One thing...after the almost hero that Shyam had been portrayed...he deserved a nice closure ...prob applause from the Raizada family...
From the Author's desk: thanks so much for your lovely feedbacks- I cherish it! and now a little warning- a long update ahead! 😆
Hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing itHappy reading...__________________________________________________________
Part 64Surprise itched in eveyone's face, Silence prevailed in the terrace as Arnav and Sid finished telling them all about Shyam.
"Doctor, Anjali Ji should not know about this" Sid told Askok breaking the stunned silence.
"Why shouldn't she know about this- She deserves to know about this" Ashok replied back slowly
"Do you then want to tell her about this and hurt her?"
"Don't you suppose your friend's memory needs redemption from her?"
"No Doctor, that was not his intention- he- He didn't want her know- that was his last wish" Sid urged Ashok, as he looked at Arnav silently asking him to support him
"She won't be hurt- but she needs to know this- Do you know how much she had been worrying that her wrong choice in life had affected her brother's life to this extent? She would be relieved of a long lingering heaviness if she comes to know about this"
"Ashok, how about telling her about this after my wedding?" Arnav suggested Ashok "We need not bring in this chapter to her now- it can be told in a way that she would'nt be hurt about the news"
"Yeah, Please Doctor, keep this away from your wife- We can-" Sid stopped mid sentence hearing a voice in some part of the terrace.
"Daddaa"
Terrified, they all looked towards the main entrance to the terrace, it was still closed. The voice was coming from the other entrance to the terrace- from the pool side.
"Daddaaa"
"Arush?" Arnav called out instantly as they all looked at the direction of the voice - Anjali and Arush slowly came into their view from the darkness surrounding that area.
Anjali's face was so serious that Arnav flinched
"Holy Shit" Sid muttered in panic "Did she hear everything?"
***
"Kushi keep your hands stiff or you are going to make a mess of the design" Payal told her
"Jiji why cant I just have it only till my wrist- what is the need to have it till my elbow?" Kushi grimaced
"because it is your wedding Kushi' seriously only you would show this much pain in holding your hands straight for a few hours"
"few hours? You told I should'nt put my hands in water for nearly 12 hours-I have to take care of Arush also Jiji' How will I manage'"
"hmm.. We are there na.. we will take care of him- and your pati too"
"what initial should I write here?" the lady applying mehendi on Kushi's hands asked her
"Arnav or only A?" Payal teased Kushi expecting her to blush"No, LG" Kushi winked at her sister
"What? Seriously you want to have LG inscribed on your mehendi?" payal asked her incredulously
"yes" Kushi smirked again "and Rakshas in the other hand" she informed as the lady who was applying the mehendi looked at her wide eyed before she inscribed the letter LG into the right hand
***
Arnav went near Anjali as Arush put out his both the hands asking Arnav to take him
"Di, are you alright?"
Anjali who had been looking at Sid and then Ashok all this while, turned to her brother and nodded her head. Arnav took Arush from her as she turned back to Sid again and limped towards him with her serious expression
" What should be kept away from me Sid?" she asked at last as Sid let out his breathe he didn't know he was holding
"eh.. eh' hmm- that is a secret' "
"What secret?"
"Men do have a lot of secrets that they keep from women.. it is one of those" Sid invented wildly
"Oh I see' I know what you are talking about"
"you do?"
"Bachelor's party- isn't it?"
"Wow! Seriously Wow! You are amazing ' How did you find out?" Sid's mock excitement made Anjali proud as others bite back smiles. Arnav shook his head ritually
"what else you men folks would be talking about with a wedding so close?"
"Yeah Anjali Ji, you know what? NK told us you people might not agree for bachelor's party- he told us the only way was to have a secret party- far from the maddening crowd of women of the house!"
NK who was kind of dreaming from the time he heard about Shyam jumped out in shock
"me?" he asked as Anjali glared at him for a moment
"yeah - so we decided to have a secret bachelor's party' I am not telling my girlfriend- Akaash is not telling his wife- Arnav is not telling his girlfriend- no wife- no wife to be- oh crap-ok he is telling his 'whatever Kushi is to him'- Even Mamaji is not telling his hello hi bye bye"
Anjali let out a giggle- and Sid continued
"but Doctor here- he refused to keep anything away from you"
"really?" Anjali said looking at her husband "how sweet of you Ashok"
"erm.. Anju-" Ashok blabbered as Anjali moved towards him with tears of pride in her eyes.
"I know you all want to have this party- And I simply cant believe everyone of you have been conspiring against the women of this house' and Mamaji, you too? These fellows have spoiled you as well completely- wait till mamiji hears about this'"
"Oh no bitiya.. I was only in the talks' I was not going to take part in the party' I was about to go down before you came' you carry the interrogation.. I am going down" Mama ji escaped as Akaash called out "Dad- not fair" in a grimaced tone
As voices broke out in unison, Anjali grinned
"Ok baba' just for this sweet gesture by Ashok, I am letting you all have a bachelor's party - I don't know about the secret part though!"
"What?" Ashok jerked out of her grip in disbelief
"Are you serious Di?" Akaash asked her
"You mean you are actually letting us have a bachelor party?" NK wanted to understand it right
Anjali nodded smiling at them
"This is not fair" Akaash told her "you didn't let us have it for my wedding but now"
"Yeah she didn't let us for her own wedding even.. and now for her chotey- she says yes- Partiality" NK shouted excitedly
"you guys want to have it or not?" Anjali asked mocking sterness
"yes, yes " they all nodded
"so you shall have it' right here in the terrace' "
"What here? " Sid told her incredulously "forget it! it is as good as not having it"
Arnav couldn't help but grin at all this' he had been standing a little apart when all this nokjok was happening'
"Di, are you here?" Lavanya's voice reached them before she made an appearance
"hi guys" she called out waving generally as they waved back at her
"what happened? You told you will leave Arush with his father and come back ' and then its almost half an hour' we are all almost done" she said showing her mehendi clad hands
"where is my name?" Sid asked peeking into her hands
"This is not our wedding Sid- I didn't put your name- don't search for it" Lavanya laughed as Sid glared at her.
"Coming Lavanyaji' these fellows were all planning for a bachelor's party and I caught them red handed"
"Are you throwing a Bachelor's party ASR?"
Before Arnav could answer her Lavanya spoke out
"I am in" Lavanya told as Anjali's jaw dropped wide open
"what?" Sid called out "you want to come?"
"yeah.. it should be fun na.. I always wanted to attend one- hey please let me in"
"Why are all the women hell bent in surprising us this evening?" NK asked still dazed
"Lav, a bachelor's party is a BACHELOR's party- only for men folks"
"So I take it that you are NOT getting any female dancers out there to entertain you? Lavanya asked in a teasing tone
"What dancers? " Anjali asked innocently
"that depends- you should ask Arnav about it" Sid told La smiling devislishly
"very clever" Arnav muttered sarcastically at Sid as Anjali trained her stern eyes on him
"Chotey? Tell me what this party is all about? What am I hearing? Tell me everything or I am going to Kushi right away"
"Leave it Di.. if they are having a bachelor's party- let them have- we will ask Kushi to throw a bachelorette party" Lavanya told Anjali "and we will invite some MEN to entertain us too" the last part of the line was thrown at Sid. He raised his eyebrows
"Ok Ok.. folks listen" Arnav laughed " there will be no bachelor's party or bachelorette party- I will throw a common party- but not here- at the farm house"
"But chotey"
"Di, Dadi and Nani will not be comfortable with the party-its better if we have it in the farm house'" Arnav told shifting Arush to his other hand
"So conveniently eh? - at farm house- what are you planning to do ?" Anjali asked him
"Come on di- What mischief do you expect us to do when our ladies are around- we will just hang around for sometime - have fun and come back safe- that's all" Arnav told her as she smiled at him
"OK..this is much better plan'" Anjali told finally
"And NK you are allowed to bring in guests" Arnav told turning to him
"Oh wow- thanks Nannav"
"Am I allowed to bring in my new girl friend too" Sid asked faking innocence
"What?" La asked him back
"yeah, I am dumping my old one as she refused to have my name on her mehendi" Sid told still mocking innocence.
"I am gonna kick you idiot" La said charging on him as he turned back and ran laughing wildly and she went chasing him.
"Crazy two" Anjali commented as smiling looking at both of them
"So that's settled then- party tomorrow- wow" NK exclaimed happily
Ashok still looked a little disturbed as Arnav nodded at him letting him know everything will be alright.
A muffled "my mehendi- you spoiled it"- " hey you smudged it on me- it tastes yuck" reached them from somewhere far.
" Haa.. next one to taste mehendi today" Anjali exclaimed as she told them about Arush's adventures that evening
"really?" Arnav smiled as he examined his son's face and hand in the light "Oh boy.." he had a red patch on his face too- "what did you do to yourself little man?"
As Sid and La reached them, they saw to their amusement that Sid was rubbing his face very vigorously
"she put mehendi on my face" he complained
"Did I? you smudged it first" La shouted back- "look di- what he did"
"Di- are we allowed to come down now?" NK asked
"No men are allowed for the ceremony" Anjali asked
"But we did let you people join Arnav's bachelor's party- so you people should accommodate us" Sid told her
"In fact- poor Nannav was all sad this evening- then we found out that he wanted to peek in and we were giving him ideas" NK told him
"you both assumed I wanted to go down" Arnav corrected him but no one minded
"yeah, NK is right- bechara chotey was pinning for his Kushi- let him na..poor fellow" Sid told again.
Arnav crunched his brows- NK and Sid was at it again- teasing him mindlessly
"Ok then ' come down" Anjali smiled and lead the way.
Arnav glared at both the guys.
"hey cool man- look if we take your name- you sister will agree instantly" Sid told
"Now why do you want to go down?" Arnav asked him
"I told you right, I am looking for a new girlfriend" Sid told earning a smack on the head from Lavanya standing next to him
"hey you spoiled my hair too with your mehendi" he muttered as she smirked at him."yeah good idea Sid - now that Arnav told I can bring someone- I have to go and see if I can pick some good looking one out there in the ceremony"
Arnav shook his head disbelievingly at both of them and then followed his sister and the rest of them
***
"kushi please stay still- are you are going to spoil your skirt" Garima called out now
"Amma, this is seriously a pain- why till knees?"
"Seriously Kushi, you are the most clumsiest person I ever knew... but cant you manage for one day?" Payal called out from another corner where she was getting her mehendi done
"Sankadevi- she is going to spoil her lehenga today- I cant believe she is a mother- no different from her son" Buaji called out
"Why don't you remove your lehenga bitiya? Only we ladies are here na " Nani asked her " you are wearing your tights inside right?"
"Yeah Naniji, I am wearing tights.. but but"
"But what Kushi- naniji is right - remove your lehenga and sit- or you will surely spoil the lehenga" Payal edged her
" but what if some one comes?"
"no one will come- all the men are upstairs- and by the time you finish- you can go to the room and sit" Payal told her
Kushi sat there biting her lips lost in thought
"All the way up to my room with only my choli and tights?" she asked them still reluctant. Her dupatta was lying on the arm of the sofa- as they had removed it from her after repeatedly asking her not to smudge it with the mehendi in her hand.
"Ok, you stay with your mother in the guest room then" Dadi told her " it is right here only- anyway you cant see Arnav after the Haldi tomorrow morning until the wedding- so you better stay in this room only today also"
"yeah - dadi is right- you sleep with me today" Garima also told her "You have already posed for the pics and video' the lady guests have also left-what are you waiting for Kushi- get out of the lehenga"
With all of them edging her, Kushi finally stood up to remove her lehenga and dupatta as he mother finally succeeded to take it out of her without spoiling it
"haaw! Its much better now" she sighed happily as the mehendi lady started applying on her legs'
***
The group from the terrace came down laughing and chattering loudly- mostly pulling an irked Arnav's leg- that he gritted his teeth as he walked a little ahead and came to the area from where the ladies ceremony can be watched.
The view that hit him first made him speechless. He put Arush whom he was carrying until then down as he looked at Kushi wide eyed. He noticed that she was surrounded by the elder ladies of his house and hers- in a attire and posture he wouldnt have dreamed of...
Kushi was sitting in a chair wearing only her choli and her knee length tights, her hands little up in the air- covered in dark intricate designs, one of her leg was left down as it was applied with mehendi, her other leg bare and bent up and she was resting her chin on her knee and she looked bored as she was humming "aaj mausam hai suhana" to herself as the other ladies were looking at her amused.
"What the" Arnav murmured as he gwaped at her.
"wathaae" Arush mimicked his father- of late Arush was very fascinated by some words that his father used that to everyone's amusement and Kushi's annoyance he tried to repeat them.
Arnav looked down at his son and smiled. And then his expressions changed as to his horror he realized the others have almost reached there too.
He instantly turned to the approaching men and faced them with his hands wide as if to block their path
"No - stop. You all- I mean we can't go there"
Anjali, La and the men looked at him with wide confused eyes
"why?" they all asked a very uncomfortable looking Arnav.
To be continued'
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