Chapter 31
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[MEMBERSONLY]
[NOCOPY]
SAVING KHUSHI
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Part 15
"Chotey! I was thinking..."
"Haan, Di?"
"I would like to learn painting..."
"Di, if that is what you want, I will arrange someone to teach you at home. Aman will know..." Arnav began.
"No, Chotey. I think it is time I started seeing more of the world. They have evening classes at the college nearby..." Anjali said softly.
Arnav swallowed hard. His Di was finally growing up.
"Anything you want, Di." he promised.
"You will meet new people, Anjali Bitiyaa, and make new friends." Nani said, smiling approvingly.
Mami nodded. "It ijj better than staring at the phor (four) balls (walls) of your roomwaa, Anjali Bitiyaa."
"Di, I will take you to your classes on the first day!" NK offered.
Akash raised one eyebrow in question.
"It will get her lots of friends." NK asserted. "As soon as I walk in with Di, all the girls will surround her to find out who this handsome chikni chameli is!"
Akash buried his head in his hands as all laughed.
"Arnavji!" Khushi hesitated, twisting the fringe of her dupatta in her fingers.
He looked up from his laptop to see her standing by the door.
"Kya hua, Khushi? Kuch chahiye tha?" he asked, his husky voice inviting her to come to him.
Khushi took a couple of steps in to the room.
"Woh kya he, Arnavji... I was thinking..."
"Kya?""
"Buaji called just now. Arnavji, it has been very long since I visited Amma, Babuji, and Buaji... I was thinking..." Khushi hesitated.
"Oh..." Arnav pondered on the problem and came up with a solution. "Suno, I have to go to the office after lunch. You come with me, Khushi. I will drop you off at Buaji's." He smiled. "I will get a chance to meet them too. You spend the afternoon there, and in the evening, as I return from the office, I will get you."
"Ji." Khushi smiled.
Arnav drove towards Laxmi Nagar, stealing glances at his wife's happy face even as he navigated congested roads and rickshaws bent on doing acrobatics in the middle of the road. As he stopped the vehicle before Buaji's house, Arnav caught hold of her hand.
Khushi looked at him.
"Khushi, what will you do all afternoon?" he asked softly, his eyes devouring her face.
Khushi smiled happily. "I will talk to Amma, Babuji, & Buaji, go to Kamla Maasi's house, play with my bacha party when they get home from school, eat golgappe with them..."
"Save one for me." Arnav said, his husky voice pricking her skin like a thousand needles.
Khushi looked at him with wide eyes and nodded, her cheeks rosy.
He lifted her hand and pressed his lips to her fingers.
"Arnavji!" she gasped. "Someone might see us!" She looked around frantically. The road was littered with her Buaji's friends and neighbours. She pulled her hand away.
Arnav smiled, opened her door and his, and accompanied her in to Buaji's house.
"Arnav Bitwaa! What a surprise, Nandkisore!" Buaji caught hold of his hand and pulled him in to the house. "Garima, dekho kaun aaya he! Your damadji is here! Bring the thaali and do aarti for him for he steps in to our house only rarely, on Diwali and Janmashtami!" Buaji teased him and pinched his chin.
Arnav smiled.
"Buaji, that is not fair! Arnavji was busy..." Khushi tried to defend her husband.
"Acha?" Buaji caught hold of her by her ear. "Protecting your husband from us, are you?"
"Buaji!" Khushi squirmed, trying to save her ear from Buaji's strong and firm hold.
Arnav smiled.
"Arnav Bitwaa!" Garima came pushing Babuji's wheelchair, caught him by the arm, and led him to a chair. "It has been so long since we saw you."
"Ji. I was caught up in some work." he explained, and greeted Babuji who nodded and smiled at him.
"How is Naniji?" Garima asked.
"She is fine." Arnav smiled.
"And Anjali Bitiyaa?" Buaji asked.
"Much, much better." Arnav smiled. "She is learning to paint now at a college nearby."
"Acha he, Nandkisore!" Buaji exclaimed. "What will she do all day and night if she sits at home? She will just worry and fret over everything that happened. It is better that she is busy.""
Khushi served tea to all of them, and sat by her husband as he talked to her family.
"Is it just me or does Babuji look better?" Arnav asked diffidently. "His hand... I think he moved it more confidently and smiled better..."
Amma and Buaji smiled. "He is better, Babua. The doctor is very happy with him."
Arnav smiled at Babuji. "When you have to go to the hospital, just give me a call. I will send a car with a driver."
Buaji and Garima nodded gratefully.
Arnav saw the time on the clock in the room and jumped up. "I have a meeting in a few minutes. Amma, Buaji, Babuji, I need to leave."
"Acha, Babua!" Amma, Buaji, & Khushi stood up, disappointed.
Buaji turned to Khushi, "You go and show your balma out, Sanka Devi!"
Khushi flushed as she accompanied Arnav to his car.
"Khushi, I will get you in the evening, as soon as I finish work." Arnav said as he opened the car door.
"Ji." Khushi smiled at him.
He looked at her lips for a long moment and lifted hot eyes to hers.
Khushi flushed, feeling hot shivers shake her body.
Reluctantly, he got in and drove off, his eyes on her image in his rear view mirror.
"Arnavji, are you busy?" Khushi asked.
"Not for you. Kya hua, Khushi?" he asked, a small smile on his lips.
"Arnavji... I was thinking... I was thinking I will stay here for a couple of days..." Khushi said.
"What the!"
"I will be back on Thursday." Khushi said, hoping he wouldn't get angry.
"No way. Khushi, you said you were going for half a day. You are supposed to come back home with me today..." Arnav paused, realising he sounded too hyper about something that shouldn't be a big deal but was.
"Arnavji, I am just 2 km away from your house, not in another city. I am staying with my family, not strangers. And it is only for 2 days." Khushi tried to sound reasonable.
But her reasons were washed away by the flood of panic that burst over him in tsunami waves.
"No. No, Khushi. I want you back in RM today." ASR sounded his decision.
Mrs. ASR asked, her nose making a statement in the air, "And if I am not?"
"I will make you pay for it, Khushi. No one messes with ASR." the lion growled.
"Acha? Then let me tell you that no one messes with Mrs. ASR too." She slammed the phone down.
Arnav glared at the phone in his hand, fuming with all the ire of the man who has lots to say but no one to hear him.
Khushi looked nervously at the phone. It was evening, about time for Arnavji to leave his office. What would he do, drag her back to RM? Should she call him? No. How dare he order her around? Was she HP? Or Amanji? No, she was his wife. Khushi Kumari Gupta Singh Raizada. No one could push her around. She drew in a deep breath and prayed to Devi Maiyya for courage.
"Titliyaa, are you sure you want to stay here for 2 days, Nandkisore?" Buaji asked.
"Ji, Buaji." Khushi tried to smile.
"Leaving Arnav Bitwaa alone in RM..." Buaji grumbled. "Who will take care of him if you are sitting here?"
"Buaji, your Arnav Bitwaa is old enough to take care of himself. For your information, he has been taking care of himself for the past 28 years without any help from me." Khushi fumed. "And he has a house full of family there. He couldn't be alone if he tried."
"Acha! You fought with him, didn't you? That is why you want to stay here for two days." Buaji exclaimed with an air of discovery.
Garima chuckled behind her hand and Babuji smiled.
""Hhmmmpppfff!"" Khushi made her view clear as she left her amused family, went to her room and locked the door in a huff.
A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door.
"Khussi, open the door." Garima called.
Khushi wiped her tears away with her fingers and went to open the door.
Her Amma stood there with a tray holding 2 tea cups and a dish of snacks in her hands.
Khushi frowned. "Amma, why did you bring the tea here? I will come out..." her voice trailed away as she saw the figure standing behind her Amma.
"Arnavji?" she gasped.
Arnav elbowed his way in to her room, lugging a bag behind him.
Khushi stared at him, her mouth open to catch flies.
Garima placed the tea tray on the table and turned to Arnav. She cupped his lean cheek in one palm.
"Damadji, rest for a while. I will call you when it is time for dinner. Khussi, take care of Babua. Help him unpack and make space for his things among all the junk you have hoarded in your cabinets."
Khushi could only stare in silence as her Amma left, closing the door after her.
Arnav locked the door and turned to look at a stupefied Khushi.
"Khushi, were you crying?" He cupped her cheek and ran a gentle finger down the curve. "Why? Because I got angry with you?"
She nodded and then shook her head to mean no.
Arnav smiled. "Yes or no?"
"Both. I cried, but not because you were angry with me. I don't feel like crying when you shout at me. I feel like shouting back and I do. So that's alright, Arnavji."
Arnav smiled. His employees should hear her. They would die of shock to hear her dismissing his anger as of no consequence when he had the ability to make grown men cry with one look.
"Then why did you cry?" he asked tenderly.
"Because Buaji said I should not have left you alone in RM." she confessed, her eyes lowered.
Arnav swallowed.
"I told her that you wouldn't be alone there, but..." she paused.
"But...?"
Khushi looked away, lost for words for once.
"I am always lonely without you, Khushi." he confessed in a whisper, his fingers deftly freeing himself from his formal clothes.
Khushi stared at him, her eyes like saucers.
"And everyone knows that. When I went home from office and told them that you were going to stay here for two days, Nani scolded me for leaving you alone."
Khushi gasped.
"And Mami told me that I should have stayed back with you and let my in-laws take care of me." he smiled. He threw away the coat, waistcoat and tie, and pulled two buttons of his shirt out of their buttonholes.
Khushi looked at him. "Naniji and Mamiji asked you to come here?" She couldn't believe her ears.
"Yes, because they can understand that you want to spend some time with your family. And because they know how miserable I would be without you." Arnav smiled.
A slow smile bloomed on Khushi's lips.
"HP ran to place my bag in the car. He was so happy to pack me off!" Arnav joked. "He didn't want me shouting at him or breaking things as I would do if I were alone in RM."
Khushi rushed to her husband and threw her arms around him. "I am so glad that you are here, Arnavji." she whispered against his neck, burrowing closer to him. "As soon as I finished fighting with you, I started missing you..." she confessed.
"Good." He said against her cheek as his lips moved towards hers. His arms pulled her as close as they could.
"Good?" she murmured, looking up at him.
"Very good." His eager lips covered her startled ones, stopping her from asking any more questions.
Not that Khushi wanted to ask any more questions. Words, she felt, were vastly overrated anyway. Action was better. Much better.
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