Arhi FF 'Sandcastle' #2 Reposted all parts - Page 10

Chapter 12

Any sane person in the world would be on his way home or stay awake for his work to be done. In any case, he would be sitting in a warm comfortable room. After a long and tiring day, he had every intention of driving back home, speak with his fianc for an hour as they usually do, and have a peaceful sleep for few hours before going back to the office the next day. But before he could find a way to escape from accompanying the crazy, totally insane girl he had for a sister-in-law, he was here, standing in front of a security guard at 2 AM, not caring about slight downfall, thanks to the monsoons for his luck. He looked over his shoulder, at his fianc, who was standing few feet away from him under a comfortable shelter, along with her sister.

"I understand you have your reasons for not allowing us," he said yet again, requesting the guard from the past ten minutes and trying hard to find a way so that he could fulfill the insane girl's insane wish. "But we will take just fifteen minutes there. We will not create any problems, I swear."

He looked up at the sky, begging the heavens to show some mercy on him when he heard the guard not accepting his request. "No sane person will want to visit Buddha statue at midnight, Sir." The guard snapped with irritation, "try and understand... we are not supposed to let visitors during such odd hours."

"That is it!"He turned around at the voice to find a fuming fianc and almost crying Saali."I am not going to support her for her insanity," she announced seriously, "not anymore, Kiran. Let's go back and come during daylight. I am not going to let you support her either." She warned him when he tried to speak a word, "we are spoiling her in a perfect way. That is enough for this life time. We can't decide what is best for another person."

"Bindu!" He warned her, shaking his head, as he saw the hurt on the girl who was the reason for their late night visit. He could never see that look on the girl whom he treated as his sister. He faced the guard, not wanting to disappoint her further, as he pulled his wallet out and handed him few notes. "We will make sure you aren't in any kind of trouble, Kaka." He said firmly, giving the man no choice other than to accept his request. "Just let us allow to go there for fifteen minutes."

The man thought for a while, his fist holding the notes as he did. He finally nodded. "I will come with you, and you have to leave soon." He said and signaled them to follow.

Sighed in relief, Kiran walked back to the girls and hugged his Saali around her shoulder, ignoring his fianc, angry for the way she hurt her sister, even though it was unintentional. "Come on, smile now." He teased as they made their way, with a disappointed Bindu followed them, her worry for her sister clearly displayed on her face. "Why do you worry so much when I am with you, Khushi?" He asked with fake hurt.

"I have complete faint in you, Jeeju." Her voice was low when Khushi spoke for the first time in the whole time. "I know you will take me to the statue at any cost. I worry about the message I would find there. I worry about the love I saw in his eyes for me." She looked at him, her shivering hands held his, seeking for his support. "I want to say that I am the one, Jeeju. For the first time, I am willing to dream a life with him."

He held Bindu's wrist and shook his head in a no, stopping her from comforting Khushi. He knew his fianc was worried but there was nothing they could do. As a sister, Bindu did her best but it was Khushi who had to take care of herself and decide what was best for her. "That lucky son of a bitch," he said, lightening the atmosphere as they climbed on a pedal boat. "I envy him for making Khushi Yalavarti fall in love with him. And poor me, stuck with ever strict Bindu."

Khushi laughed at the comment, pushing her thoughts aside. She was happy for Bindu. "I can accept you too, Kiran." She teased just to rile her sister up, winking at her Jeeju, "I am sure my Suriya will be completely fine with it."

The next few minutes, they sat in silence, partly due to the presence of the guard and partly, each lost in their own set of thoughts. Kiran held her hand in his as he watched Bindu struggling to keep her composure. He had been shocked when she said about Khushi's outing with Arnav that day and that she had eaten cheese items, which wasn't good for her in that condition. He had been tempted to go to the man and explain him about her but stopped just in time, as it was not his position to take any decision regarding Khushi or Arnav. All he wished was that the girl would see some sense and approach Arnav before it was too late.

AmanMathur and he were childhood friends before Aman's family shifted back to their place. They had been in touch ever since, though they met rarely. Kiran barely remembered seeing Arnav in Aman's wedding. When his friend asked Kiran to look for an accommodation for his team member cum friend cum brother-in-law, the first and the only thought Kiran had was to let the person stay in Khushi's room, as that would force her to move downstairs. Bindu and her parents were worried about her and wanted her to stay with them but the stubborn Khushi that she was, rejected all their requests, as she wanted to be alone and not have a family that would hover her all the time. Kiran took that opportunity according to their will but never had he guessed that the person would be the one with whom Khushi fell in love six months ago.

He walked slowly, his arm snaked around his fianc's waist, as they followed a literally running Khushi towards the statue. He watched, helplessly, as the girl took the torch from the guard, searching frantically for the message Arnav had left for her. He wondered how close they had become through their letters during that one week, as she was looking just below the feet of the statue, as if she knew that was the place, but shook his head, remembering that was indeed the place where Khushi would scribble away her worries in a language no one seemed to understand. He watched her cleaning the area with her scarf and leaned beside her, letting his arm go off Bindu. Sure enough, he saw the message Khushi had been searching for. It contained just three lines.

Shona,

I love you. I am sorry for not contacting you earlier and all I hope and wish is that I am not too late. I hate it that you managed to spy on me during that week and I never changed my number, hoping you would call one day, but you never did. That killed me. This waiting... is killing me. Please call me. Please...

Your Suriya

Khushi was quite, uncharacteristically silent, after she read those lines. But he knew her more than she or Bindu knew about her. Even the dark night didn't act like a curtain for his vision and he saw tears flickering uncontrollably, as she cried silently at the silent confession she had received from the man she loved. He turned his head away, not wanting to watch her in that condition. He tilted his head and let out a sharp chuckle as he saw a dark cloud hiding the little moon that had been peeping on them. He felt Bindu frozen beside him, her nails digging into the flesh of his arm, as she herself tried to control her tears. He held her elbow and took her aside, providing Khushi as much privacy they could at that moment.

"He loves her."Bindu stated, biting her lower lip as she swallowed a low sob. "She deserves happiness, Kiran. Please talk her into confessing the truth."

He watched Khushi scribbling back below his message, as she wiped her tears angrily. "We can advice her," he whispered, "but we can't ask or force her to decide and confess, Bindu. I trust her. She is capable of taking care of her love. Let her deal first, and if she acts immature, I will be the one to reveal everything to Arnav. For now, let Khushi deal with her love life."

He blinked back his own tears as he walked towards Khushi when he sensed she was unable to control her pain. He pulled her into his arms gently, but glanced at her reply message just to confirm his doubts.

You are not late, Suriya. You just reached the wrong girl. You think I will leave you...? Never. I might not call you nor did I try to know about you in these six months. But I did know your activities right from the moment you reached my city. I did follow you the whole day. I did meet you. But to tell you who I am... it's not going to happen. Sorry for coming into your life... I love you, more than you will ever know

Shona

Kiran sighed helplessly, as he led Khushi away from the statue. He wished he could help her in one way or the other. He wished he could remove her pain. He just wished he could...

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He rubbed his eyes and arched his neck. He scowled at the watch that read 6:45 AM. He had stayed awake the whole night... again. After roaming around the city the last day with Khushi, he had been immersed himself in his work. It had been a pleasant day and gave him an opportunity to see the city and know about it to an extent. He was thankful she dragged him in that way. However, by the end of the day, he was lost in his past, wondering where his Shona was, and whether she had visited tank bund at all.

The shrill ring of his mobile alarm brought him from dwelling deep into his past and he thanked his stars for it. Switching it off, he stretched his body, deciding to take his mind off from the work for a while and enjoy the Sunday. Dialing a number, he waited for his mother to answer, ready to hear a lecture as how he was neglecting his parents and how he was behaving as a kid. "Good morning," he greeted as soon as the call was answered, not really caring about whether it was his mother or father. "Having coffee...?"

"Unfortunately," he heard his father sighing deeply from the other end, "your Amma is immersed in her prayers to Lord Shiva, forgetting the fact that it is me, who is her patidev. Seriously son, don't ever marry a woman with S. Indian genes. Especially women from families who have people like your grandfather. It's real torture."

Arnav laughed at his father's condition. His mother would often lose track when she was in her devotional avatar. "I will keep it in mind," he said, still chuckling, "but mind you, Dad. I am sure Amma is right behind you by now."

And soon enough, he heard his father stuttering as he explained the woman about speaking regarding powers the almighty had. He unlocked the door and walked towards the edge of the terrace and sat on the parapet wall, just few feet away from where Khushi usually offered her prayers. As he looked downstairs at the foyer, he spotted Kiran stretching his body lazily, with Bindu beside him with two cups. He smiled at the couple, the air around them filled with their love.

"I need your Appa to help me with my puja, Suriya." He heard his mother ordering him without any pleasantries, "do you mind me borrowing him for a while? Never mind," she continued without allowing him to speak a word, "I don't care even if you have any objection with it, since he is my husband. Now, if you really love me, then get off your lazy body and have a shower. Asking you to visit a temple is baseless as I know you will never do that. Why aren't you saying a word, Suriya?"

He rolled his eyes, nodding at Kiran who waved at him. "Firstly, good morning to you too, Amma. I am fine and I have been waiting for you to give me a chance to speak a word." He said with an amazing smile. "Thank you... since you have been busy with whatever puja you are up to now, I am going to keep it short and simple. It's Arnav, not Suriya... same old story. No, I am not going to be a puppet in your hands when it concerns those God's. Now have fun with Appa and convey my sympathy to the poor lad."

He chuckled as his mother went on ranting about how the men in her life never bothered to fulfill her wishes on Sundays, while she was working hard to fulfill their wishes the whole week, before his father cursed him by calling with his middle name before he heard the disconnected tone. Shaking his head, he smiled at the couple downstairs who were watching him with a smile. "Good morning," he greeted politely, "it's been a while since we met, Kiran." He said, remembering that he was Aman'sfriend.

"I really hope you are comfortable here, Mr. Raizada."

He heard Kiran with a hint of teasing and shook his head, remembering the way the insane girl in the family making him loose his peace with her presence. "All I can say is, you have lots of patience," he teased back, "if you managed to enjoy being dragged around without your will."

Kiran laughed, agreeing with him, while Bindu shook her head before whispering something to the man and went back inside the house. "Khushi is a fun loving kid," he said after a pause, "if you understand her, you will love her, Arnav. If you don't, well, you will find her irritating most of the times. Either way, you can't ignore her."

Arnav looked at him, the way he replied sounded strange... odd... more than required. It was not just what it met the eye, Arnav noticed unknowingly. It was more like Kiran wanted him to believe that no one could hate Khushi once they understood her. And that unsettled him to a great extent without knowing why.

He remembered the way Khushi asked him to take her along to his working place without her family's knowledge and the way she spent the previous day with him, showing him all the places around the city. He remembered how she broke down regarding her love and the way she showed herself as a pampered kid while hiding a part of her from the world.

"The man she loves," he heard himself replying, "is surely lucky. As much I understood her, yes, she is a great kid."

"Kid?" Kiran questioned him with a chuckle. "I never heard a man addressing her as a kid. Well, except for me, of course." He winked and continued asking, "let's have a man-to-man word. Do you really think she is a kid?"

Arnav smiled as he nodded. "In any other situations, well, I might notice her first to tell whether she is a kid." He confessed his true feelings. "But I never really looked at her in that way, Kiran."

"May I ask the reason?"

The question was direct, and sharp. Arnav wondered why he was having such a conversation with Kiran in the first place. But his instincts said him to be as truthful as he could in that moment. He had no idea why, but Arnav had the urge to provide peace to the man. The way the man was asking his opinion about his fianc's sister... Arnav felt something odd in the whole situation and thus followed his instinct.

"I don't think you can notice another girl when you have Bindu in your life, Kiran. Can you?"He asked with a smile, leaving the man to understand his answer, without directly voicing it.

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