ARNAV

I walked into Shrey's cabin as he was busy having his meeting in my cabin, God knows why he decided to have his meeting in my cabin instead on his, technically, his cabin was bigger than mine and better than mine and it looked better than mine also.

I settled down on his chair and looked at his table, it was full of colorful spring files, and papers scattered all over, his laptop had been switched on, I stared at the screen saver, it was his and Khushi's wedding picture, the wedding that I had witnessed at the registrar's office.

They both looked so happy and so much in love, the way Khushi was looking at Shrey in that picture, it showed how much she loved him, like he meant the whole world to her.

She had beautiful hazel eyes, and the smile on her face was the one that could brighten up the whole world, I took off my eyes from the screen and saw a picture placed a bit further from the laptop, I picked it up.

It was Khushi's picture, in this one she wasn't with Shrey, but all alone, it looked like it was taken at the beach opposite her house, I could say that by seeing the water on the background, she was holding some sand in her hand and she laughing like it was the thing that made her happiest in the world.

I don't know what it was about the picture, but I couldn't stop staring at it, she was pretty attractive and until today I had never seen her like that, I had never had a look at her so closely, of course she was my best friend's wife, how could I have looked at her in any other way?

But today no matter how much I tried, I couldn't stop admiring her, she was strong, she was beautiful and she told me on the face that she hated me, she was so different, different than all the girls I had met in my life.

I placed the picture back where it was and inhaled a deep breath, it was better for me if i stayed away from her or any other girl as a matter of fact, i just dint want to allow anyone else in my life,  I wouldn't let any other girl hurt me once again, I wanted to live my life on my terms and making myself happy.

I was lost in thoughts when the door opened suddenly and a girl came running inside, my eyes fell first on her yellow heels and I wondered how she even managed to walk in them, the heel was as thin as a pencil and maybe three inch long.

"I am sorry I'm late." She said as she adjusted her dress before looking at me, once she looked at she was left in surprise I guess because she opened up her eyes so wide and looked at me like I was an alien or something, it looked like she wasn't expecting to see me here.

I looked at her realizing she was the same girl I had seen with Shrey last night when we went to pick up dinner for Khushi, and just like yesterday, even today she was dressed in a yellow dress, but this one was a bit different from the one she had on yesterday.

Yellow seemed to be her favorite color, I don't remember the last time I had worn yellow on two consecutive days, although I dint like the color much, I couldn't deny the fact that it suited her pretty well, yellow was so her color and maybe she knew that, that's why she was wearing too much of yellow.

"I'm sorry, I thought it was Shrey's cabin." She said as she bit her lip nervously.

"It is, he's just having a meeting in my cabin so I'm here in his, you can sit here and wait for him, he'll be done soon." I said.

She nodded at me as she walked towards the chair that was placed opposite the table, she settled down and looked around the cabin, right now all I could think of was how did she know this was Shrey's cabin, wasn't she coming here the first time? Wasn't yesterday the first time she met him? I had a lot of questions in my mind right now, and somewhere I knew why I had them, because of my past!

I looked at her and found her staring at me just like she was staring at Shrey yesterday, as soon as my eyes met with hers, she looked away but I could notice the smile on her face and I wondered what she must be thinking right now.

"I'm Arnav by the way, I work with Shrey and he's also my best friend." I introduced myself to her.

"I'm Aria, I met Shrey at the restaurant yesterday and then he called me telling me he wanted to meet me here today so I came early in the morning, he was here in the cabin with a few people so I left thinking I'll come back later but his meeting isn't over yet." She smiled at me while she explained all of this, it was weird how she was always smiling, was her life really that happy and perfect that she couldn't just stop smiling?

"So you both are like friends right now or what?" I looked at her curiously, I really dint know why but I wasn't getting good vibes from her.

"Not really, like i said we just met and it's kind of complicated, I don't think I can explain this, if you have questions, you should ask him, I think he's the one supposed to decide on whom to tell and whom not to." She said nervously as if she was trying to hide something from me, obviously she was, and Shrey too was, why was my best friend hiding anything from me anyway?

I dint say anything after that, I just started picking up random papers from Shrey's table and arranging them trying to avoid the awkwardness. I managed to look at her from the corner of my eye in between and every time I did, I'd find her staring at me which made me feel more awkward.

"So Arnav, are you married?" She asked.

I raised my head and looked at her in surprise, that question was completely unexpected, i mean if she wanted to create a conversation, she could ask any other question, why this? And anyway I dint know what to answer her, so I just nodded negatively and pretended to continue doing my work.

"You must be having a girlfriend then if you aren't married" She said, wasn't she being nosy now? i mean seriously, why was she interested in my life, I dint even know her.

"Why do you think so?" I asked as i looked at her curiously.

"Just... you're so good looking, you've got a good job and you sound like a nice person, I'm sure girls would be around you every now and then." she was still smiling and I couldn't really figure out if she was complimenting me or trying to flirt with me.

"First of all this isn't a job, I own this company with Shrey, we are partners, and secondly, I don't do the girls thing, I'm good being single and on my own." I said as a lot of past memories flashes in my mind, i dint like anyone asking me such questions because it ended up reminding me of the time I was trying so hard to forget.

I don't know why but my answer seemed to be making her happy, I could see her smiling and I couldn't really figure out why she was smiling, was it because I dint have a girlfriend and I wasn't married or was it because I said I dint do the girls thing?

My thoughts were disturbed by a ringtone that wasn't definitely mine, I looked at Aria but it looked like it wasn't her phone either so I looked around the table when I saw Shrey's phone in between the spring files.

This guy loved leaving his phone everywhere, no wonder Khushi was always worried about him, he never had his phone with him!

I looked at the screen and Khushi's name was flashing on it, thinking of some mischief, I received the call and held the phone close to my ears.

"Hello love." I said in a husky voice.

"Dare you call me love once again, I'll come there and punch you on the face right away Arnav!" I heard Khushi's harsh voice over the phone. She clearly hates me so much, it was funny how she was always angry on me, but it was fun making her angry.

"I'm impressed, you recognized my voice so easily." I laughed teasing her.

"No! I recognize Shrey's voice and I knew this wasn't his and no one else does such stupid things like you so I knew it must be you." she explained.

"I dint ask for explanations."

"Whatever, tell Shrey to call me back as soon as he can and stop receiving calls for you, dont you have any other work to do than be around my husband's phone every time?"

"I see someone is angry." I laughed.

She disconnected the call as I placed back the phone on the table and looked at Aria who was busy typing something on her phone, I smiled, it was fun to irritate Khushi, I loved how she was always angry on me.

The door opened once again and this time finally, Shrey walked in, his eyes fell on Aria and suddenly there was a smile on his face.

"Aria! You're back, I'm sorry I hope I dint keep you waiting long." He walked towards her.

She stood up from her chair and hugged him, yes I knew hugs were just normal kind of greetings but I couldn't stop feeling weird about it all, I mean they just met yesterday why would Shrey even have to call her here? And now they were greeting each other like they were friends since ages, all this was surely making me uncomfortable.

I just had a strange feeling inside my heart that kept on telling me something was wrong somewhere and I wasn't sure how to judge this, was I seeing things differently because of what I had experienced in the past or were they actually different?

"Shrey, your wife called, she told me to tell you to call her back so please do that, anyway I'll head to my cabin and start working." I said as I stood up and walked out of his cabin.

The main reason I addressed Khushi as his wife and not just as Khushi was mainly because I was trying to stop things from going wrong, if in any case they were actually starting to go wrong, there was just a part of me that was always overthinking a lot of things and maybe i was actually overthinking about Shrey and Aria but then what were the chances of me being right?

I just dint want my best friend to do anything stupid that would end up hurting Khushi. Why was I suddenly so worried about Khushi anyway, Shrey was my best friend, I was supposed to be worried for him not his wife. This was getting weird.