Tangled || ArShi FF

Chapter 7 - No more surprises.

(A few hours earlier)

Arnav was in the midst of getting ready to go out when his phone pinged. He was chatting with his stranger and he had assumed it must be another text.

(Saturday, May 20)

-Unknown- 7:13pm || [+Attachment.jpg]

It wasn't a text. It was a photo. Arnav's curiosity was piqued. He tapped on the 'download' button and in a jiffy the pic loaded on his phone screen. What he saw knocked the wind out of him.

It was her photo though her face was cropped out. The pic showed her in a white gown, from her neck, to her well-defined collarbones to the slight cleavage to her slender waist, down to her hips.

For a couple of minutes, he was so stunned that his mind couldn't comprehend anything. The pic was taken in yellow light. She looked angelic in the white dress with a golden hue around her.

He ran his finger over the screen and swallowed hard. She was tempting him and it had worked.

He didn't know how to respond to that. Many a times he began typing and then deleted. Finally he wrote what he actually felt the first time he saw the photo.

-Arnav- 7:17pm || F*ck! Are you trying to kill me?

They had a teasing/flirting back and forth when, in a flow of emotions, he wrote something.

-Arnav - 7:22pm || I can't stop thinking of what I want to do with you... to you...

He waited for sometime for a response. When none came, he started getting worried. Was that text too much? Did she find it unpleasant? And so he apologized to her with sincerity. She still didn't reply.

His cousin, Akash, who was staying with him, called out to him, "Arnav! It's 7:30! Reservation is at 8. We are getting late. Hurry up!"

Akash was his maternal cousin who stayed and worked in Mumbai. On a recent visit to Delhi for official purposes, he had met a girl and was now dating her. When Arnav moved to Delhi, Akash insisted on him meeting her.

Despite of the fact that they didn't grow up together, Akash and Arnav were thick as thieves. As kids, they would look forward to their school summer break when Akash would visit Arnav in New York for a month long vacation and in winters when Arnav would spend his break in Mumbai. As they grew up, they also became the best of friends.

So, when Akash wanted to take his relationship with his girlfriend forward, he wanted Arnav to meet her and Arnav had gladly agreed.

But now the last thing he wanted was to go out. His stranger had not replied to his apology. The message was loud and clear. Not wanting to end it without saying what he truly wanted, he wrote his feelings in a string of texts ending it with-

-Arnav- 7:57pm || I won't bother you again.

-Arnav- 7:58pm || Goodbye.

A part of him was still hopeful that she might forgive and forget this episode and they could go back to normalcy; But another part of him casted doubt on his hope. She hadn't replied to him in almost an hour now.

He closed his eyes and cursed himself. Why did he make his feelings so apparent! He was so good at camouflaging his thoughts in professional life and most of the times even in personal life, yet when it came to her; he wouldn't or couldn't restrain himself.

That was why this unusual conversation had intrigued him at the first place- to be able to talk to someone freely, without needing to mask his emotions. But now... he clutched the cellphone tighter- it was ruined.