Intersecting Paths

Chapter Four

CHAPTER FOUR

VARUN

The amount I hate I have for morning lectures is unexplainable.

Varun sighed in boredom. He wasn't in the mood to listen to any boring lecture. His eyes wandered around the dull classroom.

There's not even a decent girl to flirt with.

He rolled his eyes and flipped his laptop open without hesitating. Varun logged on to his Facebook hoping that he could relieve his boredom. He got many notifications of photos from last night that he was tagged in. One of the photos caught his eye. In the photo was Varun and some random girl who kissed his cheek. He read the tag.

Mariam Mansoor.

She was good looking. Maybe Varun could find her later in the day and try to flirt with her. Not for too long though. Probably until some people in school find out. He could give those bear hugs, walk her to class and hold her hand. Varun got a little excited about his small plan.

If this works out then maybe then Alia would talk to me or at least make eye contact with me.

Varun had still been thinking about what happened in the morning. He remembered how she would run her fingers through her brown wavy locks and stare at the floor casually as she payed attention to her friend talk. Varun inhaled some air and blinked. He shouldn't be paying attention to Alia like that. But he couldn't resist the memory of her perfect smile in his head. The thought of searching her on Facebook came to him. Varun rolled his eyes then closed them shut.

Saaley...are you gonna stalk her now? And that too on Facebook?

A moment passed before Varun opened an eye.

I've done worse. Aur kya pata? Kal ho na ho.

Varun smirked to his remark as his fingers hit his keyboard again.

Alia...Alia...Alia...

There were four different search results, in which one of them was the Alia he was looking for. Varun clicked on her profile picture. He smiled unconsciously as he recognized the scenario. It was a photo from her cousin's mehndi night. Varun remembers vividly how beautiful she looked that day. She was smiling from left to right the whole day.

"Varun! You're late!" Alia pouted, her eyes filled with fake sadness. She wore a black anarkali dress that had some silver detailing. Varun smiled at her.

"Arrey! Being thirty minutes early is late for you?" He raised his brows before he chuckled. Alia crossed her arms across her chest.

"Yes! Do you know how hard it was to arrange the flowers by myself?" She sniffed, avoiding eye contact with him.

"Okay..." Varun trailed off while taking a few steps closer to her. "But if I came on time then who would've got this for you?" He took out a Cadbury chocolate bar out of the pocket of his shimmery brown kurta shirt. Alia glanced over to him using the corner of her eye before a smile crept on to her face. Varun laughed as she snatched it from him.

"Chalo. My love for chocolate is too strong for me to be mad at you." Alia laughed, showing off the dimples that Varun adored. He couldn't help but smile with her as he watched her unwrap the chocolate bar. It was like watching a five year old unwrapping a present on their birthday or on Christmas. Alia broke a small piece of the chocolate bar and popped it in her mouth. Varun watched her with a puzzled face as she took her time to devour the chocolate with closed eyes.

"Alia..." He rolled his eyes. "If you continue to eat the chocolate like this then you'll miss the mehndi." Varun's warning made Alia open her eyes with alert.

"Oh haan! I'll just save the rest for later." She rewrapped the chocolate and stored it in the little pouch that she had been carrying with her. "I need to go check on the dulhan so I'll catch you later!" Varun let his shoulders slump. He didn't want her to leave. His eyes didn't want to move off of her. Varun cleared his throat.

"Um..I also thought you might like this so I got this for you too..." Varun fought a smile as he watched Alia's reaction. She had a brow raised and her eyes were filled with intense yet playful curiosity. Slowly, Varun pulled out the object from the same pocket. It was wrapped in a gold fabric jewelry bag that Alia was familiar with. She looked at it with surprised expression, her mouth forming a small O.

"Oh. My. God! What is it?" She snatched the gold fabric in the same way she did with the chocolate earlier. This time, Varun payed attention to her eyes as she opened her gift. Within her eyes was that twinkle that he adored most. He loved seeing her eyes twinkle as so. It made him happy to see that his best friend was happy. His ogling was interrupted by the loud gasp Alia made.

"Do you like it? It matches what you're wearing." Varun chuckled as Alia admired the charm bracelet that he gifted her. The bracelet was a silver chain that consisted multiple charms, each one studded with little rhinestones of different colors. Alia let out a small laugh as she widely smiled, exposing her perfect teeth and bringing depth to her dimples. It made Varun's heart feeling warm.

"It is beautiful!" Alia beamed while jumping up and down. Varun laughed at her childlike behavior. She then looked at him with a pursed smile and eyes that were filled with genuine appreciation. He was too mesmerized to put words together. Alia then exhaled a smile and hugged Varun. "Thank you dost." Varun felt her resting her chin on his shoulder as she always would whenever they hugged. He smiled softly.

"If you consider me as your friend then don't thank me." He heard her chuckle before she pulled away from the hug. As if on cue, an aunty's voice was calling her from the room above the staircase.

"Alia! Come quick! There's so much left to be done!" Varun watched Alia turn back to face him and shrug.

"Time to be superwoman and save the mehndi!" Varun laughed lightly as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"Jao, or else aunty ji will turn into the she-hulk!" Alia broke into laughter, adding depth in to dimples once again. He felt that heart warming feeling again and this time he smiled as big as her. She then made a turn and headed up the stairs, leaving Varun with a feeling he didn't recognize or acknowledge at all at the time. He watched her loosely curled brown hair sway as she motioned up the stairs. Varun wanted to spend the rest of the day with his best friend they way they had been doing so in the past five minutes. But he didn't mind being apart from her today. It was obvious that Alia was happy for her cousin and being his best friend, that made Varun happy. There really wasn't anything else he could ask for. Varun let out a small and soft sigh before making a turn for banquet hall.

"Oh Varun!" Alia's voice made him skid to a stop and face her. He raised his brows to his best friend who was standing on the top of the staircase. "I totally forgot to tell you! Shefali was looking for you since she got here. I think you should go see her right now."

Shefali.

Remembering the name of that girl made Varun realize that he was still in his classroom and that his prof was still continuing with the lecture. He shut his eyes and rubbed his left temple with his left hand as he exhaled some air. Varun didn't want to remember Shefali. The very thought of her brought him multiple feelings. Pain, frustration, curiosity, sadness and overall regret. His left hand moved down to his neck and he started rubbing it. Varun opened his eyes and tried to clear his thoughts. It was best for him to pay attention to the lecture after all.

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first of all i would like to thank all my readers for the 150+ reads!!!!! i am beyond thrilled because i never thought anyone would be interested in my fanfic but the response and feedback i've been getting on here and twitter have motivated me to continue writing and to keep you guys entertained! thank you soooo much! hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, it really shows how varun's perspective on alia is like ;) vote/comment/follow!