Khushi's POV
It has been such a long time that I am stuck in this lift with this guy. I don't know what to do? My purse which had my phone is with Payal who is busy shopping on the 5th floor and doesn't even know where I am. Urghhh!! It's all my fault.
I told her that I'm going to the shoe store on the 3rd floor and she can take her time in the jewellery store, and damn! I forgot my bag with her and came down.
And after coming down, finally my dumb brain realized that I could not shop without my bag and so I decided to go back to the fifth floor and get my bag from Payal.
But I choose the lift instead of the escalator because it was nearer to the place I was standing.
And Viola!! Here I am stuck in this stupid lift with an utterly quiet and irritating stranger from the past 15 minutes.
I don't have my phone, I have nothing and this guy... He is extremely boring!
First he was fiddling with his phone. Probably, tying to call somebody! But it seems like there is no network coverage here. And now, he is just staring at the door of the lift, saying nothing! He's weird!
He isn't doing anything and doesn't even bother to talk to me once. At least he could ask me if i am okay or not.
Yeah! I've seen in movies, the hero and the heroine get stuck in a lift and then the heroine gets scared, and the hero comforts her. Awww! Isn't that utterly cute?
But in my case, comforting was far away, this guy isn't even looking at me! Am I that unattractive?
Of course not! All the guys in college drool over me, but I never gave a damn!
But this guy! Umm.. He is kinda different... and he is handsome too!
Well why should I care? And why on earth am I staring at him? Uff! Let him go to hell! I don't care!
Well my legs are hurting now. Who knows how long it's gonna take for the lift to start? I think I should sit down at a corner.
~x~
Third Person's POV
Khushi pouted her lips while chewing the bubble gum and looked at the corner of the lift and sat there with her legs folded to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs. She was getting bored! Utterly bored!
What was she supposed to do now? She had anyways got an overdose of silence and it was a BIG, uhh correction, a very BIG and unusual thing for her to stay quiet for such a long time.
Enough!! So what if the guy doesn't initiate the conversation. She can! Maybe he'll then start taking interest in her. No no! Not in THAT way!
Khushi looked at Arnav from head to toe. Well he looked like a gentleman. Not like one of those psycho rapists! I don't need to get scared of him!
Well so she can talk to him. Khushi finally concluded.
At least it would be better that getting bored to death due to the screaming silence.
"Hey..."
He finally turned around and looked at the girl who was wearing a loose white top and a pair of black jeans. She had cuddled in a corner of the lift with a warm smile on her face.
"She's cute!", he thought in his mind.
His tall and lean figure was still standing in front of that petite girl who looked tinier in that position.
"Hello!", he said and tried to show he is not much interested.
"Umm..Well I am Khushi! And you?", she tried to speak again.
He looked at her with a shocked expression.
"You don't know who i am?", he asked.
Khushi scratched her head trying to think if she has ever seen him..
"Umm..i don't know u...Do u know me?", she asked.
He looked at her a bit surprised.
"No I don't know who u are..but..but u must be knowing who I am!", he replied.
Khushi burst the bubble and took back the gum into her mouth.
"I'm really sorry but.. I don't think know u!", she replied.
He got annoyed hearing that this stupid girl doesn't know him. The famous and mighty - Arnav Singh Raizada.
"Well.. So for your kind Information I am Arnav Singh Raizada", he said nonchalantly.
"Wowww!", Khushi exclaimed in an amused tone.
Finally she recognized me Arnav thought in his mind and his heart swelled up with pride.
"You have such a long name...it sounds really funny - 'Arnav Singh Raizada'", she mimicked in Arnav's tone.
Arnav gave her a what the' look not being able to understand if she had recognized him or not.
"You know what mister? Your name sounds like that of some king of the past... 'Maharaja Arnav Singh Raizada padhaar rahe hain'", she tried to make a manly voice and giggled at her own joke.
While Arnav continued to look at her with disbelief.
"This girl is actually making fun of me and my name. How dare she!", he thought.
Arnav cleared his throat which was actually a way to make Khushi look at him.
This was very unusual of Arnav to stay so calm all this time as he could never tolerate someone making fun of his name and till now that person would have been blown up by him!
"So you don't know me right?", he asked.
"I guess I just said that some time ago!", Khushi said sarcastically.
"And by listening to you I guess you have never heard of my name either!", he said.
Khushi nodded her head innocently while blowing a bubble again.
"Hmmm.. Interesting!", he said and walked to another corner of the lift and finally sat down on the floor.
Khushi popped the bubble again and took it back inside.
"What's interesting?", she asked.
"I.. i mean..so do u read magazines?", he asked.
Khushi suddenly got excited hearing that. "Yeah of course!", she squealed.
"And you still don't know who I am?", Arnav raised his eyebrow.
Khushi gave him a 'are u a tube light?' look.
"Okay... So do u read the business magazines...or newspapers?", he asked.
"Eeewww!! B-Magazine and newspaper?? Who reads them?? They are so damn boring...even more boring than the history books I had in school.", Khushi stuck her tongue out.
Arnav couldn't help but smirk at her silliness.
"You know.. my bauji, he reads those super pakaau(boring) newspapers and magazines...I don't know how he does that!", she said.
"Ohh..so u think they are boring. Well then what do u read miss...", he trailed off.
"Khushi!! Khushi Gupta..", she said with a sweet smile.
"Yeah so Miss Gupta.. Tell me what u read?", he asked.
Khushi looked up and pouted, "I really love reading Cosmopolitan..and Stardust..and..Vogue... Filmfare!"
"Typically Girly", Arnav sighed.
"And yeah! My favourite..Tinkle!", Khushi clapped her hand in excitement.
Arnav smiled hearing that as he went into his own childhood. He loved tinkle when he was a little boy! Arnav was lost in his own world thinking about those beautiful and innocent days of his life.
"Hey you!", Khushi clicked her fingers in front of his eyes and that's when he came back into the real world.
"Hey! What happened to you?", Khushi asked him furrowing her eyebrows.
"Umm.. Nothing.. I was.. just.. umm.. actually Tinkle used to be my favourite comic when i was a kid!", he said.
"And now?", Khushi asked in a confused tone.
"Now ?? Now I never get time for myself you know. Work pressure and all. Plus these comics..these are for kids, now I'm mature.. A grown up man!", he chided.
"Huhh really? Maturity is a word to hide the fact that you've become Booorring!", Khushi whispered to herself.
But she whispered too loudly and bit her lower lip when she realized that Arnav had heard what she said. Arnav gave her an angry glare and Khushi looked down trying to avoid his eyes.
There was silence for a moment.. but then again it was broken by Khushi.
"So...what do you do?", Khushi asked him trying to change the topic.
"Well I am the...", Arnav was about to tell her about himself , but the still not matured part of his heart stopped him from doing so.
He wanted to be Arnav with her and not The ASR, because he knew how people treat ASR...and he was feeling really nice as after a long time someone apart from his family was behaving so casually with him.
"Umm..nothing..nothing much...and you?", he asked to keep the information about himself minimum.
"Ohhh..so what are your plans next?", Arnav asked casually.
"I don't know... a good job first of all! And the best part is I'll be going for an interview tomorrow!", she said.
"Hmmm..", Arnav smiled.
"So where do u live..Khushi?", Arnav asked her taking the conversation further.
"I live in near Laxmi Nagar Khushi replied... and you?", she counter questioned.
Arnav looked down thinking what to say as he would get caught if he would tell her that he lives in Raizada Mansion.
"Umm..i...i live..."
But suddenly the lights in the lift went off. Khushi flinched as she was tremendously scared of the darkness.
"Are u okay Miss Khushi?", he asked in a concerned tone.
"Yeah..yeah I mean..i am scared of darkness.", she replied.
"Umm..Don't worry Khushi..I am there.", he said.
This one line magically calmed Khushi down.
Arnav slowly shifted towards Khushi who was sitting all cuddled to herself. After his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he figured out that Khushi's hand was kept on the floor. He lightly kept his hand on hers.
At first Khushi didn't react as she felt a bit awkward as Arnav was a total stranger whom she met just half an hour back. But her sixth sense told her that he had no bad intentions so she clutched his hand tightly letting her fear out. Slowly Khushi's fear totally went away. They both remained silent for some time.
After a few minutes, the lights of the lift came back. Khushi sighed in relief.
"Are u ok Khushi?", Arnav asked again.
Khushi smiled and nodded her head.
Arnav then moved his hand off her and shifted back to his own place in the corner. But as soon as he left her hand, they both felt like something was being taken away from them.
Arnav looked at the girl sitting in front of him, but she looked down trying not to meet his eyes.
"Thanks!", Khushi finally broke the silence and looked at him.
"For what?", Arnav asked in a confused tone.
"For comforting me when i was scared.", she said softly.
"No.. It's okay!", Arnav said with a warm smile.
Khushi extended her hand towards him. "Friends?", she asked cutely with a 1000 volts smile.
Arnav could have never denied this, so he smirked at her and shook his hands with her.
"Yeah.. Sure!", he replied.
Khushi was the first friend Arnav made in the last 10 years of his life. As Arnav grew up , he made his image of an 'Angry Young Man' in front of others so nobody was so casual and normal with him. All were scared of him.
But after a long time he got a chance to remove the Angry Young Man's mask off his face and behave like Arnav and not ASR. He felt as if he found himself back.
And it was all because of that one person - Khushi!
Arnav then realized that The girl he met just half an hour ago, had now made a permanent place in his heart. He smiled and was about to start talking when he suddenly felt a jerk and realized that the lift had started moving.
"Yayy!", he heard Khushi shout with joy.
Finally the lift started she exclaimed happily. But Arnav was not very happy with this. How he wished he could spend some more time with this girl..but...
Well Arnav was staring at the beauty in front of him and didn't notice when the lift stopped and its gate opened.
Suddenly his trance broke when he saw Khushi quickly getting out of the lift.
Arnav too got up and went got out of the lift. The manager of the mall was standing out there.
We are really for the inconvenience caused Mr.ASR!", the manager said in a low voice.
"Hmmm...its fine!", Arnav replied normally.
"Are u ok Mr.Raizada?", asked the manager.
"Yeah...", he politely nodded.
Arnav then walked towards Khushi who was still standing waiting for him.
"So we are finally out!", he said looking around.
"Yeah! Feeling much better in the open space!", Khushi smiled.
They looked into each other's eyes. They wanted to stay like that for some more time, but they had to leave.
"Well, I now have to go..", Arnav said pressing his lips.
"Yeah and I'll also have to find Payal. I'm sure she is still in the jewellery store. She takes hours to choose one thing!", Khushi giggled. Arnav too chuckled hearing that.
"So...", Khushi looked into his chocolate brown eyes again.
"I guess we should leave now!", Arnav said looking down.
"Well it was very nice to meet u Khushi...", he said with a smile.
"Same here!", Khushi said looking into his eyes.
"I hope we meet someday in future!", Khushi said in a dreamy tone.
"We surely will...", he said.
"And I'll make sure we do!", Arnav whispered to himself.
They both then turned back and were about to leave, when Arnav heard Khushi call his name again.
"Hey won't my new friend wish me luck for my interview tomorrow?", she asked with a pout.
Arnav smiled.. "Oh yeah! All the best Khushi! And don't worry, You'll surely get the job!", he said.
"I hope the AR guys say the same thing!", she replied.
"What???", Arnav almost chocked his breath. He asked to confirm if he heard right, "Which people?"
"The AR people! You've heard of them? AR designs, the multinational company!", she informed.
A smirk spread across Arnav's face.
"Well then Khushi, you are already in!", he replied.
"What??", Khushi asked confused with a question mark on her face.
"Uhh.. Leave it !! You'll understand it later on.. Bye!", he said.
"Okay then.. Bye!", she replied.
They both bid adieu to each other and went onto their respective destinations. Little did they know that their destination would ultimately be one?
Part - 2 😳
Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon
13