Riddhima walked into her room, her best friend – Khushi. It was after dinner and she was leaving for Australia in less than an hour with Khushi. At first, only Khushi went as we thought it would give Khushi a fresh start that she needed to move on. But after everything that happened in the past year with Khushi and Arnav, Riddhima felt the need to be there for her best friend. By luck, she got accepted in the same university as her best friend.

She focused on the task at hand instead of thinking things that didn't matter in the moment. They had to leave for the airport and Khushi was nowhere to be seen. Riddhima was sure she had decided to do some last minute packing. She always did that.

"Khushi! Where the hell are you, girl? We're getting late." She yelled, thinking she must be in the washroom. She checked, but it was empty. Uff, where could she be?

She walked out of the washroom just as he was coming in the room. Her best friend's brother. The guy whom she fought with all the time, since the first time they met. The guy, who despite hating her, knew everything about her that was important, things that mattered. The guy who knew her likes and dislikes.

My childhood crush.

Just like ever, he walked in. God, could he get any hotter? He looked better and better every passing day. Whenever he was around, she would momentarily forget to breath. She wondered, if he would ever know just what he did to her every time he was around. No matter how hard she tried to get over her silly crush for him, it just got impossible with every passing day.

He spoke in his husky tone, "Hey, we found her. She's downstairs."

She nodded and peeled her eyes off him. Time to go... Maybe, when she returned years later after getting her degree, she would get over him. She convinced herself the distance would be a good thing.

Just maybe.

Only, all hopes for that flew out the window the minute she started to walk past him and he hooked his pinky with hers. She closed her eyes, trying really hard to hold back her tears. He was making this very hard. Why is he so difficult? It was impossible to conclude just what his feelings towards her were. Sometimes, he was the sweetest guy on planet. And other times, he fought with her like dumping all his hatred on her, and she didn't even know what she'd done to get that hatred from him.

"Armaan..." She whispered, hoping he would let her go.

Ever since she had decided that she would go away for college with Khushi, she had made sure to not be alone with him in the same room. For, she wanted to avoid this confrontation.

"Shh." He hushed any signs of protests and took a step back to stand right in front of her. Just like that, the wall she had built up with a great deal of courage went crumpling down and he invaded the space, leaning his face closer to hers. There was a lump in her throat, and her heart paced.

What is he doing?

No... he wouldn't kiss me. The last time they'd talked, they had a big argument. She could barely remember all the hurtful things said to each other. She just knew how much it had hurt later on when she was alone in her room that night.

Just when she thought she had gathered the courage to move away, his lips gently, but passionately captured her in a kiss. At first, she was too shocked. Then, logic left her and instinct took over as she kissed him back. She had imagined this many a times. But... having it come true the hour she was leaving... going far away from him... it made it just as harder to pull away, because she knew.

This had to be a good-bye kiss.

===

author's note:

hey everyone! This book is a spin-off of Dare series (Arnav & Khushi). If any readers of that book are here, just FYI, this introduction is before Riddhima & Khushi come to Australia. If the time frames ever confuse, feel free to inbox of leave a comment!

No set days in the week for an update as I will be trying to post both in sync.. so there are no spoilers for either books. Also, the plot for this one is a lot loose compared to Dare, and therefore it might take me more of a time in between updates  (after chapter 5 or so) to work on some plot-holes. 

I hope you guys will love this one as much as Dare, if not more (: 

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