Chapter 6

Disclaimer : This piece of writing derives its inspiration among other things from 4Lions Films' 'Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon?' and hence the characters you recognize by name as theirs belong to them to that extent but because this does not follow the show's storyline, the concept, story, characterization, new characters are my property and any sharing/using of this content anywhere will not be tolerated.

Payal Subramaniam was going to have an eventful beginning to her day.

A very eventful beginning.

And the reason was the glass vase on her desk which held a bunch of very fresh sunflowers.

Bright, yellow sunflowers.

She scanned the room - running her eyes through the left and the right corners and then tilting her head up and down trying to determine from just where had they appeared from?! They had not been there when she had left to get herself a cup of coffee just five minutes back! She was certain that they hadn't been there then! Absolutely certain because had they been...

Aaanchhhooo!

Because had they been there then, this would have happened earlier.

Payal dropped her cup of coffee, uncaring of the mess it made as she felt another big sneeze coming, her hands coming on their own accord to shield her nose as her whole body shook in the aftermath of the sneeze.

"Who the hell put these - AAANCHHOOO - here?! Hatao - AAANCHHOOO - isse - AAANCHHOOO AAANCHHOOO AAANCHHOOO..."

Cupping her nose, she ran from the reception, uncaring of who she barged into, of who she toppled over and who she pushed out of her way, the only thought that occupied her mind other than getting as far away as possible from those ruddy flowers was wishing unspeakable things to happen to whoever got those darn flowers in the first place!

And to put them on her frickin desk!

The only bloody thing in the whole wide world she was allergic to!

*****

"Arnav?"

"Hmmm?"

"Nothing."

...

...

"Arnav?"

"Yes, Khushi?"

"No, nothing..."

"What The!"

...

...

"Arnav?"

"WHAT THE?! Kya chahiye Khushi?!"

"Nothing."

Arnav glowered at Khushi who was lounging in the comfy sofa of his office, her macbook balanced carefully on her lap, typing away merrily but he was not fooled by the busy picture she was trying to paint for his benefit. He could clearly see the teasing glint in her honey eyes as they glowed, her pleasure with her own self evident in the way they shined and if that was not enough he could see the way she was biting her lower lip, obviously trying hard to curtail in the laughter that was threatening to have her bursting out at the seems if her slight shaking was anything to go by!

Stupid woman!

Stupid adorable woman!

"Arnav?"

"Ha-Haan?" came the distracted voice of the eight year old as he concentrated even harder on the level 5 of his favourite computer game - Dangerous Dave!

Man, it even sounded so manly! And that was a welcome break from all the girly icky stuff that his sister tried hard to engage him in all the time - he was so close to screaming the last time she had tried to pass him off as one of the customers in her 'Beauty Parlour' and then had proceeded to tie his hair into ponytails...thank god Shashi Uncle had saved him from the ordeal!

"Kuch nahin." Came Khushi's reply as she sat to his right, staring intently at the screen as he made Dave do all the crazy stuff, waiting rather impatiently for her turn at the game her father had installed on the computer to keep the two of them busy as the two families met for a Sunday brunch.

Nodding distractedly, Arnav turned his attention back to the game, his eyes wondering over the bright red fiery disks, his tongue coming out on its own as he thought hard on how to escape them...he had to jump just the moment they turn-

"Arnav?"

Uff yeh ladki!

"Bolo Khushi!"

He let Dave rest on the blue slab safe from the balls of fire and shot a look of pure annoyance at Khushi which increased manifold as he saw her stifling a giggle by pressing the end of her frilly frock against her lips.

"Kuch nahin!" she managed to splutter out, giggling all the while and he let himself enjoy a deep breath before turning back to his game.

He just had to move Dave the moment the disk turned the other way...which was no-

"Arnav?!"

Sizzleee!

He looked on in horror as his last life of Dave sizzled away before his life before his sojourn was cut short by the loud laughter coming from his side.

Khushi Gupta was almost on the floor, laughing her pig tailed head off much to his chagrin but before he could say or do anything, he found himself being pushed away from the computer and her own petite form descending on the black revolving chair, her legs dangling before she selected the option for a new game and began her earnest journey to win Dangerous Dave, hardly giving any attention to him as he watched her open mouthed, realization of her tricking ways finally trickling in!

"Arnav?"

He snapped back from the memories of the past and found himself in a daze as he looked at Khushi now sitting on his desk, her legs dangling down below, and for a second he saw in her the same pig tailed girl who had tricked him back then and a lazy smile made its way on his face, growing as he noticed her confusion at the same.

"You are not tricking your turn at Dave this time around, Khushi." He winked at her, throwing his head back and laughing at the disbelief on her face, lightly tapping the design book for the Malik Manor that he had been studying and which no doubt Khushi wanted a turn at herself!

"You remember?!"

Willing his laughter to subside, he looked at her perched on his desk with a frown on her face and his next words came out before he even knew what he was saying himself,

"I remember everything about you, Khushi..."

*****

"I remember everything about you, Khushi..."

The frown dissolved from her face and surprise took its place as she stared at the man in front of her and who, on his part, stared right back with, if Khushi could bring herself to believe it that is, something akin to a starvation, a pain that knew only too well...a pain that she knew was etched in her own eyes every time she looked at him, every time she thought of him, every time she looked back at them.

"I..." she started only to be interrupted by the knock on the door and the subsequent barging in of a fuming Payal, effectively breaking whatever moment it could have been between the two young architects of Gupta Home Designs - Your home, Our dream as Khushi hurriedly jumped down from the desk, nervously adjusting her knee length skirt lest it had ridden up while her other hand caressed her face, hoping against hope that there was no colour there except that of the light pink rouge she liked to use.

"Malik Jr in Conference Hall 1. I have been pinging you two for the last ten minutes...have you stuffed cotton balls in your ears?!" Payal scolded the two of them, not bothering to ask either's permission before sauntering over to the table and uncapping the bottle of mineral water kept there, she took a large swig of the ice cold goodness, willing herself to calm down and get over the hellish way the day had started for her.

Not noticing in her parade the stricken expressions on the faces of her two friends as their mouths opened and closed, much akin to the fishes, as they took in her interruption and before she could actually notice anything, Arnav seemed to have broken off his stupor and quickly planning a way out for himself...and Khushi which he did a moment later as he sprung into action - jumping towards Payal, he placed a heavy arm around her slender shoulder and pulled her closer to himself,

"What seems to be the matter Subbu bear? Saw the big bad wolfie on your way to work today?"

Payal looked up at him wearily, "You seem to have your fairy tales mixed up, Arnie Poo."

"Ah ever so charming you are my Payaliya!" Arnav retorted back, barely missing the fist she rounded at him as he ducked, pausing midway for a moment before pulling her down with him, laughing gaily as she aimed not very well aimed slaps at his chest before she too burst out in laughter, the sounds intermingling to become one.

Taking away Payal's tension.

Giving Arnav relief at being able to distract Payal.

Hiding the sound of Khushi Gupta's heart breaking...all over again.

And masking her footsteps as she hurried out of the room which suddenly seemed all too small for her struggling lungs.

*****

"Why is your nose red like a bee stung it and then refused to let go?" Arnav asked Payal as he helped her up from the floor, bringing up his hands in surrender at the storm that descended her eyes at the question before laughing again as a not yet standing upright Payal fell down again bereft of his hand and her glare deepened.

"Sorry! Didn't realize...haan ab batao!" he said, finally managing to heave her up.

"Sunflowers. A fool delivered a bouquet of sunflowers to the office! Bloody idiot!"

She replied back, the disdain in her voice clear as she patted herself down to do away with any dust she may have caught while rolling on the floor thanks to the chuckling man in front of her.

"Hasso hasso aur hasso! Tumhe kisi cheez se allergy nahin hain na isliye hass rahe ho!"

"Awww! No but seriously who the hell had the balls to send you sunflowers?!"

"When did I say he sent them to me! For all we know it could be for Khushi or for you, you know, I mean...Akash and you do make a rather handsome couple..." she trailed off, guffawing at the insinuation she had made which grew deeper and louder as she waited unsuccessfully for a reply from Arnav - not being privy to the fact that Arnav had stopped listening after the first part of her sentence -

"When did I say he sent them to me! For all we know it could be for Khushi."

For Khushi.

From Akash Malik.

And fury flashed in Arnav Singh Raizada's molten brown eyes.

Next chapter - Page 25

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FieryPhoenix2013-08-25 06:50:23