One last time... 😃 😳
Ten things I hate about you...
Chapter 38
It had been a fairly long time since he had been kicking that pebble. To himself, he resembled a depressed teenager mulling over his lost love; he didn't like the analogy, but was too far gone to do anything about it. Staying inside the house all day long was suffocating, to say the least. It was a happy environment of union; NK was beyond blissful. He was getting married, after all. What else was expected?
NK had met Nandini not very long ago, when he had gone to Shimla for some work. She was working for one of their clients as an accounts manager. Theirs was a classic example of what is called a whirlwind romance. They had clicked upon their first meet, just like that! It was followed by a short period of courtship during which NK's goofy smiles were on display 24/7. He started looking for excuses for going to Shimla, and usually did on some pretext or the other. Arnav eventually blackmailed him into telling what he was up to. He told the family about her a little while later. Everybody demanded that she be brought home to meet them as soon as possible. And NK was only too willing to comply.
He had brought Nandini home sometime after that. Manorma and Sukanaya loved her. Anjali was very happy to see her new bhabhi, She was a beautiful girl who was brought up in Shimla. She was jovial with a weird sense of humour, much like NK himself. She found it cute when he spoke in broken Hindi, or when he tried to make jokes only he got. One look and you could very well say that they were in love.
NK proposed a week later, in a moment of impulse. She accepted and they got engaged a week later in a small ceremony attended by family and a few close friends. Their happiness knew no bounds. Eager to get married, they set a date for the next month.
Arnav laughed sardonically at his fate. On one hand there was NK who had it so easy. He found the girl of his dreams. He was so lucky that she loved him back just as much. He proposed, she accepted and now they are getting married. What a happy ending to an uncomplicated love story with an uncomplicated hero and heroine and such favourable circumstances. And here he was, still kicking the pebble ahead, punishing it for his fate.
He had been going round in circles thinking about that day, that moment, that second. There was no doubt in his mind that that particular moment when he had kissed her was the most special and cherished one in his life. He had replayed it in his mind over and over again, reveling in the imagery and the happiness it brought him. But it also, almost always, left him baffled because of her reaction. He knew he was a fairly sorted person in life, but when it came to Khushi, he could say confidently that she was safely the most complicated being he had ever encountered. She ensured he had made a habit of always being on his toes. He had been patient with her, he knew that. But he also knew that his patience was fast running out.
For once in his life, he didn't want to be the bigger person and take the initiative. He was aware that he was being childish, but he wanted her to approach him, to take the first step towards them. When he had kissed her, he had made his intentions and feeling clear to her; he had laid all the cards on the table. And frankly, he couldn't face her everyday as before. One look at her, and the seldom kept away memories of that moment would rush back to him with a fiercer intensity, a reminder of what had happened.
She had given no reaction.
None whatsoever.
She had her eyes closed from the second he had pulled away slightly to look at her face, eagerly waiting for hr to say something, anything, to the moment he had walked out from the room unable to take her reaction, or lack thereof. He had thought about it ever since, failing to come up with a plausible cause but just couldn't. After he had come out of the room, he was waiting for her to come to him at an opportune moment and to tell him that she loved him just as much, but alas! Seldom do wished turn into reality, and with every passing day, the wish seemed to be turning into a fantasy of sorts.
It wasn't as if he was unconnected. Through Anjali, he had had his fair share of romantic comedies she had made him watch forcefully. They had taught him one thing- when the guy professed his love for the woman in three simple words, there was a high chance of a happy ever after. It was exactly this theory he had employed when they seemed to be moving nowhere, fully expecting the dynamics to change in his favour. But he was so wrong. No wonder women are considered to be complicated creatures.
To top it all, it appeared that she was giving him a cold shoulder. Result- he was returning the favour.
Khushi, on the other hand, was aware of Arnav's plight. She had cursed herself time and again for standing there in his room like a statue after she had just been kissed. And holy molly, what a kiss had it been. She had never seen it coming and when it happened, she couldn't have felt happier. Her insides had been bursting with the emotion which had evaded her for a very long time. Ironically, it was this very happiness that had rendered her immobile and she had just stood there, reveling in the feel of his lips over hers, overwhelmed by what had transpired between them. She had been jolted out of her reverie when she had heard the boor opening behind her signaling that Arnav had walked out.
She couldn't gather the courage to face him immediately afterwards, fully aware that he was disappointed. And as the days passed by, they avoided each other. She was surprised, but didn't blame him. It was all her fault. And today, the day of NK's wedding, she had decided to do something about it.
***
"NK bhai, you toh are getting married, kabhi socha aapke bade bhai ka kya hoga?" asked Anjali, sounding morose as she plopped down on the sofa in her brother's room, who was pacing around when she had barged in unannounced.
"Anjali, you've got to learn how to knock!" he exclaimed surprised to see his tornado of a sister in his room.
"We will think about that later, but first, we have to do something about bhai!"
"Pray why?"
"Because he is just on the brink of turning into a devdas!"
"Nannav doesn't even like SRK, why will he think of something as ridiculous as that?"
"Let's make something very clear first, shall we? If you say one word against Shah Rukh Khan, I will make sure you don't get to enjoy your suhaag raat tonight," she threatened NK as she walked towards in slow step menacingly. "You don't want that happening now, do you?"
"Please calm down tigress," NK said taking a few steps back. "What were you talking about, by the way?"
"While you were busy with your wedding, nothing seems to be right with bhai and Khushi. I had thought that they would have resolved everything on the day of your engagement, Mami and I had even devised a perfect plan, but they have grown apart after that, if anything!" she said, letting out her pent up frustration.
"Nannav, Khushi ji, Mom, you, plan- what the hell?" NK asked, his brows scrunched in confusion.
"How does Nandini bhabhi deal with you?" she wondered aloud.
"What?" he was flabbergasted.
"Nothing," she said in order to deviate, "I need your help to hatch a plan to make bhai and Khushi ji talk. That's it!"
"See Anjali, if they want to talk, they will. We should not meddle," he said shaking his head at her idea.
"And why so?"
"They're adults, for God's sake!" he exclaimed. "And what if they don't feel for each other the way we think they do? Nothing good ever comes of meddling," he declared.
"Accha? Nothing good ever comes? And what if it did? We can never be sure, right? And plus, we are just meddling to make sure they talk. It's completely up to them what do they do when presented with the opportunity- just talk or more than that," she grinned sheepishly.
"I am not sure about this Anjali," he said, apprehension written large on his face.
"You've changed NK bhai. Shaadi hui nahi, behen ko bhool bhi gayye!" she remarked sadly as she turned away from him feigningly.
Her tactics hit the mark as NK came galloping behind her to pacify her. "Okay, okay, we will do whatever you want," he gave in. "I have just one condition, that-" but he was cut off in between.
"Be a partner in crime or I will think of something evil for you."
"Easy there, lady. Don't try to make deals with me. If you do anything like that, I will tell Arnav all about Rahul," he gave her a sly smile which turned triumphant when he saw her face drained of colour.
"There's nothing to tell," she stuttered.
"Accha? I think I might have seen or heard something," smugness was written all over his face.
"What is your condition NK bhai?" Anjali asked in a saccharine sweet voice, completely changing colours from a second ago.
"Ab aayi na line pe." The deal was done. "We'll do whatever you want to do after the pheras, alright? I just want to be safe."
"Bas?" she asked. He shrugged in response.
***
She could see him from across the other side of the mandap. He was standing diametrically opposite to him. Her line of sight was marred by the smoke rising from the sacred agni, distorting her view slightly, but she was fixated on him. NK and Nandini were taking their fifth phera and the crowd was showering flower petals on them, giving them their blessings. It was this very scene that had moved her; she was unsure of what had held her back for so long, but all she could think of then was how much she wished that she could be with Arnav right now, the way Nandini was with NK. She too, like Arnav, was fully aware of how both of them had gotten together, and had wished things could have been easy for her too. She wasn't jealous of them, she was just jealous of their situation. We are all humans after all.
If one could hear her thoughts, she was cursing herself unconsciously as Arnav hadn't met her gaze as yet. She wondered if he was deliberately avoiding her or wasn't aware of her presence at all. Either thought hurt her, not because she held him responsible, but because she knew it was her own doing. During the entire time when the wedding rituals were performed and just as the wedding culminated with the final phera, she was in a daze. It was then that he looked at her squarely in the eye, jolting her out of her brief reverie and she managed to pass a small smile before fishing for her phone to send him a text.
***
He was well aware of her fixated gaze on him throughout the evening. He had caught her looking at him when she thought he was looking elsewhere. One thing he was damn sure of was that he had made a grave mistake picking out that particular saree for her weeks ago. When he had selected it, he had thought that she would leave her hair open, considering her apprehensions with wearing a backless blouse and here she was in all her glory, flaunting her back by tying her hair in a bun. He had already caught several men staring at her. But he could do nothing but clench his fists in anger and look on as the wedding concluded. When she had finally smiled and looked away from him for a moment, he sighed heavily, taking in her comely form, the tightening in his gut increasing by the second. The blouse ended just below her breasts, giving way to her svelte waist which was amply on display' because of the pallu that was securely bunched at her left shoulder. To top it all, the saree was red, which is exactly the colour he was seeing at the moment.
But all said and done, she was looking breathtakingly beautiful, he conceded. She seemed to be blissfully unaware of the effect she was having on him. He groaned when his cellphone vibrated in his pocket, disturbing his otherwise pleasant' thoughts about her. To his surprise, the grumpiness from a moment earlier vanished the moment he saw that it was text from Khushi.
He lifted his eyes back to where she was standing before, to find the spot empty and proceeded to open the message.
There is a surprise waiting for you in your room. Check a.s.a.p.
His lips curved into a smile as he read the twelve words over and over again, but was interrupted by Anjali.
"Bhai, I just saw Khushi ji going up to the terrace. She was crying!"
***
She had just pressed the send button when Anjali had come to her side, her countenance depicting every ounce of panic she was feeling at that moment. And the panic had been transferred to her when she heard that Arnav was seen going up to the terrace in tears, launching her into panic mode and she had dashed from the spot without thinking about what she had just heard.
And now, as she was looking around the terrace, the biting cold of Delhi's weather was forgotten, and all her senses were focused on finding Arnav. On the way over, her mind had tried to churn out various possibilities of his state, and the guilt had overridden them all and made her come to the conclusion that she was responsible. Would the situation have been any different had she done the needful a long time back?
"Arnav!" she called out, pacing around carefully by bunching her saree from the front. The terrace was decorated beautifully by a copious use of fairly-lights and flowers peeking at her from every nook and cranny. Had the purpose of coming up here been different, it would have overwhelmed her.
But now there was a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as she realized that the place was deserted. She turned back hurriedly, not really watching where she was going, only to collide with the very man who was clouding her every thought at the moment.
"Khushi?" he asked, his brows knitted in worry. His arms involuntarily went around her waist to steady her.
She felt electricity cursing through her body as his hands made contact with the bare skin of her back, the reality of the cold coming back with a jolt, leaving her breathless all of a sudden. She recovered quickly and asked, "What happened? Why were you crying?"
"What the-?" he swore. "I am not crying, why the f*** would I cry? It is you who was crying, not me!"
"Me? Have you gone mad?" she retorted angrily, although not making an attempt to get out of his hold. "Anjali came to me and said-"
"Wait? Anjali came to you too?"
"Yes, and she said that you were here and..."
"Damn it!" he tightened his hold, jerking her frame towards himself. "It's all Anjali's plot to achieve god knows what!"
"But... leave that aside, I wanted to talk to you anyway..."
"Ah yes, let's talk about your glorious skin show, shall we?" he growled, the momentarily forgotten anger making a comeback.
"What are you talking about?" she was baffled with the course of the conversation.
"Oh now you choose to play innocent! How the hell have you dressed up?"
"What is wrong with you? You chose this outfit yourself and now you are accusing me of dressing up indecently?" she asked, the hurt in her voice unmistakable. Her eyes were glistening with moisture at his misdirected anger.
"You were not supposed to tie your hair like this so that men could ogle at your back!" he hissed harshly, loosening her hair with a jerk, making it fall behind her back like a curtain. He removed his right hand from her waist and settled near the band of her skirt, very close to her navel making her shudder in the cold. "What should I make of this?"
"Maybe you should get your mind checked for insanity!" she said, anger dripping through every word she spoke. She pushed him away, catching him unaware and marched out from there.
***
He was walking towards his room in angry strides. He had remembered about the message after Khushi had walked away from him. The guilt had just started to seep in slowly as he thought over his actions and swore colourfully as a consequence. "She is damn right, I am insane!" he muttered under his breath, making a mental note to take Anjali's class soon enough. On his way, he saw her looking at him expectantly, but chose to ignore it for the time being; there was a more pressing matter waiting to be addressed. He couldn't see Khushi anywhere in sight; it drove a knife through his heart.
Entering his room, he saw a neatly rolled up sheet of paper tied with a red ribbon resting on his bed. He made a dash for it immediately, rolling it open with impatient hands. He recognized her handwriting on the exquisite ivory paper.
I hate the way you talk to me,
and the way you cut your hair.
I hate the way you drive your car,
I hate it when you stare.
I hate your formal casuals,
and the way you read my mind.
I hate you so much it makes me sick,
it even makes me rhyme.
I hate the way you're always right,
I hate it when you lie.
I hate it when you make me laugh,
even worse when you make me cry.
I hate it when you're not around,
and the fact that you didn't call.
But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you,
not even close
not even a little bit
not even at all.
The already present knife twisted several times over in his heart before he read the small paragraph written just below it.
I know I am a bad person; I have taken you for granted many times in the past. But now I unable to hold myself back- from you, from your love, from us. You have stood beside me when I was at my worst, you have helped me heal. I don't know when during the journey of being with you, I fell in love. I am sorry this is coming so late. I have hurt you, I know, but I was afraid of losing you, losing the most cherished person in my life. I am a coward Arnav, but it is with you I have finally found the courage to fly.
I love you.
Khushi
A stealth tear escaped from his eyes, and he chuckled. He heard small footsteps behind him and turned around to find Anjali standing there smiling lovingly at him. By the looks of it, she was fully aware of the situation at hand, and before he could even open his mouth to say a word, she said, "Khushi ji is setting up NK bhai's room. You can catch her alone, everyone is in the hall."
He overlooked how Anjali knew anything about what was happening and just focused on the generously supplied and much needed information. His face was lit up with a grateful smile for his sister as he rushed out towards his brother's room as fast his legs could carry him.
He stopped short at the door. He could see her bending over the bed, carefully arranging the petals. He didn't miss the faint sounds as she sobbed almost silently. She had wrapped a shawl, and if anything, it only made him feel worse about himself. He took silent steps in her direction.
"Khushi...," he whispered softly.
The sound of his voice so close to herself made her jump in his place. She looked up to see him standing before her, an indiscernible expression in his eyes. He was holding her letter in one hand and the other one was trying to reach out to her. She took a step back tentatively and said curtly, "I have covered myself. Do you any other problem with my outfit now?"
"Please don't say that Khushi," he whispered, closing the distance between them. "I am sorry for shouting at you like that, I shouldn't have."
"No, you were right. I shouldn't have been parading like that in your house and causing you such inconvenience."
"It's nothing like that Khushi!" he corrected her hastily. "It was all my fault- seeing you like this, so beautiful, it made me do something I regret so much. I am sorry," he said earnestly. It worked, for now Khushi was looking at him expectantly. He went on to discard the shawl off her shoulders effortlessly which made her eyes round like saucers. He cupped her face with her right hand, caressing her cheek with his thumb. "You're beautiful Khushi. You're right to hate me so much."
"But I don't! How could you even say that?" she asked indignantly. She shifted closer to him. "You've some major issues to deal with, Mr. Raizada." Her hands went up to rest on his shoulders, her heartbeat increasing every second with the peaking anticipation.
"Like what?" he asked, playing along with whatever it was.
"Like me, for the rest of your life," she whispered hopefully.
"Are you proposing me Ms. Gupta?" he cocked an eyebrow as the tension dissipated between them to make way for something even stronger.
"May be," she retorted playfully.
"I love that you're so unconventional, Rudolph," he said, flicking her nose. He continued as an answer to the unspoken question in her eyes, "I thought it was the guy who proposed, not the other way round," his chest rumbled as she chuckled.
"It's not polite to make a lady wait," she said after a brief pause, unable to come back with something witty.
"Who said anything about you being a lady?" he asked, and when he saw her mouth agape with annoyance, he quickly said, "Marry me Khushi Kumari Gupta." Without giving her a chance to say anything, he pulled her frame into his own, his hands snaking around her waist, holding her firmly close to himself. And with that he kissed her, catching her completely unawares. He sucked her lower lip to incite a response from her, and that he got as she effortlessly molded into him, her eyes closing on their own accord as she gave into the vortex of sensations pulsating through her.
Anjali blushed profusely as she saw the scene playing out in front of her. She was peeking in from the door, but turned her gaze away the moment they had started kissing each other, too embarrassed for her own good. It didn't help that she was standing there with Rahul, of all people! I should have thought this through before more carefully. Of course they would have kissed! She cursed herself for the unthoughfulness, and immediately jerked Rahul away from their line of sight.
"Remind me once again, why are we snooping on your brother?" Rahul asked feigning ignorance to make her feel less awkward.
"Kuch kuch hota hai Rahul, tum nahi samjhoge."
***
The story has come to an end. If are reading this, please leave a comment. 😊
It was this poem from 'Ten things I hate about you', that had made me write this story in the first place. Even though the storyline changed a hundred times over, but this scene had been planned out even before I had written a word.
Scroll down for the thank you note. 😃
Edited by guggu - 11 years ago
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