Chapter 4 Her pain
Arnav woke at around 9 AM and Shanu was still sleepingbesides him. He quickly jerked away the comforter and stood upright, mentallycalculating how much time he had for a quick shower before he left for hisTennis.
He and his friends go for Tennis mornings some Sundays andhe had promised Rahul that he will come along today.
Arnav went out of his room into the open lounge areaoverlooking the living and dining rooms downstairs and clinging on thebalustrade shouted "Ma, I will be leaving in 20 minutes for Tennis... "
There was noresponse so he called out again..wondering where his Mum was...this time generallyon Sunday morning she would be out in the dining or kitchen.
"MA...!"
He saw Khushi coming out from the rooms into dining area inhis room, she had wet hair freshly brushed and was dressed in her shortypajamas again ...maybe she wore them again after the bath, she looked pink allover and freshly showered... looked like a fresh nymph... a complete soothingpicture for his sleep filled eyes.
She looked up straight at him "Ratna Aunty is in thebathroom...don't shout..Nani is doing her Puja, so shush down!."
Khushi saw him leaning down the railing, still dressed in aloose grey vest and long shorts, his hair were disheveled from sleep and from thisfar his eyes were still clouded with sleep ...and seeing him like that with noone around made her conspicuous of the odd feeling ..she felt.. flutters in hertummy,, an anxious feeling which she has to keep to herself always and NEVER TOBE FELT AGAIN.
She could see Arnav staring at her and his eyes lookedsomewhat dazed ... she thought why is helooking at me like that...
She turned away and looked towards dining area, mainly tobreak the eye exchange... feeling somewhat uncomfortable. When after few secondsdid not hear any response from him, she again looked up at him...and found himGONE, air rushed out of her lungs as if relieved somewhat... Khushi then ignoredher inner confusion and headed towards kitchen, thinking about what would RajuKaka be preparing for breakfast.
Arnav was stumped with the tingling sensation when he sawher downstairs as if blood was rushing towards his heart..., he had moved towardshis room to move away from her sight ... but he stood at his bedroom door andwithout realizing he smacked his head hard with his right fist... Shanu who was inbed but awake saw this and shouted "Bhaiya, what happened? Are you alright?"
Arnav immediately walked inside the bedroom and shut thedoor since the AC was on full blast.
He said "Shanu! Good you are awake, do you need thebathroom? If not I will have a shower..."
Shanu said "Go ahead, I want to sleep, I came awake seeingyou hitting yourself... weird ... who hits himself so hard?"
Arnav replied in a stern voice "Mind your own business" andthrew a cushion from the arm chair on to Shanu.
Shanu realized that Arnav was in a playful mood so pulledhis pillow from under his head and threw at him, when it hit Arnav, he pouncedon the bed and started hitting Shanu with another pillow, both were in hystericallaughter by the end of two minutes.
Arnav glanced at the wall clock and said "I have to go" heading for shower and jumped down the bed. Shanu then playfully dragged"Batao na, kaun maarta hai apne aapko itni jor se" and smiled.
Arnav came out of the bathroom with a bathsheet wrappedaround his waist, went straight to the wardrobe mirror, rubbing his wet hairwith another towel. Shanu who was still lying on the bed, in and out of sleep saw Arnav brushing his hair and spraying cologne looked at him and said "Bhaiya,style, hmmm... where are you going?"
Arnav replied without looking and trying towear a white Tshirt at the same time "Tennis"
Shanu with a poker face questioned "Why are you dressing soextravagantly, are you expecting some girls?" with this he got full attentionof Arnav and immediately starting pulling his own ears "No No... I was justjoking.. I know it's men timings now."
The banter went on between the two for some more time whileArnav hurriedly dressed and went downstairs, but not before pushing Shanutowards the bathroom door to brush and get fresh.
As he got near the dining table he saw Anjali and Khushigiggling about something, he just did not want to look towards Khushi, so criedaloud "I am going, is breakfast ready?" Soon Ratna came out with a bowl of Upmafor him.
Ratna said "Sit down and eat!"
Arnav sat down and hurriedly started eating from his bowl,when he heard another giggle of hers, he could not contain and said to Anjali "Whywere you so late yesterday night, Di? I was awake till around 1 AM and you werenot home."
Anjali said "Hmm, I stayed at Sakshi's finally, had calledMa later to inform, but they were in the theatre then, so you would not know."
Arnav just muttered "Hmm I kept awake for you, not likeothers who sleep straight after dinner!"
Khushi immediately turned to look at him from the kitchendoor "I sleep on time and get up on time, not like others who are sleeping till 9"
Arnav just replied without looking at her "Atleast oneshould sleep in bed and save others from carrying them from the living room tothe bedroom."
Anjali smiled and said "Did you have to carry her? So what,she is pretty small and light."
Arnav just grunted and got away from his chair,and carrying his bag on his back he called out to Ratna again "Ma, I am goingwill be back by 12" with that he ran out.
Arnav did not see Khushi for next two days either at home orat school, and maybe he was glad that he could avoid her.
On Wednesday afternoon, since he was one of the HousePrefects, and all Prefects were asked by Mr. Pandya, the Sports teacher to checkthe grounds for the upcoming sports day. They needed to plan out the march paststarting and finishing points, racing tracks and other courts for variousmatches.
Arnav was checking the far away grounds with Nitin mainlymeasuring the grounds for athletic track.
He saw 3 girls hovering near the big tree, and looked liketwo were comforting the girl who he found out was Khushi, facing him.
He went somewhat closer and saw Khushi had tears flowingdown her face. The sight kind of kicked him hard and he did not like it at all.He turned towards Nitin and conveyed that he will be back in few minutes andran towards the group of girls.
Khushi's cries could be heard now as he slowed his pace andwas near the tree. He realized that Khushi had not seen him and she was shakingher head again and again to something the girls said to her, he realized it wasSonia and Priyanka, her TRIO friends.
Arnav could not keep quiet and asked a bit sternly "What'shappening here?"
"I don't see any class outside for sports, so how come youare here. Are you girls bunking the class?" he continued.
All three girls turned and looked at him, he could seeKhushi's face had blanched out seeing him and the other two girls were also alittle shaken up.
He sauntered closer and looked straight at Khushi "Kya hua? why are you crying?" with a very soft voice.
Sonia muffled "She is not well" - Arnav turned towards herand asked "Why what happened to her?"
Khushi had stopped crying loudly but had her palm on hermouth and looked shattered, infact her fingers were shivering somewhat.
"Did you fall down?" he again looked at Khushi and directly askedher.
"She is not well, it's something we cannot share" Soniastated with more conviction.
Arnav was annoyed by now "Why, as the House prefect, I wantto know why you girls are here and not in class, give me the exact reason?"
"Please... Go away" it was Khushi who said desperately now.
Arnav was perplexed seeing her state and felt somewhatdejected hearing her say that.
Priyanka then said "It's a girl's matter... thing, we need totalk to some senior girl or teacher" she clarified it more openly whenhe saw Arnav not backing away.
Arnav was even more annoyed then but just said "Shall I sendPriya here?" Priya was one of the house prefects too and was on the grounds somewhere.
He then figured that Khushi had her back on the tree and shewas not moving at all. Somehow he saw a red blotch on the side of her skirt, hethen immediately realized it was blood. He looked up at her with concern butKhushi was looking at him in more dejection and shouted "GO AWAY"
Arnav now fully understood the situation as he knew aboutgirls having periods but he never thought that it could be so much blood. Hefelt helpless and did not understand what to do then.
He just said "I will send somebody, wait here" and turned torun
But he immediately turned back and came towards Khushi, withhis purposeful strides ....Sonia and Priyanka moved back from Khushi seeing him walking towards her.
He stood in front of her and immediately took off his fullsleeved Tshirt, he had the school shirt underneath and as House prefects theyalways wore the coloured full sleeve Tshirt over their shirts for the sportsclass. It was a red coloured Tshirt and he just handed it to Khushi "Tie itaround your waist and walk back to the building".
He turned to the other two girls and said "I will send somegirls but you can take her to the staff room, and speak to some lady teacherthere".
He turned again to her and said "I can get stuff fromPharmacy too, if you need? But I am sure somebody can help you before."
Khushi grabbed the Tshirt and tied it in a way that the fullback of her skirt was covered and turned to say "Thank you" but saw Arnav wasrunning back to the 2 senior girls on the far end of ground.
She felt so much relieved and later realized very embarrassed too :-(
335