[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjnmICxvoVY[/YOUTUBE]
OS:: All My Life
She was petrified with fear.
For a second, it was as if the flashing lights had blinded her, as the two models on either side, marched her down the stage. But now that she was there – alone – she no longer had the mercy of blinding light, her eyes wide open she saw nothing but a never-ending sea of faces.
She closed her eyes and prayed for a saviour.
– and then she saw him.
He'd had a pounding headache for over an hour now; all he wanted was to get this damn show over with so he could fly home. The stupid crowd however instead of quieting down, seemed to actually keep getting louder as the show went on - irritated, Arnav snapped his eyes open to see which creation of his had been creating such an uproar – when he saw - green.
In the middle of a red themed show.
Some one was going to die today, he vowed as he looked up from the obviously non-Raizada creation to the model dumb enough to wear it, when he realized with a start, that the woman on stage wasn't a model at all.
She looked like a terrified, wet kitten. Her eyes were so round in fear it was a little wonder that she had made it this far, almost making him want to smile and reassure her.
She closed her eyes – standing on centre stage, in the middle of the Summer's largest Fashion Show, she had her eyes closed and almost seemed to be – praying. Astounded, Arnav began to rise carefully to his feet, his eyes still on her, when as if she had felt his very gaze, her eyes flew open - to his.
* * *
January 21st, 2010.
"She's so small!" whispered Arnav worriedly, as he laid one trembling finger to his daughter's cheek, his other hand firmly gripping his wife's own, as he had through the past seven hours of intense nerve wracking agony.
Not that his wife seemed to be aware at all of the torture she'd put him through with each one of her soul shattering cries of pain, she didn't seem to be aware of anything but the tiny bundle of joy cradled in the nook of her other arm. She smiled softly, bringing their joined hands together to lay on the soft steady beat of the heart-beat that they'd created together.
"Humari dhadkan-e ek ho gayi."
And for one of the first times in his life, Arnav Singh Raizada, felt tears sting the back of his eyes, as he bent his head forward in thanks, to the God he had once not believed in.
* * *
October 17st, 2010.
"Khushiji! Khushiji!" cried out Anjali frantically as she watched with amazed eyes as her niece, who had till now been crawling all over the plush rug, push unsteadily up against the firm white plush leather settee in the family room.
For a second, Anjali could feel her heart clench, in pride, and a little, in pain at the wistful thought that – the beautiful doe eyed princess, looking up at her while she wobbled on shaky legs – could have been hers. Her Rajkumarii. Her Princess.
Her hand carefully brushing away the betraying drop of moisture gathered at the corner of her eyes, Anjali heard rather than saw, the child's mother come rushing down the stair in a flurry of sari pleats and tinkling payal's, and then when she saw her soft gasp, followed by a fervent – "Hain Devi Maiyan!"
And just as Anjali had been about to stand aside to let Khushiji enjoy this perfect moment with her daughter, a soft achingly innocent voice called out, - "Di?"
Anjali felt her eyes flash open, as in her minds eye she remembered another achingly young voice once call to her with just as much innocence, for a brief moment she smiled oh-so brightly at the child before pressing a quick kiss to her forelock and rushing out of the room, not noticing Khushi's worried glimpse as she steadied a wobbly Aasha who had turned to see where her prized Aunt had rushed off too or her own brother standing silently in the alcoves from more than a few minutes ago.
But then just as she turned the corner to the sanctuary of her room, she heard it again, "Di?"
Silent, even as waves of regret and unadulterated sorrow of what could have been wracked her, she stood stoic, as would any Raizada and waited to hear what her brother – her chotey had to say.
For a second – she was afraid he would come and ask her what was wrong. She didn't think she could deal with that just yet. Not then.
"Don't think she doesn't need you Di. Because she does. We do. Always have – always will. You're family. You're the person she'll turn to when she doesn't want to talk to me and is afraid Khushi won't understand. You're the person who's going to take her side and tell me off when I say she doesn't need to go to Prom and Khushi won't see the point in it. You matter to all of us."
Her eyes closed as she swallowed the tears she was taking such pains to hide, Anjali Singh Raizada, formerly Anjali Jha, nodded. And for once she believed what was being told to her, because the alternative – simply hurt too much.
She wouldn't have her own baby girl to teach how to walk, but she would be there to support her brother's. She would make sure Aasha grew up to be the confident and smart and snake-free. She wanted that for her. She wanted that so badly for her.
* * *
June 26th, 2016.
"Jeeji! Oh thank God, you're here! The mitai's are all made with sugar!" exclaimed Khushi worriedly, as she balanced a plate of aloo parata in one hand and chased after an exceedingly hyper tiny Raizada, who along with bouncing high on her miniscule heels, seemed to be singularly incapable of staying at one place longer than half a second.
Payal for her part – seemed more amused than alarmed at her niece's antics. Mother to a very exuberant pair of twin boy's – Aasha's antics tended to seem more like a minor blimp than actual insanity – unless Damien was around of course, why that young boy seemed to have the strangest effect on her – he could get her to scale a wall if he wanted to, and ironically he'd be the only one who could stop her if she had her mid set to it.
Sending Aakash a quick look that said eloquently that he was on his own with the twins, Payal took the thaal out of her baby sister's hands and shooed her off.
"Go see to your sugar-free jalebi's, I've got Aasha. Don't I?" she called out, raising her voice for the last two words, only to be greeted with an impish smile from behind her sister, with eyes filled with the same love for life Payal had seen every-day in the eyes of her harried mother, as a child.
Khushi thanked her sister with a swift hug, while her no-longer in hiding miniature let out a squeal of epic proportions and flung herself into Payal's arms, her high pitched "Maasi!" no doubt heard from miles away.
"Aasha dheere!" scolded her mother from somewhere inside the kitchen, Payal, however merely laughed – after all – watching her baby sister, who had been more than her fair share of crazy become the woman she was today, as both mother and wife, could help but bring a smile to her face.
* * *
January 21st, 2021.
"He's here?"
Smiling softly, her well-wrinkled hand, cupping the side of her tiny Sanka-Devi's face, Buaji or Naniji as she was now called, pursed her lips together and merely stroked stray locks of hair out of her pretty plaits as she felt waves of memories flood through her mind, Khushi holding her first Jalebi, Khushi with her nose pressed against the shop window looking at the scooter she had been saving up for, her look of pure unadulterated joy when she finally did get her scooter – That first day Arnav bitwa had carried her home in his arms, the smudges of dirt on her canary yellow salwar suit, The day she had come home from Naintal to find Shashi Babua in that hospital they had barely been able to afford, the day Khushi had come home to her sisters wedding her eyes as red as the sindoor marking her forehead – and still they didn't stop, the first day of her new life once Arnav's Dadiji had tried and failed to destroy the fragile threads of love that tied those two wild children together, Her godh-bharai, to the very day this bundle of joy had been born. Every single memory came flooding back, every time – those same eyes, but with her fathers smile.
So engrossed was the still newly minted Naniji, that she barely her the hurried shuffling or the quiet whoosh of the door as a steady tread of footsteps entered the front hall.
She wasn't a nave young miss in her first bloom, and as such didn't even need to turn around to see the slow crooked grin that a certain young gentleman must have flashed to induce the pretty blush now staining her only granddaughter's apple-round cheeks, as she rose coltishly to her feet.
"You're here!" exclaimed Aasha.
* * *
January 21st, 2025.
"Happy Birthday, teenybopper." Drawled a low now thankfully well broken into voice, into Aasha's ear just as her crouched down beside her on the well-lit pool-side, where she sat with her feet dipped in like a mermaid in white, perched no doubt on her favourite corner for a moment of silent contemplation.
As expected she'd jumped a foot into the air, splashing him and herself as she tossed him an annoyed glare. Not that, the glare worried him much, if there was one person Aasha Singh Raizada had never been able to stay mad at it was Damien Bass. A fact he well knew and used to his advantage.
"I'm not a teenybopper Damien, don't call me that." She snapped irritated no doubt at his nonchalance ever since that intensely interesting evening last week when she'd asked him for kissing lessons. Damien for his part was contrarily exceedingly happy, confident his obvious disapproval had kept her away from her Romeo in Braces, the only time Aasha was willing to endure his disapproval was if she found one of his conquests particularly annoying, other than that his quick to anger little mermaid had always been just as quick to forgive and forget.
Damien chuckled softly, "Of course not," he intoned forging a deep seriousness in his voice as he instead quoted, "You're not even a pre-pre teen anymore!"
She tried –he'd give her that.
For a whole ten seconds she tried very very hard not to smile, and then gracefully conceded defeat at her own youthful words from mere years ago as she broke into that beautiful tinkling laugh that always had made him want to stop and stare.
It was crazy how fast time flew by, he thought as he watched her, babble non-stop about her plans for the Debutante Ball next week, her eyes lighting up with obvious anticipation, for a second Damien almost let himself wonder what would happen if he had given in and taken her up on her request for kissing instructions, for a moment he forgot about everything, about Dana- his current arm candy, about how young she was, how nave….
"…Did you forget!?"
For a second Damien furrowed his brow in confusion.
"You did, didn't you!" she exclaimed her voice laced with a actual disappointment, as she swatted at his shoulder as if shooing him away, a habit she'd picked up as a child whenever he'd been unwise enough to fail to measure up to her expectations, and as always he grabbed her wrist and chucked her under the chin as he pulled her in for a hug – only to have her attempt to squiggle away.
"You forgot my Birthday gift!" she repeated mock-sternly poking him in the chest as she got up, her flashing dimples, giving her away, as she scrambled up shaking her ankles to rid them of most of the water as she turned to leave in a dramatic huff.
Damien however had other plans. Just as she turned to leave, Damien who had sprung lithely to his feet grabbed her wrist and tugged non-to gently letting her crash unceremoniously into his chest, as he grinned his Cheshire grin down at her. It was not until a full second later that Aasha realized he had draped something around her wrist.
A perfect weave of silver now encircled her wrist, while a clear diamond 'A' hung delicately from its end.
Aasha gasped softly. Damien for his part, leaned in ever so slightly and whispered– "Happy Birthday Princess."
* * *
Looking across the crowded drawing room, filled with multitude of children's voices, squeaky with excitement and the soft muted laughter of their parents, Khushi Kumari Gupta raised soulful eyes bordered by soft creases, evidence of years gone by, to her husbands own.
And just as it was forty years ago, when he'd opened his eyes to hers on a stage in front of hundreds of people as if he had sensed her very thoughts, once again Arnav Singh Raizada lifted wonder filled eyes to hers. Once again, just as their eyes met, souls collided, hearts beat as one, only this time, he did what he had been incapable of doing fifty years ago – he smiled.
_______________________________________________________________________
:: Author's Note ::
Due to a number of reasons including but not limited too a marked increase of plagiarism on the forum - I will be methodically taking down all of my un-collaborated work and shifting to a closed blog. Readers who wish for access may PM me at this Profile, Email me at 0nmyra0@gmail.com or tweet me for access.
This OS is being put up in as my way of saying Happy New Year. It's been a wonderful year, and I've been blessed with wonderful friends here. This OS is in a way a culmination of my two most prized pairings - Arnav and Khushi as much as it is about those secret inside glimpses to Aasha and Damien {Seducing the Throne}. I hope everyone has had a safe, joyous start to the New Year. Cheers!
Also on a personal note to every single reader who has been a solid support and inspiration to update at top speed - thank you. You have meant the world.
Link to Seducing the Throne - https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/fan-fictions/3016465/stt-thread2-prequel-os-pg-36
Anupamaa
10