Chapter 2

Khushi was standing by the side of her bed, hugging herself, watching Arnav struggling to control his emotions. Why is he not saying anything? What just happened between us? What did it mean? I should ask him. She smiled, maybe, maybe he feels the same way about me as I do about him. She walked to him and called his name softly, "Arnavji". He opened his eyes, his eyes furious. She askd, "What just happened between us? Please tell me why it happened?" He turned angrily and grabbed her arms, "What do you mean what happened? Don't act as if you don't know." She looked at him confused. "You tried to seduce me, but you didn't succeed. Thankfully I controlled myself before anything happened. Else who knows, after a few days you would come by saying you are pregnant with my child and that you want to get married to me and want a share of my money and my property." She raised her eyebrows, in shock. He pulled her close and forcefully squeezed her arms; she was struggling to get free of his grip. "I know girls like you very well, who would do anything for money. How many guys have you tried this on? Maybe it will work on others, but it sure as hell won't work on Arnav Singh Raizada". He freed her from his grip with a force that she fell backwards on the bed. Tears rolled down her cheek. She was too shocked to even say anything. She looked up at him, got up from the bed and walked towards him. He saw the tears in her eyes and he turned away. He closed his eyes; he could feel her pain. No, I will not let her tears affect me. He opened his eyes, walked to the wardrobe and took out another shirt. Khushi reached him as he put on the shirt and buttoned his waistcoat. She raised her hand, wondering whether or not to touch his shoulder, "Arnavji, what.. ". She could not take the pain anymore. She was heartbroken; for a second, she thought he would confess that he was attracted to her and that maybe he liked her, instead he accused her of .. chee.. she couldn't even think of it. He turned around and yelled, "Get out of my room.. I said, get out". She started opening her mouth. He grabbed her wrist, pulled her and took her to the door. He pushed her out and closed the door. He closed it and leaned against it, his eyes closed. Khushi stared at the closed door for a few seconds, her eyebrows raised, still in shock. She turned around, started walking towards the living room, then started walking faster and finally ran down to the living room.

Lavanya was happy and talking about how excited she was that Nani had accepted her. She noticed that Khushi was not listening to her; she was deep in thought. She grabbed Khushi's hand and asked, "Chamkili, are you alright? You look upset." Khushi looked at her and smiled, "I am fine, Lavanyaji". Then she felt a breeze and her heartbeats quickened; she looked up and saw Arnav walking down the stairs. He was heading straight to them. Lavanya saw Khushi looking somewhere and she looked in the same direction; her face lit up seeing Arnav walking towards them. Arnav walked towards Khushi, smiling at her. Khushi's heartbeats quickened, what was he going to do? Is he going to say something to me in front of everyone? He reached her, leaned down and took her hand out of Lavanya's hand. He smiled as she looked at him with eyebrows raised in shock. Khushi couldn't believe what was happening; a slight smile appeared on her face, even though she was confused about what he was doing. Arnav's smile disappeared quickly and he pushed her hand away, with such force that she almost fell to the side. Khushi's mouth opened wide as she almost fell. When she looked at Arnav again, he had taken Lavanya's hand and was smiling at her. Lavanya couldn't control her excitement, as Arnav said, "Lavanya, let us get married." She was thrilled, and so was Nani and Anjali, who smiled and said silent prayers hearing what Arnav said. Lavanya hugged Arnav and he hugged her back and looked at Khushi. Khushi's eyes had teared up and a tear rolled down her cheek. Lavanya, smiling, pulled away from the hug and turned and hugged Khushi. Khushi hugged Lavanya, tears rolling down her cheeks. When she pulled away from the hug, Lavanya asked, "Chamkili, why are you crying? Are you not happy for me?" Khushi shook her head and smiled, "Of course I am; these are just tears of joy." She took her hand in hers and added, "and of course I am sad that my services won't be needed here anymore and I won't get to spend time with you now onwards". Lavanya wiped Khushi's tears and hugged her again. "Chamkili, don't be ridiculous. Of course I will always need you and you should definitely come and visit." Arnav watched Khushi, while both Nani and Anjali were explaining how happy they were with his decision to marry Lavanya. His heart broke seeing Khushi's tears, but he looked away when he saw her looking at him.

Suddenly, someone called out, "Khushi". Arnav looked up and saw a tall, handsome, well-built guy walk up to Khushi. Khushi was surprised to see him. "Are you alright? Are you not feeling well?", he asked. Nani walked up to the guy and asked, "Raj bitwa, how do you know Khushi?" Raj Kumar Singhania turned to Nani, touched her feet and said, "I am Khushi's father's doctor. Our parents have known each other for a long time. In fact," he looked at Khushi; she looked upset and was looking away. "Our parents want us to get married, but I am still waiting for Khushi to say yes." Hearing this, Arnav was shocked and he looked at Khushi. Raj continued, "I don't know what is keeping her from saying yes." Khushi slowly turned to look at Arnav and he looked at her, his eyebrows raised; he wondered why she had not said yes to Raj yet. Khushi looked back at Raj and Nani. Nani said, excited to hear the news, "That's wonderful. We all love Khushi; she is such a sweet girl. Khushi bitiya, I have known Raj's family for a long time and have known him since he was a little boy. He will keep you happy." Nani, Lavanya and Anjali hugged Khushi. Khushi turned to Nani and said, "Nani, I should go home now." Nani said quickly, "Bitiya, it is too late, don't go alone." Raj smiled and stepped forward towards Khushi, "I will take you home". Nani turned to Raj and said, "No, bitwa, you are our guest, you stay and enjoy the rest of the evening". Raj started to refuse and Arnav walked towards them and said, "Nani is right, Raj". Khushi looked up as Arnav said Raj; there was something different in the way he said the name; was it animosity or jealousy? Arnav continued, looking at Khushi, "You are our guest. Nani, I will drive Khushi home". Khushi replied quickly, moving backwards. "No, I will go home alone on my own". Anjali started saying, "But Khushi, people will be bursting firecrackers'" but Arnav cut her off. He yelled, "Khushi shut up and listen to me. I said I will take you home, so come with me." Khushi stared at him, scared and followed him out of the house quietly.

In the car, Khushi was quiet initially. She kept looking at Arnav, who was looking straight on the road. She smiled and then cheerfully said, "I forgot to congratulate you. I am so glad that you finally decided to marry Lavanyaji. Lavanyaji was so happy. You both.." Arnav turned to look at Khushi and interrupted her, "Oh, but are you happy? You don't look very happy to me." Khushi paused for a while; she was confused, she didn't know how to respond. Then she smiled and said, "But I am happy. In fact I am very happy." Arnav brought the car to a screeching halt and turned to her. "Oh, so now you don't want to know about what happened between us in my bedroom?" She turned away, looking confused. "What happened? Nothing happened between us.", she said. Arnav looked away, his face furious. "I see, so now that you found Raj, you don't need to seduce me right. He is rich, though not as rich as me, but still he will work for you, I guess." He looked at her; she was still looking away, trying to avoid his eyes. He had expected her to fight, but when she didn't, it made him furious. Arnav continued, "Well I have known him for a while. He is perfect for you. He uses women and you use men; you both will make a perfect couple." Khushi stared angrily at Arnav, "What are you saying? Do you have any idea what nonsense you are saying? Rajkumarji is a very nice person; he treats me with lots of respect, in fact, I think you can learn a thing or two from him about treating others nicely." Arnav banged his hand on the steering wheel, turned to her and moved closer to her. "Oh, so now you have a problem when I say something bad about him?" She turned to him angrily, "Won't you have a problem if someone said something bad about Lavanyaji?" He was furious; how dare she consider Raj the same way how he considered Lavanya. He closed his eyes and screamed, "Get out!" Khushi was furious too, she removed the seatbelt, opened the door, got out and banged the door shut. Arnav opened his eyes and watched her run into her house, wiping tears off her cheeks. He started the car and raced back home, furious.

When he reached his room, Arnav threw his waist coat on the bed and sat on the recliner, his head in his hands. What have I done? Why did I tell Lavanya I wanted to marry her, when I don't want to? Why did I accuse Khushi of seducing me, when she did nothing of that sort and I..? He closed his eyes and remembered the kiss; his heart was beating fast, he could still feel the taste of her lips, the sweet smell of her perfume on her neck and the fruity smell of shampoo in her hair. He remembered how alive he felt when he kissed her; how right it felt when she was in his arms; how happy he was seeing her squirm with pleasure when his lips touched her skin. He shuddered with pleasure remembering how he felt when she had kissed his chest. "Chotte", Arnav opened his eyes hearing Anjali's voice. She walked up to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?" He nodded, smiled and opened his laptop. She continued, "Are you worried'", she paused and said, "about Khushi?" He raised his eyebrows and looked at Anjali. "Chotte, is something going on between you two?" Arnav turned away and replied angrily, "No Di". She sat down on the table and touched his face. "Are you sure that you didn't make the decision about marrying Lavanya in a hurry?" Anjali paused and continued. "I have seen the way you look at Khushi. I noticed it first when we were making the rangoli, when I was talking about love and you both were looking at each other. Then I noticed her tears when you said you wanted to marry Lavanya and then your sudden outburst at her in front of everyone." She took his hand in hers and asked, "Is there something going on between you two that I should know about? Did you decide to marry Lavanya just because you were angry at something that Khushi said or did?" Arnav pushed Anjali's hand away and said, "Di, stop interfering in my personal life". Anjali was shocked; her eyes teared up. Arnav realized what he said. He turned to look at his sister; his face had softened. He took her hand in his and said, "Sorry Di, I mean, no, there is nothing going on between Khushi and me. I want to marry Lavanya and that has nothing to do with Khushi". Anjali smiled, touched his face and said, "Chotte, since when you were a kid, you could never get away with any mischief because you were bad at lying, especially to your loved ones. So don't lie to me; you have not yet learned to lie to me, Chotte". She put her hand under his chin and said, "You know I will be here in case you need some help. All I have to say is make sure you know what you are getting into; it's not too late to change your decision. You don't want to end up regretting this decision to marry Lavanya, especially since your decision will affect a lot of people." Arnav closed his eyes and remembered Khushi's face and her tear-filled eyes when he said that he wanted to marry Lavanya. He opened his eyes as Anjali kissed him on his forehead. She turned around and walked to the door. Arnav closed his eyes and leaned back against the recliner, thinking about Khushi.

Part 2: Why can't I stop thinking about you?

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