The next morning saw two people enthusiastically getting ready. They were both making sure to match every single thing they wore. On one side Arnav was wondering why he was doing such things to impress a girl, he already knew the kind of effect he had on them, but then unconsciously he knew why he was doing it, he knew he was trying to crack the biggest and best deal of his life and he would make sure to not leave any stone unturned. On the other side Khushi had no idea what she was doing and why she was doing it. She had never done such things for anyone, then why today and that also for her boss? Thinking for a minute and not coming to any conclusion she thought that she might get an answer by the end of the day. Shrugging her shoulders she picked up her bag and walked out of her room but only after looking at herself in the mirror one last time.
Payal and Akash were on the phone early that morning. They hadn't been able to talk to each other because their respective works were taking up a lot of their time. Akash was complaining to Payal about her work being her first priority while it should have been him.
"Payal, its not done. I haven't met you in 2 days. I thought we promised to atleast spend an hour with each other every day, I should have just asked you to marry me instead of agreeing to this whole lets-get-to-know-each-other-before-taking-the-realtionship-forward thing. This is totally ridiculous." Whined Akash.
"Akash stop being a kid. You know I am very busy with the new project and how do you not have any work in office? Has AR come to a stage to close down that you think you don't have to work?" replied Payal as calmly as she could.
"Payal you know I have work but I also want to spend some time with you. What's the point of this "dating" thing if we don't even spend time with each other?" cried Akash.
"Alright we will meet today after I'm done with my work but if you whine one more time with me I swear we're over" replied Payal loosing her patience by the second.
"You know you wont do that. This is third time your saying it but you love me too much to breakup with me" said Akash smiling sheepishly.
"Whatever. Hey you know what, Khushi is Arnav's new PA. Its surprising how Khushi didn't notice that she was going to AR. Seemed like she completely forgot about you being a "Singh Raizada". I kept waiting for her to notice what shes getting herself into but she was so excited about her job that she seemed to have forgotten everything else." Said Payal smiling.
"Really? Khushi's working for Bhai? That's amazing? I'm going to go tell him. Oh I see him coming down. Got to go. Talk to you later." said Akash keeping the phone.
"What an idiot, forgot his girlfriend the minute he sees his BHAI. Didn't even let me say something. I'll make sure he makes it up to me this evening for cutting the phone on my face" thought Payal with an evil smile. She saw Khushi coming out of her room smiling excitedly.
"So Khushi all set for work?" asked Payal setting up the table for breakfast.
"Jiji I'm so excited. This is going to be so much fun. Can you believe it, I'm the Arnav Singh Raizada's PA. Oh my god. Do you even know how many people want this job?" replied Khushi jumping around the whole house.
"First of all you are going there to work, not to have fun and second please don't be your clumsy self and mess around over there, Arnav Singh Raizada is very strict, he needs everything to be perfect, one mistake from your side and remember that its time to kiss goodbye to your job" she warned.
"Oh come on jiji, he isn't that bad, I met him yesterday, he seems nice to me." Replied Khushi trying to hide her sudden fear.
"Well then all I can say is best of luck, I hope you survive his rage but if something happens to you, just do me a favour and write a letter leaving all your clothes and accessories in my name, I like the new Prada shoes you bought the other day, and look at the coincidence, we both have the same shoe size as well, isn't that perfect now?" grinned Payal triumphantly.
"That's enough jiji, nothings going to happen to me and even if it does I will make sure that I write a letter asking to put all my things in my grave so that you don't get any of them." Replied Khushi narrowing her eyes as if daring her to even think of touching her things.
Arnav came downstairs and sat down for breakfast. There were a lot of different conversations taking place and he like always was just a silent spectator of it. He heard Akash talking to him.
"You know bhai that new PA of yours, Khushi? She is Payal's sister." Said Akash and he suddenly noticed everyone had stopped talking and were looking at the two of them. He looked at everyone registering their surprised faces and in less than 10 seconds heard all of them talking together.
"Really chottey? Khushi is working for you?" asked Anjali
"She is such a nice girl. We have met her a few times" continued nani.
"Ofcourse and she is such a beautiful girl as well, only I think she needs some make up tips from me. She doesn't seem to know how to put some on." said mami with a disapproving look by the end of her sentence and looked at her mother-in-law who showed how displeased she was by her.
Arnav looked at all of them questioningly before asking
"How do you all know her and have also met her while I know nothing about this?"
"Actually chottey she has come home a few times with Payal but you were always either at office or out of town and then you were never really interested to know about Payal or her family so we never mentioned her." Replied Anjali.
In the whole conversation all Arnav could register was the fact that Khushi had come home, to his home and suddenly he felt warmth coursing through his body. He felt happy even thinking that Khushi was home and suddenly he felt like knowing all those places where she might have been to in the house, he wanted to know if she had even been to his room, though he doubted that since no one was allowed to go to his room in his absence. He didn't feel like eating anymore as he was getting desperate by the minute to see her and so excusing himself saying he had work he got up and hurriedly left.
When Arnav entered office there was a sudden calm yet tensed environment that surrounded him. He was used to this, the minute he would step into the office everyone would suddenly become interested in their work. Keeping those thoughts aside he entered his cabin to see one of the best sight, his Khushi who seemed a little nervous and was clumsily trying to get all his things in place. He used this time to look at her from top to bottom. She was looking extremely cute in blue jeggings with a pink t-shirt. He couldn't stop smiling looking at her distressed figure. He had a feeling that someone had told her about his arrogance and I-need-everything-to-be-perfect attitude and so she was trying to get things right only to be messing it up more. He stood up straight and walked in as if he had seen nothing. He saw her look up at him.
"Hi Khushi" he said not looking at her.
"Hello sir" came her quick yet hesitant reply
"Oh please call me Arnav, I don't want to look like a 50 year old and specially not in front of such a beautiful girl" he smirked and instantly saw her blush. Well that was a good start, he knew she was affected by him and so now he tried to lighten the mood a little.
"So Khushi, you're Payal's sister?" he asked
She looked at him curiously before replying "Yes, I am. But how do you know her?" she questioned
"Oh Akash was telling me this morning about you being Payals sister. You do know Akash, right? Akash Singh Raizada, my brother?" he asked and instantly saw her eyes popping out.
"Oh my god. You are Akash's brother. Ofcourse you're his brother. How could I forget he is Akash SINGH RAIZADA, your brother. Oh right you're that brother of Akash who loves his work and is willingly even ready to marry it." "I wonder why jiji didn't mention this to me when she knew I about my interview at AR. I will make sure to ask her tonight when I get back home" she thought to herself. He heard her babble and then say something under her breath and then suddenly saw her eyes widening remembering where she was and what she had said.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I mean I have only heard your family saying all this and it just came out my mouth." She said embarrassed by her behavior early in the morning on the first day of her work.
"No that's okay. You don't need to feel embarrassed." He replied trying to make her feel comfortable. When he noticed she wasn't reacting, he continued-
"So that means we are soon going to be family. So how about we start with being friends?" taking his hand forward for a handshake.
"Sure." She smiled shaking his hand
"Okay then Khushi lets begin with work. I need you to check my schedule and inform me about my meeting for starters." He said picking up a file from his table. He couldn't ignore work only to woo his lady love. He had enough time to get to know her and woo her but work was also important.
"Right. So you have a meeting with Mr. Rajan at 10 and then you have a meeting with Mr. Shukla at 4." She said looking at his schedule in her hand.
"Okay then you can go to your cabin Aman must have kept some files that need to be updated. I will call you when we have to leave for the meeting." He said looking at the file in his hand.
"Alright. Thank you." She said turning around to leave when she heard him call her and she turned back to face him.
"Oh and Khushi you look beautiful today." He said slightly smiling at her. She could suddenly feel her heartbeat rising and her cheeks redden. She looked at his smile dazed at how young he looked when he smiled. She couldn't help but smile back at him.
"Thank you Arnav, you don't look too bad yourself" she said before turning around to leave, she hadn't missed seeing his smile widening by her comment.
The next two hours were extremely busy for both Arnav and Khushi. They were having an inner turmoil with the kind of feelings they were going through. They had never experienced such strong feelings for anyone. Arnav was extremely surprised by Khushi's comment before leaving his cabin. He had never expected Khushi to say such stuff to him on her first day of work. "And here I was trying to make her feel comfortable" he thought shaking his head. He had a feeling that somewhere, him being Akash's brother had affected the way she spoke to him a little while back. Whatever it was, he was glad that she had already started opening up to him. Checking his watch he saw that it was time for them to start moving for the meeting. He picked up the intercom and dialed Khushi's extension.
Khushi was feeling extremely excited by the way she had acted with Arnav. After her conversation with Payal this morning she had gotten extremely scared but then after meeting Arnav she kept wondering why Payal had said any of that. She was herself a little surprised about how she had boldly complemented Arnav without even thinking twice, she had felt like it was like the right thing to do. She could now feel her heartbeats going fast, she had no idea what was happening, she had never felt anything like this before. She heard the extension ringing which broke her thoughts. Taking a deep breath to stop herself from stammering she picked up the call only to hear the deep husky voice.
"Khushi, we need to leave for the meeting, could you meet me in my office in 5 minutes with the files that I had asked you to update?" asked Arnav trying to keep his voice professional
"Sure." She replied not wanting to make incoherent sentences and furthur embarrass herself. She kept the phone and after taking a few deep breaths she started talking to herself to calm down.
"Khushi, you have absolutely lost your mind. And what's wrong with my heart, I should go consult the doctor, I'm too young to die so soon. Alright, just chill, keep it cool, remember hes your friend. Its okay, everything is absolutely fine." She kept chanting to herself.
Picking up the files she left her cabin only to bump into a hard rock chest. She was just about to fall when she felt a pair of arms go around her waist and pull her towards himself. She looked up to see a pair of chocolate brown eyes looking into hers. She could smell his perfume mixed with the musky smell of body and it was intoxicating her, she was having a hard time to keep her eyes open when she actually wanted to drown into his incense. She finally tried to get her mind to think straight. Opening her eyes she saw Arnav looking at her with an amused smile. She straightened herself with his help, looking down she thanked him and started walking ahead to try and hide herself from the embarrassment.
Arnav on the other side was quite amused with her behavior. He had noticed her eyes drooping as if she was drunk and her lips curving into a small smile. He had seen her taking deep breaths as if trying to learn his smell. This girl was surely surprising him by the minute. He looked at her back when she started walking out and followed her.
The rest of the ride was extremely silent with Khushi being extremely embarrassed by her behavior and Arnav remembering her soft body against his hard form, it had felt so right with her being so close to him, he just wanted to hold her in his arms and never let go off her.
By the time the meeting had successfully ended it was already lunch time and not wanting to go back to office he did the next best thing he could think of.
"Khushi, would you like to go have lunch before heading back to office? Its anyway time for lunch." He said trying to sound as cool as possible while all he wanted to do was take Khushi away with him to some place where there was no one else except the two of them.
Looking at her watch she noticed that it was already 2:30 and suddenly feeling hungry she agreed to his offer. She did want to spend some time with him to get to know him better as well as understand her feelings.
Smiling at each other they left to grab lunch and spend some time together.
Kumkum Bhagya
Tu Dhadkan Main Dil
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
