5 MONTHS LATER

Vihaan and Arush were having a match in the badminton court in the Royalties club. Aarchi walked in dressed in white tank top and black shorts, wearing a white head band in her hair. She walked skipping a step at a time and stood by the benches watching the brothers play. 

She cheered for both of them. Once Arush hit the last score, they both walked towards her. She handed both of them electrolyte water.

"Can I play?" She asked excitedly. After her birthday, her brothers and Maitri had soon departed but before Aarchi could feel alone, Arush had been back and the two were spending enough time with each other and Vihaan took up the rest of the time.

"Go" Arush handed her the shuttle cock, motioning Vihaan to play with her as Arush sat down on the bench, removing his thing vest and wiping off the sweat.

"Ayee, unsolicited nudity and there's not even one girl around that you can show it off to" Aarchi said scrunching her nose looking at Arush disgustingly. Arush raised his hand holding the sweaty vest, threatening to throw it at her. She quickly walked away poking her tongue out at him.

"Raquet?" Vihaan held one raquet in her way as they stood in the court. Aarchi gripped the handle and tried taking it from him but Vihaan held it tightly, teasing her.

"Vihaan" Aarchi said smiling shyly as she struggled to get the raquet from him.

"Uhuh?" He said looking at her lovingly, pretending that he wasn't teasing her.

"Let it go" She struggled more before he let it go. She quickly ran onto the other side of the net while Vihaan shook his head and took the serving position. Before he hit the shuttle on the other side, he winked at Aarchi, stealing her attention from the game, making him get a point.

"Where's your attention dear?" He asked taking the shuttle from her.

"Asshole" She replied rolling her eyes this time ensuring she concentrated on the game. The game went on and on as they both laughed at jokes. Arush sat at the benches observing them from the beginning. He waited for Aarchi and Vihaan to walk to him before he cleared his doubts.

"You two are screwing each other, aren't you" Arush asked making both of them look at him shocked and stand still all of a sudden. The smiles on their faces immediately vanished. Aarchi gulped down her saliva and took a step in his direction, refusing to his accusation hesistantly.

"Aarchi...Don't lie to me on my face" Arush looked at her seriously. She looked between both the brothers unsure of what to say.

"Arush..." Vihaan tried to talk to him but Arush refused to listen to him.

"I'm disappointed in both of you. The least you could do was tell me rather than leaving me to figure it out myself. You both can go fuck yourselves" Arush threw the bottle of water away harshly making her flinch in fear.

"Arush yaar..." She picked the bottle and placed it on the bench.

"Don't yaar me right now. Just fucking leave me alone" He said turning around angrily and talking to her rudely. He walked away angrily as she breathed out defeatedly.

"Let me talk to him, he's being childish" Vihaan said placing his hand on her shoulder.

"No, he's my bestfriend and I made him feel bad. We had a pact that we would never hide anything major from each other and I hid us from him, something so meaningful to me. I've hurt him" Aarchi said handing Vihaan her belongings and running behind Arush.

"Arushhh" She ran behind Arush who was seething in anger.

"Ouch my leg" Aarchi fell down on the ground screaming in pain but she tried to stand up again. Arush stopped hearing her in pain and pulled her up.

"You are such a foolish girl. You make me want to drown you and then alive you and kill you again" He hit her head making her pout angrily.

"You lack bedside manners heavily. I just sprained my ankle and here you are planning to kill me" She said as he carried her in his arms to the court again where he had the ankle spray.

"I'm still angry and what do you eat? Bricks?" He said angrily.

"Ayee no comments on my weight and give me a chance to explain to you what happened" She held her index finger at him. Arush placed her on the bench as Vihaan came rushing to her.

"Sit like a fucking statue so I can get the ankle spray" He said walking to get his kit. 

"CAN I GET A FUCKING ANKLE SPRAY? Are you fine? Arush yaar what did you do?" Vihaan screamed in anger worried about Aarchi's health. Arush who returned with the spray looked at both of them in disgust.

"Guess you've got a personal doctor" He handed Vihaan the spray and was to leave when Aarchi held his hand tightly.

"Calm down please" She looked at him sadly.

"Arush... just listen to us once then make a decision" Vihaan said standing up and handing him the spray. Arush knelt down infront of Aarchi, spraying it on the sprain.

"He's my brother" Arush said placing the cap back on the spray bottle.

"You didn't tell me anything" Arush stepped away from her, turning his face away. 

"Let me explain...Fuck this shit hurts" She stood up to walk to him but the pain made her sit back.

"Can't you sit still woman?" He asked shouting at her.

"Stop shouting on me" She argued.

"I'm not shouting on you" He replied still shouting.

"You are"

"I'm not!"

"That's a huge lie and you better calm down and listen or I'm going to murder you right here and then go to jail" Vihaan tried to play the mediator but the friends were beyond listening to anyone.

"Ohh then you better start talking because I'm on my way to go to the Ranawat palace and spill everything to your father. It would be fun to watch him bring the hell down on you two" Arush fought with her.

"You are threatening me? It better not be one  or else I'll go tell your father about where his 1870s wine collection is going" She threatened him.

"That's a whole new story but you still better not go tell anyone anything" Arush complained like a child.

"Umm the point here is..." Vihaan tried to interrupt them.

"Shut up" Arush and Aarchi both looked at him angrily.

"Huh! I'm your ELDER brother and you are dating me" Vihaan looked at both disappointedly, handing them water bottles. Arush and Aarchi sat down beside each other drinking down the whole bottle.

"We are trying to check whether it will work between us or not" She said softly.

"My brother" Arush looked at her accusingly.

"I didn't plan to fall in love with him okay and stop playing the victim card. You were well aware with our mothers' ideas. You pushed me in Vihaan's direction, jab dekho tab 'go with bhai, tell bhai to do this, bhai will go with you'. Don't mind me but your brother doesn't hurt to the eye at all and just like that I fell for him. I don't regret it" She argued with him.

"I don't want to know the intricacies of your relationship with my brother. I just wanted you to let me know that before I figured it out the way I did" He said sadly.

"I would have told you it were someone else. This is your brother and I didn't want you to be biased. I didn't want to be in a hard spot incase our relation hadn't worked out" She placed her hand over his.

"And now?"

"What do you think?" Vihaan asked hugging Aarchi with a smile.

"Our families need to know about this" Arush said pointing at them who nodded.

"Bhaiyu are coming home in a week or so but until then don't tell anyone" Aarchi said holding her hands together.

"Fine, just don't do cringe stuff infront of me. Its yuck" He said looking away.

"Get used to it" Aarchi said hugging Arush smiling widely.

"How did you know that we were dating?" Vihaan asked curiously.

"That little 'ankhon ki gustakhiyan' you both did with the raquet, even a blind man could see it" Arush said mimicking them.

"Sherlock Holmes huh?" Aarchi teased him.

"Let's go home, you need to rest" Arush said standing up as Vihaan carried Aarchi on his back.

"Don't you two have to talk?" Aarchi asked the brothers.

"We will in private where you aren't defending him" Arush said shaking his head.

"Bye" Arush waved at her as he sat in the car. Vihaan helped Aarchi sit in the car. She clutched his t-shirt and pecked his lips. Vihaan smiled hitting her head playfully before running onto the other side.

"Ranawat palace first" Vihaan said to the driver who nodded and pulled up the partition.

"Tujhe dekhun jab jab mera jiya dhadke
Kabhi aag lag jaaye, Kabhi shola bhadke
Bin badra ke jaise bijli kadke
Rani main tu raja" Aarchi sang looking at Vihaan, leaning onto the window.

"I love you" He said holding her hand in his, pulling her legs onto his laps.

"How is the pain?" He asked checking her sprain.

"Its better" She said trying to pull her legs but he held them firmly, rubbing his thumb into her skin.