Arhi FF: Humsafar. Chapter 18 up! - Page 2

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Chapter 8:

It was a normal day for the Malik and Ahmed families yet it was different in many ways. Zoya saw her daughter in law afar from the kitchen and felt her heart swell with pride instantly. There she was, making breakfast for everyone according to their preferences. In only one day she had handled everything so well. Yes, house help was there but except asking what everyone would like to have, she hadn't even bothered them even for a single thing. She was beautiful, there was no doubt in that. But it wasn't what made her like Khushi as her daughter in law. She had a heart of gold. She cared for everyone like her own family. She looked after Aaliya like her own child and respected her parents so much. She knew Arnav was smitten by this wonderful girl, it was all over his face but then who wouldn't be? After all she's a gem! Zoya went on to check on the dinner being prepared by her bahu. Stepping in the kitchen, she knew that they were going to be delicious as the aroma of the specialties of Lucknow hit her nostrils. Upon seeing her, Khushi smiled and asked:

"Aunty aapko kuch chahye tha?"

"Bus dekhne ayi thi ke khaana kab bane ga. Razia bi kahan hain beta?" Razia bi was the loyal housekeeper of Malik household since two generations. She had also looked after Arnav as her own child whenever they used to visit the farmhouse. She had gone to her village to meet a sick relative and had arrived back only yesterday night.

"Ji woh..."

"Hum toh yahan hain choti begum sahiba laikin aapki dulhan toh humen kisi kaam ko haath hi nahin lagane detin. Ab karen bhi tou kya?" A lady in her mid-50's said entering the kitchen with a grumpy expression wearing a bright colored shalwar kameez with pom poms hanging on her sides. One thing she loved was the bright colors.

"Karne dijiye Razia bi, haq banta hai humari bahu ka. Is ghar pe bhi aur is ghar ke logon pe bhi." Zoya said making Khushi look at her with gratitude on accepting her as the member of the family so soon and Zoya in return caressed her hair lovingly like a mother.

"Qurban jaon! Waise begum sahiba dulhan toh MashAllah chaand ka tukra layi hain. Woh kya kehe hain angreji main? Bery Bootiful." Razia bi exclaimed in her broken English and the two couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Now who's staring?" Arnav asked his dad when he caught him looking towards the kitchen warmly with a content smile on his face.

"Emotional scene hai yaar. Disturb na kar." He shrugged off his son's hands off his shoulders and went back to what he was doing. Arnav frowned at the lack of retort from his father and gently nudging him aside to see what was going on, asked: "Acha aisa kya...?"

"Speechless?"

"Indeed."

*************

"Kya baat hai Razia bi? Itna mazeydaar khaana? Ungliyan chaatne ka dil kar raha hai. " Imran asked licking his fingers relishing in the taste of the delightful dinner he had.

"Ji Razia bi. The food's delicious! Aur yeh badaam kheer toh best hai." He said eating another bowl of kheer. Never had food tasted so good, except when his mother cooked but that was very less often these days.

"Woh is liye chote sahib ke khana aaj choti dulhan ne banaya hai."

He looked up at Khushi surprised and found her looking at him with curious eyes which she soon averted due to her shyness. So today his wife had cooked the food. No doubt it tasted wonderful, he thought.

***********************

"Come to the terrace when you're free." Khushi heard Arnav softly asking her in an authoritative tone while she was cleaning the dining table. She slowly nodded and then when everybody went to their rooms to sleep, she climbed up the stairs of the terrace with her heart thudding in anticipation.

"Aapko koi kaam tha?" Arnav turned behind and looked at his wife. Smiling at her, he crossed his arms at his chest and asked: "Mujhe koi kaam ho ga toh hi tumhen bulaon ga?" And when she was about to apologize, he added: "Khushi. Relax! I wanted to spend some time with you that's why." And an amused smile crept up on his lips seeing her blush so prettily.

"Khaana bohat mazey ka tha."

"Thank you."

His phone rung and apologetically looking towards her, he asked: "Can I take this? It's important." It was only after seeing her nod in affirmative, he took the call and went on the other side of the terrace leaving Khushi alone with her thoughts. She was glad that she was married in this family, seeing the love they were showering upon her. Imran uncle had gifted her some money on making such tasty food and though she had again and again denied, he had kept the money in her hands and patting her head ever so gently told her that it was her right as a daughter. How easily they had accepted her as a part of the family. Everyone was making efforts to make her as much comfortable as possible and she would be lying if she said that she wasn't loving it. It would be true to say that she had been never given so much importance in her entire life and now suddenly it seemed like it was a dream. Her musings were broken by the deep husky voice which gave her Goosebumps.

"I'm so sorry. Work, you know."

"You always wanted to be an architect?"

"Yeah. Buildings, constructions, these things interest me. What did you wanted? Business minded from the start or something else?"

"I was into arts but abu thought business was much better."

"Painting?"

"Everything. Even interior designing. Colors, decorations, organizing things, drawing, crafts. I love doing it all. It just makes me happy." She exclaimed happily.

"So you have an artistic streak in you? Remind me the next time when we renovate our house. You have to do it." She didn't miss the mention of our' and tried to normalize her heartbeats. This family was making sure to feel her welcome her.

"But I don't know how to."

"I'm sure you do. If you have so much interest in these things then you must be good in it. I still don't get it why would you not choose something that you love?"

"Everyone said that it's a waste of time and I didn't have a future in it."

"Log toh kuch bhi kehte hain. Hamesha apni sunni chahye. You still have time to make a career out of it. One year course and boom you are an artist."

"Abu wouldn't allow it especially now that I'm married." Their conversation was going on when he realized something. Khushi thought that he expected her to sit back at home and do household chores. He looked at her again and his heart went out to this girl. Sadness clouded her face and she was trying her best not to show it with a fake smile but Arnav knew her better. Her expressive eyes gave her away, and at the moment she was refusing to meet his eyes. There was something in the way she said that her dad wouldn't allow it, he figured out what the problem was. Her parents didn't allow her to work and she wanted to. He had heard that she had topped in her university and such an intelligent girl like would like to let her education go down the drain like this? Why were our societies gender biased? It was people like those because of which talented girls were married off and were taking care of 10 children. He took a deep breath and held her hands which rested on the railing and started explaining:

"Hey! Khushi. I want you to know one thing. Never ever think that you can't do something of your own choice just because you're married. In fact I would love it if you tell me what you want to do. I'll try my best to give you that."

"Would you like it if I work?" She asked in a meek voice.

"Why wouldn't I? You haven't studied hard just to sit at home after marriage, have you? And I wouldn't like it if I am gone for my work and you sitting idle at home. You have your own life too." Khushi looked up surprised at the man in front of her. What was he made of? How can he be so understanding? One moment she couldn't believe her luck but she knew all this was real. She didn't know what made her say all those things to him which she had never ever told anyone, not even Aaliya. But she knew that she wanted to share it with him.

"Aunty and uncle?" She asked with apprehension written all over her face.

"They wouldn't mind at all. Even ammi used to work after marriage but she left few years ago because of health issues so no problems here. Look I've just told you that you shouldn't care about what others think. The question here is what do YOU want to do?" Arnav asked stressing on the you' and in an instant, Khushi looked up at him, took a deep breath and spoke: "I want to work."

"Go ahead then. Make me proud." He said squeezing her hands gently to show her that he was happy with her decision and left while she couldn't help but mouth a Thank you.

"No big deal. Biwi ho tum meri, toh itna toh chalta hai." He winked at her and this was the first time, she looked into his eyes and smiled, the smile which told him that she had accepted him as her life partner.

lovely!❤️ read all 8 parts in one go! update soon...😊

Amazing . Just finished all 7 updates. Khushi is raised in a reserved family and Arnav's family is very open minded. I so like this Arnav's family. It's very girls dream to get married in to such family and an understanding and supportive husband to have. I hope Khushi would get all the happiness she deserves.

amazing story please continue soon!😊

I love your arnav and your back to back update please continue soon:-)

plz update soon nd do pm me. luvd al d chaps.

thanks shruti.. fr the recommendation...

Chapter 9:

Everyone had retired for the night and Khushi and Aaliya were having their yet another long night chats in the courtyard sitting on the grass when Aaliya, out of nowhere, said, "You guys need to work on your staring. Your eye locks are very obvious, you know?"

"WHAT!?" Khushi jumped up from her seat and stared at her younger sister, shocked and quickly hid her face lest she sees her going all red.

"What, what? All the time when you were making food, serving food, talking to aunty, listening to uncle, helping ammi with tea and many more incidences, you both only had eyes for each other."

"Aaliya! We did no such thing!" Khushi exclaimed wishing that there was some way she leaves this topic but alas.

"Kya aapi? Mujhe dikhayi deta hai."

"I don't know what you are talking about!"

"Arrey! Toh phir wo muskraana, laal ho jana, gun gunana kis ke lie hai?" Aaliya teased her aapi enjoying the predicament and asked, smirking at her.

"Bohat bolne lagi ho tum! Jao ja ke so jao!"

"Main toh so jaon gi, laikin aap neeche jaldi ajana. Yeh na ho Arnav bhai aur aapki baaten khatam hone main subah ho jaye." She was about to nod absentmindedly, anything to make her go away but then the meaing of her statement became clearer to her, she looked at Aaliya through narrow eyes. How did this little devil know that she met Arnav daily?

"Aaliya ki bachi. Ther toh ja!" Saying this, Khushi started chasing Aaliya who was now busy in running all over the courtyard to save herself and was about to open the door when it opened itself and the man in question came. Khushi halted seeing Arnav watching them with an amused smile and raised eyebrows while Aaliya ran down the stairs, giggling and saying: "Enjoy both of you."

They stood there for few seconds gazing into each other's eyes when Khushi broke the spell and said: "Wo aaliya..." and was about to apologize for Aaliya's behavior when Arnav cut her off: "At least she gives me chances to meet you."

Looking at Khushi's surprised face and her mouth which had turned into adorable O's, he explained further: "Yeah she told me you guys would be here and how she didn't want to be a kabab main haddi."

So she had been planning all this behind her back. Subah dekh loon gi, she thought in her mind and turned to see Arnav watching her intently. Questioningly she looked into his eyes and asked what he was looking at to which he shook his head and motioned her to sit beside him on the grass talking about how their days went. They were enjoying the cool breeze kissing their faces and Khushi asked:

"Aunty bata rahi thi ke aap ko kal jaana hai?"

"Haan woh office ka kuch kaam hai. I'll stay for the day and probably return late at night." And as an afterthought added: "Kyun? Miss karogi?" Khushi looked up at him stunned, unable to make any sound and met his mischievous eyes. Realizing that he was teasing her, she looked the other way but not before letting him see the smile that had erupted on her lips. Arnav held her hand and which was fiddling with the end of the dupatta and drew soothing circles with the pad of his thumb on the back of her hand and whispered coming close to her ear: "Too bad. Kyun ke main toh karon ga."

His confession had made her heart go at a wilder speed if possible and her breath hitched when he took her hand near his mouth and with a feather light touch brushed his lips across her knuckles. Her eyes widened and she gulped at their proximity but strangely, she liked it. His touch was soothing, though it made her heart want jump out of her chest but at the same time it felt so right that she couldn't help but look at his face, this time more confidently.