Chapter 12
"Kya?" Payal exclaimed.
"Aur mein samajh rahi thi ki tum usse nafrat'" and started laughing. Khushi glared at her, turned around and went to the kitchen to start making jalebis. Her sister tried to make her stop her from crying and lashing out her anger at herself.
"Arre Khushi mein toh Khushi se hans rahi thi'" and then again burst out laughing at her own pale joke. Khushi just continued to brush away the tears that rolled down her cheeks and continued to make the jalebis.
Payal closed the kitchen door so that their parents won't wake up; but some explanation had to be given once they saw the mountain that been cooked by Khushi and her temper.
Payal asked softly after Khushi's anger dissipated, "achcha ab bata, tu apne aap se gussa hai, mujhse yaa uss'"
"Teeno se' par apne aap se jyada' woh' meine' usse'aiyaash bulaya."
"Kya?" Payal roared.
"Par kyon'ussne tujhe kuch aisa waisa kiya kya'agar kiya hai..toh'mein..woh'kahan..hai'" she looked around for some weapon and found the strainer that Khushi had been using to fry the jalebis and lifted in action as if to hit him then and there.
"Nahi nahi Jiji'woh mein gusse mein kuch bhi bol'gayee'i mean hadbadahat mein'" Khushi tried to explain.
"Hadbadahat'.?"
"Woh'ussne.. i mean'he..tried 'to'" Khushi stopped blushing, turned and ran away from kitchen towards her bedroom to run into her mother.
"ye kya hungama laga rakkha hai tum dono ne bitiya. Khusi'tu paglayee gayee hai ka?" Garima asked in whispered tones. "Tohre babuji jaag jaayenge'aur musibat hogi agar buaji jaag jaayengi."
As if mentioning her had made her appear, Buaji said, "Arre parmeswari, ka karat rahi der raat ko' saara mohalla sasuri sarr par utthai ke rakkhi ho. Tum Sankadevi ka sanak ka raat ko baara baje hi chadta hai, kohnu bhaang ki tarah?"
Garima tried to intervene with, "Jiji, woh kuch nahi aap so jaaiye' mein dekhti hoon ka hua hai'iyaah."
Buaji left them with mutterings of how Khushi can never do anything right.
Garima then shooed both the girls off to bed and went to sleep with the determination that she would ask Khushi what was happening with her and the new job and this meeting in the evening with her big boss that had made her mad.
Khushi decided she was going to have to apologise to Arnav and went straight to the cabin once she reached office to find that he had left for Delhi for some unexpected meeting. His sister not keeping too well was also what made him return early it seems was the buzz around the boutique.
Lavanya had seen the way Khushi and Arnav seemed to be like cat on hot bricks for each other and decided to ask Khushi what was happening.
Over coffee in the afternoon, Lavanya mentioned Arnav and the upcoming design and saw Khushi tense up immediately.
She asked tentatively, "Do you hate Arnav so much?"
"Yes," said Khushi with force as if convincing herself more than La.
"I dont believe you. What is happening between you two? I can literally feel the air thicken the minute you two are in the same room. You never told me what happened that night in Delhi after the dance."
Khushi could not stop the images coming to her mind of him holding her close, of her melting in his arms of him kissing her. Lavanya saw the far away look that Khushi had and knew that Arnav had affected this girl too in some way the way she seemed to have affected him. For she had never seen him enraged the way he was in the morning before Khushi had come in. He had given her set of instructions and asked her to come to Delhi, which seemed strange as the designs were to be shown by Khushi to him by end of the week, here in Lucknow. And now suddenly he had gone and asked her to get the designs.
La told Khushi about his instructions and saw Khushi visibly flinch as if slapped. She requested if she could go to Delhi herself and deliver the designs. La told her that Arnav did not like his instructions not followed.
Khushi told her that she had to apologise to him for something and she would like to go to Delhi to do the same. La just shrugged her shoulders and warned of consequences of going against Arnav's instructions.
Khushi had mulled over the idea of calling Arnav to apologise at least a thousand times but she feared he would treat her the same way she had. Today, she felt ashamed for having behaved abominably with him. What was it that made her react so passionately to him whether in anger or in delight? What was it that made her feel the intense emotions for this one man when no one had touched her emotions. She always had felt that she was defective for her past was shrouded in darkness and her lineage not known. She felt incomplete and lacked identity and never let any man near her.
She went to Delhi with her designs complete after three days. Three full days when his thoughts had not left her. She felt she would go crazy thinking of the scenarios of how she was going to apologise to him.
She went straight to his floor where his assistant indicated to go in as he was not in a meeting, even though he was not expecting her for he worked closely with her. She knocked on the door and opened it to find Arnav staring out of his office windows not unlike the first time she had seen him there. He was wearing a dark grey suit, just like the clouds outside and her mood.
He then turned around with something in his hand and seeing her dropped it.
He was wearing a light grey shirt with a black tie and his faced showed his black mood just like his clothes.
Khushi looked at him as he stared back at her unblinkingly.
"Arnav'" Khushi's voice came out in a whisper.
"Khushi'." He asked in wonderment as if just realising that she was in front of him.
She moved forward towards him when he suddenly gravitated into action, pressed a button the intercom and said, "Did I not tell I did not want to be disturbed? What will it take for you to follow my instructions or are you fed up with you job?"
And shut it off before he could get a reply. He looked up, glared at Khushi, walked around the desk, said, "Excuse me" and went out of the office, leaving a gaping Khushi behind who was wondering what had just happened her.
What transformation happened in a man who had seemed almost stunned to see her and then walk out.
She went out to find a tearful assistant. She passed her a box of tissue and went out to the conference room, for somehow she sensed that that is where he had gone.
She this time entered the room without knocking. She went in to find, Arnav seated in the chair with his head back against the headrest, eyes closed and clenching the armrests as if he wanted to pulverize them.
She walked up to him and said, "I am sorry'"
He jerked out of the chair angrily which almost toppled it backwards but even it did not dare go against Arnav's wishes.
"What do you want' Khushi'from this lecher?" Arnav snarled at her.
"I'Ar'.I'" Khushi stuttered.
He came to her then, shook her and scathingly asked, "What no new insults to hurl?"
Khushi tried to hold his arms to steady herself and make him listen but he suddenly let her go and said, "I am sorry, I should not have touched you' you will be defiled'"
He tried to once again move around her but this time she was prepared. She went to the door and stood against it and told, "Look i am sorry and i have come here to apologise. I know i have said the damndest things to you and i dont know what made me say those things. I guess it is because i am not myself whenever you are around me' I lose' myself when you touch me'and I lashed out in self defense' I dont want to feel the way I do but I cant help wanting to be near you'. I am.. I am sorry.." Khushi could not then control her tears and just stood there with her head hung, arms tucked behind her on the door and letting silent tears running down her face.
Arnav had been standing there perplexed about whether to physically move her away and get away from her or listen to what she said but he moved when he saw her tears. He closed the space between them tucked a finger under her chin and lifted her face to examine her closes.
"Khushi'Khushi'Oh Khushi'." he mumbled as he gathered her into his arms.
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