Chapter 8: Man To Man

"Yes!  Strike!" Arnav punched the air and looked at Rohan and Akash triumphantly.

Rohan rolled his eyes.  "Don't flatter yourself...you don't win this too often." 

Akash scoffed.  "Yeah...even Khushi bowls better than you."

Arnav's eyes narrowed dangerously.  "As if you're any better than Payal."

Akash sputtered, unable to come up with a retort.  Naturally, he turned to Rohan who was busy guffawing at the duo.

"Shut up Ro.  Di can kick your a** too.  Admit it...this is one game the girls are better at."

Rohan smirked intelligently.  "That's why we only go bowling when they're not with us."

The men started undoing the laces on their bowling shoes after tallying the score.

"Seriously...how is it that they're able to destroy us when we bowl?"  Akash groaned.

"Maybe because you two get too busy checking out your girlfriends."  Arnav spat.

Rohan and Akash glared at him.  "Or maybe it's because you're too busy trying to burn every man in the alley that looks at Khushi with your ASR glare..."  Akash crossed his arms victoriously.

Arnav paused in the middle of slipping on his regular shoes and looked up at the two men.  When he said nothing, the other two raised their eyebrows.  Arnav turned back to his laces and tied them with vengeance. 

He stood up and frowned at them.  "Well, excuse me for trying to protect her from horny b*st*rds!"

Suddenly, Michael Jackson's Thriller' started playing.  Rohan grinned as he pulled out his cell phone from his pocket.  Excusing himself from his buddies, he answered his beloved girlfriend's call, ignoring Arnav's shout of "hurry up, lover boy!"

"Hi Jaan."  He drawled.

"Rohan...are you guys going to be home anytime soon?"  She spoke quickly.

"We're bowling tonight...and then we're headed out to the bar...do you want me to come home?"  He worried instantly at the rushed tone of Anjali's question.

"Oh no.  Not at all.  Take your time.  Bye Rohan. Love you!"  Anjali spoke at super-speed and hung up.

Rohan pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it for a second.  "What the..."

"That's Bhai's line.  Do you not know that he has copyrights for it?"  Akash slapped Rohan's shoulder as they caught up with him.

"Oh shut up.  Your Di just hung up on me."  Rohan shoved his phone in the pocket.

"Shall we get a move on?"  Arnav jerked his chin towards the exit and ran his right hand through his hair.

Rohan looked at him with a frown.  Arnav dropped his hand to his side and looked back at him, frowning similarly.

"What?"  He spat, annoyed at the staring.

"That!"  Rohan pointed at his right hand.  "Your f*ck*ng tattoo!"

"What about it?"  Arnav questioned, trying to ignore a sniggering Akash as they walked towards the exit.

"Anjali has been on my case ever since you and Khushi showed up with one.  She wants to get a matching couple's tattoo."  Rohan groaned.

"And of course, you're a sissy who's afraid of needles."  Arnav teased ruthlessly.

Rohan rounded on him, indignant.  "It's a phobia!"

"In other words, you're scared."  Arnav smirked and Akash tried to cover up his laugh with a cough.

Rohan groaned out loud.  "Khushi is right every time she calls you an a**hole!"

"But...she calls you a sissy too."  Akash pointed out to an unhappy Rohan.

Arnav guffawed as he opened the door of his car and got behind the wheel.  Twenty minutes later, they walked into a bar that was bustling with people who wanted to relax and just enjoy themselves on a Friday night after a hectic week.  Squeezing through the closely assembled tables and booths, Arnav and the gang managed to find themselves a small table in a distant corner of the bar.

After picking up their beers from the counter, the men took a seat and cheered themselves to another good week gone by.  The bar only got more crowded as the night wore on.  An hour later, the men found themselves downing their third beer.  Their conversations had varied from sports to school to personal lives. 

"How long before Erin gets dumped?"  Akash asked his brother.

Arnav shrugged.  Though, he knew he would break up with the woman in a day or two, owing to the fact that she had started indicating taking the relationship to the next level.  That was a deal breaker for Arnav Singh Raizada.  As soon as their relationship started hinting towards more than just make out sessions, Arnav would find a reason to break up.  Even kissing the women he dated felt like he was cheating Khushi, there was no way in hell he was going to sleep with any of them.

He had felt incredibly guilty for days after Khushi had accidentally walked in on him and Shanaya making out in his room.  Under the influence of raging hormones, he hadn't realized how far along they'd gone to undressing each other.  Every time he thought of that incident, he cringed inwardly, and thanked the fact that they had been interrupted before things got out of hand.

A small shudder ran through his spine unpleasantly as he shook himself out of the thoughts and focused on the conversation Akash and Rohan were having.

They were discussing the ongoing hockey tournament when a set of slender arms wrapped themselves around Arnav from behind.

Rohan and Akash looked on with nervous anticipation as Arnav twisted in his chair to find Shanaya Singh smiling at him seductively.

"Hi sexy..."  She drawled.

Arnav untangled himself out of her arms and turned in his chair to face her.  She looked unhappy at his gesture but covered it up within seconds.

"Shanaya."  He greeted her without emotion.  In fact, his unpleasantness at meeting her was obvious on his face.

"How have you been?"  She rested her elbows on the backrest of his chair and leaned forward, too close for his comfort.

"Fantastic."  Arnav replied with an I-don't-give-a-damn sneer as he leaned away from her, putting some distance between them.  It seemed that she had decided to shower in perfume, and now the overly sweet scent was highly repulsive.

"I've missed you."  She drawled, tracing her index finger down the side of his face.

Grabbing her hand, he pulled it off of his face and glared at her.  "What do you want Shanaya?"

"I've missed you, baby...can't we just get over this silly fight?"

"Silly?"  Arnav raised an eyebrow and cocked his head to the side.  Rohan and Akash shifted uncomfortably.  They felt as if they shouldn't be hearing this conversation.  But leaving now would only make the reason for their departure obvious and they knew that Arnav would give them hell about it later.

Shanaya laughed mirthlessly.  "Oh come on baby...we both know that the whole situation with Khushi was only to make me jealous..."

Arnav couldn't hide his amusement any longer.  Could this woman be more blind or oblivious to the truth?  Sure, he was trying to make someone jealous and that someone was Khushi.  This girl standing in front of him didn't even equal to a single flock of hair on Khushi's head.  He rolled his eyes at her.

"I wasn't trying to make you jealous."  He announced seriously.

"Keep telling yourself that sweetheart...mark my words...soon, you'll come to me..."  Shanaya drawled and winked once before she left, completely ignoring the sniggering men who sat with Arnav.

As soon as she left, Rohan and Akash laughed out loud without a care.

"I can't believe she thinks you're stupid enough to play the jealousy card!"  Rohan took a swig from his bottle, unaware of Arnav's frozen stance.

"What?"  Arnav questioned.

"The jealousy card, Bhai...you know...when you try to make someone jealous to make them realize their feelings or whatever...it's really stupid.  Doesn't work more than half the time...the fact that Shanaya thinks that you of all people would be trying that, is hilarious."  Akash sniggered some more.

Arnav felt a heavy rock settle in his stomach.  It felt more like being slugged in the gut.  The jealousy card...doesn't work more than half the time?  Well hell.  Should he admit to these two that he, indeed, was an idiot because he had been trying to use the jealousy card?  Hell, no!

"It makes more sense for women to use it against our kind; you know...we get jealous like that."  Rohan snapped his fingers in synch with the last word.  "but it's a dangerous territory when you try to use it with women...chances are they'll just start thinking that you're interested in other women and if the girl is anything like Anjali...then she would gladly sacrifice." Rohan rolled his eyes.

Akash laughed loudly.  "Oh, I remember that!  You were stupid enough to try that on Di!"

Arnav was instantly reminded of the time when Rohan had tried to make Anjali jealous by showing more interest in Payal.  Anjali had gone ahead and wished them congratulations and had suggested, in a very saint-like manner, to 'come and talk to me if things seem rough with her.  I'd be glad to help.'  Rohan had thrown his hands in the air in exasperation and had practically yelled out his feelings for Anjali.

Arnav swallowed a lump in his throat.  This was vaguely familiar.  Khushi always seemed supportive when he spoke about which girl he was going to date next.  Hell, she had even helped him pick up one of the girls at the club.  Arnav wanted to groan in frustration.  He wanted to do more than that, actually.  Banging his head on the table or a nearby wall seemed like a perfectly good idea at the moment.

You stupid, idiotic, moronic fool!!

"What happened?  You look like you swallowed a fly."  Rohan raised his eyebrows at Arnav.

"N-nothing."

But for the rest of their time in the bar, Arnav had been extremely closed off to their conversation for he was too busy in his own thoughts.  What should he do now?  If not the jealousy card, then what else could he do?  Should he go and tell her how he felt?  His mind had violently disapproved of the idea.  Should he just talk to her and try to figure out if she was interested in someone else?  No.  He wasn't ready to find out.

He was more than glad when Rohan and Akash stood up, ready to go home.  Right now, seeing Khushi and just talking to her about nothing in particular seemed like a great idea.  Her presence alone brought him so much peace, it was scary.  He didn't want to think about what it would be like without her.  As his wife, as his girlfriend, as his best friend...whatever it would be in the future...all he knew that he needed her in his life.  She was as vital as air.  He knew he would go insane without her around.  Right now, her insanity was exactly what he needed to stabilize his own sanity.

*

As he entered the empty living room of the penthouse with Rohan and Akash, his eyebrows immediately knotted into a frown at the stillness of the place.  It wasn't typical.  The girls should be back from their dance class and Khushi's loud and constant chatter and laughing, along with Anjali's never ending giggles, and Payal's much quieter chuckles should be echoing in the room. One look at the other two men's face told Arnav that they were thinking the same thing.

They heard hushed voices coming from Khushi's bedroom and the men relaxed, knowing that their respective women were safe and in the confines of the house at this hour of the night.  Not caring where Rohan and Akash had walked off to, Arnav walked directly to her bedroom purposefully.  As usual, he turned the doorknob without bothering to knock at her door just as his sister's words drifted to him.

"You're in love with my idiotic brother...Oh God!  It's almost too good to be true!"

"Khush?"  The word rolled off of his tongue before he could stop it.  He hoped that he didn't sound surprised.  

Idiot!  Why didn't you just keep your trap shut and see what this conversation was about?  Seriously!  Kill yourself.

Arnav noticed that all three of them immediately stopped talking and their stances became defensive.  They turned to look at him, looking shocked as if he shouldn't be here.

Anjali's horror filled eyes turned to Khushi for a quick second before she composed herself and looked at her brother.

"What are you two doing here?"  Arnav raised an eyebrow.

Khushi let go of the breath she'd been holding.  Maybe he didn't hear anything.  Payal and Anjali looked at each other from the corner of their eyes.

"Girls' night, remember?  We decided to have a talk."  Anjali shrugged.

"Oh."  Arnav responded, seemingly disappointed.  "Let me know when you're done."  Arnav directed the sentence at Khushi and turned to leave.

He paused in the doorway and turned halfway to look at a still stunned Payal.  "By the way...I think Di is right...I can't believe you fell for idiotic Akash..."

He saw her jaw drop and smirking to himself, he walked out of her room, closing the door behind him.  Something tugged at his heart. 

Could it possible that they were talking about Khushi falling for...him? 

You would have found out what the freaking conversation was about if you had kept your mouth shut for a second but no!  Seeing Khushi makes you stupid.  You could go back in there and ask whether or not they were talking about Payal...No!  How stupid would that sound, especially after I just teased Payal?  But...could they have been talking about Khushi having feelings for him??

Arnav shook his head and brushed away the thought.  He couldn't think about this anymore for the day.  It was sure to drive him beyond the edge of insanity.

*

Arnav tossed and turned on the bed, unable to sleep.  He kept thinking about the small sentence of the girls' conversation that he had accidentally overheard and thinking over his feelings and his course of action next.  Since the jealousy card was a big fat failure, he had to find another way...do something to find out what she felt about him...or find a way to let her know how he felt.  Perhaps he should drop hints. 

Speaking of hints, Khushi had dropped none about their conversation.  He was hoping that she would let something slip but she was her usual...Khushi self.  Typical Khushi conversations, typical Khushi antics, typical Khushi's cussing and dissing.  Nothing un-Khushi-like.  Perhaps they were just talking about Payal and Akash.

Frustrated with the confusion, he decided to confide in the one person who would be able to help him out.  Without caring what time of the day or night it was, he had picked up his phone and dialled the number.

"Arnav?  Is everything okay?  It must be nearly four in the morning there...why aren't you asleep?"  His father, Arvind, had panicked.

Arnav had remained silent for a long couple of minutes, unable to figure out how to say it or what exactly to say.  It turned out, however, that his father knew exactly what was on his son's mind.

"Finally ready to accept it?"  He spoke softly, a hint of smile tainting his voice.

"What?"  Arnav questioned, trying to act as if he had no idea what his father was talking about.

Arvind sighed.  "I think we both know why you called.  Now it's just a matter of whether or not you're actually going to have the conversation that you called for or whether you're just going to make up some lame excuse..."

Arnav spent another minute trying to gather his thoughts.  Where to begin, what to say, how much to say...he had no freakin' idea.  So he opted for the one sentence that would explain everything.

"I...I love her, Dad."  Arnav closed his eyes as the words naturally rolled off his tongue.

"I know..." was the response.

"Dad?"  Arnav was flabbergasted.  There was no better way to describe the surprise, or rather shock, he felt.

"What?  I'm your father...and it's fairly obvious."

"Do you even know who I'm talking about?"

Arvind chuckled.  "I may be old but I'm no fool.  You're in love with Khushi...I know."

"Oh..." was all Arnav could come up with.

"What made you realize?"  Arvind paused.  "No wait...when did you realize?"

"I've known for a few years."  Suddenly Arnav sounded defeated.

It was Arvind's turn to be shocked.  His son was in love, he knew.  His son was in love with Khushi, he knew.  His son had been in love with her for years; Arvind Singh Raizada was clueless about that.

"Years??  How many years, Arnav?" 

Arnav frowned in confusion.  Was this some kind of illusion or did his father suddenly sound a little angry?

"Dad...do you remember who I went to prom with?"  Arnav asked quietly.

"Yes...you went with Khu--are you f*ck*ng kidding me, Arnav?"  His father's anger made Arnav cringe.  The man didn't swear often, so when he did...it made people cringe because they knew shit had hit the fan.

"I realized then that I liked her and over time...I just found myself falling for her even more."

"You've been dating all those women..."  Arvind accused.

With a sigh, Arnav began the explanation behind his seemingly Casanova personality.  How he had dated those women to make Khushi jealous.  How he had hoped that seeing him with other women would get some kind of reaction from her.  Something that he could hold on to for dear life.

Arnav could feel the disappointment his father was feeling by the time his explanation ended.

"I swear to your mother, Arnav, if I was there, I would have slapped you or probably beaten you like a typical Indian parent.  What the hell is the matter with you?"

"So you think I'm stupid too?"

"Stupid doesn't even begin to cover it!  And can you blame me or anyone else for thinking that way?  I'm angry at you more because you have belittled your feelings for her by dating all those women.  Even the thought of being intimate with another woman should make you feel guilty, Arnav and for you to actually be in all those relationships despite knowing how you felt about Khushi...you have insulted your love with your very own hands.  Even if she reciprocates your feelings...seeing you with all these women will only push her away...did you not consider that before you decided to do this utterly stupid jealousy thing?"

"I didn't know what I was doing then, I don't know what the hell I am doing now, and I don't know what the f**k to do altogether!"  Arnav spoke louder than he had expected to and he definitely didn't mean to swear.  "I don't want to lose her dad.  Help me."  He pleaded.

There was silence on the other end of the line.  Arnav's patience was wearing thin by now and he just wanted to scream.  Never had he realized that he had bottled up all this frustration.

"First of all, stop this stupid jealousy game.  You're not a freaking teenager.  And second of all...you're not going to like what I say...but tell her.  Tell her how you feel."

"What if she doesn't feel the same way?"  Arnav demanded.

"What if she does?"  Arvind retorted.  "Arnav...you won't ever know until you tell her...of course you don't have to do anything until you're ready but it's my suggestion that you tell her."

Arnav drifted into his thoughts as he stared at the pre-dawn sky.  The beautiful warm hues filled the sky, marking a new day.  Indeed, it was a new day.  In more senses than one.

He had decided, in the minutes of dawn as he stared at the sun rise above the skyline of the city that he would begin by ending the jealousy games.There had been enough of dating other women enough of trying to make Khushi jealous.  Clearly, it hadn't done him any good. 

He had also decided that he would wait until their graduation, which was in a month and a half.  If he didn't figure out anything until then, he would simply tell her how he felt, come what may.  He had been hiding this secret for much too long and he had to let her know. 

He would find ways to keep her in his life.  Because the inevitable truth was that if he never told her, she would eventually get married to someone else, without ever knowing that someone was truly, madly, and deeply in love with her. 

He would lose her then. 

But if he told her, chances were that they would figure out a way to solve things if she didn't feel the same way.  And if they couldn't solve things, he would lose her then too.  And like his father said, he will never know how she feels until he tells her how he feels.

The small chance that she probably felt the same way for him was worth him giving his confession a shot.  There was a fifty-fifty chance and he would take it.

"Thank you, dad."  Arnav spoke after a long time, unsure whether or not Arvind was still listening.

"Anytime, son.  I just wish you hadn't taken so long to tell me."  Arvind sounded sad and somewhat worried.

"I know...I wish I hadn't, too."  Arnav confessed.  Perhaps he should have had this conversation with his father a long time ago.

Wait a minute...why didn't I have this conversation with him in the first place?  What the hell is wrong with me?  I think I was worried that he wouldn't like her...but no...I know dad likes her...but maybe he likes her as his son's best friend...no.  I am just an idiot.  That's it.

An awkward pause took over as both men contemplated whether or not to speak the next sentences on their mind.

"Dad...you like her, right?"  Arnav spoke at last.

Arvind smiled to himself.  "I think she's perfect for you.  She's like a daughter to me, you know that."

Arnav smiled to himself.  His father's approval meant more to him than he would ever let anyone know.

"Bye dad...I promise I'll call you any time I need more advice about this..."  Arnav felt lighter than he had in days.

"You better!  I can't afford more of your stupidity...especially if it involves my son's Khushi."  Arvind smirked.

Arnav grinned at the double meaning of the word and shook his head, ready to end the call.  Even though he could feel the heat in his cheeks, He would rather die than ever admit that he was blushing!

"Oh, Arnav?"  Arvind spoke just as Arnav pulled the phone away from his ear. 

Hearing his father's voice, he put the instrument back against his ear.  "Yeah?"

"Your mom would have loved her too.  If she could have, she would most definitely have chosen her for you."  Arvind spoke quietly.