BIN TERE- RaHi OS[Updated pg 1...12]Updated chapter 19 Pg 12 - Page 3

He never knew for how long he was staring at her face. He just kept her close to his heart.

"I don't deserve to fall in love with anyone. Or maybe I don't want to fall in love with anyone anymore", her voice rang in his ears and as if someone had yanked open his chest, the pain seared in him.

What was he thinking?

NO it couldn't happen. He had feelings for her that was true but he couldn't commit to her.  What if he wasn't good enough to live up to her expectations?  He could not bear with himself if he'd ever be the reason of her tears. He once made her cry. Expected so much form her that it almost cost her with her own life. Tears swelled in his eyes, the thought of Panchi bleeding, her sinking and the death door which she almost knocked. He was the reason of her pain once and would not dream of putting her up to anything like that again!

No.

It was immoral. He had to stay away from her. Give up those feelings which tethered her soul to him.

She was just too good for him but he wasn't.  He was not going to lose her even if it meant by distancing him from her, he'd do it.                                                          

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He sat up watching the light filter through the windows on Panchi's face. She wore a cute frown.

RV was guilt stricken after what he thought about her last night. But those thoughts were not leaving his mind at all.

She stirred and slowly opened those butterfly wings she had for eyes, her chocolate brown eyes liquefying before the sun. RV heart was beating so loudly that he feared that it was his hear that woke her up.

He told her to wind up everything and made way out into the woods with the help of the astrologer making a mental note that he'd forget his birth date to avoid contact with any astrologer in the near future. 

He had not spoken a word to Panchi since she woke up.  He could feel her eyes boring into his back but he knew he had to keep walking. Her questions were not important now.

She beckoned him to answer her but he pushed her so hard that she fell down. She gave a groan. She was scratched by the hard forest floor. RV tried to nurse her but she threw his hands away demanding answers. He looked at her face. He wanted to melt away not wanting to face what would come next.

He reasoned with her stupidly knowing that she wasn't buying in a word but she let go off the questions after all, one of the qualities that he liked in her. She always knew when RV needed his space.

They continued to walk into the forest until RV spotted a clearing. That was the end of it now. He brushed Panchi's hand away and started walking briskly to find some traces of his buddies. Panchi called after him to be careful but he turned around to reply and ...

SPLASH

He had fallen straight into a pit full of mud. Ewww, he thought trying to get up and make way to the hard forest floor but to his horror he realized that his efforts were making him sink lower into the mud pond.

"Moti, Yeh daldal hai", he yelled at her for help.

Panchi stopped dead.  RV saw the color from her face drain.

He yelled for help again. Panchi tried her best to keep him alive. She was edging close to the swamp. RV was scared that an inch or so would lead her to where he was, drowning. He asked her to turnaround and call for help but she wouldn't budge but instead she started looking for things that would pull RV to the ground.

She snatched a long twig like something, elastic and frail looking. RV dreaded that if it would snap then RV would sink twice faster into the mud.

"You trust me or not?" Panchi squealed her hands bleeding.

"Yes" RV said clinging on to the twig for his dear life

"Then just don't force your legs, it'll lead you deeper into the mud", she cried the blood dripping into the soil.  "Just hold tightly to the twig and let your legs and torso be dead. I'll do the rest of it" she said not showing the urgency of the situation.

"Don't worry alright!", She said firmly, "Just look into my eyes. Nothing is going to happen to you I promise!"

RV did as he was told. He looked into those chocolate eyes. They were narrowed due to the efforts she was putting to pull him. He wished he could help her, but he knew his stupidity would cost him his and Panchi's life both. Her blood was dripping from a fresh spot were the twig now dug in. Tears oozed out of her eyes. She blinked feverishly to clear her vision. This not what he wanted o put her into. Panchi being with him always meant a price that she had to pay with pain and he, he was to stand in one corner observing. He could feel his legs leaving the swamp .His torso a feet from the ground. Panchi had thrown her full weight on the back.

She gave the twig one last hard tug and RV was yanked out of the swamp.   

Relief washed over him. He and Panchi lay there still. He owed his life one more time to this girl to whom he could scream his feelings to.

She got up and pulled him into a hug. She was crying. RV felt a strong urge to do something but she removed her head, just n time. She started whacking him.

"You -idiot", she yelled amidst the blows she was giving him, "how- many- times- do- I- have- to- tell- you- to -take- care- of yourself??".

She said many things to him but he wasn't paying attention to any. He was absorbed into the beauty that god created. For the first time in his life he realized that she was the only person for him in his whole wide world that he really cared about , a person whom he called his "Best Buddy". He was proud of it then but now he felt ashamed. Why just a "Best Buddy"? Had he ever given it a thought that a person who was so special was not meant to be just a buddy?

She could have easily been more than a best buddy. She was his everything, his reason for existence. She was like the earth and he was her moon. Her gravity kept him going on for so long. How couldn't he realize it then?

But he did now! That was important.  

It was about time to embrace this fact.

Without thinking RV leaned close to her and pecked her on her lips and moved away. She stopped reprimanding him. She gasped. Her eyes widened. She just kept looking at him, no words escaped her mouth. RV saw her face glowing n the morning light, the wind dancing in her hair.

He cupped her face delicately as if she were made of glass. She did not protest but locked him in a look that he couldn't comprehend as love or confusion. He leaned very slowly towards her deliberately to offer her sometime. She could back off if she'd like to but she didn't.

He tenderly placed his lips on her. Her lips parted. His lips slowly moved on hers. She raised her hand and placed it on the small of his head. RV couldn't feel the earth. It was as if he had drifted miles from the planet. Her lips were soft and gentle on his. He moved closer to her.

She was not real, she couldn't be. RV felt each and every cell of his body dissipate. Where was she all his life?

Her wet eyelashes caressed his cheek. Her face was warm. Her hair smelled like...

LOVE

He never wanted to break this kiss. He knew if he'd do it it would end everything. He moved even closer to her kissing her more passionately. Her hand was knotted in RV's hair. Both RV's and Panchi's heart beating loudly to create a rhythmic drum beat.  She paused to take breath but RV wouldn't allow. He locked her into another kiss and this time he knew the forest was on fire, every leaf and tree burning in their love.

Twigs cracked, he heard the soft ruffling of trees but he did not open his eyes. He could feel feet marching towards him. He heard a sharp intake of breath and RV's eyes shot open.

Rukmini was standing with Piddi at her side. She looked furious. RV unwillingly let go of Panchi who was so lost that she didn't notice the intruders. She looked up and was horrified.

RV wanted to evaporate. Rukmini was the last person he wanted to see, especially when he was having the best moment of his life.

Piddi grinned.

He was about to know, why?

Regards

Aishwarya

P.S I know Prologues are not supposed to be so long but these are RV's side of the story that we never got to see as we know only Panchi's side of feelings. 

RV felt sorry for a guy so hopeless like Piddi. But he couldn't thank him enough for what he did to him.

Piddi acted the cupid for them. When Piddi saw him kissing Panchi he went plonking up and down like an ape set loose in the jungle. He had hit the bull's eye. He had planned for RV and Panchi to come closer and what happened was far beyond his expectations.

The kiss had worked wonders in RV's life. The chain of event that took place after Piddi's camp made him ditch Rukmini ultimately. Rukmini was not the kind of person RV had assumed. She was vicious to both RV and Panchi later on. She made him make a choice in between her and Panchi.

Of course Panchi!  Not because he knew where his heart lay but because Rukmini wasn't worth dumping Panchi again.

He went to check Panchi's mind. Panchi looked hassled, there were dark circles, and she looked if not anything but demented.

RV confided into Panchi about the condition Rukmini had put forth him. He didn't have to; he had made up his mind.

"The kiss was immoral and wrong, don't you think?" Panchi asked or made a statement RV couldn't tell. She was not looking up at him. RV's heart sank into the pits of his stomach. She had just spoiled the best moment of his life. Is that what she thought about the kiss? Wrong!!

"Yes", he said without thinking.

Panchi sighed "what the confusion then? Choose your love Nonu not you best friend" her voice cracked at the last word. RV wanted to tell her that his love and his best friend were both one. But he knew Panchi was never going to see him that way. She had given up on him months ago. He was not soothing her pain but had cut it open deeper so that the marks would take time to heal. He felt like a complete idiot for letting her move on in life.

He walked up to Rukmini the next day and told her that he had chosen her. He hated to admit it but he would not have done this in his right mind.

Rukmini was making things worse for him. She made him look like a pooch whom she carried everywhere.  

Meanwhile he felt like he was a fish banished from his pond and made to live in a desert without Panchi.

Panchi decided to leave the college and when Piddi filled him about it RV was mad. He drove at the speed of light to her place. He couldn't control himself and he confessed his love for her.

Panchi eyes softened at his confession. He knew no Rukmini, Ruby or Ayesha or their existence in his lives. He just spoke his heart out. More than anything he wanted to kiss Piddi but he wanted to save all the beautiful kisses for the love of his life. Panchi.

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RV never realized he was swaying on the spot. He tore his eyes from that picture that was so dear to him. He looked up He saw him and Panchi standing in a tight embrace at the New Years Eve.

She looked beautiful yet angry. She hated the girls for even touching him. RV had been hoping to take Panchi to the party but Panchi herself had refused to go with him. She wanted to take her time to get into a relation with him. He never complained.

All she needed was her space. But RV failed to give her that. The harder she flung him like a boomerang, the faster he came towards her. But he couldn't hurt her. No sir, he wouldn't dream of that.

He stared playing the best buddy again. It hurt him to do that but he was left with no choice.

He was so disappointed with himself for not getting her for a partner that he started firing people for stupid things like "looking happy" or "talking during lunch hours".

He so furious with himself that he turned down a girl without even looking at her

"Will you come with me to the party", the girl said in a sweet voice

"NO", RV said slamming his bag so hard on the table that Piddi spilled his energy drink down his front.

At the party however Panchi had her eyes on him and his on Panchi's. Probably they took turns on seeing each other when the other wasn't looking and then complain to the buddies for the lack of attention they were receiving from each other.

KD and Kiya were having their own time waltzing across the dance floor caring even less for Panchi and RV.

 Panchi couldn't tolerate the isolation. She marched onto the stage and announced on the top of her voice

"Nonu mera boyfriend hai" she chirped to the crowd. RV was flabbergasted. He just wanted to hear that voice, those words coming out of her lips. She loved him. Yess!!! He made a wild jig in his mind. The feeling of being loved by the person whom you love the most is the best feeling on earth and Panchi made him feel that.

He was committed.

Committed to his soul mate