When Stars Descend

Aarohi

Aarohi wanted to be done with the signing as soon as she could. Well, it had been a bad day. She had already been way too late and with people cursing at her, that was not how she wanted to meet Ayesha Malik. So when she heard a man muttering her name in a low voice, she was just not in mood for a conversation. She turned to find herself face to face with a man who was looking at her with a mix of surprise and shock in his hazel green eyes. He was taller than her and way too good looking for Aarohi to walk past him. He was wearing a tuxedo to a book signing? and she though she had dressed up too fancy! "uh, yeah?" she asked in a hoarse tone. "sorry but i could not help but notice how only you, other than me have the copy of 'when stars descend' " he said nervously. "Oh, yeah" she looked down at her book and then at his. That was not what she was expecting he would ask. Asking her contact number had been her highest guess. " I- I am Noor, Noor D'Souza." there was a desperate questioning look in his eyes, as if he wanted her to throw her arms around him in a dramatic hug right now, as if he was searching for some wave of familiarity to flicker in her eyes. "okay. Hi, nice to meet you noor?"  she said in a wavering voice. Noor sighed with disappointment, "i am sorry, i just had this friend Aarohi and i thought you were her and- , you know what? forget it, i am sorry for the trouble" he sighed and started leaving when aarohi said, " no way ", This could not be noor. I mean what were the chances of her meeting her online best friend after 7 years in a book event. Noor had been a big nerd, how could he grow up to be this handsome! okay that was the least of her concerns. But there could be another aarohi and noor who were good friends right? but who was she fooling, it was him. It was him holding her favourite book in his hand. It was him looking at her weirdly to say something, " what in the name of god-" she looked at him clearly now. He was noor , the nerdy glasses and braces were missing but it was Noor.  The noor who used to lecture her how beauty was just a shallow concept to make people feel insecure. She just rolled her eyes and started chuckling. "noor! oh my god! " she flung her arms around his neck for real this time and hugged him. She could feel his anxiousness  and his shaky hands as he placed them on her small back. He sighed with relief as he said, "I thought I made a complete fool of myself in front of some random woman" Aarohi smiled as she faced him, a part of her did not want to let go of him. "i mean what are the chances of this happening! this is too crazy!" noor said, laughing "I know right!"  Aarohi chuckled. Aarohi wanted to talk to him forever but she saw roman approaching and before she could excuse herself from noor, roman was already there. "we have to leave. right now." he said urgently.

"wait, you have a bodyguard?" noor asked slightly confused. Roman did everything he could to make him look like the most dangerous person on planet earth, with his height and muscular arms, she did not think anyone would be willing to upset him and the way he was glaring at noor, promising silently to break his every bone if he harms aarohi , proved his dedication even further. "yeah, i- , roman give me 5 minutes i will be in the car" aarohi told him in a low urgent voice . He nodded and with another deadly glare at noor, he left. " So am i talking to a celebrity? i just want to be sure so i can brag to people about it later" he said slightly amused. "No i am not a celebrity!  i just need to leave right now. but we could meet later someplace else? " aarohi said hurriedly . She knew she was not doing any good by including noor in her life, but she wanted to meet him again. She needed to. The part of her that he had made feel alive 7 years ago, she wanted to feel it again. She also knew that she could not trust him just yet. He was like a stranger to her right now, they were meeting for the first time after all. She was not sure if he would like to even get involved in the kind of life aarohi lived but it was as if god had sent him yet again when she was in turmoil of life. Aarohi was not the person who remembered many people but people like noor had made her believe in life once , given that noor was still the person he was 7 years ago and she really hoped he was. " sure, maybe you can take me to that ice cream store you used to rave about?" he said. It took a while for aarohi to evaluate what he was talking about. "of course! i completely forgot about that place" just like she had forgotten almost everything about herself. " i will pick you up tomorrow? text me where you are staying." she said in a hurried tone and gave him her contact information. Her eyes were on the clock in the hall counting every second she was wasting and what it could cost her. She could feel noor's gaze on her face trying to dissect her facial expressions and figure out what was going on but she would not let him." i should get going now, see you later" she stuttered " are you okay? you look very pale" noor asked slightly worried . When death is knocking at your door, turning pale is just the first step.