Chapter 31

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.
Banner Credit - Crazy4Sobti

Additional disclaimers shall be provided as and when the need arises.

Genre : Comedy/Drama/Romance/Filmy (to the core)

| Gupta Home Designs ~ Your home, Our dream |

{ Chapter 18 }

Chapter 18

"MERE PAAS KOI BHI DHANKA KAPDA NAHIN HAI! MAAA!"

Shashi had to physically restrain Garima from pulling out her hair as their darling daughter's darling voice reached them like it had every morning since a week and which was the reason all the darling' in this description were threatening to be replaced by devil'.

"Yeh ladki! Kitne toh kapde hain! Phir bhi dekhiye!" Garima muttered, the dish of butter getting banged down on the table before she stomped her way into the kitchen, evidently taking the ignore and it will go away' route but the same could hardly be said for her husband who was at the precise moment tiptoeing his way upstairs with his credit card in hand. A credit card which was handed surreptitiously over to his darling daughter with a few words of how she had to be careful that her mother did not get to hear one whisper about this exchange. Needless to say Khushi kept good on this promise leading to a very confused Garima Gupta as she witnessed the daughter she had expected to be sulking at the breakfast table instead being the role model of jolly mood!

*****

"Py, Arnav here yet?"

Khushi asked, her entire attention caught in her purse as she tried to gauge it for her lip balm. So intent was on having her lips baby soft, for activities thinking about which made her blush, that she missed the incredulous look Payal Subramaniam had fixed her with.

"Aha!" she cried in jubilation as she finally caught hold of the tiny pretty pink tub and uncapping it she dipped her index finger into it and rubbed it onto her lips and it was only then that she realised that she had not yet received an answer to her query making her look at Payal only to realise the stare she had been on the receiving end of.

"What?" Khushi asked, dropping the balm back in her bag.

"You called Arnav Arnav' without looking like someone was strangling you!" Payal exclaimed, her eyes wide and mouth agape.

And as her words sunk in, Khushi fast felt her cheeks burn and her eyes dart around for some escape route but understanding that her body's reactions were doing nothing else than pushing her further into this pit of horror, she squared her shoulders and decided to take things in her stride.

By lying of course.

Through her teeth.

"Well I realised at least one of us had to be the bigger person and take care of the decorum around here and one cant expect that from douche bag No 1, can we?"

And her cheeks turned their regular pink from the tomato red they were sporting only when Payal looked somewhat convinced and deciding not to take any more risks, Khushi turned to make her escape only to stop short as she spied the object of her curiosity standing right behind her looking hurt and annoyed.

But before she could have managed to gather her wits and try and telepathically communicate to him why she had called him what she ha started marching towards his office, the heels of his feet making furious clomping sounds as he thundered away leaving behind a disheartened Khushi and a mystified Payal.

*****

"Arnav, come on! Please just talk to me na!"

Khushi tried for the umpteenth time to catch the attention of the sulking man in front of her who it seemed was transfixed to the computer screen, staring at it unblinkingly and although it could have worked as a fine excuse, the fact that the said computer was switched off raised a few legitimate qualms on the claim.

Khushi sighed as Arnav decidedly ignored her before trying once again,

"Achcha dont talk to me, but please just listen to me!"

Again no reply.

Khushi exhaled loudly before deciding that enough was enough and she wanted, no needed, Arnav Singh Raizada to see sense and making sure that the door of his cabin was securely locked behind her, she made her way around the table and forcefully pulled his chair away before plopping herself on the table in front of his computer.

As he made to get away, she grabbed his arm and silently beseeched him to stay put. Her hands then crept to his cheeks, cupping them lovingly and urging him to look into her eyes and when he did finally grant her wish, she explained her reasons to him,

"Payal seemed suspicious of me not being my usual annoyed self with regard to you and isliye I said all that crap...no other reason, I promise! But I am really really sorry that you felt bad! Please ab toh maaf kar do?"

She held her breath as he seemed to assess the genuineness of her plea before letting out a half shriek as his hands suddenly shot out and pulled her down onto his lap, arranging her comfortably there before he arranged his own head comfortably in the nook of her shoulders, his arms holding her securely against his chest.

She allowed her heartbeat to return to normal, lying silently in his embrace listening to his own heart beat against the palm of her hand for a few moments before coaxing him to raise his head from its position and look down at her.

"Maaf kiya?" she asked him earnestly, the fingers of her left hand lightly caressing the soft shell of his right ear before delving into his silky soft locks and running through them.

He stared at her without replying for a few moments before a large grin broke out on his face and Khushi knew in an instant that she had fallen for one of Mr. Douche bag No.1's famous tricks. But although she had wanted to scowl at the show he had been putting on for her benefit and taking her on a guilt trip, she could not help but simultaneously want to join in in his loud guffaws making her decide to go with the third option which was to raise herself and reach out and bite the same soft shell of his ears which she had been caressing oh so lovingly a few moments back, grinning devilishly when he yowled at the sudden pain but the next instant blushing profusely as his groan of pain turned into an exaggerated wriggling of eyebrows.

"Feisty, arent you?" he teased, bringing around one of his hands to her face and pinching her cheek, all the time wriggling his eyebrows in a suggestive way making Khushi groan about the jerk he was being while trying to fight the smile that tugged at the corner of her lips - a fight he must have noticed because the next moment his own smiling lips had covered hers.

It was only after a couple of minutes that the two broke apart but continued staring at each other, both feeling a sense of disbelief yet pleasure at the point in their lives they had now finally reached.

Arnav broke the blissful silence with a soft clearing of his throat making Khushi question him with her eyes and he smiled at her lightly, nudging her nose with his before speaking what he had planned,

"I was thinking that we could go for our very first date tonight...what do you think?"

And he could have sworn, much to his jubilation, that the smile deepened in Khushi's eyes as much as on her lips making them crinkle as she nodded her acceptance of his proposal.

"Lets leave after office or do you want me to pick you up from your house?" he asked her, helping her stand up, much to his displeasure but they both knew that they had to get to work and besides it was too dangerous for them to continue their shenanigan in the office.

"Picking me up from the house would be too risky, no? Dad honge ghar pe..." she thought out aloud, slipping on her heels, which she had kicked off for the sake of comfort when she had been in Arnav's arms earlier, with one hand while the other gripped Arnav's shoulder for balance.

"Come on! He thinks we are friends again...we could be going for a friendly' outing as far as Uncle is concerned!" he countered, sharing in the chuckle that left Khushi at the reminder of how naive her father had been about her and Arnav's relation.

"Dont be mean! We are friends again so he isn't all wrong!" she defended her father nonetheless.

"Well yeah...I guess...he isn't all wrong", he agreed, "but now tell me shaam ka kya plan hai? Should I pick you up ghar se ya we leave straight from here? We could go over to Marine Drive before heading to some place to eat?"

"That sounds good to me! Kitne baje?"

"As soon as we finish work on that Malik's project?" the lack of acute distaste on Arnav's face as he mentioned Akash made Khushi scrunch up her nose in confusion and voice it as well.

"How come you are talking about Akash so...normally? Didnt you hate him enough to want to blow a hole through his head just last week?"

"What? Why would I wanna blow a hole through that poor guy's head Khu?!"

"I dont know...maybe the same reason you punched Raj or tried to dunk Mohit's head into the basket...?" Khushi wondered, tapping a finger thoughtfully on her chin, the mirth in her eyes making it clear that she had known all along that those incidents of the past were not accidents as Arnav had tried to make them out to be and Arnav, to his absolute horror, felt himself blush and then blush some more as Khushi let out an extended Awww' and pinched his cheek before pressing her lips against it in a quick peck.

"You knew why I punched Raj or tried to dunk Mohit's head into the basket?" he asked her, his voice low but powerful enough to change the atmosphere in the room from cute to serious.

Khushi looked straight into his eyes for a moment as she mulled at an honest answer to his question before speaking,

"I did not know...but I hoped it was because you...because you cared for me...I don't know whether it was me hoping you cared for me more than a friend or just as friend after all that had happened...I mean I am sure it was the former but I don't know if it was just the former you know?"

She had not needed to add the last part because the answer to her doubt was shining clear in his eyes but just as she had voiced what she had not needed to, he too voiced what she had already read in his eyes,

"I do...I know what you mean and to answer that doubt...I did care, Khu, as a friend definitely and as something more maybe...it took me a while to see it though but I am sure it was there in some corner of my heart...Khu, I said it that day that in school I maybe did not return your feelings but somewhere it just all changed...I don't know when, I don't know how but it just did and when those jerks hung out with you or around you it just made me so annoyed...like you had replaced me or something. And when anyone ever did anything to hurt I just wanted to hurt them back...make them take back anything they had said or done that had upset you...but that makes me a hypocrite, doesn't it Khu? After all I was the one who hurt you the most and still I am talking about all of this...how did you ever forgive me, Khushi?"

The last bit came out as a whisper, the agony in it piercing through Khushi's heart like poisonous arrows and forgetting everything about everything but just the two of them in this moment of crystal clear confessions and reflections, she threw herself in Arnav's arms evidently catching him off guard as he slightly stumbled before finding his footing and holding her tight against him.

"I forgave you because I don't know Arnav...I just did not want to carry that burden any more, not when I had the chance to let go of the past and welcome a present and hopefully a future that I had so desired...you also forgave me, you know, because I was wrong too. Wrong in isolating you, getting angry with you, ruining our friendship just because I saw it as something more and you didnt. Our friendship ceased to be unconditional from my side and yet you forgave me...so who was I to hold on to grudges of the past when we had a chance to move forward?"

And all Arnav could do was tighten his arms around her, fervently promising her that it was all in the past, the biting memories which had pained them so would now be buried in sands of time that they would no longer finger through simply because they no longer needed to - they had each other now and that was enough. The past was in the past and no amount of digging would ever bring them the happiness that they felt in this moment of letting it go. They both knew in this moment that though their friendship had gone through trails and tribulations and had almost been bent to submission, they had managed to salvage it and having once gone through the excruciating pain of losing each other as friends, it was an unspoken vow by both that it will never ever come to that again, no matter what.

And now that they had so much more to lose, they would make sure it never did.

*****

"Khushi?"

"Hmmm?"

"Nothing."

...

"Khushi...?"

"Haan?"

"Kuch nahin."

...

"Khushi!"

"What?!"

"Nope nothing!"

...

"Khu-ouch! Why did you hit me?! Pagal ho kya?!"

Arnav yelped in pain as Khushi's not so gentle fist rounded against his chest, his game of annoying her coming to an abrupt halt as he instead focussed his energies in rubbing his palm against the sore spot, all the while glaring at Khushi accusingly.

They were sitting at the far end of Nariman Point, their legs dangling beneath them, with Arnav's arm around Khushi's shoulders as she silently enjoyed the kairi sprinkled with masala that she had just bought from the passing vendor. They had arrived at the spot after enjoying their dinner at Khushi's favourite Italian restaurant and after a customary cone of Naturals' ice cream' they had realised they had not wanted the evening to end just yet and hence found themselves sitting and enjoying the night sea breeze basking in the feeling of romance and love that seemed to float in the air around them and the numerous other couples, stealing a few moments of companionship from their grilling hard days. But little did these other couples know that today they had been joined in this night time rendezvous by the very new couple of Arnav Singh Raizada and Khushi Gupta who though deeply in love, were also deeply committed to creating chaos wherever they went - intentionally or otherwise.

But they did come to know the above when the sudden (and loud) screech of Khushi Gupta reached their ears where till that moment only the gentle coochie-cooing of their respective partner could be heard startling quite a few of them and making some others almost fall into the sea as they almost jumped out of their skin but none of this made any difference to the couple responsible as the woman continued to screech and the man continued to smirk.

"Main pagal hoon?! You have been annoying me since the past 10 minutes...naam pukaarte ho and then bolte ho koi baat nahin hai! You're the mad one here!" Khushi grounded out the words, all of the calming effect that the thrash of the ocean against the rocks combined with the whistle of the light sea breeze in her ears evaporating away.

"Aha! Ulti billi kotwal ko daante?! You were the one who came up with this game!" Arnav countered her anger, the pain in his chest now having ebbed away enough to bring back the joviality of the situation which made him smirk down at her, mighty impressed with his ability to annoy Khushi with her own tricks!

Only to frown in confusion as the irate looking Khushi suddenly looked like she was having a panic attack as she clutched her throat and he would have been a lot more alarmed had she not been laughing all the while - laughing so hard that she literally had tears rolling down her eyes!

"What?!" he asked confused.

"Aule mera chottu baby! Its not Ulti bill kotwal ko daante', its Ulta chor kotwal ko daante' and Meri billi, mujhi se meow!' which by the way is the case here!"

And she continued to laugh un-bashedly, unconscious of the fact that the confusion on Arnav's face had now been replaced with a gentle loving grin, one which soon found its way to her face as he pulled her close with his arm that had been draped around her shoulder and whispered teasingly into her ears,

"Baby' is it now? Can I call you baby' too, baby?"

"Yes you may, baby!"

And for years to come whenever anyone would ask Arnav Singh Raizada which had been the best date he had ever had in his life, they would be encountered with a silly smile on his face and a shake of his head as he would find himself lost in the memories of dark full moon night when the sea's breeze had tickled his skin just as he had tickled hers and when the sound of the ocean had mingled with the sound of her laughter filling his heart with a happiness he had never even imagined would ever be his - his khushi.

And for years to come whenever anyone would ask Khushi Gupta which had been the best date she had ever had in her life, they would be encountered with a deepening blush on her face and a shake of her head as she would recall that magical full moon night when the sea's breeze had intermingled with his warm breath on her cool skin and when the sound of the ocean had amplified the beat of his heart against hers and had held in that moment all of her happiness - her arnav.

***********

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*Not proof read

So this was all about little moments between Arnav and Khushi...hope they were enjoyable! :D

Your feedback inspires me to write! :)

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FieryPhoenix2014-11-25 09:55:19