New ARSHI FF- Beauty And Her Prince- Chap 19 - Pg 91/ July 1 - Page 21

Arnav closed his eyes frustrated after swinging his hand in air shouting 'DAMN IT!'. A moment later he opened his eyes to find a lean figure standing few feet apart from him. He starred in the direction for a second with no interest to know the person and then back at his cell. Then out of nowhere he heard a loud gasp which made him look back at the person again and that was when he saw 'her'. He was more than astonished to see her that he even forgot to breath. "Am I dreaming? Is she for real? Is she really here, in front of me, now? What is she doing here? Is she here alone at this late hour? Is she ok? She does look ok.", he looked at her top to bottom to make sure. She was wearing a simple white cotton salwar, her hair left loose as it danced with the blowing wind and the moonlight doubling her beauty by illuminating her face.

Arnav stood there dumbfounded by her beauty. She was looking like an angel. "She looks more beautiful now than in afternoon. She really is here. Her face, she looks terrified but why?" Then suddenly it hit him, "Is she terrified of 'me'? I did shout at her this afternoon and SHIT, even now I was shouting. She must think I am a psycho. Shall I apologize to her for this afternoon's behaviour? No, why should I and for what? What happened was her fault." His inner self fought with itself, his ego trying to win over his heart. One part of him was shouting at him to ignore her and leave, that she is not important, that she is a nobody and doesn't deserve special attention from the mighty ASR. While the other part was reasoning with him to grab this opportunity and talk to her, to not deny his feelings, to accept that she is beautiful and to make him realize that she is more important to him than he is thinking.

As his heart overtook his every other thought, Arnav involuntarily took a step towards her. He saw her eyes immediately go wide, turning into big saucers while she stared at him. Before he could react to his action or her reaction, before he could process what happened, he felt his breath hitch again as his eyes met hers. And then suddenly she turned around and started walking away from him. He stood there perplexed. Not sure what to do, whether to stop her or not. He could feel the uneasiness, frustration and anger returning. "What is happening to me?", he questioned himself more confused than ever in his life as his throat went dry and his body numb. He did nothing but watch her as she walked further away from him.

Khushi nervously took quick steps pondering, "He was staring at me again like he did this noon, wasn't he? Why does he gawk at me alone, he was not looking at Lavanya like that and why the hell do I get goosebumps all over my body when he does that? Even this afternoon it was the same. Is he still angry about his phone - Hey Devi Maiya! 'HIS PHONE', I broke his phone. And... and I forgot to apologize. Sorry for doubting you Devi maiya. I get it now, you are helping me. You made him stand in front of me and I am running away." She stopped walking and smacked herself on head with her right hand.

Khushi argued with herself, "Come on Khushi, you have to do this. Even Devi Maiya wants you to. But he looks very angry, What if he shouts at me like this afternoon? Maybe it's better if I talk to him when he is in a good mood. Idiot, think already. You met him twice in one day and did you find him in a better mood? I don't think this Laad Governer will ever be in a good mood. Khushi stop ranting everything will be fine, just walk to him and apologize. And if he shouts at you tell him clearly to mind his words and that you will get him a new cell if he wants. Or even better run before he could say anything to you. But why should I run? I will make it clear to him that he doesn't own me and should learn to talk politely to others. Yes, this is perfect, I will tell him that. Now move Khushi, the sooner you get done with this apology the better you would feel." Finally coming to the decision Khushi turned back to face him.

Arnav stood anchored to the spot watching Khushi walk away when she stopped abruptly and smacked her head. Arnav narrowed his eyes trying to figure out what he just saw, wondering if it was all his imagination. Then without warning she turned around and looked at him. He couldn't read her face from this far but was now sure he was not dreaming. She moved towards him one step at a time, making him more curious and anxious. "Is she coming towards me? No, why would she? Did I say something to her now? I don't remember calling her. Then... Is she still angry about this afternoon's incident? Should I apologize for what I said? WAIT, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? You are ASR and ASR never apologizes. Maybe I am over imagining. May be she had to go this way. Ya, ya, that makes sense. Maintain your cool Arnav, she is just passing by." Anav tried to reason with himself in an attempt to slow down his heart beat which for some reason is becoming more rapid by every second as she came closer to him.

Khushi saying silent prayer to her favourite goddess came to a stand still just a few feet away from Arnav. He could see her clearly now and so could she. Arnav gawked her forgetting even to blink. Trying hard to think straight, he analyzed,"She is here. She is really here to talk to me. Wonder about what? If she is here to retort on everything that happened and that I said, I am not going to back down. I will make it clear that it was her mistake for not watching where she was walking, that she bumped into me breaking my phone in the process." A part of him was jumping with joy while the other was getting ready to roar when needed.

Khushi saw him gawk at her as she walked close to him. Even her heart started to pick up pace. "What is wrong with my heart? Why is it beating so fast? May be because of anxiety. All because of this man and his eyes." she told to herself as she tried taking deep breaths to reduce her so called anxiety. As she stopped before him, she tried hard to look directly at him but failed to hold her gaze for long. Deciding that it is impossible for her to look into those balls which held so much intensity in them she looked down to the ground. Both stood still listening to their heart beats, trying to slow them down. Both nervous for their own reasons. "Hey Devi Maiya! this is more tough than I thought. Why is it so difficult to apologize to him? But anyway now that I am here, I better get on with it." Khushi gathered her courage and uttered, "Hi..." but it came out barely as a whisper. Disappointed at herself, she cleared her choked throat trying to get some voice out.

The loud noise of her throat brought Arnav back to his senses making him blink his eyes as he observed her up close. Khushi gave another failed attempt as she said, "Hi, I... I.. I mean..". She cursed herself for getting herself into this messy situation. Arnav looked at her trying to figure out what she was trying to say. Before he could decipher it, he saw Khushi take a huge breath and blurted out in one go, "Hi, I am the girl from this afternoon. I forgot to tell you then and I felt bad about myself for forgetting it. I know you must have thought I am a very ill mannered girl for walking away like that. But you were all out shouting and my friend was also shouting and let me first tell you she is a nice girl, she was just trying to protect me. She thought you were harassing me which you were not, it was a misunderstanding she had and I cleared it out, don't worry...what was I saying .. Aah! you both were shouting and the situation was getting out of hand and I thought that dragging her from there was the best thing to do. Also I figured out you were warning me about my friend and I got really scared and ..." She stopped gasping for air and looked up at him.

Arnav was amused by how much this girl can speak. He couldn't help but let out a small, tiny smile escape between his lips. He was still not sure what she was trying to say or why she was here but he was in no hurry now. He knew she would keep explaining till he understood and she was not done yet. He was just enjoying the moment - "She was talking to him."

Here Khushi was also amused by the sight of thin smil escaping his lips. "Is he smiling? He does knows how to smile. May be that means he is in a good mood. I might have worried unnecessarily. Wait, he must think I am a fool to blabber like that. I literally made no sense. He must be laughing at me. But he does look different when he smiles, more ... STOP! Khushi focus, focus.", she said to herself. This time she was looking directly at him as she spoke gently, "I umm... I am sorry for blabbering like that. I didn't know what came over me. I felt bad about this afternoon and wanted to apologize. I was in a hurry to take my friend away because of the whole argument. She was not at fault, she was just trying to defend me. It was my fault for not watching where I was going. I even broke your phone. I am really sorry for the whole mess. You were shouting at me before I even realized what had happened and I panicked. Sorry again. That was all I wanted to say."

Arnav didn't know what to say, he was standing like a breathing statue as he replayed what she just said. "She was here to apologize. I thought she was going to get mad at me for shouting at her and she is saying sorry instead. I agree she was at fault but what I did was much worse than what she did. And instead of shouting back at me like I did, she is saying 'sorry' to 'me'. How can she not be angry at me? What is this girl? " Arnav never apologized, not even when he was at fault because he always thought saying sorry was a sign of weakness. But here she was apologizing for something which was a mere accident that too after taking his wrath and she sure didn't look like a weakling to him. This made Arnav look at her in an Aawww.

Khushi getting impatient with no response from him said, "If you are thinking about the broken cell, don't worry I will get you a new one. You just tell me the model and I will try to get it as soon as possible. But how can I contact you, your cell is broke. Or you can give me your address and I will mail it to you. Or if you want ..."

Arnav cut her off before she could come up with any more ideas, "I was not thinking about the phone."

"Oh! ... ok. You were standing all lost in thoughts...and ... so I assumed that you are ... Sorry, my bad. I am really sorry for everything", she stammered feeling like an idiot.

"I .. I mean ... I was thinking about something else. I don't need a new phone. You need not apologize so many times. It was an accident. Even I overreacted a bit. I .."

Khushi spoke before Arnav could complete what he was saying. She back to her carefree self said more confidently, "You need not apologize. It was my mistake. I under..."

"EXCUSE.ME. I was not apologizing.", came a strong answer in a definite tone. His ego was hurt and ASR took over.

Khushi was taken aback by Arnav's response and involuntarily took a step back. Raising her guard again she recapitulated what happened, trying to figure out what was it she said that made him furious.

Realizing what he had just said Arnav mentally cursed himself for snapping like that. The impact of his action was clearly visible on her face. For the second time today he failed to talk to her properly. He just ruined his second chance. "Why is it hard for me to hold a decent conversation with her? There is definitely something wrong with me today? Why am I behaving like a misanthropic person? Am I always this irritable?", he questioned himself regretting his every action.

Khushi stood silent, her face facing down as she thought, "What is it with this guy? He was just smiling a few seconds back. Maybe it was just my imagination and he really doesn't know to smile. I was just trying to stop him from apologizing because I thought he was.. Anyway forget it now. Before this Laad Governer shouts at me again I must leave. I did what I came to do, so no point in standing here anymore."

Arnav looked at her trying to say something but before he could get words out he saw her throw a light smile at him and turn to leave. "This is it. She is leaving. This might be the last time you will see her. She will always remember you as an arrogant person. You must be happy now that you successfully drove her away. This is all your fault. This is because of your temper and your ego. Do something she is walking away from you . STOP HER." his heart was shouting to him trying to make him aware of what was happening, what he was losing.