~Part 5~
Arnav is stirred out of his sleep by the sound of the intercom buzzing. He turns over to pick it up and says sleepily, "Hello?"
It's Anjali. "Chote?"
"Kya hua di?"
"Tum so rahe the?"
"Di iss waqt call karke kya puch rahi ho? Of course so raha tha."
"Iss waqt matlab? 9 baj gaye"
Arnav sits up. "Kya?!"
"Haan wahi toh hum soch rahe the ki naa tum paudho ko paani dene aaye aur naa hi khaane ke liye. Nani ko davai deni thi toh maine sabko naashta de diya."
"Haan theek hai di. Mai abhi tayyaar hoke aa hi raha hu."
"Theek hai. Khushi bhi nahi aayi abhi tak. Shayad akele aane me hichkicha rahi hogi. Usko le aana apne saath."
"Uski koi zaroorat nahi hai. Usko bhook lagegi toh woh aa jayegi."
Anjali sighs melodramatically into the phone. "Theek hai, lagta hai mujhe hi abhi wahaa tak chadke aake Khushi ko le aana padega."
"Bas bas Di aur naatak mat karo. Mai le aaunga usse."
Anjali smiles "Theek hai jaldi aao tum dono"
Arnav hangs up and remains seated on his bed for a few minutes. He forgot to set an alarm although he always gets up himself around the same time that the alarm goes off. Then he remembered his adventures from the night and realized why he overslept. He remembers that she hasn't gone down yet either. He wonders if she overslept too. He shrugs and starts to go to the washroom. He stops and thinks he should check on her. He briefly considers looking up the intercom number for her room and decides against it and walks towards her door.
He knocks and waits. When he gets no response, he knocks again, more loudly. He gets annoyed and keeps knocking loudly for a bit. Then he knocks and turns the knob alongside. To his surprise, the door opens. He knocks again and calls out "Khushi?"
Since he hears nothing, he opens the door further and starts to step in carefully. Since he does not want to walk into any situation, he knocks on the open door and calls out her name again. Finally, fed up of all the attempts, he walks right into the room to see Khushi sleeping peacefully in the bed.
He stands there for a few seconds drinking her in. Her hair was open and sprawled on the pillow fanning her face. She was curled up like a baby and was hugging a pillow. He walks towards the bed and stands right next to it staring at her face. Suddenly, he realized that he was behaving like a freak staring at a sleeping girl and calls out her name.
"yaha toh bomb bhi phat jaaye toh madam ko pata nahi chalega!" he says out aloud. He was about to tap her on the shoulder and then stops, wondering what he should do. Then he thinks that he should wake her up anyway since she needs to go out too and there is no one else here. He taps lightly on her shoulder and she still doesn't wake up.
He throws his hands up and says "what the..!"
Then he leans right next her ear, shakes her shoulder and yells "Khushi!"
Khushi jumps up with a jolt and bumps her head right into Arnav's forehead with such force that he falls back on to the bed on her legs thankfully cushioned by the thick comforter on her.
"Aaah!" they both yell in unison.
Both get up and sit on the bed facing each other and rubbing their foreheads.
Arnav glares at her and says "yahi tareeka mila tha badla lene ka?! Sar hai ki naariyal!"
"Humaara toh phir bhi naariyal hai, aapka toh sangemarmar hai! Aur vaise bhi aap yahaa kya kar rahe hai?"
"Yahaa? Sote huye tumhaara dhopda dekhne kaa aur usse maar khaake girne ka mujhe bahut shauk hai. Isiliye aa gaya!"
Khushi glares at him.
He continues "aur isse pehle ki tum mujhe knock karne ke baare mei thaana do, mai tumhe bata du ki maine hazaar baar knock hiya tha. Aur karta toh darwaaze pe jhed ban jaata. Aur tumhaare liye aur darwaaze todna nahi chaahta main!"
She blushes a bit hearing this.
He says "Vaise bhi agar tum nahi chahti ki koi andar aaye toh lock toh kar leti. Darwaaza khula tha toh mai andar aa gaya. Bahar se bhi aur yaha se bhi aawaz di maine, lekin tumhaare naariyal sar ke andar aawaz pahunche tab na! Isiliye hilaake uthaana pada mujhe. Varna din bhar soti rehti aur shyaam ko inhi kapdo mei bed se hi uthaake function mei lejaana padta mujhe!"
Khushi realizes that it's a bit late. She looks at the bedside watch and says "Oh 9 baj gaye!"
"Haan baj gaye. 10 minute pehle!"
She says "achcha hum jaldi tayyar honge' and jumps out of the bed not realizing he was still sitting on her comforter and feet. In her force, one leg is still stuck under him and the other gets entangled in the comforter and she falls right onto him.
He falls back on the bed with Khushi on top of him in a tangle of hands and legs and comforters. With nothing to break her fall except him, she crashed right into him with her head nuzzled right at his neck and her hands stuck behind his back.
Khushi slowly lifts her head off his neck and because of the space constraint, grazes her nose against his throat. Arnav was praying that she wouldn't notice how his Adam's apple kept popping up and down as he tried to control his nerves - as if having Khushi thrown flush against him head to toe on top of him wasn't enough, why the hell was she nuzzling her nose agains his neck? He fought with all his might to stop himself from closing his eyes, gathering her in his arms, turning her over and showing her just how to nuzzle at necks!
Khushi just about managed to get past his chin and then again dropped onto his chest as her hands were stuck beneath him. They both lied there for a few moments savoring the feeling before they heard something crash in some other room and were jerked out of the moment.
Khushi starts struggling and says "Uthaaiye hume!"
Arnav smirks "Dekha jaaye toh aajkal mera kaam wahi hai. Kis khushi mei tum mere upar jhapat padi thi? Mujhe toh laga tum mujhse nafrat karti ho? Yahaa toh tumne mujhe apne bed pe apne neeche phasaake rakha hai."
Khushi blushes furiously and struggles more. Arnav's hands come up to hold her and he says in a thick voice "hilna band karo Khushi."
Something in his voice stopped her. He hoped she wouldn't realize the effect all this wriggling was having on him. He slowly turns on a side and takes her hand from under him. He turns her over so that she's now lying on her back next to him with him staring down at her.
Khushi prayed he couldn't hear her heart thumping away at his proximity. She wished didn't turn into mush like this every time he came close to her. He closes his eyes for a second, sighs, and then gets up. Khushi too gets up awkwardly.
They both look at each other and then down and then at each other again.
Arnav breaks the silence. "10 baje tak hume nikalna hai. Jiss dukaan mei tumhe jaana hai woh kaafi duur hai aur traffic bhi kaafi hai. Toh jaldi se tayyar hoke bahar aao. Di nashte part wait kar rahi hai."
"Ji hum abhi tayaar hote hai."
Arnav smirks "Abhi? Mujhe bahar toh jaane do."
"Ji.. matlab.. aapke jaane ke baad hi.. humaara matlab.."
Arnav holds himself from smiling and says "whatever.. 15 minute mei neeche milunga tumhe" and walks out. He turns back and says "kum se kum nahaate waqt washroom band karlena." and closes her door.
She was glad that he didn't see her turn crimson for the umpteenth time this morning.
~End of Part 5~
Edited by Janet.Das - 14 years ago
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