||~Something About You~||#6 *COMPLETED* - Page 44

Hey all, I am here with part 49..

One thing I'd like to thank you all for before the update.. I, as a writer, read all of your comments, & you as readers know only what you have written & what a few others on the 1^st page have written.. So let me inform you guys, most of you started your comments on the last update as, 'I know most won't agree with me..' & 'I know most would hate me for saying this..' or 'This is the 1^st time I feel..' or 'I can't believe I am saying this..' & then all of you mentioned how you got where Khushi was coming from, but at the same time you also got Arnav. Some of you sided with Arnav (for the very 1^st time), some also felt very bad for both.. So thank you! I was afraid, people would hate him for his obstinacy, which all of we do sometimes, including me.. But in not hating him, & not bad mouthing him, you guys have done me a favor, as when people badmouth Arnav, I feel depressed & my writing momentum falls! So thank you for understanding his POV & those who didn't, thank you for reserving you comments till today's update!

Now, 49.. This chapter is dedicated to Jess, the Angel! Enjoy!

Part 48

Part 49

Arnav unseeingly ran down the stairs & when he was a couple of flights away from landing on the 2^nd floor hallway of Nikunja, he stopped & just dropped down on the step he was standing on. He squeezed his eyes shut to just block out the whole world & everything that had happened in the last 15 minutes. Then he opened his eyes again, & he started breathing deeply, heavily as he clenched & unclenched his fists to gain some sort of control over the boundless, destructive, & all-consuming rage he felt storming inside him at that moment.

Then he held his right fist up before his eyes, the ring still enclosed in it. & he just stared at it unbelievingly. It shocked him to his core that, just how much it mattered to him that she threw his token of appreciation for everything she was & everything she reminded him of back to his face. It shook him over how much it mattered to him that she called herself.. He couldn't even bring himself to associate that word with her even in his mind, & she called herself that because of this ring! Arnav swiftly thrust his hand back in his pocket & dropped the ring there, vowing to himself to get rid of it at the first chance he got.

Then he warily rubbed his head over his eyes, trying to understand what had gone wrong. He had known the moment he had kissed her that day in his poolside after Khushi had said she was ready to jump into thing on his terms, that it might have been a direct effect of her finding out about her biological parents. He had known there would come a point when she would question herself & her decision. & that was why he had painstakingly tried to take things slow between them despite his libido strongly urging him to otherwise. Just this evening, with her parading in his own disastrously foolish wardrobe, that no one except him seemed to consider as a malfunction judging by the appreciative glances he saw her receive throughout the whole function, it had been torturous for him not to just go straight to her, hoist her up over his shoulder, & carry her off to some secluded place. But he hadn't listened to his carnal instincts, when it came to Khushi, had he? Because, he had not wanted to take advantage of her, he had not wanted her to regret the time they spent together, he had not wanted her to feel small in her own eyes because of the association between them. & now he had ended up doing all of that without even knowing about it, without even wanting any of it through the aid of this blasted ring. She even cut herself while pulling the damning thing off! & abruptly Arnav snapped his head up from his knuckles as he swore softly & getting up to his feet he went further down the stairs like a possessed person.

He kept chanting, "Be there. Just be there!" as he charged into the small, cozy living room of Nikunja, & then crouching in front of the cabinet under the television, he pulled the middle drawer open, & there he saw it. The first aid box. Just where he had seen Payal put it back after she had tended to the cut on Akaash's finger after he had accidentally acquired it while chopping onions, the morning after they had all stayed over night at Nikunja. He hastily took the bottle of Dettol in his hand & then after rummaging through the contents of the box briefly, when he found there were no adhesive bandages, he just lifted some balls of cotton & small spool of gauze from the box & keeping it back on the drawer, he got up & raced up to the roof again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Khushi actually felt rather than saw someone standing over the threshold of the roof entrance, & she also knew who it was. She waited for him to say something, probably shout some more. But he just stood there, just looking over at her, for so long that, Khushi was just about to start yelling at him all over again when he finally moved & started walking briskly straight towards her.

Arnav came & halted directly in front of Khushi, & then after regarding her side-turned face for a while, he suddenly swooped down & sat in a kneel-down position on the ground in front of her. The movement was so sudden for Khushi, that, she immediately straightened up letting her feet down on the floor. & then she clutched the bench tightly with both her hands as she looked at his bent head with anticipation. He was soaking a wool of cotton with Dettol with undivided attention & the then he suddenly looked up & their eyes clashed.

His eyes were red, bloodshot, but other than that his face looked like carved from stone. His cheeks were drawn so tautly, that Khushi thought he looked a bit pale. & then he held the soaked cotton ball up & looked at her left hand unsurely, & after a moment's hesitation, he reached for her hand slowly, very slowly, as if giving her ample time to move her hand away or tell him off, but she did neither. It was not always all about him. She was hurt, physically & mentally. & she needed some healing. & if physical comfort was the only kind he was capable of offering, she was going to take it for her own good for now. She suddenly jolted as she felt his warm fingers close over her cold ones, & then he gently lifted her hand off of its hold on the bench & after a quick glance at her tear-stained, but now grimly set face, he began to wipe the dried blood away from her finger.

He cleaned her finger & her wound very thoroughly while Khushi sat setting her teeth close together very firmly, careful not to let a single moan or whimper escape from her lips that would expose her as weak in front of him. Once he was done, he again threw her an appraising look & then he started to unroll the small roll of gauze he had brought along, & then holding her ring finger carefully hoisted up, he started rolling the gauze around the small superficial cut just beside the knuckle of the finger. Khushi kept her eyes fixed on the gauze, & he kept his eyes fixed on her downturned features, & once he had rolled the gauze 3 times around the wound, he tore at one end of it, & then very deftly rolling it once again he tied the ends together in a not-too-tight but secure knot. The moment he was done, Khushi tried to pull her hand away, but when she felt him hold onto her fingers, she looked up in an accusing glare.

He in turn looked down at the ground & said in an emotionless drone, "It must be me. I don't know why, but every time I had picked something out for someone.. who meant something to me, I had always ended up hurting them.. The first perfect Red Hibiscus in my small garden? It was so perfect & beautiful, it reminded me of Ma. So, I tore it off, though it was against my own rule to pluck a flower off my plants.. & I was 7 or 8, & I had no idea about her allergy from the pollens.. She couldn't open her eyes for a full-day, it was so swollen.. & Dadi wouldn't even let me near her for the next 3 days, until Ma herself fought with Dadi to see her Chhote!" As he paused for a Khushi just stared at him with an open mouthed stare as he looked on at her hand in his grasp. She couldn't believe he was voluntarily talking about his mother with her, that he talking about his past at all! But before she could react in any way, he looked up at her & asked out-of-the-blue, "Do you know, I bought Anklets for Di once? & I wasn't even so young then! It was right before I went away.. I just saw them while picking something up for Mami, & they reminded me so much of Di's tinkling laugh.. You know, the one when she teases someone?.. I just bought them as a parting gift!" He pressed his lips tightly together & gave a humorless laugh as he ruefully shook his head before saying, "She cried harder seeing them, howling about the 'pitiful uneven sound' they would make if she walked in them, than when she was seeing me off at the airport!"

Khushi felt his words tugging at her heartstrings despite her resolution to stay immune to him, & not that it made everything right between them or anything, but she remembered how he had been there for her, here at this very roof, when she had needed emotional support, even when things were off between them. & mostly, because she did love this emotionally stunted man, she wanted to say something to wash the guilt & self-recrimination off his features, but before she could say anything, he looked straight at her & started, "& tonight also, I brought this ring & you felt-" He stopped as if unable to continue saying what he was about to, & this time, it was Khushi who tightly clutched onto his fingers to make him focus on her as she said determinedly in a strong voice, "Those were just unfortunate, unlucky events, do you hear me? You didn't do anything to be guilty of for so long! You were young, & in Bhaabi's case, a bit insensitive, but none of that were criminal enough to make you feel so bad about yourself still. & this ring.. Tonight-?" This time Khushi paused to gather her thoughts.

& as she saw Arnav looking away from her eyes at the mention of the ring, she tugged at his hand to make him look at her & continued in a rush of speech, "I am neither allergic to a ring, nor does it remind me of some physical weakness of mine, but just tell me, what right do I have to accept a gift that expensive from you? Why should I, Arnavji? Because we made out several times?.. No! You had the right to give something you valued to your Ma, Di had the right to accept something from you, despite how the gifts made them feel. But why should I? I don't know what you feel about this thing other than the obvious fact that we have physical chemistry.. & after all is said & done in the physical department, what do I get left with?! An over-expensive ring??!! Do you honestly not see what does that make me?!" As she finally stopped, she saw Arnav looking at her with huge, incredulous eyes, & she finished tiredly, "I know what 'no strings attached' means.. & I am not demanding any commitments that you're not ready to give! But I honestly don't even know what you really feel about this whole thing, because you bloody won't use your mouth for anything other than just snap at me or kiss me!"

Arnav looked at her distraught face for a while & then he opened his mouth to say something & as Khushi waited with bated breath, no sound immediately came, & when she had just about given up hope, he whispered, "I don't know what to tell you, because I seriously don't know how I specifically feel about.. this thing. But if my silence makes you feel that cheap, then I'll say as much as I know.. & I don't know if it'll make any sense to you, but this much I know.. That collage in your room?" At his prompt question, Khushi blinked her eyes confusedly, & he just continued in a flat whisper, "I hated it that it contained the significant dots of your life & I wasn't in it. That you smiled, & laughed, & breathed & lived, & I wasn't a part of that. That we both existed & neither was a part of another's existence. & I want to be.. I want to be there to see you laugh, & live. & these people out there? Gulping you down with their eyes? It makes me go to a dark place within myself, that I just wanna kick & punch! & I just wanted you alone with me. & I often seem to want you alone with me, at frequent intervals, & once I want that, it's the only thought that dominates my mind, driving all other thoughts away!.. & when I saw you cry that day in here, talking about your mother?.. Red, I'd do anything to never have to see you like that.. &-" He looked down & frantically searched the ground around his feet for some clues about what to say next, & then he just looked up & his eyes pleaded with hers for understanding, "I.. That's all I know right now! That & the fact, that ever since I have come back, pretty much everything that I did & didn't do, have been about you! & the one thing I know certainly right now is, if I've hurt you, albeit unintentionally, & if I have made you feel like a.. If I've made you feel so low about yourself, if I am the reason for your unhappiness, I'd go away! Just say the word, & I'd leave the moment Di's pheras take place & you'll never be miserable because of me again! & I swear, that's all I know!"

~~~~~~~~

As Khushi sat there looking down at his stormy, upturned face, his eyes moving restlessly over her features, she felt warmth slowly spreading through her, & her insides which had turned to ice after hearing the word 'finished' from his mouth, began to melt. She knew he'd probably never feel so deeply or probe his feeling as extremely as to ever think of love or thinking of confessing about any such feelings to her, but, right at that moment, sitting in the cold, windy roof, with her hand in the warm security of his roughened hand, she felt loved as surely as her family had made her feel throughout her life. She took in a long, shaky & unsteady breath, & said in an accusing whisper, "You said we were finished!" He looked at her disbelievingly & half-yelled, "I meant for now! You went all crazy on me all of a sudden, calling yourself what not, & diminishing our.. whatever to such a low level! Aur phir, tumne bhi toh kaha, we were finished! & you even threw the ring at my face!" Khushi gasped at how he counted her follies at one breath so eloquently for an otherwise reticent person, & said half-defensively, half-aggressively, "Kyunki hum aap pe gussa the!" Arnav looked at her fiery expression, & then suddenly said, sounding very tired, "I was angry too, & I say a lot of things, most of which are non-sense, when I am angry.. You do realize that by now, right?"

Khushi slipped onto his lap from the bench so abruptly & so quickly in a swoop of slippery fabric, that it was not possible for Arnav to maintain balance in any way. So, he fell backwards on his hips on the floor of the roof, & Khushi pressed herself firmly to his torso as she whispered furiously looking up at him, "You can't keep doing this to me! You're not good for me!.. But I am no good without you!" & as she glared at Arnav, waiting for him to agree with her & accept his good-for-nothingness, he just studied her face intently for a long moment, & then hauling her abruptly in his arms, he buried his face on the crook of her neck. & as Arnav felt Khushi's arms slowly embracing him around his shoulders, he felt exhaustion washing over him in waves, but he felt he was home at last.

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Precap:

He answered the call & said in a carefully businesslike tone, "Hello!" & he wasn't nearly ready for the blast of happy adulation that hit him from the other side as he heard Khushi's scream, & prayed that the sound didn't carry outside the phone as Khushi ambushed him with, "Arnavji.. I miss you so much!" Arnav immediately felt a grin breaking out on his face, & feeling at least 6 pairs of eyes focused on his face, he stopped the grin mid-ways, & slowly turned the remaining half-smile into a scowling expression by biting on the side of his lower lip thoughtfully as he said as quietly as he could without seeming suspicious, "That's good news. That development is to my satisfaction." He nodded his head for a better stern effect as he heard her instant whine, "But- Don't you miss me?" She sounded annoyed at his formal tone, & Arnav immediately said before any misunderstandings happened, "I am in a meeting right now. But I'll get back to you on this matter as soon as I can." There was a note of promise in his voice as he finished, & in answer he heard her childish giggles, as she asked playfully, "Oh, meeting? I was in one too.. Well, not meeting, class! Amma & Buaji were taking my class for wearing the shortest Choli in Gupta family's history, so I left them to come & call you!"

Arnav pursed his lips to stop another grin from breaking out at her triumphant tone at escaping her Amma & Buaji & said encouragingly, "Great job! I like it when people can take fearless decisions without much hesitation." He nodded his head seriously for his viewers' benefit, all of whom seemed to be too interested in his sudden business call. But his attention was abruptly diverted to his phone as he heard Khushi yelling through it in an annoyed tone, "Shut up with the business crap.. Tell me na, that you've missed me too?" It was a wish that Arnav didn't want to leave unfulfilled, but as he again looked up, he saw that now even Mamaji & Akaash were looking at him with distinct interests on their faces, & he whispered in a commanding voice keeping his face straight, "Behave!" & he heard her gasp of disbelief almost instantly as she asked incredulously, "You reproached me?! Are you complaining that I called you between a meeting??!! Don't you want me to call you?" She sounded so petulant by the end of it, that Arnav just stopped himself at the very last moment from calling out to her as 'Red'.

Arnav looked up at the room full of people again, now angry at all of them for their presence & disturbance during this very enjoyable call, & said in a carefully ceremonial voice, "I am appreciating that, this conference has been done entirely to my satisfaction. I will call you with the remaining details later. & it's been an absolute pleasure doing business with you." & before Khushi could chew his head off for boring her with his 'business crap', he cut the call & instantly looked up at Mr. Shinde to signal him to start his report again.

Part 50

Press 'like' if you do like & don't forget ot let know what you thought of this part!😃

Ha ha shami badla liya 😆

Mein firsht firsht ayi ayi 👏

He he jumping with joy dancing around the bushes🥳

Sami shree kaha hein shernis😉

Isi bath pe ek gana ho jaye

Till I edit and read update

Aaj mausum hein suhana

Farah ke update pe first ane ka he bahana

What the what the what the 😆

Edited again

Farah I reserved my comments for arnav during last update and was waiting for this one

As usual im still confused as what is his feelings towards khushi 😉

I know he needs her so badly but will be reluctant give it a name

It will take more time for him to realize what is the actual thing though, I and we are sure about what khushi felt

Here again your arnav is confusing me to the core but im enjoying it in fullest cause he was and is , from the very beginning clear about his thoughts and what he wants.

But you know one thing farah, this arnav is the most beautiful and special part in ur ff which makes him hatke

But im sure he had come long way since that resolution n after being with her and sharing many precious moments

So im enjoying this ride very much

Loved the update very much and arnv opening up to khushi

I dunno whether u got me and what im trying to say

But some how I believe arnav gonna realize but the other part of my mind is saying let them or him be like what they are , no strings attached .

Precap-they are back to their usual self

I was looking forward to the update and it was so worth it !! Arnav is madly and deeply in love with Khushi but his past won't let him take the plunge and make a commitment. I just loved Arnav's dialogue where he expresses what he feels about the arrangement between them. He can say a paragraph about what he feels for her but won't say the three magical words. Sigh !!

Originally posted by: clarissajohn

Ha ha shami badla liya 😆

Mein firsht firsht ayi ayi 👏

He he jumping with joy dancing around the bushes🥳

Sami shree kaha hein shernis😉

Isi bath pe ek gana ho jaye

Till I edit and read update

Aaj mausum hein suhana

Farah ke update pe first ane ka he bahana

What the what the what the 😆