Part 11

"I will start reading that book from the end! You won't get to say 'you have no idea' any more after I complete that book!" retorted Vrinda, trying to control her staggered breaths and flushed cheeks but his proximity only seemed to intensify the emotions causing the lightheadedness.

Vivaan's smile faded away as he realized what her words meant. The ending of that book was full of questions for him; for abandoning her, for choosing duty over love. The last few pages were filled with angst and agony which twisted the dagger of guilt stabbed into his heart tortuously and beginning the her journey with such tormenting details would wreck havoc on her unaware self.

"You will start from the beginning, Radha. You won't understand the context or the events at the end unless you read the book from the beginning," he advised, moving away from her, ignoring the frown which marred her features because of the increased distance.

"You are saying this just to incite me for a longer time!" she countered, pouting her lips in disappointment and poking at his shoulder with her index finger.

"I am just doing this for you, Radha. You will realize the same soon," he answered, lowering his eyes in guilt as he played numerous scenarios about her reaction towards their last meet as Vrinda and Vivaan, only to break his heart.

The sincerity in his voice and the way he had averted his eyes from her helped Vrinda realize that he was indeed trying to save her from some kind of pain. Although curiosity had clutched her mind in its venomous grip, her growing feelings towards the man who had advised her tried to counter the curiosity by inducing patience.

"See, I will not be able to control myself from reading the book from the end. But I trust what you are saying. Do one thing, we will read it together and after we are done for the day, you take the book with yourself. Curiosity should not let me do things which will form wrong opinions," stated Vrinda, trying to walk around to avoid seeing his crestfallen face which seemed to torment her more than she had expected.

Curiosity was trait which had been long associated with Vrinda but she had always tried to limit her curiosity, either due to the wishes of her father or due to the boundaries she had herself erected. Throughout their journey, Vivaan was the one to convince her to break free of those boundaries and it certainly broke his heart to be the one to impose them.

"I am sorry, it is just that you need to develop a better understanding of everyone before we reach to the last pages," he explained, holding her hand gently, preventing her from moving away from him. She turned around to face him, his touch working magic upon her, tantalizing her senses just like in the past.

She held him by his biceps as several questions floated in her mind, still reeling with confusion and wreckage of senses.

"It is not something good, is it? The end? Is it the reason I don't have any memory right now?" she questioned, her voice straining with melancholy and hesitance.

Vivaan could not bring himself to voice his answer but just nodded in affirmation to her question. She had anticipated the same since she noticed the apprehension of Vivaan but the confirmation had still managed to shock her.

"Let's start reading, please? I want to know everything," she whispered, leaning towards him and placing her head on his chest, almost impulsively as she basked in his warmth and gravitated like a moth towards fire to allow it to engulf her completely. She could not name her feelings towards the one who held her in grip of assurance but she was aware that only he could incite those feelings. Only he could be the reason, and nothing else mattered.

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"Yaad Hai(You remember), everyone keeps telling us that you made me take my first steps. Yaad Nahi(Don't remember)? But I remember. Because my life had never been the same after that incident. I found a best friend, a confidante and most of all, the key to my life."

Vivaan and Vrinda looked at each other in a puzzled manner as Vivaan read out the first paragraph of the book. How could she remember an incident that took place when she was less than an year old?

"Read ahead, maybe we are thinking of the wrong incident," said Vrinda, confused by the wrods herself but she had an intuition that it was to do with something other than teaching her how to walk.

"You must be thinking, 'how does Vrinda remember something which happened when she was about an year old'? I am not talking about that first step. The step which changed my life was speaking up for you when you were getting beaten up. That was the first time that I had felt adrenaline rush through me, first time I questioned everything taught to me. Along with the realization that I should do what situation demands rather than what expectations demand, I also managed to win your friendship. But trust me, back then, the real reason I wanted to be your friend was because Sucheta Kaki prepares amazing food. There's no need to think that you had any kind of charm."

Vivaan's lips curved into upward curve on their own as a chuckle escaped his lips at Vrinda's words. Ever the one to remark on his lack of charms to contradict the words of the other girls who found themselves attracted to him, Vrinda had not forgotten to bring the same line of hers even into the gift she had planned for Vivaan.

"Then I started opening up to you and you finally started getting more food for me at home without complaining. Or else I would have been stuck with eating the bland and supposedly sophisticated dishes only. You remember the way you questioned about why I only speak in English? That was the first time I had posed that question to myself and I realized that I had been doing things just because I was supposed to, not because I wanted to. It was then that I confessed that I wanted to learn dancing to you, Daksh Bhai and Kaki. Till then, I had not known that I was even supposed to have my own sets of interests. From making me eat those spicy and forbidden foods to helping me pursue my interests to romancing me at my own house by hiding it from Papa, must say, you do not have much of charms but you do have courage."

"Seriously, again 'no charms'?" complained Vivaan, not realizing that the romance part had ended up making Vrinda feel awkward about being intimate with her best friend of the past when she could only imagine the man reading out to her in his place.

"Looks like I was pretty open about the relationship," remarked Vrinda, trying to control her mind from playing out various possibilities about the same.

It was Vivaan's turn to feel awkward when he realized that he was supposed to be a cousin of Vivaan and he had just read out a part which indicated about Vivaan and Vrinda stealing moments in the house they were in.

"Yeah, I mean, it is book meant for Vivaan so...."

"Let's continue tomorrow, shall we?" pleaded Vrinda, unable to erase the images from her mind and stop the crimson hue from coloring her completely.

Her flustered expressions and quivering lips made a smirk etch itself on Vivaan's lips as he shook his head at her shyness, reminiscing the sudden outbreak of shyness between their passionate romance which always followed when she had took the initiative herself. It also did not take long for Vivaan to understand what was going in her mind as he drank in the sight of her blushed cheeks and slightly upturned lips.

Somethings, truly do not change.