Chapter 42

Khushi tried to wrench her hands from his grasp in a panic as she saw Buaji turning back towards him to greet him, warding evil eyes off him, while her own niece was the one throwing nasty looks at Arnav over her shoulder. & then to Khushi's supreme outrage, he just nodded in answer to Buaji's greetings & tightened his grasp on her hands. Buaji turned to Khushi sideways, & admonished her loudly, "Haye Sanka Devi! Arnav babuwa ko darvajje pe kaahe roke rakkhi ho?" & Khushi understood with limb-numbing relief that Buaji was scandalized at her supposed lack of manner, & that she had not yet looked down to where Khushi's hand was trapped inside Arnav's. Then Buaji once again turned in Arnav's direction to smilingly usher him in, & behind Buaji's back, Khushi again appealed to Arnav with desperately pleading eyes to let her hand go. & in answer to her pleas, he just smirked audaciously & to Khushi's horror, following Arnav's line of gaze, Buaji too turned back to look at her questioningly, & just when Khushi thought Buaji was finally gonna look down & see their linked hands, he abruptly let go of her hand. & then he casually breezed inside without even a cursory glance in her direction, in long, confident strides, leaving a dumbfounded Khushi, with her jaws dropping to the floor, in his wake.

When Khushi finally got over her dazed state, she slammed the door shut so loudly, that even people in the main hall could hear it clearly & then she steered well past the main hall, & went straight into the kitchen to arrange the assortment of refreshments on trays. She was taking her time doing everything in a slow pace, determined to make him wait a long time for a glimpse of her, if he was at all waiting for her, which she supposed he was, judging by his behavior at the door. But after about 15 minutes a rushing Garima came in & said anxiously, "Hurry up, Chhutki! They are saying they should begin giving Payal the Shaguns as they want to be on their way back home... saying they'd have to prepare something before we take Anajli Bitiya's Shagun up to Shantivan in the afternoon! What more preparations could they have left undone?! We are the ones not prepared properly! What if Manoramaji doesn't like what we are about to give for Akaash & Anajli?!" Khushi quickly went to her Amma & hugged her shoulders sideways & rubbed her arms in an attempt to calm her panicked nerves, & said soothingly, "Amma, everything will be fine. Everyone will love everything! & Mamiji?... Wait till she has had a couple of your out-of-this-world Malaai ke Laddoo, & then she wouldn't even notice what else we have packed in the Shagun ki thaals!"

Then she picked up the tray laden with tea-cups & pots, & walked out towards the main hall, while after a bit of hesitation, Garima followed with the plates of Laddoos & Samosas. Once in the hall, Khushi didn't even have to look up to know that he was sitting on her right side in between her Bauji & his Mamaji. She could feel his hot gaze running all over her like a laser-ray gun. But she still hadn't forgiven him for his insolent carelessness at the main door, so she averted her face pointedly from his direction, & setting the tray down on the coffee table, started serving tea to Nani, Mami & NK. She was deliberately slow in her movements, & as she had expected, soon her Amma & Buaji took up the task of serving the men, seated at the opposite direction from the ladies.

But Khushi's resolution of not even looking at Arnav's direction went totally kaput, when she saw Buaji about to hand him a cup of tea, & she half-yelled despite herself, "Buaji! It has sugar in it. He can't-" & she stooped in a gasp as she saw a pair of laughing & thoroughly amused orbs glittering at her, then she swiftly looked away & said with a relaxed attitude she was far from feeling, "Um, I mean, that Black coffee is for Arnavji." & then Khushi finished serving the Raizada women tea & refreshment with a stony silence, because the waves of gloating smugness coming off from the man, whose health she had so sweetly been concerned about, was now tempting her to go & smack the tea-tray in her hand across that head full of gorgeous, sexy hair.

Just so she didn't have to give into his provocation & participate in the shameless public flirting through their eyes that he was trying to lure her in, Khushi concentrated on the gifts that Devyani & Manorama were about to hand in to her parents. Then she stepped in smilingly to take the packages from her parents' hands so that Garima could hug both the Raizada women. & then gifts were handed out to Buaji, & then came the Groom's Shagun for Rohan, which Buaji accepted as the elder of the Gupta household, while Garima looked on with happy tears in her eyes. Then came Khushi's turn.

Naniji beckoned Khushi to come & sit beside her by waving her fingers at her, while Manohar & NK beamed at her. As Khushi went & sat beside her, Naniji promptly dumped 4 packages on her arms. Khushi looked down at them, & looked up at Nani with shocked astonishment on her face. Then as Naniji just continued smiling naughtily at her, she protested, "But this is too much! 4 of them...! Naniji-" But Naniji cut her off in a mock stern voice, "You are our Anjali Bitiya's yongest Nanand, aren't you?" & Mami too squealed up, "Wahito!! & my dearest Akaass Bituwa's only Saali!" Again Naniji relayed from there, "& we're you elders, aren't we? & do you know how much Anjali Bititya toiled over them? Do you know how upset she was last night, when some of the items came out as not exactly how she specified them? & now that you are refusing to take them, think of how upset that would make her?" Khushi looked at Naniji's twinkling eyes helplessly, knowing that she was being manipulated, & then she looked over at her parents for guidance, & when Shashi nodded gently after smiling at Devyani courteously, Khushi gathered the packages up in her arms, smiling a little at Naniji.

Then Manorama ordered NK to bring about the thaals for Payal's Shagun & when NK brought the 5 large thaals & set them in front of Payal on the low table, Manorama unveiled all of the thaals one by one with dramatic swipes. & every Gupta women gasped at the gorgeous & colorful array of beautiful lehengas, long anarkalis & a few sarees in vibrant shades of Red, Orange, Gold, Blue & Pink, all of which completely matched Payal's persona.

When Manorama started taking each item from the thaals, explaining exactly who chose which item for what reason, Khushi realized it was gonna go on for a while, so went around to the table behind the sofa her parents were sitting in & gathered the gifts on it, previously given to her family members, to put them away in a bedroom upstairs. But as she was unable to carry so many packages at one go herself, she dropped a few of them on the floor, & as it became clear she would have to make a few more trips to take them upstairs, she sighed & bent to pick the fallen packages up. But before she could reach for them, both the packages were lifted up & as she looked up, she found both NK & Arnav standing there with a package on their hands each.

Khushi was too surprised to say something for a moment & before she could get her wits back, she heard Arnav declaring firmly, "I need some privacy for an important call... I was thinking of going up to the roof maybe. I'll bring the rest of the packages on my way up... to wherever you're taking the ones in your hand." His voice brooked no arguments, but argument did come. Not from Khushi, but from a slightly irritated NK, "Nannav! That was supposed to be my offer to my buddy!" Arnav picked up more than half of the packages in his hands as if he hadn't heard anything & while passing NK on his way to the stairwell said with a satisfied sneer, "Slow snail!" NK immediately called out outrageously, "Copy cat!" Arnav ignored him altogether & started climbing the steps, leaving Khushi no choice but to follow him, but NK again called out accusingly, "You hate both of us, so you're only doing it to irk Khushi & me!" Arnav threw NK a smug look over his shoulder, not breaking his ascend, & said provocatively, "But obviously! What else?!" Khushi instantly coughed as she stifled a maddening urge to laugh out loud at the dumbfounded expression on NK's face, who had never seen Arnav so blatantly advertising his antagonism towards Khushi & himself.

Arnav automatically turned into Khushi's bedroom from the 1^st floor landing & stood in the middle of the room waiting for Khushi to enter & show him where to put everything down. Khushi entered her own room apprehensively & not looking directly at him, went & put the packages down over her study table. She trembled as she heard the faint click of the door being kicked close & then after a few moments Arnav came to stand beside her & put the pile of packages down to join the rest. Then he took a step back, & suddenly grabbing a hold of Khushi's elbow, he jerked her gently towards him, to stand before himself, pressed between the study table & his own body. Khushi shivered as she felt his hot breath spraying her neck before he pressed his lips to the crook of her neck & then he grazed his lips outward towards her shoulder, the wide neck of her anarkali giving him ample skin-to-skin contact. He growled with his lips still pressed to her right shoulder, "Damn it, Red! This thing doesn't have a freaking back! Do you know what I have been going through since the first time you turned your back to me?!"

Before Khushi could answer though, as a form of probable punishment for torturing him with a low-back dress, he swiftly moved his lips upward & nipped at the side of her ear, & as Khushi yelped more out of shock rather than pain, he soothed the offended flesh with his tongue & entwined his fingers with hers. Then as he slowly raised his head, his eyes fell on the large collage on a hardboard hanging on the wall over Khushi's study table. It had snaps of Khushi at various ages, with all of her family, friends, & even some snaps with Anjali, Nani, Akaash, & even NK. Arnav scanned the whole collage with more than a little interest for a long moment & not finding what he was looking for, he said in a carefully casual voice, "& you say, I hated you! There's everyone in that collage. Except me!"

Khushi looked sideways at him, surprise making her eyes look huge, & then she said without even looking back at the collage, knowing what Arnav said was true, "Because you would never stand in the same frame with me! You even have a snap with Jiji, but not me! I guess I repelled you so-" Arnav cut in, his hands tightening around hers, as he suddenly realized his error, "Khushi, it's not that! I was just camera-shy & I hated taking photos then-" Khushi tried to free her hands from his grasp ineffectively as she said in a hurt voice, "A reluctance you came over very nicely later, as I had never seen you looking camera-shy with all those bimbos hanging from your arms in the magazine spreads!" Arnav felt like kicking himself, as he could see how he had himself brought this upon himself.

He tried to turn Khushi to look at him, but she stood rigid, & then said in a troubled & thoughtful voice, "You know what? I think I still repel you as much as I used to do, despite some momentary flashes of passions we have both witnessed!" With that she finally said what has been disturbing her since the end of their date that night. & this time before she could resist, Arnav spun her around forcibly to face him, & asked in a fierce whisper, "What the fu-? What the hell are you talking about?" Khushi gulped the painful lump in her throat, debating whether she should go on or not, & then throwing caution to the wind, she just whispered to his face, "You have only one kind of relationship with women! & now, despite my offering the exact same kind of a relationship, you are not showing any interest in doing that... & I don't have a clue what's on your mind... Have you lost that kind of an interest in me?"

Arnav was dumbstruck to say the least, following her outburst. He didn't have any interest in what she offered??! That's as far from the truth she could get as possible! He tried to rein in his urge to just break something to vent his frustration at her navet, & said through grated teeth, "The fact that you even need to ask this, proves how truly nave you are!... f**k! I don't have an interest?! I don't ?!... Damn it, Khushi, its all he I've thought about since-" he closed his eyes, as the first time he had seen her from behind, walking in her campus with friends in that short dress, flashed before his eyes, & he quickly opened his eyes to now look at the troubled features of that same girl in his arms, & he tried to explain, "Khushi, its possible to make a date... passably decent in 3hours! & don't get me wrong, I love these stolen moments, like now! & the kisses with you!" & as if to show her what he meant, he took her mouth in his hungrily, briefly & then letting them go, he said in growl, "Damn it, Khushi! I haven't kissed you in so long!" & bending his head, he took her lips in a proper kiss, & after a moment's inertia, Khushi too reciprocated & she deepened the kiss by tilting her face up towards him. & it seemed too soon to her when Arnav slowly pried their lips apart, as he rested his forehead against hers, he said in a somber voice, "I want our first time to be leisured, not hurried. I want to make your first time memorable, not forgettable. It shouldn't happen in the backseat of my Audi, Khushi! Or not in a stolen moment like this, when anytime anyone can barge in on us!... I can't express in words just how much I want you..." then he pulled his head back & looked at her with eyes that seemed to have darkened signaling his desire, & said huskily, "But maybe I can show it to you?"

& Khushi felt his hands slowly making their way up from her waist, running over her ribs, stroking her diaphragm, & then slowly, firmly, she felt his hands settling over her breasts, & then she felt him pressing them both with his hands at the same time, & as a shocked gasp left her lips, he bent his head & drank her shock in, leaving her breathless.

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Arnav finally lifted his head up & looked at her through half-lidded eyes & scanned her face for a prolonged second, & then he raised his eyebrows in a mocking manner & scoffed, "Your face?! You blush like clockwork every 5 minutes as it is!" & then he abruptly plastered Khushi's lower body to his own with his arms snaking around her waist in a vice-like grip, & as Khushi's eyes rounded like huge saucers, he pressed his hardness against her softness & said in a matter-of-fact voice, "Everyone would know looking at that, what I've been doing." Khushi's lips fell apart at his brazen proclamation, then looking at his serious face, she perceived the true predicament of his situation. Levity quickly replaced her astonishment, & before Khushi could stop herself, uncontrollable spurts of giggles left her lips.

Arnav's eyes instantly narrowed in warning as he clearly didn't appreciate her finding humor in his cornered situation. Khushi caught her lower lip between her lips to stop the laughter from falling out of them, & then finding the situation favorable to her advantage, she rediscovered her guts that had left her in the face of Arnav's daring lips & hands. Smiling naughtily, she gyrated her hips against his hardness, & Arnav immediately clutched her arm in a painfully tight grip & gave a hard squeeze to her right breast, making Khushi yelp out in surprise.  Then he whispered in her ear, "Red, don't do things you don't yet know everything about!"