FF:Something About You Thread#3 *COMPLETED* - Page 27

Hey, all' I am here with part 28. & this chapter is dedicated to Jessicad as well, as she didn't get to res first on the previous update. Sorry, Jess, but you know what? If it's consolation, I think even I won't be able to res first on my updates if I didn't take due permission from Sami first!

Part 26

Part 27

Khushi felt as if her throat had been scratched with a sand paper as she tried to gulp after her outrageous outburst. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, trying to control the tremors going through her whole body. Then she abruptly blinked her eyes open as she felt the heat from Arnav's body permeating to hers through the hairbreadth of a space between them, & she took several panicky steps back & looked at Arnav warily.

In all honesty, Khushi hadn't really wanted to confront Arnav with the knowledge that she had encountered the visual proof of his hypocritical two-timing. She was ready to fight for him when she had thought the roadblocks in her way to reach him came only in the form of their own ideologies. But she didn't want to fight Lavanya or any other girl for someone's love or attention. That was not a situation she ever wanted to end up in. Ever. Of all the degrading conditions women in love reduced themselves into, in Khushi's opinion, that was probably the worst of them. So she had never really wanted to let anyone, least of all Arnav, know how pitifully jealous & shocked & defensive she had felt, when she had seen the man she loved, participating in an act she considered to be an expression of love, with another woman other than herself.

Khushi suddenly looked up with a start as she heard Arnav speak in a methodical tone, "So you saw?" Her eyes narrowed with disbelief as she thought to herself, the least he could do was try to act a little ashamed of himself. & she was about to voice her opinion when he spoke again, authoritatively, "So how long were you snooping around?" This time Khushi's eyes widened with outrageous shock & she spluttered, "How dare you sugges-"

Arnav cut her off in a brusque tone, "First of all, I said I was sorry for all that NK business, & I wasn't trying to punish you. Or maybe I was. I am not sure what I was trying to do then anymore. But I sure as hell didn't kiss your friend. I didn't make out with her. That's not how making out looks like, & if you can't believe my word, I am more than willing to give you a demo of what making out actually looks like. But that would be straying from the point, so' & I wasn't rubbing my face against hers. As I recall it, she was trying to give me something to remember her by. But it seems like, instead of me, she gave you a reason to bring her up as a bone of contention between us. & lastly, I wasn't technically two-timing anyone, as right now, I am not even dating anyone! Am I, Khushi??" he finished in a menacing growl.

Khushi felt like hitting him some more at his calm, yet ominous behavior. How dare he made her feel like, she was the one making a mountain out of a molehill here? Khushi bit the corner of her lower lips & spat out before she could hold back, "I am sorry, what did you say? I couldn't technically hear anything, as it's a bit hard concentrating when I keep seeing the image of La plastered all over you like a second skin & her tongue all the way down to your throat."

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Khushi felt like slapping herself, because even to herself, she just reeked of jealousy. She hastily tried to amend her momentary slip, "Umm... Let's not talk about that. Besides, you don't have to explain yourself to me. It's really none of my business, right? You could kiss all the female residents of Chanakyapuri & I couldn't care less. Unlike you, I don't go around forming misconceptions about people's actions & intentions & then interrogate & execute them for the same. & even La could say that, you came onto her!! Not that I'm about to ask her! I am not asking anyone anything, especially not you! I am done-" Suddenly she stopped as Arnav held his left hand up infront of her face in a silencing manner.

Arnav asked in a deceptively hushed voice, "So what are you saying, Khushi? You don't believe me when I say it wasn't like what you're thinking it was? You don't believe me, when I say I wasn't making out with your friend? That I was never even tempted to do so?' But even as he was speaking, he saw Khushi rapidly shaking her head as if disagreeing with every word of his. & as he halted, she said in a desperate voice to get her meaning across, "I am saying, I almost fooled myself once. But not again. & it's not La. It's you! Can you honestly deny that you haven't cheated on girls before?" & she saw Arnav instantly look away & something inside her died, again.

Khushi licked her dry lips & said quietly, "Exactly! That's just how you are in a relationship, because maybe that's what happened to the only relationship you have ever witnessed personally. But that's not what I perceive a relationship. I have seen my Amma-Bauji. & perhaps you can't see it past your cynical view of the world, but I can also see Bhaiya-Anjali Di, Jiji-Akaashji. & those are exactly the kind of relationship I want for myself. Maybe I can deal with the commitment issues' Maybe I could take the plunge & 'explore' if I saw that kind of love or respect for me in someone's eyes. But I can see only desire for me in your eyes Arnavji, & that doesn't promise me that you won't humiliate me, like what I felt when I saw you with La, again!"

Arnav narrowed his eyes, & his lips thinned as he said in a barely audible voice, "So what are you saying? What we have between us isn't enough for you? That it doesn't matter to you?" Khushi looked down at her own pink shoes & said in a slightly broken voice, "What you're offering isn't enough for me. So it's better for both of us, & also for our families too in way, if we nipped whatever this is in the bud. & yes' it really doesn't matter all that much too."

Arnav leaned a bit towards her & said deceivingly peacefully, "Let me decide, what will be better for me, OK? I am saying it for the last time, I wasn't trying to humiliate you by kissing your friend, because, I wasn't even kissing her!" he shouted to emphasize his point as Khushi just started a little, but still refused to look up at him. & Arnav felt something snap inside him as she even refused to let him look into those ridiculously golden eyes, & he shouted at the top of her voice, "How many times do I have to tell you, look at me when I am talking to you?" & Khushi immediately looked up with irritated eyes, "Don't shout! Jiji or you sister may hear-"

& before she could finish, he gripped her forearms to get her a bit closer to himself, as if their proximity would make the task of getting some sense into her that much easier, & said furiously, "I don't care! I don't care about anything outside this room. I don't care if neither of the weddings happen! I don't care-" Khushi pushed his chest with her fists & said incredulously, "You don't care about the weddings? Your Di & best friend have waited for theirs for 9 years. My Jiji & your brother have waited for theirs for maybe their whole conscious lives! & you're willing to put all that in risk for a 'something which is more than just chemistry'??"

As Khushi stopped to take a breath, she felt Arnav's hold slackening on her arms & she shook herself free, & said in a lot more calmer voice than before, "That's what I told you! I knew this would happen!! If we got involved, everything would get tangled up like this' & we'd end up hurting a lot of people whom we never really want to hurt, including each other!! So just stop it! Stop looking at me like that! Stop doing' touching' kissing me like you do. Stop pursuing me as if I mean something to you! Because I obviously don't! If I did, then maybe you'd be able to tell me what this something between us was' But all you can say is, you want to explore!!! & all I want is'"

Khushi frustratedly ran her hands through her face to her hair. She couldn't say 'love'. She couldn't utter that word to him! But then what else could she call her unrequited love for him? & at last, she said in a voice shaking with hysteria, "Shit!! I don't even know what name to give to whatever it is that I want from you! But I am sure, you wouldn't wanna hear it either which ways. So just stop!" & Arnav finally spoke from the thoughtful silence he had seemed to be immersed in, "So the gist of what you're saying is that, I stop'? & you go back to' pretending that..." he looked away in an arrogant way, acting as if trying to find a word fitting to describe what he wanted to say, & suddenly turned his head towards her so swiftly that Khushi jerked backwards, "Yes!! You would go back to pretending the air didn't crackle with current whenever we're in the same room & that you don't give a damn about me?"

Khushi gulped down at the cold fury she could clearly make out in his eyes & said in a shaky whisper, "Why do you think I would have to pretend? Is that what you did when we were children? Only pretend that I didn't exist for you??" & before he could get a chance to cut her off, she continued, "No, you didn't pretend! So I think, with a bit of effort, we could both go back to that easier, less messy & comfortable way of life. Yes!! The way you've apparently turned out nastier than ever in these past 10 years, I think I wouldn't even have to pretend to not give a damn about you! I could very easily just do so, Arnavji! Hume apke kissi bhi baat se koi farq nahi padhta!"

& she saw the dangerous way his eyes glinted at her last deliberate lie, & he slowly started stepping back from her. & Khushi's heart wrenched in her chest as his back steps felt more metaphorical than physical, & then he said with a note of finality in his voice, "It may all be for the best after all, Khushi, as you know what?? Girls who played too hard to get, always bored me pretty fast! & you' Anyways, I might not have to put as much effort as you'll have to put to go back to how things were before, cos, its true!! You didn't mean a thing to me, other than a bratty nuisance, all those years ago. I'll give you one thing, you're pretty perceptive. & turns out, the same holds true now too. So go now' Scamper off like you always do. I won't pursue you anymore! MUJHE NA TUMSE AUR BAAT KARNI HAIN' NAA TUMHARI SHAKAL DEKHNI HAIN. & NOW YOU CAN GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!!" & as his shout resonated around them like some kind of an ominous prophesy, Khushi continued to look at him with large eyes that were rounded with hurt & shock, & then she turned forcefully & got out of the stuffy storage, banging the door behind her.

As soon as she was in the middle of the studio on her way towards the door through which she had seen her sister disappearing with the other two ladies, Khushi heard something smashing in the room she had just come out of. She stopped herself on the verge of turning back towards the room, & composing herself with staggering effort, she ran inside the room where the two impending brides were enthusiastically trying out different types of Lehengas, Ghararas, Shararas & Sarees. She refused Anjali's offer of choosing something for herself & sat there apprehensively looking through the door. But when the door did open after a knock 45minutes later, it was to let a sheepish looking Akaash enter to see his blushing bride running behind the iron-mesh screen & refusing to come out infront of him in the Yellow Lehenga she was wearing.

Khushi participated with unparallel devotion in Anjali's venture to tease her brother & her sister-in-law to be to an inch of their death, but her giggles sounded hollow to her own ears. & though she kept glancing at the door, expecting it to burst open any moment to show a thunderous face, Akaash later explained to Anjali's query, Arnav had decided to attend the important meetings he had earlier cancelled after all. So Khushi didn't see him again that day, or any other day of the week for that matter.

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Arnav was happy that it was all over. Not that anything had ever begun. But, still, he was glad, the thing which never even took off, ended. Or that's what he kept telling himself. But other than himself, no one in his family would have said, he was happy or joyful. As a matter of fact, if they were asked about his current disposition, all of them would state it as the opposite of happy or joyful actually.

He was grouchier than usual. He was shouting more than usual. He was snapping more than usual. He was also working & stressing on his work more than usual. & he had also screamed at Anjali, for trying to get him to go to Nikunja with her to meet his best friend a couple of times, which was never the usual.

& then, as if all this wasn't enough, he started throwing things around the house like a petulant baby on a tantrum spree. & it had all really started, when NK was eating a bowl of butterscotch ice-cream in front of him after dinner one night & exclaiming how he preferred plain, simple vanilla ice-cream, & how he just loved the taste & smell of it. Poor NK hadn't really known when his bowl of ice-cream had been snatched from his hands & was thrown off to the opposite wall, missing the LED hanging there by an inch.

Yes, something was really, really off with Arnav Singh Raizada. & although the news of his sudden disturbing instability had reached Nikunja via Anjali, it was confined to Rohan only, as he was, by nature, a private person & didn't indulge in casual discussions about others, as he considered that as gossiping. So, Khushi Kumari Gupta was wallowing in her sorrow over her broken heart & licking her own wounds valiantly, putting a gleeful face up front, when one lazy Wednesday afternoon, it seemed like the sky had fallen over the heads of the residents of Nikunja.

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Precap:

Khushi rummaged through the contents of the box. Yellowed, inks faded with the passing of time, frayed at the edges, ancient paper cuttings. Some with pictures. Some under headlines. From Lucknow local news correspondents. None of them bore the name of the Daily's they were published in, Khushi saw when she searched for them, but they all bore the dates they were published in. The clippings were from more than 19years ago. It was about a man. & his wife. & their baby daughter. A family, actually, of three.

Khushi furrowed her brows as she started to read a small clipping at random. She felt her mouth falling slowly open as she read on. She took a big gulp of breath as she read again, & she felt the clipping falling through her numb fingers, getting strewn across the floor at her feet. She read the clipping for the third times, & slowly uttered the five or six names written on the article. Then she suddenly scrunched over the floor & fumbled through the clippings scattered there with shaking fingers. Then she found it. The headline news with pictures. The picture of a small baby girl, with her name written under caption. Khushi Kumari Yadav.

"Khussi, rotate your hand like this' That's right! That's how you write Kha in Hindi! Now write-"

"Amma, why am I Khushi Kumari Gupta, & Bhaiya is not Rohan Kumari Gupta & even Jiji is not Payal Kumari Gupta? I want a name like Bhaiya & Jiji, bas!"

"Chhutki!! Because you are our Laadli na? A special name for our special one!... & Rohan Kumari?? Bhaiya is not gonna play with you anymore if he heard that!"

Part 28

& this is my last update before I take a forced break. I would be going out of the country for a conference on the 19^th. I have to prepare myself for that. & as soon as I return on the 22^nd/23^rd, my best friend's wedding starts from the 25^th. So, personal life commitments would keep me away from IF for a while. But I will definitely be back from the 30^th December with an update, if not sooner than that. So those of you, who love SAY, please just hang on.

I am sorry for this unintentional delay & pray for me that I don't faint out of nervousness during my presentation!

& press 'like' if you do like! The reviews will be what will bring me back my writing mojo after this break.

& for PMs you'll have to buddy me.