SS: Keeping Khushi: Thread 7 Part 67 Pg 129 - Page 50

Originally posted by: rulama

You are not alone!! Its really sizzling!!

Aarti is like ASR and NK is like Kushi!!

But you find it sizzling coz the way it is worded and presented!

Hats off to Smita!!!

Originally posted by: rulama

Smita,😊

Today's interpretation for part 64 is here, and it is TIDE. Why do I call it Tide? That I'll explain along the way.

Originally posted by: rulama

Smita,😊

Today's interpretation for part 64 is here, and it is TIDE. Why do I call it Tide? That I'll explain along the way.

When Aarti saw Her Sunflower, she knew he was the bearer of the Invitation-4. She was shocked to be waylaid, while all she wanted to was escape!

"Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it" ~ Terry Pratchett

Seeing her face NK knew what was going on in her mind and he was thankful to be on time!

"Can miles truly separate you from friends... If you want to be with someone you love, aren't you already there?" ~ Richard Bach

He smiled inwardly. When would she understand that there was nowhere to go, nowhere to run, no need to run, no escape from this feeling...?

"Even a small stream will carve out for itself a deep and wide channel simply by constant flowing"

Aarti being neither a demonstrative nor a violent person decided to take the bull by the horn. Without any expression on her face she moved towards him. He too did the same. She asked, what he was doing there?

"Your smile will give you a positive countenance that will make people feel comfortable around you" ~ Les Brown

NK smiled and said,

"Di is getting..."

She cut him off. Shutting her eyes and putting her hands over her ears, Aarti said, "...married. to Anand Dwivedi. After 10 years of waiting for him. The wedding is at some temple. You want to invite me for this function."

She opened her eyes and lowered her hands.

Perplexed NK asked her how she knew about it. When she replied Buaji had come to invite her, his next question had her stumped!

"Buaji?", NK asked. "Payal Bhabi's or Anand Jiju's?"

"He has one too!", Aarti was horrified.

"He has a mother too.", NK smiled.

Aarti stared at him.

"And 3 sisters. Their husbands & children."

Aarti looked at his smiling face, her eyes wide as saucers.

"Was it Payal Bhabi's Buaji?"

Aarti nodded.

NK was glad that Buaji had taken a shine to Aarti, and told her that while he and Akash were at caterers she must have taken her share of cards. But she giving it to Aarti was a pleasant surprise to him.

This was the first tide that Aarti experienced that came in the guise of inviting for the wedding. It was a demonstration to her of how much Buaji loved her and felt that she too was a part of her family.

NK continued,

So Buaji told you all about Di & Anand Jiju?"

"Haan. Whatever she left out, your Khushi Bhabi & Nannav told me." Her tone was even, but the look in her eyes was dangerous.

"Khushi Bhabi & Nannav came to see you?", NK was shocked.

"Ji. Your Khushi Bhabi & your Nannav came to invite me. Followed by your Payal Bhabi."

"Payal Bhabi came to see you?", NK's voice became thin.

"Do I really need to answer that?", Aarti smiled, gritting her teeth. "We have been having a family convention at my work site. Your family convention."

NK smiled.

The second tide Aarti experienced was that of

Kushi and Arnav's presence in person, to invite her and her mother. This clearly showed the significance of Aarti in their lives. They being the custodians of the welfare of the Raizada family, had deemed it as their responsibility, to invite the one chosen by NK, personally. It showed they would go to any length to welcome her into their family as NK's wife!

The third tide which brought in Payal with the invite, gave an insight to her that she was welcome with open arms even by a newly wedded Raizada Bahu. Payal, who is yet to experience the life with the family, is so confident of the backing of the family, that she was able to extend the invite.

This one was an unexpected shot in the arm for NK.

"What is the meaning of this?", Aarti bit out.

"Meaning?"

"Ji, meaning. You told your Nannav that you want to marry me, even though I refused your proposal more times than I can remember."

"I did."

"Your Nannav seems to be going all out to grant his little brother's wish.", Aarti glared at him.

"What did he do? Except accompany Khushi Bhabi to invite you for Di's wedding?" NK was confused, but cute.

Aarti shook her head in exasperation. "How many more visits am I to expect? How many more people are left in your family?"

"It isn't what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it"

~ Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People

"Oh, you think this is planned, Aarti?" NK laughed. "It is not."

"Really?" She did a good Arnav Singh Raizada.

"Really.", NK grinned. "Come on, chill." He put his arm around her shoulders.

She tried to shrug it away, but he held on firm.

Aarti who had been experiencing the onslaught of the tides on her wanted to know how many more she would have to face! She who had not a single personal visitor had three in a day in her office, that too from the same family at different times.

He led her closer to the jeep, and made her lean against it. He leaned over her.

"Aarti, look at me."

She looked at him, still furious.

"Breathe deep."

"Uuhh?"

"Saans andar lelo, aise, aise, deep, aur bahar phenko. Do it."

Aarti breathed. He showed her how to take deep breaths, and she followed. They breathed together, their eyes on each other. But instead of calming them down, it had the opposite effect. Aarti pulled her eyes away from his face, and tried to move away, but his strong arms came down on either side, locking her in place.

"If a hug represented how much I loved you, I would hold you in my arms forever"

She looked at him.

NK said that he was close to his brother Nannav and Kushi bhabhi and he has no secrets from them and he doesn't find the need to be secretive,

about the fact that he loves her and intends to marry her. His proximity was making her nervous and was assaulting her senses.

"Buaji did not know that Nannav & Khushi Bhabi and Payal Bhabi were coming to invite you. She loves you, and wanted you to be there for the wedding. That's why she came to see you."

As NK continued his talk Aarti's was finding it difficult to concentrate on what he was saying. .

"Khushi Bhabi loves you. And she loves me. That's why she came to invite you for the wedding. Nannav loves Khushi Bhabi and me. To him, you are like Payal Bhabi, his sister. That's why they came to invite you to the wedding. They didn't know that Buaji & Payal Bhabi were going to do the same."

"Your family should be there. Your family should always be there. What does it say about you if they aren't?" ~ Chris Lynch, Inexcusable

Aarti looked away.

"Can you deny it if I say that Payal Bhabi loves you? She wants to spend time with you, wants you to share the happy event in the family. She had no idea that the others were going to invite you."

He moved closer still. Aarti trembled.

"And I am here to invite you because I love you. Because I want you there when Di gets married. Because I want you with me all the time. Because...because I want you...because I love you."

Aarti couldn't breathe. She tried to move back, but there was no place to go.

NK's invite was the fourth tide to be experienced by her. He feels that thinking of her isn't enough . He wants her by his side always.

"Love consists in this, that two solitudes protect and touch and greet each other"

~ Rainer Maria Rilke

When NK asked her does she know why they came to her? looking at her negative answer he said ,

"Because our family is incomplete without you. Because we can't do without seeing you, without having you with us to share our joys and sorrows..."

He assures her only Arnav and Kushi know about them. She takes an exception to them being clubbed together. His response was exceptionally quick.

In full public view, on the road, crowding her against his open jeep, he kissed her thoroughly and repeatedly till she was left clinging to his broad shoulders, gasping for breath...

"Being held by him, kissed and mastered, taken under and swept away, enthralled her in a way she-an independent woman if nothing else in this life-could not have understood until forced to understand"

'She was no different than other women'

~ Tracy Sumner, Tides Of Passion

But did she understand?

Arranging for her car to be picked up, Aarti went with NK in his jeep.

He looked at her sitting beside him, her legs held close, her hands folded in her lap. She was so restful to be with. A happy smile bloomed on his lips. The dimple on his chin deepened.

Aarti looked at him.

"Thoughts are as simple as the process'a message from the soul; conveyed through the heart; received in the mind" ~ Jeremy Aldana

What the hell was she doing here, with the Sunflower? She was supposed to be avoiding him, right?

"Sometimes, reaching out and taking someone's hand is the beginning of a journey. At other times, it is allowing another to take yours." ~ Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

Parking the jeep in front of a flower shop NK told her the various venues to be decorated for various wedding related functions. Payal had taken care of everything except the Party. So he asked her to help him in choosing the stage decorations. When Aarti was not confident as she had never done it, he said lets choose it together.

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much" ~ Helen Keller

When she voiced out if her choice wasn't liked by others, he smiled and said,

"They love you. They will love your choice too."

He was confident of her selection.

They walked in together, NK sheltering Aarti from the crowd in the shop. It was second nature to him, used to taking care of his mother, Di, Nani, Mami, & Khushi Bhabi. Unused to such care, Aarti stole glances at him.

With the help of the manager they chose the theme, colour scheme, flowers and such other paraphernalia discussing in detail, from the album. Finalising their choice, NK took her to a small shop. He went in alone and came back with two choco ice cones and a wad of napkins. They relished the icecream like children sitting in the jeep. It was her first ice cream cone! Watching her lick the melted ice, NK didn't want to let her go. He wished she'd be by his side always.

"Why be alone when we can be together baby

You can make my life worthwhile

And I can make you start to smile" ~ Mr. Big

He poured water from a bottle to wash her hands and she too held it for him.He drove back to her office slowly making the most of the time together

"Do you know how there are moments when the world moves so slowly you can feel your bones shifting, your mind tumbling? When you think that no matter what happens to you for the rest of your life, you will remember every last detail of that one minute forever?"

~ Jodi Picoult, Nineteen Minutes

Finally, he parked on the private road.

"Will you marry me, Aarti?"

She swallowed, unable to speak.

"I don't want this day to end, to watch you walk away. I... I want you with me always, Aarti."

They sat, silent, looking ahead, for a long time.

"What greater thing is there for human souls than to feel that they are joined for life - to be with each other in silent unspeakable memories" ~ George Eliot

Then, finally, Aarti asked softly, "What is marriage?"

"A good marriage is one, which allows for change and growth in the individuals and in the way they express their love" ~ Pearl S. Buck

NK looked at her astonished. She was serious.

He answered her seriously., "Companionship. Love. Laughter. Help in times of need. The knowledge that you are not alone in this world."

"A good marriage is where both people feel like they're getting the better end of the deal"

~ Anne Lamott, Joe Jones

Aarti nodded.

After a while, she said softly, "I need to go in."

NK looked at her anxiously, "Did I take you away from your work? Will your boss...? Shall I come in, and ...?"

"No. No.", she said. "I was on my way out."

She moved to alight. NK walked around the vehicle to help her.

Smiling, he held out an invitation to Di's wedding. Her fourth.

She took it with a wry smile. Both of them burst out laughing.

"Happiness is a tide: it carries you only a little way at a time; but you have covered a vast space before you know that you are moving at all"~ Mary Adams

"Be thankful that you have not met the rest of my family, and that they don't know how much I love you. ", NK whispered.

Aarti raised an eyebrow.

"Otherwise you would have found yourself kidnapped, married, and waiting for me in our bedroom for our Suhaag Raat, with my Maasi guarding the door against intruders!"

"Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn" ~ Harriet Beecher Stowe

Back home Aarti narrated all the happenings of the day to her mother excluding her tryst with NK. This evoked a heartfelt chuckle from her mother a rarity for them.

"You'll find that life is still worthwhile, if you just smile" ~ Charles Chaplin

Aarti showed all the four cards to her which were lovingly fingered by her.

"Happiness is not a matter of events; it depends upon the tides of the mind" ~Alice Meynell

When her mother enquired if she would be attending the wedding after reading the details,

Aarti said no. This evoked a sigh from her mother.

"Extreme positions are not succeeded by moderate ones, but by contrary extreme positions"

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Back in her room, Aarti placed the 4 cards along with the red Banarasi sari, the empty sweet box, and the letter.

She put her hand into the left pocket of her trousers, and pulled out a soiled napkin with a chocolate ice cream stain on it. She straightened the napkin to look at the stain, and gently touched the brown mark with her finger. She smiled.

"It was only a sunny smile,

and little it cost in the giving,

but like morning light,

it scattered the night

and made the day worth living"

~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Sunflower had wiped his chin with it. She added the napkin to the rest of her treasures in her cabinet, and shut the door.

Do you see now why I have termed this update as tide?

The invites from Buaji, Arnav Singh Raizada, Kushi and Payal brought in a spring tide filled with love, warmth, acceptance and camaraderie.

NK's invite was like a flood tide, engulfing her mind and senses.

The same invites brought in a tide of Happiness and sense of belonging to her as well as her mother.

Though she is continually denying her feelings she is collecting her motley of trinklets. She is continuously trying to push Her Sunflower away from her. The more she does that, more she comes in contact with him.

"A single breaker may recede; but the tide is evidently coming in" ~ Thomas B. Macaulay

That's it from me. Hope you enjoy it!