***************************
There were some things that remained unchanged throughout the history of time, unaltered across the borders of countries, & peculiarly similar between the cultures, whether it's a conservative or a revolutionary society. & one such thing was, the very first kiss of a girl. It doesn't matter, if she lived in a progressive society where she came into constant contact with members of the opposite sex in each area of her life, or if she had lived in a traditional society, where she only came into contact with those male, who were members of her family, or close friends in the society. It didn't matter whether she was in a relationship with the guy or not. It didn't matter whether she had ever had any relationship or not. That first touch, that first brush on her hitherto untouched lips would always feel alien, almost unnatural, until she felt the caress that was conveyed through the kiss. & if the girl so much as liked the guy even a little bit before this first encounter, she would remember this for the rest of her life as 'really something'.
& that's what it was for Khushi. She just stood there, too nervous to move, as she felt that first brush of Arnav's lips on her own. For the fraction of a second, she was just overwhelmed by how his presence seemed to engulf her being. It was like he blocked out the whole world beyond himself for her. & then she felt his lips moving over her closed ones, & she felt the unmistakable loving caress in his touch. Khushi felt her whole body shiver uncontrollably as she fleetingly thought, 'does he find me lovable?.. adorable?.. maybe just for this one moment.. but does he?' Arnav felt the tremor going through her body & he tilted her head upwards by cupping her jaw more firmly & his free arm wrapped itself around her waist to pull her inexorably closer into his body. As Khushi felt the warmth of his body engulfing her, she couldn't help but acknowledge how secured she felt inside his arm. Arnav Singh Raizada's arm. & even if she got over the fact of how both of them had spent half the time they have been in each other's company making life difficult for the other, it was a well established fact that, security was the last thing Arnav Singh Raizada offered to girls he usually kissed.
& as Khushi's mind brought up the thought of Arnav's lifestyle & his ideologies about marriage to the fore, she remembered her own beliefs too. Why she was all of 21 & still hadn't let a guy kiss her. Because, unlike Arnav, she was normal. She believed she was gonna get a normal shot at a happy married life & a family of her own & that's why she hadn't bothered with college romances & insincere promises. She believed one day Bauji would bestow her hand to a man just like himself & then they would love & respect each other like Amma-Bauji loved & respected each other. So she didn't bother breaking her loyalty to that unknown person yet to come in her life by fooling around with temporary suitors. & now she was doing something exactly like that. She was kissing a man whose kissing her could never be a permanent thing & it certainly wasn't good news for her. Suddenly all the thoughts got too much for her & she felt her head reeling a bit with all the confusing ideas. Khushi just dropped her head down, effectively breaking off from the kiss & looked down, while Arnav's right hand was still cupping her jaw.
& as Khushi looked down at the ground, trying to catch her breath, she felt Arnav's hand cup her jaw more firmly & tilt her chin upwards, making her look into his eyes. & that was a monumental mistake. Because as soon as she looked as those unusually light chocolate, almost like melting caramel, eyes & read the concerned question in those penetrating gaze, with the almost discernible hint of fear that he still might have ruined her first kiss for her, Khushi let go of all of her troubling thoughts. She raised her hands, Arnav's coat falling away to ground unnoticed, as she thought to herself, well, it has already happened. Your only serious crush ever, is always gonna be the one to have kissed you first. Now, you can just leave it unfinished, because you're a chicken. Or you can finish it in such a way that it'll last you a lifetime. & as she felt Arnav's hand falling away seeing the serious & pinched expressions play on her face, she suddenly grabbed it, & kept it against her cheek by pressing her own hand over it & said in a rush, "I need more." When she saw Arnav looking at her with truly puzzled eyes, confused by her push-n-pull stunt, she cupped his jaw with both her hands & leaning in very close to him, whispered, "I wasn't done yet. In fact, I was still learning. I didn't even start!" With that she stood on her tip-toe & pressed her lips to his.
Arnav felt her pressing small, nibbling kisses over his now pressed lips, but he had already seen her troubled eyes. & for the first 3 seconds it was his honest intention to just pull back & ask her what the hell was it that was troubling her now. But, as he felt her soft, silky, light fingers grazing the side of his neck, while her other hand slowly entwined through the hairs of his nape, he suddenly grabbed her upper arms tightly & just when Khushi thought he was gonna push her away, he jerked her up & started kissing her back so vigorously that all Khushi could actually do was just let him take over. Khushi didn't even know how long they went on like that, all she did remember later was that, she clung to him like she was a drowning victim clutching at a floating log, kissing him back whenever she could manage to while he snuggled her body tightly to his own & kissed her inexperienced, but pliant mouth good & thorough. & when Khushi felt him pulling back, she actually, to her sheer embarrassment later, leaned towards him to try & maintain their lips fused still, lingering over his lower lips & only letting go when she felt him give out a throaty laugh.
As Khushi pulled back looking at him through narrowed eyes, suspecting that he was laughing at her over-eagerness & juvenile kisses, Arnav cupped her cheeks again & brushed her lower lip gently with his thumb. Then with his eyes twinkling & narrowed to slits, he growled in low voice, "Wow! You sure are a quick learner." & as Khushi blushed profusely at that & looked away, she heard him say, "But I believe this is for you." Khushi turned around to face him to see what he was talking about & saw that he was holding his I-Phone up for her to see, & it flashed, 'Rohan calling...' As Khushi saw that, she promptly remembered about her family, last night, this morning & everything else with it. & although she didn't regret kissing Arnav, she regretted forgetting everyone & everything else while doing it. Right now she should have been with Payal, not kissing Arnav & letting him kiss her into a coma! Khushi tore herself away from him averting her eyes & turning on her heels promptly ran away from him.
When Arnav reached where she was by the car park, where the Gupta's were just about to get in their car to set off for their home, he saw she was touching Nani's feet & then she went & quietly stood by the open back door of their car, waiting for the others to get in. While Garima & Payal expressed their gratitude to Nani, Mami & Anjali for their hospitality & support through everything that happened, Shashi & Rohan came to Arnav. Shashi just patted his head a couple of times with mumbled blessing of prosperity & a long life for him through a constricted voice while Rohan engulfed him in a bear hug, saying nothing. Arnav looked over at where Khushi stood over Rohan's shoulder & she still didn't look at him. Rather she was looking at the coat she had dropped earlier, now held at Arnav's hand. After Rohan left Arnav, all of them promptly got inside the car & Arnav stepped ahead & held the backdoor of the side of the car Khushi sat in. Instead of closing the door immediately, he held onto it & to his slight annoyance, first Khushi bent her head down, a clear indication that she was aware of him towering over her & then she turned & started snuggling Payal with the Shawl that was casually draped over her. Then when she went on to lean farther to the other side of the car to help Garima shut the door on her side, much to Garima's surprised vexation, Arnav stepped back & slammed the door shut with a loud bang & then ignoring the alarmed look of everyone present there, he strode inside the main door, not even looking back once.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Arnav didn't understand what happened after he showed Khushi Rohan's call, but he was sure something was up with her, because now that 4 days have passed after that day, when they had all left the Farmhouse, he was positive that Khushi Kumari Gupta was f**kin' avoiding him. Within these 4 days he had seen Rohan come by his house every day to meet Anjali, & on each of those occasions, Arnav had insisted on walking him off to Nikunja on the pretext of talking to him about this or that or Payal or Anjali, no matter how late it was in the night. & all of the times, except last night, he had gone in, either at Rohan, or Payal, or Garima's insistence. He had stayed till Garima or Payal served him ginger tea or something else which he couldn't remember as he was paying zero attention to refreshments, & he had chatted with Shashi, Rohan, Payal & even Garima. But she never came, even once, to meet him in those visits. & every time he was there, just as soon as he stepped over the threshold, he could feel her presence like it was a heavy fog in the air, clouding his head & surrounding him entirely, until all he could think of was to just get up those blasted stairs, barge in on her room without giving her a chance to hide anymore from him & just ask her whether she was alright or not. & it's when these urges became uncontrollable, that he would get up & leave from there abruptly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What Arnav didn't know was that a pair of eyes always followed him on his way out the main door to the small courtyard, all the way up to the turn which would lead him to Shantivan. She would lean against her door, her head stuck out toward the landing each night to hear his voice, just the sound of it. Too bad he would say next to nothing. & then when he would get up to leave abruptly, Khushi would instantly stand straight & would break into a sprint for the roof top just over her head. All the bedrooms at Nikunja, be it at the ground floor or the 1st floor, were housed at the back of the villa, & so the only way Khushi could see the main road, which also led to Shantivan, was by going up on the roof that spread over the whole 1st floor & leaning against the boundary wall. She would always be careful though so that even if Arnav turned around for one last look at Nikunja, he wouldn't be able to spot her there. & then she would go down to her room, leave her studies & projects untouched for that night, & she would crawl under the blanket to relive the feeling of his lips against hers & finally will go off to a shallow, disturbed sleep. But what troubled her most was the dampness of her pillow & the dried up tears clinging to her lashes that were there each morning after she had come back from the farmhouse. & Khushi honestly didn't know, what name she could give to this unprecedented, unparalleled & weirdly unique feeling she was having for the first time in her life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As Arnav looked at him with a blank look not knowing what to expect, Rohan continued, "Amma-Bauji are going to Lucknow tomorrow.. to inform all the relatives who had been invited to Payal's wedding about the situation & invite them to Anjali & my wedding instead. & I couldn't even get the day off, so after I drop them off at the station, I'll have to go to the office for the whole day. & my Buaji can only come after Amma-Bauji reach Lucknow. That'll be the day after tomorrow or maybe the day after that. So Payal & Bachchi will be alone the whole day tomorrow."
Arnav didn't know why he suddenly felt that pang of unease at the thought Khushi being all alone & vulnerable, but he suppressed it harshly & looked at Rohan with carefully schooled features which expressed nothing more than mild curiosity. Rohan looked at him with narrowed eyes as if his lack of more concern was unusual & continued in a vaguely distracted voice, "So Anjali was saying that she'd go & spend some time with them tomorrow & as the house will virtually empty at the night too, she might even stay the night, so that Amma-Bauji feels better about leaving the girls behind like this." Then Rohan looked at Nani & said in a respectful voice, "& as Anjali is Naniji's responsibility, I thought she might feel uncomfortable about Anjali staying overnight with no elders present, so I invited Akaash to stay over too. He'll be there to protect his sister." Rohan finished with an affectionate grin at Akaash, not really noticing the pride that shone in Nani, Anjali & Arnav's eyes, directed at him & his righteousness.
Then suddenly out of the blue, to everyone's sheer incredulity, a steady voice boomed, "I'll come over too. Di is my responsibility too. Besides, it's been so long since I had a camping out with Akaash & you, although it'd be more in-house camping' That is, if anyone has no objections..?" He asked in such a menacingly calm voice that, even if everyone had an objection of their own for their own unique reason, none voiced so.
comment:
p_commentcount