Khushi Kumari Gupta lay on a cold hospital bed with her torso upright against the soft pillow.She was seemingly comfortably seated,with her hands in her lap, but her body was tightly rigid, alert due to the man seated next to her.She studiously avoided his piercing gaze and steadily looked on forward to the large windows in front of her.
Arnav Singh Raizada stared intently on the woman right in front of him.It was time to give up, he had decided.He didn't want to fight with her, to compete with her,argue with her at every twist and turn.Especially when he had no energy to carry on, being weary of it all.Neither did he want to, he didn't care.His loneliness shone through between wondering what was right and wrong.Seven years had been wasted..he didn't want to do that again..
'We knew each other, in the past,didn't we?' He asked softly, absolutely sure that she would answer in the affirmative.There was no way she could deny it now,not after her responsive reactions to him and all that had happened.
'What are you talking about?'She answered back, her voice steady and utterly composed.Her face was a stone mask as she was so adept at putting on a show for the world..but her answer stopped the Raizada dead cold.She was unbelievable!
'Don't play stupid with me, it pisses me off.We were a couple years ago,weren't we? You and I.. we were together..like lovers.Tell me the truth.'Arnav demanded ferociously.He had had enough! No more could he part himself from her any longer.He wanted to the games to stop, but he needed to be met halfway.
'I sincerely don't know what you're talking about Mr.Raizada.I have lived in Lucknow all my life, and you just came here,didn't you?What nonsense are you asking me?' She answered back cooly as her hands fisted over the crisp blue bed sheet of the berth she lay in.Only her eyes were an indication of the inner tornado brewing within her as they flashed hotly.
'Don't lie to me!' Arnav raised his voice,absolutely outrage, but his aggressive words did nothing to shake the display of calm on Khushi's visage.
'Believe whatever you want,Mr.Raizada.It's none of my concern..but why would I lie to you? Wouldn't it benefit me only to tell you that we were together before?'She asked rationally and the continued on with a bitter,sarcastic twist to her lips.'.. ..that we were lovers. I mean look at me,and look at you.Don't you see the difference?Wouldn't a girl like me jump at the chance of proclaiming that I am your long lost girlfriend?'
Arnav knew that her words ,her rhetorical questions were all lies.Completely false and so cunningly deceptive.. but the Raizada had to applaud her for carefully worded argument.She was smartly using his carelessly flung words right back at him.Hadn't he been the one, accusing of throwing herself at any wealthy man left and right in sight for her benefit. Regret seeped into his being at the sudden reminder..but he needed the war to stop now.He couldn't play indifferent any longer,thus he ignored his already frothing anger and focused on what exactly he wanted desperately.
'You say we didn't know each other? Fine then.It doesn't matter.'He said trying to maintain the facade of peace..and then he carefully loosened Khushi's fist hands from the bed sheet,and warmly encased her soft hands in his calloused one's.It was a sweet gesture.'All that matters in the present.I don't want to think about the past.I know that I feel something for you, as I also know that you feel something for me..so from now on, be with me..always.'
His eyes were mournful and melancholic as he stared deep within his soul-mates eyes.He was begging for her approval,all hung upon on it. Though Khushi was shocked to say the least.At the change in his behavior, his swift mood swings and most of all his audacity.How could he ask her that?
'Are you insane? Thats not possible!' She exclaimed harshly, snatching her hand from his soft grasp as she watched then watched Arnav's gentle expression transform into the Raizada's volcanic temper.
Arnav rapidly grabbed her wrist mid-air in it's escape.Today everything would be settled, he would make sure of it. ' Why not?' He shouted at her. He was trying wasn't he, why couldn't she co operate?
'Becau-' She began, her voice too going up a notch,but was rudely interrupted by an unexpected appearance.
'She has a boyfriend.'A man finished Khushi's sentence for her, making the stunned heads of Arnav and Khushi swivel sharply towards the entrance door.Recognition coloured Khushi's expression as her sight in took the handsome man making his way inside her private ward, comfortable seating himself next to her on the bed, and then flinging his arms around her intimately.
'What happened Khushi, you know I care about you.Why didn't you tell me that you were in the hospital.' He asked anxiously.
His words and actions left an enraged Raizada in its wake, as his eyes flashed over dangerously.
To be continued...
330