||~Something About You~||#8 *COMPLETED* - Page 16

The Sangeet function was over, the guests were leaving, & all the Guptas & the Raizadas were saying their goodbyes & issuing insistence invitations to all the parting guests, when Khushi picked up a few of the props she & NK had used in some of their routines, & made her way towards the Guesthouse, feeling happy & exhausted at the same time. She was just thinking how the Sangeet had been good, & how everyone had enjoyed themselves, & how everyone had appreciated her acts, & she had almost reached the Guesthouse, when suddenly a shot out & pulled her gently behind a bushy shrub. Khushi gasped at the suddenness of the action, but she was neither shocked nor afraid as she already knew who could pull her away with such an exercise of right over her. She let of the inconsequential props & held onto his shoulders as his arms pulled her tightly into his body by circling around her waist, & asked him flippantly, "Abb kya??(Now what??)"

Arnav leaned over & pressed an open mouthed kiss just under her right ear & whispered against her ear lobe, "What did Samiya tell you about me then?" & he instantly felt Khushi shaking slightly with giggling laughter, & then she said in a voice laced with mischief, "That's for me to know & you to find out!" Arnav grinned himself at her cheekiness, & dropping a brief kiss on her temple, he informed her, "I am gonna go & drop off Sammy & Uncle down at the resort they are staying.. There's been a shortage of drivers. You go & take rest, ok? Goodnight, Red!" & he leaned over & pressed a lingering kiss on her forehead, when he felt Khushi's hand going inside his Sherwani through the parting on the front & grope at the sides of his Kurta.

Aranv immediately put his hands over hers over the Sherwani & stilled her movements & said gruffly, "What did I say about going rummaging around my pockets?? It's hazardous for my health, Red!" Khushi looked up at him petulantly & complained moodily, "Where did you keep the ring, Arnavji???" Arnav looked at her pouting lips & then looking up with twinkling eyes, he said with his tongue in his cheek, "That's.. for me to know & you to find out!" With that he left her & had taken a few steps away when he heard Khushi huff & murmur, "Rakshas! Laad governor!" Arnav didn't look over, but threw over his shoulder, stifling his laughter, "Suna maine! (I heard that!)" Khushi gasped at being caught like this, but quickly covering her uneasiness, she stomped her foot & yelled defiantly at his retreating back, loud enough for him to hear, "Haan, toh?? Suna na?? Abb yaad bhi rakhiyega! (Yeah, so?? You heard na?? Now remember it too!) You are a Rakshas!"

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Khushi fixed the dupatta of the white pastel colored floral Lehenga choli & thanked Arnav mentally for the surprise package she had received earlier in the evening. The package had contained two blouses for her the Lehengas she was supposed to wear on the Haldi tonight & the wedding the day after tomorrow. They were exactly identical to the blouses she had originally received, except they were more modest & allowed her to casually leave off her dupatta across her body & not twist & turn & drape it tactically around her body to cover her skin. With the ethereal white Lehenga & her hair styled in loose, voluptuous waves, Khushi thought she looked very nice. & then she felt an excitement at the thought of seeing Arnav. The color theme for the Haldi was white today. While the brides would wear patches of Red with their whites, everyone else was going to stick to pastels with their white, & as Khushi remembered how Arnav had looked at the day of the Engagement in his white Kurta, she felt a flutter of anticipation in the pit of her stomach.

She made her way to the Main house. She had come back to change in her Lehenga after she had left Payal & Anjali sitting down at their places on the stage set on the big hall of the Main house. She had had her make-up & hair done with the brides earlier, & while arranging the brides' elaborate Lehenga's aesthetically around them, she had repeatedly stolen glances at the stage made for the grooms at the opposite end of the large hall. But she had only seen NK arranging a few pots here & there, not the person she had been looking for. As per Anjali's Dadi's instructions, the Haldis of the bride & groom could only be held together, at the same place, if appropriate amount of separation was maintained between the functions. Everything was being done according to Anjali's Dadi today actually. She had even postponed the Haldi functions from daytime to an evening function, as her Panditji could only perform the Havan for the brides & grooms this morning & no time else. She also didn't want the brides & the grooms to meet post the Haldi rituals. Hence Khushi saw HP & his brother's scampering around the middle of the hall, trying to suspend the long Blue stoles hanging from above, creating a kind of semi-transparent screen. Then they started adding mirror hangings, & white flower garlands in close proximity to each other over the Blue curtains to make the screen opaque. Khushi huffed disappointedly. Now even if he came to that side, where the grooms' Haldi would be held, she won't be able to see him.

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Khushi carried the silver tray laden with bowls made form clay filled with a paste of saffron, sandalwood powder and turmeric, brushes made of grass, rosewater, turmeric sticks, red threads strung around an iron knife, named Kangana, which would be tied to the hands of the brides & the grooms for protection, betel nut & rose petals up the stage as Buaji asked to her to bring it by, & then put down the tray in front of the brides. Naniji came forward, took up the brushes made of grass, dipped them in the paste of turmeric & applied it to Payal's feet, knees, hands, shoulders and head seven times from bottom to top and then from top to bottom. Buaji came forward & did the same to Anjali. Immediately afterwards Anjali's Dadi came & repeated the ritual with Payal, while Garima came & repeated the ritual with Anjali. Then Shashi & Manohaar came & blessed both the brides as they bent down to touch their feet in turn. & finally Naniji tied the Kangana on Payal's right hand & Garima tied the Buaji tied the Kangana on Anjali's right hand. & right after that, at Manorama's gesture, the Dholwali women started singing folk songs & an aura of festivity surrounded the whole hall.

Buaji came forward & said patting Khushi's cheek affectionately, "Aye Titaliya, will you now carry the platter to the other side of the hall to the grooms' stage, or should I call someone for that?" Khushi shook her head & started to say that it was not a problem & she'd do that, but she stopped as Buaji gasped dramatically as her hands went up beside her head as if to catch the sides of her head, but then she seemed to remember something & promptly brought them down & lamented to Khushi, "Nand Kissore, ee dekho hum kaa kar diye! Parmesswari ke chaand jaise chehre ko pura Bharat ka tiranga bana diya! (Nand Kissore, look what I have done! I have converted Parmesswari's beautiful as moon face into the flag of India!)" Clued in at her words, Khushi's hand rose up & touched her right cheek tentatively & she felt a thick smudge of turmeric paste there, & when she saw Buaji coming towards her with her pallu held in place in her hand to wipe the paste away from her cheek, Khushi hastily pulled away as she thought about the hour she had spent with the hair & make-up artists some hours ago, & said to Buaji in an alarmed voice, "No, Buaji! It's OK. As it is, sometime later, I bet, I'd be covered in more paste than this!" Buaji looked at her with narrowed eyes for a long moment & then waved Khushi to follow her to the grooms' stage & murmured loud enough for Khushi to hear, "Sanka devi is looking more Sanki with only half of her face covered in so much paste!"

Khushi bit her lips to conceal her smile from Buaji & as soon as she entered the other side of the hall as Buaji held back the partition for her, she saw him. & as if sensing her presence there by some unknown force of nature, he turned his face in her direction at exactly that moment, & holding onto her gaze for a prolonged moment, he made her gasp in shock as he suddenly winked at her with a smirk.

Khushi stood patiently, ignoring his eyes scanning & boring into her whole form the entire time that his Nani, Dadi & her Amma & Buaji performed the same rituals they had performed on the brides here on the grooms. Once the Kanganas were bound on both Rohan & Akaash's left hand, Khushi took up the silver tray & carefully stepped down from the stage to keep it aside. There were small clay bowls full of turmeric paste & grass brushes kept on each stage & this tray was blessed & all by Panditji, hence Buaji asked her to put it away somewhere inside the house so that it didn't get ruined or toppled over by someone. Khushi nodded & walked out of the hall to a sideways passage & made her way towards the kitchen. She kept the tray on the kitchen table, draped it over with a tray cloth & was making her way back to the hall through the passage way, when she collided with something solid blocking her way.

She felta pair of strong arms hold her so snugly that her feet almost dangled in the air & then she was pressed against the wall as she looked up at Arnav's molten caramel eyes. But she promptly looked away pouting & said, "Did you have to go to office even today? You missed the Havan!" Arnav took advantage of her turned away profile, & rained butterfly kisses all over her left cheek, left ear, & then said against her jaw, "What happened in the Havan? What did I miss.. beside you?" Khushi bit her lower lip to stifle the moan that threaten to escape her mouth at the way her stomach fluttered at his admission that he had missed her & then she said in a tremulous voice, "A small prayer was done to bless the wedding clothes and jewelry and the bangles which Jiji & Bhaabi will wear.. & I missed you too. A lot!" Arnav pulled back a little, & Khushi saw his eyes were as dark as burnt caramel with passion, & then he leaned in to press a kiss over each eyelid of her, then he kissed the tip of her nose & lingered there for a moment & Khushi felt she would be having an asthma attack any moment at the rate she was having difficulty breathing. Arnav leaned further down, & asked a breath away from her lips, "Red?.. Did you bathe in Haldi today?"

The spell was broken as Khsuhi gasped comically loudly & pushed at his chest to move his lips away from her, & then glaring at him, she got hold of his nape with her right hand & reaching up on her tiptoes, she rubbed her right cheek onto his left cheek, effectively smearing his stubble with Haldi all over. & then she looked up at him, & a giggling laughter left her lips despite herself. & ignoring Arnav's narrowed warning gaze, she blurted, "Gaal pe Haldi laaga ke aap bilkool cartoon jaise- (With Haldi on your cheek, you fully resemble a cartoon-)" But she immediately broke off as Arnav's eyes narrowed to slits & gone was the Arnav who was kissing her a moment ago ardently, as he gritted out, "Stop it! Hasna band karo, Khushi Kumari Gupta! (Stop giggling!) I didn't apply Haldi to my cheek, you did!" Khushi shrugged her shoulders daringly, & then grabbing his left hand, she dragged him behind her towards the brides' stage as she said over her shoulder, "Small technicalities. The point is, you are now a cartoon!" & then she giggled again much to Arnav's absolute irritation.

Once at the edge of the stage, Khushi didn't climb on it, but pushed Arnav discreetly towards it as she knew how much Anjali was looking for her brother. Then she went to sit down beside the singing women who were now singing folk Panjabi song, But before she went away she heard Anjali's overjoyed voice, "Chhote! Now you've come! & oh!! You also have Haldi on you! Chalo, yeh kaam bhi poora ho gaya!! (Good, even this task is completed!!)" Khushi giggled as she could feel a pair of angry eyes boring onto the back of her skull, & then she went & sat down amongst the folk singers & started clapping & swaying rhythmically with them.

Her half concentration was on Arnav, Anjali & her Jiji on the stage, when she heard the wordings of the song going on beside her.

Heer Heer na akho odiyo, Main te Sahibaan hoye,
Ghodi leke aaye le jaaye, Ghodi leke aaye le jaaye,
Le jaaye Mirza koi, Le jaaye Mirza koi,

Having grown up in Delhi, Khushi understood Panjabi pretty well, so she understood, the girl in the song was telling her friends to call her Sahibaan, not Heer, so that one day her Mirza can come & take her away on his horse. Khushi let out a deep sigh, & looked at Arnav wistfully. She could relate to the song. Although Heer was the more famous lover, & although Mirza-Sahibaan died in the end, the girl in the song still wanted to be called Sahibaan & wanted her fate, cause what can death rob you off, if you had the love of your beloved, & he himself by your side when you breathed your last? Ranjha had married another suitor, but Mirza had come for his lover to take her away. & suddenly all Khushi could think of was, wasn't that enough? To be loved back, totally & irrevocably, by the one you love? To be not left alone by him? To be the one for him? Khushi knew, if someone offered her the chance to be Arnav's, in every sense of the word, & that too in front of the whole world, but just for day, she'd happily accept death the other day. Khushi felt her eyes well up with tears as she heard the words of the song as if through her soul.

Naal naal tur na te vith rakhna
hadd rakh lena wich dil rakhna,
chhanve chhanve paawe assi teri parchhawe tur na

walk closely with me only, don't leave any distance in between,
mark a boundary, and keep the heart in between.
I find shade under your shadow only..

Khushi again looked at him & suddenly her heart was gripped with a numbing fear. What if he never changed his opinion about marriage? Would she let that create a wedge between them? Knowing how much she loved him, knowing how much he meant to her, & also knowing what his problem with marriage was & for what reason, would she let their differences in ideologies drive them apart? Then Khushi remembered some advice she had had last night from a very sensible mind.

Sometimes I used to think, he'd never care enough about a girl to even see her in a different light!..

He must be really into you!..

Call the shots, set the pace you want it to progress at.

& just like that Khushi knew what she wanted. She wanted him. Only him.. if that was all he was offering. & she wanted to be his. Only his. With all of her being, if he'd take her. & if he had hang-ups about naming their relationship & putting it into boxes labeled as 'love' or 'marriage', then she wasn't going to push him away because of that. It was final. She wanted to be his Sahibaan today, even if that meant she had to embrace her death tomorrow.

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