I can feel ur heartbeat-ArSh mini FF pt5 page 25 - Page 15

Part 4

The announcement for some random girl having the same name provoked many unpleasant memories of Armaan and Shilpa.

Alisha

Even the name enraged him, boiled his blood; his eyes turn red with anger. And it wasn't completely reasonless, the name and the memories related to it completely justified his actions.

*flashback*

Enters Alisha Bose (A/N- imagine any of your favorite TV villain (yeah right)🤣 )

As usual Armaan was waiting for her in the parking lot. She would come to the college with Amit 'Sapna while Armaan would drop her home in the evening. Amit and Shilpa were more like brother-sister. Amit used to say "she is like the little sister I never got." He was really protective about her. Armaan knew and respected that.

But right now he was hell annoyed waiting for them rather Shilpa to arrive. And he was blabbering angrily, annoyingly.

"Damn I hate this waiting. Can't Amit drive a little bit faster?

But everyone can't be like me right?

And Shilpa, she doesn't understand. What she says? Yeah 'samjha karro Armaan. Amit lets me to be with u in the evening na? I can't tell him to let u pick me up too. And I love my bro ok? So no dushmani with him.' 

She is afraid of her so called brother too much yar. I m not going to talk to her today. She is complete 10 minutes late already." Armaan was really pissed now.

Just then someone came from behind and a pair of hands closed his eyes. He was excited for a second but then he realized it wasn't HER. A minute passed like that but he couldn't recognize the person.

"itni jaldi bhool gayye Mallik?" a girl's voice came. Slowly she removed her hands letting him open his eyes.

She came from behind and stood there facing him. Her eyes glittering with happiness, excitement and confidence. She was wearing a black mini skirt and a short top. Her nose pierced with a nose ring, her lips having a dark shaded lip stick, and a loud yet ravishing make up making her look a perfect glam diva.

"no way! Alisha Bose? Tum yahan?" Armaan was looking at her with an expression having confusion and surprise. Alisha didn't say anything just kept smiling. And then she unexpectedly came forward and hugged him. He was first taken aback by this sudden action, but hugged her back.

"haan main yahan. And I came here just to meet u ok? Afterall tum apni childhood friend ko bhool sakte ho main tumhe kabhi nahin bhool sakti." Her voice totally reflected she was overjoyed. Alisha was his school mate. She was known for moving around with a new guy each week. So she didn't have many friends in school. But somehow Armaan used to get along nicely with her. Alisha was an aspiring model today. That's what he heard last about her.

Just then a loud sound of horn diverted his attention. He could recognize it. His eyes automatically turned to that direction. There SHE came. Wearing a simple cream colored embroidered kurta and a white salwar making her look divine. Her hair flying with the cool morning breeze as if air too loved playing with her hair. Her face was glowing even though she didn't wear any make up. She was coming their way smiling and he could not stop his heart getting filled with a soothing pleasure. Her every step towards him making him smile more and more wider. Heck, he even forgot he was angry. She had that aura around her to make him forget everything, and make him smile when she was around him.

"hi" Shilpa came towards them. Armaan took a step close to her and gave her a side hug. He saw Shilpa was looking at Alisha with questioning eyes. and Alisha who was staring at Shilpa top to bottom now.

"Shilpa, yeh hain Alisha , my childhood friend, and Alisha, this is Shilpa,  "

"Armaan's girlfriend." Rahul answered coming from behind.

Rahul and Armaan were school mates so he knew Alisha very well.

"hello Alisha, nice to meet u." Shilpa forwarded her hand.

"hey Shilpa" Alisha replied coldly, and turned to Rahul  "I didn't expect u to be here in this college Rahul." She smirked looking at Rahul.

"the feeling is mutual Alisha, even I didn't expect u here."

This little convo gave Shilpa a rough idea that Alisha and Rahul apparently didn't go well.

"Come on guys lets go to our adda, our canteen and eat something. Lecture starts in another half an hour and m damn hungry." Muskan who was silently observing Alisha till now said finally.

But Alisha completely ignored it and dragged Armaan,

"Armaan I just came here and u haven't even shown me your university yet. Come on, we are going right now."

Armaan could not decide how to avoide this sudden "close" friend of his who was hell bent on taking him away from spending a wonderful morning with his girlfriend.

Armaan looked in Shilpa's eyes as if asking her what to do now.

Shilpa knew what he was feeling at that moment but she assured him through her eyes to go on. This was the beauty of their relationship. No words needed. They understood each other that well.

The gang went to canteen where Amit and Sapna joined them. Amit had seen Armaan Alisha walking through the corridors hand in hand. And he didn't like the way the scene was appearing.

He directly asked Shilpa,

"Shilpu, yeh armaan kaha hai? I mean actually I saw him with someone and '"

"Amit, woh Alisha hain. Armaan ki childhood ki friend. So chilllax. don't worry bro" Shilpa knew Amit must be worried for her and was annoyed at Armaan.

"But Shilpa, I know her from school days and believe me she didn't have good reputation at school. In fact she is not a very nice hearted girl Shilpa." Rahul tried to put it in as decent words as he could. He badly wanted Shilpa to understand Alisha was not as kind as Shilpa was thinking.

"Thanks for admonishing me in advance Rahul. But I believe Armaan."

Shilpa ended that conversation and that topic there but somewhere in her mind she was feeling a strange fear. She convinced herself that it might be due to Rahul's words or because to see Armaan so close to some other girl for the first time, she was feeling that way.

Later in the afternoon Shilpa was standing in the backyard of the college building. It was a calm and isolated place.

Shilpa stood there lost in her thoughts when she felt warmth of his hands griping her waist from behind. He hugged her and rested his head on her shoulder.

"I am sorry."

"for what?"

"woh '..actually '..Alisha' aur main'.."

"Armaan u don't need to be sorry ok? And no need for any explanations. I know she is your friend and how it feels meeting ur old friend after years."

"But I didn't want to be with her, she dragged me." Armaan pouted like a child and then whispered in her hair "I wanted to be with u.'

"I know Armaan but she was here to meet u na? so its ok." Armaan could not stop wondering how understanding one can be.

"ahem Shilpa, don't u feel jealous? Specially when she hugged me, was standing so close to me" Armaan asked her naughtily.

"I believe you Armaan." Shilpa turned around and said looking in his eyes. This was it. He got all answers. He could see just deep love and faith in her green oceanic eyes which was for him. He could see how much she loved and trusted him. And he wont ever let her down. He leaned forward cupping her face. He could not stop admiring his angel. She closed her eyes slowly when she felt her lips being captured in a sweet, yet passionate kiss. A kiss reflecting a lot many promises, a lot of feelings which they wanted to tell each other.

                                                             ~*~*~

A week has passed since Alisha came in their life. Her appearances around them in fact around Armaan were increasing. Shilpa was trying hard to ignore all the negative thoughts and would try to be friend with Alisha. But Alisha seemed to be interested in only one person, Armaan.

That evening gang had a special plan, a small outing. They often used to hang out together and besides this was their final year which meant everyone would go in different directions here on. So they wanted to spend most of the time with each other.

Today's' plan was consisting of a movie and then a dinner at a sea-side restaurant. It was decided by Amit and Sapna as they had a special plan in their mind too. They wanted to announce something to their friends.

It was already 6 p.m. whole gang was already there at the theater except Armaan. And she was waiting for him near the cinema hall since past 20 minutes now.

"yeh Armaan kaha reh gayya?"

"Relax shilpu, aa jayega.traffic mein fass gayya hoga." Atul assured her.

Shilpa was feeling restless as the clock was ticking fast. Armaan generally never comes late.

"Guys lets go inside. The movie is about to start and I don't want to miss the beginning." Anji exclaimed.

Just then Shilpa saw him coming and the sight twitched her heart. Alisha was coming with him, her hands encircled around him. Shilpa feared her eyes started welling up.

No matter how much Shilpa trusted him, she was a human afterall right? To see her Armaan walking, cuddling to some other girl who didn't have a good impression on her gave pain to Shilpa.

Amit turned furious watching that. But Sapna told him to keep mum, while Rahul-muskan eyed each other "whats this".

But Shilpa knew this was not the right time to show these hurt feelings and hence she sidelined her thoughts and forced a smile on her lips.

"where were u Armaan? We all were waiting for so long. Anyways come on the movie is about to start."  Once again she managed to save the situation somehow.

Shilpa was trying hard to neglect any negative thought but her eyes were not with her decision. And this didn't go unnoticed by two ppl Amit and Armaan. For the first time this happened that the gang who always used to freak out like anything was watching or at least trying to watch even the ads before the movie silently. Armaan decided to break the silence.

"Shilpa woh actually I was about to leave when Alisha came to my house. I had to tell her about this movie program. And I could not avoide it." Armaan whispered in her ears when movie started. He was really worried what she might be thinking right now.

Shilpa didn't say anything. She just smiled and pressed her hand over his telling him to let it be. She didn't want to spoil his mood. He too smiled back. So everything was fine, he thought. But both of them knew somewhere something was going wrong, terribly wrong.

                                                                 ~*~*~