New ArShi FF: Birds of a Feather Link to Thread 2 on Pg. 1 [20/04/'20] - Page 49

Fingers crossed for the meeting between junior and senior raizada ...i have a feeling that arnav s father will have faith in his son ..or even if he does not he ll give arnav a chance to make decision..lets see what happens

Dear Archi.

It had been 6years since i visited this forum. One video of the yesteryear IPKKND and i found myself coming to this forum again... started opening threads and one thing lead to another and... I chanced upon your FF... And now I am HOOKED!!

Brilliant writing... Refreshing to read about a different kind of Arnav and Khushi :) Each chapter just makes it more and more interesting... The gradual ease that is developing between Arhi is beautiful... Thank you for weaving magic with this story...

... Waiting for you next update!

Aj update ka din hai?

Originally posted by: Miss.Zaidi

Aj update ka din hai?

Haan!

Editing the chapter now... will post at night (Toronto time) 🤗

Originally posted by: -Archi-

Haan!

Editing the chapter now... will post at night (Toronto time) 🤗

Okay 😃🤗

Originally posted by: -Archi-

Haan!

Editing the chapter now... will post at night (Toronto time) 🤗

Awesome update and loved the way khushi advices Arnav and how he is listening to khushi with out cutting her or not involving in the discussion. Looking forward for the next update.

Hello!

Wishing you guys a very (belated) merry Christmas! 🤗

I am so sorry for posting late, was having weird issues with Google chrome 😒 Anyway, thank you for all of the wonderful comments - apologies for not being able to reply to them.

A very big and warm welcome to new readers! ❤️

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The content of this story belongs strictly to the author, -Archi-. Any unwarranted use/copy of it is not encouraged and is strictly prohibited.

Chapter Twenty

Bond

“SURPRISE!!!”

Khushi jumped in shock, unable to process the sight in front of her. Having finished her first ever surgery in her new internship with flying colours, she had just arrived home in high spirits when she was blinded with sudden flashes of cameras, accompanied by screams from a group of people who she vaguely made out to be members of the Raizada clan.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!” they wished in unison, throwing balloons and confetti on her.

She simply gawked at them in response. It was her birthday?

“I think she is in shock,” said a familiar voice.

A warm hand gently pressed on her shoulder and she saw her brother come into focus.

“Are you okay?” Vihaan asked cheerfully, pulling her into a hug.

“What’s going on?” she murmured, slowly regaining her voice.

“Surprising you silly… it’s your birthday today! Don’t tell me you forgot again?”

Khushi stepped out of the hug, avoiding Vihaan’s eyes. She had indeed forgotten. The happiness of successfully completing her surgery was paling considerably next to the knowledge that today was her birthday.

Khushi absolutely hated celebrating her birthday, not that anyone in the past had ever gone out of their way to surprise her before. In the early days of her childhood, she received a grand party on behalf of her parents for the occasion, which were both suffocating and mind-numbingly boring. While her father used the gathering to broaden his social image, she was left all alone in the corner, avoiding the other pampered kids who would often pick on her for being different.

By the time she was old enough to refuse these poor excuses of a birthday party, her father, who was growing more and more wary of her “inappropriate behaviour”, happily agreed. Her mother tried her best to make light of the situation by taking her to the temple and cooking up a feast at night, but after she had slipped into coma, Khushi had no reason to keep up that custom either. And except for her brother, no one seemed to have noticed a difference.

“Khushi?” Vihaan called, gently shaking her, but before he could finish his thought, Anjali stepped towards them.

“Happy birthday Khushi!” she greeted cheerfully, pulling her into a hug. “Sorry for scaring you like that!”

Khushi tried to smile. “No, of course not. Thank you so much… but… how did you… find out?”

“It was Chote’s idea!” Anjali answered, proudly. “And Lavu just needs an excuse to throw a party, so she spent the day organizing everything. Lucky that you were working late today.”

Khushi nodded, feeling very weird that so many people took so much trouble just to make sure her birthday was celebrated.

“Come,” Anjali said, holding her hand. “Let me introduce you to everyone… you probably don’t remember much from the wedding.”

Vihaan patted her reassuringly on the shoulder and she knew they were going to have a very long conversation once the night was over. Come to think of it, she hadn’t even broken the news of her reinstated internship to him yet. But judging by how comfortable he was –as opposed to skeptical– looking at the scrubs she was wearing, he probably already knew.

Khushi walked in a daze as Anjali introduced her to the Raizada cousins. She tried her best to keep track, but the tiring day was catching up to her and she slowly slipped away to the balcony, craving for some peace and quiet.

“Long day?” came a voice.

She looked over her shoulder to see her youngest sister-in-law, Lavanya walk up to her.

Khushi simply sighed.

Lavanya wasted no time in getting to her point: “Why didn’t you tell us you were a doctor?”

Khushi bit her lip, not knowing what to say. “Erm… the topic never came up.”

“That’s not what Arnav said.”

If she wasn’t fighting sleep and fatigue, Khushi would have been very appalled with Lavanya’s bluntness. And perhaps, she would have reconsidered her answer too before blurting it out.

“Well if you already know everything from Arnav, why are you asking me?”

For a second, Lavanya just stared at her, causing Khushi to vaguely wonder if she did indeed say something rude. But her fears were put to rest when Lavanya began to grin.

“The whole doctor thing really made you confident… I have never heard you talk like that before.”

Khushi suppressed a smile. “I was always a doctor Lavanya.”

“Yeah yeah… but the point is, are we not friends? I thought we had a bond, the whole bhabhi-nanad thing?”

“When have you ever treated me like your bhabhi? Other than pestering me about how our marriage is working out, you and I have never discussed anything else.”

Lavanya mulled that over. “Okay, that’s fair… but let me just say that if you were this upfront from the beginning, then we would have had a bhabhi-nanad bond by now.”

Khushi couldn’t help but laugh. She had never really noticed how childish Lavanya could be until now. “Well it’s not too late though, is it?”

Lavanya grinned. “Nope, never too late. So, tell me honestly - why did you hide the doctor thing?”

“I didn’t hide it… I just never had occasion,” Khushi replied, feeling guilty for lying. “And I thought all of you knew anyway.”

“Oh, well I do have a horrible memory, so it could completely be my fault. But I never would have guessed that we have a smart ass in the family. It explains a lot of things actually…”

“Like what?”

“Like why Papa absolutely adores you! He tried so hard to get me to do an MBA, but it was so freaking boring that I put my foot down after the first semester and quit.”

This was news to Khushi. She had never expected her father-in-law to favour her about anything, let alone her education; maybe she had judged him wrong after all.

“You are exaggerating right?” she asked for reassurance.

“Nope, not even in the slightest. The professor for one of my classes actually told us on the first day of class that we should drop out if we were expecting to enjoy ourselves.”

Khushi smiled. Chatting about nonsensical things was another one of Lavanya’s famous traits.

“So do you like it?” Lavanya asked when they settled into silence once again.

“What? Working?”

“Yeah, among other things.”

“Yes, I do like working. A lot. And what other things?”

“You like working even with all the insane hours you are on shift? And not to mention wearing those ugly looking green uniforms?”

“They are called scrubs, and you only have to wear them in surgery. And the hours are what makes it a good job – you don’t have time to worry about all the other things in life.”

“You are odd. Has anyone told you that before?”

“Nope, you would be the first. My brother doesn’t count for obvious reasons.”

Lavanya laughed. “Well we agree on one thing then - brothers are idiots.”

Khushi smirked. “What stupid things has your brother done?”

“Too many to count.”

“How about throwing this party for starters?” came Arnav’s amused voice.

Both of them looked up to see Arnav standing on the balcony, arms crossed and a big grin on his face.

“How long were you eavesdropping?” Lavanya asked.

“Long enough to see that I am not valued.”

Lavanya rolled her eyes. “Don’t be over dramatic… we were having a moment.”

“I can see that… but the moment will have to wait. Everyone is looking for Khushi to cut the cake.”

Lavanya sighed. “Okay fine, but please get her to change before cutting the cake.”

Khushi glanced down at her clothes, unsure of what Lavanya meant – her scrubs looked sparkling clean, no blood stains or vomit for that matter (she had to deal with a lot of drunk teenagers in the holiday mood earlier that day). But before she could voice out any of these thoughts, Lavanya walked back into the party, leaving just the two of them on the rooftop.

“You okay?” Arnav asked, watching Khushi as though she was going to erupt any second.

“Yes,” she murmured. “How did you know it was my birthday today?”

“I have your certificates, remember?”

“Oh.”

Arnav took a step closer to her. “Do you not like surprises? I haven’t seen anybody so glum on their birthday.”

“No, I am not glum… I am just… overwhelmed.”

“We can call it a night, you know-”

She shook her head. “Don’t be stupid… they all came for me… even though they don’t know the first thing about me…”

“Are you nervous about meeting new people?”

Khushi blinked, caught off guard at the bluntness of the question. Truth be told, she was nervous about meeting new people, and perhaps more than that, scared. But there was no way in hell she was going to admit that out loud.

“Vihaan said you might react like this.”

Her brother was much more observant than she gave him credit for. “He did?” she asked quietly.

“Yes, but he wouldn’t tell me why.”

Khushi sighed and turned around, leaning on the silver railings and looking down at the empty streets below her. She felt Arnav stand next to her, a strange kind of warmth emanating from him.

“I told Papa about the land,” he murmured. “And he didn’t think my fears were baseless. In fact, he was happy that I was following my instincts rather than doing what the majority of people thought was correct. He called it ‘the first step to becoming a true businessman’.”

“I told you he wouldn’t be disappointed.”

“You did. So if you could understand me so well yesterday, why don’t you trust me to understand you today?”

She didn’t have an argument for that. “It’s not about trust… it’s just… I am not used to celebrating my birthday.”

“Ever?”

She shook her head. “Never… my mother would take me to the temple in the morning and then cook all of my favourite food at night… that’s about it. And when she left... I stopped doing that too.”

“Do you miss her?”

“Of course, I do… But it’s not about her.”

“Then what?”

“I think… I stopped celebrating because I wanted to see i-if it made a difference to anyone.”

He waited for her to finish.

Khushi let out a breath she didn’t even realize she was holding. “And it didn’t… So, when it doesn’t even matter if it’s my birthday or not, then why celebrate it at all?”

Arnav was quiet, perhaps making a list of the billion ways she was messed up. But Khushi couldn’t care less. There was no point hiding anything anymore, because sooner or later he would figure it out anyway. He had already proved how nosy he could be.

“Do you care it’s your birthday?” he finally asked.

Khushi thought that over. “Not anymore.”

“Okay, you have seen what it feels like to not celebrate, so why not try and see what it feels like to celebrate? It can’t be any worse, right?”

She was quiet.

“You left everything behind, your house, your family, your friends… and instead, you have a new job, new friends and a new place… What I’m saying is, there is a whole new life standing in front of you… do you want to take it and risk the chance of having more than you did before, or do you want to satisfy yourself with what you have now?”

Saying that Arnav left her completely alone.

It was so simple for him to talk about no regrets and budding opportunities. Could it be just as simple for her? Although her father was absent, Khushi knew he was watching her every move. It was a miracle that he still hadn’t gotten wind about her reinstated internship. But… could that mean that there was a way out of the web around her? Could she really be just free to do whatever she wanted? Could staying with Arnav give her what she always wanted, but never dared to ask?

The answer was before her.

Taking a deep breath, Khushi calmly walked back into the apartment, a new determination overtaking her.

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What did you think? Let me know below!

Love,
Archi

P.S. - Will try to update on time next Monday!

Aaaah!!!

I usually try summing up my feelings in a few words at the end of every chapter because I genuinely relate to a lot of traits of your characters. But this one was just so hopeful and lovely that I want to treat you to your favorite meal for making me happy ❤️

Arnav is right. She should take the opportunity to live the life as it comes.