-sadi-, I love those things you used to post as comments...
& greenMoss, you asked, whether the intricate beautification of Arnav's facial features(for eg. his sinfully smooth lips, pretty head, gorgeous hair etc.) is a direct result of me being Barun's phangirl?!! You got me...& I haven't even started on the faint outline of his lips yet..Keeping it reserved for a very special update!
_disha_, you truly got what I said in the last update regarding Arnav's feelings...
So thank you all..Enjoy the update!
Part 44
Khushi hated Arnav Singh Raizada. She hated him like she loved him. He was the devil himself! There was no other reason for which he'd behaving like that with her, in front of both Payal & Anjali, to whom Khushi had just blatantly lied only to save both her & Arnav's ass. & instead of being grateful for her ingenuous stroke of brilliant lying, he was now carelessly throwing all that to the wind by being dangerously shameless.
He wouldn't take his eyes off of her, even when he was helping his sister through the thick crowd. He would brush his hand against her while walking, even when he could see her other arm was linked with her own sister at the same time. & it didn't help that, the chemistry between them was so damn crackling that even those innocuous brushes & mocking glances were enough to make her cheek go all hot & blushing.
When they reached the shop for the Kaleere, Khushi threw a mean glare at him courtesy to all his unabashed overtures & went & stood at the far corner of the shop, putting as much distance between them as she could. Then she concentrated on Anjali, who was gushing about the fact that, while she had only made this impromptu trip to the mall after being intrigued by hearing all about the gorgeous Kaleeras from Payal, her own brother had been thinking of surprising her with the same. Then she just couldn't control herself anymore & went & hugged her brother while a few teardrops escaped her eyes, while her brother looked faintly guilty, but still held onto her tightly.
Khushi knew he was feeling guilty because Anjali was being thankful to him because of something that was only a lie of her formation, but the thing that striked her most was the curious mix of tenderness & firmness in his expression. It was almost like he was trying to be an older brother to Anjali by supporting her & he was also trying to be her Chhote by absorbing all the love that she had for him. & then as if suddenly becoming aware of two pairs of amazed eyes, belonging to Payal & Khushi, on his face, Arnav gently disentangled Anjali from himself, & mumbling something about having to call Aman, he went outside the shop with his iPhone already out in his hand.
But from the moment Arnav left the shop, Khushi felt all her irritation with him start to fade away & she almost instantly started missing him. She couldn't get the image of his face out of her mind when he was hugging Anjali, his expression showed that sudden glimpse of vulnerability for the fraction of a second, which Khushi had already seen a couple of times before too, when he had been unsure of this thing between them. & suddenly Khushi just couldn't concentrate on the various designs of Kaleeras that Payal & Anjali were thrusting beneath her nose for Anjali to purchase. She couldn't care less whether they should opt for the lengthy subtle one or the heavily ornamented one.
So Khushi just turned to Payal & said hurriedly, "Jiji, I'll just & check out some yellow glass bangles I saw in a shop on the way here. I think it'll match your Haldi outfit! I won't be long." & she hurried out of the shop before either of the brides could stop her & as soon as she stepped out, she started looking for him. Finding him nowhere in her visuals, she started going around shops to look for him. & when she actually came upon a accessory shop on her way, she went inside for a quick glance & bought a set of dazzling sequined yellow bangles for Payal. Then she came out of the shop & started making her way back to the Kaleere shop dejectedly, sad at not finding who she was looking for.
As she was walking past the Destination superstore, lost in her search for Arnav around the spot, suddenly an arm shot out of the superstore & jerked her inside with a vicious pull & then continued to drag her by her arm towards somewhere with a sense of purpose. Of course, Khushi's panic vanished after the first moment of surprise as she had immediately realized whose touch that was. & she clutched onto the arm pulling her with her other hand & tried saying, "Arnavji! I was looking for you only-", but stopped as she felt him pull her in somewhere, an enclosed space & then he closed the small door after her. & as Khushi had the chance to look at both him & their surrounding properly, he stretched his hands outwards, indicating the space & asked with triumphant arrogance, "Look what I found!"
Khushi looked around again, although she had already figured out what it was & she asked in a confused tone, "A clothes trial room?... Arnavji, I am sure someone discovered it way, a long way, before you did!" Arnav smirked at the hint of sarcasm in her voice, & snaking his right hand around her waist, he pulled her with a jerk towards him, plastering their lower body snugly together. Despite the act now being acutely familiar to her coming from him, Khushi couldn't stop the gasp that escaped her lips as she knew no matter how many times he did this, she would never be able to control the rush of pleasure that shot through her & the way her heart started beating in a frantic taboo, every time he was this close to her & their bodies were conjoined together like this.
& she gave another surprised yelp, as Arnav's head abruptly swooped down & he placed a firm kiss on her left cheek & then his lips lingered over her flushed skin as he drawled, "Not the trial room. This! Us. Privacy. Alone time. Something which is proving very hard to achieve with all of our family members & this giant wedding constantly raining all over my parade for some reason!" Khushi giggled at the comical frustration in his voice, but immediately sobered up as she remembered his earlier behavior. Then she said in an admonishing tone, "Arnavji!! You were mercilessly teasing me!! Aap aise karte rahenge, toh kaise chalega? You have gotta stop taking so pleasure in provoking me, samjhe aap? What if Jiji & Bhaabi suspected something?" & when she felt his lips raining kisses from her cheek to her ear lobe, she squealed under the impact as her hands clutched his shoulders, "Arnavji! Stop! You- You have to stop teasing like that in front of watching eyes, OK?"
Arnav pulled his head slightly back to look at her flushed & slightly irritated face, & asked brazenly, "Where's the fun in that? If I didn't tease you, I'd get bored out of my mind by now! & what do I get in return if I stop teasing you in front of everyone? Although I am not sure how I teased you, seeing all I did was just look at you!" he shrugged with a mock innocent expression on his face.
Khushi's mouth fell into an 'O' shaped silent gasp & then she quickly recovered to launch in speech, "Exactly! You look- Just stop looking at me in that devilish way! & in return..." & suddenly Khushi's eyes glowed as a sudden ingenuous idea came to her mind, & she pulled herself out of Arnav's arm hastily to be able to explain the thing to him with a clear mind not fogged by the heat of his melting caramel eyes. "When we were young, Amma used to give us points for doing our own chores, making the bed & tidying the room & such! & we'd gain TV watching hours or time for video games based on our points! They were kinda like brownie points, you know?" She looked at Arnav keenly for a sign to know that he was following. Arnav narrowed his eyes on her face, & then with a hand on his hip, he outstretched the other arm towards her & said shortly, "This is not the time for crazy nonsense, Red! Come here & let me kiss you before Di calls-" he stopped as Khushi indignantly swatted his hand away.
"This is not nonsense!" she said patiently, willing him to understand, "See, you don't tease me in front of Jiji & Bhaabi, you get a point. It will be..." She bit the nail of her index finger for a suitable reward to lure him into the bait, & then her features brightened as she found the perfect bait. "Yes! It will be Kissing Points! KP! & if you behave gentlemanly & have... say, 5 Kissing Points? Well, you're in for luck, cause you can cash the points in & demand a kiss & I'll be obliged to comply! Then & there!" & she jumped up a little in her spot & clapped her hands excitedly as she said to herself, "Wah Khushi! Maan gaaye tujhe! You're GENIUS!" Then she looked at Arnav again, "So?? Come on, my offer is so lucrative... Deal, Arnavji?"
Arnav considered her face seriously for some time, & then he looked like he was concentrating hard on something as he looked down at the floor & seemed to count something with the fingers of his right hand, & then he looked up abruptly & snapped with a decisive jerk of his head, "Deal!" Khushi jumped a little again at how easily she got him to not tease her. But her joy was short-lived as he suddenly grabbed her waist again & pulled her flush against his body, & before Khushi could react to this, he charged on, "So, according to my calculations, which are never wrong, this, my not teasing? 1 Kissing Point! Yesterday... you yelling at me for no fault of mine? 1 KP again! You didn't pick up so many of my calls? 1! You made me get caught in front of Di in a compromising situation involving a Salman Khan cut-out! Don't ever do that again, &... 1 KP! & I am going to take you to pick up the rings, which is unusually generous of me, hence... 1 KP! & that's 5 & I get a kiss." He took a much needed breath & smirked at her dumbstruck expression with her comically raised brows & the perfectly rounded lips. & then he ordered, "I want my kiss now!!" As Khushi just stared at him stupefied, his smirk intensified as he quipped, "ASR never agrees to a non-profitable deal, Red!"
& it was his smirk that brought Khushi out of her trance & she pushed at his shoulders with both of her palms, & said through gritted teeth, "Don't abuse my amazing system! The KPs are only to be seen as an incentive for you to not to tease me in front of any of our family members & to not drag me into trial rooms of stores in the mall, but it is not given in exchange of accidents like the thing with Salmanji's cutout or common civility like you taking me to pick up the rings, samjhe aap?" But to her consternation Arnav just gave her a lop-sided grin & started tilting his head towards her as if she had not spoken at all. Khushi was just about to twist her head away when she heard her phone start to ring loudly & before Arnav could open his mouth to order her to ignore it, his own iPhone started buzzing incessantly too. As Arnav took out his phone with one hand, his other arm still snaked around Khushi's waist, & Khushi too fished her phone out, both of them exclaimed at the same time looking at the names flashing on their respective phones.
"Di!"
"Jiji!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As Payal saw her call get disconnected as Khushi rejected it, she looked up at Anjali who had her own device to her ear calling her brother, & said, "Khushi cut my call. She must be close around & coming back." Then she hesitated a bit & asked in a small voice, "Um... Bhaabi? Wo, when we saw them today... you know? With Arnavji dragging Khushi by the elbow & all... Did you feel something was off? Like something was going on between them?" Anjali looked at her with a start, & abruptly cut the call & said after a long pause, "Did you?! I... Payal! But it's Chhote! & Khushi! To be honest, I thought, they had just fallen back to their usual brand of animosity... you know, they were always very physical about it. Well, Khushi was! She gave Chhotte that cut over his eye! & she also pulled him by the hair that one time when Rohan-" But before she could finish, an indignant Payal came to her sister's defense, "Look, Bhaabi, Khushi was practically an infant then! There's no point in still holding her accountable for something that she did as a baby! & Khushi says Arnavji used to provoke her into conflict! & our Khushi didn't hurt anyone else like that, you know? So-"
Anjali gasped so loudly that Payal stopped & look at her face in time to see the thunderous scowl on her face as Anajli said in a high pitched voice, "My Chhote had enough on his plate already! I can vouch for it that he never provoked Khushi! She was always a bit on the wild side! She still is! In fact, the night that Chhote & Akaash stayed in Nikunja with me, she refused to come down & even rejected dinner ever since Chotte joined us! Maybe she was difficult with him today also! Maybe Chotte was just trying to control her craziness today only-" But before she could finish, Payal narrowed her eyes dangerously & said in a nasty whisper, "You know what, let's see you try suggesting to Bhaiya that his Bachchi is a bit on the wild side, & see what he has to say?" & right on cue, Anjali flushed deeply & averted Payal's eyes, knowing she would never dare to suggest such a thing to Rohan. & as Payal looked down at the various Kaleeras in front of them, she too started feeling bad for the way she had just talked to her Bhaabi & Akaash's big sister, & suddenly they both turned towards each other with apologetic expressions on their faces.
Anjali started first, "I am sorry, Payal! It's just that, I am a bit touchy about Chhote, & Khushi... She has grown up in front of my own eyes, & I know she is spirited, independent & a gem! & I know, there could be nothing brewing on between Chhote & her, because my Chhote has strayed far away... for his stars to ever collide with someone like Khushi." & as Payal saw the sadness clouding Anjali's eyes, she took Anjali's hand in her own & pressing it said, "Arre, Bhaabi! Arnavji hasn't even been back for a month yet, & they have probably met 7-8 times in this duration... & each time, we were there, I think! So there can't be anything between them! It's just us!" Then she laughed to try to lighten the mood & said, "You know, how they say, brides try to play cupids & marry off everyone they set their eyes on? I guess it's true for both of us! Definitely for me! That's why I am seeing fire, when there's not even a bit of smoke!"
& Anjali smiled finally at the thought of both of them wrongfully marrying off everyone in their sights, & when Payal came to hug her, she returned the hug with full sincerity, both pretty happy after convincing themselves that there was nothing between their siblings, because that was a deadly bullet, every Gupta & all the Raizada's wanted to dodge.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No precap...Haven't written anything...But I promise to go write as soon as I post this update!
& press 'like' if you do like & don't forget to leave you reviews!!
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