Long chapter alert.
--*--
Standing in the cafeteria of her new workplace, Khushi was lost in thoughts. She was somewhat aware that NK had held her hand in his, and his eyes were trained on someone else. Preeti. The girl who was their co-worker, who had her birthday today and thus they were all gathered here. Maybe that is why NK was looking at her, smiling that radiantly!
Khushi's eyes then scanned the gathered crowd and rested on that one person that stood at a corner. Arnav sir. Initially, she was very shocked when she found out that Arnav too was a part of this company. But then, she hadn't noticed who the founder was either. Armaan who owned this start-up was Arnav's friend. And she could never forget Armaan. After all, she had met him two years ago, even if briefly but on 'that' fateful day!
So much time had passed since then. And her life came a long way too! From a 19-year-old girl who had a huge crush on her handsome professor, she now was almost 22, soon to be graduating from college, already had a job at hand along with a boyfriend!
This is how it was supposed to go, right? Her best friend Samu always told her that her feelings for Arnav sir were wrong, her sisters told her to give it time to see if it goes away, and Arnav himself who had clearly told her then, he couldn't encourage her 'teenage crush'. And she had listened to all of them and carefully put those feelings aside.
Then, why didn't any of this seem right? Why was she not as happy as everyone had predicted she would be if she listened to them? Why did it feel as if this whole time of the last 2-3 years had indeed changed her a lot except, she had never felt happy if she was in love again? She was giving NK a chance, an honest chance, but sometimes it felt as if he too---
She looked at NK as he suddenly left her hand when Preeti called him to cut the cake. Khushi stood there for a minute trying to decide if she should stay at a corner or follow NK...and soon, making a decision to not make this a big deal, she followed NK to go where Preeti was cutting the cake!
.
.
Armaan was observing his best friend's- Arnav's expressions closely. Arnav's eyes had never left one person throughout this small party they were having here. Khushi. She had joined their 1-year-old startup company as college-to-work intern along with a few more students from Arnav's college. Since he or Arnav were not involved in the interview process, they were unaware of who all had gotten through. Until one day, when they came face to face with Khushi. He had easily remembered this girl being the same clumsy yet beautiful girl who had shyly made her feelings for Arnav evident.
At first, he too believed it wasn't reciprocated by Arnav nor was it appropriate given they were in a teacher-student relationship. But this was 2 years ago. Things had changed since then. Especially in these last few months where they all worked together closely. Arnav would often visit them after college hours and was a part of the project Khushi was handling. And Armaan had noticed their easy camaraderie, the bond they shared, the mutual admiration they had for each other that was hard to miss.
But he had not confronted Arnav on this. Until now.
"Khushi is very special, isn't she?" He asked Arnav who was lost in his own thoughts.
"Hmm" Arnav replied absent mindedly and soon registered what was asked to him.
He glared at Armaan and decided to go from there. Armaan followed him until they reached his cabin.
"I don't understand what is stopping you from asking her out, Arnav?" He directly asked without more preamble.
Arnav closed his momentarily. He could either deny Armaan's claims or speak the truth with his friend. He chose to speak the truth. The first thing that he knew was a problem if he followed Armaan's advice.
