Spent a great deal of today helping with the preparations of a haldi function for tomorrow- so you can probably understand why this happened :P Just in that kind of mood, I guess. Please excuse the randomness!!
ArHi OneShot |Unfinished Business|
"Why are you here?"
"I want a glass of water."
"You know that's not what I meant."
"Isn't it? I thought you were asking what I'm doing in your kitchen- I thought you ought to know you've neglected to provide any water at the table-"
"Why did you come here, Arnavji? And I'm not talking about the kitchen."
"Are you implying that I'm unwelcome here?"
"No, I'm asking why you're here."
"I seem to be the only one whose presence you have objections to."
"This is Jiji's maaika. Jeeju is this family's damaad. Their coming over to visit after getting married makes sense."
"And my coming over doesn't?"
"No, it doesn't."
"I've been here before."
"Not without reason."
"Is that so?"
"Stop acting as if you don't know! You've never just...dropped by for a casual visit before!"
"There is a first time for everything."
"...You've got to be joking."
"Is this how you behave toward guests, Khushi Kumari Gupta? How rude- but then I shouldn't expect anything better from you, should I?"
"Toward guests? Never. You are a different matter though. Now tell me, why are you here?"
"If you are so convinced that I have an ulterior motive for coming along to a family that is of late part of my own family, why don't you tell me yourself why I'm here?"
"..."
"..."
"Fine. Don't tell me then. See if I care. Here's your water."
"Giving up so easily? How unlike you."
"..."
"But then again, perhaps you have realised that you never can win against me-"
"Don't get carried away, Mister. I just have better things to do than trying to figure out whatever nonsense you're plotting."
"I know it must be hard to surrender, but there's no need to be so bitter about it. Just because you lost to me twice doesn't mean you can't at least yield gracefully."
"Excuse me? What do you mean, lost twice??! I don't recall-"
"You know you couldn't have won at the sangeet without me, Khushi."
"..."
"..."
"Stop. Smirking. Fine, I couldn't have won without you, but you didn't win either, remember?"
"But you know that I could easily have done so."
"Then you should have done so! But you didn't, did you? So I win by default!"
"Shouldn't you be grateful to me for saving face for you, instead of being so rude?"
"You. Didn't. Have. To."
"You'll have to speak louder, I can't hear you over the grinding of your teeth."
"You heard me perfectly fine."
"Accusations, accusations...it's pathetic really, that you have to resort to such juvenile tactics to cover up for losing those bets-"
"I did not lose! I might not have won the first one, but the second one-"
"...the second one?"
"..."
"Well?"
"You know."
"Hm, I'm not sure I do. You'll have to remind me."
"Why, you-! You're just pretending because you don't actually want to admit that I succeeded in doing what I had to do!"
"And what was that?"
"...what you...y-you dared me to do."
"Yes, and what was that, Khushi Kumari Gupta?"
"If you can't remember, then you need to get your head checked- it was only three days ago. Personally I always knew you were a little mental..."
"Stop evading the question, Khushi. What did I dare you to do? What was the bet?"
"You know, you're such a- Hey! What do you think you're doing?!"
"Shh."
"...don't come any closer!"
"And risk you screaming again? People would think I'm murdering you."
"You might not be murdering me, but you are most definitely restraining me against my will, and I'm pretty sure that's illegal."
"You're going to hand me over to the police because I'm trying to keep you from screaming like a banshee?"
"No, I'm going to hand you over to the police for trapping me in my own kitchen. Now let me go!"
"Not until you answer my question."
"Amma might come in here any minute."
"Let her."
"What?! Are you that shameless? You wouldn't mind being caught literally pinning me to a wall in my own home by my mother?"
"It doesn't matter...I'm sure she'll be interested in hearing your answer as well."
"...you're joking."
"I don't joke, Khushi Kumari Gupta-"
"You could have fooled me-"
"So if you want to answer in front of your whole family, I don't mind-"
"Hey-"
"-it's not like you're afraid of having witnesses."
"Did you just wink at me?"
"Am I lying? Or have you forgotten what you did in front of Di, Nani and Mami at-"
"!"
"-adh ou poolfide-"
"..."
"..."
"Eep!"
"What's the matter, Khushi? Something wrong?"
"Y-you...you just..."
"I just what?"
"You did that on purpose!"
"And what is it that I'm supposed to have done?"
"You know!"
"Stop hissing and just tell me, Khushi. Or are you too chicken?"
"Enough of your stupid games, you Laad Governor! You just...you just kissed my palm, don't go around acting as if-"
"I'd like to point out that you were covering my mouth with your hand, quite tightly, might I add, so my lips touching your palm was an inevitability-"
"You-"
"And secondly, you had no problems mentioning the word "kiss" this time did you?"
"Fine! Fine! Yes! I kissed you on the cheek, as per your stupid dare, and I kept my end of the bet. OK? Now let me go."
"We're not done here yet."
"What? I just answered your question and you're still not satisfied?"
"I'm not going to be satisfied with just a kiss on the cheek, Khushi."
"Excuse me?! What do you think you're saying?"
"Why, what do you think I'm saying?"
"..."
"My, my, it must be very...interesting, if you're blushing so much."
"I'm not blushing! It's just...very warm in here, that's all."
"Really? I thought it was rather pleasant actually-"
"If you don't move, I promise by all that is holy that I'm going to step on your foot."
"You're not going anywhere until we're done here, Khushi."
"And what exactly are we supposed to be doing, Arnavji? You are the one spinning circles round the whole thing in the first place! I just asked you why you are here, and you just went to the end of the world and back to run away from answering!"
"Are you sure I'm the one running away?"
"There you go again! Why can't you just directly answer the question and be done with it?"
"I'm only returning the favour, Khushi...after all, you did your fair share of running away already."
"What is that supposed to mean? When did I-"
"Oh? So when I told you the night of the wedding that I wanted to talk to you, you weren't running away?"
"N-no! Of course not! Why would I-"
"So it was a coincidence that every time I approached you, you miraculously remembered something to do?"
"I was busy! It was my sister's wedding and-"
"Also my brother's. I managed to stay still in one place for longer than a minute though."
"Haan, it's ok for you to do that! Unfortunately, I don't have underlings at my beck and call so-"
"Are you really going to use that as an excuse?"
"It's not an excuse, it's the truth!"
"You are such a little liar, Khushi."
"I'm not lying!"
"Then why did you never give me the chance to say what I wanted to say, even though I told you I want to talk to you?"
"I just told you, I was busy-"
"So busy that you couldn't meet me in the three whole days since the wedding?"
"There were things to do at home too, you know!"
"No, I didn't know, because you weren't picking up my calls."
"I- I-"
"Running out of excuses?"
"I'm not-"
"Shut up and let me speak, Khushi!"
"..."
"And don't look so damn shocked. Aren't you tired of running away from me already? How much longer do I have to chase you before you give up?"
"I'm not running aw-"
"Yes, you are. And I want to know why. I want to know what in hell has you so scared that you won't even stand in the same space as me for more than a few seconds."
"I'm not scared-"
"Look at me."
"..."
"Look. At. Me."
"Stop, what-"
"I'm telling you to look at me, Khushi. If you're telling the truth, you shouldn't have a problem with that, right?"
"Let go off my chin-"
"Not until you look me in the eye and tell me the truth. What are you running away from?"
"..."
"Tell me NOW."
"YOU! I'm running away from YOU! Is that what you wanted to hear? Are you happy now?!"
"..."
"Please, Arnavji...just let me go now..."
"Why are you running away from me, Khushi?"
"Let me go..."
"Why are you running away from me?"
"Because I don't- I don't understand!"
"What don't you understand?"
"You. I don't understand you! And I don't understand what you're thinking, and I don't understand what you're doing-"
"Go on."
"And I don't understand why you- why you danced with me even though that made me win- and I don't understand why you took my hairclip and my earring- I don't understand why you said green doesn't look bad on me-"
"..."
"And I don't understand why you didn't yell at me when you saw the "A" in my mehendi...and I don't understand why you...why you k-kissed me by the poolside, and I don't understand why you kept bothering me about it- and I don't understand why you bought me bangles, and I don't understand why you came after me when you thought I had an accident-"
"Are you sure you don't understand, Khushi?"
"I- I don't understand...what it all means..."
"Or do you just not want to understand?"
"-I don't understand why it makes me feel this way...I don't understand why you make me feel this way..."
"Feel what way, Khushi?"
"...and I'm scared."
"..."
"I'm scared you might not...might not feel...the same way-"
"..."
"Because h-how...how am I supposed to know?! How am I supposed to know when you...you never...you're always sarcastic or angry...and when I ask you, you never give me a straight answer...even when you came to look for Nanheji and I that night, you were yelling at me...and when I tried to ask about the bangles, you stopped me from talking in front of everyone...and you don't even believe in...you said you don't believe in-...so how am I supposed to know when you won't...tell me...anything and I-"
"Shh."
"I-"
"Shh. I think you just answered your own question, Khushi."
"..."
"Don't look so puzzled now. You can't have forgotten- it was not too long ago you were questioning my motives like I was trespassing on your property."
"...I don't...understand."
"That's just it."
"I- what?"
"You don't understand...so I'm here to make you understand. And you're not running away this time, Khushi Kumari Gupta."
I did say please excuse the randomness!
I'd love to hear your thoughts about this little piece :) Thank you for reading!
My other dialogue-only one-shots:
Just Another Random Conversation
I reserve all rights over this work of fiction and request readers do not reproduce/copy/modify it elsewhere, and/or claim credit.
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