Mischief, an iota of playfulness was not even the last things on her mind of what she felt right now. Scribbling down the words anonymous to all, she masticated upon the piece of fig tugging another one in her mouth eyeing the view out of her room.
She could see the night breeze oozing out at the trees softly creating a beautiful atomosphere around but did nothing to lift up her mood. Well, it wasn't bad anyway which needed to lift up but wasnt the usual self either.
Long ago, she vividly remembered a guy barging into her hostel when she had lost her head into the books. The imprints of his filthy fingers were something she couldn't erase from her skin but tried to, nonetheless. The memories were half as fresh as of a few seconds ago and the rest was a dull fade all she could remember when she used to sit scared alone in her room, not letting Ayan even get an inkling of the matter in hand. Though it was a tough job to keep anything under the cloak for long but this was one of the many successfull things she had managed in her life.
Abroad, it was pretty common for genders to mingle but her values pulled her down. The zeal, the zest was still afresh with the same intensity, in her veins with which she had decided to fight her life leaving the one of an eagle. It was not easy. Not hard too. All she was to do was to run after her fears.
The many months she had not talkes to boys of her localty, the time saw a new Khushi who tried to understand the human psych instead of getting indebted by her fears.
A new human had evolved within her. She was successful in becoming a carefree person she was today.
Whatever nonsense her fat mouth would speak, somewhere in the depth of her heart she had saved her loyalty and liberty of touching boys only after her wedding.
For a few seconds after feeling Arnav's lips on her sensitive skin, she was scared but she felt nothing wrong. All the seconds felt nothing but sincere. She softly smiled unknown to her. And chuckled a few minutes later.
Afterall, deep thinking not always blackens the mood.
After she had flewn here a night ago, she didnt get a second free to have a thought about it since the meeting was scheduled this morning. But now, her thinking process was clearer.
And whatever she had heard from Ayan, she already guessed she was not being played at.
Her insides felt jolly all of a sudden. She itched to talk to someone. Closing the window before drawing the curtains on them she walked to her bed pulling the charging wire off her phone.
"Ayuu! How's everything back there?"
"A little chilly and our meeting went a little above the par. We were waiting for you to get back to us with a good news in your pocket."
"We?"
"Yeah Arnav is here too." Ayan motioned Arnav to come closer to his desk. He agreed, exerting a little force on the table making his five wheeler chair slide back to Ayan's desk.
"Hello Sir!"
"Hello. I hope you're doing good and things have progressed well there?"
"Yeah, this lad was going mad waiting for your phone call." He didnt wait for her to reply. Arnav glared at him at his choice of words. "Err..i meant he was waiting for you to give updates."
This time, Arnav didnt wait for her to reply. Khushi pouted at the other end though not visible to them. Her eyebrows knitted together.
"Very professional of you Ms Gupta, just after the meeting you switch off your damned phone instead of making a call to your head and notify him about the events." How she wished to be standing in front of him and she would have poked her tongue at him right there but the distance made it impossible. Her nose huffed in annoyance.
His kiss felt sincere and his rude taunt felt equally sincere to her, she thought gruffly. She took a deep breathe which did a little to stabilize her mood but not too much. Blowing her hair strands off her face, she spoke innocently into the phone.
"I..I..."
"You what dammit?"
"I .. had a fight with your client. It was a bummer." She revealed. Arnav felt his muscles tense up in ire.
"Did you just say you created a mess?" He asked in a low voice.
"Maybe"
"Did you?"
"No, not really!" His eyes were clenched shut in utter annoyance whereas he could also envision her lips tight, quirking and aching to lift up testing all his patience he acquired just through the call.
He shot an uptight look to Ayan who swinged in his chair beside him but he did no good to his mood. "Its not an issue bear, just come back soon." he spoke into the receiver carelessly, ignoring Arnav.
"Either you have lost all your sanity or I'm just about to.." Arnav said walking away in exasperation while Khushi's shoulders did a little jigjag. It was always fun to return the favor others had given you. She giggled as he took his exit from the room.
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"Arnav? Are you still sour?" It was exact 12 am at night when Ayan made a call to Arnav who was dusting up his bed. He replied nothing rolling his eyes.
"Okay I'm sorry?" The phone kept glued to his ear but he said nothing. But Ayan was not a novice.
"Khushi says that the clients were elated to have her on board. They were thrilled to have our layouts and plans."
"Really?" Too much to extract a word out of him in his bad mood, Ayan thought smirking.
"Yeah! Infact they will be heading to India in a next few months to visit all our employees and they might be thinking to set up their base with our office for the joint venture."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Apart from that, Khushi is coming tonight."
"Really??"
"No!" He sighed loudly falling back on his bed. He could now sense Ayan smirking at the other end too and he knew as soon as he diverts this topic, it would prove to be the best for him.
"Ayan.. I'm sorry. I dont know why did I act so rude back then."
"Hmm"
"It's good that we have made the clients happy, actually, its Ms Gupta who left them delighted."
"Hmm"
"Speak up a damn word damn it!"
"Good night, maybe?" The line went shut making Arnav disblief.
"Ayan is acting insane since Ms Gupta has arrived." He mused shaking his head but all the sarcasm and goofs apart, he couldnt catch if Ayan was saying the truth or not, was Khushi really coming tonight?
___________________________________
He kept changing sides but it itched him. He wished to punch Ayan straight on his nose to leave a point hanging in the middle with no conclusion. For sure Khushi had no work there now and she would be returning anyday but he felt his insides restless.
He lay on his back looking at the ceiling darkly. It was 1.30 am. He couldn't call Ayan's PA asking her about Khushi's travel log since she was the incharge to book her flight tickets. It was all about his image. Since when did Arnav Singh Raizada start caring about someone's arrival until it was Ayan.
If he did so, the entire employee clan would be horrified.
He pulled his phone from below the pillow and dialed a number.
"The number you called is currently switched off, please try again later."
"Damn you Ms Gupta."
___________________________________
Teaser for the next update:
"Will you trust me if I tell you something?"
"What is it?"
"I asked you. Just tell me."
She waited with a baited breathe.
"Yes. I do."
Udne Ki Aasha
34