18

Chapter 20

"Ahh, it hurts..." Nisha whined as Riya applied ointment on her hands. They were swollen by now.

"Ah, it..." she whined again, but Riya snapped, "Then who the fuc* told you to clean it? Huh?", "I told you?" she said in, frustration was evident. And Nisha didn't expect this reaction, which made her caught up in emotions a bit.

"What exactly happened in there?" She questioned, a little worried and frustrated. But Nisha didn't respond to anything. She just stared at her hands. Unable to look at her.

"I asked you something, Nisha," she asked in a bit angry voice. But Nisha still didn't reply and looked away in an attempt to avoid contact. It made Riya a bit more frustrated that she walked towards the window, her arms crossed.

"If you don't say anything, I have to ask Kartik." She said firmly, and without any delay, Nisha looked at her. Her eyes, little damped with tears and words escaped from her lips, "No, you can't."

"Why?"

"Because I will be blamed for something I never did." She didn't stay there for another moment and ran downstairs. Which Riya didn't expect to see her in such a state that she followed her behind.

Nisha, on the other hand, quickly got out of the house, that she didn't notice Arav was right in the living room. Behind her, Riya also approached the main entrance, but by now Nisha was disappearing somewhere. Riya did look around, but there was no way to figure out in which direction she walked.

Sensing some instant changes, Aarav followed outside and asked, "What's the matter?"

"I don't know, she just walked outside." Riya replied, hiding the sensitive cause.

"Ah, this girl," He said while looking at street, "I don't know how the hell she changed this much after 10th..." and it caught Riya's attention.

"What do you mean?" Riya questioned.

"Let's talk later. I will go find her first." He said quickly and ran toward's left. Quickly disappeared from Riya's sight, too. Arava knows this area better, since he spends most of his childhood summer holidays here. With that, he was very aware of Nisha, too. After running for 30 to 40 seconds, he spots her near a convenient shop. She was sitting on the bench near the shop, looking at a distance as her leg shook in the rhythm of her uncontrollable thoughts.

Arava sighed at her sight and calmly headed towards the shop, even though she didn't notice. As he approached the shop, he looked at the shop and asked, "Can I get a bottle of water?" and with a nod, the shopkeeper handed him a bottle of water. As Arava payed, he again looked at Nisha, still in her thoughts, he walked towards her.

"Want this?" He asked, while giving her bottle of water, which momentarily made her flinched.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, taking the bottle and opening it.

"I was just passing by...., but what you are doing here at this time? Huh?" He softly scolded her, "You know what is happening in India right now!"

"Hm"

"What hm? Do you have your paper spray with you? And why you were staring at the distance? What if I wasn't the one offering the bottle?" He started scolding a bit more, "Let's go home...if dad finds out, he will take you back to town." and he grabbed her wrist but she yanked without hesitation.

"I can walk by myself.." because she knows that he has a point.

"Then do..." He insist and stayed there until she moved. After a moment, they were walking towards the house, without talking to each other. Arava was now well aware that Nisha wasn't in her best mood, so,