New ARSHI FF- Beauty And Her Prince- Chap 19 - Pg 91/ July 1 - Page 7

She was in a rush to reach her friends, who by now must be looking for her. She hurried to catch up to them.

"I should have quickly handed the boy food and rushed back, instead of staying with him. Lavanya is going to kill me for disappearing on her again" she thought.

Lavanya is her best friend. She never had a friend, until she met Lavanya on her first day of engineering. Within no time they became inseparable. She always thanked her "Devi Maiyya" for sending Lavanya to her. She didn't just get her first friend but the bestest friend one can ever ask for. As she was submerged in the thoughts of her friend, their first meeting, their  friendship, she increased her phase eager to reach Lavanya. As she moved hastily towards her destination, her foot landed on an uneven payment making her lose her balance. By the time she realized what was happening, it was too late for her to act. She crashed really hard into what she felt like a wall. The impact was so strong that she was pushed back to the ground with equal force.

Once on the ground, she heard a man shouting. It took her a few milliseconds to apprehend that he is shouting at her and it was not a wall but this person she had crashed into. His tone alone sent shivers through her spine. His anger and rage was quite visible from his words and though she is yet to see him, he intimidated her. She noticed that he suddenly stopped talking. For some unknown reason, it made her more anxious than happy. She peeked through the strands of hair that covered her face and looked at the man who was shouting at her just seconds ago. As she saw him, she noticed his expressions change from anger to confusion to something she couldn't quite understand.

"Is that content that I am seeing on his face? or Am I imagining things?" she asked herself, confused by his expressions.  

"Why did he suddenly stop shouting? Why is he standing like a statue? What is he looking at? Is he looking at me? Why is he staring at me? What does he want? What is with that expression on his face?" the endless list of questions continued to bombard her mind.

She grew more worried, as she failed to understand what the man standing before her was doing. She did the one thing that always helped her calm down, she closed her eyes for a tiny moment and silently prayed "Hey Devi Maiya! Raksha karna".

She gently lifted her hands from the ground, moved strands of hair from her face and slowly looked at the man, trying to anticipate what he would say or do next, gathering courage to stand up to him if he shouts again. To her surprise he did nothing of that sort but let out a gasp, adding more tumult to her state. She finally looked up at his face and found her 'caramel eyes' staring right into the 'chocolate brown ones' that are looking directly at her. His eyes had so much depth, amazement and magnetism in them. She moved her eyes away from his intense gaze after few seconds, unable to take it anymore. But she could still feel his eyes gawking her, making her feel more uncomfortable and cautious.

People gathered around fast, curious to know what happened? Why this man was shouting? Who was he shouting at? and so on. Once everyone noticed the girl on the ground they started speculating things. Suddenly a person from crowd shouted "Is he bothering you lady?" Arnav snapped back from his reverie at that question. He looked around, wondering "how long he had been standing there and staring at her". He turned to her, to see if she was still there, if she was alright. She was still on the ground, looking everywhere but his side. He thought, relieved, "Good, she is still here. Doesn't look like I was standing here staring at her for long". Without wasting any further time he bent down a little, extended his right hand, gesturing her to take his arm for support and get up. She stared at him bewildered. Before she could react and say anything, someone pushed his hand away from her. She looked around and was relieved to find Lavanya coming to halt just few feet ahead of her, almost placing herself between her and that man.

Lavanya was few feet away when she heard this man shout at someone. She felt bad for the person on the receiving end. But as she walked close to the commotion with her friend, she was flabbergasted to see her best friend lying on ground. It dawned on her that this man was shouting at none other than her best friend. As she was putting together her own story of what might have happened, she saw him extend his hand to her. That was it, how dare he first ill treats her friend, puts her to ground and now act as if nothing happened. She has to help her friend and she did.

Arnav was shocked when someone suddenly shoved his hand. He looked at the person pissed, his irritation coming back. "What the" he growled.

Lavanya not giving him chance to speak, said "How dare you? How dare you shout at my friend? Who do you think you are? How could you speak so rudely to a girl? Do you even have the sense of place? Don't you have commonsense?"

Arnav was getting angry. "Ya, Maybe he shouted a little but her friend was the one who bumped into him, breaking his cellphone" he thought.

He turned to her, she was standing now, her other friend was standing next to her, supporting her. She caught hold of the girl who was shouting at him, pulling her to get her attention as she spoke "Lavanya, listen to me. It was not his fault". Her voice, he heard her voice for the first time. It was so sweet, soothing, harmonious and soft. The anger and irritation which were at their peek few seconds ago are completely gone. He scanned her from toe to head again. There was nothing blocking her from his sight now, no traffic, no phone, no hair, nothing. He stopped at her face, gazing at it, imprinting each part of it, wondering if anyone can look this perfect. She was as white as snow, cheeks were shade of pink, pink gloss covered her lips matching the color of her cheeks, hair loosely running down her shoulders and her eyes just like every time he saw them, they took his breath away.

He stood there, mesmerized and thought "His heart was right, she was indeed a Beauty".

"Is this what 'Beauty' means ? Yes, she defines the word 'Beauty' perfectly. She is 'Beauty' personified. It felt like Beauty means her and she represents Beauty. But does the word 'Beauty' really do justice to her? Is there any other appropriate word which can absolutely describe her? " he wondered. His chain of thoughts broke as he heard her voice again.

She felt his gaze on her again and she silently glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. A tingling sensation started in the pit of her stomach. The way he was looking at her made her blush and feel awkward at the same time.

"What is it with him and his intense stare?" she thought.

She quickly composed herself before her mind got flooded with questions again. "I have to escape from him as soon as possible. The way he looks at me, there is something really wrong with this guy" she decided. She tried calming her best friend, "Lavanya, Let it go. Let us leave. Please, just listen to me". The sooner Lavanya stops arguing, the faster she can go away from him.

Lavanya who was not in the mood to give up, looked at her friend and said "You are so naive. You don't know anything. This type of people need to be taught a lesson. They have no manners. Who does he think you are, his property, that he can shout at you in public".

Arnav glared at her. Who is this girl ? Ya, right 'Lavanya'. Who does she think she is? And who does she think he is? How dare she talks to him like that? The only thing stopping him from giving her a piece of his mind right now is her or else Lavanya would be bearing the consequences of speaking against ASR.

Lavanya turned to Arnav and in a definite tone said "Look mister, you better apologize to my friend, right now".

How dare she asks for his apology ? Arnav Singh Raizada never apologized. NEVER. Not to anyone. Not even in situations where he was really at fault. He looked at Lavanya Annoyed. His face turning red with each passing second, each word Lavanya uttered.

Lavanya continued "Hello Mister, I am talking to you. Are you even listening to what I am saying? You think you are smart by avoiding me, that you can escape without an apology. I am not going to let you go that easily".

Arnav looked at her as if telling her to make lavanya stop, as if warning her of what might happen next. Lavanya saw him staring at her friend and snapped her finger in front of Arnav's face "Hello! Look at me. What are you looking at her for ? She won't help you. Apologize now. Didn't your parents tell you to say sorry when you are wrong? Didn't your family teach you any manners?"

Lavanya's words irked him. Trying to control his urge to shout at her, he growled "Enough" in a cold, coarse tone. "This girl Lavanya has to be taught that her actions have consequences. Till now she was talking and I am listening. But now I will talk and she has to listen" he thought.

The sound of his tone was enough for Lavanya to freeze, shell shocked.

She knew this was going to happen when she saw him looking at her. She understood what he was trying to tell her. His eyes warned her of this. But before she could do anything, Lavanya crossed the line. She looked around at the people standing, staring at them. She was the reason for all this, she felt embarrassed. Water accumulated in her eyes, threatening to drop any second. Without further delay she grabbed Lavanya's hand and pulled it hard, deciding to drag her from there before he or she said something inappropriate in public.  

Arnav looked at lavanya standing shell shocked and thought "This is just beginning, Ms.Lavanya". He was about to say something to Lavanya, when his eyes landed on her. She was looking around at group of  people who circled them and then suddenly out of nowhere he saw big water drops form in her eyes. He forgot what he was about to say. He was perplexed and observed her more closely trying to confirm what he saw. Then suddenly out of nowhere she dragged Lavanya.

Lavanya looked at her as she tried to drag her. Confused at what her friend was trying to do, she asked "Khushi, what are you doing?"

Khushi looked at her friend and pleaded "Please Lavanya, let us leave. Its enough. Really, you got it all wrong. You stop arguing and come with me or else I am going to drag you from here"

Lavanya knew her friend was serious and also deep down she knew she will lose this fight soon. The shivers generated in her body just by his tone were still fresh and gave her goosebumps. She silently followed her.

As she started walking, dragging Lavanya followed by her other friend,

He heard Lavanya call her by name. "KHUSHI". He stood there, mentally repeating the name over and over till he saw her walk away. "Where is she going?" he thought troubled. As the distance between them increased, he became more restless. He wanted to stop her but didn't know what to say. He almost moved deciding to follow her but stopped as her eyes filled with tears flashed in front of him. He stood still, confused, not sure what to do as she moved away from him. He unwittingly whispered "Khushi" looking at her.

Khushi as if she heard him, turned around and looked at him one last time, making his heart skip a beat, before disappearing into the crowd.