As days passed by, I tried my best to avoid Khushi, I would no more wait for her in the parking lot, and anytime she came in front of me, I would smile greet her and tease her a bit by calling her Bindiya so she wouldn't suspect that my behavior towards her had changed all over a sudden.

It had been two months now, everything was actually going on quite well, she would sit with us sometimes in the canteen at lunch time but she would mostly have any sort of conversation with Ansh and Manav only, I rarely spoke to her.

If there was anything that I learnt in these two months was that, my feelings towards her, were real. It wasn't an infatuation or a stupid crush, I mean at this age everyone had had more then two crushes and so did I, but I never really acted upon it, I hadn't really dated any girl so far, maybe just talked to them or so...

With Khushi, everything was changing, I dint want to just talk to her, I wanted to get to know her, what she liked, what she disliked, what made her happy, what made her sad, what her goals in life were and so much more.

I had taken Anjali's advice and I had given it time too but despite it all, the feelings wouldn't go away, I mean even though I was avoiding her, every time I saw her anywhere, my heart would literally skip a beat. I just felt different.

I had gone back to my routine of arriving to college after Ansh and Manav did, I mean I used to come early only to see her but that's what I was avoiding now.

I parked my bike in the usual spot and headed towards Manav and Ansh who had been waiting for me for a while now, they had called me three times, once while I was still asleep and then once while I was having breakfast and once when I was on the way, they were surely going to kill me today.

"Do you have a PHD in waking up late or are you trying to create a world record by arriving to college late everyday?" Manav punched me on the arm.

"Dude! That hurt!" I looked at him angrily.

"We have been waiting for you for over half an hour now you idiot." Ansh said.

"Relax guys, I'm finally here." I said.

"And we had finally thought that Arnav Raizada had started becoming responsible." Manav said.

"Hey, these are college days, let me enjoy them. I will be responsible once I start working." I rolled my eyes at him.

"Now I'm already late for my class, I'll see you at lunch time in the canteen, bye." Manav said as he rushed to attend his classes while Ansh and I walked to our class.

"I liked the times you liked Bindiya and would come to college early to see her." Ansh said.

"And who said I still don't like her? I am just avoiding liking her." I shrugged and just then I saw her walk out of her class as she walked towards our direction.

Seriously, so much of avoiding her already.

"Hey you two." She smiled at us. Today she was dressed in combinations on baby pink and black, her hair was perfectly straight and hanging till waist, her lips just as glossy as always. Why was she so pretty though?

"Hi." Ansh and I both replied together.

"I haven't seen you for like a week, are you bunking classes or what?" She looked towards me, oh... so she was noticing.

"Not really, just busy reading in fact." I replied.

"Really? You have exams?"

"Not soon, we've got like six months left to finish, have to get serious right?"

"Good to know you are serious about studies. Anyway, I need to rush to the washroom before my lecturer arrives, I'll see you two later, I hope you're going to have lunch at the canteen today."

"Sure Bindiya, if you want us to." I smirked.

"Are you ever going to stop calling me that?" She rolled her eyes.

"Never Bindiya." I laughed, she just shrugged and walked away as Ansh and I headed inside our class, but now that I had seen her, she wouldn't get out of my head.

I mean the entire time, all I kept thinking about was her, I dint even concentrate in class, and if this kept on happening, I was going to fail and that was the last thing I wanted.

I always bunked classes and everything but that was because I had never really failed, I managed to pass all my classes, but since Khushi came, I hadn't been able to concentrate much. I really dint know what to do anymore or how to get her out of my head.

*****

"I'm going to the washroom, I'll meet in you in the canteen." I said to Ansh who nodded and headed towards the canteen while I headed towards the washroom.

When I reached there, I found Khushi seated on the bench a bit further from the washrooms, she was staring at the floor and she kind of looked sad, I wondered what was it that made her sad.

"You okay Bindiya?" I asked as I stopped in front of her, she looked up at me and then quickly wiped of the tears from her face as she nodded positively.

"You were crying, you clearly aren't okay." I said.

"Leave me alone please Arnav." She said angrily. Earlier when I met her, she was all normal and okay, then what happened to make her sad already? Did someone do or say something to her?

"I can't. Please tell me what happened, maybe I can help, and if I can't, I can at least try to make you feel better." I sat down beside her and looked at her curiously.

"Why do you want to know? So you can judge me like everyone else or tell me what I am supposed to do and all that crap?" She looked at me like I was the one that had done something to hurt her.

"I am just trying to be a friend here." I said.

"I don't want any friends, just leave me alone please. I need to be alone, I can deal with my problems on my own." She said as she looked away from me.

This girl was so freaking stubborn, If I could, I would actually leave, but I couldn't, because I cared for her, I just wanted for her to be okay.

"Okay fine, you don't want to tell me what the problem is, don't. At least let me be here for you, just to make you feel okay. I promise I won't ask any questions." I said.

She turned to look at me and started at me for a moment without saying anything, I dint know if she still wanted me to leave or stay?

"Can I hug you Arnav?" She asked.

I looked at her with my eyes wide open, I couldn't believe that she asked me if she could hug me? Of course, she could, was that even something to ask?

"Sure." I nodded immediately, she moved closer to me, held my arm and leaned towards me resting her head on my shoulder. The amount of feelings I had rushing through me were even hard to describe, I felt all sorts of butterflies in my stomach as soon as she touched me. She sat like that silent for a long time, she dint speak and like I promised I dint ask her question but I couldn't stop wondering what had made her so sad.

We must have been sitting there for like fifteen minutes when she finally stood up, she wiped off all the tears the grabbed her bag and pulled out some makeup with which she did something on her face and went back to looking all normal again, you wouldn't even know she was crying.

"Thank you Arnav, sometimes I really need a friend who would just be there for me, today you were there for me, I appreciate it." She smiled.

"Are you okay Khushi?" I looked at her worriedly, how did she do that? Act like she hadn't been crying a while ago.

"I must have scared you pretty bad, you're calling me Khushi instead of Bindiya." She laughed.

"I was just worried about you."

"I get it, anyway forget this ever happened... let's go eat lunch. I'm so hungry." She pouted as she grabbed my hand and pulled me along to the canteen, of course I was worried for her and I couldn't stop thinking what it was that made her cry here in college, people would usually cry inside their rooms locked up, if she was here crying like this, it had to be something serious. But right now I wasn't concentrating on that, I was concentrating on how she was holding my hand, it felt heavenly.