He’s Amazing ~ Part 22 {Reloaded}

The afternoon of the engagement had finally arrived and the make up artist had arrived and was getting Lavanya ready. Khushi had insisted that Lavanya should get ready before her, after all she was the brides’ sister, and she too had to be looking beyond beautiful. Lavanya was dressed in a light blue lengha that she had picked when they had been wedding shopping. Once Lavanya was ready, the make up artist diverted her attention to Khushi and began working her magic. An hour later, Khushi was ready.

“So, how do I look? Okay or should we change anything?”

“You look beyond perfect Khushi, Arnav is going to faint when he sees you.”

“Let’s hope he doesn’t get knocked out for too long otherwise I won’t be able to get engaged.”

Lavanya shook her head as she laughed before turning her attention to the mirror and fixed her dupatta.

“You know Khushi, not to toot my own horn but I think I’m looking hotter than you.”

Khushi knew that La was joking and decided to play along.

“Well that won’t do. I’m the bride and this is my engagement, I need to look better than you.”

“But I’m your bridesmaid. And you know Khushi, the bridesmaid is far more important than the bride.”

“Where did you get that idea from.”

“Well think about it, you already have a man, so realistically no one is going to care what you look like, but me and the rest of your friends are unmarried. Who knows which mysterious hunk is going to take a liking to us.”

“You mean which aunty is going to take a liking to you and approach you for your hand for their son.”

Lavanya gave Khushi a playful shove.

“Well whatever it is, the bottom line is that it is vital for me to look better than you today.”

“Fine, fine, you’re more important and you look better than me! I don’t really care; all I care about is that I get engaged to my prince!”

“Someone’s getting impatient now isn’t she!”

Khushi looked away, blushing. She was impatient. Impatient to see Arnav, impatient to have a ring on her finger, impatient to become his. Before she could respond to what Lavanya was saying, there was a knock at the door and Lavanya went to see who it was. There was a squeal of delight and then Lavanya ushered the other person into the room. Sia practically ran into the room and rushed to hug Khushi. Khushi jumped to her feet, completely surprised to see her friend.

“Oh my god, what are you doing here?”

“You may have been trying to keep your marriage quiet, but La told me about everything and I came running here. Did you honestly think I’d miss by best friend and my LECTURERS wedding? No way!”

“I’m so glad you came! I’m sorry I didn’t tell you myself. Everything has been happening so fast, I’ve been trying to get every in order while trying to comprehend what’s actually happening. It’s all just overwhelming.”

“I understand and don’t worry, I’m not upset or anything that you didn’t tell me. La explained everything to me, so I get it. But I’m so glad that La did tell me because it would’ve sucked if I missed this! By the way, I hope you don’t mind, mom wanted to join me, so she’s here too! It’s been a while since I’ve had any really good friends so she really wanted to meet you and La.”

“That’s not a problem at all, I’m glad she’s here, I’d love to meet her too!”

There was another knock at the door and Lavanya went to the door to check who it was. Khushi heard another squeal from the doorway before Lavanya came back with the guest. Aayaan walked into the room with a huge bunch of white roses and handed them to Khushi.

“Hi!”

“Oh my god, Aayaan, hi!”

“Lavanya and I have been in contact and she told me that you were getting engaged and invited me, I hope you don’t mind.”

“No of course not! I’m so glad that you were able to come! But I though you were going back to London?”

“I was going to, but 2 days before getting on a plane to go back, my girlfriend dumped me, so I decided to stay back to spend time with family.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s ok, I guess she wasn’t the one.”

Sia, who had been paying close attention to the new arrival, was trying to work out exactly who this was but was unable to make any sense of the situation and interaction. As Aayaan turned his attention to speak to Lavanya, Sia gave Khushi a little tap before whispering to her.

“Who is this Khushi?”

“Oh, this is Aayaan, my ex-fiancé!”

“Oh right!”

When Aayaan turned back to Khushi and Sia, Sia smiled to him and held out her hand.

“Hi, I’m Khushi’s friend, Sia.”

“Nice to meet you.”

Khushi watched the interaction closely and from the way Sia was smiling, Khushi could tell that Sia was attracted to Aayaan. She watched as Aayaan and Sia looked at each other shyly, before Aayaan came back to his full senses and turned back to Khushi.

“Ok anyway, I’m off Khushi, got to see Arnav and say hi before the rest of the guests arrive and everything gets hectic.”

“Has he arrived?”

“Yeah! His car was pulling up just as I got in.”

Lavanya and Sia gasped and rushed out of the room. Aayaan said bye, that he would see her again soon downstairs and then left. Before Khushi could actually realised that she was alone, her phone began to rang and she answered it.

“Hi babe.”

“Oh, Arnav, hey!”

“You ready, can’t see you yet, why are you hiding from me?”

“No one’s come and brought me downstairs yet. We hadn’t even realised that you had arrived.”

“We got here a little while ago, but I was greeting everyone first. I’ve finally got a moment alone so I thought I would call you. Are you alone?”

“Yeah, Lavanya and Sia have gone down to see you.”

“Oh, does that mean I can come up and we can have a round!”

“Arnav! What is with you is that all you can think about?”

“Well it’s not my fault that my girlfriend is damn hot and a right temptress!”

“I am not a temptress!”

“Yeah you are.”

Khushi laughed as she shook her head. She knew she could carry on arguing with him about it but decided to drop it and actually talk about something important.

“Arnav, is there a lot of people downstairs? I can hear people but I can’t tell how many people there are.”

“There is a fair amount of people here. But I don’t think everyone is here yet. I just heard you aunt saying that your family from Mumbai haven’t arrived yet and I know that some of our family are arriving within the next few minutes.”

“I feel so nervous, I mean, there’s so many people and they’re all going to be watching us and… I just feel so nervous. Your family and mine are all there… What if your family don’t like me?”

“You already know my family like you. As for my extended family, we hardly see any of them any way so it doesn’t even matter what they think. And yeah there are a lot of people are here, but babe, the only people that matter are me and you. Don’t even think about anyone else. Just think about me and the fact that I am going to be by your side very soon.”

“How do you always know how to make me feel better?”

“It’s my job to make sure I know how to calm you, and I promise, I’ll always make sure that I am able to cater to all your needs. Any way, as much as I’d love to carry this conversation on, I can see you two sidekicks approaching me.”

“You should put the phone down before they start teasing you in front of everyone.”

“Come down soon, I can’t wait to see you.”

“I think they’ll call me down very soon. So I’ll see you very soon.”

“I love you Khushi.”

“I love you too.”

As Khushi disconnected the call, she knew that she had the largest smile on her face and she knew that it wasn’t about to leave her any time soon…

*****

After what felt like forever to Khushi, Lavanya and her cousin Priya finally came up and told Khushi that it was time for her to go downstairs. Priya looked to Khushi and hugged her tightly.

“All the best Di, you look amazing! Jiju’s going to fall for you all over again!”

“Thanks Priya. Are you sure I look ok?”

“You look amazing and that colour suits you so well!”

Khushi looked at herself in the mirror and realised that Priya wasn’t lying, midnight blue looked amazing on her. She looked at her empty ring finger and smiled.

Lavanya noticed this and nudged her.

“Only a little while longer and that finger will have a gorgeous ring on it.”

Khushi smiled and thoughts of Arnav rushed through her mind. It still seemed so surreal that she was about to get engaged to Arnav. That her crush on him had brought them here already. Khushi stopped herself from reminiscing over their entire relationship because she knew that if she started going down that rabbit hole, she wouldn’t be able to bring herself back out of it.

She turned her attention to Lavanya and Priya, gesturing to them that she was ready to go down. Each sister took one arm carefully and guided Khushi down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs, they were met by Shashi and Garima who took over from the girls. They walked Khushi over to the stage like area where Arnav was already sitting down, waiting for her. He smiled up at Khushi, who gave him a small smile as she blushed.

Once Khushi was seated, the elders announced that it was time for the ceremony to begin. The whole thing happened so fast and Khushi felt like she couldn’t quite focus on anything. All she really could pay attention to was when Anjali passed Arnav the ring and he slipped it onto her finger. She looked at it and really took it in. She had wanted to see it before, but Arnav had refused to show her, stating that he wanted it to be a surprise for the day. Now that she was looking at it, she couldn’t take her eyes off the huge diamond that was set in the middle of the ring with a few smaller ones set around it. It was gorgeous and it sparkled at the slightest of movements. It caught the light and she could see just how clear the diamond was and she knew that it was by far one of the most expensive rings she had ever laid her eyes on and now it was on her finger, hers, binding her to the man she loved.

Lavanya came forward and handed Khushi Arnav’s ring. Arnav extended his hand and she slipped it on, meeting his eyes briefly before looking down once more.

Everyone cheered and clapped for the new couple.

Arnav took Khushi hand and placed a gentle kiss just over the ring which led their guests to coo at their cuteness.

Ring exchange done, the guests came to greet the couple before turning away from them as the food was served. When everyone was busy eating, and no one was really paying attention to the newly engaged couple, Arnav took Khushi’s hand and pulled her up the stairs.

“Hey! What are you doing, where are we going?”

“I’m clearly taking you upstairs.”

“You know this is my house!”

“And I am the son in law; I have every right to go where ever I want! And right now, I want to go upstairs so that I can spend some time alone with my fiancé.”

Khushi laughed and shook her head. He was hopeless but she wasn’t about to object to his plan either, she wanted to spend some time alone with him too but she knew that they couldn’t go to her bedroom, that would be the first place that anyone would come to find them. She thought about it for a moment and then pointed towards the guest room and said they should go in there. Arnav pushed the door open and pulled Khushi in. But before they could actually settle down and enjoy their moment alone, they realised that they weren’t actually alone.

Lavanya and NK jerked apart, clearly startled.

“What the!”

“Nanav?”

“Khushi!”

“Lavanya?”

“What the hell is going on here?”

“Nanav, allow me to explain. Lavanya and I… Well… We recently started dating. We met and there was definitely something between us and then during this time of planning your wedding, we realised that we were really fond of each other and we just…”

“WHAT!”

Khushi looked between Arnav and Lavanya and NK, unable to respond. She didn’t know what to say or think. On one hand she was so happy that La had found someone that she had liked, but at the same time she was so mad that La had hidden this from her. How could she not tell her something so huge? Especially when the person in question was her brother-in-law to be.

“Khushi I should have told you, but I felt so shy. how could I tell you that I was seeing your to be brother in law?”

“How long have you been… How long have you actually had feelings for one another?”

“Well, Khushi, er, we’ve known that we’ve had feelings for each other for a while. Maybe since just after Nanav’s birthday. But nothing actually happened between us until a few weeks ago.”

“You have to be joking! NK you didn’t tell me anything either!”

“Nanav, I was going to, but then all this started happening and you got busy…”

“Ok, ok, fine. This isn’t over, we all have to discuss this at a later time, but right now, I want to spend some time with my fiancé!”

Lavanya and NK left the room and Arnav shut the door behind them. He wanted to talk to Khushi about what they just witnessed but at the same time he just wanted to make the most of being alone with her. Pushing all thought of La and NK away, he pulled Khushi against himself and kissed her neck.

“Arnavvv…”

“Hmmm?”

He continued to kiss her neck as she tangled her hands into his hair, pulling him closer to herself. Moving up from her neck, he took her lips between his and kissed her. Khushi held onto Arnav, fearing that her legs would give way under the intensity of their kiss. They continued kissing for a while, but finally pulled away, in desperate need of air.

“God, I cant imagine how I’m going to live until the wedding.”

“I’m sure you’ll manage.”

“What if I sneak in in the middle of the night?”

Arnav wiggled his eyebrows at Khushi and kissed her once more before letting her go. Sorting his hair out, he realised that they should get back downstairs before people started to realise that they were missing. As they made their way back down, Khushi couldn’t help but smile at the thought of him sneaking into her room in the middle of the night. She knew it couldn’t happen, but she knew that she wanted it to happen. Maybe they would be able to pull it off… Just maybe.

*****

Author’s note:

Hi guys! So as you can see, this update is actually a week (?) late and I am posting it on the wrong day. It is because, as I started in my previous note, I had been busy with work and studies and didn’t have time to write and edit and it had a knock on affect on this story as well. I still have not had the time to finish writing the next chapter of ‘Wilted Heart’ so that will not be up on Sunday, but I will try my very best to have it up for next Sunday.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed this and I will make sure that the next chapter of this story is uploaded on time and on it’s scheduled day of Friday.

He’s Amazing ~ Part 21 {Reloaded}

Khushi woke up the next morning with a aching head. She wasn’t used to not sleeping in her own bed, and it was because of that that she struggled to get to sleep last night. That and the fact that images of naked Arnav kept coming back to her. Getting out of bed, she made her way back to her own room and found that Lavanya was already dressed and ready to go downstairs. Turning her attention to Khushi, La raised her eyebrow and gave Khushi a suggestive smirk.

“So?”

“What?”

“What happened?”

“Nothing, we were just talking.”

“Then why did you have to go?”

“Privacy! Is it a crime to want to speak to my fiancé in private?”

“Ok, okay, I believe you. Any way, Anjali just called, you have to get ready, we’re all going out so that you can choose your outfits!”

“Really?”

“Yeah, we’re going somewhere where they sell all exclusive stuff designed by AR.”

Khushi rushed into the shower and showered in record time before rushing out and getting dressed. Once Khushi was ready, she and Lavanya both rushed downstairs and sat down for breakfast. Garima laughed as she watched her daughters wolf down their food. They had barely finished their food when there was a knock at the door. Khushi looked to Garima who gestured for Khushi to go and open it and so she rushed to the door and threw it open to reveal Arnav standing before her.

“Hey babe.”

Khushi felt breathless as she took him in. He looked absolutely normal, the way he did every day, but there was something about him, something that was knocking the air out of her lungs.

“Hi. You coming in?”

“Yeah, why not. Are you and Lavanya ready to go.”

Khushi nodded as Arnav followed her inside and greeted the Kashyap’s individually.

“Would you like to join us for some breakfast?”

“Maybe another time Aunty. I’ve already eaten and we actually have to leave any way as we don’t have a lot of time.”

Arnav made small talk with the Kashyap’s as Lavanya and Khushi finished up with their food, grabbed their bags, hugged their parents and then left. The other Raizada’s were standing outside the car and smiled upon seeing Khushi. Khushi hugged Anjali and Payal and greeted Akaash, Nk and Shyam. Getting into the car, Lavanya was seated next to NK and Khushi looked to sit next to La at the back and noticed there wasn’t space for her.

“Khushi, sit at the front with chote.”

Khushi hesitated for a moment and then nodded. It felt a little strange, her getting to sit up front with Arnav when there were people older than her and much larger than her having to crush together in the back, but she didn’t verbalise her concerns. She sat next to Arnav who smiled at her but say anything more. Once everyone was settled, Arnav started the car and they were off.

Everyone made small talk with one another. Anjali informed Khushi about what was happening at the Raizada camp. She told Khushi that Arnav had wanted to get all Khushi’s outfits designed specially for her, but their simply wasn’t enough time to do so. But her wedding lengha would be designed especially for her. Khushi smiled as she turned to Arnav, but one look at him, and she could sense that something was wrong. She wanted to take his hand into her own and ask him what the matter was, but she just didn’t feel comfortable to do that in front of everyone just yet. She made a mental note to herself to speak to him as soon as they got a moment to themselves.

Before Khushi could think about it any more, Arnav stopped the car and told everyone that they had arrived. Khushi looked at the grand looking shop that was named ‘AR Boutique.’ Getting out of the car, they entered the shop. The assistant came rushing forward and shook everyone’s hand.

“Sir, is everything ok? You could have told us to come to you if you wanted to see us!”

“Relax, we just thought it was a better idea for us to come down here instead of asking you guys to bring all the stock to us. Now take the ladies and show them the best and most exclusive stuff.”

Lavanya, Payal, Anjali and Khushi followed an assistant who led them over to a rail of some of the newest pieces that they had to offer. After filtering through the first rail, they moved over to the next and then the next and then the next. Once they were done with all the rails, Anjali requested the assistant to show them the catalogues of the other designs, the ones that weren’t on display but were available in the stock rooms. Arnav watched as the ladies looked at dress after dress and made their selections. He turned his attention to the manager of the store.

“Whatever they choose, write down how much they’re on sale for and you will receive the money as bonuses.”

“But sir… The money is supposed to go to you and the company!”

“I know, but it’s my wedding and as a way to celebrate, I would like to give you guys these bonuses. Besides, a few dresses wont make a loss for me and my company, but I know how much of a difference it will make for all of you. I keep all my workers in mind, you know that.”

“Thank you sir, thank you so much, you’re right, these bonuses will make a huge difference to us. Thank you…”

“You’re very welcome. Also, I forgot to say, you are all welcome to attend to my wedding next week.”

Many hours later and after many outfit changes, the outfits were chosen and everyone was happy with their selections, but Khushi’s selection still wasn’t done. No matter how many outfits she picked, Arnav and Anjali found some fault with it because they just felt that there was definitely something better out there for her, something that fitted and complimented her figure better. After a long time, she finally had a selection of outfits that she and everyone else was content with. They had finalised a midnight blue lengha for the engagement, a baby pink one for the sangeet, a heavy green anarkali dress for the mehendi and a simple yellow dress for the haaldi. They had also set aside a white sari for the cocktail party and a black sari for the reception, but Arnav was not 100% with them and had said that he would send her over a few pieces from the newest collection that had not yet been released.

Everyone was sitting around waiting for Khushi to take off her last dress. There was a knock at the door but before she could say anything, the door flew open and Arnav came in. He locked the door to the little cubical and stared at his Khushi, who was standing in front of in her underwear.

“Arnav what are you doing, I was coming out! And what will…”

Before she could finish what she was saying, he pressed himself up against her and kissed her. Though momentarily shocked, Khushi found herself letting her hands find their way around his neck and pulling him closer to herself. Arnav ran his hands along her body, going from her neck to her waste and then resting on her back. They carried on for a while before he finally broke the kissing, desperately needing air.

“God, I need you so badly, last night was such a bad idea!”

He took off his jacket and shirt and threw it aside, making Khushi gasp.

“What are you doing? We can’t… What if someone comes?”

“Finishing what we started last night. And they won’t come, they’re all distracted.”

He moved back into her, taking his lips between hers once more as he unclipped her bra and threw it aside. he felt Khushi gasp against his lips, but she didn’t pull away, nor did she protest. He pulled away from her once more as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small foiled packet. Khushi gasped and jumped a little further away from him.

“Not here!”

“We have to! You don’t understand how desperate I am for you. But if you really don’t want to then I understand.”

Khushi thought about it for a moment and knew that she should say that they should wait until they were in a better place, but she could understand his desperation and she was feeling the same way. Last night had been a bad idea and it had left him wanting him to badly. Wrapping her arms around his neck once more, she pulled himself towards herself.

“Let’s do this, but we have to be quick, I don’t want anyone to come looking for us.”

Nodding, Arnav pushed away his trousers and boxers and then pulled her panties away. He touched her intimately and smiled upon realising that she was so ready for him.

Taking her lips, he pushed Khushi up against the wall and then lifted her slightly.

“Wrap your legs around me.”

Khushi giggled and complied.

“It won’t work!”

“We can try though.”

And with that, he joined their bodies in the most intimate manner and Khushi gasped out loud. She had thought it wouldn’t work, but it did, and something about the way and the situation just heightened the entire sensation. Once they were done, he slowly let her down and he let himself slid down on to the floor, gasping for air. Khushi grabbed her underwear and quickly put it back on before sitting down beside him.

“God, I don’t like quickies as all. Before you can enjoy it, its over.”

Khushi laughed as she pecked his lips.

“This is why I say that we should wait. Then we can enjoy each other in peace. And besides, you know how I feel about sex before marriage.”

“I know babe and I have been trying my best, but the sexual tension you know, I couldn’t hold it.”

“Well I hope your satisfied now, because the next time we do it will be on honeymoon. I won’t let you suck me in again.”

“Wait, why our honeymoon, what about our suhaag raat?”

“This counted as that.”

Before Arnav could protest, Khushi quickly pulled her clothes back on and ran away, laughing to herself.

*****

Clothes shopping done, the Raizada men, except Arnav, had all decided that they were going to go and check out suits someplace else, while Arnav was left to drive the ladies around. It was when they had decided that they were going to make their way home, that Khushi realised that there was something she needed to do still. She asked Arnav to drop them off at the local mall.

“Are you guys sure you want us to drop you off here?”

“Yes di. We don’t have time left and I need to buy some stuff.”

“Khushi, would you like me to join you?”

“NO! Arnav it’s fine!”

“Touchy, why don’t you want want me to go shopping with you?”

Khushi looked to the rest of the Raizada’s and gave them a sheepish smile. Anjali realised what Khushi was trying to say and stepped in to help her.

“Chote, I think she wants to go shopping for some personal items. Stop being so needy. I’m sure you’ll enjoy her purchases after marriage any way.”

Khushi blushed and the rest of the group laughed.

“Ok, jokes aside, Khushi, Lavanya we will see you tomorrow for the engagement. Enjoy your shopping!”

Everyone said bye to Lavanya and Khushi as they got out of their car and then made their way into the mall.

“So what do you need to buy?”

“I need sexy nightdresses and lingerie.”

“Oh! I totally forgot about that! Come on, let’s go!”

Lavanya took Khushi’s hand and they dodged around the crowds as they hurried towards the store that Lavanya wanted to take Khushi to. They then stopped in one of the largest and best lingerie shops around.

They walked in and looked around at all the masses and masses of items that they had. An assistant walked up to them and asked how she could help.

“Well my sister’s getting married, so she wants some utterly sexy pieces so that he husband goes mental over her.”

“Ah, right, we have the perfect stuff then!”

She led them to a different part of the store and showed them a huge range.

“This is our hottest and latest range, perfect for a new bride.”

“Thanks, we’ll call if we need any more help.”

The assistant walked away and Lavanya looked at the shelves.

“Go on, you should be looking!”

Khushi looked and picked up a few pieces. After a while she showed Lavanya what she had chosen.

“Are they the only ones you like?”

“No there’s more, but I think that I’ve already gone overboard.”

“Khushi, you’re getting married! You need lots and lots of sexy pieces so that you can drive Arnav crazy every single time. Besides, underwear is actually a really big factor for guys and has a huge impact on their sex drive. So buy loads of nice ones and dazzle him every time!”

“God, you’re so embarrassing La!”

Khushi chose a few more and then selected a few nightdresses as well. When Khushi was content with her purchases, they paid and decided to go and grab something to eat. It was while they were having their very late lunch that Arnav called.

“Hey!”

“So what did you buy?”

“Nothing much.”

“Anything that will turn me on?”

“It’s a secret, I can’t tell you!”

“Okay fine, I’ll let you keep your secret for now. Anyway, I was just calling to thank you for our encounter in the changing room. I really needed that!”

“I did too. And you don’t need to thank me. Your pleasure is my responsibility, so I am happy to oblige.”

“Does that mean we can have another round soon, preferably before the wedding.”

Khushi knew he was smirking, she could literally hear it in his voice.

“There are some terms and conditions and I have made it clear to you what one of the main ones is.”

“So if we can’t do that again, do you think we can have another web cam round tonight?”

“NO!”

Khuhsi heard him laugh and she smiled to herself as they concluded the call and she hung up on him. He was a crazy one, but he was her crazy one and she couldn’t want to spend the rest of her life with him.

Wilted Heart ~ Part 5

 

Khushi had been at her maternal place for 5 days and she had been calling Arnav regularly but he wasn’t picking up her calls, nor was he replaying to any of her text messages. She knew something was very off but she couldn’t work out what the matter was. But she knew that they would be able to work it out and things would be fine when she got back home. It was then the courier came through…

 

“Khushi bitya, there’s a letter here for you, a big one.”

 

Looking at Payal, Khushi was confused. She had changed her address for most things, and very rarely did any post come for her here. Regardless, she got to her feet and went to her father who was holding the large envelope. Taking it off him, she made her way back to her bedroom and opened it.

As Khushi pulled out the papers and started reading through, she couldn’t believe what she was reading. How was this real? How could this actually be happening. Feeling her legs give way, Khushi crumbled to the bed, tears pricking her eyes.

Divorce papers…

 

*****

 

The day passed excruciatingly slowly and Khushi was still in disbelief that this was actually happening. She knew there was something wrong between them but she had never thought that the issues were that deep that he would want a divorce. Heck, she didn’t even know what the issues were. She had tried to call him, but each time his phone either went to voicemail or he rejected the call. She had left a multitude of messages too, asking him to call her back or to answer her calls. She knew she had to speak to him properly before doing anything else.

The days passed by and he didn’t get back to her.

Khushi felt confused and broken. She couldn’t understand why this was happening, everything had been going great between them. Then why all of a sudden… It just didn’t make sense.

The days passed on by, and Khushi was feeling more and more disheartened. He wasn’t calling her back, he wasn’t replying to her messages, he wasn’t taking her calls. She didn’t know what to do. As Khushi lay in bed, crying over it all, her phone started ringing and she jumped to answer it. It must be Arnav. Only he would get back to her at this hour, Without even checking her caller ID, she took the call.

 

“Arnav, finally. I’ve been calling you for days, why haven’t you been taking my calls I…”

“Khushi it’s me, Manav…”

 

Falling silent, Khushi removed the phone from her ear and looked at the caller ID. Indeed it was Manav calling. Sighing, she composed herself before speaking.

 

“Manav I told you I don’t have anything to say to you, please stop contacting me.”

“Can I meet you?”

“No. I have enough on my plate right now. I cannot be dealing with you on top of that.”

“Is everything okay? What’s going on?”

“I really have to go.”

 

Disconnecting the call, Khushi threw her phone aside and buried her face into her pillow. She hadn’t yet told anyone about the divorce papers but she wasn’t sure how much longer she could hide it for. Curling up into a ball, Khushi tucked a photo of Arnav into her chest and let sleep take over.

 

*****

 

Early the next morning, Khushi was awoken by her phone ringing. Looking at the clock, she was confused to see that it was only 5am. Who would call her so early in the…

Arnav? Picking her phone up, her suspicion was correct when she saw his picture and name flash up on her phone. She answered the call.

 

“What the hell Arnav, I’ve been calling you for days and now you…”

“Nani has been put on a ventilator and we think you should be here. Doctors are saying… They’re saying this is it.”

 

All other thoughts left Khushi’s mind as she jumped out of bed.

 

“I’ll be there in a bit.”

“I’ve already sent a car for you. It should be there soon if it’s not already there.”

“I’ll see you in a bit. And Arnav, stay strong, Nani will be fine, I’m coming.”

 

She disconnected the call and began rushing around to get dressed.

Over at Raizada house, Arnav put his phone back into his pocket and exhaled. He hadn’t even realised he’d been holding his breath but he had. After days of putting distance between himself and Khushi, he now had to call her back himself. But he knew it needed to be done. He’d never be able to live with himself in something happened to Nani and she wasn’t here. Regardless of their issues, she needed to be here for the sake of Nani.

Leaving his bedroom, he went back to nanis room. The doctors were still attending to her and the rest of the family were waiting outside, but they all knew that the time had come when they would have to say goodbye to Nani. Her health had been deteriorating again for days and it just felt like the end this time.

Arnav was glad that he hadn’t mentioned getting a divorce from Khushi yet. If they did lose Nani, he didn’t want her to know that this was happening.

Half an hour later, the doorbell rang and Hari Prakash went to open the door. Arnav braved himself. This was it. She would be back and she would have so many questions for him. Arnav heard Hari Prakash greet Khushi and then heard him tell her that they were all upstairs. He heard her shoes before he saw her, but there she was. She looked tired, the bags under her eyes darker than he had ever seen them, and the moment she saw him, he saw the tears that welled up in her eyes. Before he could move though, Anjali noticed Khushi and ran to her, giving her a tight hug.

 

“Thank goodness you’re here.”

“Of course Di. There was one where else I would rather be. How is Nani?”

Anjali broke the hug and took a step back from Khushi.

“She’s not good. They’re saying she has very little time left. A few hours at the most.”

 

Anjali broke down and Shyam came and gathered her into his arms and walked away with her. The tears Khushi had been holding back fell as she slowly approached Arnav. He knew he should’ve stood his ground and kept his distance, but seeing her, knowing what was happening to Nani, he felt weak. Before she could reach him, he walked right up to her, holding his arms out to her and then crumbling in her arms.

 

“Thank you for coming.”

 

His legs gave out and he fell to his knees. Kneeling down with him, Khushi took him into her arms as he broke down. She stroked his hair a she finally let out all the tears that he had been holding back. Most of them were for Nani, but some of them were for him, for them.  This was all he wanted, to stay in her arms but he knew this was a short lived reality. Soon they would part ways and her arms would be for someone else again. Perhaps her arms were never for him any way. He was running on borrowed time and now all that time had come to and end.

Helping Arnav to his feet, Khushi guided him over to the sofa and sat him down. She then rushed to their bedroom and got him a class of water. If she hadn’t been in a rush to her back to him, she would have realised that he had her picture on his bedside and that in bed was one of her favourite pyjama tops.

Holding the glass for him, Khushi told Arnav to drink and he did so obediently. Putting the glass down, she sat down beside him, taking his hands into her own.

 

“You need to be strong Arnav. I know how hard that is for you, but if anything happens to Nani, everyone is going to need you to be their rock. You can’t let yourself become weak like this.”

 

Nodding, Arnav wipes away his tears and turned to Khushi.

 

“Thanks for coming.”

“You don’t have to thank me. Regardless of what’s happening between us, this family is as much mine as it is yours.”

“I appreciate that.”

“But Arnav, we do need to speak at some point.”

“I know, and we will but…”

 

Before he could finish his sentence though, Mama ji and Mami ji came out of Nani’s room, head down, tears streaming down their faces.

 

“She’s gone.”

 

*****

 

That night was one of the longest nights of their lives. It passed by in a blur for Arnav, but Khushi was fully aware of everything that was going on and made it her responsibility to stay strong for everyone else.

Preparations for the funeral began and Khushi watched as Arnav made all the necessary arrangements with a heavy heart. As night fell she became acutely aware of the fact that she didn’t know what she was meant to do now. If she went home, it would look bad with everyone else, but she didn’t know if she was welcome to stay. Arnav had been civil with her, but she could tell he was still keeping his distance as much as he could.

At the end of the night, Khushi entered their bedroom and found Arnav slumped on his recliner, fresh tears steaming down his face. Tentatively she went and sat down beside him and placed a hand on his thigh. Brushing her off, he stood up, wiping his eyes.

 

“I can’t… I can’t deal with this, us, right now. So please just stay away from me while you’re here. I haven’t told anyone about the divorce yet, and now isn’t the right time, and until then you can stay but please, just stay away.”

 

He finished his monologue and retreated to the bathroom before she could say anything else. She wanted to ask him why, to grab him by the shoulders and demand to know what was going on, but now wasn’t the time and she knew that.

Sighing, she went over to her wardrobe and pulled out her pyjamas and waited for him to come out of the bathroom so she could go in.

As he came out, she went in and when she came back out again, she found that Arnav had taken the duvet and his pillow and had settled down onto the recliner.

 

“Arnav…”

“I’m not going to get any sleep any way. So you take the bed, I’m fine here.”

“That’s fine but you can rest in bed too…”

“No I can’t. I’m fine here.”

 

He turned away and settled down on the recliner and Khushi felt deflated. Nothing made sense, she couldn’t understand why he was behaving like this with her, but she knew better than to push him now. He had just endured one of the biggest losses of his life and she didn’t want to add to his problems. There would be time for them to speak afterwards.

Sighing, Khushi got into bed and turned the lamp off. She was aware that Arnav was still awake, but she didn’t want to say anything to him. Time ticked by slowly and Khushi let out a sigh as she closed her eyes, begging for sleep to take over. But her effort were futile. As she tossed and turned in bed, Arnav watched her every movement. Sighing, he sat up.

 

“Khushi, you still up?”

 

Khushi stilled in bed as she thought for a moment. She wanted to talk to him but was now the time? She decided to just speak to him seeing that he was actually wanting to talk to her. Sitting up, she turned on the bedside lamp.

 

“Yeah… I can’t seem to get to sleep.”

“Me either, there’s just so much going on in my head right now.”

 

Leaning back against the headboard, Khushi pulled the sheets up to her chest and settled against the pillows.

 

“Hey Khushi, thank you for being here and for just being so normal about it all.”

“Of course I would be here. This is my family too and I have a responsibility to be here.”

“I know but… Just with everything going on between us…”

 

Arnav trailed off. He didn’t want to talk about them or about Manav. But he’d opened the box and he knew Khushi wasn’t just going to let it slide.

 

“I still don’t understand what happened between us.”

 

She moved the sheets away and got out of bed. She hesitated as she approached him on the recliner, but she pushed aside all doubt and sat down beside him.

Placing her hand on his knee, he looked down at her hand and watched as she stroked his knee slightly with her thumb.

 

“What happened Arnav? I don’t understand. Everything between us was going perfect and then… I don’t understand.”

 

He could see the hurt in her eyes and it pained him so deeply. Still focused on her hand, he tried to push all other thoughts away and just focus on her, on them. But no matter what he did, thoughts of Manav came to mind. Her with Manav, what he had seen and heard that day.

Khushi watched him closely, she could clearly see that his mind was working overtime. She didn’t want to have to seduce him to get an answer out of him, but perhaps appealing to him in that manner may help her get an answer out of him. She let herself move her hand further up his thigh, her face close to his.

 

“What we had was perfect. And it still can be, if you just tell me…”

 

His eyes met hers and his hand involuntarily find her face. Cupping her face, he scooted closer to her. She moved closer to him.

 

“Just tell me.” She whispered against his lips.

 

His hands found their way to the back of her neck and ever so gently he pulled her towards him, his lips finding hers. But before either of them could settle into the kiss, Arnav returned to his senses and moved himself away from her.

 

“This was a bad idea. I’m just going to go sleep in the guest room.”

“Arnav…”

“No. No I can’t do this. I have far too much on my mind right now and I will not let you take advantage of me.”

 

Khushi got to her feet and crossed her arms in front of her defensively.

 

“I’m not taking advantage…”

“Coming close to me, touching me, knowing how you affect me, and you say you weren’t taking advantage of me?”

“I just wanted…”

“Just leave me alone.”

 

Finally feeling herself reach the end of her tether, Khushi snapped.

 

“Okay you know what, I’m done. I won’t ask you what’s wrong, I won’t try to come close to you, I won’t bother you. After the funeral tomorrow, I am leaving and I won’t return or call you until you sort yourself out. But if even for a moment you think I’m going to sign those divorce papers, you are mistaken Mr Raizada. If you have such an issue with me that you can’t even bare to be around me, you can tell me what it is. Then and only then will I sign the papers.”

 

She exhaled and turned away from him, making her way to the bathroom. She needed to get out of the room because she knew she was going to start crying, but she didn’t want him to see.

As the door shut behind Khushi, Arnav too turned away and left for the guest room. Once she was sure he was gone, she came out of the bathroom and sat down on the edge of the bed. She knew that she shouldn’t have lost her tempter, that she shouldn’t have snapped at him. After all, he hadn’t been wrong to accuse her of trying to take advantage of him. She knew what she was doing and she had hoped that in his state of vulnerability, she would be able to soften him and get the truth out of him. He had been right and it was because of how well he knew her that it had made her snap.

 

*****

 

The next day, the funeral went ahead without any hinderances and as she had said, she stayed far away from Arnav.

In the evening, she left to go back to her maternal home with her parents. Anjali asked her to stay back, but one look at Arnav and Khushi knew there was no point her staying here. It would just further fuel the tension and she wasn’t sure how much she and Arnav would be able to keep it under wraps. With a heavy heart, she left Shantivan.

 

*****

 

Weeks passed and Khushi stayed true to her word. She didn’t call Arnav, and when she came to Shantivan to check in on everyone, she always made sure that she arrived after he left for work and was gone again before he came home. At first Anjali didn’t say anything, she had assumed they had gotten into a lovers tiff and they would sort things again soon, but as time ticked on and the situation didn’t rectify, she felt the need to intervene. But her efforts had been futile. Neither Arnav nor Khushi were willing to speak about what had happened and ultimately, Anjali realised she needed to leave the situation alone. It was something Arnav and Khushi needed to work through themselves.

At Khushi’s house, her parents had started enquiring why she wasn’t going back, and she didn’t want to stress them out by telling them anything that had happened. So she gave it to them in the most basic way she possibly could. She had simply stated that her and Arnav had had an argument and they had both thought it would be best if they took some time apart.

Manav had been around the house a few times. It was safe to say his presence wasn’t appreciated in the Gupta house. Khushi has no interest in speaking to him and her parents couldn’t quite understand why he did what he did. So though they let him into the house, they weren’t happy to have him there. But Manav remained persistent and came by regularly, hoping that Khushi would take him back.

Late one evening when the rest of the Gupta’s had gone out of town for a wedding, Khushi stayed back. She didn’t want to have to lie to her relatives and tell them that her life was great when quite frankly, it was a complete and utter mess. Curled up on the sofa, Khushi chose to take the time to enjoy tv shows that she hadn’t had the chance to watch yet. To her dismay, she was interrupted by a knock on the door. Sighing, she paused the tv and went to open the door.

 

“Hi! I heard you were alone so I thought I’d come round and keep you company.”

 

Before Khushi could protest, Manav had walked into the house, put down the jumbo tub of popcorn that he had bought with him and sat sown on the sofa. Sighing, Khushi shut the door and went back to sit down.

 

“What are you doing here Manav. I told you, I’d rather you didn’t keep dropping by like this.”

“I know what you said, but I know you hate being alone so I thought I’d come and keep you company for a while. And maybe we could talk about us…”

“I’ve said this to you a million times, there is no us. There stopped being an us when you purposefully stayed away from me for 2 years and then came back into my life only because you thought I would fleece my husband and run off with you.”

“No offence Khushi, but what husband are you talking about? You’ve been here for weeks, no husband in sight.”

 

His words stung because she knew he was right. She hadn’t heard from her husband in weeks, hasn’t seen him and didn’t even know why he was behaving the way he was. Seeing that Khushi was distracted, Manav went over to the sofa that Khushi was sitting on and sat down beside her.

Wrapping his arm around her, he shuffled closer, his other hand on her knee. Khushi looked at his hand and raised an eyebrow. Shrugging him off, she put some distance between them.

Cocking his head to the side, Manav shuffled closer.

 

“It’s just me Khushi, you don’t have to put so much distance between us.”

“Yes I do. I don’t appreciate you putting your hands on me.”

“Come on now Khushi, I know you’re mad but you must remember, you’re still my wife. If I want to put my hands on you, I can. But more importantly, why are you acting like I’ve never touched you before?”

“First of all, I am not your wife. Our marriage ceased to exist when you left me for 2 years and when I married Arnav. And secondly, I’m not acting like you haven’t touched me before, I’m just saying I don’t appreciate you touching me now.”

“Have you forgotten our wedding night? How you basically begged me touch you? How you pretty much undressed yourself because you were so eager for us to have…”

“Stop. Stop it, just stop. I’m not denying what happened between us before, I’m not denying that at one time I craved to be intimate with you, but time has changed and I don’t want that any more.”

 

He moved closer, one hand taking hold of her hands, the other on her cheek.

 

“One kiss Khushi and it’ll all come back to you, one kiss and you’ll remember why you were so enthusiastic to sleep with me on our wedding night.”

 

Before she could protest, his lips were on hers, her back pinned against the sofa. He let go of her hands and he felt them move to his shoulders. She wasn’t pushing him away. Smiling against her lips, he nipped at her lip, pushing his tongue into her mouth. His hand moved along her thigh while the other found its way under her clothes and onto her breast. It was at this she came to her senses and pushed him away with all her might.

 

“What the fu**!”

 

Jumping away from him, Khushi straightened out her clothes and took another step away from him.

 

“I said no!”

“You weren’t saying no when I kissed you, nor did you push me away.”

 

He stood up and took a step towards her. Putting her hand out in front of her, she maintained a distance between them.

 

“You caught me off guard and it took me a moment to respond. I’d already told you I didn’t want you to touch me and you…”

“You’re behaving as if nothing has ever happened between us before, like this is all new.”

“No I’m not and it’s not that. You know what the issue is. The issue is I don’t want you to come near me like this any more.”

 

Taking a step away from her, Manav really paused to think. It was the first time he really took the moment to think about all of this.

 

“You… You’re in love with him?”

“I’m sure I’ve already told you that.”

“You have but… I just didn’t know if you cared for him as your husband or if you were genuinely in love with him and you… You’re really in love with him?”

“Yes I am.”

“Have you slept with him?”

“Manav we had this conversation in the coffee shop that day. I’m not going to talk to you about it again…”

“How often do you sleep with him? Is it a regular…”

“That’s none of your business! I told you that day and I’m telling you again, what’s between me and Arnav is our business and it has nothing to do with you.”

 

Letting out a scoff, Manav turned away.

 

“I mean I knew you were fond of him but I just hadn’t realised that… Stupid of me really.”

“What?”

“Despite everything you said, I really thought maybe you just cared for him because he cared for you. That perhaps you were with him because he’s your husband and not because you actually loved him… Was it really that easy for you to get into bed with someone else when you and I only got one night together?”

 

Khushi felt as though she had been slapped. The question completely threw her off and it took her a moment a compose herself.

 

“How dare you? Might I remind you, you were the one that left me and stayed away from me because you weren’t sure about what you wanted. I thought you were dead. There was no sign of you. Did you just expect me to keep my life on pause for you?”

“You could have waited a little longer.”

“I wanted to. But there was no sign of you and everyone wanted me to be happy, to get on with my life. And then Arnav came into my life and he just…”

 

Khushi trailed off as she remembered how hers and Arnav’s relationship had started. How they had gotten to know each other, how she had started letting herself get to know him and open up to him. How she could tell he was falling for her but he was being respectful and keeping his distance from her. How they finally came together…

 

“I thought I had experienced love but Arnav… He blew me away in a way I never realised I could be blown away.”

“Our relationship didn’t have the time to be nurtured. Give me another chance Khushi, give me an opportunity to blow you away too.”

 

Khushi shook her head as she played with her ring on her finger.

 

“That kind of feeling only happens once and I think I felt it with Arnav. I can’t imagine feeling that way about someone else.”

“What are you saying Khushi?”

“I’m saying, I want you to leave and I want you to not contact me again. I don’t think we can be friends but we can’t be more than friends either.”

 

Everything was happening to quickly and it was all so confusing. Manav stepped towards Khushi once more, his hand on her face.

 

“Just give me one chance. Let us start again. I can make it all right, you can learn to feel for me.”

 

Gently removing his hand, Khushi shook her head.

 

“There’s also another thing you said, you said you thought I slept with him because he was my husband. I think that shows your mentality more than anything. I feel like in your head, when you think about me and him, you assume that I felt I had to get into a physical relationship with him because he’s my husband and he would have shown a sense of entitlement towards me the way you did earlier. But he didn’t. For months he didn’t come near me, he gave me the space that he needed. Even when I knew he was developing feelings for him, he kept his distance. Our relationship progressed from that because I too started developing feelings for him. I respected him more than anyone else ever before. I fell for him, then and only then did I willingly enter a physical relationship with him.”

 

She knew it was strange talking about her sex life with her ex husband, but she knew it needed to be out there. She needed him to understand her feelings for Arnav and why she was essentially choosing Arnav over Manav. Manav listened patiently. He still was trying to comprehend being rejected but it stung less knowing that there was a legitimate reason for her to pick Arnav, and that it hadn’t been instantaneous, that she had waited for him but he himself blew it my taking such a long time and to come back.

Silence fell between them as they both processed all that had been said, and Manav realised that there was no coming back for him. She wasn’t about to take him back.

 

“So there’s no future at all for us?”

“Even if Arnav and I don’t work out, there’s no future for me and you now. That ship has sailed and sunk.”

 

Manav nodded and hung his head.

 

“So I guess this is the end of a road for us?”

“Our journey ended a long time ago, but yes, I think this is the definitive end for us.”

 

Moving in to give her one last hug, Manav dropped his head and turned away. Khushi watched as he left. She was sad to see him go, there was so much history between them, but this had to be done. There was no future for them and they both needed to move forward with their lives. It was the end of the road for them.

 

*****

 

It had been a few weeks since Khushi and Manav’s encounter at her house. Khushi hadn’t heard from either men since. Manav had finally realised that it was time for him to bow out and Arnav still wasn’t reaching out to her. She had kept her word and she hadn’t gone running after him either, nor had she been desperately trying to reach him any more. She left it all up to god. If it was to work out between them, then it would, she couldn’t fight any more. It was exhausting and at the end of it all, she was just getting hurt over and over again.

One evening, as Arnav left the office and went into his local cafe to pick up a coffee before he headed to another meeting, a person on the other side of the street caught his attention. The stopped in his tracks and took a good look at the other person. Manav.

Shaking his head, Arnav was ready to walk away and carry on with his day, but Manav saw him and called out to him, stopping him in his tracks again. Arnav thought to himself, should he rush away and pretend he didn’t recognise Manav or should he actually see what he had to say. Before Arnav could finish pondering over his choices, Manav had approached him.

 

“Hi…”

 

Arnav was still confused. What was he meant to say, how was he meant to react.

 

“We’ve not met before but I’m… I’m Manav.”

 

Manav pauses. He thought that upon hearing his name Arnav would react but when he didn’t, he realised he had to say something more.

 

“I’m Khushi’s… Khushi and I…”

“I know who you are.”

 

Arnav’s response surprised himself. It came out far harsher than he thought it was going to. But at the same time he didn’t care. He didn’t need to fake pleasantries with this guy.

 

“I just saw you across the street and I thought… Well I just thought it would be nice to say hi to you…”

“I’m busy, I have to get going. Excuse me.”

 

Arnav brushes passed and it took Manav a moment to realise what had happened. He couldn’t quite understand why Arnav had reacted so badly towards him. As it had been a while since he had last seen Khushi, he had assumed that things between Arnav and Khushi were fine again and so he didn’t think that Arnav would react so badly to him.

 

“Hey hold up.”

 

Arnav halted and Manav rushed back up to him.

 

“Listen dude…”

“I really don’t want to speak to you.”

 

Manav felt as though he was being rejected by a woman he was interested in. It didn’t make sense to him why Arnav was reacting so badly when he was just trying to be nice.

 

“Can I take you for a coffee and maybe we can…”

“Manav, I’m not your friend. We don’t even know each other. I don’t want to go to coffee with you. I’m sorry, excuse me.”

 

Arnav made to walk away once more but Manav blocked his path. Arnav could feel his temper rising. He clenched his hands at his side and hoped that Manav would move out of his way before he lost his temper.

 

“Look here buddy, I’m being nice to you, the least you can do is listen to me.”

“Listen buddy, I have nothing to say to you.”

“Yes you do. You’re sleeping with the love of my life and then you have the audacity to speak to me like an asshole.”

 

The mention of Khushi in this manner didn’t do Manav any favours. It further angered Arnav.

 

“I’m not sleeping with anyone at the moment but even if I was, it’s none of your business. You’ve got what you wanted. She picked you to start with, she waited years for you, and when she finally started accepting me, you came back and she picked you again. So I’m sorry I’m not prepared to be best buddies with you.”

“Wait… What crap are you saying? When did she pick me?”

“Cut the shit out. I heard you two.”

 

Arnav recapped what he’d heard that night when he’d followed Khushi, what he’d seen on her phone… Manav listened, and he felt his jaw drop.

 

“You absolute idiot, you have it all wrong.”

“How dare you…”

“Did you actually talk to her about that evening? Did you actually ask her what actually happened and what she said.”

“I…”

 

Manav shook his head and laughed.

 

“She cares so much for you and you haven’t even given her a chance to tell you what happened? You didn’t even care to try and find out from her.”

“I…”

 

Suddenly everything that Arnav had felt sure about seemed muddled and he was confused. Manav realised that Arnav was thrown and gestured to a Starbucks a few meters down the road.

The two men walked to Starbucks in silence, Arnav trying to recall all that had happened and Manav preparing himself to tell Arnav all that had happened. At one time, Manav had thought that he could manipulate Arnav, turn him further against Khushi so he could get Khushi back. But then he thought about Khushi and knew that no matter what happened she wouldn’t be happy with him anymore. She wanted Arnav now.

 

Upon arriving at Starbucks, Manav told Arnav to pick a table while he placed an order.

 

“Manav I’m really confused.”

“I can tell.”

 

The coffee arrived and Manav began to tell Arnav everything. He started his story right from when the accident took place and then carried on right to present day. Arnav listened as he took it all in. Manav explained to him how Khushi had no idea he was alive, that she hadn’t really been willing to give him the time of day. He told Arnav about how distant Khushi had been with him and how she had flat out rejected his plans to leave Arnav.

Arnav felt his heart drop. He had mistrusted Khushi and had thought the worst of her. He had thought Khushi was cheating on him and was going to leave him. He was so wrong…

When Manav finished telling Arnav everything, he paused and waited for Arnav to respond.

 

“I’ve fucked up man.”

 

Arnav sat back in his chair, recalling all the things he’d said and done in the last few months. How he’d denied her, how he’d pushed her away. And for what? A misunderstanding. Pulling out his phone from his pocket, he contemplated calling her, but before he could call her, Manav took his phone off him.

 

“What the…”

“Go to her! She’s a 15 minute drive away. GO TO HER.”

“What if she doesn’t want to see me?”

 

Manav put Arnav’s phone down between them again.

 

“If you love her, and you want her the way I think you do, that’s a risk you’re going to have to take. Go to her. Fight with her for her. Don’t get out of it easy by just calling her. Go to her dude!”

 

Arnav got to his feet and grabbed his phone. Before he rushed off her turned back to Manav who was still sat at the table. Walking back to the table, Arnav placed his hand on Manav’s shoulder.

 

“We didn’t start off right, but thank you.”

 

Manav got to his feet and gave Arnav a small smile.

 

“I feel it’s quite natural for both of us to be passive aggressive towards each other. But the reality of the matter is that she wants you and she wants to be with you, so there’s no point me trying to get between you both.”

“Thank you.”

 

Giving each other a meaningful nod, Arnav rushed off again. It was finally time to set things right.

 

*****

 

“What are you…”

 

Khushi stopped in her tracks. There he was. After so long. Here he was.

 

“Can I come I?”

 

Khushi hesitated for a moment before stepping aside and letting him in. Arnav looked around the house, it seemed awfully quiet. We’re they home alone?

 

“Where is everyone?”

“They’ve gone to Lucknow to see Buaji. Arnav… What are you doing here all of a sudden?”

“May I sit?”

 

Khushi gestured for him to sit down and he patted the seat beside him. She refused to sit down and stood to the side, her arms folded over her chest. Sighing, Arnav stood up and moved over to him, gently touching her arm.

 

“Please sit down.”

 

Sighing, Khushi took a seat in one of the armchairs and Arnav took his seat on the sofa.

 

“I know you’re mad…”

“Mad is an understatement Mr Raizada.”

“I know, just hear me out.”

“Arnav I don’t even know what to say to you. You shut yourself off from me and then send me divorce papers, refuse to speak to me and tell me what actually happened and now you’ve turned up at my door with your tail between your legs, asking me to hear you out. I’m sure you can see why this is all madness in my opinion.”

“I know… I can’t even begin to excuse my behaviour but at least let me explain.”

 

Arnav sighed as he prepared himself. He began telling Khushi everything that had happened. Khushi listened intently and Arnav watched her expression as he explained. She was hard to read. She wasn’t giving anything away but he carried on.

 

“So you see… I messed up and I can’t even tell you how ashamed I am…”

“I just… I don’t know what to say Arnav.”

 

He got off his seat and moved over to where Khushi was sitting and dropped to his knees in front of her. Placing his hands on her knee, he looked up at her, desperation in his eyes.

 

“I know what I did was unforgivable, I really should’ve spoken to you and just cleared things up with you, but I was an idiot, and I was insecure and I thought… I just thought, given the opportunity to go back to your first love, you would go back to Manav.”

“But if you knew when he returned… I mean the day I met him, I came home to you that evening and I asked you to make love to me. And we did  and I…”

“I know and when I found out about Manav later and when I thought back to that day, I just thought you were trying to convince yourself of something, I don’t know what I thought but…”

“You didn’t trust me to respect you and our relationship.”

“Khushi…”

 

She pushed his hands off of her lap and stood up.

 

“There’s no two ways about it, you didn’t trust me. I realise it was my mistake too for not telling you as soon as I knew Manav was back, but at the same time I didn’t really get the opportunity to tell you because by the time I was prepared to do it, you had already closed yourself off from me.”

“I know I just…”

 

Khushi turned to face Arnav, took his hands and helped him off the floor.

 

“We could go round speaking about this for days, and we would get nothing out of it. At the end of the day we were both wrong, but at least I tried to speak to you about it all instead of pushing you away. You should’ve given me the opportunity to speak to you, or you should have spoken to me about it. Either way I think this shows that we both need more time to get to know one another.”

 

Arnav listened as she spoke. He knew she was right, there was no point interjecting.

She took a step closer to him, her hand on his cheek.

 

“I don’t want to draw this out longer than necessary and so I will say we should just drop this topic here…”

 

Arnav sighed a sigh of relieve and wrapped his arms around her.

 

“Thank you Khushi, I promise you I’ll never…”

 

She pulled away from him, shaking her head.

 

“Let me finish please. What I was saying is that we will drop this here now. Mistakes were made but we should learn from it and move forwards. Arnav, I care deeply about you and I know you about me, but I feel we need to take a step back in our relationship.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I am willing to come home with you today, if that’s what you want, but I want us to take our relationship slowly. So that means I want us to start sleeping separately again and I would like to hit pause on our physical relationship until we are in a better place in our relationship.”

 

Arnav paused and really let it sink in what she was saying. He didn’t like the thought of having to stay away from her again but if this was his only option then he was going to take it. He knew that what she is saying made sense though. 

 

“I accept. I will respect your wishes and we’ll sleep away from each other, anything. I just need you back with me so I can redeem myself for being a fool.”

 

He held out his hand to her and she took it. She thought about it for a moment but then found herself wrapping her arms around him and giving him a tight hug.

 

“I missed you, so much. I really thought that that was the end of our relationship.”

“I’m sorry I put you through that Khushi. I promise you I’ll never put you through that again. Ever.”

“You better not… I don’t think I’ll be able to handle it another time. I love you… So much.”

 

Khushi felt Arnav still in her arms and she bit down on her tongue. She told him she loved him, for the first time. She hadn’t wanted to tell him that yet, she wanted to wait until he said it first. She pulled herself away from him and tried to break out of his hold, but he held onto her, his eyes locked onto hers. Hand reaching up to her cheek, he cupped her face and smiled.

 

“I love you too. I have done for a long time now. And I know I haven’t behaved like a man in love recently, but I do. I really love you.”

 

She placed her hand on his cheek and rubbed the side of his face with her thumb as she rested her forehead against his.

They had a long way to go in their relationship, but this was the start of a long and beautiful journey. Despite all that had happened between her and Arnav over the last few months, her heart felt really alive. It had a reason to pulsate again. She was finally on her way to her happily ever after..

He’s Amazing ~ Part 20 {Reloaded}

For the first time all evening, Khushi finally took a good look at Arnav once she was seated beside him and it was then that she finally realised he was wearing a black sharwani. He caught her taking him in and she smiled at him before quickly looking away. God he looked sexy!

Nani moved forward and proceeded with the shagun ceremony. Everyone beamed with happiness as they watched, glad their their children had found happiness in each other and that they were preparing to start a new life together. Buaji and Garima had tears in their eyes, their Khushi soon wouldn’t be theirs.

Khushi had periodically turned to Arnav and had tried to read his expressions. She noticed how he had been beaming throughout the ceremony, regularly taking her hand and giving it a squeeze.

Once the rasam was done, Nani turned the Shashi and Garima and smiled.

“Shashi ji, your daughter is now ours! And you don’t have to worry, she will be the darling of our family. We will treat her with the same love we give to Anjali and Payal.”

“Thank you, and you Arnav, for both choosing my daughter and taking a stand for her today. I know you will all keep her very happy.”

Arnav smiled and nodded, but quickly got to his feet when he saw Anjali and Shyam glaring at him, gesturing for him to touch Shashi’s feet.

“Shashi ji, would it be possible for all us elder people to go and talk about other arrangements.”

“Of course, please follow us to the other room.”

The elders left to discuss what was to happen next and the youngsters stayed behind, talking excitedly about the function that had just happened and about all their plans for future functions. Arnav casually put his arm around Khushi and pulled her closer to himself.

“Hey babe.”

“Hi.”

“So, you’re officially mine!”

“Not officially. I become yours officially after the wedding!”

“Who are you trying to fool. You’ve been mine right from the first moment we both properly looked at each other. By the way, did I mention that you look beautiful?”

“Thank you, you look incredibly hot.”

“You look hotter. In fact you look so hot that I want to take you upstairs right now. Can I take you upstairs?”

“What do you plan to do there?”

“Someone’s got naughty ideas in her head hasn’t she? I want to make love to you for so long and so hard that you can’t move tomorrow morning.”

Khushi bit her lip and felt her cheeks heating up as he nuzzled into her neck.

“I’d love that!”

Both Arnav and Khushi got caught in the moment and completely forgot that they were surrounded by their siblings. Bringing his face to hers, Arnav smiled as he leaned in to kiss Khushi. As if on autopilot, Khushi too moved forward. Their lips touched ever so lightly, but they both felt the insane fireworks go off around them.

Anjali was the first to notice what was happening and cleared her throat loudly. Arnav and Khushi jumped apart and looked at their siblings feeling extremely awkward.

“Ahem, chote, as much as I have no issue with what you two are doing, would both like to pay attention and help us plan YOUR wedding. Or would you both rather we just let you carry on and we do all the wedding planning for you.”

Arnav ran his hand through his hair and gave his sister a sheepish smile while Khushi kept her eyes on her lap, feeling too shy to meet anyone’s eyes.

“Nanav, you’ll have plenty of time with Khushi on honeymoon. But I don’t think you need it, seeing as your honeymoon period started a long time ago!”

“Nanheji, they have to go on honeymoon, after all it’s time to ‘bond’ every couple needs their honeymoon. Why I remember our like it was yesterday. Rani Sahiba, do you remember how much bonding we did during out honeymoon?”

There was scattered laughter throughout the room and Anjali blushed before punching her husband on the arm. Khushi looked around in awe at the people sitting around her. They were all so open with each other. She decided that if she was to be a part of this family, she too would have to speak up and actually interact with them properly.

“Payal bhabi, tell us, how was your honeymoon?”

“Horrible, all Akaash did was sleep all day! We barely went out to sight see and there was no time at all for shopping.”

Akaash turned to his wife, his eyebrow raised. He then turned to Khushi as he offered his side of the story.

“Yes I did sleep all day, but someone has left out a vital part of the story. You should ask her why I had to sleep all day. But I’ll save us all time and tell you all. It’s because someone wouldn’t let me get to sleep until the early hours of the night. If she wants, she can tell you why we were up so late every night.

Again there was scattered laugh and Payal blushed. Anjali came to her sister-in-laws rescue and diverted the attention away from Payal.

“Chote where will you guys go on honeymoon?”

“Wherever Khushi wants to go.”

“Where would you like to go Khushi?”

“I don’t care as long as I’m with my husband.”

“Then it’s settled, Saale Saab, you and Khushi ji shall have your honeymoon in the storeroom at home!”

“What, no way Jijaji! There’s no space for one man to lie down in there, how will me and Khushi both fit?”

“I’m sure you’ll find a way to manage. After all, the less space there is during the honeymoon, the better right?”

The group burst out laughing and Khushi hid her face in Arnav’s chest. Lavanya who had been watching the scene that was playing out in front of her, laughed. She couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed with happiness for Khushi. The people who were sitting around them right now were some of the best people she had ever met and she was so glad that they were so open and fun. She just knew Khushi would have a great time with them.

“Please stop teasing my sister! Her honeymoon is private and all details of the honeymoon are confidential and should stay between her and Jeej. But of course as her sister and best friend, I will know everything…”

“La! You know I wouldn’t tell you!”

Before Lavanya could reply, the elders of both family came out, causing Arnav and Khushi to jump apart.

“We have decided that the engagement will be the day after tomorrow and the rest of the ceremonies will start after that. We have decided that this will happen as soon as possible as we want it be done before Khushi and Arnav have to go back to university at the start of next semester.”

Everyone nodded in agreement and began talking excitedly.

“But Nani, with everything being so soon, Chote and Khushi won’t have time to go on honeymoon?”

“They will leave as soon as the wedding ends. That will give them 5 days for their honeymoon.”

The Raizada’s and Kashyap’s embraced each other, excited that this was happening and so soon.

They sat around for a little while longer before the Raizada’s decided it was time to leave. As they greeted each other and slowly left, Arnav hung back and waited for his family to leave and for the Kashyap’s to be out of earshot before he turned to Khushi.

“I’ll FaceTime you tonight. Be ready.”

Before Khushi could reply, Arnav dropped a quick kiss on her cheek and left.

*****

It was later the same evening and Lavanya was finally settling down after a long evening. After the Raizada’s had left they had got changed and then got straight on to tidying up the house before sitting down with their parents and discussing all the things that needed to be done within the next few days before the engagement. Khushi was in the bathroom and Lavanya was waiting for her to come out so that they could finally actually talk about everything that had happened today.

Just as La picked up her own phone, Khushi’s laptop, which she’d left on was now ringing, signifying that someone was FaceTiming her. Lavanya answered the call upon seeing that it was Arnav. She waited as the call connected and waited for Arnav’s face to pop up on the screen. When he did finally appear, Lavanya got the shock of her life and instantly averted her eyes. Arnav was sitting in front of her without his shirt on.

“Arnav What the hell! Please put your shirt on!”

“What the? Lavanya?”

“Yes!”

“Where’s Khushi?”

“In the bathroom. Where’s your shirt, do I have to tell Khushi to buy you one?”

“No Lavanya, I don’t see the need to wear a shirt when I’m talking to my girlfriend. It’s not like I have anything to hide.”

“Yeah true, she’s seen it all hasn’t she?”

Eyes still averted, Arnav and Lavanya laughed at the last comment and it was then that Khushi walked back into the bedroom. She came to sit down beside Lavanya and said hi to Arnav. La said bye before passing the laptop back to Khushi.

“Hey darling.”

“Hi handsome.”

“Has Lavanya left?”

“Yeah, she’s sitting in her bed.”

“But she’s still in the same room?”

“Yes, why?”

“Fine go to an empty room and take the laptop with you.”

“Why?”

“Just do it! I want to talk to you in private.”

Khushi looked to Lavanya who simply smirked. Khushi left and made her way to the guestroom.

“Ok I’m here.”

“Good. Now lock the door and close the curtains.”

“But why?”

“Just do it!”

“Ok, ok, laad gavarnor.”

Khushi went over and locked the door and closed the curtains. She flipped the lights on before coming back to sit on the bed.

“What now and what are you up to?”

“I just wanted to see you.”

“Oh seriously? Is that all? Why did I need to lock everything and close everything? You can see me na?”

“Because we need privacy for I want you to do for me.”

“What do you want me to do?”

Arnav smirked and Khushi felt herself getting a little tense. Was he going to make some sort of strange request?

“Strip!”

“What!?”

“What did you think I meant when I said see you?”

“See me, like this!”

“Oh gosh Khushi, why would I want that? And look I’ve already done what you would have wanted me to do; I’ve only got my boxers on!”

“Arnav, stop being silly, if you really want to see me, we’ll go out tomorrow!”

“Oh we’ll do that, but this is going to be fun as well.”

“I refuse to take my clothes off!”

“Then I refuse to meet you tomorrow!”

“Oh don’t be mean!”

“Please baby, I want to see you.”

“Fine.”

Khushi grumpily placed the laptop on the bed and stood up.

“God this is so awkward!”

“Just imagine it’s me taking your clothes off.”

Khushi looked at herself, took a deep breath and slowly pulled her kameez over her head. Once off, she slowly put it aside before turning back to the computer screen. Arnav on the other side gasped. She looked amazing. No matter how many times he saw her in her underwear, she still took his breath away every single time. There she was, stood before him in a black lacy bra. Arnav could feel himself harden, how he wished he was there with her, to touch her, to kiss her…

“Your shelwar has to go.”

“What!”

“Babe, do it. Please.”

Khushi took a breath and then undid the strings on her shelwar. Arnav gulped. Khushi stepped out of them and it took her a moment to have the courage to look up to the screen and take in his expression. Though she had stood before him in nothing but her underwear before, doing it like this made her feel so much more exposed, so much more vulnerable. Arnav on the other hand was sat there, taking her in. There she was, in nothing but two pieces of skimpy black material and he couldn’t do anything about it.

“God I want to touch you and kiss you.”

“I want to feel your touch on my skin.”

“Tomorrow baby, I promise!”

“But engagement preparations!”

“We’ll think about that then. Khushi… Take your bra off…”

“Arnav!”

“Babe, we’ve got this far.”

Khushi shook her head but turned around all the same. Arnav saw her hands go to her back and she unclasped her bra. She pulled it away and turned, excruciatingly slowly. Her checks were bright red. Arnav’s mouth fell open. She looked amazing and instantly he regretted his decision because it made him want to be with her. He desperately wanted to be with her desperately. Khushi looked up and she could tell that he was fighting for his self control, that perhaps he hadn’t thought this rendezvous through properly.

Arnav shifted and Khushi got a slight peak of him, it was evident he was hard. She felt herself flush further as it brought back all the memories of the two nights they had spent together and it made her long for him. To be with him, to be in bed with him. To be touched by him, to be intimate with him again…

“What now?”

“Nothing, we don’t have to do anything, we can just sit and have a normal conversation… Or we could have a sexy conversation, it’s up to you…”

“But like this? Shouldn’t we get dressed again?”

“No, it’s so much more fun to do it like this…”

To begin with, Khushi felt extremely self conscious about the fact that she was sitting before him, naked. But after a while, she stopped thinking about it and they fell into a regular, easy conversation.

“You’re damn sexy.”

“I know, you’ve mentioned it at least 4 times in the last half an hour.”

“I’m going to have to go now Khushi, I desperately need a cold shower!”

With that, Arnav bid her goodnight and then disconnected the call. Khushi closed her laptop and looked at her clothes that were strewn all over the floor. Picking each bit up, she looked at the clock as she got dressed again. It was well past midnight, so she decided to sleep in the guest room.

Pulling the last of her clothes back on, she shook her head as she smiled to herself.

“He’s mental, but I love him.”

Wilted Heart ~ Interlude IV

Khushi’s POV

I lay back in the bed and held out my hand to him. 

“Khushi…”

I could tell he was confused. Most days it either just happened organically, or he would approach me first. I couldn’t remember the last time I initiated.

“Make love to me.”

My words threw me off so I knew they would’ve thrown him off too. We had never referred to it as making love before. Neither of us had an issue as just referring to it as sex. But I had said what I had said and I couldn’t take it back now. It was out there and it hung in the silence of our bedroom. He didn’t move, and for a moment I felt that I’d blown it. Maybe it was too far for him? Maybe the use of the word ‘love’ had messed with him. 

But I lay there, on my back, my underwear clad breasts rising and falling quite rapidly, anxiety starting to grip me. Was he going to leave me hanging? Was he going to reject me? 

But my anxiety subsided when I saw him beginning to strip his clothes off, leaving only his boxers on. I felt myself smile. He took my hand as he got onto the bed, crawling over my body, his hands on me as his lips found mine. I wrapped my legs around him as he brought his hand up and touched my breast. 

He broke the kiss and looked into my eyes. He was still confused, I knew it. He could tell that something was causing me to be needier than usual. 

“Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine.”

I let my hands find their way into his hair and pulled him back to me, kissing the tip of his nose and then pecking him on the lips. Pushing him off me, I got him on his back and moved over him. As much as I liked him being on top, right now I felt the need to top. I knew exactly what I wanted from him and I knew this was the best way to get it from him. With his hands on my waist, I leaned down over him, kissing him once more. 

***** 

My legs felt like jelly as I moved off him, panting as I collapsed on the bed beside him. 

“Whoa.”

Biting my lip, I curled into his side, kissing his chest as he wrapped an arm around me. 

“Whoa, that was something.”

It wasn’t the first time that I had been on top, but I think what he was referring to was how I had taken control today. Other times, he’d had to guide me, helped me get us there, but today it was all me. 

It made me feel good about myself, good to know that I knew how to pleasure my husband on my own. 

He turned on his side, his nose on mine as he kissed me softly. 

“You okay?”

His brow was creased ever so slightly as he looked at me. His expression was hard to read. 

“I’m fine, just tired. My legs still feel a bit like jelly but…”

“I don’t mean that, I mean are you okay?” 

I didn’t know how to answer this question because truthfully, I didn’t know the answer to it. I moved away from him slightly and pulled the covers up to my chin. Was I okay? 

“I’m fine, why do you ask?”

Gently, he turned my face back to him as he took my hands into his own. 

“What just happened between us, don’t get me wrong, I loved every second of it, but I just felt like… I don’t know Khushi. I felt like…” 

He was onto me, I knew he was, but I wasn’t ready to verbalise my inner turmoil. Not yet at least. I silenced him with a kiss, moving over him once more as my hands wandered along his body. It wasn’t just to stop him from talking, I realised how I wasn’t done. I wanted him again. 

Unravelling the covers, I let myself be exposed to him once more as I kissed his earlobe, his neck, his chest, his abs, and followed my path further down. His hands found their way into my hair as I moved further down his body. 

“Khushi…”

His voice was raspy and I knew he was turned on. I carried on, moving further down his body and I felt his hands tighten in my hair as I neared where I aimed to be. 

“Khu… Ah fuck…”

***** 

At 3 am, I carefully peeled the sheets away from myself and reached out for my nightdress that lay long forgotten on the floor. Arnav was fast asleep, completely spent but I found myself struggling to get to sleep despite the fact that we’d spent the better part of the last 5 hours engaging in various acts of intimacy. Previously, we had done it more than once in one night, but never had we gone as many times as we had done today. By the time I reached out for him the third time, he was already exhausted, but he didn’t deny me. 

Getting out of bed, I reached into my wardrobe for my towel and then headed into the bathroom. I needed a shower, but more than that I needed time to get my head straight. I knew in my heart that more than anything, I was looking for answers tonight. And I had thought that having sex with Arnav would help me find the answers to my questions. But I was wrong. No matter how many times we did it, no matter which way we chose to do it, I didn’t find what I was looking for. I could tell that he knew there was something going on inside me, that I was looking for answers, but I’d shut him down every time he started to verbalise it. 

I knew I couldn’t hide the truth about Manav from him forever, but I knew I couldn’t tell him about him now. Not when I myself didn’t know what I was doing. It wasn’t a case of knowing whether or not I wanted to go back to Manav, I didn’t, it was more about, would I be able to deal with the fact that Manav was still here and that he hadn’t actually left. 

Stepping into the shower, I let the water cascade down on me. I cared for Arnav, I cared for him deeply. I had said to Manav that I loved Arnav but… Did I? Did I actually love him? I knew that for the longest time, I had loved Manav, but when I’d seen him today, I didn’t feel love. I didn’t even feel attraction. But was that because I felt thrown by the fact that he was actually there in front of me?

Squeezing my shower gel onto my hand, I rubbed it onto my body, letting it lather up. 

Yes, I was thrown by Manav, but regardless, I didn’t feel what I once used to feel when I saw him. I didn’t feel relief that he was there. I felt stressed out and confused. But was that again because I didn’t expect him to be there? I was so confused. I didn’t know what to think. I just… 

“Hi.”

I was brought out of my thoughts by the feel of strong arms around and a hard body against me. Turning around, I was faced with Arnav. 

“You’re awake?”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“I couldn’t sleep, and I just felt like I needed a shower.”

“That’s fine, but you’ve been in here for over half an hour.”

“I have?”

He nodded as he cupped my face and dropped a kiss on my nose. 

Grabbing hold of the detachable shower head, he washed the lather off of me and then washed himself down. He turned off the water and handed me my towel and then reached out for his own one. 

“Let’s go.”

He got out of the shower first and I followed him out. I looked at the clock when I got back into our room and he wasn’t kidding. It was just past 3:40. I’d gone in the shower at 3:04. How had I lost so much time?

As he dressed himself, I saw that he was watching me, his forehead creased. He watched as I got dressed into a fresh set of pyjamas and I watched as he did the same. As we got into bed, I noticed that he’d changed our sheets and the old ones were half poking out of the laundry bin. 

He wrapped his arms around me as he rested his face in the crook of my neck. 

“Why are you awake Arnav?”

“I felt you get up. I thought you just needed the bathroom so I tried to get back to sleep, but when I heard the water running and when you didn’t come back out after 10 minutes, I started to get a little tense.” 

I felt his hold on me tighten as he pulled me closer to himself. 

“You keep avoiding my question Khushi, are you okay?”

“I’m not avoiding your question, I’ve already told you I’m fine.”

“Babe…”

“Arnav it’s almost 4, we should get to sleep, you’ve got work in the morning.” 

He let out an audible sigh and I felt him unlatch his arms from around me as he moved back to his side of the bed. When had he gotten to know me so well? How could he read me like a book? I was being unfair to him. I knew I was blowing hot and cold. He was trying to have a meaningful conversation with me, find out why I was behaving the way I was, and I had used sex as a way to distract him all night. But it wasn’t just to distract him. I needed to know how I felt, what I wanted, and I had thought that by getting intimate with him, it’d help me find my answers. But it hadn’t. 

Sighing, I settled down in bed and let myself finally get to sleep. 

***** 

When I woke up the next morning, Arnav was already out of bed and dressed. I sat up in bed and smiled at him. 

“Good morning.”

“Morning. You’re awake?”

“Of course.”

“I just thought you would sleep in because we didn’t get to sleep until so late last night.”

I got out of bed, walked over to him and looped my arms around his neck. 

“I’m sorry I kept you up so late.”

“No way, you don’t need to apologise. It was…”

He ran his hand along the side of my face and let it rest on the side of my neck. 

“Fun.”

As he said that, he raised his eyebrow suggestively. God this man! How was he so irresistibly gorgeous. Everything he did just made me want wrap myself around him and never let him go. 

Giving me a quick kiss, he broke our embrace and then went to grab his laptop bag. 

“I’m going to head off to the office now, but I’ll see you later.”

“Breakfast?”

“I have an early meeting so I’ll grab something at the office.”

“Are you sure? I can prepare something for you…”

“It’s fine babe. You rest or do whatever you need to do, I’ll sort myself out at the office.”

“Okay fine, but I’ll bring you lunch.”

He came back over to me and kissed the top of my head. 

“Honestly it’s fine, you don’t have to worry. Besides I’m going onto the new construction site at 11 so I’ll probably end up having lunch there. I’ll see you when I get home in the evening.”

I nodded reluctantly and he kissed my head once more before heading out. As he shut the door behind him, I got back into our bed and reached out for my phone. Even before unlocking it, I could I have a bunch of texts from the same unsaved number. For a moment I was a little confused, but as I started reading the messages, it all came rushing back to me. Manav. Saving his number, I read through his texts. He didn’t say much, just that he was glad to have seen me, that he wanted to see me again and that he missed me when he was away from me. Sighing I put my phone down and got out of bed and got ready for my day. I couldn’t be dealing with this right now. I needed to think about what I wanted and what I needed to do before I could speak to him again. 

Leaving my phone upstairs, I went downstairs to get on with my day. 

***** 

Returning to my bedroom a few hours later, I picked my phone up and found that Manav had texted me 3 more times and had called me 3 times as well. I read through his texts. 

*Please answer your phone.*

*Call me back when you can*

*I really need to talk to you, just call me once, or at least reply to your messages.* 

I was struggling to decide what I wanted to do. I didn’t want to reach out to Manav but at the same time I knew him, and I knew that if I didn’t respond to him, he’d keep messaging me and calling me. Perhaps I should speak to Arnav about it, see what he thought. But at the same time I didn’t want to tell him about this. I didn’t know how he would react and what he would think. I didn’t want it to drive a wedge between us but at the same time I knew that if I kept it from him for too long, at some point it would come between us and I didn’t want that. 

After contemplating for a long while, I finally decided that I would call him once, see what he had to say and then put this whole thing to bed. 

I called him and waited patiently as the phone rang. He picked up far sooner than I had expected. 

“Khushi, finally. I’ve been waiting for you to call me all day.”

“I’ve been busy.”

“I know, I thought you were and I’m sorry I called and texted so many times, but I really need to speak to you and I was getting worried that you weren’t going to reach out to me again.”

“It’s a lot to take in, I just… I need time to process it all.”

“Is your husband there?”

His voice had a tone of bitterness to it but I ignored it.

“No, he’s at work.”

“So you can speak to me freely.”

“Manav… What do you want.”

“Isn’t it obvious? I want you back.”

“Yeah well…”

Yeah well what? It was a simple reply. He couldn’t have me back. Why couldn’t I say that? He picked up on it because he pounced on that.

“You’re not saying that you aren’t available to come back to me, that means you want me.”

“No. No it doesn’t. It means I’m confused and you’re confusing me and this is all just so insane.”

“The fact that you’re confused just means that you still care for me and you would come back to me.”

“No it doesn’t. You were an important part of my life for a long time and then you just vanished and I thought I’d lost you and now… All this…”

“Let’s meet up. I think if I was in front of you, it would help you with your confusion.”

This was a bad idea, I knew it was a bad idea. If I looked into his eyes, I was worried I’d fall week. His eyes always made me weak, the way he looked at me, like he was staring into my soul. 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“It just isn’t okay. I’m married and I care for my husband. I know that if I come to see you, I won’t be able to tell Arnav about it, and I don’t want to lie to my husband or hide anything from him. So it’s better I just don’t see you. Besides, like I said before, there’s nothing for us to talk about.”

“There’s so much for us to talk about and you know that Khushi. Just think about it and then come and see me. Anyway, I have to go now. You take care of yourself and we’ll speak soon.”

He disconnected the call before I could say anything else. He was adamant that he wanted to see me, but I knew that’s not what I wanted. I mean I think that’s not what I want? I didn’t even know at this point. Part of me wanted to see him, really sit down with him and ask him what the hell was he thinking, but then the other half of me doesn’t want to go into it because what’s done is done and there’s no point reopening old wounds. I was happy with my life, I was happy with Arnav and I was willing to move on with my life. Meeting with Manav meant letting him back in and that felt like a step in the wrong direction. 

Trying to push my thoughts away, I carried on with my day. I couldn’t be thinking about Manav. That was a closed chapter in my life and I couldn’t reopen it. It was done. It was over. 

***** 

Regardless of how many times I told myself not to think about it, I still found myself thinking about it. It was because I was deep in thought about it all that I didn’t even realised when Arnav came home. When he got home, I was busy putting my washed clothes back into the wardrobe. He snuck up behind me, wrapped his arms around me and kissed my neck. I jumped slightly but melted into him when I realised it was him.

“Hey babe.”

“Hi.” 

Turning me in his arms, he gave me a light kiss before moving away from me again. 

“How was your day?”

How do I answer that? It had been a relatively normal day, but then the whole Manav thing…

“Khushi?”

“Hm? Oh, it was fine, just a normal day. Yourself?”

He loosened his tie and undid the buttons of his shirt as he nodded. 

“Same, just a regular day.”

“Did you have breakfast and lunch?”

“I did, and I had a very big breakfast and lunch so you don’t need to worry about feeding me doubles at dinner.”

I laughed because he knew me so well. I had thought about feeding him double at dinner. 

“Should I get dinner on now or would you like something light first and have dinner in a little while?”

“I’ll have dinner now thanks.”

“I’ll just go and get it ready, you come down in a bit.”

“Alright.”

***** 

From the moment he walked into the house, I could tell that he was in a good mood and my hunch was further reinforced when his hand wouldn’t leave my thigh as we were having dinner. He was in a good mood, but more than that he was in a romantic mood. 

Though I had nothing to compare it to, I assumed we had a relatively high sex drive. Perhaps it was because it was still pretty new to us and because we were still discovering each other, but we found ourselves having sex at least every other evening if not every single evening. And the mood he was in today, I knew that the moment we got back upstairs, he would be all over me. 

Last night, I had been the insatiable one, I had been needy and I’d wanted him over and over again. But I didn’t feel the same way this evening. I was still confused about all things related to Manav and I just wanted to be on my own so that I could think it over. The last thing I wanted was to be getting intimate with Arnav when I was preoccupied and thinking about Manav. 

The moment we got back up to our room, his hands were on me, bringing me down onto the bed as his hands found their way under my clothes, touching me, feeling me. I should’ve just said no, that I wasn’t in the mood, but I didn’t want to have to tell him why I wasn’t in the mood. I didn’t know if he would ask or not, I didn’t think he would because he was always so respectful of my decisions when I said no, but I didn’t want to have to risk the chance of him asking me why. So I went along with it, tried to get myself into the mood. He wanted and needed this tonight and it would be selfish of me to say no when I had essentially used him last night as a means to try and find out how I was feeling. 

I let him undress me and I undressed him. I really tried to push all other thoughts away and just focus on this gorgeous man who was on me, trying to pleasure me and get pleasure from me, but I just couldn’t bring myself to get into the right headspace. I knew I should’ve just pushed him away and told him that I wasn’t in the mindset for it tonight, but I didn’t. I let him carry on, trying my best not to make it abundantly obvious that I wasn’t in it. I did what I needed to do, I kissed him back when he kissed me, I moved my hips in time with him and I reassured him that he was doing a good job when he looked into my eyes. When he came, he collapsed on the bed beside me but let his hands move down my body. I caught his hand before it reached its destination and shook my head. 

“But you didn’t finish.”

I curled into him, hiding my face into his chest so that he couldn’t see my face. 

“I did finish.”

“Khushi… I know you and your body and I know you didn’t climax.”

He knew me so well. He knew my body so well. He was right, I didn’t finish, I often didn’t and he always made sure that he did what he needed to do to finish me off too, but I just… I didn’t want to tonight. Having sex with him tonight felt like a task anyway, and while I knew he would give me what I needed, I just knew I wasn’t in the headspace for it. 

“Is everything okay Khushi?”

He gently pushed my shoulders back so that he could see my face and I nodded. 

“I’m just really tired. We didn’t get much sleep last night and I’ve been really busy today…”

“I get it.”

He must have bought it because he let me curl back into him and I felt myself fall asleep. 

***** 

Over the course of the next few days, I kept myself busy so that when evening came, I could tell Arnav I was too tired to do anything. After the other night, I realised it wasn’t fair to get close to him or let him come close to me when I hadn’t yet got my head straight. I knew I wasn’t in the headspace to give him the attention he deserved, so it just felt like the better option to stay away from him. But it didn’t take me long to get my priorities back in order. 

After a few days of deep thought, I realised that there was no need to even consider the whole situation. What was between Manav and I was over now and I had moved on with my life. I was happy with Arnav and the new life that I had. I had thought about it all length and I had debated whether or not to tell Arnav, but ultimately, I decided against it. I didn’t even know how I would approach the topic, how I would explain it all. It just didn’t feel worth it. So I decided not to tell him. 

My mind was set and I knew what I was doing, that was until Manav called me, asking me to meet him. 

***** 

I got back into the car after seeing Manav and my heart was pounding. It all felt so surreal, so insane, I had to pinch myself to convince myself that it had actually happened and he had actually said the things he had said. I couldn’t believe that he had actually suggested that I leave Arnav and go back to him. I couldn’t believe that he suggested I divorce Arnav, take the alimony and go back to him. Back to him who left me hanging for the better part of 2 years. But I was glad that I had met him and had this conversation. If any part of me before had been torn or confused about Manav, all that confusion was now gone. I realised how he really wasn’t the person I wanted to be with any more, how he still thought like a teenager, like everything was a game instead of thinking like a grown adult. It made me realise how erratic and unrefined life was Manav was and would be, and it made me realise how much I enjoyed and appreciated the stability that came with being with Arnav. And it made me realise just how much Arnav means to me. For the first time ever, I had admitted, not only to myself but to someone else as well, that I loved him and that I truly wanted to be with him because I loved him. 

Leaning back in my seat, I smiled it myself as the feeling settled in. The evening had been tiring and intense, but at least I now knew the true depths of my feelings for Arnav. And I couldn’t wait to tell him. 

***** 

When I got home, Arnav was already asleep. So as much as I wanted to speak to him, I knew better than to disturb him after a long day of work. I got ready for bed and then quietly slipped into bed beside him. I’d talk to him tomorrow. I’d express my feeling for him tomorrow…

***** 

When I woke up the next morning he was already gone. This wasn’t anything unusual because often enough when he had an early morning meeting, he’d quiet leave before I got up. I felt slightly bummed because I had really wanted to talk to him, but it was alright, I’d just speak to him in the evening. And perhaps that was for the better because it would mean that I actually had some time to think about what I was actually going to say to him. 

***** 

Sitting in the recliner, I waited for him to come home. It was nearing 9pm and he wasn’t home yet. I’d called him a few times during the day to ask him when he’d be back, to ask if he’d had breakfast and lunch, to just generally check in on him, but he hadn’t been answering his phone, I could only assume he was having a busy day. 

I sat around waiting and waiting and soon enough I found myself getting sleepy but I knew that I needed to stay awake so that I could speak to him. I really needed to speak to him… 

***** 

I felt myself being moved and that’s what woke me up. I opened my eyes and there he was, standing over me after he’d put me down on the bed. 

“Hey.”

“Hi, I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

Shaking my head, I sat up in bed. I took his hand and brought him down onto the bed beside me. 

“It’s fine, I was trying to wait up for you anyway.”

“You didn’t need to do that.”

“I know, but I wanted to. I missed you so much today. You were gone before I woke up and last night you were a sleep when I got home…”

“I’ve just got a lot on at the moment…”

“I know, but still…”

Pulling him closer to myself, I cuddled into his side, letting my hand find its way under his t-shirt and let it rest of his chest. 

“I called you at lunch.”

“I had a lunch meeting.”

We made little conversation about his day, my hand gently stroking his chest while the other gently stroked his thigh. Everything about him seemed off. He felt tense and I just felt he wasn’t reacting to me the way he usually did. Was it down to him having had a long day and being tired? Or was it something else? 

I let my hand move a little higher on his thigh, gently caressing his leg. 

“Khushi…”

“You’re so tense Arnav? You work far too hard.”

Taking my hands off him, I pressed him down against the headboard and came over him, straddling him. Cupping his face, I looked into his eyes as I smiled, trying to convey so much to him in a single glance. Did he know what I was trying to say? He kept his eyes on me as I slowly pulled my nighty off over my head before moving back into him, cradling the back of his neck as I moved in and kissed the side of his neck. I felt his head fall back against the pillows as I kissed his neck while tracing my hands along his body. 

“Khushi…”

“There’s so much I need to talk to you about Arnav, but for now, let me just relax you.”

Under my hands, I had felt his muscles start to relax, but for some reason, after saying this I felt him tense up again? I tried to push the thoughts away, not overthink it, but something just didn’t sit right with me. Why was he tensing up as I was touching him? In all the time we’d spent together, his body had never reacted like this to my touch or my words? Regardless, I did my best to push the thoughts away as I carried on. Finding the hem of his t-shirt, I pulled it off over his head before moving closer to him again. I left a line of kisses down his body. His eyes, his face, his neck, his chest, his abs… I moved down his body every so slowly and I felt his hand tangle into my hair as I dipped lower and lower down his body. By the time I reached the waistband of his track pants, his hands were clutching my hair relatively tightly. I stroked the bulge in his pants and I felt his hand release my hair and I felt his entire body tense up all over again. 

Gently taking me by the shoulders, he pushed me way before reaching out for his t-shirt and slipping it back on. I was confused and thrown. This was new. He never said no, never pushed me away? 

“Arnav…”

“Not tonight.”

“But I…”

But I what? I didn’t even know what I wanted to say.

“I’m tired Khushi. Not tonight.”

He turned over and I watched as his breathing regulated. I was confused, I didn’t know what to this. Was he trying to avoid me? 

Shaking my thoughts off, I reached out for my nightdress and pulled it back on before settling down beside him, wrapping my arms around him. I was overthinking it. We were fine. He’d just had a long day and wasn’t in the mood, it was fine. 

It was just as I was falling asleep that I felt his hands carefully move my arms off of him. We weren’t okay, something was very wrong. 

***** 

When I awoke the next morning, he was already fully dressed again and ready to go. We made small talk but he didn’t have much to say and strangely enough, I didn’t exactly feel like trying to get much out of him either. 

It was as he was walking out when he told me he was going to London and that I should go home to my parents. As much as I wanted to see my parents, in my heart I knew that perhaps wasn’t the right time to go, but considering he was going away to London and didn’t know when he was going to be back, it felt like it was the best option for me to just go and spend a few days with my parents. 

When he left, I pulled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. What was happening between us? When did something go so wrong? Did something actually go wrong? 

Running my hands through my hair, I got out of bed. Something wasn’t right. I could feel it. 

He’s Amazing ~ Part 19 {Reloaded}

“Arnav!”

Khushi rushed passed him before he could respond to her and started pacing in the living room. Shutting the door, Arnav walked over to Khushi.

“What happened Khushi?”

“Buaji just called. She said there’s another family interested and that she wants me and Lavanya to go home as soon as possible! What do I do now?”

“What do you mean, what do you do?”

“I want to marry you, and I thought you’re family was going to talk to mine! But now this other family and buaji…”

“Khushi relax! The family that’s talked to yours is mine! Di told nani and nani’s already talked to your Buaji! I got off the phone with Di just moments before you came and started breaking my door down.”

Khushi was still for a moment as she took in what Arnav was saying. She didn’t know how to react or what to say. She wasn’t even sure she fully understood what was happening.

“What already!?”

“Yeah!”

“But isn’t it too soon?”

“I know its soon, but I couldn’t risk someone else getting in the way of our relationship.”

“Oh gosh so when I go home tonight, I’m going to have to wake up early the next morning because NANI is coming to see me!”

“Yeah, she is! Mamaji and mamiji will be going with her and I think di might go as well!”

“What about you?”

“I’ll come with the shagun!”

“Do you really think they’ll like me?”

“I know they will!”

Unable to contain her excitement, Khushi let out a squeal of delight and rushed into Arnav’s arms and gave him a big hug. Finally things were going their way!

*****

“So where are you lovely daughters?”

“I’ll just call them.”

Garima got up and went to go and get La and Khushi. Khushi was dressed in a light pink anarkali that Garima had gifted her earlier and Lavanya was dressed in a simple kameez. She didn’t bother too much, after all they hadn’t come to see her had they? Both girls had arrived home late the previous evening, but they had gotten little sleep as they were excited about what was to come. Khushi had turned her wardrobe upside down, unable to find something suitable and was beyond relieved when Garima had gifted her this dress. Khushi had stressed for hours, fretting over how she would do her hair, how she would do her make up, how she would smile the first time she met nani… Lavanya had been as supportive as she could be, but by the time the Raizada’s arrived, La was already exhausted and ready for the day to be over already.

When Garima knocked on their door, both girls jumped to their feet.

“Ready?”

“Not at all.”

“Oh well, let’s get this show on the road regardless.”

Khushi took a deep breath and they slowly began to make their way down the stairs. Khushi allowed herself to take a sneaky peak at the guests who were waiting for them downstairs. She noticed an elderly women sitting beside Buaji, smiling up at her. Next to her was a man, maybe as old as Lavanya’s dad. She made a mental note that this was Arnav’s mamaji. Next to him was sitting a lady dressed in the brightest colours she had ever seen. This must be the famous mamiji, Khushi thought. Arnav had told her a lot over the phone about mamiji. Stuff like how she loved to speak English and that applying make up on Payal was her favourite time pass.

As they descended the stairs, buaji got up and made Khushi and Lavanya touch everyone’s feet. They were then seated on the opposite sofa to nani ji. Nani ji looked at both the girls in front of her and smiled.

“Well Shashi ji both your daughters are very beautiful!”

“Thank you.”

“Well, from what you have said, we have already chosen which of your daughters we want to make our daughter-in-law and considering your daughter is also prepared for this marriage, we see no reason to delay. So I think, and if you feel the same way, we should come tomorrow with the shagun and with Arnav to really finalise this rishta.”

Khushi turned to Lavanya, eyes wide. Was it really going to be that easy, that straightforward?

“Wouldn’t you like to ask our daughter anything?”

“I don’t really see the need, clearly your daughter has agreed to this marriage and my grandson too is prepared, so I don’t want to delay. Arnav’s mood changes very quickly. So I want to do everything as soon as possible! There will be an abundance of time to sit and talk with my daughter-in-law after tomorrow.”

Shashi looked between his sister and his wife and his daughters. It was all happening so fast, but he had spoken to Khushi the night before and they knew that she was willing to accept this rishta. Nodding, he focused his attention back to Devyani Raizada.

“We don’t have any objections to any of this and neither does our daughter. So I guess this means that we are all set and ready for the shagun tomorrow.”

The Raizada’s got up and prepared to leave. Lavanya gave Khushi nudge and Khushi got to her feet and approached each other the Raizada’s and touched their feet and took their blessings. Once both families had greeted each other and the Raizada’s left, Shashi and Garima hugged their Khushi, glad to know that their role of being her parents and getting her settled down was almost complete.

“You know Khushi, I honestly didn’t want to get you married off so soon, but you’re fathers dream had always been to get you married to someone decent before you turned 24. And seeing as you turn 24 in 2 months time, I wanted to get this done with as soon as possible. But if it were completely up to me, I would keep you close to me as long as I could.”

“I understand uncle ji, and I know that if papa were here, he would have done the same, so I have no objections.”

Shashi opened his mouth to say something else, but Lavanya stopped her dad and grabbed hold of Khushi’s hand.

“I know there’s a lot of sentimental talk you guys need to have with each other, but this isn’t the time. It is Khushi’s shagun TOMORROW and there is so much we need to do in preparation. You all can have your sentimental talks tomorrow evening!

With that Lavanya dragged Khushi away. Shashi and Garima smiled as they watched their daughters rush of excitedly. They were fulfilling their late friends dream, and they knew they were doing it to a standard that would make their friends proud of them.

*****

“Khushi, we’ve arrived!”

“I know you have.”

“Where are you then?”

“In my room.”

“Come downstairs!”

“Aunty hasn’t told me to come down yet!”

“I’m dying to see you babe.”

“Same here! But we have to wait!”

Khushi smiled as she heard Arnav sigh on the other side of the phone. The day had flashed by, she hadn’t even realised when night had begun to fall and when the time approached for the Raizada’s arrival, but the time had come and they had arrived. Khushi was about to say something more to Arnav, but Lavanya rushed into the room and told Khushi that Garima was calling her to come downstairs. The time had come! Khushi told Arnav that that she had been told to come down and so she would be seeing him very soon. They disconnected the call.

Khushi dropped her phone onto the bed and smoothed her dress down. She was wearing a heavily done up anarkali dress in navy blue and had decided to wear her hair down. Lavanya took her hand and walked her sister downstairs.

Everyone smiled as they watched the to-be bride come down the stairs. Khushi stole a glance at Arnav, gave him a small smile and then looked down again. Shashi got to his feet and took Khushi’s hand and gestured for her to sit down next to Arnav. However, before Khushi could sit down, Nani stopped them,

“Why are you getting Khushi to sit next to my grandson? Only the to-be bride is to sit with him today.”

The Kashaps and the younger Raizada’s looked at each other, slightly confused What was Nani on about?

“Devyani ji, Khushi is the bride!”

Nani’s eyes widened as she took in Buaji’s words and shook her head.

“No, no, no! I chose Lavanya for Arnav!”

“But we were talking for Khushi! She is the elder daughter and we have been speaking about her this whole time.”

“But I assumed you meant Lavanya when you told me that Khushi wasn’t your real daughter.”

“We only mentioned that because we felt that you had a right to know that, but we consider Khushi our eldest daughter! She is our eldest daughter!”

“I’m sorry for the misunderstanding, but we have selected Lavanya and she is our choice!”

Khushi looked to Arnav and felt the tears well up in her eyes. She tried to fight the tears back, she didn’t want to start crying, she had faith that Shashi would sort the whole situation out.

“Shashi ji we are sorry for the misunderstanding, however after you told us about both your daughters, we felt that Lavanya would be better for Arnav. She has more of what we think Arnav would want in a wife. Like you said that Khushi wouldn’t want to move away from her in-laws after marriage, and Lavanya wouldn’t mind, we felt that Lavanya would be the better choice because chote has always said that he would want to move out with his wife. Also we thought that Lavanya would be a better choice seeing as she has a much more modern approach to things whereas Khushi has a much more traditional one.”

Shashi turned to his daughters. He could see that Khushi was getting upset. He gestured for Lavanya to take Khushi upstairs. La nodded and led Khushi back upstairs. Once the girls were gone, Shashi turned his attention back to Nani.

“Devyani ji, I understand what you are saying however Lavanya doesn’t want to get married and Khushi, for the first time was really interested in a proposal.”

“I understand, but I think that Lavanya would be a better option for our Arnav!”

Arnav had hoped that he wouldn’t have to bring his and Khushi’s relationship to light, but now with everything getting so complicated and messy, it would make life a lot easier if he just spoke up and told the truth.

“Nani… There’s something…”

“Don’t worry Chote, we will sort this out. I know what kind of woman you are looking for and I know that Lavanya will be perfect for you.”

“But Nani, how could you say that when you haven’t asked me what I want in a wife.”

“Because I know your choice chote, and after speaking to the Kashyap and getting information about both of the girls, I assumed you meant Lavanya when you said you liked one of them.”

Arnav sighed and shook his head.

“My choice is Khushi, I like Khushi.”

Arnav then went to explain how Khushi was his student and how they had fallen in love with each other. He explained how he had wanted to do this properly and wanted his family to pick Khushi out of her own merit as opposed to because he had fallen for her. He explained how he knew what nani was like and how she would have been critical and reserved if he had straight out said that he wanted to marry Khushi. When Arnav was done, he fell silent and waited for soemone to say something. Everyone looked around, slightly confused and then nani spoke.

“Chote if you and Khushi had fallen in love, why didn’t you just tell us? I understand what you have just said and I can see why you felt the need to do all this, but I think you should have had enough faith in me to know that more than anything, I want your happiness. It doesn’t really matter to me whether you have an arranged or a love marriage. All that matters is that you are happy and you have picked someone you think you can build a life with. And if you and Khushi feel that you will be happy with each other, then I will not get in the way. I agree for you to marry Khushi!”

“Really?”

“Yes chote, of course! Khushi was my original choice but then I thought about what you wanted in your wife, so then I changed my mind and chose Lavanya instead!”

Buaji to her feet and said that she would go and get Khushi. She went up to their room to find Lavanya sat on the bed. Buaji raised her eyebrow, asking where Khushi was. Lavanya pointed to the bathroom.

“Tell her to get out of there and to come down quickly, Nani ji has agreed to hers and Arnav’s rishta.”

Lavanya let out a squeal of happiness and knocked on the bathroom door as Buaji left.

“Get out of there, I need to talk to you.”

It took her a moment to finally respond, but when she finally did, she came out of the bathroom, her eyes bright red from all the crying that she had been doing. Lavanya rushed to her side to tell her the good news.

“Oh my god Khushi, guess what!”

“You’re getting married to Arnav!”

“No, Khushi…”

“I’m so sorry La! Please forgive me for having a relationship with your husband!”

“Khushi shut up you nutter and listen to me. He isn’t my husband nor is he going to be.”

“They all prefer you to me! They want you to marry him! And I feel horrible knowing that all your life you will live with him, knowing that he and I shared an intimate relationship.”

“Khushi! Listen to me! I’m not marrying him! You are! They had chosen you originally, but then changed their minds thinking that he would prefer me! But Arnav has told everyone about your relationship and that he wishes to marry you!”

“WHAT? He told everyone everything? What did they say, how did they react?”

“Well I guess they all reacted well because everyone is waiting for you to go down so that we can get this show on the road. So let’s go! They’re all waiting for the beautiful blushing bride!”

Wiping her eyes, Khushi smoothed her clothes down once more and reapplied her lip gloss. When Khushi felt she was finally ready to brace the world again, she took Lavanya’s hand and they made their way downstairs. Nani met Khushi at the bottom of the stairs and took her hands into her own, apologised for the misunderstanding and told her that she was more than happy to be welcoming Khushi into their family. Khushi gave Nani a small smile.

“Come on then, let’s get this ritual started.”

Nani led Khushi over to the sofa and sat her down beside Arnav who gave her hand a squeeze as the rituals for the shagun finally began.

Wilted Heart ~ Part 4

“Hi Khushi.”

It took Khushi a moment to wrap her head around what was happening and who was in front of her. How was this…

“I missed you.”

Khushi grabbed hold of the counter and steadied herself, she was feeling light headed. Closing her eyes briefly, she begged herself to wake up because this had to be some kind of dream, this couldn’t possibly be real. When she finally opened her eyes again, he was still there, very much real. Manav.

“Your cakes ma’am.”

Turning her attention back to the barista, Khushi paid and took the bag from the counter. What was she meant to do? What was she meant to say?

“Say something na Khushi.”

“What do you want me to say?”

“You can start by telling me that you missed me too.”

He took Khushi by the elbow and guided her over to a table, pulled the chair out for her and ushered her to sit. She was still confused, she still felt numb, but she obliged. She deserved an explanation. Manav took a look at the pretty little bag from the lingerie store and raised his eyebrow.

“Lingerie? Nice.”

His voice was dripping in sarcasm and that’s when Khushi felt her find her own voice.

“What the hell is this Manav? What are you doing here? Where have you been? I thought you were…”

Tears pricked her eyes but she fought them back. She couldn’t cry. She needed to stay strong and get to the bottom of this because this was insanity. He was dead? She thought he was dead? They had searched for him for years and had concluded he must have died because only a dead man goes off the radar like that.

“Can we go somewhere else and talk about it?”

“No not really.”

Khushi folder her arms in front of her, her body language showing him that she was closing herself off.

“Please, let’s talk about this properly.”

“We can do it here. I don’t want to go anywhere with you until you tell me what the hell is going on.”

“Don’t you trust me?”

Khushi scoffed at his audacity. Was he really asking about trust?

“No I don’t. For almost 3 years, I thought you were dead. You didn’t reach out to me, didn’t reach out to your own family. Allowed everyone to think you were dead and now you think you can waltz back into my life and expect me to say I trust you? It doesn’t work like that.”

He felt his patience slipping, so he decided to stop wanting to go elsewhere with her, here would have to do.

“Fine, I’ll answer anything you want to know.”

“I don’t even know where to start. Actually I do, where the hell have you been?”

Flagging down a barista, Manav ordered them coffee and then started to explain.

“So after the accident, I don’t know how it happened but we got separated. I was taken to a different hospital to you. For a while I was in a coma but not for long. When I came round, I asked for you but they told me that no one had been admitted at the same time as me and that no Khushi had been in the hospital or discharged from it around the same time I was.”

“Okay I get that you couldn’t find me like that, but you know where I live. Why didn’t you come find me at my parents house?”

At this point Manav looked away and gave a sheepish smile.

“It gave me time to reconsider a lot of things and I just realised that we had rushed into marriage to prematurely.”

“Wait this doesn’t make sense, they told me you were dead?”

“They may have assumed the driver was me. Mom and dad said that the accident was serious and he suffered most of the blow… His body was almost unrecognisable.”

“It’s still not making sense to me.”

“Honestly, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me either, but here I am. We’re both here…”

Manav took Khushi’s hand into his own and smiled. Weirdly enough, his smile didn’t melt her heart the way it used to.

“Wait, what do you mean it gave you time to reconsider a lot of things? You’re the one that wanted marriage! You proposed to me? I was only still thinking about it, you were the one that said you didn’t want to wait any longer.”

“I know what I said and let’s be honest, sex was a motivating factor in that decision.”

Pulling her hand out of Manav’s, Khushi felt her temperature increase. Just as she opened her mouth to reply, her phone began to ring. Looking down at it, Khushi felt her anger subside a little. Arnav was calling. She went to answer the call but stopped herself. What was she meant to say? She didn’t want to lie to him but if she answered the phone now, Arnav would know something was wrong and she didn’t know how to explain the Manav situation to him. She rejected the call.

Manav watched Khushi carefully as she did this and it irked him to see the way she smiled upon realising Arnav was calling her. It further irked him to see that her caller display picture for Arnav was him asleep in bed, topless.

The phone rang again and Khushi sighed as she rejected the call again and the put it on silent.

“You can take the call.”

“It’s fine, I’ll speak to him when I get home.”

Looking at her watch, Khushi realised that it was far later than she had thought it was and that Arnav would be getting home soon.

“I have to get going, I don’t have time for this. Arnav is going to be home soon and I need to make sure I have something prepared for him to eat.”

“Is that his name? Arnav. You have a type, Arnav, Manav.”

“I don’t feel comfortable discussing anything about Arnav with you.”

“You don’t need to say anything, your display picture for him and the fact that you’re buying expensive lingerie says enough.”

Feeling her cheeks heat up, Khushi wanted to shrink away and disappear but at the same time, she wasn’t about to shy away. She wasn’t the one that had done anything wrong. 

“Don’t. You don’t have a right to speak with that tone and make me feel guilty. I waited 2 years for you, refused to believe you were gone and when I couldn’t avoid my parents any more, I said yes to remarrying.”

“I’m not saying you shouldn’t have got married I’m saying you didn’t need to sleep with him.”

His tone was bitter and it stung slightly, but Khushi wasn’t about to take it lying down.

“You have no right to judge me and my decisions when you’re the one that let me believe you were dead for almost 3 years. And not that it’s any of your business, but Arnav and I didn’t start sharing a physical relationship with one another until almost 7 months into our marriage.”

“Marriage. Interesting. You know it’s a crime to be married to multiple people at the same time? That your marriage to him is null and void because you’re still married to me.”

At this point Khushi really did have to stop and think.

“I… We spoke to a lawyer before… They said…”

“They said you could marry again based on the assumption that I was dead. But I’m not. So you’re still my wife.”

Khushi’s phone lit up once more. Arnav again. Picking up her phone, Khushi picked her bags up and got to her feet.

“I can’t do this, I need to go. Arnav will start to worry… I just have to go.”

“Fine. But give me your number, we need to speak again soon.”

“There’s nothing to talk about between us.”

Manav’s expression softened as he stood up.

“I’m still your husband, and I still love you. And I know you still love me. Please Khushi. Let us meet again soon.”

Sighing, Khushi hastily wrote her number down on a napkin before excusing herself.

Once safely back in the car and on her way back to Shantivan, Khushi let the tears that she had been holding back spill over. What the hell was that? How had this happened? What even was happening.

Wiping her tears away and patting her face dry, Khushi shook away all thoughts of Manav. His return didn’t change anything. She was with Arnav now. She couldn’t… She just couldn’t mess around with Arnav for the sake of Manav, she wouldn’t allow herself to do that to him. She couldn’t.

*****

“How was your date with Lavanya?”

“It was… It was great.”

“That’s good to hear. I bet you girls were discussing all kinds of juicy things hence why you couldn’t take my call.”

Khushi looked up at him to check his expression, to see if he was taking a dig at her,  but he wasn’t. He was smiling at here while he scrolled through his phone.

“I’m sorry. We were talking and I…”

“It’s fine, I don’t care that you didn’t take my call. I just wanted to see how your day was going and to tell you that I missed you.”

He was so sweet. He deserved the world. She couldn’t mess around with him. She couldn’t, she had considered telling him about Manav, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. How would he react? What would he say? Would it negatively impact their relationship? But more importantly, Khushi herself hadn’t decided what she wanted. She knew she cared deeply for Arnav but Manav… Manav was her first love, her first kiss, the man she lost her virginity to. There was so much about him that would make him so important to her but Arnav… He accepted her knowing that she may never be able to love him or accept him. He gave her the time and space that she needed.

Getting off the bed, Khushi moved over to Arnav who was sat on the recliner and gently took his phone out of his hand. Sitting down on the recliner, she touched his face gently, tracing his eyes, nose and lips with her finger.

Moving in, one hand on his face, the other on his thigh, Khushi kissed him. Arnav was confused, but he kissed her back. One hand around her waist and the other in his hair, he kissed her back with the same heat as she did. Breaking the kiss, Khushi took his hand, got him to stand up and she led him to the bed. Undressing herself, she lay back on the bed and held out a hand to him.

“Khushi…”

“Make love to me Arnav.”

Arnav felt his breathing stop as he processed her words. Whenever they had had sex before it had either been a case of a make out session getting hot and heavy, or one of them asked the other if they could have sex tonight. Neither of them had referred to it as making love, neither of them had yet expressed their love for each other verbally. This was new. If Arnav hadn’t been overwhelmed by her request and by her semi naked state, he would have questioned it, questioned why she had chosen to word her request like that. But he didn’t.

“Khushi…”

“Please.”

Ridding himself of his own clothes and pulling away her underwear, Arnav fell into Khushi’s arms, locking themselves in an intimate embrace.

***** 

 

Arnav awoke at 5am. Rubbing his eyes, he carefully peeled Khushi off of himself and sat up. Leaning over, he picked up his t-shirt and pulled it back on before turning to Khushi. She was finally fast asleep, completely spent. Brushing her hair out of her face, Arnav smiled at his wife. Tucking her into bed properly, he swung his legs out of bed and got to his feet.

He was feeling troubled and it was causing him to not be able to sleep. There was something bothering him. Something about how Khushi approached him for sex tonight and how she had been while they were doing it just… He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something just didn’t feel right. It was almost as though she was trying to prove something? Shaking his head, Arnav sat down at the recliner and looked over to Khushi who had tucked herself into a little ball after he’d gotten out of bed. Was he overthinking or was there something more going on in her head?

Arnav sat in the recliner for a while, trying to think about what had happened but ultimately shook his thought away. He was overthinking. He was certain of it. As he got to his feet, he noticed Khushi’s phone light up, a text message had come through. He dismissed it. But then 3 more messages came through, back to back, filling her lock screen. Still he dismissed it. It was Khushi’s phone, her business. He wasn’t going to be one of those husbands who looked at who was texting his wife.

Getting back into bed, Arnav pulled Khushi back into his arms and soon drifted off to sleep.

 

*****

A few days had passed since Khushi had met Manav. She had weighed it out in her head, tried to decide if she should tell Arnav About it or not, but ultimately decided against it. It didn’t feel necessary.

She had spoken to Manav on the phone a few times, and they had been texting each other, but Khushi had a relatively dismissive tone towards him. She didn’t want to engage in conversation with him. She still felt cheated. He had been alive that whole time, had even kept tabs on what she was doing with her life, yet he never tried to reach out to her. And now he fell back into her life and expected her to drop everything to be with him again. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t do that to Arnav.

Arnav had been watching Khushi closely. There was something about her behaviour that just hadn’t been sitting right with him. She was jittery, distracted and became closed off whenever her phone would make a noise.

Even when they were in bed together, it was almost as though she wasn’t there any more. They had only gotten intimate once after they did it the day she met Manav, and Arnav could tell something had changed in her. There was something missing. The night they did after she’d met Manav, she had been insatiable, she had wanted to go over and over again. But the night after, she had been a passive player. Arnav was certain she didn’t reach her climax but she didn’t say anything, nor did she give him the opportunity to finish her off after he was done. She had been distant. Almost as though their months of proximity had suddenly vanished.

It was clear she didn’t want to talk about it, and Arnav didn’t want to step on her toes, but he knew he had to address the situation soon.

Putting her phone down, she told Arnav that she would go see to Nani, give her her medication and then give her her dinner and then return.

Almost moments after Khushi left the room, her phone came to life. Arnav ignored it. It was her phone and she would come and handle it later. The phone fell silent. But moments later it came back to life. Arnav looked up from his laptop and his eyes fell on her phone. The name staring up at him caused him to rub his eyes. Manav?

Against his better judgement, Arnav reached out for Khushi’s phone and looked at the caller ID. It really did say Manav. But Manav? As in her ex? Or was this another Manav. The phone fell silent again and Arnav moved to put her phone down again but a string of text messages came through. He knew he shouldn’t have read them. He felt bad for invading her privacy like this, but once the first message came through, he couldn’t drag his eyes away. They kept coming through, one after another.

 

*Pick up the phone dammit I need to speak to you.*

*Are you with him, is that why you can’t take my calls?*

*I need to see you Khushi. Babe we need to talk properly. Not over a cup of tea, not in a cafe, alone.*

*Tell him you’re seeing Lavanya again and come meet me please.*

*You know it Khushi, you’re meant to be with me. Just get a divorce from him and we can start our lives again.*

 

Arnav felt his blood run cold. This was Manav. The Manav who he thought was dead. Had Khushi known that he was alive all this time? Surely not. Arnav thought about it. No, he was convinced Khushi hadn’t known that Manav had been alive all this time. If she did, she wouldn’t have married him, she wouldn’t have take their relationship further. She must not have known.

But she knew he was alive. She had seen him. Arnav read the messages again. Had she gone to meet Manav when she had told him that she was going to see Lavanya? Had she lied to him about seeing La? Is that why she had been reacting so different when she had got home that evening? Is that why she had reacted the way she did? Putting her phone down, he pushed all his thoughts away. He had faith in his and Khushi’s relationship. Whatever this was, she would share it with him. She would tell him about Manav. He was certain she wouldn’t hide this from him any more. He was damn sure.

When Khushi finally returned to their bedroom and picked her phone up, Arnav watched her carefully and she read the messages. He watched as she sighed and she responded to the messages. He was certain she was going to tell him.

When she finally finished replying and looked up from her phone, Arnav was sure she was going to tell him.

 

“Arnav…”

“Yeah babe?”

“I…”

 

He watched her carefully. He could tell she was struggling.

 

“Is everything okay?”

“No… I mean… Yes… I…”

 

She stopped and sighed. Composing herself again, she tried again.

 

“Arnav, may I go out to see La?”

 

Taken aback by her request, Arnav felt his heart drop. She lied.

 

“Today?”

“Yes.”

“It’s a bit late?”

“I know, but she needs me.”

“Everything okay?”

“I just need to go see her. May I?”

 

Her tone was short and clipped. Impatient.

 

“Yeah sure. Should I drive you?”

“No I’ll take one of the drivers.”

“Khushi it’s late. And I’m not doing anything, please let me drive you.”

“Arnav please. I said no.”

 

She was tense, that much was obvious, but she was being so harsh?

 

“Okay, fine. Take one of the drivers.”

“Thank you.”

 

Arnav watched as she got to her feet and got ready. Giving Hari Prakash a call, he told him to get ready and take Khushi. Whether or not Khushi heard, he wasn’t sure. But she didn’t acknowledge that he had called Hari Prakash for her.

Turning his attention back to his laptop, he tried to divert his mind away from Khushi, Manav and the lies she had just told him.

 

“I’ll be back in a bit.”

“Okay.”

 

Arnav watched as she left. She didn’t even look back and give him a smile. She didn’t come over and give him a kiss. She just left. Arnav knew that he should sit tight and wait for her to come home. Maybe she’d tell him about Manav when she got home?

But a surge of insecurity ripped through Arnav and he found himself grabbing his keys and following Khushi out. Getting into his car, he stayed far behind Hari Prakash, but he followed them still. He had to see Manav for himself. He had to make sure that he wasn’t getting it mixed up. He felt horrible for spying on her, but he needed to know.

They drove for a while and Arnav made sure he kept back far enough so Khushi wouldn’t see him. Finally he saw Khushi’s car indicate and then turn into a quiet neighbourhood. Parking his car, Arnav got out and followed Khushi’s car on foot. He watched as her car parked up in front of a large house and she stepped out. But instead of knocking on the door of the large house, she went round the back. Arnav followed her. Behind the large house was a smaller outhouse and she knocked on the door of that one. She paused and Arnav waited patiently to see who would open the door.

It was Manav. Arnav couldn’t believe it. He had to rub his eyes and really look closely but it was undoubtedly Manav. He had seen his picture enough times to know it was him. So Manav had been alive this whole time?

Arnav knew he should turn back, that he should leave and wait for Khushi at home, but he found himself walking closer to the house and stood near an open window.

 

“Why did you call me here Manav, I told you..”

“I know what you said, but I needed to see you.”

 

Arnav couldn’t see what was going on inside, but he could clearly hear everything that was being said.

 

“I told you…”

“I know. I know. But I needed to speak to you properly once. You weren’t replying to me properly. You haven’t been taking my calls properly and when you did you weren’t speaking to me properly… I needed to see you, to speak to you properly.”

 

Arnav felt a little better about the whole situation. Khushi hadn’t been speaking to Manav, not properly any way.

 

“I needed time to think.”

“I know you did and I feel I have given you time. I can’t hang around Khushi. I can’t sit here with my hands folded while you’re over there with him…”

“Don’t. Don’t speak about me and Arnav.”

“You’re sleeping with him for gods sake! How do you expect me to not talk about it! How do you expect me to not think about it? My wife, my love, is sleeping with another man.”

“He’s my husband!”

“No he isn’t. I am.”

 

Arnav swallowed hard as realisation dawned on him. Manav was alive, meaning his and Khushi’s marriage had no weight. He shook his head. This was a problem to think about later, he had bigger fish to fry now.

 

“Manav why did you call me here.”

“I just needed to see you, touch you…”

 

Feeling the bile rise up within him, Arnav took a step back from the window. He shouldn’t be here, he shouldn’t be witnessing this… But he moved back towards the window.

 

“Maan…”

“Do you know how good it feels to hear you call me Maan again after so long. Tell me na Khushi, doesn’t it feel like old times, doesn’t it feel like we can start again?”

“Stop.”

“I had a thought. Khushi, I have some money saved. Let’s leave here and start life somewhere else, away from everyone… You could get a divorce from Arnav, and we could use the alimony to help us settle down. He has money, we’d be able to get a tidy sum to put towards a house, what do you say Khushi.”

 

There was a pause. Arnav’s head was spinning as he took all the information in. Khushi would never agree, she’d never do that to him. He knew she could never…

 

“Okay.”

 

Arnav felt his entire world stop. She… She agreed? Arnav took a step back from the window and then another. And then another. Turning away, he realised he had heard enough and that he didn’t want to hear any more. Disappointed and broken, Arnav returned to his car and drove home.

Back at the house, Manav was looking at Khushi with wide eyes.

 

“Okay?”

“That’s what I I said. I said okay.”

 

Manav took a step towards Khushi and lifted her into his arms.

 

“I knew you would agree, I knew you would see sense.”

 

Pushing him away from herself, Khushi glared at Manav, her head cocked to the side.

 

“You don’t know me at all. You don’t think a thing about me. If you knew me, you would know that I would never agree to such an absurd idea. I won’t. I will not ask Arnav for a divorce, and I will not take alimony from him.”

“But you said…”

“I was testing you, to see if you actually realised that I wasn’t being serious. And you failed. How can you claim we should be together when you couldn’t even tell that I wasn’t being serious?”

 

Manav took a step towards Khushi, his arm outstretched towards her. She put her hand out and stopped him.

 

“I want to leave, I want to go home. I have nothing to say to you. I thought about all this a lot and I realised, I don’t want to be with you.”

“Khushi…”

“No. I don’t choose you. You let me think you were dead for almost 3 years. You chose yourself over me and now I’m choosing myself over you. And I choose to choose Arnav. Kind, caring, patient Arnav who was ready to wait his entire life for me. I choose him.”

 

As Khushi was saying it, she felt like it was a revelation to herself.

 

“I love him… And I don’t want to let him go. I don’t pick you over him, I pick him… I pick him now and forever more.”

 

Stunned, Manav found himself unable to grasp her words. He watched as she turned away from him  and walked away. He knew he should have gone after her, but it felt futile. She had picked Arnav. He had taken too long to make his return to her life and now there was no space in her life for him.

Running back to the car, Khushi instructed Hari Prakash to take her home. She had to get home. She had to tell Arnav how she felt about him. And she had to tell him about Manav. It felt right, it felt like something he needed to know. He deserved to know about what had been happening and he also deserved to know that she chose him and that she wanted him.

Khushi felt her excitement rise within her as they got closer to the house. She was going to express her to love Arnav! She finally was clear on how she felt about him and what she wanted from their relationship. She wanted forever. She wanted a happily every after. With him. Biting her lip, Khushi thought about how she could tell Arnav and then decided that instead of overthinking it, she was just going to go for it.

Upon entering the house, Khushi went straight up to their bedroom and slowly pushed the door open. But to her surprise the lights were all off. Walking into the room room quietly, she found Arnav was already in bed, curled up and asleep.

Extending her hand. She was going to tap him, but decided against it. He must have been tired and she didn’t want to disturb him. She’d speak to him tomorrow…

 

*****

 

When Khushi awoke the next morning, Arnav had already got out of bed. Getting out of bed herself, Khushi went over and knocked on the bathroom door. When she got no response she carefully pushed the door open. He wasn’t in the bathroom. Maybe he’d already gone down for breakfast?

Getting dressed, Khushi went downstairs, again, no sign of Arnav.

Just as she was leaving the kitchen. She bumped into Anjali.

 

“Di have you seen Arnav?”

“He left for the office. He said he had a lot of work to do so he needed to go in early. He also told me to tell you to not wait up for him tonight because he’s going to be late.”

“Oh. Okay.”

 

Anjali left, leaving Khushi feeling a bit lost. What was she meant to do now. It was okay, she would speak to him when he got home or she would speak to him tomorrow, it would be okay.

 

*****

Arnav crept into the bedroom at 12am. He didn’t actually have a whole lot of work to do, he just chose to make an excuse to avoid Khushi. He wasn’t ready to speak to her. Upon entering their bedroom, he saw Khushi fast asleep on the recliner. She must have tried waiting up for him despite him telling her not to. Shaking his head, Arnav carefully picked Khushi up off the recliner and carried her over to the bed and gently puts her down.

Sighing, Arnav moved away from her and got ready to get into bed.

When Arnav came out of the bathroom, he was surprised to see Khushi sitting up in bed.

 

“You’re awake?”

“I felt you put me in bed and my sleep broke.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“No it’s fine.”

 

Arnav stood at the edge of the bed, unsure on what to do. He didn’t want to get into bed with her, but at the same time if he didn’t, she would ask questions and he really didn’t have the energy to deal with anything right now. Sighing, he got into bed and as he did, Khushi came towards him, curling up next to him and tucking her head into his chest.

 

“I missed you so much today. You were gone before I woke up and last night you were asleep when I got home…”

“I’ve just got a lot on at the moment…”

“I know, but still.”

 

He felt as her hand went under his shirt and rested on his chest.

 

“I called you at lunch time.”

“I had a lunch meeting.”

 

Arnav felt as she stroked his chest gently, her other hand gently stroking his thigh.

 

“Khushi…”

“You’re so tense Arnav? You work far too hard.”

 

Taking her hands off him, she pressed him down against the headboard and came over him, straddling him. Shuffling close to him, she decorated his face with a multitude of little kisses as she let her hands settle on his arms. She loved his arms. His strong muscular arms… Moving back slightly, she pulled her nighty off over head head and cradled the back of his neck and as she moved in and kissed his neck. Arnav felt his head fall back against the pillows as she kissed his neck and traced her hands along his body.

 

“Khushi…”

“There’s so much I need to talk to you about Arnav, but for now, let me just relax you.”

 

She had felt his muscles start to loosen up, but upon hearing her words, she felt him tense up again. She found the hem of his t-shirt and pulled it up over his head before moving closer to him again. She left a line of kissed down his body, from his face to his neck, to his chest to his abs. She was moving down slowly, and he clutched her hair as he felt her play with the waistband of his track pants. He felt her stroke him and that’s when he realised he needed to put a stop to this. Gently pushing her away, he sat up and reached out for him t-shirt.

 

“Arnav…”

“Not tonight.”

“But I…”

“I’m tired Khushi. Not tonight.”

 

Turning his back to her, Arnav settled down in bed and closed his eyes. Khushi felt confused. He never said no to her. Even when he was tired, he’d never stop her if she wanted to go down on him.

Pushing the thoughts away, Khushi located her nightdress and pulled it back on before snuggling down into bed, wrapping her arm around him. She was surprised to find though that moments later, her gently pushed his arms off of her. Why was he behaving so strangely?

 

*****

 

The next morning Arnav was already fully dressed and ready to leave by the time Khushi woke up.

Jumping out of bed, she placed her hand on Arnav’s shoulder.

 

“You’re leaving earlier again today?”

“Yeah.”

“Will you be back at normal time?”

“No, I’ll be home late.”

“Oh…”

 

He turned away, ready to leave but stopped at the door.

 

“I’m leaving for London tomorrow morning. Emergency meeting for the London branch and I’m going to be gone a few days. You should go to your parents place. You haven’t been back there in a while.”

“I know but Nani…”

“I’ve already spoken to Di and Nani and they also said it was a good idea.”

“But…”

 

Before she could finish, he was gone. Khushi felt confused as she watched him walk away from her. Something wasn’t right. But she couldn’t work out what it was that had come over him. She needed to speak to him when he came home that evening.

It was late by the time Arnav got home that night, but Khushi was wide awake and waiting for him.

 

“You’re still awake?”

“We need to talk.”

 

Arnav put down his laptop bag and shrugged off his jacket.

“Sure, what about?”

 

Getting to her feet, she looped her arms around his neck, more to test his reaction than anything else. She felt him flinch under her touch and that’s when she realised something was definitely not right.

She removed her arms and took a step back from him.

 

“Have I done something wrong?”

 

Her words threw him off guard. He knew she had noticed his change in behaviour, but he hadn’t realised that he had been that obvious about it all.

 

“I just…”

“I know it’s only been 2 days but… I’ve noticed… You’ve been avoiding me. You flinch every time I touch you like my touch is burning your skin. I don’t understand…”

 

This was the perfect opportunity to get it all out. To just tell her what he knew. But he didn’t like confrontation. He knew what she was plotting, she was planning on leaving him to go back to Manav and yet here she was, constantly still trying to get close to him.

Arnav took a step away from her and turned his back to her.

 

“It’s nothing like what you’re thinking.”

 

She reached out to him, placing his hand on her shoulder.

 

“I know its something.”

 

Arnav looked up at the ceiling. He really didn’t want to get into this at this time of night. Brushing her hand away, he turned to face her.

 

“I just need some space.”

“Space?”

“Yeah I just… We got serious very quickly and I just need some time for myself.”

 

Khushi went round to him, to face him.

 

“We got serious too quickly? Arnav it took us over 6 months to establish any kind of closeness. And it took us even longer than that to actually get intimate.”

“And when we did, we rushed into it, both feet first. We’ve been… Getting intimate almost every single night and I just feel… It’s too much…”

“But you wanted that.”

“I did. And now I’m thinking we should’ve taken some more time…”

“I don’t understand. Are you saying the issue is that we’ve been having too much sex?”

 

She was confused and rightly so. He knew he wasn’t making any sense. He was the one that approached her most nights for sex and now he was speaking in a different tone. He knew how stupid it was making him sound but… He just couldn’t bring himself to mention Manav. Speaking to her about it, asking her about it, would mean the end of all facades, potentially the end of them, and though he was avoiding her, he wasn’t ready to put an end to them just yet.

He turned to her, taking her hands into his own.

 

“I know I’m not making any sense but please. I need space. I need time for myself. I can’t explain it but…”

 

khushi pulled her hands out of his and shook her head.

“I don’t understand you. You know I can tell that you’re hiding something from me. It’s clear as day. But fine, if you want to carry on hiding your thoughts then I’m not going to pressure you into telling me what the issue is. We can discuss it when you get back from London.”

 

She turned away from him and got into bed. Arnav sighed. He had already planned how it was all going to go down in his head. And he knew for a fact that there would be no discussion after he got back from London. It would all be over by then…

*****

Author’s note:

Hi guys, so I had said that this was going to be delayed until later this week, but I felt bad that I was missing an upload day so I have done my best to proofread and edit this as quickly as I can so that I can have it up for you guys tonight.
“He’s Amazing” is probably still going to be late though, but enjoy this in the meantime!

He’s Amazing ~ Part 18 {Reloaded}

“Wow, I can’t believe that no one said anything to Aayaan!”

“I know! I was expecting some more reaction at least. I guess we will never really know how his family reacted to the news.”

Khushi and Lavanya had returned back to university and we’re tidying their things away as they discussed the events of the day before. Aayaan had stayed true to his words and had gathered both families together and had told them that while he did really like Khushi, he did not think that she was the person for him and told both families that he was still in love with his ex-girlfriend from London. He expressed to his parents that he had been respectful to their wishes and that he had tried to engage in a relationship that they approved of but he just couldn’t bring himself to throw himself into it. It had been an extremely awkward conversation and she felt bad for Aayaan because she knew he was doing this for her more than anything else, and she had offered to say something too, but he had told her not to.

After Aayaan and his family had left, Buaji had been in an extremely grumpy mood and highly disappointed that things hadn’t worked out. Shashi had suggested that the girls not waste any more time of their semester and just prepare to go back to university.

“When are you going to tell mom and dad about you and Arnav?

“I’m not sure; I’ll talk to him and see what he says or how he wants to do it.”

“Well whatever you do, do it soon. You know how buaji is; she’s probably looking for another guy for you right now.”

“Yeah, I know. Any way La, I’m running late, I should have already been at Arnav’s by now.”

“Oh yeah, you go and enjoy!”

With that Khushi rushed out of her dormitory. They had been back a while but Khushi hadn’t had the chance to see Arnav again yet. Though she still wasn’t sure about everything that had happened between him and Pooja, she had realised that she loved Arnav more than anything and that she wanted to spend her life with him, no matter what might have happened with him and Pooja. She had thought that she would be able to walk away from him, move on with her life and throw herself into something new, but after seeing him again, after being so close to almost having to let go of him completely, she realised she couldn’t do it, nor did she actually want to do it.

She knocked on Arnav’s door, He opened it and pulled her into the house. He pushed her up against the closed door and kissed her senseless. Khushi hands travelled to his neck and held him close, kissing him with the same amount of passion. When the kiss broke, Arnav lifted Khushi off her feet and took her into his bedroom. It was as he was putting her down onto the bed, that she realised he was wearing nothing but his boxers.

“You haven’t got any clothes on?”

It was a clear statement and she didn’t know why she had asked it as a question, but she had done.

“Why should I have bothered wearing anything when you were going to come and rip them off me any way?”

Before she could say anything, he was on top of her, pulling away her clothes.

“Arnav!”

“I know what you had said, but Khushi I need this more than anything, and I know you want it too! So much crap has happened, we need to do this.”

Khushi thought about it for a moment and knew that she should say no. Her sentiment about waiting until marriage was still something that stuck in her mind, but at the same time, she knew how much he wanted and needed this and she too knew that she really needed this as well. Looping her arms around his neck, she kissed him and smiled at him, showing him that she wanted whatever he wanted.

Pulling her clothes off, he left her in nothing but her bra and panties. Slowly he moved back over her, kissing her neck. Khushi placed her hands around his neck, wrapped one leg around his waist and held him close to herself. His lips travelled south of her body, moving down from her lips to her chin to her neck and carrying on. Hands on her bra, he pulled one side down slightly, freeing one breast as he gently teased the hardened bud with his tongue. He kept his eyes on her as he watched her reactions to his mouth on her. He felt her leg tighten around him as he took the whole nipple between his lips, initially sucking on it lightly and then getting progressively more aggressive. Khushi bit down on her tongue, not wanting to let out any sounds, but as she felt his hand travel down her body, inching towards the waistband of her panties, she could help but breathlessly call out his name.

She caught his hand when she felt him getting into her pants, but he brushed her hand away and continued and let his hand travel into her panties. He touched her down there and she felt overwhelmed at the feel of his hands on her. He moved back up and kissed her on the lips and whilst he had her distracted, he gently pushed a finger into her, making her gasp. Arnav broke the kiss and looked at Khushi. He felt her muscles adjusted around his finger, and then slowly withdrew it. He pushed it back in and let his finger play with her body and when he felt her body had adjusted to his touch, he let a second finger join the party, continuing the rhythm. Khushi couldn’t breath; this was such an overwhelming sensation. She had, had sex with Arnav, but this was so much more. It was so much more intense and she could feel her climax building up nice and strong. Maybe it was because his fingers were able to reach parts of her that he couldn’t reach with his manhood

Arnav could tell Khushi was on the edge and he knew he wanted to really throw her off the edge this time. When they had made love the first time, more than anything it had been a case of their bodies coming together, it was more of the act of sex than actually making love. But this time, he wanted to focus on her and give her a proper orgasm. With this in mind, he took his hands off her and slowly started travelling down her body again, kissing her lips, her neck, her breasts, her stomach and going lower still. Khushi’s hands tangled into his hair as she felt him going further down her body. His hands stroked her inner thighs and before she could say anything, he lowered his head kissed her down there. Khushi gasped and clutched Arnav’s hair as she felt his tongue on her.

“Arnav…”

“I want you baby. All of you…”

He did what he needed to do and Khushi could feel her orgasm building with him. When it finally came, it rocked her entire body and left her breathless. She lay still when the waves stopped crashing within her and Arnav moved back up to her, cradling her in his arms. They lay still in each others arms for a moment and Khushi gave herself the time to let her body and her breathing regulate once more. When she felt like her body had gone back to normal, she turned to face him.

“Arnav, I need you… Make love to me.”

“Are you sure you’re ready?”

“Yes…”

Moving over her once more, he kissed as he slowly joined their bodies in the most intimate way. Taking hold of her leg, he placed it on his waist and he felt her do the same with the other. The act didn’t last long. From the moment he started, he knew that they both wouldn’t last long and he found his release far sooner than he thought he would. He held himself within her for a moment as he kissed her, and then finally rolled off of her and lay back on his side of the bed.

“Arnav…”

“Sleep baby, you’re tired and you need rest.”

Curling into him, Khushi tucked herself into Arnav and soon she felt herself fall asleep and moments later, he too fell asleep. They were both so content, almost as though all of the tensions that they had been dealing with the last few months were no longer an issue and as though they had finally turned a new leaf. They were finally moving on and starting afresh.

*****

“Ok settle down everyone! I apologise that I’m late, I managed to sleep through my alarm this morning.”

Lavanya and Sia giggled, knowing exactly how and why their lecturer had missed his alarm. Khushi had rushed into the dormitory 15 minutes before the lecture was due to start and had run around like a headless chicken, gathering her things and running into the shower. Lavanya had never seen Khushi have a shower so fast, but somehow, she managed to shower in record time and was gathering her things and getting dressed when Lavanya had left for class.

Arnav looked around, looking to see if Khushi had arrived yet. He turned his attention to Lavanya as he addressed her.

“Hasn’t Miss Gupta arrived yet?”

“No sir, she too slept through her alarm this morning, but she should be here soon.”

Before La could even finish what she was saying, Khushi rushed into the room, mumbled an apology and took her seat. Lavanya and Sia nudged her and giggled.

“So Khushi, La was telling me you didn’t come home last night. Tell us, tell us, what happened, where were you?”

“Go away Sia, you don’t need to know!”

“Fine, don’t tell Sia, tell me!”

“Lavanya, I’m not telling you either! Both of you are so nosy.”

“Can you ladies leave Miss Gupta alone? If she doesn’t wish to tell you something, you shouldn’t force her to tell you.”

“Sorry sir.” – Lavanya and Sia said in unison.

Khushi smiled to Arnav gratefully.

The lecture began and her friends stopped bothering her but Khushi couldn’t concentrate on what Arnav was trying to explain to them. Her eyes were fixed on the man in front of her, her boyfriend, her lover and hopefully one day, her husband. Her mind kept going back to the night before. The way he had touched her, how his fingers had pleasured her, how his mouth had pleasured her… Everything he did made her feel so special.

Khushi continued to gaze at him with glassy eyes throughout the lecture, taking in very little of what he was saying.

At the end of the class, when everyone was filing out, Arnav called Khushi back. She waited at her desk and once everyone left, she made her way over to his desk. He lifted her onto his desk and kissed her lightly. The kiss was a short one and Khushi knew that he was preoccupied and that he was about to say something important. Cupping his face, she raised her eyebrows at him.

“What’s the matter Arnav?”

“Khushi, after you left, I spoke to Di. Told her about the fact that you nearly got engaged to some else and I want us to get married, or at least engaged as soon as possible!”

“WHAT! You told Anjali Di that?”

“Yes, and she agreed. So what she is going to do is, tell Nani about your family and the fact that they have two daughters. She will bring Payal into it who will say that she knows both of you quite well. Di will say something about the fact that your family is looking for a groom for you and that Di and Payal both think that you will be the perfect match for me. When Nani asks me, I will agree to marrying you.”

Khushi felt slightly lightheaded as she took in everything that he was saying. Was he being serious?

“I… I don’t know what to say…”

“Say you agree with this plan and that we should go ahead with it.”

“I… It’s so elaborate, why can’t you just tell Nani that we love each other and want to get married to each other? That’s what I planned to do with uncle and aunty when we decided we wanted to take things further.”

“I did consider that but I decided against it. Nani is fixed with traditions and she won’t like the idea that her grandson is marrying someone of his own choice. Regardless of what you are like, she will have reservations about us when going into rishta talks and I worry she won’t give us a fair shot. This way, we all get what we want without anyone’s thoughts or values getting hurt.”

“See this is why I love you, so thoughtful about everyone around yourself.”

“Why thank you. Any way, I feel that you should let Lavanya know so that she doesn’t say anything to anyone in her family regarding the fact that we already know each other and that we are already seeing each other.”

“I will, but what about your family. You know, NK, Payal Jiji, Anjali Di, Shyam Jijaji, Akaash, they all know me.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll get all of them to play along! Also, you don’t have to call Payal “Jiji.” When we get married by relation she will be younger then you, so you don’t have to call her Jiji. And in actual age she’s only a little older than you any way.”

“I know and she told me not to, but she said that I’m like a sister to her and I’ve always wanted a sister older than me. So she fits the bill perfectly and I like calling her jiji. But I guess after marriage I’ll have two older sisters wont I? Anjali Di and Payal Jiji.”

“I cant wait for nani to meet you. You’re the perfect person for our family. You have everything she’s been looking in a bride for me.”

“I’m glad you think that!”

“You know Khushi, when nani used to go on about what my wife should be like; I thought that I would have hell of a time trying to find someone that would fit the bill. But after finding you… You’re everything nani wants while being everything I want too.”

“Why did you think it would be hard to find someone you like who would be nani’s choice too?”

“Well nani wanted someone who would be very traditional and attached to home and family. I used to think that if I got married to someone like that, I would be doomed as she would be too busy serving everyone else. I wanted someone who would be about me more than anyone else.”

“And what do you think now?”

Arnav moved over and hugged Khushi from behind.

“I think I’m safe. I know just how amazing you are, just how loving you are and how much you care about me. I have nothing to worry about because I know that while you will care for my family, I will always be most important to you and that’s all that matters to me. You’re everything I want in a wife!”

“Who says after marriage I’ll give you time?”

Khushi wiggled her eyebrows at him playfully and he smirked.

“I know what you are like, you won’t be able to resist me. All I have to do is look at you and touch you in a certain way and you’ll be putty in my hands.”

“I think you are overestimating how much of an affect you have on me.”

“Khushi, baby, you know you can never resist me, I don’t know why you’re trying to convince either of us otherwise.”

Khushi turned in Arnav’s arms and kissed him.

“You know me so well… I love you so much Arnav, and all of this… I can’t believe we’re actually speaking about marriage already, it’s like all of my dreams are slowly becoming a reality and I don’t know how to react.”

“Just be happy and enjoy it all. It’s all happening and this is our reality! I can’t wait to start making every single one of you dreams come true! I love you so much and the thought of us moving forward with our lives… I’m so excited!”

As Arnav and Khushi hugged, they couldn’t help but start feeling excited about what was coming next. Their life was moving forward at full speed now and they couldn’t be more ready.

He’s Amazing ~ Part 15 {Reloaded}

Khushi ran as fast as her legs could take her. She ran past the main lounge when Sia stopped her. She had seen Khushi upset before, had even been the cause of Khushi being upset, but she looked absolutely distraught right now, she’d never seen her like this before.

“Hey Khushi, what’s the matter? Khushi why are you crying? What’s the matter?”

“You were always right, no half decent guy would go for a behenji like me!”

Khushi ran away crying before Sia could even respond. She wasn’t sure what to do. Should she follow Khushi to make sure that she would be alright? Or was that a step too far considering they weren’t really friends, just on civil terms. Shaking her head, she pulled her phone out and shot a text to Lavanya.

Khushi reached her room, threw open the door and collapsed on her bed. Lavanya rushed to her side. She had just finished reading the message that she had received from Sia.

“Khushi, babes, what’s the matter? Is Arnav ok, has something happened to him. Sia just texted me saying she saw you looking really upset and she was worried and…”

“He cheated on me!”

“What!”

It took La a moment to comprehend what Khushi was saying. Did Khushi say that… No surely not, it wasn’t possible.

“He slept with Pooja!”

“No, Khushi you must be mistaken, he loves you!”

“That’s what I thought, but you should have seen everything! Their clothes were all over the place!”

“Oh, gosh! Khushi, I’m so sorry babes! But Khushi that doesn’t have to mean that they… Maybe she just spent the night and they hadn’t tidied up…”

Even as Lavanya was saying it, she knew it wasn’t convincing in the slightest. Lavanya held Khushi close to herself while she cried, stroking her hair. Seething with anger, Lavanya vowed that she would destroy Arnav Singh Raizada and Pooja Kapoor even if she had to die while doing it. But something seemed to be wrong. Arnav didn’t seem like one of those men who would bed a woman just for the sake of it. Especially not when she knew how much he cared for Khushi. Something was wrong and she needed to find out what. It just wasn’t making sense in the slightest.

The next day they had a lecture for Arnav’s class. Lavanya got ready but Khushi stayed in bed. Sitting down on the edge of Khushi’s bed, La reached out to her and tapped her lightly.

“Not coming?”

“No, I don’t want to see his face.”

“Babe, I know it’s tough, but this is about your education. If you don’t attend lectures, you’re not going to be able to get your degree. And you’ve worked too hard and come too far to let it all go to waste for a man. Come on Khushi.”

“I know, and I will attend, but I can’t today. Just let me take today off to pull myself together.”

“Ok, you stay in bed; I’ll take notes for you. Do you want me to say anything to him from you?”

“Tell him he’s a douchebag.”

Lavanya chuckled, placed a light kiss on her sister’s forehead and left. She attended the lecture and took down all the required notes. She also noticed Arnav looked upset. She mentally thought to herself that it was good that he looked sad, it meant that he regrets his actions. No guy does that to Khushi and gets away with it.

At the end of the lesson, Lavanya hung back and waited for everyone to leave. But before she could approach Arnav and say anything, Sia was already talking to him.

“Mr Raizada, I have lost my respect for you!”

“Excuse me?”

“You did something to upset Khushi! How could you? What has she ever done but love you? You should have seen her. When I saw her, her eyes were red and blotchy and she could hardly talk! I never liked her, but the past couple of months, I’ve realised she’s an amazing person and I’ve grown fond of her. And to see her like that all of a sudden…”

Lavanya came forward and stood where Sia and Arnav were and looked at Sia in awe.

“Wow Sia, that’s really sweet of you! I never thought you liked Khushi. I mean I know you two have been a lot more civil recently, but I hadn’t realised that…”

“Well Lavanya, I didn’t like her because she was with Nikhil and I couldn’t understand why he would go for her, but again the last couple of months I’ve realised, she’s really cool. Any way, I’m assuming you want to talk to Raizada. I’ll leave, tell Khushi to take care and that I’m here for her too if she wants me.”

“Thanks Sia, I’ll tell her. She really needs her friends and well wishers the most at this moment of time. Depending on how she’s feeling later, you can come up to our room and maybe just watch a movie with us?”

“I’d love that.”

Sia left and Lavanya turned to Arnav.

“Tell me, what the hell happened and why did you do it?”

“Lavanya, please I swear, nothing happened between me and Pooja.”

“Then why is she saying it?”

“I don’t know! But I swear I can’t remember anything. I remember having a drink and then after that, nothing.”

“Well maybe you just had too much to drink.”

“It was orange juice Lavanya! I don’t drink alcohol!”

“Then why can’t you remember?”

“I don’t know!”

“It doesn’t make sense then does it; you’ve got to be lying!”

“Lavanya you know how much I love Khushi, why would I sleep with someone else?”

“Because you’re a man and that’s what you guys do! You probably got so tense that Khushi wasn’t sleeping with you that you decided to sleep with someone else!”

“Lavanya, I love her! What do you think; I’m in this relationship just because I want to have sex with her?”

“Maybe. That is how a lot of men think.”

“No Lavanya, I’m with her because I love her! I want to marry her, have kids with her! Don’t you see she’s the one that I’ve been waiting for all my life?”

“I’m sorry Arnav, you can say this, but it could just be words. And there’s no proof that you didn’t sleep with Pooja, so I can’t do anything. I’m sorry, it’s Khushi decision now. If after knowing all this she wants to get back with you, I will warn her, but I won’t stop her. If she doesn’t want to be with you, then I’m sorry, that’s it. As much as I want to believe you, you can’t remember anything, meaning you could have slept with Pooja, or you might not have. Pooja’s saying you did, so in a sense we have to believe that until we get proof saying otherwise.”

“I’ll get proof and then I’ll get Khushi back, no matter what happens, I’ll get her back!”

*****

Over the next couple of weeks later, Khushi had started coming to terms with what had happened and had made an active effort to avoid Arnav as much as possible. Though she had started attending lectures again, she made sure that she wouldn’t talk to Arnav. Even when he addressed her during the lectures, she wouldn’t look up and say anything more than the required answer. When he asked her to stay back, she would be the first to leave. Her heart hurt, she wanted him back, but she couldn’t risk it. She knew he was always asking about her to Lavanya, but she didn’t have the courage to talk to him. This continued for weeks and then one day, Buaji called.

“Ah Khushi, how are you my darling?”

“I’m fine buaji, how are you and aunty and uncle.”

“We’re all fine. Now Khushi listen to me carefully, you and Lavanya have to come home. Tomorrow! Something very important has come up and you need to be here as soon as possible.”

“What’s happened?”

“Oh well, I don’t want to discuss it over the phone. Now your train tickets are booked, and the university is aware that you both will be off. They will talk to your lecturers and get them to give you some work so you don’t fall behind.”

“But Buaji, what’s happening?”

“Oh Khushi I have to go, people are coming! Tell Lavanya to make sure she doesn’t leave anything behind, she always leaves something important!”

“Ok, but buaji…”

Before Khushi could finish buaji had put the phone down. She looked to Lavanya and told her about her conversation with buaji. Lavanya looked at Khushi confused, but said that she’d talk to Arnav so that he could give them their assignments and any notes that they would be missing out on. She left to go speak to him and Khushi decided to start packing her stuff. She opened her wardrobe and started taking things out and putting them into her suitcase. There was a knock at the door.

“Hey Khushi.”

“Oh, Sia, come in!”

“Hey what’s this La was saying that you guys are going home? I was just coming up and saw her on the stairs.”

“I’m not sure, buaji just called, said something important is happening and that she wants us as home.”

“When will you be back?”

“I’m not sure!”

“But that’s not fair, I’ll be alone! You know I can’t live without you and Lavanya anymore!”

“I know babe, but we’ll be back and I’ll call you every day and Tina is here, you won’t be alone!”

“I know, but I’ll miss you. Any way, I should go, you probably want to pack and I do actually have work to get done too.”

“Bye Sia, I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Take care babe.”

Khushi smiled and Sia left. She wasn’t that bad once you got to know her. You couldn’t blame her for being bitter sometimes, not with everything that’d happened in her life. Her father had had an affair when she was younger and left her and her mother alone. Everyone at school with her had teased her because she didn’t have a dad any more. She stopped believing that people could truly be nice. Everyone had been cruel to her, hence why she had too become hard. But after meeting Khushi and getting to know her, she realised that there were good people in the world. People who understood her pain, who wouldn’t tease her, remind her of what she didn’t have. She realised that these people were what you called true friends.

Khushi and Lavanya left in the evening, Arnav had tried to call, but Khushi wouldn’t answer her phone. They got home late that night and were received at the train station by Lavanya’s dad.

On the journey back to the house, the girls had continuously asked Shashi about what was happening, but he wouldn’t reply. The tension in the car was tangible and Khushi felt a million knots forming inside her. Something big was about to happen, she could just feel it.

They reached the house and were embraced by buaji. Getting into the house, buaji asked the girls to sit down so that she could tell them what was happening. Lavanya and Khushi sat down and looked nervously at buaji. Garima smiled, but it was evident that she too was quite nervous. Her tell-tale sign was how she played with the pallu of her sari, winding it round her finger and releasing it and then doing it all over again.

“Well, I know you’re both going to find this a bit shocking, but it was just too good a rishta we couldn’t turn it down… We have fixed Khushi engagement! It’s taking place on Sunday night!”

Wilted Heart ~ Interlude I

Arnav’s POV

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

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

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

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

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

“Arnav…”

Her calling my name brought me out of my thoughts. 

“Yes?”

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

“Yeah, sure.”

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

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

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

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

“Drive thru or eat in?”

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

“Yeah we can do that.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Thank you ma’am, have a nice day.”

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

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

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

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

“What was what?”

She looked smug, a twinkle in her eye. 

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

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

“You don’t have to do that.”

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

“Well thank you anyway.”

“You’re welcome.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Do you want to sit down?”

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

“Okay.”

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

“May I help you up?”

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

“Yes please.”

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

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

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

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

She was honestly breathtaking. 

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

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For letting me watch the sunset.”

“Of course, why wouldn’t I?”

“Manav never…”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I will… I will marry you Arnav.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Will you call me later?”

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

“Yes I’ll call you later tonight.”

“Okay.”

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

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

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