Ishq Bulaava ||An ArHi SS||[#2] Chap10(b)-Pg10 (28/03) - Page 5

Chapter-Ten (b)

"Welcome Mr. and Mrs. Raizada!"

The Atlanta Beach Resort Hotel Manager gave an extremely warm welcome to the couple, who reached at their destination after a tiring journey. While Arnav had a little conversation with him, Khushi observed the receptionist keenly looking at her husband and having a cuddly smile on her face, as if he were a symbol of perfection. A part of her was proud to be known as Mrs. Raizada, seeing the immense respect Arnav received, but at the same time she envied those eyes which looked at her husband.

"Umm...I'm a little tired... Can we go to our room please?"

Khushi requested to him in an innocent tone which was obviously out of jealousy, yet she felt hesitant to accept the fact. Arnav obliged to her and taking the room keys from the receptionist, the couple went towards the elevator.

"This is such a romantic setting!"

Khushi thought joyfully, when she stepped into the room along with Arnav and looked around at each thing carefully. As it was labeled outside, the honeymoon suite had an extra-ordinary decoration, seeing which both passed nervous smiles to each other and moved in.

The worker left them alone after placing their luggage safely, while Arnav still remained silent. However, Khushi passed a little smile to him, trying to avoid the awkwardness between them.

"Arnav... Shall I freshen up? I mean... if you want to go first then..."

"No, it's fine. You freshen up first, till then I'll make a call to Dad."

***

Feeling relaxed after taking a shower, Khushi comfortably settled herself on the bed, reading the menu card of hotel, when Arnav came out from washroom after freshening up, and stood in front of the mirror while rubbing the towel vigorously against his wet hairs.

"Arnav is it okay if we order..."

Khushi could barely finish her question when she looked at him, as she saw him for the first time ever dressed casually with a white shirt, which was tugged out of his dark blue jeans, giving him a smart appeal. Well, he always did look good, but today was something different...Or maybe it was Khushi, who noticed him so carefully, being fascinated by his casual attire!

"Khushi?" He called a little louder, seeing her silent for few moments, "What happened?"

"Umm... Nothing." Khushi lowered her eyes, feeling slightly embarrassed at the moment, and quickly changed the topic, "I was asking if you're okay with dal makhni and mixed veggie in lunch?"

"Aren't we supposed to go out for lunch?"

"I wish to, but... I need some rest...I think we should have our lunch here... We can go out somewhere in the evening." She smiled a little, "But if you want then we can go..."

"No, it's okay. Actually... Even I wished to take some rest...So its done then, we'll rest for sometime after lunch and then go for an outing..."

"Great then!"

"But dal makhni and mixed veggie? Won't it become a heavy lunch?"

"Arnav, we normally take heavy lunch!"

"I don't think so, at least by looking at you!"

Arnav exclaimed a bit amusingly, scanning her petite figure while she was startled at his remark. He took the menu card from Khushi and settled himself beside her, discussing about the other dishes. They finally decided to go with regular lunch that they used to have at home, following which the room service sent their order about twenty minutes later.

"Dal makhni?" Khushi almost screamed joyfully, when she saw a small bowl of her favorite dish while arranging the meal, "But... I didn't hear you ordering for this?"

"I wasn't even planning to order it... Till I saw your sulking expressions!" He replied candidly, "You like it?"

"Yes! It's one of my favorite dishes. Thank you so much, Arnav!"

He smiled affectionately when she thanked him, not himself realizing why he felt so happy on seeing her smile. Khushi happily began with her lunch after serving both, as each moment made her familiar with her husband's caring side. She was only aware of his typical businessman behavior, but these sweet little gestures were persuading her to change her mindset towards him.

***

Though not with hands in hands, but they took steps together while walking on the Candolim Beach, being barefooted. The couple went there on Khushi's persuasion as she believed that their trip to Goa would be incomplete if they didn't spend some quality time on beach.

"Arnav, shall I ask you something?"

"Yes!"

"Why don't you often dress casually?" She asked eagerly, as they found a proper place to sit & relax, "I mean I've always seen you in your three piece suit or night clothes..."

"It's because I believe that casuals won't give me the smart look which my business suit can."

"But I don't think so."

"Excuse me?"

"Uff... Can't you even understand that I'm complimenting you?" She exclaimed out of slight irritation, "You look good in casuals too."

"Seriously?" Arnav looked surprisingly at her, "I don't even remember when I wore casuals last time..."

"Then what made you wear it in this trip?" Khushi smiled.

"We're on a holiday... So you can't expect me to be roaming around in Goa wearing a three piece suit!"

"Then I wish we could stay here for a longer time!"

She muttered to herself, as she found it difficult to take her eyes off him, still Khushi tried not to let him know that she was too appealed by his look, and immediately changed the topic when she observed Arnav becoming suspicious of her remarks.

***

"Just a last thing, Arnav... Payal's birthday falls in the next month... So I'm thinking to buy some gift for her."

"Okay!"

Arnav obliged to her request as they decided to spend a day of this trip in checking out the markets of place. It was a couple of hours since Khushi roamed around from one shop to other, making her husband realize that she was a shopaholic too!

"You haven't purchased anything for yourself?" He asked in a concerned tone, observing that their shopping bags had something for each family member but her.

"I already have a lot of things... And our wedding gifts... Those are still kept unused."

"Still, you know... women generally love shopping for themselves... And for the first time I'm seeing someone like you who has purchased too many stuffs but none of them is for her use!"

"I wish to buy something for myself too... But everything here is so nice that I'm unable to choose one."

She replied to him with a faint smile, as she got the gift wrapped for Payal and they moved forward. Walking a few steps, Arnav stopped in front of a cloth house, carefully scanning a red colored saree through the glass door.

"I think you should buy this for yourself."

"Saree?" Khushi looked at the dummy where he pointed, having the same saree draped around itself.

"Yeah... You wear sarees right?"

"Yes I do but... This one won't look good on me."

"Oh come on, I'm saying this will look good on you... Infact this will appear more beautiful on you... Your complexion is fair enough for this saree!"

Khushi stared at him dumbfounded, as he finished speaking, and awhile later when he realized about his indirect way of praising her, he instantly looked away, making his way into the shop. She pouted sulkily when Arnav abruptly stopped speaking, but somewhere she was even ecstatic that if not directly then he complimented her in his own unusual way!

***

Even now when they stayed at hotel, Khushi preferred sleeping on the large sofa, humorously claiming that it had a very soft & smooth fabric as compared to the bed. No matter how indifferent he pretended to be in front of her, being too respectful towards women Arnav couldn't stand the fact that his wife slept on sofa and persuaded him to sleep comfortably on the bed.

"What's wrong Khushi? Aren't you feeling well?"

"I am fine... Actually..."

"What? Is there any problem?"

Arnav asked in a concerned tone, when he observed his wife anxiously turning from one side to other, not being able to sleep peacefully. He could easily notice her uneasiness even when she hesitated to answer him, but he probably could never get the idea of what was going on in her head. As Khushi thought about this, she somehow convinced him that she was fine, but what about her mind which kept thinking about Payal's words?

And no matter how much Arnav respected her decision, but at times he wondered about the consciousness of his wife which made them sleep separately... Since some or the other night they had to share the bed, yet none of the two spoke about it.

PRECAP-: Khushi begins to get familiar with Arnav's romantic side.