"Ice-cream?" Vihaan asked as they walked to the car. Aarchi had gone silent after hearing his words.

"Why are you being nice to me? You are my brothers' friend and my best friend's brother but we aren't related so why?" Aarchi asked standing infront of the car and looking at him curiously.

"You feel uncomfortable?" Vihaan turned around and asked wondering on what could he have done that made her uncomfortable.

"No but you are nice to me, why? You held me when I cried, you gave your shoulder to lean onto and you are here trying to make me happy of my heartbreak, why? I am not your responsibility" She said thinking of all the reasons of why he would be nice to her.

"We aren't friends Vihaan...bhaiya or like whatever you prefer" Aarchi said throwing her hands in the air.

"Woahhh I am not your BHAIYA!" He stepped closer to her and said in a deep voice that erupted goosebumps on her skin.

"Why is that so bad? Why can't you be my bhaiya? You are my bhaiyu's friends and my bestie's bhai so rishte mein aap humare bhi bhai lagte hai" Aarchi argued placing her purse on the car's bonnet and her hands on her waist.

"Ohh please spare me from that. I can be anything but a brother to you so whatever brotherly feelings you are harboring for me, drown them in the fucking Pacific Ocean because I am for sure not your brother" Vihaan said angrily making Aarchi look at him with squinted eyes.

"Make Arush your brother if you are so desperate to have a brother but not me" Vihaan said taking slow steps towards her.

"Why? Why don't you want to be my brother? All the relations point out that I should call you 'Bhaiya' and not by your name" She retorted looking him from head to toe and tipping her head right.

"I am not your brother" Vihaan said fisting his hands at his sides.

"Why?....Ohh wait, shit shit shit, please tell me its not what I am thinking" Aarchi's anger subdued when realization hit her and she looked at him worriedly. She joined her hands in wishing posture and prayed deeply as she stared him.

"Huh? Ohh fuck no, what the hell Ari? Its not that, God NO!" Vihaan saw the look of realization hit her and shook his head rapidly stepping closer to her. He pulled his hair in frsutration for giving her the wrong idea. Aarchi looked at him with a scrutinizing gaze before letting her hands fall to her sides.

"Explain" She took a step away from him and crossed her hands at her chest.

"Can't I have a female friend?" He looked at her questioningly.

"What's Nidhi di to you then? A potato?" She raised her eyebrows judging him.

"Eww chii please that woman is anything but a friend to me" Vihaan made a face at the thought of having Nidhi as his friend.

"Oh my god! Hey Ma Mataji. You like Nidhi di? Does Avi bhaiyu know that? Does she like you too...Nahh I doubt that, she's into Avi bhaiyu at a dangerous level so she can't like you. But you... Have you talked to bhaiyu? I see why you don't want to date anyone else because its her, its her isn't it?" Aarchi held her hands at her ears and looked at the star-filled night in shock and started pacing worried about Aviraj and Nidhi. Vihaan looked at the sky with a crying face and ran his both hands over his face.

"What cannabis are you on dear? Whichever one it is please stop using it because its making you irrational" Vihaan placed his hands on her shoulders holding her straight and said.

"What?" She looked at him as if he spoke in an alien language.

"Nidhi... she's like a sister to me who gets on my freaking nerve and does Bharatnatyam on that nerve so no I am not into her, she'd be the last person on Earth and I'd prefer to love a lizard but her!" Vihaan explained huffing out air tiredly.

"You are weird just so that you know and I don't trust your intentions unless you explain" Aarchi said sitting on the car's bonnet beside her purse. Vihaan shook his head laughing.

"I want to be your friend just the way Arush is your friend. From childhood till now I don't have a female friend and I want one now. And yes I don't have feelings for you because if I had, not one but 4 men will be out looking to slit my throat. Is that so impossible?" Vihaan asked sitting beside her.

"Yeah. Come on no man wants to be just Friends, there's always something more" She said shrugging her shoulders.

"So you and Arush are what?" Vihaan looked at her questioningly.

"He and I are different but us two, debatable" She looked at him.

"What do you want me to say?" Vihaan looked at her curiously.

"For starters your true intentions would be nice" She replied.

"You are fucking frustratingly annoying and so good at getting people to talk. Anyways, I need you to set me up with a friend of yours who can pretend to be my date for events until I get the desperate aunties who are trying to set me up with their daughters off my back" He said looking at her with a pout so she agrees with him.

"So all this dinner act was to get onto my good side so I set you up with a friend of mine. That's quite a mean thing to do" She looked at him angrily.

"You held me when I cried just so that I can help you out like this. That's very mean and rude thing you did. So no I am not going to set you up with anyone. Better luck finding one yourself" She slid down the car angrily.

"Gosh no Ari. I didn't hold you when you cried because I needed something for you in return. I did it because I wanted to. I swear upon Arush, I had no intentions other than comforting you when you were at your lowest. This idea hit me when we were having dinner. I swear" He said holding her hand.

"Ari... There was no one who held me when I broke down and I know that feeling of loneliness when you hug yourself desperately trying to find some sort of warmth and comfort. I didn't want you to feel what I had felt, you don't deserve that loneliness, especially not when you have so many people who love you to the moon and back" He explained his actions to her. She stared at him for a while, reading his eyes and body language before nodding her head.

"That still doesn't explain why you don't want to be called 'bhaiya' you know" She said huffing.

"You don't give me brotherly feelings at all. I feel this annoyance when I think about you calling me 'bhaiya'. I don't know why but I feel that so do me a favour and don't call me that" He said rubbing his nape shyly.

"Ehh same, you don't give me that feeling. You don't look exactly the 'brother' type to me either. But listen carefully Vihaan Malhotra, no hanky-panky or any kind of that shit with me if we are to be friends. We are solely platonic friends" Aarchi cleared her thoughts with him.

"Ofcourse. You aren't my type so rest assured there's going to be no 'hanky-panky' between us" He said holding his hand out for her.

"Ohh hello, I am everyone's type: Beautiful, intelligent, good sense of fashion, interactive and sweet so unless your type doesn't tick any of the above, you need to change your type" She retorted him for insulting her like that. Vihaan smirked seeing the exact reaction he wanted.

"Uh-uh, you are missing a few more qualities in the list, let me help you with that. We can begin we umm messy eater, ugly criers who blotch their nose on your clean and crisp shirt and most importantly one who eats food the size of a whale. II think am better off with my type who's none of the above" He teased her making her look at him with an open mouth. She shook her head refusing each of his accusations.

"I am a growing woman, I need food and how dare you judge me for eating well?" She hit his chest angrily.

"Atleast I don't eat leaves for food and name it healthy like you Mr. Protein powder body with fake muscles" She took her purse from the car and looked him up and down.

"They are not fake in any sense. Touch if you don't believe me" He held his hands out wide showing off his body to her. Aarchi rolled her eyes at him.

"Are we good to be friends now that we are clear that we aren't each other's type?" Vihaan asked.

"Fine but there's no way I am setting up any of my friends with you so you can break their hearts" She said strictly.

"Then find someone else who'll do the job without indulging their feelings in it, you know what, you'll be a good candidate since you don't like me" He looked her from head to toe with a scrutinizing gaze.

"You Malhotras aren't my type really so NO! And I will find you a woman you will give your heart to but in return you need to convince everyone that I am over Gautam, deal or no deal?" She asked tapping her foot impatiently.

"You are missing out on life if we aren't your type" He held her hand and shook it. Aarchi hit his hand with her other hand and pretended to gag at his words.

Vihaan laughed and unlocked the car as they both sat inside.

"What are we doing next?" Aarchi asked securing the belt.

"Find me a partner before the next ball" He said reversing the car while looking in the side mirror and rear mirror.

"And when is that?" She asked removing her phone.

"Next week"

"WHAT! And you are telling me that now" She looked at him angrily. He gave her a sheepish smile and looked ahead.

"Why am I friends with you brothers?" She asked no one in particular.

"Because we are the best" He said smirking.

"At what? Being dumb and stupid? Glad to know you know your problem" She replied sarcastically making him laugh out loud.

"Ari" Vihaan called Aarchi as they reached the mansion. She turned to look at him.

"I meant what I said. I held you because I didn't want you to feel alone when the world you created shattered. I did it out of good heart and nothing more, and I think if Arush would have been there, he would have done the same. Okay?" He asked looking into her eyes.

"Okay" She said with a smile that kept him at ease.

"Great" He smiled and stepped out of the car.