Her Flawed Love

Chapter 10

Arni's POV

I wake up to my phone yelling at me. I peek open one eye and glance at the clock first. It's almost noon wow. I quickly take my phone which is dying for my attention.

It's a call from my father. If there is anyone for whom I would put my head on the line, then it's him.

"Helloooo" I sing trying my best to hide the morning terrible voice.

"Good Morning" he greets me.

I sigh and roll my eyes embarassed at the fact that he caught me somehow.

"Morning" I reply.

"Your mom says she misses you" dad says.

"Too bad, I miss my dad more" I say.

I hear mom sigh from the background and my father is giggling. That cute giggle he has.

"So, when are you coming home?" He finally asks.

"Not anytime soon Pa, I need to search for a job" I whisper.

"For what?" He asks me.

Huh?

"You've worked hard till now. Study wasn't easy for you and I know it. So sit back and take a break. Your job hunt can wait. Mental peace first and pressure next" he says.

For a moment I myself am stunned to hear such words from him. He was always the one who pushed me. Don't stop till you top it! Go! Don't rest honey!! But now, hearing him say these is something else.

"Do you really mean it? Because I've taken a break-"

"That one week break isn't something I would call a break. Take time. Live. Eat. Go out. Do nothing. Take. A. Break. "

"I love youuuuuuuuu" I yell into the phone.

He just laughs as he says," I love you too"

I hang the call up and smile to myself. A break. I can do whatever I want to. And my family is actually ok with it. Wow.

"Riyaaaaa" I yell as I run to her room.

Empty.

I run to the living room.

Empty again.

And there on refrigerator is a note that catches my attention.

"Call for an interview. Had to leave. Cook if you can, or order. But stay safe. Love you"

I shrug my shoulders putting the note on the kitchen counter. I thought since Dhruv is with his parents, Riya and I can spend more time. For some reasons we've been drifting apart. I am not liking it. Not even a bit.

They are invisible indifferences. Yes. As best friends we do love each other. But it's just not like the spark we once had. And I don't know where it went wrong.

I sigh and open the refrigerator. Ok! Most of the food is already spoiling. This damn refrigerator needs a clean up. This is what I'm gonna do today!

I quickly brush my teeth, clean my bed up and rush to the kitchen for some coffee. Coffee keeps me running. Coffee is bae. Coffee is an emotion. Coffee is everything!

I make myself a strong cup of coffee and decide to just sit in peace and have it. No television, no phone and no source. I wrap myself up in a blanket of my own thoughts.

Thinking of past, present and future.

Break. I am not sure how to pass this phase. But I know I will. I decided to focus on mental stability. This whole education system can tire you out sometimes. So it's ok to be selfish and to think of your own self. You gotta be selfish once in a while.

I also decided I would be as close as possible to Riya. After all she is my only close friend I've got. Whatever invisible wall is between us, I would gladly take an initiative to collapse it.

Once I'm done over thinking a little more by creating fake scenarios in my mind, I put my hair up in a bun and walk to the refrigerator.

Wow this also has the paneer curry I ordered last week that I thought I finished. I am amused. I am glad I decided to clean this up. Because garbage and my refrigerator doesn't have any difference right now.

It took me an hour. To sort everything out. Good. Bad. Rotten. Once done, I put the still good ones back in it. Good ones in the sense, eggs and frozen peas. That is all I have right now. If this isn't what a broke college students' refrigerator looks like, then I don't know what is!!!

I don't have anything to do anyway. So I'll just stop by McDonald's once because I am hungry as heck!! And then to grocery store to fill my refrigerator and look at everything till it gets spoiled again!

I run to my room to change my clothes. McDonald's isn't that far from my place so I can just walk. This whole cab system is basically making me lazy. So it would also be like taking a casual troll along my neighborhood.

But what I didn't expect, is to run into Vishal at McDonald's.

"Hey you.! I guess I know you" he says as he sits with me at my table.

"Oh really! I can't recall actually. Mind introducing yourself?" I chuckle.

And we both talk about everything that there is. Our orders are actually the same. We laugh at ourselves on how similar we both are.

"So! Can I ask you one question?" He asks.

"Please! Not again" I whine unwrap my Chicken Burger.

He laughs as he unwraps his as well. Takes a bite and then look at me with his eyes showing off a new emotion. Something I don't see often in him.

"What do you think of love?" He asks me.

I chose silence till I finish my burger and fries. Once I take a sip of my coke, I look at him who still has his eyes on me. I nod once and look at my food again.

"Love is probably the most beautiful thing in the world" I say.

"Thing?" He asks.

"Don't act so chic! You know what I mean" I roll my eyes.

The Oreo Mcflurry has my eyes but somehow, I just want this conversation to be done! Done for good. Because love is still a sensitive topic to me. Or more like, ever since my ex?

"I believe, love is something that binds souls together. The other soul might be your other half, best friend, family or even your pet. I feel like the term true love is actually underrated. I see everyone saying those precious words out loud to everyone they come across" I laugh.

"I agree!" He laughs as well.

Well well. I guess now I can have my Mcflurry. I open it with so much joy but then he again takes the topic of it. Only, he talks about his point of view. I actually didn't listen to anything. I was so indulged in enjoying the very heavenly taste of this ice cream. Don't blame me.

"So what are your plans next?" He asks me once I'm done.

"Grocery shopping" I shrug.

"And you?" I ask him again.

"I actually have nothing to do, so is it alright for me to tag along?" He asks.

A simple nod is my reply. We hop into his car and he is exactly opposite to Nishil. Nishil is the epitome of speed and reckless. On the other hand Vishal is calm, his drive is at steady pace. The thrill is absent in Vishal's driving though.

My mind involuntarily wanders to him. There is no call. No text. No move. I wonder if we will even meet again. Or did I push the wrong buttons saying I would wait till he is comfortable to talk about his side of story? Maybe he thought I wasn't interested so it came off that way? I am absolutely not sure.

Think of the Lucifer, and here he is!

Nishil's call brings a smile on my face I don't know why.

"Heyo!" I say.

"I see you were bored till now" He says and I can picture him grinning.

How did he know?

"You sound excited right now. My call doesn't excite anyone unless they like me or they're bored" he laughs again.

This genuinely made me giggle. And so I do. I am actually kind of bored. Is that his conversation on the topic love or his steady pace driving, I am not sure.

"Well, you might be right" I whisper.

He laughs.

"Dhruv is talking all about your friend" he says.

"Ah! She as well!!! Newly born love birds you see" I chuckle.

A loud horn from behind startle us. A lorry then overtakes the car in a very rash way. Thank Heavens it just overtook and didn't run on us.

"Wait, are you heading somewhere?" He asks.

"Mhm! Grocery shopping. Vishal is accompanying" I say.

A few moments of awkward silence. And Vishal just clears his throat. On purpose or not, I don't know.

"Alright! Have fun" he says.

"As if" I whisper.

And he actually laughs again. I am still unable to picture Nishil laughing these many times just in one conversation. Also, I don't know why is this happening only to me.

"Then, I'll make sure to make you have fun soon" His tone changes.

Not a big change. But a slight change in his voice is evident. And I still act dumb.

"Ahuh!"

"Very soon" He says.

"Excuse me sir, the documents you've asked for" I can hear someone talking in the background.

And Nishil hangs the call without even a bye. Now I'm really starting to think it's just not in his dictionary. The word, Bye.

I smile to myself as I slip the phone back into my bag. Vishal looks at me and lets out an awkward smile. I return the same as well. It's awkward until he decided to ask finally.!

"What's with you and Mr.Nishil?" He asks.

Mr.Nishil? So everyone gotta address him the same way? I am still amused at how he even allowed me to call him by his name. Moreover, I feel like this Vishal guy is going all personal.

"The same that's with you and me" I smile.

"That was so clean" he chuckles.

Within no time we reach the grocery store. I go through the security check and grab a trolley, meanwhile Vishal parks his car very very carefully. I mentally take a note to ask him about this. He shouldn't always be the one asking, should he?

I walk through the snack alley, my eyes catching almost everything but I resisted myself. Few chips, chocolates and cookies fall into my trolley. Vishal finally catches me. His brown eyes twinkling as he looks at the packet of Oreos in my hands.

I smile to myself and add it into my trolley.

We both walk silently to the fresh produce alley. That's almost green everywhere.

"You love your car?" I finally ask him.

"Who doesn't love their car?" He smiles.

Clever.

"But you drive at a safe pace. Park so carefully. I didn't even see any scratch on your car" I shrug.

"I indeed love my car. And I can't afford buying a new one if something happens. Meanwhile if I lose my own life because of the high speed driving skills, my soul can't buy a new one too" He says.

He said it in a funny way but it wasn't really funny. But I fake laugh for his sake anyway. I don't want to disappoint this poor boy.

I throw in some spinach, okra, tomatoes, cauliflower and few more before walking to the fruit alley. Bananas, Apples, Oranges... But watermelon catches my eye.

It also reminds me of someone I can't help but giggle. So I take a picture of it and send it to him on w******p. And slide my phone into the packet leaving it to him to reply whenever he is free.

"I'm sorry if this comes off rude, but is it ok to ask something again?" He asks.

There he goes again! But I still nod. And I also mentally take a note again on not to go out with him again. I don't understand if he is a human or a question bank!

"Were you heartbroken? Before?? It reflected in your answer when I asked about love" he says.

I seriously didn't expect this question from him. I stop walking and look at him. And I mentally debate. Should I tell him? Is it necessary?

I decided to keep it short. So I just nod as a response.

"I knew. Riya already told me. I just wanted to see if you trust me enough to say it or not" he smiles.

Wow this man! So he just played truth or dare even though he knows the answers? Clever play!!!

"Okayyyyy" I say and continue walking.

I throw in a pack of strawberries and I look at him staring at me.

"What?" I laugh.

"He must be an i***t" he mutters.

"Well, he is an i***t" I laugh again.

He was a s*x addict. And his words were always sugar coated. Only, I didn't know the concept of best flirting. I fell into the trap. It was all fun and cute at the beginning. The dates, picnics, surprises and all.

One fine day, he asked for s*x and I denied.

"So, you don't trust me enough for it?" Were his words.

How stupid of me to ignore all those red flags. But his eyes softened the next moment, and pulled me in for a hug. And I forgot everything again. It's like I thought everything would be fine.

But few days later he forced me for it. I still didn't let him. And he slapped me.

"You don't even love me. You would've had s*x with me if you did" were his words again.

That is when all the red flags fell into place. The way he would stare at girls, and when I ask his reply would be "Oh! That dress would look better on you" .

I never really gave it much thought until I got slapped for denying having s*x with my boyfriend. Oh how painful it is to get slapped by the person you love the most only because you said no when he wanted it.

I was heartbroken. Indeed.

I was devasted.

I was angry.

So I punched him in the balls before I walked out of his home. How dare he!

I half expected for him to come back. But he was so quick in adding me into his list of ex girlfriends. That was funny I have to admit. I was just a naive teenager.

My own ringtone brings me out of the heavy chain of thoughts. Nishil! Wow! I expected him to text but he surprises me by calling again.

"You still remember!!" He laughs.

"Yeah! You sure you don't add drugs in your watermelon?" I ask.

He has this habit of not sharing his watermelon fruit or juice that I really wonder if he intakes drugs in that form somehow.

"Pretty positive. But I can't guarantee" he says.

"Alright alright! I'll talk to you later. Time for another meeting. By the way, take that watermelon with you" He says.

"Bye. And no! I don't need it. I don't like watermelon" I say.

He doesn't say bye again and hangs the call up. I smile to myself as I walk back again and throw in a watermelon in my trolley.

"Arni!" Vishal calls me.

I turn towards him and nod gesturing him ti continue.

"For a heartbroken girl like you, I don't feel it's ok" he says.

"What is?" I ask him again.

He just tilts his head towards the phone. Nishil.

"He's not what you think" He says and walks away with my trolley towards the billing section.

And it is second time I have heard someone warn about Nishil, in just span of 24 hours.