With Or Without You

16.

Karan's POV:

"God, my head," Advik said as he and I sat at the breakfast table.

"Maybe you shouldn't have drunk so much last night," I said, leaning forward and narrowing my eyes. "And do try looking a little less smug about what you did."

Advik nearly fell off the chair. "I do not look smug. Well," he amended, "no more than usual."

"Please," I said, picking at a croissant. "I can read your face like a very open, very pornographic book. I wish I couldn't."

"Is this your way of telling me to shut my face?" he inquired.

"Remember when you mocked me for sneaking around with Megha and asked me if I'd fallen on my neck?" I asked. "This is payback."

Advik snorted, "While we're on that topic you want to talk about what happened last night?"

"What happened last night?"

Advik looked less than impressed, "Do you take me for a fool? I might play dumb but I'm actually not that dumb, you know."

Of course he isn't. I'm dreading this conversation already.

"You were literally giving me "I would never fall in love again until I found her" vibes."

"Seriously? That's unnecessary." I said, frowning at his use of lyrics.

"Okay fine." he said, holding up both hands.

I sighed inwardly until Advik put an arm around me and whispered, "So bro yeh teja teja kya hai?"

Groaning in frustration I muttered, "We are not having this conversation."

He clapped me on the back and cheerfully replied, "Oh yes we are. This is the best thing that's happened to me since..." he trailed off, a slow smirk coming across his face.

I turned my head towards him, "Again, can you try and stop looking so smug about what you did?"

He waved off my statement, "Don't distract me."

"Look," I started, "There's nothing."

He looked at me with a levelled gaze, "I'm not buying it."

I threw up my hands in frustration, "I'm serious."

"I'm serious too. Not buying it."

"What do you want me to tell you?"

"The truth," he said seriously.

I scratched my head. I knew this was gonna come sooner or later but it did nothing to prepare me for the blow. I breathed deeply and told myself to rip it off like a band-aid. Quick and painless.

"Tejasswi and I used to date."

Advik was so still I had to shake his shoulders and ask him if he was okay.

Snapping out from his daze he outrageously said, "You guys what?"

"We dated," I repeated for his benefit.

He ran his hands over his face as if still trying to process the news.

"Do you want me to leave and come back after five minutes? Because you look like you're gonna pass out," I said sarcastically.

He shook his head, "I should have known from the start."

"What?"

"The way you are around each other. A little awkward, a little hesitant but you can still see the care you have for each other in your eyes. That only comes when two people know each other in a way that's...incomprehensible to anyone else except for them."

I pondered over what he said for a minute but cleared my throat and said lightly, "I didn't even think you knew what incomprehensible meant."

He rolled his eyes at me before his expression cleared, "And I didn't even think that you would not tell me about this yourself."

I winced. "I didn't mean to keep it from you but...I guess I just didn't want to be reminded of the past and what isn't there in the present and telling you would have made that feeling so much more real than it already is."

Advik's eyes softened, "Hey, I get it. It's not easy when you haven't moved on."

I raised my eyebrows, "What makes you think I haven't moved on?"

"You know me and Hiya had to literally twist your arm to get you to Hawaii even if it was just for a few days for your birthday. We knew you would have brushed us off with another excuse about being too busy with work. But we were adamant this time. I know this might sound cheesy but everything happens for a reason. Maybe you and her being here at the same time isn't just a coincidence. Maybe it was meant to happen."

My mind flashed back to something Tejasswi had once told me.

Fate doesn't care about your plans. It makes its own plans.

I snap out of my haze to see that Advik is still talking.

"I hate to break this to you buddy but it's evident that you're not over her. But if it makes you feel any better, I've seen the way she looks at you."

He was wrong but that didn't stop my pulse from spiking with anticipation. "How does she look at me?"

Advik smiled. "Like she never wants to look away."

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A/N: You've got to love Advik, right?

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Until next time.

Lots of love,

D