Chapter 8A
The beat of the music thudded against the carpeted floor of the guest bedroom as it bounced against the ceiling of the ballroom downstairs.
Khushi felt the beat thrum through her body, igniting her every nerve endings - which were further sensitised by the cool air in the room and her state of undress.
The fast paced beat matched the pounding strikes of her heart.
To say that Khushi was anxious about the upcoming hours would be the biggest understatement ever.
She glanced at her reflection in the mirror, admiring the sleek shine of her hair that had been parted sideways giving her a fringe.
She learnt today that the Raizada's took their events most seriously. She had been told to come home early that night - but she hadn't been expecting to be dragged into a private saloon somewhere else in the span of the massive house the moment she arrived. She had joined the rest of the Raizada women (including Lavanya) as they were pampered and styled for the night.
Without her consent, the hairdresser had immediately started chopping at her hair, cutting off inches of her long locks - at that moment in time Khushi could have cried. She was reminded in irony of how she laughed and rolled her eyes when she watched girls cry as they were given makeovers on Next Top Model - but she had finally understood how they felt as she found herself in their shoes.
She had to admit, though, that once they were finished; she couldn't help but be in awe of what they had done to her. She barely recognised herself. Her hair now reached mid-back, layered and feathered, she had a side parting - that actually looked quite good on her and her hair definitely looked a lot healthier than it previously did. She grudgingly admitted that she did honestly need a haircut because her long hair had been getting harder to handle - especially in her morning rush to get to work.
Then, of course, she had rolled her eyes; of course the Raizada's would have the best stylists working for them. Their business was in the fashion industry - looks were imperative.
They had proceeded to give her an aromatic facial - with cucumbers - that she couldn't resist eating slyly as she amicably chatted with the Raizada women about the upcoming night. It had been a pleasant girly bonding moment and the men had wisely stayed away from that particular area of the house.
It was during that time when Khushi learnt, to her surprise, of the media coverage at the festival party. It suddenly made sense of all the efforts that the family had been putting into the preparations for the party and the styling session - all eyes would be on them tonight and for the rest of the week in the media.
Her heart had plummeted to her stomach when realisation sunk in that she was officially going to be introduced as Arnav's girlfriend to society. So now, not only was she lying to his family; but to the rest of the country. 'Could her life get any easier?' She thought sarcastically.
She leant forward in her chair picking up the red lip-gloss that the make-up artists had supplied and topped it up as it was starting to lose its shine and colour.
'Where is Lavanya?' She thought impatiently, sighing once more as she adjusted her barely there sleeveless blouse.
The saree was stunning. It was bright red with silver embroidery work and the edges were lined with gems and pearls. It really was a work of art and she felt privileged to wear it ... furthermore, it was the saree that Arnav had chosen for her.
They sat next to each other beside Anjali who sat on the other side of Khushi with Nani, Lavanya and Mami sitting opposite them. Khushi noticed three more women who'd joined them and looked at Arnav with furrowed eyebrows.
"Oh! Khushiji, this is Payalji, her Amma Garimaji and Aunty Buaji," Anjali introduced.
Khushi greeted the women politely as Anjali introduced her as Arnav's girlfriend to the women; who looked slightly affronted at the thought of this girl living with the family without being engaged or married to Arnav. Though, they smartly decided not to say anything upon noticing that Khushi was generally liked by the Raizada family.
Mr. Sharma brought out piles and piles of sarees for the women and they immediately started sifting through the available choices. Khushi, however, just watched them selecting the sarees; 'What was she supposed to do?'
She shifted awkwardly feeling as if she was taking advantage of the generosity that the Raizada's had already shown her.
Arnav seemed to have no issues at all about this as he quickly picked up three sarees and gave his selections to her.
The other women watched them with interest.
Khushi looked at the three sarees in front of her; one was a red saree with green studs on it and beautiful embroidery work on it, another was a red saree with silver sequins, pearls an beads - by far the richest from the others and the last was a red and navy blue saree with floral embroidery on it.
Khushi noticed that the general census between the three sarees was that they all were red; 'Must be his favourite colour,' she thought.
Furthermore, upon closer inspection, she noticed that all three sarees were designed by him personally - as the tags confirmed.
Making a final choice, she held up the second and the last sarees towards Arnav and questioned him with her eyes on about which one he liked better. Arnav smiled at her choices and without hesitation chose the saree that was imbedded with pearls and silver beads; it was one of his personal favourites that he'd designed.
Khushi nodded and put the other sarees back, keeping the one that he chose in her lap.
"Arre, Chotte, what a great choice. Why don't you choose a saree for all of us?" Anjali suggested teasingly.
Arnav blushed lightly before complying with his sister's wishes and went around the table choosing the perfect saree for each lady in his family. As he was choosing a saree for Nani, he noticed that Mr. Sharma had requested Khushi to come aside so that he could take her measurements to stitch her blouse as he didn't have it in his records. He also detected her looking slightly uncomfortable.
Arnav quickly handed the saree that he found for his Nani before walking up to Mr. Sharma and Khushi much to the amusement of his family.
"I'll take her measurements Mr. Sharma," Arnav spoke in a cold voice.
The poor man bristled at Arnav's tone and quickly handed him the measuring tape.
His family watched with wide eyes as Arnav set deftly to the task of taking her measurement and wrote them down himself as not to embarrass Khushi. He also made to stand protectively in front of Khushi so that his family could not see exactly what he was doing.
Anjali, Lavanya, Mami and Nani shared knowing smiles as they watched the couple.
Arnav was done in a matter of minutes and he handed the completed sheet over to Mr. Sharma.
Khushi, who was now in view of the family, blushed a pretty red under their teasing looks; also aware of the quiet, condemnatory looks from the Gupta family.
She settled back down on the leather sofa and continued to choose more sarees for the upcoming events with Arnav approving each and every one of them; avoiding contact with anyone else.
A knock on the door brought her out of her reverie.
'That must be Lavanya with the pins,' she thought as she glided towards the locked door gracefully unlocking it before walked back towards the bed to grab the saree.
Lavanya had graciously offered to help her get ready since Arnav had told her in private that Khushi had never work a saree before. But she had to run out to see if anyone else had pins since Khushi had been unaware of their use - and did not have any herself.
"Thank god La! I think we're really pushing the whole 'fashionably late' statement," Khushi quipped as she turned around holding the saree in her arms.
Her eyes widened and she dropped the saree when she noticed that it was not Lavanya in her room, but, Arnav.
With a squeak, she turned away from him, unsuccessfully attempting to cover herself up with her small hands.
Arnav gulped as he gazed at the sight of her almost naked back. The thin strap of the blouse did nothing do cover up the expanse of creamy pale skin that looked as smooth as marble. He followed the deep dent the line of her spine created as it sensuously stood out against the contrasting light and dark materials that covered the most intimate parts of her body.
He scowled at the fact that he would not be the only one who was privileged to this sight tonight - and he was pretty sure that every hot blooded male would be unable to stop glancing her way.
"Lavanya is preoccupied with tasks, so she sent me up to help you," Arnav croaked out.
"What?" Khushi squeaked in shock.
She blushed at the thought of Arnav touching her in intimate places as he helped her.
Arnav also gulped, he hadn't considered the consequences when he'd agreed to do the task he'd set Lavanya to do originally.
"I would have sent up someone else, but they're all busy and the guests have started to arrive, so come on," Arnav said as he pulled her arm to make her turn around.
She refused to meet his gaze, and though it would have normally annoyed him; he understood her coyness. She was a virgin after all.
His breath stopped as he gawped at the bandeaux style silver sleeveless blouse that barely contained her generous proportions of assets. Reigning in all his strength for control, Arnav slipped the red coat over the blouse and draped the pallu over her shoulder; pinning it down at the shoulder to make sure that it didn't slip off.
He leant down to the floor and gathered the gaping material at the front of the premade skirt and carefully made perfect pleats with precision of a pro before he tucked it in. His fingers brushed against her creamy navel - marvelling at the way the taut muscle felt as she sucked in her stomach to skim away from his fingers that left trails of scorching fire on her skin. He fastened the pleats with a pin before he took a step back to admire his work (well, that and her).
She was a vision in red.
He felt a surge of masculine pride as he admitted inwardly that whether she knew it or not, she was his.
"So?" She asked him, giving him a twirl for him to admire his effort (both, the design of the saree and her). He admired the way she composed herself in front of him and hid her uneasiness - replacing it with confidence.
"Perfect, but a few last touches," he added, stepping back to grab the two small red boxes he'd deposited on her bed.
He pulled out a set of earrings that were decorated in a spiral design of very small diamonds as they caught onto a coral pearl drop. Khushi gasped as she stared in awe at the work of art.
"Arnav I couldn't," Khushi protested as he picked one up to place on her ear.
"It's my gift to you for Diwali," he replied, ignoring her protests.
"But you've already given me this saree, the shoes and a makeover; this is just too much," she disagreed as she moved away from his reach.
"Khushi, whether you like it or not, you are Arnav Singh Raizada's girlfriend therefore you need to present yourself in that manner. No girlfriend of mine will be walking out there with fake plastic jewellery." He argued with a glare and quickly Khushi was reminded of her situation.
"Right. I'm your fake girlfriend. This is for the benefit of your family." She concurred stonily as she took the earrings from him and put it on herself, throwing her old earrings on the bed with resentment.
He reached out for her confused why she was suddenly distant and cold; but she moved away, she walked over to the dressing table and slipped on the see-though red designer heels on her dainty feet.
Taking one glance in the mirror; satisfied with how she looked - she ignored him and moved past him but he stopped her; grabbing hold of her upper arm - tugging at it.
She twisted around, fury written over her face. Her eyes breathing fire at him; which was accented by her dark, kohl lined smoky makeup.
"You forgot something," he told her before she had the opportunity to open her mouth and have a go at him.
He was confused. 'Why was she, all of a sudden, so irked with him? Had she been offended by the cheap jewellery comment?'
Her face scrunched up in confusion, before her lips formed in a perfect 'O' shape as he slipped a hand on her waist. She jumped slightly as she felt a cold sliver against her skin.
She looked down to see him clasping a thin white gold chain on her hip as it completed her look.
She looked back at him, her eyes considerably softened, however clouded over with fog as she pondered on how one man could make her feel so many things at the same time.
He made her so mad that she wanted to beat him to a pulp until she felt satisfied, then he'd quickly change and become this amazingly sexy seducer who knew exactly what to say and do to set her body on fire and then there were those rare moments, such as Monday night, when he took care of her showing the sweet side to Arnav that not many people had the opportunity to witness.
It was all too much for her to handle so she stepped away from him and raced to the stairs where she took a moment to compose herself as she gracefully descended into the party, ready to declare herself as Arnav's girlfriend to society (even if it were only for another couple weeks).
A.N.
So, Arnav's on Khushi's bad side and it's Diwali! This chapter will be split up into a few parts ... with flashbacks to what happened during the week that you haven't seen yet ;)
Stay tuned and thank you for your comments & likes!
To see what Khushi wore: Click Here
Edited by -kitti- - 12 years ago
Cricket
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Hindi TV Shows
Kumkum Bhagya
8