Part 4
Armaan was getting pissed off more and more every second. In his anger, he forgot that Ridz doesn’t know anything about him. He was now fuming with anger. He lost his temper and yelled, “Can you just stop sating my last name!!!” and stormed off. He left behind a shaken and scared Riddhima with tears in her eyes. She turned around and saw Rahul standing there.
“I guess I should tell you.” Rahul said. They both started walking when Rahul stopped. He turned around and asked Muskaan to come as well. Muskaan wasn’t sure if she wanted to know something about Armaan; but Rahul signaled towards Riddhima, she ran and caught up with them. Riddhima and Muskaan went to the girls’ change rooms and Rahul went to the boys’ change room.
Riddhima was lost. Everything was still sinking in and the words of Armaan were still stirring in her head. She didn’t want to believe it. “Why did he yell at me?? I don’t even know anything.” was all that Riddhima wanted to ask Armaan. But she knew he was angry with her. Muskaan led her to the playgrounds where Rahul had asked them to meet.
“Riddhima, listen. Armaan is like that. I think he has gone throu-”. He stopped because he noticed that she wasn’t paying attention. He shook Riddhima. She finally came out of her thoughts and wondered what she was doing there. “Muskaan main yahan kya kar rahi hoon??” Riddhima enquired.
“Rahul tujhe kuch batana chahta hai……………… Armaan ke bare mein.” Hearing Armaan’s name, Riddhima’s eyes welled up again.
“Riddhima. Please control yourself. Listen dude please. Don’t cry. It’s just that Armaan has gone through a lot I guess. His family circumstances are not so good. He didn’t tell me anything either, but all I know is he doesn’t like his last name. Please don’t say his last name again. Please. And I am 100% sure that stupid Armaan is regretting yelling at you. PLEEAAASSSEEEE forgive him. PLEAASEEE.” Rahul was almost pleading.
“I understand. I will forgive him. I didn’t know that something has happened in his life and I guess it was right for him to yell at me like that. I blabber like a shithead as well when I am pissed off. :P :P But one thing is sure Mr. Armaan. Riddhima ko manana itna aasan nahi hai. Tumhe thodi mehnat karni padegi. :D” Riddhima grinned widely and naughtily. Muskaan and Rahul were happy to see Riddhima back to normal. Muskaan hugged Riddhima. “And Rahul. Just to tell me that he doesn’t like his last name, why did you bring me here.? You could have told there in the canteen area too right??
“Actually I didn’t want to create a scene there. This is Parra high. One tear excapes from your eye and a story spreads around. LOL nah. That doesn’t happen. I just didn’t want anyone else around. You understand me?? And where is my hug??” Rahul said.
“Oh… ok… and are you flirting with me????” Riddhima asked acting as if she was offended by his act.
“Maybe. Nah just kidding. You see, only if you want to get a nice friendly hug, then I am always there.”
“Ya ya whatever. Dumb ass. :P” Riddhima gave a hug to Rahul and then the bell went. “Time to go home. Muskaan, are you walking or catching the bus??”
“Hmmm… I will walk. You ok with that?” Muskaan asked. She was still not sure if Riddhima was ok after all that happened.
“Ya. You go ahead. I will go to the bus stop. Bye. Tc.”
“Ok then bye, see ya tomorrow.” They both hugged each other and then went their own ways.
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Armaan was, as Rahul had predicted, regretting yelling at Riddhima. She didn’t know anything but he knew Rahul would have told her that his life wasn’t as perfect as it looked. “I hope she forgives me.” Armaan thought. He was at the bus stop. He looked around at the crowd around him to look for someone to talk to when his eyes fell on Riddhima and he thought of apologizing. Riddhima was laughing at a joke that Rachael had just cracked and to Armaan, she looked like an angel. He pushed his thoughts aside thinking he was stupid to think that.
Riddhima had seen Armaan from the corner of her eyes and decided to act angry. So she started to laugh and people around her thought she was crazy. She turned around and stopped laughing abruptly. She wanted him to feel bad for yelling at her. She then put on an angry and decided to keep it on until she was out of sight of Armaan. Riddhima could see the sorry in his eyes but didn’t care less. Well, she did care, but she wanted to enjoy a bit first. So when she saw Armaan approaching her, she turned around and went to another friend of hers (yes Riddhima had made a lot of friends on her first day.) to talk to avoid Armaan. Armaan didn’t disturb them as he thought that was rude. The bus came and they got on the bus. The bus was jam packed and so Armaan couldn’t get a chance to talk to Riddhima. Riddhima got off the bus, glanced at Armaan once, and then went home. Armaan decided he would have to talk to Riddhima otherwise he was damned. He didn’t know why he was, but he just was.
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Riddhima reached home, opened the door with her keys and went in. Instead of eating something, she went straight to the fridge and took a can of coke. She loved junk food.
“Riddhima usse abhi andar rakh aur khana kha.” Padma yelled.
“Kya ma. I thought apko kaam pe jaana tha. Aap har par kya kar rahe ho?” Riddhima asked.
“Haan kaam tha but maine mana kar diya. Mujhe aaj ghar pe rehna tha. Aur tu chup chap khana kha le. Junk food kha kha ke moti ho jayegi. Tere dad ko tera ye sudden change to junk food achcha nahi lagta.”
“Unhe to meri koi bhi cheez achchi nahi lagti.” Saying so Riddhima stormed off upstairs into her room. She got changed and for a change hung her uniform on a hanger. She turned her music to full volume to ignore her mom and then sat on her bed, tears streaming down her face. “Why dad, why? Why do you hate me so much. Why? I have just changed a little bit, adjusted to the Aussie culture. So what’s wrong with that. It’s not like I don’t listen to you at all. Just a bit of freedom is all I am asking for. Why can’t you give me that?”
Shashank didn’t like the way his daughter was changing. He thought that she was going out of his hands and way she back-chatted, the way she talks, the way she behave. He hates it all. He wished his daughter was not like that. Padma always took Riddhima's side, but he wondered why she didn’t understand that it was problematic the way Riddhima was changing. He didn’t want Riddhima to be like that, not at all.
Riddhima had dosed off. She woke up because the music had stopped playing. She saw her mom standing there, not saying anything. She had forgotten to lock her room. She always locked her room. She didn’t like her privacy being invaded.
“Riddhima, dinner is ready. Come downstairs.” Padma left saying that. Riddhima’s stomach grumbled indicating that she was hungry (she hadn’t eaten her lunch). Her legs were aching from the basketball match. She went downstairs in her PJs and had her dinner. She didn’t speak a word and went back upstairs. She started drawing the sign for her bedroom door. There was still a lot of decoration left in her room. The wall colour was to be changed. A LCD TV was to be hung on the wall. A big poster of her was to be hung on the wall. Posters of her favourite actors and actresses and cricket players were to be hung. Riddhima loved cricket as much as she loved basketball. Basketball – she loved playing it. Cricket – she loved watching it. And she supported India. There was not a single match of India that she missed, not a single. That was the only time when she and Shashank talked. “Cricket” she remembered and hoped on to her laptop. She turned on the live channel and while it was loading, she laminated the door sign and stuck it on the door. It read, “BEWARE!! ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK!! HAZARDOUS MATERIAL. YOU MAY TRIP AND FALL DOWN OR YOUR EAR DRUMS MIGHT BURST BECAUSE OF THE PRETTY MUSIC PLAYING. :P”. It looked pretty with all the colours. Riddhima was good at art. That is why she was going to design her own room on her own. “No one’s help needed.” She had told Padma before hand when the house was under construction that they do not paint the walls of her room. Her room was sound proof. This meant that if the door was closed, no voice escaped from it. Her room was the most expensive room. Riddhima thought that her dad didn’t like the fact that he had to spend that much money but she thought that maybe Padma had convinced dad.
Actually, Shashank didn’t mind at all about the money he had spent on her. He wanted her to live in a house she loved. So he had asked Riddhima to design the whole house. Riddhima had given out all the instructions to the designers and once it was complete, even the medium size house looked like a palace. He had to agree that his daughter was really creative. He knew this was the best house he had ever seen. After they had finished their work, even the designers said that they couldn’t have done all this without her help. That was one thing Shashank was proud of Riddhima. But he never said anything to Riddhima. Never.
(Back to present)
Riddhima went and sat down and watched the match. The whole night she watched the match. The match finished and India won. She danced for at least five minutes to celebrate India’s victory. She then used the intercom to talk to Shashank.
“Kya hai Riddhima?” Shashank said sleepily.
“Umm… woh India won. That’s all.” She kept the phone down and decided to get atleast 2 hours of sleep. After 2 hours she would be up and running to get ready for school.
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He woke up and rubbed his eyes. His eyes were swollen and red from lack of sleep. He looked at the watch and ran straight to the bathroom. He took a quick shower and ran downstairs and straight out of the house. His mom called after him but he didn’t listen. He knew Riddhima caught the early bus and there was hardly anyone in the bus at that time. He reached the bus stop just in time because the bus had just come. He sat at the back and waited for Riddhima's stop.
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Riddhima was also running late to school. She also caught the bus just in a nick of time. She got on the bus and went right at the back. She hadn’t noticed Armaan sitting there and went and sat behind him. He turned around and smiled at her and said hi. She didn’t say anything and pretended to be listening to her music. She looked up and saw the pain in his eyes. So she decided to stop acting and talk to him.
“Armaan.” She said softly.
Armaan looked up and saw her eyes shining with tears. “Look Riddhima. I know I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I know you didn’t know anything. It’s just that I am very very short tempered.” Armaan said all this very fastly as if he had memorized this speech. “And please forgive me. I am really sorry. Please don-”Armaan was cut off by Riddhima.
“Wow. Slow down man. Rahul told me everything. I understand. Family problems equal to a pain in the bum :P.”
“Wait. So you are all cool with what happened?”
“Ya.”
“Then why were you all pissed off yesterday and this morning.??”
“Oh. That was just for some fun. But then I realized that it was troubling you a lot so I stopped.”
“Oh. Nice. You are very good at acting. Armaan is impressed. :P :P”
Suddenly getting serious, “I am sorry Armaan. I didn’t know - ”
“No Riddhima. It’s not your fault. I am sorry.”
“No Armaan. I am sorry. I should have noticed that you didn’t like it. So I am sorry.”
“No. I am sorry.”
“Guys. Can this sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry stop!!?!!??!!! The person who invented the word would be regretting inventing it right now. I have been standing here for so long.” Muskaan said. While they were talking, they hadn’t noticed Muskaan come in the bus.
“Oh sorry. Tujhe notice nahi kiya. :P Kidding. Come sit.” Riddhima said.
“LOL. Armaan. Doesn’t Rahul catch this bus?”
Armaan mentally smiled. “Why do you want to know?”
“Just wanted to know that aren’t you lonely in the bus. Like, before we came.”
“Oh. I catch the late bus. I just caught this bus to talk to Riddhy.”
“RIDDHY. Oh. So Ridz’s nickname. I am pretty sure only you are allowed to call her that.”
“Yes” Armaan smiled widely like a child.
The school arrived and they got down and went to their respective groups. In just one day, they had fought and made up twice. Armaan and Ridz both found that amazing. They thought they had developed a strong bond between them. They both were happy to have a friend like them in their life. Very happy.
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Precap
“Armaan. Wake up. You didn’t come to school to sleep did you?” the teacher yelled.
“Sorry sir. I was watching cricket last night and so I didn’t get to sleep much.” Armaan said sleepily.
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