Chapter 45
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[MEMBERSONLY]
love_iqbal_khan 2016-08-22 19:36:12
Previous Chapter: on Page 35
Chapter 36: Green Eyed Monster
"Khushi."
"Shh" Khushi frowned, trying hard to not let her focus stray from the pages of the book in her hand. "Let me finish."
"You've been reading for the past hour!" Arnav couldn't help but whine.
Yeah, so he fell asleep for a few minutes. He couldn't help it. He was laying there on the soft picnic blanket with his head in his lady love's lap, listening to the rhythmic, calming sounds of the waves rushing to the shore, feeling the cool breeze against his body, enjoying the feel of Khushi's slender fingers running through his hair.
He had even warned her that if she kept that up, he would fall asleep. And he had. He'd been rudely awakened by a group of screaming teenagers.
After that initial sweet smile and quick kiss after he'd woken up, she hadn't even so much as glanced at him.
Arnav glanced towards the water where Payal, Akash, NK and Lavanya were tossing around volleyball. His eyes quickly scanned the surroundings but couldn't spot Anjali or Rohan. As he looked around at the other occupants on the beach, he couldn't help but frown.
And they all put my back against the wall for being a workaholic.
He rolled his eyes and glanced towards Khushi only to find her staring at him unabashedly. He raised his eyebrows in question and Khushi burst into laughter as if he had made the funniest face in existence.
"What's so funny?" Arnav frowned.
"You're so cute when you sulk like that!" Khushi set aside the book and changed her position on the blanket so that she was completely facing him. "It's like a little child wanting to get someone's attention."
Arnav smiled and leaned closer. "You're not too far off. I have been trying to get your attention."
Khushi closed her eyes and suppressed a shiver as a tingle ran down her spine when he brushed a lock of hair off her face and tucked it behind her ear. Such a simple gesture, such a mundane action...yet, it had this kind of an effect on her.
"You always have my attention." She murmured. "Even when you're not physically with me...you still have my attention."
"Except for when you have a book in your hand." He teased.
"Hey...there's an exception to every rule." Khushi chuckled. "Now that you have my attention, what do you want?"
You. He thought. "Anything but sit here and do nothing." Arnav replied with the next best answer.
"Volleyball it is!" Khushi cheered and stood up in one swift motion.
Before he could react, she was already jogging her way towards their friends at the edge of the water. He watched her with a faint smile on his face as she yelled out something that he couldn't hear. The others joined her and together, they made their way towards a volleyball net where two men were already playing. A small frown knit Arnav's brows together the moment he noticed how one of the men looked at Khushi.
Instinctively, he stood up and walked towards them, glowering at the unassuming man. As he walked closer, he noticed the multiple tattoos that covered the man's arms. There was also a scorpion on the side of his neck.
"That sounds great!" Akash nodded and turned to look at Arnav, catching the movement in his peripheral vision. "Perfect timing. Now we have eight people."
"Ten." Rohan corrected, joining the crowd.
"Hey!" NK exclaimed. "That's Rohan and his wife Anjali...and this is Arnav. Guys...This is Sameer and Danny. They've agreed to share the volleyball net."
Arnav wrapped an arm around Khushi's waist and pulled her closer to indicate to the ogling man that she was his and that he'd be better off keeping his eyes off of her.
"Have you guys made the teams already?" Anjali asked.
"No...we can pick now." Sameer, the man with the multiple tattooed answered.
"Since you two were here first, why don't you two pick teams. It's only fair." Akash suggested.
"Sure. I like the idea." Danny, a tall and lanky man with an army crew cut, spoke cheerfully. "I pick...Arnav, was it?"
Arnav nodded tightly and reluctantly left Khushi's side to stand closer to Danny.
"Okay then...I pick Khushi." Sameer said with a nonchalant shrug.
Arnav grated his teeth, not liking this whole ordeal one bit. Arnav silently sulked as the teams were made. It turned out that Sameer, Khushi, NK, Payal, and Akash were on the same team while Danny, Arnav, Lavanya, Anjali, and Rohan were on the other team.
Once they began the game, Arnav focused more and more on the interactions between Khushi and Sameer. After every winning point, the two would high five. A couple times, Sameer even patted Khushi's back a little too enthusiastically when she hit the ball to the ground, earning them another point.
His team was beginning to yell at him as he began messing up in his distracted state. At one point, the ball nearly hit him squarely in the face and if it weren't for his reflexes, it may have.
Khushi frowned slightly, looking at Arnav's face. She couldn't understand why he seemed so annoyed. Everyone was having a great time. There was laughter, positive energy, a friendly vibe. What the hell has his boxers in a knot?
After the third game, Arnav had had enough. Before they could start another game, he suggested changing the teams.
He could have sighed in relief when everyone agreed to the idea. Unlucky for him, Anjali came up with the idea for team splitting.
"Let's make it more of an inter couple thing." Anjali chirped. "You can't be on the same team as your partner."
"Sounds good." Akash smirked. "That was I can prove to Payal that I'm the sportier one."
Arnav frowned at his sister. Count on her to ruin the plans.
"How about this? Me, Chote, Payal, and NK will be on one team. Khushi, Rohan, Akash, and Lavanya o the other. We'll let Danny and Sam choose who they want to play for." Anjali spoke with barely contained glee.
"I don't mind playing on Khushi and Akash's team." Sameer announced, making Arnav's temper rise a tad bit.
He glanced at Khushi and found her looking at him quizzically. She raised her chin in the moment for a quick second in a gesture to ask him what was wrong. He simply shook his head and focused on the conversation.
"We can switch again after three games." Lavanya suggested.
Once again, much to Arnav's chagrin, Khushi and Sam were on the same team. Thanks to Lavanya's suggestion, though, it would only last for three games.
By the end of those three games, Arnav was barely holding on to his patience. He briefly wondered why he hadn't created a scene about this already. He didn't like these interactions between Khushi and Mr. Tattoos. Every time Sam touched her, a flare went off within Arnav. So much so that he wanted to go up to him and just smack his tattoos off his arms.
What the hell are you saying, Arnav! He berated himself.
He was greatly relieved when in the next set of games, Khushi was on his team. On a childish instinct, he high fived her, patted her back, even snuck in a kiss on her cheeks once to let a certain Sam know that she was taken.
As the hours passed, the games went on, the teams shuffled. As the sun started closing towards the horizon, they finally put an end to their game.
"That was a really good evening, you guys." Danny smiled genuinely. "It was nice meeting you all."
"It really was." Sameer added with a nod. "Hey...why don't you guys join us at the beach-side pub? There's a bonfire party tonight. Open invitation."
"Which one?" Lavanya asked, interested in the idea of a beach-side party.
"Groovy sand." Danny answered and cringed a bit. "Stupid name, I know...but it's a cool pub. There's a nice dance floor right on the beach, surrounded by park benches and patio furniture"
"It's a lively place...why don't you guys join us and shake a leg?" Sameer smiled at Khushi and then ad Lavanya.
"Yes!" "Sure!" "We're there!"
NK, Lavanya, and Khushi responded with enthusiasm at the mention of a dance floor. Arnav groaned inwardly. How was he supposed to get out of this now? The last thing he wanted was Khushi and Sameer meeting again.
It's not that he didn't trust her. He did. He knew she wouldn't entertain Sameer's advances. The real question was...did she even realize that Sameer was making advances?
What he was worried about was what would happen if he lost his temper because of this. He already knew that Khushi would do as she pleases. Telling her to not go to the party, when she was so excited about it, was out of the question. Telling her about Sameer's advances would just make him seem insecure and jealous.
He wasn't insecure...but jealous? It was the whole scenario with Joel--Khushi's dance class friend--again.
"I knew you would be excited." Sameer looked squarely at Khushi, making her raise her eyebrows.
"How's that?"
"Your tattoo...dance like no one is watching? I take it you're a dancer." Sam chuckled.
"That I am." Khushi laughed and glanced down at her foot with the tattoo.
After taking down the address to the pub, they parted ways. After grabbing all their things, they made their way back towards the cottage, chatting about the day and the upcoming party.
Khushi offered her comments here and there but she was more concerned about Arnav's silence. He seemed to be in a bad mood and she didn't know why. She didn't want him to spend his time here sulking. This was a vacation. He needed to break out of his ASR shell and be Arnav.
On the other hand, Arnav was slowly coming to the conclusion that he should probably stay in and let the others go to the party. He has promised Khushi that she would have all her freedom and he just wasn't sure he would let her leave his side if he went to the party.
He felt her squeeze his hand gently, trying to get his attention. He broke out of his thoughts and smiled at her.
"What's wrong?" She asked gently.
He glanced up and realized that the others had walked ahead of them. When Khushi had slowed down, thereby forcing him to slow down, he didn't know.
"Nothing." He smiled at her again.
She stopped walking. "It's written all over your face, Arnav. What's wrong?"
"I just...don't know if I want to go to this party." He shrugged.
"Oh..." she began walking again, looking down at her hand in his. "What do you want to do instead?"
"I don't know...I'll figure something out."
"We will figure something out." She threw him a pointed look.
He didn't need an explanation to know what she was getting at. "No Khushi...you go ahead with the others and have fun. I can tell you're excited about it."
"Yeah...but I want to spend time with you, too. I'd choose that over any party." She said in a matter of fact manner.
Arnav sighed, knowing that she wouldn't budge from her decision. If he didn't go, she wouldn't go either. He didn't want that. Frankly, he had no better plans if they stayed in. In fact, if they stayed in, he'd probably have a hard time keeping his hands off her. If they were left alone in the house...
"Let's go to the party." He changed his mind with that thought in mind. "You wanted to go and I don't want you to miss it because of me."
"Are you sure? If you don't want to go, we can do something else. Arnav, I'm okay with whatever."
"I'm sure." He leaned over and kissed her temple. "Anything for you, tiny."
She smiled up at him brightly. The joy on her face could put Goa's sunshine to shame.
"Only one condition..." he added as an afterthought. "You wot make me dance."
Khushi scoffed. "Are you kidding? It took us so long to teach you Anjali's sangeet routine. There's no time to prep you for tonight's party. You're safe this one time."
"This one time?" Arnav raised an eyebrow.
"Well...your girlfriend's a dancer...eventually you'll have to learn. Unless you want me to dance with other guys at every party." She teased.
Even though she teased, Sameer's image immediately popped into his head. His lips set into a thin line and his brows knit together.
No. If he steps in to ask Khushi to dance, I'll dance with her instead. Arnav decided.
He couldn't and wouldn't control Khushi's actions. But he could sure as hell put a stop to other people's advances.
This party is going to be just freaking fantastic. Even Arnav's conscious couldn't help but be sarcastic.
Next Chapter: Page 76
Hey guys!
I know its a short one today but I just had an exam yesterday and my next one is on Wednesday. But...as promised, here's the update!
Next one will be in two weeks (on 1st May) and I shall make up for the length with that update.
Hope you all enjoyed this one.
Cheers,
Katie <3
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