Deewana

Chapter 10: A Fool

Muskaan leaned into the man behind her, basking in his touch. She always got like this whenever someone would look at Aarav, but this was the first time she was reacting. This was the first time she was letting her gut feeling act. She never liked it when someone would look at him. He was an attractive man, she never denied that, and she always thought it was because he was her best friend so she was just being protective. Just like today, she was just being protective.

Letting herself lean into his warmth, she thought back to what had just come out of her mouth. She had never said things like that before, it was crazy how it just came out today. Out of the blue. She turned around to face him and get on with their day, but noticing his eyes already on her she couldn't stop herself from looking back into them.

She looked into the dark, musky green eyes. The type of shade that just felt earthy, like meadows filled with flowers, like a safe place somewhere deep in the forests, like a magical fairytale. They complimented her brown ones. Hers the shade that felt like soil, like deep, rich hot chocolate that you enjoy in winter, like fire lit at night. The two just felt so right together, and the more she looked at Aarav's eyes, the more she felt right.

"Muskaan?"

"Hmm?" Aarav's voice broke her trance, her eyes snapped away from his before looking back at them. 

"Should I get this?" A nod from Muskaan and he let go of her arms and entered the changing rooms again. She didn't even notice he was holding her arms. They paid for his clothes and walked out. Aarav seated them at a table before going off to get some food from the food court. She felt calm and relaxed as she leaned back on her chair, smiling at her thoughts as she watched her fake boyfriend smile brightly at the old man behind the counter of the fast food store. 

There was a calm aura around her and she was enjoying it, it was much needed. Her eyes followed the man, and she just loved every second of the sight. But her peace was hindered by loud, obnoxious laughter coming from behind her. And unfortunately, she knew who it was. The laugh itself told her that Vaansh's little minions were behind her, the ones who had a lot of things to say online. She could hear them getting closer.

Deciding to ignore them for her own peace and their welfare, she kept her cool and focused solely on Aarav. She thought they would walk by and that would be it, her mood was good and she was considering just letting the whole post ordeal go and taking the high road. She didn't want to have more drama, she was over it, and the childish, pathetic behaviour.

But a voice stops her thoughts and all of a sudden one comment causes every calm energy surrounding her to disappear. Her eyes snap in that direction and she's ready to pounce if needed.

"Oh look, it's the rejected one!"

The group stops beside her table, crowding her as if she'd shy away from them. The guy who couldn't stop himself from commenting was standing in the middle of the group. She rolls her eyes at the stupidity and looks up at them. Raising her eyebrows and giving them the slightest nod as if an acknowledgment. She did tell herself to let it go but looks like she's changed her mind.

"Say what you're desperately dying to say Gaurav and leave."

The girl who would always smile at their jabs and laugh through the insults just answered back, and the group was not happy. There was a shift in her aura, that seemed to be too hard for the group to handle. Gaurav takes a step closer as if he could use his height to his advantage and shadow over the sitting girl. 

"All I want to say is he wanted one thing from you and you couldn't even give him that."

He thought referring to Vaansh would get a reaction out of the girl, but all he got was a snicker. She found it hilarious that he would mention that all Vaansh wanted was physical intimacy. 

Unsettled and unsatisfied with the response, he kept going.

 "How pathetic, don't you think?"

Looking up at him, Muskaan sets her elbow on the table, placing her chin on her the palm of her hand. She raises an eyebrow at him, another quiet indication that she is waiting for him to be done.

"And the fact that you thought he'd stay with you forever. Like seriously! You?"

Her eyebrow comes down, and her smirk falls off her face.

 "Out of all the girls he could get, he chose a dumb, people pleaser."

Her face lifts off her hand, eyes squinting at the comment.

"A girl that would let us talk trash about her, in front of her."

She was about to snap if Gaurav said another word. She was giving him a last chance to shut his mouth. "Do you have a death wish?" 

A laugh spilled from him at her words, but what he didn't notice was the red eyes, boiling with anger that were staring at him. "Because if you do, feel free to finish what you have to say."

"A girl who came waging her tail to get for him. A pathetic, little puppy dying for atten-"

One second he was towering over a girl, surrounded by his friends, throwing rubbish her way. The next, his back hit the white marble ground, the drink in his hand spilled on his fried next to him as he fell, and his hands on his face. Numbness surrounds him as his mind registers what has just happened. 

 "You do have a death wish, don't you?" The group looks at the girl now wiping her knuckles with a napkin before flipping her hair out her face, "Honestly, I don't blame you. If I was you, I wouldn't have a will to live either."

"You bitc-" Gaurav tries to stand, but a stiletto heel hitting his chest stops him. The black heel pierces through the thin shirt as Muskaan tilts her head down to look up at him. Putting pressure on his chest, she shoves him back down.

"Stay there, that's where you belong."

Turning her face to look at the other's around her she smirks, "Anything you all have to say?"

Getting no response, her smirk grows and she looks back at the grown man she has held in place by the tip of her heel. "And you. If you think I'm a puppy dying for attention, then I don't know what you'd call yourself."

A groan slips Gaurav's lips as Muskaan leans on her knee, getting closer to him. "And if all your best friend wanted was one thing, then tell me is he not getting from his girl now? And if he is, then why is he still after me, begging for an affair? Leechad."

Pressing her heel in further, as if it was working like a knife, she glared at the man. "Don't you dare, ever cross my path again. I'm telling you."

Ripping her heel off his chest, Muskaan steps over him and walks towards a wide-eyed Aarav. A smile forms on her lips but her steps falter by a heavy hand on her shoulder. Knowing who it was, Muskaan grabbed the hand, pulling it closer before twisting it. She turned her body around whilst keeping the hand in the same place and kicked his stomach. 

Gaurav winced again before.....