Ishq Junooniyat (Book 3)

16. Convincing Him

TARGET: 45 VOTES & 20 COMMENTS

"Ohh... I'm sorry" Aarchi apologized immediately as he looked away from her with a sad smile.

"I... She was my IT" He said taking the bottle from her hand and drinking.

"Aparna Sachdev... the girl who pulled me out of my dark hole" Vihaan's voice suddenly became gloomy as he talked about his love. Aarchi simply sat by him and listened to everything he had to say.

"Anyway... enough about me" He looked at her.

"I don't judge anyone Vihaan. Especially not when I live in a glass house" She placed her hand on his and smiled.

"You are like your name... Ray of sunshine. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. And you wait, your Prince Charming is going to come and sweep you off your feet" He said returning her smile.

"Well then King Malhotra, follow your own advice too then. If I need to open doors to my Prince Charming then you need to stop being difficult about having your Queen Charlotte" She said teasing him.

"Its different yaar" He said shaking his head at her persistent.

"Maybe but yet. Ask your self whether she would have wanted you to live your life again or spend it waiting for her knowing she wasn't going to return. Kisi aur ko dil mein jaga dene se jo pehla tha uski importance kam nahi ho jati" She said drinking some more from the bottle.

"I'm not ready yet to move on from her memories" He whispered.

"Ek baat kahu?" She chuckled sadly.

"You can never move on from someone's memories because they are the moments you spent with someone and they hurt because you know you can't recreate them with the same person. A person never moves on from the memories, they simply accept them and find someone else to share those with" Aarchi laid down on her back and looked at the star filled night as Vihaan turned around to see her.

"But that wasn't the case with Gautam was it?" Vihaan felt the intense need to disagree with her.

"He had never moved on, I was his attempt at moving on. I feel played because I feel he was two-timing. He was being with me physically but mentally he was still with the other person. Moving on doesn't mean that you be with a new person but lock yourself with your ex, it was supposed to be him allowing me into that arena of memories where he showed me the man he was and say that yes he has lived those moments once but he wants more moments of us, not just him and his memories somewhere far from my reach" She said smiling sadly.

"I don't like the sad look on you. Not saying that it looks bad, it has its own charm but the happy look suits you better" He laid down beside her looking at the stars.

"I gave myself a chance. After Surya, I thought it was all over but I moved on from him. Surya... He... Its still hard to talk about it" She held her hands together and pressed them onto her stomach. Vihaan noticed the unease in her voice and slid his hand into hers, holding it firmly.

"You don't have to explain yourself just because I talked about mine. We are different people, with different ideologies and different experiences" Vihaan said turning towards her side.

"I'd like to talk still" She placed her other hand on top of Vihaan's and smiled at the sky.

"When I had gone to confront him for his actions, he'd said that he did it because I was lacking in giving him what he needed. My self-respect took a huge blow, it was as if that not having sex with your boyfriend is a crime and I was the one who forced him to cheat on me" Aarchi said closing her eyes.

"Its a choice where consent matters" He said looking at her closed eyes.

"Gautam was a scumbag but if there was something good he did, it was this. He explained me that the problem wasn't me, it was Surya. He fixed something he didn't break and I'll be grateful for that for as long as I live" Aarchi opened her eyes and shifted closer to Vihaan feeling cold being so away from him.