After their return from the farmhouse, everyone had gone for shopping and sightseeing, late afternoon in the busy streets of Sydney. Nothing significant had occurred between Arnav and Khushi after the horse riding incident. Both had been busy with the others around them.
Later in the evening, after dinner, everyone was gathered in the living room of NK's house, discussing about the day.
NK-"Since we have nothing else to do, why don't I show Khushi and Payal some of my childhood photographs?" He went inside to retrieve the photo albums from his closet.
He arrived with three big photo albums in his hand. He passed one to Khushi and another to Payal, while the third one was picked up by Anjali. Khushi was excited and keen to see NK's childhood pics. If he was so funny and cute in his adulthood, she couldn't imagine how he must have been in his childhood. As she flipped open the first page, she saw a group photo of three small boys and a slightly older girl standing together posing in filmy style. They looked adorable and cute.
Khushi-"This girl is definitely Anjaliji. I can clearly identify her. But who are these other three? Is that the three of you?"
NK-"Yes it it. Can you recognise the faces?"
She looked harder at the photograph, trying to recognise them. She looked back at Akash, NK and Arnav's faces sitting beside her and tried to find similarities in the photographs. She could see Arnav staring at her with a curious face with a faint smile lingering on his lips.
She looked back again into the photograph. On the left side was a thin boy, with a straight and serious face. He was slightly taller than the other two. Hmm.. she thought to herself. This could be either Arnav or Akash. Must be Arnav, after all he had the Laad Governor look in him even at that age. She was amused at this idea.
On the right side, stood an average sized boy, with a shy look on his face, unwilling to face the camera. This must definitely be Akash, she thought. Maybe he was the shy kind even at that time.
Now her attention zoomed into the middle boy. He was chubbier than the rest of the two and had a big mischievous smile across his face. His eyes looked innocent and wicked at the same time. He looked like the leader of the filmy pack, posing himself like James Bond. This is definitely NK, she concluded.
Khushi-"Let's see. The boy on the right is Akashji, on the left is Arnavji." She looked into his eyes as she took his name aloud. She turned to NK. "This middle one is definitely you. You were so cute and adorable even in your childhood just like now Nanheji. Now I clearly know that I have selected the right nickname for you. Wish I had met you in your childhood, so that I could have pulled your cheeks." She went ahead to pull NK's chubby cheeks, who was actually quite embarrassed at her actions.
NK-"No No, Khushiji. You've got it all wrong. The serious kid on the left is Akash. Can't you see the resemblance in his nose. And he was the thin and tall and always obedient and serious Akash. The kid on the right is actually me. I was always the shy and innocent one before, always scared of posing in front of camera. That's why Nanav and Akash used to team up and bully me and I used to irritate them even more with my antics." He was practically giggling remembering the old times.
NK-" Which brings us to the last chubby kid, who is none other than my Nanav. You should actually go and pull his cheeks, not mine." He said pointing at Arnav sitting across them.
Anjali-" You know Khushiji, Chote was so naughty and mischievous in his childhood that everyone used to get upset with his antics."
Khushi was all flustered and embarrassed at her mistake. She couldn't believe that her Laad Governor could be like this in his childhood days. She looked into his eyes and found him, smirking at her with the same mischievous look in his eyes. This was one hard man to comprehend. Everytime, his new hidden side would come out. Was he really the man, he showed the world to be?
As she flipped through the album, her eyes were involuntarily, only searching for her Laad governor in the photos. As if, anyone else didn't matter to her. In one of the photos, she saw him dressed up like Gabbar from Sholay, with Akash as Samba. She saw a girl standing beside them dressed with a skirt and top, with weird make up on her face and felt the face to be very familiar. But then as if her tubelight had brightened up, she burst out laughing.
Khushi-"Omg!! Nanheji! Is that you dressed up like a girl? What did they do to you?" Her sides hurt her as she continued to laugh like a maniac.
NK-"You have no idea Khushiji, what Nanav used to do to me when I was small. He used to ask me to dress up like a girl with Anjali Di's clothes promising that even he would do the same. He used to apply make up on my face and force me to take an oath, not to see myself in the mirror. And in the last minute, he and Akash ended up dressing like Gabbar and Samba and me as Basanti and force me to dance. I must reiterate. Akash was an obedient kid, especially to Nanav. He obeyed all the orders of Nanav." He looked up annoyingly at the two brothers who were controlling their laughter.
As Khushi flipped through further, she saw a toddler Arnav clinging to a woman who looked like she was in her early thirties. She had similar features like him, especially his eyes. She looked beautiful and gracious with the cream coloured sari draping her. She could instantly identify the bond between the two of them.
Khushi-" Anjaliji, is that your mom?" she questioned the woman beside her.
Anjali-" Yes it is." The laughter on her face, seconds before vanished, as pools of memories filled her eyes. Everyone in the room became silent and serious, each of them lost in their own childhood memories with this woman. After a minute of reflection, she spoke.
Anjali-" you know, Chote was so possessive with his mother, that he used to never leave my mom and me alone together. He wanted to be with her in every photograph. I remember, my Mom was very good at telling bed time stories. She would ask all of us to lie down together on her bed and would narrate her stories. But Chote would never allow anyone else to go near her and push us away from her bed. He loved her so much." Khushi could see Anjali's eyes become moist thinking about it. By this time, Arnav had grabbed the album and was busy seeing the photographs.
Anjali-"I remember when this photograph was taken. It was during NK's third Birthday. Chote had played a prank on NK and NK was slightly hurt in the process. Mom had asked Chote to accept his mistake and apologize to NK. But Chote as usual denied to accept his mistake. So to make him realize his mistake, Mom had taken me and left NK's house leaving Chote behind, two days before the Birthday, threatening him that she would never return back. Chote had been crying the full time. But just before the cake cutting, Mom and me had made a surprised entry to the party and Chote had come running to her seeing us. He was so happy that day that he wouldn't stop clinging to her the whole party."
Arnav had remained calm and composed all the while seeing the photos. But after hearing his Di, he could no longer take it. He silently got up and decided to go outside and made up an excuse to his Di.
Arnav-"Di, I'm tired. I'm going to bed. See you tomorrow." He tried to say it with a straight face lest his emotions be seen by others and went away. But these emotions couldn't escape Khushi's eyes. She wanted to go behind him but at the same time, she wanted to console Anjali beside her. Just to lift up the gloomy atmosphere around her, she directed everyone's attention to other photographs of NK and other family members. It took quite a long time to divert everyone's attention, but she was successful in it. Finally everyone called it a day and went to their respective rooms.
When Khushi was going back to her room, she decided to peep into Arnav's room and make sure that he was alright. But she couldn't find him on his bed and the room was dark. She was surprised at his absence, but nevertheless, she went back to her room and outside her balcony to have her routine conversation with her parents. She could see the waves were rougher than usual, washing away all that came in its path.
As she continued to view the length of the beach, she saw a silhouette of a man standing all alone. Wait! Was that Arnav? It was dark and unclear. She squinted her eyes to see closely. Yes, it was definitely him as she recognised the dark grey hoodie and black trousers. She knew he must be perturbed with the earlier conversations. So she immediately went down the stairs, out in the dark, making her way carefully towards the man who stood quite far away from the house. She was scared of the darkness surrounding her, but she was adamant to go to the rescue of the man who needed her. As if, Devi Maiyya was also supporting in her mission, she realized that the clouds moved away, giving way to the moonlight to guide her in the path.
She went and stood behind him, placing her hand on his shoulders.
Arnav-"Go away!" It was barely audible. There wasn't the same audacity in his voice like before. He did not want anyone in the world to see him broken down let alone her.
Arnav-" I said go away!" this time his voice was louder than before. But she hadn't moved an inch from her place. She couldn't leave him alone like this when he needed her the most.
Arnav realised that she wouldn't go away. He did not want to face her. So he himself started walking away from her along the beach. She watched him move and decided to follow him. He quickened his steps so that she wouldn't be able to keep up with him. But even she hastened herself and followed him, literally running to keep up with him.
After walking for about 5 minutes, he realised that she wasn't going to leave his back. So he slowed down and decided to halt. He turned towards her as she finally caught up with him.
Arnav-" You are so stubborn, Khushi Kumari Gupta!" He tried to cover up his feelings with anger towards her. He was very good at this. That was what he had being doing since the time she had come into his life.
Khushi-"I understand what you are feeling." That was all she could say cupping his left cheek. Somehow, her touch melted away the fake feelings displayed on his face. Maybe he had finally found someone with whom he could share his feelings, those emotions which had been bundled and hidden away all these years after his mother's death. But could he trust her?
He sat down on the sand unable to bear the weight of the turmoil in his mind. She followed and sat beside him. Both of them stared at the rolling waves in front of them. Silence followed for the next fifteen minutes as neither of them spoke, only the sound of waves interrupting their thoughts.
Arnav-"You know Khushi, that day when my mom went away from me for two days, I had thought she would never come back and was continuously crying for her. I was really small at that time. Hence I recovered very easily from that incident. But when she had come back, I had made her promise that she would never leave me and go like that. My mom had promised me." He continued to look straight ahead at the waves. He couldn't face Khushi. He felt a lump down his throat. His voice was beginning to choke with his emotions. This was the first time he had spoken about her openly after her death.
He felt Khushi's hand on top of his as he continued to speak. His eyes were moist and only her touch could soothe away his pain.
Arnav-"The day she died, at first I couldn't convince myself that she would never return back, that she would never be there to comfort me when I cried, that she wouldn't be there to scold me for my mischief, that she wouldn't be there to feed me when I fussed about having my lunch. I could see my sister crying around me at my mother's funeral. Yet, somehow, I realised that I had to be strong for her. So I would go hide in the bathroom and cry at night so that no one could see me. I cried for nights thinking that she would one day finally come and keep up her promise of never leaving me alone. But she didn't."
Tears welled up in Khushi's eyes as for the first time, she could feel such immense pain in his voice. She remembered her parent's death. She was too small to understand what was happening to her. Even she had cried when she realised that they would never return back. But her Uncle and Aunt had made sure that she never felt their absence and comforted her during the grief.
She then realised how alone Arnav must have been after his Mother's death, no one to comfort him, no one with whom he could share his pain with. Payal had been her pillar during her hard times and she was very glad for it. Maybe that was what he needed to overcome his grief. He had always been the pillar for his Di. But now, he needed a pillar to rely on. And she was going to be his pillar.
For the first time, she entwined her fingers with his, as if to show that she would always be there for him. It felt perfect. Maybe he could trust her.
All these years, he had controlled his tears. But for the first time, he felt a tear roll down his cheek, finally let free from his burden. He turned his face towards her, finally able to face her. He could see her eyes welled with tears.
The moonlight shone on his face, highlighting the tear rolling down his cheek. Khushi was heartbroken to see him crying, but at the same time relieved that he had finally let it go. Maybe this was a baby step for both of them to reconcile with their past.
She wiped away the tear from his cheek with her hand and he wiped away hers. He wanted to say so many things to her, but his voice failed him and she clearly understood this.
Khushi-"Never consider yourself alone in this world. I will always be there for you." She had said resting her head on his shoulder. He had responded by resting his head back on top of hers, pulling her close to himself lest she feel cold due to cold winds blowing from the sea.
They sat like this for eternity, soothing away each other's pain silently. Only when she had closed her eyes, he realised that it was time to go back. He quietly lifted her in his arms, careful not to wake her up and went back stealthily into the house without disturbing anyone and placed her on her bed. He covered her with the comforter. But as he released his grip on her, she woke up all confused at her surroundings.
Khushi-"I'm sorry Arnav. I didn't realize when I felt asleep."
Arnav-"It's Ok. It was too late. So I brought you here while you were asleep. Now go back to sleep." He turned around to leave the room but she caught his hand and sat upright on the bed motioning him to sit beside her.
Khushi-"Can I say something to you?"
Arnav-"Yes."
Khushi-"You were really cute in your childhood days." She didn't know if she should do it, but then realised that he wouldn't mind it. So she went ahead and pulled his cheeks leaving behind an astonished and embarrassed Arnav, who hadn't seen this coming. He got up and turned to leave the room but turned back with the wicked smirk on his face.
Arnav-"Good Night, Khushi Kumari Gupta!"
Khushi-"Good Night, Arnav Singh Raizada!" she couldn't help but smile sheepishly when she saw his smirk.
He went back to his room, feeling a sense of relief in his mind for the first time in twelve years. This girl never ceased to bring a smile on his face and uplift his mood. He caressed his cheeks still feeling the warm touch of her fingers.
As he slumbered into the night, the last thing he remembered was her fingers entwined with his.
Once again, Please forgive me if it was boring and lame and not upto your expectations. Criticisms are always welcome and so are chappals and vegetables.😆
Part 6: Already here!!
Chalo Bhai Australia! Part 6: Passion
Comments please! I read through all your comments and it encourages me to write better.😃
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