Smitar's OS 2: Finding Khushi Part 8 Pg121(Mar 15) - Page 78

Smita,

Here is the interpretation for Part 6.

Arnav who was waiting for Khushi looked up and saw a wet, Khushi with a few stray strands of hair sticking on her face and the red suit had become a skin suit plastered on her body, standing by his door. Seeing her drenched, Arnav called her name softly in a whisper and told her that she is wet. Khushi didn't bother to reply. She saw that there was still a minute more to go before the deadline. Munshiji had returned late from his lunch and it had taken time at the jewelers. She saw after hurrying up she had reached in time. Walking up to him in her drenched state fiddling in her bag, she took out a cover and placed it on his table. She simply said that it was his rent and asked him to count it. After all he had told her that he thinks her to be from a middle class who was after rich men and their money. So, he better count the money lest she cheats him. When he admonished her for saying so, she said she needed a receipt. Seeing her shivering from the cool air in his office, he was so furious, that he did what he always does at such times. He took his favorite path of shouting at her. He targeted his anger at her uttering with irritation as to couldn't she take care of herself? Why did she have to get wet in the rain? Shedding his coat, he moved towards her to wrap it around her. Seeing that Khushi was moving back he quickly caught hold of her arm pulling her towards him wrapped her in his coat, all the while his eyes drowning in hers.

His nearness was affecting her. She felt a shiver run through her spine. His special aroma was hitting her senses. His warmth was enveloping her, heating her up to her bones. His eyes that were glowering at her a minute back was now softening up and were focused on her lips that were quivering in anticipation of the unknown delights that were being conveyed with his silent promise.

When Arnav's hands moved to cup her shoulders, she shivered at his mere touch and retraced a step. Clearing her thoughts with a blink she asked for the receipt. Arnav who was still in trance, was pulled down to reality. Controlling his anger with tightly clenched jaws he asked his secretary to get the receipt done. Khushi requested him to count the money. Arnav with his eyes never wavering from her asked her how was she able to raise the money at such short notice.

She told him that was not a thing to be pondered over by him and insisted the money be counted. Arnav issued the receipt and while handing it to her, deliberately caressed her palm with his fingers. The touch made her quiver. She quickly withdrew her hand and turned to walk when she realized that she was wearing his coat. When she tried to remove the coat to return it to him, Arnav stopped her and asked her to wear it and he said that he would collect it from her later, thinking that it would give him a valid excuse to meet her. She tried to remove the coat saying that she would manage making him angry. He shouted at her saying that she had no idea of what was happening around her. Khushi stared at him having no idea of what he was talking about. He elaborated by asking, was she planning to traverse through Delhi with a wet suit that clung to her body? Khushi was brought down to the earth from her tower of indignation with his remark that was emphasized by the emotions that were flitting across his eyes. His voice was singeing her with anger but his eyes were smoldering her with desire. Khushi realizing what he meant was taken aback. She turned to leave the room with the coat on. His call stopped her on tracks and he asked her to come back to RM. When she denied, he asked her how she will manage the rent every month then. When she didn't say anything he asked her to work at RM. He said he would not only be paying her a salary but would also waive off the rent. He was trying to lure her with a lucrative offer. But Khushi would not comply. Feeling that his anger was slowly on the rise, he warned her that she was denying herself of a good deal. He questioned her that she had managed to raise the amount this time but how will she do it for the next? Her answer that she may not need to as they will be vacating his house soon left him thunder-struck. When he called her Khushi.. she didn't heed his call but just walked away!

Throughout the dinner, Arnav was in a trance. His family was left wondering as to what had happened. Though he was seated they knew his mind was elsewhere. His plate had remained untouched. Anjali asking him to have his food as he needed to take his medicines fell on deaf ears.

He was engrossed in his own world, a world filled with painful thoughts, a world filled with desolation, a world filled with sadness, a world filled with gloom. He realized that like the fine grains of sand she had slipped through his fingers! She was moving away from him. First she had left RM and him, then the job and now she was vacating the house. He knew she had decided to move on and away from him. It was he who had pushed her into the abyss and in the process he had himself doused the light that was illuminating his life!

Without eating a morsel, he left the table.

Shutting himself in his room, he was filled with remorse. All his attempts to bring her closer to him were going in vain. Every attempt of his seemed to push her further away from. She was quickly becoming intangible. The knock on the door by Anjali couldn't penetrate his melancholic thoughts. Sitting on his bed in a stupor, with his head in his hands, suddenly he remembered something that he had felt amiss when she had entered his office! He tried to recall in vain the entire feeling. He started to pace his room trying to remember everything about her. Her beautiful flowing silky hair, colorful earrings that vied with her clothes, her red suit, her red bangles, her eyes that had lost its sparkle, her smile that was missing since Diwali. Arnav turned towards the mirror to the image that showed the real culprit who was the cause of listlessness in her.

Meanwhile at Gupta House, Khushi sat on her bed curled up thinking how her life was about to change once again. Her parents, Buaji and sister had decided to shift to Lucknow at the end of the month, by which her father would have completed one phase of treatment making it safe for him to travel. Buaji had thought about calling Aarti Chachi, who ran a textile store and procure jobs for her nieces. She felt Lucknow, the place where she had spent all her life except during the visits to Delhi, was so alien now? Clutching the coat that was beside her, she inhaled the fragrance, his particular brand of fragrance that floated from it! Pulling it closer to her she started to feel the look that always engulfed her senses, the warmth that made her feel like open up to him, the feel of his warm hands on her shoulders that gave her the feelings that she never knew of having existed. All these thoughts brought in a flood of feelings that she shuddered being swamped by them. She wondered what was this all about. Was it sheer madness? Why she was unable to sleep, eat, think, laugh, all that were part and parcel of her everyday life. Why was she always feeling weak when she heard his voice or saw him? Why was it that she felt that her legs would become jelly and her heart pound as though it would burst when he neared her? She wondered was it love with just one moment on Diwali night of unbelievable happiness followed by days of agony.

"There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment"

~ Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

Khushi fell across her pillow, burying her face in the neck of his coat, giving vent to her tears silently, till exhaustion claimed her into sleep.

Meanwhile Arnav, suddenly jumped up at midnight with Khushi's name on his lips. He was sweating profusely. It had struck him that he hadn't heard the tinkling of her Payal when she had come to his office. He wondered why? It was the sound that alerted him every time she was on her way to him. It had helped him to school his face into a cold mask of indifference at times fury. It was the sound that had given away her presence and alerted him whenever she approached him with various excuses. To call him for pooja, to call him for his meals, to apologize, to give his tea, to give him messages, to talk to him and at times just to stare at him. The sound of the payal was always there. He had kept it in the locker, when he had found it lying around, for his eyes only. Later he himself had fastened it on her ankle when he realized that it was her mother's last symbol with her.

HE wondered why he had not heard it at the office. With a quick decision made, he took up his phone to call at midnight.

This update is filled with RUMINATIONS. We see both Arnav and Khushi, think deeply at length and ponder over all their feelings, acts that has led them to this stage.

Khushi's ruminations has led to her to question herself whether what she feels for Arnav was love.

Arnav's ruminations had led him to question his acts and zero in over how much Khushi had to sacrifice.

That's why it is RUMINATIONS.

"If there is no solution to the problem then don't waste time worrying about it.

If there is a solution to the problem then don't waste time worrying about it"

~ Dalai Lama XIV

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