Khushi thought she heard voices all around her. At first she wasn't sure but gradually, as she focused more on them, she was certain that those were voices and they were speaking to her. But, what were they saying? She strained her ears, trying to block out the weird ringing in her ears and concentrated solely on trying to make sense of what she thought were voices. She thought she heard someone call her name. She tried to move, realizing for the first time that she had no idea why she was this disoriented. But her efforts were immediately overshadowed by a huge wave of pain which shook her body from head to toe and threatened to rob her off the little bit of consciousness she was holding on to. She wanted to cry out but she couldn't. Khushi struggled to open her eyes but felt as if something huge was weighing them down. Her eyelids refused to budge. After what seemed like ages, she managed to open her eyes to a crack.
Khushi felt something soft underneath her. Like a bed. But how did she get to a bed? As she opened her eyes, she found everyone hovering around her, the worry on their faces ranging from a scale of 1 to 10. She opened her eyes a little more and turned her head towards the right and saw Arnav almost sagging with relief as he saw her move. Khushi frowned at his concern. Why was he so worried about her, she thought.
"Khushi" he breathed and leaned over to touch his forehead to hers. Arnav closed his eyes and almost cried out in frustration as he felt Khushi draw back from his touch, unsure of what he was doing. He had to behave normally. He couldn't afford to loose control over his emotions. He straightened up and saw Khushi looking at him questioningly. Shit. He had to get away from her before he lost it.
"I'm glad you're okay" he muttered and stormed out of the room. Everybody looked at Khushi sympathetically.
"What's the matter with him?" Khushi wondered out loud, still looking at the door with surprise.
"Don't mind him, Khushi bitiya" Nani said, coming to take Arnav's place beside Khushi on the bed and running her hand over Khushi's forehead. "He's always like that"
"Hai re Nandkishore!" Buaji exclaimed, pushing forward. "Sanka Devi! Who asked you to take the auto in the morning? Dekh liya? Ho gayi na halat aur kharab? I fail to understand why you never listen to your sister. Your presence of mind has always been zero. At least let Payal take-"
"Buaji, please!" Khushi wailed, not in the mood to bear one of her huge lectures about the importance of siblings and the love and trust that is required to bind two individuals together, or something as irrelevant as that.
"Rehne dijiye, buaji" Anjali said not wanting to trouble Khushi further because she knew that whatever she was going to say next would be difficult for Khushi to digest.
"Khushiji, the doctor has advised you to take complete bed rest for at least a week. You put too much of strain on your injury on the very first day out of the hospital and ended up aggravating it. So you'll have to-"
"One week?!" cried khushi disbelievingly. There was no way in hell Khushi was going to stay in bed for a week. No, wait. She had definitely not heard it properly. Khushi Kumari Gupta never sat idle, even for five minutes. One whole week? That was just not her style!
"Yes, Khushiji" Nk said from behind Anjali "Aapko one week tak isi bed pe haraam karna padega".
Nk bhai! Haraam nahi, araam!" Anjali said, slapping him on the shoulder.
"Ouch! yeah, sorry. Same thing".
"But I can't stay in bed for a week! I'll die if I do that! I- you- this can't be happening to me!" Khushi cried and punched the bed in anger and then winced as the movement caused a spasm of pain in her back.
"And that is why you will have to do it" said a new voice from the door. A tall, good-looking man entered the room, followed by Payal. He had a kind face and was smiling knowingly at Khushi, as if he were highly amused by her antics.
"Khushi, this is Akashji" Payal said, coming to a stop beside her husband. "He wasn't at home when we came. And as soon as he returned, he immediately came to see you".
"How are you feeling, Khushiji?" Akash asked. This was the first time he was talking to Khushi after her memory loss so he really wasn't sure how to deal with her.
"Jijaji" she replied cautiously, confirming her choice of words by looking at Payal. Her sister nodded encouragingly. "I'm fine, I guess. But they say I'm not".
Akash snorted. She must've lost her memory, but she was pretty much her same hilarious self, he concluded. "well, as far as I know, you're not fine, Khushiji. You need to take rest. But don't worry. we'll take good care of you, okay?"
Khushi nodded, not wanting to argue with him. "Thank you, jijaji, for saving my life. If you hadn't brought me to Delhi, i probably would've been dead". She had expected him to modestly deny everything immediately, but to her surprise, a look of utter confusion crossed Akash's face on hearing her words. Like he had no clue what she was talking about. She saw Payal give a faint, yet stern shake of her head when he turned towards her.
"Don't say that, khushiji" he said, after a pause. "Please don't thank me. It was my duty as the son-in-law of the house to help you. Thank you kehkar mujhe sharminda mat kijiye".
Khushi smiled back, mentally deciding to mull things over while she was alone in the room. Something was definitely fishy. First Arnav and now Akash. These people were definitely hiding something from her.
******
Arnav paced furiously in the hall, fighting to control the urge to break each and everything in front of him into a million pieces. The memory of khushi withdrawing from his touch clawed at his heart, both destroying and angering him at the same time. Once upon a time she would close her eyes and surrender herself to the whirlwind of emotions coursing through her body as her heart thundered away, loud enough for the whole house to hear. Her response would always bring a smile to his lips and he could never resist the temptation of tormenting her a little bit more.
Then why had she looked at him like that today? Her mind might have forgotten his love but how could her heart have forgotten his touch? wasn't it the same heart which had threatened to leap out of her chest every time he'd come close to her? Wasn't it the same heart which she'd clutched every time, as an admission to the awareness when she thought he wasn't looking? Then why hadn't she felt anything today? Why had she leaned back when he'd touched his face to hers? Where was the heart?
Arnav felt helpless. He didn't know what to do. Even though he knew that it wasn't khushi's fault, he felt as if she had stabbed him in the heart every time she made him realize that she didn't recognize him. He was just a name for her. He wasn't her Arnavji anymore. For her, he was nobody. Somewhere, he had started to blame himself for her condition. If only he'd reached her on time. If only he'd realized everything sooner. If only... if only... if only. There were so many of them in his life that he could probably paint all the walls with all of them.
"You can't loose hope, Arnav" he reminded himself "remember the promise you'd made to yourself? you are going to win her back. She will come back to you. She has to. Tumhara pyaar itna bhi kamzor nahi hai, Arnav Singh Raizada, ki woh Khushi ko wapas na laa sake. You had promised her that you would never leave her. Its time to live up to your words, ASR. Khushi meri zindagi ki sabse badi deal hai. No matter what happens, ise main haath se jaane nahi dunga".
******
Khushi immediately stopped all her struggles to sit up in bed as soon as she heard footsteps approaching the room. She had been trying to get up ever since everybody had left, after advising her profusely to take rest. She tried to lie down as convincingly as possible, making sure that there was nothing suspicious about her posture or her expressions. The door opened as Arnav stepped into the room, his eyes narrowing as he took in Khushi's perfect demeanor. She couldn't fool him.
"I really don't understand why you're so desperate to injure yourself further" he said, as he made his way towards the closet, not looking at her anymore.
"What do you mean?" Khushi asked him cautiously. There was no way he could have known!
"I hope YOU know what 'bed rest' means, Khushi kumari Gupta. Especially at a time like this. I'm sure you don't know more than the doctor does. So stop trying to use your brains where it isn't required and simply follow the instructions, understand? Ek din thoda araam kar logi toh mar nahi jaogi tum".
Damn. How did he know what she had been planning?
"What in the world does he think of himself?" she muttered under her breath. "That stupid, idiotic.. that-"
"I think the word you're looking for, is 'Laad Governer'" he told her, nonchalantly.
"What?" she snapped. She saw him leafing idly through a file with a huge smirk on his face. "Laad- what?"
"Laad Governer. That makes more sense than any other name you'd ever think of calling me"
"What does it mean?"
"Does it matter? I'm giving you a name you can call me whenever you're angry or frustrated with me. Or in any other situation, without having to wrack your brains for something new everytime. What more do you want?"
"What situation?"
Arnav closed the file and made his way towards the bed. He put both his hands on the bed and bent towards Khushi, but not too close. He didn't want to make her feel as if he was hitting on her on her very first day.
"Just accept the name, will you?" he told her softly. It amused him to see that she was actually considering his proposal, given the fact that she didn't really like him much at the moment.
"Fine" she said "but i have another question".
Arnav got up and folded his arms across his chest. "Shoot" he said.
"I can't lie here all day. If i'm going to stay here, could you at least show me my room? Whose room is this anyway?"
"You're staying here" he told her flatly.
"But you just took out clothes and a file from that closet over there!"
"That's because this is my room"
"What? There is NO way i'm going to stay in your room!"
"Shut up, Khushi. You're staying here. I don't like it when people argue with me"
Khushi's temper boiled. What kind of a man was he? And who did he think he was? He thought he could just make her stay in his room and she wouldn't protest. Well, he was wrong. She'd show him that no one could boss her around like that. And if this was his room, did that mean he was going to stay here as well? This had to-
"Whoa whoa whoa!" Arnav said, holding up his hands in front of him. He knew exactly what she was thinking. He could see it in her eyes. "Before you start reading too much into this, let me tell you that I have no intention of staying here with you. You stay here and i'll take the guest room. You'll need you clothes and stuff, of course. i've sent Hari Prakash, our servant, to your house. Buaji would send everything, okay? And Payal's going to be sleeping with you here. You won't be left alone".
Khushi was surprised yet again. He'd answered every single one of her questions, without her having to ask any. It was as if he could read her mind. Her eyes followed him as he took his clothes and made his way out of the room.
"Arnavji?" she called. He stopped at the door and turned to look at her.
"What?"
"How did you know what I was thinking?"
His eyes turned sad, even though he smiled at her.
"Bas pata chal jata hai. Good night, Khushi" he said and left, softly closing the door behind him.
"Laad Governer" Khushi muttered, and turned over, willing herself to fall asleep. She personally thought that rather than being offensive, the name was quite cute. The last thought brought a smile to her face as she drifted off to sleep.
so how was it??? hope u liked it!!! Please don't forget to comment as its always a pleasure reading them!!! thank you SO much for the wonderful response to this SS!!! 🤗
those who want pms, please buddy me... until next time then!!! 😊
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Bade Achhe Lagte Hain
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