Chapter 12:
One week later, Arnav found himself seated in the Gupta's home with the rest of Khushi's family and his own, and the family of a Mr. Karan Malhotra. Karan was a 27 year old software engineer who had graduated from the prestigious California Institute of Technology, done his masters there, and was now holding down a 6 figure paying job in America. He was polite, good looking – well that's what Anjali di had murmured under her breath. Arnav didn't think he was that good looking or perfect.
He sat quietly as Khushi was brought in, as she was made to introduce herself to Karan's family, and watched intently as she served them all chai and jalebis and some other snacks.
"So Khushi, do you know how to cook and make good food? Not only Indian, mind you, my son is really fond of Italian food and Chinese as well" Karan's mother asked the woman that was sitting next to her. Khushi sat there quietly, not wanting to respond at all, but forced to when she saw everyone looking at her, waiting for her response.
"Ji Auntiji, I love to cook, and I can make a lot of different things" she smiled politely, wanting to die inside. "And you would be comfortable living in America? You're not the type to sit there and cry about being homesick, right?"
Everyone was stunned at how rude Karan's mom was being, Who even spoke like that? And Arnav was already ready to kick the family out of the house. Why wasn't anyone else saying anything? Was she the only woman that could speak in that entire family? He was about to retort rudely, when Anjali held on to his arm and pressed it tightly, shaking her head slightly as she indicated to him not to do or say anything, and Arnav backed down. He couldn't deal with this woman.
And so he chose to direct the attention to Mr. Karan Malhotra instead. "So Karan, why don't you tell us about yourself? We've been talking about Khushi all this while. Now it's your turn" he threw in a smile at the end of his words, a reluctant smile.
Khushi shot him a grateful look, She didn't know how she would have responded to the woman's continuously rude questions.
The man sitting across from him smiled nervously, playing with his hands before his mom softly scolded him to stop that, "Woh, there's not much to day. I work a lot of the time, and when I'm free, I hang out with my friends-" the man began before he was interrupted by his mother, "Haan, and he goes to the temple every evening after coming back from work. He's a very good boy, the best. I go there for 9 months every year, and--"
Khushi almost rolled her eyes and when she looked over at Arnav, she saw that he was stopping himself from doing the same. But the craziness continued, just the same, for another hour as all the questions that were directed at poor Karan were answered by his mother. When Shashi Gupta suggested that Khushi and Karan go out for a bit to talk and get to know each other, Karan's mom had shot down that idea, "Why is that necessary? We didn't do any of that in my time. These two are perfect for each other. We should think about setting a good date for the engagement" she smiled self assuredly, confident that no one would reject her son. And this was when Buaji had decided enough was enough, "Arreh, why such a hurry? We didn't even get their horoscopes matched. We'll see what happens then and go from there, ok ji?" she questioned with a saccharine sweetness, folding her hands in front of her before she walked to the door and held it open.
And well, while the Gupta and Raizada families were astounded by how rude Buaji was being, they were all silently applauding her for finally managing to get rid of the Malhotra parivaar and the psychotic mother – well, they felt bad for whoever would be marrying Karan, that's for sure.
"So Khushi, ready to marry into that family and cook Italian and Chinese for Karan Malhotra?" teased Shyam as soon as the door had shut behind the Malhotras. Khushi had stuck her tongue out at him, taking one of the decorative pillows on the sofa and aiming it right at Shyam's head. Unfortunately for her, her aim sucked, and she missed, and instead, she hit the person seated two seats away from Shyam – her boss, aka Arnav Singh Raziada, who deftly caught the pillow and aimed it right back at her, and actually managed to score a hit.
"And this was the man that you skipped work for?" he asked with a disgusted look on his face. "Such a waste of time."
"Well, no one forced you to skip as well Arnav. Next time, you sit in your office and through all of those boring business meetings. At least this was more interesting than any of those will ever be" Khushi retorted angrily.
Hearing the fight beginning, the rest of the family slowly made their way to other parts of the house, busying themselves with other tasks. "You mean you're going to go through this madness again? Come on, they're all going to be the same. Overshadowed by their mothers, unwilling to argue against the mothers, little mama's boys. Did you see that guy? His mother literally told him to stop playing with his hands! What the heck was that?" he exclaimed, frustration and annoyance seeping through his words.
"Arnav, take a chill pill and breathe. This was one guy. Just think of Karan as your version of Lavanya. There'll be other guys, and I'm sure better ones at that" Khushi smiled confidently. I'm going to get married and get over Mr. Arnav Singh Raizada if it's the last thing I do, she silently vouched to herself as she caught herself thinking how cute he looked, annoyed and frustrated because of what she had been through.
"Speaking of Lavanya, Arnav, I forgot to tell you the other day. I've arranged a meeting for you with one of my other acquaintances – Damini Gujral" Khushi told him.
Arnav gave her a grim smile, "So you haven't forgotten in your own hurry to get married, have you? Let's see how this one works" he said flatly. "We haven't had any luck so far."
Just then, Adi, who had been sitting in his uncle's lap the entire time, looked up at the pair of them, "Arnav mama! You marry Khushi aunty!" The little boy glanced between the pair of them proudly, as if he was waiting for a prize, while they both burst into laughter. "The way it's looking Khushi – this young one does have a point. We seem to be pretty damn hopeless" Arnav shook his head disappointedly. "Maybe we should just get married. Then you won't have to continue this crazy search, and neither will I."
"Woah. I'm not hopeless yet so no jumping the gun there. This is only the first guy I've met. There's more coming up soon."
***
And that's how the next few days proceeded. There was a Varun Kothari, an Akshay Mittal, and a Dhruv Khanna. None of them set Khushi's heart racing, but still, she hadn't thought any of them were bad. If she got to know them, she was sure that any one of them would make someone a good husband. Unfortunately for her, Arnav had been there and found something wrong about each and every single one of them, and had even managed to convince her family that these seemingly little things were actually huge drawbacks and would negatively impact Khushi for the rest of her life. She hadn't had the heart to protest in the beginning, particularly because she knew that no one would set her heart racing simply because there was only one man to do it, that already got that job accomplished. But after the fourth man was rejected, she decided enough was enough.
Anand Sharma – 28 years old. He was an architect, who had branched out just the past year but was already making a name for himself in the city. According to Shakuntala Aunty, the family was rich, but very grounded. They were modern yet traditional, and she vouched that this man was absolutely perfect, a gem.
And when Khushi had met him with the families, and Arnav as well, she had found no reason to disagree. He was polite and charming, had her family laughing within seconds, and had even managed to win over Aditya, charming the young boy with a few jokes and stories – and leaving a growling Arnav sitting behind them. "So Anand, what do you like to do beyond work?" asked Arnav, ready to grill him to death by now.
Anand responded coolly, "A lot actually. I strictly spend only 9 hours a day in the office. Come home by 6 and after that the day is spent with the family. You know how it is with a huge family" he laughed. And boy did he have a huge family. Anand Sharma was the oldest of four, with two younger sisters and one younger brother. He seemed to share an easygoing yet loving relationship with his family members, and within no time had won the Guptas and Raizadas over – well, almost all of them save one. Arnav just did not like Anand Sharma. When Khushi went inside to get some water for everyone, Arnav watched intently as Anand jumped up as well, eager to help her, and to his further annoyance, the families were grinning away as they saw Khushi and Anand talking to each other, smiling, seemingly comfortable. When he was about to get up though, unable to sit in the living room any longer, unable to see Khushi being so taken by this guy, Shyam had put a hand on his arm, effectively stopping him from moving an inch.
And Arnav had had no choice but to settle down again, and grit his teeth through the rest of the evening.
***
When Anand and the rest of the Sharma family had left, all the women launched into a discussion of how perfect Anand was, and Arnav had tried to protest – "Come on everyone. No guy is that perfect and loving towards his family. Something is definitely wrong with him. I'm serious. You should give it more thought" Arnav had tried to caution the family, but they had refused to listen to him. When he had turned to Khushi, she had merely turned her head away, smiling and blushing, looking down at her hands, as she nodded her acceptance for the proposal.
Khushi had decided she would get married.
This guy was perfect. There was actually nothing wrong with him. He was successful, kind, loving, lived right here so she would be able to see her family whenever. Yup. There was no reason to say no anymore. And repeating those words to herself like some sort of a mantra, she had told everyone that she accepted this proposal. She was willing to get married to Anand Sharma.
And she said yes.
*****
Hi Everyone!
And enter Anand Sharma. :D I was actually very overwhelmed with the response, the PMs, etc. I'm happy that a lot of people are questioning Arnav's mind at the moment, and a lot of you have asked me why Khushi hasn't confessed, why she doesn't want to confess. And I feel like I've touched on this before, but haven't elaborately explained it, it'll come up soon enough and you'll all find out. But just to give you guys some sort of a response - this is going to be a fairly typically girly story. Really casual. And in this sense, she wants Arnav to confess first. I think a lot of girls dream that the guy would be the one to confess their love/propose/whatever first, and Khushi's the same. Typical female fantasy I guess? 😳😆😳😆
Hopefully I'll be able to make it more clear in the upcoming chapters.
That being said - I hope you all enjoyed this one! I think you'll enjoy the next ones :D
PMs will be coming tomorrow night (I think I'll update another quick part!)
Cheers!
Naina
CID
Web Series
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