ARNAV

I punched the wall so angrily I ended up hurting myself, what the hell was I even doing? I know it was just a hug, people always hugged each other, for greetings or other reasons and the hug between me and her, it meant nothing like she said, she just wanted to make me feel better, and I would have agreed only if it dint make me feel the way it did, it felt nothing like a normal hug, everything about it was so different and I dint want this.

I dint want to be that kind of a man neither did I ever want to see Khushi as that kind of a person, plus I wouldn't do this to my own best friend, no matter what he was doing right now.

Right now everything that was happening around me was making me feel just so angry, I was feeling things I shouldn't for my best friend's wife, my best friend was out of country with a mysterious girls for God knows what reasons and Khushi was here waiting for him, trusting him, I swear if he ever broke her trust, I was the one going to kill him.

I walked towards the bed and settled down realizing I had to maintain my distance from her, I had to look at her as my best friends wife and that was it, and regarding Shrey, it was high time he gave me an explanation about why he needed to take Aria with him, she dint even work for our company.

She was basically just a stranger whom he met when he had gone to pick up dinner for his wife and eventually forgot about his own wife.

For a moment I wanted to believe that things weren't the way I was seeing them, maybe there was a different explanation, Shrey loved Khushi a lot, I mean who knew it better than me, that guy couldn't ever stop talking about Khushi, he was always telling me how happy she made and and all that, since the first day he met her, he would tell me about everything they talked and how he would flirt with her and eventually they fell in love.

It was like I was a witness of their love story, although I hadn't really met her, the way he talked about her, I could imagine how she was, and when I met her for the first time, she turned out exactly like that, so I kind of knew how much Shrey loved her and there was no way he was going to do anything terrible to her, not something like this at least.

Not when he had seen me going through it, apart from me if there was anyone who knew how much pain all that happened in my past had caused me, it was Shrey, and I was sure he wouldn't want to give Khushi such kind of pain ever.

I stared at my phone screen hoping to call him and ask him about what was going on but it was too late there and I dint want to disturb him, so I figured I would sleep for now and then call him in the morning and talk about it all.

*****

Next morning.

I made sure to wake up as early as possible, I wanted to stick to the decision I had made last night and for that to work, I had to come face to face with Khushi like very rarely. If it was to make it simple, I had to avoid her, that's what was best for both of us anyway.

I cooked breakfast and left it on the table for her after I finished eating mine, I made sure I left the house before she woke up, and then headed to the office being sure I was going to talk to Shrey about whatever that was happening between him and Aria.

I found a pile of unsorted documents lying on my desk, I hadn't worked much recently and even when I was here I had meeting or I kept on thinking about other things because of which I dint give my work much priority, but today I was determined not to go home until it was all done but before that I had to do the most important thing, call Shrey.

I stared at my phone screen nervously, I dint even know how I was going to talk to him about all this, it was going to be strange and awkward.

I scrolled through the contact's list looking for his number when Khushi's name showed up on the screen, she was calling me! Why was she calling me?

As much as I wanted to ignore her call, I couldn't risk, she was already unwell and Shrey had left me here to take care of her so I wouldn't just ignore her like that.

"Hello." I said nervously as I received the call, I dint know why talking to her was making me feel nervous suddenly, it wasn't the first time I was talking to her.

There was long silence, she dint speak a word making me more worried, I just hoped she was okay, why would she call me if she dint want to say anything?

"Khushi! Are you okay? Why aren't you saying anything?" I asked, waiting for her to speak because honestly i was getting worried.

"Can you come home Arnav? It's urgent." She said, her voice sounded so low I could know it from her voice that something was definitely wrong.

I stood up and rushed out of the office immediately and headed home, well not my home but still for now it was home.

I dint even say yes or no, or think anything else, as soon as she asked me to go home, I just rushed out of my office like something had gone terribly wrong, I disconnected the call once I got into the car and drove off.

On my way home, all I kept wondering about was why she sounded so low, it could be because she was unwell or maybe not, what other reason was there for her to be sad?

I parked the car and rushed upstairs as fast as I could, within to time I was at the apartment, I rang the doorbell nervously just hoping and praying that everything was okay.

A few moments later, the door opened and there she was, standing in front of me looking like a terrible mess, even when she was a mess she looked like the prettiest girl I had ever seen.

She turned away from me just a second after I saw a tear drop rolling down her eyes, I rushed behind her and got hold of her, I turned her to face me and suddenly she started crying.

"Hey... what's wrong Khushi?" I asked her worriedly, I had never seen her crying, this was the first time and it was already breaking my heart, why was I even feeling this bad about her seeing her in tears?

She kept on crying without answering me and I was really a terrible person at consoling people, I dint know how to do it but then I couldn't just sit here and see her crying like this and do nothing about it, it was pricking my heart.

"Aren't you feeling well? Or did your boss say something to you? But you haven't gone to work yet? Wait did you get fired?" I tried to think of all the possible reasons but none of them seemed to be true because she kept on nodding negatively.

"Then what's wrong Khushi? How am I supposed to help you if you wouldn't tell me what's hurting you? and please stop crying, please." I cupped her face and looked at her worriedly, no matter how many times I told her to stop crying she wouldn't just listen to me, neither would she tell me a thing, now what was I supposed to do then?

"If I ask you something, do you promise to tell me the truth?" She looked me into the eyes, her eyes were bloodshot making me wonder how long she must have been crying before she called me or before i arrived here.

"What do you want to ask me?" I looked at her curiously, not that I would ever lie to her about anything.

"First promise me that you would tell me the truth, no matter how bitter it's going to be, no matter how much it's going to hurt me, just promise me that you'll tell me the truth and nothing else." She continued crying at it was making me weak.

"Fine, fine I promise I'll tell you the truth about whatever you ask me but before that, please stop crying."

She nodded as she wiped her tears off with the back of her hand but others kept on rolling down her eyes, whatever it was that was hurting her so much surely had to be so important or else why would she cry like this?

"It's... it's about Shrey." She finally spoke leaving me surprised, did she find out something? What was it? Oh I hoped Shrey hadn't done something stupid.

"What about him Khushi?" I looked at her nervously hoping she wasn't going to ask me the one question I was scared to answer because at this moment, I myself dint have an answer.

"Did Shrey really go on a business trip or was it something else? You both are partners I'm sure you know if it's business or something else, plus he's your best friend, he wouldn't hide anything from you right, so tell me, what is it Arnav?" She asked looking at me nervously, there was some kind of fear I could see in her eyes, the fear of losing Shrey.

"Of course he's gone on a business trip Khushi, why would he lie to you? And what would make you think that it's something else?"

She seemed to have calmed down a bit after she heard my answer but then it dint do much, she fell down on her knees and broke down once again.

This was terrible, everything was, I really couldn't see her like this, I was also starting to feel bad, I felt like if she kept on crying like this, I would also start crying with her all over a sudden, trust me it was that bad.

"What's going on in your mind? Look I can't really help you unless you tell me?" I asked as I bent down and looked her into the eyes.

She got hold of me and pulled me closer, wrapping her arms around me, she held me tight, I could feel her shaking, whatever she was about to say was definitely terrible.

"Today in the morning, I called him on facetime, everything was good until I noticed a yellow dress behind him that was placed on the bed, I asked him and he told me that he had gone shopping so he bought it for me.

I believed him because every time he went anywhere he did a lot of shopping for me than he did for himself but then something was different this time, he dint look as much confident, he looked nervous like he was hiding something from me." She said, she clearly said a yellow dress and who else wore so much yellow other than Aria?

"So that's the only thing making you cry Khushi? A dress?" I asked as I broke the hug and looked at her, although it was just a dress for her, I knew in my mind whom exactly it belonged to even thought I hadn't seen it.

"Of course not, it's not just about the dress, it's about a girl, we kept on talking for a while until I saw a door opening behind him and then I am not sure but I think I saw a girl and it looked like it was a bathroom and she walked out of it because she had a towel wrapped around her body" she broke down again, oh my God, this was so terrible, I dint want Khushi to go through what i had been through, I dint want to see her in that kind of a pain because trust me, it was terrible.

"Did you see her face?" I asked.

"No, I just saw someone, I couldn't see the face or anything... but anyway the video call got disconnected suddenly and neither did Shrey call me back nor did I, you are his best friend Arnav, you must be knowing about this, please tell me the truth, is he cheating on me?" she asked as she looked at me, her expressions said it all, she was so scared of the truth, although she wanted me to tell her the truth, deep down inside her heart she was praying for all of it to be anything else but that.