Part 4
Different From Others
Arohi had done all the necessary homework for the party, everything was planned accordingly. She was happy since the previous day was janmashtami and she loved dressing up for the festival and waking up until midnight to offer prayers. One more thing to love that festival was her bua , lovedeep , was born on that day and her daddu found it special. So they both made the best of that day in memory of her.
Her bua was no more, she knew very little of why and when. No one wanted to talk about it. Arohi had not even seen her. She knew while growing up there were talks about her, but she was too young to understand the pain of her grandparents. She had seen the pictures in daddu's room and nowhere else in the house. It was only during school days she questioned about bua, while working on a family tree project. She was sudheer's younger sister, she died of illness long back at a very young age. She was born on the same day kaanha was born. She loved music, she loved to dance, she was beautiful too. It was evident her grandpa was proud of her. He would say Arohi had most of her bua's qualities and features. Maybe that was another reason he loved her the most, she reminded him of her. He would say if she were alive she would be married and had a daughter or son like her. Bua's death was the main reason her daddu and DJ lost interest in life quickly. On her sixteenth birthday daddu had given her an old pic of her bua taken on her birthday., dressed as a gopika, she must be in her teens. It was arohi's favourite and only memory of her. She did resemble her. Her father and her aunt resembled a lot too. Being brother and sister, that was the only thing they shared , the features. Rest was north and south pole personalities according to daddu.
Being still in festive mood and the memories of her aunt flooding she was inspired by bua's picture and she loved to dress up and it was a party. Perfect time to wear her favourite ghagra. She knew sanchit wouldnot like for her to be odd man out, but when her heart comes to something she has to do it. And if she says it is for bua he wont say a thing. She went through the guest list and rsvp's . Arjun Singhanaia was coming. She was curious to know who he was, was it the same person whom she saw that day or someone else. The name seemed to become important to her.
Next step in the game, arjun thought as he approached the ahluwalia mansion. He got a strange feeling of satisfaction once he stepped into that house. This is the house that will be destroyed soon, maybe noone will even live here soon, it will deserted just like his house with nobody to laugh or cry. He has to hit them on the business, property and peace of mind. He walked keeping a straight face while his mind was doing its homework observing every minute thing. He walked up to simi and sanchit and with a charming smile wished her handing over the bouquet. Sanchit was happy seeing the man who is going to solve his problems, in his house. He introduced him to simi and then called out to sudheer. Arjun's memory of sudheer was of a cunning middle aged man, and that fact did not seem to have changed over the years, he looked the same. Sudheer looked at arjun intensely, he thought he had seen those eyes somewhere but could not remember where. He knew sanchit's financial troubles, so if this young man is of any help they should treat him well, until they have his money. Times were not the same, earlier they were kings of the city, now slowly new generation had pushed them aside. The pride is intact because they have taken pains to keep it so. Name and fame were important because that is what was the ticket to earn more money. This young man is going to help sanchit, so they have to be nice to him until they get the financial transactions done. Arjun knew exactly how Sudheer's thinking was going on. He smiled to himself.
He was then introduced to elite business partners. Some looked like gentlemen some looked like crooks. He could judge them with one look and made two separate lists in mind who could be his friends and his foes in this mission. He was then introduced to Daddu, who came out of his room to find arohi. 'sanchit beta where is arohi, I told her a small work, then realized she is scared of heights. I should have told some one else, kaha gayi' arjun became alert at the mention of her name. Sanchit had forgotten about arohi. 'daddu arohi will be somewhere around here, she is very keen to make the party perfect so must be working something or the other on it. Even I have not seen her' 'dikhegi toh batana. I want to talk to her' 'okay, haan daddu, this is Arjun Singhania. Yeh mere naye partner banne wale hai' 'accha, Khush raho beta' he blessed arjun and shook his hand. Daddu had a sudden uneasiness in presence of arjun, something did not feel right about the boy's eyes. They seem to be hiding something. Arjun's gave a charming smile bringing warmth to his eyes, and making the handshake firm. 'Nice to meet you daddu. I wish I had mine around' he said bringing genuine affection in his tone. Both sudheer and sanchit were impressed. Daddu left from there retiring to his room, these parties were not for him.
Arjun looked around , some guests were drinking, some dancing randomly to the music, some bragging, some in serious conversation. He saw sanchit and sudheer buttering some client. He smirked and stopped an attendant for a drink, who clumsily moved the glasses on the tray spilling some drink, which fell on the cufflings. It was no big deal but seeing sanchit and sudheer approach him, he thought he will give them some time to wonder where he disappeared, he asked the attendant where the restroom was and headed that way.
He was walking down the hallway, looking at the pictures hung on the wall. There were some family pictures. He noticed everyone including arohi. He did not focus on her beauty in the pictures, but just her presence in the family. He was looking at one such picture when he bumped into something hard. It was a step ladder. Before he could realize he heard a shriek and immediately as a body reflex, took a step back and held out his arms to catch the falling figure. He was strong enough to withstand the falling weight and held a soft body firmly. It was a girl. She held on to his collar tightly closing her eyes shut. He immediately recognized her , it was sanchit's sister. Even if he had forgotten that face, he cannot be mistaken about a bindi in the middle of her black eyebrows, that was one thing he couldnot ignore, it had a beauty of its own.
He could feel the softness of her body in his arms, his fingers touching her slender waist where he held, and her bossom pressing against his chest. She turned her face a little inward causing her loose hair to fall to the front. Against his will, as a strange feeling rushed through his body for the first time, but he quickly got past it and put her down on her feet and held her arm to move her a few steps back but she was still holding onto his collar almost leaning on him. She opened her eyes then as her feet were stable on the ground. She noticed she was holding onto someone and was very close. Then she saw him and her face went red. He could see the sudden change in her, cheeks getting red and eyes going darker. She moved away, uttered a clumsy thanks and went from there almost tripping over her deep pink ghagra. This first close encounter with feminity lingered on him. He took only a second to snap out of it and went into the restroom. Looks like he had to take some simultaneous steps in this game he thought. He had already impressed the brother now it is time to work on the girl too. By the looks of it, it wont be that hard.
Arohi's heart was beating fast, it was the same guy, the same intense and probing eyes. He had walked out of the restaurant that day suddenly only to appear in her house. Why was she not so careful, daddu had asked her to tell anyone to change the mala on DJ's picture. She should have just told someone, but no she wanted to do it herself since it was her DJ and she thought few steps on the ladder wont hurt her phobia of heights, and she screamed like a loon just for that much height while falling. She did not regret that, she regreted the dress she wore and the timing she chose. She could feel the rough fingers on her waist and the closeness of his body, that time it was all sudden but now she was reliving it every moment for past 5 minutes. How embarassing and today only she had her pallu to one side instead of draping it across. She dressed according to her mood and today she felt like a spirited colourful butterfly. Now the feel of his chest made her to subconsiously cover herself properly. She now looks like a gopika the way her bua looked, she should have done this earlier.
She quickly composed herself and went to greet the people she knew. Sanchit saw her. 'arohi come here' 'ji bhayya' 'yeh kya, u are wearing this?' 'yeah, I was remembering bua a lot today, so..' 'hmmm okay, make sure everyone is happy okay? And daddu was asking for you.' 'I will make sure of that and will go see daddu. where is simi bhabhi?' 'she must be somewhere, who cares. I am looking for arjun...oh there he is' he exclaimed and walked that way. Arohi did not want to look at his side, she was not too shy a girl but right now she was embarassed, that's all. She told daddu she took care of DJ's picture. Took some time to come out again. And when she came out she saw her father and brother talking to him. She noticed him closely now. He was tall, well built, wore a fine suit. His body language was oozing with confidence. He had strikingly sharp features and then there were those haunting eyes.
Arjun saw her properly now while talking to sudheer. Sanchit was talking to another person. Arjun remembered his promise to himself, to achieve his mission he will have to do things he may not like to do. One of that seems to be staring at a girl and he did. He observed her now and then while still talking. She had nice features, he had seen her face already. She wore a dark pinkish , whatever it is called, and if he is not mistaken she made slight changes to it from what he had seen few minutes ago. She was dressed like it was some kind of festival and not a party, it looked attractive and better than others, while other ladies around were clearly trying to show off their style and fit in the group. One thought that came to his mind , again against his own will was that, she was different from others. He was trying to decide how to strike the first conversation with her now, along with listening to sudheer's further plans. Two parts of his brains started working independently on two issues. Arohi felt like his gaze was on her now and then. She wanted to go away from the sight, but did not.
One more person observed arjun's repeated glances towards arohi. that was Sanchit. He saw and immediately his mind calculated a variety of iterations. His sister was beautiful no doubt in that, anyone would be impressed, and now he saw that Arjun was no exception. This is a sweet deal he thought. Arohi has to marry someone, and it must be from a business family and now since arjun appears to be a perfect match, there is no harm in trying to take this ahead. Once in a family relation arjun wont go back on his investments. He quickly put his thought to work. 'Arohi' he signalled her to come to them, and she did. 'This is Arjun, remember I told you the other day and arjun this is my sister Arohi' 'yeah, Hello' she said , 'Hi'. His deep voice was as haunting as his eyes she thought not realising she was having an eyelock with him. Sanchit wanted to pat his own back hardly, genius I am , he thought to himself. 'Arohi has finished her studies and I tell you she is the adorable member of our family. She is our darling. Can you believe she arranged this party single handely' arohi herself was surprised at her brother's generous shower of compliments on her. 'I am impressed' said arjun. 'I will be back' said sanchit pretending to talk to his dad alone taking him aside, leaving arjun and arohi to talk. He thought he sensed some kind of tension and wanted to see where it can go. If his sister can marry this dude, then he will have full authority over arjun.
'Hi' said arohi again 'sorry about earlier I was not careful' Arjun held her capitive with his eyes 'I don't regret it, it was my pleasure' he said, compose ur self arohi she chided her beating heart at the way he was looking, 'are you new to bombay?' 'yes I am, still getting used to it' 'oh you will love it' she said excitedly 'I am already lovint it' he said in turn. She was thinking what to say next, just then one of her acquaintance waved at her and said 'arohi, how are you, what a ghagra ? now this is strange choice for this party' she said. Arjun interfered 'that's because , she is different from others' this time not his deep voice but his words gave her a major heart skip.
Edited by kavyasam - 14 years ago
