ArShi FF 'Deja Vu' Ch 6B(35) on 11/3 - Page 11

Chapter Four: A ray of hope

"They slipped briskly into an intimacy from which they never recovered."

~~ Scott Fitzgerald ~~

October, 2012

"Madam Ji isn't expecting any clients at this hour, Sir Ji."

Arnav smiled inwardly at the pleasant security guard as he tapped his fingers on the employee's register that lay on the desk with an intercom and a pen stand at the guard's disposal. This was becoming interesting, for him to come all way here and then was being kept waited while the guard looked at him, puzzled and curious.

"I'm her friend." He informed with a smile. He knew that Khushi hadn't agreed for their coffee date and that it was foolish for him to even expect someone as innocent with bangs of her hair fanning over her face that found its escape from her braid to go out with a stranger. Yet, here he was, waiting for her to make her appearance as he watched the employee's signing off for the day. "Look, can you ask her how long should I be waiting here?"

The guard stared at him for longer than needed at his request, his brows narrowed quizzically. "Sorry, Sir Ji. I thought you're a client too as I saw you with Madam Ji's client." The guard said while referring to his last visit.

Arnav laughed. He had to give the guard for keeping a record for the visitors and for remembering people after with just one glance. As was the case with most of the guards whom he had to encounter on regular basis, Arnav nodded with mock understanding. "Misunderstandings can happen, Chacha Ji. Your Madam Ji is supposed to have coffee with me and you know how it is with them if we're not on time to pick them up."

The guard nodded in an understanding smile and Arnav suppressed his grin. It was becoming increasingly common for him to get his way with the guards. Never had he able to try this approach before but now that he did, he liked it.

"Madam Ji will be leaving anytime now." He heard the guard a second later, his voice lot calmer than it was when he first arrived. "Please, have a seat, Sir Ji. I'll let her know that you're waiting."

Arnav stepped back as he watched the guard reaching out for the intercom just as the door was opened and a young man stepped out with a cheerful laugh. Young and in love, Arnav guessed with a glance, and in mid-twenties. "You can't tell her, Lavanya!" The man answered back as he tilted his head to look at the person before turning around, a mobile in his hands.

Arnav would have shook his head and go back to one of the magazines that he had pulled as he sat in one of the seats in waiting longue if he didn't recognize the man to be the one from elevator during his last visit. NK. And a friend of her.

"NK?" He called out and smirked when the man looked at him, startled but smiled nonetheless. "You're NK, right? Khushi's friend." Arnav asked as he rose from his seat, extending his hand. "I'm a friend of hers." He added for a good measure, suppressing a chuckle as he imagined her reaction when she came to know about how he was introducing himself as her friend. But he didn't care much. For one thing, there was something about her that made him do things he never imagined doing otherwise. And if she wasn't interested in meeting him, she would have said so the very second when the guard informed her about his arrival. By not saying, Khushi intrigued him and Arnav was sure that she was at least interested in him to have a coffee with him.

"Thank God, you're here to pick her up." NK said as he shook his hand, relief washing over him as he gazed at Arnav. "I was about to call her brother to let him know that she doesn't look good and that its best she goes home this weekend rather than staying alone in her flat."

Or she wasn't interested in him?

"Oh, what's wrong with Khushi?" Arnav demanded as he took a step forward, his eyes blazing with sudden concern for the woman he hardly knew. Sudden but not unexpected.

"You didn't know?" NK asked but shook his head before Arnav could come up with anything. "So very alike her, if you ask me. Her head is throbbing and I'm sure she is having fever. Only if she allows any of us to check her temperature. Anyways, now that her friend is here, I don't think I need to twist her hand into visiting her parents. You'll drop her home, right?"

Arnav nodded with a soft smile. "Of course, I will."

Ten minutes later, he saw her with NK beside her while her eyes met his as soon as she stepped in, anger blazing in her hazel orbs that it both amazed and thrilled Arnav. Women rarely looked up at him with disinterest or hatred but this woman was making it obvious that she wasn't amazed with his advances. And he hadn't even begun with his advances!

"I told you I was not interested to have coffee with you." Khushi hissed as soon as she reached him. "Or is it so hard to take no from a woman?"

Arnav smiled as he shook his head. "I do remember my offer to dine with me being rejected but it was not extended to coffee." He said with a soft smile, his eyes never leaving hers as he arched a brow challengingly, lowering his voice into a whisper. "Or are you so into me that it scares you to be with me?"

He knew he was being childish but the need to see how this woman felt about him was so intense that he wanted to provoke any emotion in her that would give him an idea of whether or not to pursue her. And he watched her, his eyes roaming over her face as her eyes lowered, cheeks flushed with a rose tinge and lips fluttered and parted in the briefest second that gave him what he wanted to know, his mind coming up with the conclusion as he smiled inwardly.

Khushi Gupta was interested. Very, very interested, indeed.

"Don't worry, NK." Khushi said a second later, her eyes never leaving his as if in rebellion. "I'll be fine." She tilted her head to look at her friend, her eyes softening with a smile. "I'll call you if I need anything, okay."

Arnav waited as Khushi filled her friend with details of what seemed to be about one of her projects. Though he was not really aware of the interiors and never was able to see the point in considering color schemes that differed in every room, he do know the importance of appearance to provoke a positive response from their visitors. While having such profound interest in offices was to be considered as important, he didn't see the importance behind having the same extended to bed rooms where a man and a woman were the only ones that were to be living there.

"Call me if you need anything." Khushi said finally as they walked towards the elevator another ten minutes later, only to have her friend sneer at her.

"It's good to neglect work once in a while, you know. You're twenty-four, Khushi. Start behaving like one instead of Mamma Mia." NK remarked with a wry smile.

Arnav leaned against the inside wall of the elevator, crossing his arms around as he watched her with curiosity. This woman was career oriented with single mind focus, passionate about what she did and jovial who seemed to live in the moment. "You look awful." He said once they were out in the parking lot. "Are you okay?"

Khushi turned around, blocking his way as she glared at him, her gaze sharp and pointed with her hands rested on her hips. "I don't even know your last name, Arnav. I'm not open for blind dates."

"Raizada." Arnav offered with a grin. "It's Arnav Singh Raizada. You know my sister and her charming husband whom your colleagues are interested in. of course, except for you with me being the type that interests you."

"Crazy, persistent and shameless. Of course." Khushi agreed, her voice dripped in sarcasm as she continued glaring at him.

"Yet, you're here with me." Arnav pointed out with a cocky grin. "You can walk away if you're not interested." He said after a second of consideration, knowing well that she wouldn't, surprised at how much he was able to guess based on what he had known in their last two rather interesting meetings.

He saw a flash of something he was used to witness in women he met in her eyes as a soft smile danced its way on her lips, lighting her face under the pale yellow light and Arnav sighed, staring at her, shaking away a familiar ting in his heart. "Can I trust you?" She asked with her perfectly shaped brow arching slightly with what could be termed as genuine interest.

"Yes." He said, replying with one of his own smiles and walked past her, holding the door of the passenger's side of his SUV open. "Let me drop you home, Khushi. Coffee date has to wait now."

"You need reasons to meet me." Khushi countered as she seated in and watched him as Arnav walked around the vehicle to his side.

He looked at her once seated behind the wheel, his smile widening as he watched her adjust her seat belt, leaning back and tilted her head to his side, her eyes tired as she blinked rapidly. "Not anymore." He promised as he reared the vehicle. "Now that we agreed to see each other." He added with a good measure and chuckled when her angry voice filtered in.

"I'm not open for meaningless relationships, you shameless moron."

__________

January, 2015

Khushi shut her sister's wedding album with a definite slap after going through it for more than ten times in the past half hour as she waited for the one person that hopefully had answers to her life's questions. If coming in terms of what she had lost in the past years seemed to be impossible, knowing that she had developed a bond with her sister's brother-in-law was almost unsettling. In each of the photo that they had been together, she was stumped to see the glint in the man's eyes as he looked at her and those uncharacteristic smiles of hers was annoyingly beautiful. She closed her eyes, leaning back against the back rest of the bed. Arnav and she surely shared a wonderful friendship and to know that she didn't remember any of it was as heart wrenching as not knowing about the man she was engaged to.

But with the discovery of the forgotten friendship came unsettling thoughts of the reasons for Arnav not visiting her in the past few days. If they were as happy and close as the photos implied, then why didn't Arnav even called her? Was something happened between them that changed the dynamics of their friendship, turning it into an awkward one?

Pushing the album aside, she jumped out of the bed, her feet firmly placed on the cold, marble flooring as she reached out to pull the side drawer open. She took a deep breath as she grabbed her mobile, the one she had been using when she was met with an accident. When Aarav had given her the mobile, Khushi all but locked it away in the drawer, not wanting to discover anymore truths than she already had. But now that she was ready to travel back into the past that would help her move on with future, she all but wanted to try her best in gathering the missing pieces of puzzle that she had become.

Khushi let out a snort, sending a silent warning up to her supreme power. Why was it that every mundane electronic gadget that might hold a clue, an opening to her past, seemed to be ceased with her own foolishness with advances in technology? She stared at the screen of her mobile, blank and dejected, as it asked for a password that she had no idea about. She tried the password that she remembered and few others that she could come up with, her every attempt as futile as the previous one. Cursing out loud, she trashed the mobile carelessly on the bed and sighed. Only if she could get hold on something, anything, that could help her start on a solid base in her pursuit.

"Who are you?" She whispered softly as she reached the window, her eyes gazing into the vast expanse in front while her hands found the lilacs on its own accord, as if it was a habit. Immediately, she gazed at the potted plant as the unexpected thought that flashed in her mind. "Who the hell are you?" She repeated again, louder than the previous one, her voice high, flat, pleading. Longing.

A soft knock on the door brought her back from her reverie and Khushi turned around, anticipating it to be the one person that she realized as her friend. And she saw him, standing at the doorway with his shoulders slumped down, face handsome with sharp, angular features, molten eyes blinking rapidly as they stared at her with myriad of emotions. There was relief, disbelief, guilt and... love.

"Khushi"

The whisper was a torturous that shook Khushi, forcing her to take a back step at the intensity his voice bore, the anguish in his eyes twisting her heart. It surprised her, to have someone she no more recognized feel for her in such a way that was soothing in her otherwise hopeless life, like a drop of water finally reaching its ocean.

And just as she stared at him, another thought flickered in the corners of her mind, leaving her as restless as she was before as she searched for the darkest, locked up parts of her life to hold onto something that would give her hope, the photos only cementing the doubts that rooted as soon as she saw Arnav at her doorway.

Was it only friendship that she shared with him?

"Can I trust you?" She heard herself asking, her voice alien and distinct as she waited. She watched, her eyes pleading as she held his gaze for few seconds that tickled by before she saw him looking around the room, his gaze falling on the bed. she watched, her hands balled into fists and her gaze following him while Arnav walked towards the bed, taking the mobile as his fingers swiped the screen. She watched, her heart thudding against her chest, as he reached her in two swift strides, placing her mobile in her hand while she glanced at the screen, now unlocked and was greeted by a photo.

A photo of them as its wallpaper

A photo that spoke volumes about love

In the way she was staring at him

With their hands interlinked, on the table in between

"Yes."

Arnav uttered softly, his voice barely a whisper but with the promise of forever.

__________