Chapter 4
The next 3 weeks were followed by happy chatter by both Kushi and Arnav. They were both now used to having the other around and they had gotten into a routine of doing things. They had discussed many thing and gone out numerous times for dinners and movies and other social gatherings. Kushi had always introduced Arnav as her friend and although it hurt Arnav that she still wouldn't admit her true feelings to him, he was fine with it. He knew she needed time and if friendship is where they were going to begin their relationship, he was happy to accept it. After all, it's better than having her hate him.
He had gone out to have lunch with a business associate that was visiting Mumbai that Friday. She had decided to work from home and he had hated that he didn't get a chance to be home instead.
"I'm home!!!" she heard him say later that afternoon.
"Hi!! I am glad your finally here!! And I have a surprise for you" she said as she walked up to him
"Oh really? What is it??" he asked curious to find out what she had gotten him.
"Come sit down and you can have it" she said giggling
She dragged him by his arm and made him sit at the dining table.
"Close your eyes!!" she said
"What? Why?" he asked
"Well because it's a surprise!! Close your eyes now!! And promise not to peek Arnav.." she said checking to see if he was peeking.
She ran to the fridge and got what she had made for him. She sat opposite him and smiled amused at how innocent he looked.
"C'mon Kushi!! I am losing patience!!! If you don't tell me what it is now, I may take a peek" he said smiling.
"Ok Ok.. I have it. Now open your mouth" she ordered him.
"Mouth?? Really? Hmmm... ok.. Interesting..." he said while opening is mouth with his eyes shut tight.
Arnav suddenly tasted something delicious in his mouth. It was cold and chocolate flavoured.. Something he didn't have the liberty to eat given his health condition.
"Ice Cream!!" he shrieked opening his eyes
"Not just any Ice Cream!! Sugar free Ice.. I thought I would make some for you" she said smiling happily. His eyes had widened and he looked at her amazed.
"You did this for me?" he asked her
"Of course I did silly" she said
No one had ever done anything like this for him and he had always secretly been jealous of the fact that he could never try something so delicious when everyone else did.. He was stunned at the fact that she had gone through all the trouble to make him something like this.
"Do you like it?" she asked
"Of course I do!!" he said
"Ok good, you can have this then.. I'm gonna go get myself some too. I'm done work for the day, so maybe we can do something since it's the start of the weekend" she said giving him the bowl that she had. She walked over to the kitchen to get some for herself as well. She turned around to see him standing right behind her.
"Oh my god you scared me!!" she said
"Sorry, didn't mean too" he said grinning at her.
"Let me guess... More Ice Cream?" she asked teasing him.
"No actually, I was thinking.. Since you have done something so amazing for me, maybe I can do something nice for you too" he said.
"What would that be?" she said still smiling at him.
"I'm going to take you to the Mandir today" he said watching her expression.
"Are you serious?? I mean I can go by myself you know.." Kushi said
"I know you can, but I would like to accompany you if that's ok with you. And maybe we can go out and go watch a movie afterwards and finish the night off with dinner.." he said hoping she would agree.
"Ok!" she responded
"Really? I mean.. That's great!!" he said almost dancing around.
"Ok then crazy person, lets go finish this ice cream now before it melts all over the place" she said grinning at him as they went back to the dining room and sat down to finish the ice cream.
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She looked at her closet carefully that evening and picked out a red saree for herself. It was his favourite colour and she wanted to look good for him. Somehow they have gotten closer in the last few weeks and she was finally starting to believe that he had changed. She saw it with the way he looked at her and she knew that he truly cared about her. But some wounds were still fresh and she was healing slowly while getting to know a different side of him. As she put on the final touches and walked out to the living room, she heard a knock on the door. Wondering who it might be, she walked out to find Arnav standing at the door.
"Abhay! Di!! Nani!!!" he exclaimed in horror. Kushi stood frozen to the floor. Their families were not supposed to know about their arrangement.
"What are you doing here?? And how did you know where I was???" Arnav asked.
"Well Anjali had some news for you that she wanted you to hear immediately and Abhay said that your probably staying here" Nani said
"Yeah Arnav, Anjali couldn't wait so I had to tell her. Hey Kushi lives in the same building right? Anjali we should go see her too!!" Abhay exclaimed.
"So all of you just show up at my door unannounced?" he asked fuming
"Well Chote there is no reason to keep us waiting at the door, why don't you let us in" Nani said getting impatient.
"NO!" he yelled.
"Chote this is important.. We haven't seen you in weeks and your sister needs to talk to you. And you have been refusing to answer any of our calls or come see us, so we decided to come to you" Nani said
Anjali stood there with tears filling her eyes.
"No Nani, I told you this wasn't a good idea. Chote doesn't want to see me.. He doesn't love me anymore" Anjali said
"No Di it's not that..." Arnav said looking at his sister. He hated seeing her like this.. Suddenly Kushi came upto the door.
"Oh my goodness what a nice surprise!! Your all here!!" she said as she subtly nudged Arnav who moved away from the door letting his family in. He had a feeling of dread and he knew that his family would never approve of his living conditions with Kushi.
"Kushi Beta your here!!!" Nani said as she walked in and embraced her.
"Ha Nani, I was just dropping into say hello to Arnav" she said smiling happily. She walked over to Anjali and gave her a big hug too.
"Anjali Di!!!!!! I have missed you so much.. Seems that the timing was almost perfect with my visit to Arnav's place. I get to see all of you!! How delightful" she said
She then walked over to Abhay and gave him a smile.
"You and I have to talk Abhay.." she said in a mock tone.
"Of course Boss.. Am I still fired??" he asked smiling
"Well I'll let you know" she said grinning
Her heart was racing. She was putting up a show for the Raizadas and she was feeling awful about lying to them. But the look of horror on Arnav's face told her that he was thinking exactly what she was thinking. They can't find out.. If they do, all hell breaks lose! Arnav gave Kushi a small grateful smile that said that he will play along as well.
As Anjali, Abhay and Nani took a seat they all looked at Kushi and Arnav. Something was going on and they felt as if they had walked into a very private moment. Anrav had his jaws clenched and Kushi was nervously smiling at everyone.
"Chote can you get me something to drink?" Nani asked her grandson.
"Nani, I'll get it for you!" Kushi said getting on her feet and running to the kitchen.
"So.. Kushi and you are talking huh? Mmm... And she seems to know your place well too..." Anjali said wondering what was really going on.
"She's been here a few times Di.. Besides she lives in the same building, so we see each other often enough"
"Interesting.." Abhay said with a wicked smile on his face.
"So what bring you all here?" Aranv asked wondering why the trio had suddenly decided to make the trip.
"Well we'll tell you that over dinner. Besides, we're here for the weekend Chote, so you can tell me what you've been up to as well" Anjali said
Meanwhile Kushi had returned with Tea for everyone and all 5 of them sat their chatting about what was happening in the Raizada Mansion. Finally Nani had insisted that Arnav give everyone the grand tour of his Mumbai apartment. He had tried to talk them out of it, but she had insisted that he at least show them to their rooms.
Kushi nervously took all the cups back to the kitchen wondering how she was going to get out of this mess. All her things were in her room and she would have to find a place to spend the night at tonight. As she was trying to figure out what she was going to do, she heard yelling in the hallway. As she looked inside, she saw that it was Nani yelling at Arnav.
"Who is living here with you Chote??? These are women's clothes???? How dare you start this nonsense again??? How dare you?? I thought we were past all of this Chote and now we find out that you are hiding out in Mumbai living with some woman?? How can you do this??"
"Nani it's not like that!!" Arnav tried to explain
"Where is she Chote? Where is this woman of yours?? I would like to speak to her a give her a piece of mind. What woman in her right mind would live with a man before marriage?? Or have you gotten married too without informing us Chote?" Nani was furious at him and they were all standing their listening to her. No one dared to speak.
"WHERE IS SHE CHOTE?? Where is this ungodly woman who has no principals that agreed to live with you??" he asked him again.
"ENOUGH NANI" he said with clenched fists. He turned over when he realized that someone was watching them and he saw her eyes. They were filled with tears and her face looked like she had seen a ghost. She immediately sprinted out of the Kitchen and ran towards the door slamming it behind her.
"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO COME IN HERE AND SAY THOSE THINGS!! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?? YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!!!" He said yelling at Nani
"Chote please calm down" Anjali said.
"NO DI!!! Here I am trying to fix things and all of you screw everything up!!!" He said taking a few steps back.
"Please Arnav.." Abhay said
"GET OUT OF MY GOD DAMN APARTMENT NOW. I HAVE TO GO FIND HER" he said before sprinting to the door to chased after Kushi.
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Nani, Anjali and Abhay stood dumbfounded.
"Do you see how he talks to us Anjali? All because of some woman.." Nani said angrily as she walked back to the living room.
"But why did Kushi leave??" Anjali asked confused. She has only caught a glimpse of Kushi's red saree as she saw her leave..
"Who knows Anjali.. I will book us the next flight out then" Abhay said consoling her.
"You will do no such thing Abhay" Nani barked at him.
"Chote has to explain himself and we're not leaving until he tells us what's going on" she said with a finality in her voice.
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Arnav knew exactly where Kushi was. She went their often when she was sad and he was certain that she would be there. After a 5 minute walk he saw her.
Draped in her beautiful saree, she was seated at the steps of the Mandi tears streaming down her face. As he walked upto her, she saw him and looked up at him.
"Arnav.." she said.
"Kushi don't worry, please stop crying" he said sitting next to her and wiping her tears.
"Nani is right.. What kind of woman puts her self respect at stake for something as simple as shares Arnav??" she said sobbing harder.
"The kind of woman who was put in helpless situation by a man like myself" he said in a quiet voice. Thanks to him, she was in tears again and it killed him to see her this way. He would do anything to make her smile again including giving up his own happiness.
"We have to tell them the truth Kushi" He finally said in a small voice.
"NO!! We can't do that.." she said.
"Why not?" He asked her
"Because I'm not your wife Arnav, I shouldn't be living with you. And it would break their hearts... You can have KK Group Arnav.. I'll move out immediately. For now I'm just going to stay at a hotel" she said thinking that this meant she would have to move away from him.
"Do you want to move out?" he asked her.
Kushi looked up at his eyes once more and saw the reflection of dark rain clouds around them. He has the most beautiful eyes she thought. She would miss him dearly and it would cost her a lot more than the company to live away form him. In the past few weeks, she had gotten very attached to him and it broke her heart to think that she would have to live under a different roof than him. She had looked forward to him every morning when she woke up since the night where he had had too much to drink.
"Answer me Kushi" he said louder than the thunder that was roaring. Suddenly there was a down pour of rain while the 2 sat their at the Mandi steps getting soaked to the bone.
She finally looked at him and nodded her head and mumbled "No"
"Do you want to live with me for the rest of your life Kushi Kumar Gupta?" he asked her again.
She looked at him with perplexed eyes and her heart started beating faster. She saw the love in his eyes and it made her melt. She knew instantly that she was ready to forgive him. He instantly knew what her answer was.
She felt him grab her arm and walked with her to the Alter of the Mandir. He grabbed the red sindoor at the alter and as she stood before him, applied on her forehead between her eye brows. She stood their shocked at what was happening.
"I swear upon God, I will keep you happy for all eternity" he said.
The rain was pouring around them and the skies were filled with lighting and thunder. Kushi knew the symbolism of what had just happened. He had made her his wife in front of gods eyes and she was his forever..
Edited by bezinga - 13 years ago
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
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