Chapter 1
Khushi Kumari Gupta was scared of Arnav Singh Raizada.
There was something in him that shook her insides. She shut her eyes, not wanting to give herself into the thoughts that were uncertain. She had been fighting to push away those eyes ever since he saved her from the car on that raining night. The way he stared at her, and the way he handed her his coat before going back to the man she knew. As if whatever facade that second slipped, he had regained from it and put on his arrogant personality. It was becoming more intense, his eyes, and she was unable to take it anymore. It was the same feeling she saw in those whiskey orbs when he walked towards her with slow, cautious steps, after she came out of that room in that red sari for the photo shoot for their calendar. It was the same concern she saw in them when he pulled her away from where she sat, in the site, to save her life. When she reached his mansion to handover her resignation letter, those eyes gave away the same emotion as she shouted at him, cancelling their contract. Now, those eyes stared down at her with his fingers covered hers as she passed the puja thali. She stepped aside, trying to control her heartbeat, watching everywhere but him as he done the puja, something he hated but following the ritual, just to make his sister happy. She looked at him passing the thali to Lavanya Ji, his eyes still fixed on hers. She felt it hard to deal with this side of Arnav Singh Raizada, the man burning her alive with his gaze, which held unknown emotion. She preferred when he shouted at her, barked orders. She preferred it easy to deal with when he made her life a living hell. It was easy to hate him in that way. However, this intense gaze, she could never deal with.
She should be happy with the fact she no longer worked for him. She was happy that she had no reason to face him on a daily bases. She recovered herself from going back to the morning incident, the way she rushed to have a bath and run towards the office, not remembering about her resignation. The thought of not able to see him pierced her heart, letting it bleed the whole day. She smiled at her sister, breaking her fast, trying hard to avoid the images of him fetching her water. She shut her eyes, not wanting to think about the significance of the day. She was fasting for a better life with a better life partner, who would love her with all his might, but her Devi Mayya made him, Arnav Singh Raizada, broke her fast, few hours after when the sindhoor fell on her face due to him bumping her. How they met that morning, with him dashing her and making the puja thali fall on the ground, resulting the sindhoor fall all over her! She remembered the key that was still in her bag, his mannat ki chaabi. She searched for him around the temple, only to find Lavanya Ji with him, asking him to break her fast. She shut her eyes, unable to see him with Lavanya Ji, with any other woman in that matter. She watched helplessly as he stared at Lavanya Ji, reluctance in his eyes. She watched the woman pulling his hand, making him feed her with the prasaad, without water first. The woman was eager to leave, she noticed with a dull ache in her heart, and he did not stop her from leaving. Was he in love with the woman? The thought rooted in her mind as she watched them, the woman leaving him. Shaking her head in order to push away those thoughts, she reached her sister, wanting to leave the temple as soon as possible, to walk past him as soon as possible.
"Anjali Ji," she called out with a smile, "now we have to go." She never understood the difference the siblings had. While Anjali Ji was sweet, loving and caring, he was ruthless, arrogant and egoistic. Still, there was something between the brother and sister that she failed to understand. There was a kind of support for each other – a kind of pain they tried to hide in their eyes. She felt as if he chose to have an arrogant life to overcome that pain, while Anjali Ji chose to love everyone around her.
"You are leaving? Have you done your puja well?"
She nodded, ignoring the sadness Anjali Ji's eyes held. "Yes, Anjali Ji, we did break our fast too," she replied with respect, "what about you?"
"I am waiting for him," Anjali Ji spoke with a smile, "if you wait for a while, you can meet him."
"Buaji is alone and will be worrying about us," she rejected the offer smoothly, and turned to leave with a small nod, only to find him staring at her. Something had changed between them, she could see it clearly, from the moment he saved her from the car few days ago. The way he dropped her off home after the site incident, and the way he stared her, let her shout at him – something had changed and she had no idea about it. She would make as many jalebi's she could as possible, that was the only help she would get to push his thoughts off her mind. Still, the way his eyes looked at her disturbed her, that look she never saw him giving Lavanya Ji. She felt irritated at the unknown feelings she had for him. Her sister's wedding had stopped because of him, she thought with sheer hatred, and he almost killed her. He made her family suffer by releasing the footage, pointing at her in front of the whole world. He insulted her every given opportunity. He insulted her just because she had no money. She would hate him with all her might for the rest of her life.
Arnav Singh Raizada was scared of Khushi Kumari Gupta.
There was something in her that shook his insides. She managed to bring the worst in him from the time she entered his life. Never in his life had he given anyone a chance to question him, to win over him. The girl was different, he had known that the very moment he saw her walking down the ramp with fear tears in her eyes. He had known the very moment that she was someone who managed to gain his attention. And he hated it. He hated everything and everyone who managed to gain his attention. When she questioned him, lectured him about the power her almighty held over humans, over him, the only thought that occupied his mind was to teach her a lesson, to show, prove her that her almighty was no supreme power but a stone and that would never save any human life from its happenings. When she challenged him in his office, in front of his employees, something in him broke apart, he let his personal opinion on her decide, and he proposed the contract, to prove her wrong about her morals and to show her that money was the only thing that rule the world and its people. He saw the sincerity she had for her work, finishing it off within the allotted time without any mistakes, something he did not expected she was capable off. She was not educated like his other employees, he knew that, but once given her a chance, she was far better than most of his employees in carrying on the work. He had to give her that much, and he hated to accept that. He hated to accept that she was capable of doing things, capable of defeating him in his own game. That forced him order her with inhuman, insane works, not caring about her. For the first time in life, she proved him wrong when he ordered her to stay and monitor the cars, not caring about the heavy rain. She proved him wrong that not everything in the world was about money but there was something called self-respect. He was impressed the way she rejected his offer when he handed her his coat, the way she held her ground, shivering, but not taking his help. And the same action of hers shook his existence, as he felt that emotion – which he had buried deep down in his heart twelve years ago. The feeling of hope for a better something.
He had been angry the way she disclosed his affair with Lavanya near Nani. He had been out of control, lost his senses, the only thought in his mind was someone took charge over his life. That thought did not settle well with him and the actions that resulted later, he regretted for sending her over the site. However, he had no idea the site was in such bad condition. If he had known, he would never ever send her over there and ask her to work something that was already done. He was not in his right mindset and behaved mean towards her, ignoring her calls.
Now, as he watched her leaving the temple with her final goodbye to his sister, he felt a sharp pain in his heart, knowing he was not going to see her around him. There was no reason for them to come face to face from now onwards. He had to be happy with that thought, happy that he had no reason to deal with her. But that thought, oddly, left him suffocated. There were much pressing matters to attend. He had to convince Nani about Lavanya, and he felt no interest in doing so. He was happy with the way Lavanya understood him. None of them was interested in marriage and was okay with their dating. As he remembered the way Lavanya fed herself from his hand a while ago, all he was thinking was the way she looked at him, hurt. A small smile formed as the image of him fetching her water and the way she accused him of breaking her fast settled in his mind.
Pushing those thoughts aside, he focused on his sister, who was in the verge of crying for her husband. "Di," he called her, holding her elbow, pleading her, "eat something. You will fall ill."
"I will not listen to anyone today," her voice chocked in pain as her eyes searched for her husband, "I have complete faint in him and my almighty. He will not break my faith." He shook his head at his sister's foolishness. Knowing well that he could not convince his sister to break her fast, he stepped aside, and watched his Jeejaji climbing the steps. He leaned onto the nearby pillar with his arms around his chest and watched his crazy sister clinging onto her husband, holding her dear life. "I know that my almighty will surely answer my prayers," his sister said between happy tears, making him remember a girl who had the same blind faith on the supreme power. Khushi. He would hate her with all his might for the rest of his life.
***~***~***~***~***~***
Anupamaa
Real Estate
332