Chapter 15

"Do you still talk to him?" Aarav asks me as he plays with my hair.

"Not much..." I lag because I was lying. Don't get me wrong I already told him I was back with Aarav but he became such a good friend in our group. Me, Shruthi, Shubham, and Dhruv hang out a lot together as friends. Though the occasional bickering between Shruthi and Dhruv is ongoing, they are ok in a room without harming each other. That's a win.

"What is he asking?" Aarav asks as I type out the message for Dhruv.

"He is with Shruthi and apparently she fell asleep in his car, he doesn't want to wake her up just yet so he is asking for her address," I say finding those messages weird. He is caring for Shruthi? They fight like dogs!

"He likes her," Aarav says exhaling a deep breath.

"Stop, joking!" I tell him after I finish texting.

"No! Babe, it's the truth. He is someone who cares a lot for the person he likes. Could go to any extent." He tells me.

"Wahh! That's sweet." These words come out of the mouth without a second thought.

"Hey! Am pretty caring too!" He tells me making a pout.

Don't do that my heart can't handle it!

"That's why am dating you," I say pulling his nose.

"You better not leave me." He says giving me a hug. But the question that has been bugging me from the start makes its way.

"What happened between you and Dhruv?" I ask him pulling back from the hug.

He gives out an exasperated sigh.

"It's that- Ahh." He fumbles to tell me.

"It's ok to take your time," I tell him as I brush my fingers through his hair.

I hope I get an answer soon.

"No, you deserve to know." He tells straightening himself, while I sit properly indicating am all ears too.

"A few years back we had a common friend- Swapna, and Dhruv loved her with all his heart. He did so many things for her. But Swapna didn't like him back. She kind of led him on too. In the end when he told her his feelings. She rejected saying, she loves me the most which was a lie. He was ok with that and didn't bother. But I on the other hand was angry. Angry that she broke my best friend's heart, angry that she used my name in the middle. I did my best to make her take back her words, but she ended up leaving abroad. Dhruv was heartbroken after knowing what happened. He holds a grudge against me for making her leave." He tells letting go of another breath.

I look at him confused as to why things do not add up. I remember Dhruv telling me at the restaurant that Aarav broke someone's heart, but here Dhruv is the one who seems to have a broken heart. I sigh at his words. Not knowing what to say. I look him in the eyes. He looks back at me.

"I don't know, What Dhruv has told you about this, but one thing is for sure- He is not someone who can talk about Swapna as freely as me. He thinks it's all my fault when I wasn't even present in the story." Aarav finally breathes out.

"Dhruv told me nothing," I tell him which is the truth, he never told me about Swapna. All he ever told me way Aarav is the bad guy. It's understandable because he feels that Aarav is bad, he came in between both of them.

I give him a tight hug, he doesn't deserve all that hate.

"If the misunderstanding clears, will you both be friends?" I ask him still hugging.

"I don't think so... He was pretty mean to me. He also tried to get back at me through you." He tells me as he pats my back. I just don't seem to understand what is going on. But I do want them both to be friends again.

"Swapna is the bad person here. She is the one who came in between you both." I try to reason. But Aarav shut me out.

"Dhruv doesn't think that way. He feels that she is the nicest person in the world. But she is not. Things will be fine when he understands that." He tells me as he plays with my hands.

"Hmm," I answer. He takes my hand and kisses the back of it.

"I didn't want to spoil the mood. " He tells me with a pitiful smile. I brush it off easily.

"It's ok, but can we get ice cream!" I ask him to cheer him up.

"Anything for my baby!" He tells ruffling my hair.

"It took me a long time to set my hair," I shout back at him, but you know I love it when he does that.

"It's ok, I know you like it when I do that." He tells me. We both get up and make our way down. I ask for him to take out the bike rather than the car.

The bikes are the best to ride at night. It's breezy and heavenly.

We get on the bike and make our way to the nearby ice cream shop. The first date is the best.

Dhruv POV:

I sat beside her in the car. It's been an hour since she has fallen asleep. We are at the parking lot of her apartment and I don't want to wake her up. I still can't believe she decided to call me about what has happened. I still remember the call.

I was editing my video for a college project. Just then my phone rings and it says bitch xoxo. Yes! I saved her number like that. She always gets on my nerves. She is talkative, chatty, has an obnoxiously high voice, and always trips. Man one clumsy woman she is. I chuckle at the memory of her getting her toe banged onto the table 5 times while we were trying to have lunch at Saumya's home.

I slowly picked up the call and I hear a sniffle on the other side.

"Did you make a kid cry?" is the first thing that comes to my mind.

"Noo! A pitched scream follows the call and by the sound of it, she is the one crying.

"What happened?" I ask her calmly.

"I fell down and twisted my ankle." She says in a meek voice, by the talk of it I could imagine a cute pout on he face as she scratches her nail against the nearby surface.

"Why did you call me?" I ask her genuinely curious as to why I was the one who got the call.

"Aye! Saumya is on her first date and even if Subbu is here he can't help me!" She tells me as if she is scolding me.

"Ok fine where are you?" I ask her.

"At the college. Come fast. It's paining a lot." She tells me cutting the call.

So that's what happened I picked her up, took her to the hospital and here I am with her in the car as she sleeps peacefully after crying a lot because of the pain.

I turn my seat and look at her. She moves a little and murmurs she is cold. I decrease the temperature of the ac and take off my jacket to put on her.

It's been so long since I cared for someone. She was the last person I cared for and I also loved that person so deeply. I know am never going to be capable of loving someone as much as I loved her. Everything would have gone great. It could have gone great. If only Aarav was away. If only he was in his sane mind to not do the shit he has done.

Shruthi stirs for a while and as if she was struck by something she wakes up in a jolt. She panics looking around but once her eyes fall on me she calms down.

"Where are we?" She asks me looking around once again.

"At your apartment," I tell her releasing a sigh.

"How do you know my apartment? Do you stalk me? Why didn't you wake me up? What is even going on? Where is Shubham?" Her rain of questions doesn't stop so I just put my hand on her mouth and with my other hand hold both of her hands. As I told she is annoying.

"You fell asleep on the way. I dropped off your Subbu at his home and got your address from Saumya." I tell her everything completely. By the time I look back at her, she was blue.

"You should breath with your nose stupid!" I shout at her taking my hand off her mouth.

"Asshole! I panicked! Who the fuck closes someone's mouth while talking? "She shouts as she catches her breath.

"Let me drop you off," I tell her as I take her college bag from the back. I go around the car and open the door to help her get down. I take her by the waist and try to pull her up. But she loses her balance and ends up putting both hands around my neck. She holds onto the collar of my shirt for her dear life. She was literally hanging onto me while her feet dangled a few inches away from the ground.

"What do you think you are doing?" I ask her annoyed at her antics.

"Trying to live a few more years before I have an untimely death?" She questions me as she looks back up at me. This was such an uncompromising position I knew she couldn't walk at all. So I moved her a bit to the side and took both of her feet into my other hand.

"What are you doing?!" She asks me her cheeks red from embarrassment.

"What do you think? Helping you get home." I tell her as I get into the lift.

An old lady joins us in the middle of the ride. She chuckles looking at us.

"We were not allowed to be so open with our love in the past. You, kids, are so lucky." She chuckles even more and gets off the lift. Those words made us look at each other but we turned our faces back again.

The elevator dinged and we reached the floor.

I go forward to click on the bell, but Shruthi doesn't let me do it.

"No one is at home. Parents went out to work." She says and I nod at her statement.

"The keys are in the bag." She says as she pulls herself closer to me. She tries to reach her back at the back with her hands but as she was reaching to the back our lips made contact. A spark passed through my body. My grip was slowly losing.

"Don't through me down" Shruthi pleads as she moves away and her hands grip tighter around my neck. That's when my hold tightens on her.

"Um- yeah, um," I tell putting her down to the side. I give her the bag and she takes out the keys. I open the door and help her by setting her on the bed.

As I was standing up to leave she holds my hands. She fumbles with her words.

"yeah um, My parents won't be back anytime soon and umm, I don't want to stay alone." She says as she grabs onto the shirt a bit tighter. Looking at her like this something in my heart melts. I wanted to stay right there with her. By her side.

"Um, I will stay," I tell her.

Shruthi, What are you doing to me?

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Hey, Am back!
And welcome to the new readers. I was struggling kinda these few days and writer's block hit me pretty bad. But now am fine and ready to post. Here is the new chapter. Please forgive me for not posting these days.
Please keep reading and leaving comments!
Thank you!!

Until the next Chapter
~Author