#2 ArHi Collaboration SS: Jalebis and Chillies [ Completed ] - Page 33

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Chapter 15: F... for Firsts!

Flashbacks are in blue.

"One minute to go". A very, very excited Khushi looked at Arnav's cabin expectantly. But all she could see was darkness.

What was happening? He was there 30 minutes back! Maybe, maybe he is coming here. Happens!

"Twenty minutes late." She spoke out aloud to no one in particular. Of course no one was there in her cabin. Now that is a different story. Our usually impatient Jalebi was patient for a freaking 20 minutes. No, make it 21. The rambling takes a minute. With a huff, she strode over to meet his PA.

"What do you mean he left? Is he a ninja or something? How did he cross me?" Khushi muttered. How can he? Rude, obnoxious, not handsome, irritating... The words just kept coming into her mind as her fingers hit the "call" button.

"Hell..."

"This is Arnav Singh Raizada and I am busy at the moment."

And the call went into voicemail. She hit the "disconnect" option sighing.

An angry Khushi went home half expecting Arnav to be waiting for her. Maybe he was the romantic type, after all.

"Amma, I am home". A non-commital reply in return confirmed that Arnav had indeed not come. He really did ditch me. The nerve of him. Her mutterings of course continued.

For the first time, Jalebi had waited so patiently for someone and that someone had ditched her.

*****

A Few hours later,

"Hell..."

"Exactly! What the hell Khushi! What exactly..."

"Hello again. Haha fooled you. This is my voicemail. I am not very busy currently. But yeah I maybe. So bubye."

"Pick up the damn phone."

"Hello again..."

"This girl won't let me live in peace." Arnav muttered reaching for his car keys.

Few minutes later, he was forced to confront a sullen looking Garima.

"Arnav. Aao."

"Came to see Khushi?" Payal asked winking at Arnav and Garima shook her head smilingly.

Arnav just smiled in return.

"Mmm... Tasty." Khushi moaned as the sweetness of Jalebi burst into her mouth. The oh-so-perfect moment was rudely broken by an Angry Raizada.

"What the! You are having Jalebis here? Where is your phone?"

She held her phone out for him to see.

Arnav was stunned to say the least. "Care to explain?"

"What should I explain?"

"If you had your phone with you all this time, why the hell did you not receive my calls?"

First, he ditches her and doesn't respond to her calls and when she does the same, he asks her to explain. Huh! But our Jalebi isn't the one to silently receive accusations and not utter a word. Of course, she was ready to give it back to him. She placed the plate of jalebis aside and stood in front of Arnav. Crossing her arms, she asked, "Well, you tell me why didn't you pick up my calls and why did you ditch me?"

So, she is now following the rule "Tit for Tat". Arnav mused.

"You never asked me if I wanted to go on a date. So, not my fault."

"Haaw! Agar baat aisi hai toh..."

"Toh?"

And few spaces were covered by two pairs of feet. One forward, one backward and sadly there was no wall this time.

"Aaah!!! Why did you come forward?"

"Why did you go back?"

"My head hurts."

"Not my fault that you don't see where you are going, then trip on the carpet and fall. You just don't fall but you drag down every other person with you."

To save herself from the impending fall, she had obviously dragged Arnav down with her and now was lying on the floor with Arnav above her. Well, the scene would have been termed as a romantic clich one but our Jalebi and Chilli are different. Aren't they?

"Humph! Now that we have cleared that none of the above is your fault, could you please get up and leave?"

"Now why should I? For this is exactly what you accused me of doing. Cornering you and romancing you in office, in your own words."

"Kyaaa? Hey Devi Maiyya! When did I say these words?"

"Don't act, Khushi. You told Garima aunty that you don't want to work at RHF because of me romancing you at office."

It was Jalebi's turn to be stumped.

Few hours earlier,

"Khushi."

"Yes Papa."

"Your one month internship in RHF is over right? You are now a permanent employee, I assume?"

Jalebi swallowed the big lump in her throat. Should she or should she not?

"Papa, um, actually, woh..."

"Kya hua, Khushi? Tumne kuch kiya hai kya? You were asked to resign na? You are simply spending your time out the whole day and coming home na?" Garima questioned, making Khushi proud of her mother for trusting her so much.

"Amma! This is too much imagination even for you. I am actually a permanent employee of RHF. But..."

"But?" Looking at their faces, Khushi for once thought she was in some crime scene where she was the suspect.

She closed her eyes. Yes. She could do this. And in one breath, she spoke, "Idontwanttoworkthere." Opening her eyes, she continued, "Right that is what I wanted to tell."

"Right that is exactly what we did not understand." Shashi asked.

"What?! You want me to repeat it?" Why couldn't people understand at the first attempt? Seeing the bewildered look on Garima's face and stern look on Shashi's face, she continued, "Fine! I don't want to work there."

"Why?" A small three letter word but has the power of scaring and threatening a person to the worst possible extent.

"Um... I don't like working under Arnav. He...um..woh."

"And why is that? This was Payal's turn to ask. She finally decided not to be mute. While Khushi was thinking hard to come up with a convincing excuse, the family had already interpreted that it had something to do with the blooming romance between the couple.

"This is exactly what happened. Not what you told just now. I told no such thing Mister."

"Wait. So your problem is working under me? Huh?"

"Um... It was all so sudden. So I told that. To save me and you."

"How exactly have you saved me here Miss. Gupta? You have only landed me in more problems."

"Not my fault. They wrongly misinterpreted. Some wrong communication."

"My words back at me, uh? And stop making those angry faces. I am least bit intimidated by you."

"You know what? Go! You already spoiled my evening." Khushi pushed him out of her room in mock anger.

"Aww! So you are sad that all those heavy makeup and dressing went in vain?"

All Arnav got in response was the door being banged shut right in front of his face. Phew! Close call. Mad woman! He thought. Of course, no one saw his lips curving into a smile.

Hush! That's a secret folks!

*****

"Amma what did I tell you and what did you tell Smita Aunty? And you know what? I want to become a cartoonist."

"Whaaat?! This is not what you told us first. You said you didn't want to work there because of Arnav."

"Umm.. yes. Arnav manages business and I don't like it. So, I can't work under him."

"How in the world?"

"Cartoonist? Wow!" Both Garima and Shashi spoke in unison, surprising Jalebi.

"WOW?"

"I like cartoons, you know? I wanted to become a cartoonist when I was a kid." Garima's shy voice sounded unbelievable at that moment that Shashi did not mind pinching himself.

"You are serious?!"

"Haan Shashiji."

"Wow Amma. I thought you wouldn't approve my choice."

"I still don't approve."

"Papa, we all know you aren't serious." Payal spoke up, as always supporting her Jalebi.

*****

"Hellooo."

"Wake up, Miss Gupta."

"Who is this?"

"Arnav!"

"Bye."

"Gupta, we have a date tomorrow at 7:30. So better be ready and I am giving you a day off." And with that the line went dead.

"Okay what just happened? He called... Wait he called at 2:30 A.M. and ordered me to go on a date? Seriously? I will show him the real KKG! Humph!"

Jalebi's sleep vanished and Chilli's sleep appeared. Ha! The contrast!

"Maaa... I have an off today. Don't wake me up till 1 P.M.! Mmm... Jalebi mera pyaar!! Mmm..."

"Why is the world bent on destroying my sleep? Humphh."

This is exactly how Arnav had envisioned his morning to be, as he entered the Gupta residence a. But what he saw was...

"Arrey, why did Arnav even give you a day off? And if you have the day off, why are you up so early? You woke up at 6!! I shall have to tolerate you till evening. Couldn't you have slept for some more time?"

"Amma! What did I even do?"

"Ask me what you didn't do. All you have done is eat my head. Be quiet for some time, okay?"

"Humph."

Jalebi waking up at 6 in the morning was definitely shocking to the family members. Also, it was a first for Jalebi too, losing her sleep in the middle of the night due to a call and waking up early morning out of excitement, anxiousness and impatience.

Arnav decided to make his presence known. He coughed slightly and said, "Good morning, Uncle and Aunty. Hi, Payal."

"Arnav? You here?" Khushi asked loudly, surprising everyone.

"Ah! Did you forget? Check the time."

"It is only 7:30 A.M..." Khushi's voice trailed off in realisation.

"Gosh you meant 7.30 AM? Seriously?!"

"As serious as I can be. Shall we leave?"

"What? Like this? Seriously?"

"Yes and yes. Aunty and Uncle are you both okay with me taking her out now?"

"Arrey, ho sakta hai toh raat hi vapas aana. We cannot manage her." Garima said hiding her smile. Payal giggled while Shashi his smile by hiding behind the newspaper, all of them clearly understanding the reason behind their dear Khushi's unlikely behaviour.

"Amma!"

"Come on Miss. Gupta. Let's go."

*****

An hour later, they were speeding down the roads of Delhi with Khushi (thankfully) not in her PJs. But of course their date was not even a least bit close to normal. Angry glances, teasing smirks and irritated sighs filled the silence in the car.

"If this was supposed to be 'the date', I wouldn't have minded staying at home." She muttered.

"Louder please. I didn't hear that."

"Kingdom of Dreams?! How? I mean how did you come to know? At 10? It says it will be closed till 5pm today." Khushi screamed delightedly as Arnav led her into India's first live entertainment, theatre and leisure destination.

"I have my ways, Miss Gupta. Come on, now." Arnav smirked.

Later in the evening, as Khushi sat in the car, she exclaimed dazedly, "Oh My! The Sound, Light, Video, Animation, Special Effects, Aerial Choreography, Stunt and Magic! It was Bollywood types show journey with Zangoora. It was totally cinematic theatrical experience. That was really awesome. Thank you so much Arnav."

"I know. I am glad for once you don't feel like murdering me."

All Khushi could do in reply was chuckle and blush. Yeah, the red hue spread just like that. Maybe his smirk had that effect on her.

"What next?" Arnav probed further.

"Jhumroo, the celebration of the spirit of Kishore Kumar. It was funny too."

"So Madame, day was good?"

The twinkle in her eyes was an answer enough for Arnav. "Culture Gully was damn good Arnav. It was like experiencing 14 Indian states. That too in a single day. How cool can that be? The themed restaurants, Ethnic Jewellery store, live Arts and Crafts village, everything was so exhilarating, lavish, super unique and..."

"Now, now, I didn't ask you to write an essay. Just a word would have been sufficient."

"Since, I am thoda thoda happy, I am forgiving you."

"Ahaan? I thoughts you were super happy?" That stupid smirk had gotten attached to its owner again. Man! It was so frustrating for Khushi. Especially since her dhak-dhaks started right on cue.

"Bleh bleh. You should work hard for that." She taunted.

"Prepare to be wooed Jalebi."

*****

Thanks for reading. Check the note below.

Note:

Thank you for all the likes' and wonderful comments'. And a big hug for waiting patiently for the update.🤗

Life has been pretty hectic for both of us and even if we want, we are not able to deliver in time.

Do let us know how you found Jalebi and Chilli's first date.😳

Hopefully, the next chapter will be posted sooner.😳

wonderful update ...both of them are real sanki

Fantastic update

Loved part 15👏

Who do you girls stop? Couldn't y'all continue a bit more :D such a lovely update they fight each other falling in the mess of love all the more.

If he is doing so much now, I wonder what he will do when he has clearly stated of her being woowed...

That was a first, a date in early morning

I m sure he would have done it in purpose to irritate her

The date end of on a happy note.