Dare Trilogy | Book 3 Editing | ✓

3.5 | His Words

Posted: July 2017 | Edited: December 27th, 2019

| . . . C H A P T E R . . . . 3 . 5 - H I S - W O R D S . . . |

I did my best to see my friends and family who were here for me as soon as we were off the stage, but people kept coming to me, complimenting and congratulating me for the work. I was grateful for it, ofcourse. It meant I had done something right. But my priority was to meet Annie, most of everyone else. When I finally made it to her, I leaned down to take her in a hug.

"Hey there!" I gushed as she responded to the hug by placing her arms around my neck. It had been two years, but for a growing girl, two years were a lot. She looked very different physically. After parting, I asked, "How are you? And how did you get here?"

"Jenni brought me." She answered, and I connected that Jennifer must have went to Australia from Rome before arriving in India for tonight's launch.

I expressed, hugging her again. "I'm so glad you're here!"

Aarav cleared his throat, showing jealousy at not getting the attention, "I'm here too, you know? Past my bed time."

I laughed. Only he would worry about bed time. Being a kid and a guy, he should be by default more interested in breaking set rules, but alas, this was Aarav Singh Raizada we were talking about. I pulled him to my other side, hugging him to one shoulder as well. "And I'm very much honored that you are here, kiddo."

Arnav reminded, "Aarav, don't you have something for Khushi?"

He pulled back from the hug and reached for the single rose that was in the pocket of his suit and forwarded it to me. I had figured Lavanya had put it there only because it would look great and go with the formals he was in, but guess not.

"Aww, thank you!" I kissed his cheek. He was seriously an adorable little one.

He wiped it, making a face, and then leaned to speak in my ear, "It's actually from dad, but shh."

I looked at Arnav learning the secret, and he pulled Aarav back, scolding, "You can't keep a single secret, can you?"

Aarav simply showed his dad his tongue. Now, this was a child – one who defied his parents. The one who worried about keeping his bedtime was someone much mature.

My earlier decision was reinforced. Aarav's innocence needs to be protected for as long as possible. After what we have seen in our lifetime, I did not want that shadow casting on him. It would be a fight to hell facing my demons physically in front of me again, but for this little guy, I would happily do so.

I had my laughter for the day, and the more I spent time with Aarav, the more he put a huge grin on my face till my cheeks would hurt.

I played catch up with Annie as much as I could, but it only lasted so long as I had to go talk to other figures present and I couldn't spend the whole time not attending to them.

. . . ∞ . ∞ . ∞ . ∞. . .

Towards the end of the night, the dance floor cleared up. I didn't think it made sense at first, but then Riddhima pointed out how the theme of the calendar was marriages and happily ever after. It made sense to have a dance floor for the couples before they would retire for the night.

Thus, I nudged Armaan and Riddhima to have at it. They joined the others and Arnav shared a dance with Anjali for one song as they were the hosts. Anjali then joined Aarav and he made his mother, Lavanya, dance with Arnav, saying his parents should have one dance together.