ArHi SS: Do Deewane | COMPLETE | Link to Thread 2 | PAGE 1 | (4/10) | - Page 52

Chapter Five

3 AM.

The clock blinked back at her, and she groaned, resting her throbbing head in her hands.

Onscreen, Kabir and Aditi were engaged in a heated eyelock, with Aditi blindly placing the materials for the lunch on the table as Kabir looked on. The wind was blowing as they stared at each other, soft smiles on their faces.

She had watched all of the episodes starting from Diwali to the hate marriage.

Twice.

She dragged herself off of the couch, ambling into the bathroom as she rubbed at her eyes. She winced when she saw herself in the mirror, her hair everywhere and dark circles underneath her eyes.

She turned around at the sound of the door creaking open, finding Arnav standing on the opposite side of the bathroom. His hair was a mess, sticking up straight from his head, and he yawned, running his hands through it.

His eyes widened slightly as he finally focused on her, and there was a pregnant pause as they stood there.

Khushi could feel her face heat up as the memory of their kiss became uncomfortably distinct, the reminder of his hands caressing her waist and his gentle coaxing making goosebumps erupt on her arms.

She could see his eyes sweep over her, and felt unnaturally conscious of her messy hair. She blew out a small breath, wincing as the stench hit her. She could feel his gaze burning her, despite the fact that she couldn't see the expression on his face in the darkness.

"Um..."

"I'll just- I didn't know you were up. I'll... I'll just... yeah."

He turned around, shutting the door and leaving quickly.

Cursing, Khushi proceeded to quickly brush her teeth, regretting her hasty question from earlier.

She tiptoed out of the bathroom, pausing in front of the door to his room. She could see him leaned over his laptop, the faint glow shadowing his face.

She felt as if a light wind was blowing into her face, freezing her to her spot. The faint echoes of the piano riff rang in the back of her mind, her bangs blowing back slightly as she stood in the frame of the doorway.

He shifted, and she immediately jumped away. The piano music stopped, as did the wind.

She was going insane.

It was all the fault of binge watching KDHI.

***

4:30 AM

She glanced at the clock as she folded the chocolate chips into the second batch of dough.

The smell of the current batch of cookies wafted through the air, and Khushi inhaled deeply. She reached down into the bowl in her hands, sticking an index finger in and taking out a generous dollop of the dough.

She slipped it in her mouth, sucking all the dough off of her fingertip. Her eyes closed, relishing the familiar taste of the sweet dough as the chocolate melted on her tongue. Her tongue slipped out, licking off the last bit of the dough with a satisfied moan.

She reached in again, dipping her finger in and repeating the motion. She was so engrossed in her task, that she failed to notice the dark eyes watching her with an almost pained expression.

He was going to need a long cold shower after this.

And that stupid song was back again.

Clearing his throat, he stepped into the kitchen. The smell of the cookies had woken him up from a fitful sleep, and he had come to the kitchen hoping for some relief.

But his mind was now conjuring up images of all the other ways he could taste those cookies. His eyes dropped to her lips, where a stray clump of dough remained.

He stepped forward, brushing his thumb against her bottom lip and lifting it to his finger, licking off the dough. Her eyes widened in shock, and he could see her swallow as she looked up at him nervously.

"Should I be worried that this too will poison me?"

She glared up at him in irritation, thoroughly annoyed by the wide smirk gracing his lips.

She turned away from him, busying herself in dropping the cookies neatly onto the baking sheet. He was unnerving her, standing behind her as he regarded her with an expression she couldn't place.

"I'm... I'm sorry for kissing you. I shouldn't have done that."

"Do you regret kissing me or something? Was I that bad?"

"What?! No! You were an ama- fine. I just... I should have asked you before I kissed you."

She looked at him incredulously, completely floored. His head was hanging, and he looked so regretful that she almost felt bad for him.

"So you're apologizing because... you didn't ask me before kissing me?"

"Aren't you supposed to ask someone before kissing them?"

Khushi opened her mouth, then closed it, unsure of what to say.

"It's fine, Arnav, honestly. Don't apologize."

"I can assure you that it won't happen again."

Khushi could feel her stomach drop, the vague tune of Kyun Dard Hai Itna ringing in the back of her mind.

That song had a talent for showing up at all the wrong moments.

"Won't... won't happen again?"

He couldn't meet her eyes, his gaze flitting about the kitchen.

"Yeah. We're... roommates. We-"

The shrill beep of the timer halted their conversation, and Khushi simply nodded with a tight smile, turning to pull the cookies out of the oven.

"I should... go shower. Save one for me."

He turned to leave, leaving Khushi with the slow tune of a piano in her mind and a batch of freshly baked cookies.

***

Khushi had spent the last couple of days holed up in her room, trying to avoid the man who lived in the room next to her. Her stomach dropped to the pits of hell whenever she was near him, an odd, empty feeling that she didn't like at all.

It didn't help that she kept hearing Kyun Dard Hai Itna in her head every time he was around.

So she had determinedly avoided him, escaping to work as soon as possible and disappearing into her room the minute she got back. Today, she was sorting all of her books.

She now stared at the bookcase with a disgusted, irritated expression. Then she looked down to her feet, where an open box of books lay. And then looked back up.

Damn it.

If she put all of those books together and if he accidentally walked into the room, he would immediately see them.

But if she didn't, her perfectly alphabetized bookcases would be messed up.

She stared at the box of books that was taunting her, innocently resting on the ground as if it had done nothing wrong.

Damn her penchant for trashy romance.

Shoving the box aside, she pulled the next box of books towards her, looking inside expectantly.

She lifted the books out fondly, a smile appearing on her face as she looked at the Amelia Bedelia books she still liked to keep around.

Parish was the last name.

Khushi found herself staring blankly at the bookcase, trying to figure out where Parish would go. But her mind was completely fried, and embarrassingly enough, she found herself struggling to recall the letter P came after.

"ABCDEFGHI- JKLM- NOPQRSTUV- dubluX- Y zed. I love you."

Smiling slightly, she reached forward, pushing past George Orwell to slip in Peggy Parish, when a familiar voice interrupted her.

"Oh my god."

Khushi whirled around to see Arnav staring at her with a horrified expression, his mouth open in shock.

"You just- you just sang the f***ing ABCD song from Hum Saath Saath Hain."

She scrambled up, trying to distance herself from him as she quickly placed a hand on top of the box containing... those books.

He shook his head slowly, unable to comprehend that she was actually singing that song.

"I know that you have horrible taste in music. But I never knew it was that bad."

"You just hate it because it's happy. And you hate everything happy."

"That movie should be banned. What sort of family goes on group honeymoons? I would take you somewhere no one could interrupt us."

He saw her mouth fall open in shock at his words, and immediately hastened to fix it.

"I mean- um- not us. I mean, not us us. But us. Hypothetically. No, not hypothetically. Damn it, what's the-"

At that point, he realized he was talking to empty space.

Confused, he turned around, looking for Khushi, only to realize that she was teetering on a ladder. He was about to open his mouth to stop her, but she glared at him before he could do so, satnding on her tiptoes as she placed a handful of books on top of the bookshelf.

"Don't say some nonsense about how I'll fall and how you need to-"

Her foot slipped and she let out a loud squeal, grasping the edge of the bookshelf to steady herself.

She looked down to see him hiding a snicker, but he quickly sobered when he saw her glower.

"I didn't fall. I merely slipped."

"I told-"

"Don't! Fine, if you're so confident you can do this without tripping, why don't you try it?"

"Fine, I will!"

"Fine!"

She shoved the books into his hands hard, and he stumbled slightly, glaring at her determinedly as he climbed the ladder.

"Madam, am I supposed to put these in any particular order, or can I just dump them up here?"

He smiled sweetly, sarcasm dripping from his words.

"Just uh- keep them up there. And don't look at them!"

"What the- What do you mean, don't look at- Ah!"

He stumbled, his feet slipping off the ladder before he could rebalance himself. Khushi's eyes widened, and she quickly ran underneath him squeezing her eyes together tightly as he tumbled on top of her.

"Uff!"

Khushi groaned as Arnav sprawled on top of her unceremoniously, his face pressed against her neck. Her hands were wrapped around his shoulders, holding him tightly to herself.

She could feel his warm breath on her neck, the slight press of his lips against her skin. She felt her heart thudding against her chest, the empty feeling in her stomach replaced by a warm, fuzzy feeling instead.

He looked up to meet her gaze, his eyes trailing over her face. He could smell the familiar scent of strawberries and citrus, and feel the warmth of her skin radiating through her thin t-shirt.

Her eyes were bright, a soft pink filling her cheeks as she steadily met his gaze. He could feel her quick breaths, and reached up to push a stray piece of hair out of her face. He slid his thumb down to her parted mouth, tracing the edge of her lips as he began to lean in.

Her dark hair was sprawled out across the white floor, and he found himself wondering whether it would look the same way against his...

Thud.

"What the f***?!"

He suddenly realized just how close they were, and pushed himself off of her hastily, stepping away and picking up the offending object. He could see her straightening her clothes, nervously wrapping her hair into a bun.

He had come so close to breaking the promise he had made to himself this morning.

He couldn't get into a relationship with her. They were roommates, and if something happened...

Shaking his head, he glanced down at the book in his hands, his mouth falling open when he read the title.

Scandal

By: Arnav Singh Raizada

Khushi had her back to him, and he could hear her muttering something underneath her breath as she purposefully straightened the bed behind her.

He walked over to the box she had slammed shut earlier, pulling the cardboard apart slowly to reveal the contents.

A slow smirk spread across his face as he caught a glimpse of the titles inside.

Each and every single one of them was a perfectly kept book written by him.

"Oh my god! What are you doing?! I told you not to- Oh no. Give me that!"

She reached for the book in his hands, trying to snatch it out of his grasp. He stepped back, laughing in satisfaction.

"So this is why you know so much about heiress Chandra and Suraj?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. They're Geet's, okay? She must have given me the box by mistake."

"Really? Then why were you so insistent on keeping me from seeing them?"

"Because I knew your gigantic ego would come up with some misconception like this!"

"Misconception?"

"I- Uh-"

She gaped, trying to find words to answer his pointed question.

Caller tune baby, caller tune... mujhe apni bana le caller tune, soniye

Sending a quick prayer to Devi Maiyya, she hit the answer button as fast as she could, placing the phone to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hi, beautiful."

A husky, warm voice floated through the line, and Khushi immediately felt herself smile.

Arnav watched with disgust as Khushi blushed prettily, wrapping the piece of hair he had pushed back just minutes before around her finger. She bit her lip at something NK said, giggling.

"I'll see you in ten minutes then?"

She let out a happy sigh as she hit the end button, swaying back and forth with a silly grin on her face.

That ass was coming here?

"Who was it? And you look stupid smiling that way."

He winced, realizing his voice was a lot gruffer and harsher than he intended. Khushi narrowed her eyes at him, clenching her teeth in irritation.

"NK. He's coming to pick me up in ten minutes for our date. Oh my god! I need to get dressed!"

He watched as she sprinted out of the room, the gnawing feeling in his stomach growing more intense.

Kyun dard hai itna...

Oh shut up! Ana's inner medulla does the samba, while mine plays the title track of a trashy Desi soap. Hmph.

The music stopped almost immediately, and he swore he could hear a small, evil giggle at the back of his brain. The doorbell rang, and Arnav cursed underneath his breath when he saw that Khushi was still in the bathroom.

Now he would have to see that stupid NK that had her giggling and wrapping that damned piece of strawberry citrus scented hair around her finger.

Grumbling, he made his way out to the front door, swinging it open to reveal a tall man dressed in an Armani suit, wearing shiny sunglasses and a Rolex watch.

"Can I help you?"

The man ignored Arnav, stepping into the apartment just as Khushi came sprinting out.

She was wearing a simple, flowing black skirt, paired with a teal top and silver, dangling earrings. Her hair was twisted into a fishtail braid, and her eyes were lined with a hint of kohl.

"You look beautiful, Khu."

Khu? What kind of a name was that?

Khushi giggled as he dropped a kiss on her cheek, pulling on a pair of silvery heels. She slipped slightly, and NK's hand immediately shot out to grasp her, stilling her fall. She looked up at him, muttering a quiet thank you as her blush grew deeper.

"I'll always be there to catch you, Khu."

He murmured, his voice husky. Khushi giggled again, and the two of them walked out together, with NK slipping his hand into hers.

Arnav gritted his teeth, muttering curses underneath his breath.

Let her go out with that stupid NK, giggling over his stupid Armani suit and his stupid nicknames. At least he would be rid of her, and maybe he could get a roommate that actually could cook.

But the thought was strangely unsettling, and Arnav found himself dealing with a strange guitar riff in his head as he watched NK and Khushi walk away.

Great. Now my inner medulla plays the guitar. Buaji was right. Being a romance novelist really does mess with your head.

He absentmindedly opened the book he was holding in his hands, hoping to lose himself in making fun of his past writing.

But what he saw made his eyes widen in surprise, and he squinted slightly to read it better.

Khushi,

You have a beautiful name, and you seem to embody it fully. I'm glad that my books could bring that smile to your face. Keep reading!

Love,

Arnav Singh Raizada

***

Note: And that's where I'll leave you for today! I hope the next update will be this weekend, but it depends on how much I can write the rest of this week. School starts Tuesday- I don't know how that will affect my update schedule. I'm hoping to stay with once a week at least, and I will write more if I can. I will keep you guys updated though, and I won't abandon.

As always, please follow @ipkchotidesi or buddy me for PMs.

Love always,

Choti