Arhi FF (Collab):Dire Consequences Thread 2 Pg 141 - Page 55

Sheetal had just woken Aarav up for the day and was strolling down the hall when she heard Khushi calling out from within the confines of her room, a surge of curiosity on the couple's personal matters came over her as she inched closer to their door.

"Arnav, wake up. You have a extremely important meeting today, remember?" Khushi practically scolded as Arnav merely turned the other way. Annoyance came over her as she spoke again, "First you stay up all night working and now you won't wake up. Arnav! If you miss this meeting it'll result in great losses for AR!"

Sheetal frowned at she heard Khushi's words and her tone as she spoke to Arnav. The word losses resounded in her ears and she couldn't help but wonder at why Khushi seemed so worried about Arnav missing his meeting. Muddled in her thoughts, Sheetal continued her way back to her room.

In Arnav and Khushi's room, Arnav finally relented and rolled out of bed muttering, "I'm awake, you can stop shouting at me or you'll wake up the whole house."

Sauntering into the bathroom, Arnav missed how Khushi froze before the mirror at the mention of the whole house. Momentarily, after waking up this morning and remembering their pleasant day at the zoo, Khushi had forgotten who exactly the 'whole house' now included.

While at the zoo the day before Khushi had once again immersed herself into their Choti si Duniya, even if it included Aarav. In those few hours, Khushi had forgotten the rest of the world and enjoyed herself after a long time. She had forgotten all about Arnav being Aarav's father, about Sheetal and all the troubles that had come with her.

But a phrase said nonchalantly by Arnav had reminded her all about them and with them returned all of her inner turmoils.

Pushing those brooding thoughts away and hurriedly getting ready, Khushi made her way downstairs to conduct the morning prayer and then prepare breakfast before everyone was ready.

About half an hour later, breakfast had ended on a pleasant note as Aarav filled everyone in on the fantastic time he had at the zoo with Arnav and Khushi. Aarav's excitement had left a smile on everyone's face as they all dispersed onto their own tasks.

Khushi accompanied Arnav to the door, handing him his briefcase she whispered, "Best of luck for your meeting. I'm sure you'll get the deal"

"I don't need luck..." Arnav whispered back. Taking a step towards her he grabbed her hand, interlocking their fingers as he brought their hands up, Khushi followed his gaze to their intertwined hands. Arnav dropped his briefcase and lifted his other hand to tuck Khushi's ever wayward bangs behind her ears and finished in a quiet, deep voice, "All I need is you, Khushi. Without you there's no point in winning any deal... Kyunki tum mere zindagi ki sabse badi deal ho.(Because you are my life's biggest deal.)"

Khushi's eyes shot up to gaze at her husband, who was still gazing wistfully upon their joint hands. As she studied his features, Khushi realized that she hadn't looked at her husband properly in ages. He looked older, his soft subtle much more prominent now, dark circles had formed under his warm eyes, his hair had even grown out a bit. He didn't look anything like the Arnav Singh Raizada and not in the least like her Arnav.

"I should get going now." He said huskily, dropping their hands he smiled softly and left. Khushi lingered in the corridor even after Arnav left, her gaze still on the door. His words replayed in her ears, especially the final ones because they were in hindi.

Her husband isn't one to open up and talk about his feeling often and this is something Khushi has learnt and accepted, but when he does express his emotions, his dil ki baat, he hardly ever does so in hindi. And so his proclamation in hindi of her importance in his life stirred something inside her, something she didn't know had die down.

She was awoken from her thoughts as Sheetal brushed by her and out the door. Slowly turning around, Khushi walked back in to join Nani on the couch, her thoughts clouded by beautiful memories of her and Arnav mixed in with those displeasing memories of Sheetal.

"Khushi bitiya?" Nani questioned as she saw Khushi sit next to her, her face convey a myriad of emotions. Nani couldn't help but ponder about the obvious tension between her grandson and his wife despite how much they tried not to show it, all she knew was that the girl who was like her other granddaughter didn't flutter about their home with her ever-present laughter and chatter, that she had become much more quiet in the past few days. When her earlier question didn't get Khushi's attention, Nani placed her hand on her shoulder and tried again, "Khushi bitiya, is everything ok? Where are you lost?"

"Huh?" Khushi looked up, shocked by the sudden contact. Seeing Nani, she smiled weakly and replied, "It's nothing like that. I was just thinking of all the things I would have to get done today."

"Are you sure?" Nani asked again, not quite convinced. When Khushi nodded Nani decided not to probe further and let her be for now. But alas, she was after all a grandmother she couldn't just leave her children helpless, even if hadn't asked for her help.

So with a knowing smile on her face, Nani explained, "Khushi bitiya. I don't know what has happened or what is happening between you and Chote, but I do know that the two of you love each other immensely, more than I could have thought possible for anyone, let alone Chote."

"Nani... you--" Khushi spoke up, but Nani asked her to just listen.

"And I also know that in a good and happy marriage two people need to not only love each other, but they need to also understand each other and be one another's friend. And when that friendship is there, those two people will be comfortable with one another meaning they will be able to share their feelings with one another without any hesitance or discomfort."

Khushi looked back at Nani as she looked smilingly at Khushi, trying to convey her message completely. "So you and Chote have to be friends along with being lovers because only then will your love be able to overcome any obstacle... Now I've done my job of telling you all of this, now it's your job to understand it."

With that, Nani lovingly stroked Khushi's hair a few times before she got up and left while calling out to Hari Prakash to bring Laxmi and some tea to her room. As Khushi thought over Nani's words, she couldn't help but think about how multiple times Arnav had uncharacteristically tried to talk to her and get her to talk to him in the past couple of days.

Arnav had been trying to do what Nani had just told her for days, but had eventually backed off because she was uncomfortable with talking about the situation, with dealing with the situation. The whole time he was trying to make her comfortable, but she seemed to overlook that completely along with her husband's worsening appearance and maybe even health.

Her face fell into her hands as if her thoughts were weighing her down, things were already so confusing.

****

*AR Office*

Aman approached Arnav as he strode into the building. "Aman, get the file copies to the conference room 3 ASAP. I'll meet you in there momentarily." Not bothering to so much as glance at Aman, Arnav headed straight for his cabin.

Aman took the original file and handed it to the first PA he saw and directed them to make the necessary amount of copies and have them delivered to the specified conference room. While that was being done Aman went up to prepare the conference room.

As soon as Aman and Arnav were both out of sight Sheetal went up to the PA Aman had given the file and convinced her that she would get it done since she to make other copies as well. Sheetal proceeded to the copying room and made the necessary copies except for a different file.

Exiting the copy room, she spotted another worker and grabbing their attention she had them take the copies she made to the conference room, stating she had some other urgent work to do.

Returning to her station, Sheetal sat down and thought, "Now when this deal doesn't happen, Arnav will lose millions and he will come to know how his so-called wife is only in love with his money when she'll be so upset about this loss. And maybe then he'll see how much I love him."

With that said and done Sheetal got back to some actual work. But before she could begin any real work some commotion from the 3rd floor conference room could be heard.

"What is this Mr. Raizada? Do you consider us fools?!" Rishab Seth of RS Textiles demanded to know. Aman glanced worriedly at his boss, who stood tensely, his jaw clenched and a nerve slightly popping out due to anger. "I really didn't expect this from the prestigious AR Group of Industries."

"Mr. Seth, there must have been some mistake. I'm sure if you just take a seat and relax we will sort this out quickly." Aman tried to handle the situation professionally when Arnav interrupted, "No, Aman. If Mr. Seth wishes to leave and cancel this deal, then he may do so freely. BUT, I will not tolerate to have anyone who dares insult me and my company stand in my company for even a second."

"Very well Mr. Raizada, it's your loss." Rishab said proudly and promptly walked out with his men.

"ASR? Why did--" Aman begun to ask.

"I'll be in my office, Aman. But only disturb me if absolutely necessary, understood?" Arnav ordered, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Yes, ASR." Aman agreed instantly and with that Arnav turned and returned to the confines of his cabin.

Entering his cabin, Arnav flipped the switch next to the for the lights and the glass walls of his office were immediately covered by decorative blinds, closing himself off from the rest of the offices, literally creating his own work sanctuary.

Sitting back in his large, cushioned desk chair Arnav rubbed his hand across his haggard face, his fatigued features did nothing to hide his distress. Losing a deal wasn't a big issue for AR, but Arnav had invested quite a bit of money for this deal and after the mishap with the files it had all gone down the drain.

Sighing, he reached for the glass of water on his desk and drank it all in one go. Leaning back once more, Arnav shut his eyes and called out to the one person that could erase all his distress with a simple touch or smile. "I need you, Khushi."

Even the mere sound of her name brought some peace within him, but suddenly a rasp at his door lurched him out of his thoughts. Grumbling like a child at the disturbance he rose to open the door, ready to scold whomever dared to disturb him when clearly instructed to not.