Arnav-Khushi: Perfectly Imperfect - Last Part [12/04] Note-Page 50 :D - Page 4

Part 6

As an avid viewer of Indian serials, Khushi had a faint inkling of what was to follow, and sure enough, the aarti ki thaali was used to welcome her into the house. Khushi dissimulated her shock fairly well (she was the prospective fiance, not his wife!), while Arnav, pathetic actor that he was, groaned audibly next to her.

"I am Anjali," the lady said to Khushi warmly, "Chhote's sister. You can call me Di, just like he does."

As soon as Anjali began to walk away to keep the thaali, Khushi turned to Arnav triumphantly and mouthed "Chhote" as he glared at her.

"There is no need to get overly familiar with Di," he muttered, irritated for some reason, even though all Khushi had done, was exchange a few pleasantries with Anjali.

"And why is that, Chhote?" she asked, batting her eyelashes innocently, and laying due emphasis on her newfound nickname for him.

"Because she gets overly attached to people... and... we're breaking up in two months, so there's no point."

And for the first time since she had met him, she sensed that his eyes gave away a semblance of vulnerability, something akin to guilt or regret, perhaps.

"So why are you doing this?" Khushi whispered. It was not a taunt, just a question.

Arnav did not reply, but somehow, she thought she understood. Maybe she had been too quick to judge him.

But there was no time to mull over this, because within no time, they were bombarded by the rest of the Raizadas (one of whom, Lakshmi, was definitely a goat who had successfully fooled the family into believing it was a human). Even though Khushi had a fairly large, and equally melodramatic, family herself, the sudden onslaught was fairly dizzying. She had barely made sense of who was who, and how they were related, when the questions began. Where had they met? Who had proposed? Where were Khushi's parents? How old was she? Who was the most romantic? What on earth did she see in Arnav? What would they name their kids? and so on and so forth. The usual, apparently.

Khushi expertly took it all in her stride, weaving an elaborate story made up of little tidbits from serials and movies, taking due care to make Arnav look like a clueless idiot who had been swept off his feet by her undeniable charm. Since Arnav had not exactly dictated to her the dynamics of their fake relationship, she also decided that it was incumbent upon her to present Arnav as a complete jodu ka ghulaam.

"Jaanu," she turned to him to demonstrate her point, "Get me a glass of water, no?"

Nani offered to call one of the servants, but Khushi quickly butted in, stating that Arnav treated her as a princess and insisted on doing everything for her himself. And the family awww-ed and ooh-ed in chorus at the way true love had changed their Chhote as he stomped his way to the kitchen, fuming silently.

After some time, the conversation had veered towards the topic of sarees for some reason, in which Arnav's input was neither needed nor welcome, and utterly bored, he had switched off his mind and plastered a plastic smile on his face, when Manorama Mami 's mention of his cousin, Nandkishore's birthday bash suddenly forced him back to alertness.

He immediately intervened, saying that Khushi, susheel aur sanskaari as she was, did not like parties. The party would be swarming with scantily dressed young girls throwing themselves at him, and the presence of that ridiculous behenji masquerading as his fiance would no doubt cast a spanner in the works. But Khushi, perhaps sensing that Arnav did not want her to come, said that she would nevertheless go, for Manorama Mami's happiness, earning herself a beaming smile from the entire family for her thoughtfulness.

All in all, it was not at all a good day for Arnav Singh Raizada. For a perfectionist who prided himself on being able to predict and orchestrate every detail of his life, the fact that he had not been able to anticipate just how painful Gupta would prove to be, was a hard blow indeed. The tables had turned, and this, a mere two hours after his delightful discovery that he could easily blackmail Khushi by threatening to tell Mr Kashyap that she was pretending to be his fiance.

Amidst all the annoyance she was causing him, however, a part of him could not help but be impressed at her ingenuity and spunk. Here was someone whom he had forced to sign the contract, who had then vowed to use the opportunity to irritate him... and true to her word, she was doing just that - turning the entire situation in her favour. Clearly, she was amongst the rare few who refused to be tied down by the dictates of others. And it could not be denied that there was something about that mischievous twinkle in her eyes that he found oddly endearing.

That being said, Arnav Singh Raizada never accepted defeat. To have a worthy opponent such as that Gupta girl before him only motivated him all the more.

He knew that she expected him to lash out at her after the meeting. So he did the exact opposite.

"You did very well, Gupta!" he proclaimed as they walked to his car.

"Wh-what?" she spluttered.

"Yes," he smirked, "The jodu ka ghulaam angle is going to fit right in with my plan. My whole post-breakup depression will be all the more believable now. In fact, this is exactly what I wanted from you. Just goes to show, no matter how rebellious you think you are, ultimately you have to dance my tunes. It's good that you have realised that ASR is not a man to mess around with."

"Right," she said slowly, clearly thrown off guard.

"And I'm glad you picked up on my cue, and insisted on coming to the party. I must say you're getting good at this. Soon you may be in a position to negotiate for a raise. Good girl!"

Khushi gaped at him, at a complete loss for words. She had spent all that time endeavoring to get on his nerves, and she had been so confident that it was working. Had she imagined the borderline murderous stares she had been so sure he had been throwing at her? Had she really been playing into his hands the whole time? How could she have been so stupid as to put herself in a position where Raizada, of all people, would condescendingly praise her for having been a good girl? Ugh!

"Seatbelt, Gupta" he said, interrupting her inner monologue, as he turned the car key in the ignition.

"It's stuck," she grumbled, after struggling with the seatbelt for some time, "What is this, made in China? For a so-called billionaire person, you could have been less stingy when buying yourself a car."

It was an unnecessary dig, but she was so frustrated by the fact that all her efforts had come to naught, that it was the least she could do to stop herself from smashing his head against the steering wheel instead. And it was at that moment - when that weird thing happened.

He leaned in towards her to help her with the seatbelt, and she felt as though she was submerged in that intoxicating woody, minty scent of his. And she could swear she felt tingles in the place when his breath caressed her neck. It technically lasted a mere two seconds, but the feeling lingered for several minutes afterwards.

Focus, she scolded herself. This was hardly the time to get distracted by expensive aftershave. Her goal had been to get Raizada off his high horse, not to firmly cement him there! A new plan of attack was in order.