Khushi woke up from the fitful sleep she had finally lulled herself into not so long ago by the constant buzzing of her phone, & as she tiredly took the phone up in her hand, she saw the reason she had difficulty sleeping in the first place was now gracing her with his attention. She immediately sat up on the bed while accepting the call & before Arnav could get even a single syllable out, she charged on, "You?! We all waited so much for you before finally setting off for Gurgaaon this afternoon! & all Amanji would divulge was that you had gone out to attend some important meeting! No one knew where you were! Not Bhaabi, nor Mamaji, & not even Jijaaji or Bhaiya!!.. Kaha the aap?' there was an unmistakable note of reproach & censure in her voice as she waited for him to say something in his defense & when no such thing came, Khushi charged again angrily, "Aur abb aise chup-chap kyun hain? Aap kabb gaye.. kaha gaye.. kissiko baata kar kyun nahi gaye?! Aap jante bhi hain humne apko phone karne ki kitni koshish ki?.. Hum kitne pareshaan the?" & Khushi finally stopped herself short when she heard the wail in her voice due to her rising panic.
& taking advantage of the small gap of silence, Arnav said in a calmly gloating voice, "Accha hi huwa main gaya.. Pata toh chala mujhe itna miss kiya jaata hain!" He immediately heard Khushi's thoroughly annoyed voice, "Oh!! You only got to know it today?! Arrgh, go to-" & Arnav stopped her this time before things could spiral out of hands, as it often did with their combustive natures, "Khushi, you are at the guesthouse, right? Is Payal sharing the room with you?"
Khushi blinked her eyes in confusion & briefly wondered if she was hearing things due to being woken up from her slumber in this sudden manner, but when only silence form the other end followed Arnav's questions, she answered absentmindedly, "No! She's the bride & so she got her own room & her whole cargo of trousseaus needed a lot of space too!" No sooner had she finished than she heard Arnav's steady command, "I need to tell you something important. Meet me outside. Where we.. first kissed." Khushi's breath got hitched in her throat at his mention of their first kiss & so she really registered a few moments later what he had exactly asked her to do, & she asked in an incredulous tone, "Meet.. what? Arnavji, what time is it?" She heard the tiredness in Arnav's voice when he answered her, "A little past 12.15." Khushi closed her eyes for the briefest of second to assess the implications of what he was asking her to do & when she opened her eyes, her decision was made as she whispered into the phone, "I am scared to go out in the dark at this of the night. Will you please keep the call connected while I come over?" A long moment of silence followed her request, & then the softest of whispers came, "I am waiting."
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Arnav heard the faint rustling sounds on the phone as he heard a door close, & then sometime later another one closed, & then just the sound of Khushi's rapid breaths, & in between these, she just called out to him in a little voice once, "Arnavji..?" & he instantly replied, "I am here, Khushi!.. Don't be scared, I had arranged for a lot of lightings around the whole premises, it's almost as illuminated as if its daytime.. & you won't be able to see me from afar as this clearing is surrounded by the big trees, but there's plenty of light around, & you know the spot, right?" After a moment of rapid breathing sounds as if she was sprinting, Arnav heard her say feebly, "Right." & after a full minute of silence, Arnav had had enough, & he was about to go looking for her uncaring of who else might saw them, if anyone at all was looking out from the main house or the guesthouse, when he saw her running up, towards the gap of trees leading to the clearing he was standing in, from the direction of the houses. & while she continued to come up towards him Arnav took in the sight of her like a thirsty soul in a desert.
She was dressed as casually & as individually as she always did. A silly little, cute & worn-out white Hello Kitty PJ with her hair up in a messy ponytail & she looked so small, so vulnerable, so young in them, that Arnav again felt rage building within him against that bas***d Karan, at the words he had used against Khushi, & he felt like going back one more time, & finish the job he had been forced to leave unfinished due to the interruption of Aman & the manager & bouncers of the nightclub.
But by then Khushi had reached him, & hearing the loud, shocked gasp from her, Arnav looked up at her face, & immediately stepped towards her & said in a reassuring voice, "Hey! I am fine! It's not as bad as it looks!" But Khushi lunged forward & with a small whimper she held Arnav's jaw in both her hands daintily, & intently looking at the nasty looking bruise on the left side of his jaw, she passed her thumb over the injury in a feather light caress. & as she felt Arnav shudder under her touch, she hastily looked up in fear of having hurt him, but as her eyes got caught in his, the brilliant light coming out from his caramel orbs startled her momentarily. He was looking at her with eyes so filled with desire that Khushi felt her guts coiling in a tight knot. & slowly her eyes traveled down from his eyes to his magnetic lips, & as Khushi licked her suddenly dry lips at the sight of his temptingly inviting lips, her eyes again fell on the bruise on his jaw, & she momentarily squeezed her eyes shut to regain some control & then opening them, she looked at his lips again, but spoke of his bruise, "How did this..?! Arnavji, we should do something about the bruise soon. You have diabetes, & you shouldn't leave your bruises unattended.." & she looked up at his eyes again, & running her fingers lightly over the scar above his left eye, she whispered, "I heard the doctor say when I caused this.. that you shouldn't leave a contusion unattended."
Arnav held her wrist & gently moved her hand away from where it was unconsciously gently caressing over his injury. He needed his head clear now. & taking a step back to be able to look at her features more clearly, he said in a determined voice, "You should probably know from me before anyone else.. I am sure someone is bound to mention it in the functions.. & there was a whole commotion, so it might get into the local newspapers.. I got into a fight with Karan, when I ran into him in a bar." He lied diligently as he had no intention of letting Khushi know how he had hunted Karan down. & then he motioned towards his bruise as he said, "& this?.. A result of the fight!" Khushi's mouth fell open in another horrified gasp, as she again came towards him & started running her hands lightly over his chest & arms, "You- Are you hurt anywhere else? What-? Why?"
Arnav knew the questions she was struggling to voice, so he answered them as truthfully as he thought would be tame enough for her, "He.. Khushi, he actually puts his blame on others for the way his & Payal's engagement fell through.. You remember what he was trying to do the morning after that night?" Khushi nodded slowly as she recalled how Karan had tried to accuse her of seducing him & also how he had tried to insinuate there was something between Arnav & herself, & then she looked up as Arnav spoke again, "Well, he said something similar in front of me &.. well, I lost it & we fought & it kinda got out of hand a bit! He was still unconscious when I left.." He stopped, having no intention of relaying to Khushi the words Karan had dared to utter about her. As she saw Khushi trying to process all that silently, he added, "While it felt really good, I probably shouldn't have done it as the fight may garner publicity of the wrong kind.. though I doubt he'd be foolish enough to actually try to malign yours or my name publicly, but there were on-lookers.. Khushi, Aman is trying to straighten things out right now, but even if he stops things from going into news, people might talk! & a lot of the people who mingle in Karan's circles are invited to the weddings, & they might talk of all this.." & before he could carry on more about the repercussions of tonight's happenings, he was stopped by Khushi's fiercely resolute words.
"Let dogs bark! No one from my family will care about such gossips, & I don't think anyone from your family would even bother either which ways.. You know what, it's good that you beat him to a coma, otherwise I would've gone & broken his jaw.. Maybe then he'd learn a lesson, after being beaten up by a girl!" Arnav looked at her dazedly for a long second & he shook his head in a way that told Khushi that he was saying 'Unbelievable' in his mind right then, & then he said in a very grave manner, "Khushi? I also learnt something horrible about myself today!.. When Karan started slinging mud on your name, I had gone to a dark place & I had no control whatsoever over myself, & if it wasn't for Aman's timely intervention.. & it's not the first time.. Last night, when you called yourself- Even then, Khushi, I had felt it! & I saw the way it scared you!" & he cupped Khushi's jaw in both his hands as he continued, "& I don't ever wanna scare you like that again! Last night, I had to leave before I scared you anymore.. But I don't ever wanna hurt you or subject you to that darkness. Especially not after I know about your biological parents!!.. I was only scared of my father's legacy passing onto me, you know?.. I thought it was just his lying, cheating genes.. but it seems like I have my own demons to add onto that too!"
Khushi looked at him incredulously for some time, taking all that in, & then she said in a small voice, "But don't you see? You stopped! Today Amanji stopped you! But yesterday, Amanji wasn't even there! & I.. when you had been about to leave, I even stopped you! But you did leave! You didn't let your dark urges take over! I think you have more control over yourself than you think, Arnavji! & you're talking about legacy & genes?!! Arnavji, I already won the contest of 'Who has the most crappy, lousy genes?'! My own father killed my mother!!! Don't you think that scares me? Don't you think I wonder in the dead of the night, how much of my father's genes are lying dormant in me?!" Arnav immediately cupped her face more firmly & said hurriedly, "Crap, Khushi! I didn't mean for you-" But Khushi shook her head vehemently & rushed in, "Let me finish! What I have realized after I got to know about my mother & father is.. Legacy & DNA isn't everything, Arnavji!.. Family matters..& your own character individuality matters.. Nobody is born a murderer or a saint or a cheater.. It's about situations & chances & choices.. Not only birth, but environment is integral too, in shaping up a person's life & persona!.. You can't carry the burden of your father's mistakes on your shoulders forever!"
Arnav looked at her passionate features & he cupping her face more snugly in his hands, he pressed a lingering kiss on her parted lips & then he slowly rested his forehead against hers, & said in a rueful whisper, "You know what the most shocking thing is?.. I actually want to believe you!.. Kya kar diya hain tumne Khushi mere saath?!" & suddenly Khushi knew! As she stood inside the curve of his arms, with his forehead pressed against hers, & his breath mingling with hers, the longing in his question, & the rhythm of his heartbeat under her right palm, perfectly matching her own, told her which she had often felt in his demeanor towards her for the past couple of weeks, but couldn't be sure of due to his careful ambiguity. He loved her! & he, for all of his gloating about his famous Dimaag & all, didn't have a freakin' clue about it! & Khushi instantly decided with a secret smile, that she wasn't even gonna try to help him figure out this puzzle! He had made her journey towards her realization of her love for him thoroughly unpleasant & unbearable with his smugness, & arrogance & sometimes downright jerkness, so she was just going to return his favors! & then she abruptly remembered something else.
Khushi suddenly smiled naughtily up at Arnav, & started rummaging inside his left side pants' pocket without even so much as a verbal warning & Arnav instantly stilled her hand by putting his own hand over hers over the fabric of his pants & asked in an astonished voice, "What are you doing?" Khushi let his hand still the movements of hers, but whatever her intention was, she wasn't deterred as she grinned sheepishly at him, "Just looking to see.. if I found some ring or something which might fit me perfectly.." She felt Arnav going very still momentarily as his eyes got clouded as he said resignedly, "It has been taken care of. Don't let it worry you anymore." Khushi felt the pang inside her heart seeing how much the whole incident of last night still disturbed him & she abruptly hugged him very tightly once more, & keeping her hand over his heart she asked in a small whisper, "Arnavji, did I break your heart last night?"
The stilted silence followed her question for so long, that Khushi knew it was one of those questions that you just couldn't expect an answer of from Arnav Singh Raizada, & just when she was about to change the subject to dispose of the sudden awkwardness that had seemed to engulf her out of nowhere, Arnav kept his hand over hers where it lay over his heart & said in an acquiescent voice, "Maybe it needed a bit breaking, Red.. Pata toh chala kuchh tha waha par!" & Khushi immediately looked up at him raising her head from his chest with bewildered questions in her eyes, suspecting some sort of realization, but right on cue, he shook his head in a mock-stern manner & said in an apparent attempt to downplay his most recent words as well as to distract a suddenly gloomy Khushi in his arms, "& you! You shouldn't go around rummaging in my pants' pockets! It's hazardous for my health, Red!" As the implication of his half-shouted words penetrated Khushi's hazy brain, she blushed beetroot red with an audible gasp & hid her face in Arnav's chest once again, & she closed her eyes in contentment as she felt his chest rumbling with silent laughter.
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