Arshi FF: Entwined(T1) *Completed* - Page 20

came acrss ur ff read all updts

Waiting for next hope ur hand is better now

I mised out on reading two chapters.😕

Amazin yaar...plz plz plz do pm me weneva u update...

I know you updated regularly..still couldn't stop myself from saying ' update soon na ' :)

Finally done with all 11 chapters 😊

When will you update next??? Please update soon! *puppy dog eyes*

Note: Hellooo!!!!!

Sigh! Much much much much much Delayed Update... Sorrry!!!! This time I really dont have a valid Bahana..like the hand sprain, moving out..tch..nothing! But I do have a dramatic back story lol..

I couldnt write one--becoz life's a shit( will not add sometimes here :P) and

Two--- its the WW!! yes! My week started with this saddening news that WW is ending this week and all my innovative imaginations went down hill since then, my mind was completely wandering around WW--Arshi!

Well, Arnav Swaminathan Raizada and Khushi Senguptha Gupta will surely be missed yet relived!!! Sigh! For the unfortunate ones who haven't read this FF yet-- WordsWorth by Meera

Moving on! if you are an ardent follower of someone, you will have to follow their methods as well! Or so, I'm told! As tradition has it, I'm going to start dedicating chapters from now on... reason-- a silly stupid 'Trouble' :P

Alwyz! My Trouble! This chapter is for you!!! Love you!!! (khush?) ;)

Further, since the dedication can only be for one, or so I wanted it that way I would like to say a quick hi to few others here--

Farah!-- if you're reading, please know that its your reminder of update that gears me up every time and makes me think-- 'its that late!! get your ass off bed already!" :D

Arpita!--- Looks like I've tested your patience this time ;) ;) Did I tell you that I look forward for your comments? <3 <3

And to all other readers, who are still coming back chapter after chapter.. biiig Hi!!! and another HUGEEE Thank YOU!!!

If you are sighing in relief that I would now stop blabbering, you are only mistaken, I'm only leaving you all to read on the update in relief.. m gonna butt in, at the end! buhaha!

***

Entwined:

Chapter-12:

"You did the right thing"

Nothing, nothing ever felt so right to Arnav than these five mere words. He has heard it before, he told this to himself as well, more times than he intended to, he heard people say as well, but at this moment, from this particular voice, with that particular look in those very hazel eyes, it gave him immense pleasure. He hasn't realized until then how much it mattered to him to come out of that small guilt hole at the edge of which he found himself stuck since a very long time.

"You did the right thing"

And the words repeated again, as Arnav walked the front porch of the Raizada Mansion located at the lavish beach vicinity, a two storied affluent building which is cozy as well in its own way, his own hideout place that will be ruthlessly occupied by his sister for those couple of months of the year much to his very own dismay.

It was impulsive, yes, offering to meet her again in his own way, yet he knew that was the right thing to do; just like how he knew his instinct was right all those months ago on that terrace wall. Yet, something had always been very unsettling within him about the whole thing. He never got an opportunity to know more about what happened with her and his curiosity wasn't among the ones to let go off an opportunity. And so, he definitely wanted to see her again, talk and figure out what happened to the Khushi he knew, but he doesn't want to compel her into anything. He wanted her to want to talk to him, and he dint know why him though, again it was just instinctive and he was just going with what his mind was asking him to, or rather his impulsive thoughts are compelling him to. He dint want to give his mind a chance to butt in and interrogate the reasons, he wasn't willing to, not yet. & so he ignored the not-so-interesting part and instead thought about hoping that she would come around this time. Hope Arnav?, like seriously?

He realized he could process her actions in more ways than possible and this somehow made him disoriented but at the same time he was quite impressed with himself as well. He knew she still had instinctive memories of their not-so-good venture and he knew she is trying to look past it. He knew she stammered when she would try hiding her fear and he knew she tried to overcome that as well. He knew she had been trying and he could see she had come quite a long way too.

Somehow that again impressed him in a completely unexplainable way, bringing that knowing smile on his face, as he walked around central fountain in the living room, intending to take turn towards his own room, when his unusual smile was incidentally noticed by a busy Anjali, who instantly broke into a knowing smirk.

She cleared her throat, looking not quite interested in the person just walking past her, but instead suddenly seeming all too occupied with the gift objects in front of her.

"Oh! Of course! Let me ask, so what's going on sissy?" Arnav spoke in his boring tone, stopping by at the stair case, his eyes not shifting from his phone as his fingers vigorously browsed the touch screen. Anjali frowned at his back, and cleared her throat again a little more audibly.

"What!" He turned around almost instantly, the trade mark annoyed expression making its way on his face as he stared at his sister incredulously.

"Chote! When did you come?"

"First cut the crappy name, second, your acting skills are pathetic, so don't even try, what is it?" he snapped even as Anjali continued to ignore his over smartness, juggling around the things making the servant look at the both of them confused.

"What is what??" she asked as she walked around one of the huge thing, thoughtfully frowning at one of the square package, as Arnav rolled his eyes for what seemed like umpteenth time in the last fifteen minutes. "Oh these!" she answered finally meeting looking up to meet his impatient gaze. "Gifts Cho"Arnav"

"I think I know how gifts look"

"Oh you do! But I don't think you know these are for you?"

"And why? Enlighten me please"

"Because you would be leaving in a couple of days anyway..."

"So?"

"So, you are leaving?"

"Di!! Why don't you first decide if I'm leaving or not?"

He sighed now completely processing where his sister is getting at and his shoulders slumped as he dropped himself in the sofa chair, plopping his legs onto the nearby table. Anjali watched him a little pout adoring her lips, almost giving up her act as she sat across him, fetching a gift box from the stack on the floor.

"This one is for your cook in US" she spoke in her mechanical voice not meeting his eyes as he looked up from his phone observing her earnestly. "This, for you your driver--" she pointed to another small packing and stood up fetching another box.

"This for your PA in Australia--"

"--wow, you forgot for that woman last year! She was disappointed--"

"That for your manager at Chicago, this for your London staff, for Mumbai driver, argh!---- stop looking at me like that! Stubborn asshole!"

Arnav laughed out loud getting up from his sofa and he pulled Anjali down with him as they settled down in the bigger couch, with his hand lazily dropping around her shoulder. "What is that you want di?" he asked tenderly surprising his own self.

"The same old drama! Stay with us Arnav!"

"Why do you even ask every year Anjali, you know I can't, and definitely not for the whole of two months!"

"Diwali, holidays, Christmas, New-Years--"

"No Anjali, I cant, you know I have this important contract coming up and moreover--"

"Bloody hell!!! For once Arnav, it's a family time away from city here, and every year I keep wishing you would be here at least this time, every year I find myself craving for the family that my husband seems to be perfectly having--"

"It's your family too--"

""not without you Arnav! And I thought after hearing the good news at least you would change your mind!" he heard the verge of emotions in the otherwise chirpy voice and the guilt gates once again opened in his mind. Not that he didn't want to, in fact this time he did considered staying instead of running away from family time, but then his logical mind thought better of it.

"I thought, you could use me more after 6 months down the line and that way I could be around when a weird species of monster would be seeing the world?" he said sheepishly not looking up and rather concentrating on the stack of gifts at his feet even as he heard a sharp intake of breathe and moments of dead silence following it. After waiting for another few moments, he looked to his side to find his sister looking back at him with those warmth filled gaze. "What?" he shrugged awkwardly removing his hand from around her and getting up to stand facing her as he lazily tugged his hands inside his pockets.

"N listen please don't butt in my work these few months, do you even have an idea how things need to be adjusted to accommodate my schedule later on to be a single place? And I don't even earn cracking my voice in a recording studio in just confined dates, you see---"

"Yes, he is busy than the very own Obama! Stop giving him that scary look and hug him already!" Shyam interrupted the siblings, much to Arnav's relief as he turned around only to find himself being engulfed in a brotherly hug. Anjali soon joined the duo as the two of them almost crushed her into a rather tight embrace. "Whoa, whoa! You deal with this melodrama jeeju! Your idea did work!" He said vigorously wiping off the loan tear that escaped from Anjali's eyes even as he pushed her into her husband's arms.

"Asshole!" Anjali muttered making Shyam frown at her. "Oye, Keep your tongue in check, my kid is listening" he said as Arnav looked on keenly at the never not in love couple, his chest tightening with a void feeling, and his thoughts already taking the most unwanted path. He chuckled, or made an attempt to, as he quickly escaped himself and turned around to leave.

"Jerk!" He heard his sister call out, "jerk is fine!" she added which looked more like to her husband and Arnav stopped flashing a smile. "I'm saving my round of gali's for the monster-on-way" he called out climbing the steps, quickly making his way into his lonely room, his gloomy surroundings greeted him back resembling his own void interior, as he squeezed his eyes shut just when the door of his room was shut from the world and he sighed in contentment when the lonely tranquility finally started filling his nerves.

**

There were foot-steps across the path, she always noted at this time of the night, as she walked along the edge of the sea. She always liked this part of the sea-shore rather than where she lived, for its aloofness and the almost undisturbed sea-sand except for the few foot-steps along the path. The sea-shore where she lived has always been a busy with good amount of visitors, which makes it almost impossible for her to enjoy the walk along the mounts of evenly spread out sand, the edges of which getting washed every often by the rush of waves.

She walked along the edge of the blue sea-bed, taking hops at intervals trying to escape the foam of tinkling wave, the sound of the water rush teasing her ears as the wind played with her hair and she frowned stopping suddenly when one of the pair of foot-steps she had been keeping track of, vanished away into the sand. Frowning even more, she sat on her one knee, and looked to her side gazing the origin of imprints that she had been keeping track of.

There were two pairs of foot-steps crisscrossing with another, that can only belong to a duo possibly a couple who might have walked the way just before she came in and the imprints had definitely got her attention. One of the pair has a sharp imprint at the sole part and is comparatively thinner making it obvious to be identified as a girl's shoes, while the other is a rather big, shapeless or almost oval shaped which she concluded as one of those large trendy men's floaters. But as she observed settling where she stopped, the ones that looked like girl's foot-prints, no longer existed and the two pairs of foot-steps narrowed down to just one pair that continued to vanish away into the distance. She settled down on sand over her folded legs, popping her chin to rest inside her palm, while she imagined a guy cradling the girl from that point and carrying her in his arms for the remaining of the path.

Life, Khushi wondered has always been a mystery for her. She have gone through a lot, seen a lot of which the girls of her age wouldn't even imagine, struggled through and overcame a lot of life's blows, she has been a fighter, yes, she found her solace after all that she had gone through, but in times like this, she does find herself lost and void. Despite her efforts to discover herself, and although it seemed to have worked to a remarkable extent, she did miss the lack of normalcy in her life. Not that she was complaining, let alone hope, since she have seen too much to hope and lost too much to expect but sometimes she couldn't help the uncertainty that creeps in almost instinctively in moments like this.

A younger Khushi had been such passionate dreamer, she hasn't really acknowledged it back then-- Or maybe she did yet ignored being too much drowned into life's illusions, she dint know. But, it is only when her life turned upside down and the dreams became true in the exact opposite way, she realized the extent to which her tender mind has imagined things. It is only when in times like this, as she finds herself imagining happiness in someone else lives, it dawned onto her, how much of illusionary her mind had been.

**

"What the hell are you doing?"

Her sudden little quiver made him curse internally for his unsolicited sudden reactions, but he just couldn't help the rush of raw concern that engulfed him as soon as he realized that the nave girl roaming around the lonely beach at that time of the night was none other than Khushi. As he squeezed his eyes shut, reminding himself not to pour out his foul mood on her and opened them back, he have seen her getting up in quick worked up moments, dusting the sand off her behind, her hair tailing along with her head as she took a conscious step away from his tall shadowing figure.

She might have squirmed again, he noticed, as her reflex actions might have decided it for her. Just then, another rush of ocean waves splashed their bare legs with such sudden force that she instantly lost the little balance off her feet and fell back flat on her bum even as another wave rushed right behind it, pouring the salty force of water to splash over her head.

She began to cough and he instantly joined her down reminding himself to keep his distance as he looked on in amusement, the way her hair wet from the sudden splash, glued to the sides of her face, the way her little cotton shirt cringed to her body as her khaki knee-length shorts drained in wet sand. But what amused him even more is the way her eyes directly threw daggers at him replacing any initial traces of fear he had seen when he arrived.

She looked away, when a sudden breeze of air greeted them and bent her head cleaning the sand particles off her eyes. He settled down in front of her, on his knees, his own hands resting on his jeans shorts and he bent his head searching for her eyes.

"Are you alright?" he found his voice coated with concern as he looked on still in daze at the way her hands took turns between setting her bangs and nudging her eyes off the sand particles. A small little chuckle escaped his mouth and he sobered up almost instantly when she looked up throwing him a narrowed gaze. "You can laugh if you want--"

That did it and he burst out into a peal of little laughter, before sobering up again when she still continued to look at him pointedly. "Oh-okay, sorry!" he said still chuckling and got up on his feet extending his one hand. "Here, let me help you up" he offered and immediately looked away suddenly unsure of her reaction.

"You should stop doing that!" she retorted and instead of trying to get up, she settled herself comfortably on her knees.

"Stop doing what?"

"Speaking suddenly! Coming behind from nowhere! You knew I would be scared!"

"Oh, you should think of it before coming out to the beach at this time of the night!"

"Even you came out at this time of the night!"

"Me--" he stopped suddenly realizing that they were arguing almost naturally and it made him smirk as he withdrew his waiting hand and folded his hands across his chest, looking down at her his tongue rolling inside his cheek. "You are still the same nave one I knew" he commented quite being aware of her reaction as he noticed her gasp and even a little disappointed frown while she got up in a quick moment using her hands to lift bring herself into a standing position.

"I'm not a tourist like you and mind you I come here daily at this time of the night, so I don't see any reason to prove something here--" she said and though he expected as chirpy sarcastic come back as he just heard, he could still see underlying defense in that tone and yet again he cursed himself for making her feel that way. He squeezed his eyes shut in dejection as he saw her turning around to walk away from him, but before he could decide his further actions, he found himself taking a sudden sharp intake of breath as the familiar aura of orchid cloves filled his nostrils along with the ongoing silent stream of breeze causing him to realize that she was right there, close by, much to his discomfort, for, the proximity only pushes him into unsolicited intentions which he had been suppressing ever since that lone night.

He stepped away almost instantly opening his eyes only to be met by the most genuine hazels he had ever seen, glaring back at him with some kind of sudden warmth. He stared back uncertainly as the much delayed words of apology accompanied by his guilt juggled around his mind, like the symbols of a foreign language.

"I'm sorry--"

"I'm sorry"

His lips instantly curved up into a small smile, as he took another conscious step away from her, keeping his eyes on that of hers and he looked on intently even as she stared back reciprocating the same amusement which is now quite evident in his eyes. She looked away from his boring gaze chuckling a little and looked back to meet his eyes again, this time questioningly.

"Do you have an explanation to that apology?" he asked arching his eye-brow.

"Do you?"

"A small one, yes--"

And the little sanity that was beginning to fill in their conversation was again interrupted when his attention suddenly shifted to her drenched shirt as she brought her palms over her arms, trying to create some warmth against the chill breeze oblivious of his sharp stare let alone his unwarranted flash of images.

"Uh"my room is up there, you wanna come in, dry yourself up?" he asked awkwardly not wanting to sound suggestive, only intending to help as he pointed out towards a small wooden room that stood out at the back porch of what looked like a big mansion.

"You stay there?" she exclaimed incredulously as her eyes scanned the place thoughtfully before her eye-brows creased knowingly. "Oh yes! It's the Raizada mansion ofcourse!"

"See, I told you I'm pretty famous--"

"I heard the surname around here before but you--- yeah whatever" she waved a hand, before frowning back at him."But you gave me a hotel address?"

"That's my work place, for the week"

She trailed off thoughtfully again and he smirked more before his attention again shifting back to her entangled arms as she vigorously tried to keep herself warm, despite the winter cold, heavy sea breeze adding to her drenched shirt. He frowned, true concern edging in his eyes---"Look, it's cold out here and you are all wet, let's just go up to my room and errr..talk?"

"What?"

He dint answer, instead he just looked on with uncertainty as well as hope all pouring out of his intent eyes. She observed him for a moment before shifting on her feet awkwardly, her hands continuing to hug herself closer. "Uh"I, uh, I'm not surrr..." she stopped abruptly what seemed like trying to compose her stammering tongue, he gathered and nodded giving her the required space, without staring the way he had been for the past few minutes. "Why?" he heard her ask after a brief pause and he looked back to meet her eyes.

"You dint come!" he uttered and paused truly taken aback by his own protesting voice.

"uh--, I, Uh... I wasn't sure---"

"But I was expecting you!"

Her eyes went wide filling her face in that innocent way and he wouldn't blame her for the shock. He was bemused at his own self, for the undeniable desperation he seemed to have in order to talk to her. She looked away quite unsure of how to respond and took another step away from him gazing her blue surroundings, the jingles of the ocean being the only sound around them.

"It would take another half an hour for you to walk back to your dorm, I know you aren't scared, but with your wet clothes and this heavy breeze, it would be best if you dry yourself up first, I have a fire place up there and we...uh...can talk?"

"Why?" she asked again, this time curiosity quite evident in her eyes. He really dint have an answer, but then he hoped he would get a chance to talk and solve the mystery surrounding around her.

"I..uh.. I, wanna t..t...talk too" he heard say, the little stammer enough for him to be aware of her creeping up default fear. But an uninvited smirk did adorn his face as he processed her sentence looking beyond the stammering words.

"I promise to keep my distance" he simply stated and her eyes went wide again, surprise evident in them.

She looked on at him for another brief moment and looked back at the wooden room that he pointed above, before locking her eyes back at him. "I...umm... d..ddd..dont know" she uttered and sighed.

"A..aa.. alone, might make me ss..s..scc..scary, sometimes--"

"But I'll be ther--" his promise was instantly interrupted by his smart mind, that immediately told him that she was rather talking about being alone with him and not just alone. His eyes rolled thoughtfully as he observed her for another moment.

"You can do it Khushi, if you rather trust the Stranger guy you met in college all those years ago?--"

"And the stranger I met on the terrace few months ago?" he heard her ask, her voice pouring out the same innocence and naivety he could always associate with this name and another little smile tugged at his lips.

"Yes, you can trust that Stranger as well" he nodded keeping his eyes on her even as he noticed her hazels almost instantly getting rid of the traces of fear, her lips relaxing from quivering and her shoulders easing out, before her honey orbs glinted with that gorgeous assuring spark of smile.

**

Chapter-13

Note: Phew!!! that was rather slow paced wasn't it?

A lot was supposed to happen in this chapter, somehow, extras extended it in the beginning, which wasn't unwanted either-- so yeah.. let me know what you think!

As my Arshi set on into an apologizing conversation, I'd like to apologize as well, if this was disappointing... feedback accepted with wide arms and keen humble ears!

Bye!

awww..thank you so much for the mention ...and yapeee we've got an update ..I was so desperately waiting for. it...

did I say it before that you are an amazing writer ..your updates are so gripping that it keeps you hooked to the story ..
coming back to the update ...I loved it,every bit of it...I really like the rapport between arnav & anji..and shyam too..
arnav & khushi part was beautifully written ...they have this certain affection & trust for each other so if not love ( for now) ,they can walk together as friends ...waiting for the next

*alwyz does lungi dance*..a dedication?...for me?...yeah..i knew it..bhai..i am so irresistible.. u can't stop loving me ! :D and i loved that note !... *hugsss* *kisssesss* i love you and you know that...my baby..my shona...
and i'll not read this chap now...m in chap 7...not getting time to read..but i'll read when i get time from our continuous lou making ! and i'll comment too

and i know, i know..my baby is writing a great story !

with lotsss of louuu and non stop kisses

ur trouble !..and hell..this is my if name- arshiangal5..lol..in case tu mujhe pehecchani nahi !