Rules Of Attraction#2 Chapter29 Pg125 19/08 - Page 81

"This is for me?" Khushi's voice dripped with incredulous glee, as her nimble fingers gingerly removed the thick sheet of crinkly newspaper.

Arnav watched Khushi's eyes widen with surprise and a second later, she threw her arms around his neck, plopping herself onto his lap. "When?" Khushi let out a barely audible whisper, as her eyes mooched the still damp canvas, where her figure wrapped in the saree she had worn the day before, stood leaning to a pillar of fairy-lights against the lashing green waters of the sea, which had been etched meticulously over the cold press paper.

"When you were sleeping," Arnav whispered into her hair, resting his head on her shoulder. "But...why?" Khushi asked, nudging him with her elbow. He shook his head in mock irritation, as seconds later a smirk lit up his face. He leaned forward, pecking her lips, mumbling against them, "You were my muse remember, once upon a time? Now let's go see the beach one last time before we leave...we have a few hours left before the flight." Arnav picked her up, and placed her on the bed, while she hugged him suddenly, murmuring incoherent words that somehow only Arnav could decipher. "It's beautiful," Khushi indicated the canvas tilting her face, while her lips were simultaneously claimed by his, making her giggle absurdly against his lips. "So are you Khushi," Arnav mumbled, watching a soft blush creep up beneath her eyes.

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Arnav had shifted off to a secluded corner, a little away from the main beach to make a call to Dr. Kennedy, the oncologist they were to meet in the States regarding Khushi's treatment. Having already emailed him Khushi's reports, his peaking anticipation at the doctor's response only heightened when the call was directed to voicemail. He scuttled off to where he had left Khushi, and what he saw only aggravated him further.

Khushi has stuffing her mouth with some sort of flame orange fries, right out of a silver foil handed over by a scrawny little boy with soiled hands. Almost abruptly, the foil packet was roughly swatted away from her hand as her eyes flew up to meet Arnav's unusually annoyed ones. "What..."Khushi had barely begun that he cut through her words. "This stuff...it's not hygienic Khushi...how can you be so careless, when you know about your...condition?" Khushi watched as his words became raspy stammers by the time he had stopped speaking. And as she watched him turn away from her, her eyes didn't miss the slightly tormented look hovering over his eyes. She realized that he still needed time to come to terms with her tumor. Khushi stepped closer to him, and placed a shaky palm over his shoulder, trying to ebb away the tension.

"I just wish...that you had told me earlier Khushi. I would have taken care of you"

His voice was closed to a muffled, choked sob, and it pierced through her like the icy edges of broken glass. A sudden, temporarily forgotten wave of guilt crashed through her. He was right, Khushi thought, so right. She gulped, trying helplessly to not cry, again, as a searing pain shot through her head, acknowledging the extent to which she had hurt him. Knowingly.

"You are angry with me." Khushi stepped closer to him, her hands moving over his chest, embracing him from behind. She felt him stiffen, and then almost immediately relax, as she laid her face against his back. "Please don't be angry with me Arnav." Khushi's voice was streaked with sudden intakes of air, she was stammering, yet she didn't stop speaking, her words laced with crumbling determination. "I feel scared when you get angry with me. Please..." The rest of her words were drowned somewhere into his muffled apologies, a Sorry or two, as he enveloped her with his arms, pulling her face into his chest. His hands rapidly caressed her hair, as her form wrecked with sobs, dampening his grey t-shirt. Arnav showered her face with ephemeral kisses, pouring in all his insecurities, his fear, and most of all fervent promises of love.

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Arnav absentmindedly stroked Khushi's hair, reveling in their silky softness. His mind was still brimming with apprehension over their appointment with the oncologist the day after, refusing to relax even after Khushi's calming chatter. He bent down looking at her face placed over his chest, an affectionate look clouding his eyes, taking in the image of her jutting lips, forming an adorable pout. The plane was to land in a few more hours, and even though he didn't want to disturb her sleeping figure, it was somehow bothering him that moment to see her face, so still. "Khushi..." Arnav whispered against her head, nudging her slightly. She didn't respond, so Arnav cupped her face, lifting his face up to him, as his skimmed her face, lingering over her eyes, landing softly over her lips, successfully removing the pout. "Khush..." His words halted abruptly, as he watched her face fall limply against his shoulder. "Khu...Khushi'" Arnav mumbled frantically, slowly realizing that she had been unconscious all that time, not asleep. Jerking her shoulders almost furiously, he beckoned the first airhostess he spotted for a bottle of water. She woke up a minute later, blinking her eyes furiously, against the intruding drops of ice cold water attacking her eyes. Khushi looked at the exceedingly pretty woman standing over her, as her vision blurred suddenly, clearing once again to find a disheveled Arnav gazing down at her.

"Are you stupid? Couldn't you tell me before fainting right against my shirt?" Arnav stammered, unable to figure out the lack of sense evading his words. Then he watched her giggle, as a slow warmth spread all over her face. "I am okay..." Khushi whispered against his lips, but it seemed to her that Arnav wasn't in a mood to listen.

She felt his hands scrabble at her back as he pressed his body against hers in a flounder. Khushi loved his messy hugs the best, because they were spontaneous, conveying lot more than a handful of carefully practiced words. She felt the coordination slip into the metallic air of the airplane in favor of fervor, as he grabbed her shoulders suddenly almost afraid that she would fall limp against his arms again.The messy embraces to Arnav were the ones that let him know how real Khushi was, in that moment.

Life colored outside the boundaries, with all the gaiety of an infant, but fiction couldn't stand to have those unkempt, frayed strokes falling out all over the place. Fiction needed order, where life was chaos, a beautiful mess. However, the mess was a significant part of their relationship. Their failed high five, the kiss supposed to be planted on the lips, landing on the nose or bumping teeth. Wonderful little moments, a million beautiful mistakes, the nonsensical gestures, each one making the reality of it all surge through them, before the storm would break through eventually.

Khushi felt his fingertips over her lips, which immediately dazzled into a beautiful smile, returning to Arnav's eyes the life it had lacked moments ago.

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"I want to go dancing, Arnav!"

Khushi jumped onto the bed with full force as the plush mattress sunk in for a second, before regaining its original shape. "What...are you alright?" Khushi saw Arnav scrunch up his eyebrows in genuine concern and she knew he wasn't going to agree. "I'm alright, and I feel like dancing. Can we go out...please? Please, please?" Arnav watched Khushi entwine her fingers as she pleaded in front of him, shaking her head vigorously, and he felt silent laughter rumbling somewhere down his throat. And as Arnav cocked his head to the left, conveying a swift No, mumbling something that to Khushi sounded a hell lot like, "...and anyways, you can't dance," to the crouched up figure in front of him. Khushi promptly, stuck out her tongue at him, turning around, and switching on the huge music-system adorning the center of the bedroom of his apartment. And suddenly Khushi was right in front of Arnav, as a sudden burst of music flared through the room, as he looked at her with shocked amusement. "Boom, boom, boom, boom..."Khushi started shouting along with the girls of Vengaboys, swaying her hips, to the crackling rhythm of the tacky song, as Arnav looked at her in sheer horror. The horror subsided in a matter of seconds, as he watched her toss her hair frivolously, her face glowing with unbridled glee. He smiled affectionately looking up at her, as she shrieked about "'just come along baby..." and suddenly, purposely or not, neither knew, fell all over him, bringing his face down to hers, as she let her lips linger over his, a moment too long, before, smoothly , turning him over, with genteel strength. "So can we go?" Khushi asked with all the innocence she could muster, her voice sickly sweet, vaguely aware of the view the deep neckline of her ice blue tank top provided to Arnav's eyes. "How can anybody deny you of anything?" Arnav asked dubiously, before diving deep into the intoxicating treasures her lips beheld.

Moments later when Arnav saw her walking down the neon lit pathway of a certain club, clad snugly in a sequined burgundy dress, her hair tousled up beautifully along the sides of her smiling face, he felt stumped. Then she came up to him, standing a breath away from him, before dazzling him with another of her lovely smiles. Khushi watched his eyes rove all over her form, before they finally landed on her lips, making her quiver in sweet anticipation. But what he spoke next, send all her thoughts reeling into insanity. "I can't wait to get you naked Khushi," Arnav whispered close to her ear, smirking away in all his glory.

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