❝The only kind of love I want is one where even if it is just for a short moment, it feels like I have lived a lifetime in that moment with that person. ❞ - Jhanvi Raichand.
**You CANNOT read this as standalone. Read Dare to Be before reading this...
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2.42 Thing With Feathers
Once the car is pulled up in front of the palace steps, Aarav reaches for the door handle. The entire ride, he has been grimly silent. It is close to 9 in the evening and roughly an hour ago, Vikas had received a call from Mohit to inform that Arshiya was missing with Randeep. Vikas then had no choice but to interrupt our date. Then, just ten minutes ago, Vikas got another call to inform that they had returned, but with that also came the news of the riots they had gotten caught up in. So, instead of being relieved, I could sense that Aarav was angrier than before.
His silence spoke for itself.
I reach for Aarav's other hand before he steps out to request, "Don't yell at her, okay?"
"Mhmm," he replies pulling the handle and stepping out before Vikas can get to it. I follow as well, but in concern.
Going by his clipped response, one thing is for sure. He is so going to yell at her. More so, Randeep needs to find a place to hide - shouldn't be so hard given the palace. Surely, he can find a spot.
He storms inside the palace doors and makes the long walk into the living room and I try to keep up with his pace. Jhanvi is sitting on one side of Arshiya on the couch while Ishaan is on the other. Mohit is standing on the side while Aarush forwards a glass of water to her. I watch Aarav as he zones in on Randeep who is dabbing his forehead with an ice pack.
Crossing the distance, he grabs his collar and pulls him up. "Who said you could take her anywhere?"
"Aarav!" Jhanvi and I exclaim. She puts her hand on his wrist since she is right next to him and tries to get him to release Randeep. Reaching him, I put a hand on his shoulder to nudge him back.
Arshiya stands up as well, "Bhai, it's not..."
Aarav's eyes sharply flicker to her causing her to stop midsentence. They seem to be screaming: I will deal with you in a second.
Ishaan takes her hand and nudges her to sit back down. Before Aarav can return to Randeep and say anything else or God forbid, resort to violence, I manage to get in between the two and push him back but he refuses to budge from his spot. "Aarav, stop this."
Randeep tries to defend himself, "Look, man..." but only ends up making him angrier.
"No. You don't get to 'man' me. You don't get to speak at all right now."
Aarush interjects, "Aarav, I know how you feel but calm down. He knows what he did was wrong."
He exclaims back, "Calm down?! Whether he knows what he did, it doesn't change the fact that he put her in harm's way. Anything could have happened to her. She's my sister and you don't know how..."
