Khushi looked at herself critically in the mirror. She had worn traditional before, but never quite like this one. This was essentially Payal's style of dressing, & as close as they were, they had never seen eye to eye in their diversified dressing senses. The dress was perhaps the most conservative thing she had ever worn, thought Khushi as she pulled the brush down her silky strands for presumably the hundredth time.
She had decided to let her hair down for once & hence she wanted them to shine their most. Then as she consulted the wall-clock again, Khushi was shocked to see that, she had almost taken 20minutes to just change her outfits & brush her hair. She hastily snatched the Dupatta off the bed off the bed & secured it over her right shoulder, as the neckline of the Anarkali suit was as it is too high than her usual necklines, & if she draped the Dupatta over it, then she'd definitely be suffocated by the time she made it to Anrav's car. She let go any thoughts of accessories or touch-ups as she was sure Arnav was a few minutes short of blowing his fuse by now & ran the stairs two at a time.
As soon as Khushi came out of the main door, she had to hastily step aside as Payal charged forward & started locking off the main door. Khushi glanced at her apprehensively as Payal looked pretty pissed off. Payal gave the door jamb & the manual locks couple of vigorous & violent shakes, more violent than was necessary, & then without looking at her, walked past her towards the car. Khushi followed her sister with a sinking heart as she tried to think of a sure-shot formula that would allow her to pacify Payal in no time, but Payal was rarely angry with anyone, let alone her. So, very predictably, her mind was coming up with blanks. But as soon as she turned towards the car, her eyes encountered a pair of caramel brown ones.
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Arnav had seen her the minute she came out of those doors. It would have been hard to miss her, since his eyes had practically been glued to door, surreptitiously of course, as he waited for her come out through them. & somehow, through some peculiar way, which was beyond his realm of understanding & hence he was damned if he was ever gonna mention this to another living soul, but he had known. He had known before she had pushed open those heavy double doors, that she was about to come out. & after she came out... Well, he had been doing a pretty good job of pretending to Di & Payal that he was busy on his I-Phone, wasn't he? But as soon as he had felt her behind that door, he had looked up, & when she had come out... Beautiful was one thing, breathtaking was another. & Arnav Singh Raizada understood the difference very acutely as he felt his breath getting knocked out of his lungs.
It wasn't the dress, though it was very pretty. The style was more mature than anything he had ever seen her in. & he never really had any kind of preference towards traditional attire, in fact the opposite was quite true. He found western wear more functional & reasonably eye-pleasing. But after that moment, when Khushi stepped forward & stood still on the landing, not starting her descent immediately, & ran her fingers over the seam of her Dupatta in a conscious manner, as if asking for his appraisal, Arnav knew he'd never regard a traditional dress as inconsequential again. Not if this girl was wearing it.
But he was forced to wrench his eyes from her form reluctantly, as Anjali started rushing everyone to get in the car in her eagerness to meet her Dadi after so long. & quite naturally, she went for the front seat beside Arnav to seat in & Arnav helped her in a quite manner. When Payal & Khushi were settled in the back seat, he started for the small drive to Shantivan. All through the way, his eyes kept reverting back to the rear-view mirror to seemingly check the fully empty road of their exclusive housing society, but Khushi was too busy to trying to make up with Payal to notice his wavering eyes, much to his well-concealed frustration.
When they reached Shantivan, Anjali ushered them all hurriedly inside & as Khushi felt a heated presence just beside herself, she glanced sideways to meet his unwavering gaze on her. Like a deer caught in the headlight, she felt tongue-tied for a moment & said hastily to fill the silence that bordering towards awkwardness, "Don't you have to park the car?" But the answer didn't come immediately, as the person from whom the answer was expected was too busy looking at her nose. When Khushi cleared her throat pointedly to remind him that he was staring, he looked up at her eyes with an amused expression, & drawled, "I can if I want to. But, no. I don't have to. Mohan will do that for now. & you! I should have asked you to wear something red. Besides red being my favorite color, that would've matched your nose better too." & then he again awarded her with that smirk of his as her mouth fell open in a gaping 'o' at his blatant flirting in his own home, that too in front of his whole family.
But before Khushi could come up with a plausible explanation for her nose being red, Nani came & engulfed her in a welcoming hug. & before long, they were all shepherded to the main hall & as soon as Khushi sat down on one of the settees across the sofa in which Anajli & her Grandmothers sat down, Arnav came & occupied the sofa closest to her.
After twenty minutes of sitting there with nothing to contribute to the interrogation session between Manorama & Payal & the catching up session among Anjali & her Grandmothers, Khushi began to wonder if anyone would actually notice, if she just got up & left. Then she quickly answered herself. One person would. Who, after lounging down in a very relaxed manner in the sofa beside herself, hadn't taken his eyes off of her for more than a minute at a stretch. The way he was contemplating her, it made her feel like a prey on whom he could pounce on any second. She had tried glaring him down a couple of times, but the way his eyes had flared up at both the occasions told her just how much he relished the spiritedness of her behavior. & so, from then on, she had studiously averted her face from his direction.
Suddenly a high-pitched & cultured voice cut across the hushes & slightly stilted chatter of the room, "You're Damad ji's youngest sister?" Khushi tried to still her suddenly shaking fingers at the shock of being addressed like this & nodded. "Isn't she..? She the girl...?" Suddenly Payal spoke up in a calmly forceful voice, "She is our sister. The youngest in our family!" Dadi flashed her an annoyed look at being cut off, & said in a distracted manner, as if trying to remember something, "Don't interrupt when the elders are speaking! But.. This girl.. Isn't she the girl-?" But this time she was cut off by her own grandson, "This girl is called Khushi." The note of warning was clearly discernible in his voice.
He turned his eyes again in Khushi's direction & said, "My Dadi usually has flawless sense of right or wrong. But it has been quite a while since she had been socializing like this. & she doesn't really mean to offence anyone, but she just manages it anyway!" The last sentence was however directed at Payal who was looking so alarmed, as she hadn't looked even when Manorama was grilling her. But before Payal could answer him, Khushi looked at Arnav & said in a clear voice laced with anger, "Genes being what they are, I'd have been incredibly shocked if your Dadi had shown impeccable manner & thoughtfulness while talking to house guests!"
The atmosphere of silence that followed the gasps of shock & terror, caused by her remark, could be easily cut with a knife. Khushi couldn't even look at the horrified faces that stared at her, & then she felt her gaze pulled to the person she had made that jibe too. & as her eyes fell upon him, it was her turn to gasp, because as soon as she looked at Arnav Singh Raizada, he held her gaze steadily, his jaw resting on his left knuckles, & then the most amazing, the most heart-warming, the most unbelievably out-of-place lopsided smile broke out on his lips.
But before she could contemplate on that smile, Khushi's attention was snatched away as she heard a austere voice addressing her, "While we are on the subject of genes, it seems, cutting in when elders are speaking runs in yours! Your parents couldn't instill even that much courtesy in you girls?" There was a note of slight criticism in her tone & it bristled Khushi to no bounds that she was the who used to beat a child & she was questioning the parenting style of her much greater parents. She chose to ignore the look of warning on Payal's face & complete discomfort & apprehension on the three Raizada ladies' face, as she said in a stern voice, "Our Amma-Bauji had taught us to express our voice whenever we felt something was wrong & never to take unfair insult silently. But they did it all with love. Never once did they resort to beating their children, unlike others."
As soon as Khushi finished talking, she felt the till then silent & still figure beside her move ever-so-slightly as if he sensed something, & every other face showed a clueless expression, while Dadi asked confusedly, "Who are you talking about? Who beat their children?" Khushi became so incensed at Dadi's careless display of ignorance, that she just threw caution to the wind & blurted out hotly, "Didn't you used to beat Arnavji with a stick? When he was just a child? Why would you do that?? Any mischief he might have done, he would have done in his childishness! That's what children do! But to beat him-" Khushi felt her throat closing with emotion.
She took a big gulp of breath before she could charge again, she hear Anjali's horrified voice, "Khushiji! What are you saying? Dadi- Arre, Chhote was incorrigible! He- You don't know, he used to make all of us run to an inch of our tolerance with his incessant monkey business! Ma & Dadi hardly hit him once or twice I think. That too due to his own fault! One time I remember was when Chhote super glued Kanha ji inside the cucumber! Even I must have hit him a couple of times. He used to bully poor Akaash so much." All the Raizada ladies nodded in unison the whole time Anjali was speaking in agreement with her words. Suddenly Khushi felt unease creeping through her as she started feeling that nagging sense of shame & outrage one felt when they realized that they had just become the victim of a clever prank. & she saw understanding starting to dawn on the other ladies' face too. & when she saw a naughty giggle leave Naniji's lips, she was about to ask her what she found so funny, when a clear, strong, uninhibited, booming laughter drew everyone's attention to the Rakshas himself.
He had his head thrown back & guffaws after guffaws of amused laughter issued from his throat. As Khushi heard Anjali's incredulous voice, she turned in time to see everyone looking at him with wondrous happiness, & while Dadi looked a bit hurt, she was smiling slightly too. Anjali continued in a astonished voice, "Chhote? I thought you had forgotten all that! You-! What lies have you fed Khushiji? That we used to subject you to child abuse when you were one? & maybe, that's why now you're avenging yourself by torturing all of us with this Khadoos attitude?!" & as a thunderous sound of mingled laughters followed Anjali's teasing words, Khushi didn't even look at anyone else, & ran for the main door like a bolt, her face flaming.
When she was on the landing outside the main door, suddenly she felt a tug on the tail of her Dupatta, forcing her to stop in her tracks. She didn't have to turn around to know who had the other end of her Dupatta, but she just had to. Taking big gulps of repeated breaths to steady their erratic taboo against her rib cage, Khushi slowly turned, but even when she was fully facing him, she just couldn't look up & see him laughing at her. Slowly, she felt him come closer, & when they were so close that the flowing hem of her dress was touching his legs, he hooked a finger under her chin & tilted her face up.
There was no mirth in his eyes though, but a burning, glowing fire, which stilted Khushi's rapid breathing instantly when her eyes clashed with his. He seemed to search her face for something, & then he said in a voice barely above a whisper, "Did you just take my Dadi's class for hitting me with a stick when I was a child?" Khushi started breathing again in short spurts & tried to move her face away from his hold, but he didn't allow her. Rattled, she said accusingly, looking straight at his eyes as he didn't let her look away, "You led me on!"
Arnav's eyes dropped to her quivering lips & lingered there for several seconds, before he looked up at her eyes, his eyes full of naughty satisfaction as he said, "& you follow me so beautifully." & he bent & pressed the most feather light kiss on her parted lips. He didn't move his lips or try to deepen the kiss, just let their lips meet each other. & Khushi would've stood there, under his lips, under his spell, if Anjali hadn't chosen that particular moment to call out to Arnav.
The moment Khushi heard the call, her trance was broken, & she took a step back. Then she looked over at Arnav once, her face rapidly getting filled with blood. Arnav's face was shuttered, his facial muscles were relaxed, but they showed no emotions. But his eyes did. Those twin caramel orbs were dilated to huge proportions. & as soon as her eyes met his, Khushi couldn't stand there anymore. She turned & ran away for her home, leaving a somewhat dazed & bemused Arnav standing on the landing in her wake.
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Pati Patni Aur Panga
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
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