Arnav's smirk and his entire frame had stiffened and he froze at the door upon hearing his cousin and Khushi interact like long-lost friends. There were two things that had him utterly baffled. For one, how on earth could those two possibly know each other? And that too before Khushi had even met him? And second - yet most important of all - how dare Khushi walk straight past him, with absolutely no greeting - not even a hello! - and expect to get away with it? No-one - and absolutely no-one - got away with such behaviour. Suddenly, a strange green tinged fury clouded his senses; he turned around swiftly and stalked over to where Khushi was animatedly talking to her Nanhe-ji. He instantly gripped her arms tightly and turned her around to face him.
"How do you know him?" he demanded.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Payal had wandered round the opulent mansion, with the sole aim of making it to her Akash-ji's room. She couldn't fathom how people could live in places so big! Don't they get lost? After every turn she took, everything still looked exactly the same to Payal. What a maze!
"Jab meri aur Akash-ji ki shaadi ho jaayegi, tab hum yahaan bilkul bhi nahin rahenge" (when me and Akash-ji get married, then there's absolutely no way we're staying here!) she muttered whilst fidgeting with the ends of her dupatta. So engrossed was she in her mental musings, that she didn't realise that someone was walking directly in her direction, until the two frames collided and they both fell to the floor.
"Oompfh!" Payal sat up from the floor, rubbing her lower back. Whoever it was that she had bumped into, they had not been light.
Lifting her self from the ground, Payal came face to face with a broad chest, covered in a black woolen jumper. She looked up and was mesmerised by the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen. Eyes of the most perfect chocolate, with small flecks of amber that were dancing in the current lighting, framed by the simplest of spectacles.
"Hey," he breathed, "I'm sorry about that." he gave her a soft smile.
Payal was lost in his eyes and had stepped into her dreamworld. This is what she had imagined happening to her for so long ... her dream had finally come true.
She had finally met her Akash-ji.
All of this happening so soon and so suddenly was far too much for her faint heart to handle. And so she fainted, right there, in the arms of her Akash-ji.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Arnav-ji ..." Khushi looked up at him in shock, her eyes wide. He was hurting her. "Arnav-ji, choriye hume! Dard ho raha hai!" (Arnav-ji, let go of me! You're hurting me!)
Realisation dawned and he quickly regained his senses. Immediately, he loosened his grip on her arms, but not without noticing that he had left angry red imprints on her milky white skin. Never before had an action of his resulted in him feeling so ... remorseful. He knew that what he had done was wrong. And he also knew that he'd have to redeem himself in her eyes. Soon.
"Listen, Khushi, I didn't mea-" he was unable to complete his sentence, because the next thing he knew, a resounding slap echoed throughout the wide expanse of the Raizada mansion and ricocheted off of Great Singh Raizada's face and resulted in his head whipping swiftly to the right. He held up his hand to the assaulted cheek and couldn't believe that someone had mustered up the nerve to slap him!
He turned to face his assaulter, ready to give her a piece of his mind but what he saw in her eyes made him stop and merely gape.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Surprised at the sudden dead-weight in his arms Akash, took a moment to appreciate the features of this ... angel. She had a heart-shaped face framed by layered and lustrous chestnut brown waves. Just before she had fainted, he noticed that she had large and expressive almond shaped eyes of hazel. Her lips looked as soft as the daintiest petal and had a peachy shade in them.
Akash snapped out of his reverie and realised that he needed to wake her up from her state of unconsciousness. Putting one arm behind her knees and one on her mid-back, he picked her up in his arms and took her into his room, gently laying her down on his bed. Eyeing the pitcher of water on the bedside, he picked it up, tipped some into his hands and tenderly flicked it on to the sleeping beauty's face. On seeing no reaction, he repeated the process. Once. Twice. Thrice.
Still not seeing her rouse, he decided that desperate times called for desperate measures. Instead of tipping a couple of drops in his hand, he decided to simply pour the entire pitcher onto the girl's face.
Immediately, the girl's face scrunched and she started spluttering from this sudden onslaught of water. Choking, she sat up on the bed and looked on at a horrified Akash, who had jumped to her side. His hand hovered over her back, unsure of whether or not he should rub it. Instead, he chose to awkwardly pat her shoulder, hoping she'd stop choking soon.
"What the hell was that for?!" she asked in between splutters.
"Voh ... I flicked you with water thrice, but you weren't waking up and so I ju-"
"So you decided to dump a whole jug of water on my face?" she asked in disbelief.
Akash simply responded by shrugging his shoulders and ruffling the back of his head with his hand.
"Hey, it woke you up, didn't it?" he asked sheepishly.
Payal chuckled slightly.
"Anyway, who are you? I don't think I've ever seen you around here before?"
Payal immediately blushed furiously and was suddenly unable to meet his eyes.
"I ... I'm Pay-"
"Akaaass bitwaaa!!! Bhere are youjj? I habss to show you the picture of the boootiful Soni-" a woman dressed garishly in the shocking combination of bright orange and electric green had just barged into Akash's room and both occupants looked up at her startled.
Khushi couldn't remember the last time she had felt so utterly furious. She couldn't understand what exactly was wrong with this ... baffoon! He flipped emotions like a TV would flip channels! Never before had she come across such an arrogant and self-absorbed man who could make her feel so much in such little time. He had gone from turning her into a small bundle of nerves, to being entirely consumed by rage; something which was so unlike her usually mild-tempered persona. She would give him a piece of her mind. It's what he deserved after all. How could he be so callous? Especially when she'd thought him to be so ... different. Flashbacks of their rain kiss mobbed her thoughts ... last night had been so perfect. His eyes had promised passion and intensity, while his lips had been so soft and so gentle. His touch had brought with it an unfamiliar - yet not all too unpleasant - tightening in her stomach. And now? She could not believe that someone who had been so perfect only last night could be so callous.
Yet there was strength in her resolve; she had decided that she simply would not have anything to do with this man if he continued to be so barbaric.
And so she raged.
"Aap apne aap ko samajh te kya hai, Mr. Raizada? (Who do you think you are, Mr. Raizada?) Do you think that I'm your property? That I'm something you can manhandle and force into submission? Well, clearly you thought wrong." she gritted out the last word and accentuated it by shoving Arnav once in the chest, while he docilely stood, taking the soft beating that her nimble hands were serving him. He decided to let her carry on because she herself would feel a lot calmer and more willing to listen after taking it all of her chest, but also because he was completely mesmerised by her fury. In fact, so hypontised was he, that he didn't even notice when the root cause of this argument - his cousin brother NK - slipped out of the room after witnessing the storm that was brewing so rapidly. He also failed to realise that Khushi had not come alone - she had been accompanied by her elder sister Payal, who had disappeared within moments of arriving, having muttered something about "must get him to listen" and "won't leave without seeing him".
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Removing her dark purple sunglasses and placing them on top of her head, the woman at the door looked utterly scandalised.
"Akaas bitwa ... ee sab kaa hain?!" (Akaas bitwa ... what is all this?) She looked at her son, while frowning distastefully at the figure sitting on her son's bed. "Ee ladki kaun hai aur tumhaare bed main kya karat hai?" (Who is this girl and what is she doing in your bed?)
"Voh ... ma ... yeh hai ..." he trailed off, unable to fill in the blank and looked towards Payal, expecting her to help him out. (Oh ... mum ... she's ...)
Shooting up from the bed, Payal corrected her dupatta, bowed her head demurely and folded her hands in gesture of greeting.
"Namaste. Main hoon Payal" (Namaste, I'm Payal)
"Payal! Haan, ma, voh uska naam Payal hai, aur we bumped into each other outside and then she fainted and then I brought her back here, but I couldn't wake her up so I poured a jug of water all over her fa-" (Yeah, mom, her name is Payal and ...) Akash's sudden rambling was brought to an end by his mum putting up a hand with nails that were painted a bright pink.
"Bas Akass bitwa. Hum dekhat hai ke aaj kal you have been bhery disrespectful by not paying attention to all these wonderphool rishtey that I've been looking at for you. And now," she eyed Payal up and down with blatant disapproval as she continued, "I see bhyss you acting ups!" (That's enough ... I've been seeing that these days you've been very disrespectful ...)
Payal bristled with annoyance and couldn't believe that someone could be so insulting.
"Dekhiye," Payal started, "what Akash-ji is saying is the truth. We bumped into each other, after which I fainted and he brought me back here to bring me back to consciousness. That is all. Other than that, this is the first formal time that me and him are actually meeting."
"Excuujj me! I'll habs you know ke aaj tak nobhuns has dared to talk to me like this! I know now! It eej only you who has corrupted my only son!" At this, her voice cracked, and she burst into huge, wracking sobs. "Haaayee! Only bhun son I haves. Only bhun! Lekin this girl ..." she paused to take out a handkerchief from the small purse dangling from her wrist and blew her nose into it, hard, then continued, "Isne mere Akaas ko humse cheenliya hai! Akaas ab Manorama ka bitwa hi nahin raha!" and here she sobbed bitterly. (Excuse me! I'll have you know that till date, no-one has dared to talk to me like this ... But this girl ... she has stolen my Akaas from me! Akaas is now no longer Manorma's son!)
Akash and Payal looked over at each other, not quite understanding what to do. Just as Akash stepped forward to comfort his mother, NK rushed into the room, panting, as if he had just run a marathon.
"Quick! Akash! Mami! Nannav .. aur ..." he clutched his sides, unable to grasp his breath, but NK knew he had to get this information out quickly, before things escalated any further.
Manorama stopped sobbing at NK's hasty entry and they all turned to look confusedly at NK, wanting to know what the matter was.
"NK Bhai, kya hua bhai ko? Is everything alright?" Akash asked, slightly starting to panic. (NK Bhai, what's happened to bhai?)
"Nahin! Nannav ... aur ... aur ..."
"Aur kaun, NK bitwa? Ab bataa bhi do, quickleeajj!" Manorama was so interested in wanting to know what NK had to say that she'd completely forgotten that she'd been wailing not less than two minutes ago! (And who, NK bitwa? Now hurry up and tell us already!)
Finally catching most of his breath, NK continued, "Nannav aur Khushi-ji ka Bhangra ho raha hai, neeche! Jaldi, jaldi aaye!" (Nannav and Khushi-ji are doing Bhangra downstairs! Come quickly!)
Looking puzzled at this sudden revelation, neither Manorama, Payal or Akash could figure out what exactly NK was saying.
"Aap sab log Mufti kyun ban gaye ho? Come on, quickly! Quickly! Arnav aur Khushi-ji are doing Bhangra! You know? Dishum, dishum?" Here he started to imitate a boxer's stance and drew out two punches in the air. (Why have you all become statues?)
Upon hearing this, all three understood that NK was referring to Arnav and Khushi as having a jhagra. They all immediately rushed out of the room, to follow NK downstairs where this "bhangra" was taking place.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Arriving back into the present, Arnav realised that Khushi was still ranting, and still shoving him. At this last shove, his back was thrust onto a long white pillar and Arnav was glad that there would be no more shoving.
"You think you're all that because you've got all this wealth and fame to your name?" she continued, "Well, here's a reality check, Mr Raizada; your life is nothing if you've got no-one around you to share all of this with. What exactly is the point of all this," she gestured to the expanse of the mansion, "if you have absolutely no-one around you? I'm telling you one thing Mr Raizada, and it'd do you well to hear me loud and clear; get off your high horse and start appreciating what you have. Because if you don't, I'm afraid you may end up losing everythi-" she was abruptly cut off when Arnav realised exactly the territory she was nearing. He grabbed her by her upper arms again and deftly switched positions so that she was the one backed into the column, and he was the one who was overpowering her.
"Don't you ever, ever talk about things you have absolutely no idea about" he grit out, irked at the nerve of her to mention things he didn't even want to think about. "And another thing that I find it imperative to remind you; it would do you well if you remained within your limits."
At that, Khushi bristled with indignation.
"And what exactly are these limits that you speak of, Mr. Raizada?" she questioned.
"The limits of former employer and employee - whether or not you agree, I was at one point your boss. You did work for me, and you will remember that all that you ever were was an inconsequential swimsuit designer." he shoved her once and then let go of her arms, leaving her to stand solely on the support of the pillar.
It seemed as if the calm, humorous and passionate Arnav of last night had taken a backseat, whilst the ruthless ASR facade had effortlessly slipped back on. Khushi, who was just barely familiar with either of his two personas, couldn't believe her ears. Employer and employee? Had he then forgotten everything that had transpired between the two in the last couple of days? Their interactions had been anything but that of employer-employee!
The way he had caught her when she'd fallen that fateful night.
The way he'd looked at her in the restaurant.
The way they had kissed in the rain.
All forgotten?
Well. Two could play at that game.
"If that's the case, Arnav-ji, then I'm afraid I cannot comply." she looked directly into his eyes, calmly.
"What do you mean, Khushi?" there was an odd tightness in his chest and a small bout of what seemed like fear for the next words that were to come out of her mouth.
"What I mean Arna- Sorry, Mr. Raizada, is that now that my contract with AR is over, I have no connection to you. You were merely my former boss, who gave me a job that gave me as much creative freedom as I could possibly ask for, for which I am truly grateful for. However now that ... this," she gestured to the space in between them, "is over, there's only really one thing I have to say to you."
"What's that?" Arnav asked, puzzled.
"Kaash uss raat ko hum aap ke baahon main gire naa hotein. Kyunki hum ko bachaate bachaate aap khud itna gir gaye." (I wish I had never fallen into your arms that night. Because in saving me, you yourself have dropped so much.)
With that final statement, Khushi had shoved a shell-shocked Arnav out of her way, before picking up her things. She rubbed her eyes furiously, refusing to show any weakness from her side and started making her way towards the door.
However, just before she could make her hasty exit, she heard three voices; one she immediately recognised, another that was vaguely familiar, and a third that was loud, unrecognisable and oh, so shrill.
"Khushi?"
"Bhai?"
"What eej going on heres?!"
A/N: Surprised at the direction this took? I was too! 😆 I really hope you all enjoyed reading it and it met at least some if not all of your expectations. Rom-Com isn't really anything I've dabbled in before, but I've learnt a lot! And what I couldn't give you in Arnav-Khushi, I hope I made up for it with Akash-Payal? Do let me know! 😃
Also just want to appreciate all the amazing work all the writers before me have done and also big, big thanks and hugs to Shiza and Emma for giving me some amazing feedback! And Vee. You hunter, you. 😆🤗
- Anissa x
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