#2 Arshi SS: The Last Place On Earth Ch 11 pg100 7/22 *Completed* - Page 13

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Chaper 7 - Watching the Grey Clouds Go By

The yellow lighting in the one-room library which the Officers' lodges provided flickered for the fifth time, and Khushi finally decided it was time for her to leave. The sun had almost set in the horizon and the flickering light was a constant distraction. Deciding to do some candlelight reading later, she walked up to the librarian, a short old man who had come to become her friend, and handed him the two books she had selected on borrowing for the day.

Days of constant rain had made her stay within the fenced boundaries of the Officers' lodges and even the beautiful view of the greens valley and the blue skies with the occasional greys, which the location provided at all times of the day couldn't keep her away from thinking all the ugly stuff and possibilities that could be. Since being frustrated was not exactly an option on their limited stay at the Corbett, she finally decided to use the small library facility available at the lodge. Having found a small, but a rather good collection of books she might need for their research, she began visiting the library and spent most of her day time there.

Collecting the books, Khushi had just unzipped her bag pack to stuff them in when she heard footsteps behind her and it didn't take long for her to recognize who it belonged to. Cursing her racing heart, she turned around and said the first thing which came to her lips. "What's up?"

If she expected Arnav to look surprised at seeing her, he didn't look the least bit so. Instead, narrowing his eyes in a relaxed manner, he said, "Well, you tell me, what is up with you? It seems like you've been reading a lot. What is it that you're planning to read now, How to be a cute little detective?" he said taking one of the books from her hand to have a look.

Keeping a check on her anger, she was quick to snatch the book back from him. "No, actually it's How to stay away from assholes." She said and then proceeded to stalk out of the library.

Catching up with her in no time, he held her by her elbow lightly to make her stop. She had to halt. "You're already doing a very good job at it."

"Well, clearly not." She said as she withdrew her arm from his grip. "I just ran into you, did I not?"

Arnav sighed. "Khushi, listen... I'm sorry."

"Sorry for being a jerk by the end of our little trip to the falls or sorry for what happened years ago or - "

"Both." He was quick to add just as Khushi finished what she had meant to say,

" - or sorry for the kiss?"

"Sorry for the kiss?" Arnav asked seeming a little taken aback, and then with an amused expression he said, "Absolutely not. Besides, I clearly remember you kissing me back."

Khushi looked away in embarrassment and said, "Look..."

"You know, it's hard to avoid people when there are only a handful of people around you?"

"I am not avoiding you!" she stressed, because, really, she wasn't. It was the truth. Jungles were huge. They were deep and dark, you could manage to get lost in it, but apparently it was quite hard to avoid people. More or less, there were only twenty five people in the ten kilometer radius. About twelve of them were her neighbours. And the one in question lived right next to her! After days of trying to avoid him since the day she had arrived and yet bumping into him again and again, she finally decided there was of no use whatsoever. So it wasn't exactly her doing that it had rained all the mornings and the afternoons since past three days and she spent her time in the library, and that she had her dinner at the earliest possible time with joy and sometimes with Aman joining them, discussing their plan of work if it continued to rain like that for the rest of the monsoon.

Coming to think of it, she wasn't making any special efforts to avoid him at all. It was he who had been missing from the scene since the day at the falls and hadn't exactly made any efforts to see to her, or being seen to her, for that matter.

"Well, let's have tea then." Arnav said and clearly caught her off-guard.

"What?"

"I said let's have tea. It's a perfectly fine evening and even though it's still drizzling, it not as bad as the morning. We can sit by that shade." He said pointing towards a cosy looking concrete area with a hut-like roof, overlooking the river. It seemed like a perfect spot for a relaxing evening. It seemed perfectly romantic too.

"I'm not sure - "

"Oh, come on, Khushi." he said, "The cook is even frying up some onion pakore this evening. You cannot possibly reject the offer."

She totally could reject his offer. In fact, she was going to. But one look at his face, and all she could say was, "Okay, fine!"

And then he smiled and she almost forgot all that had happened in the past and all that she had been thinking about since the day at the falls.

"Perfect" he said. "Now wait here while I do what I actually got here for, that is, to return this book." He said referring to the book in his hand.

"And what book would that be? How to get a girl to drink tea with you?"

He grinned. "Nope. Actually it's How to lure a girl into a date with the help of Onion Pakore."

*****

Finding Khushi perched on the bench he made his way towards the shade and already found a tray of tea and pakore waiting there. She looked up then and smiled, the wind making her short her stick out at awkward angles. Her smile was little too formal and didn't reach her eyes at all, the way it usually did. Why was still she holding back?

Knowing she would rather need space, he made himself sit at a bench opposite to hers. If he were to go by her expression, she seemed impressed at his decision as without a doubt, she had expected him to take a seat right next to her. He almost wanted to pat himself for the right move.

"So..um...how do you like your tea?" she asked breaking the silence.

"No milk. And half a spoon sugar." He said and saw her raising an eyebrow at that.

"Really? Half a spoon?

He shrugged and she got to work. "Why how do you prefer yours? Still the adrak wali chai types?"

"Forever the adrak wali chai types." She said with a smug look. "But when unavailable, then no milk and one spoon of sugar."

Exactly why they were sitting there and discussing their tea habits was beyond him. But he liked it. This moment, sitting with her chatting about how much milk and sugar they preferred. He felt relaxed, which is something he hadn't felt for days. And probably wouldn't in the near future, knowing well the situation he was in.

But it hadn't even been more than five minutes of this blissful moment, when Arnav saw Shyam and Joy walking towards them. Cursing under his breath, he got up to greet them.

"Evening, sir" said Arnav extending his arm towards Shyam, and then towards Joy. "Joy, to you too."

"Evening, Arnav, Khushi." Shyam said and then turning to Khushi, he added, "Arnav, I see you're enjoying the company of a beautiful lady alone. What harm did we commit to not get invited to this party?"

Khushi smiled uncomfortably before saying, "Why, no harm at all. Do join us." She quickly rose to her feet and shifted to the bench Arnav was seated on, no doubt, to avoid sharing a seat with Shyam.

He pressed his lips to stop himself from smiling. "Yes, do join us. Wait let me go and order for some more tea and pakore."

Ten minutes later they were all sitting under the shade, with cups of tea and a huge plate of onion pakore.

"Joy here wanted permission for the North- west areas of the forest." Shyam casually said to Arnav. "These two apparently want to work on moss."

"Lichens," Joy corrected, "Particularly the ones growing on teak of that area. And we were actually thinking of setting a little site lab there." He added, "Just for a few days for some general on-site testing."

Next to Arnav, Khushi almost jumped in excitement, "Oh, don't tell me that we can finally go there!"

"Well, the weather forecast says the sky would be clear for the most part of the day. It might rain at night though." Shyam said sipping on his tea, "So we finally decided on making arrangements for Joy and you."

"That's perfect." Khushi replied. "Seriously, thank - "

"The roads are in a pathetic condition." Arnav said feeling the intense need to say something and put an end to this plan.

"We are getting our guys to clean the path early in the morning tomorrow." Shyam said to Arnav. "Besides, they aren't in that bad a condition. I'll send someone with them. They'll manage."

"Yeah, Arnav, we'll manage. As long as it doesn't rain, we should be good, I think." Joy added.

"And what if it rains?" Arnav asked completely aware that woman sitting beside him was quite unhappy about his argument. But it couldn't be helped. "You'd be stuck there."

"We have worked in Kaziranga during the bad part of the monsoon. Don't tell us how it works." It was Khushi who had spoken up this time.

"Khushi - " Joy voiced and then silently asked her with his eyes to keep it down. It worked.

"Well, this isn't Kaziranga." Arnav said slightly turning towards her. He didn't wish for the evening to take this turn. But there it was, all ruined. Once again.

"Arnav, keep it easy boy." Shyam said, "They'd be okay. You or Aman could drive them there and make sure they're safe. In fact, I was thinking, why don't you take them since you've been the one helping them out with their research? I've marked the exact location on the map. I'll send it over it to you."

"Actually, Aman has been a great help too." Khushi interjected throwing a glance at Arnav before shifting her gaze back to Shyam.

"I'll take them." Arnav quickly said and then turning to Khushi, he added, "Only if the weather seems okay tomorrow."

*****

The weather forecast turned out to be wrong.

Well, not completely, Khushi decided looking at the light drizzling. Yes, the sun wasn't shining as brightly as predicted, but the clouds didn't seem too grey. Besides, it was too early to say anything. Hoping for the best, she was up, about and done packing all the stuff she would need for the day.

In her head, the plan was on. She was in the process of tying her shoe laces when Joy walked up to her. Seeing him still in his night clothes, she was about to question when she noticed his apologetic expression. "The plan's called off." He finally said.

"What?" she said coming to her feet. "Why?"

Joy looked up at the sky. "You can blame the weather."

"But it's just drizzling." Khushi argued, "We can still go right? And probably work till lunch or something?"

"We probably could but Arnav just called me to inform that we couldn't. I knew it was coming when I woke up to this weather. I'm surprised you're already ready to go."

"I know exactly who to blame here."

"Khushi," Joy said in a calm voice, as he made himself sit on the wooden staircase, "I know it's personal, but what is it with you and Arnav?"

Khushi sighed. "He used to be my senior in college."

"I see." He said. She knew he wanted to ask further questions. But she was thankful that he didn't.

"Where is he now, do you know?" Khushi asked.

Joy shrugged in reply. "I don't know, must be in his room, I suppose."

When Khushi reached his door, she found it locked. Searching for some good ten minutes, she found him on the back lane of their cottages, standing in a muddy, grassy surface, loading some bags into his jeep. He was already in his uniform and seemed like he was preparing to leave for somewhere.

Familiar kinds of doubts which she had been dealing with since past few days rose within her again and she stopped in her tracks. She didn't want to be seen. Not just yet. She wanted to buy some time to think. It was seven in the morning, and he had just rejected to take them. Where could he be going alone? At this time?

As her heartbeats raced, both with being near him, and with the fear and guilt of thinking about the possibilities, she couldn't help but stride towards him.

"Where are you going?" she asked and saw Arnav go still for a moment. A moment later she saw him turn towards her. He had the same relaxed expression on his face and it infuriated her further. How could he look so relaxed when so much was going on her head?

"For duty." He said shrugging.

"So early? Aman tells me your duty doesn't start until nine."

"Aman tells you a lot of things these days, I've noticed. Don't go on believing everything." He said and then turning his back to her again, loaded the rest of the stuff.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That means we're always on duty." He said leaning against his jeep. "Now, goodbye to you - "

"Don't try to sound like a hero." Khushi said, her anger rising, "'Cause you're clearly not." He narrowed his eyes but didn't say anything. "And answer my question."

He sighed. "I answered your question, Khushi. I'm going for my duty. Why are you acting this way?"

"Why aren't you taking us where you were asked to?" she asked impatiently.

Wiping the tiny drizzle droplets off his forehead, he placed his cap over his head just as he said, "I told you I'd only take you guys if weather is good. And it's still raining. We can probably go tomorrow, let's see."

"It's hardly raining." Khushi stated the obvious. "Even my shoes aren't wet yet. You don't call this rain!"

"Sometimes I wonder how exactly Joy handles you when you keep acting like this kid who constantly cries for lollipop."

And that little lollipop comment acted at the last straw as Khushi took another step forward, planted both hands against his chest and shoved him hard, the impact making him take a few steps back.

Recovering his balance, he just stared at her for a good second before she was grabbed by her arms and pulled close, very, very close to him. "What the f**k was that?" he whispered harshly, his breath fanning her face and anger evident in his eyes.

"Exactly what you deserved." She said staring back at him. She should have been scared. She didn't remember him being this angry. Ever. But she was anything but scared. She had her own anger to deal with. And other feelings.

Something changed in his eyes and his hold relaxed. Shifting his hands from her arms to her waist, he softly asked, "Tell me what is going on in your head?"

Currently a lot of things, she thought - how his lips were just inches away, and that she wanted to kiss him; how she had too many questions to ask him, and that he wasn't ready to answer any of them; and how she truly hoped...prayed that he wasn't involved in any of the ongoing illegal activities, and that he wasn't doing anything to prove her doubt wrong.

But she didn't tell any of it to him. Instead she removed his hand from her waist, created some distance for her sanity, and said,

"You tell me, what it's in your head? I'm not the one hiding things."

He looked away. "Not everything is supposed to be said to anybody and everybody." And, saying that, he opened the door to his jeep and climbed in.

Khushi snorted. "I should have insisted on Aman taking us there." She said and just because she wanted to hurt him, she added, "At least he's not known for breaking promises."

Arnav, who had been busy with starting the engine stilled for a moment before turning towards her and saying, "Perhaps you should have." And then, as Khushi stood there, he drove off.

*****

Three hours. It had been three hours since she had climbed into her bed in hopes of a few hours of sleep. The trick was to go to sleep before the power went off and with it, the sleep. It had become a routine now. Almost every midnight the AC and the fan would stop working and she would just lay there staring at the ceiling fan thinking about things she didn't want to think about, her feet wanting nothing but to walk up to the window and catch a glimpse of him sitting on the porch, or on the bonnet of his car.

Deciding on a plan that she would have to sleep early in order to avoid and hopefully not even notice the gruesome time in her sleep, she planned on starting this new trick tonight, but destiny had other plans.

As again her thoughts went back to the coincidences which landed Arnav on the wrong side of the line of action, she couldn't help but finally get up and walk up to the window. Peeking through it, she saw no signs of him. Just like the last three nights. At least the sky seemed clear, she thought as made her way back to her bed.

Sighing she sat on the edge of her bed. How was she going to live like this, with shit loads of doubts in her head and no one to clear them? She had been almost tempted to spill out her thoughts to Joy at dinner, but remembering how he discouraged this conversation she held her tongue at the last minute. And now it was killing her.

Remembering how passionate Arnav had been about this subject, it made her guilty to even think of placing a doubt on him. While at the same time, it infuriated her thinking if he indeed was involved?

Not being able to take silence of the night and violence of her internal war anymore, she decided to put an end to this once and for all, for better or for worse. Putting on her slippers, she headed out of her door and walked straight up to his.

He answered the door after about three rounds of knocks. When he opened the door, she found him standing covered only in his boxers and under-vest and had to try hard not to react to it.

When his initial shocked of finding her standing at his doorstep faded, he asked, "Is something wrong?" and stepped out the door to take a look around. She almost felt stupid standing there shaking her head.

"Then?" he asked with a confused expression.

"I wanted to talk to you."

"Are you off your head, Khushi Gupta?" he said, taking her hand and pulling her in. "It's almost one in the morning. What could you possibly want to talk about right now?"

"I know, but, I just - " she said taking in the surroundings. It was a dark, cosy, closed room with a flickering candle, and there was a bed. And there a man, and there was a woman. And her night shorts were too short.

Sensing her trouble, he said, "No we are not going outside to talk. It would mean using hushed tones and I'm sure you must have noticed exactly how hard we find it to do, especially when around each other. And I'm not interested in alerting the animals. Or humans, for that matter." Nodding in understanding, she made her way towards the only source of light in room - the burning candle kept on the table, and sat on the wooden chair. Arnav quickly came by her side to put a few pages lying on the table into a folder muttering, "The table's been a mess since days."

Khushi wasn't born yesterday. And she certainly wasn't stupid. It was obvious and quite apparent that he wanted to hide those papers from her. Or it could just be her wild imagination.

"What are those papers about?" She asked before she could stop herself from being so blunt about it.

Arnav narrowed his eyes at her before returning to task just as saying, "Work related."

"You can't get away with everything saying that."

"Excuse me?" he said now keeping the file at the edge of the table and turning his attention to her.

She suddenly found herself at loss of words. Why was she here anyway? Swallowing hard, she looked up at him and asked, "Why do you keep hiding information from Shyam and Aman?"

"Is this what you wanted to talk to me about? Right now?" he asked, as if he had been expecting it to be something altogether different.

She ignored his look of disappointed. "Why were you so against the idea of us going to the north-west? Actually, let me rephrase that, why were you so against the idea of us being at the Corbett in the first place?"

She gave him a few seconds to answer her questions. She waited. But he just stood there unnervingly quiet, looking at her through narrowed, unreadable eyes.

"Shyam told me you were missing from the checkpoint you were supposed to be at yesterday morning. Where were you Arnav? You told me you were going for your duty!" she almost cried. Up until now, she hadn't realized exactly how important it was for her to hear the answers to these questions from him. But now, standing there in front of him, on verge of angry tears, Khushi had almost given up hope on his answers when he said,

"What are you trying to get at?"

His voice was so distant and so chilling that it almost sent a shiver down her body. She took a step up closer to him and almost shouted her words, "Why can't you just answer the damn questions?"

He stared down at her for a couple of seconds before his being became more unreachable and he took a step back. And then another. "You are pointing a finger at me, aren't you?"

"No." she said realizing the horror of her acquisition. "That's not what I'm doing." The guilt gnawed at her. That's exactly what she had been doing.

He chucked then. Almost bitterly. "Aah. Well, I should have expected this." He said and her heart almost broke.

She took a step another step forward. "Listen. That's not what I meant. I just... why can't you just answer my - "

He raised his finger as if to stop her from taking another step towards him. "You shouldn't be here."

In all this, she hadn't anticipated his reaction at all. He was hurt. Deeply. And she was the reason. Tears of frustration clouded her sight. "Arnav - "

"Khushi, go to your room. It's past one in the morning." He said in the same distant voice again which he had used all those years, in their parting phone conversation.

"Arnav, please. I didn't mean to imply that. It's just that you were - "

"Khushi, please!" he said as he looked out of the window of his room, clearly dismissing her.

Wiping the tear which had managed to escape, Khushi took one look at him and headed out. "I'm sorry" she said before shutting the door behind her.

*****

She woke up to the light thudding on her wooden door and her name being called out. "Madam? Khushi madam?" Getting off the bed, she could almost hear her tired bones screaming at her to go back to bed and complete her sleep which she was only able to get at wee hours in the morning.

She opened the door to find the friendly helper smiling at her apologetically. "Good morning, Khushi madam sorry to be waking you up like this. I was asked to get you tea and breakfast."

Taking the tray from him, she said, "Thank you, Rakesh kaka, but why this special treatment for me today? I would have come there myself."

"Joy sir has asked you to get ready in half an hour. He thought you aren't up yet so he sent me here."

"In half an hour? Why?"

"It's not been raining since last night so Arnav sir thought that today would be a good day for the tour."

Khushi held on to the cold, metal door handle. "Arnav sir said that? He's taking us there??"

Rakesh kaka looked a little at a loss words before saying, "Uh-huh, actually Arnav sir has some other work due to which he wouldn't be able to take you there." As Khushi's stomach did several uncomfortable backflips and her heart weighed down, he added,

"So he has asked Aman sir to accompany you. Now he's the one who would take you there."

*****

Hello lovelies!

As I post chapter 7, my second one for this collab, I feel really proud, loved and just lucky to be a part of it. Thanks for the support and love, we really appreciate it.

Hoping that this chapter is liked just like the previous ones and that I've lived up to the expectations. :)

Once again, thank you all for the wonderful response.

Lots of Love,

Ananya