Arhi SS|New Year's Resolutions|LastPart- B&C p130 *complete!* - Page 74

Sooo cute...arnav is trying hard to make up to her.
Love this laad governor..

Poor Payal. What she has to do for her sister and Jeth ji!

love it love it love it...

Good one. The description of Arnav metamorphically pushing Khushi off the summit and now struggling to get her back is very well done.

Awesome update...u r portraying their feelings marvelously...one hell of a writer u r...kudos to u...desparately waiting to read more..thanks for d update..

"Because I...I wanted to. I wanted to drive you home...and to bring you back, if you'd let me."

Such a beautiful update !! Thanks a lot !

Here's Part B! I haven't read this over, so I apologise in advance for any inconsistency and mistakes- please let me know if this needs editing! And thank you so much for your comments and likes and everything!! 🤗

*Part 11B*

"Her heart did whisper he had done it for her" - Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

7^th January, 2012, 12.11 p.m. (afternoon)

He had said he had not meant it as a show of apology

-but then he had said he had wanted to drive her to Shantivan.

And if that was not an outlandish notion on its own...

He had let the decision rest with her.

If you'd let me...

For the first time in the weeks and months that she had known Arnav Singh Raizada, for the first time that she could remember and could confidently locate the intent behind his words, he had asked her for her permission.

He had not tried to coerce her along with him, as he had countless times before.

When he had come to bribe her to work for him at his sister's behest.

When he had come once again on his sister's bidding to pick her up after Payal and Akash's engagement.

When he had almost threatened her into letting him drive her home on the night of the cocktail party, even though she had resisted.

Oh, no.

This time, he had arrived at her front-door not because Anjaliji had sent him, and not because she had needed someone to help her get from one place to another.

This time, he had been there because he had wanted to.

And if that wasn't enough...he had left the decision of whether or not she went along with him up to her.

And even though here she was, currently immobile and distant beside her sister on the backseat of a four-wheeler she had ridden many a time already, Khushi's intuition, or whatever name was given to that quiet voice that still managed to sound more lucid and certain than any of the other voices squawking in confusion in her skull, believed with uncanny assurance that if she had said "No", he would not have pushed her.

Were it not for the company, Khushi would by now have released the frustrated, annoyed groan vibrating in her mouth. Instead, she settled for glaring holes into the back of a certain Laad Governor's head, and petulantly blaming him for forever confounding her.

For making her doubt everything she had learned to believe in as fact.

***

Nannav was fuming.

(In silence).

NK, on the other hand, was rather enjoying himself.

It was refreshing to see, from the surreptitiously adjusted rear-view mirror, Khushiji glower with (a mild variation of) murderous intent at Nannav's backrest, while Nannav, though putting on a (passably convincing) show of being unaffected, could not help letting his eye stray from the road to the mirror NK had angled away from him.

Things were almost back to the way they were used to, and whatever Nannav had done, he had to commend the man for it.

"This is boring," he griped after a while of riding in silence; the awkwardness locked within the small space was stifling, and the quiet would only make it worse. This was, after all, the first time the Gupta sisters would be stepping through Shantivan's walls after yesterday's big revelations. It was understandable that they would be wary and apprehensive.

And NK had taken it upon himself to put them at ease.

Nannav, much to his gratification, responded to his cue brilliantly.

"I don't remember asking you to come along in the first place," Nannav all but growled; NK glanced sideways to see a muscle twitch near his jaw-line, his grip tightening minutely round the steering wheel.

NK pouted, even though Nannav was currently staring straight out through the wind-screen.

"Aw, come on, Nannav!" he sing-songed, mock punching his shoulder and then recoiling in mock fear when Nannav threw him a look that would have petrified a lesser man, "First you leave me alone in the car for ages and then you are being all mean!"

Nannav continued to seethe in silence, not responding; but NK caught the sudden flare of crimson colouring Khushiji's cheeks as her fierce stare wavered, and he could not keep himself from grinning.

And besides, he added, tongue-in-cheek, "I could not leave these two lovely ladies to suffer in your less than pleasant company."

He turned about at this to wink roguishly at Payal and Khushi; the younger caught his eye and offered him a small, tentative smile, and the older appeared to be on the verge of anxiously disagreeing with him, but by then Nannav had come up with a rejoinder.

"Forgive me for not being learned in the art of buffoonery," he coolly replied and NK observed him out of the corner of his eye. He was still staring forward, still as stony-faced as only a Nannav could be...but there did not appear to be any hint of anger or irascibility at what, in another time, he would surely have interpreted as a bare-faced insult.

And as much as it amused him to toy with Nannav, this new...mature, temperate version of him was a lot more likeable than the one like a sore, fresh bruise- ready to burst into searing hot pain at the slightest touch.

NK was tempted to pat him on the head.

Instead, he clasped a dramatic hand to his chest, his face a parody of distress and offence. "Nannav," he adopted the most baleful tone he had available to him, "mere bhai...how could you say such hurtful things to me? To your own brother? Your own flesh and blood-"

"We're not even related by blood-"

"Your brethren!" NK exclaimed with gusto, fists curled and held into the air and completely disregarding Nannav's waspish interruption, "Do you not know of the bond that exists between brothers? The bond that even exists beyond death?"

"What the-?"

NK was on a warpath now; he could see via the mirror that his audience were listening to him with rapt attention- Harjayaji had gone pink in the face, her cheeks puffed up with the laughter she was apparently having to hold in, and for the first time in ages, Khushiji looked as though she were about to break out into a genuine grin. Not an obligatory one, not a polite one, not the one she wore as she would wear her colourful dupattas, just another fixture of her appearance. But one of those smiles that brought with it a breathlessness from mustering so much delight, and a heady pink flush to ones cheeks. And it was these smiles for which NK specialised in what Nannav had so kindly titled the "art of buffoonery", and he would not stop till he got satisfactory results.

"Oh, yes," he stage-whispered grimly, "Don't you know? Don't you know of the great brotherly bond that exists between men even beyond graves? The very same bond that let Salman Khan's ghost come back from the dead to help his brother- not even his own brother, mind you!- woo the love of his life?!"

***

Arnav was about ready to sock NK in the face when the most startling sound punctured through the tense cloud of irritability swelling against his will within him.

Laughter.

But more than just laughter...

Her laughter.

His hand was moving before he could recall instructing it too, and it had tilted the rear-view mirror back into the position he had been yearning for it to be in all along, and the image that heralded him was so striking it was some miracle he had not gone crashing into something.

And in that instant, he was conscious of each separate strand of emotion in the interwoven, entangled mess thriving inside him; aware of his reluctant gratitude to NK for achieving what he could not, for bringing levity into a situation fraught with unspoken, anticipated tension...aware of the instant relief, the peace that had smoothed over the rough edges of his temper at the sight of Khushi, flushing red from forehead to collarbone, eyes crinkled but glittering all the same, a hand futilely trying to stem the flow of the giggles pouring out...and the resounding, marrow-deep desire to someday be the one to bring that same smile to her face, and keep it there.

Feeling eyes on him, he looked askance and found NK openly gloating, albeit without actual words. But strangely enough (and this was becoming a recurring trend), the sight did not incur any of the ire it was previously wont to. He would have to admit (though incredibly unwillingly) that a part of him had been relieved when NK had forcibly included himself in his plans this morning, and it was only now, allowing himself to soak in the sudden buoyancy permeating through his car, a relaxing, genuine light-heartedness that had been missing for so long, that he understood why. Arnav was beginning to understand the complexities that lay beneath NK's image of the simpleton- the image, he had realised, the man chose to project. Because somewhere, under that guise of the clown that no one takes seriously, NK did what he had been conceited enough to believe he was skilled at- he studied people, analysed them, and manipulated situations without appearing to.

And generally, Arnav would have found such people dangerous- would have wanted to be wary of them. But as he evenly returned NK's self-satisfied smirk with frozen features, he found within himself the innate knowledge that for all his (intentionally) annoying tendencies, his cousin meant no harm.

In fact, if anyone had helped him- all the while unobtrusive, all the while discreet- just pushing a shove here and a nudge there, and never blatantly challenging him in a way he was bound to retaliate by opposing- it would have to be this insufferable idiot sitting beside him.

And so, Arnav nodded briefly, and ceded this round to him- and in doing so he felt none of the humiliation or the stinging slap of failure he might have expected upon admitting defeat, but instead was surprised by the fulfilment that settled like a steadying hand on his shoulder, and egged him onwards.

***

"They show Bollywood movies in Australia, Nanheji?" Khushi asked excitably, sitting up a little straighter and leaning forward a bit. Beside her, Payal felt a fond smile stretch her mouth, and relief brushed a calming a hand over her, flicking away lingering cobwebs of worry and disquiet. It was so refreshing to see Khushi like this- buzzing with animation and curiosity. Somehow it only served to cement her previous, niggling doubts that something had been off with her before yesterday's episode, something had been bothering her. Despite all her appearance of being her usual self, Payal had not been able to shake off that feeling that something somewhere had not been right, "I never thought you'd be able to watch Hello Brother abroad too!"

But now, her sister sat with that same infectious spirit rolling off her that had been somewhat half-hearted since the beginning of the new year, and Payal, though not certain if the encounter at their doorway had something to do with it, was determined to preserve that glow on Khushi's face.

After all, Khushi could not be Khushi if she wasn't living up to her name.

"Arre, Khushi," she teased in her own soft-spoken manner, gently nudging her sister's arm, "How could you doubt the reach of your Salman-ji? People all over the world would watch his films, whether or not they watch anyone else's."

"Jiji!" Khushi whined, not as loud as she would normally be at home, but nonetheless pouting in reproof.

NK Bhai was peeking at them over the edge of his seat.

"So you're a fan of Salman Khan, Khushiji?"

***

Arnav, though contributing little to the discussion unfolding in his four-wheeler, nonetheless listened intently, ready to catalogue everything he would hear, no matter how trivial. This was another something he would not be able to achieve on his own- finding out more about Khushi, about the tiny little details that made her up, made her unique. Her diary had been the stark proof he had tried for so long to ignore that there were more layers, more idiosyncrasies to her than in the neat, convenient little box he had fitted her into. But he recognised that he could not ask her such direct questions, despite his recently discovered intrigue about what made her tick, his curiosity about everything that made her her.

When she was still on her guard like this around him, so very sparing and careful with what she let out, it was highly unlikely he would get any candid answers from her.

Not to mention she would think he'd gone mad for asking such questions in the first place.

So he resigned himself, gallantly taking another dent to his pride, to another favour granted by NK, and memorised the moment.

"Of course, Nanheji!" Khushi declared proudly- his gaze flittered back and forth between the windscreen and the rear-view mirror, and he caught her beaming, "I'm his biggest fan!"

Arnav recalled the posters of charismatically smiling, posing actors plastered over her bedroom wall, and an unexpected but aggressive punch of unpleasant feeling pounded him in the gut.

It felt suspiciously like jealousy.

Beside him, NK was still half hanging out of his seat as he conversed freely with his passengers, held in place only by one very strained seat-belt.

"Really? That's great! I remember reading in the paper that some new film of his is out...what was it called again-"

"Bodyguard! Oooh, yes, I've been wanting to watch that one for ages!"

"Is it still out in cinemas, you think?"

"Yes, I think so," Arnav watched Khushi nod with childlike eagerness, and it warmed out the chinks of frost that had crept into his heart in all the days he had been deprived of this- deprived of the cheeriness she could infuse into any situation with just her own zeal, "Apparently it was really good!"

"That settles it then," NK wore a grin to mimic Khushi's as he rubbed his hands together, "We're definitely going to the cinema one of these days to go watch it! It'll be fun in a big group and-"

Arnav could tell before his stare found the mirror again that something had switched, flipped on its head, in the atmosphere, even as NK continued with his verbal plans of going to the movies.

And even before Khushi spoke, a sliver of text had slipped by his mind's eye.

Save up money. No more pointless spending on useless things like cinema tickets or ice-cream simply because I happened to see one on the street...

"Uh- Nanheji..." he heard Khushi say, and that spark was missing in her voice now, "Now wouldn't really be the right time...what with so many things to do...everyone is busy and the wedding..."

NK started to argue back, (persuasive, cajoling) but Arnav had by then stopped paying attention.

He was too preoccupied by a revelation that had opened before him with the suddenness and unexpectedness of meeting an old friend and finding they had grown out of the mould they had been frozen in within childhood memories.

He recalled how he had reacted after reading her diary- how he had tried to erase what he had seen and what it implied, how he had clutched at the same tradition he had disparaged and ridiculed to make sure she could not severe the connection between them.

And he recalled how she had responded to that by blocking him off completely.

He remembered how distant she had been- the pains she had taken to stay far away.

Remembered all her effort channelled into the task of not violating the terms she had set out for herself.

And now he began to consider things he had not, in his selfishness, dwelled upon, or even thought up of, before.

She had written in her diary about him, but not only about him.

She had written about other wishes and ambitions- written about other goals that were important, crucial for her to achieve.

Her pen's ink was blended into his blood- he could feel the gnawing need that must have dragged her hand over those pages, trying to set down in black and white what she had to do...he remembered the neat script falling into disorder, letters growing distorted and tripping out of place and into one another...and he remembered, with a pained hitched in his throat, the few damp patches that had dotted the page and smudged the ink...

What she must have been feeling when she had scribbled her desires into her diary...how cornered and powerless and alone...

And while he resented even the idea of Khushi being alone, it was now that it dawned upon him what the resolutions meant to her- and not just to himself.

What it would mean to her if she could not achieve what she had set out to achieve.

An awful sense of trepidation clutched at him at the thought, because there was no second answer.

It would destroy her confidence- shatter the sense of self, those very same little details that made Khushi uniquely her, the same little things that had made it impossible for him to let go...

Much as it had every single time he had attempted to undo her resolution of shutting him out of her life.

On auto-pilot, Arnav drove the rest of the way to Shantivan, deaf to the conversations unravelling around him, and mute from the impact of this new epiphany.

He could understand, now, why giving her that diamond bracelet still hidden somewhere in the depths of his closet had been such a repulsive idea.

It felt a lot like cheating- a lot like trying to take a short-cut because he knew the journey ahead would be long and onerous.

And for someone who had conquered every inch of his territory through his own might and his own wits, that was an outrage- a disgrace.

He could not simply undo all the troubles that Khushi camouflaged so adroitly behind her bright smile and cheerful demeanour.

And if he tried to shoulder her troubles in her stead- pay off the debt of her aunt's jewellery, offer her financial help, even pull a few strings to get her a job- he knew without a doubt the debilitating things it would do to her self-esteem- to the belief she had in herself, the belief that she could support and keep her family happy.

In many ways, she was just like him.

He had become who he was with the same desire as his guiding light, leading him out of the rubble and into the castle he now reigned from.

And if he would have misconstrued, detested, any act of charity at that time as being patronising, as an insult, a slight...

...then after all the abuse he had fed Khushi about her aukaat and her morals...

She would never forgive him.

The thought dropped a veil of black before his eyes for a while, and for a moment the panic rendered him insensate and blind.

He could not let that happen.

He wouldn't let that happen.

He couldn't.

Khushi's resolutions regarding him were a different matter- they were based on a false premise, the premise that he wanted nothing to do with her, that he would hurt her willingly. But that was not true- he had learnt for himself that it wasn't. And therefore, those resolutions were null and void.

But everything else...all those other resolutions...

He couldn't cheat- he couldn't take short-cuts. He could not just make her problems magically disappear and demean the gravity of them.

But if he could not do that...

...he could at least be by her side as she walked this long road. Hold her up when she needed him...and hope that someday she would reach out to him herself with unquestioning trust, whether she needed help or not.

He could at least show her that there was one set of resolves she could cross out from her diary.

Next Update!: Part 11 C (10th January)

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😃

very good and very touching ! i love the way you ''draw'' their thoughts!thank you!