Aarohi's POV:

"Hello?" A groggy voice answers the call.

"Roshni! Wake up!" I say, furiously.

"Ro?" She seems highly disoriented. She yawns loudly over the phone. "What's going on? Why are you calling me so ear- oh, it's 10 am already?"

"Roshni", I sound like a fire-breathing dragon now. "What the hell is Karthik doing here?"

"Huh?" She yawns again. "Karthik who? Shit my head is paining so bad-"

"Karthik Pratap!" I almost yell at her, and I hear a laugh behind me.

I turn around to face my nightmare. He's driving a huge jeep, sunglasses on his eyes, his hair unkempt, and the signature smirk on his face. I have been walking on the street for the past five minutes and he has been following me in his jeep- well technically not following, just driving beside me.

"Did you just take my full name, nerd?" He says loudly. "You had to call your best friend and tell her that you are with me, huh? Couldn't resist keeping the fact that you finally get to spend some alone time with the guy you have always been in love with?"

"You son of a-" I seethe.

"Tut, tut", he cuts me off, sounding exactly like Dolores Umbridge. "Swearing doesn't suit you sweetheart."

"I'm not your sweetheart!" I yell.

He simply grins and looks at two girls passing by, who are wearing shorts and eyeing him as if he's some sort of man-candy.

"Ofcourse not", he winks at them and they giggle. "They're sweethearts; you are just a troll."

"Arrrgh!" I yell.

"Ro?" Roshni asks quietly. "What is going on? Who is that with you?"

"What is going on?" I almost yell at her now. "I'll tell you what's going on! I am in frigging Goa, in clothes too short for me, abandoned by my asshole of a boyfriend, waiting for my three best friends to pick me up, but instead, what do I find? A caveman who claims he has come to take me home!"

"Ro don't yell", Roshni groans. "I have a hangover and it is difficult to keep up."

I take deep breaths now. "Why aren't you, Hanshu and Aish in Goa to pick me up?"

"Oh.. That", she says. "Er... I honestly can't remember."

I sigh. "Give the phone to Aishath."

"Hey girl!" An enthusiastic voice chirps.

"Hanshita", I grit my teeth. "Give the phone to Aish."

"Damn that hurt my feelings you know", Hanshu says, but I know she's just being melodramatic as usual.

"Hey Ro", Aish greets me, and I sigh. Finally an adult on the line.

"Aish, why-" she cuts me off before I can begin.

"Ro, your parents had called us", Aish says, and my breath hitches. Shit. "We told them we were gonna go to Goa to pick you up, but they told us that they didn't think it was safe for just us girls. They themselves were going to come and get you but then Karthik volunteered to fetch you."

"Wait", I frown. "Pighead here volunteered to come get me?" I look at Karthik who is laughing and muttering "pighead". That makes me even more angry.

"Yeah", she says.

"How are my parents?" I ask the most dreaded question.

"You are under Royal lockdown babe", she says.

I sigh. I had expected as much. "How many times do I have to tell you? I'm not a Royal."

"Well your dad's one, so-" Aish begins.

"Yo loser!" Karthik calls. "If you're done calling the entire country, you can get in now. We need to go."

I look at him, irritated. "You can go. I'm not coming with you."

"Is that how you treat someone who has been generous enough to volunteer to come get you?" He asks, raising an eyebrow. "Didn't your boyfriend teach you anything?"

"Piss off, pighead", I spit.

"Geez nerd", he laughs. "I thought with all the vocabulary you possess, you might be able to come up with something better than pighead. Frankly it's starting to get a little boring. And we are on a schedule. Tick tock." He grins like the monkey he is, and all I wish in that moment is for him to disappear to his ape world.

"Ro?" Aish says.

"I gotta go, Aish", I sigh. "There's an animal on the loose here. I gotta go handle him."

"Make sure you tie him up real nice", I can hear Hanshu teasing me. My three best friends have been crushing over Karthik since school. And it doesn't help that all of us go to the same college either.

Huh. The phone must be on the speaker.

I end the call.

"C'mon nerd", Karthik honks now and starts singing like a hyena on the loose. "Time is waiting, we only got four minutes to save the world! No hesitating, grab a boy, grab a girl-"

"Alright stop!" I put my hands up in surrender. "I'll get in if you stop singing."

He grins widely as I sit next to him. It's a nice open jeep. I avoid looking at him, however I can't help but notice that we aren't moving at all.

I look at him to see him looking at me, amusement in his eyes.

"What now?" I groan.

He eyes me up and down. "You look good nerd", he grins.

I roll my eyes. "Stop with the flirting pighead."

"I was just stating a fact", he shrugs. "I've never seen you like this, especially not sans glasses. I didn't know you had long brown hair, or such amazing legs-"

"Just drive you pervert!" I shout and he laughs.

"I was just kidding nerd", he laughs. "Although you should wear shorts more often. I mean your legs-"

I purposely press the horn loudly to block whatever he is saying. People are literally stopping and staring at us now. He just laughs loudly and swats my hand away, and starts the jeep.

We drive in silence for a few seconds. Unfortunately, just for a few seconds, because then he decides it would be fun to turn on the stereo and sing loudly in his terrible voice.

"Bachna ae haseeno, lo main aa gaya
Husn ka aashiq, husn ka dushman,
Apni ada hai yaaron se judaa
Hey ho!"

"Stoooooop!" I scream, putting my hands over my ears. "Please for God's sake, Bhagwaan ke liye, please just don't sing."

He smirks. "Alright, I won't sing", he says and just as I look at him in surprise that he is actually agreeing with me, he changes the song and continues, "this song."

"Baby I don't need dollar bills to have fun tonight!
I love cheap thrills!
I don't need no mooooney...
As long as I can feel the be-"

I just turn off the stereo. He looks at me, a little annoyed now. He then abruptly stops the car to the side and I'm almost thrown off by the sudden change in direction.

"What's your problem?" He asks, his forehead creasing.

I glare at him. "You. You are my problem."

He glares right back. "You can't have a little fun, can you? Fuck you are so uptight, that you can't even laugh at situations that are supposed to be funny."

"This was supposed to be funny?" I gesture towards the music and then him. "How is you singing like a banshee fun in any way?"

He sighs. "Look nerd, I suck at trying to console people. This was my idea of trying to cheer you up."

"I don't need you cheering me up", I snap at him.

He grits his teeth. "Oh yeah, sorry about that. You need your boyfriend to cheer you up, right? Oh wait, I'm sorry, ex-boyfriend. Where is he now, by the way? Antartica?"

I look at him fiercely, trying not to cry. "Do I look like I know?"

He laughs humourlessly. "Excuse me for trying to look after you. I must be so stupid, volunteering to come get you, all the way from Mumbai-"

"I never asked you to come!" I object.

"You are an ungrateful little brat, you know that right?" He glares at me.

"Shut up", I clench my jaw. His words hurt me. Actually not his words. Those were the words used by my ex-boyfriend, Mayur, when he wanted to go beyond just kissing.

"You're an ungrateful little brat, you know?" Mayur said. "I brought you all the way to Goa on my money and you refuse to go ahead with me."

"I'm sorry, I'm just not comfortable-" I begin, my voice breaking.

"Fuck off", he just says and gets up and leaves.

That's the last time I saw him.

"Hey, nerd", Karthik says, his expression softening a little. "You okay?"

I look in the front, clenching and unclenching my teeth, trying hard not to cry in front of Karthik Pratap, out of all the people.

"You can talk to me, you know", he says softly.

"Why should I?" I ask him sharply. Why is he acting like he cares, like we are friends or something? He is just a bully, torturing me and calling me names since school. A very confusing bully.

"Who else is here?" He asks.

I look at him, and I point to a huge man passing by on a bicycle.

He then shouts. "Uncle! Suniye (listen)! Uncle!"

The man turns around and looks at us, a little bewildered. Probably even a little mad at being called uncle, since he isn't that old.

"Ye aapse kuch baat karna chahti hai", he says, pointing at me. (She wants to talk to you.)

I look at Karthik in shock. He then nudges me.

"Bolo (say)", he tells me, and when I don't speak, he carries on. "Aree bolo, sharmao nahi (Speak, don't be shy.)"

I shake my head, glaring at him.

"Kya baat hai (what's the matter)?" The man's voice booms like a canon, and I clutch Karthik's sleeve, a litle scared. Karthik smirks a little, clearly enjoying my discomfort.

Then he sighs and says, "Main hi aapko batata hoon (I'll tell you myself.)" He looks at me, and then slowly turns on the ignition. "Ye poochna chahti hai (she wants to ask)", he slowly drives and takes the jeep right next to the man, who is frowning. "Kya aapke toothpaste mein namak hai (does your toothpaste have salt in it)?" And before the man can say anything he drives off, with both of us laughing loudly.

After the laughter dies down, we look at each other and he smiles. "Now do you want to tell me what happened?"

I sigh. "Alright pighead. Let's go have food first. I'm starving. I'll tell you while we eat."

He gives a triumphant smile and mutters, "Pighead to the rescue."

"This does not mean we are friends", I warn him and he just laughs.

"Nerd, I have a reputation to keep", he says. "I'm just playing the role of your diary. Instead of writing inside it, about whatever has happened, you can tell me." He flashes me a grin.

He has been grinning way too much. Time to shut that.

"Oh yeah", I say, as if it has dawned upon me that Karthik has come up with a really good idea. "Dear Karthik", I say, as if writing inside my diary. "You are an asshole." His grin vanishes. "Get me something to eat", I continue. He hmpfs and looks away. "And oh, dear Karthik", I say and he looks at me, slightly annoyed. "You have broccoli stuck between your teeth. Hey this rhymes!"

The rest of the drive is spent with me singing "Dear Karthik, you're an asshole, get me something to eat,
Oh dear Karthik, you have broccoli stuck between your teeth!" in different tunes, while he ignores me, and tries to remove the broccoli with his tongue.

Once we have food inside our systems, Karthik looks at me expectantly, tapping his fingers.

I then plunge into my story.
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Hey guys! How did you find the first chapter? I know I said I wouldn't update till all the other stories were over, but I just couldn't resist! *guilty*

To those of you who don't know, here's the star cast:
Deepika Padukone as Aarohi
Ranveer Singh as Karthik
Ranbir Kapoor as Mayur