Chapter 22
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[MEMBERSONLY]
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[NOCOPY]
MARRYING KHUSHI
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Part 23
"Titliyaa, call Arnav Bitwaa and ask him when they will be reaching for sangeet, Nandkisore!" Buaji hollered. "Garima, did you change the covers of the cushions? Everything has to be ready by evening!"
Khushi threw the blanket over her head and pretended to be asleep. How could she call him after crying like a baby and falling asleep in his arms last night? Khushi! Khushi! she cursed herself. How did she get to bed? He must have lifted her and dumped her here. What must he think of her?
"Titliyaa!" Mittu squeaked, flying down to sit on Khushi's chest.
Khushi uncovered her face and glared at an unrepentant Mittu who tittered at Khushi's disgruntled expression.
"No wonder Preetho did not take you to her sasural!" Khushi chastised Mittu.
The parrot flew away laughing to her safe perch.
"Titliyaa! Did you call Arnav Bitwaa? What did he say?" Buaji shrieked from the next room.
(Thank u, Titaliya_AP)
"Arnav Bitwa, Arnav Bitwaa! Jab dekho Arnav Bitwaa! Soon she will forget her Nandkisore and start chanting Hai Re Arnav Bitwaa!" Khushi muttered.
Mittu sang, "Gunguna rahe he bhanware
Khil rahi he kali kali!"
Khushi sang, "Gali, gali... gali gali!
Zara dekho Mittu Rani
Gali will be your home soon if you talk nonsense!"
Khushi punched Arnav Bitwa's number.
He picked it up on the second ring.
"Khushi?" His voice covered the distance with little trouble, sending her palms sweating.
"Woh... woh..." Khushi stammered.
ASR smiled.
Khushi could hear him smirking at the other end of the line.
She straightened her spine, drew in a deep shuddery breath, and said, "Don't think that I wanted to talk to you. Woh... Buaji wanted to know..."
"What did Buaji want to know?" The smile made his husky voice more irresistible.
Khushi forgot!
"Woh... woh..." she fumbled. "What did Buaji want to know?" Khushi asked herself, thinking aloud.
He smiled.
"Haan! Buaji wants to know when you will be arriving for the sangeet." She let out a sigh of relief that he could hear.
ASR smiled. "Six."
"Ab phoone rakti hoon." Khushi went to cut the call.
"Khushi!"
"Ji?"
"I saw your mehendi." ASR whispered.
Khushi blushed.
"You look beautiful when you blush." ASR murmured.
Khushi blushed some more as butterflies started doing kathak in her tummy.
"When you blush..." ASR paused.
Khushi waited. And then waited some more.
Finally she asked crossly, "What?"
"When you blush, your cheeks..." his voice was low, beguiling.
"My cheeks?" Khushi sounded as breathless as she was.
"Your cheeks look red, bilkul like..." ASR paused, all seductive.
"Like?" her voice was almost too low to be heard.
"Like... Mittu's beak!" ASR finished.
"Awww!" Khushi drew in a deep breath of shock, her mouth open.
ASR burst out laughing.
Khushi's mouth fell shut at the sound of his laughter.
She had never heard it before. He sounded like a carefree man... a boy almost... A hand closed over her heart. An unwilling smile appeared on her lips. She stood holding the phone pressed against her ear till he finished laughing.
Finally, ASR managed to get his amusement under control.
"Khushi, see you at 6." he said, smiling.
"Ji." Khushi whispered before cutting the call.
A stage was built in the courtyard, and the Raizadas walked in through the arched entrance of Gomti Sadan to be greeted lovingly by the Guptas.
Preetho's brother waved at ASR from a distance and shouted, "Jiju, we are setting up music for you to dance!"
ASR's mouth fell open. "What the!" he managed to gasp.
"Chotey, it is your sangeet!" Anjali teased. "Thoda to dance karna hoga!"
ASR looked hunted.
"Bhai!" Akash whispered. "What will we do?"
"Dance! What else can you do?" NK teased.
"No way!" ASR declared.
"Then we will do it this way!" NK proclaimed. "You two sit here, and watch me dancing with Payalji and Khushiji!"
ASR & Akash stared at him with cold eyes.
"I will be a Nandkisore surrounded by many Sitas..." Nk said dreamily.
Anjali hit her head with her hand. "Radhas, NK Bhai!", she said
"Radhas are welcome too!" NK said outrageously.
Sasi Gupta led Arnav and Akash, Mamaji, Aman, & NK to their seats in the first row. Nani, Mami, Anjali, Manju, and other guests from AR Designs were escorted to sit by them by Buaji and Garima.
"Dekhat he Lucknow mein kono aisen ladki he jo dancewaa ma Manorama Raijjada ki takkar ki ho!" Mami declared laughing as she settled in her seat.
Nani shook her head at her bahuriyaa's boast. "Manorama, you are going to have two bahuriyaas now. Thoda to sharam keejiye!"
"I will sharam when my hair turns bhite (white), Saasumma!" Mami laughed.
"Then I will have to steal your imported hair dye, Manorama, that you asked Chotey to buy for you when he last went abroad!" Nani chuckled.
Anjali and the other ladies laughed.
"Bhy (why) ijj it bery (very) dark here?" Manorama wondered.
Mamaji pulled her pink goggles off. "Gogglewaa pehenke poochat he, dark kyon he!" he laughed.
Mami laughed along with every one.
ASR looked at the unoccupied seat to his left. Where was Khushi? His eyes went along the courtyard seeking her.
"She will come." Anjali whispered in his ear.
ASR flushed slightly.
"If she hasn't thought better of marrying the ASR!" Manju innocently looked up at the darkening sky, hiding her smile.
ASR glared at her.
Anjali giggled. "My bhabhi is not a coward, Manjuji!" she laughed.
"She is not." Manju smiled. "But she is the only girl on earth who will blow away a billionaire and his assets after giving him a piece of her mind if she gets angry." she warned ASR indirectly. "Or hurt."
ASR looked in to the direct eyes of his canteen manager whose professional association with him went back to the time he had set up business, who was familiar with his mood swings and his rage, and whose judgement of people was spot on.
Anjali looked at Chotey and at Manjuji's silent communication anxiously.
Finally, ASR nodded, conceding Manju Singh's point. He had to walk on eggshells, had to handle Khushi carefully lest she think better of marrying him.
Every thought flew out of his mind when he saw Khushi being led towards him by Buaji.
She was wearing a red anarkali with gold embellishments. His breath sort of stopped somewhere in the region of his chest.
Amma led Payal in a dark blue anarkali to join Akash.
Buaji led Khushi to sit by Arnav. The flimsy dupatta of her red dress brushed against his arm as Khushi sank in to her chair.
She stole a glance at her Rakshas.
He was wearing a black sherwani. Aaj bhi black? she thought. Khud ka kapde ki dukaan he, and he is always dressed in black? Not that he didn't look good. He did, always, but...
Khushi looked up at his face. He was looking fixedly at her.
Khushi frowned. Why was he staring at her?
Her eyes widened in horror. Maybe her bindi had slipped down and was now on her nose?
She leaned towards him confidingly, and asked, "Where is my bindi?"
ASR looked at her bewildered.
"Where is my bindi? Is it on my nose or cheek?" she hissed.
He looked at the parts in question. "No, no. It is on your temple."
Khushi sighed in relief. "Then why were you staring at me?"
ASR smiled. "You look beautiful!"
Khushi looked at him, startled, for a moment, and then flushed.
"Especially when you blush." he added, enjoying the rosy hue on her cheeks.
Khushi tried to frown at him. "I know. Because my cheeks look red like Mittu's beak."
"No." he whispered. "Because your cheeks look red like the soft petals of a red rose."
Khushi stared open mouthed at him, feeling that maybe her ears had gone on strike.
But worse was yet to come.
"Because your cheeks vie with the mehendi on your hands, each competing to be redder than the other." His voice was very soft, meant only for her ears.
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