(Unedited Chapter)

Aarohi's POV:

Two years later

"Ouch!" I growl under my breath and turn around.

"Damian, you're so dead!!" I grab a fist of snow and make a ball of it, and quickly throw it on my friend's face.

He ducks down, and sticks his tongue out. "Sucker!"

"You're going down, you asshole!" I make a run towards him and slip and fall down on my ass.

Damian starts laughing really hard, but helps me get up.

Too bad for him.

I pull him down and he falls face first into the snow and now I laugh really hard. Because I'm mean like that.

His face appears from the snow, his beard all white, and he starts laughing along with me.

"You need to learn to loosen up, Ro-Ro", he grins widely, his eyes twinkling.

He looks really cute when he smiles. His eyes are a shocking blue, and his hair is light brown.

"Guys", Steph sticks her head out through the glass door. "Come on in, already. It's freezing, and everybody's hungry."

"Babe", Damian calls. "You know I won't come unless you come and get me."

Steph rolls her eyes at her boyfriend's childishness and I grin widely at her, getting up myself.

"Keep it PG-13 guys", I holler, as I make my way back inside.

The house we are currently staying in, belongs to Steph's father- it's a vacation home, and all of us decided to spend Christmas here, this year.

"Who put my bra on the Christmas tree?" Anna yells, as she scrutinises the tree and tries to take it down, by jumping on the spot.

I shake my head, restraining a smile. "Want me to help, Anna?"

Anna glares at me. "Just because I'm short, that does not mean, I require help-"

"Hey Chris!" I shout. "Did you put your girlfriend's bra on the Christmas tree?"

Chris smirks. "No, but I quite like the idea."

"Help her, you douchebag", I walk towards him, and hit his head.

"Ouch, woman", he mutters, but gets up from the couch to help Anna, anyway.

I knew Anna would never accept help from anybody except Chris.

I fling myself on the couch, and put my head on the arm rest, and close my eyes. I open them the minute I feel cool fingers on my forehead, massaging it.

"Jeez, Raghav", I sit up, putting a hand on my chest. "You scared the crap out of me."

He smiles and sits next to me on the couch, as I shift uncomfortably. "I thought you needed a massage."

He shifts slightly closer towards me, and I get up.

"I have to go to the washroom", I announce, but Raghav grabs my hand and pulls me down, and now I'm practically sitting on his lap.

"Come on, babe", he urges. "It's Christmas."

"Christmas is tomorrow", I tell him flatly.

"Come on", his hand now starts trailing my arm, and I struggle to get out of his grasp, but I can't. He's big and strong. "You know I find you beautiful and so damn hot. Just one night. I promise you, it will be the best night of your life."

Hi hand now starts trailing my thigh, but before I can say anything, a voice thunders.

"Let go of her, NOW!"

I look up and sigh in relief as I feel Raghav's grip loosening on me. I immediately get up and hug him. Dean.

"Who invited this fucker?" Dean asks loudly as Chris and Anna avoid looking at him. He glares at Raghav. "If I see you anywhere near her, I swear to God I will kill you. She's not one of your whores, you motherfucker."

Raghav looks petrified. And he should be. Dean looks threatening, and not to mention he's bigger than Raghav, having worked out a lot.

Raghav disappears inside the kitchen, and I sigh and hug Dean. "Thank you", I whisper.

"Anything for my little sister", he whispers back and kisses my hair. "You come straight to me if he troubles you again, alright?"

I grin at him. "Yes sir."

Emma appears from the bedroom, and smiles at Dean, but then frowns after seeing his expression and mine.

"Is it that asshole Raghav again?" She simply asks, and Dean pulls her by her waist.

"You okay, sweetheart?" Emma asks me, and I smile and nod my head, at the same time that Dean says, "No, I'm not."

"Talking to Ro", Emma rolls her eyes as Dean quickly pecks her lips.

I laugh.

"I got a pocket, got a pocket full of sunshine,
I got a love and I know that it's all mine-"

I sigh and answer my phone.

"Hey mom", I smile.

"Come on Skype", she replies, and ends the call.

I roll my eyes, switch on my laptop, and video-call them on Skype.
I see dad and mum looking at me and smiling widely.

"Merry Christmas!" Both of them yell, and I laugh.

"It's tomorrow, guys!" I answer, and mom looks at dad and hits his shoulder.

"I told you it was tomorrow!" She tells him but he simply grins.

"How are you, darling?" Dad asks.

"Hey Mr. and Mrs. R!" Emma waves from behind me. "How are you?"

"Hey..." Dad trails off and looks at mom who slaps her forehead.

"Hey Emma", she smiles widely. "We're good. How are you all?"

"Pretty well", she smiles.

"Is that Dean?" Mom points behind me. "Dean, come on out, you can't hide behind Aarohi."

"Hey Mrs. R", Dean waves sheepishly.

Mom laughs. "Dean, relax. I'm not mad at you at all. I never was."

"But I broke an expensive vase-" Dean begins.

Mom cuts his off. "Dean, mistakes are a part of being human. You seriously need to chill."

Dean smiles, and my parents smile back.

"Hey, it's Mr. and Mrs. R!" Damian calls out and soon Damian, Steph, Anna and Chris almost ram into my back as they wave at my parents.

"There's the rest of the gang!" Dad says and waves at everybody, but then his eyes shift to someone else. "And there's someone I don't know."

All of us turn around to look at Raghav, who is wearing nothing but shorts. I groan internally.

"Mom, dad, that's Raghav", I introduce him to my parents. "He's in our group project. He needed a place to stay for the holidays so I invited him over."

Raghav's roommates were having their respective girlfriends over for the holidays, and I had invited him weeks ago. Before I found out that he was a big pervert, at the last party. He had tried to kiss me but both Dean and Damian had punched him. Yet he had the balls to tag along over here.

I guess he is really desperate to get lucky.

"Hello Raghav", mom smiles at him, politely. Raghav smiles and says, "Hello, Mrs. R."

Dad disappears from the screen and appears a minute later with a gun in his hand.

"Oh my God, dad!" I exclaim loudly, and mom looks supremely shocked. "What the hell are you doing?"

"You touch, make advances, or try to date my daughter in any way, and I put this straight through your head. Am I clear?" Dad asks, menacingly.

"Dad, put the gun away, for heaven's sake!" I almost yell.

Dad looks at me and rolls his eyes. "Relax Ro, it's not loaded."

He then looks at Raghav, who looks clobbered.

"Am I clear?" Dad repeats.

"Ye-yes sir", Raghav stutters.

"Good", dad says and puts the gun away. "Merry Christmas to you."

Raghav just runs inside and everybody bursts into laughter.

"You're awesome, Mr. R", Chris laughs.

"Oh yeah!" Anna agrees.

"Why won't you guys be coming here this Christmas too, Mr. and Mrs. R?" Steph asks.

"It's their anniversary on the 27th", I tell them. "They're traveling to Paris."

"Wow!" Emma exclaims. "That's so cool!"

"Well, we gotta go now", mom says. "You kids have fun. We'll talk again tomorrow."

"Bye", dad smiles.

"Bye guys", I smile. "Talk to you later!"

Before I can shut down the laptop, another person calls me.

I answer the phone and smile.

"Hey Pari di", I wave at her. She's wearing a crop top and shorts, and looks so amazingly sexy.

"Hey honey!" She gives me a flying kiss.

"Hey, is that your hot cousin?" Dean asks me, and Emma immediately slaps his arm.

"Let's go inside", I laugh, and take the laptop inside the bedroom. I sit on the bed and she smiles.

"How are you?" I ask her.

"Splendid", she replies, whilst playing with her engagement ring. She looks at me and her smile fades. "I'm scared, Rohi. I'm getting married in two months. Can you believe it? It's scary as hell."

"I understand, Pari di", I say. "It's natural to be scared. But trust me, there's nothing to be afraid of. You guys love each other a lot and frankly speaking, jeeju is whipped. You mean the world to him."

A smile slowly makes it's way back to her face. "Yeah", she agrees. "I could not have been more lucky. It sucks though. I wish you were here."

"I'm sorry I can't make it to the wedding", I say. "I have no option; I have my exams."

She waves her hand. "Yeah, yeah."

Then she stares at me for a minute, and bites her lip.

"How are you?" She asks.

"Good."

But my response is automatic, and she narrows her eyes.

"No. How are you? Really?" She asks and I sigh.

I close my eyes and try to get rid of Karthik's image from my mind.

"You're stupid", she glares at me.

I sigh. I've had this conversation with her a thousand times already.

"I did the practical thing", I reply.

"Yeah", she nods her head. "You practically ran away."

"What was I supposed to have done?"

"You were supposed to have told him!"

"And what? Get my heart broken?"

"What about his, Rohi? You didn't even tell him you were going to USA! You literally disappeared from his life within a week!"

"I had disappeared from his life before as well. He would have handled it. It would have hurt at first but he would have been okay."

"And what about your confession?"

I sigh, trying hard not to cry. "It was a mistake."

"You didn't even wait for him to reply."

"I know he doesn't have feelings for me! He never did! What was the point of waiting for his reply? And even if he did, hypothetically, say he loves me as well, how the hell was a long-distance relationship going to work? You know those things hardly ever last! I am in America for five years! I can't expect him to wait for me for that long!"

"He would have!" Pari di says, angrily. "The guy was miserable! You had forbidden anybody to talk about him or to him-"

"Yet you did!" I reply, heatedly.

"I had no choice!" She retorts. "He was in a pathetic condition! You weren't answering his phone calls, you weren't replying to his messages- he had no idea what he did wrong! And I couldn't tell him anything, about why you did what you did. Mainly because I think it was highly stupid and immature of you! And also because, what do you tell a guy who drunk-dials you and tells you that they really miss your sister and want to desperately talk to her?"

"Enough!" I yell, and the chattering from the living room dies down. "You think this doesn't hurt me?! God, I still love him, so damn much, every single minute of every single day. I have to force myself to not think of him, because I miss him so much, it kills me! If you think this is easy, it is not! But I did what I did for the best. And I don't want to have any more discussion over it. Bye, Pari di. I'll talk to you later."

I cut the call and slam the laptop shut. I bring my knees closer to my face, and wrap my arms around them, as I start shaking from the tears continuously flowing down my face.

I hear footsteps echoing inside the room and I feel somebody putting their arm around me and pulling me close. I simply lean into the support and cry my heart out.

"It's okay to cry, sweetheart", Emma mutters, running her hand over my hair. "You let it all out."

And I do. Soon, I feel Steph and Anna join in, and hugging me from all the sides.

"It's him, isn't it?" Anna asks.

I nod, and sob once again.

"You still love him?" Steph asks.

I nod. "So much. And I miss him. All the time. I'm so deeply in love with him that I don't think I can ever get out of it."

Emma pulls me closer and rocks me, trying to calm me down.

"I need a walk. I need to clear my head", I say, and they all nod.

I'm so grateful that I have an amazing set of wonderful, understanding friends.

I pass the boys as I walk through the living room.

"You okay, kiddo?" Dean asks.

I give him a small smile and nod. "I'll just go for a walk."

Damian looks outside. "It's already dark. Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'll just walk around the park, nearby", I assure them, and wave, as Chris looks at me, his expression one of worry.

"Seriously, guys, I'll be fine", I smile at them all, and grab my jacket as I make my way to the park.

It's cold, but bearable. The cold breeze flows through my open hair and my nose immediately starts running. I know for a fact that it's red now.

As red as my eyes.

My eyes who can't seem to get rid of Karthik's face.

My Karthik.

God, I miss him so much.

When I had decided to move to US, I had just informed Hanshu, Aish and Roshni about my impromptu decision, and I had told them everything and made them swear not to tell anything to Karthik or the rest of the guys. It was already difficult leaving Mumbai and my parents- I didn't want to make it a whole lot of difficult by bringing Karthik into the picture. Because sometimes, sacrifices need to be made.

Hanshu, Aish and Roshni had come to bid me goodbye at the airport, along with mom and dad, Pari di, Naani, Naanu, Daadi, Riddhi maasi and Yash bhaiyya. It was a tearful farewell, and had half a mind to cancel my ticket, but I had to do it. I wanted to.

The first few weeks were difficult. Especially since I had started to live independently for the first time, and my roommates weren't that great either. But I guess the main reason was Karthik. My phone buzzed a million times but I refused to answer any of his calls or messages. He even apologised for no reason and that made me feel like such a bitch, I had almost called him back a hundred times, ending the call before it could connect.

And then I met Dean. I was having lunch in the cafeteria one day, sitting all by myself, when a guy dumped spaghetti on my head for no reason.

I was highly furious, but before I could react, Dean, who was passing by, had pushed the guy in the huge waste bin. From that day on, Dean considers me to be his little sister. And for some reason, I feel like he's my elder brother. I was then introduced to his group.

Emma and Dean have been dating for five years now. Damian and Steph have been together for three years, while Anna and Chris got together just last year. It was quite the confession. Anna, was German and Chris has decided to sing a romantic song in German for her, in front of the entire cafeteria. Needless to say, Anna was floored.

I was highly thrilled when I found out that all of them were pursuing the same career as me. Dean is a year elder to me, and so is Emma, and Damian as well. Steph, Anna and Chris are the same age as me, and in my class. I had then shifted to Steph and Anna's room. Emma stayed with Dean.

Everything was going well, and people were scared of Dean, so nobody had approached me. Which was good, considering I didn't want anybody to approach me. And according to Emma, guys had asked her about me. But she had just shooed them off.

And then came Raghav. Steph, Raghav, another guy named Omar, and I- we were all alloted into one group for the semester project. Raghav was nice and everything at first, and he told me one day that he was interested in me, but I told him I wasn't. He had backed off. Until ofcourse he met me in one of the parties thrown by Tyler- the most popular guy in college, and then tried to throw himself on me.

I was highly nauseated. Because it was the exact opposite of what Karthik made me feel. With Karthik, I felt alive, and safe. With Raghav, I just felt disgusted.

My eyes close automatically as I think of Karthik. I bite my lip involuntarily as I remember our almost make-out session in the Taj. Karthik and his hot lips...

Something wet touches my knee. I open my eyes with a jerk to see a dog, wagging it's tail at me, and sniffing my knee.

I smile, and think of Lizzie, the dog Karthik had gifted me. She was still with him. I couldn't possibly bring her here.

"Hey", I coo, as I scratch the labrador behind it's ear. I look down carefully and see that it's a girl. "Hey girl", I continue petting her and she enjoys that. "What are you doing here, all by yourself? Where's your owner?"

I look at her neck to see if there's a nametag.

There is one.

I grab it and try to read the name inscribed on it.

"Lizzie!" A voice calls.

Lizzie.

Oh my God. Could it be-?

"Lizzie, where are you?" The same voice calls and a young boy, around twelve years of age comes running towards me.

"Thank God!" He mutters. He quickly ties a belt to her collar one, as my heart rate slowly goes down, in relief.

"She's a little ferocious", the boy looks at me, worriedly. "She didn't bite or bark at you, did she?"

"No, she was very friendly, actually", I smile at him.

He heaves a huge sigh of relief. "Thank God! Come on Lizzie, let's go!"

He tugs onto her belt, but she refuses to budge. He tries again, once, twice- but she stays put.

"Can I try?" I ask him and he willingly hands over the belt to me.

"Come on, Lizzie", I say, and she promptly gets up and walks with me. I smile widely at her and say, "Good girl!"

The boy looks confused. "Well, that's new."

"Dogs love me", I shrug.

"Lucky you", he says. "I spent a week trying to get her to like me."

"I bet she likes you now", I smile as we walk towards the end of the park.

"She still won't listen to me though", he sighs. "I can't blame her, actually. I hardly even know her."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, she's not my dog. I'm Aaron, by the way."

"I'm Aarohi. You can call me Ro. What do you mean she's not your dog?"

"She's my neighbour's dog. Not exactly my neighbour's. My neighbour's nephew's dog. He just shifted here from India."

I stop abruptly in my track as I stared at Aaron, my heart flying, and my hands clammy.

"What is the name of the owner of this dog?"

"Aaron! You little monster! Where had-"

The voice I haven't heard in two years stops all of a sudden and he looks shocked.

Karthik.

Oh my God, Karthik.

Karthik's here!!

Karthik takes a step forward, his expression still dazed, as he takes me in, and I take him in.

Oh my God.

He's really here.

He's not just a figment of my imagination.

He's really here and he's walking towards me.

And that's when I register what is happening.

And I turn around and make a run for it.

But I've hardly run two meters, when a hand grabs mine with force and pulls me back.

I turn around and look at Karthik, who is looking at me with a furious expression on his face.

My heart is thrumming wildly inside my chest.

"I-" I begin.

"You were going to run away again, from me?" He questions me angrily.

I gulp and I stutter, "Karthik, I-"

"Shut the fuck up. Just shut up."

I look at him, shocked. "Karthik-"

"I think I told you to shut up. You have already done enough."

"But I-"

"No! Don't talk! I went crazy for two years, Aarohi! Two Goddamn fucking years!"

"I'm sorry-"

"And I had no idea what I had done, because you being you, did not tell me!"

"I just-"

"And then I found out from Pari about what had happened exactly. And I was so mad at you."

"I-"

"I mean, this girl, this complete idiot of a girl, just leaves me, after telling me she loves me, and doesn't even wait for me to respond."

He looks straight into my eyes, and my breath hitches as I stare back into the depth of his gaze.

"I've waited ten years for you. Ten, painful, long years, for you to show me some indication that you feel the same way about me as I feel about you."

My brain goes numb, and my mouth opens of its own accord.

"I'm not going to wait any longer."

And without another word, he kisses me.