Unwanted ~ Part 47

Khushi 

It had been the longest few hours of my life and I was exhausted, but as I held my new baby in my arms, it all felt worth it.

The nurses, along with Payal had helped to get the baby cleaned off and I too had had the chance to sort myself out a little bit before they had allowed Arnav to come inside. The nurses had started to clear out, only one hung back to help if I needed anything.

 

As I held my baby in my arms, I looked into their little slumbering face and the perfect name came to mind. I watched as Arnav slowly pushed the door open and stuck his head into the room.

Jiji smiled as she saw him come in and she excused herself to give us some private time with our new baby. He walked into the room and I watch as Jiji gave him a quick hug before she left the room.

 

“You okay?”

“I’m absolutely fine, come and meet Aarav.”

 

I watches as his eyes lit up as he took the name in and rushed towards us.

 

“Aarav?”

 

As he sat down beside me, he peered at our son in my arms.

 

“A boy.”

 

I nodded and handed our son over to him.

 

“Arnav meet Aarav.”

 

I watched as he took Aarav into his arms and peered at his little face.

 

“He’s so small.”

“Believe it or not, Arushi was actually smaller.”

 

I watched as his eyebrows raised in shock as he looked at Aarav. It was clear he couldn’t fathom how the baby could be smaller than Aarav is. The change of hands and our conversation clearly annoyed Aarav because he started stirring in his sleep and then slowly began to open his eyes. Forehead creased, he looked up at Arnav. I expected him to start crying, but he didn’t. Forehead still creased, he looked at Arnav’s face.

 

“Hi little buddy. I’m you’re papa.”

 

I watched as Aarav and Arnav stared at each other, it was almost as though they were sizing each other up, Aarav especially. The moments passed and I waited to see which one of them would react first, it was Aarav. I watched as the creases on his littel forehead smoothed out and as he gave Arnav a small smile before he closed his eyes again.

Arnav turned his attention back to me, a grin on his face.

 

“I think he approves of his dad.”

“I think so too.”

 

He shuffled up next to me, our slumbering baby in his arms. He kissed the top of my head as he gently stroked our son’s cheek.

There was a light knock on the door and Jiji poked her head round.

 

“Can Akash meet Arnav?”

“Yes, absolutely, come in.”

 

Jiji and Jijaji walked into the room and over to us. Jiji came and sat beside me once more and Jijaji came and sat beside Arnav and peered at Aarav.

 

“He’s so tiny!”

“He’s early, so he’s still really small but they checked him out, he’s completely healthy and we will be able to take him home tomorrow.”

“He’s gorgeous.”

 

Though we were all speaking quietly, it must have still been too loud for Aarav. He frowned in his sleep, his forehead creasing up once more. Jijaji noticed this and he smiled.

 

“You can tell he’s bhai’s son, look at that face.”

 

We all laughed and this clearly didn’t sit well with our baby who opened his eyes and started crying. I took him back from Arnav and cradled him in his arms. Jiji and Jijaji prepared to take their leave.

 

“Are you guys going to go home now?”

 

Akash nodded but Jiji shook her head.

 

“He’s going but I think I’ll stay.”

“No Jiji you go home too, it’s been a long day, go and get some rest.”

“Are you sure? You’re going to need to go and have a bath soon, so I can stay and watch Aarav with Arnav Bhai.”

 

Arnav got to his feet and shook his head.

 

“Don’t worry about me, I can handle Aarav. Honestly Payal, you’ve done so much. Go home and get some rest.”

“If you are both sure then I will go, but I will be back first thing with breakfast. Also, when should we bring Arushi. She’ll be asleep now but the moment she wakes up she’s going to want to know about her brother and she’s going to want to come.

“Well if you’re going to come back with breakfast, then maybe you can bring her then too. I will contact you and let you know if they allow any other family members to come and if they do then I guess everyone can come and see Aarav and Khushi. What do you say Khushi?”

 

I had just put Aarav down in his cradle and I looked to Arnav and Jiji. I nodded my head.

 

“Yes, by morning I think they will allow us to have visitors so everyone can come. I know Di and Nani ji will want to come as soon as they can. But if we are not allowed to have the extended family yet, then yes, please just bring Aru.”

 

Jiji nodded and gave me a last hug before they left. Arnav came and sat down beside me again, his arm draped around me. I tilted my face up to his and he caught hold of my chin as he took my lips between his own. It was probably one of our lightest kisses that I had ever experienced,  but it just felt so much more meaningful than all of our other kisses.

He broke the kiss first and pulled me into himself.

 

“I’m all gross still.”

“I don’t care, I just need to hold you.”

“You should get some sleep too, it’s been a long day for you.”

“I know, but I’m not even tired. The adrenaline just keeps me going. But you are tired so you should get some sleep.”

“But Aarav…”

“Don’t worry about him, if he wakes up I’ll sort him out.”

“Nappy change?”

 

I tiled my head and I looked at him, eyebrow raised. It took him a moment to respond, but he did.

 

“I’m sure I will be able to manage.”

“Have you changed a nappy before?”

 

He paused as he thought about it.

 

“I may have changed Shalini’s nappy once or twice. But how hard can it be. And if I’m really struggling then I will just have a look on youtube.”

 

I laughed as I snuggled down beside him again. I was tired, so, so tired, and as the moments went on, I felt myself drifting off to sleep.

 

*****

 

When I woke up, the blinds were up and there was light streaming into the room. Arnav was no longer sat beside me on the bed, but was sat in the armchair beside the bed, Aarav in his arms and he was feeding him a bottle of milk. I sat myself up, brushing my hair out of my face.

 

“Good morning.”

“Good morning. I see you two are getting along great.”

“We’ve been having a great time. After you fell asleep, he woke up and I gave him some milk. He also needed his nappy changing a few times so I did that too.”

 

I sat up straighter as I took in his words.

“You changed his nappy?”

 

He laughed at my shock, shook his head and put Aarav in the cradle before sitting beside me on the bed.

 

”I told you, there was nothing to worry about. I didn’t even need to check how to do it on YouTube.”

”I’m very impressed.”

”You need to start giving me more credit.”

 

I snuggled up to him and breathed him in. He smelt slightly sweaty, and his cologne was starting to smell musty, but he smelt like Arnav. My Arnav.

“I love you so much.”

”I know you do, and I love you too.”

”Thank you Arnav, for everything. For making my life the way it is. For convincing me that we should have another baby. Aarav is just so perfect and I…”

 

Before I could finish, the door opened slightly and a little human walked tentatively into the room.

 

”Mama?”

”Arushi!”

 

She came and stood beside the bed, and waiting for Arnav to lift her onto the bed. She came and sat beside me and gave me a big hug.

 

”I missed you.”

”I missed you too baby.”

 

She curled herself into me and an overwhelming amount of love for my little girl coursed through my body.

 

“I called home about an hour ago and said that they could bring Arushi. But you’re not allowed visitors until visiting hours.”

 

Arushi detached herself from me and shuffled to the edge of the bed and jumped down. She walked slowly over to the cradle and peered in.

 

”Is that my brother?”

 

Arnav got off the bed and over to the cradle, picking Aarav up. He sat down on the edge of the bed and patted the space next to him for Arushi to sit down.

 

”Yes this is your baby brother. Arushi meet Aarav. Aarav, meet your didi.”

 

Arushi craned her neck to get a better look at her brother and then laughed.

 

”Papa he’s a baby! He doesn’t understand when you talk…”

 

She stopped mid sentence and gasped. I looked over and saw that Aarav was slowly opening his eyes. It took him a few moments to fully become alert, but I watched as he first looked up at Arnav’s face and then turned his eyes towards Arushi.

 

”Aru go closer to his face, he can’t see too far yet.”

 

Arushi moved in slightly and looked down at her little brother. I held my breath. I really hoped that he wouldn’t start crying because that would startle her. To my delight, a little smile broke on his face as he looked up at his sister. Before I could say anything, Arnav beat me to it.

 

”He likes you! He knows his didi.”

”Can I hold him?”

 

Arnav turned to me, his eyes wide. I gave him a little nod.

 

”Okay sit back and I will help you hold him.”

 

Arushi shuffled back slightly and then held out her arms. Arnav half placed Aarav in Arushi’s arms, half held him himself.

It was a sight to behold. Aarav and Arushi simply stared at each other. Arushi getting used to the idea of having a a baby brother, Aarav familiarising himself with his sisters face.

A few minutes passed and then Arnav took Aarav off of Arushi and placed him into my arms. I took my son into my arms and my husband came and took his place beside me, his arm around me and our daughter on his lap. And in that moment I realised my life was complete. I had everything I had ever wanted and so much more. I had my little family, my own little world.

 

In that moment, I couldn’t believe that this marriage was once unwanted, that I had almost not wanted to have another baby. My life was complete, and I wanted every single tiny aspect of it. I wanted it all…

 

***** 

 

Author’s note: 

I’m not sure how many people had read the note at the end of my last chapter but I had said I was going to wrap this story up. And as I wrote this chapter, I realised that this was the perfect organic ending for this story.

Thank you so much to everyone who has been on this journey with me. This story is probably one of the ones that has taken me the longest to finish because of the format I chose. I can’t even remember when I started and finished the first half of this story and how long it took me to start and finish the second half, but I know it’s been about 4 years at least. So again, if you’re one of my OG followers, thank you for staying with me for so long, your support means the world to me.

I was going to end this chapter with “the end” but I don’t think I’m ready to say “the end” to this story, because if I do, it means that’s it and I’m not sure if I want it to be the end. For now, I know it’s the end but I will always be open to adding another chapter to it here and there to follow Arnav and Khushi as they learn how to be parents to 2 children.

So this is the end for now, but that doesn’t mean it’s the end for good. ALSO!!! I will be picking “Wilted Heart” up again very soon and the first chapter will be going up within a few week. So stay tuned.

Officially Changing my URL

Hi all, hope you’ve all been doing well and keeping safe.

As you can see from the title of this post, I have made the decision to finally change my blog address. This is a move I have been contemplating for more than a year now, maybe even two year, but I had been putting it off because this address and this username are basically my identity. But as I have expressed previously, I have no attachment to this name any more, and quite frankly, I just really don’t like it any more.

So it is after much consideration that I have decided I will finally change my URL over to tweeteex (I can’t have tweetee_x as they don’t allow special characters) because it matches up with all my other socials and it’s just a name I much prefer to go by now.

 

So as much as it is the end of an era, it’s not the end of the road for us. I still have so many stories to write for you guys.

 

I’m not sure what impact the change in URL will have to all my posts that are linked to each other, but if it does make a mess, I promise I will try to get it all up and sorted again as soon as I can.

 

I hope you guys can understand why I feel I need to make this change and I hope you will stay with me and support me as you have done for all these years.

 

Love you all so, so much! Please keep safe and well. 

I will see you all again very soon!

 

*Updated note*

I have realised that when you type my name into google it now shows that my site has been deleted, so I highly recommend everyone to just bookmark my page or ensure that you have my notifications switched on so you can get an email while I sort everything out and make sure that it all works properly.

He’s Amazing ~ Part 9 {Reloaded}

“What do you mean you can’t let us in? Arnav Singh Raizada told us to come here!”

 

Lavanya was in the middle of a heated argument with the receptionist who was refusing to let them into the building. Khushi stood back and tried to get hold of Arnav on the phone.

 

“Ma’am you have no written notice and sir didn’t tell us anyone was coming to meet him!”

“It’s ok La, I’m trying to call him! We’ll get this sorted in no time.”

 

“No need to call Khushi, I’m here.”

 

Arnav walked briskly towards the receptionist.

 

“I apologise ladies. I had told Akaash to receive you at the door because I was in a meeting, but he had to go somewhere and I forgot to inform them down here that you guys were coming. Sim this is Miss Gupta and Miss Kashap, they are allowed into the building at anytime, and they are my guests.”

“Yes sir. Sorry ma’am. I hope you understand it is company policy that I had to stop you at the door.”

 

Khushi nodded understandingly, but Lavanya scowled as she followed Arnav.

 

“Come through guys.”

 

Arnav led Khushi and Lavanya into the grand building and they looked on in awe. Khushi didn’t know what she was expecting, but she sure as hell didn’t expect the office to be as lavish as it was. 

 

“This is all yours!”

“Yes Lavanya, it is!”

“You’ve hit the jackpot Khushi!” Lavanya whispered when Arnav had his back turned.

 

Arnav showed them around and then took them up to his office as the last stop. He called someone before turning back to Khushi and La.

 

“So? What do you think of my little empire.”

“It’s amazing Arnav!”

 

Khushi looked at Arnav proudly, and he nodded at her, appreciating her sentiment.

 

“I’m glad you like it Khushi.”

 

“Nanav, mera bhai! Look I’m here! I didn’t take long!”

 

A younger man entered the room, the biggest smile playing on his face. Khushi raised her eyebrow at Arnav as Arnav rolled his eyes.

 

“How many times do I have to tell you, my name is ARNAV. Stop calling me Nanav man. Anyway, this is Khushi and Lavanya. Take Lavanya and show her anything she wants to see. Stop by and have lunch.”

 

NK led Lavanya out of the room but then stopped and walked back in again. He looked at Khushi and smiled, extending his hand out.

 

“Hi, I’m NK, Nandkishore. I’m Arnav’s cousin.”

“I’m Khushi, Arnav’s…”

 

She paused. She didn’t know how to introduce herself. She wanted to say girlfriend, but they had not explicitly had that conversation yet. But before Khushi could say anything else, Arnav took over.

 

“She’s my girlfriend.”

 

Both NK and Khushi looked at ASR. NK nodded and started to make his way out again. It all checked out for him, he didn’t fell the need to question it. 

 

“Don’t come back again until after half 2. I want some time with Khushi!”

“Ok Nanav!”

 

As NK and La walked away, Arnav went over to the door and shut it before turning his attention back to Khushi.

 

“Won’t anyone say anything if they found out about us?”

“Not really, they would just want us to marry as soon as possible.”

“Really?”

“Yup.”

 

Pressing a light kiss on Khushi’s cheek, Arnav took her hand and led her over to his desk chair.

 

“Sit in my chair Khushi.”

 

Khushi sat down and smiled. Arnav leaned down and held the sides of the chair, before pushing a button on his desk, causing all the blinds to come down.

His face was just a few centimetres away from hers and Khushi closed her eyes, anticipating what was coming. But before she could feel his lips on hers, she felt herself being gently pulled off the chair. Khushi’s eyes flew open. But before she could respond, Arnav had pulled Khushi onto his lap and had sat down on the chair himself. Khushi looked into Arnav’s eyes, asking him what he was playing at.

 

“I wasn’t feeling comfortable, looming over you like that.”

 

Khushi smiled and Arnav pulled her towards him slightly before placing his lips on hers. The kiss was slow, their slowest so far. Arnav wrapped his arms around Khushi and Khushi placed her arms around his neck. The kiss was soft and passionate. The hunger within Arnav grew and with that, the pace of the kiss. He caressed her lips with his own, gently letting his tongue prod her, coaxing her lips apart. He slides his tongue into her mouth to taste her. Khushi, stunned at the new sensation tried to mimic what Arnav was doing with his tongue. And Khushi being Khushi picked it up quite quickly.

Slowly they began moving away. Khushi was blushing as Arnav looked at her.

 

“Looks like my best student knows other stuff then just her maths.”

 

Khushi gasped at how openly he spoke about this stuff, but she didn’t mind it. She liked knowing that she was doing it right and that she was able to perform well for him. Closing the gap between them, Khushi kissed Arnav once more…

 

*****

 

After a long time of doing nothing but kissing each other, they decided to join NK and Lavanya and have some lunch together. However, even at lunch, all Arnav and Khushi could do was eye each other. The longing to be alone was evident. This didn’t go unnoticed by NK and La who were starting to feel awkward and tried to make conversation to diffuse the awkward air that had gathered around them.

 

“Khushi, did you know, it’s Nanav’s birthday tomorrow and we’re going to have a party!”

 

Turning to Arnav, Khushi’s eyes were wide as she questioned him about this.

 

“Arnav, you didn’t mention it was your birthday.”

“Well Khushi, we were so busy that I forgot to tell you.”

 

NK rolled his eyes as he picked up on what was being insinuated and carried on.

 

“Khushi, why don’t you and Lavanya join us tomorrow?”

 

Khushi turned to Arnav who shrugged his shoulders and carried on with his lunch. She knew that he was trying to tell her that it was up to her, that he didn’t mind either way.

 

“I don’t know NK, I mean all your family is going to be there. I don’t think it will be right for us to join you.”

 

It was then, as if Arnav had a sudden brainwave. He put his fork down and turned to Khushi fully.

 

“No Khushi, it’s a great idea. I agree with NK, you and Lavanya should join us tomorrow evening. It will be fine, it will just be us young people. Nani, Mamaji and Mamiji wouldn’t join us. So it would just be me, NK, Akaash, Payal, Di, Jijaji, you, Lavanya and then some of my friends. Lavanya what do you think? Would you like to join us?”

“Well, I think it would be nice, but if Khushi doesn’t think she’ll feel comfortable then maybe we shouldn’t.”

“Khushi, please, it’s my birthday. I hate to think of spending it without you. And it’ll be great because it would mean you would get to meet everyone in a chilled out setting. Takes away the pressure of meeting the family for the first time.”

 

Khushi thought for a moment and turned to Lavanya who shrugged. There were a number of thoughts going through Khushi’s head, the first being, was this all moving too quickly and was she actually ready to meet his family? But she knew she cared for Arnav and he for her, so this felt like a logical next step.

 

“Fine. But only if uncle and aunty agree. If they say we can’t then that’s that.”

“That’s fine by me. Can you let me know this evening?”

“Sure.”

 

As lunch came to and end, the girls said goodbye to Arnav and NK and left to get home. They were excited when they got home. The thoughts of attending Arnav’s birthday party, was exciting and nerve racking at the same time, but something they were feeling hopeful for. Upon entering the house, they found Garima sitting in the living room, sorting through some stuff. 

They approached her tentatively.

 

“Amma, can Khushi and I go to a party tomorrow evening?”

“Whose party is it?”

“Oh, just a friend from uni”

“I guess it would be ok. I don’t see why you can’t go.”

“Really?”

“Well yes. I mean you live alone in university together for majority of the year and we trust you then, so we trust you now as well. Yes you may go to the party.”

“Thanks mom!”

 

Rushing upstairs to her bedroom, Khushi got onto the phone with Arnav to tell him the good news.

 

“Hello, Arnav?”

“Yup, it’s Arnav. Did you guys get home okay? Have you asked if you can come to the party yet?”

“We got home fine thank you, and yes! Aunty said me and La can come!”

“Great! Would you like me to have a driver pick you up?”

“No, its ok, La and I will come. What time should we be there by?”

“Come at about 7.”

“Sure, we’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I’ll be waiting for you, babes.”

 

Disconnecting the call, Khushi felt a serge of excitement. She knew this was going to change the whole course of their relationship, but she knew this was something she wanted.

It was all going to be great, she could feel it.

 

*****

 

Author’s note:

I feel like I’ve been fighting with this chapter to get it right but I’m still not happy with it. It just feels like a filler. But that’s okay, I’m hoping the next chapter will come across as being a lot more satisfying. 

Unwanted ~ Part 46

Arnav

I sat on the bed as I waited for Khushi. She was in the bathroom taking a pregnancy test. A few weeks had passed since we had decided that we were going to start trying for a baby. And when I say we had been trying, I mean we were really trying.

I like to think Khushi and I have sex regularly any way, even before we had decided that we were going to start trying for a baby, we were at it at least 4 times a week. Now it meant that we were at twice a day most days. It was great.

I looked at my watch, she should have been done by now. Almost as though she had heard my thoughts, Khushi stepped out of the bathroom.

 

“Well?”

“Negative.”

 

She looked slightly disappointed but not too disappointed. She was only a couple of days late, and we also knew that part of the reason could have been because she was coming off the pill and it would take a while before her body started to find a regular cycle again.

I wrapped my arm around her and kissed the top of her head.

 

“It’s okay, we knew what the chances were, we’ll keep trying.”

“Yeah, we both pretty much knew what the outcome was going to be this time. But it’s still a little bit disappointing.”

 

She shrugged her shoulders and then went back to her wardrobe to pick clothes for the day.

 

“It’s okay, we just need to keep at it.”

 

*****

 

Six months had passed since we had decided that we were going to start trying for a baby and so far, nothing. I could tell that it was starting to take a toll on Khushi as she was noticeably getting more and more disappointed each time the results came back as being negative. I too was starting to feel more helpless. We couldn’t understand why it wasn’t happening. Neither of us had thought it would be so hard to get pregnant considering our age, but apparently it wasn’t going to be as easy as we thought it was going to be. We had seen the doctor two months ago and she had said that everything was fine with the both of us, but had recommended that both of us start taking supplements, just to booth our chances.

So now, I sat on the bed, waiting for her to emerge, hoping that this was our month.

 

She came out a few minutes later, tears streaking down her face. I went over to her, wrapping my arms around her.

 

“Hey, it’s okay. We tried and if it’s not working then, we’ll go see a doctor and if there’s something wrong then…”

“I’m pregnant.”

 

It took me a moment to comprehend what she was saying, but it finally sunk in.

 

“Wait, what?”

“I’m pregnant!”

 

I couldn’t believe it.

 

“We’re having a baby?”

“We’re having a baby!”

 

Lifting her into my arms, I twirled her as we both let the moment sink in.

 

*****

 

We decided not to tell anyone about the baby until we had seen the doctor and got the news confirmed.

When we saw the doctor and got the news confirmed, we decided to wait until the 20 week mark just to be on the safe side. But we decided to tell Arushi. We both knew this was stupid, telling a child so early when things could still go wrong, but we couldn’t hold our excitement any longer. So we decided to sit down with Arushi and tell her.

 

The evening we got back from the doctors, we both went up to Arushi’s bedroom and sat down with her.

 

“So a while back you told us that you wanted a brother or sister, do you still want a sibling or?”

“I do!”

 

I looked to Khushi and she smiled. We hadn’t decided who was going to break the news to Ari, but I couldn’t contain my excitement and decided to go for it.

 

“Well you’re going to have a little brother or sister soon!”

 

Khushi looked at me shocked, I think she had expected me to ease into it a little more but she didn’t care too much. I knew she was excited as I was to get this news out there.

Arushi looked between us, her eyebrows raised. She was confused. I raised my eyebrows at Khushi, gesturing her to take over.

“What you’re papa is trying to say is that in a few months, we will be getting a baby, meaning that you will have a little brother or sister.”

 

We watched as Arushi processed the news. It was evident she was still a little confused, she looked between us trying to comprehend. We gave her the time she needed to process the information and then finally she turned to us, a huge smile on her face.

 

“I’m going to have my own little brother or sister?”

“Yes!”

 

We watched as she rejoiced and then she came to hug us, expressing her excitement. The three of us stayed huddled together for a while, speaking of the future and what it would be like when there would be another one of us in the story, we couldn’t wait for the future.

 

*****

 

*6 months later*

 

Things had been going well. We had told the family that we were having a baby and everyone was excited for the wait to be over and for our new addition to join us. Khushi was feeling a little nervous. It had been a while since she had last had to deal with a baby and sure still was unsure about whether she was ready to go through all that again. But she was excited regardless and couldn’t wait to meet our baby.

At the 20 week scan, we had had the option to find out whether we were having a boy or a girl, but we decided against it. We wanted to be surprised. It didn’t bother us whether we were having a boy or a girl as long as the child was healthy. It would have helped a little bit as it would have meant that we could have started buying the right coloured baby clothes and we could have started to decorate the babies room, but they were in inconsequential factors.

 

Everything was going well, and then it wasn’t. Khushi’s water broke at 6 and a half months and we had to take her into hospital. We had always been aware that the baby might come early but we hadn’t thought that it would be this early.

 

What happened after her water broke was a blur. I can’t accurately say what happened. All I remember was a whole lot of hullabaloo in the house as we all realised what was happening and what needed to be done. I took Khushi to the hospital, while Payal stayed back to pack Khushi’s hospital bag and then she joined us. Di and Jijaji were responsible for looking after Arushi and Mamiji offered to take over the kitchen to make sure that everyone at home was fed but also so that we at the hospital would also get food, which was delivered to us by Akash. Everyone had their fixed roles and knew what was required of them, but I found that I was struggling to work out what I needed to do.

 

Khushi and I had discussed what we wanted to happen on the day of the birth and whether or not she wanted me in the delivery room with her. I had insisted that I wanted to be in the room, but she had been firmly against the idea. It was just something she didn’t want and although I wanted to be in the room with her, I respected her decision.

So here I was, sitting outside the delivery room, waiting for some news about my wife and our new baby. It wasn’t long before Akash joined me. He sat down beside me, his arm around me.

 

“Weird huh? Your second baby but your first time going through this stress, how does it feel?”

“Stressful.”

 

I wasn’t trying to be funny, but apparently I was because Akash laughed.

 

“Don’t stress too much, it’ll all be fine.”

“I’m just worried because it’s so early. What if the baby is weak and…”

“Bhai, don’t worry about it. Sometimes babies are born up to 5 months early and yeah, they need to be put in an incubator, but they still grow up fit and healthy. You’re baby is only a little bit early, so if all is well, they won’t even need to be put into an incubator.”

 

I know Akash was trying to calm me, but something about the talk of incubators freaked me out. I didn’t want to have to look at my baby through glass, I wanted to hold them in my arms.

 

 

Time crawled by and  I felt myself getting more and more anxious. Akash had resorted to sitting beside me in silence because he realised he was stressing me out more than comforting me. I had called home, just to check on Arushi. She was doing fine but she just wanted to know when she could meet her new sibling. I told her that as soon as they were here I would have someone to bring her and meet the baby,  but for now she should go to bed and get some rest.

I hadn’t even realised that I was tapping my foot impatiently until Akash put his hand on my leg.

 

“Dude stop, you’re making my brain vibrate.”

“It’s taking so long.”

“You know, Payal was in labour for a whole 10 hours before Akshay was born.”

 

I looked at my watch, we had already been there for about 4 hours. If Khushi followed Payal’s example, it would mean that there would be a wait of about another 6 hours. I don’t know if I could wait that long before I saw my baby.

 

I watched as Akash drifted off to sleep in his chair. I too felt myself starting to drift but I was bought back to my senses when I saw a nurse and a doctor come rushing towards Khushi’s room. I got my feet.

 

“What’s happening?”

 

The doctor didn’t stop but the nurse did.

 

“We’ve been alerted by the sister inside that the baby is coming.”

“The baby’s coming?”

“Indeed. Are you the father?”

“I am.”

“Would you like to come inside?”

“My wife said she didn’t want me to be inside.”

“Okay, then please sit tight and don’t worry.”

 

She nodded before she too rushed inside. I listened carefully, it was still pretty quiet inside. I nudged Akash awake and told him that the baby was coming.

He put his arm around my shoulder.

 

“Not long now bhai and then you can meet your new baby.”

“I’m so excited but so nervous at the same time.”

 

Akash looked at his watch and got to his feet.

 

“It’s been a while since we last ate anything, would you like me to get you a sandwich or anything?”

“Yeah if you could just grab me a cup of coffee and any sandwich, that would be great.”

 

He nodded and then walked off and I pulled my phone out and shot Di a text, telling her that the doctor had arrived and that the baby should be coming soon.

Putting my phone back into my pocket, I waited for Akash to return. He got back relatively quickly and we both tucked into our sandwiches. I hadn’t realised how hungry I actually was until I started eating. As we were sipping our coffees Akash turned to me.

 

“So have you guys thought of a name for the baby?”

“We have a few ideas but nothing is solid yet. I guess when we see the baby, a name will just click into place.”

“That makes sense.”

 

For what felt like the hundredth time, Akash and I fell into a comfortable silence as we waited for news. This silence didn’t last long though as the piercing cry of a baby flooded the corridor. I stood up and pressed my ear to the door. It was coming from Khushi’s room! Our baby was here! I wanted to burst in there, but I knew that I had to wait. A few moments later, Payal stuck her head out.

 

“Bhai, you’re baby is ready to see you.”

 

I handed my cup to Akash and then prepared to go inside.

 

“Good luck bhai!”

 

I came back over to him and gave him a hug. I didn’t need to say anything, he knew why I was giving him this hug. He knew how much of a help he had been this evening and how he had kept me from spiralling.

 

I went back to the door and slowly pushed it open…

 

 

*Author’s note*

Hi all, hope you are all keeping safe. This is just a quick note to apologise for any grammatical errors there may be in this post. I just finished writing this today, the day that the post is going up meaning I haven’t had the chance to proof read. As I write this note, there is less than 3 hours until this is scheduled to go up, so yeah.

As always, thank you all for the love and continuous support. I would also like to take this moment to say that this story is almost at it’s end. I have not yet decided how I will wrap the story up but I do know that the next chapter of this story will be the last.

Again thank you all for the continued support and patience you have shown me and I will be back very soon with a new story. 

 

He’s Amazing ~ Part 8 {Reloaded}

 

“Hello?”

“Khushi?”

“No, it’s Lavanya, who’s that?”

“It’s Arnav.”

 

Lavanya raised her eyebrow and smirked. So it was official offical.

 

“Hi Arnav. One sec, I’ll tell Khushi you’ve called.”

“Ok, thank you.”

 

La left the phone on the bed and went and knocked on the bathroom door. Telling her that Arnav was on the line, Khushi told La to tell him to hold for a moment as she gets out of the bathroom.

 

“Give her a minute, she’s in the bathroom.”

“Ok.”

 

“Hello?”

 

Arnav smiled. He could tell, it was Khushi. Her voice was laced with confusion.

 

“Hey, it’s Arnav.”

“Arnav. Hi! Sorry, I wasn’t really concentrating! Took me a moment to get my bearings.”

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing really.”

“Can you come round to my place then?”

“What? You want me to come over?”

“Yes please.”

“Er, ok.”

 

Arnav told Khushi how to get to the teachers quarters. Getting off the phone, Lavanya all but pounced on Khushi. 

 

“What did he say!? Tell me everything right now.”

 

Shaking her head, Khushi went into her wardrobe and starting browsing through her outfits.

 

“Stop playing and tell me what he said.”

“He just asked me to go over to his place.”

“Oh my goodness! Are you really going to his place? That’s so cool! Do you know what this even means? We’re going to have to buy you some sexy outfits! If you’re going to be seeing him regularly outside of class time, you need to look the part.”

“Lavanya!”

“It’s true!”

 

Shaking her head, Khushi laughed and then got dressed as quickly as she could.

 

“Whatever, I’ll be back in a bit!”

 

Khushi left and made her way towards the teacher’s quarters as quickly as she could. She reached Arnav’s door, she paused and composed herself. Feeling that her cheeks had gone back to a normal temperature, she knocked on the door. She only had to wait for about half a moment before Arnav threw the door open, a wide smile on his face.

 

“Hey! Khushi, come on in!” 

 

Khushi walked in to his house and looked around. It wasn’t big; it was very basic, yet stylish. It was minimalistic and she couldn’t say it surprised her. Everything about this place screamed Arnav. 

 

“Please, take a seat. Would you like something to drink?”

“No thanks, I just had something to drink before making my way down here.”

“Oh ok. Well dinners in the oven I’ll be done in a bit.”

“You really shouldn’t have bothered Arnav.”

“I wanted to.”

“Wait you can cook?”

“Yes I can, I have had to learn because at the moment, as you can see, I’m living alone. I’m not an expert, but I try. Need to kept myself feed well. I can imagine trying to live off of junk food or the canteen food.”

“I’m sure it will be lovely!”

 

Arnav had told Khushi to take a seat and wait while he finished up with dinner, but she insisted on coming with him and helping him with anything he may need. In the kitchen, Arnav poured himself a glass of wine and offered one to Khushi which she declined. They made small talk as Khushi watched Arnav put the finishing touches on their meal.

Once dinner was ready, Arnav served and watched Khushi as she took a look at what was on her plate. He watched as her eyes widened as she took in the lasagne that he had prepared and took in all the sides that he had prepared to go along with their main. Khushi was amazed; she’d never seen a man who had been able to prepare food that looked so good. Arnav sat down and they both began to eat. 

Throughout the evening, they made small polite conversation as they finished their food. This was nice, this felt right.

 

*****

 

As time passed Arnav and Khushi simply got closer to each other. They were seeing each other regularly, both on campus and off. They would go out in the weekends, meet at Arnav’s place in the evenings and Khushi would stay back after every lesson without him asking her to.

They would talk, hold hands, hug every now and again and there had been a peck on the cheek almost twice every day. But beyond that nothing else had happened. They hadn’t even shared their first proper kiss yet.

It was now the end of the first semester and Arnav and Khushi had been seeing each other for about 9 weeks now. Everyone who was going home were packing their bags and getting ready. There were only 2 days left and then most people would be leaving to go home.

Khushi had told Arnav that she would be going home for the break, but she hadn’t had a chance to see him before she left yet. Once all her things were gathered and her bag was packed, Khushi made her way down to Arnav’s place to see him. Knocking on his day, Khushi waited for Arnav to open the door.

As Arnav opened the door, he ushered Khushi into the house.

 

“Hey, you all packed?”

“Just about, I have a few more bits to put away and then that’ll be all.”

“I was going to say that you should stay back. We could have gone places together, spent time together without worrying about anyone walking in on us. But I understand that you want to go home and see your family.”

“I would have loved to stay with you. Like you said, it would have been nice to see you without having to worry about other people seeing us. But as per tradition, me and La always go home for the first holiday, no matter what. It doesn’t feel right to tell her that I am going to stay and to send her home.”

“Oh do you and Lavanya live close by?”

 

Khushi looked down at the floor. She had never told Arnav about her parents yet and it hadn’t felt like it was the right time yet, but nowt that it had come up, Khushi felt like she needed to address it.

 

“Well… We actually live in the same house.”

 

Arnav paused for a moment and Khushi watched as he scrunched up his forehead processing the new information.

 

“Oh, you’re cousins! I never knew that! I thought you were simply friends!”

“Actually, we’re not cousins. I’m her adopted sister. Her parents adopted me after…”

 

Khushi fell silent and looked away from Arnav. She wasn’t prepared to talk about this just yet. But now that she had opened her mouth, she knew that she had to finish what we had started. Arnav could tell that Khushi was struggling so he moved over to her, and sat down beside her.

 

“After what Khushi?”

“After… After my parents were murdered!”

 

Hiding her face in her hands, Khushi did her best to keep her tears back. She didn’t want to cry in front of him. Gathering Khushi into his arms, Arnav held her close.

 

“Oh god, Khushi. I’m so sorry, I never knew!”

 

He hugged her tightly, inhaling her hair. He knew this moment was about her, but he felt it was the right time to share his story with her too. 

 

“I didn’t realise you were like me.”

“Like you?”

“My parents… They died when I was young too…”

“I’m so sorry.”

“It’s ok.”

 

They held on to one another. Allowing themselves to feel sorry for themselves and for each other, Arnav and Khushi held onto each other.

 

*****

 

It was the next day, the day that everyone was leaving. Khushi rushed over to Arnav’s house and knocked on the door. Arnav opened the door and Khushi flew into the room. As he closed the door Khushi wrapped her arms around Arnav and hugged him tightly.

 

“Hey there…”

“I’m going to miss you! I didn’t think I’d miss you this much, but I couldn’t sleep all night. All I could think about was how much I’m going to miss you and how I can’t wait to be able to see you again.”

“It’s only 2 weeks. And I’ll be calling you all the time any way so we’ll be able to keep in touch. And seeing as we’re both in Delhi anyway, we might get to meet up. I wasn’t going to go home but I decided that I’m going to go home as well. Everyone at home wants me to go.”

“But still, 2 whole weeks. We don’t know what it’s going to be like when we get home, we might not even be able to see each other.”

“I’ll video call you! That way we’ll be able to see each other.”

“I’d like that.”

“Maybe you can come and see my office one day! I think it’ll be so cool if you can see me in my natural habitat.”

“Yeah! I’d love that! That would be so cool.”

 

There was an awkward silence after that. Neither of them really knew what to say next and what to do next. Arnav looked into Khushi’s eyes and there was a surge of something between them. The sexual tension in the room was tangible. And before either knew what was happening, Arnav had pulled Khushi into his arms once again and Khushi too had pulled Arnav up against herself. Their lips found each other and fused together in a furious kiss. Arnav wrapped his arms around Khushi’s waist and her hands slowly travelled to around his neck, pulling him closer. The kiss slowed and then they broke apart, gasping for air.

Arnav pulled Khushi back, closer and pushed her back against a wall. He looked at her face, she had her eyes shut tightly, waiting for what happens next. Arnav drew circles on her neck with his thumb, making her smile at the feeling of his hands on her sensitive skin. Closing the distance between them once more, he pressed his lips against hers and kissed her. Gently praising her lips apart, he let himself gently press her tongue into her mouth and sought hers out. Arnav hands began exploring her body, travelling down her body, then back up to her rib cage. His hands slide to the sides of her breasts and she gasped as he squeezed her breasts slightly. She broke the kiss.

 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to… I got caught up in the moment and I…”

“No, its just… I… This is all new to me. I’ve never let a man so close, I’ve never let a man touch me like so, or kiss me. It’s all so new, I’m so scared, but I… I like what you do to me. I like the way you were touching me…

“I love you Khushi. I love you so god damn much and I want to make you feel special. I ache to touch you but I’ll never do anything you don’t want me to do. I’ll wait for you, we’ll take this slowly… We’ve got all the time in the world to explore each other…”

“I love you Arnav. I love you so god damn much too…”

 

*****

 

“Mom! Dad!”

“Aunty, uncle! We’re home!”

 

The girls put their bags down and were looking around the house, trying to locate their family members.

 

“Khushi! Lavanya! My darlings! You’re home!”

“Mom! I missed you so much! But I think Khushi missed you more, on the train all she was talking about was you!”

“My babies, I missed you so much!”

 

“What’s going on? Garima, are the girls back?”

“Yes, they’re home!”

 

Shashi ran from the other room and hugged his daughters.

 

“God, the house is always so quiet when you’re not around!”

“Where is Buaji?”

“She’s gone out, she’ll be back soon!”

 

“Hai re Nandkisor! Shashi babua, come and take these bags!”

 

Khushi and Lavanya ran forward and took the bags off their elderly aunt and put them aside, before attacked her with their hugs.

 

“Ah, I see my angels are back!”

“Buaji, we missed you so much!”

“I know how much you missed me. It was obvious from the amount of calls I was getting from you two!”

 

Buaji turned her back to the girls. They bend down in front of her and pull their ears. This always worked. Buaji couldn’t resist them when they did this.

 

“Sorry buaji.”

“It’s ok, it’s ok. You two go and rest before dinner and start unpacking anything you’re going to need, but remember don’t take too much out, because before Sunday you’re going to have to start packing again!”

 

Lavanya and Khushi grabbed their bags and made their way to their room. Once inside, both dumped their bags onto their sofa and sat down on the bed.

 

“Tell me now Khushi, what happened? You went to say bye to Arnav andyou took forever to come back. And then when you did, you were as red as a tomato and you wouldn’t say anything. Tell me what happened! And don’t tell me nothing happened because the whole world could tell something happened.”

“I… We… Well…”

“Khushi, tell me!”

“We kissed!”

“What! No way?! How did you not tell me this already that’s so mean. You should have told me before!”

“I just didn’t know how to say it.”

“Well you were just able to tell me, so… But whatever, I want all the details. Tell me how it all happened?”

“I don’t really know. It was so quick I mean, he pulled me towards him and I pushed myself up against him and then, I don’t really know. The next thing I knew, we were kissing. It all just happened so quickly.”

“How did it feel? Kissing him I mean.”

“Amazing, like him! It was just… Mind blowing.”

“More, tell me more!”

“Lavanya! This is between me and him!”

“Shut up, Khushi. I am your sister and best friend, I told you about me and Karan, now it’s only fair, tell me Khushi!”

“His lips were so soft and warm… The way he held me, he’s so warm. And then he touched me and I just… Is it possible for me to want more already? It’s like, he barely touched me and I’m already addicted to him.”

“Of course it is Khushi. I mean, it’s totally normal that you want more from him! If you told me you didn’t want to kiss him again, that’s when I would have said there is an issue here.”

“No, Lavanya, it’s not just that. I mean it’s not just the kissing… I don’t know what it is, but I just want to be closer to him. To touch him. I don’t know Lavanya, its so confusing!”

“Khushi, I think I know what you’re thinking, but give it some time. I know he loves you and you love him, but give your relationship more time before you DO anything more. Don’t let your feelings overwhelm you and cause you to rush into something you aren’t sure you’re ready for.”

“Ok.”

 

*****

 

The entire were sat around the dinner table, having their meal and making small talk.

 

“So tell me, what have you girls been doing this term. I hope you’re studying properly!”

“Babuji, don’t we always study hard!”

 

“Khushi, you know Mrs Chadda?”

“Mrs Chadda? The fat one?”

“Yes her.”

“Why buaji.”

“Well she wants us to meet her nephew. She wants you to marry him. Personally I have seen the boy, he’s a gem and the Chadda’s are a close family friend. I think it might work.”

 

Khushi looked up, her eyes wide as she turned to Lavanya.

 

“No buaji. I don’t want to marry!”

 

With that Khushi excused herself and ran into her room, shutting the door behind her. Thoughts of Arnav flooded her mind.

Picking her phone up, she dialled Arnav’s number. She waited as it rang for a while before he picked it up.

 

“Arnav I’m missing you so much. We’ve only been back a while and buaji’s already talking about getting me married to someone else! I don’t want to marry! But I don’t know what to say. I…”

“Erm, excuse me, who is this?”

 

Reality flooded Khushi as she realised that the person she was talking to wasn’t Arnav. Looking at her phone, she made sure that she had called Arnav. She had. The person on the other side of the phone spoke again.

 

“Hello? Who is this?”

“I… Er well…”

 

“Akaash, give me my phone. Thanks for answering it. Yeah, hello?”

“Arnav…”

“Khushi! Have you got home, are you ok? How’s La?”

“We’ve got home fine. Arnav I miss you.”

“I’m missing you too.”

“Who was that, that answered your phone?”

“My brother, Akaash.”

“Arnav, I think I’ve made a mistake, I thought it was you and I said that I was missing you and I was saying that buaji wanted me to get married! I don’t want to get married!”

 

Khushi was rambling, but Arnav had caught everything that she had said.

 

“Shhh… It’s fine Khushi, I’ll explain to Akaash, he’ll understand. It’s ok. Buaji wants you to get married? To who?”

“To a family friend and yes, she wants me to marry but I’m not ready and I don’t want to!”

“I understand Khushi. I know it’s going to be a hard conversation, but just tell buaji that you’re not ready. I’m sure she will understand and I’m sure they won’t force you into something that you aren’t ready for. Can I add something else? As I was driving home, I was just thinking about us and I thought…You know there’s something about you, I can actually imagine living with you. I can imagine how my family would react to have you around. It’s weird and so soon for me to say this, but I can imagine us together, a proper couple… I’m not saying I want something right now, but I have a good feeling about us and I just… I’m just thinking out loud. Any way, Khushi, would you like to come to my office tomorrow, we can have lunch or something afterwards. Really discuss all of this.”

“Yeah, I’ll come! But Lavanya, she said she wanted to see your office as well. May I bring her too?”

“Bring her along; I’ll get Akaash to keep her company.”

“Why, we’ll be with her.”

“I want you to myself as well. I want to expand on what we started the other evening.”

 

Khushi blushed, muttered that they’d meet him at half 10 and then put the phone down.

 

Unwanted ~ Part 45

Khushi 

He collapsed on the bed beside me, breathing hard, sweat plastering both our bodies. Taking a moment to let his breathing regulate, he rolled onto his side and gathered me into his arms.

 

“Arnav let go na, I’m all hot and sweaty.”

“I really don’t care, I’m used to it.”

 

And with that he snuggled closer to me and I felt his eyes flutter shut. I wrapped my arms around him and held him close. It wasn’t ideal and I was feeling super sticky, but once he got sleepy he would get off me again any way so it was fine.

A few months had passed since our renewal ceremony and everything was going well. Arushi had started school and she was settled in nicely. She had already made a whole lot of friends and wasn’t speaking about her friends from Mumbai as much as before. She had also got used to her new life here and wasn’t missing Raj as much as before either.

We were still in regular contact with Raj and he was doing well. In fact he was doing really well. He had finally agreed to marriage, and from the sounds of it, Veera mausi had found a girl for Raj and they had hit it off really well. So we were hopeful that there would be a wedding to attend very soon.

I felt myself getting sleepy and my eyes were drifting shut when I felt Arnav shift beside me. I thought he was moving back to his side of the bed to go back to sleep, but instead he propped himself up on his elbow.

 

“Khushi, I was thinking…”

 

I turned to face him and raised my eyebrow, urging him to carry on.

 

“Let’s have another baby.”

 

It took me a moment to realise what he was saying, but when his words actually made sense to me, I felt my eyebrows lift and I’m sure my expression showed how shocked I was feeling.

 

“You what?”

“I want a baby. Let’s make a baby?”

 

He came towards me again, his hand finding my waist and his lips closing on mine. I put my hand between us and pushed him away.

 

“You want another baby?”

“Yes, desperately.”

Pushing him away, I held the sheets close my my chest as I sat up.

 

“I didn’t realise you wanted another baby.”

“I didn’t either. But recently when I spend time with Akshay, I realised how much time I missed out on with Arushi and I want to rectify that. I mean I spend time time with Arushi and I am glad to be a part of her life now, but I really want to experience being the father of a baby.”

“You know that’s not a good enough recent. I mean, I understand that you missed out so much with Arushi, but wanting another baby just to make up for what you have lost isn’t a good enough reason.”

 

H sat up in bed and looked at me.

 

“Wait, I’m confused, do you not want another baby?”

 

I gathered the sheets around myself and sat up.

 

“It’s not that I don’t want another baby at all, it’s just right now, I don’t think I want another one. After years, I have this aspect of my life back. I’m a wife again, and I’m enjoying me time with you. Throwing another baby in the mix would just mean going back to full time mum mode. It would mean waking all hours of the night to feed the baby, to change the baby. Then during the day it would mean splitting time between helping Ari with her homework while handling a baby… It’s just a lot and I’m not sure if I am ready for that again.”

“That makes sense.”

 

I tucked myself into Arnav and stroked his exposed chest.

 

“We never really got the chance to be carefree newly weds. We never got that chance to just enjoy each other and we are getting that chance now. To throw another baby into the mix would just change all our lives again.”

“I understand, I get it, what you are saying makes sense.”

 

Arnav kissed the top of my head and we snuggled down into bed, letting sleep takeover.

 

*****

 

Despite Arnav saying that he understood my reasoning against having another baby, I knew that in his heart, he wanted another baby. He knew the implications that another baby would have, he knew that it would mean long days and potentially late nights. He knew that sex would probably be out of the question for a while. But I knew he still wanted a baby. He wanted to experience that stage of fatherhood and just generally, he just really liked the thought of having another child that looked part like him and part like me running around the house. But he respected my choice. After all it was my body and I was the one who would have to handle the pregnancy. He knew that I needed to be all in it and that I had to want this as much as I did, and right now I didn’t. So he chose not to press the matter further.

 

*****

 

Months had passed since the baby conversation had taken place. Everything was going perfectly. Arushi had fit into her new life almost seamlessly. One would never know that she hadn’t spent her entire life here or that she had only met these people in her life less than a year ago. Things were going well.

The baby conversation hadn’t come up again, but recently I had found herself really warming to the idea of having another baby again. Arushi was growing up and becoming her own independent little person. She was able to do most of her homework herself, she could dress herself and feed herself. She still needed me of course, but I was starting to feel a bit redundant and it made me realise how much I missed having a baby who was wholly dependent on me. But I still wasn’t sure if I wanted another baby just yet.

I felt her motivation behind having another child was selfish and I wasn’t sure if I wanted another baby because I actually wanted another child or if it was because I wanted to feel needed again.

But then I reminded myself of all the reasons why I didn’t want another child right now. It would take away from my time with Arnav and would have an impact on our relationship. It would mean that the kids would be at the forefront of my attention and Arnav would have to take a back seat and I wasn’t sure if she was ready for that yet.

But then I also knew that my biological clock was ticking and if I wanted to carry a healthy baby that wouldn’t take too much of a toll on my body, then now was the best time. I was confused, there were so many different factors to consider. It was something that I really needed to think about and I needed to discuss thoroughly with Arnav.

I also thought about the implications that a new baby would have on Arushi. Did Arushi even want another sibling yet? Would she be okay with another baby coming into the picture. Almost her entire life it was just me and here and then we added Arnav to the mix and then the rest of the family. She had already experienced a lot of change and had to accommodate so many new people in her life, would she be okay with another baby?

 

There was a lot that needed to be considered and I knew that I should start thinking about the topic more seriously.

 

*****

 

It was almost as though god had heard my dilemma because that very evening as I was putting Arushi to bed, Arushi asked me if she was ever going to get a baby brother or sister. I was highly taken aback by the question.

 

“What?”

“My friend, Priya, she said her mama said that they were going to get a new baby soon.”

 

Tucking Arushi into bed, I cuddled up with my baby.

 

“Do you want a little brother or sister?”

 

Arushi thought for a moment and then shrugged.

 

“I have Akshay and Shalini to play with.”

“That’s true. But would you want another brother or sister to play with?”

“Babies are no fun, they don’t move.”

“When they get bigger they move though.”

 

Arushi thought about this for a moment and then shrugged her shoulders again.

 

“I don’t mind.”

 

Snuggling down into bed, I watch as Arushi slowly drifted off to sleep. When I was sure she was fast asleep, I got up and went back to my own room and found Arnav sitting in bed watching tv.

While getting read for bed, I thought about all the things I  had been thinking about all day and the conversation that I had just had with Arushi. Getting into bed, I decided to speak with Arnav about it.

 

“Arnav, I need to speak to you about something.”

 

He got into bed beside me and wrapped his arm around me.

 

“Go for it.”

“I’ve been thinking about something for a while and I just… I wasn’t sure if I…”

 

He turned to me, his eyebrow raised. I never was at a loss of words so he knew whatever I wanted to say was something major. I took a deep breath and started again.

 

“I was talking to Arushi and she… She wants a sibling.”

 

I watched as Arnav processed what I said. I don’t think he was expecting me to say that and the confusion on his face was clear.

 

“What?”

 

I filled him in on the conversation that I had had with Ari earlier and I told him about all the things that I had been thinking about. A smile started forming on his face.

 

“So what I’m hearing is that you want to have a baby?”

“I mean, I’m not sure if I definitely want a baby, but I think we should start trying. I mean I never realised I wanted a baby until I found out I was pregnant with Ari and then she became my life. And beside, just because we start trying, it won’t mean that we will get pregnant instantly and I…”

 

I couldn’t finish what I was saying because he silence me with a kiss. I felt my eyes flutter shut and I melted against him. I felt him take control of my body and lowered me down onto the bed, moving over me. I felt him start tugging at my close as his lips moved off of mine and to the side of my neck.

I held the back of his head and pulled him closer to me, parting my legs and letting him settle between them.

As he pulled my last item of clothing off and undressed himself, he looked at me and smirked.

 

“So should we make a baby?”

“Let’s do it.”

He’s Amazing ~ Part 7 {Reloaded}

The next morning, Lavanya got up early and rushed out of the room. When quizzed about where she was going so early in such a hurry, she just told Khushi that she had to talk to someone urgently. Before Khushi could ask anything else, Lavanya grabbed her phone and practically ran out of the room. Khushi was highly confused, what was is that had got La ready and so hyper so early in the morning?

Lavanya knew that she should have asked Khushi’s permission before going to speak to Arnav, but she also knew that Khushi would never agree. She knew that Khushi would have a go at her when she found out that she was coming to speak to Arnav, but she knew that this was something that she needed to do. La rushed all the way down to Arnav’s classroom, checking her watch as she was going to make sure that she had enough time to speak to him before other members of their class started to arrive. She also hoped that for once, Arnav had arrived to his class early. As she reached Arnav’s door, she gave herself a moment to catch her breath before she knocked on the door.

 

“Come in!”

 

Taking a deep breath, La pushed the door open.

 

“Sir, hi. I was just wondering if I could have a word with you.”

“Ah, Miss Kashap, I was expecting to see you. Didn’t think I would be seeing you so early in the day, but I did know that you would be dropping by to speak to me.”

“You were? I mean, how did you know that I would come to see you?”

“I just had a feeling to be honesyt and I know what you want to speak to me about. You would to talk to me about Khushi and I.”

“Well yeah…”

“I understand what is probably going through your head right now and don’t worry; I won’t do anything to hurt Khushi. I care about her. I’d never want to do anything to hurt her.”

“Wow… I don’t know what to say. Thank you for being so understanding and so cool about this all. You really are amazing.”

 

Arnav chuckled slightly upon hearing this.

 

“I’m glad you think so.”

“I just want you to know that Khushi’s been through loads, so please, just keep her happy and give her time. I know this is personal and something that I shouldn’t say, but I feel like if you are seeing each other this is something that you should know. And it’s just that sometimes she may hesitate to take things further, you know, in terms of physically, but please just give her time. It takes her a long time to really get comfortable with people and she’s just dealt with so much that sometimes it takes her longer than most people to really progress in any kind of relationship. So if you do really do want to get to know her, then please just be patient with her and give her time to move at her own pace. It takes her a while to trust people and to see that they really care about her, so please, just give her time.”

“I understand how awkward a conversation this must have been for you, but thank you for trusting me enough to tell me so much. I understand everything that you have told me, and I promise that I will give her the time and space she needs when we work on this relationship. I promise you.”

“Thank you for just being so understanding and nice. Khushi’s so lucky to have found someone as understanding as you. Do you have a brother for me?”

“Well, I do have a brother, but he’s happily married. But I’ll keep an eye out for nice guys for you too.”

“Oh well you can’t blame a girl for trying! But thanks for keeping my case open.”

 

Arnav and Lavanya spoke for a while, mainly about Khushi but Arnav took the time to get to know Lavanya a little more too, after all, she was an important part of Khushi’s life so he knew that he had to make sure he made a good impression. Soon enough, the rest of the class began to come in and La took her seat. Arnav kept his eyes out for Khushi and when she finally saw her arrive, he couldn’t help but smile.

 

“Good morning, Miss Gupta.”

“Good morning Sir!”

 

Smiling at him, Khushi took her seat and took her book out. She turned her attention to La to find out where she had gone and what was so urgent, but was unable to as Sia walked into the room and addressed Khushi before her bottom even touched the chair.

 

“Oh Khushi, you came back last night.”

“Of course I did, why wouldn’t I come back?”

“I don’t know, I just thought that you would want to show us that this guy really existed. Thought you might not be in today to show to us that you really had someone and that you were staying with him.”

“Why would I do that? We only went on a date as normal people do. I don’t understand why you thought I would stay with him? What’s wrong with you?”

“Come on now Khushi, you can’t actually expect us to believe that you ave a boyfriend so soon after Nikhil. I hardly see a line of guys fluttering around you desperate to get into your pants. What guy would actually want you? You’re nothing special. Why would any guy want to go out with you?”

 

Khushi felt note form in her stomach as she took Sia’s words in. She looked up at Arnav, but it seemed as though he hadn’t noticed because he was speaking to someone else. Khushi felt her tears well up in her eyes, but she pushed them away.

 

“Leave me alone. You don’t know anything about me or my relationship so I just suggest you stay out of it and mind your own.”

“Wow guys look, Khushi has a bite. What’s wrong Khushi, have my words hit a nerve?”

“Leave me alone.”

“Just admit it Khushi, there is no boyfriend. We all know why you’re doing it, you’re just doing it to make Nikhil jealous, you think by doing this you’ll get him back. But we all know you’re just playing games and I bet Nikhil does too. I mean, which guy would want to be with such a prude. So you can drop the facade because we all know you’re just trying to get Nikhil back but it won’t work.”

 

Sia’s words stung more than they should have done and Khushi couldn’t hold her tears back. At this point, Arnav had caught the end of the conversation and had got to his feet.

 

“Whoa, ladies! Stop this now! Miss Mishra, I would appreciate it if you kept Miss Gupta’s personal life out of my lessons. We don’t need to be speaking about such things in here.”

 

It was clear that Arnav was trying to maintain an impartial tone, but in a way, Khushi felt slightly deflated that he hadn’t snapped at Sia for her words. It was irrational but Khushi had hoped he would have said more to Sia. When she realised he hadn’t and that he wasn’t going to, Khushi grabbed her bag and rushed out of the room.

Lavanya looked helplessly at Arnav.

 

“Sir may I please be excused.”

“Yes you may. And if you catch up with Miss Gupta, please tell her that she doesn’t have to come back today if she doesn’t want to.”

“Ok sir, thank you.”

 

Arnav gave Lavanya a meaningful look, which she acknowledged before grabbing her own stuff and anything Khushi had left. She knew that Khushi would have gone back to their bedroom so she made a beeline straight for their room. As she opened the door, she saw Khushi sat on the floor, clutching her teddy close to her heart.

Lavanya sat down next to her and wrapped her arms around her. Khushi held Lavanya tightly, letting her tears roll down her cheeks and onto La’s shoulder. 

 

“La I don’t know what to do, after hearing all that he’s never going to want me now!”

“Khushi, don’t say that. Why wouldn’t he want you? You’re an amazing person!”

“He’s going to think I’m a right loser! He heard everything Sia said about me and Nikhil and she called me a prude. Oh god La, he’s not going to want anything to do with me now.”

“Khushi, you know you are being irrational now. He isn’t going to think that, and if he does, then Khushi it means he wasn’t worth it! But I am certain that Sia’s words wouldn’t have made any impact on how he sees you or how he feels about you. You should speak to him.”

“I know, I know I’m letting myself get ahead of myself, but I so worried he will be impacted by what Sia said and I know it’s really early to say this, but I had a really good feeling about me and him. I really though that maybe we could share something special and I’m so scared that this is going to ruin that.”

“Khushi it’s not stupid to be optimistic about a new relationship and if your gut is telling you that you and him could have something special, then there is nothing wrong with thinking like that. But I feel you are doubting him and thinking of him to be quite fickle if you think he is going to let someone else’s view of you change how he sees you and that’s not okay. You should speak to him and give him a chance before you make any conclusions about him and your relationship.”

 

Khushi knew that Lavanya was right and that she was being unfair to Arnav by thinking the worst of him. But she really was feeling so scared and worried that this would jeopardise any chance of them having a relationship. Resting her head on Lavanya’s lap and cried until she was content. She didn’t really know why she was crying anymore, but she felt like she still needed to get it out of her system.

When she felt she was all done crying, she stood up, and declared that she wanted to go back to class. To show everyone that she wasn’t weak and that Sia wasn’t right about her.

Lavanya agreed. By Khushi leaving and staying away, it gave off the impression that Sia was right about her, hence why her words had got to her. But Sia was wrong and the best way to show that she was wrong was by facing everyone.

As they were about to walk out, Lavanya looked at Khushi’s face and stopped her in her tracks. Laughing, Khushi turned back and walked into the bathroom to fix her face before they went back to class. 

 

*****

 

“Miss Mishra, I usually don’t comment on the goings on of my students, but that was utterly unacceptable behaviour! Miss Gupta’s personal life should have no relevance to you and even if you do want to discuss it, please discuss it with her in a respectful manner outside of my classroom. If I see such behaviour again, I will have no choice to remove you from my class. And after having looked at your file, if I take you off my course, you will not have enough credits to graduate. Again. So I suggest you put more attention into you assignments instead of focusing on gossip because if I fail you, you will have to move to another university to finish your course.”

 

Arnav knew that he shouldn’t have got involved and that it was highly unprofessional to speak to a student like that, but hearing how Sia had spoken to Khushi, he was unable to hold himself back.

Sia blushed furiously and looked down so that no one could see the tears forming in her eyes. She was prepared to kill because how dare he speak to her like that and that too for KHUSHI of all people. If she hadn’t already hated Khushi for being the cause of hers and Nikhil’s break up, she definitely would have hated Khushi now. She had to get Khushi back for all of this, even if it was the last thing she did. However, before her thoughts of revenge could intensify, Khushi and Lavanya walked back into the room. 

 

“Can we come back sir?”

“Of course you can, please take your seats.”

 

Khushi had come back to class and she had felt brave about it, but now being back here, in Arnav’s presence, she began to doubt her actions. Throughout the lesson she found herself unable to look at Arnav at all. Her mind was whirling, going into overdrive, thinking all the things that she had tried to push away.

What if he didn’t want her any more? What if Sia’s words were enough to turn him off from her? What if he said he never wanted to see her again. 

Khushi’s thoughts continued to trouble her all throughout the lesson. For the first time ever, she could genuinely say she hadn’t learnt anything. As the clock struck the hour, Khushi hastily stood up and gathered her things, hoping that she would be able to leave before Arnav could stop her, but alas, he was ready for her. He called her back to wait a moment. Sitting back down, Khushi put her bag down and prepared for what was to come. She was certain that he was going to tell her that he didn’t want to see her any more. 

Once the last person left the room, Arnav shut the door behind them and turned the key in the door, locking them in. Noticing that she was still sat at her desk, not paying attention to him, Arnav walked over to Khushi and sat down on the desk next to hers.

 

“Are you ok Khushi?”

“I’m ok, it’s ok. I totally understand, if you don’t want to see me again.”

 

Arnav felt slightly shocked for a moment. What did she say? Why would she think that he didn’t want to see her again?

 

“Khushi? What are you saying? Why wouldn’t I want to see you again?”

“Because I’m a loser Arnav! Didn’t you hear everything that Sia had to say about me? Why would you want to still be with me after hearing all of that?”

“Khushi, look at me. You are not a loser. You are one of the most intelligent, talented and one of the most  beautiful women I have ever met. Above all of that, you have the most honest heart. I know it’s too soon to say this, but I think I really like you and I’m not going to let you go. Especially not because some other girl is clearly jealous of you. I want you and I want to get to know you better.”

 

Khushi, unable to contain her happiness and relieve, she stood up from her table and rushed into Arnav’s strong arms, hugging him tightly. Arnav held her close, inhaling her gentle scent. He held her petite frame, wanting to crush her to his chest but worried he would break her. He held on, gently caressing her hair. After what felt like eternity, Khushi slowly began to let go. She looked into Arnav’s eyes and smiled. Gingerly, he cupped her face, his eyes dipping to her lips. Her lips were the softest shade of pink and were so plump, begging him to take them between his own. He felt himself edge closer to her, but he stopped himself and looked away. He couldn’t. He couldn’t take this step yet until he knew it was something she wanted too and was ready for. And he knew it was far too early. They were still only getting to know each other. They had only been on one date. He couldn’t kiss her yet. Moving back, he took the decision to kiss her cheek instead. It was a safer option. 

 

“Khushi, can I call you later?”

“I would love that.”

 

Arnav got off the desk and stood by her as he watched her stand up and get her bag, ready to leave.

 

“Bye Arnav, I’ll speak to you later.”

 

He just nodded watching her go. Just as she was about to unlock the door, she quickly turned back and placed a quick kiss on his cheek. She stepped back and smiled at him before rushing out of the room once more. Arnav smiled as he watched her go, his hand reaching up to touch his cheek.

 

“She’s crazy, but she’s adorable.”

Unwanted ~ Part 44

Arnav

The big day finally arrived and I couldn’t believe it but I was actually feeling quite nervous. It was dumb, it wasn’t like we were getting married for the first time. We weren’t actually getting married again at all, it was just us saying our vows. But regardless, I felt nervous. I had made the mistake of expressing to Akash that I was feeling nervous and he and Jijaji along with NK had decided that it was a good excuse for us to go for a lads night out. I had refused, I just felt like we were too old to go for a “mad night out” but I think Akash and jijaji needed it more than I did, so for their sake we went.

Raj and Veera Mausi had also arrived earlier that day. When they had arrived, he was a little nervous, like the felt out of place. But with my family, that didn’t last long. We made him feel like he was one of us in no time.

In the evening as we were getting ready to leave, I decided to ask Raj to join us, he was more than happy to join us.

The night went as I had expected it to go, NK got completely drunk and hit on far too many girls and got rejected by almost all of them. Jijaji and Akash became the sad drunks that they always became and started moping about how they missed their single days. Raj and I chose to remain sober. I did so because I wanted to go home enjoy time with my wife. Raj just wasn’t much of a drinker any way and he wanted to keep me company because the other clowns were long gone. We sat and spoke about old time. He asked me about the things I did all the years I was alone, I asked him about his life before Khushi and Arushi. It was a strange conversation, he couldn’t remember his life before them and I felt as though my life didn’t start again until they came back, but we managed to find things to speak about regardless.

At the end of the night, with the help of Raj and a bouncer, my drunk companions were bundled into the car and we went home. Their wives were not impressed, and I felt sorry for Jijaji and Akash. They would sober up only to have their ears bitten off by their wives, but it wasn’t my fault, I had warned the pair of them.

Leaving the wives to deal with their drunk husbands, I ushered Raj up to the guestroom and bid him goodnight before I went towards my own bedroom. The light of our bedroom was already turned off so I entered quietly so that I wouldn’t wake Khushi. Stepping into the room quietly, the sight before me was one of the best things I could have asked for. My wife and daughter, cuddled up in bed, fast asleep. I’d forgotten that we had said that Arushi would sleep with us today because we gave Ari’s room to Veera Mausi. Tucking my girls in, I went into the bathroom to get ready for bed.

Coming back out, I got into bed and snuggled down beside my girls. This was perfection.

 

*****

 

When I awoke the next morning, Khushi and Arushi were already up and gone. I must have been more tired than I had thought because I didn’t even feel them leave. I got up and got ready for the day and went downstairs.

As I was descending the stairs I took in my family who were running around still. Honestly, it felt like my wedding day all over again. Rolling my eyes, I reached the bottom of the stairs and greeted Akash, who quite frankly looked super hungover.

 

“Had a good sleep?”

“Are you kidding me bhai, Payal had a go at me last night and then again first thing this morning. I haven’t gotten drunk in years and she was just so pissed off that I did.”

“Teaches you to not over drink next time.”

“Bhai this isn’t done huh, we went out to celebrate you.”

 

Shaking my head, I saw jijaji on the other side of the room and decided that I should go over to him and pull his leg a little too…

 

*****

 

After a morning of pulling the legs of my boys, I had gone back to my bedroom so that I could read through my vows once more, just to make sure that they were perfect. It had taken a few days for me to work on my vows but I was finally happy with them. They were finally perfect to be presented to my lady.

 

*****

 

At around 5pm, I started getting dressed. Khushi had bought me a suit, it was what I would call a typically penguin suit. Black suit, crisp white shirt and black skinny tie. Not my personal cup of tea but I knew she loved it when men wore black suits with white shirts, so for her, I would bite my tongue and just enjoy my outfit.

I was buzzing to see her in the sari that I had bought her. It was a white partially net sari with gold embroidery. On paper it sounded like too much of an ageing combination, but the sari itself was from Sabyasachi, and looked so damn elegant and I was certain that Khushi would look absolutely rocking in it. I had also bought Arushi a dress that she could wear.

When ready, I checked myself out in the mirror before spraying myself with some Tom Ford perfume. I looked great, I smelt great, time to get this show on the road.

 

*****

 

We all arrived at the venue on time. I had really thought that we would be late, but it turned out we all got here on time. The venue was a small hotel reception room that I had decorated so that it looked all pretty. We had deliberated a venue for a long time, and at one point we had almost decided that we would just do it at home, but Nani and Mami had insisted that if we were going to do this, we might as well do it properly.

Our priest was already here, being kept company by a member of the hotel staff. I went up to them, introduced myself and shook hands with them. Calling Khushi over, I introduced them to her.

 

“Should we start Mr Raizada?”

 

I turned to Khushi, and she nodded, signalling that she was ready.

 

“Lets go.”

 

Letting Akash know, he nodded and went off to everyone to get them to settle down. The priest quickly told us how this process was going to work and told us where to stand.

Soon we began.

The start of the ceremony was boring, the priest ran through the usual lines that they do when they are officiating a wedding. Then we got to the good stuff.

 

“Who would like to say their vows first?”

 

Khushi and I had already decided that I would go first and then she would. I had tried to memories my vows but they ended up being far longer than I had anticipated so I just wrote them down so that I could read them out. They started off pretty basic and then become more and more specific to us.

 

“I, Arnav Singh Raizada, vow to always love, protect and support you, Khushi Kumari Gupta, always and forever.

I promise to hold you and cherish you, and I promise that I will never look at another woman other than you. I will be loyal and faithful to you until my dying breath.

I promise to look after you always, in sickness and in health. If you ever fall ill, I will make sure that I tend to you, stay up with you. When the time comes and if we decide to have another child, I will make sure that I tend to you every need and that I make sure that I satisfy every single one of your cravings. Even if it is a case of you demanding I go and get you ice cream at 3am.”

 

 

I looked up from my sheet of paper and looked at Khushi who’s eyes were welling up with tears. This was going well, my vows were having the correct impact on her. I carried on.

 

 

“I promise to always support you and stand by you, even if that means going against someone else I love. You are the most important person in my life and I will always put you first, no matter what.

I promise to always try and be the best version of myself for you, to be the best husband, best friend, best lover, best roommate, and I promise to always try and be the best father for our child.

The time we have spent apart has made me realise how much I love you and how much I need you, and I promise that I will never let you out of my sight ever again. I will be your shadow for the rest of our lives and how your shadow doesn’t leave you, I won’t either.

I vow to be attentive of you, to ensure that you are always comfortable in our life and that you are satisfied. I vow to ensure that I am meeting all your needs.

I, Arnav Singh Raizada vow to move heaven and earth if need be, but I will never let you down. I will always deliver. Forever and always.”

 

 

Tears were streaming down her fave but she had the widest smile on as well, so I knew my vows hit the mark. I took her hand into my own and gave it a squeeze before she took her hand away from me, wiped her tears away and took out her own set of vows.

 

“I, Khushi Kumari Gupta, vow to love, protect and support you for as long as we both live. I vow to stand by you even with things get tough. In the past, I’ve had a habit of running away, but today I vow to you that I will never do that again. I will always stay by you so that we can work through our problems together.

I vow to love and cherish you, to remain faithful to you and to never look at another man ever again. Not even Salman Khan. You are my one and only and I will always remain loyal and faithful to you.

I promise to look after you in sickness and in health and I vow that even when you become unbelievably unbearable, I will still stay by your side and tend to you.

I vow to always be the best version of myself to you and I promise that no matter what happens, I will never take my anger out on you. Even when you leave your socks on the bed, I vow to remain patient with you. I’ll make you pick up your own socks, but I won’t shout at you to do it.”

 

Everyone chuckled at this line. I smirked and gave her a playful shrug. We both knew I would still leave my socks on the bed and we both knew that we’d have an argument over it everyday, but that was the nature of our relationship and neither of us would want it any other way.

She carried on.

 

“I vow to not pester you to watch movies with me when you are working, but I will still make you watch movies with me every other weekend because that’s just our relationship and it’s what you signed up for.

Finally, I vow to do anything for you, to be there to satisfy your every need and to love you unconditionally no matter what life throws at us.”

 

She folded up her piece of paper and I wiped away a tear I didn’t even realise was dripping halfway down my face. Taking her hands into mine once more, I moved in for a quick kiss before the priest diverted our attention back to him to finish the ceremony.

 

*****

 

Ceremony over, we all moved into a smaller hotel reception room where the food was all laid out buffet style and everyone was digging in. The ceremony had gone on without a glitch and everyone had had the best time. Above all, Khushi was absolutely glowing. She had pulled me aside when we were done with the vows and had given me a deep kiss, expressing how much she had loved my vows and how they were so perfect of our relationship. I felt good about myself and I told her how her vows had made me feel.

We could have continued to compliment each other for hours, but Payal came looking for us, forcing us to go back and keep our families entertained.

At the end of the evening as everyone was preparing to leave, Akash and Payal surprised us by telling us that they had booked out the penthouse suite for us for the night.

Khushi objected initially because she didn’t want to be away from Arushi, but Payal reassured her that they would be able to handle her for the evening and that we should take the time to enjoy ourselves. I for one was more than happy to comply.

 

Our guests left and we made our way up to our room. I found it hard to keep myself in check, but the moment we walked in through the door of the suite, I let myself loose and let our night begin…

 

*****

 

Author’s note:

Hi guys, I hope you are doing well and that you have been enjoying the story so far. This is just a note to apologise for this chapter not being quite up to standard. For some reason this chapter was harder to write than I had anticipated. I don’t know why I struggled so much but I did and I am sorry it isn’t of higher quality. 

He’s Amazing ~ Part 6 {Reloaded}

 

Arnav looked amazing. He was wearing a black Armani suit with a white shirt. He had worried that he had overdressed but seeing her as dressed up as he was, he felt his nerves subside slightly.

His car was just as dazzling as he was. It was a large white SUV and it was evident that he had recently washed it as it was gleaming in the moonlight.

 

“Good evening Khushi.”

“Good evening Sir.”

“Shall we?”

 

Khushi nodded shyly as Arnav led her towards the car and opened the passenger door for her. Before getting into the car, Khushi had a quick look over her shoulder to make sure that no one from her building had followed her out and she thanked her lucky stars that they hadn’t. She got into the car and fastened her seat belt as Arnav put the car into gear. 

The drive to the restaurant was a long one. Arnav tried to make conversation, but could tell Khushi wasn’t to comfortable. She kept trying to pull her dress down but her efforts were futile for her dress was made of a material that had very little stretch to it. Arnav tried not to make it obvious that he was observing her every move and tried his hardest to keep his eyes fixed on the road ahead of them. But whenever he got the chance, he found himself taking a peak at her, taking a haste look at her before turning his attention back to the road. She looked incredible. He had never seen her wear anything like this and he could tell that it was probably because such clothes weren’t a norm for her. He could tell she was uncomfortable and it caused him to smile at her innocence. Shaking his head, he tried to divert his mind away from how good she looked and asked if she had ever visited ‘Blue Waters’ before. Khushi shook her head. He went on to speaking about the hotel, telling her that it was one of the best in Delhi and that their food was to die for. Khushi felt herself ease into the conversation. They were talking about food. She liked food. It was a safe topic. 

As they reached their destination, Arnav stopped the car at the entrance and stepped out. He walked over to Khushi’s side and opened her door for her. He offered her his hand and she took it, blushing.

A valet came over to them and Arnav handed him the keys.

 

“Are you sure that’s safe Sir? Giving the keys of your lovely car to a complete stranger?”

“He’s a valet, it is his job to park the cars so it’s pretty safe. Besides this is my friends’ hotel, and all the staff know who I am, if anything happens to my car, their lives will be on the line, not their jobs.”

 

Khushi gave an unsure laugh. Was he joking or?

Arnav placed his hand gently on her lower back and led her into the hotel. Khushi’s eyes widened at his touch and she felt herself tense up. She willed herself to calm down and act normal so that he didn’t realise that his touch had such an affect on her. Khushi felt her heartbeat increase and she begged herself to calm down. She needed to relax. This touch meant nothing, it was just a normal gesture when guiding one somewhere. Shaking her head, Khushi pushed all her overexcited thoughts away and just let Arnav lead her. They were following a waiter who took them over to where their privet table was waiting for them. Taking his hand off her back, Arnav walked over to Khushi’s side and pulled out the chair for her. Thanking him, she sat down and he tucked her chair in, making sure she was comfortable. He then walked over to his side of the table and sat down. He watched Khushi as she looked around, fascinated by the decor, especially the water feature that was to the left of them.

Indeed the hotel was beautiful, but Arnav only had eyes for the woman who was sat in front of him. She really looked stunning tonight. Before he could stop himself, he heard the words tumble out of his mouth.

 

“You look beautiful, Khushi.”

“Thank you Sir. I feel that I have dressed up a bit too much though. I don’t usually dress like this. I had got ready but then Lavanya told me to get changed and that she wouldn’t let me leave unless I wore this. She told me that this is what people wear when they go on a date. I told her that it wasn’t but she wouldn’t listen to me!”

 

Khushi’s eyes widened as she realised what she had just said. Mentally kicking herself, she realised how she had probably just made the whole situation a whole lot more awkward by having mentioned that La thought this was a date. Arnav however, simply smiled.

 

“You know Khushi, that’s the most I’ve ever heard you say at one time. And please, call me Arnav. There’s no need for the formality tonight. I am not your tutor tonight. I must admit, I knew Miss Kashap would catch on.

Khushi I know this might be a little awkward for you, but Khushi this is a date for me. I know I should have explicitly asked for your permission before bring you out and I apologise for that, but it is, from my side any way. If of course knowing that I see this as a date you feel uncomfortable or that you aren’t interested, then please say so right now and I will take us right back without any objection at all. But Khushi, the truth is, I have been attracted to you since the first time I saw you. I wanted to keep the feeling down, have tried to ignore it as much as I could, but as the weeks have passed; my feelings have only got stronger for you. I really like you Khushi, and I would like to get to know you more. You’re just the most captivating woman I have met in a long time and I would love to get to know you in a social way.”

 

Khushi started at him is disbelief. Her mind was going into overdrive as she processed everything that he had just said to her. This was a date. A real date! He liked her and wanted to get to know her better! Khushi couldn’t believe this was happening. She looked up at him and really took him in. His earnest brown eyes, his slightly tousled hair, his sharp jaw… Her eyes fell back on the table when she realised that she had shamelessly been checking him out.

Arnav could tell that she was taking a moment to process everything that he had just said, so he sat and waited until she was ready to speak. He watched as her eyes darted from side to side, could tell her brain was whirring away. Finally, he saw her blush as she slowly began to look up again.

 

“I… I don’t mind that this is a real date… I… I think… I think I’d like to get to know you too. I think… I… I think I may like you too.”

 

Arnav looked at Khushi, shocked as he took in her words. He had never realised that Khushi liked him. He was under the impression that she wasn’t interested. He had been hopefully that perhaps she would be open to getting to know him, but he hadn’t thought that she perhaps already had some feelings for him too. 

 

“I’ve been having feelings for you, from the first day I looked at you. At first I kept my eyes down, but then when I saw you, you were amazing. You have such a nature that made me fall for you further. I tried to push the feelings away because you are my tutor and it’s wrong for me to be thinking about you in such a way and I just wanted to focus on my work, but I…”

 

Khushi stopped herself as she realised she was speaking too much, giving away far too much of what was going on in her head. Arnav smiled as he processed her words. She was experiencing the same confusion he was and she was battling with the same thoughts and feelings. They were on the same page, the feelings were all mutual. Arnav opened his mouth to say something but the waiter came over and passed the menus to Arnav and Khushi.

Nodding, Arnav dismissed the waiter and told him to return in a few minutes when they would be ready to order. Arnav watched as Khushi flicked through the menu, considering all the different options in front of her. Arnav closed his menu and turned his attention back to Khushi.

 

“Khushi how about you order for the both of us.”

“You mean to pick your dish for you too?”

“Yeah! I’d like to see what you pick.”

“Okay… What kind of dished do you like?”

“I’m not fussy, pick anything you think sounds interesting.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, go for it.”

 

Nodding, Khushi ran her eyes down the menu and found that there were two dishes that really spoke out to her. Showing Arnav the options she picked, he smiled.

 

“You know, those are two of my favourite dishes too.”

“Really? No way?”

“I’m being serious. Great choice.”

 

Catching eyes with the waiter, Arnav signalled for the waiter to take the order from Khushi. Khushi ordered and Arnav couldn’t help but smile. He had asked her to order for them both just to get a slight idea of the kinds of things that she liked. He often found that playing this move on a date was beneficial because he saw if he and his date had similar tastes. In this instance, this had worked out well because he learned that he and Khushi liked the same kind of food. 

Bringing himself out of his thoughts, Arnav turned his attention back to Khushi and they made small talk. He asked about her general likes and dislikes, what kind of things she liked to do in her free time, just the little things that would help him to get a better picture of her. She did the same back, asked him about what kind of things he liked, whether he liked to read, what kind of places he liked to travel to. The conversation flowed easily between them and the time that it took for their food to arrive passed relatively quickly.

When the food arrived, Arnav smiled once more.

 

“You’ve order all my favourites. Everything from the main dishes to the sides, this is all my favourites.”

“I like this stuff too. It’s not what I eat on a regular basis, but it’s the kind of food I choose when I need a change or if I was celebrating something.”

“I know it’s presumptuous to assume that just because we like the same food that it’s going to work out between us, but I really do have a feeling that this could work out well for us. That is of course, Khushi, if you would like to really give this a try. If you don’t or if you don’t feel like it is going to work then, please, there is no pressure, you are free to say so.”

 

Arnav looked intently at Khushi and watched as she blushed, her mind working away, processing what he had just said. He turned his attention away from her and at the food that was sat in front of them and poured her a glass of water. He could tell she was processing what he had said and in a way, he wished he hadn’t said anything just yet. He didn’t want this to take away from the lovely evening that they had been having so far.

Khushi had wanted to take a more easy going approach and had wanted to spend some more time with him before she really concluded how she felt about him. And she knew that he didn’t require a response right away but she felt like she needed to say something. Though he had turned his attention away, she knew that he was waiting for her to say something. She knew that she did have feelings for Arnav, but she wasn’t sure whether it was love or not. She didn’t want to jump to the conclusion that she could potentially be falling in love with him because it was simply just too early. She barely knew him. She knew she was crazy attracted to him because he was a good looking man and because he was smart and kind, but other than that, she couldn’t really conclude if she actually thought they had a future together. But she knew that regardless of it all, she needed to give this thing between them a shot. Because maybe, just maybe, Arnav was the one Lavanya always said that would come into her life. Khushi didn’t want to let go of a chance at true love. She knew that she wanted to explore this between them and see what it took them. 

 

“I want to try this.”

 

Arnav looked up, slightly startled that she had responded.

 

“What?”

“I want to give this a shot. I mean, I don’t really know how I feel or where I think this will go, but I do like you and I would like to get to know you better to see if what this is is something which can be permanent.

 

Smiling, Arnav reached out and placed his hand on top of hers, stroking the top of her hand lightly with his thumb.

 

“I feel exactly the same way. I want to give this a shot, get to know you better, and just see where it leads us.”

 

He took his hand off of hers and turned his attention back to the plate in front of him and gestured for her to do the same. They started eating, a comfortable silence settling between them as they appreciated the food between them. The only time the silence was broken was when they wanted to appreciate the food in front of them.

As they finished their main and while they waited before deciding whether or not they wanted dessert, Arnav and Khushi begun to speak again. This time they decided to speak about work and education and what Khushi’s plans were post graduation. But before they could really get into their conversation, they were rudely interrupted by a rowdy bunch that had just walked in.

Frowning, Arnav flagged down a waiter asking for their check and asking if there was a quite place that he and Khushi could go so that they could enjoy the rest of their evening and their dessert in peace. The waiter nodded and headed off before turning moments later with the check and a set of keys. 

Getting up from his seat, Arnav fixed his jacket before reaching Khushi’s side of the table and offering her his hand.

 

“Khushi, lets go somewhere quieter.”

 

Nodding, Khushi took his hand and they walked out of the restaurant and  into the main lobby of the hotel. Placing his hand back on her lower back, he guided her towards the elevator and pushed the button. As the doors opened, he gestured Khushi to walk inside and he followed her in, his hand never leaving her back. Once inside and the doors shut, Arnav pushed the button that took them to the fourth floor. As the lift went up, Khushi was well aware of his hand on her back. His hand was firm on her lower back, not moving, just firmly there. His touch was both possessive yet safe. If his hand had been any lower, alarm bells would have rung because one would argue his hand was hovering too close to her bottom and if it were any higher up it would have been too close to her bra strap. But where it was now was a safe place, it couldn’t be misinterpreted and nor did she feel worried. She felt safe. 

But once the doors of the lift opened and Arnav guided her into the lobby, that slight sense of security washed away and was replaced with anxiety. Why were they up here and was he leading them to a hotel room? He had said that they should go somewhere more quiet, but she hadn’t realised that he had meant to a room? She had thought he was taking her to a cafe or something, or another part of the restaurant. Khushi felt nervous, more nervous than she had done at the start of the evening. 

As they edged closer to a bedroom room and Khushi saw Arnav take the keys out, she couldn’t help but to feel more anxious. Why was he taking her to a bedroom? What did he want from her? Surely he wasn’t bringing them here because he expected something from her? Surely he wasn’t that type of a man? But he was a man… What if… 

Khushi felt herself struggling to keep herself calm and could feel herself started to get very hot. Khushi stood in the middle of the room, letting her mind go into overdrive as Arnav shut the door behind them. As he approached her once more and placed his hand back on her back, he felt her flinch at his touch and realised that she was feeling nervous. Mentally kicking himself for not making himself more clear of his intentions, he realised that he should address the situation so that she felt comfortable again. 

 

“Khushi I’m sorry, I should have made myself more clear before bringing you up here. Don’t worry, you don’t need to be afraid, I don’t want anything from you. I just brought us up here so that we could carry on our evening, so that we could talk and eat out dessert in peace without being disturbed by the other guests. I promise, you I want us to get to know each other properly and until that time and until we both know what we want, I will not make any such moves on you that you are not ready for.”

 

Khushi let out the breath that she hadn’t realised that she had been holding and Arnav could tell she was feeling a tiny bit more comfortable. Hand on her lower back once more, Arnav gestured Khushi to sit down on the sofas. Sitting down, she scooted over to the side before gesturing Arnav to come join her. He sat down, ensuring that there was a respectable distance between them and they began talking, just small talk as they had been doing before. The conversation went back into an easy flow and time passed as they laughed together while sharing stories. At some point they had ordered dessert and coffee and they enjoyed the remainder of their food as they spoke about movies that they liked to watch.

By the end of the evening, the respectable distance that had previously been between them was gone, with Arnav’s arm along the back of the sofa and their knees touching as they spoke. 

 

By quarter to 12, Arnav and Khushi reached the university and stepped out of the car. Walking towards her, he closed the distance between them, standing only a breath away from her. Khushi tilted her head up slightly as he spoke to her. 

 

“Khushi, I had an awesome time with you. I’ll admit, I was a bit nervous as to whether or not w would be able to get into a comfortable flow, but we have and I… Well I just really enjoyed my time with you. You’re an amazing person and now I know for sure that I want to spend more time with you to get to know you better.”

“I feel the same way. I had a great time too. Thank you for tonight.”

 

Arnav stepped in closer, she hadn’t realised that he could get any closer but he did, and he gently placed a kiss on Khushi’s cheek. He didn’t let his lips linger for too long before he moved away and smiled. It was a gentle kiss, a friendly kiss almost. One that couldn’t cause offence, nor could be argued as being sexually fuelled. It was a light kiss, feather soft, if you blinked you wouldn’t have even felt it yet one could tell there was still so much meaning and longing in it. 

Stepping back, Arnav took Khushi’s hand one last time as he addressed her.

 

“It’s super late, you should get back. Text me when you get in so I know you got back safely?”

“I will. And thank you again for tonight, I had a really nice time.”

“It was my pleasure, thank you for accepting to come out with me and letting me have the honour of spending so much time with you.”

 

Smiling, Khushi said bye once more before turning her back to Arnav and slowly beginning to walk away.

 

“Khushi wait. I know you already know this and I hate that I am saying it again but please don’t tell anyone about us.”

“I won’t say anything, you don’t have to worry.”

“I’ll see you in lesson tomorrow.”

“Bye Arnav.”

 

Khushi walked back to her dormitory, a smile playing on her lips as she thought about the evening she had just had. She had hoped there wouldn’t be very many people left hanging out in the common room, but there was still lots of people around. Keeping her head down, she tried to walk past as briskly as possible so that no one stopped her and asked her anything, but to her misfortune, Nikhil was still in the common room and was now approaching her.

 

“You’re back?”

“Yes, I just got back. I see you are still here?”

“I was waiting to see when you got home, if you were okay… How come you’re so late?”

“Does it matter? It’s got nothing to do with you Nikhil. I appreciate your concern but it’s out of place. You have no right to ask me why I’m so late, nor am I your responsibility for you to check on if I am okay.”

“I know, I’m sorry. I have no right to question you or ask anything of you but I just…”

 

He paused and Khushi watched as he ran his hand through this hair.

 

“It’s just that I wanted to tell you that you look damn sexy. I’ve never seen you look so good and seeing you like this today… Kind of made me think that maybe… Can we try again?”

“Thank you for your compliment, I appreciate it. But Nikhil, we’re finished. You’ve moved on and now I’m doing the same. And quite frankly, I don’t want to even reconsider us getting back together because I know you are only feeling like this because you have seen me like this. Had you seen me as my normal self, you wouldn’t, even for a moment, think about getting back with me. So thank but no thanks, I don’t want to try again.”

“Khushi, give me another chance. I know I’ve been a dog, but now, I don’t know, I think it might still be ok with us. Yes, I will admit, seeing you like this is part of the reason why I am saying this, but at the same time, I’ve been thinking about you a lot since our last phone call. Hence why I came here today in the first place.”

“I’m sorry Nikhil. I know how hard it must be for you to say all of that, but I really think that I have moved on for good this time. At the end of the day it just won’t work between us. I’m still the same Khushi I was when you dumped me, I still don’t want physical intimacy and you do. Say we get back together, for a while you might think you are okay with it, but after a while we’ll start having the same issues we had before. You will want physical intimacy, you’ll want to hold me and kiss me and you know I don’t want that.”

“I swear, I’ll keep myself in check this time. I won’t pressure you, I won’t even bring it up.”

“I’m sorry Nikhil, I’ve moved on. I’m seeing someone else and I’m getting to know him and I think I really like him. And I think he is someone who genuinely likes me for who I am. It’s still early days but I doesn’t think he wants to be with me just because he wants to sleep with me.”

“How do you know that? Like you said, it’s early days. How can you assume that he doesn’t want to sleep with you or that he will be okay with you stopping any kind of physical intimacy between you guys?”

“Well I can’t tell of course, only time will tell. But at the same time, I think I am right about him because we’ve been in a hotel room most of the evening, on the same sofa, sitting only inches apart from each other, yet he didn’t touch me in any way. Not even an “accidental” brush of his hand on my knee. If he wanted to get intimate with me, he could have tried to make a move on me, but he didn’t.”

“Just because he didn’t once doesn’t mean he always won’t.”

“Well if he does, then that’s something between me and him, it has nothing to do with you. Now if you don’t mind, it’s late, I’m tired and La will be waiting for me. Bye Nikhil.”

“Khushi please! I want you back.”

“You’re only doing this because you’ve seen me dressed like this. You know it, you can’t resist a girl in red. Or a girl in a short dress.”

 

With that Khushi turned away and walked off towards her room before Nikhil could stop her or say anything more. The moment she got into their room, Lavanya rushed forwards.

 

“Tell me NOW! What happened! I was right wasn’t I, it was a date, and he is interested in you. TELL MEE!”

 

Feeling her cheeks heat up, Khushi kicked her shoes off.

 

“You were right. You were right about everything. He does like me and it was a date. He wants to get to know me more; he thinks we might be able to have something special between us!”

“What else did he say?”

“Just that he wants to keep seeing me so that we can work out if this is something that we both want.”

 

Khushi blushed and hugged Lavanya.

 

“Thank you so much for forcing me to go. I think I really like him!”

 

Unwanted ~ Part 43

Khushi

As Arnav explained to me what he planned to do, I couldn’t believe he was saying what he was saying. He wanted us to renew our wedding vows?

 

“I can’t believe you want to do this.”

“It just feels like something we need to do. Considering how we got married and our attitude towards marriage at the time, it just feels like this is something that we should do.”

“I mean, I want to do this, of course I would love to do this! I just can’t believe that you want to do this too.”

 

He took my hands into his own and he came in for a quick kiss.

 

“I would do anything to make you happy. I’m surprised you haven’t realised that yet.”

“I know it, but this is just… Besides, I am happy.”

“I know, but like I said, this is just something that I want to do. And I thought you would too.”

“I’m just a bit thrown that’s all. You went to speak to Di and you come back with this…”

 

He wrapped his arms around me and came in close to me.

 

“This is my priority. We are what matters. Me, you and Arushi. Everything else comes second. I made that clear to Di and now it’s on her to sort herself out before the function.”

“You actually said that to Di?”

 

I took a step back and looked up at him. I had feared that he would make things worse and perhaps he had.

He took me back into his arms and pulled me down so that we were sat on the edge of the bed.

 

“I asked Di what the issue was, and she said some things, I said some things… But what matters is that we both know where we stand with all the things that we discussed and all we can do is carry on acting normal and wait for her to get over her own personal issues.”

 

Everything that he was saying was going completely over my head. I didn’t understand what he was speaking about. I knew I should have questioned him, asked him to stop being so ambiguous, but I was tired and I didn’t have the willpower to deal with crap any more. I knew I should care more and I should want to know more about Di’s issues so that I can resolve them with her, but quite frankly, for once I want to put myself and my happiness above all. And right now that meant focusing on Arnav and our baby. Nothing else mattered.

 

“Arnav, I’m really tired, can we just leave all of this today and just get to sleep now.”

 

Nodding, he scooted back towards the middle of the bed, before extending his hand to me. Taking it, he lay back in bed and pulled me down beside him before covering us both with the blanket. Cuddling up, we let our minds rest and let sleep take over our bodies.

 

*****

 

The next morning, Arnav explained his idea of renewing our vows to the rest of the family and they were all thrilled by the idea. Nani needed the idea to be explained to her more than once because she couldn’t grasp why we would want to renew our vows and how it would be different from getting married again, but regardless, she liked the idea and she got on board too.

I noticed that Di didn’t speak much as we all started making plans for the renewal ceremony, but I could tell she wasn’t as detached from it all. She was paying attention and she was nodding along to the different ideas that were being presented. Maybe whatever had been said between her and Arnav were enough and maybe things would start to sort themselves now.

 

*****

 

A few days had passed since we had first put forward the idea of a renewal and things were now in full swing. We had set a date for the ceremony and we had decided that we were going to go for a more western style of a renewal with a priest officiating our vows. We decided that it wanted to be a small, low key, intimate affair with just our families because ultimately, this was for us. If we could do it where it was just the two of us, then that would have been ideal, but we knew that our families would be upset if we didn’t involve them.

When we had first mentioned it, everyone had started getting hyper about all the things that they wanted to do, and Mamiji had even started talking about getting custom outfits, but when we explained we wanted minimal fuss, all of that had gone away.

Arnav had bought me sari but he wasn’t allowing me to see it. I had hoped to get a peak at it, but he had already got it all wrapped up and seeing it would mean unwrapping it.

I had also decided that if he was going to buy me a sari for the occasion then I too would buy him a suit. It had taken me a while to decide if I wanted to get him a sherwani or a suit, but I quickly decided against the sherwani because this wasn’t a wedding. Jiji helped me pick one and it was to arrive in a few days.

 

In all the excitement of what we were going to do, at some point my attention had been slightly diverted from Arushi. When I realised that I wasn’t giving her as much attention as before, I felt horrible about it. As a mother, my first priority should always be my child and I hadn’t been doing that.

After dinner that evening, when I went up with Arushi to put her to bed, I realised that I really needed to speak to her about how she was finding it here, because it wasn’t really a conversation that we had had yet.

Tucking Arushi up, I got into bed with her and took my little girl into my arms.

 

“Ari, tell mama, how are you finding it here. I realised we haven’t really had much time together since we got here.”

 

She looked up at me and smiled.

 

“I like it here.”

“Do you miss our old home?”

“Sometimes. I miss Raj pa… I mean Raj uncle a lot.”

 

I noted how she had almost referred to Raj as ‘papa’ but had stopped herself. It was something which Raj and I had both told her once Arnav had come back into our lives, but it was still something that was taking time for her to get used to. Arnav had said that he didn’t mind if Arushi referred to Raj as papa because he had been there for her entire life and he had been her father figure so it was understandable, but I had seen how Arnav had reacted when Ari had called Raj ‘papa’ in front of him and I knew it was something that needed changing. I didn’t really have to condition her to change how she addressed Raj, it started happening on it’s own accord any way.

 

“I miss him and Veera mausi too. But we’re here now and they are over there so we need to start getting used to not seeing them all the time.”

“Do you think we can go and see them one day?”

 

I thought for a moment. I was really missing them too but I didn’t see how we could go and see them any time soon. There was just so much going on for us that we didn’t really have the time to drop everything and take a trip to Mumbai. And Arnav was back at work full time and I don’t think he would be able to take time off to go with us.

It was then that I had a smart idea.

 

“How about we invite them to come here for the function that we are having? Would you like that?”

 

Arushi’s little face lit up as she took in what I had said.

 

“Yes please! Please tell them to come, I really want them to come.”

“Okay, I will call them tomorrow and see what they say.”

“Please tell them that I really really want them to come.”

“I will don’t worry.”

 

I watched as my little girl snuggled down into bed and it didn’t take her long before she drifted off to sleep. Making sure she was asleep, i got up and made my way back to our bedroom where Arnav was sat on his laptop.

Closing the door, I came over and sat beside him on the bed.

 

“Is Aru asleep?”

“Yeah she’s just drifted off.”

“That’s good, let me just finish the slide that I am working on and then we can get into bed.”

 

Nodding, I decided that while he finished up working, I would take the time to go to the bathroom and get ready for bed.

When I came out of the bathroom, Arnav had packed his things away and was waiting for me to get out of the bathroom so that he could go in.

Finally he came out of the bathroom and got into bed beside me, and wrapped his arm around me.

 

“So how has your day been?”

“It’s been good. Jiji and I went out today and bought Arushi’s new uniform and we also looked at a few things for the renewal but other than that it was a pretty basic day, how about you?”

“It was a pretty decent day at work, I got quite a lot of work done. Khushi, I was thinking maybe we should go on a second honeymoon after the renewal. Just me and you. I did put the idea to Akash and he said he wouldn’t mind him and Payal keeping an eye on Arushi for us. But it would have to be a short trip.”

 

I moved away from him slightly and looked up at him.

 

“I don’t know Arnav, I can’t really imagine leaving Arushi at all. I mean when we go out for a few hours in the evening, that’s different, but I can’t really imagine leaving her for a few days.”

“We could take her but in a way it would be as though we were still here, we would still be full time parents.”

“Because we are parents. Being a parent isn’t a part time job that you can just drop whenever you feel like it.”

“I know, that’s not what I meant. I just mean, if we take Ari, we won’t be able to spend ‘quality time’ together.”

 

He smirked as he ran his hand along my arm and I knew exactly what he was talking about. I felt myself melt under his touch as he pulled me closer to himself, his hands moving over my body as his lips found my neck. I turned into his, wrapping my arms around him as he continued to kiss my neck, my hands running over his chest, still covered by his t-shirt.

This was nice, this was what I missed the most when I was away from him. I missed the feel of his hands on me, his lips on my sensitive skin, it was all of this that I missed. I felt his hands slip under my nightdress and close in on my chest when I remembered that I needed to speak to him about something. Gently pushing his hand away, I moved away from him slightly.

He looked up at me, confused that I stopped what was happening between us.

 

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong, I just needed to talk to you about something before we got distracted.”

“What is it?”

 

A look of concern had taken over.

 

“It’s just Arushi is missing Raj a lot, and she was asking if we could go see him. But I know you’re busy with work and we don’t really have the time to take a trip to see them. So I was wondering… Do you think… I was thinking maybe we could invite them to come to the renewal too. That way Arushi would be able to spend some time with Raj and Veera Mausi would be able to meet everyone.”

 

Arnav thought for a moment, and I was really worried that he would say now, but he simply smiled.

 

“I think that’s a brilliant idea. I think you should definitely invite them. Like you said it is something that Ari needs, but I also think everyone here would love to meet them too. Ari speaks so much about Raj and you so much about Veera Mausi, I think everyone would love to meet them and spend some time with them. I think you should definitely invite them. In fact, if you don’t mind, do you think I could invite them?”

 

I had been worried that Arnav wouldn’t be comfortable with the idea but here he was more than accommodating.

 

“Yeah! Sure! Of course you can call them first. I think you should call maybe Raj and I will call Veera Mausi so they both realise that we want them here.”

“Okay it’s a plan. We’ll call them tomorrow morning. Now if you don’t mind, could we go back to doing what we were doing before you stopped us.”

 

I faked rolling my eyes as he came back towards me, his lips finding my neck as his hands found the hem of my clothes…

 

*****

 

The next morning, the first thing we did was call Raj and Veera Mausi. Arnav called Raj first and after he spoke to him, he handed the phone over to me so that I could speak. We had a short conversation because it didn’t take him much persuasion. He said how he was planning on inviting us back to Mumbai soon anyway because he was missing having Arushi in the house. So he was more than happy to come down and be a part of the celebration.

Once we got off the phone with Raj, we called Veera Mausi. She started the conversation by saying that there was no need for us to call her and Raj separately, we were family and there was no need for so much formality. But she expressed her appreciation that we called to invite her personally.

Concluding the call we hung up and went to tell Shyam jijaji to add Raj and Veera Mausi to the guest list. He had kindly taken responsibility for the guest list and the catering for the event.

As we approached their bedroom, Di came out of her room and looked at us. I was worried she would give me the cold shoulder as she had been doing all these day, but I was surprised when she gave me and Arnav a little smile before carrying on. This threw the both of us because I don’t think either of us had been expecting her to react like that just yet, but I was grateful regardless.

 

*****

 

Days passed and things between me and Di were getting better. It started with her just giving me little smiles every now and again, then she started helping out when she could see I was trying to do something but Aru wasn’t letting me and now she had even started to make small talk with me again.

Arnav was pleased to see the change but we both decided that it would be better if we just went with the flow as opposed to question the change. The last thing we wanted to do was make Di feel uncomfortable.

I was just glad that things were slotting back into place and that too just in time for our renewal ceremony. Everything was going great and I finally was really starting to look forward to it. Our whole family was finally coming back together as it had been once before.