Here you go bey! Hope it's steamy enough for you with enough Rub Away moments to keep you going!! Love you to distraction!
Her entire being trembled as she walked towards the pool, she hadn't felt this nervous in her entire life. She had lost yet she didn't really feel like a loser, her nervousness was due to the uncertainty of what he might demand of her. But she would take it with her head held high; she was not a sore loser unlike him.
She remembered his jeering taunt about fate not being on her side, how her Buaji had given up during her dance number with Mamiji due to lack of oxygen and how Payal and Akash had let both sides down by completely getting lost in the dance and each other, not really competing. Naniji had given a dhamaka number with NK and Khushi would have to pull out all the stops to win the bet.
She remembered walking on the stage, her legs feeling weightless, her confidence oozing off of her, her smile genuine and excited. And then she had seen him, looking at her with guarded eyes, waiting and watching, his anticipation bordering on the brink of either euphoria or embarrassment which would lead to him lashing out at her.
As if a movie reel all those incidents when she had seemingly won flashed before her eyes. The day she had turned out to be employed by him he had let her fall from his office, when she had quit the job he had broken her phone, when she had managed to call him to the Jamnashtami puja he had left her in the middle of the road splattered with mud, when she had stopped him from leaving at the dhaba on their unfortunate Nainital trip he had made her sleep alone in a dark room without a blanket with orders to leave in the morning before he awoke from his slumber, how he had humiliated her after she had said that his engagement didn't make a difference to her, how he had torn her kameez when he had been the one who had ended up at her house on New Year's Eve, how he had lashed at her when she had been proven right about his boring vidayshee party.
It suddenly dawned on Khushi that Arnav Singh Raizada was horrible when he lost. He was a raksha Laad Governer any given day but when he lost he became extra nasty, he became obsessed with hurting the other party. Some people were mean drunks, ASR was a mean loser, and Khushi wasn't sure she could take that tonight. It was her sisters' sangeet and everyone was happy and she didn't want to end up in tears by the end of the night just because she won some stupid competition which wouldn't really be winning if she would be feeling horrible by the end of the day. She realized that her happiness wasn't dependent on this silly bet, chances were she'd be made to feel unhappy if she won, she was big enough to let this one go.
Having come to a decision she looked him straight in the eye and smiled contentedly before she began. She danced the first few bars of the song with effortless precision and abandon garnering instant applause and admiration; she continued to dance with pure joy shining through her entire being, her face glowing with delight. Near the end she slowed down just a tad bit and saw him throwing her begrudging looks of approbation, then looking in his eyes with deep gravity she intentionally missed a step lost her balance and went careening off the stage in to his always waiting arms.
He looked down at her bewildered, making sure that she was ok. What he saw was resigned contentment as she looked back at him and whispered so only he could hear "I guess this means you've won. Congratulations Arnav ji."
They were instantly surrounded by their respective families who wanted to know if Khushi was ok and he reluctantly put her down, his mind buzzing with a million question and tangents but always arriving at the same conclusion. He grit his teeth and leaned in close behind her whispering a curt "half an hour, poolside" before turning on his heels and leaving the make shift dance hall.
*
He saw her standing by the pool, her shoulders hunched in the chilly night. He looked up to find the clouds covering her beloved stars, no company from them tonight Khushi Kumari Gupta. He walked over to her and saw her turn around at the sound of his footsteps. "Why did you do it?" he asked standing barely a foot away from her.
"Do what?" she asked innocently, yet not meeting his eyes.
"Throw the competition?" he growled "You think I need this pity win? Do you honestly think Arnav Singh Raizada is who he is today because the world thought they'd take it easy on him and just let him win all the time? I don't need this because I can and will win on my own terms and merits, SAMJHI TUM!" he shouted the last part in her face and saw her flinch as she tried to take a step back but the elevated border of the pool stopped her.
"Why is it" she said trying hard to control the tears "that every time I try to do something nice it always back fires and hits me square in the face?"
"Did I ask you to do this for me? You didn't think I could win unless the mahan Khushi Kumari Gupta decided to be benevolent and give me the win on a silver platter?"
"I didn't do this for you! I did it for me! Every time you have felt that I got one up on you, you have torn at me verbally. Every time I seemingly win and try to enjoy my victory you take it upon yourself to not only bring me down but strip me so low that I don't even remember the last time I was happy. So no, Mr. Raizada I did not take pity on you, I took pity on me as it is my sisters' wedding and I didn't want to be miserable throughout it but I guess wishing for that when you're around is a lost cause!" she turned on her heels and tried to make her way around the pool when she felt his hand on her elbow pulling her back.
She closed her eyes waiting for the verbal assault to resume but it never came, however she felt herself being pulled back in to the warmth of his arms. She felt his lips near her ear, his warm breath fanning her cheek and the smell of his cologne making her heady as it always did. She held her breath for what felt like eternity as she willed herself not to fall for it again, never to fall in the pits of this feckless love that only knew how to hurt.
"I'm sorry" he whispered and her eyes flew open as she turned her head suddenly to make sure that is what he'd said. He looked back in to her eyes communicating his sincerity and regret for all that he had knowingly and unknowingly done to her. She looked in to his eyes and then his lips then back again with her embarrassment at looking at his lips and imagining them on her evident in her expressive orbs.
Arnav looked down at her lips in return and looked back at her with a hunger that she could not mistake for anything else nor did she have time to as his lips took hers in a passionate kiss that left her already hazy mind reeling. It was a hungry kiss, there was nothing gentle about it as he pressed his mouth harder in to hers and pulled he closer with the arm the circled her waist.
Khushis hands trailed above his arm and secured themselves in his hair where they pushed him closer, as both felt the need to lose themselves completely within each other so they couldn't be distinguished apart. Arnav slowly turned her around so she was pressed against him, her heaving bosom trapped beneath his hard chest and her mouth melded perfectly to his. His fingers trialed a blazing path across her jaw and tangled in her tresses before they went down her spine and rested at the small of her back applying pressure so she would fold in to him allowing him to place her down on the cool tiled surface of the broad border that outlined the crystal clear waters of the pool.
He knelt on top of her as he continued to kiss her franticly, too afraid to let go lest she vanish in thin air, his arms gliding up and down her arms gently making her shiver but not because of the cold. She held his shoulder tightly as she felt desire crash on her petite frame and she wanted to explore every fiber of this man who was an enigma to her, she felt like she knew him yet he was beyond her comprehension at times. She felt him break the kiss and was filled with disappointment which was replaced by a slow moan escaping her lips as she felt his lips lay small scorching kisses along her jaw and down the length of her neck before they rested on top of her breasts. He rested his nose there, not wanting to go further lest he scare her for good and cement the fact that he was a rakshas in her mind, Khushi however was getting impatient for him to get on with it and arched her back giving him more access to where he wanted to go.
Arnav hands clenched her waist tightly as all his control went flying out the window and he bit at her full breast through the fabric of her top making Khushi cry out with want. His hands hastily lowered her top at the shoulders, bringing it below the waist, trapping her arms to her sides, her hair blanketed beneath her to save her from the cold surface, some of them trailing languidly in the water giving the entire picture of her naked torso an ethereal look, like something out of a dream, too good to be true.
Arnav traced his fingers on her shoulder blades lightly before he rested both hands around her neck and brought them sensually down her front, lazily outlining a path to her young breasts, the peaks taut in anticipation. Khushi moaned as his rough palm and then fingers rubbed on her sensitive mounds and cried his name when he repeated the action, his hooded eyes boring in to hers making her profoundly aware of his touch.
Arnav bent his head down as he took one exposed breast in his warm mouth and his body hardened at the sound of her guttural cry of raw passion. He slid his hand underneath her lehnga and felt the smooth expanse of her skin; he traced circles along her thigh as his fingers made their unhurried way up. "Arnav please" Khushi pleaded as she made an effort to pull her arms free and hold him like she wanted to, slide her hands inside his shirt and feel the heat of his skin on her.
Arnavs hand grazed the lace of her panties and he would have taken things further if he didn't hear the faint cry of "Khushi ji" coming from below. O for crying out loud, he thought thoroughly frustrated with his family and hers. They had started looking for her which meant that he had to call an abrupt end to this madness which was the sweetest insanity he would love to go to an asylum for. He reluctantly let her go as he pulled her up to a sitting position and straightened her clothes. He rubbed the smudged lipstick from around her lips and she rubbed it off his. He patted her hair down and took the wet strands of hair in his hands and rubbed them between his palms in an effort to dry them off some.
Both avoided looking at each other as they waited for the slowly approaching voices to find them, neither hurried nor worried to be found sitting together companionably by the pool. "So I won" Arnav said breaking the silence. "You did" Khushi replied smiling gently.
"So this means I get what I want?"
"Yeah, I guess it does."
"You can't call me Laad Governer anymore" Arnav said suddenly his eyes rife with mischief and his smile wicked. Khushi cried as if she had been scalded. She didn't know how much that name, nay endearment meant to her till she was told she couldn't use it anymore.
"That's not fair! You call me all sorts of stuff!"
"When have I called you anything but Khushi, Khushi Kumari Gupta?"
"There! You make my name sound like a taunt rather than my name!" she shot back.
"That's not true, your ears are just biased" Arnav stated. "I won right?"
Khushi opened her mouth to argue only to be silenced by Arnavs raised hand. "Right?" he questioned again. Khushi huffed as she folded her arms on her chest and pouted before she nodded grudgingly. "That means I get what I want and I don't want to hear that nick name again."
"But…"
Anjali walked in on them arguing and fighting like they always did and wasn't surprised that they hadn't heard everyone calling out to them. When they were fighting everything else ceased to exist for them.
Kumkum Bhagya
