OS| Words Left Unsaid

A soft drizzle spurred on, finally cutting through the relentless heat wave that seemed to have settled down permanently over Delhi's skies. It never got down to rain that eventful day as the tiny drops fell slowly, splattering over the car roofs, washing away the hazy dust covering the windows, leaving in its wake a glossy sheath of water over the beige, black and red cars that had come to a standstill as the steady stream of traffic refused to move even a mere inch, courtesy the faulty blinking red of the traffic signal that seemed to have lost the green altogether. A crowd of about ten or so scrawny boys, a few clad in in threadbare vests and the others in soiled shirts, scampered in-between the cars, with the Rajnigandha garlands, sweet coconuts and outdated magazines.

A boy of about eleven, tapped against the slippery window of a carnelian red Honda City, as Arnav's eyes darted to the window, his fingers simultaneously sliding over the window glass, as the boy's face came into view from the amalgamation of fog formed due to the metallic air-conditioned air from inside the car suffusing with the water droplets dancing outside. The boy had a straw strewn bag slung across his bony shoulders, whilst his hands were accommodated by at least six packets of salted peanuts. "Bhaiyya moongphali le lo...tees ke do," the boy shouted, his voice shrill with screeching every day, an expectant look clouding his eyes.

"Tees ke teen, theek hai?" The boy smiled looking at the three crisp ten rupee notes coming towards him, as the man before him hungrily tore open one plastic packet and stuffed his mouth with a handful of peanuts.

Those nuts were special, had always been, since the first time his father had taken him for a jog in the lawns of Lodhi Garden at about five in the morning and they had stopped in front of that lone moongphali waala and bought a newspaper wrapped packet of the peanuts. He had relished taking of the dirty brown husks that revealed the two tiny nuts the second, the paper-like shell cracked.

And then there had been her. Silky black hair like the night sky, always neatly combed out into a waist length plait. She had been slightly plump, almost child-like then. A toothy smile, adorable little dimples and doe shaped eyes hidden behind her spectacles. That memory surged through all the way back from college.

He had just stepped into the room allotted to their batch, when he saw her place a tiny Haldiram packet of those salted peanuts under his desk. Those packets seemed to appear magically beneath his desk after he returned from soccer practice during their lunch break. He had asked around his batch mates, even her, but no one seemed to know anything. Not caring much about the 'who', he had happily looked forward to receiving that solitary packet every day and munched on the nuts happily through the mundane study periods that followed.

She had not noticed him at first, standing still against the door. She had first gone and sat down two rows behind his desk, gingerly opening a thick textbook, she would almost always be seen with. Then suddenly her eyes had lifted from the book and darted across to his face. And almost immediately she had looked away, pursing her lips, as her face reddened into a bright crimson. It was not hard to notice that given her ivory complexion and those baby soft cheeks.

She had then turned around and mumbled a small 'Hi', her voice a little hesitant. Maybe she had not realized that she had been caught in the act. Or maybe she chose to ignore it. But he had been wrong in that presumption. The second he had Hi to her, and sat down on his seat, his hands already moving towards that packet of peanuts, she had literally ran out of the room, a blur of magenta and blue. She was not seen in the following double periods of Applied Chemistry, something unlike her, since she had never missed any class till date.

Arnav still remembered every detail, maybe a little blurry, but they were still there. He had been dating Rizu then. All the way back from twelfth grade and then three months into college. But with her, it had been different, awkward but still there was that thrill that tagged along with her name.

Khushi.

The second she used to enter the classroom, her eyes had searched for his face, roving through the throb of faces, her eyes has always found his face. If he was lucky, sometimes their eyes would clash and he would silently gloat at the sighting of the familiar blush under her eyes. Things hadn't been that uncouth at first. They had gelled into an easy camaraderie, cordial, comfortable. He had been wound up in soccer practices, tournaments and she would be the only willing one to help him with acquiring the class notes, and helping him with Physics now and then.

Then one night, she had turned up wearing that saree, some function in the college campus, mantis green chiffon, and the tiniest of silver sequins lining the border, the whole sight of that flaxen skin against the pale green was close to ethereal. He felt compelled to skip their usual 'Hi' to start a conversation and instead ended up saying that she looked beautiful. And she had blushed, giving him a small smile, coy and that nanosecond he felt almost proud for being the reason behind that smile.

But the weekend after, things had been back to their monotonous track, only he felt more caught up with Rizu, now that the season for the tournaments had neared to a close, and interaction with Khushi had been negligible. When he would occasionally speak to her, her eyes would always focus on everything other than his face, his eyes.

---

A loud series of honks from the Maruti Suzuki behind his car broke through his trance like state and he moved his car a little forward, now standing right next to an auto. The auto-waala got down the auto, chewing on paan and headed towards the traffic signal, annoyed at the stalemate traffic. Arnav's eyes darted to the feet placed on the floor of the auto. Silver jootis against ivory skin, and a thin anklet resting on it. As his eyes moved upwards, he noticed the girl inside was clad in a white churidaar and kurti, and a yellow bandhani dupatta seemed to be fraying slightly against the damp wind. Then suddenly the girl craned her neck outside, irritated at the faulty signal as she fiddled with her phone. Arnav was unable to see her face, but he got a glimpse of the silver jhumkis entangled with a few strands of that unbound hair, that flew freely behind her, all the way till the small span of her waist.

The faint drizzle fell over her hair and immediately, her hand, scooped up her hair and slid it over to the other side, and the swan-like slope of her neck came into view. That sight and the next second he knew he was getting out of his car.

Khushi...that same face, those very same lips, only now covered by a hint of gloss, and devoid of those spectacles.

Khushi...after, about three years, since the placements at the college campus, here, right in front of him.

"Haan Ma...traffic...I'll be a little late..." He felt, heard those words, the same tinkling voice, coming to him like a breath of fresh air, uplifting the banality from his senses.

And then her eyes, hazel he noticed, mentally shocked at himself for not coming across that detail before, darted to him, mirroring shock. The second he mumbled a soft hi, her lips parted, as she drew in air, which sounded more like a gasp to him.

---

"I'll play only if Khushi plays!" Arnav said, looking at the Uno cards and then at Khushi's morose face.

Of course he didn't even realize what he had just said. Or maybe he didn't mean anything more than what it was supposed to mean. She had been upset over her maths marks and probably he was just trying to distract her. But she felt an unknown joy envelop her senses, which made her want to forget all logic and get up and twirl around and dance. She could already feel that slight hesitancy, that heat dancing on her face every time their eyes would meet. Those maniac butterflies had already invaded her senses and it was far too late to look upon Arnav as just another boy.

"Hi..." His voice was sounded different, deeper, and maybe husky even, as they registered in her mind. She felt too stunned to speak, awed at the whole scenario of finding him right in front of her eyes after so many years. She smiled, a small smile, unable to form coherent words.

Probably the last words he had said to her all those years ago were All The Best, right before the campus placements took place. And that small interaction had been interrupted abruptly by Rizu, taking him away from her, yet again. Rizu and him, they had been together throughout their college years, briefly breaking off due to Rizu's relationship with a senior named Varun, but that was long before Rizu had found her way back with Arnav, as college was about to end. Khushi didn't feel jealous, she just acutely felt the loss of a friend, the only boy probably who she had let close enough to hurt her, or rather affect her, in any way. She had made herself understand, that even though she liked him, he might not have felt the same way. Unrequited or not, she still couldn't keep the happiness out of her heart if he spoke to her, even once during the whole day, or glanced at her whilst entering the class. And if all that and stalking him on Facebook was not enough, he had stupidly called her Beautiful one fine day. And that day was probably the first time she had realized that maybe, just maybe she loved him, and he might have had some feelings for her.

But all in vain, the four years of their course went by, so did his relationship with Rizu and never once did he initiate a conversation that led to any topics other than those related to assignments, teachers and exams. Her friends had made her promise to them, that on the last day of college, she would go up to him and divulge this little secret. Speak her heart out...but alas, she had been too shy, too scared of his response. She was happy being in that state of not knowing what he felt for her. Being unknown to his heart, seemed the safest, the brightest option then. And so they both had moved on with their lives.

---

"You know you should have told me that you kept those peanut packets every day under my desk!" Khushi looked mortified as the words registered with her mind and her eyes took in that dazzling lopsided smile adorning his lips. "You knew? All that time?" Her voice might have sounded like a squeak to his ears as Arnav chuckled. "Oh I know that and a lot of other things!" That smirk, she had seen so many times during those soccer matches at college, the drenched hair in the rain plastered on to his forehead and that navy blue Addidas hoodie, and now in that strikingly handsome face leaning against the auto, still managed to unnerve her to heights she didn't know that existed.

"You are lying. You don't know...anything..." Still smiling at her, he continued, as confident he had been in college, or maybe even more. No wonder, half the girls and even the female staff seemed to be mesmerised, charmed by him, for no reason at all.

"I know you did a minute long happy dance after I wished you on your birthday, outside the canteen..." Arnav paused, memorizing how she looked to the other side, biting her lips, as that flustered look made its long-awaited return.

---

The auto-waala returned, and Arnav placed a handful of ten rupee notes on his seat, before taking Khushi by the hand and promptly dragging her away from the auto and under a bridge, where a few of those boys with the flowers and magazines seemed to roam about.

Khushi leaned against the huge pillars supporting the highway, trying to draw courage or a little logic as she absorbed the man clad in the white shirt, a little damp from the relentless drizzling. The proximity, under the mildly dark vicinity under the bridge seemed to be a little too overwhelming.

"I know..." he continued, fanning her face with his tingling warm breath,"...I know that you purposely let me win that Uno match, the last round...after we got back our maths marks in the fifth semester." He came closer infinitesimally, now almost a breath away. "I know you voted twice during the class representative election , so that I would win," Arnav resisted the urge to put his thumb over her trembling lips, her lowered eyes, continuing still. "I know the second you stepped into the class; your eyes would search for me..." He stopped, waiting for her to say anything. She didn't, she plainly shivered a little, and he went closer, and his hands brushed across the tiny rain drop that was sliding across her arm, and down to her elbow.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Arnav asked, his voice soft, coaxing. And she whispered back, her voice trembling."...Tell you what?"

"You know exactly what..." His hands tucked back a slightly damp strand of hair behind her ear, and beneath his fingers he felt her shudder. And she moved away from him, a safe distance of at least a few inches separating them.

"I have to go Arnav...I'm getting late." Khushi mumbled, her voice muffled, unsure, even. "Where...?" Arnav asked, not really wanting an answer, yet not ready to end the conversation so soon.

"This guy...someone..." Khushi said, her mind drifting back to her mother's unrelenting proposals of marriage. "I see..." his voice suddenly stiff, but this time he spoke again. "...I have to go too. The wedding, Rizu...remember? It's happening tonight!" Arnav's gaze was plastered onto Khushi's face, as he heard a small 'Oh' escape her lips.

Something broke inside Khushi. She knew this was going to happen, knew all the time. Then why did it suddenly sound so brutal. The thought almost stifling. She turned away, completely from him, and dabbed her eyes, moist as should be, with her dupatta. Suddenly his hand encircled her elbow and gently pulled her back, and Khushi was now firmly pressed against his chest.

"Arnav..."

"Shh...Don't..."

His lips hovered over hers, the air they breathed, a heady scent of soft lavender and something woodsy. His mouth brushed against her, letting her know exactly what he was about to do. Her eyes fluttered, nearly choked as she felt the tip of his tongue on her lower lip. "Arnav...Rizu and you, your marriage?" She whispered and then almost buckled when she felt him laughing softly against her forehead. "Fortunately for me, she is getting married to that Varun..."

"Oh!" And Khushi couldn't stop that tiny smile from spreading on her face, unable to control the sudden shot of exuberant ecstasy that seeped through her. She would have put into action the irresistible urge to twirl about under the soft rain, but Arnav was faster.

Her lips were captured, and gently so by his. Something thrummed her heartstrings, something thick as honey, light like a feather's touch spread through Arnav's mind. Khushi felt her feet were being lifted off the ground, as the vortex of his arms around her waist tightened. Whilst the intoxicating sensation of her soft lips, the taste of her gloss moving against his ministrations, he wallowed in the feeling of her fingers rake through his hair. Their lips paused against each other, only for Arnav to envelop her tightly in his arms before lifting her arms one gain and this time twirling both of them, a happiness, so complete, so heavenly, that he couldn't put it in enough words. He only knew one small thing, now that he had found her, he was never letting her go.

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For that boy back in school. Inspired by one of our favorite songs-

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hab_dbHHA4[/YOUTUBE]

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