Chapter 5

[MEMBERSONLY]

Chapter 5:

Khushi had just returned from Ashadaan. She had managed to finish her work at the newspaper house a day earlier, to be able to take leave again today. It was the day of Payal's office party and she did not want her to be delayed at any cost. And here she was, waiting for that Payal Madam to arrive along with their dresses. Payal had instructed her, not to bother about what she would wear for the party. She had designed a couple of dresses for them and would bring them along with her today. Khushi waited with anticipation to look at her new attire. She knew Payal was very good at designing, but she also knew her outrageous demands about making her wear western clothes. She dreaded the thought of Payal making her wear a short dress or some other revealing outfit. As she sat by the window looking out at the street, her thoughts went back once again to a man named Arnav Singh Raizada.

She could not get over those expressive caramel eyes, that had knocked her senses out completely. Even though it had only been a couple of days since their chance meeting, she had been thinking about him all the time. Her head reprimanded her time and again to stop thinking about him, but her heart just wouldn't stop beating erratically. And to add to her annoyance, Payal had kept asking questions about him regularly. She didn't know why an uneasy feeling settled over her, as soon as Payal would rave about that Laad Governor. She had tried to reason with her thudding heart and dismissed the uneasy feeling as acidity. She had also tried to think about all the pictures of him with various girls clinging onto his arm, cursing him for being a Casanova. But then everything that she had seen at Ashadaan would scream out otherwise, and her resolve to forget those expressive caramel eyes would be totally in vain.

On the other hand, Arnav was no less tortured. Thankfully, he was very dedicated to his work, so while working he would concentrate on the job at hand. But during every free minute, his mind was occupied by his 'angel'. He could not get her beautiful hazel eyes out of his mind. He wondered what he should be doing about it. Should he go try and meet her again or should he just ignore this feeling? Arnav had decided to give it some time to see if this was just some crazy attraction, that he would get over, in a few days. But deep down he knew, that this was surely meant to be much more.

Sumer walked in on an almost ready Arnav. He strutted over directly to Arnav's huge bed and parked himself. "Hey Bro, all set to go? I am starved and can't wait to get to their food counter." Arnav shook his head disapprovingly. His friend could be really embarrassing sometimes, where food was concerned. He could eat for two to three people. And he knew the sole reason for Sumer to go to this party was eating. And maybe, if time permitted then, flirting around with a few girls. His friend was everything, that he was not. Yet, they had been best friends forever. As Arnav picked up his car keys from the table and gave himself one last look in the mirror, he said "Chal, let's go! The chefs there must be ready to welcome you." And with that, the two handsome boys set out to a party, that would change their lives for good. But who knew what the end would be, at the beginning of the story?

Payal had refused to allow Khushi to take her 'Dhanno'. She had reasoned that after dressing up, they would mess up their clothes and hair, if they traveled by 'Dhanno'. Khushi knew it was the truth, yet she grumpily said a 'sorry' to her beloved scooter, before getting into an auto. Payal tried to cheer up her cute friend, and after a couple of silly jokes, she had managed to make her laugh heartily. It wasn't very difficult to convince Khushi. Her heart was forgiving and very loving. Payal had to reach the venue, half an hour before to the party began. As they reached the almost deserted venue, she told Khushi to hang around for a bit, while she finished the backstage work.

Khushi looked around the place, which had been decorated beautifully. She had seen such glamorous parties in movies, but this was the first time she was attending one. She felt proud of Payal's achievements and decided to buy her a small gift in celebration of her first fashion show. She stood, remembering the days when Payal would buy magazines from the scrap dealer, and cut out pictures of all the celebrity clothes on display. She had a huge collection of designs and would experiment with Khushi's clothes. Khushi smiled at this delightful recollection. Life had gotten them so far. She wondered when she would be writing her own book. After about twenty-five minutes of walking around, Khushi got extremely bored and headed straight to the food counter. She thought she would be the first one to go there, but a cute guy stood at the chaat counter gorging on gol gappas.

"Bhaiyaa ek plate gol gappe dena" she said and turned sideways to give the guy a quick look. He smiled at her crookedly, trying to chew the gol gappa in his mouth. As these two total strangers enjoyed their food silently, Payal walked up angrily and stood beside Khushi, looking through her and directly at the stranger. "Khush, I hope this guy was not bothering you." Khushi looked up from the plate to her left at Payal, and then to her right at the stranger. She wondered if she was missing something. As if to clear her confusion he replied, "Woah! Ms Payal Sharma. You don't have to worry about your friend so much. I haven't spoken a word to her. Have I, Ms...??" He ended the sentence in a question and Khushi was quick enough to reply with, "I am Khushi, Khushi Kumari Gupta." He shook hands with her and said, "Hi Ms Khushi, I am Sumer Diwan. A photographer and a frie... hmmm not actually a friend, but an acquaintance of Payal. And to tell you a secret, your friend hates me." Khushi giggled at that last part, as Payal fumed, seeing this interaction. Payal held Khushi's wrist and dragged her out into the main event area, giving one last look at a smirking Sumer.

As Khushi walked into the hall, she noticed that it had suddenly become crowded and people had started taking their seats, near the small ramp. While looking around, she raised one eyebrow with amusement and asked Payal, "Why do you hate that guy, Payalia? He didn't seem so bad." Payal turned around and glared at her, "Khush, just stay away from him. Trust me, he is no good." Khushi raised her hands in surrender. After all, who could stand against a fuming Payal, certainly not Khushi.

Arnav and Sumer had reached the venue very early, so Arnav made sure to go and meet a few of his clients and friends from the industry who had already made an appearance. He was held up in a conversation with the owner of Design Sutra for 15 to 20 minutes. They stood backstage, while Sumer had made his way to the food counter, as he had planned. When Arnav walked back into the hall, he saw it crowded with people. How he hated such formal parties! Most of the times, he had to pretend to be cordial. He was still a young guy and dealing with businessmen, his father's age, was a little difficult. He scanned through the crowd to look around for Sumer and his eyes fell on the back of a girl. He immediately thought of Khushi, he didn't know why. The way her hair fell on the back reminded him of their first meeting. He tried to look at her face, but failed. And then, he felt a sense of dj vu'. she swirled around in a swift motion, with her hair dancing in the air. Yes! It was her, it was his angel. He high-fived mentally!!

She looked ethereal. She was wearing a beautiful blue anarkali suit. Blue, which was his favourite colour as it was the colour of the ocean, and 'Arnav' meant ocean. He smiled as he thought about it. Her lustrous hair flowing down over one shoulder and a dupatta draped over the other. She wore long dangling earrings that twinkled as she spoke. She was talking to some girl, and while her beautiful rosy lips moved to speak, Arnav felt his heart thumping loudly in his chest. He could not believe that he was seeing her again. What has been happening? In a mere three days, his world had transformed completely. He walked in a trance towards her, but was pulled out of his reverie by Sumer. To his disappointment, Sumer dragged him to the other side of the ramp. They settled down in their seats as he tried to look at her through the crowd. It was sheer luck, that she sat right across him with just the low ramp in between and then she looked at him.

It was Arnav Singh Raizada, sitting right across her, looking right at her. She could not take her eyes off his handsome face. He wore a dark grey suit over a crisp sky blue shirt. His hair gelled as usual, his face adorned with a smile. Was he smiling at her? Had he not been smiling, she would have mistaken him for a statue of Adonis, sitting in all his glory. Her dhak dhak had started escalating under his piercing scrutiny. He was making her feel restless, and she desperately wished for Payal to be there beside her to distract her mind. And that's exactly, when the fashion show begun. As the music blared through the system...

Mar jawaan, mar jawaan,
Tere ishq pe mar jawaan,
Bheege bheege sapno ka jaise khat hai,
Geeli geeli chahat ki jaise lat hai,
Mar jawaan, mar jawaan,
Tere ishq pe mar jawaan,

She tried to distract her mind by looking at the fabulous designs on display. She waited with anticipation for models to walk in, wearing Payal's designs. However, a pair of caramel eyes were unnerving her. Every time she looked at him, he was staring at her. She looked to her right and left just to make sure it was her, he was looking at. But there didn't seem to be any woman around. She tried to calm her ecstatic heart that was jumping with joy with the attention that she was getting from 'The' Arnav Singh Raizada. As the show continued...

Soche dil ki aisa kaash ho,
Tujhko ek nazar meri talash ho,
Jaise khwab hai ankhon mein basse meri,
Waise needon pe silvate pade teri,

A model wearing Payal's outfit walked on the ramp and Khushi squealed in her seat, not caring what the others thought about her. She clapped the loudest as the model came and stood right in front. She had seen Payal's sketches a few weeks ago and knew which two designs had been selected. Soon another one of her designs was displayed and Khushi forgot all about the 'someone' sitting right across her, who was watching her intently.

Bheege bheege armaano ki rahad hai,
Geeli geeli khwahish bhi to behad hai,
Mar jawaan, mar jawaan,
Tere ishq pe mar jawaan,

The show ended and all the designers came on the stage. A huge round of applause brought Arnav's attention back to his surroundings. He had been lost in everything that Khushi did. Her minute expressions, her smile, her excitement, her laughter, the tremble of her lips, the blush that rose across her cheeks... nothing had been missed by him. He had barely blinked during the last 10 minutes as he did not want to miss any reaction from her. Her laughter and enthusiasm as she clapped had brought a huge smile to his face. But he had also felt anger towards certain men, who had been looking at her admiringly. He wanted to take her away from all those prying eyes, and he wished he knew why he was feeling so possessive of a girl, he had not even spoken to. As Sumer thumped his back and motioned him to move away, Arnav tore his gaze away from her beautiful face, which got lost in the crowd immediately.

Khushi hugged Payal and screamed with excitement, "Paaayalia, I am so happy for you. You have done it. Our dream has come true." The two friends rejoiced in the success of a dream that both of them had seen together as children. They both remembered the time -- one night, sitting in the verandah of Payal's home. As they spotted a shooting star in the twinkling sky, they had closed their eyes and both had asked for the other's dream to come true. Payal's to be a designer and Khushi's to be a writer. That was the bond they shared and cherished even after so many years.

Sumer had noticed everything during the fashion show. He had seen his best friend stare at Khushi. Khushi, who was Payal's friend. He laughed at how small the world was. He was surprised however, at the intensity of Arnav's gaze on her. He knew Arnav very well, and he had seen him with many girls in the past. There was surely something different this time. And she was not indifferent to him either. He wondered if this was the first time they were seeing each other, as it surely did not look like it. So to find out a little more about Khushi, he headed in her direction. She was talking to one of Payal's friends.

"Hey Khushi, how did you like the show" he asked cheerily. Khushi turned around to see Sumer and she instantly smiled. "Hey, I had better not be seen talking to you. Payal hates you, I remember." Sumer laughed heartily, "I know but I wish I knew why. I think she has a secret crush on me and is just trying to camouflage it under the pretence of hatred." "I don't really need to do that Mr Diwan" Payal's loud, angry voice broke their cheerful conversation. "Camouflaging, lying, pretending is your forte, not mine." Sumer smiled and said, "Ok, chill, meri Jhaansi ki Rani. I was just trying to ask your friend if she liked the show. After all you had designed a few of the garments. Which ones were they Ms Sharma?" Before Payal could come back with a smart reply, they heard a powerful voice and all three of them turned around to see Arnav stand right behind them.

Arnav had noticed Sumer walk towards Khushi and talk to her. He was aware of Sumer's flirtatious nature and it angered him as he saw Khushi give one of her biggest smiles to his idiotic friend. A surge of jealousy took over him and he strode towards them. Before he could reach them, he had seen another girl join in. It was the same girl Khushi had been talking to earlier. He heard a bit of the conversation, and realized that the girl was a designer. That would help him join their conversation a little conveniently. He stood behind them, he cleared his throat and said, "Sumer, what are you doing here?" And as all three of them turned around to look at him, he was drawn to only one face.

"Hey Arnav, come meet these two pretty ladies. This is Payal Sharma, a designer with Design Sutra. Actually she had designed a couple of outfits tonight, if I am not mistaken" Sumer said excitedly and turning towards Khushi he said, "And this is Khushi Gupta, Payal's friend. That's all I know about her actually, because Ms Sharma here, has been busy arguing with me." Before Payal could say something Arnav spoke, "Ah! Ms Sharma, it's a pleasure to meet you. I am Arnav Singh Raizada. And I must say this was some show." Arnav didn't know why but he was feeling a little uncomfortable to talk to Khushi in front of the other two. So he had taken the safest route -- 'work' which had always been a good option to talk about. Payal had been thrilled to finally meet and talk to the famous ASR junior. "Thank you Mr Raizada. It is a pleasure to meet you. Actually the last two designs in the show were mine." Arnav praised them, despite not having noticed them at all. What was he to say, that he had not seen the show at all and had just been ogling her gorgeous friend? And then she continued saying, "The dresses Khushi and I are wearing tonight, are designed by me too." Now that sentence caught his attention. He had been waiting to look at Khushi, without making it very obvious.

Khushi had been fuming internally. Arnav Singh Raizada had stood next to her for the last five minutes and conveniently ignored her. He had been sweet-talking Payal and that was annoying her no end. So when Payal told him, she had designed their dresses, he finally looked into her hazel eyes and then his gaze moved lingeringly over her perfect body. She felt the heat spread across her body at his open admiration and a slow blush spread across her soft cheeks. He looked at her from top to bottom and back into her eyes and said huskily, "Beauuutiful." Khushi flushed even more as her heart thudded dangerously in her chest. Noticing the sizzling chemistry between the two, Sumer cleared his throat and spoke loudly, "I think I shall go and get all of us a few drinks. What say?" And as usual Payal was the first one to respond to anything that he said, "I will come along with you. I don't trust you one bit, what if you spike our drinks?" Sumer knew that this was bound to happen, so as he walked away merrily along with Payal, he looked back at Arnav and gave him a sly wink. And just like that, Arnav and Khushi stood alone in complete silence. Alone, inspite of being in a room full of people. Silent, inspite of their loud heartbeats.

Chapter 6

I hope you guys enjoyed the update.
A BIG thank you, to all of you'll for your lovely comments. I love reading your views and it thrills me to no end with your positive response for the story.

This update is especially dedicated to Sumer... It was his birthday on Sunday and thankfully the celebrations are going to be lasting till the coming Sunday... Lucky boy I must say to have an awesome mummy!

And off course to the mummy Vandy, and Chitra for their never-ending support. Your friendship is what keeps me going girls...

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