"Time goes by a lot slower when you miss the one you love"

Arshita's Pov

Earlier after passing my tests with good marks I would have celebrated by going out with Aditi or having a movie night with Siddharth but right now I couldn't do any of these so here I was sitting in front of my TV watching all those stupid romantic movies.

Like they are so perfect, they meet, they fell in love and all that shit, without even watching half of the movie I knew what was going to happen at the end.
According to them everything is perfect and 'the end', but there is also a story after the end.

What if the boy doesn't love her anymore, what if the girl run away, what if one fine day boy comes and tell the girl 'I don't love you anymore or it's complicated. That same fucking clitched line.

I turned off the TV brushing my thoughts away and that was wheny phone beeped with a message. I expected it to be Shubman but to my surprise it was Shriya.

"Let's grab some pizza"

I read her text and immediately replied that I'll there in ten minutes. I quickly got ready and went out.

As soon as I entered in Domino's she was already sitting there reading a book wearing glasses. I didn't knew she wear glasses but she was still rocking in them.

I came and sat infront of her and spoke, "You wear glasses"

She looked up and smiled at me keeping her book aside, "Yeah sometimes" she said.

We ordered our favourite pizzas and talked about random stuffs.

She told me about everything she and Abhay had done after becoming a couple and it was evident from her face that she was really happy with him. When she talked about him her eyes had a different spark and smile was never leaving her face.

"You two are the best couple I've ever seen" I said and she blushed, "Thnku Arshu" she replied.

She then told me how Shubman hates garlic bread whenever he comes here. She described his face when he first time ate it here with them. I smiled imagining his disgusted look.

"Usne tumhe bataya nhi, did he never bought you here?" She asked.

"Nope" I said.

"He's idiot, btw where did you two went on your first date?" She asked and I thought that I and Shubman never really discussed about all this.

"Ahh.....we... umm.....woh—" I stammered to give a reply and she gave me a horrified look.

"Don't tell me you didn't went on a first date" She said in shock.

"Ahh hum picnic pe gye the na, we enjoyed a lot, it's also counted as a date" I said trying to cover up.

"No it's not, agar first date hi nhi hui toh second, third, fourth, sb kaise hogi?" She said.

"I think the picnic really counts" I said. I didn't understand what was the difference between a picnic and a date.

"I'm sorry" she said and sighed. "It's just that I want everything to be perfect for you two"

I had a feeling that this was about Manasvi. I wanted to know what she did, what happened between them, so that I don't end up doing that again.

I didn't wanted to be in darkness as I was when my dad left me, when Siddharth left me or when I and Aditi flighted. I wanted to know everything about Shubman.

So I found myself asking, "Shubman never told me about Manasvi"

Shriya stopped eating and looked at me.

"He once said that moving on is being able to remember something without hurting" I said and looked down at my hands, "And... I guess he hasn't completely moved on"

She looked at me for sometime and then spoke with a sigh.

"Well" she said, "I think he forgot to tell you the part where forgetting takes time. You can't just wake up one morning and say 'Ehh I don't care about that idiot anymore"

I looked at her trying to listen every word she was saying.

"It's a process" she said, her voice becoming softer, "Shub was stuck in all this for so long, and you're the one who bought him out. He may not have completely moved on yet, but he's almost there."

Was it same with me?

Was I getting out from there too? Was I still stuck?

"Just tell me whenever he tries to hurt you, mai usko itna marungi that he'll keep apologizing to you" She said giggling.

I chuckled at her reaction and replied, "I expected that from you"
____

It was ten at night and I was trying to watch a Netflix series when my phone rang. I looked at it and obviously it was Shubman.

I picked up and as soon as I bought it to my ear he started, "So tell me?" he said, "Meri best friend mujhe 'worst boyfriend' hone ke liye marne ki dhamkiyan kyu bhej rhi hai" He said without a stop.

"Hello to you too" I said and was trying to fight back my laugh.

"I don't have time for formalities when my best friend is planning my murder" He said.

I chuckled. "Should I help her with that"

"Arshu if you wanted to go on a date with me you could have just said so" He said and I knew he was smirking as the jerk he is, "No need to make my best friend to threaten for murder" he said.

"Whoa stop stop there" I said, "First, I didn't wanted to go on a date with you" and "Second why can't 'I' take you out"

"So you do want to go on a date" he said.

"No I don't wanted—" I was saying when he cutted me off.

"OK just tell me the place and time and I'll see if I can fit you in my schedule" he said and by now I was getting irritated, "Saturday night sounds good to you" he asked.

"Shub" I warned him.

"Arshu"

"Why can't we just pretend that we went on a date and just decide the detail to tell everyone" I said.

"Or we can go on a real date" He insisted, "do you think that Shriya aise hi manne walo me se hai, I half expect her to spy on us"

"Yeah right god, she can absolutely do that, she crazy" I said laughing.

"Crazy is and understatement" he said and added, "Who threatens to kill you and keep your body stored"

"Kya pata uske pas ek room ho jisme vo apne mare hue logo ko rakhti ho" I said and laughed.

"Ha aur usme hum dono bhi honge when she'll get to know that we didn't went on date" he said.

"Why do you want to go on this date so badly" I asked

"Has it ever occurred to you that I must want to spend some time with you?" he said and voice started sounding a bit irritated.

"Is this when you confess your undying love for me" I said smiling with a tone of sarcasm.

"This is the time when you should realize that you enjoy my company enough to agree to go on a friendly date with me" He said and voice rose a bit.

"Why do think I enjoy being with you" I said.

"Well don't you?" he asked being serious.

"That's not the point" I said, "It's just that you keep assuming that I'll come along with every little thing you want to do without even asking me"

He fell silent and all I could hear was his breath.

I didn't wanted to let my guard down by telling him that I really feel good to spent time with him. I didn't wanted him to come too close to me, cuz if he do I won't be able to go back to normal.

After a prolonged silence he sighed and spoke up, "Well sorry, I didn't knew I was such a bother to you" he said and his voice was very calm which felt worse, "I didn't knew that you hated being in my company"

"Shub that's not what I —"

He hung up.

He fucking hung up on me.

I looked at my phone in shock. The conversation, how it turned out to be this. Like it was best friend, date murder, how did it turned to me.

I threw my phone on the bed and turned back to my laptop trying to continue what I was watching but I wasn't able to focus. Frustrated I closed the laptop and decided to sleep and forget whatever happened.

Which obviously I couldn't.

I ended up tossing over my bed right and left making my sheets mess. Every now and then I picked up my phone and then again threw it away.

By 2 'o clock I couldn't take it anymore so I fished for my phone once again and sat up straight on the bed. Before I could do anything else I started typing a message.

Are you mad at me?

But that didn't seemed right so I deleted and tried again.

You freaking hung up on me.

No. I can't go for this, I groaned and deleted it again.

Are you still pissed at me?

No. That still wasn't right. Why was it so difficult? I fell back to my bed and typed again.

Are you up?

Before I could think anything else I pressed send.

And another second I just wanted to delete that message, I cursed my self for sending it. But I thought that he must be asleep by now.

And next moment mh phone beeped and jumped with shock and looked at it for a minute. I finally opened it and saw his reply.

It took you four hours to text?

Before I could reply, he texted again.

And text? Really? You couldn't have bothered to call me?

I instantly called him, he picked up on the first ring.

"What" he asked flatly.

I fiddled with my pillow asking "Are you mad?"

"What do you think?" was his answer.

I gritted my teeth, fighting back a snarky reply. I took a deep breath and said "Look, I'm trying here"

"Well, try harder"

"I'm sorry okay" I said but sounded more pissed than apologetic, so I tried again more softly, "I'm sorry"

"For what" he asked.

"For earlier" I replied.

"Try harder"

"For being a bitch" I said.

"Arshu" he said again calmly, "That's not what I'm mad about, agar aisa hi hota toh mai harr waqt tumse gussa rehta"

Ignoring his taunt, I asked him, "Toh phir kya hai?"

"I don't know" he said, "You tell me"

"Shub please" I requested because I was really desperate and the worst part I don't even know why it bothered me so much.

"You know why I'm pissed" he said and took a deep breath and continued, "You always, always deny everything. You're in this big state of denying everything and it like you convinced yourself to believe in your own lies"

"What are you talking about?" my voice rose a bit cuz I didn't know what he meant by that and I was irritated.

"Do you really believe ki tumhe ye sb acha nhi lagta, tumhe acha nhi lgta jb mai tumse baat krta hu, tumhe acha nhi lgta jb mai tumhe picnic pe leke jata hu, tumhe acha nhi lagta jb mai tumhe college ke liye pick krta. Basically you hate everything, you hate me" he said.

"I never said that" I protested.

"Well, you never said otherwise" he said.

"For fuck's sake I don't hate you" I yelled cuz I couldn't take it anymore, "I wouldn't have up at two in the morning talking to you if I did, and I don't hate when you take me out"

"Then why are you always against it?" he asked.

"Because it scares me" I finally said and when I realized what I said I fell silent.

He also fell silent as if surprised to hear my reply so I continued.

"It scares me because you always what would make me happy. You always know what would make me laugh. You always know how I feel when I don't have any idea what I'm feeling, you always know everything." I said.

After few seconds he finally responded, "Not always, I don't know everything — especially about how you feel"

"You do" I said, "You always do"

"No, not really" he said calmly.

After that both of us fell silent, I could hear his breathing over the line and I thought if he could hear mine too, it felt as if we came closer when we were kilometers apart.

"Are you still mad" I asked breaking the silence. He stayed silent and it was making me more and more anxious.

"A bit" He finally replied.

"Why?" I whined like a child.

He ignored my question, "Good night Arshu"

"Why?" I again asked.

"Because" he said.

"Ye mere question ka answer nhi hai" I said.

"Beacuse this sucks" he said sounding a bit annoyed, "I was so pissed at you, I was really really pissed ta you. But for some reason, I just spent the last four hours trying to stop myself for calling you and this sucks." he said.

It took me time to take his words, but when I did a small smile came to my face and I asked him," You wanted to call me?"

"I just said that" he protested.

"Mtlb tum khud pe gussa the mujhpe nhi?" I pointed out.

"No mai tumpe gussa hu because you're making it impossible for me to be mad at you" he stated.

"So, am I forgiven?" I asked and I couldn't stop myself from grinning like an idiot after listening to him.

He quickly muttered a yes along with a good night and cutted the call. I smiled like an idiot looking at my phone and again typed a message to him.

You're an idiot when you are pissed 😂😉😉

I kept looking at my phone's screen until he replied.

Just go to sleep aghahagag you're driving me nuts Arora😏

I laughed at his statement and replied.

It's kind of cute😂😆

I laid down on my bed smiling like and idiot and drifted off to sleep clutching my phone close to my heart.
____

Next day I and Shubman were late as we ended up oversleeping.

The day at college ended quite smoothly and then Manjot took all of us to a restaurant for dinner as he passed his exams without failing which was like a miracle to him and his happiness knew no bounds.

After dinner all of us decided to have a walk around a park as none of us wanted to home still.
I and Shubman were walking behind watching everyone joking and enjoying.

"You remember when I told you that my mom wants to meet you?" Shubman asked with a bit of hesitation.

"Yeah" I looked up at him with A questioning look, "Why?" I asked.

He fiddled with his T-shirt's collar and said "She made dinner reservations for us tomorrow"

I gave him a wide eyed look and asked, "Dinner reservations? Tomorrow?"

"Itna bhi bura nhi hai jitna lg rha hai" he said.

Not able to reply I just looked at him.

"There's this new restaurant with umm—" he was stammering.

"With?" I asked.

"Seven course meal" he said hesitating and then looked down, "Umm okay ye utna hi bura hai jitna lg rha hai" he said.

"When I agreed to this I didn't knew it was going to be a fancy, seven course, probable candle lit dinner" I said in shock.

"Surprise" he said trying to give a smile.

I clutched my mouth with my hands groaning, trying to stop myself from cursing at Shubman for telling this me now.

"I don't even know if I have anything to wear, mujhe apni puri closet khol ke dhundhna pdega"

"Well of you want to know" he said movinv his hands through his hair "I'd be busy too"

"With what?"

"Trying to Google that which spoon to be used for what" he said and smirked.

I punched his arm trying to fight back a smile. "Shut up"

He chuckled and replied "Come on, it won't be that bad" he said nudging my shoulder with his.

I gave him a look and asked "Why because you'll get to talk with fancy girls there?"

He turned to me with a grin that made me caught my breath and then he came closer and said in my ear, "No! Cuz you'll be there with me"
____________________________________

Heya guyss!

So I'm back with an update and I hope you all will like it. 😉😉

So what do you think will happen on their dinner night with Shubman's mom?

And again keep supporting for my new story "Accidently In Love", I hope you all will like the plot and if you do keep loving it! ❤️💖