The GIRL in the YELLOW summer dress

Part 13 - Shock

ARNAV

I sat down in my usual place as I stared at the beach, today I had a lot of things running in my mind that I wasn't even watching the beach, yes my eyes were stuck on it but my mind was somewhere else. I was scared and worried for Khushi.

Although I had known Shrey longer than anyone did, today I myself couldn't be sure that I could trust him or not, I dint know if he really wasn't cheating on Khushi or he actually was.

For the past days that I'd been here, I had seen how worried she was, she was too scared to lose him and I knew if she got hurt, she would break down completely and despite not having any relationship with her, I was scared for her.

I dint want to see her hurt or broken or anything and for that, I first had to find out the truth at any cost even if that meant having someone to keep an eye on my own best friend then I was ready to do it for Khushi's sake.

I picked up my phone and dialed a number of a friend I had made in the country where Shrey was right now, like I said, we both usually went on the trips turn by turn.

I talked to the friend of mine and he agreed to help me with keeping an eye on Shrey, all I hoped was that now I was going to get the answers to my question.

I threw my phone on the sofa and walked to the kitchen to clean it up, the whole house was in a mess and I had nothing to do so I thought cleaning up would be the best option.

I cleaned the kitchen first and then the hall, and when everything was done I headed back to the sofa, Khushi hadn't come out of her room until now and I kept on staring at the door of her room every minute hoping she would walk out any moment.

Five minutes later, the door of her room opened and she walked out, she looked at me and then headed to the kitchen while I turned my head towards the beach view.

"Thank you for cleaning up the mess." I heard her voice, I turned around and saw her walking towards me with a bowl of chips, she picked up the remote control and switched on the TV as she settled down on the sofa.

I smiled at her while she switched through channels finding something to watch but it seemed like there was nothing interesting enough to keep her hooked.

"Do you like watching movies Arnav?" She asked as she ate her chips.

"Yeah, I love watching movies, I watch a lot of them in fact because I live alone so half of the times when i'm at home I'm usually bored so I watch movies to pass time." I stood up from my place and walked towards her as I settled down on the sofa next to her.

"What kind of movies do you like?" She looked at me curiously as she put the bowl between us so I could eat the chips too.

"I love thrillers more but I also do watch the romantic movies, I know sounds strange coming from a guy." I giggled.

She smiled as she looked back towards the TV and continued switching the channels until she gave up, there wasn't any good movie showing at the moment.

"I am bored, can we go out to watch a movie? At the theatre, there's a pretty interesting movie that released this week." She asked as she turned to look at me with a smile.

"Sure, get ready we'll go." I smiled, she stood up and headed to her room to get ready while I sat there wondering what might be going on in her mind.

Just some time back she had locked herself in her room and now she wanted to go watch a movie, maybe she was just trying to keep her mind away from Shrey and thinking about whether he was cheating on her or not.

*****

We arrived at the theatre and as I headed to but the tickets, she rushed to buy her favorite chocolate coated popcorns.

I stood in line as I looked at her waiting for her popcorns, I don't know why but today she seemed oddly excited about everything, maybe she was actually excited for the movie and her chocolate coated popcorns or maybe she was just trying to keep her mind off everything and pretend to be happy in front of me.

I bought two tickets for the movie and walked towards her, I found her standing in a corner holding two popcorn buckets in her hand.

"Why did you buy two? We could have shared, the bucket is huge anyway." I said.

"I don't like sharing my popcorns." She made a face at me and handed me one bucket as she started heading towards the theater.

Wasn't it painful, the girl who dint like sharing her popcorns maybe was sharing her husband, and that explained how much it must be hurting her.

"Shrey! Shrey! I hope you aren't cheating on her, I really hope so." I said to myself as I followed her inside, we found our seats and settled down waiting for the movie to begin.

Khushi was seated beside me busy concentrating on her popcorns, she was eating them like she was never going to get them again, she was cute eating like a baby, I couldn't stop looking at her.

The movie began shortly and we weren't even twenty minutes into the movie when I found her staring at me with a huge smile on her face.

"What? Why are you staring at me like that?" I asked curiously.

"If you aren't going to eat those popcorns, how about you just give them to me?" She smiled so sweetly, it took my heart away.

"You know you're crazy." I giggled as I gave her my share of popcorns too and she started munching them excitedly.

"Crazy for chocolate coated popcorns, they're heaven." She said as she continued eating and watching the movie.

For a moment I felt like she hadn't come here to watch the movie but to eat popcorns. But whatever the reason, at least today I got to see this side of hers, the one where she behaved completely like a child but it was cute anyway so I wasn't complaining.

*****

After the movie, we headed to the parking lot so that we could go back home. We walked around trying to find where exactly I had parked my car, this place was like a maze.

"Thank you for sharing the popcorns, if I were you, I wouldn't." She smiled at me.

"Well I saw how happy it made you so why not." I smiled, she nodded as we finally found the car, we walked towards it as I unlocked it, got inside and drove off.

We reached home in ten minutes and she rushed upstairs while I parked the car in the parking lot, after I was done, I headed upstairs too.

I walked inside the apartment and just then my phone rang, It was a call from the friend I had told to keep an eye on Shrey.

"Hey, did you find anything?" I asked in a low voice making sure Khushi wouldn't hear our conversation.

"Yes I did, I am sending you some picture, please check them." He said that and disconnected the call, I looked around and it looked like Khushi was in her room so I sat on the sofa and unlocked my phone eagerly waiting for the pictures I was going to receive.

This pictures were going to finally tell me the truth about Shrey and maybe now I was going to have clear answers.

A notification popped up on the screen on my phone and I quickly tapped on it with my finger to open it up, I had two images received so I downloaded them and waited for them to finish getting downloaded patiently.

"Look I got something for you." Khushi said as she stopped behind me, and by the time I could hide the images on my phone it was late, her eyes had fallen on them and she snatched the phone from my hand and looked at the photograph of her husband almost kissing a girl.

I saw tears forming up in her eyes and then rolling down her eyes as she clutched the phone tightly in her hand, whatever that she was holding on the other hand fell of and she stood there in shock, looking at the pictures that were going to change her entire life.