Continued...

As Naina left, Arjun felt a pinch in his heart, he hated himself right now... He never liked Naina in tears, and today he was the reason behind her sadness...

Rads was quick to recover and decided to take charge of the situation, as Jai and Arjun were awfully silent, looking at the direction where Naina went..

'Actually she is really tired and her mood is bit gloomy, because she had to clean her whole house by herself... You know right Jai ?' Rads asks

Jai nods and holds Arjun's shoulders, and he takes a deep breath

'Yes... I understand...' Arjun says, internally cursing himself

'Come I'll show you the clothes we selected for you, you tell what changes you want in them...' Rads says to Arjun, but he did not reply, just stared at the direction where Naina went

'Let's go Arjun...' Jai drags him towards the men's section

In the changing room

Naina sits on the chair, covering her face, sobbing badly, he was back... He was really back and Naina wanted to be happy, but no she couldn't ! Because he abandoned her, he chose the few months of relationship over their 3 year old friendship...

She takes a deep breath and wiped her tears, she cannot let him or anyone know that she was affected by his presence, she was not weak... A guy will not govern her mood, she will show him that she is happy, with him or without him... 

She looks at her reflection in the mirror and cursed herself, her nose was red now...

She removed the blouse and saw that the shoulder area, where Arjun held her tightly has turned red now, he left a bruise there...

It's nothing as compared to the bruise he left on my heart... She sighed

Soo filmy Naina... Her mind retorted and she frowned

She touched the bruise, it did not pain at all, just the area was reddened, of course he did not do it intentionally, he was trying to protect me...

She changed into her normal cloths, a black skin tight jeans and a red shirt, she adjusted her hair and properly folded the red lehenga and sighed

I will never be able to wear this for Arjun, she sighs and looks at her reflection in mirror

It still looked like she cried, she cannot go out like this, because Arjun will immediately understand that she was crying, and she cannot let him know that...

What can I do to look like I didn't cry...

I don't know... He won't bother anyway...

Whereas on the other side Arjun was filled with guilt, her teary eyes spellbound him, he was walking slowly behind Rads, not saying anything, when Jai shook him, breaking his trance

'Looks like your fantasy is fulfilled, she indeed welcomed you in a bridal dress...' Jai teases, but Arjun didn't budge

'She's angry Jai, she's very angry and hurt as well... I saw it, I saw it in her eyes...' Arjun says scared

'Oo Mr. Eye Reader ! She did not look mad or sad okay, she was perfectly normal, I think she was startled to see you here, that's it...' Jai rolls his eyes

'You won't understand Jai, though she looked okay, she was not.... I can tell... It's our thing...' Arjun sighs

Jai was about to reply, when Rads interrupted them

'What are you two gossiping about ?' she raises her brows

'Nothing, you tell me, why wasn't I told anything about that Ishaan guy...' Jai raises his brows at Radhika, Arjun too looked at her

'What about him...?' Rads asks

'See people are keeping secrets from us, Haaye bedard Duniya... Dost dost naa raha... Dhokebaaz....Gaddar....' Jai hits Rads on the shoulders and she rolls her eyes

'Ooo Drama queen... We don't hide anything from you, you know that... And there is nothing to know about him...' she says

'Then why did Naina say, that she will marry Ishaan...?' Arjun asks and Rads is surprised to see him affected by it

'Arjun, she said she can marry Ishaan or anyone if she gets to wear that dress...' Rads clarified

'I heard that, but why only him...' Arjun raises his brows

'Because, Ishaan likes her and we are convincing Naina to date him, I mean how long can she...' Rads began, but then shut her mouth, cursing herself internally

'How long can she ?' Jai asks

'Can she stay Single ! See you had a girlfriend last year, Arjun has one in US, Sid is dating the girl in his department, and I recently broke up with the asshole I was dating, but Naina never dated ! She's 21...' Rads quickly covers up

'Don't remind me of that super glue...' Jai shudders

'This isn't some race Radhika, that Naina should participate in...' Arjun says irritated

'Why are you....' Rads began, when the staff interrupted them

'Ma'am the clothes are ready....' The lady informed and Rads nodded

'We'll be there...' Rads says and dismisses her

'Let's go...' Rads says to the boys nod and follow her

'Calm down there tiger ! No need to get aggressive over Naina's dating life, she's not your possession, remember that...' Jai whispers to Arjun

'I never see her as my possession, but the guy Ishaan, I don't have a good feeling about him, I have talked to him the day before I came here... He introduced himself as Naina's boyfriend...' Arjun says

'What...!' Jai exclaims

'I'll tell you the whole story later...' Arjun said and they got seated where Rads directed them to

Changing room...

Naina takes a deep breath and walks out of the room, she looked at her reflection one last time and sighed, it wasn't that bad now...

She walked towards the section, but cannot find Rads and the boys, maybe they left for whatever work they were here for...

She sighed in relief and submits the lehenga back, and asks the staff for a glass of water..

Should I look for Rads or just leave...?

She will kill me if I do that !

'Where is Radhika ?' Naina aska the guy who gave her the water

'She went to the Mens section, to help both the gentlemen selecting their outfits...' He informed

'Oh okay... Thank you for the water Piyush...' she smiled

'Welcome Ma'am... And I must say the dress looked great on you... By the time you get married, we will select the best one for you, because you carry them very well...' Piyush said politely

'That's really sweet of you... But I am sure there will be other customers, who will carry it better than me...'

'I doubt that... But let's see... The Men's section is in the right...' Piyush informs and leaves

Naina gets nervous at this, she did not want to see him again, I mean yes she was always nervous around him, but today she was uncomfortable, like he was some stranger and not her best friend...

Arjun has turned more handsome in these 5 years, which means more girls will go crazy for him now, this would initially affect Naina, but now she was slowly losing interest on him...

And why not, if someone decides to cut ties with you, you should never go behind them, it's not ego, this is called self respect

I won't bother him, and stay away as far as possible...

She took a deep breath and walked towards men's section, to collect her jacket and bag, which was with Rads

Today she wore wedges, as suggested by Rads, to try on the lehenga's so that she gets comfortable in wearing them for the function, unlike few years back, Naina could easily walk in heels now, without falling

As she walked further, she could see Rads, and Jai selecting clothes and Arjun just sitting there, looking at the clothes being suggested to him and nodding when Rads said something, he seemed to be uninterested in shopping...

Some things never change she thought

But people do change... Her mind retorted

As she approached them, her heels made a sound and Arjun's eyes immediately darted towards her, which made her shiver, but she kept an even face and walked towards them

Arjun sighed internally looking at her, she managed to look gorgeous even in this simple outfit, he wanted to hug her, but of course that won't be right if she doesn't give the consent for it

'Hey Naina... Come help us in selecting Arjun's clothes for the wedding functions...' Jai says and Arjun too looks at her hopefully

'Yeah please... I know your choices always look good on me...' He smiled

Naina wanted to snap at him, she was suddenly filled with anger, she looks at Arjun who was behaving as he did nothing, it was like that year never happened, the time where Naina was filled with self doubt, helplessness, remorse for losing a friend and the worst losing herself

People may think, why was she overreacting to his ignorance, because the love isn't necessarily reciprocated...

Naina unfortunately expected a lot from him, and his ignorance was all of the sudden, he never hinted that thing's are not good between them, he just vanished, which made her question herself, just to learn in the end that he couldn't say no to his girlfriend

Naina took a deep breath

'See Jai, I need Rads for practically getting everything for me, how can I help possibly help Arjun, when I cannot help myself...' she said and Rads smiled

'And anyways I have to go, Bhaiyya doesn't have the house keys, they are with me...' she shows them the keys

Arjun and Jai were speechless, the girl who would readily jump to get Arjun anything, no matter how important work she had, was denying her favorite task today...

'I'll see you tommorow Rads...' Naina says and turns around to walk out of the store

She almost reached the exit of the mall, when she heard Arjun's voice...

'Naina wait !' he called and she closed her eyes in pain, and took a deep breath

He ran towards her and stood in front of her, and she looks at him bewildered

'Naina... I need to talk to you...' he says, panting, because of all those running

'Can you do that...?' Naina asked

'Can I do what...?' He asks bewildered

'Talk to me...' Naina replies

'Of course I can... What made you think, I can't....' he began, but Naina cut him off in between

'No I thought your girlfriend has asked you not to do so... I mean you heard her last time, you should listen to her, you know...'  she said as a matter of fact, but inside her, it pained... It pained bad

Arjun's expression changed, he looked guilty now, he opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't...

'I am getting late...' She says and moves forwards, but Arjun holds her arms

'Naina I can explain...' He said helplessly

'You don't owe me one Arjun, Relax, it's your life and only you can decide who can stay in it, you did not want to talk to me, you didn't, It's okay, I understand...' Naina smiles and his guilt increased

'Naina please...' he began

'I am helping you to keep your promise to your girlfriend okay... Let's not talk... Ever...' She says with difficulty and gets out of his hold

Arjun was shocked... He just stared at her, while Naina hurriedly left the mall before she could breakdown...

What will you do now Arjun ?