#1 Arshi FF - The Other Half - 30 Aug - CHAP 15 - page 139 - Page 55

Superb, love crazy khushi, go one topic to another crazily, arnav planning to buy necklace foe khushi

Hello!! Longer post than usual. Have not edited.

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Shyam looked at the papers intently. He flipped to another page and

narrowed his eyes at the figures. So far, he had found some discrepancies

in the accounts. He tilted his head and studied the numbers. "It looks

like you need to talk to your accounts manager, Mr Sheti. The

numbers don't add up. See this?" He pointed to one column of the

statement. "This isn't right." He went on to explain to his client how the

correct form of the numbers should be.

Mr Sheti thanked him and left Shyam's cabin. Shyam relaxed back in his

chair and closed his eyes for the moment, taking a deep breath. He had a

pile of work waiting for him. He looked at his phone, checking his

messages. The latest one had come two minutes ago. Rani Sahiba had

asked him to come home earlier today for some fast that she was

conducting. He shook his head. Anjali and her fasts. If she had it her way,

she would be fasting every single day.

His phone rang, the screen reading Saale Sahab. He wondered what Arnav

could need from him at 11am. He answered the phone. "Yes Saale

Sahab. What can I do for you?" Shyam tapped his fingers on his

table. "Jijaji, Di asked me to remind you that you need to reach

home early today. To break her fast." Arnav informed him.

Shyam's jaw fell. "Saale Sahab, your Di messaged me about the

same thing just minutes ago. And she told you to remind me

about it? Does she think I have short term memory?" Shyam

laughed. "Di always did love to make her point" Arnav said

amusedly. "Okay Saale Sahab. I will be home early. I don't wish

to sleep on the sofa tonight." Shyam joked.

"Jijaji, there's another reason I called. I need you to check our

latest bank statements, contracts and profit charts. The auditor

may be coming in anytime. I want everything to be properly

filed. Can you come in today?" Arnav shuffled some files on his desk.

Where was the file with the profit charts?

"Sure, Saale Sahab. Auditor Shuber is coming again?" Shyam

inquired. "Yes. He called just this morning, saying he might drop

by one of these days" Arnav's voice held a tone of uncertainty.

"What's wrong, Saale Sahab?" Shyam wondered why Arnav sounded

confused. "Nothing. Usually auditors drop in unannounced. They

don't call ahead. I wonder why he gave me a heads up this time.

Anyway, can you come in today?" Arnav repeated his question as he

pushed files aside to find the one with the profit charts. He'd asked Khushi

to bring them to him. "Khushi!" He called out. Shyam heard him yelling

and felt sorry for Khushiji.

"Saale Sahab, I will be there within half an hour." He disconnected the call.

~

"Khushi!" Where was this girl? She wasn't in her cabin. Did he pay her to

be absent when he needed her? He was about to call Aman instead when

she flew into his cabin with such speed that she stumbled as she came to a

stop. She huffed and puffed and panted. "Arnavji, I'm here!" She

smiled widely at him.

"Where were you? And why do you look like the devils from hell

were chasing you?" He crossed his arms. He didn't get to see such

sights every day. Was it okay that he was very much aware of how radiant

and pretty she looked even when she was catching her breath?

"Oh ho. Why would the devils from hell chase me? Aap hai na" She laughed but stopped when he glared at her.

[Aap hai na - You are here]

"Actually" Khushi gulped in a deep and long breath "I was searching

for the file you wanted. The profit charts? I was in the

storeroom. But it wasn't there. And then my leg brushed against

something, and I saw that it was a rat. So I screamed and

hopped around, trying to get away from it. But uski itni

himmat, it started to chase me. That little rodent! So I ran

straight here." She looked behind her. Of course, now the rat was

nowhere to be seen. But Khushi understood the little pest. In front of

Bipolar Singh Raizada, even the rat would've been scared.

[Uski itni himmat - it was so daring]

Arnav merely looked at her. She was scared of rats? He never would've

guessed. She really was part woman, part child, wasn't she? And rat? His

office had rats? What if they got to the canteen? "Give a call to the

sanitation department." He ordered. "Tell them to do a thorough

sweep of the premises."

"Arnavji, why fear when Khushi is here?" She plopped down onto

the chair in front of him. He looked at her like she was crazy. Who said he

was scared? She was the one who was scared and ran around trying to

escape the rat."I will call them. But first you tell me what to do

about the file. Where do I look for it?" Khushi pulled her fringe away from her face.

Arnav considered the question. "Go to the file room. It should be

there." He dismissed her. He looked up again when he saw that she was

still seated there with an expectant look on her face. "What?" He asked

, clueless. Khushi pulled her eyebrows together. "Arnavji, your staff is

very bad." She declared.

What the? He was pretty sure they were talking about the file. Where did

he staff come in?

"What?" He asked again, his mind racing to figure out what she wanted

to say. His staff was bad? But hadn't she been goofing around with some

of them? He'd seen her make friends with some of them. Maybe she'd

come across Tia? Tia could be a real bitch sometimes. Had Tia said

something to her? Did someone bully her?

"Khushi, did someone say something to you? Did they hurt you?

You make a list of the people and their names; I will deal with

them accordingly. I will fire them-" Arnav spoke in a rush, trying to

fix the situation, his anger increasing as he wondered who dared to hurt

her.

"Arnavji!" She interrupted his speech. She had never seen him this

worked up. The usually cool, calm and confident Saadu Singh Raizada was

showing signs of restlessness.

"Arnavji, what I meant was, your staff didn't give me a welcome

tour when I first joined the office." She said simply. He looked at her

blankly. "Orientation" She added.

He cocked his head to the side. Couldn't she just say it directly? "You

want an orientation?" Khushi nodded her head happily."Arnavji, I

will need an orientation if you want me to go to places and find

things for you. Like the file. You want me to go to the file room.

Now, how would I know where that is?" She reasoned with him.

He felt his earlier worry and anger decrease. No one had hurt her. She was

upset about the lack of familiarity with the office. "Then how did you

find the storeroom?"

Khushi smiled at him sheepishly. "I didn't realize that I didn't know

the directions when I left your cabin, otherwise I would have

asked you. But below I asked someone and they helped me.

Such nice staff!" She praised them.

Arnav wanted to reach over and strangle her pretty little neck. Sometimes

he had bad staff, and sometimes he had good staff. He didn't know

whether to shout at her or cry. But he did know he needed to get some

space from her. No one had the right to affect him.

"Khushi, just go and ask someone else again. Don't waste my

time. Understood?" He turned his attention to his laptop.

"Instead of saying all that, he could have told me where the

room was and I would be on my way." She mumbled to herself. She

jumped up and off the chair when she met his furious gaze.

Arnav clenched his jaw. "If you want, I will escort you there

myself." He said in a threatening tone.

She panicked. Being anywhere near him was not good for her poor heart. It

would have to work extra hard and pump more. "No! No, it's fine. I'm

going. I will definitely find the file myself."

Arnav looked at her with a bored expression. "Then leave!"

"Haan toh jaati hoon na. Aap shaant rahiye. Breathe in, breathe

out. " She gestured inhaling and exhaling with her hands as she slowly

backed out of the cabin. Ghussa Singh Raziada!

[Haan toh jaati hoon na. Aap shaant rahiye - Yes, I'm going now. You

keep calm]

"Crazy" Arnav muttered to him. Sanki Kumari Gupta. What a fitting name.

~

"May I come in?" Shyam knocked on his door after a while. Arnav

nodded and kept his laptop aside. "Sit" Arnav invited. Shyam took a seat

and studied his Saale Sahab. "So, how is work going on?" Shyam

asked. Arnav shrugged. "It's going"

Shyam nodded towards the stack of files in front of him. "Are these the

files you wanted me to take a look at?" Arnav nodded and pushed

the files towards his Jijaji. "Khushi has gone to get one last file. She

should be coming soon. Meanwhile, you can take a look at

these" Arnav spotted Aman hovering at the door and called him in."Yes,

Aman?"

Aman nodded at Shyam who smiled back. "Sir, your 11:30 meeting is

here. I've directed him to conference room B. He's also asked

that we brief him on the fashion show. I've got the details here."

Aman shook the file in his hands. "Shall we?" Aman asked. Arnav stood

up and buttoned his blazer.

"Jijaji, I'll have to go." Arnav said apologetically. "No problem,

Saale Sahab" Shyam knew about ASR's hectic schedule. "I should be

back within an hour or so. If you need anything, let Khushi

know."

Shyam's eyes twinkled. "Khushi, your personal assistant." Armav

stiffened. "Yes, my PA" Arnav said as if to remind himself. "I'll send

tea and snacks up to you" Arnav told him and turned to leave.

"Where is your personal Khus- assistant anyway?" Shyam

deliberately mixed up his words but kept a straight face, observing his

Saale Sahab. Arnav narrowed his eyes at his jijaji.

"My assistant "Arnav left out personal and emphasized assistant "Is in

the file room searching for the profit charts file." With that, he

turned to leave with Aman. Shyam's face broke into a wide smile. So, Saale

Sahab and Khushiji? Hmm. Seems like he and Rani Sahiba were right

about what they'd observed between the two at dinner last night.

Something was going on.

Shyam looked through the files briefly. When after fifteen minutes, he saw

no sign of Khushi, he decided to go down to the file room to see if she

needed help.

~

"Hey Devi Maiyya! Did you not like my prasad, that you have

made me come down to this dim, dusty place to search for a

file?" Khushi called out to her deity. She stood in the middle of the room,

hands on her hips, as she inspected the place. There were shelves filled

with files that had most definitely seen better days. The flickering orange

light that bathed the room did nothing to help the situation.

She squinted as she spotted a file with the tag of profit. Pulling it out, she

quickly scanned the documents and put it back in dismay. That was not

the one she wanted. She sighed dramatically and spun in a circle. Where

could it be? How would she find it among these countless files?

Tapping her chin, she went to the next row and stared at them. Fifteen

minutes later, she was surrounded by irrelevant files. The light bulb

flickered more now, as if telling Khushi that it was dying.

"Light bulbji. You need to stay with me. I cannot go back to that

Laad Governor without the file. So confidently I told him I

would find it. I cannot go back empty handed. You please keep

this place lit up." Khushi pleaded to the light bulb.

She squeaked when the lights went out. How dare the bulb. Even after her

request! She stumbled around, the darkness getting to her. Moving back,

she hit a drawer and gasped when something brushed against her leg. The

rat again!

"AAHHH" Khushi blindly threw her arms out in front of her and she

started hopping, jumping, spinning and twirling, trying to remember

where the door was located, until she hit a chest. She opened her mouth to

scream but a big warm hand covered her mouth. Was someone

kidnapping her?

This is it. This is how I'm going to die. Goodbye goatiji. Goodbye jalebis.

Bright white light hit her eyes and she squirmed, trying to look away from

the blinding light and move away from the solid hold. But the hands

around her just tightened. "Shh" the husky voice broke through her

trance and she jerked back to look at the man holding her. But the light

was shining on her, and she couldn't see anything past it.

"What the" Arnav said. Khushi sagged against him in relief. It was only

Arnavji. She wasn't going to die.

"Were you talking to yourself?" Arnav asked, remembering how he'd

heard her saying something about the light bulb.

"Mmmbfh" Khushi glared at him. "What?" Arnav was confused. Khushi

stared down at his hand covering her mouth. "Oh" He let his hand drop

to his side. Khushi pushed at his hand that was holding his phone, his

flashlight causing her to go blind. "Point the light somewhere else!"

Khushi scolded him. Arnav lowered his phone to the ground and looked

around. "What happened? I heard you talking, and then you were screaming"

"Hey Devi Maiyya, was I that loud that you heard me all the way from your cabin?" Khushi bit her lip.

"I was nearby in the conference room with a client. I was going

to the washroom when I heard you. Why were you talking to

yourself?" Arnav wasn't actually that surprised that she spoke to herself.

He knew by now that she was crazy.

"Arnavji, everybody needs encouragement in life, right?" Khushi

asked. It was a simple enough question, thought Arnav. He nodded.

"Exactly. So when I saw that the light bulb was flickering and

about to go off, I was telling it to keep on going." Khushi explained

proudly, as if she were a genius.

Arnav wanted to smack his head against the wall. He was wrong. He knew

that she was crazy enough to talk to herself. He just didn't know she would

talk to a light bulb. "You screamed because the light went out?"

Arnav scratched his forehead.

"No, I screamed because I felt the rat again- Hey Devi Maiyya!

Help!" Khushi jumped and flung herself against Arnav who stumbled

slightly at the force with which she pushed against him. He wrapped one

hand around her back and kept the other one holding his phone. "The

rat! It's near my leg, Arnavji" Khushi whispered to him, as if fearing

that the rat would hear it and disappear. She buried her face in his neck,

inhaling him, feeling safe.

Arnav pointed the flashlight of his phone down to their feet. He rolled his

eyes. "Unbelievable" He muttered. "Vishwas ki jiye Arnavji, I'm

telling you the truth!" Khushi clutched his blazer. This rat would be

the death of her!

[Vishwas ki jiye Arnavji - Trust me Arnavji]

"Khushi, look. Look down" Arnav instructed. Khushi shook her head

frantically. "Khushi" He said quietly. She slowly pulled her face away

from his comfy neck and looked at him. She winked at him by closing one

eye and he blurted out What The. She slowly looked down, refusing to

open the other eye, and her jaw fell. She opened her other eye and stared.

She looked up at him. He looked at her grimly. She blinked at him. He

glared at her. She beamed at him, showing her teeth. He narrowed his

eyes.

"Arnavji!" She called out sweetly. "See.." She laughed nervously. "It's..

it's just a.. a can." Her eyes averted from his. "Yes. It's just an empty

can of drink. I would love to know how you mistook that as a

rat. From which angle does it look like the can of drink has fur?

Or a tail?"Arnav asked incredulously.

Khushi became increasingly aware of their position and she slowly moved

back. Her fist slowly loosened from his blazer and she stepped back. "Uh..

Obviously I- I made a mistake. I'm sorry" She looked down to the

floor, glaring at the can. Stupid metal! Stupid metal rolling around,

coming after her. She glanced at him to see him narrow his eyes, his

intense gaze focused on her. She gulped. Today she was going to get it.

Except that in the next moment, she went into shock. Her jaw fell, her eyes

popped wide and she stared on disbelievingly. His chest started to shake,

laughter rumbling as he tried to keep in the overwhelming urge to laugh.

He chuckled slowly, letting out gasps as he looked at her nervous face. She

was so cute!

He laughed for the first time they met, when he'd been left speechless by

her. He laughed for all the times she'd driven him crazy. He laughed at her

antics, at her cuteness, at her nonstop chatter, at her, at him, at them. He

laughed at the fact she mistook a can for a rat. He laughed at the fact that

she was crazy, she was a one piece, that only she could do the things she

did, that only she could say the things she did. Sanki.

She stared at him in amazement. He looked.. breath taking. Even more

handsome than usual. What? So she may be slightly childish, immature,

may talk a lot, may spring from one topic to the other, may make no sense

most of the time.. but she was still human. And a woman. And she could

not deny that her boss was very much a good looking, fine man. Not as

good as Salman Khan, but good enough.

And now, now that he was laughing, he looked so carefree. It took years off

his face. He was not the LG anymore, not the arrogant, angry young man,

not ASR. He was.. Arnav. Just Arnav. She smiled, looking at him trying to

reign in his sudden burst of laughter. He should definitely smile and laugh

more.

He settled down, looking away from her. He tried to compose himself, to

become his usual strict self. But one look at the can on the floor, lying

harmlessly beside them, and that set him off again. He chuckled, the deep

sound doing wonders to Khushi's ears. She could spend all day standing

and listening to the sound of his laughter. She smiled and stepped back,

trying to move further back so that she could take in the whole form of

him, head to toe.

His hands reached out to grab and steady her when she stepped back on

the can and slipped. The laughter died out and apart from the loud

heartbeats, nothing could be heard. She clung to his shoulders for

support. He held her closer to his heart. She trembled. His gazed moved

from her eyes to her quivering lips. Even in the dark, she was easily one of

the most beautiful women he'd laid eyes on.

"You should smile more" Khushi unknowingly whispered, blushing

immediately when he raised an eyebrow at her. "Maybe I will" He

smirked at her and her heart raced.

"Saale Sahab?" Shyam called out from outside uncertainly. Arnav and

Khushi broke apart, moving away from each other. Arnav shone the light

on the floor and Khushi ran her hand through her hair. Hey Devi Maiyya,

what was wrong with her? She was too comfortable in his arms.

Arnav led the way out of the room to where his Jijaji and Aman stood.

Khushi followed soon after. Shyam's eyes narrowed on the two of them.

Arnav was looking bored, but different. Khushi blushed like a tomato. "I

came down here to see if Khushiji needed help in the file room."

Shyam explained. He looked at Arnav almost accusingly. "Why didn't

you tell me that you'd changed the location of the file room? I

ended up in the cleaning room" Shyam asked. Arnav simply stared at

him. "I mean.. it's good you two are here" Shyam said pleasantly.

Arnav nodded. "Aman, tell our client that I'll be joining him soon.

Jijaji, please wait in the cabin. I will only be a while longer."

Aman headed back to the conference room. Shyam gave them a long look

before he left.

~

Shyam went back to the cabin and pulled out his phone. He tapped on a

few buttons, responding to emails. He saw one of particular interest and

pressed send. The money was transferred to Shuber. Done.

~

Arnav turned to Khushi who was still blushing. Hmm, so someone was

feeling shy, was she? He smirked. "Khushi, enough searching of the

file for now. I'll ask one of the peons to handle it." He was about

to leave but he hesitated. "Tum theek ho?" He asked softly. Khushi

nodded at him.

[Tum theek ho? - Are you alright?]

"But I don't think you're fine, Arnavji" Khushi looked at him with

concern. Arnav looked at her questioningly. She couldn't possibly have

known the effect of having her in his arms. She'd felt warm and snug. He

could have wrapped his arms around her and carried her away. "What I

meant" Khushi continued "Is that, you probably feel a little

uncomfortable." She looked at him with sympathy.

"Khushi, what do you mean-"

"I mean, you must be wanting to ss.ssu..susu very badly, right?"

Khushi asked innocently. Arnav gaped at her, remembering their previous

susu talk.

*Previously*

"S.." Arnav gulped. "Sor.." He cleared his throat. "Look, there's something I want to say" Arnav declared.

Khushi looked at him with curiosity. "Haan, toh boliye na. Humne kaha mana kiya hai"

[Haan, toh boliye na. Humne kaha mana kiya hai - Then say it. When have I stopped you]

Arnav looked down to the carpet, inspecting it. He glanced at her again. He found her squinting at him, looking at him with suspicion. "S.. so.." Arnav swallowed. Damn, this was hard.

Khushi's brows pulled together. "Aap kab se ss ss bol rahe hai." She commented. She watched as he ran an agitated hand through his hair.

[Aap kab se ss ss bol rahe hai - You have been saying ss ss for so long]

"Sir, I don't understand what you are trying to say-" Khushi was interrupted.

"Will you just let me finish, damn it!" He clenched his jaw.

Khushi pursed her lips. "Okay, sorry. Sorry. I won't say anything"

Arnav looked at her, startled. So easily she'd said sorry. That too twice. Why couldn't he do it? He was ASR. He could do anything.

She noticed his pale and tired face. "I wanted to say.. s..ss.." He decided to get it done with "Sorr-"

"Hey Devi Maiyya! Ss ss - susu? Aapko susu karni hai?" She blurted out and watched as the horns appeared on his head and smoke blew out his ears.

[Hey Devi Maiyya! Susu? Aapko susu karni hai - Oh God! Ss ss - susu? You want to go to the bathroom?]

*Present*

"What the!" he exclaimed. What was she saying?

"Aur nahi toh kya? You only said right, that you were going to

the washroom when you heard me screaming? I delayed your

trip to the loo. I'm sorry. You must be uncomfortable" She said

with understanding. His cheeks turned pink and he pursed his lips when

she burst out laughing.

[Aur nahi toh kya? - What else?]

She walked away laughing, turning back to see his lips form a small smile.

First laughing, now smiling again? Hey Devi Maiyya, miracles do exist!

Have not edited.

NO PMs - look out for the title + date for latest post please. 😳

Hope you enjoyed

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Chapter 14

Omg. Superb marvelous update

Loved it ..is Shyam a good person

Awesome update

This FF never fails to put a smile on my face .

Hillarious and long update

hahahah...that was too good...How does Khushi manage to goof up so much...and i love their conversation so much.

Whats up with Shyam though..hope he is the good guy

Superb