My Childhood Crush [AR - Prequel] ✓

4. Brave Enough

Riddhima caught Khushi sending a glare in Arnav's direction every now and then. "What's he ever done to you?"

Khushi mumbled while chewing, "I hate him."

"Khushi, from what I recall, he's only talked to you twice so far. How can you hate him?" Riddhima tried to make her friend see sense, but Khushi remained firm in her opinion.

"I hate people like him. Players."

Riddhima knew she wouldn't be able to win this argument with her. Still, she made one comment hoping it would stick to Khushi. "From what I see, he is a lot like Armaan. Doesn't make sense to me as to why you would hate him."

Khushi shook her head, glancing at Riddhima when Arnav started leaning closer to the girl he was currently occupied with, "No, Ridzzi. There's a big difference between my brother and that guy."

Riddhima didn't answer, for she felt that if she did, they would end up talking about Armaan and that wasn't a reminder that she particularly wanted. Armaan hadn't stopped calling her. He would call her once a week, and each time it had been near impossible to hold back on talking back. Even she didn't know how she had managed.

Khushi and I were at the school canteen. I watched Khushi stress-eat, and watching that, I lost my appetite. "Khushi, please, slow down!" I tried telling her, but she didn't listen. "Okay, seriously. Stop eating and tell me what's wrong." Again. She didn't listen. I grabbed both her hands, making her drop the burger from her hand. "Chew." I instructed, when she tried to scold me for stopping her. Once she swallowed, I gave the next instruction, "Now. What happened?"

"I hate her."

"Who?"

"I hate her."

I tried to keep my patience, "Yes, hun. You said that already. Now, who do you hate?"

"That dumbo, Pri-ya." She said the name in two syllabus to enhance her dislike for her.

"Priya who?" I questioned. There was only one Priya in our class, and she was one of the quiet girls. Nice one. I couldn't imagine why Khushi wouldn't like her.

"Priya Chawla. She's in a class below us. Thinks she is all that because Armaan winked at her." Khushi finally stopped talking in riddles and explained what the real deal was. Oh okay, it's another Priya.

I remind her, "Armaan winks at everyone."

She scoffed, "I know that. You know that. Everyone in the school knows that. But she doesn't. Can you believe it? She tried to make me jealous, saying he was into her and all. Like seriously, someone go tell her I don't need to be jealous. He cares about me more than anyone else."

I grin, repeating her words to her, "I know that. You know that. And everyone in the school knows that. You don't need to be jealous, so why are you mad?"

"Because! I don't want my idiot of a brother asking her out on a date and have her rub it in my face."

I raised a brow, "Would you rather go on a date with him?"

She scrunched up her nose, "Ew. No. Ofcourse not. He's my brother!"

"Exactly. So forget about it. There are better things to do than hate her."

Her shoulders lifted. Uh-oh. She just got an idea, and that's confirmed when she smiles. "You're right. I'm going to make her regret ever speaking to me and Armaan."

I let out a defeated sigh. This wasn't what I had hoped she would conclude from my attempts to calm her down. "Khushi..."

She didn't let me finish, as she announced, "And you're going to help me."