The Trampled Butterfly #2 Check index for Th3 link - Page 27

He knocked on the wooden oak door twice before he heard the familiar 'Come in' and stepped inside. Arnav had come here to hand over some documents to his Dadi but he had instead found her relaxing on her arm chair while her head was being massaged by none other than Khushi, standing behind her.

They had been conversing with each other, but it stopped the minute he had entered the room and instead, he found both the ladies smiling at him.

"Hi Dadi." He greeted the old woman, but his eyes were concentrating on the person behind her. And this one little gesture wasn't missed by Dadi's observant eyes.

"Hi Arnav. I was waiting for you." Dadi replied, taking over the papers from his hand, while maintaining her gaze on him the whole time.

"Want to have a massage too?" she grinned mischievously, earning a puzzled look from him.

"No Dadi. I'm good without it." He replied, turning around to leave. But his Dadi was in full mood to pull his leg, especially remembering Ranvijay's earlier words.

"You have no idea what you are refusing Arnav. The magic of Khushi's hands can never be replicated by anyone."

"I'm sure she is good." Arnav replied, flashing his lopsided smirk at his Dadi.

"You won't realise how good she is until you actually experience it. Khushi, I think I'm done here. Why don't you give him a head massage too?" Dadi suggested, turning around to face the girl behind her who seemed a bit uneasy or embarrassed at the offer. But Dadi knew Khushi would never refuse and saw her walk silently towards Arnav, who seemed even more red faced than her.

"Chotey Saab, can you sit on that chair?" Khushi pointed at the wooden chair in a corner, but Arnav refused.

"No, I'll sit on the floor. You sit on the bed. You've been standing for a long time." Arnav replied, taking his place on the carpeted floor before she could protest.

Not bad. Dadi grinned to herself, observing the exchanges between the two. Indeed, Cupid was striking arrows on the right targets.

Khushi silently climbed on the bed behind him and placing her legs on either sides of him, she spurted some oil on her hand and began to massage his scalp with her finger tips, all the while feeling awkward at the whole arrangement.

Arnav seemed tense at first, but as the seconds ticked by and the magic of Khushi's hands began its work, he was getting comfortable and relaxed.

"I heard that Khushi, here, took good care of you while I was away." Arnav began switching his gaze between his grandmother and his best friend, smirking at the former and smiling at the latter. "I also heard you both watch English movies together."

Dadi's infectious laugh echoed throughout the room, making the other two to join along with her.

"Atleast something or should I say, someone, is grabbing your attention. I thought you didn't care about us anymore." Dadi replied back wittily, with a mischievous glint in her eyes, wanting to tease her grandson a bit.

Indeed, she was rewarded with a raised eyebrow from him, concluding that her words had hit the right mark.

"How else do you expect an old lady to spend her time in this old mansion with no one around her? All my three sons were away from home." Dadi continued, sighing, lost in her thoughts. "The old lady's got to do something to entertain herself." She chuckled coming back to the present. "You know, I'm sure God sent me an angel in the form of Khushi because I had no daughters. If it weren't for her, I don't know how I would have survived those eight years. All that cake baking, movie watching, flower gardening as well as those teeny weeny afternoon gossips about the town people was only possible because of her."

"Teeny weeny gossips or tabloid page 3 gossips?" Arnav sneered, looking up at Khushi. But this, time, he suddenly felt, a warmth of pride radiating in his chest while gazing at her, knowing that his best friend had been the reason for his Dadi's happiness during all those years spent away from her.

"You know after you left to London, this house seemed so deserted and lifeless without you. Afterall, you were notorious for creating ruckus in my bedroom everyday." Dadi chuckled remembering the good old days.

"And then, I realised that I wasn't the only one who was terribly missing you." She said, looking towards Khushi. "We both needed company and well, the rest is history."

"It seems that you like her more than me now." Arnav protested, scowling at her.

"Looks like someone is feeling envious about us." Dadi sniggered at him. "Isn't it Khushi?"

Khushi who was all the while, silently listening to the conversation between the two, giggled at Dadi's words, earning a glare from Arnav.

"Are you both teaming up against me?" Arnav leaned back his head to look at her, towering above him and she responded with a wink, only to have him narrow his eyes at her. And Dadi observed a myriad of expressions silently exchange between the two, as if they had suddenly forgotten about the third person in the room.

She knew both the friends had a lot to catch up on and wanting to let the two of them spend some time alone, Dadi walked out of her room on the pretext of taking her medicines.

Now it was just the two of them behind the closed doors and the only sounds that interrupted the silence surrounding them was their low buzz of their breaths.

"You really do have the magic in your hands." He exclaimed, leaning back his head further on her lap, meeting her eyes while her fingers moved towards his temples, concentrating on the pressure points in that region.

"Don't flatter me Chotey Saab." Khushi smiled at him, but he knew that she was embarrassed with all the sudden praises showered on her.

He sighed and closed his eyes as he felt her fingers graze innocently on the fine edges of his jaw, rubbing over his light five o'clock stubble while they travelled downwards towards his shoulder blades, drawing circles on his collar bone. He slipped open the first button of his shirt so that she could get better access to it.

How do you describe that feeling when you let everything within you release in that one moment and you feel nothing but light and relaxed?

The last sane thought that he remembered was feeling her thumbs kneading his nape and the drowsiness hit him before he could even react.

And soon, the room was filled with content snores and a sigh as Arnav leaned his head on Khushi's lap and slept like a bear in hibernation.

"I hope you didn't drug him." Dadi laughed as she returned back to the room and found her grandson snoozing like a baby.

"I guess he was just too tired of carrying his burdens." Khushi replied, moving aside a strand of hair from his forehead, nothing being missed out by the old and wise Dadi.

"Wake him up or are you planning to spend the rest of your night here?" Dadi chuckled at the sight.

"Dadiji, it's never wise to wake up someone from deep sleep. And as a best friend, I'm sure I can atleast do this much for him. He worked a lot today."

"Even you work a lot dear." Dadi walked towards her and enveloped her in a small hug. "I'm sure Arnav would agree to it. So let's wake him up after some time."

And Khushi did nothing but smile, hearing praises from the two people apart from her Buaji who meant the world to her.

o0o

It was cold. Why was it cold?

And he was wet. Why was he wet?

Nothing made sense.

He was sleeping beside the warm fireplace, a cosy blanket enveloping him. So why did he feel cold and wet?

And then he heard voices. Two female voices to be precise.

"You're evil'" And something, something. He couldn't hear it clearly.

"It's three hours, Khushi'" he heard another voice. Why was he hearing voices? Where was he?

And he felt wet again. His face was wet, he realised. Was it raining?

"Arnav!" he heard the older voice and slowly opened his drowsy eyes to find hazel ones smiling above him.

"Hi!" he replied dreamily, smiling at her and suddenly felt cold, freezing water being sprayed all over his face.

"What the hell!" he groaned to straighten his body only to realise a minute later about his position. In front of him, was his Dadi glaring at him with one hand on her hips and the other hand holding a water sprayer and she was spraying the chilled water on his face.

And then, he noticed where he was. He was still lying between Khushi's legs on the floor, his one arm wrapped around her leg, his head just raised from her lap and with groggy eyes, he turned back to look at her giggling at him.

"Finally, you woke up. I thought I would have to bring a siren to wake you up." Dadi replied to the confused mind.

"Where am' how did I end up' what am I'?" his mouth opened and closed like a gold fish and tried hard to remember and the last thing he remembered was getting a nice relaxing head massage from Khushi. "Oh!" he drawled as he finally put together the things.

"Oh yes!" Dadi nodded her head.

"I slept?" he asked foolishly to hear another giggle from Khushi behind him.

"For three hours on Khushi's lap, and that poor girl couldn't even get up for the entire time. And this stupid girl is no less." Dadi now glared at Khushi. "I had told her to wake you up in one hour and when I returned back to my room, you both were still lying in the same position I left you in. Now get up silly boy. Time for dinner and leave the room for this poor old lady." She admonished both of them.

"I'm so sorry Dadi." He murmured, getting up and didn't realise when he had pulled Khushi out along with him, holding her hand, the gesture not being missed out by the vigilant eyes of his Dadi.

"You should be apologising to her. Afterall, she was the one who sat still for the entire three hours so that your precious sleep is not disturbed." Dadi replied, closing the door on their faces before he could react and a huge smile now spread on her face as she walked towards her bed.

Indeed, she was seeing a lot of things.

Arnav stared at the closed door, not knowing what to do, until he finally felt a little squeeze on his fingers. It was then that he realised that his fingers were entwined with hers and that he was holding her hand.

"You should have woken me up, you know. I didn't know how I fell asleep." He apologised with a sorry face, feeling annoyed with himself.

"It happens. Afterall, it's the magic of my fingers." Khushi winked at him. "And you were sleeping so peacefully that I didn't have the heart to disturb you." And Arnav could do nothing than smile at the girl who had sat still for him, just so that he wouldn't be disturbed.

Did his heart just lurch with excitement at that thought? Maybe it did.

"Chotey Saab, I should go home. It's late and Buaji will be waiting for me." She replied, as cue for him to let go of her hand and he nodded, leaving her hand reluctantly.

He watched her turn around and walk, only to stop suddenly to cuss something under her breath.

"Khushi, what happened?" he was instantly beside her.

"Nothing Chotey Saab, just stupid cramps on my leg. It's just numb after sitting in one position for a long time. It will be alright in few minutes." Khushi replied, painfully dragging her leg.

"Oh God!" Arnav smacked his own head. It was all because of him and he was annoyed even more with himself. "You cannot walk like that."

"Do I have any other choice?" she retorted back.

"You know what'" he quickly got down on his heels, bent down at her feet. "Which one is it?"

"The left one." She replied and gasped with panic as he suddenly held her foot in his hands, placing it on top of his knee and she was left with no other choice than to grab his shoulders for support, lest she lose balance and fall down backwards.

"Whoa! Atleast warn me in advance before knocking me down on the ground." She exclaimed in horror but his ears were not tuned to her voice.

Rather, he was rubbing her cold left leg vigorously between his palms to warm it up so that blood would start circulating sooner in her arteries.

"Chotey Saab, what are you doing?" she shrieked softly, towering her entire weight on his shoulders. "I'm going to fall."

"Oh no, you won't." he replied looking at her and smiled. "I won't let you fall." He assured her with such confidence that made her feel warm and fuzzy with his words.

She observed his thumbs rolling in circles at the base of her ankle, his fingers squeezing every toe delicately sending sparks all over her back.

Had her breathing stopped? Why were her ears turning deaf with a slight buzz and her head spinning dizzy? Why was she feeling like a jelly when his fingers intertwined with the little gaps between her toes? Why did the warmth of his palms suddenly feel like hot coals over her cold skin?

"Feeling better." He asked, keeping her foot down after five minutes of rubbing.

"Yes." She lied. How could she tell him that he should stop because he was making her feel warm and gooey inside her when he touched her like that?

"Are you sure?" he asked, once again and she nodded quickly.

"I'm really late. I have to go." Khushi pretended to walk properly but only she knew how painful those pricks on her feet felt like.

"It's really dark outside. I'll come along with you till your house." Arnav quickly suggested. Afterall, it was only because of him that she was late.

"No, it's alright. I know my way." Khushi replied futilely only to have Arnav was beside her within a second, walking along with her as she stepped out through the back door of the Raizada Manor.

It was one thing to have your 'Chotey Saab' sleeping in your lap like a baby for three long hours. Atleast, he was not awake and all the butterflies in her stomach could be put to rest. But to have him awake and touching you in that way was too much for her to calm down her racing heart.

What was happening to her? First it was that hug. And now this.

What happened that suddenly changed the dynamics between the two of them?

It was dark and quiet around them, as they walked down the slope of the valley towards her small cottage. Other than the occasional sounds of the crickets chirping at night, she could only hear the rustle of dried leaves beneath their footfalls.

"Your leg is still hurting you right?" Arnav immediately pointed out, breaking the silence between them. "Do you want me to carry you?"

"Huh?" Khushi turned towards him with alarm, her eyes widening like saucers at his suggestion. "Nooo'. I'm fine. I'm fine." She stammered, faking a smile at him. "My leg is perfect. No pain, no pricks at all. It feels like it's floating in heaven." And she was rewarded with a chuckle from his side.

They continued to walk, until he interrupted once again, only this time, his voice warmer than ever before. "Thank you for the afternoon treat. It was a pleasant surprise."

Khushi remained quiet, but he knew she was listening. "And I'm glad that we are talking. And thank you for even helping me out in the afternoon. I don't know what I would have done without you."

"And thank you for that massage." He tried to entwine his fingers with hers, as they walked side by side. But somehow, they always ended up slipping from his grip, by an inch.

"Do you want to bury me with your 'Thank you's?" she laughed and heard him chuckle at her reply. They continued walking in silence, until he suddenly stopped, seeing the cottage just a few feet away from them. "I'm sorry for Mami's words."

"Don't be. She was just stating the obvious truth." Khushi replied, looking down, but the pain was still evident in her words.

"But it still hurts right?" Arnav asked, stepping closer to her. She shook her head only to find his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm asking you once more. Please come for the nuptials. I'll be happy." And he found her looking up at him.

"It's not possible. It's a family only thing right? Goodnight, Chotey Saab." She replied and turned around, without even letting him react to her words.

"Good night Khushi." He called after her, as she disappeared into her house, not knowing what else to say. But he was glad that alteast they were making progress, giving him hope that things would soon return back to normal between them.

However, he knew he had miles to cross before he reached his destination.