Arhi FF - Pocket Change - Chapter 13- 26 January

Edited by Vibranthues - 9 years ago

Really Interesting! Looking forward to it :D

Prologue is quite captivating!


Edited by V3Od - 9 years ago

Chapter 2

Arnav's hands shook as he turned the pages of the much-abused copy of Honest Lies frantically.

 

Tomorrow. She was returning tomorrow. He was reading the second one, while the third and last one was scheduled to be released next week. She was coming to Delhi not only for the wedding, but also to promote her last book in the series.

 

He didn't know why, but he expected the book to hold the answers she had never bothered to give him. The silence was cruel - it hurt him more than anything else that she could have told him.

 

I don't love you anymore.

 

I found someone else.

 

But no. She'd left him with silence and raging questions and a myriad of what ifs and could bes.

 

All that he got was a rumpled note under the bedside lamp when he woke up.

 

We can't be together. Don't come after me.

 

He didn't even recognize it as her elegant calligraphy. It was a hurried scrawl, almost as if she were shaking while writing it.

 

The silence that caused him to toss and turn in bed - thinking and overthinking, finally falling asleep only to wake up cold and alone, with her warmth on his fingertips, the feel of her soft locks on his chest, her lilting voice gently waking him up. Her memories were sudden and unexpected, never his intention, a burst of sun in his dreary days. He'd wait for the pain to ebb away, wait for it to calm, wait for the missing pieces of his heart to slot into place. But they were stubborn and didn't fit, the jaded pieces hurting the edges more, throat tightening, and voice fracturing as a noise he didn't recognize escape his throat.

 

He was so confused, so, so tired, the urge to drift away like sailboats in the sunshine wholly overwhelming, the hot burning behind his lids a regularity.

 

Running his hand through his hair, he began reading once more.

 

 

When Ahalya was 12, she was invited for her first sleepover to Diya Mangaldas's house. She was excited; her wide doe-like eyes taking in the various shades of nail paint that stood in perfect rows on the dressing tables, the hair curlers and other make up products. It was quickly squashed when Diya and her sycophants began making fun of her tomboy braid, glasses and braces, which really couldn't be helped.

 

By 11 pm she had had enough and decided to go home. Her mother had gone to her relative's house while her father was away on a business trip. So she called Rehan, who showed up within 15 minutes, his livid eyes darkening with anger, reminding Ahalya of Nutmeg and coffee liqueur. 14 year old Rehan had grown into his eyes, the cold, aloof attitude, the tall stature, muscled arms and being on the football team cemented his heart-throb reputation. So when he took Ahalya's stayover bag, and tucked her protectively under his arm while shooting the other girls death glares, it was a huge deal.

 

Diya and her friends never made fun of Ahalya again (at least not to her face), while Rehan took to his house where his Nani made them hot chocolate, which they ate with marshmallows, laughing at Rehan's baby pictures Nani cheekily provided, Ahalya's painful incident soon forgotten.

 

 

Arnav remembered the incident vividly, flipping the book shut. Khushi's nose had turned red from sobbing so hard, and Arnav had made a joke about her resembling Rudolph. He should sue her for using their memories and displaying it for the entire world to see, he mused. He had to admit, the writing was good. The smooth transitions from Ahalya's present, despairing life with a ruthless husband who was also her best friend and slipping into happier times made her current situation even sadder. He wondered where she got the idea of a cheating brother in law. Anjali and Shyam were the closest he'd ever known to a couple who were still blissfully and madly in love with each other after 5 years of marriage.

 

Her Honest Lies' series depicted her unpretentious talent though. She never quite let the readers veer too close to her personal pain, wrapping her prose in protective gauze that only hinted at heartache and loneliness. He loved the little poetic entries in Ahalya's diary, and it made him wonder whether Khushi too was lonely like him. But in the childhood incidents, she laid herself bare. Reading small snatches of memories they'd lived together was like watching her taking a scalpel to her heart and peel it back, declaring Here is my weakness...it is yours to explore and exploit.

 

This was around the part where he got angry and flung the book away. If she didn't need him, why was she writing about them? She'd not tried to contact him, not once in three years. Then why was she doing this?

 

 

I fell for an archangel with a devil's mane,

I would soar forever in his arms seeking paradise,

But he is of the sky and stars -

And I am earthbound.

 

 

He snorted. The truth would overturn Ahalya's assumptions. 

Edited by Vibranthues - 9 years ago

This is very intriguing and interesting; and I'm really curious to read more. Do continue, please :)

Edited:

Just read chapter 2. I really love the way you've written Ahalya's (read Khushi's) thoughts in those wonderful pieces of prose. They had a great childhood as best friends, seemed to be happy during the duration of their marriage (or maybe not!) but what caused them to separate? Looking forward to the next chapter! :)Edited by DivyaS. - 9 years ago

Nice Chapter. I'm wondering what made Khushi separate herself from Arnav.

That was interesting story and loved the story so far...

Edited by Petrichorlove - 9 years ago

Its really interesting 

Awesome start 👏👏
Loved it 😛

Pls continue it soon 😊