||CHAPTER 35||
《¤》

If tearing tissue papers brutally resolved my anger, then so be it.

"...hmm, this looks pretty fair to me, we'll have to set our legal team on work first though- Arvoo? Tu ttheek tho hai na?"

"Mamma dekho Vika didi table ganda kar rahi hai!" Mikhael complained. The guts he had after having my mobile in his hand!

"Arvoo, kiska katl kar rhi hai?" She shook me. I wasn't shook though.

Jolly Bua snatched the wad of tissues from my palms- of what was left of it anyway, "Arrey, hua kya hai tujh- ohh."

Her eyes had followed my gaze, landing on three tables from us.

"Mujhe na tera yeh gussa samajh nahi aa raha hai," she commented. "Are you angry that woh tere saath waqt nahi bitha raha?"

What? How crazy was she to even think that? Did I look like an annoying girlfriend to her? I didn't even have a boyfriend to act like one!

But there sat the reason behind my anger. Vansh Mehra, in all his might, chatting up the night with a lady.

"Vickoo, chill! Naani hai woh teri!"

"Vickoo the Cuckoo!" Giggled my cousin brother, but even that didn't deter my laser sight.

"Mikhael, go play with the kids. Dekho sab hide and seek khel rahe hai, yeh mobile didi ko wapis do, and make some friends for the night."

Grumpily, Mikhael thumped my phone in front of me and walked towards the tree under which kids his age were not playing 'let's chat with Naani'.

"Hua kya hai?" Jolly bua placed her hand over mine. "Naani ne daata hai kya?"

"Mai aapko paanch saal ki bacchi dikh rahi hoon kya, Bua?"

"Jis tarah tu jalan se aag babula ho rahi hai, tu paanch saal ki bhi nahi lag rahi hai."

"Mujhe jalan nahi ho rahi!" I spoke through my teeth. "Woh Naani ji ke saath kyoo baath kar raha hai? Meri chhodo, even Arnav doesn't like her! Vansh ko itna tho pata hi hoga na?!"

She started chuckling, adding fuel to my anger.

"Bua!" I protested.

"Sorry," she kept on chuckling. "It's just... you're kinda over reacting."

I'm not even sure if I'm reacting. I've not strangled him yet, how is snapping tissues over-reacting?

"Aap na, sirf haste raho. Mai jaa rahi hoon."

I wish this wasn't a garden party, because I wanted him to hear my angry scraping of chair. He was in trouble. Arnav needed a new best friend.

Stomping would result in my heels digging into the mossy lawn. I wasn't foolish enough to do that. But hey, I was foolish enough to walk past a table near him which sat Aryan Oberoi and his clan. A clan I was a part of, and didn't want to face again in my life.

No, I wasn't afraid of them, I was over that part of my life where I was a snobby bitch to everyone I met.

And then I did one of the most thoughtfully-prepared-on-instant mistake, where I looked at Vansh, and yeah, there was eye-contact while he chatted up my maternal grandmother, and then sent a smile my way, which I reciprocated by glaring. His smile faultered, like I had intended, but that meant he knew something was wrong, which was not what I had intended for him to know. I had acted on instant.

The lawn was decorated with lamp posts by the stone walkway, and I stood underneath one, trying to calm myself down.

And I did that by texting my twin. You need to get your best friend changed.

His reply was instant, someone was on his phone for quite a while it seemed. What'd he do?

Having a bonding session with Mr. Raman Oberoi's lovely mother-in-law. I pressed send, and realised that our chat-box was fresh. We were suddenly bonding too- this was weird. What had happened to me?

I'll keep a note of that. Bua said you got the deal. Dad's happy. Well done sissy.

Shut up. He was back to being annoying without even trying.

"Arvika Deewan texting her brother?" Aryan exclaimed. "Unheard of."

I dropped my phone out of suprise. "Bad manners young man."

He shook his head, kneeling down the same time I knelt down to pick my phone, accidentally knocking my head with his. We stayed in that position, on our haunches. My fingers curled around my phone.

"Do you like him?"

The irony of the situation was that my ex was asking if I liked another guy.

"He is completely yours, my friend. I stand no place in the competition against you."

"Right, it isn't me who is texting about him. So that lands me to the conclusion that princess is unhappy that her knight isn't paying her any attention."

"Stop reading my texts and making absolutely wrong interpretations about it."

He gave a cheeky grin, as we rose. "You're right, I knew you missed my dyed hair anyways."

We were grinning at each other when someone burst our bubble. "What's going on?"

Aryan's grin turned into a smirk at Vansh's questioning glances, while I replied. "Someone likes somebody here."

Vansh slid his hands inside his trouser pockets, shifting on one leg. "So... forbidden love huh? Still not over each other?"

Aryan was biting his lips to stop his smile when I looked at him. "She isn't talking about us."

¿¤?

Now against the lamp post opposite the one I was leaning on, Vansh sighed as I started counting the stars that were being hidden by the clouds every now and then.

"Is something wrong?"

"The clouds are coming in the way of me and my star gazing. Again and again."

When he looked up, I noticed his features. His jawline was sharp, his profile very defined. "It's probably going to rain today."

"It's mid-August."

"We're talking about the weather and weather in Mumbai. Not a finer example of unpredictable's been created."

I resumed my star gazing.

Then, again, "Is something wrong?"

I was usually good at playing dumb. "The clouds-"

"No, I mean what's wrong? You looked angry a while back. You're quiet right now."

"Because I was, I am."

"Am I, in some strange way, the reason?"

Beating around the bush got no one anything. So, "Tum Naani se baat kyoo kar rahe thhe?"

"Huh?" He sounded suprised. Like he wasn't expecting such a quick response.

"Meri chhodo," I shrugged, "even Arnav doesn't like her- and he is the good kid out of us two, your best friend. Use tho trust karthe ho na tum?"

"Its- what are you even talking about Arvika?

Was he deaf now? "I'm talking about the fact that you were pleasantly talking to a person who is way more rude than I am. Infact, I feel offended that she gets my title!"

"Am I supposed to be laughing right now?" He scratched his brow.

"Oh my god, see what I'm talking about?" I placed my hand on my chest. "She's rubbing off on you- you're being rude now."

"Oh come on Arvika- aisa kuch nahi hai. She wasn't rude. At all."

I rose my eyebrow. "I don't believe you. Go, keep on talking to her. Infact, what are you even doing here? Keep her company, I'm sure both of you will like her warmth."

I had started walking away in full speed even before I completed my sentence.

"Arey," I could hear him behind me. "I'm with you now, am I not?"

I stopped suddenly, turning around and almost crashing into Vansh. "Well, if you are so tired of your baby-sitting duties, you can stop and go have fun with her."

"Are you jealous?" He looked amused.

I calmed down. I had my outburst, but now I was okay. "Angry. I don't need to be jealous of an eighty-two year old rude woman, I know whose genes I've got."

He passed me a glass of cocktail that the waiters were serving. "So... you're jealous."

Didn't I just say the opposite?

"So... you're deaf?" I scoffed.

He smirked. "You're jealous of your eighty-two year old Naani ji."

I knew where he was going, or coming from. "Probably because she has broken the records at being a heartless, coldearted bitch."

"Nuh-uh," he shook his head, still smirking. "You're jealous because I'm not keeping up with my baby-sitting duties."

I was angry again. "So you were on baby-sitting duties. Kisne bheja tumhe? Arnav ne? Daadi ne?"

His amusement was undeceivable. "Mere conscience ne. It's alright Viks, girls tend to have an incy-wincy crush on me."

My mouth fell open. "I think there's something wrong here because I'm hearing Hebrew and you seem to be hearing Latin. I'm not getting a word of what you're saying, and you obviously aren't understanding mine."

He didn't say anything further. But his smirk was permanent. He clicked his tongue, winked at me, his adam's apple bobbed, then turned around and strode away.

And my heart had just started to beat as if I'd run a mile.

I watched him walk back to his table- I mean my Naani's table. That must be the baby-sitting duties he was talking about. Yeah, she totally, obviously needed someone to babysit her.

____

Namoshtaii!

We FINALLY CROSSED 1K VOTES OMFGGG i never knew this could happen before DJH completed a year, THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH GUYS!!

Also, if you follow me, you will get the sneak peeks of the upcoming chapters on my message board, so if you like this book, and cannot wait for Fridays, follow me ;)

Btw, Happy Parsi New Year. Most of you might have had a holiday today, for the reasons flashing on News channels as well, but I didn't, and my schedule got tied up. On a brighter note, weekend's coming, and I cannot wait for it.

How's life torchuring you nowadays? :P

This Chapter and Chapter 3 is Anush_rocks_  to promote for the competition. All the best ;)

Anyways, read, vote, comment and promote!

~emcee.