Chapter 18
Font:
Text Size:
Theme:
[MEMBERSONLY]
love_iqbal_khan 2014-03-09 21:19:07
Chapter 16: The Engagement (Part II)
*Scroll up for Part I*
"What're you doing here?!" Khushi exclaimed, her face an epitome of annoyance. "Arnav, we've been looking everywhere for you...it's time for your performance and Anjali is nearing a panic attack because she thinks you're going to cheat your way out of this."
Without any inhibitions, Khushi took his hand in hers and taking advantage of the fact that he seemed to be dazed--again!--started leading him out of the backyard lawns and into the great hall.
"Khushi? Where are you dragging him?" Garima chuckled looking at her daughter's antics as Khushi stalked past the Garima-Buaji-NK trio determinedly.
"Oho Sankadevi...don't rip off his arm!" Madhumati, Khushi's Buaji, chuckled along.
Arnav grinned at them for their comments but did nothing otherwise to stop Khushi from pulling him by the hand. When they reached the group, everyone turned to look at him accusingly, especially Lavanya. She was sitting on a chair, pressing her temples with her fingertips.
"What happened?" Khushi kicked into her doctor mode right away.
"She's feeling nauseous and dizzy...stage fright I guess..." Akash shrugged.
Khushi frowned at him. Stage fright and Lavanya? Hadn't Anjali said that Lavanya was a dance teacher and had taken part in many stage programs??
"No...I don't think it's that...I haven't eaten much today you see...I think I'm just weak..." Lavanya spoke.
Khushi reached over and closed her fingers around Lavanya's wrist expertly, checking the pulse.
"Oh...my head!" Lavanya exclaimed, trying to divert Khushi's attention.
"We don't have to dance if you're not feeling well!" Arnav said with a bit too much enthusiasm than the situation warranted and earned himself dirty looks from everyone.
"No!" Lavanya fired off at once. "Anjali is really looking forward to your performance...if you don't go through with it...she'll be really upset."
Arnav felt some of his excitement subside at the thought of an upset Anjali. "But what can we do? You clearly can't dance in this state."
"You and Khushi can perform, right?" Akash posed the question. "She's the only one apart from Lavanya who knows the entire routine..."
Ignoring the sudden leaps of her heartbeat, Khushi tried her best to seem nonchalant and shrug. "Arnav?"
Hell yes! Arnav wanted to scream, instead, he nodded thoughtfully. "Anjali will kill me if I don't give her this performance and you are the only one apart from Lavanya who knows the steps..."
Khushi shrugged again. "Alright then...let's go."
Reining his excitement in control, Arnav started following Khushi as the lights dimmed once again. Owing to the fact that that they had their backs turned to the group, Arnav and Khushi completely missed the exchange of winks and thumbs-up that transpired between Akash and Lavanya.
When the spot lights brought Arnav and Khushi into focus, there were multiple reactions in the crowd. Arvind, Akash, and Lavanya were happy. Anjali and Rohan were surprised. Payal, Garima, and Madhumati were apprehensive. The only person who had a neutral reaction to this was NK.
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI__R4E-qKw[/YOUTUBE]
*Happy Sarah?😉 Not a few moments, but an entire performance*
The crowd watched in awe as the perfect looking pair matched each other's steps gracefully. The chemistry between them was tangible. The way he held her with all the care in the world, the way she looked at him with an affectionate expression, the way they seemed to convey the lyrics of the songs to each other, the way the two seemed to be lost in each other was all no less than a scene from a romantic Bollywood movie.
Arnav, before this moment, hadn't realized how apt this song was for them. Their story was, indeed, complicated and couldn't be described in simple words. They had been separated even though they were two puzzle pieces made to fit together. Why hadn't he realized this during practice?
Khushi was a step ahead and had recognized these similarities between the song and their lives immediately. It was one of the reasons why the practices had been difficult because she just couldn't keep her mind from wandering off. Now, as she danced with him, it seemed no one else existed in the room. Something about his expression, some emotion in his eyes held all her attention.
Her eyes only saw him and his eyes only saw her. For the duration of their choreography, nothing was amiss in their world. There was love and happiness. They were where they wanted to be...where they needed to be. They were content.
As the song faded away, Arnav and Khushi stood facing each other; her body snuggled close to his, their faces inches apart. One of his hands wound around her waist while one of her hands rested on his shoulder. Their free hands held each other possessively. Arnav looked into her eyes as she looked into his. Their eyes spoke volumes about what was going on in their minds and hearts. Both eyes displayed love, pain, and guilt.
The lights flicked on, the audience broke out into cheers and applause, and the spell broke. Very reluctantly, Arnav let go of her but refused to let go of her hand.
Still hand-in-hand, Arnav and Khushi turned their attention towards the audience. Khushi took a curt bow and the two made their way off the stage. Much like Payal and Akash, Arnav and Khushi were surrounded by friends and family almost immediately, Anjali making her way to them first.
She threw her arms around her brother and her friend, hugging them both at once.
"That was amazing! Thank you thank you thank you!" Anjali pulled apart beaming a toothy smile.
"Happy now, Di?" Arnav asked with a gentle smile of his own, very aware of the fact that he was still holding onto Khushi's hand.
The feeling was natural. As if her hand belonged there. As if her hand had always been there.
"Very happy! And I even got to see Khushi perform...it was a double treat!" Anjali giggled merrily.
"You guys were great." Rohan smiled, giving Khushi a side hug, smiling to himself as he saw her hand enclosed in Arnav's.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, May I please have your attention..." Arvind spoke politely into the microphone once again. "May I please invite Mr. and Mrs. Oberoi along with Anjali and Rohan for the ring exchange..."
Anjali and Rohan walked up towards Arvind and the Oberoi's fashionably. Arnav knew that Arvind would call on him next. He automatically took steps in that direction when he felt a tug on his hand. He turned to look at Khushi questioningly.
"My Hand..." Khushi pointed towards their entwined hands with her chin.
Arnav followed her gaze and let his eyes settle on the heart-warming sight. She had been surprising him with her changed attitude since she'd gotten here and now Arnav planned on surprising her by treating her like he had never done before.
By treating her like a lady.
With that thought in mind, he raised his eyes to her face as he lifted her hand towards his mouth. He watched satisfied as her cheeks turned a delicious shade of apple-red before he had even placed his lips on her skin. He caressed her slender fingers with his thumb before placing a gentle kiss over her ring finger, exactly where an engagement ring would rest eventually.
Khushi felt a thousand butterflies unleash in her stomach and she fought the urge to yank her hand back. He was being a perfect gentleman. He was treating her like a man would treat a lady after a dance at a party and she didn't want to be rude and push him away. Hell, she didn't want to push him away anyway.
He squeezed her hand lightly once and smiled at her. "Thank you for the dance, Khush."
He let her hand slide out of his delicately as he took backward steps away from her. With a ghost of a smile on his face, Arnav walked towards the engaging couple while Manorama brought the flower decorated platter with the ring boxes atop them. Arnav picked up the first box and handed it to Anjali.
Arnav's ASR mask slipped for a quick second as he smiled genuinely at his sister when she glanced at him gleefully.
She took the ring from the box and looked up at Rohan who was smiling widely, letting the world see just how happy he was. With the same enthusiasm, Anjali slipped on the ring onto his finger and the applause echoed again. Somewhere in the distant, she recognized Akash's cry of "Congrats Di!"
Rohan picked up the ring which held a central round cut ruby flanked by two smaller round cut diamonds. He slipped on the ring onto her finger and then raised her hand to plant a kiss. At the gesture, both Arnav and Khushi looked at each other as their minds replayed a minutes-old memory of their own similar exchange.
Khushi looked down at her hand, precisely at the spot where he had kissed her and her heart clenched painfully.
All of this was wrong. She shouldn't be doing this. She would hurt him and she didn't want that.
The rest of the night, Khushi mingled with her mother, her Buaji, Rohan's parents, Arvind, Akash's parents, NK...in short, with anyone who would take her to the farthest end of the hall from Arnav. Even though she maintained her distance from him, she could sense his gaze on her through the night and it unsettled her.
That night, while the rest of the occupants of the grand Haveli slept in peace, four individuals tossed and turned on their beds as sleep evaded them.
_____
Where the hell was she?
Arnav's eyes scanned the long row of the dining table which was occupied by Rohan-Anjali, Payal-Akash, Lavanya, Aman, and himself. NK and Khushi hadn't shown up and Arnav found that this knowledge had already soured his mood for the morning.
He knew that Arvind had left this morning to take a flight to London to attend some urgent business meetings. He also knew that all the other elders were out, yet again, on a tour of the famous temples and archaeological buildings. Where Khushi was, he had no freaking idea!
When they were halfway through the breakfast, Khushi and NK walked up to the table and took their seats, greeting everyone a 'Good morning'.
Taking in her appearance, Arnav frowned. She had clearly spent a sleepless night. She looked tired and exhausted. Some kind of emotion clouded her face but he couldn't decipher it. He tried to catch her eye, but every time she accidentally ended up glancing at him, she looked away.
Was she upset about last night?? But nothing major happened! It was a kiss on the hand, for heaven's sakes! Was everyone else blind? Did no one else see what he saw??
"Khushi...you look tired..." Akash noted at last.
Arnav wanted to sigh exasperatedly and clap Akash's back enthusiastically for noticing the obvious.
"Yeah...I kind of had a hard time sleeping last night." Khushi forced a smile.
Arnav's eyes narrowed. He got the strange feeling that she was hiding something. The stealing glances but not holding his gaze, the subdued and withdrawn expression...something was definitely on her mind but what exactly?
"Still adjusting to the time changes?" Lavanya questioned, taking a bite out of her toast.
Khushi nodded. "I think so...I think it had to do with that and with nervousness..."
"Nervousness?" Anjali raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah...There's something I need to tell you..." Khushi announced, sitting up straighter in her chair.
For some unknown reason, Arnav felt his throat go dry. Every head on the table was now turned to her, and she shifted uncomfortably under all the attention.
"Look...don't get mad, okay..." Khushi looked pleadingly at Anjali and Payal. "I know I should have told you earlier...way earlier but...but the last few days were supposed to be all about Anjali...I didn't want to take any of it away from her..."
If it was possible, Arnav's throat felt even more dry. He felt a thin sheen of sweat form over his nape while his heart thudded loudly in his ears. His breaths were short and painful.
Was she going to leave? Was she only here for the engagement? If that was the case, would she stop if Arnav spoke to her? What about the conversation they were supposed to have? Was this the reason why she had specifically chosen the time after Anjali's engagement to speak to him? So that she could leave soon after their conversation?
Did that mean that Khushi didn't see a possibility of their broken relationship healing? Did she not trust him with it anymore?
Arnav reached over to pick up his glass of water. His throat felt as parched as the desert sand.
Khushi took a deep breath and Arnav turned to look at her. She gave them all a nervous glance once before she lifted her hand from her lap and held it up for them.
The second Arnav's eyes zeroed in on the diamond shimmering arrogantly on the ring finger of her left hand, he heard a collective gasp of shock echo at the table.
To Arnav's ears, the sound was that of his world crashing down around him. His eyes remained fixated on the offending ring while his body had frozen into an ice sculpture. He couldn't be sure whose gaze it was but he felt like someone was watching him. He didn't give a damn about any of that.
All he could think of was that Khushi was engaged to someone. And that someone wasn't him. His Khush was technically someone's wife-to-be. Everything he'd wanted to tell her, everything he wanted to apologize for, everything he had envisioned in his future...in her future...in their future didn't matter anymore because she was a part of someone else's future.
Is this what she felt when Shanaya had announced the pregnancy? If this is what he put her through, he wasn't sure if he deserved to be forgiven! Even as his mind started filling with regret and guilt, he felt the stab of pain in his heart.
She had moved on...just like that?
Everyone else was in a similar state at Khushi's revelation. How come no one had noticed that ring on her finger all these days? Anjali recovered from the shock first.
"You...You...you're..." she stammered.
Khushi nodded. "I'm engaged."
Arnav tore his eyes away from her then and focused on the clear glass in his hands. He could see the water within its confines rippling as his hand trembled with a mixture of rage and agony. His knuckles turned white as his hands closed around the slender glass tightly.
"To who?!" Payal exclaimed, sounding hysterical.
Arnav closed his eyes, dreading Khushi's response. Somehow, he already knew what her answer would be. He knew it would hurt when she said it out loud because it would turn all of his theories and fears into facts. Even then, the pain didn't come any less harshly when she uttered the name.
"NK."
_____
Next Chapter's Super Early Preview: The Past from Arnav's Point of View
(*Gasp* That Rhymed!)
Next FF update: Koi Aap Sa
Next 'Always You' update: No Later Than March 23, 2014
New Readers: To Be added to the PM List, Please add me to your buddy list.
I know I know! You all hate me for that last bit. I know that I will have a horde of my readers chasing me with Chappals, Belans, Brooms, Bats, and other goodies. For now, I just want to ask you guys to trust me with this. Like the preview hints, this engagement announcement is going to act as a trigger of sorts. Just imagine where Arnav's anger, frustration, and jealousy must have reached at this point...I'm sure you all know where that is going to lead.😃
Also, I know that this part may have seemed like it had a lot of unnecessary scenes but everything that happened today will play a role eventually. Take Arvind-Manorama's conversation for example...eventually it led to Arnav-Khushi's 'Teri Meri' magic.😉
What do you think will happen now?? I love reading your predictions and theories so do share them! I'm sure you can imagine how I felt when a lot of you were guessing that NK-Khushi are engaged because I had planned that back when I had started the FF...lol.
So yeah, let the theories/predictions unleash! Hope you all enjoyed the long chapter...I see another long chapter coming up!
Love,
Katie <3
Your reaction
Nice
Awesome
Loved
LOL
OMG
Cry
102 Comments