Part 39
Khushi looked at the anxious faces of her family gathered around her bed. Akash alone stood slightly away, his face tense and drawn, feeling guilty.
Khushi said, "Akash Bhai, I am sorry."
Akash looked at her, astonished.
"Baba always says that I have no sense of place and time. And that I am careless about myself. He is right. I should have been more careful while walking down the steps of the temple."
Akash opened his mouth to refute her claim, but she beat him in the apology stakes.
"I am so sorry, Akash Bhai. Because of me, you had to miss office today." She looked shamefaced at NK and Arnavji. "And you had to come running from office."
"No problem, Khushi Bhabi...", Nk said earnestly. "Any day. You can break the other leg too. No problem!"
Arnav glared at NK, and turning towards Khushi, said, "That's OK, Khushi. How are you? Does it hurt now?"
"I am OK, Arnavji!"
"Do you want me to call another doctor?", asked her anxious husband.
"No, no...", she rushed to calm him down. "I am perfectly OK." She turned to look at Naniji, Mami, & Di. "Payalji has such soft and kind hands. She bandaged it so well that it doesn't hurt much."
"Thank God she caught you, and that she is a doctor, Khushi Bitiyaa!", Nani said.
"Haan, Saasumma. Naahin to Khushi Bitiyaa ki legwaa hi toot jaati!"
"Khushiji! If you had fallen...!", Anjali's wet eyes filled with tears once more.
Khushi rushed to calm all of them down.
Akash came to check on her a few hours later.
"You know, Akash Bhai! Everything that happens has a good side to it. I sprained my ankle, but we met Payalji!"
(-Sweetgal19-, thanx!)
Akash smiled.
"I liked her very much.", said Khushi smiling. "She has a big heart. Who else would take on so much responsibility at such a young age? And that too without any profit?"
"Haan, Khushi Bhabi...", Akash blushed.
Khushi looked at him with sharp eyes.
"She is so beautiful, Akash Bhai!"
"Ji." Akash nodded his red face.
"Such clear skin, the colour of golden wheat! Such beautiful eyes! What a lovely smile!"
Akash agreed.
Khushi smiled.
Before meeting Arnavji, she would not have recognised love had it come and bit her, but now, being a well-loved woman adored by her husband, she had developed a sensitivity to such tender feelings in others.
Arnav found his wife smiling as he came to sit by her. He dropped a pile of files on the bed, and placed his laptop beside them. He was going to work from home till Khushi recovered full use of her legs.
"Kya hua? NK told you some joke?", he asked, smiling, as he sat by her, leaning against a wall of pillows that Di, Mami, & Nani had arranged so that Khushi could sit comfortably.
"Arnavji?"
"Hhmm?" He pulled her into his arms, resting his chin on the top of her head.
"What kind of bride do you want for Akash Bhai?"
"Akash?", Arnav was puzzled. "Someone he likes, I guess."
"Bas? That is your only demand?"
"Someone who understands him. He... He doesn't speak much. So... So..." Arnav struggled to find words to explain his need. "She...she should be able to read his silence."
"And?", Khushi asked.
"And....and understand how good he is, how honest, how loyal..."
"What do you think of Payalji for Akash Bhai?"
Arnav lifted her face to look into her eyes. "The doctor?"
"Ji."
"She seems nice."
"I think Akash Bhai is interested."
Arnav opened his eyes wide. "Really?", he drawled.
"Really.", Khushi confirmed with a smile and a quick kiss on his stubble-covered chin.
"I will look into her background." Arnav declared. "You can never be too careful."
"Kyon? Does she look like a terrorist to you?", Khushi teased him.
"A gold digger is more dangerous than a terrorist!", declared Arnav Singh Raizada. "I need to get a background check done."
"Ji.", she said, knowing that Arnav Singh Raizada had his own ways of doing things. Poor Amanji!, she thought with a smile.
"I will help them spend time together. Let them know each other.", Khushi declared.
Arnav smiled at the excitement in Khushi's eyes.
"My wife, the matchmaker!", he murmured against her cheek, rubbing his nose against her sweetly scented skin.
Khushi giggled.
Khushi got up early, and with Arnavji's help, went to the kitchen to make laddoos. When Nani, Mami, Di, Akash, & NK came down for breakfast, the air was redolent with the fragrance of freshly-made laddoos.
"Laddoo!", breathed Mami.
NK closed his eyes and breathed in the appetizing scent.
"Khushi bitiyaa, why did you...?", Nani was very upset. "You should be resting your leg."
"Haan, Khushiji! You should not be standing on that sprained ankle. Chotey! You should take better care of your wife!"
"Haan Chotey!" , Nani lit into him. "If Khushi Bitiyaa wanted laddoo, could you not have bought them for her? Why did you make her stand for so long?"
"Naniji, Mamiji, Di, it is not Arnavji's fault!", Khushi laughed. "I wanted to send some laddoos to Payalji. And Arnavji helped me make them!"
"Oh!", Nani, Di, & Mami had their mouths open in shock. Finally Mami said, "Payal ho ya chudi! The laddoos look so mouthwatering!"
All laughed.
Khushi handed over a plate of laddoos to NK, and asked him to place it on the breakfast table. She placed a small dish of sugar-free laddoos by Arnavji's plate. He smiled at her, and helped her sit by him, serving her first before filling his plate.
A while later, as NK and Akash got ready to leave for the office, Khushi handed over a big dabba of laddoos to Akash.
"Akash Bhai, can you give this to Payalji, please?"
Akash flushed, and mumbled, "Yes."
Arnav and Khushi stole glances at each other, trying hard not to burst into laughter.
Akash made NK wait in the car as he walked into the clinic. Some of the chairs were filled with patients. He walked to the reception desk.
"Can I meet Dr. Payal Sinha?", he asked the matronly lady manning the desk.
"Ji. Please fill this form."
"No. No, I don't want to consult her. I... I just wanted to give her this." He pointed to the wrapped dabba in his hands.
"If you leave it with us, we will..."
"No. No. I would like to give this to her.", Akash was quietly adamant.
"Then, please wait till the current patient in her room leaves. Then get in and meet her. We will hold back the next patient."
"Ji. Thank you."
Payal looked up to see Akash Singh Raizada at her door, holding a dabba in his hand. Her big eyes widened further.
"Hi!", he said.
"Hi!", she replied. "How is Khushiji?"
"Much better.", Akash smiled. "She asked me to give you this." He handed over the dabba.
"Thank you." Payal looked at the dabba uncertainly, wondering what it held. "Please sit down.", she offered him a seat.
Akash sat. Payal resumed her seat.
"Why don't you open it?", suggested Akash.
Payal nodded and took the lid off. The dabba was full of golden laddoos. Payal smiled, moved.
"It is very kind of her. But did she make them? She shouldn't be standing on that ankle."
"She made them, but she did not strain her ankle. Bhai carried her down to the kitchen, and made her sit down while she made them."
"Acha. Please thank her for these."
Akash smiled. "I am sure no one has ever thanked you with laddoos before."
"No, not laddoos. I have been given milk, flowers, agarbatti, pots, chappals, bags, ber, chana etc by patients who could not pay.", Payal smiled.
Akash smiled. "Why don't you taste one? Bhabi will definitely ask me if you liked them."
Payal smiled, took a laddoo, and broke it into half. She gave Akash one half of it, and nibbled at the other half.
"It is very, very tasty.", Payal said.
Akash nodded, and stood up reluctantly to leave.
"Do you live close by?", asked Akash.
"Ji. In Laxmi Nagar."
"Err... You live with your parents?", he asked.
"Ji. My Amma, Babuji, and Buaji."
"Err... You... You are not married, Payalji?"
"Ji?" Payal's voice revealed her surprise.
"Err... I...I thought that...maybe. you might be living with your husband...and..."
Payal shook her head, her eyes averted. "Buaji is searching for a groom, but..."
"But?", Akash was insistent.
"They don't want a doctor who does not earn a lot of money.", Payal smiled wryly.
"They are fools.", Akash said.
Payal looked at him, astonished.
Akash blushed. "I... I will see you later."
"Ji." Payal blushed too.
Part 40: https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/fan-fictions/3273158/ss-keeping-khushi-th-4-part-41-on-pg-131
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