Three hours had passed since the plane took off. Both of them were silent, lost in their thoughts. Neither of them had spoken after those three words 'I don't know'. Khushi wanted more than just these three words. There were times when she felt she knew so much about the man beside her, but then there were moments like this, when she couldn't understand what was in his mind. One thing she had learnt, was to never push him to his limits.
She remembered all those times when she had sternly demanded answers from him for his actions. But for some reason he couldn't reply to her questions. Rather he had hurt her more than ever before. Diwali night flashed before her eyes, how she had questioned him about her Payal being with him. She could still remember that rage in his eyes and she shivered thinking about it. He had been cold and indifferent towards her. He had hurt her. But still, he was the same man who had paid her Babuji's bills, protected her from goons, brought together her Jiji and Jiju and today, he had ensured that she was going to Australia with him. He was the same man who loves his Di so much that he could do anything for her.
Maybe he was a good man afterall. Maybe it was fault on her part that he had behaved this way with her. Maybe if she hadn't pushed him to his limits, he wouldn't behave like this with her. She turned towards the window to look at the sky. It was dark, so she closed her eyes. She remembered her hug this evening. He had for the first time, hugged her back so whole heartedly, that she had felt relieved. As if she had been waiting for this the whole time. Why did he matter so much to her? Was he her friend? Not exactly. Her boyfriend? NO NO. Then what was he to her? She didn't even work for him now, so he wasn't even her employer. Yet he had stood beside her constantly in her life.
Her question still rang in his mind. Why was he being nice towards her? He knew that he cared for her happiness. But why? She had always tried to rub off his wrong side. She had questioned him, his abilities, his decisions, taunted him, affecting him in ways no one had ever dared to. Yet at the end of the day, he had never held any grudge against her. He had tried to defend himself by hurting her. But everytime he hurt her, he ended up hurting himself. Is this what his Di had told him about? Was she that girl? No. It could never be.
Arnav Singh Raizada was not capable of love. Love didn't exist for him and his destiny had made sure of that. Khushi was just an ordinary girl in his life. But deep inside he was scared to admit to himself that she held an extraordinary place in his life. He shut away his thoughts and tried to distract himself and thus opened his laptop to work on some presentation. He turned his head and saw that khushi was looking out of the window. He didn't want to think about her right now.
Another hour passed. The whole flight was silent as everyone was fast asleep except Arnav and Khushi. Suddenly Khushi got up from her seat to go to the washroom and that was when she realized that it was dark inside as all the lights were put off. All this while, she was so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't registered this fact. Panic spread across her face and she stiffened.
Arnav-"what happened Khushi? Why are you standing?" Even he was concerned.
Khushi-"Actually, I wanted to go to the washroom." She tried to cover the panic in her voice. How was she supposed to go all the way in the dark.
Arnav-"OK." He stood up to allow her to pass. Suddenly he touched her hand and realized it was all cold. He knew something was wrong. He looked into her eyes. Even in the dark he could sense the fear in it and he instantly knew what it was. So before she could say anything, he held her hand and led her all the way to the washroom. She was surprised and shocked at his gesture.
Arnav-"I know you are scared of the dark. Don't worry, I'm right beside you." He whispered into her years and squeezed her hand tightly. He waited outside for her till she came out of the washroom and both of them went back to their seats together.
She didn't know why, but she was so glad that he was beside her. She drifted into sleep, a smile lingering on her face as she no more felt scared of the darkness surrounding her. She felt safe beside him and this relaxed all her fears.
For some reason, he still couldn't fall asleep. He saw that finally she was in a deep sleep. This sight soothed his mind and he couldn't help notice that she just looked like an angel when she slept. He realised she must be feeling cold and decided to ask for a blanket to cover her up. As soon as he put the blanket on her, she immediately tilted her head on his shoulder and held his right arm tightly and snuggled around him.
He wanted to free his right arm to work on the laptop, but realized she would be disturbed in the process of freeing it. So he decided to turn off his laptop and go to sleep. He lifted the armrest between them so that she could sleep more comfortably.
Few hours passed. Khushi suddenly opened her eyes. For a minute, she didn't realize where she was or what was she doing. It was beginning to be bright outside. She turned and saw Arnav beside her fast asleep and she, cuddling his hand. She slowly tried to free herself from him. From the faint light outside the window, she could see his face. He just looked like a baby when he slept, she thought to herself. There was no anger, rage on his face. Just peace. She couldn't even find the trace of Laad governor on his face and this amused her a lot. This was the first time she was seeing this side of him.
She asked the passing by Air hostess, how much more time was left to reach Sydney? She replied about 4-5 hrs. So still there was lot of time for them, she thought to herself. Suddenly she felt his arm wrapping around her body, tilting his head on hers. She wanted to free herself from his grip, but she didn't want to disturb his sleep. She liked the new side of his and she wanted to hold onto it as long as possible. She covered both of themselves with the blanket and slept.
She couldn't understand why she didn't feel awkward or guilty snuggling with this man beside her. For some reason she felt that this was always meant to be. She felt comfortable being so physically close to him. With this thought she drifted into sleep.
Airhostess-"Excuse me Sir, wake up. It's time to land. Please wake up your wife too and fasten your seatbelts." This voice had awoken him from his deep sleep. He was all confused for a minute and looked to his side to find Khushi cuddled beside him.
Arnav-"Excuse me, but she's not my wife." He had suddenly replied to the Air hostess in a shocking tone.
Airhostess-"I'm sorry for my mistake, but please could you wake your Girlfriend up." She was embarrassed at her mistake.
Arnav-"She isn't my girlfriend either." The Airhostess looked shocked and gave him a weird stare and went away. Then he realized how odd that must have sounded after seeing both of them in this position together. What else could he have told her. He had only stated the reality. But really what was she to him? He was left pondering.
He quickly woke her up. When she opened her eyes, all she saw was Arnav, with his hair completely ruffled and with sleepy eyes, completely looking like a teddy bear. She couldn't stop herself from arranging and patting down his hair. With this action of hers, all he could do was stare at her with his sexy, smouldering looks and a smirk appeared on his face. Khushi felt her cheeks reddening and so she quickly turned her face and started fidgeting with her seat belt. He helped her buckle her seatbelt. She was so glad that they were finally landing in Sydney and decided to quickly change the topic before the situation between them became tense.
Khushi-"Hey Devi Maiyya, I'm so excited. All those times that I dreamt of seeing Australia are finally coming true. Thank you so much." She looked out of the window to see Sydney city below her. It looked so beautiful and magical that she couldn't stop jumping in her seat.
Arnav could only smile seeing her. He felt really happy that he could fulfil her dream.
The flight finally landed and they started exiting the plane. They met the other three on their way out, went inside the Airport, completed all the procedures and stood outside waiting for NK, who had promised to pick them up.
Khushi-"Jiji, this is such a beautiful place. I'm sure we will have loads of fun here."
Payal-"Yeah Khushi, that's so true."
Anjali-"I wonder where NK is. He told he will be on time to pick us up."
Suddenly they heard NK's voice behind them.
NK-"See, you remembered me and I'm here. Come with me, Guys." He led them to two cars and put their luggage in one car.
NK-"Guys, we have to split. Some of you can go with the driver. Others can come with me. Khushi, you should come with me. I've loads to talk to you." He said turning towards Khushi.
Khushi-"OK, Nanheji. Since I'm your guest, I would definitely have to listen to you." She quickly got into the back seat of his car. Arnav was annoyed with NK, but also relieved that she didn't sit in the front seat beside him. He also quickly got inside NK's car in the front passenger seat as he didn't want to leave both of them all by themselves in the car. Akash signalled to Anjali that he wanted to be with Payal in the separate car all by themselves. So Anjali decided to get into NK's car. They started the car and rode off to his house.
NK-"Khushi, how was your journey in the flight. First time right?" Arnav quickly glanced back at Khushi and their eyes met and he quickly looked forward.
Khushi-"It was really nice, Nanheji. I enjoyed it." She couldn't help smiling remembering the events in the flight and thus looked outside the window.
Anjali-"Chote, did you sleep well? I know you have lots of problems sleeping in the flight."
Arnav-"Di, I slept really well." He flashed a smirk at Khushi, who was busy smiling looking outside. He quickly turned front and looked outside his window, grinning to himself. He had actually slept really well and he clearly knew the reason for it.
Once again I know it isn't great, but feel free to criticize as much as you want. This time feel free to throw Arnav at me. After yesterdays episode, it feels like Drought has hit Arhiland and I'm dying for Arnav.đ
Part 4: Realization. Already here!!!
Comments please!!
For those who want me to send PM's, please send me buddy request.đ
Cricket
Book Talk
16