19 Chapter 18

Daksha's POV:

The entire journey was filled with complete silence. Soon, we reached my apartment. After he stopped the car in front of my apartment, I was about to get out of the car, but he stopped me and handed me a small bag.

I looked at him in confusion upon seeing him giving me the bag, nonetheless, I took it from him.

"Why did you give me a bag?” I asked him.

"In that bag, there is a shirt which I had worn earlier. Wash it and bring it to me tomorrow," Arjun said, returning to his usual rude self.

"Ohh! Why do you think I will wash it for you? I am not your servant. Go and wash it by yourself," saying I was going to throw it on the back seat but stopped after hearing him.

"There is your lipstick mark on that shirt. I don't want to take it home and get embarrassed in front of the servants. So, wash it as it is caused by you only. Don't ask me to throw it away because all thanks to you, I already had to throw away my favorite jacket at the airport," he replied.

"I won't wash it. I am not the one who asked you to demonstrate whatever had happened at the airport. So, keep it or throw it away. I don't care. Goodbye. Thanks for dropping me," saying this, I left the bag there itself and got out of the car, and slammed the door shut in irritation.

He immediately came out of the car and followed me, taking long strides while holding the bag in his hands.

"Stop there. Don't you know who caused this? If you hadn't accused me wrongly, why would I need to do that? Even Mom saw that mark when we went to the room in a hurry and plotted this whole plan of dropping you home. You have already caused me enough trouble. Wash it or buy me a new one. I will pick you up tomorrow. Decide it for yourself," he said with a smile which irritated me even more and after hearing what he said, I so wanted to pull his hair.

There was no way that I would choose the second option as I couldn’t even stand his presence for more than a second.

"Like hell, I will come with you again," after saying this I snatched the bag and started walking away from him.

"As if I am dying to do that. Good that you know what's good for you," while walking I heard him saying these words, but I didn't turn or respond to him.

"Did I take him as a gentleman earlier? I take back everything that I had said. Scratch it. He is not even close to the letter 'g' in gentleman. He is and will always be a rude man," cursing him in my mind, I went to the apartment and entered it after opening the door.

Upon seeing me, Aarushi greeted me and was about to take the bags from me but I quickly retracted my hand and gave her the only bag which contained ice creams.

It would have been fine if it were Rishu who saw the shirt of that rude man but if it were to be seen by that Aaru, then I would have been completely done for. So, I didn’t want to take the risk in this situation as that devil was there itself.

"Rishu, where is that idiot?" I asked her as I still didn't catch the sight of Aaru. After hearing what I had said, Rishu signaled me with her eyes to look behind my back.

When I did the same, I saw her standing there leaning on the wall with her arms crossed across her chest. All the while, she was looking at the bag in my hand with a scrutinizing gaze.

So, I immediately hid it behind my back putting a full stop to her staring session.

"Aaru, you are here. I brought your favorite flavor. Eat it. Okay, I am going to my room. I am not hungry, so I won't have my dinner. Don't disturb me as I am going to sleep," saying this, without hearing their response, I started to walk in the direction of my room but stopped immediately after hearing the words of Aarna.

" Woah! Indraja Aunty? What a surprise! What are you doing here at this hour?" These words from Aarna gave me quite a fright.

So, I instantly turned to the main door looking for the presence of my Mom. Taking advantage of my momentary distraction, Aarna snatched the bag from my hand, making me go hot on my heels as she started running all around the hall while opening the bag.

At last, she succeeded in opening the bag and took the shirt out in a jiffy. After that, she started her blabbering session.

" My my my...isn't it a men's shirt? Why do you have this shirt? God! Isn't this the same color of the lipstick that you are wearing today? When did this happen? Akka, I told you to stay away from other men except for that airport guy. Tell me who is he?" asked Aarna, making me tongue-tied.

How would I tell her that the shirt belongs to that airport guy only? I looked around for Rishu to seek some help from her, but she was nowhere to be found.

Why can't this idiot be a little sensible just like Rishu who only minds her own business?

"It's none of your business. I will just ask Sudha Aunty to stop being a matchmaker for me and start to look for a good match to marry you off. So, I will be saved from all your nonsense. Idiot. Go to your room. You do everything except for studying," saying this, without answering her questions, I snatched the shirt from her.

"If I get married, you will be the first one to miss me. Don't come to me crying when you miss me in the future." After saying this with a pout on her face, she released a huff and went into her room all the way stomping her foot.

"God, why is this only happening with me? You even sent that rude guy into my life. As if dealing with the silly behavior of Aarna is not enough for me, I have to bear his rude behavior also," I questioned him in my heart for the injustice he is doing to me. After letting out a sigh, I went to my room with that shirt.

I put that shirt aside to wash it later and went to the bathroom to freshen up. After freshening up, I immediately laid on the bed to call it a night as today was very tiring. I drifted to sleep while thinking about the bipolar behavior of that rude guy.

••••

Arjun's POV:

After dropping that angry bird at her apartment, I returned to the hospital to look after my mom. When I went to her room, I saw my sister Ammu and even Malathi Aunty who is the housekeeper of our house, were present there with my Mom.

I asked Ammu to go home with Malathi Aunty as I intended to stay with Mom but my mother stopped me. She asked Malathi Aunty to stay with her and insisted me to go home with Ammu to get some rest.

When I wanted to protest, even Malathi Aunty requested me to go home. So, we went home. After reaching my room, I again went to freshen up as I was smelling like medicine because of my stay at the hospital.

After freshening up, I was ready to get some sleep but I received a call before I could do it. Seeing Indra was the one calling me, I attended the call.

"Hey, man. You are so dead. Why didn't you tell me about Aunty's hospitalization? I had to hear it from my sister to know about that matter."

"I am sorry and I didn't do it intentionally but it somehow slipped from my mind to inform you guys as I was not myself in that situation," I said to him or for a change, apologized to him for the first time.

"Woah! Arjun, is it you who is speaking to me? If it is, then did I hear a sorry from you or am I hallucinating?"

"Man! Stop exaggerating and for your information, even you don't know how to say sorry. Didn't you say earlier you heard about my mom from your sister? How did your sister come to know about it when I didn't even inform you guys?" I asked him as I didn't understand how his sister came to know about it when I didn't even meet her till now.

"Ohh..that..do you remember that day when I came to your house to give you the dishes that were made by my mom? That day I mentioned my sister's friend na. If you remember it, her name is also Daksha. Actually, the Daksha whom Aunty knows, and the Daksha who is my sister's friend are the same. I also came to know about that fact today only when my sister told me about it. Okay, I gotta go. I will tell my mom about this and ask her to give a visit to Aunty."

He hung up, leaving me completely flabbergasted at the newfound information.

The face which made my nights sleepless, the name which evoked a pleasant feeling in my heart, the personality which my mom admired all along belongs to a single person.

That too, the person is that same angry bird who did weird things to me at my first glance itself.

She made me do so many things that I didn’t know that I was capable of doing.

I hugged her. I agreed to drop her. I even held her hand and helped her in crossing the road. I asked her tastes and preferences and even memorized them. I behaved in a way that is unlike my usual behavior.

I could have brought my shirt with me but I gave it to her to wash it as I enjoyed seeing her getting completely riled up, and being embarrassed in front of the servants was just an excuse because I never give any damn to others' opinions about me.

When I held her hand, it fit perfectly in mine as if it was made for me to hold. These feelings are very new to me.

Even when I was engaged to Anusha, we were in a completely platonic relationship and I never even sat close to her, let alone hold her hands.

The feeling that I had experienced with Daksha was very strange yet comfortable.

"Daksha. What a small world. From the moment I laid my eyes on you, everything that's happening in my life is somehow related to you. I am new to all these feelings. I don't know what to name those feelings. I already decided to accept everything that comes in my way. Is it what they call 'fate'? Are you my destiny? I think.. only time will tell." After those thoughts, I drifted into sleep with a blessed smile on my face.