Chapter Twenty

Khushi and Payal took Arnav to their favorite cafe, where they used to hang out back in the day, whether to just eat and chill or study together. It was very casual inside, the mood rather humble. The trio sat in a booth, Arnav sitting beside Khushi, while Payal sat across from them. A waiter came and took their orders before leaving. While they waited, Khushi and Payal told Arnav some more stories, when finally their food arrived.

"So I've heard about all of the high school stuff, what about college," Arnav asked.

Khushi and Payal looked at each other before shrugging.

Arnav's eyebrows met in the middle. "What do you mean?"

"Well, to be honest," Payal began, "college was a bore."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Khushi nodded. "Many people after high school left town to go to college in the big cities. Some, like us, remained behind and stayed here for school."

"It's not that it exactly sucked," Payal said, "but it wasn't exactly anything either."

"Unlike your college experience, ours was... boring," Khushi said, pursing her lips.

"Well, I wouldn't exactly say boring Kush - remember that party sophomore year?"

Khushi looked away, making Arnav curious.

"What happened," he asked.

"Well, we hadn't gone to any parties freshman year, so we decided we'd finally go to one. And so we did, and we had our first taste of alcohol."

Arnav's eyebrows shot up.

"It was totally by accident, we were trying to get the non-spiked punch, but ended up drinking the wrong one."

"I told you it was the wrong punch," Khushi scowled.

"Oh would you stop Khushi, it was years ago! And its not that big of a deal, you always drink bhang on holi."

Khushi opened her mouth to reply, but couldn't come up with anything, so she just stuck a fry in her mouth, chewing with annoyance.

"Wait a minute," Arnav said, shaking his head. "You drink bhang?"

Khushi reached for another fry and chewed on it, her cheeks heated.

"Oh yeah! You bet she totally does," Payal grinned.

Khushi gave her a warning look but Payal ignored her.

"Just wait till holi arrives," Payal continued. "It is in a week or so, after all - you'll totally see what I mean then."

"Is that so," Arnav grinned.

Khushi looked up at Arnav as he looked at her. Khushi felt her cheeks heat up once more, so she looked away. Payal watched their exchange and found them to be very cute. She only hoped that the two would come close together soon.

"By the way," Payal began, "what are you guys doing tomorrow?"

The couple glanced at each other before Khushi shrugged.

"Not sure yet," she replied.

"Well I have errands to run, so unfortunately I won't be able to show you around tomorrow, Jij."

"That's fine," Arnav smiled with a nod.

Payal returned a smile of her own, when an idea came to mind. "Hey Kush, you should take him out to the fields."

"The fields?"

"Its this plot of land our family owns where they do like farming stuff, like harvesting things. Khushi and I used to play there a lot as kids, and oh! We even have this huge swing on this this large tree, you'll totally love it Jij!"

"Okay, sure, I'd love to check that out."

Khushi looked up at him. "Are you sure?"

"Positive," Arnav nodded.

"Then it's all settled," Payal grinned.

*~*

The day soon came to an end and Payal headed home while Arnav and Khushi headed their way. It wasn't long until they arrived back at Khushi's and just in time for dinner.

Dinner went by smoothly and everyone headed on up to their rooms. Arnav had already changed and was sitting in bed, going through his phone. Khushi soon returned, having changed into her nightwear after her mother helped with her treatment. She went to the vanity and pickd up her comb, combing it through her hair.

Khushi glanced at Arnav through the mirror. "I hope today wasn't so boring."

Arnav looked up at her. "It wasn't boring at all. Today was quite fun actually."

Khushi turned to him. "Really?"

Arnav nodded. "It was nice to see you completely relaxed," he smiled humbly.

Khushi looked down, a small hint of blush on her cheeks.

Placing his phone aside, Arnav got up and went towards her. Khushi couldn't help but to look at him as he came closer and closer to her, stopping right before her. He reached out to take the comb from her, and confused as she was, Khushi handed him the comb. He placed it down on the vanity and then took hold of her hands in his.

"Seeing you the way you were today Khushi, I... I really liked it."

Khushi couldn't help but to look surprised.

"You were yourself, you weren't trying to be this.. perfect, proper person, you were just.... I'm not saying that you're not proper in general or anything but... seeing you just... being you - that's what I wanted. I got to get to know you better today, and I'm really happy that that is the case. However, I do want to apologize for this morning."

Khushi looked away.

"I didn't mean what I said, in that way. It's just that... I thought my brash behavior may have scared you, or that I may have forced something on you.... I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

Khushi looked up into his eyes. She could see that he really meant what he had said. She understood where he was coming from, and she was okay with it, as long as it didn't mean that he regretted his actions, much to her own surprise.

"Apology accepted," Khushi said softly.

Arnav gave her a little smile and unable to help himself, he placed a kiss on her cheek, right by her scar. Khushi gasped by the sudden action, her eyes immediately meeting his. For a moment, the two remained stuck in daze, when Arnav's notification tone rang off, snapping the two back to reality. Arnav checked his phone and Khushi quickly finished combing the rest of her hair. Not long after, both got into bed and fell asleep, looking forward to tomorrow.