ArHi SS: Love Countdown|| COMPLETED || - Page 27

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Chapter 5

Khushi was muttering curses to Saket as she entered the Raizada Mansion. Her morning had already been messy. First of all, she had woken up half an hour later than usual. By the time she had returned from her morning jog, Saket had already left taking the car and had sent her a text.

"Khu baby, I am taking the car and have told Mom that you will be delivering the gift to Jiji. You know I am busy. ;) Bye baby. Have a nice day. :D"

"Escapee." She had said.

Garima had asked either of Saket or Khushi to deliver a gift to Payal. One of their distant relatives had sent the gift since they could not attend her marriage. It had been two weeks but the gift was still in the Gupta Villa since every day either Khushi would think Saket would give it or Saket would think that Khushi would give it. Fed up with their drama, Garima had strictly ordered them to decide between them who would deliver it but it should be done that day itself.

She did not want to make her mother more angry and had decided to pay a quick visit to the Raizadas before going to college.

Her chain of thoughts was broken by the warm greeting of Hari Prakash who ushered her in and in no time she was bombarded with questions about her early morning visit. Payal was already excited about getting yet another gift. Amongst all the excitement and chatting, her eyes involuntarily searched for the owner of the molten caramel orbs.

He must be sleeping, she thought. Just then, her cell phone rang. She excused herself and moved aside to take the call. She entered the poolside to escape from the hullabaloo which prevented her from hearing anything and that is exactly when she had spotted her object of attraction through the glass door, the owner of the very same pair of eyes which had haunted her. However, his early morning sight made her breath hitch. The phone call lay forgotten seeing his bare shoulder and back muscles flex and twitch as leaned back and forth doing push-ups. His dishevelled hair along with the one day-old stubble made him look sexier. She could see only his side profile. Khushi was brought out of her trance when she heard the person on the other side of the phone speak loudly, "Ma'am, are you there? Can you hear me?"

What the hell are you doing? Her mind chided. "Yeah, I can hear you. I will speak to you about the paper in college." She said and cut the call. She needed to get out of the place immediately for the sake of her sanity. She was already feeling the butterflies returning to her stomach. She rushed to the living room and said, "I should leave now Jiji. I am already late and now I have to take an auto since Saket has taken the car. God knows when I will reach college."

"Khushi bitiya, why don't you take the car? Mohan will drop you." Dadi suggested.

Khushi was still thinking whether to accept the offer when Akash said, "What are you thinking Khushi? Aren't you getting late now?" He teased. She checked the time and agreed.

**********

Professor Khushi Gupta was already exhausted taking four continuous hours of classes. It was lunch break. She was walking through the corridor when she heard some girls gushing over some handsome guy and talked how hot he looked in white shirt and blue denim jeans. Blue! Suddenly her sixth sense said that she knew the person and looked in that direction. As expected her intuition was never wrong. There stood Arnav Singh Raizada leaning against his car. He waved at her along with his charming smile. As if the morning show was not enough that he had to pay her a visit in her college.

She walked towards him and asked, "What are you doing here Arnav?"

And here he thought their equations had changed. Well, when did she greet him ever? She loved to talk to the point. He thought. He had missed meeting her in the morning and was disappointed but then he was lucky enough to get another chance to meet her the same day. Dressed in a white sari with large pink floral patterns, she looked ethereal. He saw her eyebrows furrowing in confusion when he decided to answer her.

"Hi, Khushi. You had left your purse in the car in the morning. I found it in the back seat. So, I came to return it to you." He said handing her the purse.

How did she forget her purse? She thought. You were lost in his thoughts. Her mind replied.

"Thanks. You could have informed me. There was no need to come here." She said.

"I think you haven't noticed yet but I called you several times. You were busy in class and so I thought of handing it personally."

She checked her phone and realised she had some ten missed calls from Arnav. Usually her phone is kept in silent mode during classes.

"Oh! I am so sorry for the trouble. I was late and in hurry I left it in the car," she said apologetically.

"Hey, relax. You do not need to be sorry. But, if you want to return the favour, you can join me for lunch if you are not busy", he said with a smile.

Khushi looked at his expectant eyes. She did not want to see disappointment in those warm caramel orbs and hence said, "Okay. I don't have any class after lunch break so...yeah..I will join you. Let me get my things." Her heart fluttered seeing his full smile and the glint of excitement in his eyes.

Arnav's dress:

Khushi's saree:

**********

An hour later, they were sitting inside one of Arnav's favourite dining places on the outskirts of Delhi. "Where will you like to go?" He had asked. "Wherever you take me. I don't have any preferences." So Arnav decided to take her to a restaurant of his liking.

Food was served and Khushi had not spoken much. To kill the silence Arnav asked, "You said you did not have classes after lunch break today. What were your plans?"

"Nothing much. I would have gone to the library and prepared for the lectures but now I think this was not a bad option. This place and the food, both are wonderful. Your choice is good." She replied with a smile. Oh! How he had wanted to see her smile!

"My choices are always the best." He replied with a grin and they started chatting.

**********

They were heading back when suddenly Khushi asked him to stop the car. He asked her what happened when she pointed towards a shop at the side of the road and with a sheepish look said, "Arnav, can we have jalebis? Please?"

"Of course we can." He said amused at her child-like behaviour. She muttered a thanks and sprinted towards the shop without even waiting for Arnav to come out.

Within minutes, she was sitting with a plate of hot piping jalebis. "Mmm... delicious." She moaned and she savoured the yellow swirls. "Jalebi is the best sweet in the world."

Arnav gulped seeing her moan. He wanted to replace her tongue with his, which licked the sticky sugary syrup from the corner of her lips in a swift motion. His wayward thoughts were broken when Khushi asked, "Arnav, why aren't you eating? Don't you find them good?" "They are good", he replied. Khushi smiled and ordered her second plate.

Don't act like a hormonal teenager. Get a grip Raizada. His mind warned.

Ever since he had seen her during his brother's wedding, he had always wanted to make her smile and now he felt an unknown satisfaction seeing his wish fulfilled.

"Shit. It is raining", she said. "Don't you like rain?" He asked surprised.

"No."

"Are you serious? It feels so lively when those tiny droplets hit your face."

"I don't like getting drenched in rain. I only like looking at it and love to enjoy it with pakoras and tea."

"I didn't know you are such a foodie."

"Well, yes I am." She grinned.

"Then you may enjoy another plate of jalebi." He teased.

Due to lack of parking space Arnav's car was parked on the other side of the road beside a playground and they had to cross the road to reach his car. They decided to wait for the rain to subside since Khushi was least interested in getting drenched.

Some kids were playing football in the playground. The ball rolled towards the shop and stopped near Arnav's feet. He picked up the ball and saw the kids asking for it. Turning towards Khushi he asked, "Will you mind if I join them?"

"Not at all." She replied.

She saw him crossing the road and joined the kids. The kids cheered as he showed his skills in dribbling the ball and finally score a goal. Her smile widened. As if on their own accord, her feet dragged her from the shelter to the car parked just beside the playground. She did not mind the pelting rain. She wanted to have a closer look of Arnav. She leaned on the car and watched him. The way he was playing, it seemed he was one of their team members. His white shirt clung to his body like a second skin making his perfectly chiselled abs visible to her. He had a certain charm which made others feel comfortable around him.

Arnav was fully engrossed in the game when he felt someone staring at him. He turned around only to find Khushi staring at him. She wasn't even bothered about the rain. Seeing her in the wet sari was a torture.

Just then, their eyes met. She saw him coming towards her.

"I think just few minutes back I heard you say that you didn't like getting drenched. What changed your mind?" He asked.

"I wanted to see how lively it felt when the tiny droplets hit my face." She stated his line.

"So, what did you feel?"

"It ain't that bad." She replied with a chuckle. Their eyes met and both of them could see the submerged desire in the other's eyes.

"I think we should head home", he said trying to ease the tension between them. Khushi nodded and got inside the car.

"You play really well", she said with admiration. "Thanks", he said smilingly. "I was a striker in my school football team. Seeing those children playing in rain brought those old memories back and when the ball stopped near my feet, I could not control the urge of kicking it. I played after a very long time."

She smiled seeing his passion for the game. An awkward silence filled the car again.

Arnav turned on the music player. The song that played reflected their exact feelings at that moment.

Ek din kabhi jo khud ko taraashe meri nazar se tu zara haaye re

Aankhon se teri kya kya chhupa hai tujhko dikhaaun main zara haaye re

Ek ankahi si daastaan daastaan kehne lagega aaina

Subhanallah... jo ho raha haim pehli dafaa hai

Wallah... aisa hua

Subhanallah..jo ho raha hai pehli dafaa hai

Wallah... aisa hua

Meri khamoshi se baatein chun lena

Unki dori se taarifein boon lena

Kal nahi thi jo aaj lagti hoon

Taareef meri hai khaamakha

Tohfa hai tera meri adaa

Ek din kabhi jo khud ko pukaare meri zubaan se tu zara haaye re

Tujh mein chhupi si jo shayari hai tujhko sunaaun main zara haay re

Ye do dilon ka waasta waasta khul ke bataaya jaaye naa

Subhanallah... jo ho raha hai pehli dafaa hai

Wallah... aisa hua.

Jo ho raha hai, pehli dafaa hai

Wallah... aisa hua

Khushi looked outside, her hand resting on the window pane as she analysed the events of the day. She suddenly wanted to thank Saket for ruining her morning which eventually led to a wonderful afternoon. She had a lot to write in her diary today.

Arnav thanked his stars once again. He still was not able to believe that he had spent an entire afternoon with Khushi.

If he had thought that her lehenga made her look pretty, then he was wrong. If he had thought that Red was her color, he was equally wrong. This white with pink sari proved everything wrong. She had been a treat to watch and a vision for his eyes, a very cherishable vision, indeed.

"If girls are gift, then saree is the best wrapper." Ah what a perfect quote, that suited the most beautiful woman.

Or was it her beauty that made the dresses look good? He was confused, yet he didn't want the answer. His afternoon was a gift. He wanted to relive those moments.

**********

Song: Subhanallah

Movie: Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

Chapter 6