Saving Her

IV

♪♫ Chahe jo tumhe pure dil se,

Milta hai voh mushkil se,

Aisa jo koi kahin hai,

Bas voh hi sabse haseen hai... ♪♫

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Noor was surprised to say the least, not because Ahana opened the door but because she had a small grin plastered on her face.

She took a glance at Inaya who was standing beside her to see that she had her eyes narrowed at Ahana.

"Why are you grinning like that?" Noor asked suspiciously.

"Because someone is here to meet you."

"Who?" Inaya asked.

"Come in both of you and see for yourself."

Ahana opened the door wider to let them in.

Noor steps halted when she saw who was sitting in the living room.

"Aarav?"

He stood up smiling. "Hi."

"What are you doing here?"

Before Aarav could answer Inaya interrupted. "Is that a way to talk to a guest, Noor?" She turned to Aarav, "I'm sorry about her. I'm Inaya, by the way and I hope Ahana didn't trouble you, did she?"

Always the polite one Noor thought.

"I'm here to talk to Noor." Aarav replied with hopeful eyes. "I'm Aarav, and no, Ahana didn't trouble me at all. In fact, she was nice."

Both Noor and Inaya turned to Ahana who rolled her eyes at the disbelief plastered on their faces.

"Noor, take Aarav to your room, so both of you could talk in private." Ahana said. "Inaya, come with me, we need to prepare the dinner."

Noor looked at Ahana like she was looking at her for the first time because the Ahana she knew would never send her to her room with a guy.

"Oh! Okay." Inaya replied. "Um... Aarav, why don't you stay for dinner?"

Aarav looked like a deer caught in headlights. "Um... I don't want to be a bother."

Inaya smiled gently and waved a hand in dismissal. "Oh! Don't worry about it, you are not."

Aarav grinned. "Okay then, I'd love to."

Noor's jaw was on ground before she hurriedly grabbed Aarav's hand and dragged him to her room.

"No funny business!" She heard Ahana's stern voice before closing the door.

She turned around to see Aarav standing in the middle of the room, observing it.

It was a beige and white colored room with a touch of floral theme, nothing extravagant.

"Who do you think you are?" She asked angrily and started walking towards him.

Before he could say something she interrupted, "Why did you come here?"

"I told you, baby, I'm here to talk to you." He said calmly with a smile.

"And who told you to accept Inaya's offer?" Now she was right in front of him.

"She invited me so politely, it would-"

"Oh shut up! You already knew that she is the sweet one. Of course, she would ask you to join us but why did you said yes? You could have denied it!"

"So, you don't want to me join you?" He said but it came out as a question. "Okay! No worries. I can make an excuse."

"No!" she denied immediately. "I can't say about Inaya, but the moment you make an excuse, Ahana would know that I told you to go. She is too smart for her own good."

"And blunt too." Aarav added which earned him a glare from Noor.

He lifted his hands in surrender and his face suddenly became serious.

"Why are you ignoring me?"

She lowered her eyes, suddenly feeling all the pressure on her. "I'm not."

"Yes, you are." He stated. "Whenever I try to meet you, you make an excuse and flee from me. Why?"

"I left you, remember? So, why would you want to meet me?"

Suddenly his eyes were hard and cold. "I know. I know that you left me. You don't have to remind me of that again and again. I just want to know why?"

His voice was calm but she knew better. His eyes were raging. He was restricting himself from being angry at her. He always has.

"Why would you possibly want to know that, huh?" she asked looking at his eyes but turned around from the intensity of his gaze. "I left you because I didn't love you. End of story!"

He took hold of her arm and turned her to face him. "I don't believe you."

She looked him in the eyes with tears glistening in her own.

"Please, don't make this hard for me." She said a little above the whisper but he heard her.

"It doesn't have to be hard, Noor." He whispered back. "Tell me what's bothering you and we will make it right. Together. Please."

"I–I can't." She stuttered while tears rolled down her cheeks.

He put his hand on her head to guide it towards his chest and embraced her. "Sh... Sh, it's okay. I'm sorry I made you cry. I'm so sorry, baby."

She pulled away from him, just a little to look at his face which had tears rolling down his own eyes.

"I'll tell you when I'm ready. Not now, please, not now."

"It's okay." He said looking down at her. "But, give me a chance. Please. I've endured two years without you and now that I've finally found you, please don't run away from me."

She gave him sweet smile. "I won't, I promise."

He grinned and kissed her forehead. "Go out with me?"

"What?"

"Go out with me?" he again asked hesitantly.

She locked her arms behind his neck loosely, "Would it be a date?"

"It can be, if you want and if not then it can be a friendly outing. Just you and me. Like old times?"

She made a thoughtful face, "Hmm... I have to think about it."

She grinned and he grinned back.

"It's a date Mr. Aarav Malhotra." She said her grin still in place as he kissed her forehead once again and murmured, "It's a date."

"Let's go. Dinner should be ready by now." She said.

All of them had dinner and Aarav left after informing Noor that the date would be on Sunday and he would pick her up at 4 PM.