One Step Closer
Arnav’s
hand reflexively reached for Khushi’s face…. as his hand came closer to her face,
Khushi opened her eyes… she was breathing heavily.. her heart started racing as
his hand came closer… she knew… she decided that she was not going to fight it
anymore.. she decided not to push him away anymore… and she closed her eyes
once again.. her lips quivered even more… in anticipation of his touch on her
face… Arnav’s hand stopped briefly close to her face. He looked at the mesmerizing
beauty… his eyes took in her restless, blushed face in… his heart now became
restless… anticipation ensued.. he also decided not to fight it anymore…he gently placed his hand on her
face… Khushi’s body shivered as if an electric current passed through.. she
opened her eyes… as Arnav moved away stray hair from her face.. she gazed into
his eyes… Arnav’s eyes started speaking to her and she could not move her gaze
away…. Khushi allowed herself to get drowned in those intense eyes.
Arnav’s jaw had
relaxed… his face calmer… his gaze soft… his eyes caressed Khushi’s face, every
inch of it… his hand lingered on her face and then settled briefly on her
cheek; as he was about to pull back his hand, Khushi reached for his hand and
held it gently, snuggled her face into his hand…. Intense longing on her face and
in her eyes… it reflected in Arnav’s eyes as well… As Khushi placed her face in
his palm, his face turned even softer,,,
Arnav leaned
forward and asked in a husky voice, “Khushiii…did you miss me?”
Khushi opened her
eyes briefly, tears filled up to the brim in a jiffy… her twinkling eyes shined
through her tears and a smile of relief broke on her face as she again held his
hand and pressed it against her face… she nodded ‘yes’…The time froze for them
in that moment… Arnav’s face became softer, vulnerable… something that Khushi
had never seen before… his eyes got moist and Khushi’s tears started trickling
down…Arnav’s hand in her grip, that had her face snuggled in it, caressed her
face ever so gently…
They might have
stood there like that longer but just then, they heard a knock on the door.
Khushi quickly let go of Arnav’s hand, gathered herself… all of a sudden turned
shy… and rushed to open the door not making eye contact with Arnav..
It was Lovely at the
door. She said, “I am sorry, I hope I am not disturbing you, ASR!” as soon as
the door opened…She looked up to find Khushi at the door instead of ASR…
Khushi said, “Not
at all. Come in, please!”
Khushi brought
Lovely by poolside where Arnav was..
Lovely said, “Hi,
ASR.. Can we talk about tomorrow a bit? It will be nice to have….”
Arnav interrupted
her, “Sure.. why don’t we go downstairs..” his eyes darted at Khushi who
hesitantly looked at both of them, her discomfort was quite obvious. ”Khushi
will not be disturbed… and for us too...”
Khushi’s gaze
briefly met with Arnav’s. Khushi was puzzled whether he meant it in a nice sense
or he was just trying to avoid talking in front of her…
Lovely and Arnav
stepped into the room and started walking towards the door. Khushi kept watching them leave with a curious
restless gaze…
Arnav
turned around before leaving and gave Khushi a tender, affectionate look….
Khushi blushed vigorously as she had images of him asking her if she missed
him, run through her mind…and that touch… Khushi closed her eyes as her body
still could feel Arnav’s affectionate touch and longed for more…
*********************************************
Next morning:
Everyone had gathered
at the breakfast table. Lovely was in a salwar suit today, upbeat and modern
styled yet traditional. Khushi admired
Lovely’s dressing sense as she poured tea for Arnav.
Anjali asked, “What’s
the plan for today, Chhotey?”
Arnav looked up
and said, “Di, Lovely, I , and Aakash are going to the office. You know that
Lovely is in designing too.. so, we have much to…” he chose not to complete his
sentence, instead added, “We’ll be back by this afternoon! Why, did you need
something?”
“No, I don’t! But,
yes, it will be great if you can come back home for lunch!” Anjali said smilingly.
Khushi became
restless again. This little tiff in her heart would not let her breathe easy.
She did not know why she felt like that. She looked at Arnav… Now it was her
turn to be surprised, he was observing her keenly, not being herself. His eyes asked
her “What… what’s wrong..?” Khushi shook her head and looked at him as her
eyes said hesitantly, “No…. nothing…” However, her eyes mellowed down.. started
welling up… Arnav looked at her puzzled.
He knew that something was bothering Khushi big time.
Just then Mami asked,
“Wheresh Damadji, Anjali bitiya? I have not seen him this morning.”
Anjali said
casually, “Mami, you know, he had something important to take care of so
he left early in the morning today.”
Lovely asked,
“Shyam…, correct? So, Mr. Shyam is a lawyer? What kind of law does he practice?
I mean, criminal law, civil justice or business…or…” Anjali interrupted her, “He
only takes cases of people who need help and have no one to help them. He loves
to fight for people who need help but cannot afford. He loves top help people more
than fight for money!” Pride overflowed Anjali’s eyes as she talked about
Shyam.
Arnav’s facial
muscles tightened as Anjali talked about Shyam with pride…
Khushi saw Arnav’s
face getting firmer, she immediately reached for his hand, held it gently though
he initially tried to pull it out from her grip. Khushi gave him a squeeze…
Arnav pulled his hand out of her grip again but Khushi held it tight, she
brought her other hand to wrap around his hand… she kept gazing
into his
eyes with a gaze so affectionate that
Arnav could have gotten lost in it… as Arnav looked at her with slight
irritation… Khushi whispered… ”Promise,. Remember the promise; you would let me
do whatever I want. Right?” Arnav could
care less as his rage mounted, he still pulled his hand out of hers..
Arnav
turned around before leaving and gave Khushi a tender, affectionate look….
Khushi blushed vigorously as she had images of him asking her if she missed
him, run through her mind…and that touch… Khushi closed her eyes as her body
still could feel Arnav’s affectionate touch and longed for more…
Nani ji said
pleasantly, “Lovely bitiya, Anjali bitiya will never get tired of praising
Damad ji!”
Just then Shyam
walked in, “What are you all talking about? Someone tell me, please!”
He quickly gave
Anjali a shoulder hug bending down in the chair and said, “How are you, my dear
Rani Sahiba, this morning?”
Arnav’s face got
tense again… Khushi jumped to her feet immediately, and walked over to Arnav
pretending to shed off something from his shoulder. She looked deep into his
eyes as his puzzled gaze steadied on her face. She then reached for the lock of
hair on his forehead and moved it aside ever so gently that her fingers
caressed his forehead, distracting Arnav. His heart longed for more…
Mami instantly widened
her eyes and said, “Phati saree… has the sun risen from west today? Arnav bitwa
is in a very different mood it seems..”no
gussa dayss’ howat hai ka aaj…. Is it a no anger day today?” She smiled as
if she cracked a big joke.
Mama ji jumped in,
“Arey Mannu, why are you making a mountain out of a mole? Let it be!”
In the meantime, Khushi’s right hand still was
resting on Arnav’s forehead as she put her left hand on his shoulder. She
looked at Mami whose eyes were wide with lots of surprise as Arnav reached for
Khushi’s hand on his shoulder and about to take it off when Khushi’s
affectionate eyes urged him not to do so.. reflexively Arnav steadied his hand
on hers.
Nani, Anjali, Aakash
and Payal smiled at each other… They had never seen Arnav like this before.
Baffled somewhat and his eyes puzzled at Khushi’s display of love. Somewhere
his face depicted that he liked it though he was fighting it.
Shyam got
extremely irritated and gave Khushi a pointed look. Khushi instead looked at Arnav,
who noticed that she was not looking at Shyam, instead her gaze was focused on
himself. Arnav seized the opportunity to play along to show off to Shyam. He
held Khushi’s hand on his forehead and guided her to the chair next to him,
once seated; he said to Khushi in an affectionate soft voice, “Now, have some
breakfast!”
“Jiii…. Yes..” Khushi’s
eyes became wide with amazement; as she saw affection oozing from Arnav’s eyes
and a slight smirk appear on his face as his eyes twinkled. Her heart missed a
beat as she looked at this Aranv… She wanted to hold her heart so bad as it
started racing and color filled up her ckeeks…. Anjali and Nani nodded happily.
Shyam clenched his jaw muscles, twitches on his face become more frequent…
Arnav liked what he saw from the corner of his eye…. He turned to Khushi again
and held the glass of orange juice to her lips… Khushi had no idea what was
happening to her… she thought she was
losing her mind with giddiness… as she gazed into his eyes her face turned
vulnerable… her heart reflected through her eyes.. drowning Arnav into them..
Just then Lovely
said, “Anjali, do you know that ASR had made a bet with us at the business
school.. his ‘shirt’ and him! You
know what he has lost the challenge!”
Anjali asked enthusiastically, “What bet?
What challenge? Come on, tell us,
please!” Anjali chucked with mischief as Khushi and Arnav’s spell broke..
Anjali asked enthusiastically, “What bet? What challenge? Come on, tell us, please!” Anjali chucked with mischief as Khushi and Arnav’s spell broke..
5 comments:
awesome update loved it that was so sweet loved how asr was playing along and snke kept getting so angry awesome update i like karan thanks for the pm
vandana.sagar
Quote Posted: 30 September 2012 at 11:57am
Amazing update, loved it, love Khushi s plan...and this will even help them realise their feelings and get back at Shyam...thanks for the pm...waiting for the next one?
fmaryam
Quote Posted: 30 September 2012 at 12:02pm |
Awesome--dz chaptr z so prfct!! I cn nevr get enough of ur work! It always leavs me cravin for more and more..wonderful writer u r B-) luvd da part where he regrets what he did to kushi..i can smell alot of suspense on the way!many truths to be unfolded..pls update soon luvly:-* :-*
bavucute
Quote Posted: 30 September 2012 at 12:10pm
nice Update dear after a long time gap.. really njoyed the bet, sweetheart... but I thought you wud say abt Arnav lovely discussion but dnt... hope in coming up we will get it...Also you maintained the Arnav attitutde Clap
loved it
kajal620
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