Dedicated to Avvishi, who is a life saver. <3

CHAPTER 19: When The World Stops Spinning

OCTOBER

October brought in major excitement at the Kashyap house. Bhavna was edging towards delivery and the entire house was put on alert.

Ajji and Ma literally went crazy and bought everything that was on sale for the twins.

“What was the need of so many clothes, Asha? They are just two babies,” Dad said shaking his head when Ma got back from shopping on Monday evening. Her expression was that of a kid who’s been caught for eating too much candy.

“They don’t have enough, Anand.” Ma defended.

“Keep going like this, and they’ll end up having a clothes for every day of the year! Oh Ma! Not you too!” Dad sighed when Ajji walked in with a lots of bags slung to her arms.

She waved dad off with no care whatsoever and trotted off to Bhavna’s room.

Today, Shruthi and I decided to go on some last minute shopping to get all the essentials for the babies. Bhavna wanted to come along, but was immediately shot down by the entire family on the grounds that she was too pregnant to be allowed to go on joyrides.

Throughout the drive, I couldn’t help but notice a black car slowly following us from our house all the way to the mall.

“Who would follow us, Avnu? That person must be going in the same direction as us. Relax, you are over thinking it.” She said when I told her my observation.

Shopping was fun on the whole. We bought heaps of diapers, bibs, napkins and whatever we felt would be important. We didn’t hold back on anything, since we were paying for all of it with Adithya’s card.

You have one new message.

Unknown: You look very beautiful today, Avni.

Who could this be? Since I don’t reply to unknown numbers, I quickly put my phone back inside.

Unknown: Please reply? I miss you so much!

Could it be Vihaan? It was almost a week since I saw him, so he had all reason to miss me. But why would he text from an unknown number when he has his own phone?

Unknown: We need to meet as soon as possible Avni. I can’t go one more day without seeing you.

We returned home about half an hour later, with a car packed with baby goods. The messages from that number were still pouting in. When I called the number, the person on the other end would immediately cut it. As strange as it was, I didn’t pay much attention to it.

As I walked through the front door with around ten bags clung to my arms-

“BOO!” someone screamed from the side.

I let out a hair raising scream and threw all my bags up in the air and hurled my body to the ground. By the time I could fall facedown, a strong arm held on to me. I had clamped my eyes shut, which I opened very slowly to see Vihaan looking at me like I was some cartoon character.

“You should have seen your face.” He said, continuing to laugh like a lunatic.

“You scared the crap out of me!” I cried out, punching his shoulder.

“Really, you should have warned me atleast no, Vihaan? I almost skidded in the garden listening to her scream!” Shruthi exclaimed.

After the entire family had a good laugh at my expense, Vihaan instructed everyone to leave whatever they were doing to join him and his family for his parents’ wedding anniversary. He gave us exactly five minutes to look presentable.

“What about Bhavna?” Ma asked Dad.

“What about her, Aunty? She is coming with us, of course!” Vihaan interjected.

“That’s settled then!” Bhavna said, clapping her hands excitedly.

“Thanks for those sweet messages you sent, Vihaan.” I whispered as my entire family was trying to stuff themselves into two cars.

“What messages?” He had a confused expression on his face. He was a very good actor, I’ll give him that.

“Oh you know… The ones where you said you can’t wait to see me and all?”

“I sent those?” He asked, furrowing his eyebrows. I left the topic, realizing that he may have some kind of a surprise in his mind or some kind of a gift for me which he was trying to hide.

Bhavna and Adi drove along with Vihaan and I. The car ride was a pretty comical one, where Bhavna and Adi were ragging Vihaan and me nonstop.

“Harsha!  A very happy wedding anniversary!” Ma said giving aunty a hug.

“Please do come in,” Aunty smiled warmly.

We stepped in to be greeted by a wonderful aroma of a variety of dishes. Dev, Amay and Amrita plunged into a heated discussion about something that I didn’t bother to understand.

My phone buzzed once again, on receiving yet another message from the unknown person. This time, I could confirm it wasn’t Vihaan, since he was standing right in front of me talking to Ajji.

Unknown: You look so beautiful in that dress, Avni. It suits you best.

Who could possibly know what I was wearing, except for my family? None of this made sense.

Me: Who is this?

Unknown: Oh come on, Avni! You can’t possibly make me believe that you don’t know me! Even after all we went through?

Me: Look, I am very busy right now. Please tell me who you are or stop bothering me.

Unknown: I can see that you’re busy! Have yourself a new boyfriend, I see! He’s a keeper!

Honestly, after I read that message, I was completely creeped out. This person is not only messaging me, but is also stalking me? Not wanting to cause a scene, I quickly shoved my phone back in my purse, with very shaky hands.

It looked like our parents had put that tiny episode behind and were really getting along this time.

“So Bhavna, when are the babies due?” Harsha aunty asked excitedly.

“In a week or so, Aunty.” She smiled.

At the same time, I could feel Vihaan’s hand reaching for mine under the table. I shot him a dirty look which he ignored.

“What the hell are you doing? I need to eat with that hand, Vihaan!” I hissed under my breath.

“So what? Eat with your left!” He laughed, holding my hand a little tighter.

“You must be so blessed, Asha and Anand! You a parents to twins, and soon to be grandparents to a set of twins too!” Harsha aunty said. I tried looking as normal as possible.

“Have you two thought of names?” Uncle asked.

“We have a few in mind uncle.” Adi said, “Adhya and Agneya are my favourites at the moment.”

“Agneya is such a beautiful name!” Harsha aunty gasped.

“Who do you think suggested it, Harsha?” Ajji asked proudly.

“And if they are boys?” She asked eagerly.

“We’ve thought of Amartya, Dhaksh, Shaurya or Aryan.” Adi replied.

“We will happily steal Vihaan’s name too, if we can!”  Bhavna joked.

“Please do! I will be honoured to have a baby named after me!” Vihaan chuckled.

“Oh please! I just like your name, okay?” Bhavna retaliated.

She raised one eyebrow at me as if to ask “What’s going on?”. I quickly shook my head and tried wiggling my hand from his grip. All my efforts were a waste, as Vihaan was like a hundred times stronger than me.

“In your dreams, babe.” He sniggered.

“Vihaan, look-” I said pointing towards the ceiling. When he turned away, I took his lack of attention to my advantage and tickled him. Vihaan was the most ticklish person I knew. He let out a small yelp and let go of my hand.

Vihaan quickly looked down at his hands when the entire table turned to the both of us.

“What’s going there, eh?” Amrita asked from across the table.

“Nothing! I stepped on his foot by mistake,” I said, not able to control my laugh.

“Yeah, sure. Like that’s the truth.” Amrita said, but quickly shut up after I aimed a kick at her under the table.

Once dinner was over, all of us moved to the living room for a long chat with the Raos. We spoke about the most random things for about half an hour and then decided to leave, as it was getting late for Bhavna.

Throughout the conversation, I could not help noticing how Amrita’s and Dev’s expression changed from glee to absolutely nothing. She especially looked so down, for some reason. Deciding to ask her what it was once we reached home, I let it go.

Once I reached home, I changed into my night clothes and sat on my bed to apply moisturizer.

You have one new message.

Unknown: You want any help with that? ;)

Me: Please stop messaging me! If you don’t stop, I’m giving this number to the police.

Unknown: I’d love to see you try, sunshine.

Who the hell did this person think they were trying to sass me? I was beyond irritated.

All night, I couldn’t sleep. I was so afraid that someone was watching my every move. There was a constant voice in my head which was asking me, “Could it be Aarav?”

No matter what I did, I couldn’t shut that voice down.

No Avni. It can’t be possible. He is history. Forget about him. There is nothing he can do to hurt you anymore. Forget about him for the sake of you happiness and your peace of mind. He is HISTORY.

I was feeling extremely uncomfortable and stuffy, so I decided to open my window for the rest of the night.

I walked up to my window in complete darkness and felt around for the latch. I moved my curtain and opened the window. My heart almost stopped when I found Aarav standing outside my house, looking straight into my eyes with the most disgusting smile on his face.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hey you guys! I have attached a photo of Anand Kashyap (Prakash Rai) alongside! Please tell me what you think?

Plus, I have no idea how to put more photos so if anybody could help me, that would be great! :D

Also, please do tell me what you think of this new chapter! Don't forget to Vote, comment and share! :D

Lots of love, A. :)