You Stole A Heart [COMPLETED]

Chapter : Seven Persistent

Chapter : 7    

How different things can turn out to be than what you expect. Reality definitely clashes with imagination at certain moments. I had imagined my first ever meeting with AK, if it ever happened, to go really smooth. Hell, I had even prepared a few casual lines that I'd tell him when we'd talk.

My conscience literally snickered at me.

I made him trip over my foot and fall, I blew up his car and I made him believe I was retarded with the way that I interacted with him. Just Great! Aarav, on the other hand, handled the situations so well. He's calm, composed and knows how to express his opinions without a spec of hesitation. Why can't I be more like him? I mean we are twins, right? Why do I feel inferior to him then?

The way Aarav has a say around the entire College campus is remarkable. In the two years that he's been in that institution, he's won every heart and is a charm to every person; be it a student or a teacher. The way he takes a stand against injustice whenever needed, the way he leads College Strikes to raise a voice, the way he announces his presence... It's an understatement to say that I envy my brother's capabilities sometimes.

"Tanya, will you tell me?" Aarav's voice brought me out of my thoughts. His voice held irritation and a hint of impatience while his grey eyes were brimming with curiosity.

"Sorry, what?" I asked, clueless about what he was asking me.

Aarav sighed with a frustrated glare. He leaned back on the headrest of the bed as he looked at me, running his fingers through his dense hair as if trying to keep his calm. We were in his room, discussing about the Strike he had recently initiated and what future plans he has been thinking about to make the strike have an impact on the College Administration.  

"I'm asking you about the lie. Why did you make me tell Ayushmann that you weren't at home when you're sitting right next to me?" He spoke.

"Um...I don't know." I mumbled, my eyes fixated on Aarav's phone which lay next to him on the bed.

"What was that?" He asked, clearly confused.

"I don't really think that meeting him would be the best idea. If you look back, whenever I've met him, something bad has always happened to him." I explained my thoughts.

Moreover, I was somewhat tired of making a fool out of myself. I agree that meeting or at least getting a glimpse of AK has been a dream come true for me. But do I really wanna embarrass and humiliate myself some more? I don't really think so.  

Aarav looked at me with a blank expression as if he was giving my words a thought.

"Plus I think it's best if I can avoid accidents involving AK and that's possible only when we don't meet." I said only to fill up the silence of the room.

***

"What do you mean you 'can't find it'?" Kajal asked, her voice lacing concern.

"Well, I mean I can't find it." I said, frustrated and worried. I flipped through the pages of the thick Biology book only to make it appear that I was searching for some term related to the Dendrites and Synapse of the Neurons.

"Did you ask Aarav about it?" She asked, mimicking my actions to cover the conversation that we were carrying out in the middle of a Biology lecture.

"Well, duh. He's the first person I interrogated considering how he's lost my stuff before." I replied, my voice a mere whisper with my eyes trained mindlessly on the words in the textbook.

We both were talking about my beloved little poetry book that seemed to just vanish in thin air.

It's been about a week now since that car accident case and everything's gone back to normal. Well, everything except for the five calls from Ayushmann's manager on my brother's phone every day. Tired of making up excuses, Aarav just stopped answering the calls but this didn't affect the call patterns. I wonder why he's been so persistent.

Occasionally, Ayushmann himself would ring up on Aarav to ask about me which, on the first call, gave me a mini seizure. From what Aarav told me, it seemed like AK sounded impatient and an urgency would be lacing his voice every time that he'd call. 

While I stress out on that fact regarding the calls, Kajal says I'm damn lucky to have such a celebrity call me every few hours.

"Class dismissed." Mrs.Rane said, announcing that the Biology lecture, the last class of the day, was over and that students could now leave for home.

Walking out of my class with Kajal, we were joined by Aarav and his friends- Jake and Darshan. I could see Kajal's face suddenly light up with joy. Though we never keep secrets to ourselves, I sometimes wonder if Kajal felt something for my brother. But then again, when they end up bickering like little five year olds over random topics, I toss the idea into the trash can.

"The plan is still on, right" Kajal asked me.

"Yep." I replied, popping the 'p' at the end.

Kajal and I had planned to spend the day at my place and binge watch some Netflix series.

***

"Can I park the car today?" I asked with a pout while Aarav threw me an angry glare.

"You think?" He asked.

I giggled at his reaction. Of course, after that accident, Aarav hasn't let me hover even near the driver's seat let alone turn the ignition on. I just hope that I learn to steer cars someday. I don't wanna keep on relying on my brother or the Mumbai Taxis to take me to my destinations every single time.

"Wait, is that...AK?" Kajal said from the backseat as she pointed her index finger somewhere at the parking lot of the complex.

"WHAT?!" Both Aarav and I yelped at the same moment. I sat up straight on the shotgun as I craned my neck over to glance to where my bestie had pointed. 

There he was, leaning against the frame of a silver sedan with dark sunglasses covering his eyes and a black hoodie which fairly covered his face from the locals who might have recognized him otherwise. A guy was accompanying him and I guessed it was his manager as he paced around the car and AK with quick eyes. The guy too was dressed in a black shirt and trousers and dark aviator glasses perched on the bridge of his nose.

"Ooh, men in black!" Kajal exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear.

I was worried because he had showed up right here while Aarav was terrified of the possibility that he'd have to explain why he ignored the calls. Kajal , on the other hand, was hopping on the backseat with excitement.

"God save me," Aarav said as he slowly parked the SUV on the far end of the lot, as far from AK as possible. The moment he turned off the ignition, dead silence enveloped us and I felt myself turn to stone as AK's face focused our way. I'm more than sure that he had spotted us as he crossed his arms on his chest with a silent sigh. 

We three slowly climbed out. While Aarav was the fastest to run up the stairs of the complex, Kajal was the slowest since she was busy clicking pictures of Ayushmann who stood at the far end. My heart raced faster when he started advancing towards me. I felt like my feet got glued to the ground.

"Better hurry if you still wanna ignore him," Kajal whispered to me which finally brought me back to reality. Shaking my head, I started walking away towards the complex apartments with Kajal beside me.

"Tanya, wait." AK called once but I dared not turn to look back.

I marched away as quick as I could and ascended the stairs. All this while I could feel a pair of brown eyes boring holes at the back of my head. 

Author's Note:

Back with my rant but I don't have anything to say today, 😂

Hope you liked the chapter.

What do you think AK will do next?

Will he just give up or is the persistence gonna take a turn now?