EDITED.

CHAPTER 4: If You Could See Me Now

"Do you think he'll call?" Swara, my best friend asked me.

It's been nine days.

"If he doesn't, I will. I'm tired of waiting," I said.

"Then call him now!" She added. "Get over with it!"

I dialled his number with shaky hands and listened to the dial tone, my heart hammering against my ribs.

"Hello?" I heard him say. For some reason I couldn't find my voice.

"Hello Avni? Hello? Can you hear me?"

"Hm," Was all I could say.

"Hey baby. I am so sorry Avni. I know I can give no excuses. I'm just so sorry,"

"Hm,"

"Please baby, forgive me! I love you so much. Please don't be upset, Av. Listen, I'll do whatever you want me to do, just please forgive me."

"Hm." I said once again, a tear running down my cheek.

"Avni, you think you could meet me today, at Cubbon Park? Please, I promise you I won't be late. Just one more chance?" He said with sincerity.

"Okay." I said and hung up.

"Am I stupid to be upset Swaru?" I asked her.

"No you definitely aren't Avni! What he did was a mistake." Swara replied. "What are you going to do, though?"

"I don't know. I'll think about it when we meet."

You have one new message

From: Aarav

Cubbon Park at 1 pm. Can you make it?

I quickly typed an "okay" and turned my phone off.

I had a long hot shower and slowly got ready for the meeting. I honestly had no heart in meeting Aarav.

I took the trouble to deliberately be late and reached at 1:15.

As I walked through the gate, I saw an Aarav-like guy holding the largest bouquet of red roses, covering his face. As I approached him, he peeked from the side and when he saw me, he gave me the widest smile ever.

I didn't return the smile, no matter how much I wanted to.

"Hi gorgeous." He said kissing my forehead.

"Hi." I mumbled.

"These are for you." He said, handing me the bouquet.

"Thanks. They're gorgeous."

"Can we sit somewhere and talk?"

Once we found a cozy bench, we settled and he began.

"Look Avni, I know what I did was horrible. I keep thinking about it and I myself am really disgusted. But you have to believe me when I say that I am really sorry. I will never do something like this deliberately. You know that."

"You made me feel like a fool." I said very quietly, folding my arms.

"I know, doll. I am so sorry. I really feel like a fool. I never wanted to hurt you."

"Looks like you have a brand new habit? I'm so proud of you." I said, each word dripping in sarcasm.

"About that, I would be lying if I told you that I never drink. I do. But only once in a while." He was being really honest today.

"Good for you. Please continue. Why didn't you call me all these days?" I asked.

"I didn't know what to say to you! I was scared that I might lose you. I can't live without you, Avni." He said, looking straight into my eyes.

"You said you'd do anything for my acceptance, right?" I asked.

"Yes, anything!" he said.

"Then let's tell my parents about us. Will you do that?" I asked.

"Avni..." he hesitated.

"Drunk Aarav was all for the idea! Will you or won't you?"

"Avni please! It's too big of a step."

"No! A big step would be my parents fixing me with a guy the day before yesterday!" I cried.

"They WHAT?! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Like you told me about your amazing habits?" I shouted.

He stayed quiet.

"What do you want from this relationship, Aarav?" I asked, completely fed up. "Do you see a future at all?"

"I do see a future, Avni. I'm just not ready for marriage right now!"

"I never said anything about marriage! I just want my parents to know who's in my life and who isn't! I don't want them to waste their time in looking for a boy for me, when I already have one! I think it's complete injustice to not tell them!" I cried.

"Avni, just please give me more time. I know for sure, that you're the one for me. I don't want anyone else other than you. But I just don't think now's the right time." he said quietly.

"When is the right time then? Two years later? Five years later? Or do you think after they get me married to someone else is the right time?" I said. I got up and started walking away.

"Avni wait!" I heard him shout. "Wait! I'll think about it, okay?"

I didn't reply.

"Can I get a hug?" he asked, stretching his arms.

I closed the distance between us and placed my head on his chest. Man, I almost forgot how warm he was. He draped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer.

"I'm so sorry, love" he kissed my forehead.

"Okay, I need to go." I said, pulling away.

"I love you." he said, sounding unsure.

"Yeah," I said and smiled. "Let me know when you're ready to talk about us."

"I will be ready baby. I promise you. Just give me some time" He said, as I walked away.

******

As I laid on Shruthi's lap, I told her and Swara all about my meeting with Aarav.

"He will come around, Avnu." Shru assured me as she massaged my aching head.

"I hope so." I whispered.

"Av! Tell me all about this Vihaan! What happened? I heard Ajji was sneaking around when you were talking!" Swara exclaimed.

"Nothing much, just small talk."

"No spark? No chemistry?" she asked, looking disappointed.

"Nope, I told him about Aarav before anything could happen."

"Oh you did? Anyway, Amma wants to see more of him, that's for sure." Shruthi said. "She cannot and will not stop gushing about him."

"Yeah, I expected that. So we decided to meet, but just as friends."

"Oh! Is he as nice a guy as he looks?" Shruthi asked looking dreamy.

"Akka, may I remind you that you have a very hot husband, who you're totally in love with?" I said, laughing with Swara.

"Yeah, yeah, totally." Shruthi said, daydreaming.

"I want to know the answer to Shruthi's inappropriate question, actually." Swara said.

"He's a very nice guy." I said.

At that very second, I was dragged away from reality, to the day we met.

Apart from the fact that he was very, very cute, he was incredibly charming. He had this mischievous smile, and the most mesmerizing hazel eyes.

We exchanged numbers that day and promised to meet again, for my mother's sake of course.

"Very nice." I mumbled, deep in thought.

I logged on to Facebook later that night, and saw a friend request. Yup, as i expected, Vihaan Rao.

ACCEPT.

Ping!

Vihaan: Hello! :)

Me: Hi! What's up?

Vihaan: Nothing much, Bob. And you?

"Bob" was the way everybody addressed each other in Bangalore. It was quite the rave.

Me: So when can we meet? My mum will never stop hounding me if we don't. :(

Vihaan: Anytime! I'm free! :D

Me: Okay, so today's Thursday, how does next Friday sound?

Vihaan: So far off? Why? :(

Me: Okay, you give me the date then!

Vihaan: How does Sunday sound? At TGIF?

Me: Sounds good! :)

Vihaan: Great! Then it's a date!

Me: Funny.

Vihaan: So what's up? How's the boyfriend.

Me: Don't ask. We're in the middle of a fight.

Vihaan: Can I know what happened?

Me: Nope! I really am not in the mood to talk about that right now.

         BTW, you haven't told your parents about Aarav, have you?

Vihaan: No, should I have?

Me: No! Please. I don't want anyone to know.

Vihaan: I thought you were in a "very serious" relationship?

Me: That's a long story by itself. I'll explain some other day.

Vihaan: Oh, okay! What's keeping you up so late in the night? Can't stop thinking about me, eh?

Me: Ew! Barf.

         Smooth, Vihaan. Real smooth.

         I'm going now :) Good night!

What's gotten into him? I caught myself laughing, thinking about him as I slowly drifted to sleep.

I was woken up by Ajji at 7:30 am. She wrestled and tackled me and dragged me out of my bed.

"What's going on?!" I asked, completely alarmed.

"Get up! I have invited Vihaan and Dev for breakfast! Get ready!" She said.

"What?! Ajji, why would you do that?" I asked

"Because I felt like it! Now go!" she said and glided out of the room.

Me: Are you and Dev coming home?

Vihaan: Yeah! :D

Me: But why?

Vihaan: Good morning to you too Avni -_-

Me: How long are you going to take?

Vihaan: 20 minutes tops.

I ran into the bathroom and had the fastest shower I could possibly have (which took 15 minutes). I took some extra time in wearing matching accessories for my blue Salwar Kameez.

I casually walked down at 8 am, to see Ajji sitting and chatting away with Vihaan. Dev, on the other hand was in deep discussion with Amay.

Ajji looked like an old '70s Bollywood heroine. She had worn one of her best sarees and tied her hair up in a neat bun.

Great. My grandma has a crush on a 26 year old.

"Ah! Avni's here! Come Avni, sit next to Vihaan!" She said, pulling me towards the dining table.

"Hi Vihaan, Dev" I said, smiling.

"Good morning to you to, Avni." Siddharth said, winking at me. Everybody at the table laughed.

"Good morning, assholes." I said, glaring at all of them.

"Food smells great, Aunty!" Vihaan exclaimed.

"Thank you, kandha! I made it specially for you and Dev." my mother blushed.

I could see Amrita, Rutu and Naina joining Ajji, looking dreamily at Vihaan.

Great! Everybody had a crush on Vihaan!

"My family has a crush on you." I whispered.

"Oh you do, do you?" He said chuckling.

"Will you stop creeping me out? I had enough yesterday!" I said, completely hassled.

"Oh by the way, those messages were sent by my idiot brother, not me," He said very matter-of-factly.

'Oh..." I said, very disappointed. I had fun chatting with with him last night.

"All in good time, Baby." He whispered, noticing my expression and winked.

Sid, who was keenly observing us, wolf whistled.

"Come Sid, let's leave!" Vihaan said, gulping the rest of his food.

"Wait, Rao. What's the hurry? Have some coffee and talk to Avni."

"No it's okay! I need to leave too! Disha's picking me up in ten minutes." I said. Disha was my friend at work.

"Avni, tell Disha not to come. We'll drop you!" Sid said.

"No no! It's okay! I'll go." I said all set to run away from the table.

"No we insist! Call her right now!" Vihaan exclaimed.

I threw Vihaan a what-the-hell-are-you-doing look, to which he winked back.

My heart suddenly accelerated and I felt light headed.

"Oh shit!" Sid the drama queen exclaimed. "I forgot my files at home! You guys go ahead! I will come in my car."

"Nim ajji, Sid." I swore, and Vihaan was cackling like a mad person

Next to Sid, Ajji looked like she was going to pass out with excitement. She was giggling, holding on to Rutu like a little girl.

AM I THE ONLY SANE ONE LEFT IN THIS HOUSE?

Author's Note:

Hey guys! How did you like my fourth chapter? :D

Who do you ship? Avni and Aarav or Avni and Vihaan? Let me know by leaving your comments!

I wanted to say, thank you all for reading my book! I hit a 100 reads this weekend! :D

If you have any suggestions on how I can better my writing, don't hesitate in letting me know :)

If you like this chapter, please vote, comment and share!

Until next time, A. :)