Arhi FF:Mirage #2 Next thread link on Pg 151 - Page 83

"Khushi, would you like to move in with me to my house?" Arnav asked glancing at Khushi who was busy going through the monthly expenses of the house.

"Huh?" Khushi asked startled, looking up at him with confused eyes wondering whether she had heard him properly.

"I asked, would you like to stay with me in my house. You know, it's going to be difficult for you to manage the utility bills since you have stopped working too. If you move in with me, you needn't worry about all this." He said, carefully gauging her reaction, wondering if he had taken the right decision. After seeing her get all worried up, he had decided that this was the best thing for them. Atleast, he wouldn't need to scuttle between his house and hers every day.

And he also couldn't deny the fact that he never liked to see her worried.

"I... I don't know." She replied unsure of what else to say. This question had completely caught her off guard. Two days had passed since her confession, but he had seemed to go deeper into his former sulking mode. And now, here he was, asking her to shift to his house.

She had no qualms in living in his house. Infact, she was already sharing her bed with him and had regarded him as an intimate part of her life. Arnav was no more a stranger in her life. He was someone whom she could entrust her life with. But she hadn't expected the question to be popped up before her so soon.

"If you move in, you needn't struggle with all the household chores. My servant Om Prakash takes care of everything." He paused, letting out a sigh before he continued. "You can stay in a separate room if you want to. Infact, I'll see to it that you feel like it's your own home."

Khushi pondered over it. It was not a bad idea and what he was saying was quite true. It would indeed be difficult to single-handedly manage the expenses of the house.

"You can return back here whenever you feel like." He added seeing a slight hesitation in her eyes. "I know you are hesitating, to leave behind the house where you have nearly spent half of your life. But Khushi, even you know what is in your best interest."

"Do you want me to?" she asked straight forwardly wanting to confirm that he wasn't just doing all this because he felt she was his responsibility.

"Yes. And we would be moving in today afternoon." He said, hoping to leave the house as soon as possible. If he stayed here, there was always a danger of Lavanya visiting Khushi and ruining everything for them.

"Ok." Khushi replied back hesitantly, doubting whether she had taken the right decision.

o0o

Arnav opened the car door, stopping it right in front of his house, while he stepped out to open the compound gate to drive the car inside. Silently sitting beside the driver's seat, Khushi stared ahead at the house where she was now going to be staying indefinitely. Her new home as Arnav had promised her. She saw Arnav returning back to the car and resuming his place while he drove the car in and parked it near the entrance of the house.

"Khushi," he called out her name placing his hand on her lap. She immediately unfastened the seat belt and stepped out of the car, taking in the plush green serene neighbourhood. She had always dreamt of living in a neighbourhood like Indira Nagar. It was no less than a gated community. The people living here were quite different when compared to Laxmi Nagar. The peaceful environment contrasting with her own noisy and chirpy one. It was a place where one didn't see their neighbours except at the annual community meetings. The heavy wooden doors looked like they housed dark secrets behind them. Although the atmosphere was eerie, it was strangely welcoming.

But these were the very things that Khushi had sometimes wished for. A life, where she could live without the interference of nosy neighbours or gossipmongers. And even though, she had tried to isolate herself from all this, she didn't fail to notice how the gossip had started taking its first forms about Arnav and her, especially since she was living all alone without a family after Buaji's death. Hence, somewhere deep down, she couldn't deny that this change was kind of a relief for her from all of this.

Arnav opened the rear door and retrieved her luggage. He had seen to it that she had brought everything that was essential for her comfortable stay in his house. No, their house, he corrected himself. He observed her standing still, looking completely lost and desolated. Holding the bag in one hand, he walked up to her and slipped his hand onto hers, firmly entwining their fingers and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"Come." He said leading her to the door. Turning the door knob, he realised that it was locked. Instantly, he was reminded about Aman who had earlier informed him that he would be away from the house due to an important deal with the suppliers for a couple of days.

So, taking out the spare key from his pocket, he unlocked the door and swung the door in. "Welcome to your new home." He said smilingly at her, while Khushi's eyes roamed about the room. The last time she had been here, too many things had happened. Secrets had been revealed. She had seen an entirely new side of Arnav and that had actually helped her to understand him. She had seen the true Arnav behind that stern indifferent face.

Now stepping into the same house, she wondered what the future stored for her.

"There are some rules of this house." he announced, leading her to the couch.

"Don't worry." He assured seeing the sudden worry that flitted across Khushi's face. It was this very innocence that never ceased to amaze him.

"You are free to live here as you wish. No one is going to question you about what you do or where you go. But Khushi, part of this rule doesn't apply to you. I want you to inform me whenever you step out of the house, okay? You can sleep and wake up whenever you want to. You are even allowed to eat ice cream in the middle of the night. No one is going to stop you." And then for a second, he felt like he saw Khushi smile, only for her to return back to her original self the next second. But that fraction of a second was enough to bring infinite happiness in Arnav's heart.

"For now, I'll keep your luggage in that room. It has an empty wardrobe. So you can use it to store your things. And yes, three of us will be staying in this house. The third one being Aman, my friend. He isn't at home currently but will return back soon. Visitors are quite rare. So you don't have to worry about them. Om Prakash, the servant arrives at 9 in the morning and leaves at 4 in the evening. So if you have anything to be done, just tell him in the morning. He will do it. So, that's it. We are done with the rules. Any questions?" he asked, walking towards her room.

"No." she barely whispered before following him into her new room.

Arnav glanced sideways at Khushi's face. Honestly, he had wanted her to live in his room, share his bed and everything else with her. But somehow, he wasn't sure about how she would react to this. He knew how important this was for her. She was a girl who had her own morals and ideals. She might have been quite modern, but he didn't want to force her to do anything against her wish. He wanted to give her freedom in this relationship. And so he provided her with this option of living in a separate room.

Khushi on the other hand didn't know what to make of this situation. His strange behaviour with her was worrying her. At times, he seemed so close while at others, he felt like a complete stranger. She knew this had all happened because of her confession and now, she regretted what seemed to be her biggest blunder.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by his mobile phone ringing and she saw him go outside the room. Finding herself all alone, she closed the room door behind her and went and sat on the bed. Pulling her bag closer, she opened it, only to find that familiar yellow stuffed toy staring at her, that she had managed to pack into her bag at the very last minute, before locking her house.

Pikachu.

It was the same toy that he had won for her. That day at the amusement park, had been the beginning of their relationship. That was the first time he had physically displayed his attraction towards her.

And now, at this moment, she wasn't even sure whether he loved her.

What if he had just been using her all this while?

How could you think like that Khushi? Her own mind screamed back at her, scandalised at her thoughts.

Arnav was not like other men. He was different. And after all the things they had been through, how could she suspect his motives?

But then, she couldn't decipher, why he seemed so distant in spite of being so close. And now, Khushi felt a tear roll down her eyes, as she hugged the yellow stuffed toy closer to her heart.

o0o

"Arnav, I need to talk to you for a minute." Khushi announced stepping into Arnav's room, observing him busy arranging his wardrobe.

"You need something?" he asked, turning around to glance at her face, before he turned back and resumed whatever he had been doing.

"No. I don't need anything. What we need to do is have a talk." She declared stepping towards him.

"About what?" he asked casually. But the truth was he knew exactly where this was all leading to. By now, he had been so accustomed to her, he could instantly identify her mood by her tone and now, her tone wasn't exactly exciting him.

"About you and whatever it is that is going on in your mind."

Arnav stood still for a whole minute, before he turned around and walked out of the room into the kitchen.

"Arnav, stop trying to avoid this conversation. You didn't answer my question that night too. And now, your silence is tormenting me." Khushi exclaimed out, before raising her voice. "What happened all of a sudden? Why don't you share your problems with me? Am I not worthy of it? Tell me Arnav. Please clear this once and for all." She shouted at the top of her voice, completely frustrated at the man who was standing calmly in front of her.

"If not, I will leave your house right away. If you are regretting making all those promises to me, then fine. I will free you from all this. Is this why you are distancing yourself from me? Is this your way of giving subtle hints to me that you have lost your interest in me and that you want me to get out of your life? Then why did you bring me here to your house? You could have simply left me to myself. I would have somehow survived. But I cannot bear to survive with this silence of yours." She blared out without a pause, until tears started to rapidly stream down her eyes.

"Are you done?" he questioned back quietly, taking a step closer to her. "Or is there more nonsense to follow?"

When she remained silent, he continued.

"What is wrong with you? Why are you reacting like this? What have I done? What makes you think I don't want you? I don't know what has entered your mind, but all I can say is that you have become delusional. You need to rest and spend some time all by yourself. Now go to your room and come back to me when you have finally returned back to your normal self." Arnav replied calmly and walked towards the stairs that led to his private gym, leaving a completely bewildered Khushi behind him.

"Arnav!" she called out behind him. But he was in no mood to listen to all this.

o0o

Khushi stared at the empty expanse of the dark ceiling of her new room. Unlike her previous room, there was nothing to lull her to sleep. Those neon fluorescent stars that she had decorated her ceiling with had somehow made her feel secure and comfortable all through these years. And now with them missing, she realised their value in her life.

Secondly, this whole atmosphere was completely new to her. A new room, a new house, a new neighbourhood. And that feeling of a new surrounding wasn't allowing her to snooze.

And on top of that, Khushi had officially had her first fight with Arnav. She couldn't exactly define it as a fight coz it had only been her blaring at Arnav on top of her voice. Now thinking about it, she felt that she had created an absolutely unnecessary scene with him. This was her first day in his house and she had behaved irrationally with him. After her outburst, she hadn't even spoken a word to him.

She couldn't understand why his silence was irking her to this extent.

Arnav had always been like this, hadn't he? It had always been her who had coerced him into opening up and sharing his secrets with her.

And now, she felt guilty at her outburst. The past few days had driven her insane. Maybe this was a result of all that pent up emotions.

Frustrated with herself, she sat upright on the bed. Grabbing her mobile phone, she saw that is was 2:47 am. She couldn't believe she had nearly spent the last five hours tossing and turning around the bed. And on top of that, the temperature had once again touched sub zero, making her feel extremely cold. Her woollen sweater wasn't really helpful in shielding out the cold and keeping her warm.

Not knowing what else to do, she stood up and walked towards the living room. It was pitch dark all around her. Carefully sliding away the curtains of the windows, she rubbed away the mist formed on the glass with her bare hands and tried to peek outside. It was deathly quiet and lifeless except for the street lights that stood solitarily every few metres away.

Turning away from the window, she walked towards the couch and plopped down on it. Laying her head back on the soft cushion, she waited for sleep to overtake her. But it didn't. Instead, something else caught her attention.

Her ears instantly perked up, alerted by a faint low buzzing noise. She turned her head towards the direction of the noise and surprisingly, it seemed to originate from Arnav's room. Curiously, she tiptoed to his room stealthily and stopping outside his room, she realised he was snoring.

Instantly, her face was lit up with a huge smile, followed by guilt at making him go through this. He had done so much for her and here, she had repaid his generosity with ungratefulness and accusations.

Through the darkness, she carefully made her way towards him, avoiding banging herself with any inanimate objects of his room. She didn't know what made her to do this, but she instantly slid beside him inside his duvet, snuggling closer to him.

She didn't care about anything else in the world. But she needed him beside her. Right at that moment.

And then, she didn't remember anything else as deep slumber that had been denied to her for the past five hours, overtook her.

o0o

"How could you do this to me Arnav? I trusted myself to you. I gave you everything of mine and yet, you hid this." A familiar pair of eyes stared at him with pangs of pain, anger, betrayal and hurt, as tears streamed down them continuously.

He felt his heart shatter completely into a million pieces as she broke down in front of him.

"I hate you Arnav! You don't deserve to be loved by anyone. Maybe that's why your mother left you all alone. Because you simply don't deserve to be loved by anyone. You deserve to die all alone in this world."

Nooo!

Arnav woke up with a startle, taking a whole minute to register his surroundings. He let out a sigh of relief, discovering that he was in his own room. That nightmare had been so disturbing that he could still feel a faint pain in his chest. He glanced at the clock on the wall ahead of him. It showed 7:00 am.

He realised that he had slept an hour longer than he usually did. Not wanting to waste his time anymore on the bed, he tried to wake up. But as he tried, he felt something heavy prevent him from doing so. Alarmed, he glided his hand to his chest and realised that an arm had glided under his shirt and secured itself over his bare torso, restricting his movements completely.

Instantly realising who that familiar arm belonged to, he turned to his side to discover Khushi bundled up beside him, resting her head over his shoulder and peacefully sleeping, lost in her own dreamland.

"What the!" he muttered absolutely speechless, wondering how had she ended up beside him when he had clearly remembered her going to sleep in the room that he had allocated to her.

But the sight of her cuddled up against him simply melted his heart.

Involuntarily, he let his fingers move away the strands of hair that was blocking her face from his view, tucking it behind her ear. She looked stunning and beautiful like this. At her most crude form.

And then, he felt guilty for hiding so many things from her. He knew her outburst was justified. Anyone in her place would have been frustrated at him. But he was helpless.

At that moment, for the first time in his life, he was ready to accept that he was coward. Indeed he was a coward, who feared to reveal his real face to the woman he loved and who loved him more than anything else in the whole world. For he was scared that he would lose her if she knew his truth.

Only he knew the inner conflict that was ravaging inside his mind.

So Khushi had finally made her way back to him, he thought to himself, letting a faint smile curve itself on his lips.

"Khushi?" he whispered close to her ears, letting his lips brush past it. "Wake up." He insisted, restless to speak to her. After remaining silent for the entire of last evening, he was dying to talk to her.

"I'm sleepy." He heard her complain out in her sleep, causing him to let out a chuckle. Khushi was just like a kid at these times. And he loved taking every bit of care of that kid.

Deciding to pull her leg, he continued to whisper huskily into her ears. "I never knew you were so eager to get onto my bed. Looks like someone is growing mischievous these days huh?" Shamelessly, he decided to let his hands glide beneath her kameez, exploring her bare smooth back.

"What?" she screamed out, feeling a tickling sensation all over her back. The cold temperature of the morning wasn't really helping her cause either. "Stop it Arnav." She murmured finally opening her eyes to look at him, staring at her with a cocked up eyebrow and a mischievous smile.

"So you have decided to forgive me? I thought I would have to bear you fighting with me for the rest of my life." He replied faking a hue of annoyance in his eyes.

Khushi didn't know what happened to her. But she felt her eyes moisten up instantly. "I'm sorry Arnav. I shouldn't have said all that. I don't know what happened to me." She managed to say it out aloud, particularly choking on the last bit.

"Khushi... It happens. It's not your fault. Now stop worrying about it." He said instantly, feeling guilty all again. "Sshhh... We will try not to not let this happen again, okay?" he whispered before startling her completely by capturing her luscious inviting lips with his own.

He could hear her moaning out in protest, trying to push him away. But he wasn't going to back away. This was the only form of love he could show to her. A minute later, he felt her submitting herself unto him, finally relaxing herself and reciprocating it back. He could feel her wildly rubbing her cold soft palms over his stiff toughened warm chest muscles, letting him know what she felt about him.

Khushi finally understood that Arnav was never the one who vocalised his inner feelings. And she decided that she wouldn't deprive him of this. If this was his way of showing his love to her, then so be it, she thought to herself.

"See, I was serious when I said you better get adjusted to this morning routine." He said breaking apart, seeing her completely flustered and reddened, high on emotions. He sat upright on the bed facing her.

Arnav hadn't jolted up because he was done with her. Rather, after a long time, he had finally felt that same physical feeling resurface within him, feeling her body so close to his own, feeling her submit to his actions. After a devastating experience on the night when Khushi had worn the red saree, he had tried to distance himself away from this aspect, convincing himself that she wasn't ready for this. Even during his trip in Mumbai, he had fought really hard to control his physical attraction to her. And then for the few days after Buaji's death, the gloomy atmosphere had completely put that ravaging beast inside him to sleep.

Now that everything was getting cleared up and with Khushi returning back to her normal self, he found that hungry predator inside him slowly awakening up, tempting him to taste the forbidden fruit.

No, he couldn't do this to her. Even though Khushi was quite open to him, he couldn't take an advantage of her unless she herself consented to it. He could never deny that he had countless times in his mind imagined the feeling of her bare soft body under his own, moaning out his name in pleasure as he took to her to heights she never imagined possible to be conquered.

As much as that idea tempted him, he firmly decided he would resist it, until the vestiges of his control snapped up.

Arnav silently got up from the bed and walked out of the room, leaving behind a completely blushing Khushi behind on the bed, oblivious to all that was going on in his mind.

Somehow Arnav felt a strange feeling that the day was not far away when he would finally give in to his wants. But for now, he was ready to substitute it with a cold shower on a cold winter morning.

CHAPTER 35