The Trampled Butterfly #2 Check index for Th3 link - Page 51

He stared at the white ceiling above him as he lay sprawled on his bed and all he could see was her smiling face amongst those kids. And he felt warm and fuzzy from the inside, a huge silly smile adorning his own face.

Those kids back there were happy because of her, because she had attempted to reach out for them, just like how he had reached out to her in his life.

He couldn't deny that he shared one of the best childhoods with Khushi.

His 'Kukku'...

Her agony, her sorrow were all pushed to the background as her laughter, her cheerfulness sprang to the fore.

How did she manage that optimism in her at all times?

She looked much happier, atleast when he was around her and he felt glad about it.

But she was still the same. The most mundane and simplest of things in life gave her immense happiness and he had to admit, he was envious about it. Maybe God had indeed blessed her to find happiness even in the direst of times.

He closed his eyes, dreaming about her as one particular memory flashed before his eyes.

It was the day when she had first received pocket money from her Buaji. It was just a mere rupee because she had helped the elder lady in the Raizada kitchen to wipe all the cleaned utensils after the Diwali party.

And with that one rupee, she had come running to him.

"Annyav, will you do me a favour?" the six year old Khushi had asked with her squeaky voice.

"What is it?" Arnav had asked her curiously.

"You know that red and yellow candy which comes on the Sunday paper, I want that." She had answered, referring to the Amul ice cream candy ad on the newspaper. "Will you take me to the shop?"

"Ok, Kukku." Arnav had instantly agreed to his best friend's wish and they had ridden on his cycle to the shop on the Mall road which sold ice creams.

Being short in height, Khushi had handed over the one rupee to Arnav so that he could reach over the counter and buy the ice cream for her while she waited outside.

And the nine year old Arnav had walked into the shop and asked the shopkeeper for the same red and yellow ice cream candy only to realise that it cost five rupees and not one rupee, flooding his face with huge disappointment.

He had turned around and observed Khushi's face eagerly waiting for him. Imagining little Khushi's disappointed face at the news had made him remove his own pocket money from his shorts' pocket and buy the ice candy for her.

And the smile he had received when he had handed over the ice cream candy to her was still printed in his mind. The front tooth missing on her upper jaw, the slight crinkle on the edges of her eyes as she smiled excitedly, the small dimple on her chin, everything was still afresh in his mind.

She had immediately taken the candy from his hand and licked it while he had stood smiling at her. Only when she had completed half of the candy had she realised her folly and had sheepishly smiled at him holding out her half eaten candy for him.

"My teacher told me we should share with our friends. And you are my best friend." She had admitted it for the first time and he had smiled back warmly at the new tag and licked the other half of the candy from her hand, only to receive a sloppy kiss on his cheek as a thank you from her.

Till today, he had never admitted paying the other four rupees of her candy everytime he had bought the candy for her. Maybe she had known, maybe she hadn't.

But she had shared the only candy she could afford with him for the next four years and that one small gesture from her had moved him immensely. In return, the smile she rewarded was always worth every four rupees spent for her.

If only, that fateful day had not occurred...

If only, he could go back to that day and change everything...

Because everything was indeed in his hands...

And the smile instantly vanished from his face.

"Annyav, don't leave me and go. I want to come with you." The ten year old Khushi had begged him.

"Kukku, don't worry. It will only take thirty minutes. I'll go quickly, get the notes from the teacher's house and be back in a jiff. Okay?" Arnav had replied back.

"But no one's at home. Not even your parents or Dadiji, nor Anjali, or Buaji." Khushi nearly had tears in her eyes. Everyone had been away for the day, leaving only the two kids to themselves since they were now a little older and capable of handling themselves for few hours.

"There are other servants nah. You are not alone." He had tried to convince her.

"Don't go..." Big fat tears had rolled down her cheeks, perplexing him. But he hadn't listened to her.

He had goddamned not listened to her!

If only he had taken her along with him that day...

His throat choked with a heavy lump forming inside him, his insides gnawing with the same guilt all over again.

And then, all of a sudden, he wanted to see her. He wanted to be near her.

Fifteen years of separation was too much for him and he wanted to make up for every moment spent away from her.

Getting up from his bed, he walked out of his room in search of her, his eyes traversing every nook and corner of the house. She was nowhere to be found and the strange tug aching his heart since their hug, grew harder.

Where was she? As per her schedule, she should have been somewhere in the Raizada Manor at this hour.

He stormed into the kitchen, only to find unfamiliar faces of the servants gazing apprehensively at their 'Chotey Saab'. But she wasn't present.

"Dadi's room!" Yes, she must in Dadi's room and off he went towards the room, in search of her. But to his annoyance, he found the room empty.

"Chotey, what happened?" he heard his mother's voice behind him. Maybe she had seen him running around the house crazily.

"Nothing Ma. I was just... have you seen Khushi?" Arnav asked impatiently, earning a raised eyebrow from her.

"No. I think she must be outside in the garden. Why, what...?" Naina was left midway, while her son ran impatiently towards the main door to find her.

He stepped onto the lawn and his eyes searched for her. But she was nowhere to be found. Where did she go?

His annoyance was soon turning to fury as minutes passed by. And then worry along with it. A feeling of apprehension tugged his heart.

Maybe she was in her cottage. Yes! And Arnav ran down the slope in the direction of her cottage, only to be stopped in his tracks by a familiar laughter erupting from somewhere around him. His ears perked and he instantly noticed a figure sitting on the grass nearby.

Her back faced him while her head was bent down, as if she was looking intently at something and the silence around her was interrupted by her regular laughs and chuckles.

His heart skipped a beat seeing her and didn't realise when his own feet dragged him towards her. Standing behind her, completely oblivious to her, he bent forward and observed what seemed to be two fur balls wrapped around her wrists, one black and one ginger in colour.

And the little kittens kept licking her hands while she giggled with the tickles. They didn't leave her hand and only when she forcefully shook her wrist, one of them finally meowed and jumped down to resume licking the milk from the tiny bowl placed near her leg.

Maybe she must have noticed his shadow or felt his breath near her ears, because she suddenly yelped with fright and turned around, only to have her forehead collide with his.

"Oww..." Khushi shrieked, and after a few seconds, her mind registered who it was.

Arnav opened his mouth to yell at her for putting up a disappearing act. But he couldn't utter a single word.

No, nothing.

How could he say anything when her fingers reached out to rub his forehead to ease out his pain instead of her own?

"You wanted something?" she asked with a huge smile and he wanted to scream at her, saying "Yes, I wanted you." But that would have sounded really silly and hence, he continued to gawk at her foolishly, basking in the warmth of her fingers as they grazed his forehead.

"Eee..." Khushi squealed, suddenly withdrawing her fingers, as the ginger coloured kitten climbed her shoulder and began licking her ears. "Basanti!"

"Basanti?" Arnav finally found his voice and arched his eyebrows at the name, the loss of her familiar touch highlighting enormously on his face.

"Yeah, this is Basanti. And this one here..." she pointed at the black kitten, pulling away the other kitten from her shoulder.

"Is Veeru?" Arnav asked, forgetting all that worry and apprehension of the previous five minutes and sat down beside her.

"No, that's Gabbar." Khushi giggled, while Arnav grabbed the black kitten by its neck and tickled its belly earning a low purr from it.

"What an unconventional choice!" Arnav smirked at her, knowing how crazy Khushi was.

"In Sholay, poor Gabbar died alone. So I thought I would pair him up with Basanti atleast this time." Khushi winked at him, earning a chuckle from him.

She was still a kid, wasn't she? He noticed once again, how she found joy in trivial things.

There was another fact that he observed about him. Being away from her somehow made him feel uneasy and anxious, but when she was beside him, all his worries, that strange ache in his heart vanished instantly, to be replaced by infectious cheer from her, along with a beginning of a new feeling inside him that made him giddy and excited at the same time.

What was that feeling? He had never felt like this before.

Another question and yet once again, he had no answers to it.

"Hmm... Khushi, I think the ginger kitten should be Gabbar and this black kitten should be Basanti." He replied, pulling the other kitten from her hand and scrutinising it.

"Why would you say that? The ginger kitten is so girly and cute and beautiful just like Basanti and the black kitten is well, just like Gabbar." She replied with a frown.

"Well, actually, this black kitten here is a female and the ginger kitten is a male."

"How do you know?" Khushi asked curiously only to find him lifting their tails and showing her the obvious.

"Arn... Chotey Saab!" she shouted with a mortifying look. "What are you doing?" and he could see her turning red.

Arnav didn't miss out the slip of her tongue. She was going to call him 'Arnav', but had stopped just in the nick of time. Why?

"What? I'm just showing you how to differentiate a male and a female anatomy of a kitten, which you obviously missed out earlier." He grinned at her, enjoying her squirming with embarrassment.

"I'm not shameless like you to go around lifting up the kitten's tails." She pulled back the kittens from his hand but it looked the black kitten was reluctant to leave him.

Arnav continued to smile at her and by the end of an entire minute, she was forced to smile back at him.

"I have two cats with me in London. Snowball and Bubbles." Arnav began, inching closer to her as the two kittens played on their laps.

"Bubbles?" Khushi giggled at the name.

"Yeah, because it goes crazy whenever it sees bubbles floating around it." Arnav replied smilingly, remembering his cats.

"They must be so cute." Khushi exclaimed, surprised to know her 'Chotey Saab's fascination with cats.

"I'm sure you would love them when you meet them. They are adorable." Arnav replied, looking at her in the eye.

The relief he felt in finding her close to him, having her around him was just pure bliss. There was solace and comfort in her company and he loved that feeling.

"How will I meet them? They are in London right?" He didn't miss the tinge of disappointment lacing her voice.

"Why? You can come to London." He replied reflexively, not pondering over his words.

"Don't joke, Chotey Saab. Who knows, I might actually start dreaming about it." Khushi retorted with her laugh, like she always did.

"Why? You don't think it is possible?" Arnav asked curiously.

"Ofcourse not, nothing is impossible in life. Landing on the moon must have also seemed impossible few decades back. But someone did dream about it and today, the impossible has become possible." Khushi replied, her eyes now focussing on some random tree at a distance.

"Then what stops you?" He didn't realise when his fingers had reached out for her, holding her hand, or when his thumb had started drawing circles on her knuckles.

"When you reach the moon, you realise that no one is around you and all your loved ones are left behind in the earth." Khushi replied, a strange pathos dwelling in her voice. "The moon looks beautiful just from the earth, reflecting the light of the sun. But it's barren deserted land there, darkness surrounding it with no life."

"Sometimes, you should let dreams just be dreams. The reality can be frightening."

"Not always. Sometimes, it is worth giving it a shot." Arnav entwined his fingers with hers, reassuring her with this one simple gesture, drawing back her gaze towards him.

His eyes noticed how she was trying to pull away her hand discreetly from his grip, but he strengthened his grip, not wanting to let her go. After futile resistance of two minutes, she gave up the struggle and played along with his fingers, a smile adorning her face.

He had never realised it until now, about how much he longed for her company, how much he craved for her.

He was so lost in her eyes that the sudden shower of petals on both of them, brought him back unexpectedly to the real world.

"What the hell!" Both Arnav and Khushi looked up to find Ranvijay holding a few marigolds in his hand and strewing the orange petals on both their heads.

"Seriously?" Arnav arched his eyebrow quizzically while Khushi laughed at the man's actions. "Saab, what are you doing?"

"Well, it looks like someone or rather some duo doesn't need me anymore." Ranvijay faked a frown, drooping down his lips.

"No, Saab, you are always welcome here. Why would you say that? We were just sitting here." Khushi immediately apologised and Ranvijay didn't miss out the irritation bubbling out on Arnav's face at her words.

"Tsk.. tsk.. are those fur balls?" He suddenly made a sour face as the kittens crawled towards his leg.

"Yeah, bite him Gabbar. Tear the leather of his shoes." Arnav wanted to say it out aloud, annoyed with his brother-in-law for ruining their moment, but he silently glared at the man towering them. He still wasn't sure about his brother-in-law.

"They are cute right?" Khushi smiled eagerly only to find Ranvijay kicking the kittens away from his leg.

"No Honey. They aren't cute. They only drop their fur everywhere in the house. I'm not their fan." He shook his head while he continued to strew petals on both Arnav and Khushi.

"That's quite insensitive Saab." Khushi grabbed the kittens immediately before he could kick them once again.

"Yeah it is." Arnav quickly agreed, coming to Khushi's defence and Ranvijay flashed the cheekiest smile ever at the sight in front of him. Just like how he had expected Arnav to react.

"Whatever. Anyways, I'm here to say my goodbyes for some time. My family has arrived this morning and I'll be living with them till the wedding day. But... I'll keep popping in here randomly whenever I'm free. However, Khushi, I'll miss you. Can I get a hug?" Ranvijay asked, earning another unhappy glare from Arnav.

"Sure." Khushi smiled at him, and stood up to give him a hug. Afterall, she liked the guy and was very happy that her Anjali Memsaab had found such a nice life partner in him.

Arnav noticed how easily Khushi hugged Ranvijay. There was no hesitation or reluctance. It was just so normal. But why?

Why couldn't he hug Khushi like that? Why was it so awkward for the both of them?

Above all, why did he feel uneasy when Khushi hugged Ranvijay like that?

He observed Ranvijay whisper something in her ears, out of his earshot and in return, saw Khushi nod her head.

"If someone observed the two of you whispering, they would conclude you are plotting to attack someone." Arnav himself was surprised at his envious words.

"Arnav..." Ranvijay sighed and shaking his head, he patted him twice on the shoulder and turned around and walked, before mouthing a 'See you soon' and disappearing around the corner of the house, leaving behind the two to themselves.

"What was he saying?" he asked nearly dying out of curiosity to know what his brother-in-law had shared with Khushi.

"Nothing." Khushi replied to his annoyance and continued to play with the kittens leaving him no other choice than to accept defeat in his quest.

o0o

"I guess the recession hit us."

"I guess it did." Dadi agreed, while Ranvijay poured a little bit of whiskey for both of them, as the duo sat in one of the room's balcony and observed Arnav and Khushi below them, as the latter picked the petals sticking all over the other's body, while the former looked like he was playing London's Statue.

"You should have mixed some honey too, you know." Dadi winked at the younger man, earning a chuckle from him.

"You are one evil woman." Ranvijay turned to grin at her as both clinked their glasses. "But we had fun while it lasted, didn't we?"

"But I wanted more fun. Looks like the hatchlings are learning to fly faster than we expected." The old woman replied with a chuckle.

"Flying? They are running faster than a really mad, Ostrich." He laughed, as both of them gulped down the amber liquor in their glasses.

"Dadi, would you move in with me and Anjali after our marriage?" Ranvijay suddenly asked, his tone turning serious, taking aback the woman with his question.

"My grandson is already not very happy with you. Do you want to earn more wrath from him?" She laughed, only to notice his face fall flat at her response. Who would have thought that behind that bad boy, tough guy looks, there was a softie within Ranvijay?

"Nevermind. Your grandson gets the girl and the grandmother. Woohoo!" He exclaimed pouring out another shot of drink for him.

"You have fallen in love with me, haven't you?" Dadi asked, with mischief glinting all over her eyes.

"Well, who can stop this stupid silly heart!" Ranvijay replied, thumping his heart with his fist dramatically, as he stood up to leave the room.

"I'll see you soon. My offer still stands open." He replied, leaving the room, waving at the old woman.

"Bye Ranvijay." Dadi called out after him, chuckling at his words, now focussing her attention on Arnav and Khushi.

Afterall, who could stop the stupid silly heart from falling in love?

What was that feeling? He had never felt like this before..."

All the buried feelings are slowly sufacing in Arnav ...

loved the playfulness with the kittens ...

"The relief he felt in finding her close to him, having her around him was just pure bliss.

There was solace and comfort in her company and he loved that feeling..."

Ranvijay is turning out quite a cutie ...

instrumental in getting the two together again along with Dadi ...

Dadi is absolutely adorable ... and she had the perfect ally in RK ...

Awesome ... thank you ...