, begging for forgiveness, tears in her eyes. She pleaded, 'Rudy, please listen to me. I'm sorry, I was just being overprotective. Please forgive me, this won't happen again.' Rudra replied, 'No, I don't want to hear anything from you.' Despite his refusal, Myra continued apologizing, insisting on their friendship and her remorse. Rudra finally responded, 'Of course, we're best friends, but no one do anything like that to their best friend , but u did.' With that, Rudra walked away and entered his building."
After some days,
the classes were over, and Rudra, Teju, Priya, and Aarohi were still sitting in the class while some students were leaving. Myra was also leaving. She stopped, looked at Rudra, but then walked away.
Teju said, "Here, I think it's more than enough now. You should talk to Myra." Priya added, "I agree." Aarohi urged, "Just go and talk to her. Please." However, Rudra replied, "No, I'll not talk to her." As they all insisted, Rudra repeated, "No, I'm not going to talk to her," and left the class, forgetting his phone on his seat.
After a minute, his phone rang, and Aarohi picked it up. It was a call from Rudra's mother.
Mother said, "Hello, Rudra." Aarohi replied, "Hello. Sorry, but Rudra is not present. I'll tell him to call you back."
The mother asked, "Who are you? You are not Myra."
Aarohi clarified, "Yes, I'm not Myra. I'm Rudra's friend, Aarohi."
His mother pleasantly replied, "Oh, you are Aarohi."
Aarohi asked, "You know me?"
His mother responded, "Yes, of course. It's because of you that my son has been so happy for the last few months."
Aarohi smiled and asked, "He talked to you about me?" The mother replied, "A lot." Then, his mother said, "Can I ask you, I mean, I request you about something?" Aarohi replied, "Yeah, sure, aunty." The mother asked, "Can you please convince Rudra to come home for Diwali holidays?"
Aarohi explained, "Yeah, I already told him, but he said he doesn't want to go."
His mother pleaded, "I know , only you can convince him to come home. Please, you are my last hope."
As his mother was requesting so much, Aarohi agreed, "Okay, I'll try to convince him." The call ended.
Teju asked Aarohi, "Who was she?" Aarohi replied, "Rudra's mother." Priya joked, "Oh, you already talked to your future mother-in-law?" Aarohi denied, "Oh, it's not like that. You shut your mouth."
They all left. In the evening, as the Diwali holidays were starting the next day, Aarohi wanted Rudra to leave for home. She cant even call him as Rudra's phone was with her.
So she searched for him but couldn't find him anywhere until she went to the backyard and found Rudra sitting there under a tree.
Aarohi stepped slowly and she closed his eyes from behind, and he said, "Who is this?"
After touching her hands, Rudra knew that she is Aarohi, and he said, "Aaruh yaar, don't do this. I am already not in a good mood."
Aarohi said, "How did you know that it's me?" He replied, "I can feel you even with closed eyes."
She asked, "Why are you not in a good mood?" He said, "I don't know." Aarohi suggested, "Is it because of Myra?" He denied, "No.
Is it because you are not going home for Diwali holidays?"
No..
She inquired, "Then what's the problem?" He responded, "I don't know." Aarohi took out his phone and gave it to him. He said, "Here it is, your phone." Aarohi suggested, "I think you should go home for the holidays. What will you do?" He confessed, "I don't want to face my father."
Aarohi asked, "Why?"
He explained, "You know, to be honest, I don't want to do this. I don't want to be a doctor at all. It's just him who wants me to do this. He just forced me to come here."
Aarohi questioned, "So what do you want to do?"
Rudra shared, "You know, I used to play cricket. I just love playing cricket. But, you know, on the National Selection Day, I don't know, by mistake, I got run out and didn't get selected. And then he said, 'He will not allow me to play cricket anymore. He just wants me to be a doctor.' And he sent me here."
Aarohi empathized, "Oh, I didn't know that. You must have looked so cool when you played cricket."
Rudra smiled, "Yeah, of course. Girls just shouted on the ground when I used to play."
Aarohi agreed, "Yeah, of course, of course."
Then Aarohi mentioned, "Your mother called." Rudra asked, "Oh, what did she say?" Aarohi replied, "She said, 'You talked about me to her'"
Rudra responded, "Oh, she told you?" Aarohi continued, "What did you tell us about him? You just said, 'We are friends,' right?"
Rudra admitted, "Not really. Maybe I just told him a little bit more."
Aarohi playfully punched his arm and said, "You should not say this. You know, I was so embarrassed when he said, 'Oh, you talked about me a lot to her.'"
Rudra just smiled.
And she said, "You know, she requested me to convince you to go home. Please na, go home Rudra." And he said, "Aaruh, I can't yaar, I don't want to."
please go."
Rudra said, "You really want to make me stay away from you?"
Aarohi clarified, "You are taking it wrong. It's just because your mother asked me to do this. And if you go, I'll do anything. You ask me."
Rudra smirked and said, "Anything?" Aaru replied, "Okay, anything, but it should be within limits."
Rudra laughed and said, " What do you mean when you say limits? What do you think I'll ask?"
Aarohi said, "I don't know, whatever, but please go."
Rudra agreed, "Okay, I'll go tomorrow, but I'll ask you something tomorrow.
" He checked his phone and booked the ticket for tomorrow morning. He added, "I have a train at 8 am."
"So I'll leave at 7:30, and you have to come and meet me before that." She nodded her head and said, "Okay, so let's go. Just go and pack your things, okay?" He replied, "Okay."
The next day, in the morning at 7, Aarohi knocked on Rudra's door, and he opened it. He said, "Oh, you are here." As promised, she entered and saw that Rudra had packed all of his stuff and was ready to leave.
He said, "Okay, have a seat." They both sat, and Rudra held Aarohi's hands and said, "Okay, now I'm going to ask you. You know you said you'll do anything if I go?" Aarohi said, "Yes." She was just so still and kept looking at Rudra. Rudra went close and whispered in her ears, "Just kiss me." Aarohi cleared her throat and said, "What?"
Rudra said, "Yes, I just realized that you haven't kissed me."
Aarohi replied, "But we already kissed did u forget it."
Rudra insisted, "To be clear, I was the one who initiated the kiss every time. So now you have to do this, otherwise, I'm not going."
She said, "You can't do this." He said, "It's what you said, that you'll do anything if I go. Now you are breaking your promise."
She said, "Just ask me something else.
" He said, "No, this is the only condition."
She said, "No, I can't do this." He stood up and said, "Then I'm not leaving."
Aarohi held his hand and said, "Okay, okay, fine." She also stood up in front of him, and Rudra was just smiling teasingly. He said, "Do it fast, I have a train to catch."
She said, "Okay, wait, I'm doing it." She took a deep breath, lifted his trouser bottoms, and tried to kiss him but backed off
He said " rahne do nhi hoga tumse"
She replied" hoga na ... "Just close your eyes."
Rudra asked, "Why?" She said, "I'm just saying, close your eyes."
Rudra put his hand on his backside and closed his eyes, waiting for her to kiss him.
She again tried to kiss him, moving towards his lips, but suddenly at the last moment, she kissed his cheek. She said, "It's done."
Rudra said, "No, you have to kiss me here," pointing towards his lips.
She said, "No, you asked me just for a kiss. You didn't mention where to kiss, what type of kiss, and I just did it. Now you have to go." Rudra said, "This is cheating."
But rudra was continually insisting, but aarohi said, "It's going to be 7:30. Now you should leave or you will miss your train."
And Rudra took his bag and was about to open the door when Aarohi hugged him and said, "I'll miss you. I'll miss you so much." Rudra hugged her back and said, "I'll miss you too."
When they opened the door, they saw Myra was about to knock. Myra greeted them with a "hi." Aarohi said "hi" back, but Rudra didn't reply. Aarohi asked, "What are you doing here?" Myra explained, "Last night Rudra's mother called me and said that Rudra is coming home, and she asked me to come back too." Rudra interjected, "I don't know, she didn't tell me anything." But Aarohi insisted, "Yeah, of course, he's just going to leave. You should go together." Rudra was about to say no, but Aarohi said, "Okay, you should leave now, otherwise you'll both miss the train." As she didn't allow Rudra to say anything, Myra and Rudra both left for the station.
On the Diwali night, Rudra called Aarohi after all the rituals and everything. Aarohi picked up the phone, and he said, "What are you doing?"
Aarohi replied, "Nothing, I was just studying." She asked, "What are you doing?"
He said, "You know, I just came back to my room. The tension was just about to be created between me and my father. But I just backed off and came back to my room."
Aarohi said, "Oh, why do you have so much problem with him?"
He replied, "I don't know. Maybe he always has a problem with me." After a pause, Rudra said, "I'm missing you so much, Aaruh."
Aarohi said, "Me too,"
Rudra said, "But still, I'm having withdrawal symptoms. Because of you."
Aarohi chuckled and said, "Oh, at least you learned something in class."
Rudra said, "I'm serious, Aaruh. I'm really experiencing withdrawal symptoms. I just want to come back as soon as possible."
Aarohi said, "Okay, okay. I take this."
[Withdrawal symptoms are the physical and emotional reactions experienced when someone stops using a substance or discontinues a habitual behavior they're addicted to.]
She then asked, "How's your sister?" He replied, divya ,she is good."Do you want to talk to her?"
What?"
Rudra called his sister and asked her to talk to Aarohi. When they were talking, they shared a great bond. His sister also told him that Aarohi has really good vibes. He said, "I agree. My Aaruh is really a good vibe."
Aarohi eventually said, "Okay, you should sleep now." But Rudra insisted, "No, it's so early. Let's talk a little bit more." Aarohi advised, "You should go and spend time with your family.
And she cut the phone.
Rudra's sister said, "Bhai, you didn't even introduce me to any of your girlfriends, and now you're trying to initiate a conversation between me and Aarohi di ?"
He replied, mere haath mai hota to usse saath hi le aata tumse milvane ko .
Bhai what happened to u ....divya asked.
Your brother is totally in love with her."... and the he pouted his face and said .. I'm already missing her.
His sister exclaimed, "Bro, you are really in love with her?" Rudra confirmed, "Definitely yes."
*********
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