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Congo on new thread chaitu🥳🥳d

She didn't even wish him best of luck for the exams? When willl they meet again? Waiting for the next part.

lovely update.On going through ur story I am just remembering my memories of classIX and X...That time was so beautiful...same type of melancholy feelings...I just want to go back there...which I left 8 yrs ago...

Chaitalee dii , long time have exams around the corner .. I'm reading religiously though Im loving each part .. I'll personally write all my comments after my examms :) Thumbs up and Congooo on ur new thread and a fantastic FF :)

Nice update.
Why she is avoiding him,she even didn't wish him for the final exams

Hope they will meet face to face soon and hope Shyam would not ruin it.


Thnx _for the pm.

Oh sorry, I forgot to congratulate you.

thanks a lot dear
very nice update
waiting for your next upate
plz dont forget to pm me :)

Nive update though I missed Khushi and Arnav together...

Originally posted by: Eccentrica

Thank you all for the congratulatory messages on the new thread. 😊

Chapter 27: Hits and misses.

February-March-April 2005

He wouldn't have been known as Arnav Singh Raizada had he not been known for keeping promises. Staying true to his word, Arnav did come again to school. Of course his presence had been mandatory; tenth graders had been asked to collect their hall tickets from school before the advent of practical exams. The students were asked to settle in their respective classrooms; the obligation of handing out the hall tickets was done in a matter of time. Several instructions for the upcoming practical exams were also mentioned; the students assented to them apathetically; they were now impassive to the shower of instructions coming at them from all sides. Once all the work had been done, Arnav focused on the other purpose of his visit. You are not escaping from me today Khushi, he thought to himself.

Ever since the farewell party, his mind kept nagging him about something being wrong. He hoped to find the answers to the same straightaway, but then his class prelims had kept him occupied. Not one to be distracted from studies; he had kept this issue on the backburner and had fixated completely on the preliminary exams. Just a day after those exams had ended, he had received a call from school regarding the issue of hall tickets. Thinking that the call couldn't have come at a better time, he pondered over the farewell party day happenings. He hoped to find an answer after talking to Khushi today. Luckily for him, he and his classmates were left at around 11.00 a.m. Along with his friends, Arnav waited inside the school compound, near the gates of the school's second building. He began chatting with some of Khushi's male classmates who had come to wish him and his friends for the exams.

"Shit, it's Arnav!" Khushi exclaimed to Megha. It was the last day of practical exams for the ninth graders; this day being that of computer practical exam. Khushi, whose roll number came early amongst the girls had also been freed early, but she had waited for her friends.

"Why are you swearing then?" Megha asked. "I could have understood jubilance or even nonchalance; although these two responses are antithetic, but this? Khushi, you surprise me!" All other girls were in various stages of putting on their footwear after coming out of the computer lab and Megha who was the closest to Khushi had heard her remark. Khushi had merely blurted out what had come in her mind, not aware of it being heard by anyone else. Now that Megha had heard it, she raced her brains to come up with a logical explanation. But how could she share the emotional turbulence that she had been experiencing for the past month?

***

The night of the farewell party, Khushi had come home and directly hit the bed. Her parents had been aware of the responsibility she had held and didn't ask her to join them for dinner either. It had been beneficial for her; she couldn't have held her fort had they done so, for she hadn't slept on the pretext of retiring to her room; she had begun a long and soundless caterwaul. It had been easier to hide the weeping from her family members, but how could she go about doing her work every day without her woebegone look being noticed by others. Shashi and NK hadn't noticed it but Garima was much more intuitive than them and wanted to know what was bugging her daughter.

At one point of time, when she had asked her daughter to help her with the sweet making, Khushi had willingly complied; nothing new at that, Khushi always liked to lay a helping hand in her mother's chores. But she refrained from tasting any of the sweets in the process of making them; something Khushi was very notorious of. That had sounded the alarm bells for Garima and when she had broached the subject periphrastically in the way of enquiring about her studies, Khushi had merely answered with "Studies are going on fine Amma, I'm sure I shall top this time too." If she had had suspicions earlier, this declaration confirmed them. Khushi only addressed Garima as Amma when Garima was angry with her, or when Khushi herself was down in the dumps. But merely arriving to a conclusion wasn't going to suffice. She knew that if something bothered Khushi, she would go to Shashi for its solution, but this time it hadn't happened so; Garima wasn't sure if she would let this fall on Shashi's ears but ultimately decided to let time take its course; hoping that her daughter's doleful look would soon pass away.

***

Khushi was aware of Megha waiting for her explanation and she gave one halfheartedly. "You make a mountain out of a molehill. How does it matter how I react to his presence? Waise bhi, why are we wasting time on discussing about him? I should be going home now; you go and talk to him if you so wish to."

"Calm down tigress; it is you who's making a mountain out of a molehill. And why are you asking me to talk to him. It's you who should be talking to him; wishing him for the board exams. And here you are bickering with me!"

"What's the matter guys, why are you quarreling?" Priya approached them and asked.

"Nothing re, Khushi is averse to the idea of wishing Arnav good luck for the board exams. Plus, she wants to go home."

"Khushi, don't back out now. Haven't we decided to go to Sana's place for lunch today? It's the last day of our practical exams and there's still some time for the written exams. So, I'm not hearing any excuses. You have to come with us; it'll be fun", Priya said.

"Ok", Khushi replied reluctantly. "I have to run an errand so I'll meet you at the back gate in fifteen minutes. We'll go from there". And she bounded off. Khushi's need to run away from the place puzzled her friends. However they proceeded to wish Arnav and his friends. Arnav's silent question on Khushi's non appearance was met by shrugging of shoulders from Priya. The visit had been unfulfilling; the prospect of having a decent talk was miles away, Khushi hadn't even let him see her. Knowing that any amount of dallying wasn't going to help, Arnav went back to his home, bundling all thoughts of Khushi in a distant corner of his mind till the exams.

***

April began and with that started tenth grade for Khushi. Tenth grade classes at S.M. School started in April itself; they went on for a month before a month long summer vacations. Khushi had given in to her parents pleas of joining a coaching class and lectures for the same were to start in a few days. The whole coaching class arrangement made Khushi wonder if she would be visiting Raizada mansion this year again. She was in no way going to broach the topic to her mother herself; having made such a fuss about it last year. She still felt it was wrong on her part to not have wished Arnav for his exams; however strong reason she had. The past two months had proved that avoiding him had been futile; it hadn't lessened the pain and so she had finally decided to embrace it willingly. As a result, she was anticipating a visit to Arnav's house. Sure enough, her Devi Maiya didn't disappoint her and one fine day Garima asked her to drop by at Aradhanaji's residence. Khushi, on her part squabbled a bit for the sake of pretense and then gave in to Garima's demand.

Dressed in a pink T- shirt and black trousers with her hair tied in a ponytail she arrived at the Raizada mansion in the evening; around the same time as past year. However this time there were more people at the house. She greeted Aradhana who came out of her room on knowing about Khushi's arrival. The usual pleasantries were exchanged and Aradhana proceeded to bring Arnav's study material. At that time, the doorbell rang and the servant ushered in the person and took the small bag that she held. Khushi who was curious to know who had arrived had to crane her neck since the person had gone directly to the kitchen. It was only after that individual returned that Khushi could finally see who it was. The person was an elderly lady of around fifty five to sixty years and was wearing a simple cream colored cotton saree with the pallu over her head. Her face showed signs of her age but overall her countenance was pleasant, giving out calm vibes. As she came out to the living room carrying a small sweet box she hailed the servant.

"Hari Prakash, ghar pe koi hai kya?" (Is anyone present at home?)

Hari Prakash arrived quickly on hearing her voice and answered, "Haan ji, Memsahab Arnav baba ke kamre mein koi kaam se gai hai aur Ayushman baba apne kamre mein hai." (Yes, Madam is in Arnav's room for some work and Ayushman is in his own room)

The lady who had not seen Khushi yet said, "Accha, unhe Prasad lene ke liye neeche bulayiye" (Ok, send them down to collect offerings)

Hari Prakash's answer puzzled Khushi. He had accounted for only Aradhana aunty and Arnav's younger brother. Where was Arnav? Would today be a repeat of last year?

She was pondering over this when the lady noticed her. "Arre aap kaun hai? Humne aapko dekha hi nahi! (Who are you? I didn't notice you)

From her age and the way Hari Prakash addressed her, Khushi deduced the lady to be Arnav's paternal grandmother. And hence she said, "Namaste Dadiji, hamara naam Khushi hai. Hum Arnav ki kitaabe lene aaye hai. (Greetings to you, grandmother. I have come here to collect Arnav's books)

"Oh aap Arnav ki saheli hai? Toh hamein daadi nahi naani pukariye." (Oh you are Arnav's friend? Then call me Naani instead of Dadi)

"Matlab?" (Meaning?) Khushi was confused as to why the person in front of her asked her to address her the way Arnav would address his maternal grandmother. Her dilemma was solved by Aradhna who had come back to the living room with Hari Prakash following her with a huge load of books.

"Khushi beta, she means to say that she is Arnav's nani and my mother." She asked Hari Prakash to place the pile of books on the adjoining table. "And since you are here as Arnav's friend, you should address her as Nani."

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" A flustered Khuhi said. "I assumed that you must be Arnav's Dadi." Even as she said this Khushi wondered why Arnav's Nani lived with her daughter; she didn't dare ask the question to Aradhana though.

"Its ok beta, you made a honest mistake. Maa she's Khushi. Woh Lucknow waale Phoophaji hai na unke door ki rishtedaar hai Garima; aap jaanti hai use, who aapse kuch saal pehle ek shaadi mein mili thi. Khushi Garima ki beti hai (Garima who you know from a few years ago having met her at a wedding is distantly related to my paternal aunt's husband; Khushi is her daughter)

"Accha toh aap Lucknow se hai! Acchi baat hai Khushi bitiya. Ab hum Lucknow ke bare mein aapse bahut saari baatein kar sakte hai. (Oh so you are from Lucknow. That's good Khushi. Now we can talk a lot about Lucknow)

"Of course Naniji, we will. Waise Aunty", Khushi said turning to Aradhna, "these are an awful lot of books!" Khushi was amazed at the amount of books lying on the table. Arnav surely had studied a lot.

Aradhana answered the question that was writ on Khushi's face. "Yeah, Arnav likes to study extensively. He doesn't get satisfied by one kind of notes. And this year being very important, he left no stone unturned; hence the large number of books. I wish Arnav was here so that he could have told you what portions have to be studied from which books." Aradhana left it at that.

Aradhna's reply evoked a sigh of relief from Khushi making her realize that she was indeed relieved that Arnav wasn't present. Her reaction was a complete contrast from last year so were the reasons behind them. Last year she couldn't point a reason for her dejection; but this year the reason was so obvious that she was scared of admitting it. All in all she was satisfied if not happy that Arnav wasn't at home because she didn't want to go through the cycle of melancholy, gloom and despair that would once again eat through her heart.

Aradhana herself answered the question she had been waiting for Khushi to ask. "Arnav has gone for trekking in the Himalayas; the one that is arranged by The Youth Hostel Association of India (YHAI). He will be gone for fifteen days. But don't worry, he's left a page of instructions regarding the notes; I'm not sure of its location, do peruse through the entire lot once."

"Okay Aunty; thank you for the books; last year they proved to be very helpful. I should leave now. Naniji we shall meet soon." Saying this, she touched the feet of Devyani and Aradhana. Just then a boy came downstairs.

"Nani why did you call me?"

"Arre Ayushman beta, I called you to have some Prasad that I got from the temple. Khushi bitiya, you too have some." Khushi promptly took her right hand forward. Ayushman who had been watching Khushi for some time asked in an unsure voice.

"Excuse me are you NK's sister?"

"Khushi was surprised to know that Arnav's brother knew her brother. So she asked, "How do you know NK? And more importantly, how do you know me?"

"I'm in NK's class, we're friends. As for you, once he had brought a family photo in which you were present. When I saw you today, I thought as if I had seen you earlier; hence I asked you."

"Oh...ok. It was nice meeting you Ayushman. I should really leave now Auntyji."

"Sure beta. But this time I insist on you going back in our car. There's a lot of load and I don't want you to suffer because of it."

"Yes aunty. Good night all."

The visit to Arnav's house hadn't been uneventful; she may have missed him but had been introduced to two more of his family members. All through the return journey Khushi pondered over the different ways in which Arnav was associated with her: Her mother being from the same village as his mother, her cousin being his best friend, her brother being a classmate of his brother. The lingering question was would it be restricted to that or would another association be added to the list?

For PMs, buddy me.😃

Note from the author: I shall be starting a new FF soon. Prior to that I shall be clearing out my buddy list off non readers. I request my readers to hit like and/or comment from Chapters 26-30 so that I know that you're still following this FF. Kindly do not send me PMs regarding the same; likes and/or comments will suffice. In case I have erroneously deleted you off my buddy list, do send me a request again, I shall accept it.

Nice one..wait i'm the fist one to comment?? What the!!!!!*face palm* ok..so Arnav n Khushi have mutual feelings for each other...while one is holding back and other want to clear about it...10th is over...nw what?waiting...

Loved d update
Thanx for pm 😊