Hello my fellow readers! This is the first time that I have dared to write an OS. The last time I wrote anything was my research report and trust me it was easier to write a report than writing an OS 😆
I was encouraged by a very good writer and my best buddy from IF. She is my Rusgulla and I am dedicating this OS to her. This is for you my baby 🤗
WARNING: nah this is not a gutter OS 😆😆 I just want to remind you all that it's my first attempt to write any sort of fiction so proceed at your own risk 😛and bear with my mistakes 😳
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COLORS OF LIFE
"Damn it!" How could he be so careless? He asked Khushi to be ready on time, and here he himself had not only late but also stuck in the worst traffic jam. He once again cursed himself for his forgetfulness and clenched his fists to suppress his rising anger. As he took a long breath to compose himself, the memories of the wonderful morning started flashing behind his closed eyes. And he let those sweet memories to distract his mind.
"Arnavji! What's your schedule for today? Will you be busy in the afternoon? Do you have any important meeting today?" Khushi asked him in a busy tone when she was making a perfect knot for his tie. This was something she used to do every morning for her husband. And Arnav Singh Raizada loved the way his wife helped him in getting ready for the office. From choosing his clothes to buttoning his shirt and from helping him with his cuff links to make a knot of his tie, his wife used to do all these things everyday with all the love and devotion, and he simply loved this morning romance. But the best part of this morning romance was the feathery kiss which his wife placed on his neck before adjusting his collar.
"Arnav Ji! So is that final?" asked Khushi placing a soft kiss on his neck.
"What?" he only managed to say that coming back to the present.
"What, what? Here I am asking you to take me out for coffee and you are all lost in your work. Now that's not fair." the annoyance and disappointment were completely visible on her face. He tried to remove her frown with his left thumb and with the other hand he pulled her towards him to close the distance between them.
"Okey! Just be ready around 4:00 pm, I will pick you up from the school." he said postponing his meeting with his financial adviser, in his mind.
"What? Will you come to the school?" this is something he never did since she was the part of the school, so her surprise was understandable. "I mean you don't need to come to pick me up. I can come to the office with driver." She tried to hide her hesitation. There was a silent treaty between the two, "no one will ever bring this topic on" and they both respected that treaty.
"I said I will pick you up." Arnav said with an authority in his voice.
"But Ar'" Khushi tried to persuade him but he stopped her by placing his index finger on her lips.
"Tell me Khushi don't you want me to come there?" he asked strangely.
"No! No! Nothing like that." said Khushi hugging him firmly to hide the immense happiness which his words had brought. She didn't want to tell him that she used to start her every morning with this hope and to be honest this was something she was asking from her Devi Maiyya in her every prayer.
"Then be ready on time." He said returning the hug with the same warmth.
He could recall all his morning with his wife but the loud noise of horns snapped him back to the reality. The cars were running on the road before him so he just pressed the accelerator hard and sped off his SUV. The remaining journey of 15 minutes was covered only in 8 minutes.
_._._._
There he was standing in front of the three storey building, which was spread in four acres. He was walking on a pebbled path between two widely spread lush green grounds. He never thought to visit it when he first decided to open this school for orphans in the memory of his mother some five years back. Not a single person of his family was aware of his decision. In fact he never wanted anyone to know about it. But his secret was no more a secret when he married to the girl named, Khushi Kumari Gupta. No he didn't tell his wife about it but his wife possessed some extra ordinary traits to surprise him. Every time when he thought that he knew his wife the girl came up with some crazy ideas to prove her husband wrong. And her craziness made him fell in love with her all over again.
"Hello sir! How can I help you?" asked the receptionist and Arnav Singh Raizada came back to present with her chirpy voice.
"Khushi Singh Raizada" he inquired and mean while revealed his relation, "Am her husband."
"She is taking class. It's going to be over soon. You can wait here or you can visit her in the class if you want." she informed him after reading the time from her wrist watch.
"Where is the class?" he asked impatiently.
"On first floor. The first left turn at the end of the stairs will lead you to the art section." she replied with a smile admiring the muscular body of the dazzling man in front of her while his eyes were busy to find the flight of stairs.
"The stairs are at your back sir" she guided him again by pointing her finger towards the stairs. He passed a thankful smile to the lady and moved towards the mentioned direction.
"Oh My Gosh! Mrs. Raizada is such a fortunate lady to have this sexy man in her life." she thought doing some naughty deeds with the handsome hunk in her imaginations.
_._._._
"Okay bucha party! What will we do with these decorated cupcakes?" she tried to gain the attention of small kids by clapping her hands. The kids were busy in making noise and decorating cupcakes with white chocolate icing and rainbow sprinkles.
"We will eat them." came a prompt reply from a little girl.
"Of course we will eat them, but don't you think we should share our yummy cupcakes with our friends." Khushi asked bending on her knees and placing a light kiss on the nose of the little girl.
"No I will not share mine with my friends." came an irate reply from a six years old boy.
"Why?" she asked sitting beside him and pulling him into her lap.
"Because I want to share it with my mom but she has left me all alone here so I will not share my anything with anyone." Khushi heard the most expected reply from the kid.
This was the sole reason for starting the art section in this school without the consent of her husband. Even though she never thought of doing anything against his will but she knew this was the right thing for him too. She came to know about it when she was arranging his locker on his request. The file named "Heaven for Angels" caught her attention and she couldn't resist herself opening and reading its content. That's when she knew how insightful his husband's persona was. She decided to remain quiet and not to infringe in the things which her husband wanted to hide from everyone. She still remembered the day when she decided to break her silence and asked Arnav to let her join the school.
"Why are you sitting here? Aren't you feeling cold?" she asked him covering herself with her warm woolen shawl.
"Yes its cold but am kind of enjoying it." said Arnav pulling her hand and making her sit beside him on the bench.
"Would you like to have your favorite black coffee with my favorite pakoras and jalebees?" she asked in a joyful voice.
"No" he replied with a smile and put his arm around her shoulders. Khushi rested her head on his chest as a responding gesture.
"Khushi why do you always busy in making unhealthy foods for everyone?" he asked in a teasing manner.
"What? Do I make unhealthy food? Let me tell you jalebees and pakoras are not unhealthy foods but I am afraid I can't say the same for your bitter black coffee." She defended her partiality towards her favorite foods.
"Okay fine. But seriously I don't want you to spend all your time in making jalebees or gossiping with nani and di. You should do something prolific. Why don't you join the office? Am sure I won't be able to find as competent secretary for myself as my wife would be." he smirked and received a soft punch on his chest by his wife. The two were enjoying the moment when Khushi broke the silence and asked him in a serious tone,
"Arnav Ji! You want me to work?" He nodded a yes. "Then let me work for "Heaven for Angels"please" the nervousness was all written on her face.
"Khushi! How do you know about it?" he questioned her in an anxious voice.
"Don't get apprehensive. I came to know when I have arranged your locker six months ago." She admitted with a forced smile on her face expecting him to forgive her for her blunder. He didn't speak a word but he removed his arm from her shoulder to show his annoyance. She straightened up reflexively and cupped his face in her hands and forced him to look into her eyes. He refused to meet her eyes and kept staring at the black starry sky, trying to avoid the topic. But Khushi was not in a mood to let go off this opportunity.
"Arnav Ji! This is what I want to do since that day. You want me to work then let me do the work which can give me contentment. This will be the secret between two of us. No one will ever know about the person who is actually running it. You can trust me on that. Can't you?" she said looking into his eyes reading all the emotions he was trying to hide from her, there was pain sheer pain which was evident and his wife was good at reading his eyes. "Trust me this is the best place for me to work and the best decision on your part." she said wiping his unshed tears with her thumbs and then she entwined her fingers with his ensuring her support in every decision of his.
Arnav always wanted her to ask something from him and from all of the things this was what his wife considered to ask? Now how could he turn her down? He simply could not. So he just nodded his head in approval and left his wife alone to show his displeasure.
Khushi saw him leaving the place. She hated herself for inflecting him pain but deep down in her heart she knew that her decision would bring all the contentment in her husband's life. This was what she only wanted from her Devi Mayyia. Yes Khushi Singh Raizada breathed only for the happiness of this man who was not ready to share his agony with her but loved her to the core and she could go to any extent to free him from this entire pang which was killing him from inside and he was refusing to accept the fact.
"Devi Maiyya please help me to alleviate his pain." She prayed and went after her husband.
_._._._
He took two strides at a time to reach to his wife. His every action entirely showed his urgency. But as he entered the art section he was completely dumbfounded. The urgency was forgotten and he lost in the excellence of the interior of the entrance hall. He never ever imagined in his dreams that his wife was capable of doing this much. No he never underestimated her talent but this was plainly beyond his imaginations. Although he never asked her about her work nor did she ever told him anything but he knew that even the smallest dot on these walls was painted by his wife. There were different flowers painted with exuberant colors all over the walls. The painted walls gave the impression of a playing field packed with all the colorful flowers. The painter surely tried to capture the beauty of the nature within the shell of this huge hall. The incredible surrounding had given him an unknown sensation, as he had come back to home from a long strenuous journey. Suddenly he felt peaceful as if this was the place he was looking for since that awful incident.
He looked upwards with tear filled eyes trying to catch the glimpse of the sky in the closed hall but the sight made him completely dumbstruck. The ceiling was designed to give the illusion of a starry night. It looked like a black velvety sky decorated with uncountable tiny twinkling stars. This was just magical, truly magical. It brought indescribable emotions. He was utterly speechless. A lonely tear escaped from the corner of his right eye but the pleasing smile had adorned his face. He remained lost in this imaginary world around him for some more time but his wife's voice caught his attention and he started walking towards the course of the pitch.
As he reached the last room of the passageway he saw his stunning wife busy with a small boy. He leaned with the door frame and let him had the benefit of the scene infront of him. The kid was looking annoyed as something was troubling him and his wife was trying to pacify him. The kid was surely behaving just like him, stubborn, inflexible and rigid. And Khushi was trying hard to persuade the boy as she used to make her Laad Governor forget his anger.
"Mrs. Arnav Singh Raizada now I have known why you don't miss me during your school hours."Arnav thought in his mind with a wicked smile on his face.
_._._._
The boy was not in a mood to listen to her. She had tried her best but everything came futile. Suddenly she smacked her palm on her temple, as she was cursing herself for not doing the obvious thing. Her face lit up with playful smile and she put down the kid from her lap and started moving towards her place.
"I want all my cupcakes back." The smile was replaced by stern and harsh expressions.
"What? Why? No!" screamed everyone. Kids were shocked and surprised by the unexpected demand of their fond teacher.
"Because I don't want to share my anything with anyone from now onward." said she stealing glances from the boy who was astonished at her words.
"This is so rude."
"You can't do this."
"What happened?"
"This is not fair."
"How could you ask for the thing which you have already offered to someone?"
She didn't respond to any of the queries and pretended to be angry.
"This is wrong. You can't punish all the kids just because I am not accepting your suggestion." the logical statement came from the same stubborn boy. But before Khushi could react the bell rang, telling them that the period was over. The kids started stuffing their possessions. Some had packed the cupcakes; some had already started eating them while few were hesitant to take them along with their other belongings. They were looking at their teacher with quizzical eyes.
"Don't forget to share your cupcakes with your friends." she said and kids left the room with cheerful noise. The same stubborn boy didn't leave the class. He was lost in some deep thoughts, as he was trying to resolve some kind of mystery. Khushi came to him and bent on her knees in front of him. She held his both hands in hers pulling him out of his thoughts.
"That's what I was trying to make you understand." she said forcing him to make an eye contact with her. "You can't punish yourself just because you don't have a mother. And you shouldn't be annoyed at God. Your mother must be somewhere better than this world. You just need to admit the truth. And one more thing it's always better to spit out whatever you feel. There is no need to bury your emotions. It will only hurt you more and will turn you into a stone hearted person. And trust me girls may fantasize an arrogant angry youngman but in reality girls don't like such guys." she said lightening up the topic at the end with her joke and giving him a wink. The boy hugged her gently and that's when he noticed the company of a man at the door of the classroom.
"It's not good to overhear someone's conversation." said the boy breaking his hug and stepping out of the class. Khushi turned her head towards the door after hearing it and hardened at her place recognizing the well-known face.
"Arnav Ji!" said she in barely audible voice.
_._._._
Arnav walked in the room. Khushi was starring at the floor, as if trying to memorize its pattern. She saw a pair of black shoes approaching her. Her heart started beating unevenly due to the impending storm. She recalled her plan in her mind to figure out where it went wrong. He himself offered her to pick her up from school. She just purposely left her mobile at home so that he was not able to contact her when he came. She wanted him to come inside the school at least for once. But she never expected that he would come to this section of the school. She should be happy but she was not. She was scared. She wasn't able to guess his reaction, and to read his expressions she needed to look at his face and at this moment she didn't have guts to take her eyes off of the floor. She was anticipating anger, annoyance, rage and most of all complain. But there was silence, complete calm. This made her anxious and she lifted up her eyes to find the reason behind it. That's when she came to know why her husband was not saying anything. He was crying noiselessly.
"Was he crying earlier? Or has he just started crying now?" thought Khushi in her mind but soon realized that it's not the time to welcome such thoughts. She moved closer to him. Placed her both palms on his cheeks, lifted his face a little higher to make him look into her eyes. He did as his wife required, but before she could ask anything he removed her hands and pulled her frantically in a tight hug. He wanted a shoulder to cry on. And he was not embarrassed to cry in front of his wife at that moment.
Khushi was totally taken by surprise at his action. Her mind was not registering anything. All the actions were too quick for her to identify and judge their motives. She was numb but hugged him back. She didn't say a word, and let him cry his heart out. She didn't know how long they stood like that, he was crying and she was comforting him. Finally he broke the hug, rested his temple on hers, held her both hands in his and asked in a deep voice,
"How did you do this all alone?"
"I don't know. All I know is that I was not alone. You were with me all the time, in every single decision that I had taken for these children. You are still with me and I am sure you will always be with me." she replied giving him a gratifying smile.
"Thank you Khushi." he said placing soft kisses on the back of her hands.
"Arnav ji! Aren't you mad at me? Actually I wanted you to come inside the school that's why I left my mobile at home intentionally." she confessed to him with a sheepish grin on her face.
"I didn't call you Khushi. This idea didn't come to my mind. In fact I found myself robotically moving towards the building when I reached here. I didn't think twice to ask for the direction of your class." he confessed not hiding anything from her.
"Okey now can we leave for our coffee date. We have already very late." she said pushing him a little away with her hands.
"Actually I want you to take me to the tour of "Heaven for Angels", if you are okay with converting our coffee date into a dinner date. " he asked for her permission.
"Of course Arnav ji! You can ask me anything anytime. But I will agree only if you promise me a wonderful night after the dinner date." she said winking at him.
"I promise Mrs. Raizada." He agreed and offered his hand to her. She instantly held his hand and they both moved out of the room with hand in hand like they always meant to be together.
Arnav Singh Raizada had lost his mother at very early age. He was not alone at that time. He had a father, a grandmother and a sister. But it was like he was all alone in spite of all of them. Everyone was telling him you were a boy, you had to take care of your sister. You should not cry, be brave and all that. He didn't know why people were expecting him to act strong when he was feeling very weak and shattered. He didn't demand any logical reason but that day he had learnt one thing that society didn't let you shed tears if you were a boy no matter how big your loss was. He had become strong for the sake of society destroying his personality. He had learnt to hide his pain, his agony and his sufferings from everyone. He didn't come across a single person who had showed a little concern for his weird behavior not even his elder sister.
Then he had got married to this amazing girl Khushi Kumari Gupta. His life had started changing. It was an absolute delight for him to be with his wife. She had an understanding nature but always wanted to know the reason behind his silence. But he never let her explore his secret. And today after seeing her helping the boy he realized that his wife had not only discovered his secret but also trying to help all those kids who had the same past as was his. How could anyone be so selfless? God surely had given him an exceptionally caring wife. And now all he wanted to do was to embrace the happiness of his life his Khushi.
It took him 20 years to accept the fact that life offers you every color, you just need to use them to make your life colorful. And one way of coloring your life is to let your sorrows and pain to go away by sharing them with your loved ones and embrace whatever the little happiness life is giving you. That's the life and everyone should learn the art of living a happy life.
Arnav learnt it after spending his half life but he was happy that a lot of kids were learning it in their early age all because of Khushi. And he felt blessed having her as his life partner.
So how was it? Good, bad or didn't even worthy for your comment.😳😕
You are free to tell me whatever you want 😊
I would love to read your comments and also welcome your criticism 🤗
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