Arshi FF: A Sprinkle of Stardust [Chp 22, Pg 73 25/07] - Page 10

~"It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up." - Vince Lombardi~

"Arnav?" Garimas worried voice came through the phone.

"Yes Aunty?" His heart immediately constricted, his mind jumping to all sorts of conclusions. Garima didn't usually call him unless something was wrong. He liked her, he saw glimpses of a mother in her, one he had never had.

"Arnav beta, I need to meet you," there was a trepidation to her voice, she sounded troubled.

"Is something wrong aunty, is it an emergency?" His voice was heavy with concern, almost on the edge of panic.

"No no beta, nothing urgent. I just needed to talk to you," Garima smiled slightly, a slow calmness spreading through her at the thought that she would not be alone in this.

"Okay aunty, just tell me the time and place and I'll be there," Arnav finally said, a bit calmer than before.

****

Arnav had his eyes closed, as if he were in pain and sat massaging his temples whilst listening to the chattering voice on the other end of the phone. He would let Lavanya talk today, he was the one that needed the job done.

"So," she finally breathed, "what have you been up to?" The phone was quiet on the other end. "ASR?" She tried louder this time, "are you there?"

Arnav snapped out of his quiet reverie on hearing his name, "oh La sorry I was just quickly glancing through something," he lied not showing that he had no interest in her useless daily activities. "Glad to hear you're enjoying yourself, so when are you coming back?"

Lavanya smiled to herself, overjoyed that ASR at least cared for her, maybe the distance was making him miss her. "Well I'm pretty much done with my shopping so I could come back early if you want me to," she replied gleefully, never one to back away from fulfilling any wish he would command upon her.

Arnav smirked to himself with contempt, he had her just where he wanted. "Oh that would be great La! Works piling up and I dunno it would be great if you could make it back early."

"Aw of course ASR! I'll come tomorrow itself!" She announced, already too excited at the fact that he was possibly missing her company.

"Oh good lord," Arnav though to himself rolling his eyes to the heavens, "No no La don't be silly, have another day of rest and come back the day after," he said, praying that she would agree.

"Oh okay are you sure?"

"Yes La, positive. Now I got to go. I shall see you when you get back. Bye."

****

Khushi paced around her room, forming a plan. She had to do something, she couldn't involve Arnav because Aakash was his brother. She couldn't tell Anjali because she was Aakash's sister. She couldn't tell her mother because she didn't want to create a rift. She would have to plan this out her self.

Now that she thought back on it she didn't even know why she had fallen for Aakash, had she even loved him? If she had would she have been able to make this decision of not marrying him so quickly? "Am I fooling my heart? Oh god heart you are so stupid!" She mumbled, placing her hands on her heart. If Arnav hadn't been so stupid so many years ago this wouldn't have happened. If he still wasn't the ignorant idiot things could have worked out differently.

But there had to be a reason for Aakash's sudden distance from her. For longer than she could remember he had been completely smitten by her. And why was he turning up home in the wee hours of the morning, where was he staying over during the night?

And why was Arnav suddenly so concerned over her relationship with Aakash? Ever since she had announced their relationship to him all of those years ago he had refused to comment on it. Refused to answer any question she would ask regarding Aakash and all of a sudden he was taking such a large interest into their relationship. Why? It had been like an unsaid rule among them, he wouldn't enquire about her relationships and she wouldn't ask about his many affairs or the many women he slept with. She made a face in disgust at that thought and came to a stop in front of her bed, exhausted from asking herself questions that she didn't have the answer to. She sat herself down, sinking into the soft mattress of her bed and sat lost in thought for a few seconds. No plan was coming to her, her mind kept on telling her to ask Arnav for help. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" She shouted in her head for what must have been the fourth time and brought her hands to her hair pulling at it.

"Do I have no other option but to marry Aakash?" She finally thought to herself. Her father was a man of few words and when he did speak, his word was law. Would it even be right to defy the parents that had taken in an orphan? Heavy tears slowly brimmed her eyes and she let them fall, the frustration and despair bubbling up inside of her, threatening to push her over the edge. She desperately wanted to tell Arnav but she couldn't, she wouldn't! He already had his own problems; a mother that never loved him, a brother that he had never been close to and she didn't want to widen those gaps, she couldn't do that to him. Maybe she should just marry Aakash, he wasn't a bad person, maybe things were just getting a bit too much for him lately. "Urgh!" She exclaimed, flinging herself back onto the bed, sinking her head onto the large plump pillow. She tightened her eyes shut, she would wake up to a decision.

Garima came and sat on the bed, watched as Khushi turned around at the sudden disturbance, sighed then resumed her light snoring. She smoothed the hair back off of Khushi's face, smiling down at the gentle face of her angel. The little angel that her and Shashi had brought home from the orphanage so many years ago. Garima liked to imagine her daughter had her features, even though Khushi was not her offspring, fate had declared her womb unfit to hold a child but it hadn't declared her childless. Ever since that moment when Khushi had ran up to her and entwined her tiny little hand around Garimas finger Khushi had become her daughter. Her eyes welled up with tears as she looked into the innocent face of her only daughter and wiped the tears sliding down her face away. If only she wasn't this stubborn, she thought to herself, if only she would share her pain. She watched as Khushi frowned in her sleep, lightly mumbling something to herself; something she did whenever something deeply troubled her. Garima closed her eyes in prayer and asked for Devi Mayya to look after her Khushi, to make Shashi see reason.

****

"Ma'am I'm here to have a look at the computers."

Arundathi looked the dark, skinny, scrawny man up and down with distaste. He moved his glasses up his nose once more as he continued to smile at her."Look at our computers? I didn't call anyone," She said annoyed, ready to escort him out of the door.

"But ma'am I was told to," he continued, the smile fading as Arundathi began ushering him towards the door.

"I asked him to come." Arundathi's head instantly snapped up to see Arnav walking down the stairs, fixing the sleeves of his shirt. She glared at him then quickly fixed a kind smile on her face, "but why beta? There's nothing wrong with our computers," she said calmly.

Arnav watched her face with a look of dark amusement, "that's okay. The computers in my office are being checked for this new virus that's spreading over networks. I though there would be no harm in checking the ones at home." he replied matter-of-factly.

"But Arnav," she tried to protest.

But Arnav completely ignored her and walked over to the scrawny IT guy, "you can start off with my computer and Hari Prakash will bring the rest of them into my room. Give me a call once you are done," he ordered then walked out whilst Arundathi stood throwing daggers at his back, seething with rage, then stomped off in the other direction ordering Om Prakash to bring her a glass of water.

--

Arundathi sat tapping at the glass of water with her nails, racking her brain as to what the real deal with this computer guy was. A deep fear had once again planted itself in the pit of her stomach, Arnav had the same calculative mind as her husband. She gulped loudly, a shiver once again riding up her spine.

She stood up suddenly remembering something, her heart hammered in her chest as she started taking shaky steps up the stairs then broke into a run. She ran through her bedroom doors, her eyes searching around for her laptop. Her eyes widened in fear and her breathing increased as she tried to process what had just struck her. "Shit! Hari Prakash!" She screamed, unable to contain her fear any longer.

She turned around, throwing a death glare at Hari Prakash as he shuffled into the room. "Where the hell is my laptop?!" She shouted through gritted teeth. "Ma'am.. woh..." He stuttered. "Answer my question you fool! Where the hell is my laptop?!" She screamed as he shook with fear. "Ma'am woh Arnav sir told me to take it to his room." "Urgh!" She screamed and stomped out of the room, shoving Hari Prakash out of the way.

Her whole body was trembling as she knocked loudly on Arnav's door, he was away, which meant she would be able to make up a lie and take the laptop off of that stupid man. "Damn it open the door!" She muttered through gritted teeth, knocking once more and her eyes widened in shock at the person that opened the door.

Arnav's eyes at first widened in amusement, smirking ever so slightly, he furrowed his brows, feigning surprise and concern. "Is something wrong?" He asked watching a shaking Arundathi.

"I thought you were away," she finally managed to say, whilst calming herself down.

"No I just went out, I came back."

"But haven't you got work today?" She asked a little confused.

"Well I don't have any meetings so I thought I'd work from home," he replied calmly, almost unable to contain a chuckle.

"Oh well erm that's good isn't it," she replied, unable to meet his eyes. "Well I'll send you up a glass of juice," she said whilst walking away, lost in her own thoughts.

Arnav smirked at her retreating back then turned back into the room, closing the doors he spoke to Sushant, the computer hacker. "Check Arundathi Raizada's laptop first," he ordered then walked off and took a seat at his table at the poolside.

****

"Stop! Stop here!" Khushi screamed at the taxi driver and her head banged off of the seat rest as the taxi driver stamped on his break. "Idiot!" She growled under her breath then narrowed her eyes to watch Aakash step out of his office and get into his car. "I want you to follow that car," she then ordered the taxi driver.

"What?" He asked turning around at her bewildered.

"Arrey yar! Follow that car! Don't you guys do this kind of thing all the time?" She exclaimed, exasperated.

"No ma'am," he replied a little amused.

"Oh god!" She exclaimed. "Fine! I'll give you double the fare! Just follow him please!" She exclaimed.

****

Khushi turned the phone on without even looking at who it was, "Hello!" She snapped into the phone gruffly.

"Whoa! Calm down there pumpkin," the voice on the other side chuckled.

She narrowed her eyes immediately, annoyed at him, "Shut up! Why did you call?"

"I shouldn't have called?" Arnav questioned, continuing to chuckle.

She breathed a heavy sigh, lying back on the pillow on her bed, "Hai Devi Mayya!" She chanted, rolling her eyes.

"Aww what happened baby? Did you stub your big toe?" He laughed, annoying her to the core.

"I lost him!" She droned, exhausted, closing her eyes.

"Huh?" Arnav questioned, instantly sitting up.

"Huh?" Khushi replied, as her eyes flew open, "Shit!" she whispered to herself, scrunching her eyes shut as she sat up and thumped the mattress.

"Err, I asked first," Arnav retorted lifting an eyebrow.

"What?" Khushi questioned back, now confusing herself.

"What the! What the hell are you saying? Are you okay in the head?" He half-shouted.

"Shut up Raizada! You're confusing me!" She exclaimed in the end, throwing her hand in the air.

Arnav rolled his eyes not comprehending a word she was saying, "oh whatever Gupta! You know what I couldn't care less. Anyway I need to go out tonight."

"Oh me too!" She exclaimed back almost instantly, her eyes lighting up.

"Well let's go then," he smiled.

"What now?"

"Yes sweetheart! Get your ass outside now!"

"Now?" Her eyes widened as she scrambled out of the bed.

"Yes now! 10 minutes then I'm off!"

Khushi flung the phone on her bed and began rushing around her room, upturning it and sending everything unwanted flying to the other side.

****

"You smell nice," Khushi declared, sipping at her beer as she swung her legs off of the balcony she was sitting on whilst resting her head on Arnav's shoulder.

"I always do," he smirked, resting his head on hers, sending his arm round her and cuddling her to him.

They both sat together like that, in companionable silence, slightly drunk, gazing at the far horizon. Both so unaware of the emotion much deeper than friendship that bound them together. Both hiding that feeling in the depths of their hearts, that they had buried so long ago.

When it's black

Take a little time to hold yourself

Take a little time to feel around

Before it's gone

You won't let go

But you still keep on falling down

Remember how you saved me now

From all of my wrongs

"Look Arnav!" She pointed, her hand waving about as she attempted to point it at a specific spot in the sky, "look at those two bright stars! Amma and Babuji are looking down at me," she announced smiling in glee. She turned her head to look up at his smiling face, "and I know yours are looking down on you too," she said, placing her hand on his. He smiled down at her, his sleepy eyes twinkling. "You know those two stars next to my amma and babuji, those are yours," she smiled. He nodded back grasping her hand in his, as they both gazed into each others eyes.

If there's love just feel it,

If there's life we'll see it

This is no time to be alone, alone, yeah

I, won't let you go

Say those words

Say those words like there's nothing else

Close your eyes and you might believe

That there is some way out yeah

Khushis eyes suddenly welled up with tears, she quickly turned away, trying to wipe them off. He pulled at her arm.

"Khushi what's wrong?" Arnav whispered as he cuddled her against him once more, looking down at her face. She buried her head in his chest, unconsciously letting herself go.

Open up,

Open up your heart to me now

Let it all come pouring out

There's nothing I can't take

"I need you Arnav," she sobbed drenching his shirt with her tears.

"You know I'll always be there," he whispered back, bringing his other arm round to hold her in an embrace as he kissed her hair.

If your sky is falling

Just take my hand and hold it

You don't have to be alone, alone

I, won't let you go

And if you feel the fading of the light

And you're too weak to carry on the fight

And all your friends that you count on have disappeared

I'll be here, not gone, forever, holding on...

If there's love just feel it,

And there's life we'll see it

This ain't no time to be alone, alone

I, won't let you go

If your sky is falling

Just take my hand and hold it

You don't have to be alone, alone

I won't let you go...

Lyrics credit: I Won't Let You Go by James Morrison.

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