KHUSHI

Strange. Everything had become so strange suddenly.

At one point, nothing about Arnav really affected me, I was never bothered if he talked to any girls or not, for me he was just a friend and that was it, but since I met him again, I had been feeling really strange things towards him.

Right now I even felt jealous because he said that other girl was pretty, as a matter of fact she was, but that shouldn't bother me right? The only problem was that it was actually bothering me.

"You okay?" Arnav looked at me curiously, was my jealousy noticeable?

"Yeah, perfectly fine." I smiled.

Why was I jealous? Why Khushi Why? After all the promises I made to myself in the past, I shouldn't be letting myself feel this way.

I kept on staring at him, he was the same old Arnav, the one that would keep calling me Bindiya, the same Arnav that I was in college with, he might have grown up a bit and changed a bit but it was still him, then why did everything about him right now feel so different?

"Why are you staring at me?" Arnav smirked.

"You just seem different that when you were in college." I smiled nervously, great, now I was also nervous in front of him.

"How different?"

"I don't know... a bit more mature, more responsible... like you are the same person yet somehow different." I giggled.

"Well college was college, we are supposed to be irresponsible and immature, I mean that the whole fun of it, who takes college seriously? You are supposed to have all the fun you can because once you get out, life isn't as fun."

"So you agree?"

"Of course, Khushi, I am a working man, I've got a career, I've got serious stuff to deal with now, we all grow up with time, but it doesn't mean I am not immature, that part of me is just hidden somewhere and comes out when I'm with my friends."

"I see."

"You look like you matured at a very young age." He looked at me like he could see through my mind and see all that I had been through that forced me into maturity.

"Life isn't the same for all of us you know." I said, he looked at me blankly, maybe he dint know what more to say to me.

Our food was brought to us so we started eating silently, it was like one moment we had a lot to talk about then we had nothing at all, so we just sat there and ate silently.

"I'm heading back to the office, incase you are too, you can come along." Arnav said after we were done eating.

"Sure." I smiled faintly.

"It's nice that we aren't strangers anymore." He smiled as he stood up and started walking so I followed him.

"Yeah, I'm glad we solved the issues between us."

"They were my issues, I was just being immature, like when I was in college." He said. We walked into the parking lot as he unlocked his car and we both got in.

"How did you come here?" he asked as he started the car.

"I took a taxi." I replied.

"Oh okay. Next time if you want to go out to eat you can ask me to accompany you, most of the times, I'm just eating alone, it would be nice to have company sometime." He said.

"Just like how we used to eat together in college." I smiled as all those memories flashed in my mind, they were some great times, and I am not sure whether I would have had so much fun in college if I hadn't met him.

I mostly liked to keep to myself and rarely made friends, so it was good that I met him and through him, Manav and Ansh.

*****

We arrived at the office so he headed to his cabin and I headed to my desk to sit beside Aman, who kept on staring at me suspiciously.

"Just say whatever you have to." I rolled my eyes at him.

"Did you come with Arnav? If you did that means you met somewhere? Did you guys go on a lunch date or something?"

"No! we just happened to be in the same restaurant and he offered to drive me back, stop being such a spy." I laughed.

"Good, because he's taken."

"By who?" I looked at him curiously, wasn't he still single?

"By my sister duh. They went on a date remember? And my sister hasn't said anything yet but she seems so happy I'm sure things have progressed between them." Aman said excitedly.

"Oh... she was at the restaurant to, but they both talked so casually with each other."

"Of course, they would act normal because you were there and maybe it's the beginning so they don't want it all out there. Anyway, I'm just happy for the both of them." Aman smiled.

I nodded as I turned on my laptop and started to work, but whatever Aman had said was kind of bothering me. Were Arnav and Ayesha already in a relationship? Even if they were, it shouldn't bother me, he had loved me for so long, so why was it bothering me when he was finally moving on.

I wanted him to be happy and to actually move on and now that he was, I wasn't happy about it. Seriously, what the hell was wrong with me?

I remember these feelings, I remember having them before and that relationship did not turn out well and I had promised myself to be careful, and now here I was, feeling the same kind of feelings for Arnav.

Honestly speaking, I was mad at myself, why did I never feel that way in college? When he was madly in love with me? Now that he was moving on was when I had to feel?

I was even going to look stupid if I told him anything regarding this, maybe I should let it be, it was just a little bit of jealousy and maybe it was because Arnav had always hanged out with me, never with another girl so now seeing him with another girl was just making me jealous.

It dint have to mean a thing, it dint have to mean that I was developing feelings for him or anything like that because I wasn't.

I tried to brush off the thoughts and concentrate on my work instead of Arnav and his relationship with Ayesha.

*****

As soon as the clock hit five, I grabbed my stuff and headed to used the washroom before I left, I dint want to come face to face with Arnav today, I just had too much going on and I was scared seeing him might just make things worse for me.

Once I was done, I headed to the basement where I had parked my scooter, I sat on it and started it but it chose today out of all the other days to decide that it dint want to start.

Well, it was quite old plus Piya and I used it so much, of course it was time to buy a new one, I was just hoping that I would wait for sometime and just buy a car, that's why I even took taxi's most of the time hoping it was going to last a bit longer if I used it less.

I heard someone's car being unlocked so I turned to see who it was, and as expected it was Arnav. I mean out of all the people that worked in this building, why did it have to be him?

"Everything okay?" He asked as soon as he noticed me, he walked towards me and stopped besides me.

"Yeah, this thing needs a push sometimes." I said as I tried to start it once again. What scooter, are you trying to play cupid here? For your kind information, he's already with Ayesha, so stop messing with me.

"Come on, I'll drop you home." He said.

"No, it's fine I'll manage, I'll take a taxi or something. Or just call a mechanic, I'll need something to come to work with tomorrow morning anyway."

"Then I will pick you up too."

"No, you don't have to. I'm fine."

"Bindiya, stop being so stubborn and let me help you, it's not a big deal. Come on now." He said as he grabbed my hand and actually pulled me with him.

I hated myself and I hated all these stupid feelings I was getting, now I suddenly even had goosebumps because he was holding my hand, he had touched me so many times in the past before, and I had never had any goosebumps.

Seriously why was I starting to fall for him now? Now when he had moved on? I had rejected him, I was the one that didn't want anything with him and he has respected than and now out of nowhere I had all these crazy feelings.

Maybe I needed to visit a doctor.

"Stop being so awkward with me, we used to be friends." Arnav said as we settled down.

"I know, but now you're my boss."

"At work, outside of work we can still be friends, that's it if you don't mind." He smiled at me, well let's see, did I mind?

Of course, I did, because I was suddenly feeling all these things towards him when it was too late, when he had already moved on.

It was like a cycle, he fell in love with me and I rejected him and now I was falling for him and I knew if I told him, I was getting rejected. Why did this relation have to be so damn complicated? Like it had been two or three days and I was already falling for him? Why couldn't I fall for him, back in college, I wouldn't have been in this mess if that had happened then.