Rushed (AK-AR): Part 36 on Pg 148 (04/11)!!!!! - Page 74

The morning after the night of their first kiss, Armaan and Riddhima headed to Kripa's apartment. In the parking lot, after parking the car, Armaan ran around to open his wife's door. He offered her his hand and she gladly took it. They headed into the building holding hands and chatting like a teenage couple. But as they waited for someone to open the door after they knocked, Riddhima got nervous. Kripa.

And Kripa was the one who answered the door.

"Hey!!" She said excitedly but her expression changed as soon as she really looked at them. Her mouth parted slightly...surprised. "Oh. My. God" That was all she said.

Riddhima and Armaan exchanged a glance.

"Riddhima?!"Kripa said in her surprised tone.

No doubt Kripa had noticed that they were holding hands, and that they were matching colours, and that Riddhima's face was as red as a tomato...

"What? We didn't do anything!"Riddhima defended.

Kripa raised her eyebrows. "Oh? But I never said you did..."

Armaan stole a glance at Riddhima and then looked at Kripa who was looking at him. She winked at him and let them in. Angad came out and greeted them as well, but obviously, being a guy, he completely missed the minor detail of development that had caught Kripa's sharp eyes.

After an hour or so of catching up they started talking about the boys' upcoming coop placement in Vancouver. Kripa excused herself and got up.

"I'll get started on lunch." She said before disappearing into the kitchen. Angad's eyes followed her and Armaan and Riddhima's eyes rested on Angad, questioningly.

"She's not too thrilled about me leaving for two months." Angad explained before they even asked the question. "I can't even take her with me because she has her own internship at the hospital and then the license exam in May..."

"Yeah...I can understand her viewpoint. I don't exactly want to leave my wife behind either." Armaan said with a shrug.

"You guys are leaving for April and May, right?"

"Yeah. Eight weeks." Angad sighed.

"Oh." Riddhima said dejectedly. She wasn't aware that they were leaving that soon. "And our exam is in the last week of May."

"Yeah...so you girls can't even come there..." Armaan explained.

They heard some plates clattering in the kitchen and all three heads turned in the direction of the sound. Angad was about to get up when Riddhima did.

"I'll help her with lunch." She said before walking out of the living room.

As soon as she walked in, she sort of regretted it because she knew there was a long session of teasing on her way. She had expected to see an upset Kripa but Kripa looked just fine.

"You alright?"Riddhima asked.

"Oh I'm great!" Kripa said picking up the plate off of the floor.

Riddhima raised an eyebrow at her and Kripa beamed a smile. She frantically waved Riddhima forward. As soon as Riddhima was within reach, Kripa grabbed her hand pulled her closer.

"It's all a plan for his birthday. I've been acting glum every time he brings up the coop placement. That way, he leaves me alone thinking I need time alone and I'm using that time to plan for his surprise birthday party." Kripa explained in a rushed whisper.

"Ohhh. I see. And thank you for reminding me. I need to get started on something for Armaan's birthday too. It's exactly a week after Angad's..." Riddhima thought with her index finger tapping her chin.

"Yeah...and then—" Kripa started but was cut off by Riddhima.

"It's yours. March 23^rd. I know. I have never forgotten and I never will. Damn it Kripa. It's so hard to plan a surprise party for you. You know me too well."

"Ahan." Kripa winked. "Someone's certainly chatty today..."

"Oh...I don't know what you're talking about..." Riddhima said and decided to shut up because she knew her red face was already speaking volumes.

"You know more than me...so why don't you tell me what I'm talking about." Kripa teased. "I mean...I know it's got something to do with Armaan...that much I can tell by looking at your face..."

"Damn you! Stop looking at me. You're freaky."

"Oh don't get me started on freaky...you know what's freaky? Angad's vibes are freaky." Kripa rolled her eyes dramatically. Both girls laughed out loud and Riddhima thought that she'd avoided Kripa's original question. But boy was she wrong!

"So are you going to tell me or should I start my guessing game?" Kripa teased further.

Riddhima's spine stiffened—something that always happened when she got nervous.

"Well...we...um...I...no...He...no no...we" Riddhima stammered on. Kripa rolled her eyes. Oh of course Kripa had figured out what possibly could have happened...but she wanted Riddhima to admit it.

"Say it Riddhima...kissed. 'We Kissed.' Come on. Repeat after me. It's not that hard."

Riddhima's eyes widened and her face felt like it was on fire. Kripa closed to distance and gave her best friend a big hug.

"I'm happy that you're finally giving your marriage a genuine chance..."Kripa said gently.

"Couldn't have done it without you! But, how did you figure it out?"

"I looked just like you do now when Angad and I first kissed...it's the whole been there, done that thing..."

"You and Angad are very close, aren't you?"

"In what way do you mean? Physically? Emotionally?"

"Both." Riddhima said without hesitation.

"Yes we are." Kripa answered back with the same lack of hesitation. "And don't worry too much about it. You two are just beginning to act like a couple...the closeness will come with time."

Riddhima turned red at Kripa's comment and Kripa just shook her head. The two ladies worked together on lunch while planning Angad's birthday party, speaking in a code word language.

On the day of Angad's birthday:

When Angad opened his eyes in the morning, Kripa's face was the first thing that he saw. She was sitting next to him on the bed, her face inches from his. She smiled when he was awake.

"What?" he said.

"Nothing...I'm just looking at your face to see how much it's changed since last night..."

"Kripa...are you feeling alright? Why would my face be different from last night?"

"Well...today you're an entire year older than you were last night Khanna...Happy Birthday!"

Angad frowned in confusion. "**** That's today?"

"My God, You're getting old! You don't even remember your birthday anymore." Kripa tapped his nose lightly.

He smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist. "That's your fault."

"Oh is it?"

"Yeap...I lost all sense of time since you entered my life."

"Cheesy. Now get up birthday boy. Busy day ahead."

"Wait a minute. Why aren't you at the hospital? Aren't you late?" Angad asked.

"I'm sick" Kripa air-quoted and winked at him. When he smiled lovingly at her, she bent down and gave him a quick kiss. "I wanted to spend the day with my birthday boy."

She got off of him and pulled on his hand. "Now, Up!"

When she managed to pull him off the bed, she pushed him into the washroom. Once she heard the water running in the shower, she made the bed and finished her cup of coffee.

"Hey Armaan. Is everything set?" She said in a hushed whisper over the phone.

"Yep. It's all good to know. Me and Riddhima are literally stalking your apartment. As soon as you two leave...we'll get started."

"Perfect." She stopped talking as she heard the water stop in the bathroom. "I'll call you back later" she said quickly and hung up.

A couple of seconds later, the water started running again. Kripa opened the door to the bathroom and stepped in to brush her teeth after her coffee.

"I'm brushing my teeth. Just letting you know"

"Okay." He replied simply from behind the door to the shower stall.

Kripa had just finished brushing her teeth when the water stopped running again.

"Err...can you pass me the towel?" Angad called out to Kripa and the water started running again.

Kripa picked up the towel and tapped on the Rain glass door. His hand peeked out to grab the towel but he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her inside instead, taking her completely by surprise.

She now stood against the wall opposite to the door and under the lukewarm running shower water. Once Kripa wrapped her head around what was happening, she realized that this entire thing had been a set-up. He still had his pajama bottoms on along with an evil bad boy smirk on his face.

He moved away the soaked strands of hair that were stuck on her face. Kripa shivered at his touch despite the warm water and his body towering over her like a blanket. She hadn't realized that she'd wound her arms around his waist until his breathing changed. Her eyes refused to leave his while he closed the distance to engage her in a passionate kiss.

In a matter of a few seconds, the scene had changed entirely. The sweet kiss was suddenly replaced by intense passion. Angad left a tangled trail of kisses on her neck and shoulders. She found it hard to keep her grip around his waist intact as the running water weakened it mixed with the dangerous wave of desire she could feel arising within her. The passion that radiated off of Angad completely threw the equation out of balance.

Some distant part of her mind registered that this was all going on in a shower cabin, under running water, but she didn't care. And as the rising passion took over her, a small framed Kripa managed to somehow pin the mountain-like Angad against the wall. With their hearts pounding inside their heads coupled with their rugged and heavy breathing, the sound of the running water was mute.

Angad was frozen against the wall. Her sudden reaction had alarmed him. But the shock left his mind when she moved even closer and her lips touched his shoulder. With the tables turned, it was no longer Kripa who trembled under Angad's touch; it was him shivering with every kiss she left on his body.

Angad's hands slipped from her shoulders to her hips where he clutched onto the end of her tank-top. He stopped at that as if asking for her permission and in response she paused. Getting the hint, he pulled her tank-top over her head in a swift movement.

She swept him into another kiss and unknowingly, his hand lingered towards the knot at her back that held her bikini top together. When she realized what he would do next, she froze, in anticipation. She willed her eyelids to open and she stared into his gorgeous deep eyes that had seemed just as beautiful the first time she'd met him.

He smiled his stop-your-heart-dead slanted smile and then he pulled on the string.

*

The first thing Kripa did after stepping out of the shower was check her phone. 7 missed calls and 22 text messages. Damn!

She quickly typed a "sorry" message to Armaan and the second she sent it, Angad wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her neck.

"Oh no you don't. Not again." Kripa warned and pulled his arms off. "We have a lunch date to get to remember?"

Angad smiled evilly. "I think we just had a pretty nice…date. I wouldn't mind continuing our date at home."

"Ha-ha." Kripa said sarcastically and shoved his clothes in his hands. "Your birthday party is tonight and people will be all over you…the lunch is my time with you." She saw he was about to speak up so she went on quickly. "Time with you that doesn't involve showers...or beds." She saw his eyes drift to the couch. "Or couches." She crossed her arms.

"Would you rather involve the floor? We can if you want…we've tried it out before." He winked.

Kripa gasped, turning red in the face. "Oh shut up...get your mind out of the gutter. I'm hungry and thanks to your little shower stunt earlier, I didn't get to make any food…so hurry."

Despite Kripa's protests, Angad managed to steal a kiss before he let her go. After they got ready, they headed out to the parking lot hand-in-hand, earning an endearing smile from an elderly lady in the elevator. As soon as they got into Angad's car and drove away, Kripa got a text message from Armaan.

'Finally'.

'Sorry. We got caught up with something.' Kripa replied back.

During the lunch, Angad continued to hold her hand, and tease her by tickling her under the table and such. Kripa had arranged for a special dessert for Angad, with his favourite chocolate lava cake with raspberry sauce with 'happy birthday' written beautifully around the rim of the plate. After sharing the desert, Kripa had boldly licked off a bit of chocolate sauce from his lip.

According to the day's schedule, Angad and Kripa were supposed to head directly to Angad's house where his parents had arranged a birthday party for him. However, as soon as they got back in the car, Kripa put a hand on his knee to get his attention.

"Can we go back to the apartment for a little bit?" She asked with a hint of a smile.

He raised his eyebrow. "Why? Did you forget something?"

"No…but I think at this moment, I'm liking your idea of using the floor…." She looked at him flirtatiously.

Angad chuckled but started driving towards their apartment anyway. As soon as the parking lot of the building was in view, Kripa distracted him again by sneezing. She stepped out of the car before he reached to open her side of the door.

"Someone's in a romantic mood today…"Angad said as he wound his arm around her waist and pulled her closer.

"I think it's what you started this morning…" she replied back.

Kripa found it hard to control her excitement in the elevator while Angad found it hard to keep his hands off of Kripa.

He wanted to carry her to the door because she wasn't walking fast enough in the corridor to their apartment. Still holding onto her hand, he inserted the key in the keyhole, opened the door and stepped in.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!" a simultaneous scream containing at least 25 different voices, followed by giggles and clicks and flashes of cameras. He looked at Kripa who was giggling like no tomorrow. At his expression, he supposed.

He looked back at the crowd, wide eyed, and saw his mother making her way to him. When he hugged her, he registered the decorations. So Kripa had taken him out to lunch so the rest of them could plan this. After she let go of him, Naina hugged Kripa as well. Angad was suddenly surrounded by a herd of people who were wishing him for his birthday and such.

As they mingled with the crowd, Angad had introduced Kripa as his girlfriend. If they weren't official before, they were now. A few minutes later, Kripa's parents and Armaan and Riddhima's parents had also dropped by to wish him a happy birthday. Kripa and the gang's surprise party had been a success. By an hour to midnight, only Angad's close friends were left in the apartment. That was when the drinks were taken out of their hiding spots.

A week later, Armaan woke up in the morning and immediately knew Riddhima wasn't sleeping next to him. He turned towards his side table because his peripheral vision caught a movement there. The next second, something cold and creamy slammed into his face.

A roar of laughter erupted and he could hear cameras beeping before they clicked pictures. He wiped his hand across his face and wiped off the pile of whip cream. With the thumb of his other hand, he cleaned more carefully the area around his eyes before opening his eyes. He was surprised to the core seeing his bedroom FILLED with people! His parents, his in laws, his friends, and his wife.

"Happy birthday!!!" they all chimed. Armaan still looked around confused encouraging a few giggles in the crowd.

Riddhima walked up to him and handed him a towel. He thanked her and wiped his face. Only to have another slab of whip cream slammed into his face by none other than Riddhima. Another roar of laughter from the crowd.

"Ehh...thanks everyone...for this...torturous surprise. But if you don't mind...can I go and wash all this off?"

Everyone laughed and started ushering out of the room. When Riddhima turned to leave, Armaan grabbed her wrist and turned her around, immediately wrapping his hands around her waist so she couldn't escape.

"Where do you think you're going? You're going to help me clean up this mess you've created. Whip cream on the Armaan Mallik's face...not cool."

"Ahem." Kripa cleared her throat at the door. "We'll close the door so that no one disturbs your cleaning." She giggled winking at them and closing the door behind her.

"So...Mrs. Armaan Mallik. Get on with the cleaning."

Riddhima raised her eyebrows at her husband. "And what if I don't?"

"Hmm...in that case..." Armaan leaned in suddenly and brushed his cheek against hers, wiping off half the whip cream into her cheek. She gasped and her jaw fell to her knees. Before she could say anything, he'd done the same to the other cheek.

"Armaan!!" She shrieked. He smiled victoriously. "You can get me back for my birthday but this isn't fair! Let go of me!"

"I will...but where's my present?"

She looked at him and raised her eyebrows. Something wasn't right...he was making this too easy. "I can get it if you let go of me..."

"But my present is right here..."

"It is?" she frowned in confusion. Then she saw his eyes travel down to her lips and she understood his meaning. She was suddenly thankful for the whip cream covering her cheeks. At least her blushing was hidden. But to her surprise, he looked back into her eyes.

"Yep. You're going to clean all this up. Let me show you how..."

He leaned towards her and kissed her lips, wiping off a bit of whip cream with a gentle stroke of his tongue.

He pulled apart and looked at her smugly. "So...You might want to get started..."

Riddhima's eyes widened. She looked at his face which was literally covered in whip cream. Feeling butterflies even at the thought of doing what he'd just done, she shyly put her head onto his shoulder.

"Ahh...you're increasing the amount of work for yourself...but I don't mind..."

She looked up at him again. "What?"

Armaan looked at his shoulder which now had a bit of whip cream deposited there from her cheek.

"No...Absolutely not." Riddhima struggled to get out of his grip and she managed to wiggle out somehow. She ran out the door, completely forgetting what she looked like.

Every pair of eyes was set on her. She looked at them all confusedly. Kripa was biting her lower lip to keep from laughing.

"Um...happy early birthday?" Arnav said cocking his head to the side, raising an eyebrow.

When Riddhima looked at him blankly, Khushi skipped up to her, ran a finger across Riddhima's cheek and held up the whip cream covered finger to her. Riddhima gasped, touched her cheek and ran into the room again. She could hear the laughter roaring behind her.

She wiped her cheeks with a towel and waited for Armaan to get out. She walked into the washroom the second he stepped out while he just looked at the door confused. He was just closing the last two buttons on his shirt when she walked out. After sharing a smile together, the two walked out into the living room and once again Armaan was surprised to see that his living room was completely decorated for a party and everyone was standing around a coffee table that had his birthday cake on it.

The party pretty much lasted all day. Riddhima and Armaan's parents were happy to see that the two were happy in their married life. Billy was especially happy that things had worked out for his son. And he knew he had Kripa to thank for this. He had pulled her away from the crowd and thanked her for helping Riddhima and Armaan sort out their differences. Riddhima just gave Billy a hug and told him that it was the least she could do for her best friend.

Things were happy and cheery when Kripa's birthday rolled around as well. It was almost as if it had become a habit of Angad and Kripa to make love in the shower on either one's birthday. Afterwards, they headed out to lunch the same way they had for Angad's birthday. Kripa was pretty sure that she would find everyone in their apartment when they got back. Angad was probably planning the same surprise she had planned for him because it would be the last thing she would be expecting.

Angad stopped the car in a random store's parking lot.

"You're taking me to starbucks for my birthday?" she raised an eyebrow.

Angad shook his head and pulled out a roll of black cloth from him pocket. A blindfold. Kripa groaned.

"Really?!" she exclaimed.

"Well...Riddhima told me its useless trying to plan surprises for you...but I cankeep the restaurant a surprise..."

Kripa rolled her eyes as he turned her and put the blindfold on. Kripa tried to keep track of how far they were going by imagining the roads according to the movements of the car. But a few turns later, she was completely clueless.

After twenty minutes of driving, Angad stopped the car. She heard her side of the door open and felt him grab her hand. She let him lead her out of the car, knowing that arguing or reasoning with him wouldn't work.

He led her up five stairs and then they walked inside. She felt the pressure change in the air and knew that she was inside...but she found it funny that she didn't hear him open the restaurant's door.

"Ready? I'm really hoping that you like this place." Angad said. He asked her to keep her eyes closed and he removed the blindfold.

"You can open your eyes now." He said.

She opened her eyes and almost at the same instant, two balloons burst above her head showering her with glitter and confetti. Her parents came into her focus before anyone else. She looked at Angad, beamed a big smile, and ran towards her parents, practically jumping in her father's arm.

She was surrounded by friends and family the rest of the day and much to her dismay, Angad gave her more space than she wanted and tried not to interrupt her conversations much.

I also have another news for you all, in case you have missed the PM that I sent out, and if you're an ArHi (Arnav-Khushi IPKKND) fan, and if you like my writing, you're welcome to check out...scroll to next post ;)

I also have another news for you all, in case you have missed the PM that I sent out, and if you're an ArHi (Arnav-Khushi IPKKND) fan, and if you like my writing, you're welcome to check out: