Arhi: Dark night dawning Part - 25 updated pg 149 - Page 8

Thanks! I will definitely PM you. I'll send you a buddy request.

 

That evening, when Arnav came back home from work, he was extremely tired. He had another call scheduled in the next fifteen minutes. He sat on the living room sofa, laid his head back on it, closed his tired eyes and yelled at Hariprakash for a cup of coffee.

He opened his eye when the aroma of freshly brewed coffee reached his nostrils. 'What the _____?'

He saw Khushi standing in front of him with a cup, a smile on her lips. There was something different about her. She was wearing a saree. There was nothing wrong with wearing a saree. He even liked them. The women in his house wore sarees. But he had seen nothing like this one.  It was in one of the oddest shades of pink with a bright gold border which she had pinned up on one side and then brought the pallu over her head in a ghoongat. No one except naniji did that in this house.

Then something caught his eye beyond her. He turned his head to see a bunch of kids staring at him.

'What's the hell is going on here, Khushi?' asked Arnav.

'Your coffee, Arnavji' answered Khushi demurely.

'I know that!' he exclaimed rolling his eyes, 'I am asking about them,' he said pointing to the kids.

'Oh, they are my students, Arnavji,' explained Khushi, 'When I came out to make coffee for you, they just tagged along.'

'Tell them that this is not a circus and that they should wait for you in the room,' said Arnav impatiently, 'Moreover why did you come out here to make coffee. Where is Hariprakash?'

'I told Hariprakashji that I will be taking care of all this from now on,' she said, 'Would you like me to take your laptop bag upstairs?'

'What?' asked Arnav incredulous, 'No!'

'Alright,' she said, 'If you don't need anything else I will go back to my tuition. Please let me know if you need anything else Arnavji.'

Khushi walked back taking her students along with her, leaving Arnav totally confused. What was she up to?

 

Couple of hours later, Arnav on call with a client, paced about the room, deep in conversation. Suddenly, he found Khushi standing in front of him. Why had she crept up on him like that? She made a sign that it was time for dinner. He made a sign for her to go away. He resumed his meeting. In about 5 minutes she was back. After this process repeated two more times, he put the phone on mute.

'Khushi!' he exclaimed, 'Can't you see I am in a meeting? Leave me alone.'

'It is very late Arnavji,' she said firmly, 'You will have to eat you dinner now, so that you can take your medication.'

'Are you serious?' he asked her anger rising in him.

'Yes!' she said coming up to him, she took his blue tooth device and threw it on the bed.

'Do you know what this is going to cost me?' he asked her with an incredulous stare, 'This client is very important.'

'So what?' she said nonchalantly, 'Ask them to call you tomorrow.'

'They are overseas,' he said with gritted teeth, 'Do you even know what that means?'

'Whatever!' she said, 'Health is more important.'

'Go down Khushi,' he said gritting his teeth, 'I will be there in 5 minutes.'

When he came down 10 minutes later, he saw Khushi standing by his chair. He realized that she was determined to continue with this drama. When he sat on his chair, she began to serve. After 5 minutes, Arnav began to pray for this ordeal to be over. To begin with, she was hovering about while he ate. He hated that. Then she began to talk about people he had no idea about. She told him about some funny incident about a relative from Lucknow who happened to be a theatre actor.

When he saw his Di walk up to them, he heaved a sigh of relief.

'Khushiji, why don't you have your dinner along with Chotey?' she asked Khushi.

'I wanted to serve Arnavji,' she answered demurely', 'I will have my dinner after he is done.'

'You don't have to do that in this house Khushiji,' explained Anjali, 'Chotey, why don't you tell her?

'I don't think there is any need for that Di,' he said frustrated, 'She knows _____'

'No Di'..I wanted to make sure he eats properly,' she said lacing her voice with concern, 'See how thin he is. I don't want his sugar level to go down again.'

 

Half an hour later, Arnav was working on his lap top trying to send out an important e-mail when Khushi came into the room. He was thinking hard about a particular point he wanted to make when the sound of "Dinka Chika Dinka Chika" filled the room, disturbing his train of thought.

'What the ____?'

Khushi had a small CD player next to her, while she sat arranging her clothes in the ward robe.

'Shut the music off Khushi!' he yelled, 'I am working here.'

'I like to listen to Sallu's songs every night Arnavji,' she said a small smile playing on her lips, 'I am working too you know.'

'I don't care,' he said harshly, 'shut it off, now!'

When  he heard "Mausam hai suhana, kapde jodne ka hai bahana, what the, what the', he got up from his seat, picked up his lap top and went out to the pool side, shutting the door behind him.

Khushi smiled to herself as she thought that life was so strange with her husband. Most husbands would be happy to have a wife who would wait on them day and night. But not her Laad Governor! He runs.

 

At breakfast he found Khushi dressed just like the previous day. She was doing it again. The hovering. No one seemed to notice how irritating it was. She ignored everyone and never left his side. He saw amused smiles from everyone at the table with the exception of Shyam who looked like he had swallowed a bitter pill.

When he got up to leave, she asked him 'When will you be back from work, Arnavji?'

'What!' No one asked him what time he would be back unless it was an emergency.

'I was asking so that I can cook hot dinner for you,' she smiled showing her pearly white teeth.

Arnav was sure she had batted her eyelashes when she had said that. He walked away before he gave in to the urge to break something.

 

The disaster run continued for the next few days. The moment he opened his eyes, he would find a cup of tea in front of his face. After tea, his towel and cologne were neatly laid out on the bed. When he came out of shower, his suit was kept out along with his tie, wallet and kerchief. Even his shoes were kept out. Each day, he would discard the one laid out for him and choose another one just for the heck of it.

 

One night, Arnav came back from work late and in a foul mood. One of the junior executives had cost them a deal because of his incompetence and he had to step in to fire fight. In the middle of all the tension Khushi had called him number of times. Everyone at home knew that he hated taking personal calls at work. Since he hadn't picked up her calls, she had left messages with his secretary which was becoming embarrassing forcing him to take the calls himself. She wanted to know if he had lunch and his meds, then one time she wanted to know where the spare key to the ward robe as she had misplaced the original one, then she wanted to know what time he was coming back home. As he stepped inside the house he saw Khushi waiting for him at the dinner table.

'What are you doing here?' he asked harshly.

'I was waiting to serve you dinner.'

'Stop this nonsense right away,' he yelled, 'I want to have my dinner in peace. So just leave me alone.'

'But ______

'Just get out of here. And I don't want to see you wearing these stupid sarees anymore,' he continued, 'Do you understand?'

Khushi nodded her assent quietly and left.

 

When Arnav entered the room after his dinner, Khushi was fast asleep. He hadn't meant to yell at her like that. But he was worked up because of the deal and she had it coming for a few days now. She had been bugging him with all her "extra" attention. Coming to think about it, Khushi had done nothing wrong. She had behaved like any dutiful wife would do. But he was allergic to that kind of stuff. Maybe Khushi would be happier with someone who would appreciate all her efforts ----- unlike him. He preferred to be left alone in his own world. He wasn't husband material. That is exactly why he hadn't wanted to marry in the first place. But he had to, hadn't he? The memories came flooding back. He had decided to put it all behind him, when he had told her that theirs would be a permanent marriage. But he wondered about his decision. Though Khushi had revealed her feelings to some extent in Nainital, he couldn't be sure because she hadn't said anything specific. In fact, he didn't even want to know. He didn't deal with emotions very well. It was a long while before he could go to sleep.

 

Sleep eluded Khushi as well. When Arnav had come in to the room, she had been pretending to be asleep. She had sensed his restlessness and had begun to feel the same restlessness overtake her. When she heard him breathing steadily, she calmed down and fell into a deep slumber.

 

Anjali couldn't sleep as well. She had watched since the past few days how Khushi had been trying to take care of Arnav and how he had resisted. She guessed she would have to be blamed for that. She was the one who had advised Khushi about giving attention to Arnav when she very well knew that he hated such things. She had hoped that Khushi would be able to get him out of his old habit eventually. Of course Khushi had taken it up a notch with the saree and ghooghat but that was no reason for Arnav to behave that way. When they had returned from Nainital, she had thought something had happened between them over there. She couldn't be sure, but it was the way they would look at each other when they thought the other wasn't looking, their body language toward each other and most of all it was the way Khushi had positively glowed. She had finally looked like a newlywed bride. But now they were bickering again. She had to do something about it.

The next morning Arnav woke up again with the aroma of hot tea. However he was relieved to see that Khushi had abandoned those gaudy sarees for her suits which he had started to appreciate overnight. He heaved a sigh of relief. It looked like her madness was over.

When he came down, he saw the entire family was seated at the breakfast table. Payal and Akash were deciding which movie to go to in the evening and Khushi was back at his side -----hovering. He was about to say something when Anjali spoke up.

'Khushiji, please sit down. I am sure Chotey will manage.'

When Khushi took her seat, she said in her usual chirpy voice, 'I have heard that the new restaurant 13^th floor is pretty good.'

'Do you want me to make reservations?' asked Arnav buttering his toast, ' A table for two should not be a problem.'

'Yes Chotey, and come home soon so you can pick up Khushiji,' she said quickly.

'What? I thought it was for you,' said Arnav taken aback.

'I thought it will be a change for Khushiji'

'No way,' he said firmly, 'I have meetings scheduled at that time all week.'

 'Can't you reschedule your meetings?' she pouted.

'Impossible Di, my meeting with this client didn't go very well the last time, I have to work on damage control,' he said looking pointedly at Khushi.

'Why don't you go instead Di?' suggested Khushi looking at Anjali's disappointed face.

'Yes Rani Sahiba, that will be a good idea,' interjected Shyam, 'We could take Khushji with us.'

Arnav felt like slapping him right there.

'No Di!' exclaimed Khushi, 'I mean, I don't want to be kabab mein haddi. '

'No Khushiji, you won't be,' persuaded Shyam, 'Don't you think it will be good change for her Rani Sahiba?'

'Please don't say no Khushiji,' pleaded Anjali, 'Please make the reservations for us Chotey. I wish you could come as well.'

 

That night, Khushi was getting ready for the dinner. She really did not want to go to this dinner with Anjali and Shyam. She was worried about the way he had shamelessly insisted that she should go along. She wished for a moment that Arnav could come along. At least with him around Shyam would keep away from her. Was that the only reason? Who was she kidding? But it seemed her strategy to keep him away was working very well. But after sensing his uneasiness last night, she was wondering if she could keep up with the drama.

She was running late as Anjali had made her go back and change. She had wanted her to wear one of the new sarees that she had bought soon after the wedding. It was a wine coloured georgette, with stone, bead and glass sequins on the border and a frilly lace in steel grey attached to it made it look unique. The blouse, also in steel grey had the same work as the border of the saree. It had a square neck in the front and the back had a deep square cut with a narrow strip of material put together with a jewelled clasp. Khushi remembered that day almost a month ago when she stood in front of the mirror outside the trial room, and had seen Arnav's eyes staring back at her.

 

 

 

EDIT!!

Awesome update...awww...khushi is sooo sweet taking care of arnav...maybe she is trying to annoy him but then her love shines through!!!!arnav...hmmph...that is all i feel like saying to him...i understand that he is repelled by love and all that but he could have told her to stop it in a more polite way...its not like she would have refused...but then politemess is north pole and asr is the south pole!!!...im really excited for the next chapter...im really sure something exciting is going to happen and more arshi scenes are waitng for me!!!thanks for the PM!!!

Doesn't he always :-)