Part 10
Na tum jaano, na hum
"Bloody Raizada," Khushi muttered irritably under her breath.
"Beta," Mr Kashyap breathed, shocked, and proceeded to lecture her on why she should be grateful that not only had Mr Arnav Singh Raizada's company offered her a scholarship to enroll at the Navneetkishore Acting Academy, but he was taking a personal interest in making sure that Khushi made it to the acting workshops on time. He looked inordinately proud of having being singled out for the mundane, but potentially life-threatening, task of waking Khushi up.
Khushi proffered some half-arsed apology and stomped away to the bathroom, fuming. How dare that Raizada ruin her sleep on the pretext of some acting workshop that did not even exist. If she had been any less angry, she might have smiled at the artful ingenuity of his comeback for all the times that she had annoyed him. But five thirty in the morning was no time for her to muster the energy required for such graciousness.
Within half an hour, she had been dispatched out of the house by a beaming Mr Kashyap, and she stood on the curb, waiting for a rickshaw, wondering where she could possibly go now. She had half a mind to go to Shantivan and dump a bucket of ice-cold water on that bloody Raizada's face.
As if on cue, that bloody Raizada's SUV showed up and braked in front of her.
"Come to gloat?" she asked, as he rolled down his window. Rhetorical question, really.
He smirked in response, "Revenge is sweet indeed."
And so it was. He had made an extra effort to wake up early himself just so he could enjoy the delightful sight of the disheveled, moody person that Khushi was when her precious sleep was robbed away from her.
"Whatever," she retorted, determined not to give him the satisfaction of knowing how brilliant his plan had been, "And anyway I did have to go rehearse for my play, so thanks for the help. What are you doing here at six in the morning though? Don't tell me you ruined your sleep for this feeble prank of yours! What an amateur."
"I wake up early everyday," he lied, fully aware that she was bluffing herself, "Hop in, I'll drop you to your so-called play rehearsal."
"I really do have a play to rehearse for, at Joshi Theatre," she retorted dryly, as she slumped herself down in the passenger seat, "And by the way, I'm pretty sure it's not true that you wake up early everyday. You seem like the typical workaholic coffee-addict who would stay up all night poring over some boring files."
"How do you know?" he asked, surprised.
"Lucky guess," she smiled, stifling a yawn.
"Well, you're only partly right," he said smoothly, "I do stay up all night. But it's not boring files that keep me occupied."
"What then?"
"Sex," he answered simply, chortling to himself silently as he watched her turn crimson from the corner of his eye.
Of course such nights only occurred very rarely, and more often than not, it was during his trips abroad that he had hooked up with women, but the lie, expressly designated at making her splutter and not know how to respond, had hit the target. There was something admittedly quite cute in the way certain topics could cause the ordinarily bold and confident Khushi Kumari Gupta to become flustered.
To her credit, though, she recovered quite fast.
"Really?" she scoffed, "So how come you're here today? You didn't get lucky last night? Don't tell me you're losing your touch Raizada."
Point to Gupta.
Arnav smiled nevertheless. Khushi's satisfied grin was not at all unpleasant to behold, even if it was at his expense.
"How could I - we're supposed to be engaged, remember?" he quipped, getting back into character, "In two months' time our contract will end and I'll have all the freedom in the world."
"Five weeks and three days," she said, softly.
A heavy silence fell upon them at her words. Engrossed as they had been in their little battles of wit and to and fro of pranks, they had barely realised how swiftly time had flown past them, and how accustomed they had become to each other's presence in their lives.
"You have been counting down the days," he remarked after some time.
"Well, yes," she said, trying to feign nonchalance, "After five weeks and three days, I'll be free too."
Their repartee of sarcastic barbs subsisted for the length of their drive to Joshi Theatre, but both could feel that something akin to nostalgia had seeped in the air. The awareness of the impermanence of their... arrangement was unsettling.
Khushi, being an avid consumer of all sorts of romantic movies and soppy serials, understood that it was because of the little crush she had developed on Arnav, but quickly reassured herself that her crush too was transient after all.
On the other hand, Arnav, eminently practical as he was, rationalised his unease by contending that he had never come across anyone quite like Khushi and that surely, it was only human nature that he should experience curiosity and interest with regards to her, but that in the end, she would probably only be one captivating chapter in the long book that was the entirety of his life.
"We've reached," Khushi said, interrupting his thoughts, as Joshi Theatre came into view.
"It's closed," Arnav pointed out, noticing the lock on the gate.
"Oh, yeah. Well, my rehearsal was supposed to start at 10, so... But it's okay. I'll while away the time. Thanks for the lift, but you're still a jerk for getting Uncle to wake me up so early."
True, Arnav mused, looking around at the empty street, that was a pretty jerk-ish thing to do.
"I'm sorry," he mumbled.
She looked up, taken aback by his apology, and gave him a heartfelt smile as she jokingly chided him, "You really are not good at this pranking thing, are you? You're not supposed to say sorry. Kills the vibe."
"Khushi," he said earnestly, "I mean it. This place is quite deserted. I hadn't thought of that... Uhh, do you mind if I wait here with you? Or can I drop you someplace else?"
"Why are you being such a gentleman?" she asked, slightly annoyed that he was once again making it difficult for her to find reasons to dislike him.
"Maybe I am trying to score brownie points so that I can cash them in for something else some other time," he winked.
But she knew he was lying. He really was a gentleman, genuinely caring and protective, and try as she might, she could not help but warm up to him.
"If it's brownie points that you want," she said, smiling mischievously, "They are not that easy to earn. You will have to take me somewhere for breakfast. I'm super hungry."
"It's a date," he announced, making her roll her eyes in response.
Of all places, he decided to take her to The Taj, a five-star hotel, earning himself a snide remark from Khushi about being a "snobby Richie Rich," although she could not help but gasp at the stately grandeur of the place. She felt like a princess as she walked beneath the magnificent diamond chandeliers, albeit a princess who had thrown in the first thing she could find that morning, which happened to be a plain black blouse with dark blue jeans. Feeling ever so slightly conscious, she inched closer to Arnav who was striding his way across the hall as if he owned the place.
Maybe he had noticed her slight discomfort, because he threw her a small smile as he slipped his hand in hers.
Her eyes widened in protest but he quickly said, "Holding hands is allowed as per the contract. You can always wash them later, remember?"
Khushi sighed to herself. If only he knew... that the reason why she flinched away from his physical proximity nowadays was because it made her brain go all fuzzy with weird romantic-type thoughts that should have been reserved for her Mr Perfect. It was the reason why she had tried so hard to avoid him after NK's birthday bash. And for all her efforts, there she was, walking hand in hand with him in some dream-like place. She should have pulled her hand away from his, but her resolve failed her.
"Arnie!" somebody suddenly exclaimed to their right. It was a stunning lady, dressed from head-to-toe in impeccably elegant designer wear that would have surely made Lavanya drool.
She leaned in to peck him on the cheek and surveying Khushi with a look of mild distaste, commented, "Won't you introduce us, Arnie?"
Khushi tried to smile as she controlled her urge to roll her eyes at the infuriatingly fake British accent with which that woman said 'Arnie.' Khushi liked her less and less with every passing second, even though she did not exactly have a reason why.
"Yes, of course," 'Arnie' said graciously, "Khushi, this is Tiara, a super-model, and Tiara, this is my... friend, Khushi."
"Friend?" Tiara raised her eyebrow, "Oh, I know what you mean by "friend"... Clearly, you are a man of, ahem, varied tastes."
Outraged at the implication that she was some sort of escort, Khushi was about to say something, but Arnav was quicker than her.
"No," he replied, politely, but firmly, "She actually is my friend, and in fact, a very close friend of mine."
The look on Tiara's plastic face was priceless. Khushi could not help but chuckle silently.
Edited by whimsical - 9 years ago
Anupamaa
Kabhi Neem Neem Kabhi Shahad Shahad
Bollywood
193