Dedicating this chapter to @hafshaa

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'Talk to him!' Alison pushed Siya.

'Noooo,' Siya repelled.

'Why not?!'

'Because it's stupid and awkward and,' Siya tried acting normal and kept her voice as low as possible, 'confusing.'

'Why did you even bother telling me about him,' Alison complained, 'if won't let me help you?'

'Because Kaira wouldn't stop mocking me,' Siya sighed, 'if I told her.'

Yesterday when Siya had asked herself 'that' question, she had to walk out of Armaan's room to stop herself from turning into a tomato in front of him. Her feelings were confusing her. 'How could I fall for someone after a couple of meetings? What if he is just being sweet? I don't know much about him and Maybe It's just infatuation. I am just crushing on him,' she kept repeating the same things in her head all night. This morning she had decided that she wouldn't meet Armaan until she sorts her feelings out. Nevertheless, destiny had something else stored for her.

Tonight was a welcome dinner at the Raichand's for their relatives and groom's family. Some of the girls had to go for last minute shopping but there were no more cars available so Armaan offered them a ride and Siya was forced to join them. Kaira was coming too and Siya knew that she would sense the uneasiness between Armaan and her so to make things less confusing and complicating, she asked Alison to tag along. She had expected Alison to listen and help her instead of mocking her around, but God knows where this helping was going.....

'Stop looking at him. You are making it too obvious,' Siya snapped at Alison who was peeping through the gaps between the racks in the store.

Armaan couldn't figure out what was wrong. Yesterday Siya ignored him to an extent where he almost thought he was invisible around her. One minute he could feel a special connection between them and the other minute Siya was running away from him. No text replies, no phone calls, no innocent smiles- nothing. He had offered the ride only so he could spend more time with her and ask her what was wrong but here also she was ignoring him completely. She invited her cousin and was keeping a good 5 meters distance between Armaan and herself.

Armaan sighed and leaned against the glass frame, in an angle so he could still watch Siya from a distance. By this time he could already guess that he was the topic of the whispering going on in the other corner of the store because he would constantly catch Alison looking at him.

'He is cute, ok?' Alison tried convincing Siya, 'what if he likes you back?'

'Cut it, ok? It's just this attraction thing that would go away in few days,' Siya said, doubtfully, 'you go try this and I'll wait.' She picked a random light green outfit for Alison and pushed her into the changing room.

Hoping to find something good for herself, Siya skimmed through the designer section. She picked a long pink and silver masterpiece and moved over to the mirror to see if it suited her skin colour. It was beautiful and very finely made. With all the knowledge about fabrics her father had given her, Siya could tell that most of it was handmade.

Armaan stole a glimpse of her as she examined herself in the mirror. Why does she even bother? He thought, she looks phenomenal in everything. He wanted to express his thoughts to her but then he remembered that she was avoiding him. Damn! It was hard not talking to her even though he had only known her for a week.

He cleared his throat and decided to give it another shot.

Siya looked for Kaira for an opinion but she was nowhere to be seen. Instead, she saw Armaan in the other end of the store, nodding with a smile, approving the dress. The more Siya tried keeping a distance the more Armaan confused her. She turned to the mirror trying to pretend that she didn't notice him but just then her eyes fell up on a very familiar reflection. Broad, tall and short grey hair. She wanted to find out if it was true or just an allusion.

'Tell me how it looks Siya!' Alison was out right in time to distract her.

'Later,' Siya shoved the dress on the rack and went after the reflection.

'Wait!' She heard Alison call out.

Siya curiously ran around the mall but lost sight of that reflection. She was panting when she bumped into Kaira.

'Whats wrong?' Kaira narrowed her eyes at Siya.

'I think I saw dad,' Siya claimed, 'at least his reflection.'

'Are you nuts? He is in a meeting in Wellington and not coming back until midnight,' Alison snapped, 'he left this morning, remember?'

•••

'Yeah I am nearly done,' Siya said to Alison, half heartedly.

She still couldn't stop thinking about that reflection she had seen in the mall. The resemblance was unbelievable. Slightly heavy face, broad shoulders and intense eyes. When Siya tried explaining these things to Kaira she was told that there is no way she could have clearly seen those features from such distance. Somewhere inside Siya did believe her and promised to act normal but it just wasn't coming. She couldn't keep her mind off that reflection.

After her hair and makeup were done, Siya quickly changed into the new outfit and headed downstairs with Alison and Shannon who wouldn't leave without her. It's your family and it's weird, they would say.

As she elegantly walked down the steps, glowing in that pink and silver suit with her drape sitting on her left shoulder, a few heads turned her way but the only one she could notice was Armaan's. He wore a black shirt with a maroon jeans and looked perfect with his hair gelled back. Her eyes widened when she realised she was thinking about him again and she found it hard to watch her steps. Just when she thought she was going to tremble on the last two steps, a hand came and supported her.

'Easy girl. you don't wanna be falling, do ya?' The guy in a blue jacket smirked. He was the one she had waved at from her balcony.

'Hey, thanks,' she faked a huge smile and balanced herself.

'By the way, I am Dev,' he introduced himself, 'and you are Siya, right? Sorry didn't get much time for intro.'

'One of my cousins?' Siya asked, still smiling. She was glad that she had found a good distraction.

'Well, Alia's,' he sounded as if he was confessing something.

'And how does that make a difference?' Alison interrupted.

'Alia and I are blood related and you and me aren't. So that gives me a flirting license,' he said casually and winked at Siya who was laughing at that answer. Before she could think of a come back, she was called by her father, who returned an hour ago. He asked her to get his phone from his study so she had to leave that conversation there.

'What are you doing here?' She questioned Kaira when she she entered the Study room.

'Playing hide and seek with Seerat,' she spilled and walked away, 'actually you know what? I don't think she is ever going to find me so I'll go look for her.'

'Whatever,' Siya shrugged off and started looking for the phone.

She checked on the table and the couches. Scanned the drawers, the build-in shelf above the chimney and even the floor but she couldn't find it. She looked over to the other shelves against the wall and headed for the cupboard which was left unlocked for the first time in her entire life. It was quite strange how Mr Raichand had left it open because as far as she could go down that memory lane, she had never even seen the keys of that cupboard. He was so careful when it came to keeping his things together and safe so he kept the keys with him 24/7.

She assumed that Mr Raichand might have left the cupboard open in a hurry and there were chances that his phone was there too. She slowly pulled the leaver on the door towards her and shuffled the things kept on the shelves inside, hoping to find the phone quickly and then going back to the hall. When she couldn't find the phone in there, she decided to Pile up some messed up papers but instead she came across with a black file. The only thing visible was a plus sign in red and was enough to make her realise that it was from a hospital. Curious to know what was inside that file, she pulled it out and turned to the first page.

'Postmor,' was the only thing she was able to read before someone snatched the file from her hands so abruptly that her left hand was left with a deep paper cut.

'Ouch,' she looked up with shimmery eyes.

'Is this my cell phone?' Mr Raichand stood in front of her.

'I was looking for it,' she tried defending herself, 'but then your cupboard was open and-'

'I suggest you stop looking because your mom already gave it to me,' Mr Raichand snapped and asked her to leave without even taking a look at her bleeding hand.

Siya couldn't do much about it so she quietly left the room and went to the garden for some fresh air. On her way out, she picked up a napkin and cleaned off the blood but that wasn't really helping. She silently sat on the bench kept under a tree in the garden and watched the blood come back on the surface again. A drop dribbled down her wrist when someone placed a Handkerchief over it.

'Armaan,' she didn't look up but she could sense his presence. When he touched her hand those jumbled up feelings lingered inside her head. There were chills running down her spine and butterflies in her stomach all over again. She wondered how would she ignore him now if he talked but he didn't. He simply wrapped his handkerchief around her hand and walked away.

At a point Armaan had considered that she was keeping a distance only because her family was around but when he spotted her talking and laughing full heartedly with that total douche, he figure probably something was wrong with him. No body ever stuck around him, anyway. First his sister passed away because of cancer, then his ex left him for sulking too much over his sister's death, then his parents and friends. He could burst into tears right now but 'men don't cry' myth took over him. As much as he wished to stay away from that depression zone, he was always sent down that lane as an unfortunate punishment for believing in relationships.

*************

HeyYa,

So that was chapter 11.

I will be taking my time to update from now on because school started and there are so many things to deal with at the moment. I want to be able to give this book a good ending so I need to craft things around the climax and that takes a lot of thinking.

Please Do let me know:

1. what do you have to say about the story so far

2. would do you think will happen next

P.s keep voting to motivate me :)