Dare Trilogy | Book 3 Editing | ✓

3.6 | First Step

Posted: July 2017 | Edited: January 3rd, 2019

| . . . C H A P T E R . . . . 3 . 6 -  F I R S T - S T E P . . . |

I left early in the morning to come into the office and sort out the catalogue after yesterday's show. Since I had left with Arnav instead of staying till the very end like I was supposed to being the lead designer, I figured I should cover up for it now. But, in the rush of leaving early, I had forgotten to leave him a message. He was still asleep when I had left.

It probably wasn't the brightest move in the history either... considering Vivek's stalking messages to me and Shyam's threatening ones to Anjali di. In his place, he was justified to get scared on not seeing me at home.

"Khushi..." He tried talking to me, but I picked up my stuff and walked out of the catalogue room.

Yes, I may be overreacting here. I just wanted him to understand that there are people who worry about him too when he puts himself in danger this way. People think 'this will never happen to me', but that's what I thought too. Things still happened, didn't they? And car accidents... they were a lot more common than people might believe. He's not a college student anymore. When people mature in one aspect of life, namely their age, they needed to mature in other aspects as well. That included driving like a sensible person rather than a wild teenager who's just got his first car and is going on a thrill ride.

It's the easiest and stupidest way to go and there is no way in hell I am losing him.

Not when I just got him.

If it takes me getting mad at him for it for him to learn the lesson, then so be it.

However, when I reached my desk, I went down a guilt trip and scolded myself for my automatic reaction. Yesterday was beyond perfect. This wasn't how I had imagined our morning to go after he had confessed his feelings for the first time. Why did I create an issue out of it? If I had talked to him about his poor driving, he would have understood, right?

Ugh. I do hate myself for it. Sometimes, just after I get a hint of happiness, I self-destruct as if afraid that if I stayed happy too long, someone else would come along, grab my ankle, and pull me back down. So, before someone else could, I did it to myself.

After leaving Arnav in the catalogue room, I took the elevator downstairs to my cubicle. Only a few minutes after I reached, Payal arrived. The second she saw me, she placed her purse on her desk and walked over, "Hey you, my famous designer."

I chuckled at her warm greeting, "Aren't you exaggerating? It was one show."

She continued to gush, "Yes, one hell of a show that everyone in the industry can't stop talking about! Have you read the reviews? Here, I got a copy of today's newspaper."

I commented while she reached over to grab her purse, "Who even reads newspapers these days?"

"Not me." She muttered, causing me to raise my brows suspiciously. She can't claim to not read them but still carry a copy. Rolling her eyes, she pointed out, "I only bought one for you so you can do that cheesy stuff like framing your first appearance in the media and all. Immortalize the moment, ya know? Now be grateful instead of making fun of me."

I couldn't hold back my laughter after her piece. She really was a wonderful work friend to have. "You're the sweetest, you know?" I pulled her cheeks for effect.

She swatted my wrists away before pampering her skin with one hand and forwarding the paper with the other. "Just take it."

Taking the newspaper, my eyes found the centerpiece image right away. Was it so big an event that it made the front page?! The image was a three-picture layout. The bigger one on the left was a capture of Arnav and I after he had led me on the stage. The two pictures on the right were aligned top and bottom, with the top one of Anjali di when she was announcing she was returning to designing. The bottom one was a close-up shot of the calendar's cover. After scanning over the title of the article, my eyes traveled back to my picture with Arnav. He was holding my hand and the way he was looking at me with the faintest of smile on his face caused my heart beat to quicken. I had no idea that's how he had been looking at me. I had been too busy looking ahead, nervous. My focus had been everywhere.