ArShi FF: Something About You Thread#1 *COMPLETED* - Page 51

Khushi stopped & breathed finally, when she was convinced that where she was, was the farthest spot on the party from where Arnav was. She looked up at the star-lit sky & tried to shake off the buzzing around her ears. But as she closed her eyes to stop them from seeing red, she instantly saw Arnav & his lips forming those words, urging her to find a hefty-wallet as a husband to save her home. & Khushi immediately lowered her head & opened her eyes. It was one thing to be antagonistic, & it was a completely different thing to be downright hateful. & as far as she was concerned, Arnav Singh Raizada just wasn't the childhood nemesis she secretly crushed on anymore. He was the plague she had to avoid. At all times. At any cost.

Just as she had that epiphany, Khushi felt a hand over he shoulder & a familiar voice asked, "Why is my saali, my aadhi-gharwali in such a pensive mood?" She turned around abruptly to see Karan standing there, looking slightly inebriated, but definitely very happy. Khushi jerked herself, as if to shake off the unpleasantness of what happened before, & flashed a ready smile at him, "Karan Bhaiya? You..? Wh-? Were you looking for me?" Khushi started to compose herself bit by bit as she looked searchingly at her brother-in-law to-be, whom she still called Bhaiya, as he was the big brother of Sid, a boy with whom Khushi had studied since the 3rd standard, & she had, since then, called him Bhaiya.

Karan shook his head in a negative reply, & then continued shaking it to indicate that he was more than a little drunk. Then he said smiling at Khushi, "I just didn't like not seeing you for such a long time." Khushi frowned at him, was this the Tequila talking? Then she shrugged as she decided she was too weary to deal with other people's problems tonight & Payal would have to deal with Karan now. Thinking that, she started to go off to look for Payal, when Karan caught her by her wrist, & turned her around by pulling at her wrist, "Don't turn away, Khushi. I am not as drunk as you might think I am." As Khushi looked up at his eyes surprised, she saw they were glittering with some emotion that she couldn't quite identify. Khushi shrugged & gently extricated her wrist, & said warily, "Bhaiya, I think I'll call it a night. I can feel a headache coming. Would you tell Jiji & Bhaiya that I had gone back to the guesthouse?" But this time, Karan deterred her by outstretching his arm in front of her as he said sternly, "No way, Khushi. What would they tell me, if they knew I had let you wander off into this vast area at this time with such a party going on with so many strangers? No, I'll come with you & escort you to the guesthouse. Come along." With that he finished the wine in the glass he was holding, & just threw the glass away over onto the grass & started walking towards the direction of the guesthouse, not even waiting to see if Khushi followed or not.

The guesthouse was quite away from the clearing on which the party deck had been built up, so as not to disturb Shashi & Garima resting there. As Khushi followed Karan, she saw he had taken the route which was behind the bar on the party deck, so that, except the street lights providing a somewhat illumination to just barely walk on some of the uneven patches of the ground & the ground flashlights in the decorated gardens, the whole surrounding was pretty shadowy. Khushi was walking with brusque strides, pretty much lost in her own unwanted thoughts, when she collided with someone. She halted with a start, & instantly fell back a few steps as she looked up, & her brows creased with confusion as she saw the focused, incomprehensible gaze of Karan's eyes. Involuntarily, she took a couple more steps back & put a bit more distance between them, as she asked in an anxious voice, "What's wrong, Bhaiya? Why are you-" & she gave out a yelp as Karan's arm suddenly shot out & grabbed her upper arm in a carelessly brutal grip.

"Why?? Why do you have to call me Bhaiya just because you & Sid studied in the same class when you were kindergarteners?? Not fair, baby!" Karan shook his head vehemently, as if telling a child she has done some grave mistake. But Khushi's gut had already started ringing bells the size of the bells on the original Notre dame tower. She backed up farther, with her arms held out to stop anyone from coming in arm's length of her & said pleadingly, "Ok, I won't. Um.. Why don't' you just go back to the party? The guest house is not too far. I can go by myself. You don't have to-" But she halted with a start as Karan again towered over her by coming forward in not-so-steady steps, "But I have to, baby! Don't you see?? I am almost getting married off to your sister! & for what?" he asked incredulously.

& Khushi looked at him even more incredulously as if he had gone mad. Then she shook her head to clear the haze of disbelief that was settling over it & tried to make at least an attempt to turn this horrible nightmare into a drunken mistake by saying, "Because you guys came to our house appealing for her hand in marriage? & because she agreed? & maybe, because now, you guys are sufficiently fond of each other?" & Khushi realized, although she had wanted to sound hopeful & optimistic while saying all that, all she sounded was panicked & desperate. & her desperation seemed to settle itself onto Karan, because suddenly he screamed, "Why would I be fond of her, when I want you! I always wanted you, Khushi." & he punctuated the claim with a sudden sick grin as he continued, "I have always wanted you, baby! Since you used to come to the club, at the evenings of those Winters, to play badminton with Sid & your other friends? You must have been about the same age as Sid? 15?" Then he suddenly lunged forward & held both her shoulders strongly, effectively prisoning her, & drawled, "Trust me. I told Mom, I wanted you." He was now shaking his head like a bad-mannered kid, as he said, "I just mentioned your name, & she went all snobbish! How you weren't deserving of becoming our family's daughter-in-law. I promise you, baby, I told her, I didn't give a crap about that. Look how sexy you are!" Saying that he suddenly gave a giggling laughter that was so eerie to be coming out of a drunk male, that Khushi instantly pushed at his chest & freed herself from his clutch & put some distance between them.

But Karan wasn't as drunk as she had apparently thought he was. His right hand immediately shot out & caught her wrist, "Don't worry. I didn't tell Mom I found you hot! I told her you were pretty." Then he almost pouted as he said in a harsh tone, "But then Mom said, so is Payal! & she's the marriageable one. If you want a Gupta sister, let's get Payal for you!" Then he searched Khushi's disgusted face as if he was disturbed by Khushi's struggling motions to free her hand & growled, "Don't be this way Khushi. I didn't forget you baby! The minute I saw you, I knew Payal would always be sloppy seconds for me. After you!" Khushi went still from shock as she heard the dreaded words come out of his mouth, but only for a fraction of a second. The next moment she was done caring about the scumbag, who was surely not even worth the toenail of her Jiji's pinky finger. She gave a violent shake of her wrist that was in Karan's grip, but Karan held on with an iron grip, probably using all the force of his 6'2" well-built form.

"Don't be like this baby. Don't fight it!" Karan coaxed her, & he looked surprised at Khushi's behavior, as if Khushi had promised him full cooperation earlier, & this was just a scheduled rendezvous, not an unexpected assault . "Wait, are you angry that I am marrying Payal & not you? You don't have to be jealous, baby! I will always love you more! You know why? Coz look at you! Aren't you a sexy little-" Khushi couldn't contain herself anymore as she told herself, 'Screw my Jiji's fianc, Screw classmate's big brother' & summoning all her strength, she planted a hard smack across his left cheek. Then as Karan still didn't let go off her hand, but twisted it painfully, Khushi gulped down the yelp of pain that rose to her lips & spit out angrily, "I am angry that you even tried to engage my Jiji in your pathetic life! Let go of my hand this instance or I swear I'll scream the whole of Chankyapuri down here if I  have to!" She saw Karan's face abruptly twist with anger. Then he said through gritted teeth, "You wouldn't dare, you little-" & Khushi knew just  seeing his face, she couldn't commit the same mistake that Hindi film heroines made in such circumstances. She couldn't just give an empty threat, make the adversary angrier & then behave like a damsel in distress.

Taking a deep breath & chanting Devi Maiyya's name with it, Khushi opened her mouth & gave a loud shriek in her shrillest voice. "Bhaiyaaa!! Jiiijiii!! HELPPP!!!" & then as she saw Karan advance towards her body with angry strides, she affirmed her legs & bent her right knee upwards to meet with his crotch in full force. But, unfortunately, because of the bunched skirt of her dress, the impact of her action was buffered & only served in getting Karan angrier. Karan lunged at her with an angry growl & grabbed both her shoulders in a painfully tight grip, "Why are you making it out like I am trying to molest you, huh Khushi?? Just relax & I'll show you what having a good time-" & as Khushi felt her anger rising to higher degrees with every syllable he uttered, when she heard him trying to coax her into having a good time, she just lost it & slapped him again hard across the face & shoved him harder when he was still recovering from her slap to push him off of her. Although she did manage to throw him off, but Karan was gripping onto her shoulder so roughly to begin with, as he still tried to hold onto her when she pushed him off, she felt his nails scratching skins off in patches of her amrs in long lines of bloody scars.

But what generated the first burst of panic in Khushi was the sudden maniac gleam that seeped in Karan's eyes as he ran his hand over his cheek where Khushi had slapped him, & suddenly without even coming towards her, without even moving much, he shot out with a hand & shoved her hard with a push against  her collarbone. Khushi felt the breath knock out of her as she stumbled more than a couple feet backwards in an attempt to break her impending fall, but in the end she felt herself loosing balance with a dready feeling in the pit of her stomach, & just before she fell, she felt the thin strap of the fragile stilletoe on her right foot give way & the shoe was flung off of her foot as she fell flat on her butt. As she sat there trying to catch her breath & calm her panicked senses down enough so that she could help herself get out of this hellish situation, she saw Karan striding forwards & kicked her shoe off too somewhere when it came in his way. Khushi saw the unnecessary brutality involved in his kick & she immidiately took a long breath, filling her lungs with more than sufficient oxygen & then she let them out in an other-wordly loud scream, "HELLLPPP!"

Arnav had heard the first scream of a panicked voice calling for her  brother coming from behind the screens put behind the bar as he had still been sitting at the bar, brooding. He had been on his feet the second he had heard the voice scream the next faint word, which sounded suspiciously like 'Jiji', & he had looked around for a pale figure in a bright red dress, resembling a damn cute princess. A quick scan of the hundred odd faces had told him, the face that his eyes instantly got stuck on in a crowd now-a-days was not in this crowd, & he had run from the bar side to the direction from where the screams had come. He didn't have to go long before he saw Khushi, quite far  from where he was, the bright color of her dress working like a beacon for him. As he broke into a run to reach her, he saw her trying to knee her attacker in the place where it would hurt him the most & Arnav was surprised to feel a surge of pride inside him at her bravery. But then he saw the beast, whoever the damn he was, say something to Khushi & Khushi slapped him hard across the face the next instant. But Arnav halted in his tracks when he saw Khushi shove the bas***d, who had his back to Arnav shove away from herself with surprising strength & determination, but the sleazy scumbag scratched his nails down her arms. Then to Arnav's unbound fury he saw the attacer shoved Khushi down on the ground & approached her with rough intent, & with a low growl Arnav sped on & reached the beast within only 4 seconds, & as he heard Khushi's blood-curdling scream, as she hadn't yet noticed him, he yanked the man by the collar of his dinner jacket & turned him to face towards himself.

Arnav's raised punch froze in the air as he looked at Karan's face in horror. Bloody f**kin unbelievable! He looked from Karan to Khushi still sprawled on the ground & then back at Karan, his brain refusing to tell him what to make of all of this. He let go of Karan's collar & looked at him with narrowed eyes. Then he walked past him, ignoring Karan's starting attempt to say something & bend his body fully to firmly take Khushi's hand in his & then, observing the angry, red marks all over her arms, he pulled her up slowly. As Khushi gingerly stood on her feet, a task made all the more difficult by the fact that she was now wearing a stilletto only on her left foot, Arnav chanced a look at her face. 

Her face looked a bit haggered. Her eyes were blood-shot, but they were dry. Completely dry. & she looked almost weary to be in this situation. She neither looked aware enough about the scars on her arms to feel the hurt from them, nor did she looked worried enough about the possible scandals that this situation could warrant to feel panicked about them. She just looked distinctly annoyed.

& Arnav didn't know it, but at that moment he got Khushi's emotions accurately. She was annoyed. Annoyed at being the one caught in this messy situation, annoyed after thinking about her Jiji's possible heartbreak after knowing about this, & most of all, annoyed, that after every belittling thing he had said to her, Arnav Singh Raizada had again caught her in a compromising & less than dignified position. & he was sure to use it as ammunition in future battles to demean her farther, if his appettite hadn't been satisfied enough tonight.

Suddenly Arnav heard Karan speak, "Hey, Arnav. Umm.. We were just fooling around-" Arnav spun around & fisting his right hand, punched Karan squarely under his solar plexus. He thought he heard a cracking sound as Karan staggard backwards clutching his jaw, shaking violently. Then as he looked up, removing his hand from his jaw, Arnav saw blood oozing out from his mouth & despite that Karan started to open his mouth angrily, when Arnav stepped toward him threateningly, effectively shutting up any stuttering Karan might've started, & said in a clipped, thuderous voice, "If you're not gone from my property within the next 15minutes, I'll actually kill you, right here, right now. First, I'll punch your pathectic face unrecognizable & then, I'll smash your head over those sculptures. Then my servants will bury your sorry existence right there, sorrounded by the Bamboo trees beside the Lily pond." Arnav actually raised his hand & with his index finger directed the exact location he had picked out as the burial ground. Karan looked over at where he indicated once & he didn't need to be told twice. He turned in the direction of the party deck & ran towards it without looking back even once.