Part 11
Riya was walking past the poolside when she saw Arnav crying. She stopped and wondered whether or not she should console him. She decided against it and started to turn away. She saw red out of the corner of her eye as she turned away and she swung back around to face Arnav. There was a broken glass next to him and blood dripping down from his hand.
"Arnav, hua kya hai? Yeh sab? (Arnav, what happened? All this?)" Riya rushed over and grabbed his hand.
"Kuch nahin Riya. I'm fine. (Nothing Riya)" Arnav quickly wiped his tears and started to pull his hand away. Riya pulled it back and glared at him in a way he had only seen Arjun glare at people before. He smirked and stayed put as Riya got a first aid kit. She took his hand after sitting down, then cleaned and wrapped the wound on his palm.
"Khushi itni badal kyun gayi hai? (Why has Khushi changed so much?)" Arnav quietly spoke after some time while Riya was engrossed in wrapping the cut. Riya stopped for a second when she heard him speak but then continued.
"Dooriyan kabhi kabhi aise kar deti hai. Lekin main aapko yakeen dilaati hoon ke sab kuch theek ho jayega. (Distances sometimes tend to do that. But I assure you that everything will be okay.)" Riya finished her first aid and looked up and smiled at him. "Aur waise bhi kuch change toh accha hai. Aapko Khushi Di ke naye kapde acche nahin lage? (And in any case, some change is good. You didn't like Khushi Di's new clothes?)" Riya winked at Arnav as she stood up.
"Tum toh Khushi ki dost ho. Meri side kyun le rahi ho? (You're Khushi's friend. So why are you taking my side?)" Arnav stayed serious and looked up at Riya questioningly.
"Arre aap aur Khushi Di alag sides pe kab se hogaye ho? Waise bhi aap dono ke beech mein sab theek hone par sab se zyaada khush main hi hoongi. Kyun jijaji? (Since when have you and Khushi Di been on different sides? In any case, when everything is fine between the both of you, I will be the happiest. Why brother-in-law?)" Riya winked again in the hopes that at least this time Arnav would laugh.
Arnav was initially taken aback. Not even Payal called him jijaji. He just stared and Riya looked at his puzzled expression and sighed.
"Agar Khushi Di meri behen jaisi hai, aap mere jijaji hue na? Aur Arnav Singh Raizada ki saali banke main hamesha faide mein rahungi. (If Khushi Di is like my sister then you would be my brother-in-law, no? And being Arnav Singh Raizada's sister-in-law would bring its advantages too.)" Arnav stared at Riya hard after this explanation and they both burst out laughing.
"Accha toh saaliji. Ab hum dono ko sona chahiye. Good night. (Ok so Miss. Sister-in-law. We both should sleep. Good night.)" Arnav stood up too and turned around towards his room.
'Aap please ab apne aap ko hurt matt kijiye. Varna Khushi Di ko lagega ke aap unke Salman Khanji se Devdaswale Shahrukh bann gaye ho. (Please don't hurt yourself anymore. Or else Khushi Di will think that you've turned into a Devdas Shahrukh from her Salman Khanji.)" Riya nudged Arnav a little and Arnav just shook his head, smirked, and walked away.
The next morning, the breakfast table was set and Arjun sat ready. The only problem was that Anjali, Mamiji, and Naniji had already sat down as well and none of the others had come. Arjun sat there awkwardly as the Raizadas pretended to ignore him. For once, he was thankful for hearing Riya, Chotu, and Shree's giggles as they came down to sit with him, followed by Rathod. The whole team looked at each other pointedly when Arnav and Khushi came down. Arnav sat next to Riya and they smiled at each other. He looked up only to see Arjun across from him, glaring. Arnav just sent his famous smirk at him and amused himself in imagining smoke coming out of Arjun's ears. Everyone looked up to Khushi's anklets jingling and Riya and Arnav see her in a bright yellow Being Human tank top. They silently laughed to themselves remembering their last night's conversation.
Breakfast went by smoothly barring the occasional interruptions of Anjali's insults to Khushi and attempts to talk to Arnav. Everytime Arnav would ignore her, Khushi would shoot daggers at him. One thing for sure was that noone dared not give Khushi food after the dinner from the night before. As soon as everyone was done eating, they all got up to go to work.
"Dammit. Main toh badi van mangvaana bhool hi gaya. (I completely forgot to send for the big van)" Rathod looked at the others, signaling "Plan Arhi" to start as he mentally cringed at the name.
"Kaise? Hum toh ussi mein toh waapas aaye the na kal? (How? Didn't we come home in that yesterday?)" Khushi looked suspiciously at Rathod.
"Haan woh kal raat mujhe kuch kaam tha toh mujhe office jaana pada aur phir main choti van lekar waapas aa gaya tha kyun ki badi wali mein petrol nahin tha. (Yea I had some work last night so I went to the office and then I cam back in the small van because the big one didn't have any petrol/gas.)" Arjun quickly covered up with the partial truth since he actually had gone to the office to switch the two cars.
"Toh ab hum sab kaise ja paayenge? (So how are we all going to go now?)" Khushi ate up his excuse and everyone could see her about to go into one of her worried fits. Her finger was almost up to her teeth to bite on and Riya just crossed her fingers for Arnav to speak fast.
"Main kisi ko apne saath le jaa sakta hoon. Riya tum aaogi? (I can take someone with me. Riya will you come?)" Arnav, as expected, offered to drop someone off but as soon as he asked Riya, everyone's mouths fell open. Khushi wondered how Arnav and Riya had all of a sudden gotten so close. She had noticed in the morning how they had smiled at each other. Arjun had seen the same thing and was now thinking of how to samjhaofy Riya into stopping Arnav from coming closer to her. Rathod and Chotu were just shocked at the fact that Riya's plan was working and Arnav actually offered to take someone.
"Uhh… Nahin! Woh … mujhe Riya se kuch baat karni thi. Tum Khushi ko le aao. Theek hai? (Uhhh… No! Actually… I had to talk to Riya about something. Bring Khushi. Okay?)" Shree had to be the quick thinker for once and thought of a way to force Khushi to go with Arnav. And with that the ETF men rushed off to the van as to avoid more of ETF Officer Khushi's questioning. Khushi, on the other hand, looked crestfallen and nervous but she silently sat in Arnav's car.
"Have fun Jijaji!" Riya teased Arnav, who in turn lightly shoved her towards the ETF van. This little exchange didn't escape Khushi's eyes and even though she still had no idea how this little friendship came to be, she was happy with it all the same. Arnav turned around, sat in the car, and drove off. The car ride was silent and awkward and when Arnav turned the radio on, it only made things worse.
Teri meri, meri teri, prem kahani hai mushkil. Do lavzon mein yeh baayan na ho paaye…
A green Khushi and a black Arnav flashed in front of their faces. They remembered the dance that had changed so many equations between them. They remember the way Arnav had lifted Khushi and how he had slowly touched her bare stomach. Khushi suddenly broke out of the spell and looked down. Arnav decided to change channels.
Hum tum, ek kamre mein band ho, aur chaabi ko jaaye…
Khushi looked up in shock at the song and her mouth formed an "O" as she looked at Arnav who just turned the radio off and smirked in the other direction. Khushi started looking ahead intently as if waiting for the ETF office to come faster than normal. After what seemed a long wait, Arnav pulled up to the office in perfect view of a group of well-known ETF officers who were hiding behind some trees like a group of teenage girls!
Riya was trying to lean over Arjun to see what was happening more clearly. She had half a mind of screaming to Arnav to park two feet to her right so she could see clearly. Her footing slipped and to steady herself she rested her hands on Arjun's shoulders for support. She was so engrossed in looking at Arnav and Khushi that she didn't even realize that she was touching THE Akdu Rawte. Arjun raised his own hands to push Riya's off but then decided against it for some reason.
"Ek minute Khushi (One minute Khushi)" Arnav got off behind her and started to walk upto her. As always, Khushi took a step back with his each step forward. She turned away, scared that he might bring up their current distanced situation.
"Kya hum dost ban sakte hain? Waise bhi, aise shuru karke hum phirse apne rishte ko strong bana sakte hain. (Can we be friends? In any case, starting like this, we can make our relationship strong again.)" Arnav held his hand forward and like always, in a few words and millions of expressions in his eyes, he put his point across to Khushi. She was shocked at this new, calm, and mature Arnav. She stared at his hand for a while but after secretly pinching herself to make sure it wasn't a dream, she took it and they shook hands, looked at each other, and smiled. They said bye and Khushi went inside the office building.
Arnav stood there for sometime, smiling to himself and looking behind Khushi. Then, he turned around and did something that surprised the whole team who was wondering what had gone down between the couple. Riya was mentally punching Arnav for what appeared to be some sort of deal that he tried to put on Khushi and of course Khushi, being the nave girl that she was, accepted it. But all her worries went down the drain when Arnav looked right at her direction and winked. As he pulled away Riya went into hysterics. She started hugging everyone. Shree and Chotu gave her a bear hug back and even Rathod smiled after the initial shock.
"Yes! Humara plan kaam kar raha hai! (Our plan is working!)" Riya was screaming as she went up to Arjun and hugged him.
Anupamaa
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Cricket
38