"What the hell does he think of himself? Laad Governer kahin ke!"
Khushi grumbled to herself as she paced across the room, pausing for a moment to check the time on the big wall clock. The wonky angles of the minute and hour hand on the clock didn't do much to help her irritation. And as she turned away from the clock her gaze fell on the beautifully intricate sari and a box of jewellery set lying open on the bed. Khushi stared at it wistfully, her doe eyes glassing over in fondness for a moment (Arnav had gifted her that saree) before shaking her head vehemently as if trying to resolutely hold on to her anger.
She resumed her pacing again mumbling irritably to herself, "Let him come today. He's going to get an earful from me today."
"Who's getting an earful from whom, wife?" an overly cheerful voice floated into the bedroom instantly making Khushi's feet stop their impatient marching. She slowly turned around, her arms crossed across her chest, an eyebrow cocked up as her eyes narrowed in anger.
Arnav straightened up, his smile fading as his gaze too fell moved from the glittering sari to the assorted jewellery and then finally stopped at his very angry wife. He gulped, realizing he wasn't going to be able to get out of this easily. He warily walked closer to Khushi keeping his laptop bag and coat on the recliner. From behind his back he withdrew a small box with the letters "Laxmi Mishthaan Bhandar" stamped on it, and offered it to Khushi. It was no rocket science to figure out what was inside it that he had brought to mollify her.
"For you," Arnav said in a buttery soft voice.
Despite her anger, the delightful smell of the fresh hot Jalebis managed to reach Khushi's nose. Her eyebrows relaxed and face lit up for a second, but she immediately rearranged her expressions to show her husband that she wasn't going to be bribed so easily this time. However, the momentary betrayal of expressions on her face had brought a smirk on Arnav's face.
"Mr. Arnav Singh Raizada," she announced ominously, completely ignoring the box of Jalebis right under her nose. "Do you own a watch?"
Arnav's smirk somehow became even more pronounced at seeing Khushi angry; somehow Khushi looked even more beautiful when she was pissed off. Although, it was not really helping matters right now. Khushi looked even more infuriated. "What the hell is so funny?"
Arnav's smile faded at hearing Khushi's tone. He glanced at the box of Jalebis and then sighed and kept it down on the table by the recliner. "I'm really sorry Khushi! Look, I thought I'd get free on time but I had an urgent conference call at the last minute with clients from States! I just had to-"
Khushi raised her hand to stop Arnav's steady stream of reasoning. Then, without warning she started advancing towards him threateningly.
"You are busy every day," she muttered.
Arnav took a step back, surprised at her sudden movement towards him.
"You have meetings every day," Khushi continued.
Another step towards him, another step away from her.
"You even have conferences and phone calls in the middle of the night."
By then both of them were out of the room and by the poolside.
"Have I ever said a word to you about it?"
Arnav started muttering a response when Khushi shushed him down again with a dismissive wave of her hand, still walking menacingly towards him as if she was going to pull her hair out in frustration, or maybe, even worse, his hair!
"But you DO know that Jeeji and Jeejaji have their anniversary today, don't you? And by extension that is OUR ANNIVERSARY too?" She poked Arnav in the chest with her finger.
Arnav could feel his lips twitching up again at the reminder. Khushi had insisted on having TWO wedding anniversaries every year; one in remembrance of the contract wedding which, according to her, brought the two of them closer and made their hearts grow fonder, and the other anniversary of the actual wedding which took place after the six months. Arnav's flabbergasted expression at hearing the former reasoning was priceless. Lucky for him, Khushi had still been too dreamy to notice his reaction, or else it would have led to another round of angry yelling from his sweetheart of a wife. Arnav pinched his leg hard so as not to allow the smile of amusement surface on his face.
"And you do know that this time we were supposed to go out for dinner with them, don't you?" she muttered cocking her head at him. "And you also know that I've been waiting for the last two hours waiting for you to get home so that you could freshen up and - "
"Khushi! Happy Anniversary darling!" Arnav advanced towards her, his arms outstretched in an embrace which he hoped would finally put an end to this tirade.
And before he could take her in his arms, she placed her hand on his chest warningly, albeit with too much force than she meant to. And lo and behold!
SPLASH!!!
Arnav "the mighty" Singh Raizada's ass had landed into the pool!
His arms had flailed in mid-air for the fraction of moment when he was falling backwards and instinctively had tried to break his fall. But it all happened so quickly! He tried to stand up as soon his legs hit the bottom of the pool but his knees buckled. Finally, he stood up, sputtering and coughing out the water that accidently entered his nose. Water trailed down his face, his perfect hair now deprived of their gelled hardness. His clothes were soaked through and through; his waistcoat clung to his torso, water dripping down his sleeves. After checking himself, he looked up in shock towards Khushi to comprehend what had just happened.
In the slow motion of her pushing an openly embracing Arnav away from her (her face still irritated), to watching him splash into the pool (her mouth forming a small O of surprise), to finally watching him standing, dripping water from his clothes (her lips slightly twitching up), needless to say, Khushi's expression also underwent a transformation.
Finally as Khushi's amused eyes locked with Arnav's astounded ones, watching him stand in the pool drenched, looking helpless, and, oh, so completely adorable, she just could not help it anymore - she burst out laughing. All her anger with his coming late had evaporated instantly. Arnav's eyes widened for an instant, watching his beautiful wife laughing as if she was possessed. His heart skipped a beat. Khushi was a bundle of contradictions; even though she had been trying so hard to be all tough with him, she had failed miserably laughing like an innocent little kid. He suddenly had an idea.
Shaking his head, he pursed his lips annoyingly. "Are you done, Khushi? This was a frikkin 10000 rupees suit and thanks to you, it's ruined now!" he muttered shaking his sleeves to get rid of the water.
Khushi abruptly stopped laughing as she realized, it had gone too far and Arnav actually looked pissed now. "I'm so sorry!" she breathed, her eyes widening in apprehension. "I'm so, so sorry! I didn't mean to-"
"Well, doesn't matter now does it? I still managed to fall into the pool, Khushi. Seriously, sometimes you just-" Arnav continued irritatingly.
"I'm sorry Arnav, really. Come on, come outside. You'll catch a cold," she fretted in concern. Arnav shook his head stubbornly, still looking peeved off.
"I'm really sorry baba! Really! Now, just come out please!" she implored, suddenly kneeling over the side of the pool and offering her hand to Arnav. Her pallu fell into the pool, but she didn't pay any attention to it, her eyes focussed on him. "Here, take my hand. I'll pull you out." Arnav ignored Khushi's hand and slowly started moving to the edge of the pool.
It had started as a game, she wasn't even that angry with him to begin with and she had totally forgiven him when he had shown her the box of jalebis. Khushi was still leaning over the pool side, but she slowly lowered her arm, an upset expression dawning on her face for having made Arnav mad. Seriously Khushi! You just don't know when to back off sometimes! Look, now, you've made Arnav mad! She rebuked herself in her mind.
"Ahhh!" she exclaimed suddenly and sure enough-
SPLASHHH!!!
"Hahahahahhaaa!!!" Arnav's laughter echoed loudly as Khushi gagged and sputtered helplessly on top of him. Just as she was starting to look away, Arnav had held onto her extended arm and pulled her towards himself with all his might. And with her defences down, Khushi had literally been swept off her feet by this handsome hunk of a man, who was now laughing with gay abandon.
"What... the..." she coughed indignantly, as the cold water splashed around her chest, soaking her completely. She didn't realize that she was directly on top of Arnav as he had crashed into the pool too when he had pulled her.
"You didn't think I would let you be all high and dry, did you Mrs. Khushi Kumari Gupta Singh Raizada?" he asked playfully, looking down at her with amused eyes. Khushi blushed, quite forgetting to be angry with Arnav's mischief as she felt his arm around her holding her close to himself, her bosom pressed hard against his chest.
"Hahaha! Okay very funny!" She retorted. "Okay let me go now!" she squirmed against him, trying to get out of his grasp. Somehow, she was feeling hotter rather than feeling cold in the water, and she was sure it had everything to do with Arnav's fingers slowly sliding down to her bare waist. Seriously! It was a health hazard wearing a saree around Arnav.
"What if I don't want to?" he murmured, a trace of huskiness creeping up in his voice. Khushi froze. Her doe-eyes widening as her heart started hammering against her chest. A blush was steadily creeping up her face as her eyes traced the water droplets rolling down Arnav's face just to stop at the edge of his lips. She gulped.
Arnav could read the tension in her body, could understand her every blush, could comprehend every hike in her breath by now. And it was no rocket science to him how the goosebumps appeared on her body not because of the water but because of his voice. The smirk slowly returned to his lips. He loved when he had this effect on her.
Slowly getting up from his sitting position into a kneeling position. He didn't release his grip around Khushi's waist at any moment. As their movement disturbed the pool's calm surface, water splashed around their entwined bodies again. "Are you okay, Khushi?" he murmured throatily, holding her close to his body as if she was a fragile thing.
"Huh?" Khushi muttered, having been rendered speechless at feeling Arnav's one arm snaked around her waist, as the other slowly moved her long, open and now wet hair to one side covering her right shoulder. As his fingers brushed her soaked back, she drew in a sharp breath of air.
"Are you okay?" Arnav repeated closing in the distance between them, his eyes now burning with an urgent passion that was slowly becoming impossible for either of them to ignore.
"I... am... okay?" Khushi whispered falteringly, her eyes drawing to his lips again, her breath hiking up again, her mind wondering how the hell did she always end up such situations when rather than being angry with her husband she was in his arms instead.
Arnav had forgotten all about his state that he was kneeling in the pool, or that he was soaked, or that a waft of the breeze had picked up caressing the back of his neck. All he could see was Khushi's trembling lips barely an inch from his own, all he could breathe in was her essence, all he could feel was her heartbeats hammering against his own, all he could hear was her quickened breathing and all he could touch...
Arnav's lips gently brushed Khushi's, earning a gasp from her. He pulled her closer, his fingers tracing the water droplets down her bare back, his arm holding her petite waist in place. His kiss deepened and he felt Khushi respond, her hands slowly moving up from his chest to the nape of his neck. That particular move always thrilled him to bits and she knew it. The urgency grew as Khushi felt her inhibitions slowly dissolve in the water. How could she have been mad at this amazing person? Really? The man who could make her melt with one touch, one look, one word, one kiss...
"Hello Hi Bye Bye! What is this?"
Arnav and Khushi instantly broke away from the kiss, startled to say the least. They both looked up towards the source of the disturbance and found Manorama Mami standing in the balcony above looking down at the two love struck birds through a pair of binoculars.
Khushi blushed beet root in utter embarrassment, suddenly realising where they were, and how it must look kissing in the open. She tried to push Arnav away but he held onto her resolutely. Realizing it was a futile effort, Khushi shrank behind Arnav looking anywhere but at Manorama Mami. Hell, she'd have loved to dive back under the pool and drown in the 3 feet of the water.
"Oh Mami. Khushi lost her... ring in the pool," Arnav replied casually, holding onto Khushi's waist. "I was just helping her find it, you know?"
Suddenly, his Mamaji sauntered behind Manorama Mami. He saw the pair of binoculars in her hands and then looked at Arnav and Khushi kneeling the pool downstairs, completely soaked. He understood everything within a second.
"Manorama? Really?" he sighed in exasperation. "Why can't you let the kids have their fun?" he added pulling his wife away from the scene of the crime, hastily throwing an apologetic look towards Arnav.
"What fun? Arnav bitwa was trying to find Phatee sadee's ring in the pool. Do you take me to be an idiot?" Manorama's voice drifted away. Arnav turned to look at Khushi's crouched figure in front of him, the smirk back on his lips. He might have been pissed off but somehow the entire situation just seemed hilarious to him.
"Okay, that was interesting?" he ventured. Khushi straightened up and after confirming that the intruders had left, she slapped Arnav on the chest.
"Interesting! What do you mean interesting?" she whispered and suddenly stood up. Arnav followed suit. The water started splashing away merrily again. "Mamiji just saw us!" She said wading through the water to get to the edge of the water, her anger seeming to be resurface. Arnav followed behind her and with a leap was out of the pool in a jiffy.
"Yeah? So?" he asked smirking, shaking his arms trying to get rid of the water. Khushi too flicked her pallu showering them both with tiny droplets.
"Arnav! Shhh!" Khushi hissed in shock looking around to check in case someone overheard them. Arnav paused, letting his eyes roam all over Khushi; the light yellow saree was clinging to her body accentuating her every curve. Suddenly he started walking towards her. Khushi's eyes widened in alarm.
"It's my house," Arnav muttered in the same low voice as he took a step towards Khushi. She instinctively stepped back.
"My room," he continued walking towards her. She took another step back.
"My poolside," he grumbled. They were both back inside their bedroom, this time the two step tango happening directed towards Khushi. As soon as reached the entrance door of the bedroom, Arnav quickly reached behind her, locked the door and pressed Khushi against it.
"And my wife I was kissing!" he finished, the smirk disappeared from his face. The desire in his eyes was back as was Khushi's heavy breathing. "So it is none of anyone's business, is it, Mrs. Khushi Kumari Gupta Singh Raizada?" he murmured in a velvet soft voice, breathing down the curve of her neck, resting one hand on the frame of the door, and the other on her bare waist.
"Mmm hmmm..." Khushi's hands were on Arnav's shoulders, trying really hard not to get swept away once more. "But..." Arnav's lips touched the side of her neck. "Ah... there's the dinner..." His lips kissed her throat. "Mmm... and I think..." His finger shifted her blouse slightly off her shoulder and kissed her there. "It will be rude if..."
"Rude if...?" Arnav stepped back from her, his eyes narrowing. Khushi snapped out of her reverie and looked almost disappointed that he stopped doing what he was doing. She suddenly put her arms around Arnav's necks and pulled him close.
"It'll be rude if Mr. Raizada stops what he was doing to his wife a few minutes ago," she mumbled kissing him on the cheek. "And it will be rude if he stops kissing her," she kissed his lips. "And it will be incredibly rude if he doesn't help her out of her drenched clothes," she breathed against his lips, her hands running through Arnav's hair.
"Well, in that case," Arnav swooped down and picked up Khushi in his arms. "I sure as hell am not going to be rude, am I?" he murmured passionately walking towards the bed. As he lay her down on the bed, he brushed the tip of his nose with hers. "Happy Anniversary, Khushi."
*
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