A New Phase

As things take a new turn, and you reside in a blanket of happiness,

A sudden gust of wind arrives, and breaks your dreams, shred by shred.

**

'SOUTHEASTERN VERMAN INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE'

Khushi saw the huge board, displaying the words which were already embossed in the back of her mind.

Maybe, just in theory until now.

But today,

Today it was a living reality..

As she parked her Chevy in the campus' parking lot, she could see the massive building in front of her eyes.

Huge, royal, and simply amazing.

She was still drinking the view, framing each and every thing in her mind, when she suddenly heard someone calling her name.

.

.

"Krazyy Khushi!"

.

"Mason! There you are!"

Her face instantly lit up with a smile, as she saw that familiar face of her dearest friend in the new place consisting of all strange faces.

.

"Where did you park?"

He asked, with a faint smile on his face.

"That side!"

Khushi replied, pointin towards the direction with her index finger.

.

.

"Where is Ree?"

As she asked the question, she looked at Mason and without even realizing, both of them burst into a laugh riot right after two seconds.

It was too obvious that their style icon of a friend would take hours to get ready for her first day in college.

Moreover, her subject 'Music' was totally different from theirs. So most likely, there was no chance of them having any common classes together.

"Never mind, being in the same campus is more than enough."

Khushi thought.

.

.

"So Messy Mase, why don't you come for dinner tonight with your uncle?"

She initiated a new conversation, seeing the time by her watch.

There was still thirty minutes for the class to start.

.

.

"Well, I can surely come. But uncle is still in L.A. He will take a couple of months to wrap everything there."

He replied.

"Whoa! Then where are you staying, Mase?"

Khushi inquired, with genuine concern reflecting on her face.

"For the time being, I'm staying as a paying guest in a house, nearby."

He answered, his gaze fixed upon her.

Khushi looked everywhere but him, as she suddenly felt that it would be courteous on her part to ask him to stay at her place with her family, at least for the time being.

She knew it very well how Mason had found it so difficult to cope after his parents' death and though his uncle was perfect to the T in bringing him up, no one could deny that parents' presence in a child's life was indispensible.

She contemplated things in her head and averred,

"Well, you can stay with us Mase. At least till your uncle is back. It would be good to have your company."

She had a warm and assuring smile on her face.

.

.

"That's quite considerate of you Khushi, but don't worry. It's just a matter of couple of months. Then everything will be fine."

He replied, softly.

After a period of brief silence, Khushi sighed as she stated-

"All right. But if you need anything, let us know. Don't hesitate."

"Certainly"

Pat came his reply with a smile that reached his ears.

Khushi reciprocated it happily as they together took a step towards the building.

.

.

As they started stepping towards this new phase of life, a million thoughts ran in her mind.

After what it seemed like eternity, life had brought her to a fair share of equation where everything was happening as per her whim and fancy.

But even that stance couldn't help the question that her conscience kept pointing to her: For how long?

And that was one question she had no answer to.

The weather was still misty; the drizzles were falling on their faces as they both proceeded towards the SEV building.

Since five years, she had been habituated with this scenario.

The dark clouds, the constant rain, the mist. But still, every time, with every new day, it seemed as if it was day one, all over again.

As if, she was new here, to the town of Verman Hills, unknown to all the dark secrets of this town.

Unaware of all the veiled truth, untouched by the wicked essence.

*

She tried curbing the incessant flow of pessimistic thoughts buzzing in her head. As they were about to enter the building, she suddenly felt the atmosphere become silent.

Too silent, as if everyone went under a shock.

.

.

The silence was soon followed by some mumbling, in the crowd.

As she turned back to figure out what was happening, her eyes refused to believe what she saw and she suddenly felt the air knocked out of her lungs.

She stood still, dazzled by the sight right in front of her.

This can't be happening

.

.

A Matte Black Lamborghini screeched to halt, grabbing everyone's attention instantaneously.

The girls had their mouths flung open, as they tried contemplating what was more sexy? The whole regal essence with which this car was being driven, or the man himself who drove that beast?

They still stood in awe as if they spotted some super hero come out of the car.

.

.

But it wasn't the black beauty that made Khushi's heart pound abruptly.

It was something else.

Someone else.

As her eyes never blinked for a fraction of second, she stood spellbound as she watched the Devil coming out of that car, wearing a white t-shirt along with a grey leather jacket draped over his shoulders combined with a pair of blue jeans.

His brown hair was gelled, just like the last time she saw him.

For real or in your nightmares?'

Her conscience instantly popped the question, but Khushi chose to ignore it.

As he quickened his steps towards the entrance of the building, she noticed his eyes covered with black shades.

But what raised a pool of questions in her mind was the sight of a blonde eye candy clinging on to him, like she was completely in awe of him, madly, senselessly.

Wearing denim hot pants and a strapless top, the girl wrapped herself around him like a second skin, thoroughly enjoying the public display of affection, and he didn't even mind that.

They both walked past Khushi, hand in hand, leaving her baffled at the same time anxious.

How could this be happening?

Just, just like that?

She had no answer to these.

She was still dealing with her own inner demons, which had never left her side, never letting her sleep peacefully, and if that wasn't enough already, the devil was now back to haunt her in her reality as well.

First day of college, where she had vowed she would strive to make things better, turned simply upside down in just a fraction of second.

And the worst thing?

She didn't even know the cause of it!

Maybe she did, after all, it wasn't hard to guess. All her miseries started ever since she made that tiny mistake that cost her so much, a month ago!

.

.

"Hey! We're getting late. Let's go?"

Mason's voice broke her trance and she looked at him.

"Mmhmm..Yeah, let's go."

She shrugged as she agreed and tried brushing off the sight of whatever happened sometime ago from her mind.

*

As Khushi entered her class, she took the third seat in the front row and Mason sat adjacent to her.

Within minutes, she saw the room filling up with students, some nerds, some bimbos and some just like her, still trying to figure out what was really going to be the head and tail of this.

.

"Seems like it's going to be a looong day."

She heard a guy muttering out loud, but he was looking at her with a friendly smile on his face.

Khushi faintly smiled back as the guy came forward and offered her a hand shake.

"Howdy? I'm Thomas."

.

"Khushi.. Khushi Vermount."

.

"Nice to meet you."

Saying that, he took his seat on the desk before her, while she buried her head in her notebook.

.

"Whoa! Seems like you have got admirers in the first day of college itself girl."

Mason joked.

.

"Whatever."

That's all Khushi could utter.

No words from anyone reached her ears anymore as her mind constantly wondered about what was happening in the last seat of the last row.

.

As she slightly turned her head to manage to get a glance at the back of the classroom, all she could gather was him talking to that blondie, not even for a second looking anywhere else apart from her face.

.

Khushi couldn't understand why the sight irked her so much. Why did it even matter to her in the first place?

All this guy, his face, his essence had given her was pain, confusion, and fright. Then why was she even considering him, giving him even a little space in her head?

But then again she couldn't stop the stream of questions in her mind at all.

Why am I being so bothered?'

.

Why..Why didn't he even look at me..?'

Not even for once?'

.

She hated the last questions.

As she drowned deeper in her thoughts, she suddenly witnessed a lecturer entering the class room. He was tall, lean and in his mid thirties, approximately.

.

"Hello Everyone!"

"I will be assisting you all in English Literature"

He said in a very enthusiastic tone, instantly getting everyone's attention.

"My name is Peter Waylon, but you all can call me Pete!"

And with that introduction, began a series of lecture, consuming more than half an hour thoroughly.

.

It was her first day in college and the most awaited day of her life.

Yet she couldn't fathom why she was feeling so lackadaisical.

Mr. Waylon must have spoken around more than 100 sentences after the formal introduction, but she couldn't even grasp one of them.

She was distracted.

And under any circumstance, she didn't want to acknowledge the reason for her distraction. The person behind her distraction.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she struggled to sit straight, trying her level best to concentrate on whatever the lean man was saying.

.

"So next we will start with Shakespeare."

.

She heard him say.

As Mr. Waylon started with a Shakespearean sonnet, Khushi tried as hard as she could to devote herself completely into the subject.

The words came to her as some unknown elements, but she just jotted down whatever was dictated, paying no heed to the bubbling conundrums in her head.

.

Every now and then, she looked at her watch, but unfortunately the time seemed to have frozen and the hands of the watch apparently didn't move at all.

.

"Thomas was right. It's a long day indeed."

She mumbled to herself, rolling the fringes of her hair with her fingers.

.

The long period appeared to be too agitating and it seemed like she would choke any minute, running short of breath. Her mind took her back to that very tragic day at Verman Press, wherein she had felt the same thing, longing for fresh air, and in that trance, made a massive blunder, the repercussions of which she was still going through.

The class room despite being utterly huge and spacious made her feel utterly suffocated.

..Or maybe it's just the never ending affection that a couple was showering on each other at the back of the classroom.'

.

.

"So, I shall see you all tomorrow. Good day."

The words brought Khushi back to life, as she watched Mr. Waylon finally disperse the class for the day and walk out of the room.

.

.

"Thank God."

She sighed in relief, her palm grazing her neck, thankful that this weird nightmare was over.

.

.

Mason accompanied her as she walked out of the room, walking through the long and ultra-wide corridors.

It wasn't a surprise anymore, as she watched the devil along with his eye candy walking hand in hand once again, paying no heed to the many pairs of eyes who gazed at their PDA.

Some girls were envious of his girlfriend, while some ignored the fact and ogled him like he was the only soul in the world.

'And you?'

Khushi chose to ignore her conscience once again.

"So, the class was fun, wasn't it?"

Mase asked her, turning the pages of his notebook.

"Yea..Yeah! It was.. Fun!"

She replied, stressing on the last word sarcastically, trying her best to sound interested.

"What's wrong Khushi? You look tensed."

Mason remarked with concern evident in his tone.

.

.

"No.. Not at all. Just didn't get enough sleep last night."

She justified confidently.

"All right. Well, I will see you in some time then. I have a different class right now. You sure, you okay?"

He asked, gesturing to leave towards the other direction.

"Yeah I am. Chill Mase."

She lied boldly with a smile.

And buying that confidence, Mason left for his class leaving a thoughtful yet clueless Khushi behind.

*

"Phew!"

She felt a sense of relief hit her, as she wanted to be alone to transpire a conversation with herself.

All this while, all these shocking elements had been so palpable that she was in desperate need of some me-time.

.

As she started walking down the widely wide stairs, a series of questions boiled in her.

.

Why was he behaving as if ..

As if nothing mattered?

.

As if nothing happened?

"..As if we never met?"

She mumbled the last question, shocked at her own inferences.

.

Why did the sight of him with that eye candy seem so appalling?'

.

As she walked down another stair, more questions took over her mind.

.

..Was I being jealous of that sight? Of that Eye-candy?'

"No! He's no one to me, that I will feel jealous about anything related to him!"

Her mind instantly contradicted the notion that her conscience had created a milli-second ago.

.

Although in all, what irked her the most was something completely different.

It was his indifference.

Towards her.

And it coaxed her to have second thoughts regarding whatever had happened in the past.

.

.

..Did it all really happen?

Or was everything an illusion?

A nightmare?

A mere dream..?

.

As the last thought struck her mind, she swallowed the lump in her throat, taking another step.

She didn't realize how and when her ankle suddenly twisted and she tripped with a gasp, about to fall from a fair height, when out of nowhere she felt strong hands holding her from her waist tightly, saving her from the fall.

.

Her eyes remained closed as she was too afraid to face the pain of the fall, when realization dawned in her and she surfaced back to reality, suddenly feeling that everything was fully stagnant out of the blue.

.

Her heart beat rapidly, as she slowly opened her eyes unaware of the hypnotic gaze that was locked on her, refusing to let go under any circumstance.

She felt her body go totally limp as those familiar dark brown eyes remained fixed on her and she was enveloped in those strong muscular arm, the same ones that had mercilessly manhandled her on that afternoon at the Verman Press.

His gaze elicited oceans of emotions in her and she desperately wanted an answer from him, for everything that was happening, for she was in dire need of that. This guy had turned her life upside down with no remorse, no reasoning, and here she was, once again at the crossroads of knowing nothing but feeling zillions of things, all at once.

He stood right in front of her, his hold still firm on her waist and eyes settled on her. And all she wanted to do was hold him from his collar and interrogate him, blatantly; spill it all out loud once and for all.

He had no right, no bloody right to do this to her, and she was sure as hell that he owed her some answers.

.

Ask him..'

Why was he being this way?'

Why the hatred?'

Why the indifference?'

.

But as she tried to seek for words, she couldn't find her own voice. As if her vocal chords were constantly betraying her, although her conscience had already framed these questions long back.

She didn't know how, she didn't know why, but she was mesmerized by those heavenly eyes once again, which till date evoked endless things in her mind, the answers to which she never found.

.

"Hey! Hey! Are you all right, Khushi??"

She heard someone speak with concern, and that immediately brought her out of her trance and she found him letting go of his hold on her quickly.

She straightened herself awkwardly, fixing her dress as she finally turned her head to see Thomas, the guy from the literature class standing with a concerned look on his face.

"Ye..Yes, I'm fine."

Khushi managed to speak, not yet recovered from the jolt that hit her only moments ago.

As she tried to turn to face Thomas properly, she felt a pain shoot up and her ankle ached like hell.

"Oww"

She grimaced as the pain doubled.

.

"Uh-oh! Seems like you hurt your ankle bad. Come I will take you to the medical room."

Thomas stated while approaching Khushi with a panic-stricken face.

.

"No need. I will take her."

She heard that husky voice say curtly, making her go beyond dumfounded.

She turned, only to see him, the devil.. Arnav, standing, his face sternly disapproving of whatever Thomas was thinking.

.

She had thought that he would be already gone, but this wasn't anything new.

.

He surprised her, with everything, every other way, every other day.

.

"What's your problem?"

Thomas argued, feeling insulted.

.

"You."

Arnav retorted, his face still stern displaying no emotions.

His rude reply immediately infuriated Thomas, as he gazed at him with revolting eyes.

.

Khushi's mind shouted to make use of the opportunity, choose to go with Thomas instead of him, and throw it on the Devil's face, avenging whatever he did to her in the past few days.

But..

But her heart wanted something else.

.

She made an effort to utter something, when she realized it was too late.

He scooped her in his arms in a fraction of second, making her gasp, but not loud enough and he carried her to the medical room, his steps as headstrong as ever, while she only stared at him awestruck.

He didn't even look at her, not even for once as he walked through the long, wide corridors, earning a lot of gasps and shocks from their fellow batch mates and seniors.

But her hazel eyes were fixed on his face, crying out to know him.

To know, what he had in his mind.

What he had in his heart.

He walked past everyone, as he quickened his steps, leaving every pair of eyes in the college stare at them in sheer shock.

And all the while, she kept staring at him and to the direction he was heading towards in bewilderment.

.

.

His steps came to halt, as they finally reached the medical room.

He carefully placed her on the sofa and called out for the nurse.

.

She saw him saying something to the nurse about her ankle and finally made his way out of the room, just like that.

Khushi was flabbergasted at this stance and when she couldn't contain it within her anymore, she called his name out loud.

"ARNAV!"

.

Practically, it was the first time she uttered his name, from her mouth, for before this, she only used the adjective she used for him, something she was so habituated of.

Though in her mind, she would have already uttered his real name a million times.

.

As she summoned him, she found him stopping at the door step, his back facing her.

.

This guy surprised her every second.

His hatred.

His concern.

His rage..

His help..

Everything surprised her.

Everything made her perplexed.

.

"Doesn't he know it is a courtesy to look at the person, when they call your name?"

She thought in her mind.

Struggling for words, she finally said-

.

"..Umm..Thanks!"

She saw his hands suddenly curling into fists and a shiver instantly ran down her spine as the flashes of their first meet resurfaced in the back of her head.

.

She thanked her stars that he didn't look at her, for she knew she wouldn't be able to handle those resentful eyes once again.

The eyes that held intensity.

The intense hate..

For.. Her

.

He stood there for five seconds after her words and then suddenly lashed out of the room, leaving behind his powerful scent.

The same cologne that she had witnessed that day at the graveyard.

If not anything, then this at least proved that he was indeed there at the graveyard that day, and it wasn't her nightmare, she thought.

.

"Devil!"

She gritted through her teeth as the nurse neared her.

.

The nurse examined her ankle and came to a conclusion that Khushi had a sprain.

After she wrapped her ankle with a crape bandage, Khushi was free to go.

She sighed as she made her way out of the room.

*

As she slowly walked out of the room, her eyes earnestly searched for him.

For just a glance of him.

But he was nowhere to be found.

After looking at all the possible directions, her gaze shifted to the parking lot, where she discovered his Lamborghini was missing and hence, she concluded..

He was gone.

.

She somewhat felt relief flood through her veins at the thought of him not being around her anymore.

Though, deep down inside, her eyes only craved for a glance of him.

.

.

It was 7.00 p.m., when Khushi returned home.

Though college got over at around 4, she spent the rest of the time shopping at the Riverside Mall with Rebecca, limping, yet shopping. She was in dire need of getting a stress-buster and there was nothing better than shopping to serve the purpose.

Chattering about both of their first day at college, she and Ree didn't even realize how time flew so fast.

.

As she entered the hall of her own house, she saw her mom sitting on piles of newspapers.

Khushi was shocked as she looked around and found bundles of newspapers, magazines, cartons scattered on the floor sporadically, making her hall look like a storage unit.

.

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"Mom, what's all this?"

She asked, confused at the condition of her living room.

.

"Nothing sweetie. I was just cleaning the house. These papers and all are to be sold."

Replied Adrienne, animatedly as she panted because of the endless spree of her sudden cleaning plan.

"You amuse me mom. It looks like you have disorganized the house more than organizing it."

Khushi mocked her mom.

"Leave all that. How was your first day at college?"

.

"Umm.. Pretty good."

Khushi replied, as flashes of everything this morning knocked her mind.

.

"Tell me all about it."

Adrienne demanded with a motherly smile.

.

"I will. I will. But let us first get rid of all this mess!"

Khushi pointed towards the disorganized state of the living room.

"Yes. You are right"

Her mom agreed with a grin plastered on her face.

.

"Where are you going?"

Khushi asked, as she saw Adrienne proceeding towards the other side.

"Just going to the basement to get the cartons for dumping these stuff."

She replied quickly.

.

.

"Ah.. Don't worry I will do that. You arrange these things here."

Khushi insisted, as she started walking towards the basement.

.

"OH MY GOD!!"

Adrienne's sudden yelling made Khushi's eyes go wide as she turned back to look at her mom, thinking that perhaps World War 3 broke out.

"What?"

She inquired, raising her eye brows.

.

.

"KHUSHI!! What's that BANDAGE in your foot?"

.

Khushi sighed.

She should have been habituated of such over reactions by now, but alas! She never learnt!

Theatrics should have been her house's everyday theme party!

"Nothing mom, I tripped in the staircase and got an ankle sprain. Don't worry, it is fine now."

Khushi assured her with a small smile.

.

.

Adrienne's league of questions started as soon as Khushi spoke and to avoid the same, Khushi quickly ran into the basement.

.

As she walked down the stairs towards the basement, giggling at her childishness of running away from her mother like old times, a feeling of nostalgia hit her intently.

Her giggles were now fully faded as a nostalgic smile curved her lips.

She saw the bicycle that her dad had gifted her when she was only four.

Jasmine's pram.

A small Christmas tree back from their childhood days.

So many objects, so many sentiments, so many memories.

.

A big smile instantly took over her face, as fond memories of childhood resurfaced in front of her eyes.

At the same time, it reminded her of all the good, irreplaceable things which she had lost in her life, the biggest of which was her father.

Dad..'

She mumbled as she rubbed a lone tear off her eye and looked at the other directions.

She found the cartons lying on one side and swiftly grabbed them with both her hands.

When she turned back to finally make an exit, her eyes fell upon something.

She narrowed her eyes as she spotted the thing.

A wooden box.

It was embroidered with fine work that seemed so catchy, so unique, so different.

The abstract lines drawn on it added to its beauty.

She could make it from its appearance that it was something quite antique.

As she held the box in her hand, turning it in all the directions, trying to know what it contained, she discovered that it was actually locked.

.

.

The intriguing part was that the lock wasn't like any other normal lock.

It was different.

.

"Its key would be different too"

She thought.

As she kept it back in its place, disappointed by the lock, she noticed something carved on it. She took a closer look to figure out what it was.

As she analyzed it keenly, she fumbled, as she finally discovered the words-

.

"Amelia Mary Vermount"

"It was Grandma's"

Her face instantly lit up, as she read out her name.

"Okay, I have to open this anyhow!"

Khushi got all excited as she spoke to herself, getting up with the box, hiding it in one of the cartons, and finally made her way out of the basement.

*

After a long day at college, and tiring hours of organizing the living room with her mom, she finally lay silently on her bed, her eyes fixed upon the ceiling.

.

After trying for more than thirty times to open the medium sized wooden box, she was only greeted with disappointment.

As she proceeded towards giving it a 31st try, her cell phone rang out loud, stopping her in her endeavor.

.

"Hey babe!"

"Hey Ree!"

"How did the house cleaning session go?"

"Good. I'm too tired."

"Oh! Then you must go to sleep now."

"Yup!"

"And some beauty sleep is needed."

"For what?"

"Dumb-head! YOU FORGOT? Fresher's in two days!"

"Oh!"

"You actually forgot about the Fresher's night?"

"I guess!"

"You are such an unenthusiastic loser, Khushi!"

"Yeah, thanks!"

"So, what will you wear?"

"Doesn't matter!"

"Of course it does!"

"Ree, shut up!"

"No!"

"Good night!"

And without waiting for her reply, Khushihung up, totally least interested about everything.

"What's the big deal about Fresher's Night anyway?"

She thought to herself.

.

As she glanced at the box on her table once again, she realized she was completely exhausted after the long day and her rants were quite categorically validating it.

She took the box in her hand and placed it safely under her bed, where no one would be able to discover it.

"College again, tomorrow!"

She whispered to herself, thinking what else awaited her after whatever unexpected happened this morning.

Lying on her back, Khushi covered herself with her quilt, as slowly she surrendered herself to the embrace of the oblivion and ultimately fell into deep slumber, knowing nothing about the impending tornado that was coming to hit her with a deadly prowess.

**