NEXT WEEK

"What are you watching aunty?" Aarchi sat down beside Ridhima who was smiling widely. It was a beautiful Sunday morning and Vihaan had planned to take Aarchi out with his friends for a brunch. Aarchi had driven to the Malhotra Mansion preventing Vihaan from doing the extra work of picking her and then going for brunch.

"Fairytale. They are so cute" Ridhima hid behind a pillow seeing Farjad and Umeed's banters, blushing on her own.

"Ohkayy" Aarchi nodded and sat to watch with her.

"By the way your son is ignoring me" Aarchi complained getting comfortable on the sofa.

"Really? Vihaan is't paying you enough attention. You wait, I'll give an earful to Vihaan... Vihaan!" Ridhima called for Vihaan but Aarchi stopped her.

"Not him, Mein aapne wale ki baat kar rahi hoon, Arush" Aarchi said calming down Ridhima who was ready to kill her son.

"Arush tere wale hai?" Ridhima looked at Aarchi with a scrutinizing gaze.

"Not like that aunty. Arush is MY best friend so that's why mere wala" Aarchi shook her head at Ridhima's thoughts.

"Before making that boy 'mere wala' mein zeher na kha lu" Aarchi said when Ridhima didn't stop giving her the look. Ridhima smiled knowing that it was true, Arush and Aarchi were just friends.

"Mere dusre bete ko bhi aapna wala bana le" Ridhima teased Aarchi.

"Eww no. Woh mere best friend ka bada bhai hai, bas. Aap rakho unhe, mujhe mera dost kaafi hai" Aarchi stood up scrunching her nose and moving away from Ridhima.

"Arey karle uske saath kuch kuch, dekh mein saas banne ko ready baithi hoon, pata le mere bade wale ko. Saas teri side hai, aur kya chahiye tujhe" Ridhima made Aarchi sit beside her and paused the serial. She sat in criss-crossed and held Aarchi's hand.

"Arey. Koi aur bahu dhundlo aapne liye, mujhe nahi bana aapki bahu, mein beti hi theek hoon" Aarchi said looking at Ridhima with worry.

"Pagal, bahu-beti aaj ke zaamane mein same same but difflent nahi hai, Rishta wahi sirf soch nayi" Ridhima persuaded.

"Have you been talking to my mom? Only she can talk about such things. I'm still young to be married, abhi toh meri masti karne ke din hai" Aarchi too sat in the same way and argued.

"Vihaan ke saath karle jitni masti karni hai, I'm a modern woman, I don't mind you two doing stuff" Ridhima said shrugging her shoulder making Aarchi looked at her wide eyed.

"Aunty... Relax. Neither me nor your son are in the position to have anyone in our lives. Vihaan and I are just good friends. He's keeping me company until Arus returns because he has kept Vihaan on the babysitting duty so I don't lose my mind because of Gautam. I respect Vihaan but NO!" Aarchi cleared all the misunderstanding Ridhima might be having about her and Vihaan.

"Sure nothing nothing? There won't be something something between you two?" Ridhima asked with a fallen face.

"Sure there's nothing between us and there'll never be. You are going to make things awkward between us aunty" Aarchi said coming straight to the point.

"Fine! A mom can only hope. Hey but you can find Vihaan a girl, right? Introduce him to a few friends of yours, get things started or else my son is going to die a bachelor" Ridhima said shaking her head sadly, disappointed at how Vihaan has shown no interest in marriage.

"I can try" Aarchi said smiling.

"Perfect. Now say what you were saying about Arush" Ridhima said getting comfortable easing Aarchi of any discomfort from the previous conversation.

"Aapka beta aaj kal mujhe bhau nahi de raha. Uska wapis aane ka koi plan hai ya wahi bas jana hai" Aarchi said sadly that her best friend had been busy that all he did was text her.

"He's coming tomorrow and I have the same complaints with him. All he does is 'Good morning' and 'Good night' texts, 0 care for his mother" Ridhima complained agreeing with Aarchi.

"Atleast you get the greetings, I get 'I'm alive, wbu? and 'Don't die before I get there or else who'll clear your search history'. He's being very mean to me, not 1 call after he left" Aarchi said sadly.

"We will teach him a good lesson after he comes. This time he's going to be punished harshly"

"SURPRISEEEEE" Aarchi and Ridhima were gushing over the tv couple when they heard a known voice scream at them. Both the ladies looked up and stood up in surprise.

"Arushh" Ridhima stood up to hug him tightly.

"How are you?" Arush hugged Ridhima tightly who hugged him back.

"You've grown so thin"

"Nope mum, we aren't going to be like Mother India" He said kissing Ridhima's head who slapped his cheek playfully.

"Your friend is kind of angry at you" Ridhima whispered in Arush's ears seeing Aarchi sit on the sofa, pretending that she never saw Arush venhough she was dying to jump on him.

"How is she otherwise" Arush asked indirectly about whether she was over her heartbreak or not.

"Why don't you ask her for yourself?" She tapped his cheek and walked to the kitchen to prepare food for her son.

"Wassup Rano?" Arush plopped beside her on the sofa. Aarchi kept looking at the TV ignoring him.

"So we are playing this game, okay no problem. I thought I would give you the gift I brought but its fine since you don't want to talk" Arush teased her.

"What gift?" She looked at him angrily.

"Bring your hand" Arush said getting up from the sofa and walking towards his backpack. Aarchi excitedly placed her hand infront of him. He removed a small bag from his backpack and placed it on her hand.

"For me?" Aarchi smiled widely. She asked pointing at herself.

"No for your ghost" Arush replied opening the bag and taking some in his hand.

"I love you, I love you, I love you" Aarchi started jumping and hugged Arush tightly who laughed and twirled her.

"Woaahhh" Vihaan who just entered the living room lost in his thoughts looked at the them in shock.

"Hii" Aarchi greeted Vihaan, asking him if he wanted some from her. Vihaan took the bag and had some.

"What was happening here?" Vihaan looked at Arush and Aarchi suspiciously.

"Just her confessing her profound love for me because I got her this" Arush said sitting on the sofa and stretching his neck.

"Love!!! And that too with you, have all the males on this planet died?" Aarchi asked sarcastically making the Malhotra brothers chuckle. Vihaan walked to Arush and they did a man-hug and Vihaan sat beside Arush on the sofa.

"Why are you here though? Missing me?" Arush asked hitting his shoulder to her when she sat beside him.

"Nope, came here to check with aunty if you fell in love with a girl there or you have plans to return home" Aarchi said eating the jujube seeds.

"You were so missing me" Arush threw himself on her, choking her.

"Get away from me you stinky pig" Aarchi said holding her breath and hitting Arush.

"Does it feel better?" Arush asked hugging her even more tightly.

"Noo, can you leave now" Aarchi said acting along the next part of the reel.

"Then it hasn't kicked in yet" Arush hugged her more making her sigh in defeat. Vihaan watched them with a smile and made a note to himself to call his friend, Nidhi and disturb her since it had been long time she lived without his presence.

"Enough, I've had enough of your stinky smell on me, move now" Aarchi said rolling her eyes.

"Yeah whatever" He sat upright running a hand in his hair.

"You look better than what I left in you in" Arush said looking at her head to toe.

"All thanks to your brother" She motioned him towards Vihaan with a smile.

"Great" Arush nodded at Vihaan who smiled back at him.

"By the way, are we still going for that ball?" Aarchi asked Arush who nodded.

"Then why are you sitting here? Let's go we need to find me a dress. The ball's on Tuesday and I still haven't figured out anything, we need to do that" Aarchi stood up panicking.

"Go bath then we are going out and picking a dress for me" She made Arush stand up and pushed him so he could start walking.

"And you too, we have to find clothes. Have you decided what you are going to wear?" She asked Vihaan who scrolled the TV. channels.

"You need to gift your date a dress" Aarchi reminded him as she removed her phone from her bag and dialed a number.

"Cancel the brunch, we are all going for shopping and by the time I return from the call, keep a picture of your date ready so we can look for a dress that suits her" 

____________

"Give this to your date" Aarchi said holding a dress in her hands.

"She's got clothes you know"

"She's your date and you are supposed to gift her the dress but since I know you are too busy to even think about it, I did it for you"

"Wouldn't this look better on you?"

"Nope it won't. It is her night and she has every right to own it. I'm not going to be centre of everyone's attention hence this is better suited on her"

"Red and black are colours of 'statement'. When a woman wears that, she's trying to make a clear point that she's a force to be reckoned with" Aarchi explained to him as they waited for Arush to return from the changing room.

"What are you wearing?" Vihaan asked as he looked for a tie that matched his date's dress.

"I'm actually going for a subtle look"

"What does your colour say then?"

"Blend in the crowd. Be simple and off-limits. It gives you the 'girly' look, keeps everyone interested in knowing you more but then comes the owner of dress who isn't interested" She said checking the dress if it has any cuts or so.

"I'll go try" She said walking with her dress into a changing room. Within a few minutes she walked out holding the same dress.

"I'm buying it" She handed the dress to the helper and asked her to help her to the checkout counter.

________________

THE BALL NIGHT

Aarchi and Arush entered the ball hand in hand. They posed for the reporters for a few minutes before they started walking in. They almost were inside when she heard Vihaan's voice and turned around to see his date.

"Tsk tsk tsk, wikipedia is your source of information" Aarchi who was lost in her world turned towards Vihaan so fast that she almost felt her neck snap into two. Vihaan looked away from the reporter for a second seeing Aarchi's constant stare on him. His eyebrows furrowed slightly before the reporters once again had his attention.

"Let's go" Arush nudged her. Aarchi looked at him confused and nodded.