He’s Amazing ~ Part 14 {Reloaded}

“So, now the Raizada family know, I know and Sia knows about you and Arnav. Do you know how messed up that is!”

 

Khushi put her feet up and crossed her legs as she watched Lavanya react to the news that she was breaking. While Khushi was relatively calm, Lavanya was panicked.

 

“I know! But I trust her; I don’t think she’ll say anything. She has a major crush on Arnav so I can’t imagine her going against his wishes and telling anyone.”

“You have far too much faith in people.”

“I know, but I honestly do have a good feeling about Sia.”

 

Lavanya sat down and took out her book and started to finish her work. Just as Khushi begin to settle down, her phone began and ring. Assuming it was Arnav, Khushi answered the call without checking the caller ID.

 

“Hey, I was waiting for your call!”

“Oh wow, I didn’t think you would be so excited to hear from me. Hi Khushi, it’s Nikhil.”

 

Khushi felt herself go cold as she realised she wasn’t on the phone to Arnav but on the phone to her ex. Composing herself, she carried on with the conversation.

 

“Oh, hi! How… Why are you calling me all of a sudden?”

“I know you probably don’t want to talk to me, but Khushi this is important, can you come and see me in the main lounge.”

“Nikhil, I don’t think…”

“Please Khushi.”

 

Conflicted, Khushi couldn’t decide what she should do. On one hand she really didn’t feel there was anything left between her and Nikhil and meeting him was pointless, but at the same time she was curious as to why he was reaching out to her now after so long. Sighing, she replied.

 

“Ok. Give me 5 minutes, I’ll be there.”

 

Khushi was met with a stern looking Lavanya when she disconnected the call and she knew La was about to go in on her.

 

“Don’t go Khushi! There is no reason why you should meet him. He was a jerk and you’ve moved on. There is nothing left between the two of you. Don’t go and see him.”

“Lavanya, just because he’s my ex doesn’t mean that I have to keep avoiding him. And like you said, there is nothing left between us, so I don’t think he can say or do anything to affect me.”

“I know, but… I don’t want to see you get hurt and I don’t trust Nikhil even slightly.”

“Lavanya, I appreciate your concern and I love you so much for being so protective of me, but I promise, don’t really care about that anymore. I’m happy with Arnav. Nothing Nikhil can say or do with affect me.”

 

Khushi watched as La’s expression softened slightly and she sighed.

 

“Fine, but I’m coming with you.”

“Lavanya I promise I’ll be fine, you don’t have to come.”

 

Grudgingly, Lavanya accepted. Khushi checked herself in the mirror and then walked out, trying to work out why exactly Nikhil wanted to see her after so long. Since the last time she had spoken to him, they had seen each other around a few times but neither had stopped to talk to the other. While it wasn’t really awkward any more, neither of them had felt the need to speak to one another, there really wasn’t anything left to say.

Lavanya looked at Khushi leaving quickly picked up her phone and dialled.

Khushi slowly made her way down to the main lounge, still trying to work out what Nikhil wanted. Reaching the lounge, she saw that Nikhil was already there. When he realised that she had arrived, he smiled and walked over to her.

 

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

“Thanks for coming.”

“It’s fine.”

 

There was a brief awkward pause as Nikhil tried to work out what he wanted to say and how he wanted to start. Clearing his throat, he began speaking.

 

“Khushi I know things have been crazy between us and I really regret how things went down, and I just want to apologise again. I truly am sorry and I know I was an idiot. And I know you’re with someone else, I hope he’s the perfect boyfriend that you’ve always wanted and I hope that he treats you right. Because you’re an amazing woman Khushi and you deserve the best and nothing less.”

 

Touched by his kind words, Khushi smiled.

 

“Thank you.”

 

“Any way, I called you here today because I wanted to tell you something, and I wanted you to be the first to know about it. Khushi I’m leaving for America tomorrow.”

“What?”

“Yeah. Remember my brother want to America and when he got his citizenship, he applied for my entry. Well it’s been approved and I leave tomorrow.”

“Oh my god! That’s amazing! I’m so happy for you!”

“Thank you Khushi.”

 

Reaching into his jacket pocket, he pulled out a box and handed it to Khushi.

 

“Here this is for you. Take it as a parting gift and to say sorry for everything that happened. I really do regret it. I hope we can still be friends even after I leave.”

 

Opening the box, Khushi looked at the dainty bracelet that sat at the bottom.

 

“Oh, Nikhil this is beautiful. Thank you so much. And yes, I think we can be friends. I was mad at you before, and I was really hurt, but in the last few months I have come to terms with what has happened and I just realised that what was meant to be, happened. I have no hard feelings. I believe in fate and I truly think that there is someone out there for you who was made just for you. And I hope you find her while you are away on your adventures.”

“Thank you Khushi.”

 

There was a short, fleeting, awkward hug between them as they said goodbye to each other and then Khushi left to make her way back to her room. Upon opening the door, she found Lavanya anxiously pacing their bedroom. Khushi explained to La why Nikhil had called her, what he had to say and showed La the bracelet that Nikhil had gifted her. Before Lavanya could actually react, there was a knock on the door. Khushi looked to La confused, they weren’t expecting anyone today. Lavanya looked at Khushi sheepishly as she opened the door and Arnav rushed in.

 

“Arnav! What on earth are you doing here? Someone might have seen you what…”

“Lavanya told me your ex called to meet you. Did he say anything to hurt you? Are you ok?”

 

Khushi threw La an angry look and Lavanya retreated into the bathroom.

 

“Arnav, I’m fine. He just wanted to meet me before he left for America. That’s all. He just wanted to say goodbye and make sure there was no hard feelings between us.”

“Oh.”

 

Looking down at his feet, Arnav realised that he may have overreacted slightly, but he let the feelings slide away. He had every right to react the way he did. She was his woman and he had a right to make sure that no other loser was hurting her feelings. Looking up once more, he lopped his arms around Khushi and pulled her close to himself.

 

“Well seeing as I’m here, you might as well give me a kiss before I go.”

 

Khushi blushed, looked towards the bathroom and pressed her finger to his lip. She moved towards Arnav and placed a small peck on his lips and then quickly moved away again. She didn’t want to let things escalate while Lavanya was in the same room. Pulling her close to himself, Arnav lowered his voice as he spoke to Khushi.

 

“Khushi, I think we should book into a hotel tomorrow night, or maybe you can just come round to mine… I’m craving you so badly, it almost hurts Khushi. I just need be alone with you again, so I can cherish you.”

“Arnav, as much as I want to, you know we can’t.”

“I know Khushi and I understand you fully. I’m prepared to wait babe. But I’m not talking about sex. You can just come over and we can spend some time together, just watch a movie and maybe make out a little.”

 

Khushi blushed and nodded. Kissing Khushi on the cheek, he told her he would call her later and would see here tomorrow. He then left.

 

*****

 

As time passed Arnav and Khushi’s love grew. They had stuck to what they had decided and they hadn’t made love to each other again since that first time. They had been tempted many times, yet broke away. Even when things got really heated, they maintained their self control and pulled away. This made Arnav’s love grow for Khushi because he respected her decision so much. Khushi’s love grew for Arnav because despite the fact that he didn’t necessarily see things the same way she did, he still always controlled himself and pulled away when he knew he was getting too carried away. There was a specific instance where they had both gotten all the way down to their underwear and Khushi had lost herself in the moment, yet Arnav pulled away.

There were many times a week when Arnav had to go and have a cold shower, but he didn’t complain, nor did he make her feel bad about making him wait. She couldn’t help but love and respect him so much more now.

 

Time passed and things were going perfectly until…

 

***** 

 

“Pooja?”

 

Arnav opened the door to reveal his old friend. He had been expecting it to be Khushi when he had heard the door, but was surprised to find Pooja. 

 

“Hey Arnav!”

“What are you doing here? You didn’t say anything about coming up to see me.”

“Are you going to invite me in or what?”

 

Arnav moved aside and Pooja walked into his little apartment, shutting the door behind herself. 

 

“Aren’t you please to see me?”

“Of course I am, it’s just you’ve never really come to visit me like this before. Any way, doesn’t matter, you’re here now.”

 

Arnav led Pooja into his house and she looked around amazed.

 

“I love what you’ve done to this place, it’s so homely.”

“Why thank you. I’ve been trying my best and Khushi has been helping out too. She loves to find little nicnacs.”

 

Pooja’s eyes fell on a picture of Arnav and Khushi as she sat down on the sofa.

 

“How’s Khushi doing anyway?”

“She’s fine.”

“That’s nice. Isn’t she around at the moment?”

“No, she left about 20 minutes ago.”

“Oh, what a shame, I was hoping to meet her again.”

“I can call her if you want.”

“No it’s fine, its late and we shouldn’t bother her. She’s probably got some work to do. Any way, it would be nice to spend time with you, we haven’t spoken properly in months.”

“That sounds like a nice idea. Hey Pooja, excuse me a second, I need the bathroom. Pour yourself a drink and help yourself to eat anything.”

“I will, don’t worry, you go.”

 

When Arnav left, Pooja poured herself some orange juice and then poured some for Arnav as well. Putting his glass on the side, she took a seat on the sofa again and waited for him to come back. As he re-emerged from the bathroom and came to sit down beside her, she handed him the glass of juice.

 

“Here I got you a drink.”

“Thanks…”

 

Taking a sip, Arnav smiled as they both settled down on the sofa and eased themselves into a conversation… 

 

*****

 

“Khushi! You’ve got a call!”

“What?”

 

It was the next morning and Lavanya was mad at Khushi for having her phone on so early. Both girls had been sleeping until Khushi’s phone began to ring. By the time she answered, the call got cut. Looking at the caller display, she realised that Arnav had called.

Rolling over, she looked at the clock. It was only half 9. Arnav never called at half 9 on a Sunday because it was was his day to sleep in. Calling him back, she waited for him to answer the call, but it went to voicemail. Khushi got up and got dressed. She was under the impression that Arnav had probably gone to the bathroom.

Once dressed, she left the dormitory and made her way down to Arnav’s house. She knocked on the door but there was no answer. She tried the handle and found the door was unlocked. This wasn’t normal, Arnav always locked his door. She stepped into the house and called his name. There was no reply. She heard quiet sobbing coming from the room and walked in. 

The sight before her shocked her to the core. Arnav was still sleeping in bed, but Pooja was on the sofa, half naked, crying. Khushi looked around the room, trying to decipher what had happened here. Arnav’s clothes that he was wearing when she saw him last night were scattered on the floor and he was topless from what she could see. She turned her attention to Pooja who was stilling sitting on the sofa, curled up in a ball, sobbing. Khushi took her in, trying to work out what happened here. She noticed that Pooja was dressed in a haphazard way. Her dress was half on her. The shoulders of the dress were halfway down her arms and the zip was completely undone. Looking around the room some more, Khushi spotted a pair of panties on the floor by the foot of Arnav’s side of the bed. There was a bra tossed on the floor too. Khushi walked over to it and had a good look at it and it just confirmed what she already knew. It wasn’t her bra, she’d never seen it before. It was Pooja’s. Turning her attention to Pooja, Khushi tried to keep herself together as asked what actually happened here.

 

“What-what happened?”

“Khushi, I’m so sorry.”

“Pooja, tell me, what happened.”

“I’m so sorry Khushi, I didn’t mean for anything like this to happen!”

 

Khushi felt her patience slipping away and she could tell she was starting to panic. 

 

“Just shut the hell up and tell me!”

“Khushi, I… We… Arnav and I… We spent the night together!”

 

Khushi looked at Pooja with a blank face, not understanding fully what she was saying. Or maybe she was understanding but she just didn’t want to accept it. Pooja felt like she needed to say something but she didn’t know what to say or what to do. 

 

“I’m so sorry, I know you probably want to kill me, but I swear, one thing led to another and by the time we realised what had happened, we’d have had sex! It wasn’t my intention, I didn’t want it to happen… It just did.. I don’t even know what to say.”

 

That’s when Khushi snapped. Her boyfriend had slept with another girl behind her back! Tears poured down. She rushed over to Arnav and pulled the cover away from him and shook him awake.

 

“Hey… What the hell? Hey, hey!”

 

Opening his eyes and focusing on Khushi, he realised that something was very wrong here but he didn’t understand what was actually happening. Sitting up, he tried to pull Khushi onto his lap but she resisted.

 

“Khushi calm down! What’s wrong?”

 

When she didn’t respond, he tried to make light of the situation in the hope that that might cause her to tell him what happened.

 

“A man’s trying to sleep. If you wanted to wake me up, all you had to do was kiss me!”

“You ba***rd!”

 

Arnav realised that something was very wrong here but he couldn’t work out what was happening.

 

“Hey, no need to be so rude first thing in the morning. Babe, what’s the matter? Speak to me.”

“Why did you do it? I thought you cared about me!”

“Khushi what are you talking about? Of course I care about you. Baby you know I love you!”

“If you love me so much, why did you sleep with Pooja?”

 

He felt as though he had been slapped, what was she talking about. 

 

“WHAT? Are you crazy, I didn’t sleep with Pooja!”

“Arnav I’ve already told her.”

“Pooja, what the hell are you saying? We didn’t do anything last night!”

“Arnav, you don’t remember because you had too much to drink.”

“I remember coming from the bathroom and then you handed me and drink. I remember drinking it and us sitting and speaking for a while but after that I can’t remember what happened!”

 

During all this Khushi was crying. She was becoming more and more hysterical. 

 

“We’re finished Arnav!”

“No! Khushi please believe me! Nothing happened last night!”

Arnav continued to plead, yet Khushi wouldn’t listen. He got out of bed and tried to reach out to her but she moved away from him faster than he could get to her. She grabbed her stuff and left, slamming the door behind her. Arnav watched her go, unable to go after her because he wasn’t dressed yet. He looked at the door, unable to comprehend what had actually just happened. More than that, he couldn’t work out what had happened at all. Why was Pooja saying that they had slept together when he knew for a fact that that nothing of such had happened. It couldn’t have. He was sure of it… 

He looked over to Pooja who was sit sat on the sofa and everything he thought he was sure about suddenly became clouded. Had he and Pooja actually… Surely not… But what if they had? What would he do if it was true? How would he explain it to Khushi? What was he meant to do? 

Wilted Heart ~ Interlude I

Arnav’s POV

I looked over at her and watched her as she looked out of the window, watching the city pass us by. For the first time all day, she finally looked at ease. 

Dragging my eyes away from her, I focused on the road. We’d been on five dates now and it finally felt as though we were getting somewhere. After our initial meeting, I had assumed that when we went out, Khushi would be quite comfortable with me and that conversation would flow easily. But I found that despite us texting regularly and calling each other from time to time, every time we actually met to go out, it was almost as though I was meeting her for the first time again. She was timid, sometimes distant and often enough quite absent minded. And the car rides home were almost always ghostly silent. 

When with Khushi, I also realised that I couldn’t take the main road in and out of the city as that’s where her and her husband had had their accident. 

Her husband… It felt so strange to think of him like that considering soon I was going to be her husband, but somehow referring to him as her ex didn’t feel right either. Because he wasn’t her ex, they hadn’t broke up and so it felt to refer to their parting as such. 

I shook my head and put my entire mind back onto the road. She had insisted that though she wasn’t ready to fully move on, she didn’t want me to think about Manav or let him impact our relationship. She said that she was willing to give us a fair shot, and I knew that if I let myself get wound up about her past, I wouldn’t be doing her justice. 

“Arnav…”

Her calling my name brought me out of my thoughts. 

“Yes?”

“Could we stop at Starbucks. I feel like a chai.”

“Yeah, sure.”

For our date today, I had decided to take her to the aquarium. When she had told me she’d never been, I knew that’s somewhere I wanted to take her and I was glad I did. Though conversation about life was minimal, we spoke about the fish that we saw, and I loved the look in her eyes when she saw brightly coloured, exotic fish. 

She’d let me hold her hand as we walked along the underwater tunnel, watching the larger fish swim over her heads. At one point she clutched onto me as a fish that looked suspiciously like a shark swam over us. She moved away again quite quickly, but her hand stayed locked in mine. And though I’m ashamed to admit it, the feel of her hand in mine, her holding me so tightly, it did something to me. I knew I had to keep hold of my feelings, we were just friends, barely even friends still, but I couldn’t let my feelings for her get too intense or romantic, because it could just throw a spanner in the works and I knew that the best way to get through to her, was to just respect her space and be her friend. 

After our date with the fishes, we had had a bite to eat at the restaurant in the aquarium, and while the decor was lovely, it was unfortunate that the food wasn’t as good. 

As we pulled up to the Starbucks, I turned to her. 

“Drive thru or eat in?”

“Drive thru please, but then can we find somewhere nice to park up?”

“Yeah we can do that.”

She smiled before turning away and I pulled into Starbucks. Getting to the window I placed our order and then drove round to the next window. 

“I love how you already know my go to order.”

I chuckled before opening up my Starbucks app, ready to pay for our drinks. We’d been to Starbucks a few times and she always ordered the same thing. 

“I just remember from last time, and because she said that was your go to order.”

“But it’s quite specific so the fact that you remember it perfectly is impressive.”

Before I could respond, the guy handed us our drinks and before I could show the guy my app, Khushi leaned over me and got her app scanned instead. 

“Thank you ma’am, have a nice day.”

I was slightly thrown. She had argued with me last time when I had insisted on paying, so I had assumed she’d just let me pay without any arguments this time because she hadn’t said anything. But more than that, the feel over her body across mine, was sending me off slightly. But she moved away as quickly as she had moved into me and sat back in her seat, looking quite smug with herself. 

Handing her the cups, I put the car into gear and we drove off before parking up on a high hill. 

As I cut the engine, she handed me my drink. 

“So, what on earth was that back there miss?”

“What was what?”

She looked smug, a twinkle in her eye. 

“You forgot what I told you the first time we went out, when you’re with me, I pay.”

“I know, I know, and that’s why I don’t argue when we go out for meals or when we go places, but at least let me pay for our Starbucks.” 

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I know I don’t. But like how you don’t have to pay for everything when we go out but you do, the same way I can pay if I want to.”

“Well thank you anyway.”

“You’re welcome.”

I could’ve argued the matter further, reassured her that I didn’t mind footing the entire bills when we went out, but if her paying for our Starbucks order made her happy and was something she genuinely wanted to do, then I wasn’t going to stop her. I think more than anything, she just wanted to play a more active part in our equation, and I wasn’t going to take that away from her. 

I watched as she sipped on her chai. She leaned back in her seat, smiling to herself. She brought her hand to my knee as she turned to me. 

“I know sometimes I seem a bit distant when we go out, but I really enjoyed myself today.” 

“I’m glad you did. And you don’t have to worry about being distant, you’re still really good company.”

She smiled and then suddenly because aware of the fact that her hand was still resting on my knee. She pulled her hand away and instantly I missed it. She turned her attention back to the front of the car and looked out of the window as she sipped on her chai. She looked at the sky and then at her watch and gasped. 

“Arnav it’s almost sunset! Can we go outside and watch the sunset?”

She was right, the sky was starting to change colour and by the looks of it, it seemed we were going to get a colourful sunset this evening. Nodding, I opened my door and got out of the car and she did the same. Grabbing a tissue, I came round to the front of the car and wiped down the bonnet. 

“Do you want to sit down?”

She looked at me, her head tilted to the side slightly. 

“Okay.”

I watched as she tried to get on herself, but my car was quite high and she couldn’t quite get on. 

“May I help you up?”

She paused for a moment, and I thought she was going to say no, but she nodded slightly and then with a small voice replied, 

“Yes please.”

Handing my coffee to her, I held her by the waist and gently lifted her onto the bonnet. She scooted back slightly and then I sat down beside her. My car was big, but the bonnet didn’t have all that space for the both of us to sit far away from one another, so my leg rested against herself. At first, I could feel her leg slightly tense, but then, as she handed my coffee back to me, I felt her ease up. 

We watched the sky and drank in silence, but it was a calming silence. 

“I’m so glad we stopped, I feel like it’s going to be a pinky-purple sunset tonight.”  

I turned to look at her, and there she was, sat beside me, staring up at the colour changing sky. Though the sky looked beautiful, Khushi looking up with her eyes wide, taking it all in, with the dimming lights casting a shadow over her face, was just so much more beautiful to me. Her face glowed like the moon and in that moment, I became extremely aware of how lucky I was to be in her presence in that moment. 

She was honestly breathtaking. 

As the sky continued to change colours, we sat and watched in silence before she turned to me and put her hand on mine. 

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For letting me watch the sunset.”

“Of course, why wouldn’t I?”

“Manav never…”

She stopped and quickly took her hand off of mine. Other than the first time we met, we hadn’t spoken about Manav and her past very much. It was a topic she was trying keep separate from us and I respected that. She knew that I knew everything that was important to know, and that I knew what our deal was. 

I put my hand on hers, and gently turned her face towards me. 

“Hey… I know it’s weird and a bit awkward, but I want you to know that you can talk to me about Manav. Like I said I know it’s weird, but I know that’s a part of your life, and that he will always be important to you. I know that and respect that. So if he comes up in conversation or you just want to tell me something about him, you can. I’m willing to listen. When I said I was interested in you and that I wanted to marry you, I accepted everything about you, past and all.”

She paused for a moment and I could tell she was taking in everything that I had just said. 

“Thank you, for just being so supportive and understanding all the time. I can’t even tell you how much it means to me.”

I gave her had a squeeze and smiled at her. She was silent for a moment before turning back to me. 

“I’ve always loved watching the sunrise and the sunset, but Manav, he just found it pointless. For example, if we were driving along and the sun was setting and if I asked him if we could stop to watch, he’d dismiss it. His reply was always ‘the sun rises and sets everyday, why waste your time watching it.’”

I couldn’t help but feel Manav had a point. If I hadn’t been with Khushi right now, I’d have never thought to stop to watch the sunset. 

The remainder of the time, we spent in silence. When the sun had finally set, Khushi was ready to jump off the bonnet and get back into the car, but I stopped her. 

“Just wait here one second, I want to do something.”

She was confused, but she stayed put. I rushed round to the passenger side of the car and opened up the glovebox and took out what I was looking for. Looking at the item in my hand, I couldn’t decide if this was the right time for this or not, but I thought to just go for it. Camping back to Khushi, I helped her off the bonnet and then dropped to one knee. She gasped when she realised what I was doing.

“Khushi Kumari Gupta, I have no idea if my timing is right or not, but I’ve had this ring with me all the time since our third date. Getting to know you, it’s just further reiterated the fact that I want to be with you. I know our situation is a little strange and there’s going to be a lot of adjusting and cooperating from the both of us, but I really want this to work between us. In the instance of arrange marriages, a lot of the time there isn’t a chance like this for the guy to present his lady with a ring on one knee, but from the moment I realised that I wanted to be with you, I knew I wanted to do this. So…”

I opened up the ring box and she gasped once more taking the ring in. It was a bespoke, custom designed ring that I had made just for her. 

“Khushi, will you do me the honour of accepting my ring and accepting my hand in marriage? Will you marry me Khushi?”

Tears streamed down her face and I was suddenly feeling anxious that maybe I had done something wrong, maybe the timing wasn’t right. But with tears still flowing, she smiled and nodded her head. 

“I will… I will marry you Arnav.”

I let out the breath I didn’t realise I was holding and slipped the ring onto her finger. A perfect fit. 

“Arnav it’s so beautiful I… I love it so much, thank you.”

I kissed the ring on her finger as she helped me up. She gave me a fleeting hug before pulling away just as quickly. 

“I’m glad you like it and that it fits.” 

My hand on her lower back, I led her to the passenger side of the car and opened the door for her. Once she was in, I went round to my side and got in too. For the rest of the journey, we didn’t speak much, but I kept a close eye on Khushi. She was playing with the ring on her finger, a small, shy smile on her lips. 

When we finally pulled up to her front door, she unbuckled her seat belt and then turned to me. 

“Thank you for today, I had a lot of fun.”

“I did too. Thank you for allowing me to take you out again.”

“Will you call me later?”

Her voice was slightly lower when she said this, and even in the semi darkness I could see her cheeks turning rosy. 

“Yes I’ll call you later tonight.”

“Okay.”

“Okay. Well I guess, I have to get going now. Bye Arnav.”

She turned away and got out of the car and j watched her as she made her way to the door and went into the house. She gave me a small wave before going inside. I should’ve got going at that point myself, but I couldn’t bring myself to drive away. Driving away would mean leaving her here again and all I wanted to do was take her home with me. But alas the time for that hadn’t come yet. 

Putting the car into gear, I made my way home, the thought of the day when she’d finally go home with me keeping me hopeful. 

He’s Amazing ~ Part 13 {Reloaded}

 

After breakfast, Khushi and Lavanya left. They hugged Payal and Anjali and then bid goodbye to NK, Akaash and Shyam. Khushi smiled shyly at Arnav, who in return pulled her into his arms and kissed her lightly on the lips.

 

“Will I see you before we go back to uni?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think we’ll have time. I mean we have less than a week to go and La and I haven’t even had time to go shopping yet.”

“Well even if we cant see each other, I shall be calling you every evening.”

“I’m fine with that.”

“Bye babe.”

 

*****

 

On the way back to their house, Khushi broke the news to Lavanya that she and Arnav had slept together. To Khushi’s surprise, La did not take the news well.

 

“What the hell Khushi! What were you thinking?”

“Lavanya I told you. I couldn’t say no! The way he asked me, the way things happened I didn’t want him to feel bad. But it’s not just that, I wanted it too.”

“I know what you mean, but Khushi didn’t you think about your future. Just imagine if you and Arnav don’t get married, you get married to someone else, what will he think of you if he realises you’ve slept with someone before!”

“I know Lavanya, but…”

“But what? What will you say? What will they think of mom and dad? The guy will think that mom and dad were completely useless parents, hence why you were able to go and sleep with someone!”

“Lavanya, you’re acting like you’re someone from the last century! This is normal. Whoever I marry will probably have slept with someone at some point as well. You’re making it sound like people never have sex outside of marriage.”

“That’s not the point! What if you get pregnant with Arnav’s kid now?”

“That won’t happen! We used protection!”

“They do rip sometimes! And knowing the way you two are, you wouldn’t have even realised!”

“Lavanya, stop it now! You’re being ridiculous and quite mean! You’re my best friend; you shouldn’t be like this with me. You should be happy for me!”

“If I was just you’re friend then yeah, I would have been happy, but I’m your sister as well. I’m thinking about your future before everything else.”

“I know you mean well. But don’t worry, nothing bad will happen. Arnav’s promised me we will get married!”

“I hope you do…”

 

Lavanya remained silent for the rest of the journey and Khushi sighed and let herself relive everything that had happened the night before.

When they reached home, they were greeted by Garima at the door.

 

“My babies are back. How was your party, did you enjoy yourselves?”

 

Lavanya nodded and then excused herself.

 

“Amma, I’m not feeling too good, I’m going back to bed.”

“Same, aunty, I’m tired as well.”

“Goodness, you sleep all night but you’re both still tired. Fine go on. Go back to bed.”

 

When in their room, Lavanya closed the door and sat down on the bed. Her mood had changed a lot since the journey. Khushi just assumed that now that Lavanya had time to process the information, she was more understanding of her.

 

“Now tell me everything! How was it? How did it feel?”

“I was… It was something out of a fairy-tale.”

“Did it hurt?”

“It did to start with, and actually the pain did last a while and I was aching this morning too, but the pleasure of it was just mind blowing.”

“God, I hope mom and dad find me a decent guy soon. I want to get married now, just so that I can experience all of this.”

 

Khushi yawned and lay on the bed.

 

“God, you really are tired aren’t you! I just said that so we could get some privacy so I could talk to you about all this, but you genuinely are tired.”

“We didn’t get to sleep until well after 4. Any way, Lavanya, can we go shopping tomorrow. I need to buy some new dresses.”

“Sure. But let me sleep now too. I am actually quite tired too. We were all up until about 3 just talking. You know the Raizada’s are really lovely people. They will be awesome in-laws for you.”

“I know. It’s like I’ve known them forever. I just hope that nani ji, mamaji and mamiji like me too. And then there’s aunty and uncle. I won’t marry unless they approve!”

“You know, NK’s really sweet as well. Every time I turned to speak to someone else, he would start conversation with me again.”

“Arnav was right! He does have a crush on you!”

“I don’t know about that, but he is really nice and I wouldn’t mind getting to know him better.”

 

Both fell silent and just let their minds relax. After a few moments of silence, Lavanya had a thought and she felt she had to speak about it with Khushi.

 

“Khushi, what about your brother?”

 

Khushi jumped up at the mention of her brother. The question had startled her. They hadn’t talked about her brother in years!

 

“What about him?”

“What if he doesn’t approve of your relationship with Arnav?”

“How would he find out? And even if he does, it doesn’t even matter what he thinks. He’s never cared, so why should I care about what he thinks.”

“Khushi, he does care. If he didn’t, why would he keep in touch with mom and dad, finding out about you, sending you money?”

“I don’t know Lavanya. But all I know is, is that he doesn’t love me. If he did, he would have got in touch with me personally. I understand he keeps in touch with uncle and aunty, but he left me when I needed him the most, I’ll never forgive him for that! He left me all on my own. And he knew where I was, if he cared, he could have come to see me. But he didn’t.”

“But he’s still your brother. He matters Khushi!”

“Lavanya, please I don’t want to talk about this!”

“Fine we wont talk about it, but the truth is, you can’t avoid your brother forever Khushi. He will return one day and you will have to face him.”

“Let him come, he won’t see my face!”

 

Sensing that this was a futile discussion, Lavanya dropped the topic.

 

“Just one thing Khushi, when you and Arnav do get married, make sure you keep your volume down.”

“Meaning?”

“I could hear you; I was staying in the next room. And I could hear you moaning and screaming!”

“What! Seriously? If you could hear us, why were you so surprised when I told you that we had slept together?”

“I just thought you guys were making out and doing other stuff, I didn’t think you had actually had sex.”

“Oh god, that’s so embarrassing! What was I saying?”

“You were saying his name over and over again.”

 

Khushi looked away and blushed.

 

“I’m so happy for you babes. I hope you always remain this happy.”

 

Both turned away from each other and let their eyes shut as they peacefully fell asleep for another few hours. La and Khushi were at peace, but their peace was not to last…

 

*****

 

Khushi and Lavanya returned to university a week later. After dumping her bags in her room, Khushi went straight over to Arnav’s. She knocked on the door, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for Arnav to open the door. The moment he opened the door, she flew into his house and into his arms.

 

“Well hey there, I didn’t realise you would miss me that much in such a short amount of time.”

“I missed you so much, you don’t even understand.”

 

Arnav hugged her tightly and smiled at the fact that she had missed him so intensely. Breaking the hug, he took her lips in a hungry kiss. After an eternity they pulled away.

 

“I’ve missed your taste so much! That sounds so strange when I say it out loud but it’s the truth.”

“Same here. I missed yours too.”

 

Breaking apart, Arnav gestured Khushi to sit down on the sofa and he sat down beside her.

 

“So, have you finished your assignment?”

“Which one?”

“I only set one over the break, the one that’s due tomorrow.”

“Oh shit! I totally forgot!”

“That’s okay, you don’t have to do it.”

“No Arnav, I have to do it. Just because I’m your girlfriend doesn’t make me any different to anyone else in the class. I’m still your student and I need to do my assignments if I want to graduate this year.”

 

With that, Khushi jumped to her feet, placed a quick kiss on Arnav’s cheek and rushed out. After watched her rush off, and he couldn’t help but feel amused by her all over again.

 

*****

 

“Welcome back everyone. I hope you have all had the time to unwind and relax a little, but I also hope that you all remembered to complete completed my assignment.”

 

There was a shuffle as students took their laptops out or to get their notebooks out. Most of the members either pulled up their documents ready to forward onto Arnav or had the hard copy ready to hand to him.

One member of the class however, raised her hand and instantly Arnav knew what was coming.

 

“Sir, I haven’t done it!”

“Miss Mishra, welcome back. I must say I really had hoped that you would have the work done, but I’m not at all surprised.”

“You really expect too much from me. Like you said, it was time for us to relax and unwind and that is what I did, you assignment simply did not find into that agenda.”

 

Members of the class looked to each other, flabbergasted at the way Sia was able to speak to Arnav.

 

“Ah, well yes, you do have a point. I completely understand. But you’re back now and it’s time to get back to reality and I want my work done. So seeing as you have failed to complete my work, you shall have to add an extra 2000 words to your assignment and I want it on my desk first thing tomorrow morning.”

 

Sia grumbled and then looked away muttering to Tina.

“He might be good looking but he’s a right ba***rd.”

 

Khushi looked at Sia and threw her a dirty look, but didn’t say anything. Inside, she was seething though. How dare she call Arnav such a thing? She turned away and continued to listen to what Arnav was saying. And just like that, his voice was enough to calm her down completely. Was it possible just to be turned on by his voice? To find so much peace in his voice even when he wasn’t speaking to her? It was the strangest thing but she liked the feeling.

The lesson ended and Khushi watched as everyone else left the room. Arnav looked at her and smiled and closed the door.

 

“My baby stayed back for me?”

“Of course I would.”

 

Khushi got out of her seat and sat on Arnav’s desk. He moved towards her and closed the distance between them. He positioned himself between her legs and moved in to kiss her. The kiss started light like every other time and gradually he hunger between them grew like a fire.

When they finally moved apart from one another, Khushi gave him a playful smile as she played with his tie.

 

“My man doesn’t want me today.”

“How did you get to that absurd conclusion?”

“You’re not hard.”

 

Arnav raised his eyebrow at how straight forward she was being. But it was a game he was also well versed in and was ready to play with her.

 

“Do you want me to be hard?”

“Maybe.”

“If I was hard Khushi, I would take you on this very desk. I’m fighting for my self control as it is. I’m trying so hard to respect your wishes but, when you say things like that, you really test me.”

 

Khushi giggled and Arnav moved in again to kiss her. His hands caressed her body as she wrapped her arms around his neck. But before they could settle into the moment, the door flies open and Arnav and Khushi jump apart.

 

“Oh my god! What the hell! I’m so sorry!”

 

Arnav was the first to get back to his senses and react.

 

“Miss Mishra! There’s something called knocking! Shut the door please.”

 

Closing the door, Sia walked into the room nervously, her eyes never leaving Khushi.

“I left my bag and my phone.”

“That’s fine, but again, there’s something called knocking.”

 

“Khushi, you’re with Mr Raizada? But Lavanya said you were with some guy from another university!”

 

Arnav turned to Khushi, waiting for her to respond but when he realised she was still too shocked to say anything, he knew that he needed to step in.

 

“Well, she said that because we wanted to keep our relationship quiet. I’m sure you can understand that a teacher-student relationship is not something that people would be impressed about. Sia, please don’t tell anyone about us. There would be a lot of trouble if anyone found out about is.”

 

His tone was a lot softer towards the end of what he was saying and he could tell that he was getting through to Sia. Finally, Khushi came back to her full senses and she knew that she needed to say something.

 

“Please Sia, I know you don’t like me and we’ve never been friends or anything, but please, just this once, don’t say anything.”

“I-ok, I won’t say anything. But Khushi don’t think it’s because I like you or anything. I’m only doing so because Mr Raizada said so!”

 

With that, she grabbed her bag and phone and rushed out of the room. Arnav raised his eyebrow and cocked his head to the side, trying to comprehend what had just happened, but he smiled as it all sunk in. It wasn’t the ideal situation but it was better than nothing.

 

“The nerve of that girl!”

“Even if it is for your sake, at least she won’t say anything.”

Wilted Heart ~ Part 1

“Chote, we have a whole album of rishtas for you, can you just take one good look and see if there’s anyone you like? Nani is doing my head in, she wants you married soon.”

“I know Di! But I’m not interested right now.”

“Please Chote, have a look. You never know there might be someone in there who you like the look and sound of.”

“Di you know I hate this concept of having an album. You make it seem like I’m shopping for shoes and not a wife? It’s kind of degrading. I’m pretty sure the women featured in here won’t appreciate knowing that I picked them the same way that I pick my shoes.”

“I know it’s a problematic method! But it’s the easiest way of keeping the pictures and information of all the girls together in one place. It’s so hard to get hold of you and to show you all the pictures, this way is so much easier to keep track of everything.”

“It makes sense but it’s still stupid, I don’t like it.”

“Chote, you can give me a lecture of feminism later, right now can you just take one look through the book, please.”

Sighing, Arnav held out his hand and took the album from Anjali. 

Arnav Singh Raizada, no formal and lengthy introduction needed, naam tho suna hi hoga. And even if you hadn’t heard of him, you are sure to know of someone like Arnav. Charismatic business man, great at what he does, great with the ladies, but is also know for having a short temper.  For years, Arnav had been avoiding marriage, but since turning 26, his Nani was persistent that he needed to get married. And with Nani’s health deteriorating all the time, Anjali too wanted Arnav to get married soon. If anything happened to Nani, Anjali wanted someone by  Arnav’s side, who’d be able to comfort him the way she knew Shyam would comfort her. 

“Have a good look Chote, there are some really pretty and educated girls in there. Notice how I said pretty first because I know how shallow you can be sometimes.”

Arnav gave Anjali the side eye, he was not impressed at being called shallow but he knew his sister did have a point. Sighing, he opened up the album that his Di had compiled and started flicking through the pages.

“I’m sure there is someone perfect for you in there. Please have a good look. Don’t just flick through.”

Arnav didn’t believe that he would find someone for him in this little book, but for the sake of his Di, he would take a good look. After all, there was no harm really in having a look. 

He’d never really given much attention to the girls that Di and Nani selected for him. Up until recently, he had been in a relationship. However now that he was single again, maybe it was time to take marriage seriously. More specifically the concept of an arranged marriage seriously. His way clearly hadn’t worked out for him, so maybe their method would work. But at the same time, he still didn’t want to find someone through Di and Nani, he didn’t think they quite understood what he wanted in a woman, but again, he wasn’t exactly finding someone on his own either.  So might as well give this a go.

Once Anjali left Arnav alone with the book, Arnav logged off of his laptop, and put it aside as he opened the book. For once, he was actually going to give this task his full attention.  

The moment he flicked the book open, he was inundated with bright pictures of smiling girls, with a brief description underneath. 

Given, some of the girls were very pretty, but after reading their background, Arnav couldn’t imagine himself with any of these girls. They just didn’t seem like the type of women who he would pick for himself. He just couldn’t see himself clicking with any of these girls. 

He kept flicking until he finally got to the back of the album. He was ready to shut the book and put it aside and never open it again, but the last picture caught his attention. 

The girl in the picture was wearing a simple red sari. The red looked striking against her milky skin. It almost look like she was glowing. Her eyes were the lightest shade of brown he had ever seen in his life, almost golden. And her long dark hair cascaded down her back.  

She looked so timid, so shy, so innocent. She definitely wasn’t the type of woman who would usually catch his attention, he liked his women bold. He liked a woman who knew what she wanted and how she wanted it. This girl didn’t seem like she would say anything, even if things weren’t going her way at all. But regardless of all that, she had caught his attention and he couldn’t that his eyes off her. There was something about her, something that really spoke to him and he didn’t know what it was. She was just… Captivating. 

Reading her description, he realised she was fairly educated. She’d done her degree here in Delhi itself and had graduated a while back. She was an English literature graduate. Normally this would have made him roll his eyes. He believed English lit was a weak option, for people who believed in romance far too much. But for her, English lit seemed perfect, and it didn’t make him want to roll him eyes. Call it stereotyping, but he could really imagine her with a whole stack of books, looking up at the nights sky, staring at the moon and thinking if a price really existed like the ones she spent so much time reading about.

In his head he was creating a whole character sketch of her and he knew he was getting ahead of himself but everything about her… Everything about her just seemed to fit, so put together as though someone had spent extra time curating her… Maybe… Maybe this girl could be the one? 

Pulling her photograph out of the book, he turned it around to have a look at her name.

“Khushi Kumari Gupta…”

***** 

After leaving the matter to brew for a few days, Arnav realised that he couldn’t take his mind off Khushi. He didn’t want to give his Di the satisfaction that he had picked a girl that she has already selected, but he had to admit, Di did good. But to be fair, there were about 20 girls to pick from. The fact that there was one good one in there shouldn’t have been too shocking. 

Sat in the study, Arnav waited for his Di to arrive so that he could tell her that he had picked Khushi. 

“What’s the matter Chote, why have you called me here like I’m one of your business associates?” 

“Because I don’t know how to talk to you about this so I’m using the style I’m best accustomed to. I feel comfortable like this.”

Anjali looked at her brother who looked highly confused. 

“Just tell me Chote, you don’t have to be nervous.”

Taking a deep breath, Arnav opened the book that was sat beside him and flicked it open to Khushi’s page. 

“I like her.”

Anjali’s eyes widened with surprise and she covered her mouth as she gasped. 

“Oh my goodness! I knew you’d like someone in here.”

Taking the book from Arnav, Anjali looked at the girl that he was showing her. Her expression fell slightly as she recognised who Arnav was talking about. 

“This girl?”

“Yes Di. Khushi… I like her.”

“Are you sure Chote, I mean…”

“I choose Khushi. She’s my one and only choice. If you have an issue with the girl I have selected then we are back to square one as none of the other girls interested me at all.”

“Okay, fine but there’s something you need to know about her first…”

***** 

Khushi’s parents looked at each other as they disconnected the call from the Raizada family. 

“Arnav has picked Khushi.”

“What do we do now Garima?”

“We tell Khushi and see what she thinks.”

“Do you think she’ll agree?”

“Probably not, but it’s been 2 years, if she lets this rishta go, who knows if we’ll be able to get another good one like that again.”

Shashi sighed and slowly took his glasses off. It had been 2 years since Khushi and Manav had had their accident, yet Khushi was still mourning. She wasn’t crying as much as she had done at the start, but Shashi could still hear her cry every other night. 

“Should we go and talk to her?”

Nodding slowly, Shashi go to his feet and he and his wife slowly made their way to their daughters bedroom. 

Upon approaching her bedroom door, they both took a deep breath and knocked on the door. They waited a moment before slowly pushing the door open. 

Shashi and Garima watched as Khushi put her book down that she was reading and they took a seat on the sofa by the foot of her bed. 

“Khushi bitya, there something we need to talk to you about…”

***** 

After talking to Khushi for almost an hour, she finally agreed on meeting Arnav once before any further talks took place. 

“If he doesn’t understand me, and if he isn’t willing to give me time and space that I still need, then it will definitely be a no from me.”

“We’ve made sure that the Raizada family know your circumstances and Anjali bitya said that Arnav understands everything you’ve been through and he will be happy to give you time. But yes, we understand that’s something that you’re going to need to talk to him about as well.”

“Well I guess if we have an understanding… I have no issue to meet him. But I cannot guarantee that I will say yes to this rishta. I’m willing to try, because I know I cannot sit like this forever, but if I don’t get the right vibes then…”

“We understand bitya.”

The conversation concluded and Khushi’s parents kissed the top of her head in turn before leaving her alone in her room once more. 

Turning to the photograph of her and Manav, tears rolled down Khushi’s face as she took hold of the photograph and pulled it close to herself.

“Am I doing the right thing Manav? Is it right for me to even consider marrying someone else? Is this what you want me to do?”

Khushi sat in her bed, waiting for some kind of sign, anything to give an indication as to whether she was doing the right thing or not. But no sign came. 

Sighing, Khushi put the photo back and clutched her pillow close to herself. 

When had life got so complicated? Why was it so hard to make a decision? And why… Why did it feel like Manav was still close by? How could she move on when she wasn’t even sure if he was really gone? But he had to be gone, otherwise he would have come back. It’d been 2 years, he wouldn’t have just left her hanging like this.

Yes. He wouldn’t do that to her. He really was gone. And now it was time for her to finally try and move on too. She had to.

*****

Arnav and Khushi sat opposite each other in silence, smiling at each other politely when eye contact was made.

Arnav looked at his watch. Only 5 minutes had passed yet it felt so much longer. He needed to do something, he needed to say something, otherwise his chances would be over before he actually got a proper chance.

“I’m Arnav.”

This caused Khushi to look up a give a slight smirk.

“I know. I’m Khushi.”

“I know… I mean…”

Mentally whacking himself, Arnav took a deep breath and tried again.

“How are you?”

“I’m good thank you. You?”

“I’m good too.”

Arnav asked her small questions and she did the same back. They made small talk, slowly being more at ease around each other.

Khushi found herself liking Arnav’s company. His calming nature didn’t make her feel nervous and she felt… Safe? It was a weird feeling, but there was something about this stranger that just felt so… Known? It was insane. she knew she had never crossed paths with him before but still.

As time ticked on and as they spoke more and more, Khushi realised that before anything else could go further, she needed to speak to him about the most important thing.

“Arnav ji, there’s something I need to talk to you about before we go any further.”

“Please call me Arnav, and go ahead.”

Bracing herself, Khushi took a deep breath and composed herself.

“As you know, I was married before and my husband… He got taken away from me far too soon.”

“I know, I’m really sorry for your loss. No one deserves to go through that, especially not so soon after getting married. I’m truly very sorry.”

“Thank you…”

Tears welled up in Khushi’s eyes but she knew she couldn’t fall weak. She needed to speak to Arnav and make sure that they had an understanding.

“I just… I want you to know that I don’t know if I will ever be able to be your wife, in the true sense. I will do my best to look after your family and fulfil my duties as a bahu but…”

“I understand. Your husband, he was your college sweetheart and even before you could start sharing your life he… I get it. Honestly speaking, I like you Khushi. When I saw your picture and then when I read the information about you, I liked you. You sound like the type of person that it would be nice to live with and I know you’ll take care of my family. The main reason why I’m even here is because of Di and Nani. They want me to get married. I feel like you’d be the perfect bahu for the Raizada family. But more than that, I feel you would be good company. Someone to come home to and to just sit with and have a nice cup of tea with as we speak about our day. You could say I could pick any woman, but I just feel that it would be a lot more pleasurable to go on this journey with someone who I am interested in, but also someone who understands I don’t want a wife for the usual reasons why a man would take a wife. I am doing it for my family, the same way that you are considering this for the sake of your parents.”

“Thank you for understanding. And again, I will do everything that’s expected of me in terms of being the daughter in law of your family. And I will try to be the best roommate and companion that you could ask for.”

She smiled and he laughed slightly. From the things they said to each other, it reminded him of how he had asked people questions before agreeing to be their flatmate when he was at university and realised that this was a similar concept. They were potentially going to marry and live with each other but they were not going to be husband and wife in the traditional sense. They were just going to be two people bound together by holy matrimony and they were going to share a room, but htey weren’t really going to be sharing the same life. It was a slightly bizarre concept. Shaking his thoughts away, he realised that Khushi was waiting on him to say something.

“As long as we have an understanding, as long as we can be honest with each other, we can make this relationship work.”

“I believe we can make this work.”

“We can live together as friends.”

“Friends… That would be nice.”

After speaking some more, Khushi took all the information in and realised that they had a mutual understand, that it seemed that it could work out between them. Maybe this was what was destined for her, and maybe this would work out well. Maybe…

*****

After spending a long time speaking about life and little things, Arnav checked his watch and realised that he should make a move.

Before taking his leave from Khushi, he asked for her number.

“I’ll call you, it’ll be nice to speak to you some more.”

“I feel the same way.”

“‘Maybe I can take you out for dinner one day?”

Smiling, Khushi nodded. She wouldn’t mind seeing Arnav again. He was nice and conversation with him was easy once they got over the initial awkwardness.

As Arnav took his leave, Khushi realised that her parents would come into her room any moment, asking how the meeting with Arnav had gone and what she wanted going forward.

*****

“So what did you think of her Chote?”

“She’s great! I had expected it to be a little hard to speak to her but it wasn’t. I mean obviously it wasn’t the easiest, but once she got talking it was all good.”

“So…”

“I like her and I think she likes me too. I’ve got her number so maybe I’ll speak to her again soon and she said she wouldn’t mind going out for dinner with me one day.”

“Sounds like it all went great!”

“I hate to admit it but, it went amazing Di! Thank you for showing me that dumb book of yours. Without it, I’d never have found Khushi! Thank you Di.”

“I’m just glad that it all worked out.”

“I mean it’s still to early to tell, but I like to think that even if it doesn’t work out, at least we will be able to stay friends.”

Anjali left Arnav so that he could change and freshen up. Loosening his tie, he took a seat on his recliner and leaned back, playing out what had happened earlier in the day. Initially he had been nervous that she wouldn’t agree to meeting him, or that she’d tell him that she wasn’t interested, or that she just wouldn’t be the type of person he’d be able to live his life with but she…

She was perfect. Just damn perfect. They had decided that they would move forward as friends and that they would fulfil this relationship as friends, but in his heart, he could feel that they would be able to move passed just being friends. It was a dangerous thought, and he knew he was getting ahead of himself, but after meeting her, he couldn’t help but feel that they would one day share something more. He didn’t know how to explain how and why he was feeling this way but he was certain that they would. That with time, they’d be able to take their relationship forward. He was sure of it.

*****

One loud knock on Khushi’s bedroom door brought her out of her thoughts.

“Come in.”

Shashi and Garima walked in tentatively, not quite sure what to expect.

“Khushi…”

“Before you ask, yes things went well, yes I like him and yes… I don’t mind meeting him again.”

Letting out a sigh of relief, Khushi’s parents looked to each other.

“So marriage?”

“If both families are happy with this rishta, if he wants this rishta, then I have no objections.”

“Are you sure?”

Pausing for a moment, Khushi unconsciously looked at her photo of Manav on her bedside table. Turning back to her parents she nodded.

“Manav… He’s gone. I’ve had my life on hold for the last 2 years. He’s not coming back I mean he can’t… He can’t come back and I accept that. I’m sure he’d want me to move on with my life too. And Arnav is nice. He seems like a great person. Of course I need to get to know him a little better but I have a feeling that we can make things work. He understands me, and he respects me. I don’t think all men would be so understanding of my situation, so yes, I would like to give him and this relationship a chance.”

After talking everything through, it seemed that Khushi really was serious and that the Gupta family needed to speak to the Raizada’s. This rishta was going to happen.

*****

Five months, a thousand phone call hours, a million text messages and at least 10 dinner dates later, Arnav and Khushi’s wedding day finally arrived.

Standing in front of the mirror, Khushi looked at herself as Payal faffed around behind her, making sure her bag was properly packed.

Rolling her eyes, Khushi turned to Payal.

“Jiji, it’s fine, I’m packed, can you just leave it now?”

“I’m just making sure.”

Shaking her head, Khushi turned away and looked at herself in the mirror again, giving herself a small, sad smile.

She couldn’t quite believe that this day had arrived, that this was actually happening. 2 and a half years ago, she had been stood in a similar spot, over the moon to be getting ready to get married to the man of her dreams and now…

Arnav was a good man, a kind man, but he wasn’t Manav. But she knew in her heart that Manav wouldn’t want her to hold on like this, she knew he would want her to be happy. So with a heavy heart, Khushi nodded to Payal, signalling that she was ready to go.

*****

Marriage rituals done, Arnav and Khushi sat in the back of his car in silence as they made their way through Mumbai traffic and towards Shantivan. Placing his hand on her own, Arnav gave Khushi’s hand a squeeze.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine. It’s just been a really long day.”

Nodding, Arnav took his hand off Khushi’s as she turned away to look out of the window.

“Khushi.”

“Hm?”

“You look beautiful today.”

Turning to him properly, Khushi smiled.

“Thank you, you look really good yourself.”

Smiling to one another, they didn’t know quite know how to proceed with the conversation and so decided to remain quiet before turning away again. The silence between them wasn’t awkward, nor was it uncomfortable, it was just there. Soothing almost.

Feeling herself relax in the silence and the warmth of the car, Khushi settled in her seat and let her eyes shut. She felt at peace for the first time in two years.

He’s Amazing ~ Part 12 {Reloaded}

They reached room number 45 and Arnav unlocked the door. He gestured Khushi inside and then locked the door behind him. This action reminded Khushi of their first date when she had been worried that he would try to make a move on her. And now, months later, here they were again, locked in a hotel room, but this time he was her boyfriend and she loved him to such an extent that it felt almost seemed unreal.

Before Khushi could even take the room in, Arnav pushed her up against the door and pressed his lips onto hers in a hungry kiss. Khushi had thought the last one had been heated and hungry, but this proved her completely wrong. Placing his hands on her hips, Arnav kissed her as though there was no tomorrow. Khushi couldn’t help but kissed him back with the same level of hunger and passion. His hands moved from her hips to her neck. He rubbed circles on her neck with his thumbs and made her moan out. His hands continued their torture and then moved back down her body. His hands reached the sides of her breasts and he stopped as he thought Khushi would pull away like she did every other time, but she didn’t. He hesitated for a moment before he let his hands travel over and cupped her breasts. She gasped; this was new. No man had touched her like this. Was she to be shocked? She didn’t know, all she knew was that it felt good and began imagining how it would feel if she didn’t have clothes on. The kiss broke and Arnav looked at her, his hands still cupping her breasts.

“I want us to go further Khushi. Heck I need it. But if you don’t want to then it’s fine, I understand.”

“I…”

“It’s no pressure at all. If you want, we can. If you don’t then I am willing to wait as long as it takes.”

Khushi looked at his hands on her, and then thought to herself. Was this what she wanted? Was she ready for this? She watched as he slowly began taking his hands off her and it was in that moment that she realised she didn’t want him to let go, that she wasn’t ready for this to end yet. She wanted more. Blushing, she nodded.

“This is what I want.”

Arnav smiled. He pulled Khushi into another kiss. His hands moved off her breasts and travelled to her back. He pulled the dori of her dress off slowly and began pushing the dress off her shoulders. He kissed her neck and shoulders, biting her lightly and then licking it, soothing the pain. Arnav pulled away and looked at Khushi, she whimpered slightly, she hated being away from him. He looked at her and then began pulling her dress off her. It fell to the ground and Arnav’s eyes feasted on her body. She looked amazing. He moved slightly closer and pulled that the stings on her shelwar. It too fell to the ground and Khushi hesitantly, stepped out of it. Arnav looked at her. She looked so beautiful standing there in her blue underwear. Arnav moved around her, and she couldn’t help but feel slightly self conscious. Was he checking her out all round? Making sure she was good? But he wasn’t. He went round and stood behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. His lips found her neck and his hands travelled along her body. Lightly, he touched her stomach, and Khushi felt tingles run through her body under his light touch. His hands teased her by dropping down to the waistband of her pants and she held her breath thinking he was going to go lower, but he didn’t. He brought his hands up again and cupped her breasts. Khushi arched back into him at the feel of his hands, and let out a breathy sigh as his fingers passed over her nipples. His hands lowered again and Khushi held her breath as she felt him nearing the waistband of her pants. She felt him pause as he played with her waistband. She let herself relax a little because it seemed he wouldn’t do what she was thinking he was going to do and then he did it. Khushi’s breath caught as she felt his fingers slide under the waistband and rest on her. He paused.

“I can stop if you want.”

“Don’t stop.”

He lowered his lips back to her neck as he stroked her sensitive skin gently. She let out a breathy sigh as she felt his fingers caressing her skin and the gasped at the feel of his finger slowly entered her body. Khushi bit down on her lip as she felt him move his fingers lightly, exploring the inside of her body. She felt him apply varying pressures on his fingers and sometimes he moved more quickly, other times more slowly. Khushi felt the pressure growing between her hips and she leaned back into him, begging that she be able to stay up on her own without collapsing in on him.

Arnav could feel her body tightening like a coil and withdrew his fingers. He turned her around and looked into her eyes.

“If you’re not ready for this, or don’t want this, if you don’t want to go any further, it’s fine with me Khushi, I promise you, I’ll wait for you. I don’t want to force you into this.”

“You’re not. This is what I want.”

Hearing this Arnav lifted Khushi off the floor and placed her down onto the bed. Putting her down, he walked into the bathroom. Khushi lay there, waiting for him to come out, struggling to understand why he went in there in the first place. Moments later, he came back out with a box in his hand. Khushi’s eyes focused on it and she blushed as she realised what they were. Condoms. Putting the box down on the bedside table he flashed her a cheeky grin.

“Thank god these fancy hotels always have condoms in the bathroom. We’d have had to halted our plans if they didn’t.”

She smiled as she sat up, pulling her knees to her chest. She watched as he slowly removed his jacket and shirt. He kept his eyes on her as he undressed himself, not wanting to miss her reaction towards his body. He watched as she bit her lip as he threw his shirt aside. He watched as her eyes widened and as she shamelessly took in his naked torso.

Khushi took in his washboard abs and his broad shoulders. She bit her lip lightly as she took in the hair on his chest, and found herself following the line of hair down to his waistband. She noticed the faint V lines that went down into his pants. She watched as he slowly unbuttoned his trousers and pulled down the fly. She bit her lip once more as his trousers fell to the ground and he stepped out of them.

He made his way back towards her, and got onto the bed. He crawled towards her and then moved over her. Khushi clutched the sheets as he neared her, closing the distance between them, her eyes locked on his. He came over her, pushing her back into the bed, his lips on her exposed neck, while his hands fondled with her breasts. Khushi moaned at the feel of his hands on her and hooked her leg around his waist in an attempt to dull the ache that was growing inside her. His lips moved down from her neck to her still covered breasts then pulled back. Lifting her slightly, he reached around and undid her bra and threw it aside. Moving his eyes away from hers, he looked down at her chest and couldn’t help but let out a moan. The sight in front of him was to die for. She had the most perfect pair of breasts he had ever seen, almost as though they had been curated for him. He lightly fingered her nipples and felt as they hardened further under his touch. Fixing his eyes on her once more, he slowly lowered his mouth to on of her nipples and took it between his lips, sucking on it lightly. He continued to work his magic with his hands on the other breast, trying to give it the equal amount of attention. Pulling back, he lowered his mouth to the other breast and did the same. Khushi arched back into the bed, enjoying the pleasure that this man was giving her. She could faintly feel his manliness between her legs and she was almost certain that it was growing harder the longer they were together.

Arnav pushed himself off the bed and and pulled his boxers off. And finally Khushi saw it. She could feel her eyes widen as she took him in but she couldn’t help it, she couldn’t take her eyes off of him. He was huge!

Closing the distance between them, he wrapped his arms around her as he kissed her. He rested his length against her, letting her get accustomed to his weight on her. He rubbed his length against her but then realised that there was still a barrier between them. Pulling her panties away, he looked at her. She was a true woman.

“Khushi, I can’t hold myself back any longer. I ache to be within you.”

“I want you, within me… But, I don’t think you’ll fit…”

“Babes, I will fit. We’re made for each other, it’ll definitely fit. It’ll hurt a bit, but I promise, that’s only for this time.”

Khushi nodded her head as she braced herself. Arnav picked up the box that he had put beside him and took out a little packet. Opening it, he took out the content of it, and pulled it over his throbbing length.

He lowered himself once more and Khushi gasped at the feeling of him closing in on her. She placed her hands on his shoulders and entered her. He held himself still and locked his eyes onto hers.

“Baby, it’s going to hurt, but I promise the pleasure you will get will be beyond that pain.”

Again Khushi nodded, she was ready for whatever was coming next.

*****

“Ah- Arnav! Stop!”

“Come with me Khushi, it’s ok. Don’t worry baby, you’re ok. Trust me.”

*****

Arnav collapsed against Khushi and breathed heavily. Getting his energy back, he lifted himself onto his elbow and looked at her, smiling.

“That was amazing.”

Khushi blushed as she pulled the sheets up to her chest and settled down beside him.

“Like you.”

*****

A few hours later, though Khushi was aching from the first time, she had reached over to Arnav, wanting to go again. Arnav had happily complied and now they were both nearing their climax once more.

“I can’t hold on… Arnav… It’s too much!”

“Hang in there babes…”

With one last thrust, Khushi spun off the edge and Arnav released. He pulled the cover over them once more and slumber took over…

*****

Khushi awoke the next morning. Her body was aching but she was feeling content. She rolled onto her side and looked at Arnav. Khushi smiled as she recalled the events of the night before.

His kisses.

Her kisses.

His touches.

Her touches.

His thrusts.

Her moans.

His groans.

Her orgasms.

His climax.

Their love.

Khushi nuzzled herself into Arnav’s arms, smiling. They’d made love one more time after their second time. Khushi had known it was a bad idea because she knew her body wasn’t accustomed to him yet, but she couldn’t get enough of him. Even after doing it for a third time, Khushi wasn’t entirely satisfied and wanted to go again but she knew she wasn’t ready for it. He had been much more gentle with her the third time, knowing she’d be sore.

Turning, she looked at the clock, it was nearly 9:30.

Gasping, she jumped out of bed, grabbed her clothes off the floor and went into the bathroom.

Arnav woke up a little while later and reached out to Khushi’s side of the bed but found that it was cold. Sitting up, he looked around the room and then heard the water running in the bathroom and smiled. She hadn’t left while he was sleeping. Turning, he looked at the bedside table and noticed condom wrappers scattered across the top. There was a musky smell lingering in the room and lay back down again, smiling at the thoughts of the night before.

“Damn, she knows how to turn you on Arnav Singh Raizada!”

“And, you know how to turn me on.”

Arnav looked up to see Khushi coming out of the bathroom, fully dressed, drying her hair with a towel. She came towards the bed and sat down on the edge.

“You’re dressed?”

“Yes, Lavanya and I have to get going, aunty and uncle will start to worry if we don’t get home soon.”

“I understand. Thank you, for last night. It was the best night of my life. Literally the best birthday I have ever had.”

“I… You’re welcome.”

“And I hope we have many more nights like last night coming soon.”

“Arnav, I was thinking, maybe we shouldn’t do this again any time soon.”

“What? Why not?”

Arnav sat up, his forehead creased as he looked at her.

“Because it’s wrong Arnav. I know you love me and I love you, but we can’t do this. Just imagine if we don’t get married to each other. We would have to tell whoever we marry that we’ve already have sex before. I don’t know how to explain this, but it would be awkward and it could cause complications. Hence why I believe that we shouldn’t do it again until we know we will actually be marrying each other, or to be safer, after marriage.”

“I understand what you are saying, but now that we have done this, I can’t stay away from you Khushi. And whether we’ve done it once, or whether we do it every night, it doesn’t change the fact that we have done it. If it comes down to it, and if we do have to think about marrying other people, if someone wanted to hold it against you, one night is enough for them to reject you.”

“I understand what you’re saying, but please try to understand what I am saying too. As much as it is about the future, it is about me too. I just feel I would feel guilty if we kept doing it outside of marriage. I don’t know if I can live with myself knowing that I was regularly having premarital sex.”

Arnav took her hands into his and smiled.

“I understand what you’re saying and I respect your wishes. If you don’t want to do it, then we won’t. I’ll wait, because I love you and I want you to be at ease with me.”

“Thank you, for being so understanding. I know it’s going to be hard but think about it like this, next time we do it, we won’t have any barriers between us. Not even a condom.”

“My, my, you are one bold woman. But you know we could have done it without a condom last night, but it was just to protect you. And me really.”

“I know.”

A comfortable silence fell between them and Arnav moved in to kiss her. But just as the gap between them reduced, Arnav’s phone rang. Sighing, he answered the phone.

“Yeah?”

“Bhai, it’s Akaash. Lavanya’s saying to tell Khushi to hurry up, they have to go.”

“Yeah, ok. Khushi’s on her way.”

Disconnecting the call, Arnav turned to Khushi, sighing.

“Akaash’s call, Lavanya wants you to hurry up.”

“Are you going to take me downstairs, or am I to leave on my own?”

Arnav smiled and got out of bed.

“Give me 5 minutes.”

Arnav went to have a shower and Khushi began to tidy the room a bit. She put the used wrappers into the bin, and saw all the used condoms that were already lying at the bottom of the bin. Khushi moved to make the bed and couldn’t help but relive all that had happened the night before. She saw that there were some blood stains, evidence of what had happened, the last of her virginity. Stripping the bed, the left the bed linen in the wash basket by the door.

Before she could think of anything else, Arnav had come out of the bathroom, dressed and ready to go. He took Khushi’s hand and they left the room. Upon reaching the main hall, the saw that some of the decorations from the night before were still around. The Raizada’s and Lavanya were having breakfast, talking. Shyam looked up and saw Arnav and Khushi.

“Aagaya Saale Saab aur Khushi ji.”

“Oh, good morning chote and Khushi.”

“Good morning Di.”

“Did you have a good nights sleep?”

Arnav looked at Khushi, who blushed, giving them away instantly.

“The best nights sleep ever Di.”

Wilted Heart ~ Prologue

Stood in front of her bedroom mirror, Khushi checked her outfit one last time before turning to Payal.

“Are you sure I look okay?”

“You look stunning. He isn’t going to know what hit him when he sees you.”

“Jiji, I’m so excited, I can’t believe that this is happening to me. I never thought I would meet someone in college and that they would steal my heart.”

“Did he steal your heart, or did you steal his?”

Looking down, Khushi smiled as she thought about the journey that they had shared so far. They had come a long way. When they had first met, she hadn’t liked him at all, in fact she had hated him. He was rude, arrogant, stubborn, everything she wasn’t and everything she hated in a man. But as time passed and she had gotten to know him, things changed. She realised that underneath, he was really sweet and loving. She fell in love with him and to her delight, he fell in love with her too.

They had decided to date, though it wasn’t exactly official. They hid the truth about their relationship because they weren’t ready for the pressure from their families for marriage. But as time passed, they realised that they did want to spend their lives together and that they were ready for marriage.

For Khushi’s family, it had been a bit of a shock that she had found someone that she was so fond of and whom she wanted to marry. But they were happy that she was happy and were willing to get her married to him if that was what she wanted. They had been concerned about what Payal would think, and how she would feel, having her younger sister get married before her, but Payal didn’t mind. She was happy for Khushi.

After months of planning, the big day finally arrived and Khushi couldn’t be happier. She was finally going to marry the man of dreams…

*****

Hearing the lock of the door click shut, Khushi tightened her hold around her knees and took a deep breath. She could feel the pace of her heart increasing to the point where it just felt like one continuous long heartbeat.

She felt the dip of the bed as he sat down beside her. Khushi felt him lean towards her as he slowly placed his hand on her.

“You look beautiful babe. The perfect bride.”

His voice was low and husky. Slowly and carefully, he unpinned the dupatta off her head and let it down.

“I’ve been waiting for this day for so long, for this moment… For you to really be mine…”

Blushing, Khushi looked away from him. How could she tell him she felt exactly the same way?

Leaning in, he placed his hand on her waist, before moving towards her slowly. He leaned in further and finally, placed his lips on hers. Their first kiss as man and wife…

*****

Loading the car up with their bags, the new mister and missus were finally ready to set off for their honeymoon. Once the car was packed, the new couple got into the back.

“Baby aren’t you going to drive?”

“No, the driver can drive so he can bring the car back home with him after dropping us to the airport.”

Nodding, Khushi cuddled into her husband’s side. They were soon off, Khushi letting herself settle down beside her husband. But she found it difficult to truly settle down. She felt uneasy, like something wasn’t quite right. She felt something wrong, like something was going to happen…

“Khushi what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know… I just… I feel…”

Wrapping his arm tightly around her, he nuzzled into her neck. Giggling, Khushi settled down and let her mind rest… It was all…

*CRASH*

*****

*Three day’s later*

Slowly opening her eyes, Khushi attempted to lift her head but was unable to do so. Reaching up, Khushi clutched the back of her head, trying to remember what happened.

Flashes of the accident came back to her and her eyes shot open.

“Manav!”

The nurse that had been nearby cane rushing over to Khushi.

“Ma’am…”

“My husband! Where is he…”

“Ma’am…”

The nurse tried to calm Khushi down, but realised her attempts were futile so she called for a doctor. The doctor too arrived and tried to calm Khushi down but found her to become more and more hysteric the more he attempted to get her to relax.

When he realised his attempts were completely futile, he injected a sedative into her drip bag and soon Khushi felt her eyes become heavy once more…

*****

A few hours later, Khushi came round once more and found Payal sat beside her.

“Oh my god Khushi!”

Wrapping her arms around her sister, Payal pulled Khushi close to herself.

“Thank god you’re okay.”

“Jiji… Manav?”

Khushi waited as Payal pulled away slowly. How was Payal meant to tell her that…

“Jiji, tell me nah, where is he?”

“Khushi…”

“Just tell me! I keep asking, but no one tells me where he is.”

Taking Khushi’s hands into her own, Payal attempted to keep her tears at bay. She didn’t want to have to be the one to tell Khushi, but it seemed like she had no choice but to tell her. If she didn’t tell Khushi, she knew that she would just become more and more hysterical.

“Khushi… I’m so sorry.”

“Why are you sorry jiji? What’s happening? Tell me!”

Payal paused, trying to bring all her thoughts together, to try and find an easy way to tell Khushi the truth. But there wasn’t an easy way. There never was with news like this. She just had to bite the bullet and tell Khushi that…

Tears fell from Payal’s eyes as she finally gathered the courage to tell Khushi the truth.

“Manav… He’s dead.”

*****

*Disclaimer* This story is inspired by a VM that I had watched. The VM is no longer available, however if I do find it again, I will like it here so you guys can watch it. So yes, the concept isn’t entirely my own, however, how I have decided to play with the story is all my own work. 

Author’s Note:

I have been trying to get this story written for so long but I have been so busy that it just hasn’t been happening. As you all know, in the middle I just stopped writing altogether so I didn’t finish this story and then when I did start, I realised I needed to finish my other stories before I could start this one.

Some of you may feel you have read this before, or you may even see your comments in the comments section, that is because this was up, along with the first chapter, but then I took them both down so that I could post it altogether again. Now this is up, I will be posting chapter 1 in 2 weeks time. 

Quick Note

Hi guys, this is just a quick note to say that I realised I accidentally posted part 13 of ‘He’s Amazing’ today. It was an accident. I was only meant to move it to my drafts so that I could edit the post but I must have accidentally published it.

Either way, it wasn’t meant to go up today and so I have taken it back down again.

WordPress have recently changed their editing interface and I am still getting to grips with the layout, so if I make any mistakes and post the wrong posts at the wrong time, please do let me know in the comments.

Part 11 of ‘He’s Amazing’ was meant to have gone up only 2 hours ago but I must have messed up the scheduling with that one too as that had been up for the last few days.

I have looked through now and I believe I have sorted out any issues. The next chapter of ‘He’s Amazing’ will be going up in 2 weeks time!

Thank you for all your time and support and I will see you all again very soon.

He’s Amazing ~ Part 11 {Reloaded}

When the song came to an end, Arnav dipped Khushi and they held their position. Their eyes locked on each other. Everyone was still for a moment, not knowing how to react. The dance had been passionate, very passionate. There had been lifts, dips, tight embraces and close proximity throughout the entire dance that amazed everyone. Payal was the first to pull herself out of the trance and began to clap, causing everyone to follow her lead. Arnav and Khushi’s trance broke and pulled away from one another, Arnav smirking and Khushi blushing. The next song came on and all the other couples took to the dance floor. Arnav smiled at Khushi as he stepped towards her once more.

 

“You’re an amazing dancer.”

“So are you.”

 

“Yikes! Khushi! What the heck you guys!”

 

Arnav looked up and saw that Lavanya was making a beeline towards them.

 

“This is my cue to make an exit otherwise she’s going to attack me.”

 

Before Khushi could protest, Arnav rushed away. She watched as Lavanya closed in on her. Putting her hands out, Khushi addressed La before La had the chance to attack her.

 

“La, please don’t say what I know you’re going to say.”

“What, that you and Arnav totally burnt the dance floor and that your chemistry is just mind blowing!”

“Yup, that.”

“Khushi, I told you. He was the one for you!”

 

Rolling her eyes, Khushi took Lavanya’s arm and they left the dance floor.

 

The remainder for the night was a blast, everyone danced and when they were hungry made their way towards the food table. Arnav had hardly let go of Khushi all night. They had danced until there came a point where Khushi’s feet wouldn’t permit her to stand any longer. Sitting down, Khushi took off her heels and Arnav sat down with her. Wrapping his arm around her, he moved in to kiss her, but was interrupted by Pooja.

 

“Oh, sorry guys, am I interrupting anything?”

 

Sighing lightly so that only Khushi would notice it, Arnav moved away from her.

 

“No, not really. What’s up Pooja, are you enjoying yourself?”

“Oh that’s great that I am not interrupting. It means that I can make my request without feeling bad. Arnav come on let’s dance. You haven’t danced with me all evening! You can’t expect me to enjoy myself when you haven;t even danced with me yet.”

“Poo, I’m slightly tired now. I don’t really feel like dancing.”

“Oh come on Arnav! You haven’t danced with me and it’s nearly the end of the night!”

 

Khushi felt bad. She knew that part of the reason why Arnav hadn’t danced with anyone else was because she wanted him to dance with her. Putting her hand on his arm, Khushi urged Arnav to go.

 

“Go Arnav. It’s not fair, you haven’t danced with Pooja yet.”

 

Arnav looked at Khushi and she smiled. She hoped that she was able to convey to him that she wanted him to go and give his other guests attention too. He reluctantly got up and Pooja took his hand and led him onto the dance floor.

Once they hit the dance floor, Khushi noticed how Arnav kept a safe distance from Pooja but she pulled him closer each time. Khushi watched as Arnav kept putting distance between himself and Pooja but she kept closing the distance between them. There was something about this that caused Khushi to feel slightly uncomfortable. She looked away just as Lavanya came and sat down beside her. 

 

“Oh god Khushi, I’m so tired. NK has been keeping me on my feet for ages, all he wants to do is dance! But it’s not all bad, I’ve got to know quite a bit about him. He’s really sweet and kind! Any way, where’s Arnav?”

“Dancing.”

“What, with whom?”

“Pooja.”

“And you’re okay with that?”

“I told him to go and dance with her. She’s his friend after all and she came here today to spend time with him and celebrate his birthday. It would have been rude if he spent all his time with me and then I still kept him beside me even when I didn’t want to dance any more.”

“I guess you have a point. As long as you’re okay though, that’s all that matters.”

 

Khushi nodded and Lavanya went back to speaking about NK. But Khushi’s eye’s kept making their way back to Arnav and Pooja. Was she really okay with this? Was she really comfortable with Pooja having her hands all over her Arnav?

 

*****

 

“Khushi, I’m so sorry, I really do want to spend time with you. I wanted to come back ages ago, but Pooja just wanted to keep on dance.”

 

Arnav had finally broken free from Pooja and he had finally come back to Khushi. She had lost track of how long he had actually been with her for, but Khushi was certain that he had been with her for about an hour. In that time, she had spent a fair amount of time on her own. The Raizada’s had come over to her to keep her company, but they all left after spending a few moments with her because they all wanted to spend time with their respective partners. La too had spent a fair amount of time with her but she had felt it was unfair to ask La to stay with her when she knew how much Lavanya was enjoying her time with NK.

It had been a bit of a drag but Khushi knew that she couldn’t complain, after all, it was his birthday celebration.

 

“It’s fine Arnav, really. She’s one of your oldest friends, she has rights.”

“I’m so glad you understand. Any way, do you want to go somewhere more private? I mean we could book into a room and spend the rest of the evening there. Just me and you… That way no one else would be able to bother us.”

 

The offer was tempting, but Khushi knew that she couldn’t take Arnav away from his own party.

 

“We cant do that Arnav, I mean what will everyone think. They’re all here to celebrate your birthday and then you go missing. It wont look right.”

 

Khushi looked at her watch. It was nearly 11. She gasped.

 

“Oh god! Arnav I have to get home! Aunty will kill me and Lavanya if we don’t get home soon.”

“Shall I drop you off?”

“No it’s fine. We’ll get an auto.”

“Not at this time of night Khushi. Who knows what these late night drivers are like? There are some really dodgy people out there. I’m not going to risk it, Khushi.”

 

Just at that point Khushi’s phone started ringing. She answered it without looking at the caller ID.

 

“Hello?”

“Khushi, where are you girls!”

 

Khushi jumped to her feet upon hearing Garima’s voice.

 

“We’re still at the hotel, we were just leaving.”

“How are you coming?”

“By auto.”

“No Khushi! Not by auto, it’s not safe! Isn’t there any of your friends there that can drop you off?”

 

Khushi thought about it for a moment and thought about Arnav’s offer to drop them off, but it was too risky. If someone saw her and Lavanya with him, there would be a whole lot of questions that would have to be answered.

 

“No, there isn’t anyone.”

“Tell you what, you’re party is at a hotel right?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Fine, you and Lavanya book into a room and spend the night there. Don’t worry about the bill, just tell Lavanya to put it onto her credit card and your uncle will pay for it.”

“Aunty there’s really no need, we’ll come back. We’ve taken autos plenty of times before.”

“No Khushi, just spend the night there. Look I’ll call later, your buaji needs something. Keep safe and don’t leave your room!”

“Ok, bye aunty.”

 

Arnav looked at Khushi and she smiled.

 

“What happened?”

“Aunty said to get a room and then La and I should stay.”

“Excellent! We’re all staying too! Me, Di, Jijaji, Payal, Akaash and NK!”

 

Khushi nodded and Arnav took her hand as they made their way back onto the dance floor.

 

*****

 

By 12, all the guests started to leave. Pooja eyed Khushi and realised that she wasn’t going to leave any time soon. She huffed a little and then left. Only the Raizada’s, Lavanya and Khushi remained. They all sat around a large coffee table in the main hall and talked. Arnav was looking at Khushi the whole time, his eyes not moving at all. Khushi blushed as she felt the heat of his gaze on her.

 

“Hey guys, I have an idea. Let’s play a game!”

“NK, aren’t we a bit too old for games?”

“Payal bhabi, you can never be too old for games!”

“Fine, tell us, what do you want to play?”

“Spin the bottle.”

 

All groaned and protested, but NK remained adamant that they should play. Finally, for the sake of NK, they decided to play. He was as old as all the rest of them; however had the mindset of a child. He pulled an empty bottle out, made sure that the lid was secured and placed it down onto the table. finally, he spun it. Everyone watched it going round and then it began to slow down. It stopped on Arnav.

 

“Ah, Nanav! Truth or dare.”

“You know me; it’s got to be a dare.”

“You have to kiss someone from this circle, full on, on the lips and it has to be in front of us all.”

“Is that all?”

“Yes, it is.”

“As you wish. You’ve just told me to do, what I’ve wanted to all evening!”

 

Arnav walked over to where Khushi was sitting and took her hand. He pulled her to her feet and she stood up slowly, and she looked into Arnav’s eyes nervously. His hands slowly reached up to cup her face, and moved in. Khushi closed her eyes, anticipating the kiss. Then she felt his lips. Warm and hard. The kiss started gently, until he pulled her flush against him. This made Khushi gasp and Arnav took this opportunity to push his tongue into her mouth. She tasted so right. So sweet and feminine, nothing compared to her taste. Khushi let her own tongue wonder into Arnav’s mouth. They had completely forgotten about the rest of the family that were still there. Everyone had looked away, blushing slightly. NK mentally cursed himself. After a long while, the kiss slowed and Arnav and Khushi broke away. Staring at each other for a while, they remember that they weren’t alone. Khushi pulled herself out of Arnav’s arms and blushed. However Arnav wasn’t satisfied, the beast within him was still roaring, it needed more.

 

“Akaash, what room am I staying in?”

“Room 45, floor 4.”

“Fine, I’m off then.”

 

He took Khushi’s hand and pulled her away. She looked at Arnav confused and then looked to Lavanya who was equally confused. But she followed his lead. As they approached the lift and as they waited for the door to open, Arnav wrapped his arm around her and whispered into her ear.

 

“Khushi, I can’t hold back any more. I need you!”

Eight Days Left

 

As Arnav walked towards Khushi, she moved back… She keeps going back as he kept walking towards her, trying to lose the distance between them. Finally, her back hit the wall and he trapped her between his arms, closing the distance between them, looming over her.

 

“Arnavji, please…”

“Khushi, please.”

“Arnavji, we can’t, its not right, we’ve only got 8 more days anyway and then I will no longer be yours and you no longer mine. I mean, you were never really mine any way…”

“What nonsense, I have always been yours and you know that. Don’t stop me today Khushi, this is my way of showing you that you’ve always been mine and you always will be… I’m not good with words the way you are, so let me show you. Please, let me show you.”

“You don’t love me. You think you do. Once I go, you’ll forget me. I’ll be a faint memory, nothing more… You never wanted me in the first place, it’s just because I’ve been around for so long that you think that you do want me now. Once I leave, you’ll move on, and realise that you never felt anything for me the way you think you do.”

“Is that what you think? Khushi, I love you… From the first day… Okay not from the very first day, but from very early on up until today, I love you. Yes, things got messy in the middle, but I never stopped loving you. If anything my love for you just intensified as time went on. That feeling on wanting you but not being able to have you, it drove me insane. It made me want you in ways you can’t even imagine. You’re the first woman that’s actually pulled the strings of my heart. Khushi everytime, every night, when we get into bed, I want to touch you, I want to reach out to you. I want to hold you, make you mine, yet I can’t, I mean I couldn’t. Khushi, I desire you like nothing else. I need you Khushi. And when you sleep with your legs thrown over my waist, do you know just how much your testing my patience?”

“You’re making it sound as though you are the only one feeling the pain. What about me? When I was falling in love with you, you went and got engaged to someone else, you shouted at me, reminded me of what a low class family I’m from. Despite all of that I’ve still loved you. I still wanted you, I still wanted you to accept me and make me your wife in all true respects. But you…”

 

Khushi looked away from him and shook her head. She didn’t want to cry, she couldn’t cry. But speaking about it all again was bringing up emotions that she had thought she had repressed, that she thought she had packed away into the deepest corner of her heart. But now it was all coming up again, as though the floodgates had opened and she was feeling overwhelm with the emotion and depth of it all.

 

“You know I’m sorry about that and I will always be sorry about that. Look Khushi, I love you and now that I know that to be a fact, I really need you. I can’t let you go. I can’t let you walk away from me once these 8 days are over. I can’t Khushi! I won’t let you leave me. I will make you mine. In every respect.”

 

Khushi looked into his chocolate eyes, those lovely eyes… They were the first thing she noticed about him when she fell into his arms in Lucknow. How she could simply drown in them. She continued to stare into those eyes, while Arnav moved closer towards her, closing that last bit of gap that had been between them.

Slipping his hand around her waist, he pulled her towards himself, causing Khushi to gasp as she finally came round to her senses and realised how close they are. They had never been this close before, never had he held her around the waist so tightly and intimately. His hands were burning a hole through her clothes, she felt her skin on fire under his touch.

The heat from his body was causing hers to heat up, the desire and need in his eyes stirring up all kinds of thoughts within her.

For the last few months, she had been very aware of how he felt about her. After his kidnapping and after all misunderstandings had been cleared, there had been a whole different air around them and she knew that he wanted to start up their relationship for real. But one thing after another had caused them to stay apart, to come close but not close enough. But now, after hearing all that he had to say, knowing all that she knew, she knew that this was it. That it was finally time to take the next step. Because if they did it now, they may never do it and she knew that they needed to.

Mustering up all the courage within her, she looked into his eyes and decided to express what was in her heart.

 

“Prove that you truly love me, Arnav ji. Cherish me the way that I want to be cherished. Show me how much I mean to you. You say you can’t find the words to express it, then I give you permission to show me the way you want to show me. Make me forget about the fact that I am meant to be leaving you forever in 8 days.”

 

Arnav smirks at her words, “With pleasure.”

 

Arnav closed the distance between them, taking her lips between his own. Khushi hesitated for a moment, but then wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, responding to the kiss with the same amount of passion.

Arnav allowed his hands to go up the back to her dress, letting his hands slip under the fabric to touch her soft, bare skin. With his thumbs, he drew little circles on her back and he felt her hands go up his t-shirt, touching his hard abs. This all felt so right, his hands on her bare skin, hers on his, this was right. This was what they should’ve done a long time ago.

As Khushi kissed Arnav back, her hands wandering from his front to his back, to his neck and then into his hair, she realised how long awaited this moment was. She had wanted to touch him like this for so long and now it was actually happening. And it was every bit how she had dreamt it would be.

After a long, long time, Khushi pulled away, needing air and blushing slightly. Letting himself move back a slight bit, Arnav cocked his head to the side, a playful smirk on his lips.

 

“Have I proved myself, or do you want more?”

 

Khushi thought about how she could respond to this. Should she play shy and move away from him, or should she be bold and tell him what she actually wanted? Taking a step towards him and placing her hands on his chest, she gave him his response.

 

“I need more. Hit me with your best shot, Arnav Singh Raizada…”

 

Glad to hear her response, Arnav moved back in, pressing her back against the wall, taking hold of her leg and placing it on his waist. Holding her up, he kissed her neck. His hands moved frantically over her small body. His hands brushed over the breasts but came to rest on her hips as he ground his body against hers. He need to get closer to her wasn’t missed by either of them. Khushi lets out a low moan of pleasure.

Arnav knew that a few more minutes of this and getting Khushi into bed would be no trouble at all. He could tell she wanted this as much as he did. The way she was subconsciously moving her body against his, rubbing herself against him, he knew she wanted this and more. He had been dreaming about making love to her for the longest time and now it seemed like it is finally going to happen.

Letting her down, he kept his eyes on hers, making sure that every move that he was making was something she still wanted and that she was still feeling comfortable. He let his hands rest on either side of her breasts before slowly letting them drop to find the hem of her kameez. Eyes still locked on hers, he gestured if he could take it off her. She gave a little nod as he took her lips between his once more before pulling back slightly, finding the zip of her kameez and slowly pulling it all the way down to the base of her back. With the zip off, the garment became limp on her and he was able to slowly ease it away with her hands. Perhaps she had been slightly distracted for she gasped and attempted to raise her hands to cover her exposed body as the cool breeze hit her body. But her gasp was broken as his lips captured hers once more and her arms were unable to fully find their way to her chest as he captured her wrists and wrapped them around his neck once more.

Arnav lifted Khushi off the ground, causing her to wrap her legs around his waist as he carried her over to the bed. Laying her back, his lips travelled down over her body, massaging every inch of bare skin as he moved lower and lower. With difficulty, he unclipped her bra, pulled it off and threw it aside. Moving back over her, he kissed her once more as he closed the distance between them, coming down on her, placing her leg on his waist. It was then he became acutely aware of her shelwar. Finding the strings of the tie, he pulled it loose and then used his hand and his leg to help him get it off her body.

Aware of her semi naked state, Khushi wrapped her arms around Arnav’s neck as she pulled him back towards her, taking his lips between hers, while finding his hands and placing them back on her breasts. This little action shocked Arnav slightly as it was one of her boldest physical moves to date. It meant she wanted him to touch her, that she was enjoying the feel of his hands on her in this manner.

Pulling his lips away from hers, he kissed the side of her face and then the side of her neck while he rubbed his body against hers, imitating an intimate action which he was waiting to do with her. She moaned at the feel of the friction between their bodies and pulled at his t-shirt, gesturing that she wanted it off. Taking it off, Arnav let Khushi feel his body, her hands cause havoc on him. She wasn’t even doing much to his body, just touching him, feeling his skin, and yet she was making him crave her in a way he didn’t know was possible. The warmth and slight hesitation in her hands as she touched him, only heightened his need to get further intimate with her. As he moved back up to her lips, he felt her hardened  nipples against his exposed chest and he lightly took one of the hard peaks between his thumb and forefinger, caressing it.

Turning, Arnav moved Khushi to be on top of himself so that she was straddling him. She kissed his neck and worked her way down how his body, kissing his exposed skin as she went. Arnav played with her underwear, pulling at the waistband, fingering the skin on her hips. Khushi felt this happen, and felt all kinds of new sensations shooting through her body, but she was too busy kissing her husbands washboard abs, feeling his hard skin against her hands. Arnav, highly turned on by her actions, pushed Khushi onto her back as he moved on top of her again. Keeping his eyes on here, he pushed his trousers away and rests his length on Khushi.

 

“See how hard I am Khushi, it’s all because of you. That’s proof, that’s how much I want you.”

“What are you waiting for then? Do what you need to do to prove your point.”

 

Arnav was taken aback with how bold she was being, how fearless she was right now. Lowering himself, he found her lips once more as his hands found the waistband of her underwear and slowly slipped it down her legs. Khushi’s arms found their way around Arnav’s neck and she pulled him closer to herself, deepening the kiss as she felt his pull her panties away completely. She felt as his fingers sneaked up her leg and as he gently touched her in the most intimate way possible. She felt his finger within her, still at first as then move slowly and carefully. Eyes locked on hers, Arnav watched as her expressions change as her body accommodated his finger within her. At first there was some hesitation, a sense of nervousness, but when she hooked her leg onto his waist and he felt himself being able to move his fingers further into her, he watched as she closed her eyes in pleasure, her body arching up against his. He allowed himself to move faster and to his delight, she let out a moan of pleasure. He felt as her body clenched around his fingers and he knew it was time. Withdrawing his fingers, he kissed her gently as she opened her eyes.

 

”Are you ready?”

 

Her eyes locked on his, she gave him a slight nod as she pulled him back on herself, her lips finding his once more…

 

*****

 

“Khushi, that was amazing.”

 

Arnav rolled off of Khushi and lay beside her, pulling her into his arms. The actual act of making love had not lasted long. Almost as soon as he had entered her, he felt she was close. And given how tight she was, it didn’t take much to tip her over the edge. He hadn’t found his release yet, but he didn’t mind it. Today was about her and proving to her how much he wanted her and needed her.

 

Blushing, Khushi cuddles up to her husband. She still couldn’t believe it, she had just made love with the man of her dreams. She had never thought that they would reach this point in their relationship, but they had. There was a dull ache in her body and she knew it would only intensify by the morning, but she didn’t care. This was the best feeling in the world. 

 

“Arnavji, I’m so tired.”

“Go to sleep. Otherwise you’ll wake up tomorrow, aching even more than normal.”

 

Wrapping her arms around him, Khushi tucked herself into his chest as she allowed sleep to take over her body…

 

*****

 

The next morning, Arnav woke up to find his arm thrown around Khushi and his leg on top of hers. He looked at her face. She was so beautiful and looked so innocent. But she wasn’t as innocent as she looked. He recalled all the moments that they had shared last night and he couldn’t believe that it had happened and that Khushi had responded the way that she had. Last night had only been her first time, yet she had shown so much confidence, so much enthusiasm to do so much with him, he could only imagine what would happen a little later on in their relationship after theyt had done it a few more times. He was looking forward to it.

Arnav’s thoughts were broken when he saw Khushi slowly opening her eyes and her eyes finding his.

 

“Good morning.”

“Good morning, what time is it?”

 

Arnav looked at the clock and gasped.

 

“It’s half 9.”

 

“Kyya! Half 9! What will everyone say, we’ve missed the pooja and breakfast!”

“Khushi, calm down. They won’t say anything. Everyone in this house is married, they understand what it means if a couple wake up later than usual. Besides, this is the first time that we’ve ever woken up late, no one will say anything.”

“Arnavji! Have some shame! What will everyone think, 6 months into our marriage and we are waking up so late!”

 

Arnav chuckled as he turned onto his back, his arm under his head.

 

“Khushi, relax.”

 

Typical Arnav. He never cared what anyone thought and he wasn’t about to change his ways now. Gathering the sheets around her, Khushi sat up.

 

“Arnavji, close you eyes, I need to get out of bed.”

“So why should I close my eyes? I’ve seen everything Khushi. Kissed it all, touched it all, you don’t need to be so shy now!”

“You are unbelieveable, Arnav Singh Raizada!”

“You make me like this Mrs Khushi Kumari Gupta Singh Raizada. And now you’re going to have to deal with it for the rest of your life!”

 

He sat up and cupped her face as he kissed her.

 

”I love you so goddamn much.”

”I love you too…”

 

She moved away slowly and got out of bed and Arnav watched her as she went into the bathroom. Collapsing back into bed, he sighed a sigh of relief. Finally things were going the right way.

Maybe now they would find their happy end.

 

*****

 

Author’s note:

This little number has been sitting in my drafts since 2017 and I have just never put it up because I’ve never been happy with it. But now I have decided to rework it slightly and just put it out there because even though I don’t love it, I’m sure some of you guys will enjoy reading it.

I also decided to post it so that I don’t miss an upload day while I get ‘Wilted Heart’ ready for posting. I’m so excited to say that I will finally start posting it from not next Sunday, but the Sunday after that.

He’s Amazing ~ Part 10 {Reloaded}

 

It was nearly half 5 the next evening and Khushi and Lavanya were getting ready to go to Arnav’s party. Dresses were draped over the sofa, the bed and scattered all over the floor. In the end, Khushi had chosen a dark green anarkali suit. The suit that she had picked was a relatively simple one, with a simple dark green and gold boarder running along the bottom of the dress and along the dupatta. Lavanya had picked a similar but slightly more simple one but in blue.

Both were doing their hair and their make up, looking to each other to make sure that they weren’t going overboard.

By half 6 both were completely ready to go.

 

“La, tell me honestly, how do I look?”

“You’re gonna knock him dead!”

“Are you sure? I mean I know you had suggested wearing a western dress, but I’m meeting his siblings for the first time, I just think traditional is a far safer option. I don’t know what his sister is like but from what he said, she sounds pretty traditional and I…”

 

Grabbing Khushi by the shoulders, Lavanya shook her slightly.

 

“Snap out of it, you’re spiralling. You look amazing and you’re going to knock them all dead. You look dressed up without being too dressed up and I’m sure his sister will appreciate the effort that you’ve made. Any way, tell me, how do I look?”

“As always, stunning! I swear you look so much better than I do!”

 

Playfully Lavanya shook her head.

 

“You need to relax and be more confident in yourself. When one feels confident, it shows on the outside. You just need to relax, take a deep breathe and truly believe me when I say you’re looking like fire. So, hhall we leave? It’ll take a while to get to the hotel, you know, its traffic time and we don’t want to be late.”

 

Nodding, Khushi looked at herself in the mirror once more and took a deep breathe as she picked up her purse. She could do this, this was going to be fine.

 

*****

 

A couple of minutes past 7, Khushi and Lavanya reached the hotel. Looking to each other, they asked one another if they still looked fine. Once they were sure they looked good, they made their way towards the hotel. As they entered the lobby and were greeted by NK, who beamed the moment he saw them both.

 

“Ah, Khushi, Lavanya! Come in, come in! I’ve been waiting for you to come for the last hour!”

“Hi NK!”

“Hey NK. Why were you waiting for the last hour, we were told 7?”

 

NK smiled sheepishly at Lavanya’s question and ran his hand through his hair awkwardly.

 

“I guess I was just eager to see you both again.”

 

Before he could say anything more, a voice drifted through the lobby.

 

“NK bhai! Where are you?”

“Di, I’m in the lobby, Khushi and Lavanya are here!”

 

There was a moment of stillness and then four people rushed out from respective areas, coming to greet the new arrivals. Khushi looked from one to another, the two women were both as beautiful as each other, one slightly taller than the other, with the slightly older woman displaying striking similarities to Arnav. The two men that had emerged were absolutely dashing, one displaying a similar facial structure to Arnav but only slightly.

 

“Hi, I’m Anjali! Arnav’s big sister.”

“Oh, er.”

 

Lavanya rolled her eyes at a dumbfound Khushi and put her hands together to greet the people in front of them.

 

“Namaste Anjali ji, I’m Lavanya and this is Khushi.”

 

“Khushi you can speak to me! No need to be shy!”

“Na-na-Namaste.”

“Chote wasn’t joking, you really are very cute.”

 

Khushi blushed and bought up the courage to respond but the other man, the one that looked lightly like Arnav, playfully nudged Anjali aside so that he could be standing in front of Khushi.

 

“Di, enough, let us meet Khushi too! Hi, I’m Akash and this is my wife Payal.”

 

Akash stuck his hand out and Khushi shook it and smiled at Payal. So this was his cousin and his sister in law. Meaning the man that was now coming towards Khushi was Arnav’s brother in law.

 

“Hi.”

“Hello Khushi ji, I’m Shyam, Anjali’s husband, Arnav’s favourite brother-in-law.”

 

“You’re his only brother-in-law!”

 

Khushi smiled as she watched Anjali nudge her husband, but before anyone could say anything more, NK came back and got everyone’s attention.

 

“Di, Jijaji, Akaash bhai, Payal Bhabi, enough of the introductions, let’s gets into the hall!”

 

The 7 of them made their way over to the grand hall which had been decorated for the event. It had blue lights and cream drapes. It was simplistic but classy, just how Arnav would like it. Khushi and Lavanya looked around in awe.

 

“NK, where’s Arnav, Khushi’s dying to see him!”

“He’s just got called from work, he had an urgent meeting that he needed to attend, but he’ll be here soon.”

 

Khushi felt both relieved and disappointed at the same time. She was relieved because it meant that she would have a little more time to speak to his siblings and get to know them so that she was more comfortable around them by the time he arrived, but she was disappointed because it meant that she would have to wait longer before she would be able to see him again. As Lavanya spoke to NK, Khushi walked over to Anjali.

 

“Anjali ji, haven’t any of the other guests arrived yet?”

“No, they will all arrive after 9. They may even be later if they want to be fashionably late which is what a lot of Chote’s friends like to do.”

“But Arnav said for me and Lavanya to be here by 7.”

“That’s so that we could all get to know each other. If you had come at the same time as all the other guests, it would have meant that I wouldn’t have been able to give you undivided attention as I would have had to make sure that I was attending to all the other guests as well.”

“Oh! Of course, yes that makes sense.”

“Any way, Khushi, please call me Di, seeing as you and chote will soon be tying the knot!”

 

Khushi was thrown off by this comment but before she could respond, Lavanya, who had come back to her side, responded for her.

 

“They will?”

“Of course they will Lavanya. Well that’s after Khushi finishes her degree that it. Marriage is important but that doesn’t mean education should be ignored!”

“I so agree with you! Khushi looks like I should start selecting my dresses!”

 

Khushi looked down and blushed. They were already thinking about getting her and Arnav married! And they didn’t even know her that well yet. She loved this family! But she also felt a knot in her stomach. Was this all going too fast? She hadn’t even thought about marriage at all, let alone with Arnav and now she was being told that this was something that they had already supposedly spoken and thought about?

 

“You know Lavanya, NK was talking about you quite a bit about you the other evening. I feel he’s quite taken by you as well. You never know, we Raizada’s can do anything at anytime, it might just end up being a double wedding!”

 

It was Lavanya’s turn to look down and blush.

 

“Di, Akash! Where the hell are all you people?”

“We’re in the hall Chote!”

 

Startled by his voice, Khushi looked at her dress, checking that she looked nice and took a deep breath. Arnav walked in and Khushi couldn’t help but gasp. He looked amazing. He was wearing a navy blue suit with a white shirt and a dark blue tie. He looked totally hot!

Arnav too was blown away looking at Khushi. Slowly he made towards her, holding eye contact the whole time as he closed the distance between them. 

 

“Yo, Nanav, we’re here!”

 

This bought Arnav out of his trance and made him break his eye contact with Khushi. Shaking his head, he looked to Khushi and then Lavanya, smiling as he approached them. 

 

“Hey, Khushi, Lavanya! You’ve arrived.”

“Happy birthday Arnav!”

“Thanks La!”

 

“Ha-ha-Happy birthday Ar-arnav.”

“Thanks, why are you so nervous?”

 

He casually wrapped his arm around her as he pecked the top of her head.

 

“Chote, it’s because we’ve told her about our plans!”

“What plans?”

“Your marriage plans!”

“Oh god, Di, I told you, its way too soon to think like that!”

 

Khushi breathed in relief. She knew she loved Arnav, but marriage was still something she didn’t want to think about. She still wanted to get to know him better, spend some time with him to get to know his little quirks and then, once she had finished her studies, then they could think about moving to the next level of their relationship. But for now she was happy with how they were. 

 

Everyone sat down and talked for a while, waiting for the rest of the guests to arrive…

 

*****

 

At half 9, most of the guests had arrived and everyone was wishing Arnav. Khushi hung back with Lavanya, watching everyone greet Arnav. It wasn’t until a tall, skinny, beautiful girl in a short dress walked in, that Khushi actually began to pay attention to the guests. The girl walked in, looking around at everyone that was there and the moment she saw Arnav, she flew into his arms.

Khushi gasped and turned away feeling stung. Who was this woman?

 

“What the hell! Khushi who the hell is that? She’s got her hands all over your dude! Stop her!”

“Lavanya, it’s probably his friend we can’t do anything!”

“Wanna bet? Yo! NK!”

 

NK walked over to Lavanya and smiled.

 

“Yes, what’s the matter?”

“NK, who’s the girl with Arnav?”

“It’s his childhood best friend, Pooja.”

“And why exactly are her hands all over ASR? Khushi’s feeling insecure and uncomfortable! And you can’t blame her.”

“Of course not, Khushi come with me!”

 

Reluctantly, Khushi followed NK but looked back at La, cursing her for doing this to her. Yeah she was feeling insecure but that didn’t mean she wanted to confront Arnav about it. She didn’t want him to think of her as a clingy, insecure girlfriend. She knew he wasn’t the type of man that would appreciate that. 

 

“Nanav! You left Khushi! She wants to spend some time with you as well you know!”

“Hey Khushi, sorry babes, just got caught up.”

 

“Ahem.”

“Oh sorry, Pooja, this is Khushi, Khushi this is Pooja, my best friend from when we were in kindergarden.”

 

“Oh, hi, I’m Khushi, Arnav’s… I’m his… Student from university.”

“Student?”

 

“Gosh, Khushi, you’re not just my student! Pooja, Khushi is my girlfriend!”

“Oh! Wow! Arnav! You’ve finally found yourself a girl! Aw darling, I’m so happy for you. Khushi you are absolutely beautiful, I’m sure he’s told you that, but really, I’m really happy for you guys. I hope that you have a proper future and not just dating and stuff.”

“Well di and the rest of my crazy lot want us to get married, so let’s see!”

“Wow, you’ve already told Nani, and she agrees?”

“Well no, nani, mamaji and mamiji don’t know yet, but I’m sure they won’t have any problems with Khushi.”

“Yeah, I’m sure they won’t!”

 

Khushi looked around nervously. So everyone in his family knew apart from those who really mattered. And not just that, but he wasn’t even trying to hide their relationship, he was telling everyone about them. What if the elders found out and thought ill of her? What if they didn’t approve. And there was still her family to think about! God, maybe this wont work! There were so many things that could go wrong. Khushi could feel herself spiralling but she couldn’t stop her thoughts. They just kept hitting her, one after the other and she could feel herself starting to hyperventilate a little. But before she completely lost control of her thoughts and her breathing, her thoughts were interrupted by Shyam.

 

“Saale Saab, hurry up, we want to make the official announcement and then we need to get this party started. Oh, Pooja ji, hello, lovely to see you again. Please come through. Khushi ji, come on, you are needed to!”

 

Arnav offered Khushi his arm and she took it gladly. Pooja looked at the happy couple and smiled.

 

“God, you’re both so cute.”

 

“Ladies and gentlemen, please take a seat. Firstly I would like to thank all of you for joining us today to wish my brother, who is 26 today. Big round of applause guys! Now as per tradition, Arnav bhai will dance with someone of his choice to the first song. Bhai choose your partner.”

“Khushi, will you give me this dance?”

 

Khushi took Arnav’s hand and they made their way to the middle of the dance floor. Pooja saw this and gasped. Every year Arnav had danced with her for the first dance. She knew that he had a girlfriend now, but even in then past when he had a girlfriend, his first dance at his birthday was always reserved for her. It was an unwritten rule. This was wrong. All wrong. How could he dance with someone else instead of her? Pooja knew she shouldn’t feel so strongly and that she shouldn’t let herself get this upset, but she couldn’t help it. This wasn’t right, this had never happened before?#

 

Arnav and Khushi reached the dance floor and the music came on. ‘Teri Meri’ came on and Lavanya silently had a moment. That was Khushi’s favourite song and she had always dreamt about dancing to it with her prince charming.

Khushi’s breathing had stopped when the music came on. Since this song had come out, it had always been a dream that she would dance with her Mr Right on this song and now it was happening? It was actually happening on it’s own accord?# She looked at Arnav who was getting ready. His arms were placed protectively around her and he gestured for her to place her arms around his neck. She did so and thought,

 

“Is Arnav truly my prince charming?”