Part 41...
She ran past his office doors like a bullet and flew into his open arms.
"Woah! Riya! Calm down, what happened?" Arjun wasn't sure if she was happy or if something has upset her. When she did not reply and just hung to him he tried to part from her, but she would not let him.
"If you won't say anything, how am I suppos..."
"You are cleared!" She exclaimed still hugging him.
"Cleared? Kya matlab?"
"The enquiry is done Arjun, you are cleared!!" she once again exclaimed, annoyed that he did not understand it the first time.
"Oh! How did you know?"
"Abhi commissioner ne Rathore sir ko call kiya tha. Unhone kaha ki you are cleared off all charges...I am sooo happy!!!"
Arjun smiled, wrapping his arms around her waist and hugging her. After a few moments he parted and cupped her face in his huge hands.
"Sorry Riya, mujhe kabhi yeh ehsaas hi nahi hua ki iss enquiry ki wajhese tum kitni pareshaan ho. Agar kuch kehti..."
"Arjun ab chodo na. It's all over now and it's for the good. Aur haan, I want a treat...aise hi chodne waali nahi hoon"
"Absolutely, why don't you let everyone know that lunch is on me today. Someone can order the food, I'll go pick it up..." he stopped seeing the light pout on Riya's face.
"Kya hua? Chehra kyun uthar gaya?"
"Jab meine treat kaha, toh mera matlab tha ki tum aur mein...hum dono...I mean...akele..." she trailed off, a pretty blush making its way up her cheeks. Arjun chuckled, pulling her closer.
"Toh aise kehti na, usse treat ka naam kyun diya? Tumne treat kaha toh meine socha..."
Riya did not reply, instead rested her forehead on his chest. He smiled - something he seems to be doing a lot these days - and pulled her into a hug. He wrapped an arm around her waist while the other traced her spine. Her arms wrapped around his neck, fingers lightly grazing the nape of his neck. They started to move in a trance on the spot, as if soft music was playing in the background.
He buried his nose into the crook of her neck and took a deep breath of her sweet scent. After a few moments, he slowly shifted so that both his hands were on her waist and their foreheads were pressed together. Closing their eyes, they breathed slowly, still swaying slowly to the music only they could hear.
He kissed her forehead, her eyes, her cheeks and slowly traced his nose to her ear. In a husky whisper, he cooed her name into her ear and tenderly kissed her neck.
Riya smiled, welcoming his touch and wanting nothing more than this moment. This right here, right now could be her forever.
She slowly opened her eyes to look at him as he brought his forehead to rest against hers once again. His eyes still closed, a small smile played on his lips. She raised her hand to his face, her fingers ready to trace his lips, when...
"OH! Damn, sorry..."
Arjun's eyes flew open when he heard Rathore's voice. He looked at Riya's raised hand confusedly, thinking what she was about to do before his eyes snapped towards an awkward looking Rathore at the door.
Riya and Arjun parted promptly and put an appropriate distance between themselves.
"Rathore...uhh..." Arjun started, obviously embarrassed at getting caught the way they did.
"Mein baad main aatha hoon..." Rathore said turning around to leave but Arjun stopped him.
"Sam rukho...I...kyun...I mean kuch kaam tha?"
"I just came to tell you about that enquiry thing...aur aaj humara commissioner ke saath meeting bhi hain na...toh..."
"Oh haan...we have that meeting today. I completely forgot..." Arjun said glancing at Riya who has turned into a deep shade of scarlet.
"Dikh raha hain..." Rathore said trying to stop laughing but failing miserably.
Arjun rolled his eyes and looked at Riya who was gaping at Rathore and her blush turned a shade darker if that was even possible.
"Umm...Riya, we need to head to the commissioner's office. We'll be there most of the day, so you guys need to handle it here..." Arjun informed her as he went back to his desk to collect a few files needed for the meeting.
"Y-yes s-sir" Riya stuttered, still trying to get over the fact that they were caught in such a compromising position by her commander in chief. Yet, somewhere deep down she was glad it was Rathore and not one of Shree or Chotu or worst, both. If that happened, she'd have got a lot of crap from them. But, now she felt bad for Arjun, because she knew that Rathore would not leave him.
"Arre Riya, I wanted to talk to you about something..." Arjun said suddenly, stopping near the door. He looked at Rathore and the latter took it as his cue to leave.
"I'll wait outside..." Rathore said and walked out, towards the exit.
Arjun put the files on the table and walked closer to her.
"Riya..." he paused, taking a deep breath, "...Riya, dad ko call kardo"
Her eyes widened.
"Nahi..." she said just as directly as he asked her.
"Pooch nahi raha hoon Riya, call karro"
"Order de rahe ho? Mujhe nahi pata tha ki personal matters main bhi tumhara order..." before she could finish the sentence, Arjun gently grabbed her by her arms and pulled her closer.
"Baat ko ghumao math...mere paas time nahi hain. Woh tumhare dad hain Riya, aur kitne din chelega yeh sab?"
"Call karoongi toh bhi kuch farak nahi padega Arjun! Woh phir wohi sab kahenge tumhare baare main aur mein phir naraaz ho jaoongi..."
"Toh mere baare baat karne ko kissne kaha? Riya, bus apne dad ko call karro aur unse baat karro...just like you used to before I came into your life. Mahine hogaye unse tumne baat nahi ki...tumhara mann nahi kartha unse baat karne ki, usne poochne ki woh kaise hain??"
Riya looked away and did not say anything, but that was reply enough for him. He knew she was longing to know how her dad was doing. He lived in US all alone after all, with housekeepers to look after his house but no one to ask how he was doing.
Arjun sighed and cupped her face, "Riya, please mere wajhese apne dad ko door math karro...no matter what he may say or do, he needs his daughter. He has no one else, you are his world...why can't you see that??"
Tears rolled in her eyes but she did not let them fall. Blinking her eyes rapidly she once again looked away.
"Promise karro aaj call karrogi unhe" Arjun said sternly, his tone indicating that there was no scope for further argument on the matter. He hated using this tone with her, but he knew if he didn't push her, she'd never make that call.
Riya hesitated for a few seconds before nodding her head. He leaned down and pressed his lips against her forehead.
"Thank you" he whispered against her skin before turning around and quickly leaving the office.
~oOo~
She held the phone in her hand for the 65th time and put it down immediately.
Arghhh! C'mon Riya...just make the call already!!!! She told herself as she fell back on the bed, her head hitting the pillow safely. Her eyes darted to the clock on the bedroom wall. It's been almost four hours since she came home. For the last one and half hours she's been sitting in her bedroom, sulking about having to call her dad. She heard another round of laughter from the living room and sighed, Anu and her parents were watching some comedy show. Arjun - to her guilty relief - was still stuck in that meeting with the commissioner. Yes, the meeting is STILL going on and on and on. They sure make them work hard.
She closed her eyes for a few seconds and immediately had flashes of her parents. As if she had her own personal DVD player in her head, memories started to play like a video. Memories that varied from happy to extremely sad, from childhood to the very recent past. She was surprised at the number of happy memories she had that included her father. He was a loving and very caring father up until they moved to US, it was then that he got so involved in business that he started to ignore his family.
Choosing to ignore the sad memories, she concentrated on the happy ones. A smile playing on her lips, Riya had no idea when she fell into a deep slumber.
~oOo~
Rathore dropped Arjun off at Riya's place and picked up Mr and Mrs Rawte for the night. Arjun slowly made his way into the house and slumped on the couch. It has been a long day filled with higher officials, meetings and arguments on how to tackle some high profile cases and it wasn't even over yet. They had to do all this again, tomorrow. Good thing they provided dinner in the middle of the meetings or else, Arjun and Rathore would have to have dragged themselves home. And of course, not to forget the sometimes subtle and sometimes not so subtle comments of Rathore at getting caught, basically romancing in the office.
He got up and peeked into Anu's room to see her asleep, he then turned to Riya's room. He could see the lights were still on so he knocked on the door before going in. The sight in front of him made him chuckle. The lights were on but Riya wasn't. She was curled up into a small ball in the middle of the double bed, shivering slightly as the blanket wasn't drawn up onto her body.
Arjun pulled the blanket up covering her and saw that she immediately relaxed nuzzling into the warm bed underneath. He kissed her forehead when his eyes fell on the phone. For some reason he immediately knew that she did not call her dad. Sighing, he picked up the phone and pressed the redial button. Shree's number flashed on the screen - Anu probably called him before going to sleep. He shook his head and sat on the edge of the bed looking back at Riya. What was he going to do with her? What could he possibly say, that would make her talk to her dad.
He tried not pushing her into it, he tried giving her time, he tried being stern, he tried to emotionally blackmail her, he tried pushing her...nothing worked so far. All the while, the guilt was eating him inside out that he was the reason for their fight. He sighed and got up, making sure the blanket was completely covering her, and he switched off the lights and made his way out into the living room. Laying down on the couch, he decided he'd not give up and talk to her again tomorrow before going into a much needed, deep slumber.
~oOo~
The next morning went by so busily that the team did not have time to breath easily. With Rathore and Arjun having to attend the meetings with the commissioner, it all came down to Riya, Chotu and Shree (who started working on regular basis again) to handle the cases. Even then, Arjun found time before leaving to the Commissioner's office to pull Riya aside and remind her about calling her father. Riya again reluctantly agreed.
By the time she came home that evening, she was literally shaking with anticipation. She took a quick shower and became busy with cooking dinner. Telling herself she'd call after cooking so to ease her nerves. After cooking, she decided to have dinner and then talk to her dad. After dinner she sat for a while talking to Mr and Mrs Rawte and in no time, Arjun was home with Rathore.
As soon as he stepped into the house, he looked at her expectantly. His face dropped when she looked away from him. Rathore sat for a while talking to Anu and soon enough he left with Mr and Mrs Rawte while Anu retired to her room for the night. With just her and Arjun left in the living room, Riya's heart started to speed up.
"A-Arjun..."
"Aaj raath lodge jaake so jaata..." he started in a monotone looking seriously at the television.
"Kyun? Phir kyun jaoge uss lodge main? Kitni baar kaha hain ki mere room main..."
"Nahi, aaj raath na..."
"Par kyun? Arjun mein..."
"Fine yehi so jaata hoon. Just don't ask..."
"Mujhse naaraz ho toh saaf saaf keh..."
"Dad ko call kiya Riya??" The first full sentence between them that evening. His voice rang in the room as he glared up at her.
"N-nahi...mein..."
Arjun kicked off his shoes and laid down on the couch, still watching the TV, but nothing that was being shown on there was registering in his mind. He glanced at her to see tears roll down her cheeks and his heart sped up. Shit! What was he doing?
Just as she was about to turn around and leave he grabbed her hand just above the wrist and stopped her. Switching the TV off, he slowly walked up to her. He wiped the tears off with the pad of his thumb before swiftly picking her up in his arms. He made his way to her room, not taking his gaze off her face. Walking into the unlit room, he gently laid her down on the bed and turned the lamp on.
Slipping into the bed next to her, he kissed the tears off. Trailing soft, feather like kisses down her face, his lips lingered above her lips.
"Sorry" he whispered. His hot breath caressed her skin, sending a shiver down her spine. She couldn't resist from pushing herself off the bed just enough to let their lips meet. He smiled as her soft lips met his and gently pushed her back onto the bed. Rolling so that half of his body was on top of hers, he kissed her; slowly, gently, passionately, lovingly with just a little dance of their tongues. His fingertips traced the bare skin at the hem of her top, while the other caressed her hair.
They couldn't stop. The kiss wasn't lustful, it wasn't filled with desires that hinted for it to go further than just that kiss.
But, they just couldn't stop.
~oOo~
After sometime...[after a very long sometime :p]
They lay on the bed, wide awake. Arjun ran his hand up and down her arm as she hugged him - very tightly one might add - around his waist.
"Are you awake?" she asked him in a soft whisper, although all she had to do was raise her head to see if he was asleep.
"Yes"
They fell into silence again.
"Arjun I-I wanted to call dad but I just..."
Arjun sighed and pulled her up so they were at eye level.
"I am sorry Riya. Agar tum ready nahi ho toh mujhe tumhe push nahi karna chahiye, par...Riya it's been a few months now since dad left for US, you haven't spoken to him once. I can see that you care for him, you are worried for him. But you are not calling him, and I know the reason for that. ME."
"Nahi Arjun aisa..."
"Ri, mujhse jhoot math bolo..." he paused before continuing again, "...you may not think much about this today, but after a few months' or maybe years' time you'd want to talk to him and make things right with him. I am just scared that by the time you realise that, it might be too late.
Agar unhe mujhse problem hain toh, baat karne ki khoshish karenge unse. We'll try our best to convince him. But not talking to him or being angry at him is not going to help in anyway. It will only result in you losing your dad - forever"
"I lost him long before this Arjun. Pata hain, kal hi soch rahi thi...he was so different before going to US. So, happy and caring...I wish he'd be like that again"
"He could be. You just need to give him a chance"
"What if he still doesn't accept you? What then?"
"Then we'd at least know we'd given it a try. Agar tum shuru say itni negative hogi toh dad ko kaise samjhaogi??"
"Fine, call karoongi unhe. But, on one condition..."
"What?"
"You have to be there when I talk to him..."
"Done. Kab call karrogi?"
"Kal"
Arjun smiled and kissed her forehead. Pulling her head down to his chest again, he hugged her tightly.
"Goodnight, Riya"
"Goodnight, Arjun"
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