Chapter dedicated to EmilyBaxterRobertson for always being an honest reader. Thank you for your support, means a lot to me. :)

~

All I could hear on the other side of the line was silence, complete and utter silence. I waited for him to speak something as my heartbeat picked up the pace and I started freaking out.

"Baby? Please say something, is everything okay?"

What could possibly go wrong?

"Augustus Waters died." He spoke and in seconds, I was cursing him out.

"You fucking idiot, I thought something happened to you. Don't ever do that again, got it? I hate you, asshole."

"This is serious business Tanvi, he died." He sounded so upset but I couldn't help but laugh at his misery.

"Are you even serious right now, Rayhan?" I laughed before continuing, "You've been reading that book since forever, I thought you finished reading it long ago."

"No, I was procrastinating reading it. Earlier, I hardly read fifty pages but tonight I knew you wouldn't be able to talk since you weren't feeling well so I decided to read it. It was my first novel ever, and it ended up on such a note. I don't know what to do with my life anymore." He whined like a baby and I giggled.

"Baby, it's okay. It's just a novel, you should watch the movie as well, it's great but remember it's fictional, don't fret yourself over it." I said in the speaker as I lied down on my bed again and stared in the dark.

"Tell that to yourself, you're the one who cries even if the story ends on a good note." He scolded and I smiled.

"Yeah, you've an emotional and highly sensitive girlfriend."

"But, I love her."

I smiled, "She loves you, too." I closed my eyes, sleep taking over my senses.

"Tanvi?"

"Mmm?"

"Goodnight, Jaan."

I smiled in my sleepy state as I murmured back a goodnight to him and dozed off.

~

The week passed away quickly with Rayhan and I being busy with our school and college. His weekly exams ended this week and he was too happy about that, and so was I because I liked to believe that he actually worked hard for them.

"If you don't get out of the bed, I'm going to pick you up and carry you till there." Rayhan warned in a stern voice and I mumbled curse words as I buried my face in the pillow.

Something happened few days back, I realized that my eyesight wasn't perfect. Well, this was discovered when I was asked to read out something loud by Samarth from a distance but the letters were a complete blur to me.

Rayhan, of course freaked out over it but then insisted me to consult a eye specialist with him, for which I've been procrastinating till day.

"My eyesight is fine." I lied and I saw from the corner of my eye as he walked towards me and sat beside me on the bed.

I had woken up before noon, surprisingly; took bath and changed into my comfortable clothes. Rayhan arrived fifteen minutes back here but I refused to get out of my comforter, feeling cosy in my own presence. And my mother, like always was out for shopping with her friends.

"Tanvi, what's the problem?" He asked, sighing.

He was really patient with me at times but sometimes his nerves got the best of him, this was one of those moments right now when his patience was wearing thin.

"The problem is my asshole boyfriend wants me to get spectacles when I could easily get lens." I rolled my eyes as I lifted off the comforter a bit, giving him access to get in.

He obliged when he removed his sneakers and lied down beside me on the bed.

"You'll look cute in spectacles." He tried to sound convincing as he tugged the loose strand of my hair behind my ear.

"Am I not cute enough for you?" I pouted and he gave out an amused smile.

"You're the most adorable person I've ever come across, but c'mon, don't be stupid. You know the struggle with lens is real and you being the lazyass wouldn't be able to handle it. Spectacles are cool, you know?" He batted his eyelashes with that cute face he always made to convince me.

"I'll look like a nerd."

"Yup, you'll like like my cute nerd, baby." He pinched my cheeks and I swatted his hand away, playfully.

I didn't make the effort to get out of bed, though. Rayhan scooted closer and I wrapped my arms around his torso and he tangled our legs together.

"Tanvi Kapoor, are you naked?" He sounded so shocked and excited at the same time that I couldn't help but laugh at his expression.

"No, can't you see my top? I'm wearing it." I pointed towards the cloth covering my skin.

"Are you not wearing pants?" His jaw was still hanging low and I was highly amused.

But before I could give him a reply, he threw away the comforter from the top of me and stared at my legs after which he narrowed his eyes at me.

"What the hell are you wearing?" His eyes turned into slits as he kept looking between my face and my legs while I tried hard to control my laughter.

"These are called shorts." I replied, amused.

"But baby, these are incredibly short. You look hot, I've got to agree to that. Fuck, you look incredibly sexy but please you don't plan on wearing them when we go out?" He looked me in the eye and I studied his face.

"You turned out to be a possessive one." I grinned.

We heard a knock on the door and before I could realize what Rayhan was doing, he picked up a cushion and set it at my lap. Oh no, that was not it - he sat on top of that, blocking my view as I couldn't even see who was there in the room with us, since his back was in front of my eyes.

"Ahh.. guys, sorry I didn't mean to interrupt anything personal." I heard Nishant's hesitant voice and only then it striked me how awkward this position might be to a third person.

"Get off of me." I pushed Rayhan off of my lap with all of the force I could muster up and he landed on his butt on the cold floor.

"Ow! That hurt." He whined.

I looked at Nishant who was looking at anywhere but us.

"Hey Nishant." I waved at my best friend and when he saw that we weren't in the weird position anymore, he waved back and took a step further in the room.

"Do not come near her. Stay right where you are!" Rayhan jumped up as he stood like a wall between us.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I yelled at him.

He turned back to look at me and huffed,"No one's allowed to see those bare legs of yours except me."

And the Award for being the Drama Queen of the century goes to..

*drum roll*

RAYHAN ROY.

Nishant snickered from the door and I couldn't help but laugh at Ray's childish behaviour. It wasn't like I was naked, I had shorts on... alright, I agree extremely short shorts on.

"Rayhan, it's Nishant, my childhood best friend, he has practically seen me naked before."

That made Rayhan's eyes go wide as he took a step forward towards Nishant, "Man, calm down, she meant that happened when we were seven." Nishant said.

Rayhan visibly relaxed and sent me a glare which made me open my mouth, "Also, when we were fifteen and went swimming, I wore two piece swim suit.. oops! I meant bikini." I winked at him as I saw him turning red with anger.

This was truly fun.

Rayhan turned towards Nishant and shot him a murderous glare before stepping forward.

"Tanvi, I'll kill you." I heard Nishant say and I bit my tongue in order to restrain myself from laughing.

Rayhan was about to grab Nishant's collar when his eyes flicked back to mine, "But you don't know how to swim and you sure as hell don't own any bikini." He gave me a baffled look.

Well, that was my cue to laugh so I just bursted out laughing, "Exactly my point, baby." I winked at him.

Nishant laughed along too as he saw Rayhan's expression.

"I hate you." My over possessive boyfriend spat before leaving the room and going out.

"He's going to be pretty mad at you." Nishant laughed and I smiled at him.

"He's going to be fine." I said before getting up from the bed and going to give Nishant a hug.

"I've missed you these past few days." He said as he wrapped his arms around me.

"I've missed you too, idiot. Rayhan needs to buy some clothes so I'm going shopping with him, but you can come over for dinner?" I offered as I stepped back and he grinned.

"Sure, I'll leave now. I came here just to see how you're doing, need to meet Zara in an hour." He smiled and I grinned before giving him a quick hug again.

Nishant and Zara were one of those couples you looked at and couldn't help but say, 'Aww' because they managed to be adorable together with all their cuteness.

I accompanied Nishant till the living room where we came across Rayhan, who was slouched down on a couch with a pouty face and his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Nishant and I chuckled at him which made Rayhan throw daggers at us with those killer looks but after waving goodbye to me, my best friend left and now Rayhan and I were left alone.

He was still eyeing me when I made my way towards him and sat beside him as I dropped my arm across his shoulder.

"Hey, sweetheart." I said in a teasing manner and he grumbled.

"I don't want to talk to you."

A giggle erupted from my lips as I held Rayhan's chin and made him face me and looked into his deep eyes.

"Bro, stop being mad. I'm going to go and get changed and we're going shopping after that, alright?"

His eyes went wide for a moment and he tried to hold back a smile.

"You don't know how to date someone, do you? Your boyfriend is not your 'Bro', ma'am." He gave out a small smile as he pulled my cheeks and I gave him a goofy smile.

"I love you, bro." I laughed and he joined me.

"I love you too, baby. You need to stop bro-zoning me, otherwise I'll be really mad at you."

"Yeah, right. If I don't know how to date, you sure as hell suck at being mad." I grinned at him.

"Go now, get ready."

I was about to get up from the couch when he held my hand and gave me a quick kiss on the lips and I smiled against his touch.

"I'd really appreciate if you wear that more often when I'm around." He winked, intending at my shorts and I laughed as I slapped his shoulder.

After leaving Rayhan alone, I went to my room to get changed and as soon as I ended my struggle with my skinny jeans, he entered the room.

"You're supposed to knock." I raised an eyebrow, questioning his actions.

"You're my girlfriend, what's there to hide?" He smirked and I picked up the cushion and threw it at him.

"A lot, Rayhan, there's a lot to hide." I gave him a smug look and he frowned.

He stared at me all the while I got ready. As I combed through my hair, I decided to let them loose in natural waves and just tugged the loose strands with a pin behind my ear.

Over the past month, Rayhan has made me get rid of all the eye make up I did on regular basis. He believed I hid behind those dark eye shadows, and maybe he was right. My life had been filled with happiness ever since he came in it and now my eyes didn't have the hollowness, rather they shined bright as my happiness was reflected to the whole world.

After applying a single layer of Kohl and my liner, I was done with myself and stepped in my shoes. My reflection in the mirror looked satisfying and I turned towards Rayhan who's eyes were already set on me.

"Doesn't your girlfriend looks incredibly cute?" I grinned at him and he scoffed.

"Yup, completely adorable." He gave an amused smile as he got up from the bed and made his way towards me.

"I think, I like my eyes better this way, without much make up and with just simple kohl and liner." I said, meaning every word as I tangled my arms around his neck.

"Me too, makes you look less scary."

I gasped, dramatically as I started hitting him on his chest and he laughed.

"How evil of you to say that! Someone remind me again, why am I dating you? I need to find a new boyfriend." I huffed and he grinned as he leaned down to kiss me.

The way he kissed me sent tingles through each cell of my body as I kissed him back and begged for the entrance which he gave me access to in seconds and I deepened the kiss.

'Kissing' is something couples are supposed to do and is believed to be common thing among them. But, with Rayhan this wasn't 'common'. Whenever he kissed me, he didn't only make me feel wanted, but he poured down his emotions into it as if it were the last time he was allowed to touch me.

"I love you, Rayhan." I said with a smile as we parted and he kissed my forehead.

"I love you, Tanvi."

After collecting my cell phone and handing over my money to Rayhan, we made our way out of the house as I locked the door behind me and went to the car.

"I'm driving." Rayhan said, snatching the keys from me and even before I could protest, he was already in the driver's seat.

After getting into the passenger's seat, I sent him a glare, "I wanted to drive."

"Ditto." He gave an innocent smile.

The rest of the drive was mostly spent in silence. After fifteen minutes of driving the car came to a halt and I frowned.

"This is not the mall?" I looked at Rayhan, confused.

"I know. You're getting your eyes checked, don't even think of arguing with me because we're getting this done." He said, sternly as he got out of the car and I whined but after five minutes of protesting, got out anyway.

"You tricked me into this."

"Of course, I did.

He held the door open for me as I entered and he followed through.

"Hey, Uncle!" Rayhan greeted an old man who I presumed ran this thingy - I couldn't really call it a clinic but I couldn't doubt his specialty either because his degrees were framed on the wall behind him.

"You came here after a long time. Did Arush break your mother's spectacles again?" The man tried to tease him.

"Err.. no. This is my friend and I doubt she needs specs so could you please check her eyesight?"

All this while, I stood beside Rayhan awkwardly. The man finally looked at me and passed me a sweet smile which I returned.

He led me inside where there were machines which I had never seen before, since no one in my family ever required spectacles until it turned out to be me. He checked my eye sight with those machines of his and spoke up.

"Yup, she definitely needs glasses." He told Rayhan who gave me a smug look saying 'I told you so'.

"Can't I use lens?" I spoke up.

"You can, that's your personal choice." He gave me a comforting smile and left Rayhan and I alone for a minute to discuss, rather argue.

"I want lens." I spoke up as soon as we were alone.

"Tanvi, don't be an idiot. You have to take a lot of precautions with lenses, I'm not saying permanent glasses but get used to it first and you can then get lens after few months." He tried to sound calm and I processed his words.

He actually made sense so I just sighed and gave in.

"Fine."

He grinned at that, "You'll look absolutely adorable in glasses. Now, let's select which one you want." He took ahold of my hand led me outside while I pouted like a child.

It had been fifteen minutes and each minute I was asked to try another frame by Rayhan because he couldn't decide which suits me more. The man however was busy checking other people's eyes.

"Try this." He handed me the other one.

I grumbled at him, "For the love of God, settle on one frame Ray, this is the 25th frame I'm going to try." I said, meaning it.

"But, I want you to have the best one." He pouted and I cursed him out but tried it none the less.

Honestly, I didn't know which one looked better either because I was so confused with so much choices in front of me.

"This one isn't so good, doesn't suits you." He responded as he studied my face.

"Fuck you!" I spat, annoyed at him.

"Babe, I like PDA but think about others, they'll be uncomfortable watching us doing it." He responded, casually and I choked.

"God Ray! You never know when to stop." I swatted at his shoulder.

"I'll stop when you'll ask me to." He winked and I turned as red as tomato.

"Geez! Enough of this. Now, tell me which one should I take? We've to go shopping as well."

He frowned but picked out three frames of all, one of which I rejected immediately and tried on the other two. No doubt, I looked like a nerd wearing them but I settled on the pure black frame. It had circle glasses, a bit larger than required but I guess it looked cool.

"I like this one." I looked at Rayhan's reflection in the mirror and he smiled.

"Me too."

After paying in advance and collecting the receipt, we were told to collect it after two days since Sunday is supposed to be an off.

I convinced Rayhan to let me drive till the mall and surprisingly he agreed. When we reached there, I didn't bother entering any store, rather I made my way to the food court because, hell, I was starving.

"What do you want to have?" Rayhan asked as I found us an empty table.

"Chicken Burger." I smiled at him.

He left me alone for about ten minutes after which he returned with two burgers, fries and coke for himself and me.

"What do you want to buy?" I asked him as I started devouring my food.

"Anything that catches my eye." He winked and almost immediately exclaimed, "Hey, that rhymed!"

"Yes, Einstein, it did." I chuckled and he high-fived me.

As soon as we were done, I dragged Rayhan to a men's store that looked pretty appealing to my eyes. He just followed me everywhere as I picked out two shirts for him.

"You do know that I don't wear shirts, right?" He mumbled behind me and I smiled.

"Yes, I'm well aware of that but you have to attend a family party not go clubbing. A shirt would look much better."

He rolled his eyes at that but picked out a t-shirt for him anyways.

"Now, go, shoo! Try these, I'm waiting." I pushed him towards the try room and he shook his head before going to try those shirts on.

While he took his time, I searched through the casual t-shirts that caught my eye. One of them was a navy blue, full sleeves with round neck and what was written on it really appealed me to buy it.

It said, 'Keep rolling your eyes, you might find your brain back there.'

Excitedly, I picked out a small size that I knew would definitely fit me and made my way towards try room to see Rayhan's progress with his clothes.

As soon as I got there, Rayhan stepped out and I gave out a low whistle.

"Honestly, I'm starting to be proud of my choices these days. You look damn hot." I shamelessly checked out my boyfriend from tip to toe.

Rayhan wore a blue ripped jeans today but the black button down he tried on made him look extremely alluring. I wondered why he never wore shirts though, he looked breathtaking hot.

"Did you just whistle at me?" He chuckled and I smiled at him.

"Yes, I did. You've got a problem, Mister? If yes, then keep it to yourself because I don't care, you're my boyfriend and I've got that right." I grinned at him and he gave me a goofy smile.

"You sure we're gonna buy this?" Rayhan looked down at himself.

"Yes, definitely." I nodded and then held up the tshirt I selected, "How is this?" I asked and Rayhan took his time reading it.

"Woah! I like that, give it to me. I'll just try that on." He moved to grab it from me but I snatched it away.

"I meant, this is for me." I pouted at him and he frowned.

"That's men's tshirt, babe."

"So? I like it and I'm going to buy it."

"But, I like it as well."

"Then go buy another one." I gave him an innocent yet bitchy smile.

He huffed before slamming the try room door shut it in my face and after changing into his original clothes, my idiot boyfriend bought the same t-shirt for himself. Except, of course his size was different.

Since my money was with Rayhan as well, I didn't bother to argue with him for paying as he paid for his shirt and our same t-shirts.

As we got out of the store, I was accusing Rayhan for copying me while he made fun of me for doing shopping from Men's Section, but I didn't mind that thing at all. I liked it and I bought it. It doesn't bother me if it belongs to men's section or not.

"Where to, now?" He asked as he dropped his free arm across my shoulder.

Just then, the Nike store caught my eye and I looked up at him.

"I was thinking of buying new shoes, I don't have any nice ones except this." I pointed towards my feet.

"Okay, then what're we waiting for? Let's go buy shoes." He dragged me from my hand to the shoes store and as soon as we were there, he set my hand loose and spoke up, "You find yourself something and I'll do the same?"

I nodded at him before turning towards the women's section. Almost immediately, a pair of white sneakers with black stripes at the side caught my eye. A salesman asked me to check my shoe size and after that he gave me the same pair that would fit and I happily tried them on.

After putting them on, I stood and started to walk around the store a bit to see if the shoes were comfortable enough. But being the clumsy person I was, five seconds later I ended up bumping into someone as my head hit the person's chest.

I was about to apologise as I looked up to see an amused Rayhan, "Clumsy as always." He remarked and I stuck out my tongue at him.

"Did you find yourself a pair?" I asked him and he nodded as pointed his finger towards his feet and we both looked down at the same time.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" I cursed out loud enough for people around me to hear which made Rayhan chuckle.

We both had the identical pair of shoes on and I cursed as he gave me a cheeky grin.

"You already copied me and bought the same tshirt, you can't buy these shoes." I huffed and he rolled his eyes.

"It's not my mistake that I'm dating a Tomboy." He smirked and I shot him a glare.

"Oh, you did not just say that!"

"Oh well, sorry baby, I did." He passed me an innocent smile.

"I found these under women's section, alright?" I gave out a cry and he laughed.

"Ever heard of the term Unisex, my darling?" He said as he kept his hands around my shoulders.

"Yup, but I doubt you haven't." I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Sure." He gave me his cute lopsided grin before speaking again, "Now, let's get these packed because we're buying these shoes."

"No, I'm buying it but you're not."

"We both are"

"Not"

"Are."

"Not"

"Are."

Before I could open my mouth to speak again, Rayhan placed a quick kiss on my lips and I gaped at him.

"Rayhan, we're in public."

"Shh.. no one watched and you just wouldn't shut up, so I had to!" He argued and I slapped his head.

"Fine, fuck! We're buying it." I said, irritated.

"This is why I love you." He grinned at me and I smiled.

After getting the shoes, Rayhan and I roamed around the mall as he held my hand. We were about to enter a store when Rayhan's phone started ringing and he excused himself for a minute.

When he came back he had a smile on his face but it didn't reach his eyes which made me frown.

"Are you okay?" I asked and he nodded.

"Can you roam around by yourself for fifteen minutes, baby? A friend is outside the mall and he wants to return some cash he borrowed. I promise I won't let you wait for long." He said and I smiled at him.

"Sure, you can go. Just give me some of my cash?" I asked and he placed a peck on my forehead before handing me some of my money.

"I'm really sorry I have to go, but he's nearby and I'm also running low on cash these days so I need it." He apologised and I stood on my toes to place a peck on his cheeks.

"It's okay, now go!" I pushed him and he grinned at me before going away.

The store we were about to enter looked like some accessory store and I decided to buy cufflinks that would go with Rayhan's black shirt.

He hated me everytime I bought him a gift but that it didn't stop me from doing it. I looked through a lot of them but a cute pair with black stone in between and silver outlining looked the best one to me.

As I paid for it and started discovering the mall by myself, I realized it had been twenty minutes since Rayhan had gone away. Honestly, I wasn't worried but tired so I pushed open the door to the fire exit and decided to sit in stairs.

The silence in the stairs was a bit creepy but I didn't mind as my legs felt relaxed when I stretched them.

A second later I heard two manly voices which made me scowl deeply as I stood up to peak downstairs. The voices were hushed but clear enough for me to know that they were familiar.

Rayhan and Karan?

I saw as they sat on the stairs together, just a level below mine which is why they couldn't see me.

What the fuck was Rayhan doing with Karan? Was this Karan's another trick where he was trying to feed some rubbish into Rayhan's mind to get him against me?

I couldn't let him do that, could I?

I stepped down a stair to make my way towards them but Karan spoke up, "You better tell her the truth yourself, Ray. Varnika has been going crazy since Tanvi wouldn't talk to her, she says if she can't have her best friend back, you can't have her as your girlfriend either."

What?

Rayhan ran a hand through his hair, something he only did when he was exasperated.

"You think I don't want her to know? Of course, I do. I love her, Karan! You know that. But, I'm afraid how she'll react once she gets to know that out of all people, you - her ex boyfriend is my closest cousin brother."

X.x

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