Differences Between Us :: Arshi FF [COMPLETED] - Page 9

"Get in," he repeated, the venom in his tone increasing. She jerk as his voice prompted her and she walked stiffly to his car. He banged the door shut causing her to jump. He got in and revved the motor on before he had closed his door.

"Seatbelt," he grunted at her. Khushi's mouth twitched in irritation. His manners were disgruntling her now. She reached for the belt and tugged it but it refused to stretch to the buckle. Mr Raizada apparently saw her distress.

He leaned closer to her and startled, she lifted her gaze to his eyes which were glaring at her. A mistake she should never have made. His heated look, though filled with hatred, unsettled her. Before she could react, lower her eyes or something, he pulled away, and to her great surprise she was carefully strapped in the seat.

***

The ride back home was painfully slow. There had been an accident further down the road and it seemed pretty bad because the road had been blocked to be washed of the blood. Arnav was getting irritated. He had no idea what had gotten into him to rush after this middle-class girl. Now he was stuck here for devil knew how long.

Her voice brought his out of his thoughts. To his utter astonishment, she had lowered the tinted glass of this car and called a policeman who was standing nearby.

"Bhaisaab! Aage kya hua hai?" (Brother! What has happened ahead?)

The man explained that there had been a hit and run. According to the witnesses, a girl of around twenty five had been crossing the road with her six-year old son when a fast car had collided with both of them. Mother and son were dead, and the policeman had even dared to add gruesome details about one of them having their skull crack and their brain spilled on the ground and about the amount of blood on the road.

Arnav looked away in disgust. His heart had skipped a beat though, while the man was explaining the accident. A very dark thought had come to his mind: it could have been her. He turned to her when the man had left to find her frowning eyes closed and her hands folded in front of her. Her lips were moving swiftly, as if she were praying. He half-smiled. Expect her to pray for someone she had never known, forget seen.

Khushi Kumaari Gupta.

She opened her eyes and turned to him on a hitch.

His smile faded. "Hungry?" he asked nonetheless.

***

"Suniye!" she called him when he was walking to the counter of the McDonald she had led him to. "Hum shaakahaari hain!" (Listen! I'm vegetarian!)

"What?"

She wanted to laugh at his face, crumple with confusion. Yet, she kept a straight diplomatic face as she explained to him, "Vegetarian."

A muscle in his jaw flexed as he bit down a bitter reply. It was only when he had his back turned that she broke into silent laughter as she sat at a free table. She became serious again as she noticed him walking back.

***

"Pata nahin log apne bacchon ko aise kaise akela chhod sakte hain," he muttered in between bites. (How can people just leave their children alone like this.)

Khushi choked on her spicy paneer burger, making him look up in shock. Arnav pushed the goblet of Sprite he had bought towards her. She swallowed a few gulps before looking at him through her wide eyes.

"Aapko hindi aati hai?" (You know hindi?)

A teeny, microscopic smile formed on his lips. He had to admit, she looked cute with her eyes wide like that, a riddled look spread on her pretty face, her rich dark hair tumbling from her head down her shoulders and those little crumbles on the right corner of her mouth. He suddenly felt like brushing them off with his thumb.

But Arnav caught himself quickly, and nodded stiffly. He went on eating too, trying to ignore her. Khushi took another bite of her burger and gulped it down.

"Humaare yahaan gaari nahin hai, na? Iss liye." (Because we don't have a car.)

He looked up at her confused. She was smiling at him.

"Iss liye humaare Bauji ko Jiji aur humein aise hi akele chhodna padta hai," she continued. "Agar Bauji ne gaari kharidi hoti to aaj hum teen behenon mein se koyi bhi itni padhi-likhi nahin hoti." (That's why my father has to leave us on our own. If he had bought the car, the three of us wouldn't have studied so much today.)

She gave him a bright but tearful smile and lowered her eyes, back to munching on her food again. Arnav looked away, feeling guilty for having hurt her a second time.

"Tumhein English aati hai," he said, causing her to look up in shock. He could read her eyes clearly. They were screaming, he's talking to me? It made him grin. And her eyes widened. (You know English.)

***

It had not been a question. He had made a statement.

"Magar tumhein Hindi ziaada pasand hai," he went on. Khushi frowned in confusion. Then, she got it. He was answering her previous question. But at that moment, she was too baffled to concentrate fully on that. Forget smiling, the man, who she had always felt hated her from the first day they met, was grinning at her. (But you prefer Hindi.)

They were sitting opposite each other in a McDonalds, eating chips and paneer burgers – except she had ordered a spicy one, and he had preferred not to – and drinking Sprite.

Kuchh gadbad hai, Khushi. (Something is wrong, Khushi.)

***

By the time they were walking back to his car, Arnav Singh Raizada was back to his scowling self. Khushi had tried making a merry comment but he had just glared at her with anger and walked on.

Lagta hai Shaitaan apne asli roop mein vaapas aa chukka hai, she told herself. (Looks like the devil has reverted to his original form.)

He road was clearer now but they had to take another road home. There was complete silence in the car and Khushi was getting bored. He had not even put the radio on.

Laad Governor kahin ke!

When she got down from the car, once they had reached home, Khushi intended to go without saying a single word, but then, her ego stopped her. If he was a mannerless fool, she could not act like one too, right?

She looked at him with one of her brightest smiles. "Shubh raatri!" (Good night!)

***

What?

Arnav stared at her as she turned away and walked merrily to the front door of her house.

Shubh raatri?

What the hell on earth would that mean?

He shook his head dismissively and waited for her to get safe inside. Why? He had no idea, but he wanted her safe. Especially now, after seeing those men on the street chase her and after hearing about that accident.

He did not want to think about the reasons for this protectiveness he felt for her. He did not want to argue with himself right now. He simply leaned back in his seat and watched her house.

***

Khushi got inside and closed the door. For some minutes she leaned against it her eyes closed. Strange. Her heart always seemed to be running ahead of her when Arnav Singh Raizada was there. Was she scared of him? No! Khushi Kumaari Gupta was not scared of anything!

Well maybe she did fear darkness and God. But not him!

She was going upstairs to sleep too, as she knew by this time her whole family should already be asleep. But something stopped her. Instead, she walked to the window and moved the curtains slightly so she could see outside.

His car was still there, and bizarrely she felt his eyes on her for a second before he drove away. Khushi clutched the cloth in her hand tight. Damn her heart! it was definitely going mad for some unknown reason.