Chapter 5: The Witch

Chapter 5: The Witch

Arnav stared at Khushi blankly, who towered over him with her hands on the table. Her hair was… really long, and almost in his face. In fact,if he came to think of it, he didn’t know anyone with hair quite like that. And it smelled so good. Do women deliberately use such scents to drive men insane? He wanted to reach out and touch it once. Little earrings hung down her ears and created this little jingle, almost like her background music. Her sari was loosely pleated and he could see her waist peeking out. He felt an irrational urge to stretch his hand and touch it. But then, his eyes locked with hers and he suddenly snapped back to reality. She was angry. Very angry. But there was something in her eyes that seemed… more than anger. Almost disgust and… hurt.He felt like somebody had punched him in the gut as the realization dawned. He stood up to come back to his senses.

“Alright, I.. didn’t mean to demean your work. I was just…being rude as I always am.” He almost stammered and saw her back off in confusion. He was confused too. Why wasn’t he going after her as always? He saw her relax and nod as she turned around to go back to her chair.

“Alright, let’s go through this once.” She beamed her laptop onto to the screen and turned away from him. He focused on the work as Lavanya came back with her coffee. He was glad that she didn’t witness the exchange, it would have been impossible to make her shut up about it. He sneaked a glance towards Khushi again but she was turned away from him, concentrating on the screen. He felt like for a moment he had floated away from reality. Was he actually attracted to Khushi Kumari Gupta? It made no sense whatsoever. He had had his share of good, bad and ugly relationships with some great women. To think of it, Khushi was beautiful… quite beautiful. There was no denying the fact. But he felt he had a type and Khushi just didn’t fit into it. His dates were usually nice,easygoing and definitely had a more refined taste in music. Khushi, on the other hand had this intensity and energy about her, as she moved around with quick steps and stared people down. She also ate up his bonus, just like now,and it was maddening to see how she got people to like her almost instantly. He rubbed his eyes and looked up to see her looking at him with a raised eyebrow.Obviously, he hadn’t been listening. Again.

“I’m sorry, I was… thinking about something else. Could you please repeat?” He said as he forced himself to focus. A witch she was, for sure.