Arakshi FF: Intezaar [Updt - pg 39, 20 March] - Page 23

"Kya hua?" Sakshi asked seeing the dazed look on Arjun's face.

Nuh-uh, koi aur ladki ka sawaal hi nahi utt tha.

His words from the past rang in his ears. All the enthusiasm he had when planning to

pacify his wife slowly faded away. The frown on his forehead dug deeper into his skin.

"Arjun?!?" The hesitancy in his wife's voice made him push back his reservations and

address her.

"Uhh...nahi, kuch nahi" He paused, taking a deep breath. "Sakshi aaj office main jo hua...I

am sorry. Mujhe tumse uss tarah se baat nahi karna chaahiye tha..."

"Tum thik ho na?" She asked, seemingly not convinced by his reply.

Arjun was surprised at her insistence to make certain he was well. He wasn't sure why she

thought he wasn't.

"H-Haan mein thik hoon, kyun?"

In reply, Sakshi glanced down at his hands. It was then that he realised, he was frantically

fidgeting with his fingers. Immediately stopping, he tried to brush it off as nothing but knew

his wife wasn't buying any of it.

"Do you want to go freshen up?" He asked, in the hope that it would take her mind off what

just happened.

"Haan mein..." She trailed off, her nose crinkling as she took a deep breath. "What's that

smell?" She asked, turning her head towards the kitchen.

"I made dinner" He replied, trying to bring back some of that previous enthusiasm.

Sakshi's eyebrows shot high up on her forehead, "You cooked? Why?" She asked

suspiciously, her eyes narrowing at the end of the question.

"Why, matlab...I felt like cooking so..." He stopped talking when his wife's mouth opened in

an 'O'.

"Arjun are you bribing me with dinner to find out who my informants are??" She asked with

such an indignant face, Arjun looked at her blankly for a whole minute. His laughter did not

build up slowly, but exploded. In that moment, he watched as a she went red as a beet root

and he could literally feel the heat coming off her cheeks.

When his laugh subsided, he spoke,

"Saskhi tum bhi na!! No, I am not bribing you with dinner...not for you informants' names

anyway. I was, however, hoping it would help pacify you"

"Tumne khana banaya? M-Mujhe manaane ke liye?" She asked slowly and hesitantly, as if

asking the question would undo the whole thing.

"Haan, kyun nahi kar sakta?"

"N-nahi...I mean, kar sakte ho..." After a pause she quickly added, "I'll go freshen up"

~oOo~

"Why journalism?" Arjun asked an hour later, as he dished out the food he cooked.

"Hmm...I don't know. I was sixteen when I said I want to become a journalist. Mom and

dad encouraged me a lot after that. I never really thought of doing anything else" She

paused for a second before asking, "Why become a cop?"

"Oh, for me it's a family thing" Arjun replied immediately.

"Family thing?"

"Hmm, my dad was Deputy Commissioner of Police. I used to love seeing him in the

uniform and I used to tell him that I'd become exactly like him one day. Unke guzzar

jaaneke baad, meine aunty aur uncle kaha tha ki mujhe police officer hi banna hain"

"If you don't mind, ek baat poochu?" Sakshi asked hesitantly, making Arjun stop eating

and look at her, silently prompting her to continue.

"Your aunt and uncle are your parent's family friends right?"

"Hmm..."

"Toh tum unke saath kyun...? I mean, tumhare family members?"

Arjun smiled understanding what she was saying. As a child, he asked his parents many

times about his grandparents and the other extended family members. Every time, his

parents used to sit him down and explain the circumstances they got married in and how

their elders were against it. As an eleven year old, he used to be fascinated by how his

parents fought against their loved ones to stay together.

But, now he understood the pain they must have gone through when choosing one loved

one over the other.

"My parents, they uhh...they went against my grandparents and got married. Mom aur dad

ke guzzar jaane ke baad, naanu aur naani aaye the mujhe le jaane ke liye. Par meine unhe

mana kar diya tha"

"Toh tum apne grandparents' se kabhi baat nahi karte?" She had an amused mingled with

disbelief look on her face.

"Hmm...kabhi kabhi, occasionally. Uhh...actually, humare shaadi pe aaye the. I don't think

they stayed long though, I just remember getting a glimpse of them sometime during the

ceremony"

"Hmm..." Sakshi trailed off thinking.

Once they finished their dinner, both settled on the couch in the living room. They talked till

eleven in the night non-stop, about their families, their colleges, and their lives before

marriage. Arjun consciously stayed away from stirring up the topic of ex-relationships. His

wife, seemingly on the same page as him, stayed away from the said topic too.

When they finally seemed to have run out of topics, Arjun slowly but determinedly said,

"Sakshi, woh tumhare informers jo..."

"C'mon Arjun not again"

"Sakshi you are not understanding, the case we are dealing with right now is very important

and any information we could get will help us"

"But, Arjun you not understanding the importance of an informer to a reporter. If I give you

the names, the word will spread like fire and no one will be ready to give me any info after

that"

"Okay, then how about you get us the information we need? That way you can keep your

sources and we can get our information?"

"Compromise, I like it!" Sakshi said smiling and held her hand out.

Both shook their hands on it.

"Deal!"

~oOo~

Two months later [i.e. 6 months after their marriage]

Ever since Sakshi agreed to get Arjun the information they require from her sources, the

wife and husband have been spending a lot more time together. Sameer almost instantly

agreed to Arjun's proposition of Sakshi being the intermediate between her informers and

the ETF. At first Arjun did not understand why Sameer was so eager with the idea, but

when he started sending him to Sakshi for every small information, he kind of got onto his

friend's intentions.

But, Arjun never complained or said no. He was enjoying the time spent with his wife and

he did not mind it a bit.

Their friendship grew every single day and it was the kind of friendship that bloomed right in

the centre of the heart. Even as they nurtured their friendship, they saw many ups and

downs, but they were not enough to deter their growing bond.

"Arjun guess what??!!" Sakshi ran into their bedroom just as Arjun was getting ready to go

for a shower. He stopped and observed how she was practically bouncing on her feet. She

wore a facial expression of a child with a particularly large present.

He was pretty sure what it was, because she was on and on about only one thing in the

last week.

"Did you win lottery?" Arjun asked teasingly to which Sakshi rolled her eyes.

"I got selected to go to the journalists' conference in Delhi!!" She had a million dollar smile

on her face. Arjun couldn't help but chuckle at how excited she seemed.

"Wow! I never saw anyone get so excited to go to a ten day conference"

"But, there will be journalists from all over the country...some very high..."

"High funda journalists...I know" Arjun finished her sentence in a monotone.

"Itna bored sound math hona...mere liye khush nahi ho sakte?"

"Arre baba khush hoon. I mean, dus din ke liye tumhara peecha choote ga...obviously

khush hoon" Arjun said as a matter of fact. His wife gave him a disbelief look before

throwing a pillow at him. The pillow hit him smack in the middle of the face, throwing him

off balance. He staggered a step back and hit his leg on the edge of the cupboard door.

"Ouch!" He winced as sharp edge of the door scraped against his heel.

"Oh no!" He heard Sakshi exclaim and a second later she was crouching down next to his

leg examining the heel. She looked up at him, wide eyed.

"I am so sorry Arjun, your heel is bleeding. I'll go bring the first-aid kit"

She only took one step away from him when he stopped her with a gentle hand on her

shoulder, "It's a small wound Sakshi, don't worry. I'll put some pressure on it, the bleeding

will stop"

"Nahi, mein first-aid kit laati hoon rukho..."

"Arre yaar!!" Arjun exclaimed and this time he held her by her wrist and pulled her back. He

wasn't sure what he meant to do, but he tugged a little too hard and she jerked back into

his arms. Staring at each other and inches away, both weren't sure what just happened.

"Y-you are bleeding" Sakshi muttered.

"I had worst" Arjun replied, still not moving from where they stood.

Sakshi's eyebrows shot up on her forehead as she asked, "Really? Have you ever been

shot?"

Arjun chuckled at how nave she sounded while asking that question. He slowly raised his

hand and tapped the edge of his right shoulder. His wife's eyes slowly darted to where he

pointed.

"Really, you've been shot?!" She gasped, looking up at him with wide eyes. Worry crossed

her features for something that happened many years ago. With his thumb, he gently

smoothed the deep crease between her brows.

"It was a long time ago" He whispered. And as if in a daze, his hand slid from her forehead

to the side of her face. His thumb caressed the soft and flawless skin of her cheek. Her

eyes shone with gentleness and an odd hope.

Then she smiled. A genuinely sweet smile with a touch of shyness. A kind of smile that

spreads warmth through your insides.

The edges of Arjun's lips twitched up, as he took a step back from his wife.

"Tumhe shower ke liye jaana tha na?" Sakshi asked, still reeling from what just happened.

"Haan...I...uhh...abhi jaa raha hoon"

Thirteen