SS: Keeping Khushi: Th5: Part 51 Pg 130 - Page 40

Originally posted by: smitar

Down with fever.

Hoping to update tonight.

Hope you feel better soon!

Originally posted by: smitar

Finished writing. Will post in half an hour!

Take ur time... howz ur health??

Poor Aarti! Her poor mother! Her father was truly a monster, but then this is what some people are capable of in the real world...

Smita,

Take care and Get Well Soon...

Health comes first...

Part 47

Aarti drove into Laxmi Nagar, and located the house she was supposed to collect guests from. Her eyes widened. It was a modest house, decorated simply with flowers in honour of the wedding the next day.

Akash Raizada was marrying from a middle class family? And his brothers and Bhabi were thrilled about it? What was happening here? Were the Raizadas from the moon? No self-respecting money monger in Delhi would look down for a wife, only up the financial ladder.

Aarti left the car, and rang the door bell.

"Hum aa rahe he, Nandkisore!" A plump lady with the pallu draped over her head, and her specs perched on her head, came to the door.

"I have come with the fifth car to take guests to Omkar."

"Hai Re Nandkisore! We were waiting for you. Tum thehro. Let me just get Payaliyaa, mehendi, and the sweets, and then we can leave."

Aarti nodded.

The middle aged lady returned with two big bags, too heavy for her to carry. Aarti quickly helped her carry them to the car & safely stored them as the lady went to get Payaliyaa.

"Payaliyaa!", she called.

"Aayi, Buaji.", came a sweet voice.

Payal locked the door of her house, and followed Buaji to the car. Aarti caught her breath. She was so beautiful. In the morning sun, Payal's skin glowed, the dark green & gold sari making her eyes look luminous. Akash Singh Raizada had a pair of specs that worked!

Aarti opened the front door for Buaji, and helped Payal settle in the back. She slipped into the driver's seat, and started making their way to Omkar.

"Tumhre naam kaa he, Nandkisore?", Buaji asked Aarti.

Taking a leaf out of the Sunflower's book, Aarti said, "AM."

"Eeiyaam? Ee kaisan naam he, Bitwaa?"

Aarti smiled slightly.

"How old are you?"

"22."

Buaji closed her open mouth with the fingers of one pudgy hand.

"22? I thought you must be 18, Nandkisore. You look like a school boy."

Aarti smiled slightly.

"Licence Wisence he kaa, Bitwaa? Gaadi chalane keliye?"

"Ji.", Aarti smiled.

Buaji poked her finger at Aarti's arm. "You should eat more, Babua. You are too thin. Don't other boys make fun of you?"

"Ji."

"Eeiyaam Bitwaa, there is an akhada near our house. Join it, and lift weight to build up your muscles. And grow a moustache. Otherwise, boys will mistake you for a girl, Nandkisore."

"Ji."

"Today is Payaliyaa's mehendi and sangeet. At Omkar. You will be there with us till night, won't you, Nandkisore?"

"Ji."

"Good. Good. Don't forget to have lunch and to dance in the sangeet."

"Ji."

They reached the huge, open gates of Omkar. The entire building was festooned with flowers and other decorations. Children, men, & women in colourful clothes were busy with the preparations for the mehendi in the morning & the sangeet in the evening. Aarti deftly drove her car in and parked it. She opened the door for Buaji, and helped her out.

"Nandkisore, I don't know why your parents named you Eeiyaam, Babua, but they have made you very sanskari." Buaji pinched her chin, and said, "Jeeyath reho, Babua."

Aarti nodded, and helped Payal out of the car.

"Thank you.", she said softly.

Aarti smiled slightly, her eyes lowered.

"Don't mind Buaji.", she whispered.

Aarti nodded. So Payalji had a kind heart too. Akash Singh Raizada was beginning to look like a wise man in Aarti's eyes.

She hauled the bags with sweets and mehendi out. As she prepared to carry them in, she found Payal and Buaji helping her. As they were about to move into the house, a huge crowd converged on them. Many hands reached for the bags. Aarti relinquished her hold on them, and silently withdrew to her car.

She contacted one of the other 6 drivers on the premises, and informed him that she was there and was using the name, AM.

She looked around for familiar faces, especially faces that reminded her of flowers, and failing to find the one she wanted, withdrew her laptop from its bag.

She slid her favourite CD into the slot, and humming along with her favourite singer, opened her laptop, and began to work.

Tum Bin Kaise Katte,

Katte Din Ratiyyaa...

Tum Bin Kaise Katte

katte Din ratiyyaa...

Aavan Kahi, Ajahu Na Aaye... in Raag Jog

Once in a while, her eyes lingered on the 4 houses that made up Omkar, on the men scurrying here and there, searching for a yellow jacket. But the Sunflower was no where to be seen.

Suddenly, the car she had repaired that night came to a halt beside hers, and Arnav Singh Raizada & the Sunflower alighted. Aarti felt her heart race. Drawing breath was difficult. What kind of illness was this?

The men extracted packages from the vehicle, and both of them entered the main building with them. Aarti fell back in her seat, telling herself to relax, breathe deep, that he wouldn't see her, that he wouldn't recognise her even if he saw her...that she was a chauffeur today, not a mechanic...

A few minutes later, she saw the Sunflower come out, and walk in the direction of the parked cars. He had a tray of steaming coffee/ tea mugs with him. Aarti cursed softly.

He was looking for the drivers, making sure that all were fed & watered properly.

Continuing to curse his kind heart, Aarti slid out of the car, and hiding behind the long line of cars, sought refuge in the house. Would she have to spend the whole day running about in the 4 buildings, one step ahead of the Sunflower?

She entered through the back door. The door to her left led to a big kitchen. She could see Khushi Bhabi, Buaji, and many ladies in there. To her right was a small, slightly dark room. She dived in, cloaking herself in the mild darkness, and taking refuge behind an ancient screen with enamel work on it.

NK looked for the drivers. They were not near the vehicles. If only he could meet them and ask after the mechanic who had helped him that night...

"What are you doing here, Bhaiyya?", asked Chotu. "Are you so thirsty?", he teased him, looking at the many cups on his tray.

"I was looking for the drivers.", murmured a distracted NK.

"Oh! Baba gave them a room on the top floor so that they can rest. How can they sit in their cars till night?"

"Oh! Thank you!"

NK made a beeline for the room Chotu had indicated. As he served tea to the 6 drivers, and cleared his throat to ask after the mechanic, one of them said, "There are seven of us today, Sir."

"Oh, the extra car I asked for!", NK exclaimed. "Where is the seventh person?"

The drivers looked at each other.

"He..he just went out. Must be in some other room. If you leave the cup with us...", one finally said.

NK was adamant. "No, I will serve him tea." The tea was cooling. He would locate the seventh driver first, and then dig for info. He went to all the rooms, looking for the elusive driver.

"Arnavji, what are you doing?", asked Khushi in a low tone, as he gently pulled her into the dark room.

"Drinking coffee.", was his laconic reply. He sat in a low chair, set the coffee mug on the floor, and pulled his wife on his lap.

Aarti stood petrified. If she were caught!

Khushi put her right arm around his strong shoulders, and lay her head in the crook of his neck. She was wearing an Uppada silk saree, pink and parrot green. Her hair was in a bun, and had a string of jasmine flowers over it. Arnav kissed the flowers. As he did everyday, he had plucked the flowers for her today too.

"I didn't get my morning kiss.", he murmured in his husky voice.

Aarti blushed. What had she got herself into?

Khushi pressed her lips to his neck, and whispered, "Good morning!"

"Hhmmm! Now the morning is good." He pulled her closer to him.

"Khushi?"

"Ji?"

"What was the meaning of the song you were singing the day Motilalji came with the jewellery?"

"It was about natkhat Lord Krishna, and how he is hiding and the gopis and Yashoda Maiyya are missing him. Tore Bin Mohe Chain Na Parat..., Brij Ke Nandlala...", she sang.

Aarti's eyes widened. That voice! That heavenly voice! Not Khushi Singh Raizada, but Khushi Kumari Gupta, the daughter of Pt. Sasi Sharma, the legendary musician whose CD she had been playing in the car. Her favourite musician, whose face she had never seen.

Arnav said, "Missing Lord Krishna, are they?"

"Ji."

"You don't have to miss him, you know?", his eyes twinkled in the dim light.

"Ji?", Khushi was confused.

"We can have our own Lord Krishna or Radha. An army of them. Running up and down our house and Omkar...", his tone was naughty.

Family planning in a store room! Aarti hit her forehead with her right hand, knocking the cap slightly back. Kahan phas gayi, Aarti Ki bachi?

Khushi blushed, and jumped up from his lap.

"Arnavji, I... I have work in the kitchen." She ran out, her face rosy. Arnav laughed.

Aarti watched the great Arnav Singh Raizada smile in contentment as he sipped the coffee his wife had prepared for him. When he finished it, he got up and went to the kitchen to return the mug, and maybe tease his wife more.

NK kept the tray on the small table outside the kitchen. There was just one more room to check. He walked into the dim room near the kitchen briskly.

Aarti raced out from behind the screen. Who knew what she was going to see next? Akash romancing Payal? She rushed out of the room, colliding with a tall, strong, male body. His momentum pushed her into the dim room, and more fully into his arms.

The Sunflower! That was the only thought whizzing in her scrambled brain. The hard heat of his broad chest against her soft one, the gentle touch of his hands on her shoulder and back, the warm, male scent of him... She had noticed the fragrance that night on the road too...

She tried to keep her head down, and to squirm out of his arms. He held on firmly.

This was a chauffeur. The missing chauffeur he had been searching for the past one hour or more.

The chauffeur was female. Definitely, without-a-doubt-female. Her warm lushness against his chest, the slim, slight frame in his arms were proof enough. Was she...? Could he hope...? His heart beat louder than a drum, and hers was no less loud.

He lifted her cap and threw it down. Boyish hair cut. Strong features, but very, very pleasing ones. A straight, patrician nose that asked to be tweaked. Full lips that begged to be bitten. He cleared his throat. Her eyes... her eyes would clinch the matter.

He lifted her face. She lowered her eye lashes.

"The mechanic, I presume?", he whispered.

Her eyes flew to his. Yes. He heaved a sigh of relief. The same beautiful eyes that had been stealing his ninni (nindiyaa) and his chain and his common sense.

"What is your name?", he asked urgently.

She remained stubbornly silent.

"Will you marry me?", he asked.

Part 48: https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/fan-fictions/3297671/ss-keeping-khushi-th5-part-51-pg-130

Yaayyy...Finally I am the first to comment...
Smita,
Hope you are feeling better...
Nice update...but greedy me wanted more Arshi romance :))
"will you marry me?????????????" doesn't NK think that Aarti is a boy...mechanic or chauffeur ????
Then?????

res how is ur health now...??? r u feeling better.?? edit...