They were done with breakfast and everyone got busy in their own things, Nani and Mami heading towards the living room together to watch repeat telecast of their favorite serials while deciding what to cook for lunch for the day, while others getting ready to leave their home sweet home for another day of study or work!

Arnav and Ayan rushed to their room to collect their things before they leave the house and that's when Ayan remembered to share with his brother something about Khushi. He looked at Arnav who was checking on his phone and said, "Bhai I've a good news for you!"

Arnav looked up at him as he shrugged his shoulder, "What?"

Ayan smiled as he looked behind to see if anyone was coming to their room or not, and then approached Arnav, whispering to him, "You know I thought someone kidnapped you when I wasn't finding you anywhere, so I said this to Khushi didi.. do you know what she did? She immediately said in a scolding tone to me not to say such things."

Ayan thought after sharing this small thing with his brother, Arnav's happiness would reach sky level but here the opposite happened, Arnav remained unaffected by the information he got, "What's good news in this? Anyone in her place would have said the same thing to you Ayan."

It was his reply that made Ayan frown at him and snatch the phone from his hand as he used to same phone to wave in front of his brother's face as if giving him a wake up gesture, "Kya matlab.. don't you get it bhai? Khushi didi cares for you."

Arnav shook his head as if not believing Ayan's words, "Isse kuch prove nahi hota Ayan.. (nothing gets proved by this Ayan).. She considers me as her friend and that's why she cares for me."

"Haan pyaar hi toh dosti hai! (Yes, love is friendship only!)" Ayan said adding SRK's touch to their conversation with a wide smile on his friend.

Arnav rolled his eyes as his hand reached to take his phone back from Ayan's hand and walked away from there saying, "Let's go.. we're getting late Sasta SRK and take my office bag too.. today I'm going to drive you to school with my car so you'll have to do everything as I say."

Ayan pouted as he carried his school bag and his brother's office bag and followed his brother muttering to himself, "Sab ki sewa karna hi mera kaam hota hai is ghar mein! (Serving everyone is only my work in this house)."

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Arnav and Ayan were coming down the stairs very quickly as it was their habit, but Khushi stayed behind as she couldn't catch up to their speed. It was only when Arnav realized that she was left behind that he slowed down his speed so she could catch up to him.

Ayan with his speed had disappeared from there, and only they were descending the stairs now. The moment his stubborn eyes - who have been resisting from making eye contact with her until now - met hers - beautiful longing hazel colored eyes - he unknowingly let his guards down, allowing a gentle smile appear on his face, especially for her and in return, he received her sweet shy smile as she looked down at the books she was holding. 

Na hi socha na hi samjha.. Bas karne ko main chala

Abhi toh mann mere paas tha.. Kab behka kab talaa

Bina bole jo nazar keh jaaye.. Haule haule dil ko dil se milaye

Jaane jaana mujhe behka na

(I never thought about nor did I understand it.. I just went to do it

I had my heart with me/under my control.. When did it become intoxicated? When did I lose it to you?

Without speaking our look (at each other) says it all.. It slowly slowly connects my heart to your heart.

O dear don't end up intoxicating me)

And now.. Khushi was happy, he finally looked into her eyes and smiled at her. He didn't wish her a Good Morning, but now.. it is a Good Morning for her!

They finally reached the parking area of the building, Ayan was already waiting impatiently for them near the car. 

"Chalo.. chalte hain!" Arnav said as he unlocked the car and walked around it to reach his driver seat.

Khushi saw Ayan waiting for Arnav to unlocked the doors so he could sit at the backside, but she felt like it was more his right to sit at the front seat of his brother's car than hers, that's why she approached him and asked him to take the front seat. 

Upon hearing her, Ayan's eyes widened as if she asked him to commit a crime, he immediately shook his head negatively, "Arey nahi Khushi didi.. you're elder to me so you should sit in front with Bhai."

Arnav also heard their conversation and he strictly asked Khushi to not argue on this and come to sit in the front seat quietly. Khushi's shoulders dropped in defeat as she embarrassedly came ahead and got in the car, earning a stern and disbelief gaze from Arnav. 

"What makes you think Ayan should sit in the front seat when you're here?" Arnav asked her in disbelief. 

"Because he's your brother.. it's his right!" she replied in meek tone.

"What rubbish Khushi!"

"Didi aisa kuch bhi nahi.. aap badi hai mujhse (Didi it's nothing like that.. you're elder to me)"

Khushi knew the Raizada brothers won't rest till they prove that she's wrong in this and she wasn't the kind of person to keep the debate continue for long, so she quickly put an end to this conversation, by cutely accepting defeat, "Accha.. theek hai.. I'm sorry!"

"Now why are you apologizing?" Arnav asked in a teasing tone as he leaned a bit forward to have a closer look of her flustered face. He loves doing things that brings her out of her comfort zone.

Khushi is kind of used to his ways of nudging her until she comes out of her shell. But she still haven't mastered the art of finding answers to his every question.

"Bas aise hi.. (Just like that)," she replied in low tone and quickly averted her gaze, lowering her lashes and fidgeting the book on her lap nervously as she was getting extremely conscious of his gaze on her. 

"You say sorry to anyone just like that.. kamal hai bhai.. I wish Mami was like you, she would have said sorry to us whenever she says hurtful things to us, haina Ayan?" he smirked at her before sitting straight to start the car.

"Haan bilkul!" Ayan giggled behind. 

Khushi made a cute annoyed facial expression secretly as she thought, "I consider these two as my friends and they're behaving like bullies with me today. Arnav ji toh hai big bully.. ab Ayan bhi ussi ki tarah ban gaya.. (Arnav ji is already a big bully, now Ayan has become like him too)."

"Seatbelt Khushi and Chiku!" it was his voice that brought her back to earth. She obediently did as he said and remained silent throughout the journey till they reached Ayan's school. Arnav parked from a safe distance and Ayan got down the car, waving at him and Khushi happily, "Bye bhai.. bye Khushi didi."

"Bye Ayan!" Khushi smiled as she waved back at him. 

"Bye? Maine socha bas aise hi sorry bolna chahti ho Ayan ko (I thought you want to say sorry to Ayan just like that)," Arnav made a confused expression, suppressing the smile threatening to appear on his lips as he teased Khushi again. 

Ayan chuckled, "Accha bye bye.. I'm getting late now," he said running towards his school gate. 

In the car, Khushi didn't react to Arnav's teasing, she kept looking down at her lap, quietly on her seat. 

Arnav pinched her cheek when he realized she might have felt bad, "Accha I'm sorry... I'm just teasing you. I didn't know you got angry that easily."

Khushi instantly raised her eyes to look at him as she shook her head vigorously, "I'm not angry with you Arnav ji."

"Then?" he raised his one eyebrow perfectly that made her quickly wonder how can he do that, but that wasn't her focus now.

"Then nothing.. I'm not angry!" she replied firmly. Uff.. this man doesn't rest until he makes her speak more than her usual two-three words reply.

"Okay, I'll pretend that I believe you!" he said staring at her with a funny fake suspicious look as if still in doubt of her, and that broke her demeanor as she started giggling at him.

"Now.. I really believe you!" he replied smiling with her, as he started the car heading towards her college.

Khushi shook her head smiling as she turned her head to face the window side, thinking to herself, so what if he's someone who keeps annoying and pestering her to speak more than usual, someone who constantly keeps poking her in order to bring the real Khushi out of her that is used to remain hidden from the world and only make an appearance when she's alone in her room.. at least, he's one of those people who genuinely cares about her presence, otherwise due to her introvert personality, she's often ignored by people around her.. it's as if she was invisible to them.. but with Arnav, she feels the opposite, she feels visible around him!

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

Khushi's college

While waiting during the break time for another teacher's classes, Khushi and Lavanya were having a random conversation and without realizing the topic reached to their crushes. 

"Who is your crush Khushi?" Lavanya asked curiously, she was all ears to have this type of conversation with her shy and timid friend.

Khushi first widened her eyes as in shock for the question thrown on her way, but then she shook her head in negative, "No one!"

"Oh come on Khushi.. I believe when you said you never had any boyfriend in your life, but I would never believe you never had a crush on someone. Like really? You never had a crush on someone?" 

"No Lavanya! I think we should stop talking about crushes and get ourselves ready for our next class now," Khushi said trying her best to divert Lavanya's attention from this topic. Talking with boys, falling in love and having a boyfriend was strictly prohibited in her family, hence even having a secret crush on someone would almost feel as if she's committing a crime. But Lavanya wouldn't understand that as she comes from a different family background. 

"Khushi I don't believe you.. Didn't you ever find a boy handsome, cute, charming and all? Not even celebrities? I mean you must have had a crush on a male celebrity.. please tell me!" Lavanya insisted, pleading her friend to share something about her. 

Khushi, who was already opening her book pages in order to avoid further conversation with Lavanya, paused a bit to think about a male celebrity she possibly had a crush on just to give any reply to Lavanya and escape from this conversation and that's when instead of any famous male celebrity, Arnav's face came to her mind when she thought about a handsome, cute and charming man. 

Her hands stilled, she experienced her heart rate increasing just at the mere thought of Arnav being her crush. 

"Khushi!" Lavanya nudged her, "Come on.. having a crush is not something bad.. I know you're serious about your studies only and you don't want any distractions on your path as well, but you won't be committing any crime if you like someone secretly.. it doesn't mean you're in love, it's just a tiny silly crush and it won't even affect your so more important than life studies!!" she ended up rolling her eyes at Khushi sarcastically. 

"You just said if I like someone secretly right? If it's a secret, then why should I reveal it to anyone?" Khushi asked with a tight-lipped smile. 

Lavanya smiled mischievously as she played with Khushi's hair teasingly, "Oh.. so this means you've a crush on someone and you want to keep it a secret ahn!!"

Khushi sighed tiredly knowing very well Lavanya won't stop pestering her till she finds out about her crush, she looked at Lavanya who was eager to make her reveal her secret crush to her, "Okay fine.. my crush is that Raju from RRR movie. Happy?"

Lavanya smiled surprised, "Really? Ram Charan? OMG.. I've a crush on him too, he's one of my favorite actors Khushi-"

Khushi nodded half-heartedly. She had no interest or crush on the actor Ram Charan, but had to come with a name to put an end to this conversation with Lavanya. The truth is she is probably having a tiny winy silly little crush on the person she went to watch the movie RRR with. But she feared to admit this to herself or even think of him in that way, he was her good friend and she had a goal to focus on here in Delhi!

Brushing all these thoughts off her mind, she was about to focus on her main goal, when a boy of their age approached their desk and smiled at them, "Hello!!"

She didn't reply to him, it was Lavanya who smiled and greeted him, "Hi!"

"My name is NandiKishore.. in short, NK! I'm new here and I actually joined the classes late, so can you help me find an empty seat for me?" he asked with his bunny confused smile. 

"Oh, new classmate! Sure sure, this seat here behind us is free.. no one sits here, so you can take this one," Lavanya said pointing to the seat behind their row. 

NK smiled, "Takliya!"

Lavanya and Khushi shared a confused look before gazing back at him questioningly. 

"I mean.. thank you.. takliya!!" he said explaining to them. 

Lavanya wanted to burst out laughing, but controlled herself and corrected him, "It's shukriya.. not takliya."

NK bit his tongue, "Oh yes yes.. shukriya!". Then he walked to his seat and Lavanya turned to Khushi and whispered to her friend, "Naam se sanskari, aur personality se burger baccha! (From his name he looks like a cultured and well-mannered boy, but his personality reveals he's a burger boy)."

Khushi chuckled softly. But she was worried now, she wished NK found another empty space to sit and not the one behind her, because A, he's a BOY and B, she was worried he would one of those guys who is a spoilt brat and will find ways to disturb her and Lavanya during their class hours and C, what if he asks to be a part of their group and Lavanya accepts it?

She frowned slightly lost in her thoughts, not every boy is like her friend Arnav that she feels comfortable around him. Thinking about Arnav, she instantly smiled a little and picked her phone from the desk to send a message to him.

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

At the office cafeteria..

Aman and Arnav were having their iced coffees and while Aman was busy scrolling through his social media pages, Arnav was lost on his thoughts. 

Aman looked up at his friend to show him something on his phone and that's when he noticed a lost Arnav not even touching his drink, he waved his hand in front of his friend's face to bring him back to earth, "Oyee.. kaha khoya hai tu (where are you lost)?"

"Yaar," Arnav sighed, "I was thinking maybe you and Ma are right.. I was too quick to assume what I feel for Khushi is love.. maybe it's not, it might be attraction or infatuation.. but love at first sight was stupidity of my part.."

Aman raised his hands up as if thanking God for putting some sense in his friend's mind, "Finally you came back to earth from the heaven!"

"Haan na yaar.. it took me time but the reality check I got from you and Ma made me rethink about my decisions. And also the fact that I'm planning to impress Shashi uncle without even knowing if Khushi loves me or not is wrong. I'm making a fool out of myself by assuming that I'm in love with Khushi and in future, she will fall for me only and planning to impress my future father-in-law without Khushi being aware of this.. It's like I'm planning everything in my head without even taking Khushi's consent on this, which is the most important thing." 

"Exactly.. later on, you would get hurt in this process because your expectations without considering Khushi's wish were very high," Aman said.

Arnav nodded his head. 

"So what will you do now?" Aman asked.

Arnav shrugged, "I'm going to help her fight against her father's decision as promised but only as her friend, not with the expectation that she will fall in love or marry me after that." 

"So you're finally over your Majnu-aashiq-devdas-love sick puppy era?" Aman raised his brows questioningly. 

"I guess so!" Arnav shrugged, taking a sip of his iced coffee. 

"Kya baat hai.. iss pe toh celebrate karna banta hai (We need to celebrate this)" Aman smiled widely raising his glass cup to cheers with Arnav.

Arnav look at him in disbelief, "Aman are you my friend or my enemy? You want to celebrate my misery?"

"Not your misery pagle.. your freedom!!" Aman patted his friend's shoulder enthusiastically, "Tonight after our gym session, I'm taking you to a new place! Okay, done deal!"

Not giving a chance for Arnav to deny his offer, Aman got up and left from there before Arnav could even reply to him. 

Arnav shook his head and was about to finish his coffee when he paid attention to his phone buzzing with new messages, he picked his phone from the table to check whose message it was, and to his surprise it was Khushi. She had sent him messages before also, but he was too lost that time, he didn't realize he was receiving these messages. 

Khushi (11:05am): Hi Arnav ji!

Khushi (11:06am): Arnav ji, me and Lavanya were just talking about a new movie that released few days ago, Rocky aur Rani ki Prem Kahani. Can we go watch it tonight?

Khushi (11:15am): But if you will be busy or too tired at that time, then it's okay.. we don't need to go.

He read her message and shut his eyes momentarily. Khushi or Aman? What should he choose now?

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You can find the link of the song I've added in the update above. 

Picture credits: Google.

Thank you for the comments, vote and response on the previous chapter. 

Tell me your thoughts on this chapter? Did anyone noticed the change in our characters, specially Arnav and Khushi? 

And did you like the new entry, our NK? Is he here to give a tough time to Arnav? Or it doesn't matter anymore as Arnav already gave up on his love?