Chapter 9- Made for each other

"Payal, tum yahan kya kar rahi ho?" Akash asked, stepping into his brother's room.

Payal who had been rummaging in the wardrobe, jumped back with a start. She mumbled something incoherent, her eyes darting around the room.

Crossing his arms across his chest, Akash waited for an explanation.

"Haan!Voh hum kal jo sadee pehen rahe hai na usske saath wale jhumke humne Khushi ko diye the" she said, sounding slightly out of breath. "Bas vahi lene aaye the"

Akash's eyes fell on the dresser beside the door. A bangle stand and few pairs of ear-rings lay on it.

"Khushi ki jewelery toh yahan hai" he said, "Tum cupboard me kya dhoond rahi ho?"

She looked at the dresser and back at him, "Acha haan, jewelery toh vahaan hai"

Akash got the distinct feeling that Payal was lying although he couldn't think of any reason for it.

She closed the wardrobe reluctantly and started walking across the room.

Hoping she'd find the ear-rings quickly, if that was indeed what she was looking for, Akash stepped to the bed-side table.

"Waise, aap yahan kya kar rahe hain?" she said, pausing mid-way.

Trapped, it was his turn to stammer.

Eventually he said, "Bhai ne kuch files mangaye the"

"Lekin Arnavji ki saari files toh cupboard me hai" she said, "Aap bed ke paas kya dekh rahe hai?"

Akash straightened up wondering if it was time to abort the plan and try later.

"Haan, thanks" he said, making his way to the cupboard.

He pretended to sift through files while Payal looked in the dresser. When it was suddenly quiet, he chanced a look to see if she'd left. Instead, he found her standing at the foot of the bed, watching him with an all too knowing look on her face.

Damn, Akash thought. What was he thinking trying to keep things from Payal? She saw through him faster than even Bhai these days.

He turned around with a sheepish smile.

"Ok, fine" he said, holding up his hands in mock surrender. But he wasn't going down alone. "Lekin pehle tum batao"

She considered him with narrow eyes before shooting him a conspiratorial look and hurrying back to the wardrobe.

"Khushi ne kaha thi ki wardrobe me ek safed cover hai aur main use voh leke doon" Payal said, searching the racks. She turned around and said, "Lekin voh nahi chahthi ki Arnavji ko iske baare me pata chale, aap unse kuch mat kahiye"

Akash nodded. "Kya hai cover me?"

She let out a small sound of triumph and pulled out a white package.

"Pata nahi, Khushi ne hume nahi bataya" she said, placing the bag on the bed and turning to him with her eyebrows raised.

Akash had some difficulty tearing his eyes away from the adorable expression on her face. He picked up the book on the bedside table and held it up.

"Bhai ne kaha tha ki bed ke paas ke notebook hai and voh main unhe kal doon" he said, "In fact, kal raat ko bhi maine unhe padthe hue dekha"

"Notebook?" Payal said, leaning forward.

They peered at it together and saw the lettering at the top edge. It said- Khushi Kumari Gupta Singh Raizada.

"I think Khushi ki diary hai" Akash said, with a guilty look.

Payal's jaw dropped and she whipped the book out of his hands.

"Kisiki diary padna bad manners hota hai" she said.

Before Akash could reply, she sat on the bed and flipped open the book.

"Excuse me?" he said, with a laugh.

She looked up at him and said, "Humari baat alag hai. Hum Khushi ki behen hai aur bachpan me voh chup-chupke humari diary…"

She trailed off and her eyes widened as she read the first page.

"Akash" she said, "Hume nahi lagtha ki yeh Khushi ki diary hai"

Curiosity getting better of him, he sat down beside her and leaned in.

"Arnav Singh Raizada ko sathaane ke sau tareeke" he read, his disbelief growing with every word. "Pehla, unki neend kharab karna. Laad Governor humari subah ki cheenko se bahut chidthe hai, Devi Maiya ki kasam aaj se unki har subah humare cheenko se hi shuru hogi"

Akash couldn't help laughing aloud while Payal shook her head torn between amusement and disapproval.

He continued to read Khushi's ingenious tareekas to win raaj over the bathroom, cupboard and eventually the bedroom.

When he reached a side note about the potential uses of machchar chaap agarbatti, Payal shut the book and sat back.

"Ek number ki shaitan hai yeh ladki"

Akash couldn't decide if he was surprised or not. He had to hand it to Khushi, he thought, taking on Bhai like this. Boxed into an impossible situation, she had refused to take it lying down and had launched her own silent rebellion. Well, not so silent by the looks of it, Akash thought recalling how she'd conned Bhai into letting her shower first by singing loudly while washing her clothes in his designer pool.

"Payal, mujhe toh lagtha hai Khushi ne perfect revenge plan banaya tha" he said, "Bhai sab kuch handle kar sakthe hain but not this stuff"

Give him the toughest clients and Bhai knew just how to cut them to size. But something like this, where his Ivy League education and 'Apne sharton pe kaam karo' philosophy went straight out of the window, how had he survived it?

He'd suspected, far before anyone else, that Bhai had finally met his match in Khushi and here was proof of that.

"Akash hume toh un dono ka rishta samjh me hi nahi aatha" Payal said, echoing his thoughts. "Ek doosre se kitne alag hai, har waqt ladthe rehte hai par ek doosre ke bina reh nahi paathe"

Akash nodded.

"They are made for each other" he said, with a smile. "Voh kehthe hai na, opposites attract"

For some reason, Payal's face fell at that. She handed him the book and stood up, gathering the bag in her hands.

"Kya hua?" he asked.

She shook her head and said, "Hume neeche jaana chahiye, sab dinner ke liye wait kar rahe honge"

The way the corners of her lips dipped downwards clued him in on what was running in her mind. Perhaps it was finally time to acknowledge the elephant in the room.

He stood up and blocked her path. Taking her hand in his, he led her back to sit on the bed and knelt beside her.

"Payal maine kal raat bahut socha" he said, "Bhai ne jo kuch kaha, uske baare me"

He saw a brief flash of hesitation in her eyes. Yes, this was going to be uncomfortable but as Bhai had said, 'Past ko accept kiye bine, you can't move forward'.

"Maine bahut socha ki agar bhai mujhse shaadi cancel karne ko kehthe toh main kya kartha" he said.

Taking a deep breath, she covered her hand over his. He took that as encouragement to continue,

"I think I would have done it, main shayad uss din shaadi cancel kar deta" he said, closing his eyes to avoid seeing the hurt in her eyes. "But you have to trust me Payal, main kabhi tumhara saath nahi chodtha. Bhai ke kehne par bhi nahi. Tumhe mujhpe bharosa hain na?"

Akash was heartened to see that Payal didn't seem surprised in the least by his admission. She smiled through the sheen of tears and then nodded slowly.

"Thank you" he said, placing a soft kiss on her hand.

" And you know what" he said, after a pause. "I don't think ki bhai sach me aisa karthe"

"Khushi ko bhi aisa hi lagtha hai" she said.

"Voh hum sabse bahut pyaar karthe hain, Payal" Akash said, "Aaj meeting toh aadhe ghante me ho gayi lekin bhai ne pura din mujhe bithake samjhaya ke ghar me sabko kaise sambhalna hai. Unhone sab soch ke rakha hai. Ghar me security bada rahe hain, ek private detective bhi hire karne wale hai to keep an eye on Shyam"

He saw Payal's eyes widen with surprise.

She nodded again, squeezing his hand. "Aap fikar mat kijiye Akash. Jab tak voh dono vaapis ghar nahi aa jate hum subka khayal rakhenge aur hume pura vishwas hai ki ek din voh zaroor vaapis aaenge"

Akash nodded and smiled.

"Ab chale?" he said, standing up and holding out his hand.

"Akash, hum aapse ek baat pooche?" Payal said.

Turning back to her, he said "Aise kyun keh rahi ho? Poocho"

"Hum dono toh opposite nahi hai" she said, looking down. "Balki hum dono toh bilkul ek jaise hain, fir hum…"

He brought his hand to her chin and directed her gaze towards himself.

He couldn't deny having thought the same in the past. But Akash had dismissed it, simply grateful to have one less reason to fight. In less than a year of their marriage too many things had already  gotten in their way- his work, their families and other trivial matters. The fact that Payal and he had the same wavelength was a blessing.

"Voh isliye kyunki har rule ka ek exception hota hai" he said, "And waise bhi, kahin likha thodi na hai ki har rishtay ko ek jaisa hona chahiye"

She looked thoughful.

"Hum sab se alag hai toh kya, we're also made for each other" he said.

She lowered her gaze, a shy smile tugging at the corner of her lips. She finally took his hand.

"Waise, tumhe kya lagtha hai?" he asked, helping her up and handing her the bag. "Kya hai iss bag me?"

She looked down, biting her lower lip.

"Pata nahi, lekin dekhna sahi nahi hoga na?"

Akash shrugged and nodded, heading for the door.

"Lekin agar cover ko nikalthe waqt voh galathi se neeche gir gaya aur humne dekh liya, fir toh kuch nahi kiya ja saktha na?" she said.

Akash turned around, not sure if he'd heard correctly.

He saw the glint of mischief in her eyes and remembered all over again just why he had fallen in love with this enigma of a woman.

If they'd been in their own room he was sure he would have kissed her then. But settling for grinning back, he shook his head no.

Excited, she opened the cover hastily with one eye on the door as if she expected Bhai and Khushi to walk in any second and catch her snooping.

"Arey waah" she said, as a flash of expensive silk in red and pink appeared before them. "Kitna sundar lehenga hai"

Akash recognised it at once.

"Yeh toh AR ke bridal collection se hai"

Payal turned it around, admiring it from all directions.

Her cheeks filled with colour when she spotted the nearly backless choli held together by a row of doris. Struggling not to smile, she folded the lehenga and choli carefully and returned it to the cover.

"Waise Mrs. Raizada" Akash whispered as they made their way downstairs, "AR bridal collection me aur bhi lehenga choli hai, tum kaho toh…"

"Khoon bhari taang!"

Akash found himself flinching at his mother's tone and words.

"Dinner ke liye inbitation bejna padi hai tumko, hello hi bye bye" she called, "Come on, hurries up"

He turned to Payal with the apologetic look he kept in stock for his mother's outrageous behaviour. But as always, Payal simply suppressed a giggle and hurried downstairs.