"Armaan's Girlfriend"
She sat in the library, craving for some peace and silence. The entire day had taken it's toll on her and her bad mood definitely didn't help things. Sighing, she walked towards the bookshelves, smiling in contentment as she found something to read. Picking it up, she went to the librarian.
"Morning Ms. Brown!"
"Morning Reedheema!" she said, trying to get her name right.
Smiling, she gave her the book and rushed out, hoping to find a place where she could read in peace without disturbance. She headed towards the garden but noticed that it was raining.
"Oh for goodness' sake don't tell me it's raining! Damn it man! Subah toh dhoop thi. Everything is going against me, I swear!" muttering to herself she made her way to the other side of the university. The humanities students had an off today, the area would be relatively empty.
She passed by her classroom, but then walked back to see if the professor had come. They'd been told he was absent and so it was free but she checked, just in case. You never knew it with these people. Absent hai, sochke hum time pass karte aur wahaan woh saala aake padhaa raha hota hai. Achha hai aaj nahi aaya! Ek din physics sach mein meri jaan le lega! Grimacing, she moved ahead and went right up to the parapet. Hauling herself over it, she sat, cross-legged and picked up the book, when she heard her classmates talking.
"Hey who topped the mock test?"
"The new girl! What's her name? I keep forgetting it. Armaan's girlfriend!"
"Yeah! I remember her! But damn I can never get her name right! She's nice though!"
"Yep! Let's go to the cafeteria, shall we? I'm hungry!"
"Aiite! Let's go!"
Riddhima slammed her book shut and swore. She was sick of it. Sick and tired of being known as "Armaan's Girlfriend". She and Armaan had been family friends since a long time and had started dating about a year ago. On getting an opportunity, she took admission in the same university as him, when her family moved to this city. It'd only been a month since she'd come here. It'd been fun. Going to university with him was a new experience. He was popular here, something she'd noticed on the first day. Everyone knew him, everyone liked him and he was good at whatever he did. Model student, Sports captain, President of the student council, you name it.
She gave a wan smile. It certainly helped if you were his girlfriend. You never had to struggle to fit in. And initially she'd been happy about that. She wasn't shy or anything but to be spared the ordeal of having to fit in a whole new city, just because the people here adored your boyfriend was comforting. But then it had started. She was the new kid, people here didn't know her. And they'd started to refer to her as "Armaan's girlfriend". They couldn't remember her name, it was too difficult for them to pronounce and so she was stuck with the tag, "Armaan's girlfriend."
"Jab dekho tab yahi bulaate rehte hai. I have a name God dammit!" she fumed.
She missed her friends in her hometown. She missed how she was known by everyone over there.
"Who topped the class?" "Riddhima."
"Who's the captain of the basketball team?" "Riddhima."
RIDDHIMA. Not, "Armaan's girlfriend." She'd been fine with it, earlier but now it irked her to no extent. She had a name! They could shorten her name, or whatever but no, they'd call her, "Armaan's Girlfriend." And now it only angered her. She felt a pang of guilt. She'd been avoiding him since the last few days. Ignoring his phone calls, texts; hell she even avoided him at university!
Her eyes filled up. She missed him. But then the tag bothered her! Was she being silly about this? She sniffed and wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. Her mood completely ruined, she started to walk back.
"Hey, are you alright?"
She turned around to see some guy. She smiled a little, and said she was fine. She was about to turn around when he stopped her.
"You're Armaan's girlfriend right? Hi! I'm Tyler!" he smiled. "I'm with Armaan on the basketball team."
She closed her eyes in frustration. There it was again. The tag.
Not receiving a reply, Tyler asked, "Umm did I mess up? Maybe you're someone else! I thought you were his girlfriend! Sorry!"
"I'm Riddhima." She replied.
"Yeah! That's what 'm talking about! You're Armaan's girlfriend!"
"Yes, but I have a NAME." she hissed and then walked away.
She went back to the library and sat down in the corner most table, trying not to think about her irritation and read the book. It'd only been twenty minutes when she saw the book being snatched away from her hands.
"Hey!" she said, annoyed and looked beside her, only to see him smiling cheekily at her.
"Ah, I knew I'd find you here! Stop reading man! Itna achha weather hai, chalo we'll go for a walk or something!"
She looked at him, drinking in the sight. Wearing jeans and a casual shirt he looked amazing and she was lost in him. She saw him smiling at her, waiting for her answer but she could see the worry in his eyes. And she knew he'd want to talk about her avoiding him. "No, I'm good. I don't wanna walk."
She saw his face drop, but only for a second. The next moment he sat down beside her. "Riddhima, baby, what's wrong? You've been avoiding me." He said, treading with uncertainty.
"Nothing's wrong Armaan. I'm just not in the mood, okay?"
"Look if you don't wanna talk about it, that's fine with me, but don't avoid me!"
She sensed the hurt in his voice and her heart weighed down. But she couldn't let go of that annoyance. It still irked her.
"Come on Riddhima! Don't be a spoil sport! I miss you!"
His earnest confession forced her to look him in the eyes. She missed him too.
"I miss you too, Armaan. Lekin let me be, for a while. I don't want to snap at you." She mumbled.
"Arre tumhe akela kaise chhod doon! Armaan Malik ki girlfriend ko koi akela nahi chhodta. Not even me." He said, laughing at his own lame joke. Ordinarily she'd have come back with a sarcastic reply but today she snapped.
"That's enough dammit! I'm tired of it!" Her raised voice got them a warning from the librarian and she fought to keep her anger in check.
"Tired of what?!" he asked, her surprised. He'd only been trying to cheer her up.
"Tired of being "Armaan Malik's Girlfriend", that's what!" She regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth. They'd come out all wrong. She didn't regret being his girlfriend; it was just the tag that annoyed her. But she took one look at his face and she knew he'd taken it the wrong way.
"I didn't know you felt that way." And he went away, without sparing her a second glance.
She left the library as well. Sitting down she felt the tears spring up again and seeing that no one was around, she cried to herself, quietly. What was wrong with her? She shouldn't have snapped at him like that! Just then she heard his voice.
She peeked from behind the pillar on which she was leaning. He was kneeling on the floor and a small boy stood in front of him. Riddhima watched him, puzzled.
She heard him ask the child, what the matter was.
"I think I'm lost."
"You're not lost, kiddo! We'll find your parents! What are you doing here anyway?"
"My cousin's here for admission. I've come with him. But now I'm lost."
"Come we'll go to the principal's office, yeah? That's where your cousin should be!"
Riddhima smiled at the sight. He loved kids. The warmth spread through her.
"But mummy told me not to talk to strangers!" and Riddhima fought a giggle at the duo.
"I'm Armaan. And you?"
"I'm Michael Augustus Boone, but, call me Mike."
Her tears had long gone, she was fighting a laugh now. Was that kid cute or was he cute?!
She saw him laugh and shake his hand. And then they left, with Armaan taking the little boy to his cousin.
Riddhima sighed, feeling more guilty by the minute. What was she thinking, hurting him like that?! He was perfect. She remembered all those days when he did little things to surprise her; those days when he comforted her; all their dates; their little arguments but most of all the day when she'd landed at the airport over here, for the first time. She vividly remembered the joy and the sparkle in his blue eyes. And it was all for her. He loved her so much! And she hurt him like that. A tad bit annoyed at herself, she started walking back to class. It was time to go home and she wanted to talk to him before he left.
She asked around but no one knew where he was. Finally, after a lot of debating she headed towards Tyler. Maybe he'd know.
"Umm Tyler?"
"Yeah hey, Reedheema! Did I get it right?" he asked, smiling.
She looked down, embarrassed. And to think she'd been so rude to him! "Yeah you got it right! Look about this morning, I'm sorry! I-"
"Chill! No worries man!"
She smiled, grateful. "Uh do you know where Armaan is?"
"Oh yeah! The team decided to go for pizzas after class but he said he wanted to play some more! God knows what he's doing, shooting hoops in this rain. I tell you Reedheema, your boyfriend is crazy!"
They shared a laugh before she went to find him.
She saw him playing basketball and smiled to herself. For a moment she just stood there, admiring him. She was reminded of all their basketball matches and her lips curved into a smile. She was soaked to the skin in this pouring rain, but she felt better than she had since days. She couldn't figure out, for the life of her as to WHY she'd been angry at him or even in general, for the trivial issue!
Raising her voice so that he could hear her over the rain, she asked, "Care for a game?"
He turned around, the hurt still evident in his eyes. "Not with you."
"I'm sorry."
Her apology was met with silence as he continued to play. Fresh tears sprung into her eyes and she said, "I Love You. I'm sorry Armaan, please meri baat suno!"
He stopped playing then and walked up to her. She let go of the breath she didn't know she'd been holding, as she saw his blue eyes filled with happiness rather than hurt.
He wrapped her into a tight hug, kissing her head. "I love you too, Riddhima. Please next time se aisi stupid baatein mat karna."
She broke away, but he still held her close. "If you don't want to tell me, that's fine with me I swear but please-"
"You need to shut up." And she kissed him, reassuring him of her presence, her love as he kissed her right back, the rain pouring down on them.
They were walking home, their hands intertwined. They'd changed into a fresh pair of clothes and the rain had stopped. After walking in peaceful silence for a bit, he looked at her.
"Why were you angry anyway?"
She looked away, her cheeks flaming. Her reason sounded stupid now, even to herself. She could imagine him laughing his ass out at her.
"It was nothing. Chhodo na!"
"Oh no. I'm not letting you get away with it! Bol na!"
And so she told him, everything from the beginning; right from her annoyance, to his conversation with Mike.
She finished talking an bit her lip, looking at him. Instead of laughing he was looking at her with an expression of amusement mixed with tenderness.
"What?" she asked him.
Shaking his head, he said, "You're cute!"
She gave him a smile. "You're not laughing at me?"
He grinned at her, his eyes sparkling with mischief. "Can I?!"
He started running before she hit him and she ran behind him. "You complete ass! Ruined the moment, really! Armaaan! Tu ruk main abhi aati hoon!"
And the world was back on it's axis.
~~~~~~~~~~
Yep, that's it. Was it too stupid? 🤣
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xoxo
Aanya
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