~Part 7~
It was only 6 o clock, but Khushi had decided to get ready earlier rather than later. Although Anjali informed her that Arnav had just called her to say that he may reach home just a bit later than 7 due to a last minute meeting, so he'll just hurriedly change and they'll probably leave by 7:30 latest, she didn't want to hear an earful from Arnav about being late. She had requested Anjali to come over to help her with the saari and her overall look as she didn't know too much about how to get ready for these kind of parties - she didn't want any more taanas on aukat and how that related to her middle class dressing style.
In the meanwhile, Arnav entered the house as his last minute meeting got cancelled just as abruptly. Anjali was on her way to see Khushi when she saw Arnav walking in.
"Arre Chote, abhi thodi der pehle hi toh tum keh rahe the ki der ho jayegi? Kya ho gaya sab theek hai?"
"Haan Di, woh last minute pe uss Arjun Malhotra ke saath meeting karne jaa raha tha mai. Lekin pahunchte pahunchte phone pe hi kaafi baat ho gayi. Aur vaise bhi hum party pe mil hi rahe hai aur fir kal office mei. Toh humne decide kia ki baaki ki baatei party mei ya office mei kar lenge."
"Oh achcha, ye toh achcha hai abhi hum 7 baje hi niklenge."
"Haan Di. Vaise aap mere liye ek coffee bhijva dengi? Thoda thak gaya hu."
"Haan Chote. Hum hi banaake laate hai."
"Aapko aane ki kya zarurat hai, bhijva dijiye bas."
"Arre hum Khushi ke kamre tak aa hi rahe hai toh coffee bhi le aayenge. Oh Khushi se yaad aaya, tum ye packet usko dedo aur bol do ki hum abhi aa rahe hai 5 minute mee." She hands him a small packet.
He takes the packet, but says "abhi 5 minute mei aa hi rahi ho toh khudi de deti na."
"Behas mat karo bas dedo, usko abhi chahiye hoga ye."
"Theek hai theek hai Di de dunga" and walks off.
Arnav goes into his room, puts the packet on this bed and takes off his blazer. He's starting to take off his shirt when he remembers the packet. He picks it up, opens the door, and knocks on Khushi's door.
She calls from inside "Haan khula hai, aa jaayiye."
He opens the door and walks in to see her standing in front of the mirror with her back to him. He forgets about the packet and the fact that she probably was asking Anjali to come in. She was standing there with her hair tied up in a loose bun and wearing the blouse and her saari's petticoat. She had a towel draped to cover her front, but her back was there for him to see and palpitate. She was doing all sorts of acrobatics to get hold of the dori at the back of her blouse.
"Achcha hua aap aa gayi, hum iss dori ko pakad bhi nahi paa rahi. Humaare suit jaisa nahi hai, iss blouse ki dori toh kaafi neeche hai. Vaise Anjali ji, humne aapko dukaan mei hi bola tha ki ye blouse kaafi neeche se huru hota hai peeche. Ye dekhiye na, kaafi zyaada hi dikh rahaa hai."
She turns to give him an even better view. All the blood oozes out of his brain when he sees her upper back barely covered by the low cut blouse and the petticoat which starts at her waist.
She says "achcha ye dori baandh deejiye na" she calls out. When she hears no response, she frowns and turns back "Kya hua Anj.." she stops mid sentence when she finds herself looking at a very intense looking Arnav.
Her breath stops when she sees the look on his face and in his eyes. She forgets that she is quite skimpily clad and forgets that she probably should pull the towel which is only covering her chest a bit further down to cover her midriff. The only thing she notes is that he's taken off the blazer and waistcoat that she always sees on him and has the top 2 buttons of his shirt undone. She feels a bit light in the head when she sees Arnav's eyes roam down to her midriff and then back to her face in slow appraisal.
Arnav himself was having trouble breathing and felt like the AC in the room had turned into a heater. Thinking wasn't one of the things he was doing at this point when he slowly started walking towards Khushi. He could do nothing to stop his motion. It was like she was pulling him with an invisible rope. Khushi forgets to breathe completely when she sees Arnav stop within an inch of her. She cannot do anything to stop herself from looking into his eyes which seem to have an expression which she could not read. He had come so close to her that she was sure he could hear her heart hammering away in her chest. Was it her imagination or was his face coming closer to her?
Arnav had no clue as to what he was doing. He was looking into her eyes and then slowly down her face at her lips which were quivering. It was like they were calling out to him. He was completely mersmerized by them and was bending forward wanting a taste of them.
"Whoa!" he thought shaking his head and stepping back "what was that? Did I just think that?"
Khushi too seemed to come to her senses and clutching the towel to her chest she stepped backwards involuntarily. That, it turned out, was the wrong thing to do coz the back of her knee hit the stool in front of the mirror and she tripped backwards. Her arms flayed until one of them were caught by Arnav as he pulled her from falling onto the mirror. Her towel slipped down just before she felt herself crash into his chest.
She clutched his shoulder with her free arm as her face bumped into his neck and one his hands is on her bare waist while the other is still holding her arm. She shivered when she felt his hand on her waist and looked up to see his face.
The little semblence of conscious thought that he was trying to hold on to started slipping away when he saw her raise her eyes to meet his. He felt a bit reckless as he let his hand at her waist slip upwards while trailing a path of fire up her bare sides and then up her arm until his hand settled on her shoulder. He felt a sense of pleasure when he felt her shudder against him. He left her arm to put his other hand on her shoulder. Not leaving her eye for a second, he picked up the dori behind her blouse and tied it. He noticed how her hand still hadn't left his shoulder.
They stood there like that for a few moments until suddenly Anjali called out "Chote?" They both sprang apart and stood there looking at each other with their breath a bit quicker than usual. It seemed like conscious thought had returned to them at the same moment as Khushi quickly picked up the towel and clutched it against herself while Arnav picked up the packet he dropped and threw it on the bed saying "Di ne ye tumhe dene ko kaha" and turned around and walked out pulling the door shut.
Khushi stood there for a few moments trying to get her breathing and her thumping heart under control. She tried to avoid thinking about what just happened, but that was all every nerve in her body would let her think. She turned around, sat on the stool and took deep breaths to calm her nerves.
In the meanwhile, Arnav walked into his room to see his Di standing near the washroom. On hearing his footsteps, she turned around "Oh tum baahar the. Mujhe bhi laga darwaza khula chodke tum kaha chale gaye." She walked towards the table and picked up the cup. "Ye lo coffee, jaldi se peelo varna thandi ho jayegi."
He could hardly decipher anything she was saying. His heart was racing and he could only hope Di doesn't hear it. "Kya hua Chote? Tumhe paseena kyu aa raha hai?" Di asked, "AC kaam nahi raha tha kya? Lekin abhi toh thanda hai." He just kept staring into space. Anjali comes near him and taps his shoulder "Chote?"
He shakes himself out of the reverie and says "haan Di" Then he takes the cup from her and goes and sits on the bed. "Kuch nahi Di woh bhaagke aaya mai kamre tak aapki aawaz sunke toh isliye paseena aa gaya hoga. Aap abhi se tayyaar ho gayi?"
"Haan jaldi tayyaar ho gaye hum. Khushi ki madad bhi karenge na toh socha pehle hum hi tayyaar hote hai. Oh hume jaana chaahiye uske paas. Tumne woh packet de di na unko?"
Arnav closes his eyes briefly as he remembers the moments with her. "Haan Di. Packet dedi usko."
"Theek hai, hum jaate hai uske paas. Tum bhi nahaake tayyaar ho jao." She walks out of the door and shuts it behind her.
Arnav puts the coffee mug on the bedside table, shakes his head, wipes his face with his hands and lies back on the bed. He gets flashes of how he felt when he saw her standing there, when she crashed into him, when he roamed his hands across her bare waist and up her arm. He sat up suddenly thinking "Did I really do that?! What got into me?! If she asked me what the hell I was doing, what will I ever tell her? Did I really tie the dori on her blouse?! I need medication, I think!" He gets up, throws his shirt on the bed and walks towards the washroom. What I also need is a cold shower, he mused.
Sitting on the stool, Khushi was having similar thoughts. She closed her eyes to shut out the feelings she was having. She wished she could forget the shiver that went up her spine when he touched her. She wished she could rid herself of the memory of the current that passed through her when his hand touched her waist. She thought she would pass out when that hand roamed up her bare skin and up her arm. Did that all really just happen? She touched the dori behind her blouse which was tied now to realize that it was all real. She wondered if she would ever forget the look in Arnav's eyes when he was tying her dori. She wondered if her eyes reflected that look.
She jumped when there was a knock on the door. "Khushi?" Anjali called out. She sighed and called out "Ji Anjaliji, aa jaayiye."
Anjali walked in smiling. Her smile faded when she saw Khushi sweating. "Arre kya ho raha hai idhar? Aapko bhi paseena aa raha hai. Itna achcha bhala AC chal raha hai aur Chote aur aap sweat kyu kar rahe hai?"
Khushi blushed involuntarily and Anjali paused, noticing this. Her eyes widened as she took in Khushi's appearance and the fact that Arnav and Khushi looked a bit shaken and were both sweating. Anjali didn't say anything, but she wondered what on earth is going on between the two of them.
She said instead "arre dori toh aapne khudi baandh di." Khushi's eyes widened as she says this and she started blushing even harder. Anjali notices this and tries not to think of what it all meant.
"Chaliye jaldi se saari peheniye aur tayyaar ho jayiye. Then, although she knows Khushi already knows it, she says "Chote ghar aa gaye hai jaldi toh hum 7 baje hi nilenge."
Khushi nods and quickly wears the simple yet heavy saari with a bit of help from Anjali. She puts on minimal make up, just a bit of eye liner and a hint of lip gloss. She leaves her hair open and puts on the pretty maroon and black earrings they picked up. She wears her watch on one hand and a thick bangle on the other.
Anjali touches her eye and touches it behind Khushi's ear "Itni khubsurat hoke itne logo ke saamne jaa rahi ho, nazar toh utaarna hi padega na?" They smile at each other.
Anjali says "chale neeche? Nikalne se pehle Nani se bhi mil lena. Woh bhi tumhe saari mei dekh lengi"
Khushi says "Ji chaliye" and they walk out together. Khushi shuts her door and tries to ignore the shut door across her room and walks away with Anjali.
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Mannat Har Khushi Paane Ki
Vasudha
193