Aarohi's POV:

Four days earlier

"Wohoooo! This is so awesome!" Tisca shouts.

"Who's Tisca?" Karthik asks.

"Mayur's best friend", I say. "We went to her house the next morning, and she with a bunch of guys, and me and Mayur travelled in an open jeep to Goa."

"A bunch of guys?" Karthik's eyes widen. "How much is a bunch?"

"Four guys", I say, rolling my eyes. "Now don't interrupt me."

"One more question", Karthik says quickly.

"What?" I snap.

"Is Tisca hot?"

I grit my teeth. "Anyway..."

"Oh yeaaah!" Mayur shouts, putting an arm around Tisca.

Mayur, Tisca, me and two more guys named Vivek and Saurabh are standing at the back of the jeep. I am holding on to the railing for dear life because the guy who is driving, Aniket is reckless as hell. Beside him, another guy named Mihir is the navigator and the Deejay. We have been on the road for almost two hours now and my head has started to hurt. Everybody is yelling enthusiastically and drinking. I mean, everybody at the back, except me, is drinking. I already refused to drink four times.

I feel an arm around my shoulder. I look up to see Saurabh grinning at me. I shrug his arm off of mine. I look at Mayur to see him engrossed in an intimate conversation with Tisca. I don't like this at all. Shouldn't he be focused on me and tell Saurabh off?

Thankfully, dad has taught me self-defense, so I can definitely take care of myself if it comes to a hand-to-hand fight. Being an introvert, it is highly difficult for me to get comfortable with these people. Especially since I can see how out of place I am.

"What?" I snap at Saurabh who sways way closer to me, smelling of alcohol.

"You look hot", he winks.

I turn away and ignore him. Keep calm Aarohi. Keep calm. Don't headbutt him.

"Why don't you and I have a good time in Goa?" Saurabh suggests, his hand now on my back.

I hold his hand firmly to stop it from traveling any further south. Pervert asshole.

"I have a boyfriend", I say, gritting my teeth.

"Oh c'mon", Saurabh says. "Everybody knows that Mayur has the hots for Tisca since ages. They've been on and off continuously. I don't know why he brought you here. He probably thought you were an easy lay or something."

"Shut the fuck up", I shoot daggers at him.

It can't be true, can it? I glance at Mayur and see him whispering something in Tisca's ear, his arm around her waist.

My eyes water slowly. Out of hurt, out of betrayal and out of anger.

Why does this always happen to me?

I leave Saurabh's hand unconsciously and he takes the chance to place it on my butt.

"He did WHAT?" Karthik shouts and everybody around us starts staring at us.

Shit. I probably should have left that part out.

"He did nothing", I dismiss the matter with a casual wave of my hand.

"I'm going to kill him-" Karthik begins.

I glare at him. Who does he think he is? He's suddenly acting like my Knight in Shining Armour when he hurt me worse than all the others.

"Karthik drop it", I clench my jaw.

"Rip him apart limb from limb-"

"Seriously, let it go."

"Tear his Goddamn fucking balls apart and feed them to-"

"It's none of your business!" I say loudly and Karthik looks at me stunned. His eyebrows are furrowed and a dark expression has settled on his face.

He studies me for a minute, his expression going darker by the second- and I gulp. It's a little unnerving.

I suddenly remember tenth grade. Karthik had the same expression on his face when he had found out that the school bully- Gaurav- had dared the nerdy guy with braces and breath issues- Kaushal- to ask me out, and then Gaurav had proceeded to insult me in front of the entire school. Karthik's expression was frightening back then. He had beaten up Gaurav and his friends single-handedly outside the school grounds, ending up with a black eye, split lips and a torn shirt himself. I was utterly terrified to see his state. He had shown up at my place along with his then best friends- Mehul and Kaushik, all bruised and battered, and I had dressed his wounds while cursing him for being so stupid. Kaushik and Mehul had to step in to stop him from landing Gaurav and his cronies in the hospital.

"Continue the story", Karthik says coldly and I avoid his eyes and continue.

"Get your hand off me!" I almost yell and push Saurabh away from me.

The next second, Saurabh is pulled back and Vivek is in his place. Vivek eyes Saurabh with distaste.

"Sorry about him, he's a fucker", Vivek tells me and asks Saurabh to stay away from me.

"Yo Tisca", Vivek calls her. "Ask your brother to stop feeling Mayur's girlfriend up, man. Why did you invite the fucker anyway?"

"He invited himself", Tisca shrugs and Mayur finally turns to look at me.

He frowns. "Saurabh did what?"

Saurabh raises his hands. "Hey, not my fault! I thought she was available!"

"She's my fucking girlfriend, you asshole!" Mayur yells at him, and steps forward to grab Saurabh's shirt.

Tisca keeps a hand on Mayur's chest and pulls him back. "Don't fight now, Mayur. He's my brother. He said it was a mistake, right? Plus, Arnavi is fine now. Let it go."

I clench my fists is frustration. Bitch. She didn't even get my name right.

Mayur nods after a minute and then gives me somewhat of a reassuring smile and turns his attention back to Tisca.

"What?" Karthik exclaims. "That asshole didn't even bother to ask you if you were okay?"

I simply shrug.

"You have the worst taste in men", Karthik says and I turn red with embarrassment.

See, when I mentioned Gaurav, I forgot to mention one thing. I used to like Gaurav in school. Since the fifth grade. I was deeply infatuated. Karthik knew about it ofcourse, but he always said that Gaurav was a jackass.

The thing is, I had finally gathered the pluck to confess to Gaurav. Karthik had tried to dissuade me from doing it, but I didn't want to be a wuss anymore. I had confessed to Gaurav about my feelings, and Gaurav had just given me a weird look and ignored me. Needless to say, it hurt. And then he had dared Kaushal to ask me out. That had just added more salt to the wound.

Turns out, he was a jackass after all. Karthik was right.

"Anyway, carry on", Karthik says.

"Hi, Aarohi, right?" Vivek asks politely. I nod. He isn't as hammered as the rest of them. "I'm Vivek. I'm sorry about Tisca, Mayur and Saurabh's behaviour. We never involve Saurabh in any of our plans; the guy is a creep. And Tisca, and Mayur.. Well.." He hesitates, not knowing what to say.

I merely smile and sit down. My legs are starting to hurt. Vivek sits next to me. He drinks from his beer can and offers me a sip but I refuse.

"So, why are you here?" Vivek asks me.

"What do you mean?" I say.

"Clearly, you aren't having fun. You are uncomfortable as fuck. Other than the fact that you are Mayur's supposed girlfriend, why are you on this trip?"

I can't believe how blunt he is. "Mayur and I wanted a fresh start to our relationship, so he suggested we go to Goa."

"And the fresh start is flirting with his ex-girlfriend in front of his current one? Man, that's a mindblowing technique."

Both of us chuckle. Me, half-heartedly. It hurts badly. Mayur's sudden change in behaviour is unexpected. Something tells me the rest of the trip is going to be a disaster as well.

"Why are you guys going to Goa?" I ask Vivek.

He smiles. "I'm meeting my girlfriend there. Aniket and Mihir have taken time off from their business. We aren't really as bad as you think. Tisca is Aniket's good friend. He happened to mention the plan to her and she invited herself, along with Saurabh and Mayur. Neither Mihir, nor I approve of Tisca or Mayur or Saurabh, by the way", he adds in a low voice.

"Can't imagine why", I say bitterly, watching Mayur's hand on Tisca's exposed leg.

Vivek sees what I am watching and he wrinkles his nose in disgust. "Gross."

"Look, I assure you, as long as you are with me, Aniket and Mihir, you'll have a good time", Vivek smiles kindly.

"Yo Vivek man, can you take my place?" Mayur calls. "I need to talk to my girlfriend."

I look at him in surprise and Vivek nods, shooting me a sympathetic smile.

"Soooo, Vivek", Tisca drawls flirtatiously. "How's the girlfriend? Broken up with her yet?"

Vivek simply ignores her and I suppress a smile.

Mayur sits beside me, an arm around my shoulder.

I look away from him, angrily. I mean, can you blame me?

"Hey there beautiful", he drawls in my ear. Eurgh. Even he smells of alcohol.

I ignore him again, determined not to talk to him.

"C'mon Aarohi, don't be childish", Mayur tugs my arm. "I'm sorry I wasn't talking to you babe. I met Tisca after ages and I was just excited to spend time with her."

"I'm not mad", I say calmly, and look at him. "I mean you were cosying up with your ex-girlfriend. Why would I be mad about that?"

Mayur groans. "Ex, babe. The keyword being ex. There is nothing between the two of us now. I swear. We are just best friends."

"I beg to differ. Your ex can never be your best friend."

"How would you know?" He glares at me. "I'm the only boyfriend you've ever had."

His sharp tone hurts me. I don't bother replying and he groans again and says, "Alright, babe, sorry!" He keeps his head on my shoulder. "Please just talk to me, okay?"

He then kisses my neck.

"I don't need to hear your PDA details", Karthik snaps. "Just focus on the main parts, please."

I roll my eyes. "There was no detail to give. He just kissed my neck. That's it."

"Well, refrain from telling me such things in the future", he says.

I smirk. "Why? Are you jealous?"

He rolls his eyes and snorts. "Yeah, you wish."

I grin at him. "Kudos on your new girlfriend by the way."

Karthik looks at me, perplexed. "What new girlfriend?"

"Raveena", I say. "She told me you guys were dating."

He widens his eyes. "Is she delusional? We went on one date! That's it! And it was pathetic!"

I laugh. That's typical Raveena. "You went on a date with Raveena out of all the people?" I shake my head in disappointment.

He smirks. "Why? Are you jealous?"

"Yeah, you wish."

"Bet you wish I was the one who kissed your neck."

I roll my eyes but turn slightly red at the idea.

"Puhlease", I say. "Mayur was a lousy boyfriend, but he was good."

"Yeah, right", Karthik scoffs.

Alright, I lied. When Mayur kissed my neck, it felt weird. It didn't feel right. At all. And that was when I started contemplating breaking up with him. My instinct was literally screaming at me.

But I wasn't going to tell Karthik that and give him the satisfaction of being right.

"If you are done with your nonsense, should I continue?" I ask.

Karthik smirks and nods. "Just spare me the intimate details. I might barf."

I roll my eyes at his immature behaviour.

"For the record, I am better than that Mayur."

The rest of the drive was spent with me trying to blend in, Mayur trying to pacify me, Mihir, Aniket and Vivek taking turns in driving, and Tisca flirting with Mihir, Aniket and Vivek turn-by-turn. Vivek wasn't drunk so he could drive well. When none of the boys paid her any attention, Tisca whined and finally turned to Mayur, slightly peeved to see him wrapped tightly around me. I had smirked at her.

I yawn widely, and Mayur looks at me.

"Are you tired?" Mayur asks. I nod.

"I think I'll sleep for a while", I say. He kisses my forehead, and I smile half-heartedly. Something definitely feels off.

"What did I just say?" Karthik grumbles.

"Grow up, you baby", I glare at him. "It was just a kiss on the forehead."

Karthik then grins. "Something felt off, huh? I told you I was better than Mayur!"

"How would I know? I have only kissed Mayur!"

Karthik leans forward, across the small table, and his breath is fanning on my face. He looks deeply into my eyes, and something feels weird.

Good weird.

I gulp at the proximity but don't back down.

"Give me a chance", says Karthik. "Give me a chance and I will show you that I am better- much, much better than that tool."

He then does something unexpected. He kisses my forehead, his lips lingering on my skin, burning it. I close my eyes at the sudden rush of emotions.

"There", he draws back and grins triumphantly. "Better than that asshole, yeah?"

I recover from my shock and snort. "You wish, pighead." But it was true.

"Oh, I do."

I look at him, shocked. What has gotten into him?!

He then starts laughing out loud.

Asshole.

"Your expression was fucking priceless, Lizzie", Karthik teases me and I glare at him again, my heart beating rapidly.

Lizzie.

Lizzie.

Oh how I've missed that endearment.

He has no right to call me that anymore, but I don't say anything. Partly because I like it when he calls me that. It feels right.

What has gotten into me?!

Karthik grins at me. "Continue, please."

"Alright, go to sleep", Mayur says, and I rest my head on his arm, tired of the journey. I go through my phone before closing my eyes. I had kept it off vibration.

7 missed calls from Hanshu.

10 missed calls from Aish.

8 missed calls from Roshni.

40 missed calls from mom.

45 missed calls from dad.

5 missed calls from Riddhi maasi.

6 missed calls from Lipi chachi.

10 missed calls from Vikram chachu.

5 missed calls from Kiara chachi.

9 missed calls from Naani.

7 missed calls from Saloni di.

2 missed calls from Meera di.

2 missed calls from Aziza di.

7 missed calls from Daadi.

1 missed call from Raunak.

And 50 missed calls from an unknown number.

Wow. With my phone going off constantly, it's a wonder the battery didn't die. It does look like it's about to die anyway.

Looks like the entire family knows that I have run away from home. The Royals especially must be going crazy.

I think of Naanu and Daadu. Fuck. I hope my behaviour doesn't affect their health.

What have I done?!

I have 120 unread messages. I open the inbox and see messages from everybody I've ever known.

I open Hanshu's message: Girl, your parents are going bat shit crazy. We had to tell them that you are in Goa. I'm so sorry.

I sigh. I knew this would happen. I had told my friends about my plan and they had tried to discourage me, but I wanted to do something crazy for once in my life. And I was majorly pissed off at my parents.

I quickly reply to Hanshu's text: Hey, it's alright. Just tell my parents that I'm fine and I need some time off and I will come home in a few days. Battery about to die. Gtg.

I notice that there are 20 messages from the same unknown number that had called me 50 times. But before I can open the message, my phone switches off. I keep it in my pocket and go to sleep on Mayur's arm.

"It was you", I tell Karthik. I had gotten a call from the same number today, and that's when I came to know that it was Karthik.

"Step back, we have a genius", he mutters sarcastically.

I look at him carefully. "Why did you call me so many times? And you left me about twenty messages."

He doesn't quite meet my eye. "I figured that you would pick up the phone if an unknown number called you."

I raise my eyebrow. "Sure." I don't believe him.

He looks at me and groans. "Fine. Fine! I was worried, okay? Your parents called mine frantically and I was seriously worried about you!"

I look at him incredulously. "Why were you worried about me? I mean, we haven't spoken to each other in ages. And I made it pretty clear that I wanted nothing to do with you."

"I never stopped caring about you Aarohi", Karthik says, his expression sincere. "Never."

My breath hitches and I look at him, like I've never looked at him before. He's changed.

"Umm..." Karthik trails off awkwardly. "So what happened next?"

I shrug. "Nothing much happened that day. I slept throughout the rest of the journey, and we reached a resort called Renaissance. It was actually beautiful. We were all very tired so we ate dinner and went straight to bed. The real drama began the next day."

"You and that prick shared the same room?" Karthik asks, with forced calmness, ignoring the real drama sentence.

"Yeah..." I say. "But separate beds though. I mean, I wouldn't sleep next to him. Yeah, so separate beds. Totally. Yeah."

What the hell am I saying?! And since when did I feel the need to justify anything to Karthik anyway? So what if he got the wrong idea? Who cares?

"That's..er...good", says Karthik. "Yeah. Good. Excuse me, I just have to make a call."

And without a word he gets up, and walks away, out of the restaurant, and out of my sight.

That was weird.

This whole journey is weird, I think furiously. Why does Karthik care? Why should he? Shouldn't he be hating me? And why do I care that he cares?

I groan internally. Sure, I miss him. He was my best friend. I miss him a lot. I have never stopped missing him, actually. His goofiness, his kindness, his caring attitude, the fun we had together- I miss all of it. Many a times I had the urge to just talk to him in college. Like old times. To just forget whatever had happened. To be with him.

But then something always reminded me that he betrayed me.

For example, that day, when Raveena told me that she was dating Karthik. I wasn't furious at Raveena. I was furious at Karthik for betraying me again. For choosing someone who had bullied me continuously. For hurting me again.

But then, today, after finding out that he wasn't actually dating Raveena, I was glad. Secretly, very glad, that his date with Raveena was pathetic.

I don't know if I'm glad that his date was lousy, or that he didn't like Raveena.

What I do know, is that I miss him.

So I whip my phone out and open the messages that I had ignored.

All from the same unknown number.

Where are you? This is Karthik. In case you don't remember, Karthik Pratap. Your parents are worried. Please call them.

Aarohi, please pick up the phone. Where are you?

Where are you dammit? Your parents are very worried.

Pick up, pick up the Goddamn phone!

Aarohi? You there? Call me back when you get this message.

Hey, just do me a favour, and call your parents.

Call your parents.

Pick up the fucking phone!

Dammit Aarohi, where the fuck are you? Everyone is so worried!

You are in Goa? What the fuck are you doing there?

Pick up your Goddamn phone. What are you doing in Goa with that shitprick Aarohi?

Just so you know, your parents are going to kill your boyfriend. Just saying.

How many times do I have to call you? How irresponsible are you? Everybody's so worried here!

Did you know your Royal family almost called the Goa police?

Aarohi, please pick up the phone. Please call your parents.

Please just pick up. Okay? Please just pick up the phone.

Fine, don't pick up my call, but talk to your parents atleast. Atleast your friends. Somebody.

Where are you? Are you okay?

Just text your parents and tell them that you are okay.

Aarohi, pick up the phone. I'm worried. I'm really worried. Please call me back. I miss you so much, Lizzie. I'm sorry. Please call me back. Please pick up the phone. I'm so sorry.

And one from yesterday which I hadn't seen:

I'm coming to get you.