"I do not crave someone who will fix me.
I just need someone who will hold my hand, until I fix myself"

Arshita's Pov

"So this is home" Shubman said opening the door and letting me inside.

For a moment I couldn't move my feet and stood there silently.

"Is anyone home" I asked.

Shubman shook his head and locked the door behind us and stood beside me. For a second we stood there in an awkward silence and I took this as an opportunity to look around the living room.

His house was way too much clean which I didn't expected, like everything was placed perfectly and one couldn't deny the beauty of this house.

I looked around and felt a same type of vibe which I always feel at home.
It felt empty.

I turned and looked at Shubman and realized that there was so less I knew about him. We both were like almost strangers who don't even like each other much and here I was in his house with two of us only.

Shubman cleared his throat and I looked at him as he said "Make yourself at home" and after a second added "Wait here, I'll see if I have some clothes for you"

He came back after two minutes and handed me a t-shirt and a shorts and showed me a room to change.

"Where is everyone else" I asked as I expected his family to be at home but it was too empty.

"It's just me and mom, she out of town for two days" he said and I nodded not enquiring anything further.

When I was going to close the door he stopped the door with his hand, "You sure, you don't want me to join" He said with a huge smirk.

"That's the last thing I want" I said and pushed him out and closed the door.

Shubman's t-shirt was too big on me but it was really comfortable so I didn't had any problem and shorts were a little loose but that was fine.

I came out and was going down to the living room when I passed by a door where five letters were hung decorated beautifully "SHANU"

I had an urge to open the door and look inside what it was or who Shanu was, but I ignored the thought and walked downstairs.

I was still not sure if I took the right decision to stay here when I barely knew Shubman. Back then I would have gone to Aditi or Sid's house but seeing now I had no choice.

When I thought about it I realized Shubman was the only person whom I had closest to a friend and when I saw his house all quite and empty, I didn't felt much difference than mine.

I walked in the living room quietly when Shubman was sitting on sofa and he was too much engrossed in something and I went near without him knowing and peered over his shoulder from the back and I was shocked to see that he was drawing.

"Is that a rose" I asked from behind and he jumped off the sofa looking at me clutching the notepad close to his chest.

"Shit! You scared me" he said making a very much scared face and I couldn't control my laughter. "Aise kaun ata hai yrr chudail ki tarha" he shouted scared.

"Why are you laughing" he asked making a straight face.

"Your... face.. Aisa lgra hai... tumne bhoot dekh liya" I said between my laughs.

"Very funny" he said and again sat on the sofa.

I came and sat beside him "You never told me you drew" I said raising an eyebrow.

"I'm.." He stammered clutching his notepad closer to him "I'm not really that good" he said.

"Can I see" I said as my curiosity was killing me and I wanted to see it and my hand automatically stretched out in his direction.

"No never" he said and hid his notepad behind him and suddenly something vibrated under me and I jumped a little, it was his phone.

I picked it up and caller ID showed 'Chutak' and I handed him his phone with a weird look bcoz of that weird name.

"It's Abhay" He said smiling and took the phone and kept it on speaker.

"Aur bhai kya chl rha" Abhay asked casually.

"What is this Abhay vo apni girlfriend sath hai maze hi chl re honge" Shriya also spoke up giggling, so they were on conference.

"Aye chup karo, dono ek dusre ko chhedo mujhe nahi" Shub said and looked at me smiling sheepishly.

"Waise Arshu isse bach ke rehna raat me laate bhi marta hai ye" Abhay said in a naughty tone and I was becoming more and more red.

"Aisa kuch nahi hone wala kutto" Shub said and I giggled.

" BTW, Thanks for the advice Abhay" I said chuckling.

"Yayy hi-fi Arshu" he replied cheerfully.

"Arshu ye kuch ulta seedha kare na to seedhe mujhe call krna OK"

"Sure Shriya" I said giving shubman an amused look.

"Bhut ho gyi advice, bye bye" Shub said and cuts the call.

Now he was staring at me and ignoring his gaze I got up and picked the remote and turned on the TV and started swiping channels.

"Will you tell me what happened back there" He asked in a serious tone.

I didn't wanted to talk about anything right now, especially what happened back there with mom.

"I don't want to talk about it" I said still looking towards tv.

"Talking about it might make you feel better" he said still looking at me.

"I'm fine" I said sternly.

"Agar sb kuch thk hota hai to koi aise hi kisi ke ghr sleepover ke liye nahi jata hai" he said a bit irritated.

I removed my gaze from tv and looked at him glaring enough to see that he wanted me to open up and feel better.

"Stop forcing me to talk about myself when you hardly talk about yourself" I said a bit loud as he always asked me about me but never talked about himself.

"OK then let's talk" I looked in his eyes and surely he was being very serious and when I didn't spoke anything he said.

"Let's play a game"

"Game?" I asked confused.

"Hum log ek dusre se ten questions puchenge, and you should tell truth" he said and I gave him 'are you serious' look.

"This is ridiculous" I said and again turned towards the tv flipping channels really fast this time.

"Ten questions" he insisted "It's a give and take" he said.

"Tum mere baare me sb kyu janna chahte ho" I asked.

"If we're in this together" he said and looked at him straight and "I need to know you, mai tumhe jaane bina fake relationship nahi kr skta, so stop being stubborn"

I stared at him to study him enough and I hated to admit this but he was probably right.

If we were going to fake a relationship we can't do it without knowing each other properly.

Now that I think the offer was tempting, Shubman who was so closed off, so secretive about himself, and my curiosity was burning to know him too as he never talked much about him.

He was a mystery, a stranger who suddey jumped on my life and changed everything and now that I saw his house I wanted to know him more as he might not be the person I thought he was.

"Ten questions" I said almost as if asking myself.

"Ten questions" he repeated.

"Aur agar mai kisi question ka answer na du toh" I asked out of insecurity.

"You can pass" he said like still deciding rules for the game "But I'll get one more question to ask then" He added.

"Fine" I said and he got up from the sofa and turned off the TV and said "I'll need coffee for this"

"Me too" I said and he nodded and went to the kitchen.

He came after five minutes and handed me a mug of coffee, I took a sip and surprisingly it tasted really good.

"Thanku" he said proudly and I looked at him bcoz I didn't said anything. "Pta hai achi banai hai" he said smirking and sat in front of me facing me completely.

"So" he said sighing and took a sip of his coffee. He was going to speak again but I cut him off.

"I'll go first" I said and he nodded.

I didn't had any question in my mind but letting him go first was still terrifying for me. I looked around the living room and was reminded of the same type  hollowness I felt at my house.

I looked at him and spoke up "You said it's only you and your mom" I stopped for a second taking a sip and continued "Where's your dad"

He replied casually without even looking at me "England" and I waited him to say more when he continued "He there for like last three or four years" He said and I expected him to elaborate it bit instead he looked me and said.

"My turn"

I looked at him preparing myself for the worst when he asked the same question "What happened back there" He asked and I still found myself fumble for a reply.

"Actually, vo restaurant mere dad ka favourite tha" I said looking down at my cup in my hands and added "He left us when I was eight"

His eyes snapped straight at me and he stared at me without even blinking. I continued "Aaj jb maine mom ko waha Siddharth ki mom sath dekha toh... I lost it"

He was still staring at me and I looked at him and tried to control my voice from shivering "Jbse dad gye mai aur mom bhi ek dusre se doorr ho gye and we didn't talked much. I can't even remember the last time we had dinner together, and now I wonder if she had been having dinner thier with someone else when I had to eat all alone"

I fell silent after that and after some seconds recovered and looked at him and said "Forget it, it's stupid"

He looked at me for a moment and spoke up in a low voice "It's not stupid" I looked up at him and he continued "Mere dad bhi tumhari mom jaise hi hai" He said I wanted to ask what he meant but kept quite.

He gave me a small smile and took a sip of his coffee and said "Your turn"

I just stared at him for some seconds and spoke up "Your parents, is thier relationship complicated"

He kept looking down for a moment and spoke up "Yess kind of"

"Aisa ni hai ki they don't talk, but they don't talk properly kyuki dad is rarely home" He said.

I kept quite and waited for him to open up when he continued swallowing past the lump on his throat "Dad England chale gye and pichle do saal se jnki baate km hoti gyi and they drifted apart."

"What happened" I asked almost murmuring when he said "My sister don't talk to me"

"I didn't know you even had a sister" I said when he kept quite and I added "I'm sorry"

"Her name is Shahneel, Do saal pehle uska breakup hua and she was devastated and she blamed me for that and left the house and now she's in New York"

He said and I'm sure he was trying to control his emotions and was trying to keep his voice stable while speaking when he again said "Mom blamed dad for all this" he said and then kept quite looking down.

For a moment I wasn't able to understand if he was the same Shubman who is always cheerful and joyous. I never imagined his life to be this messed up or that we would be same at all but I was wrong.

Today I saw that side of Shubman which I never expected of him to be.

After moments of silence I spoke up slowly "I'm sorry"

He looked up trying to give a small fake smile and nodded his head saying "I'm sorry too"

____________________________________

Ola guys! 🤗🤗

Here's the update and I hope you all like this one.❤️❤️

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