This first update of THLH after my break is specially dedicated to @diyathediva , who was actually the reason for me to decide to continue with this story only after my break. Thank you so much :) <3
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Next day (Monday)
A sleepy Ayan made his way to his Khushi didi's room, rubbing his eyes with one hand while the other was knocking Khushi's room door.
Khushi took few seconds as she hurriedly opened the door wondering who was knocking the door so urgently early in the morning, did something wrong happened in Raizada household, was she delaying in getting ready and everyone is already waiting for her to have breakfast or was Arnav in hurry to leave for his office today?
All her theories were proven wrong when she opened the door to witness a cute sleepy Ayan asking for his brother to her and complaining that he didn't sleep in his room yesterday.
"Khushi didi.. aap ne bhai ko dekha? He didn't sleep in our room yesterday. You know our alarm kept ringing and he didn't wake me up as usual, that's when I found it suspicious and then I opened my eyes and looked at his bed and he wasn't there.. and his bed was still neatly made, which means he didn't sleep in his bed yesterday. I searched for him but didn't find him anywhere in the house, maybe he didn't slept home yesterday.."
"No, he was home only yesterday," she replied with conviction, "Did you check on Ratna aunty's room? Last time I saw him.. he was on his way to her room only."
Ayan nodded sideways, "No, I didn't check Ma's room," he replied while grabbing her hand and dragging her with him to Ratna's room, "Let's go and check if he's there or not.. agar voh wahan nahi hai.. toh kisi ne mere bhai ko kidnap kiya hai (if he's not there, then someone kidnapped my brother)."
"Shubh shubh bolo Ayan.. aisi baat nahi karte (Say positive things Ayan.. you shouldn't talk like this)," Khushi immediately chided him with a slight frown adorning her forehead.
Instead of sulking or getting offended with her scolding, Ayan smiled stealthily thinking to himself, "Aha! So you care for bhai too Khushi didi.. how cute!"
They reached Ratna's room and waited for her to open the door, but they got surprised as much as relieved to see it was Arnav who opened the door for them, his hair was messy, his eyes were a little bit puffy and sleepy and a frown adorning his forehead as if he was annoyed by them for disturbing his sleep.
Khushi couldn't stop herself from gazing at him from top to bottom, with special attention to his sharp face features during her staring session, "He's so handsome," came the subconscious voice of her mind, "Chup Khushi! Kya soch rahi ho tum? (Shut up Khushi.. What are you thinking?).. Arnav ji is your friend," she immediately lowered her eyes, mentally chiding herself for having such thoughts about her friend.
Arnav, on the other hand, the moment his eyes got a clear vision of the people in front of him, especially of the girl dressed in a white and royal blue combination salwar kurti with her open and uncombed hair, he felt a mix of emotions deep inside his heart, he felt something strange while staring at Khushi.. he didn't know what he was going through that moment, but the fact that he was staring at the girl he claims to love after letting the most important person to him, his world, his Ma know about her (Khushi) yesterday.. hits different now. He considered his mother as his whole world, and after letting his mother know about his feelings for Khushi, he was feeling kind of awkward to even face Khushi, it literally made him feel as if the whole world knows about his little secret he had been hiding until now. He was feeling exposed and self-conscious and to avoid these feelings, he shifted his attention to his Ayan as he leaned his shoulder on the door frame trying to act normal and unaffected by Khushi's presence, before he asked to Ayan, "What happened? Is everything okay?"
