Chapter 4

charlotte74

@charlotte74

KHUSHI sat in the passenger seat as Rohan drove on the Kanjhawala road enroute to Delhi. They were on the way back from Sultanpur Dabas after a meeting with Mr. Manjeet Singh. As she looked out of the window, the landscape alternated between shops and foliage. Rohan had been silent from the time he had started driving brooding over the meeting that hadn’t transpired as expected.

Mr. Singh hadn’t liked the design that Rohan had presented. "Don’t worry Rohan," Khushi consoled him, "Mr. Manjeet Singh only wanted us to come up with an alternate design. This happens in projects."

"After I went home on Monday I thought over what Arnav had said at the meeting. He obviously thought I couldn’t handle this project."

Khushi was taken aback. "He said nothing of that sort Rohan."

"Well, didn’t he tell Anjali m'am he didn’t want to do the renovation project?" Rohan asked her, "He wanted to do this one instead. I figured that he will eventually get what he wants. Since then I have been sort of psyched out about this project."

How he had arrived at that conclusion was beyond her. This was one of the weakest excuses she had ever heard.

"Arnavji is a senior architect who has been providing designs for the company even before you joined," Khushi unwittingly defended Arnav, "I guess that's why he wondered why he was given the renovation project. I don’t think you should misinterpret what he said."

"What does it matter?" he muttered, "He is an intimidating character. I am sure Anjali m'am will give him the project eventually. After all he is a Raizada."

It might as well turn out to be true but not for the reasons he had just mentioned. Mr. Singh's project needed an experienced architect and this was not Rohan's forte. He hadn’t even prepared for the presentation and Mr. Singh had seen through his ineptitude.

"I don’t think Arnavji would need to use his family name to prove his mettle." She said before she could stop herself.

"You have been defending Arnav instead of supporting me."

"It's not like that Rohan – I was only explaining –"

"Are you angry with me Khushi?" Rohan asked her. "Is this because I didn’t reveal our relationship status?" he demanded, "you know we can't do that – for the sake of our careers."

"I know," she muttered in a low voice.

"I am sure he brought that up on purpose." Rohan said.

She couldn’t disagree with that – and that Arnav Singh Raizada was intimidating. But she also knew that Arnav had not meant any harm or else he could have easily exposed them to Anjali. Suddenly, her phone pinged and she saw that it was a message from her bank. An amount of 2o lakh rupees had been deposited to her account. Even though it was less than half the amount, she decided to revel in her relief and looked out of the window.

Khushi walked on the crowded streets of Chandi chowk looking for the address of the house that belonged to the Kashyaps. Ria had told her that the house was an ancient haveli near Chandni Chowk. Mr. Kashyap had abought the haveli in a dilapidated condition and wanted to restore it so that they could convert it into a hotel. Ria had begged for her help as the project was overwhelming for the newcomer.

As she walked through the familiar street, she thought of the times she had accompanied Sammy during college to purchase material for her fashion design projects. They had been so carefree then. She recalled reminiscing about the men who had hurt them and cheered the fact that they had each other. Khushi was glad that Sammy had found the love of her life and would be soon married to him. She too had Rohan a small voice reminded her.

She hadn’t seen much of him since their meeting with Mr. Manjit Singh, a little over a week ago. At first, she had thought he had been busy with the designs for the project but it was already Friday of the following week and wasn’t ready when she had checked with him in the morning. She had called Mr. Singh to postpone the meeting.

When she finally reached the address, she noticed that the building had shops on the ground floor. After enquiring with a shop keeper, she took a narrow flight of stairs to the residential part of the building on the first floor. As she stood in a central courtyard she was horrified to see the run-down condition of what might have been once a beautiful house. All she could see now was exposed electrical pipes, damaged walls, flooring and woodwork. She looked around to see rooms with broken doors and walls lined up around it. This wasn’t a simple renovation but rather a complicated restoration, she thought.

She took another flight of stairs to reach the second-floor passage with broken iron railing from where she could look down at the courtyard. There were rooms all around this floor as well. She walked slowly until she reached a portion with a broken railing.

Khushi closed her eyes for a minute and in her imagination, she could see the grandeur the haveli once boasted of, filled with elegantly dressed noble men and women. As she took a step, she found herself yanked away by a pair of hands.

"Watch out!"

Khushi was too shocked to respond as she saw a block of the floor of the passageway falling onto the courtyard down below. She slowly raised her head to look at Arnav, his face full of concern.

"Why the hell are you so careless?" he barked at her in anger, "you are running down stairs, sitting on non-existent chairs – falling off damaged passageways in a run-down building. Are you out of your mind?"

She held onto his shoulder silently as she regained her composure. He took her hand, and walked down the stairs to the courtyard.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded.

"I came to inspect the house," she said, "I like to see it in its original condition – it helps me design the interiors better."

"I thought Ria was assigned to this."

"Well, she is new," Khushi explained, "I will need to do the initial assessment and then mentor her."

"Great!" he scoffed.

"Ria is a good learner," she defended the other girl, "she will be up to speed in no time."

"If you say so," he looked at her, "what were you doing with your eyes closed up there?"

Khushi felt embarrassed. "I was imagining how it might have looked in the 19th century when it was first built. I am sure this place looked spectacular with all the chandeliers and antique furniture."

"If I hadn’t caught you, you might have joined the people who lived in the 19th century."

As they stared at each other, Khushi was thankful for the sound of her phone ringing. It was Rohan.

"Can you please let me go now?" she asked him, "I have to take this call."

She walked into one of the tiny rooms. After the call, Khushi stood by the window looking at the bustling street below. Rohan had asked her to postpone the meeting to Wednesday as he was going away on a trip with his friends. She had been surprised because he hadn’t told her about it earlier. He had assumed she wouldn’t be interested in going along. She couldn’t blame him for that. However, she had the nagging feeling that he had been avoiding her a little since the time she had talked to him about the loan.

Arnav walked into the tiny room. "I am hungry," he said, "do you know a place where I can get some food?"

They left the haveli and walked on the crowded street of Chandni Chowk.

"I am not sure you will like the restaurants here –the paranthe wali gali is close -- but if you want to eat non-vegetarian food then Karim's is further away."

"Don’t forget that I am also from Delhi."

"You spent your childhood in Indore and then were away in a boarding school in Dehradun and then again to a hostel in Mangalore during engineering."

Khushi stopped at one of the small street side restaurants and after ordering parathas, they found a small table.

"Looks like someone has been telling you a lot about me," Arnav took his seat opposite her, "at the breakfast table the other day – you didn’t seem surprised when they talked about Dhruv which can only mean someone must have told you about it. Aren't you afraid of me?"

How could she be afraid of man who had taken care of her so tenderly in Sikkim?

She shook her head. "You must have had a reason for what you did."

Her unconditional trust pulled struck a nerve and he looked at her in surprise.

"I was surprised to see you at the haveli," Khushi said, "Did you have another meeting with Lavanya Kashyap?"

A young server brought them aromatic parathas.

"I left my shades behind when I came here last week," he said, "I came back to find it."

"Did you find it?" she asked him as she took a bite of the tasty paratha.

"Yes."

They ate in silence and then Arnav said, "I am surprised to see you here on a Friday night working when you should be with your boyfriend."

"He has gone for a trip with his friends," she said, "we believe in giving each other space." She added when she saw his raised eyebrows.

"Ah the new-age modern couple." He said dryly.

"I sense sarcasm," she said, "don’t you believe in that concept?"

"I don’t know if I believe in it or not but I definitely use it when I don’t want to get too attached," he said, his brown eyes simmering with intensity, "I am really not sure how I will feel about that if I ever do get attached to someone."

She didn’t like the direction the conversation was heading, so she stood up to go the hand wash. As Khushi returned to the table she saw jalebis and tea on the table.

Her face lit up. "Did you order these?" she took one in her hand.

"I had no choice," he said, "Kittu is a great salesman." He sipped on his tea.

"I hope you didn’t mind that I moved into the Raizada house?" she bit into the succulent dessert with relish.

Arnav hoped she didn’t realize that he was staring.

 "I don’t care – it's not my house."

"It's a little awkward for me as I work for Anjaliji," she said tentatively, "I don’t know what she thinks." She sucked on her finger after she had eaten the dessert.

"So why can't you stand up for yourself and say no to Mamiji?" he seemed annoyed, "You have a job -- and yours is not even a 9 -5 kind of job. How can you be of any help?"

"She is my sister and people make sacrifices for family," she said, "I am no exception."

"How far will you go?" he asked her.

He had no idea about the extent of sacrifice she had agreed to make. Payal had been elated when she had handed Akash the check and right now that was all that mattered to her. "I don’t think about all that," she said carefully, "however tough things get, I believe God will help me through."

"Are you sure others will do the same for you?" he finished the last sip of the tea and put the glass down on the table.

"It doesn’t matter," she said, "I can only control what I do."

"You are going to be in big trouble, little girl," he said staring at her.

Khushi's heart skipped a beat at the familiar endearment.

"Wait a minute," Khushi said suddenly, "earlier you said -- running down stairs -- "

"So, you remember me --" she said, "from Sikkim."

"Yes." He said tersely.

"Why didn’t you say so before?" she demanded.

"You didn’t say it either." He challenged her.

"It was such a long time ago – I didn’t think you would have recognized me."

"You haven’t changed much," his eyes swept her from head to toe, slowly, "how about you? Did you remember me?"

How could she tell him that she had pined for Abhay, for a whole year, hoping on several occasions that might appear before her magically?

"You told me your name was Abhay," she prevaricated.

"You would have found out the truth if you had stayed until I woke up."

"I was supposed to leave that evening but I stayed back because Lucky didn’t show up for work."

"Is that right?" his face was hard, "What would you call that? Coincidence or fate?"

When Khushi remained silent he continued, "How is married life treating Lucky by the way? She probably has couple of kids by now."

"Sorry?" Khushi's eyebrows twisted in confusion.

"Let's go home – I will book a cab." Arnav took out his phone and clicked on the app.

A little later, as Khushi sat next to Arnav in the cab, she felt an odd sense of restlessness. Coincidence or fate – he had asked her. She didn’t want to believe in the latter, for it would lead to a lot of questions for which there wouldn’t be any answers. She smiled in spite of herself. He had reminded her of a time when she had been engulfed in the rapture of first love. It wasn’t a good idea to spend time with him like this, for she noted with dismay that she had enjoyed every minute of it.

The next day, Khushi woke up to loud banging on her door. Hariprakash stood there and told her that Suryaprakash Raizada had passed away in his sleep. Khushi hurried downstairs to see the entire family assembled in his room. Anjali stood by Naniji's chair as the older woman wept silently. Mamaji, Shyam and Akash stepped out to discuss the funeral arrangements. Khushi walked up to Payal who stood with her mother-in-law. Khushi noticed Arnav by the windows that was at the far end of the room.

A few hours later, the house was full of people who had come in to pay their respects to the departed soul. As Khushi stepped into Naniji's room with a plate of food, she saw a few relatives standing around with Mamiji offering their condolences.

" I would like to rest now," Devyani said looking up at the guests.

As the guests left the room she requested Manorama to go and get some rest as well.

"I don’t feel like eating anything," she told Khushi, "I hope Payal ate something – she shouldn’t go hungry in her condition."

"I gave her a plate before I came here." Khushi said, "but you should eat something –"

Arnav walked into the room. "You wanted to see me Nani?" He had kept to his room all morning.

Naniji smiled. "How are you feeling?"

"I should be the one asking you that," he took her hand in his, "Most of my family treats me like I am a guest. "They told me not worry – that they would handle everything. So that is what I am doing. Anyway, it's nothing new in this house, is it? Nanaji would probably have wanted it that way –"

"I will leave you both alone –" Khushi offered.

Arnav looked up at her. "You can stay," he said, "it's not a big secret."

"Your Nanaji wouldn't have wanted it that way," Naniji said, "if he hadn’t lost his speech he might have told you. He told me several times how he regretted his actions. But after you left for the US he wasn’t the same anymore. He was proud of you."

"Enough about me," Arnav said, "how are you holding up?"

"She hasn’t eaten anything since morning," Khushi said.

Arnav extended his hand for the plate, "You shouldn’t stay hungry for long – you are diabetic."

"I will eat," she assured him with a smile, "it's almost time for the crematorium. You better get going."

Arnav took his grandmother in a hug. "Nani, you know I will take care of you, right?" he whispered in her ear. He stood up and left the room.

Tears streamed down Devyani's cheeks as she watched him leave.

"Dadiji, please," Khushi tried to console the old woman, "you will make yourself sick."

"I wish I had protected him better when he was little," she lamented, "but I wasn’t strong enough. The poor boy.

"When my daughter died, we were devastated," she said, "she had an unhappy life and then she got sick. "In our grief, we were unable to take care of the boy who had lost his mother so early in his life."

Most of what she said was something Khushi already knew but this was a different perspective from had been fed to her before.

Just as she was leaving the room, another guest entered the room to offer his condolences.

"She is resting," Khushi informed him politely.

As the man hesitated, Devyani told him to come in. Khushi waved him inside and left the room closing the door behind her.

Later that night, when Khushi walked up to the terrace to get a breath of fresh air, she saw Arnav leaning on the parapet wall.

She walked up to him. "Are you alright?" she asked him softly.

"I was thinking about the run-down haveli. It seems beyond repair," Arnav said, "I am doubtful if it is even worth it. I will tell my sister to reject this project."

His mood seemed as dark as the night. She knew this was not what he had been thinking about. "Why do you say that?" she asked him, "if anyone is capable of bringing that building back to its original glory it is you." She said with conviction.

Arnav laughed as he shook his head. "You must be joking."

"No I am not."

"Why do you keep talking as if you know me well?" Arnav looked at her, his brown eyes boring down her intensely. "Not even my own family can claim that," He took a step toward her. "What make you so confident?" he rasped.

She unconsciously took a step backward. Her heart began to race as she looked at his menacing demeanor. She should apologize and leave.

"I – I know -- your work."

"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked her, roughly.

"I have worked with the drawings you used to send Anjaliji," she said in a low voice.

"There was nothing great about those mundane designs."

Those designs were anything but mundane but it may seem that way to a man who had an extra-ordinary talent for creating magic. " I have seen the designs that you created years ago -- they are simply spectacular. Some were before their time."

He advanced on her until her back touched the wall. "You had no business snooping around someone else's stuff!"

"I didn’t snoop around," she defended herself, "I happened to find them in the storage room – in the office."

He walked away from her, his whole body seething with rage. Khushi wished she hadn’t approached him when he was obviously hurting from his grandfather's death.

He had been so enraged when she had talked about his designs. It was probably something to do with his company that had shut down. Had she unwittingly reminded him of his broken dreams?