Posted on March 10th, 2017 | Edited on May 4th, 2018.

Dedicated to @Pyaar12 as a thank you for her never ending enthusiasm and adorable comments. <3

K R I P A . . .

| . . .  C H A P T E R . . . 1. 1 8 . 1 : M O M E N T - O F - P A N I C . . . |

A loud scream woke me up in the middle of the night. I couldn't be sure if it was my imagination. Pushing my blanket aside, I got up to check if Khushi heard it too. I crossed the small hallways between our room and pushed open her door.

It was dark but the moonlight entering through her window was enough light for me to see she was sitting on the floor. Closing my eyes, I questioned in humor, "What, did you fall off the bed?"

She didn't particularly answer to me but she was mumbling some things I couldn't hear. Starting to get concerned, I turned on the lights. She was on the floor, yes, but she was hugging her legs and rocking back and forth. She was terribly shaking.

In a panic and having no idea what to do, I reached her, kneeling next to her and trying to hug her, to calm her down but she slapped them away and inched away from me. "Khushi? Hey, it's me. You probably just had a bad dream. Lis..."

I trailed off noticing she wasn't listening to me at all. She was in her own world mumbling incoherently as tears streamed down her cheeks. I only caught some words, "Leave... don't... please... tried... "

I was scared. Scared for her and seeing her like this. I've never faced something like this but it didn't seem a bad dream.

I didn't want to leave her like this but I didn't know what to do either. Though she wasn't listening, I informed. "I'll be back, okay. Just wait..."

I ran off to my room and grabbed my phone, dialing Arnav's phone as I rushed back to her. She was still rocking back and forth breaking a sweat. "God damn it, Arnav. The one time I need you..." He wasn't answering. It was going straight to voice mail. I dialed Anjali's number hoping he was home and she could get the message to him.

A knock on the door pulled my attention. Why is everything happening at once? I can't handle this! Did others living on either sides on this floor of the building hear her scream too?

I opened the front door to some Indian guy I had never seen before but before he could speak, I apologized. "Look, sorry if your sleep was disturbed. Go away now."

I tried to shut the door on his face but he pushed it back, "Does Khushi live here?"

I stopped trying to redial Anjali's number on hearing her name. "Who are you?"

Both of us turned behind me when we heard another quiet shriek. "Khushi." He said her name, connecting it to her again.

He tried to walk past me but I quickly walked to block his path. "Hey there, who do you think you are? You can't just walk in like..."

He spoke over me in an urgent voice, "I'm Khushi's boyfriend. Now move." As he instructed, he himself grabbed my arm and moved me.

What the fuck? Did he just manhandle me? I forgot that part when I recalled his words. Boyfriend? Hah. He's lying. My eyes widened on realizing I just let a stranger in who claimed to be her boyfriend but I knew better.

I rushed into Khushi's room worrying for her but came to a halt by her room's entryway on seeing him gently cupping Khushi face and speaking to her.

His voice was the complete opposite of the way he'd talked to me. Soft and calling out to her. "Hey smiley, shh. Shh. You're okay. Look at me. You are safe."

When he saw she wasn't reacting, he moved to sit behind her, wrapped his arms around her body. He wasn't restricting her to stop her from rocking back and forth but gently rocked with her while speaking close to her ear, "Hey, c'mon, I did not fly all this way here to see you like this. I know you can hear me. Focus on my voice please..."

Khushi slowly blinked and looked at him turning her head sideways. Her eyes turned moist as she recognized him. "Angad." She hoarsely whispered his name.

I let out a relieved breath seeing her break from her state. He smiled at her before hugging her again with his head next to her, "Yes, it's me. You're okay now. Just breathe. You're fine."

Fresh tears trailed down as she let him hug her but argued, "Angad...Angad, he... he... how could he? I told him no. I did. I did. But he... he just... he didn't... he..."

I wasn't getting anything from her broken sentences but he seemed to be on her page.

"I know, honey. I know. But you're safe now. He can't ever hurt you again, okay? We won't ever let him touch you again. I promise, okay?" He patted her head nudging back her hair sticking to her scalp. "Shh, now. Don't cry."

My phone vibrated in my hand as Anjali called back. I quietly slipped out trusting Angad since he seemed to know how to comfort Khushi and she knew him too. She'd said his name and let him hug her. Otherwise, I have never seen her let any guy touch her.

Anjali greeted, "Kripa, hi, sorry I was sleeping. You called?"

"Hey, di. Is Arnav there?"

"Uh, let me check..." I waited about a minute for her to look, "No, he was but he's not in his room and his car is gone too. Is everything okay?"

I sighed and assured her, "Yeah, it's okay. Everything is okay. Sorry for waking you up."

She answered with a yawn, "No... problem. Night."

"Bye," I ended the call while returning to the room.

Angad looked up seeing me return. He looked tired and worried but a bit more relieved than earlier as Khushi had quieted down and she wasn't crying or talking things I didn't understand but she did just sit there leaning back into his chest as his hands rubbed her arm.

When I looked back at him, he mouthed. 'Water'.

I nodded and left for the kitchen again. I should have thought of it myself. Where was my head? Oh, right. Too rattled seeing this. I have known breakdowns myself during exam seasons but this... this was something else entirely.

I had nothing to compare this too.

This time, when I returned outside, I realized we had left the front door open. I went to close it but stopped when Arnav stepped in. He questioned at once, "Kripa, why is your...?"

"Shh." I silenced him and walked around him to close the door.

Khushi had just quieted down and I didn't want his loud voice unsettling her.

As I walked to the kitchen, I instructed, "Wait here," and filled a glass of water to take to Khushi's room. He didn't listen as he followed right behind.

I walked in further to hand over the glass to Angad while seeing the scene, Arnav tried to speak, "W...?"

Angad put his finger to his lips at once glaring at him to shut up while I too hushed him. After Angad took the glass, I turned Arnav around and pushed him out of the room with me, gently closing the door behind me.

I scolded while dragging him my room, "What part of 'wait here' did you not understand?"

He ignored me while demanding a question of his own, "Who is he?"

"Her boyfriend."

He squinted at me in disbelief.

I shrugged my shoulder, "It's what he said and seeing how he just took care of her, I'm not about to question it."

"You let a stranger in the apartment in the middle of the night?"

And here comes his lecture. I whisper yelled at him so this conversation would remain in this room and won't be heard through the door, "Arnav! It's not like he gave me much of a choice. I didn't know what to do. She was... I don't even know what word to use to describe it but it was scary as hell. You weren't answering your phone either and di said you weren't home. What else could I have done?"

He breathed out and didn't answer as he sat on the bed, dropping the idea of lecturing me some more.

Relaxing myself, I asked since even if Anjali had managed to get a hold of him, he was here too quick. "How come you are here?"

"I was already on my way here," he informed.

"Why?" Either he did not want to answer or did not know how to. I waved it off, "Never mind. This time, please, stay here. I'm going to go check on them."

Only after he nodded, assured he was going to listen, I left him in my room and returned to Khushi's room. Angad had managed to get her to lie down on the bed and her eyes were closed while he was patting her head.

I mouthed since I didn't want any voice to wake her up if she was still not in deep sleep, 'Is she okay?'

He nodded back. Okay. Good.

I sat on the other edge of the bed and quietly waited along with him. About twenty minutes later, Angad was starting to nod off but fighting it. Taking the chance that Khushi was asleep too, I suggested, breaking the silence. "You're tired. Why don't you go sleep in my room?"

"No, I can't leave her." He argued sitting up properly to ensure he wouldn't nod off again.

I promised, "I'll stay, promise." He was still hesitant so I smiled softly and insisted, "Trust me, I won't move an inch from here."

He finally sighed and agreed. He slid his hand out from Khushi's hold and got off the bed. Just as he reached the door, he asked. "Where's Riddhima?"

"Away for some class project. She should be back next week. Why?"

He nodded, "Nothing, I've got a long list of things to apologize for."

I smiled back at the sheepish look on his face. I had no idea who he was but I did understand that they were all old friends. Must be a close friend at that if he knew exactly how to handle Khushi and flew all the way here to apologize to Riddhima for whatever it was he had done. Normal people send a message. Call. They don't spend thousands of rupees and take a flight to whole another country.

After he left, I moved to occupy the side of the bed taken by him and laid down next to her. Even though I knew she was fast asleep and couldn't hear me, I expressed looking at the ceiling. "You scared the hell outta me, Khushi. You better explain this to me... and how you never told me of this boyfriend of yours."

I know I sounded silly right now but I guess I was just trying to talk myself into believing things were under control and the moment of panic was behind me.

I've lost enough friends because of Arnav. Either he'd date them and then leave them and they'd in return walk away from my friendship, or they would be friends with me just hoping they could get Arnav to notice them and when it wouldn't work because I would have warned Arnav to stay away from my friends, they'd lose interest in my friendship and leave.

I knew... it was different with Khushi. She never showed interest in Arnav. She just wanted to be in her own world. Arnav might take me for naïve but I did have eyes. I'd noticed last semester how briefly, even if just for a second, his eyes would stop on her and look at her a second longer before reminding himself to look away. He wouldn't show it or even say it but he cares for her.

I would never be able to tell if he likes her because he's a master at hiding his true feelings and thoughts. Neither would he admit it to me. But there was something the two shared, that's for sure. Something I couldn't understand. They had a world of their own. And whatever had happened in that world, the fight they had weeks ago had hurt him. I had thought he was becoming carefree but after that fight, he went back to his shell.

Ever since Christmas, I hadn't seen him with any random girls. He would deny this if asked but he was changing. It lasted a month - till this fight. Then, he fell back to his patterns. Hiding from the world. Using girls as a means to escape. And a few days ago, after the stunt my dad pulled, whatever ounce of hope I had was lost.

Arnav was back to being angry at all times - not saying he didn't have the right to. My dad hadn't done the best thing. In just the last two days, he had been cold as I had never seen him before. And I...

Thinking over everything, I don't realize when I dozed off too.

. . . ∞ . ∞ . ∞ . ∞. . .

| . . . C H A P T E R . . . 1. 1 8 . 2 : I N - H I S - V O I C E . . . |

I started to slip out of my dreamless state of sleep when the bed dipped on one side. I was about to open my eyes when I heard Arnav's quiet whisper. "Hey sweet pea."

Sweet pea? Who was he talking to?

Khushi spoke her voice deeper as if she was losing her voice or dehydrated. "Did I dream Angad was here?"

Arnav answered, "No. He's here."

He was talking to Khushi. He calls her sweet pea? The way he'd so affectionately said it...

"What are you doing here?"

"Kripa called."

Why would he lie? Yes, I called him, but it had gone straight to voicemail. He had no idea why I had called when I had.

She accused, "So you answer her calls but not mines? Or did you block me? Is that what we've come down to?"

He argued, "Block you? No. Why would I do that?"

"None of my messages were getting delivered so..."

He informed, "I didn't get them till tonight." She must have looked confused for he explained in a quieter voice, "I was pissed and among the many things I broke, my phone was one of it. When I did get them, I knew you'd be home so..."

When he trailed off, there was silence for a second as if she was taking it all in to understand. "Thank you," she whispered back as if the thing she decided to focus on what the fact that even if he didn't reply to her messages or tell her why he was mad, he came to see her as soon as he got them.

I wondered... even if he came right away, what did he know that made him come in the middle of the night? It's not as if he could have talked to her when she was sleeping. He'd have had to wait till morning. And... did he know the reason behind tonight's 'incident' and that is why he knew to come right away?

I recalled one of the last things he'd said to her during their fight. Unless it's to save you. He did know.

His words surprised me, "I'm sorry I just vanished like that."

Did he just apologize? I'd never heard it myself. No matter the overprotective stunts he pulled with me and the way I'd yell at him afterwards, be mad at him for days at a time, he never said sorry to me.

She defended as if in his favor, "I pushed you away."

A silent spectator, I had no idea what they kept talking about. While I wanted to know more, see if they'd give away any of their secrets, it felt wrong overhearing a conversation that felt personal.

I shifted a little to hint I might be waking up. They only got quiet. For the longest, they didn't talk again and it gave me no excuse to claim their voices woke me up.

After what must have been 15 minutes, she broke the silence. "Are you going to Valentine's ball?"

There was a slight tease in his answer, "Are you inviting me?"

She fumbled, "What? No! I was just asking."

He lightly chuckled, "I was kidding. Relax. And no, it's a waste. Taking someone out on Valentine's Day would only happen if the girl was special to me."

"And say if Kripa wanted to go... would you let her?"

Say what now? I never mentioned it. No one's even asked me!

His answer surprised me, and possibly Khushi as well. "Yes."

"Really?"

"I can't protect her at all times. I can't make her decisions in everything. Would I have a problem with it? Yes. No guy would ever be good enough for my sisters. But I also love them so if they are happy with it, I'd learn to accept it... eventually."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I would often yell at him after he'd scared off someone who had taken interest in me that he wanted to see me miserable... that he was a hypocrite with his ways with girls but not letting me have a single date. But the guy being not good enough for me?

Well... now that I think about it, I haven't picked the smartest guys in the bunch. I would show interest in any guy who showed it in me just because I was so curious to experience a real date, having some guy in my life. It didn't matter who they were... Arnav was probably right to warn them off.

He asked, "Wait, are you saying someone asked her?"

"No," she replied, "but I know of someone who wants to."

"Who?" The way he gritted, I could imagine him clenching his jaw.

She scolded, "I won't tell you if you have that look on your face like you're about to bury the guy alive!"

He mumbled, "Sorry."

There was that word again that he so easily said to her.

Maybe at times, I let his exterior fool me too. Did I not know everything about my cousin like I thought I did?

He grumbled, "Oh, stop grinning. You know your brother would react the same way."

She sighed, her voice much more serious. "He has reasons to."

He took a pause too as if in understanding.

"Aaron." She gave the name of the guy who wanted to ask me out.

I recalled him being around Khushi sometimes. I used to think...

"Him? I thought you and him..." Arnav seemed to have gotten the same idea.

Khushi answered a bit awkwardly, "Uh, no. He's a friend."

"Like Angad?"

Why did I spot so much vulnerability in his voice? Was he perhaps jealous? I have never known him to be. He always got any girl he showed interest in.

I could no longer stay silent and I decided to save my brother from any embarrassment before Khushi realized his questions were being asked out of jealousy. Sometimes, it was a good thing that Khushi didn't catch on to these things so easily.

I pretended to grumble as if I had just woken up and hadn't been awake for the last half hour. "Would you two shut up? I need my beauty sleep."

Arnav, however, didn't seem to want to take the opportunity. "Go sleep in your room."

I peeped through one eye to glare at him before huffing and getting out to walk into my own bed.

So ungrateful!

For the moment, I didn't remember Angad was sleeping on my bed and since I had been walking eyes closed - knowing how to navigate this apartment in the dark, I waited for my leg to hit the bedpost and when it did, I sat on the bed but fall over when he suddenly moved having my weight drop on his lap.

He let out an oomph but I nudged him to the side to create some space for me, "Ugh, move."

He did shift, having woken up, and his upper body towered over me as he questioned, "Is this some new way to kill a guy in his sleep?"

I warned, "My eyes may be closed but if you don't move off me, I will make it hurt where sun does not shine."

"Feisty, aren't you?"

I turned to lay on my side, facing my back to him. "Asshole, aren't you?"

I felt his breath over my ear as he chuckled before his head fell back on the pillow. I was surprised when he had the audacity to drape an arm over my waist and my back was right against his hard chest. His arm was strong too. He definitely worked out.

"Get your filthy hands off me."

He refused to listen as he asked, his voice sounding like he was slipping back to sleep. "How's she?"

He was asking about Khushi even as he was on the verge of exhaustion. I felt my anger dwindle at his dedication to friendship. He was obviously not her boyfriend. I might have interrupted Arnav and Khushi before she had answered, but her denial was in her momentary silence.

"She's okay and awake." I informed to give him his peace of mind.

"Good." He murmured before I heard his rhythmic breathing that told me he was asleep.

I tried to free myself but he didn't budge. Letting out a defeated sigh, I let sleep overtake my senses too.

. . . ∞ . ∞ . ∞ . ∞. . .

| . . . A U T H O R - N O T E . . . |

Kripa :D I've always wanted to add more of her character & how she sees everything. She was almost nonexistent before & even came off as oblivious... but how could she when they lived in one apartment, right? Fixing loop-holes ;) So, here's her perspective! The point where we realize that our siblings/cousins can have another side than the one we are used to; where we don't give them enough due; and where we judge them too quickly sometimes because we only see them in one role...

Also, lemme know what you think of her first meet with Angad ( ;