ArHi FF:Adaptation Note Page 35 - Page 18

As you can see from my avatar, it's that "one man". Lol

read all8 chapters just awesome !!!

What an beautiful ff...loving this..

Brilliant update...loved payal-khushi convo...you write beautifully dear...Thanks for sharing your work with us...thanks for the update.

superb update

Khushi and Payal seem to be getting a bit more settled into their respective roles..😊

Chapter IX: Space-Time continuum

"So…you don't like Khushi?" Arnav asked looking at the wine menu intently.

Aman sighed. "For the six hundredth time, no sir, I don't."

"Are you sure?" Arnav asked looking up from the menu and looked at his friend slash assistant closely.

"More than you are, in fact," Aman replied motioning a waiter.

"But you and Khushi…work together so well so it is obvious for a person with a keen eye like me to catch on it." Arnav replied, waving his hand.

"Yeah, well, you are wrong." Aman snatched the wine menu from Arnav's hands and waved him off when Arnav exclaimed "Hey! I was reading that!" Ignoring him, Aman turned to waiter and placed their order.

Arnav picked up lunch menu and started to read cover to cover. "You and Khushi would have made a lovely pair." He added to irritate his assistants some more.

"You do realize I am sitting right here, don't you?" Khushi asked her eyes trained on her Blackberry, her fingers flying on the keypad.

"I do realize but I was hoping you would get all flustered and run to the nearest restroom," Arnav shrugged elegantly, eyes still on menu.

Khushi looked up from the phone and raised an eyebrow at him. Feeling her eyes on him, Arnav looked up from the menu with a feral grin. "Sir, if you wanted uninterrupted bromance moments, all you had to do was ask. I would have left you two alone or booked a room." She said biting her lips to avoid the grin from spreading. Arnav's grin dropped and Aman looked at her open mouthed. "I mean, we are in a star hotel, after all."

Aman and Arnav looked at each other and then looked back at Khushi who was ignoring the two. Aman burst into laughter and looked at Arnav whose lips were twitched a little.

"Nice to see you have outgrown my teasing there Ms. Gupta," Arnav said lazily.

It had been three months since Khushi started to work for Raizadas and she was turning out to be quite an asset. Aman and Khushi had stuck up a nice rapport which helped them enable different teams efficiently. Aman wasn't worried anymore about headquarters related administration details when he traveled out of city with Arnav. Khushi coordinated brilliantly.

"What can I say Mr. Raizada? I am adaptable." She grinned at him. She thanked the waiter for her fruity drink and withheld a wince looking at amber liquids in front of the men.

Alcohol was a sore topic for her and she had more than one occasion commented indifferently about their drinking habits. Aman had shaken his head and explained her about the world they lived in while Arnav had found creative ways to avenge which involved inappropriate comments.

"Is that Lavanya Kashyap?" Khushi asked, blatantly staring at the dusky beauty sitting two tables across. At the sight of Lavanya, she felt incredibly underdressed in plain white shirt, beige slacks and a matching beige blazer.

Arnav was ogling at Lavanya for a moment more than necessary. The girl however was oblivious to the attention she was receiving and sipped her drink without much care for the world unfolding around her.

"I want to lick from her ankles to her panties."

Khushi choked on her drink and spilled some on her white shirt. The cherry drink left a pink stain immediately and Khushi looked murderously at Arnav.

"Oops! Did I say that aloud?" He asked innocently. Khushi slammed the drink on the table, louder than necessary and ran to nearest restroom.

"Was that comment necessary?" Aman asked peering at Arnav. Arnav looked up from the forgotten lunch menu indifference back on his face.

"She needs to stop reacting to everything that comes out of people's mouth Aman. You know how it is going to get in coming weeks. Once the word gets out that we are cutting of local subsidiaries, there will be chatter everywhere and media will pounce on us especially given who we will be fighting against." Arnav's voice had lost all traces of humor.

Aman wondered if Arnav made that inappropriate comment just to irritate Khushi or help her to deal with the shit storm that was on its way.

"Should we make her sit this one out sir?" Aman had realized in first week itself that Arnav had a soft spot for Khushi. There was something about her that drew his friend out and fight in the open. Had it been someone else, they would have been fired for being half mouthy than Khushi was.

With arrival of Khushi, he saw the Arnav from a decade ago – hyper energetic and extremely tactile in business meetings.

When Khushi came back with a scowl and pink stain on her shirt, he saw the indifference on Arnav's face dissolve into that of childish glee as he went on to mock Khushi's lack of skills in holding a glass while Khushi forgot about her brain-to-mouth filter and replied with sass and wit.

In all honestly, Aman had no idea what was going on between his boss and the other assistant.

*****

"We were told by our astrologer that our ancestors are cursed and that is affecting all of us." Anjali's voice was soft and was laced by fear. Shashi took the horoscopes of the family members and looked over them.

"Do you want my second opinion?" Shashi asked a moment later. Arnav, who was slouching next to Anjali, snorted. Anjali gave him a withering look which made him shrug and lean back on the pillar. He could see Khushi standing twenty feet away talking to someone.

"Grandma wanted to know if you could perform some rituals in our house tomorrow." Anjali asked slowly. "I know this is last minute…" She trailed.

"I would be happy to." Shashi said warmly.

"We will have everything ready pundit ji. Thank you so much for accepting." Anjali thanked him and went inside the temple to talk to other priests.

"Is it true?" Arnav asked watching Khushi walk towards them. Shashi looked at him confused clearly unable to understand what he meant. "I meant, the curses of our ancestors. Can you really find that by looking at horoscope?"

Shashi smiled. He had come to enjoy his talks with the young man in front of him. It had made him dive back into his books and also explore the internet. Shashi respected science as much as he respected astrology. Drawing parallels between them was becoming his favorite past time.

"It is said that the fifth house in your horoscope would tell you about your purvajanma punya and give a brief view of your past lives. Not every astrologer knows how to predict this aspect in horoscope as it is not considered to be auspicious or accurate for that matter."

"Convenient, isn't it?" Arnav sniggered. Shashi laughed.

"It is a little convenient but I wouldn't be too hasty to pass it up. I believe in collective karma." He replied simply.

"What's that?" Arnav asked, offering Khushi a smile as she sat down couple of feet away from him, her sari bunching at her ankles.

"Legacy of a family is passed along the generations – via materialistic benefits or the lack of it, standing in society and most importantly – via gene pool."

Arnav stared at the older man. "Are you saying karma is nothing but being under the influence of common genetic characteristics of a gene pool?" Surprise laced his voice.

Shashi nodded. "The philosophy of life as per our ancient scripture is very simple – you will be born again and again to attain moksha. You collect karmas along the lives and till all the karma is absolved, the process doesn't stop. The cycle of life and death continues till one attains moksha."

Arnav nodded and motioned Shashi to continue.

"Effect of a man's action is first on the family and then on the society. If a man has great principles and values he tries to instill that in his legacy – his children. It may not always work out in his favor because the children may not have inherited his perspective or aren't open enough to adapt or appreciate his perspective. Behavior of men and women are most definitely consistent in a given gene pool – science proves that. However a person can be influenced via nurture or environment to break the genetic predisposition."

"That's adaptation." Khushi blurted. Arnav looked at her and smiled. Her face was unreadable.

"That's correct," Shashi replied. "A person may overcome the instincts they have and behave in a completely different way because of the nurture, environment or necessity. Use the same analogy for the question your sister asked."

Arnav bit his lip and gazed at the sky for several moments before answering the older man. "The ritual is a mere psychological advantage that would give us the will to overcome the genetic predisposition of what we are capable of. If the curse is said to hinder our progress, you would say that the ritual would give us the strength to overcome our adversaries." Arnav theorized.

"That's pretty much it," Shashi shrugged.

"That's psych 101. I mean…" Arnav trailed.

"Astrology is a tool to simply problems which are over complicated unnecessarily. It's more common sense with a bit of prediction associated to time-space dynamics." Shashi interjected knowing where Arnav was going with his theory.

"Can't you beat that with will power?" It was Arnav who asked.

"It is said that Daiva Sankalpa has the power to go against what astrology would predict for you." Khushi replied. Arnav simply looked at her. "There is nothing greater than God's will."

Arnav waited for a moment before he replied. "Aham Bramhasmi." It literally means a Brahman at an intellectual level and expression of an enlightened yogi in a state of self-realization. This person is nothing short of being one with God.

Khushi smiled at his answer and Arnav replied to that with his own. They didn't hear Shashi excuse himself to meet a regular patron. They didn't realize their surroundings or that the two of them were alone stripped of their defenses and the social barriers.

It was as if the two of them were meant to be in that place and in that time.

Just…to be.

ME

More than arnav more yhan khushi I love sashi here. Your characterisation of him is the strongest I have read in any other stories