ArhiSS: Behind this Stone Heart DISCONTINUED. - Page 3

The ride to Delhi was uneventful and Khushi sighed in exhaustion as she stepped in to the Delhi train station. People were rushing, pushing, yelling, swearing; this was exactly how she imagined it would be. Nothing was anything, but peaceful, yet she was excited. 

Being a new girl to a city wasn't quite easy, especially if you didn't know where the places were located. Khushi took out her letter, which had the address to her destination. She needed directions. Her eyes roamed around the station to find anyone who was not rushing like a maniac. 'Ah ha, perfect.' Right at the corner she saw a girl around her age, dressed in a purple salwar, standing quite awkwardly. Khushi walked over to her. 

"Um, excuse me?"

The girl turned towards Khushi with her eyes wide. She almost looked terrified that someone was talking to her. The thought disturbed Khushi, but she decided to ignore it.

 "Yes? Who are you? What do you want?!"

The girl asked frantically.

It took a while for Khushi to respond to this crazy girl's tone. The girl almost seemed as if she was running away. I mean who actually would freak out like this just because someone said, 'excuse me.' 

"I… uh... I just need directions… I am new to Delhi you see." 

The girl's fast breathing calmed down a bit at the news and Khushi saw her trembling fingers stop shivering. Her reactions were really confusing Khushi, but she waited for an answer. Being late wasn't a good first impression for her new job. Who knew how Mr. Razaida was like? The last thing Khushi wanted to do was piss off her new boss. So that is why everything had to go smoothly and not one glitch should mess it up. 

"Okay, well where do you need to go?" 

Khushi took out her letter and showed the address to the nervous girl. 

"This is the address." 

The nervous girl's eyes widened at the address and her snapped back to look at Khushi. Her reaction almost made Khushi jump. 

"Why? What's wrong?! Why do you look so scared at the address? It's just an address you know." 

"It might be just an address, but it's who lives in that address what matters." 

Khushi stared at the girl as if she has grown 2 heads. Either this girl was a mental hospital escape or she was not human at all. Maybe an alien secretly in disguise…

"Okay… so who lives in this address?" 

"Mr. Arnav Singh Razaida!" 

"Yeah, I know… So what's the big deal?" 

Khushi asked completely confused at the girl's fear towards this name. 

"The big deal is that he is the most ruthless businessman out there! Very rich and treats people like trash! He is the last person on earth you would want to meet!" 

The news did not surprise Khushi, but at the same time fear slowly sneaked in to her body. If the man was ruthless it will not be an easy ride for her. But Khushi knew there will be obstacles in achieving her goals so she had to face them. Without obstacles it will be difficult to learn from them. Taking risks was a part of life and if we didn't take risks, life would be pretty boring. 

"Look I honestly don't care who he is I just need you to tell me where this is located. If you can't that's okay I will ask someone else." 

"No wait, I can take you there if you want…" 

This girl was an emotional rollercoaster, but at the same time Khushi couldn't help but like her. However Khushi did not understand how she survived all this time in such a huge city.

"You know… you're weird… But I like you. What's your name?" 

Khushi asked the girl shaking her head with a slight smile. 

Finally the girl smiled back at her and answered.

"My name is Payal Dhkar." 

"Well Payal my name is Khushi, Khushi Kumari Gupta."

Payal smiled wider and grabbed a hold of Khushi's arm and dragged her out of the train station.  

"Come on, come on! Let's go!" 

Payal exclaimed excitingly for the first time, while Khushi behind was yelling at her to slow down. 

***

Now at the Razaida mansion Arnav was pacing back and forth, watching the time tick away. He was absolutely furious at the new maid. She was late and he had a lot of things to do! Anjali was still seated on the couch watching her brother mutter angrily underneath his breath. A slight smirk appeared across Anjali's face at the scene in front of her. At the back of her mind something said this maid was going to be a huge difference to the house. She couldn't explain it, but she strongly felt it. As far as she knew the maid was in for a huge yell fest once she arrives. 

"Bhiya calm down. Maybe the train was late or maybe she is lost... I mean she has to find her way here on her own. It's not easy when you're new to the city. Anyways isn't your fault... I mean you didn't even send the girl a ride." 

Arnav turned to face his sister in anger. 

"She doesn't need a bloody ride Anjali! I am Arnav Singh Razaida and I don't need to do favors for people! I am paying this woman and it's her job to be early on the first day of her job!" 

Anjali calmly watched her brother. His anger never scared her; in fact it was amusing for her to watch. 

"Then don't complain that she is late bhiya. It's not easy finding your way in a huge city like this. If you were sensible enough you should have sent her a ride, then she would be early and you won't be late." 

Arnav turned away from Anjali silently agreeing with her statement, but he didn't want to show it. He knew he should have sent her a ride, but Arnav didn't like helping low class people. They were low class for a reason so what is the purpose of giving them a ride in a luxury car? If the maid didn't arrive in a half hours time he was going to fire her! 

"Bhiya, you are not firing her if she is late. I won't let you do it!" 

Arnav stared at his sister shocked. How does she do that? 

Anjali rolled her eyes at her brother. Even after years he still gets shocked that she can read his mind. 

"Oh bhiya don't be surprised that I can read your mind. You know I can."

He sighed and sat next to Anjali. Sometimes being the man of the house was exhausting, especially when he had to be the parents too. But what always kept his mind at ease was his sister. No matter how much his temper escalated she always knew what to say.

"I am sorry Anjali… I am just… tired. And I have a lot of work so I need this maid to get here faster."

Anjali put her head on her brother's shoulder and sighed. 

"She will be here bhiya. Don't you worry." 

The anger resurfaced up once again and Arnav glared in to the distance. 

"She bloody well better OR-"

"BHIYA!" 

***

"Where are we Payal?"

Khushi asked for the hundredth time, feeling exhausted from the heat.

 "We are almost there Khushi! It's a huge house with a huge gate; very hard to miss."

Khushi sighed in frustration. The heat was getting to her head and she was starting to feel dizzy. She needed something cool to drink stat, but she knew if she stopped her journey now it will be chaos. 

"So Payal tell me about yourself. What were you doing at the station? I mean if you were going anywhere you wouldn't have come with me..."

Payal fidgeted with her shawl at Khushi's question. 

"I was… I was… well… I was planning to run away." 

Payal's answer widened Khushi's eyes. So she was half right… Payal was trying to escape, expect Khushi knew it was probably not the mental hospital… 

"Would you mind if I asked who were you running away from..?" 

"No, not at all, you seem like a nice person. I was running away from home." 

"But… why?" 

Payal sighed.

"They're trying to get me married to some freak. He is an absolute disgusting pig! Every time he looks at me I feel like vomiting. My family cannot see how he is, but I can. So since they won't listen to me I planned to run away." 

A deep feeling of compassion seeped in to Khushi's heart. After spending some time with Payal, Khushi sensed she was a sweet innocent girl. It pained her to see a girl like that go through something so unfair. In justice towards women was very common here in India, which made Khushi tremble with anger. If there was a way to help her… but Khushi knew she no way of doing so until she got some money to her hands. And the only way to do so is working, which she is still traveling towards. 

"I am really sorry Payal… But… wait; you didn't have any luggages with you at the train station..." 

"Yeah… well… I was planning to grab them, but before I could my brother entered my room. So I sort of hid and ran far as I can. I had no time to get my things. But then once I arrived to the station I decided it was no use running away. I might as well face this like a real woman." 

Khushi understood the picture. When you're desperate nothing matters. She really had to help Payal, but how…

"Look Paya-"

Payal cut her off mid sentence and screamed, 

"WE ARE HERE." 

Khushi turned to face the huge black gates. Fear seeped in to her body at the sight. This place screamed luxury at every direction. She grasped the edge of her shawl to calm her nerves. This was going to be a nerve wrecking meeting. 

"Khushi are you okay?" 

Payal asked her concerned. 

Gulping down her fears Khushi turned towards Payal and smiled forcefully. 

"I am fine. Just a new place and all you know… Anyways, Payal thank you so much for bringing me here. Even though you were running away and you were afraid of Mr. Razaida. Thank you for helping me."

Without a warning Payal hugged Khushi tight. It was a random act, but Khushi smiled and hugged her back. She has never had a sister before and it was nice to be hugged like this. Maybe Payal and she could be friends. 

"Don't be a stranger, okay Khushi. Let's meet at each other at some caf again, how about that?!" 

Payal exclaimed happily smiling. 

Khushi nodded at the idea. It was a brilliant idea so then that way they will not lose contact. 

"Let's meet each other every Saturday's. But what caf should we meet in? I don't really know the area…" 

"Let's meet at the Water Lou Caf down by the bus stand, right next to the park." 

"Perfect, see you there. Until then take care of yourself Payal, alright?"

Payal smiled and nodded. 

"I will and good luck with your new job. After spending time with you, I think you will be just fine for the Ruthless Razaida" 

Both of them exchanged another hug and Payal went on her way. Slowly Khushi turned towards the gate, taking a huge breath she rang the buzzer. 

'Here I come, Mr. Razaida.'