Decisions

Sometimes, when you are at the periphery of broken relations, just one last blow ruins it all and you end up landing into the world called 'Nothing.'

**

~~

Dear Diary,

Life is all about choices, decisions and ultimately the verdict.

So far, only unpredictable things have come my way. Now is no different.

But all I know is, I'm ready to try. To fight and make everything all right.

Even if it requires me to participate in a deadly battle or give away my own life, but when the journey takes your breath away the destination shouldn't matter, isn't it?

The thought had struck my mind long back, but only today did I realize how true and significant it is, for me.

I don't know in this battlefield, who is a friend and who is a foe and what would end up being a threat to me?

All I know is, I'm ready to take chances, as long as my conscience doesn't betray me, my faith doesn't betray me.

As long as, he doesn't betray me.

Khushi

~~

After days of self-debate and turmoil, her mind finally felt free of a huge burden, as she penned down her thoughts in her journal.

Writing always gave her a unique sort of solace, and though now she hardly had the time to pen down things in her journal every day like before, when she did it, it was an overwhelming feeling, in a good way.

Funny thing was, it took her quite some time to realize that the most common term that her journal consisted of these days, was his name.

It was embarrassing to the power of infinity to think for her, how each and every diary entry had his name embedded on it, initially about hate and now..

Just Love.

Never did she think earlier that the mystic, monotonous town of Verman Hills, would ever unfurl such massive secrets in front of her eyes.

No, the town was never under rated in her dictionary, but there were of course certain aspects which never earned a question mark from her logical mind, until of course things went bumpy on their own accord with no prior warning.

.

The silence had always appealed to her, to interrogate the hidden elements of this town and had always coaxed her to think about what could lie beneath those shadows of tranquility?

.

'Well, I guess, now I knew.''

She chuckled to herself.

.

'21.10'

She glanced at her wrist watch checking the time.

"..And they aren't home yet."

Khushi sighed.

Jasmine and Adrienne had gone to a social gathering from the latter's office.

Khushi couldn't make it, thanks to her packed schedule at college which now included four hours of rehearsals for the salsa duet in the charity event which was to take place this week.

Not that she actually regretted it.

After all, those hours gave her extra time to spend with the devil.

She blushed even in solitary as she recalled their bittersweet banter from the rehearsals from this evening and her mind instantly took her back to few hours of today.

*

'Arnav, this step is not working. It looks so insipid.''

She complained while Arnav held her and continued executing the step he had decided not less than five minutes ago.

She still waited for an answer while he paid no attention to her waiting face and went on to sway to the music holding her close.

Khushi was gravely disappointed.

It had been two hours that they had been rehearsing and all of the steps were decided by Arnav. Not even one suggestion of hers was entertained by him and that had immediately made her draw a conclusion that the devil was not just a devil when it came to work stuff, but was extremely bossy too.

With a frustrated sigh, she finally let go of him, a little too roughly, and that finally made Arnav look at her, his own breaths slightly laboured due to the non-stop practice session that they were indulged in.

'What happened?''

His husky voice and the question it framed vexed Khushi further and she immediately retorted,

'A devil, self-obsessed, careless, bossy ASR happened!''

Arnav was shocked to hear the otherwise polite Khushi rant like that, but his initial shock was quickly replaced by his signature smirk as he saw how she pouted while complaining, and the red hue on her cheeks due to their intense practice session was completely complimenting her current look.

Seeing him stand quietly gazing at her, Khushi shouted,

"WHAT? Why are you smiling like that?''

Boy she's super cute!'

Arnav's conscience whispered to him, while he only shook his head and with a hands-on attitude that he possessed making him the instant charmer among all, he asked,

'Do the step you were suggesting.''

'Huh?''

Khushi was confused.

'I am self-obsessed, careless, yada yada! But are you deaf? I asked you to do the step you were suggesting in place of what I was doing just now!''

He averred with rigidity.

Khushi was fuming from inside, and it totally showed on her face.

DEVIL!'

She exclaimed inwardly while giving him a look while Arnav took the remote of the DVD player and rewinded the track for her to show her step.

Khushi took her position and as soon as the beat came, she took fast twirls with such poise and grace that she had mastered the art long ago, and she had a happy smile adorning the face.

She ended the sequence with a quick round of pirouettes and Arnav couldn't deny, he was in awe of her.

Her grace, her smile, her precision, everything about her dance demonstrated how much she loved the art and he could spend his entire day watching her, admiring her.

But then he had his own reason of not taking her step, and replacing it with his.

And so with a stern face, as Khushi ended showing her step, he walked towards her.

Khushi was still perplexed seeing his rigid expressions, but she waited patiently.

But she was in for another surprise as she saw him reach her in quick strides, and wrap his one arm around her waist.

She hardly got the time to react as she saw his other hand press buttons on the remote and he quickly threw the remote aside, the song again playing from that sequence that they were currently rehearsing for.

And in no time, he executed the steps he had finalised instead of hers, twirling her in his arms, throwing her and catching her, pushing her and pulling her, but under no circumstance did he leave her.

As the part ended again, they both were breathless against each other, their chests almost colliding, and this time Arnav gazed intently into her eyes, and for the first time, Khushi understood what he was trying to do here.

'Miss. Khushi Vermount, if we were to select the steps YOU suggested for this performance, the amount of time I would get to hold you this close would have been exactly 6.24 seconds. But my way, I get to hold you to me for the entire 4.20 seconds of the performance. Now does that seem insipid to you, eh?''

Khushi was breathless, and speechless, both at the same time.

He was not just bossy, but held an expertise in flirting as well.

But well, she couldn't deny, his flirting tactics could make her legs convert into jelly, and her heart flutter like a little butterfly.

And for the nth time she thanked her stars that he couldn't read her thoughts. It saved her from a lot of embarrassment.

But she couldn't do anything of the blood rushing to her cheeks from his intense and flirtatious remarks, making her look outright like a tomato.

And so with a dry throat and lost face, all she could do was only nod to his words.

And that instantly earned her his sexy smirk.

Well, this devil surely knew how to have his way.

*

And now thinking about the little flashback from this day, she was only looking forward to tomorrow.

With a sigh, Khushi waited for her sister and mom to return.

Boredom was always an integral part of life. At least, her life, and she still didn't know how to kill it.

She just wished her family members came home soon, for the loneliness was absolutely haunting her.

And currently, she was in no mood of practicing what she referred to as her Witchy-woo-spell practice sessions.'

Looking outside the window, she once again witnessed the cold winds just like any other day, along with the lightening which flashed across the entire horizon, creating its own festive appearance.

Taking a deep breath, she got up from her bed to draw the curtains.

.

.

The winds hit her skin in that very little time, creating a little cold havoc in her body.

The drizzles continued to carry forward their companionship with the winds, of course.

Her teeth suddenly clattered due to the chilly weather, and she quickly draped her white sweater on her shoulders and began to adjust the buttons in its jacks, and that is when suddenly she heard the doorbell ring.

.

.

"That must be mom and Jazz.."

She said to herself, and instantly rushed downstairs to open the door.

**

The thunders screaming at the top of their limits, the threatening cold made her tremble as she finally opened the door and her eyes grew wide, witnessing the sight in front of her.

.

.

Soaked wet in his clothes, she saw Mason standing at her door step, his feet stumbling as she watched his vulnerable condition, suggesting he could collapse on the ground any minute.

For a moment she felt her own sight was betraying her.

.

.

"My Goodness! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

She yelled, shocked at his appearance.

.

.

When she received no reply from him, her reflex recommended her to get him inside at the need of the hour rather than showcasing a lousy and snotty behaviour.

.

As she grabbed his hand and pulled him inside, she made him sit on the sofa, quickly fetching a towel and rubbing his hair which was now completely wet due to the rain showers outside.

.

.

All this while, he spoke nothing, while Khushi urgently and briefly examined his body for any sort of hurt or bruise and to her relief, there was nothing.

His face held a blank expression, as she screeched the wrought iron chair near and sat in front of him, their faces opposite each other.

.

Khushi looked askance at him, trying hard to justify his weird condition which spoke nothing, but confusion.

After what seemed like eternity, she saw his lips moving and finally witnessed him about to utter something.

"I.. I-"

He stuttered pathetically, no words composed with his fumbling try, and it immediately brought Khushi to the conclusion, proving her prior suspicion to be true.

.

.

.

"Mase! You are drunk???"

She questioned, her voice thoroughly polished with anger.

"D..Doesn't matter."

He replied, his words coming unclear to her, thanks to his over drunk condition.

.

.

"Will you please try to explain me, why the hell you are what you are doing right now?"

She inquired, trying to maintain her calm and control her temper lest she did more harm than good, though her human mind was simply declining that patience.

.

Seconds passed by and he didn't answer and it only aggravated her temper, making her irritated to the core.

Keeping her hands on his shoulders, she tried her level best to not explode with anger as she took a deep breath and asked him,

"Mason, is there something that's bothering you? Please, tell me."

She put a lot of effort to maintain the stagnancy of calmness in her voice, though her insides churned to come across such a state of Mason, which in her stock of words, was called abrasive.

.

.

"Do you even care about what bothers me and what not?"

His voice was now stern as he spoke, making Khushi perplexed further.

For a girl like her, with powers, it was way too easy now to know what was so crackling in his brain at this hour that provoked him to be in this state, but there was some part of her which never wanted to conceal her normal, human world with the one that she knew now of and was a part of, and hence, she kept her patience with him, willing to know it all from his own mouth.

.

.

" Mase, I- I don't know what you are trying to-"

She couldn't complete her sentence as he broke hers midway and his words only perked Khushi's anger, making her shocked and vexed at the same time.

.

.

"You do know I love you, don't you?"

.

Those words came as a thunder to her as they escaped his mouth.

It wasn't a question tag for her, as she knew the equation already from long back.

But never did she think, it would hit her one day in this manner, especially at that time, when she was not having even an iota of the same feeling that he claimed to have for her.

.

Her hands instantly fell from his shoulders as she tried endlessly to retain her composure and not lose her cool.

His face remained fixed on her, as she suddenly avoided looking into his eyes, unable to take what she now knew they held for her.

.

"You didn't answer."

He stated, while she found it utterly difficult to evade such a situation.

She never loved him.

All that she had for him since childhood, all the affection, all the care, it was simply platonic.

But she never thought it would be this tough to throw it on his face right now.

She knew the verdict already, but why was it not easy to say it word to word, to him the same way she had framed it in her mind?

At this hour, she cursed her human side, her psychology. human tendencies as a whole and everything about being a human.

Brushing her knuckles lightly against each other, she still searched for words to utter, when suddenly his voice broke the secret conspiracy of her mind, making her utterly shocked.

.

"I know you love me as well. You don't have to hide it, Khushi. I know you since childhood, your feelings too. Why the pretence with that Sciarrone guy, huh?"

.

If his drunken state had created thousand waves of shock in Khushi, then his present words had created infinite waves of rage in her.

She tried for the umpteenth time to regulate her anger, but his words only continued to antagonize her.

How could he even derive such a conclusion to her silence?

Was communication gap this dangerous?

And if it were so, then she f**king had to speak urgently before he drew any other meaning of her silence!

.

.

Giving up on her effort to stay calm and kicking away the concept of patience for good, Khushi jerked up from the chair, her temper knowing no bounds as she looked at him with complete apprehension and anger.

.

.

"Just shut up!!"

She yelled at the top of her voice, receiving an ultra-shocked look from him, but that didn't stop Khushi.

.

"Khush.. Just, just hear me out., I-"

He stood up, trying to continue with his set of words but she intervened him this time, like he did with her couple of minutes ago.

.

"Not one more word, Mason!"

She didn't realize the depth of anger in her own voice as she spoke, her mind clouded by the rage his words had ignited in her.

For once she wished, he would not have come here at all, and continued staying in his own la-la land a.k.a. Los Angeles, but unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

No matter how one part of her wanted her to control her anger, something in her wanted to convey the disgust his words had put her in, and somehow the latter remained dominant.

As she took another breath she realized it was not just her anymore.

It was the intensity of the world she truly belonged to that was pulling her in its realm, with extremity implemented in all dimensions.

And that's when she concluded that maybe she was letting witchcraft rule her, way too much.

.

.

"Khushi, you are not getting me.. For once try to understand, maybe you aren't ready to acknowledge, but-"

"Just shut up!"

She shouted once again, the silence beaming over this time with no words further spoken.

She watched his mouth open and close like a gold fish, as if trying to search for words which could calm her, or convince her, but he failed miserably at his efforts.

.

A minute passed and they stood in the same position, as she felt the silence playing a catalyst in bringing her anger down gradually, but that didn't make her capitulate and forget his laissez-faire on her personal life.

.

She took a deep breath to calm herself further and finally lifted her gaze.

"Look Mason, I don't know where you are coming from on this, but seems like you have got to deal with these misconceptions."

She spoke softly, as she watched his senses totally perked hearing her voice and his eyes staring at her, looking with disbelief.

.

.

Looking directly into his eyes this time, as she thought it was necessary to pour into his head the real scenario, she continued,

"..I love you as a friend, Mase. As my best friend. Just the way I love Ree. It's simply platonic. Nothing else."

She watched his disgruntled face as every word of hers reflected her own thoughts, at the same time crushed his anticipation which perhaps would have been something else in his mind.

.

.

As much as she didn't want this to happen this way, it was mandatory to the same extent that he got the facts right lest he would have been a victim of false expectations, which even Khushi resented the most.

Hence, without beating round the bush, she finally spoke the much needed words.

"I Love Arnav.. More than anything.."

.

Khushi didn't know what impact her words would have actually created in his heart, but she did have the idea of how it acted as a final blow to his perception as she watched his face shatter, but yet he managed to display a faint smile on it, as if he knew this was coming but didn't want to acknowledge it.

With that, Khushi's anger was long gone, as she watched her best friend, her childhood companion stand in front of her, hopes lashed away from his heart, hearing her words, but deep inside she knew what she did was correct, even if the situation right now didn't suggest the same.

She was about to say something when suddenly the doorbell rang, acting as a barrier to the words that were on the verge of escaping her mouth.

Taking quick steps, she reached the door in four strides and opened it, and found her mom and Jazz standing, slightly wet due to the drizzles after covering the distance from the garage to the doorway.

"Hey Sweetie!! It's so cold out there, you know."

Adrienne stated in her patent enthusiastic tone, meanwhile Mason looked at all of them.

Jasmine was ignorant to everything as usual and headed straightaway to her room, while Adrienne gave the two of them a broad smile as she removed her coat.

"Hey Mason! Long time, my dear. How have you been?"

She asked.

.

.

Khushi was afraid of what was coming next, given the present drunken and broken condition of her best friend and was equally reluctant about him answering anything to her mother. But to her surprise, he managed to speak normally, at least he tried.

"I'm good, Mrs. Vermount. Just came in to discuss some college project with Khushi."

Khushi looked at him in confusion. His lie was so convincing that for a second she wondered whether all that happened few minutes ago was itself a lie, but then he looked at her, his blue eyes displaying those vivid emotions once again. Only to her. Only for her.

.

.

"Oh Great! Why don't you stay for dinner then?"

Her mom asked Mason with a smile.

.

'No Mom! Don't! You don't know half of the things going on in my life, so please don't invite more trouble.'

The words were loud in Khushi's mind, but unfortunately it was futile as her mother was no psychic, and henceforth, was completely oblivious to her daughter's plight at this moment.

.

.

"No, Mrs. Vermount. I would have to go back. Have got a lot of pending assignments."

He replied, making Khushi's muscles relax finally, at the same time building a guilt in her for behaving this way.

But what to do?

Her mind wasn't capable of working properly after coming across so many unpredictable things.

Typically Human!

.

.

She was drowned in her own thoughts when she suddenly realized Mason was now standing at the door step, about to leave.

Waving his hand at her and Adrienne, he wished them a good night and left in no time.

Khushi wasn't surprised at his action, as she only considered it obvious at that time and wished that he could cope with everything well, the same way she was trying to cope with everything that life was ensnaring her in right now.

Her mom closed the door and smiled at Khushi asking about the usual daily stuff, and she replied with those same casual answers.

Every how was your day? was answered with 'As usual!''

Every how is the dance practice going? was answered with a 'Pretty good!''

Every how's studies? was answered with a 'Great!''

Khushi hated being so mechanical with her own mother but she didn't have any option.

Although her mind was willing to shout something else, her mouth begged to differ.

Only if she could tell her, what she really wanted to.

I'm a witch Mom, thanks to the man you married who belonged to this family of witchcraft putting me into a legacy of continuing with the practice! I'm dating a warlock, who never seems to be human and I'm madly in love with him.

That bracelet that you handed me over on my 18th birthday triggered this weird curse! Thanks to that evil ancestor of mine, my face resembles that Queen of Sins, leading me to almost get killed at the first place! And now, the evil legend of witchcraft, Aloysius is coming after me!!

.

Her human antics never bereft her, as she spoke, no, shouted those words in her mind.

It only amused her that how her life had turned into a completely different story and all of this had to remain concealed from everyone she loved. Because although she resented it, she couldn't change the fact that her mother knew nothing about this world. And not knowing about it now too was going to be in the best interest of her.

Because according to Khushi, her mom would suffer a heart attack under any circumstance, even if she were to say those words to her as a matter of a mere joke, let alone convey the factual essence of it.

.

"So, ready for dinner?"

Adrienne asked Khushi, breaking her reverie.

"Umm.. No mom, I ain't hungry. Had made spaghetti some time back, ate it."

Khushi replied, dinner being the last thing on her mind after all the unstoppable mess coming her way.

"Oh, okay. No problem. Go to bed then."

Her mom answered with a smile as Khushi reciprocated the same.

"Night Mom"

"Good night, honey."

She said, while Khushi retired to her room silently.

..

.

Thinking was not a part of her routine at this hour.

Not today.

So many things were in queue, the utmost of all being Aloysius.

Earlier, she thought she had to keep herself occupied with something or the other to kill time, but now-

She begged for time, and it was only flying away!

.

.

"What an irony!"

She muttered to herself, checking her cell phone for one last time, unable to compromise with her age-old habit.

Her face instantly lit up with a smile as she saw the most wanted name on her mobile's screen.

.

'22.01 Arnav: I love you..'

Her fingers became ultra-agile as she hit the alphabets rapidly on the screen, desperate to shout her words as well.

'22.02 Me: As I love you.. :) '

In that split second, a quick realization hit her.

Although her day could drain her out of her energy, faith, and sanity, like it did today for the obvious reason of what happened with Mason sometime back, if someone could actually restore her sanity, it was only Arnav.

And that's when she knew it for one more time.

It was always going to be Arnav.

'Always.''

She promised herself.

The smile not leaving her face, she hummed the tune of her favourite John Mayor song, bringing the duvet over her body as she called it a night and finally fell into slumber.

**