Arhi FF:Mirage Note pg 158 for next thread link - Page 52

The whole day had passed eventfully for Arnav. He had managed to spend the entire day with Lavanya, flirting with her and getting to know more about her. And that girl had no idea that she was being used as a pawn for his mission. On the other hand, he hadn't seen or heard about Khushi. After their encounter in the morning, she hadn't been visible in the vicinity of the resort. Infact, he was quite relieved to get rid of her. Lately, she had been totally interrupting his mind and thoughts, that he was having a rough time focussing on Lavanya.

It was five in the evening and Arnav had excused himself from Lavanya after a call from Aman, who was busy with some other work.

"Hello Bhai! Can I ask a favour from you? I have to collect a package from my friend in the city. Since I'm busy over here, could you go and collect it in my place?" He heard Aman on the other side of the phone.

"No problem Aman. You carry on with your work. I'll get it for you. Just tell me the address. Anyhow, I need a break from this girl here. It's too tiring pretending to like her." Arnav said wiping away the creases on his forehead.

After Aman had given him the address, he fished out the car keys from his pocket and went towards his black Nissan Patrol in the parking lot. Getting inside it, he drove off to the address told to him.

It hadn't been difficult locating the place for him. The shop 'G.G.Sharma's Antiques' was quite renowned, it seemed. A young boy on the roadside had directed him perfectly to this place. From outside, it looked as antique and ancient as it sounded. The brown paint on the walls was threatening to scrape off any minute. A brass bell was placed atop the door frame to alert the owner of the customer's arrival.

Stepping inside the shop, Arnav noticed that the wooden floor creaked with his weight. It smelt dusty and old inside the room.

"Who is it?" he heard someone scurrying towards him from the room inside. An old man who appeared to be in his early seventies made appearance. He adjusted his thick framed spectacles to get a better view of Arnav.

"Aman sent me here." He said unsure of whether he had arrived at the correct place.

"Oh!" the old man let out a sigh. "I've been waiting for you. Have a seat." He said pointing to the wooden chair in one corner of the room and hurried inside. Arnav went and sat on it. He squinted his eyes to see the contents inside the inner room. Tables, vases, chandeliers, lamps were spread across the room. Before he could notice anything else, the old man returned back.

"Here." He said holding out a small white package in his hand. Arnav took it in his hand and instantly felt it heavy. Maybe it was a pistol, he guessed, tracing his fingers on the outline of the object. "My grandson instructed me to give this to you." The old man said.

Arnav stood up to take leave. "Thank you. I have to leave."

"Hey! Take care of yourself!" he heard the old man call behind him. Surprised with his comment, Arnav turned back to look at the old man staring at him, waving his wrinkled hand. For some reason, it felt quite strange to him. Getting into the car, he drove off, observing the man from his centre mirror of his car. There was something really eerie about his words.

It was slowly getting dark around him, as the sun began to set. He had been driving aimlessly, with the words of the old man still ringing in his ears, when he suddenly noticed someone standing on the side of the road. He slowed down the car and brought it to a complete halt few metres away from the person.

"What the!" he muttered under his breath as he saw that familiar face waiting on the side of the road, her face full of desperation and worry. She kept glancing at her watch again and again, alternating it by holding out her hand asking for a lift. Her efforts seemed vain as no vehicle stopped for her. The road was pretty deserted except for one or two vehicles passing by.

Khushi!

And then he remembered their morning encounter. Rolling his eyes with irritation, he restarted the car to go away, when once again something caught his eye.  A middle aged man, was standing a few metres away and constantly eyeing her. Something about his expressions made Arnav realize the vile intentions behind the face. And to make it worse, Khushi didn't seem to notice the presence of that person.

Instinctively, he started his car and stopped it right in front of her. He rolled down the tinted windows to reveal an astonished Khushi looking at him.

o0o

After another tiring and eventful day spent shopping and sight seeing in the city, Khushi had been waiting at a bus stop, to go back to the resort. But to her bad luck, she had ended up in a deserted place, where there were no signs of any taxis or Auto. There were buses, but none of them seemed to go anywhere near the resort. Her only alternative was to ask a good Samaritan for a ride to the resort. And she really prayed to her Devi Maiyya to send her someone, promising loads of good behaviour from her side in return.

Her aching legs and body weren't helping her already desperate state. It was going to get dark soon and she didn't want to be left stranded in an unknown place after dark. Just when she thought of walking back all the way to the resort, she saw a black Nissan Patrol stop in front of her, lowering the tinted window.

"Get in!" she heard him order her.

"Arnav?" Khushi cried out with surprise seeing the familiar face, not at all expecting him at this moment, that too in this place. "What are you doing here?" For a minute, she could only stare back at his face with her mouth wide opened. But then reality struck her. "No thanks! I don't need your help." She added quickly, remembering their earlier conversations.

Arnav gritted his teeth with fury. Why was she so hard to decipher? "Just get in!" he blared with big furious eyes, momentarily turning to look at the man who was now intently staring at both of them. Arnav stared back furiously at the man forcing him to avert his eyes.

"No!" she protested out loudly. How dare he order her around like that!

"Will you get in by yourself or should I force you to? And stop your drama." he said with a warning tone, beginning to unbuckle his seat belt. That was when Khushi knew he was serious and instead of making the scene uglier, she quietly opened the door and got into the seat beside him.

Before she could even buckle her seatbelt, he drove off. Khushi turned her head to the side to observe his face. His eyes were focussed on the road ahead of him.

"Arnav, seriously tell me, are you stalking me? Coz even if I try being away from you, you seem to find me." She asked quizzically.

As usual, she was only responded with silence. "Tell me what's your problem? I help you. You don't thank me. You help me. I thank you but you don't acknowledge it. I try being friendly with you. But you ignore me. And now I try ignoring you. And you follow me. I don't understand you at all. I don't know anything about you, other than your name, which I found out by chance. Or else, you wouldn't have even revealed it.  Hell! Why am I even talking to you when I know for certain that you won't respond to any of this? I think I'm going crazy."

But Arnav wasn't concentrating on what she was blabbering. His eyes were now focussed on the grey car that was following his car very closely. Something was suspicious about it. To check his intuition, he turned his car to the left instead of their actual route. And the car seemed to follow him. To clarify it, he took a right turn few metres ahead and the grey car followed him.

Arnav knew something was wrong. He pressed the accelerator harder, increasing his speed from eighty to one twenty km/hr. Feeling the sudden increase in speed, Khushi panicked. "Arnav, what are you doing?" she asked in a low voice, apprehensive about the sudden change around her. "Slow down." She hissed out as the car roared dangerously on the road.

Arnav was only focussed on the grey car. For a minute, the driver of the grey car wasn't expecting the sudden increase in the speed. But then he soon caught up and was now following him with equal speed.

And then, out of nowhere, Arnav suddenly pressed the brake and rapidly turned the steering wheel, rotating the car 360 degree and coming to a complete halt to the side, while the grey car zoomed past them. He could clearly see the two men staring at him with confusion and also what seemed to be a pistol in one of their hand. They had been least expecting this move.

"Arnav!" Khushi cried out with horror as she felt herself being propelled ahead with the momentum, only to be restrained back with the seat belt. Without wasting any minute, Arnav re-pressed the accelerator and sped off in the opposite direction. He knew they were after him and they would return back any minute.

If he had been alone, he would have pursued them. He even remembered the package handed over to him earlier. Afterall, he had felt a pistol inside it. But there was Khushi with him, and he couldn't possibly put her in any danger. He drove as fast as he could until they finally reached the resort. It was dark by then and there wasn't any sign of those assailants. Maybe they had lost his track.

Khushi hadn't uttered a word after that incident. She was too shocked to speak anything else. When the car finally stopped, Arnav turned towards her.

"Khushi..." he said softly placing his hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"What was that?" she shot back with utter confusion on her face. She instantly flinched away from his touch, not wanting to trust him anymore.

"I can't tell you." He said trying to be inconspicuous. How could he reveal his true identity to her?

"You know what, I'm done with you. I don't know what's your problem but I don't want to be involved in it." She hissed furiously and pulled open the door and got out.

Arnav couldn't take it anymore. He pushed open the door, stepping out, banging it shut behind him and ran to her side, yanking her wrist from behind. With one pull, she landed on his chest with enormous force, while he pinned her to the side of the car, her back pressed against the window. Locking her wrists tightly behind her, he completely pressed himself against her, as she unsuccessfully writhed out of his grip.

His face was barely inches away from hers and she could feel his warm breath on her face, a sharp contrast to the cool breeze around them. Even though it was dark, she could clearly see his chocolate brown eyes, staring unabashedly at her. Something about the proximity of their bodies made her heart pound like never before. Her senses were heightened to the maximum. Slowly, she could smell his musky fragrance mixed with the intoxicating cologne he had worn, something which she hadn't noticed till now.

For an unknown reason, instead of being scared of him, she felt it was normal. Like this was the obvious position to be in. Even though he held her wrists firmly, it didn't hurt her. It was as if, he was being gentle yet firm with her. And suddenly, she felt herself relax, not wanting to struggle free anymore.

"Do you know what my problem is?" he hissed out through his gritted teeth in a low dangerous voice. "You!" he said moving his face even more closer to hers until his lips slightly brushed against hers. Unable to gaze at his face, she closed her eyes, feeling his lips gently brush against hers.

Arnav had never felt like this with anyone ever before. Her intoxicating fragrance, her luscious pink lips, her innocent eyes, her heaving bosom was inviting him to be feasted upon. Suddenly, he felt an intense desire threatening to consume him up if he didn't give in to it. He let go of her wrists and slowly glided his hands to her waist.

Khushi felt herself shivering as she felt his hands on her waist. No man had ever touched her like this before. She knew this was wrong. He was a stranger. Nobody to her. Yet, she couldn't make herself protest this. An unknown fire was starting to ignite within her. She felt his hands slowly glide inside her kameez, making their way upwards on the sides.

Her mind screamed out in protest, but her heart was enjoying every bit of it. She felt alive like never before. Feeling her knees go weak, she grabbed his strong masculine shoulders for support, opening her eyes, to see the face of their owner. They were closed. His face was reflecting every ounce of equal pleasure he was deriving from this.

And just when things were starting to get heated up, Khushi heard her phone ring. Both of them froze completely, snapping back to the harsh reality around them. Arnav pulled apart from her, while Khushi fished into her bag for the cellphone, adjusting her kameez simultaneously. The screen flashed Lavanya's name.

"Hello Lavanya!" she asked in a soft voice, unable to speak after the heated moment.

"Where are you? I didn't find you in the room. So I thought of calling you." She heard Lavanya on the other side of the phone.

"I'll be there in few minutes. I'll talk to you later." She said disconnecting the call.

Arnav felt the whole world around him spin about in confusion. Lavanya! Did he hear the name right?

Seeing the confused face of Arnav and feeling quite flustered with herself at what had occurred few seconds ago, she spoke out. "It was my best friend, Lavanya Kashyap. You must be knowing her. She called to ask about my whereabouts."

Arnav felt himself moving backwards with confusion. How could he have not known that Khushi was best friend of Lavanya? Yes, Aman had forgotten to mention the name of her friend. NO! He couldn't do this. He felt his whole conscious yelling at him. He suddenly turned around and started walking away from her, leaving her deserted behind him.

"Arnav!" he heard her call out behind him. But he wasn't going to stop. He couldn't stop for her. He had to get away from her before this got messier.

Khushi stood in silence, watching him walking away from her. She didn't understand what had  happened between them. She could only stare at his retreating back with confusion. And lots of unanswered questions.

CHAPTER 12