Rahul rang the doorbell incessantly the next morning, resulting in a very irritated Khushi. "What the heck is the matter with you?" She yelled at him after opening the door.

He waved with both hands for her to move, least he push his way in. Scowling, she stepped aside and he entered. "Where's Riddhima? We're getting late!"

As if on cue, she walked out of the room freshly showered to reach for breakfast, "Oh hey Rahul. What are you doing here?"

"Giving you a ride to college. Let's go. We're late!" Rahul exclaimed, turning her around by the shoulder to push her back towards the room, "Go get your stuff."

"But Armaan isn't even up yet. And don't we still have an hour before class starts?" Riddhima questioned, pushing back.

"Armaan will meet us there straight from the studio." Rahul answered, "And yes, we do have an hour but we need to get your ID from the admin office before class. Let's also not forget Mumbai traffic."

Khushi questioned, "Wait, are you saying Armaan never came home last night?"

Rahul stopped pressing the girls to get their stuff as he realized he was used to this from Armaan but they weren't. There had been many days in the past two years when Armaan would simply text him in the morning to not wait for him so they could leave together as he wouldn't have come home.

"Uh... you'll get used to this?" He offered, though their expression said otherwise. Khushi looked at Riddhima, worried and starting to understand just how much Armaan overworked himself. "Now come on!" He grew out of his momentary concern and ushered them once again. "Khushi, you too. I'll drop you at AR. Thankfully it comes on the way to college."

He didn't add that it only came on the way to college when they took the long way instead of cutting through narrow streets like he usually did to reach campus faster.

Riddhima forced her growling stomach to the back of her mind as she grabbed her stuff. For the first time in a long while, she was going to miss breakfast. There was a reason she never missed breakfast.

===

Riddhima pointed out when Rahul parked after they had dropped Khushi to work, "You lied."

"She doesn't need to know that." Rahul answered, and Riddhima had to smile at the way he treated Khushi like a sister. It would have been something Armaan himself would have done. "You didn't get a tour of the campus yet, did you?" He asked when he noticed Riddhima looking around the rushing campus as everyone at this time had somewhere to be.

"No," She answered, finding it odd just how many people were on campus this early. Back in Australia, only a few classes started this early in the morning. Up until 10 or 11, it would feel like a ghost town on the campus, unlike here.

"After classes then. Don't worry, it looks big but when you pretty much stay in one area, you get used to it." He nodded towards the left, "That's where we are mostly as the hospital is that way." He led her straight nonetheless so they could visit the admin office.

Getting the ID took a whole 15 minutes, and they had gotten lucky actually as the line wasn't that long.

Rahul nodded towards a group as they entered the science building where their classes were held, "That's the group." Her eyes widened at the number of people. It looked to be about 10 people, "The only people you need to remember though are Nikki, Sid, and Yuvi. And Muskaan and me, ofcourse."

She chuckled at his later comment, reminding herself to not be nervous. They may all be new people, but she could make new friends. If they were friends with Rahul, Muskaan and Armaan, then they couldn't be half as bad than what she'd dealt with in Australia.

A guy greeted Rahul when they approached them, "Yo, Rahul! We've been waiting for you man. How long does it take to get from your place to college?" His eyes then traveled to Riddhima, "And who is this? Don't tell me you started adopting freshers again. You need to stop your samaj seva [social service], really."

Rahul informed with rolling his eyes at him, "Riddhima, this ass would be Sid. Ignore him, deep down-"

Nikita interjected, "way deep down."

"-he's not this rude." Rahul answered.

Nikita held her hand out, "Hi, I'm Nikita."

"Riddhima." She introduced herself, shaking hands, recalling Armaan talked about a certain Nikita a lot. She was pretty sure this was the same Nikita.

Muskaan asked, "Where's Armaan?"

"Baby, did you forget why you had to come to college today by yourself?" Rahul asked her sweetly with an undertone of sarcasm.

Muskaan rolled her eyes, "I'm not senile, Rahil. I do remember. I just thought he'd be here by now. We barely have five minutes before class starts. He knows he can't be late the first day."

Nikita nodded towards the far right, "Relax, Muski. He's right there." She had seen him walking in while Muskaan had went on to ramble and defend her question.

As Armaan approached closer, Riddhima noticed how tired he looked. If she were to bet, she'd say he hadn't slept the entire night. "Hey guys." He greeted them, coming to stand in between Rahul and Muskaan, across from Nikita and Riddhima.

Sid jumped on his back from the back, "Armaan! You look like hell."

Armaan let out an oomph before pushing Sid off him, "It's too early for this, kid."

Sid answered cockily, "Hey, I may be younger than you all but I am still smart enough to be in your classes."

Yuvi filled in, "Being a protégée doesn't exclude you from being a kid."

"You're just jealous," Sid commented, and the two went on to have an off-screen argument.

Nikita held out a Yeti cup, "Coffee as you requested, Mr. Supercool."

"You're the best, Ms. Wow." Armaan gratefully accepted it and gave her a tight hug.

Riddhima asked as they started to walk inside the building to the room where the lecture was, "Did you not get any sleep?" Armaan would usually get juice, not coffee and that was just indicator to Riddhima to answer her own question.

He faced her, taking in her jeans and a normal V-neck red top. As long as she kept wearing red, all was well in his world. "No. We had to get the first song recorded yesterday itself with all the editing, video and everything."

Before she could say anything, Sid fell in step with them by walking next to Riddhima. "So... Riddhima...." He began, emphasizing on her name.

Armaan cut him there itself, "Don't even think about it, Sid."

Sid huffed, "C'mon man. Seriously? You going to call dibs on her too?"

Armaan rolled his eyes at what Sid was making it sound like, "The only person so far I've asked you to stay away from is Nikki. That is not called 'calling dibs'. It's called protecting my friends from your cringe-worthy flirting."

Riddhima added, "And I was your cousin's girlfriend for almost two and a half years. I don't think you want to go there."

Both Armaan and Sid stopped walking. Riddhima turned to face them when suddenly they weren't at either sides of her. Sid was the first to ask, "How do you know my cousin? Wait... you're the one he keeps calling Red?"

"Yeah," Riddhima informed, "Took me a few seconds to place your face. I remember Abhi showed me your picture. Honestly dude, you do need to get yourself a girlfriend and stop being so clingy to Abhi."

Sid blushed a bit at that embarrassed. Not only did Riddhima already know him, thanks to Abhi who spilled his secrets, but also because he had just thought inappropriately for her and thought of flirting with her.

Armaan was silent the whole time, wrapping his head around this fact that Abhi was Sid's cousin. Rahul yelled back at them to catch up, "Guys!"

The conversation was postponed as they rushed off to get inside the classroom and find empty seats just before the professor walked in.

Now... Armaan loved the color red. It was his favorite. But it itched a string in his heart at recalling how Abhi called her Red.

===

One straight line at the very last row. From left to right, it was Muskaan, Rahul, Sid, Riddhima, Armaan, Nikita, and Yuvi.

Their professor walked in wearing a salwar and the class silenced their side conversations instantly. She picked up the white chalk and wrote her name on the board. Dr. Kirti Mehra. "For those who don't know me, they also call me Hitler." Riddhima followed her glance to the two boys at either of her sides, Armaan and Sid. Both them glanced at the closed book in front of their desk, telling Riddhima that is where the name was passed on from. "That's right. I know what you students like to call me behind my back. So for those who are new... they are right to call me Hitler."

She leaned back on the table at the front of the class, "I do not accept any nonsense. Follow my rules and we won't have any problems. Never skip my class. Never be late. You better not let me see or hear your phone. And lastly, don't ever ask me what I mean. I mean what I say and I say what I mean. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Dr. Kirti." The whole class hummed at the same time while Armaan muttered differently, "Yes, Hitler."

Riddhima bumped her shoulder to his as if to scold him with that action of hers. He mouthed what innocently. Even though it had been less than five minutes, she could see why Armaan would name her that. She was definitely strict and there wasn't a kind smile on her face. She meant all business and her glare could scare the toughest of the lot. Still, she deemed it rude to name-call a teacher.

Armaan wasn't her favorite student at all. He often skipped classes. He was often late. His phone was often answered during the lecture. And he often argued to ask for meanings. The previous three were done unintentionally due to his singing commitments. The last one was all on him: he enjoyed riling up professors and make the class interesting.

Dr. Kirti started the lecture by explaining the format of her lecture, the number of assignments and projects they will complete during the semester before starting from the first topic. Riddhima took notes half-heartedly as she kept remembering how hungry she was. Eventually, she couldn't control her light-headedness and it evolved into a dizzy factor.

Her grip on her pen tightened as she clutched it in her first. Armaan noticed and looked at her. Her eyes were closed as she was trying to push back the blurry vision. "Did you not eat?" He questioned right away.

Without food to start off her day, her blood glucose was always quick to drop. One already doesn't eat over the hours when they are sleeping. It was extreme for Riddhima unlike others.

It was a rhetorical question, obviously. He reached for his bag and pulled out a protein bar sneakily. He passed it to her after peeling the wrapper open. He also placed her pencil pouch in front of it so it wouldn't be seen. Without having to say it, Riddhima understood that Dr. Kirti did not appreciate people eating in her class.

Riddhima was not fond of protein bars but she accepted anything over nothing. Breaking small pieces, she'd put it in her mouth when Dr. Kirti would be looking in the other direction.

Nikita nudged him, and he leaned in her direction to see what she had to say. She whispered, "That's her, isn't it?"

"What?" He asked, not catching to what she was talking about.

"Basket."

Then it made sense.

His lack of answer was answer enough. "Taking that as yes. She's..."

Dr. Kirti scolded, "Nikita. Armaan. Is there something you'd like to share with the entire class?"

"No Dr. Kirti." Nikita apologized right away, "Sorry."

At the end of the two hour lecture, everyone busted out of the lecture hall. Rahul spoke up as they had time before the next lecture, "Riddhima, come. We'll show you the campus."

Armaan announced, "No, she's coming with me."

"Armaan!" She exclaimed when he grabbed her hand and dragged her away from there in the opposite direction. The whole two hours, he had held it in. now, he wasn't going to let her exclamations and swats on his arm to release her hand stop him from dragging her to the nearest food place.

He scolded on the way, "How careless can you be?"

The protein bar he had given her wasn't enough, and she could pretend otherwise but he knew better. "I can say the same for you." She answered, pointing towards him working through the day and night, and now attending college.

"That's different. I wasn't the one close to dropping dead."

She made a face at the phrase he used, for she didn't think it was that bad. "You're still spoiling your health. Seriously, Armaan, what are you doing?"

"I'm taking you someplace you can eat, obviously." He answered in a matter-of-fact tone.

She groaned, "Not that, Armaan. I'm talking about you. Your life. That interview you gave the other day. What are you doing?"

"We can talk about that later." He muttered. He could only focus on her health first, his life choices second. Reaching the canteen, he ordered cheese sandwich for her.

She added, "Get something for you too." He amended the order, recalling he hadn't had much food either. She had to shake her head for how easily he forgot about himself. After taking an empty table, they waited for their food. "Now talk." She demanded right away.

Armaan spoke with a sigh, "What do you want me to say, Basket?"

"Why are you rejecting one in a billion opportunity to fulfil your dream?" Riddhima put the question on the table, though it should have been an obvious one.

"Singing isn't my dream."

She scoffed, "Who are you lying to, Armaan? Ofcourse it is your dream. Ever since you first started playing the guitar at 10, it has been your dream!"

He shook his head, elaborating, "No, Riddhima. Didn't you listen that first time I sang Tu Zindagi? I had said it then and I'll say it again. You are my inspiration. You are the reason I sing. Putting your words out there for the world to listen is all. There is nothing more to it than that. It is not my dream. I've always wanted to be a doctor. That is my dream."

Her lips parted while he kept telling her things that increased her heartbeat and turned the conversation more real than she had anticipated. "Armaan, no. You're..."

"Confused?" He finished and chuckled without humor. "I'm not confused. I know what I am talking about. I know I always talked about being famous, having the world at my feet and all that, but come on. Who doesn't want that? It's a naïve dream, and yes... for some forsaken reason, it came true for me but that doesn't mean I forget about everything else I aim for, Basket. You have to know... your dad... he's always been an inspiration for me. My own dad never scared me as much as yours did, and as I grew up, I realized I just felt intimidated because he was this person I idolized. I may have been young when I started saying this to myself, but whenever at school a teacher would ask us stupid things like where do you envision yourself in ten years, I'd always think to myself. 'When I'd be 30, I'd be a doctor."

Riddhima countered him after food was placed in front of them, "Armaan, all kids dream of such big careers. But when things change along the way, you have to adapt, right? You get to make a difference with what you have been given. After what happened to Khushi, weren't you the one who was so angry for feeling powerless? Not being able to do something about it? Now you can, Armaan. This country will listen to you when you make a statement. You can make a difference!"

Seeing that they were caught up in the conversation, he pushed the plate towards her, "Eat." He ordered before replying, "Sure, all the kids want to be a doctor. Be rich. Have the perks it comes with. But that's not just it for me. And you're not wrong... I can make a difference. But I can also make a difference by letting my singing part of career be as it is. I don't have to be a full-time singer and drop everything else."

Riddhima placed the half sandwich on the plate, "Okay, I want to ask you something. Think about it and then answer, okay?" After he nodded, she voiced the question, "Why do you desperately want to be a doctor? Is it because its what I want? Is that it? Are you afraid that you'll lose your connection to us if you dropped college?"

Armaan spoke softly, getting off defense ad focusing on making her understand more, "Riddhima... I've always been afraid of losing you but that fear come true three years ago. Since then, I realized I can't be afraid of losing you when I never had you... not really." He had noticed how her form tensed, looking away as if she felt guilty. "So no. I'm not trying to hold on to becoming a doctor because I'm trying to hold on to you. I..."

"What, Armaan?" She urged him to continue when she sensed his hesitation.

Exhaling, he let go of that and confessed, "When we were 14, I asked your dad about my mother. My real mother."

She shifted back in the chair having her back against it. He had enquired about his real parents? He'd never told her that. "You... you did?"

"Yeah. I was curious, I guess. I wanted to know why she gave me up, so I asked him. I guess your father understood and so he told me even though legally, he wasn't supposed to." She waited for him to divulge the information he had learned, and it surprised her. "She didn't give me up willingly, Riddhima. She died during my birth. There was no known next of kin, and so the hospital had to put me up for adoption."

Riddhima didn't know how to take this news, and she was an adult now. She wondered how tough it would have been on him to learn this as a 14 year old. "You never told me..."

He didn't apologize for keeping it a secret until now and went to conclude, "That is why I want to be a doctor, Riddhima. I don't have any God complex, but I do want to contribute to this world of science. Still in so many places in our country, there isn't a proper hygiene during childbirth or the necessary equipment during complications, or they simply cannot afford a qualified doctor. I don't care about the money, Riddhima. I don't care about being rich. I care about helping the lesser unfortunates who would benefit more from my being a doctor rather than giving music."

She thought she knew everything about the guy in front of her. She thought she knew all his secrets, his wishes, his deepest thoughts. She thought she knew him inside out. But no. This wasn't a careless guy she often brushed away when growing up. This was an evolved person. She knew he always held layers to him, one when it came to his family, and another when it came to rest of the world. But there was also a third layer. One self he kept true to for himself.

She gulped and blinked away, furiously, to keep her tears at bay. She chuckled, for it was silly. She was proud of him, but damn it. It made her want to cry. This guy demanded to be taken seriously, that there was more to him than his carefree personality with females and the unconditional devotion to his sister. He was determined to make more of himself even when he was being pulled in different directions.

Despite the air turning heavy with his confessions, he passed a comment, "Did I just make the great Riddhima Gupta cry?"

She laughed, wiping her eyelash to rub off any remnants and swatted his wrist with the other hand. She would have slapped his shoulder instead, but it had been out of reach. "Shut up, idiot."

He raised a brow, "Basket, I deserve better than being called an idiot after what I just shared with you."

She rolled her eyes as if to hint she was being pressured into saying this, though she truly meant it. "Okay, fine. Shut up, you sentimental fool."

Even then, she had to mix in a slight insult. It wouldn't make them Riddhima and Armaan if they didn't. "Why can't you simply say you're proud of me?"

"Because then you'd make me admit exactly what I am proud of." She answered without a thought. He smirked and she realized indirectly, she did admit she was proud of him. "I'm going to get another sandwich." She rushed to push the chair back and leave.

Before she would pass by him, his finger slid around her wrist. She stopped to a stand right next to him. He shifted the chair back to stand up as well, "Was I right?" Her eyes narrowed, confused. "That I never had you?" He went on to clarify, and the crinkles between her eyebrows disappeared upon connecting what he was talking about. The part he mentioned earlier that he didn't have her so he couldn't hold on to her in the first place.

Her palm enclosed on top of his fingers, "As much as I wish otherwise, Armaan," She spoke, softly releasing the hold of his fingers, "You'll always hold a part of me."

If he never felt it before, he did now. His heart skipped a beat hearing her confess that.

"I can't escape that."

Breaking the eye lock, she walked around him to the cashier.

He had to ask himself multiple times... Did she just say what he thought she did? That she still feels for him? Sure, it should have been obvious, but the mind is known to play tricks.

She was ordering herself another sandwich when suddenly, arms came around her front from the back. "Wh..." She was about to ask who when his scent hit her. "Armaan?" She said his name in confusion and he hugged her tighter, placing his chin on her shoulder.

"Thank you." He spoke, his breath falling on her nape.

"What?" She wasn't understanding what he was expressing that for.

She didn't know it, but she had instilled a new hope in him he didn't know how desperately he needed until then.

He needed to know he still meant something to her.

He needed to know he wasn't in this alone.

He needed to know she was right there with him.

He needed to not feel insecure when it came to his place in her life.

Releasing her from the embrace, he informed. "I have to get something from my hospital locker. I'll see you in class. Save me a seat?"

"Uh... okay?" She answered, still confused with what was going through his mind. Without so much as a bye, he left the canteen in a rush with a certain skip to his steps.

Along the way, he ran into Nikita. He jumped to a stop in front of her, causing her to place her hands in front of her to defend herself from him if need be. "What's the sudden mood change?" She questioned as the last time she saw him, he had dragged Riddhima away from them with a very pissed off look.

"My happy days are back!" He exclaimed, squeezing her tiny form against his chest.

"What are you on today?" She teased, "Because it can't be your usual juice."

"I'm going to let that comment slide this once." He warned after releasing her. No one was allowed to comment on his apple juice. "She loves me too, Nikki!"

She rolled her eyes, continuing to walk her way to the hospital, "A fool could've told you that, Armaan." She may have only officially met Riddhima a few hours ago for a total of five minutes, but Armaan had told her enough stories of Basket for her to deduce Riddhima's feelings without ever meeting her. Call it female intuition.

"You don't get it, Nikki. Everything I see in her eyes could have been a lie, something I made up, but not when she says it herself!"

"So she said 'I love you'?"

He answered after a pause, "Well, no. Not those words. But what she did say was enough for me. Now I know I'll wait as long as I need to in order to get them out of her." He went on to express, already having multiple ideas running in his head on how he could go about to make that happen.

As if seeing the wheels spinning, she warned, "Just don't do anything idiotic that'll irritate her. It'll only push her away."

"The time for pushing her away is gone, my dear." He countered cheekily grinning from ear to ear while he dropped an arm around her shoulder, "It's time to get her back, and you, my bestest friend in the whole wide world, are going to help me."

She pushed his arm off her, "Whoa, hold it. I will do no such thing! You may be an idiot but I am not. Whatever plans you have, execute them without me. Do not drag me in between you two." She had no intention of playing the source of jealousy.

"But come on, I need to do something! I don't know any other girl that could help me out." He expressed as the only females he was close to where Khushi, Riddhima, Muskaan and Nikita. The first three were definitely not an option, leaving poor Nikita.

She swatted the back of his head, "This is why she and I both call you idiot."

"Hey!" He took offense.

She went on to make a very good point, "Armaan, are you forgetting how well she knows you? None of the girls in high school made her jealous. What makes you think seeing you with me is going to? She knows we're friends and that when nothing has happened between us in 3 years, its not magically going to happen now. Put any girl in front of her, and she is not going to be jealous. She always knows the place she holds in your life."

Armaan sulked as that got into his thick skull. Nikita was right. Riddhima may get irritated by seeing him with another girl and saying he could do better... but jealous? He could not recall one scenario when that had happened, and he should have known better than to think it'd happen now.

He might have been insecure of what importance he held in her life, but she was very much secure of what she meant to him. He had always said it to her after all in various ways. Sometimes saying no one could replace their friendship, or other times saying she meant the world to him, and yet at other times telling her how she would always be the first to know whenever a girl came in his life and that it'd happen only after she approved of that girl.

Armaan leaned against the lockers, "What do I do then?"

Closing her locker, she offered. "How about just go tell her your feelings haven't changed, and see what she says?"

He smirked, "Where'd be the fun in that?

She shook her head, "You're hopeless." She left for her shift at the hospital. Armaan exhaled, opened his locker, retrieved the thing he came for, and made his way back to campus.

The starting point was giving Riddhima the journal he wrote in during the 6 months when they hadn't talked. Her words loomed on repeat in his head: "You'll always hold a part of me."

===

authors note:

A long flashback! Enjoyed the full on AR having a heart to heart? More on its way! Sorry I couldn't post this yesterday as I had planned. Wattpad is glitching, this is the worst I have ever seen so hopefully they will fix it soon...

Leave your votes & comments behind :D

And a very happy birthday to @penbegungor1. I wish you a joyous day, for all your wishes to be granted, wonderful memories with your loved ones, and lots of love. You're a wonderful soul I had the pleasure of getting to know & I'll forever to grateful you choose to read all my other works even though you are Arnav-Khushi fan. Accepting others too, that support means a lot to me <333 I'd love to dedicate this chapter to you but wattpad isn't letting me >.< So grab my sentiments please :*