Arshi FF: Entwined(T2)-- Completed! - Page 41

Entwined:

Chapter-32

3 Days Later..

Dublin,

Ireland.

Moving on', is such a simple two word phrase, often used by people to name something as complex as erasing a vital part of one's memory chip. It has to be something very influential, something that had left a mark, something that has been significant enough to change the way one looks at the monitor called life------ from which one apparently has to Move on'...

And it is termed as such coz that something' can never really be Shift+Deleted', it can only be pushed into the deeper parts of memory stacks following a first-in-never-out' concept.

It is often an easy answer to a lot of questions but only in theory. One cannot really Move on, from a part of the life that has been lead, or an event that has been experienced. The closer one can get to this phrase called moving on', is to an illusionary version of it, which isn't really bad at all but when reality hits, none of the efforts or theories nor philosophies can withstand the blow.

And Khushi's thoughts went on, this time completely in silence, the thoughts of her mind taking the form of words in air, as she looked out of the window of the brick house they have been staying since the past three days. She rested her chin on the tangle of her arms over the frame of closed window, observing the slow steady pace at which the snowflakes were falling downwards over the heaps of high and low land filled and covered with a complete white snow bed, getting accumulated and almost kissing the branches of pine trees in the vicinity, the grey, coloring itself in the sky and the local train passing by the track that was hugging their pavement every now and then, the sound of which creating its own back-ground music... Everything of it made her feel serene yet gloomy in its own way.

She never wanted to hide her past, it wasn't her intention, but yes not wanting to be associated with it has definitely been her intention. And in her attempts for the same, it kind of skipped her mind to what extent she could get nave and ignorant as opposed to the intelligence around her. She really did think that she was leaving it behind, but even as one part of her mind called it running away instead, she ignored it, in her feeble attempts to move on...

But when she realized she wasn't actually doing that and was running away instead, she had even realized that she had been running away since so long, that turning around didn't really seem an option at all, or so she thought, for her own sanity. Arnav even gave her exactly that. Time and again, he had not only been with her, accepting her feisty self in his own unique ways quite unknown to his own self, but have even encouraged her to look for a future, again in his own unique way quite unknown to his own self.

When the future seems hope-worthy and present seems live-worthy, it is only human to try and de-associate one's self from a distressing past.

But in her hopeful efforts, or rather selfish efforts she had almost manage to overlook what she might have been putting Arnav through or rather what she might put him through, later on. There was threat, yes; she was scared for reasons more than not just her inner-fears, but what left her stumped suddenly after what happened was the situation in which she found herself, with Arnav.

It is when she couldn't get herself to tell him what had happened, she realized for how long she had been keeping him in dark. It is when he after figuring it out, couldn't form the much needed questions through of his words, she had realized how hard she had been on him all through, quite unknown to her own self. In her feeble, ignorant efforts of living in the moment, she had effectively managed to put him through a lot of turmoil, and yet he never did question, nor did seek for anything. He was just silently being there, whatsoever.

The mere fact that he didn't really seem bothered about whatever her past could be, even though the shadows of it seemed not-so-good, broke through her warriors and the realization only caused the trust within her to increase by heaps and bounds.

She had fallen in love with him long back, for reasons quite indescribable, but her shadowing past and the fear of being judged had kept her from hoping all these days, or so she thought.

Hope is such an involuntary emotion. Self-control can be as prominent as one's own will power, but hope is such, that if it decides to surface from your submerged thoughts, it will surface, eventually though, it will.

And so, hope suddenly have surfaced and now all she wanted to do was confide into him and just hope, that he would still want her. For, she realized running away has been done enough; living in the moment has been overdone even; being blind eyed to her haunting past has accounted to enough of damage and more importantly, now she had realized that her running legs had finally reached the destination and she can no longer see any path ahead of it, or ahead him for that matter. The time of escapism was now over and has reached a dead-end, where she for once, felt belonged.

Destination is not preset where one aims to go, it is where, when one decides to stop and feel content.

Besides where else can she go leaving behind the only secure place she had found in ages?

How can she ever be on her own again putting up the brave exterior, knowing that all she wanted to do was be dependent and to reach out, let herself be scared and then to find solace in his arms, let herself cry out loud to have him sooth her sobs and let herself hope to have him fulfill all of them, as selfish as it might seem.

One can deal with the bitterness of life, as long as you taste the opposite. Sweetness once savored, it is not quite inviting to go back...

Her place of solitude is reached and it was time to unveil her forbidden self. Rest is what she would like to leave it to him, with only positive hope.

**

The deal has been finalized just at the eve of Christmas, and they have travelled to Dublin for live photography, location hunts and further conceptual designing. Khushi didn't have much to do, except to enjoy the literal beauty of this country about which she had been experiencing in theory these past days. Their journey so far included long drive passing through Birmingham and Liverpool, crossing over to Dublin with their car over the ferry, with ever single view being captured in pictures; she had seen the famous cattle field, although the high-lands at this time of the year was filled with snow, she could easily imagine the long green fields completely filling in the vicinity in bright summer. The museums, famous art gallery, music houses showcasing some brilliant masterpieces of musical instruments like she had never seen before, theater drama, everything of it all, combined with vintage culture with splash of white and grey everywhere, the country did seem like a perfect holiday destination.

Everything of it would have been a whole lot different experience for her, if it was with her much calm and serene mind. Nevertheless, she did try to be herself despite her inner turmoil. One of the design team has been moved to Dublin, adding to Arnav's very own international expansion so as to work with the clients closely, until the whole product is developed, and with all the major administrative work being done, they were now only waiting for the launch of his new Dublin office which would be on the night before New-Year's eve. They have learned about Ireland's very own unique celebration of the 31^st night and Arnav decided to throw such a bash to all his staff including his clients. He had been doing everything, to get her involved in her usual way, she did notice and she had been doing everything she can, to seem excited about it all.

But what lay ahead of everything, kept nagging her, alerting her mind every now and then to make sure she doesn't get carried away in living the wonderful moments yet again and to make sure not to get tempted to surpass the revelation again. The New-Years mark the final achievement of Arnav's biggest project ever, she had learnt that in these past few days and that would give her the satisfaction; if not adding to his good deeds, she wouldn't at least end up destroying any of his achievements------ which is when she would finally confide into him. Her mind was made up.

Two more days it is, and until then, she would try and be as normal as she can, just for the sake of making the best of whatever was left.

**

She was acting normal and there sure is a difference between normalcy and trying to be normal. If not anything he had managed to learn as much about her. And this really didn't go down with his already disturbed mind. Sometimes he had to turn around, while travelling in his car, or while spending evenings like this in his guest house, to make sure that she was still in the same room.

I can really be very silent-----he didn't have any doubts about that, not back then, not now, when the words were literally put into actions. Not that she was pushing herself into some kind of depression, he could see it wasn't the case, she rather seemed like spending a lot of me time, lost in silent conversations with her own self. But then, she did look relaxed, laid back and reciprocated the same amount of adulation each time she looked directly at him, may be the emotion might have even doubled, but nothing changed, he was sure of that. And it would all take a funny comment from him to get her talking. And so, he let her be.

But something definitely had changed, he could tell as much and as usual he didn't have any kind of knowledge as to what it was. And so, again he let her be..

But he couldn't really help the helplessness settling inside him, about the whole situation. It was like he knew, or he had this feeling that he was reaching to a point where he would be stuck amidst the web of some royal mess, but still he couldn't do anything about it.

"Damn!" he cursed hearing the familiar voice message prompting tone from the other end of the phone. Shyam had been unavailable since the past four days and it only added to the disorientation of his mind. He could always call his sister, but if there was something really wrong to that extent, he would have been informed by now, right?

Nevertheless, he decided to call his sister the next morning when she would be in much sober way, as opposed to her mid-night sleepy drunk-like blabber given the difference in their timings. And his last thought suddenly reminded him of something else causing him to snap another look at the window side, at her, who still looked lost into the distance, her eyes completely attuned to nothingness.

He observed her from his low wooden chair, where he had been sitting since past few hours, working in his computer, beside the small fire-place at the end of room as she continued to look out of the window, her eyes following the path of the falling-snow, her hair cradling onto one side of her neck, her legs tugged under her, her stance completely representing that of a stilled porcelain doll.

Making his mind instantly, he walked towards her before placing his laptop on the nearby table, fixing his eyes on her throughout his little walk. Acknowledging the approaching foot-steps, he could see her shoulder stiffen, indicating her snapping back from whatever world she had been lost in, and crooked her head, causing her hair to crawl back onto her shoulder and she smiled meeting his eyes. The genuine smile filled with warmth directed towards him, melted his insides right away and he sobered up almost immediately, before reciprocating her smile.

As he stood ahead of her sitting self, he extended his hand, his palm opening to her and his eyes fixing on that of her hazels.

"Where?" she asked now completely turning to face him, her hands straight down clutching the table beneath her and her legs hanging in air.

"You have to come to find out..."

"Uh...uh.."

"What? Grab your coat and just come!"

"Roger that!"

**

In their walk across the path that was bordered by snow fields, Khushi found herself amused by the little minute details of the town-side as she exclaimed pointing out to whatever that caught her eye only to realize Arnav wasn't really responding to any of her small talks. She shifted her glanced to her side to find him staring straight ahead, his stance representing that of a robot, as he walked beside her, with his eyes fixed on the road leading them.

"What are you doing?'

"Shh, Don't disturb, I'm trying to do exactly what you have been doing since evening..."

"huh?"

"I'm trying to stare out, concentrate on nothing yet look concentrated... Uh, maybe I should think of something to attain that level of focus, what nonsense philosophies do you think Khushi?" he said with a straight face without even as much as blinking his eye from staring ahead, his blank face completely masking his rigid self, for a change.

"Arnav..."

"May be I should keep chanting... I'm-Sexy, I'm-Sexy, I'm-Sexy, I'm-Sexy, I'm-Sexy, I'm-Sexy, I'm-Sexy,---------"

"Oh.. please!!" she chuckled.

"I'm-Sexy, I'm-Sexy, I'm-Sexy, I'm-Sexy, I'm-Sexy, I'm-Sexy, I'm-Sexy,---------"

"Arnav!!" she widened her eyes, still chuckling, urging him to stop, hooking her hand inside his elbow, but he maintained a straight face, not giving away any expression nor looking at her...

"What? I'm not? Alright, You're-Sexy, You're-Sexy, You're-Sexy, You're-Sexy, You're-Sexy, You're-Sexy---------------"

"Okay stop!!"

"You're-Sexy, You're-Sexy, You're-Sexy, You're-Sexy, You're-Sexy, You're-Sexy-----

"Arnav!!!" she exclaimed calling out to him, holding his shoulder almost shaking him up which is when he finally broke into fresh peal of laughter, lazily dropping his hand around her. She joined in his laughter as they walked, when he suddenly picked her up, dropping her over his shoulder and ran across the small pavement into a small door of a building that looked like a den, not completely allowing her to process where they were going.

Once inside, he placed her on the ground only to hear her squeal in excitement.

"You like it?"

"This place is crazy!"

She said, taking a moment to look around the small Irish pub they have entered. The little cozy place was steeped in culture and lore. There were fireplaces in the designed corners, hanging oil lamps over cobblestone floors. In addition to ale, there was also essential food being served and hardware items hanging in display. She could see typical Irish people socializing, singing along with Karaoke's having their own small private instruments, there were stories being narrated at one corner while good amount of the town gossiping being done in another corner; all in all it was such a warm and welcoming place, Khushi suddenly felt at ease and there was this sudden rush of socialism making her feel at home in its own weird way, given the restaurant girl she had been for quite some time now.

It must be her squeal or rather the way they had entered, because after initial glance over the place, she had realized most of the people in the small inn were now staring at them instead of doing what they had been doing. It only made her conscious causing her to clasp his hand in quick movement, hiding half of her body behind him. He just chuckled in that dismissing way, and led her inside as they took a place in one of the corners, right beside a fire-place the warmth of it all engulfing her completely.

**

Fifty minutes and two mugs of the famous Guinness beer later, Khushi was a goner. He hadn't really expected her to get drunk easily, given her experience, especially with beers, but it turned out he was wrong. The most fun part for him was that she had realized she was getting drunk and somehow trying to put an act of that sober self as well... Now how she had managed to be that conscious in the most non-sober way was beyond him.

"You know its okay... You can let go of that sober act..." he said sipping on his wide thick glass.

"What act?" she said and her voice ended in a slight hiccup while her face remained pretty serious, causing him to chuckle amidst his long swig.

"Stop making that face, you look..."

"I look?"

"Funny"

"Is that so? How about this?" She started making weird faces, tugging the straws in her nose, using her hands as her ears, her lips twisting in all weird ways possible, and all through maintained a straight face, suppressing all his giggles.

"Laugh Arnav, you just said I look funny..."

"Make me laugh"

"Is that a challenge? I can see a smile twitching at the end of your lips already... you would lose, be warned!"

"Alright Ms.Winner, let's do it, you make me laugh..."

"------and what do I get?"

"Surprise..."

"Alright! Let's do this!!!" she announced raising her voice banging her hands on the table dramatically, while all Arnav did was half-nod his head in that challenging way, folding his hands across his chest, a smug filling his face.

The next half an hour was spent with her lame yet quite funny jokes, if he accepted that is, her more weird faces, her so called tricks of drinking the beer, she had even attempted bottoms up, causing the beer to spill all over the table so it would look funny, and her weird acts did earn quite a few laughs from around, but Arnav continued to maintain his poker face act. He acted completely ignorant to her maintaining his calm and laid back attitude, not uttering a single word, just drinking on his own glass of beer all too nonchalantly increasing the pressure of challenge on her, with every passing minute.

With the alcohol kicking in, her fighting spirit spiked up, letting go off her conscious exterior and she jumped into a standing position fixing her pointed gaze on him. "You watch this Robot guy" she said and walked towards one of the small Karaoke stages, pushing the guy currently singing all too boldly. As Arnav stood up turning around, his eyes filling his face while following her actions, she held his eyes, removing the buttons of her coat, removing it and tossing over his face, the loud squeals and applauds of the people filling in his ears as he removed her coat from over his face to watch what was going on.

"Hey guys!! Hi, hi all!!" she said waving representing perfectly a celebrity totally full of herself, and he couldn't help the amused smile forming in his lips.

"My boyfriend here wants me to make him laugh..."

That was the first ever time she had spoke about him giving a name to whatever they had, and the mere possessiveness with which she had said it, stumped and amazed him all at the same time. My Boyfriend. Felt so right and so perfect, it made him smile in that broad way, his eyes pouring out all his emotions truly and completely.

"And he is already smiling!!!" she announced clapping at her own achievement, giggling and swaying, the alcohol completely kicking in.

"Now that I'm here, I had to do something right?"

People around agreed with her, while a few encouraged but all Arnav did was look on, completely in daze.

"Since you all don't understand the only language in which I can sing, I have to sing the only English song I've known since years...so here it is..."

"This one is for you Arnav..."

Every night in my dreams
I see you, I feel you
That is how I know you, go on

Far across the distance
And spaces between us
You have come to show you, go on

Near, far, wherever you are
I believe that the heart does go on
Once more you open the door
And you're here in my heart
And my heart will go on and on

Love can touch us one time
And last for a lifetime
And never let go till we're gone

Love was when I loved you
One true time I hold to.
In my life we'll always go..

Onnn... and she fell down, only into Arnav's hands, as he approached her just in time to pick her up from the small stage. He paid the bar-tender quickly and exited the pub all the way holding onto her and walking her, as she leaned onto him dropping her one hand over his shoulder.

The song was perfect, the lyrics were intriguing but the only problem was the way she had sung. As he picked her up and walked her out of the inn, he found himself wondering, why the people in the pub hadn't ousted her out or rather throw eggs at her, not that he would let it get that far anyway...

He hadn't heard anyone sing Titanic, in such a pathetic way..

"I, uh, thought you wanted to join the choir group back in college?"

"What did you expect? Celine Dion?"

"No, but..."

"They didn't join me...they said I sing like a goat!! Can you believe it Arnav?? I have such a lovely voice, don't I? They didn't join me in choir group Arnav!! They didn't!!!" she rested her head on his shoulder and wailed dramatically.

He patted her back, his lips straightening in mock empathy, nodding his head and almost literally dragged her with him along the pavement.

"Arnav..."

"hmm?"

"I love you..."

He went dead silent again, just flipping her head to look into her eyes, lost in her drunk hazels, words refusing to come out of his lips, his mind going blank yet again.

"You don't have anything to say?"

"Khushi..."

"You've said it before, why not now?"

"huh?"

She stopped walking, turning to her side, turning him to face her even, brought her hands onto his face pulling it down just to brush her lips against his all in slow determined movements. His lips went still for a fraction of second before processing it all completely, and he pulled her in, his lips, nibbling, sucking, and tasting all the beer off her lips exquisitely. Just as they pulled away, he lifted her off her feet, cradling her in his arms, and walked the rest of the distance right into the rented guest-house, walked up towards her room and placed her on the bed, resting her head all too tenderly on the pillow all the while his eyes captivating her hazels in a never ending imprisonment.

He caressed the side of her face, brushing away her hair, as her tired drunk eyes refused to stay still.

"Go to sleep Khushi..."

"Arnav?"

"Yes..."

"You are very good Arnav, very very very good!! You just don't know it..."

"I know.." he chuckled, trying to make light of the conversation.

"You would never let go off me, will you?"

He smiled genuinely his eyes promising, as he bent down and kissed her lips tenderly again, before brushing his lips on her forehead. He pulled away opening his eyes, only to find her drifted away into her deep sleep, quite naturally, a serene smile adorning her face.

**

And Arnav's phone continued to vibrate with Shyam's caller-id flashing on his long touch screen on the wooden table of the Irish pub, forgotten and ignored, in their little fun-time.

***

Chapter-33(Part 1)

****

So, does the travel, n change in places, gets annoying??

Just wanted to ask...!! Do let me know!

But As much filler and boring as this chapter looks, the thought process was kind of needed, and with this, all boring things come to an end, yes In next chapter, we will take the last step before revelation...

I'l try to update in a couple of days...min...

Intelligence involved chapters are coming up from now on, so I want to be careful and plan out things...Please bear with me.. Thank you! :)