Song: Baaton Ko Teri - All is Well by Arijit Singh

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Armaan ended up staying in bed the whole day, and the next day, and the next. He had no heart to eat, shower, go to his classes, or anything. At the knock on his door, he muttered. "Go away." His friends, Nikita and Rahul, heard him, but still knocked again. When Armaan still didn't open the door, Nikita pulled out her hair pin and picked at the lock till it clicked open.

Grinning to herself, proud of her accomplishment, she turned the knob and entered. Her smile disappeared as her nose scrunched. "Armaan, you stink." She made it known right away.

Armaan rolled his eyes and turned sides so his back would face them. "Good. Feel free to leave. Everyone else is."

Nikita and Raul shared a confused look. Nikita went to sit on the edge of the bed, diverting the topic in hopes of cheering him up, "You know, when I first saw you Mr. Super Cool, I said I wanted to kiss you. But now, I am turned off for life. Seriously, you need to take a long shower."

Armaan muttered, "I'm not in the mood for your jokes, Nikki." He didn't take her 'wanted to kiss you' comment seriously, and she didn't mean it seriously either. She just wanted a reaction out of him since she had the impression that how people perceive him was important to him.

Rahul asked, concerned. "Dude, seriously. What's wrong with you?" This once, he couldn't find anything to snap at him with. He could clearly see something was deeply bothering him, and the differences he had with Armaan didn't matter in the moment.

"What will it take to get you two to leave?"

Nikita added a bounce as she turned and laid on the bed. "For you to get out of this bed." She nodded at Rahul, and he shook his head. She glared, and exhaling, Rahul reluctantly got in bed from the other side, trapping Armaan in the middle of the already small, single bed. Nikita almost fell on the floor. The bed was meant to hold barely one and a half person, not three.

Armaan hoped that in few minutes, if he remained silent, they'd give up and leave him alone. They didn't. Nikita eventually spoke up, "What did you mean earlier by everyone else leaving?" Armaan stuck to his decision and didn't offer an answer. He wanted them to leave. Plus, he didn't want to get into the conversation. Nikita informed, "Fine, don't tell us. But know this, you're stuck with us till we are out of med school. Five long years, my friend. I won't speak for others, but we definitely ain't leaving."

Armaan considered her words. It caused him to recall Riddhima's words, about how they needed to accept where they were in life and live accordingly. Change. For her, it was three years. But he was going to be here for 5 years. Nikita and Rahul, they were going to be here for five years as well. He could ignore them now, a week, maybe even a month. But 5 years? Yeah, it was definitely not possible. He slowly started to realize that he did have to get along with them in the meanwhile, else he'd be miserable. He could never let go of Riddhima, but life was also about being practical.

This time too shall pass.

He told himself the words he often told Khushi in the past year when she was battling her great depression. She still hadn't recovered from the trauma, so obviously those words hadn't helped her. But as he recalled them, it helped him.

It was all about the timing.

"What do you guys want for dinner?" Armaan asked, causing two heads to turn in his direction with a snap "What?" He defended himself, "I'm starving and I would really like both of you to get out of my bed. This is starting to get awkward."

The only two people he ever had in bed were Khushi and Riddhima when they'd fall asleep during night-ins and their movie marathon sessions. That was normal for him. But to have another girl and a guy in his bed the same time he was in bed? Yeah, that was a no-no.

Rahul sprung out of bed as his mind registered how this was awkward. With the sudden movement of the mattress, Nikita lost her balance and fell on her butt on the floor. At first, both Armaan and Rahul stared wide-eyed, wondering whether to be concerned or laugh at the situation. Within three seconds, the decision was made.

They laughed.

Rahul was simply laughing at the situation. Armaan, on the other hand, was laughing freely as the past month had been beyond tough for him, away from everything that was familiar to him. Nikita's glared at them and was about to yell when Armaan forwarded his hand, sitting up. She took his hand and got up, stomping her feet. "Assholes."

"Sorry, Nick." Rahul said, calling her by the name he often teased her with. "But that is hilarious."

"Amen to that." Armaan said, getting out of bed to stand in front of her. He then put his hands around her, bringing her in for a hug, "Thanks, Nikki."

She patted his back before parting, "See what I had to do to get you to laugh again?" Then added after Armaan chuckled, "Next time, it's going to be Rahul who has to get physically hurt."

Rahul warned Armaan, "There better not be a next time, Gupta."

"You don't scare me, Agrawal." Armaan commented, turning to Rahul and answering in the same friendly but challenging tone.

Nikita rolled her eyes, "Well, it was nice while the friendship lasted." She was obviously hinting at the civil moment between Armaan and Rahul spent in bed. "Seriously, one of you is going to have to explain to me one day why the two of you dislike each other."

Armaan informed, "Hey, if I disliked him, he wouldn't have all his bones intact."

Rahul scoffed, "As if! I can take you any day."

Armaan muttered, "If I hadn't promised someone I wouldn't get into any more fights, I'd have punched you a long time ago." Ofcourse, he was talking about a promise he had made to Riddhima, but they didn't know that, and he decided they didn't need to know that.

"Alright, time out." Nikita said, physically getting in between the two. Putting a hand on Armaan's chest, she ordered, "You, go shower." Turning to Rahul, she continued, "And you, go get food for us."

Armaan and Rahul stood glaring at each other a second longer for Nikita to raise her voice, "Go!"

It reminded Armaan of Khushi, the way she would order him and Riddhima whenever the two would fight. Stop it, Armaan. He told himself and turned to leave the room and use the common bathroom he and his roommate shared. Ofcourse, he couldn't just forget everything and pull himself out within two days, but he needed to put himself in a daily routine and distract himself.

However, it was easier said than done when things now and again happening at random would remind him of the times when his feelings first started to come in focus to him.

===

I dribbled the basketball as they walked towards me. I let the ball go when she is right in front of me. Crossing my arms across my chest, I spoke though my eyes were glued sharply at Angad, "Basket, how could you cheat on me with my best friend? That's just plain wrong, basket."

Her nose scrunched, as if she was disgusted at the thought of being my girlfriend, "Ugh, I'm neither of your girlfriends! And what do you mean best friend? Since when do you know this..." She give Angad a look over, not even finding the right word to describe him. I know girls find him pretty attractive, but that caused my heart to stir. Did she too think Angad was attractive? And wait, did she say 'neither of your girlfriends?' It tells me that Angad already tried to flirt with her.

"Piece of sexy meat?" Angad cheekily offers, filling in her blank statement.

I laughed, moving to stand next to her, and then drop my arm around her neck. "Did he already try to flirt with you?" I don't wait for an answer, knowing it already, and spoke to Angad, "Damn, bro. I'll have to give you that. No one tries to flirt with basket."

"Basket? Now why would your parents name you that?" Angad questioned, making her sigh.

"No, this jerk over here did." She answered, pushing my hand away as if I was strangling her under its weight. Then, she asked me, "Seriously, why do you have such friends, and where do you find them?!"

I once again put my arm around her shoulder, indicating to her to suck it up and not try to push it away again. "Come on, Basket. You know Angad. He used to live next to us back in third grade."

Her shoulders slump as she gave me a dead look, "Third grade? Who the heck remembers people from a decade ago?"

Angad answered, "People who stay in touch with their friends, Riddhima." At that, her eyes snap to his for he seemed to have figured out her name, "You are Riddhima, right? No one else could deal with Armaan in this way."

"Whatever." She answered him, probably feeling bad that Angad remembered her, but she still couldn't recall a single memory of his. She then elbowed me in the ribs, causing me to slouch over. I pretended to groan at the impact, "Thanks to you, I am going to fail that test." Jabbing my chest with her index finger, she went on to warn, "Don't you – ever – steal - my book - away - again."

I laughed, "We'll see how badly you failed when we get it back. Anyway, Angad, what are you doing here? You weren't supposed to move back until next week."

Angad rolled his eyes, "It is next week."

"It is?" I questioned. I hadn't realized.

"You know what? You two carry on. I'm going home." Riddhima informed.

I complained, "Come on! Stay. We haven't played a game in forever."

She shook her head, starting to walk backwards, away from us. "Not today. Don't forget, Khushi is still giving her exam so wait for her before you go home, and we're having dinner tonight at my place. Please don't show up in gym shorts again."

I seem to recall a fair number of times when I showed up in shorts. Suffice to say, her father was the least happy those times. Sometimes, I did that just to rile him up. It was fun.

Angad yelled at her retreating back, "Hey, since you're my girlfriend, am I allowed to come to this dinner?"

"No!" She yelled back, not bothering to stop.

He laughed and then turned to me, slapping my back, "So, she's definitely gotten a lot hotter."

I took a second to let that comment sink in, watching a retreating form of Riddhima. Then, I said, "Come on, man. It's Riddhima." My point? He shouldn't talk about her like he talked about other girls.

I didn't like it one bit.

===

Armaan turned on the shower and stood under it. He sighed, hating all of this. He recalled that dinner when he first found out Riddhima was thinking of studying in Australia.

===

That evening when we did go over for dinner, Riddhima's mom told me to call Riddhima down for breakfast. She had been in there so long, I figured she was writing in her journal again and hadn't heard the front door open when we came in. If she had heard it and she was just sitting around killing time, she would have come down to chit-chat with Khushi a long time ago.

I knocked on the door and she answered right away, "Come in." I opened the door, but didn't find her right away. "In here." She added. I walked closer to her closet, and found her sifting through her hangers looking for something to wear.

I clear my throat. She must have called me in thinking it was Khushi at the door. Then again... Khushi would never knock before entering her room. She turned and her eyes widened seeing me. I was struck at her wet hair strands and the fact that she was standing there in front of me in a towel. She tucked them back and clutched the towel to her body, conscious all of a sudden.

"Armaan!" She exclaimed, "I thought..."

At the same time, I fumbled to apologize, looking away and everywhere else. "Uh, sorry, I..."

What happened next happened in a blink of a moment. Her father called her from outside the room. Instantly panicking, she grabbed my hand and pulled me in the closet. I tried to speak, but she slammed her hand over my mouth, asking me to be silent with her eyes. She was speaking to her dad, but my ears decided to tune her voice out.

Momentarily, I forgot that I had a fear from being trapped in small places.

How could I not? She was standing so close to me in a towel. The world was cruel. I've always kept her attractive features on bay, but right now, I was taken aback by her. Her wet strands of hair, bouncing slightly as her head turned to the shut door as she said something to her dad. My hands really itched to tuck them behind her ear. They were spoiling my vision, not allowing me a clear look of her face.

Angad's earlier comment rung in my ears. 'She's definitely gotten a lot hotter'. Oh, if only he knew.

I tapped her hand and she released her hold over my mouth. I had to remind myself to speak, blinking away from her mesmerizing eyes. 

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authors note:

How did you like the first flashback from Armaan's POV. They will come time and again. Also, wanted to start showing Armaan in the present , how affected he is and his life away from the two people he's ever known. You'll definitely be seeing more of Nikita and Rahul in future chapters! I love those two <33 

Chapter 8. Feelings For Him on Wednesday