“Okay, out with it … What the
hell was that?” Aman’s harsh voice broke the silence.
A furious Aman had dragged a
near-hysterical Khushi out of the party and they were sitting in a secluded
corner on the red-carpeted steps outside Sheesh Mahal.
Khushi, still trying to come to
terms with what had just happened sat silently, a part of her wondering what
Arnav would do now. A giggle escaped her trembling lips as she saw him
returning to the party with a swollen upper lip! Her eyes met Aman’s and the
hysterical laughter died as she saw herself cornered into giving him an answer.
She knew Aman was not going to drop the topic till he got everything out of
her.
“I saw him yesterday too at our
function”, Aman admitted. “And he was none to happy looking at you there too.
Don’t think I did not notice you disappeared and returned all flustered and
red.” “What’s happening, Kay?” his gentle use of her special pet name for her
must have been the undoing. All the bravado just vanished and Khushi tired of
all the stressing about Arnav, not being able to share her feelings with
anyone, just broke down.
She found herself sobbing
uncontrollably into Aman’s jacket front, as he gathered her in his arms,
patting her hair gently. Letting her take all the misery of the past few months
out of her system. In a babble of words she told him all about how she met Arnav,
her job at his company, training La and how he had been tormenting and
insulting her since then. Of course, Aman need not know the effect Arnav’s
proximity also had on her, she silently thought to herself. That was something
she would never admit to anyone even if they physically wrung it out of her.
“He thinks I am a small town girl
with huge aspirations of making money any which way, with no scruples at all,”
Khushi retorted, her anger at ASR returned once her emotions were spent.
She did not notice a worried Aman,
watching the play of emotions on her face silently, while letting her rant on
about her feelings.
**
And they both, cuddled together
on the steps, they did not notice a rigid figure, nursing his swollen lip,
watching them from one of the upper balconies. His enraged black eyes, noticing
sharply the way she was comfortably gathered into Romeo’s chest; the way he had
one arm around her shoulder and the other gently removing the locks from her
face, tucking them behind those delectable ears. Somewhere behind that fierce
anger, Arnav felt another upsetting emotion that made him angrier. “No one
touches her like that!” he roared to himself. “No one touches MY Khu…” He
stopped shocked at his train of thoughts. What was he thinking? What was he
doing? He was Arnav Singh Raizada. The writer of his own destiny. What ever
happened in his life, happened because he made it happen. And all that he had achieved
was because he had locked up useless things like emotions and feelings, as they
only came in the way of his success.
Lost in his thoughts he did not
notice a pair of hand creeping around his waist from behind and a sultry
whisper in his ear … “ASR”…
Lavanya! I don’t need this now,
he thought annoyed with her clinging. He sharply turned and walked back into
his room with her following him whining on about nani and god knows what else!
**
“You want to leave?” Aman asked
Khushi gently, when her tearful outburst has abated. “No.” Khushi thought about
Babuj and the others inside, and decided against making a scene. After all,
wasn’t that the aim – to be nonchalant for jiji’s sake. “Let’s go back, I am
okay now” … “and Aman” she stopped him with her hand on his arm … “thanks”, she
added with a shy smile.
“Oh Kay… Kay…”, Aman laughed
gathering her into a hug once again. “You and I need to talk about this when
the wedding is over… there is more to this than meets the eye, and I…” Khushi
stopped him, by giving him a pleading ‘don’t-say-it’ look. Shrugging his
shoulders and thinking ‘WOMEN’ for the nth time since he had landed in Lucknow,
Aman followed Khushi back into the lawns to look for Babuji and the others.
**
After that the evening passed in
a blur for Khushi. By the end she had a splitting headache – thinking
constantly of Arnav; how to avoid him; being careful not to run into him, and
constantly aware of his eyes following her where ever she went. Thankfully, her
family surrounded her and along with Aman, she felt secure sitting within their
group where Arnav could not reach her.
Khushi, noticed Aman also looking
a bit distracted later in the evening as he kept fidgeting with his cell phone
now and then. I’m being selfish, she chided herself. He wanted to speak to me
about his own problems, and I piled on all of mine on him, without thinking of
him at all. She felt guilty and promised herself, that she would try her best
to see that her friend gets connected with his soul mate… the idea brought a naughty
smile on her face … which was not missed from across the lawns by the ever
watchful eyes.
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