Chapter 2

2

The next morning Khushi made sure she woke up earlier than usual. She left home 15 minutes sooner; there was no way she was going to be late today. She was only halfway when it started drizzling. Khushi looked above in utter disbelief.

"Hey Devi Maiya! Why are you doing this to me?"

Khushi ran the rest of the way as fast as she could to avoid the increasing downpour; when she finally reached her usual spot, she was already fully drenched. She looked at herself – her skin was almost visible through the white cotton dress she was wearing.

"You really should read the weather forecast first before you pick the dress," she advised herself as she used her dupatta to cover herself as much as possible and started looking for an auto.

After 25 minutes of fruitless effort, Khushi saw the white SUV coming. She gulped. There was no way he was going to offer her a lift today but looked like she needed one badly. Should she wave at him?

"Are you crazy, Khushi?" Khushi scolded herself, "Bilkul nehi! Remember how he gave you attitude yesterday? And even if you wave at him, you think he is going to stop? He will slow down the car in front of you first and then will drive away fast, making a fool of you. Didn't you see in movies? This is how he is going to insult you. No compromise with self-respect. Hmph."

Arnav's eyes routinely went to where Khushi stood as he was crossing the signal. Ah! There she was. But wait .. was she glancing at him? Or his car may be? Arnav was not sure but it looked like she was glancing at his direction and probably, talking to herself?

"Ajeeb hain ye ladki," Arnav muttered.

He was not going to offer her lift today - he had decided this the moment he had woken up in the morning. He had been surprised that such a trivial issue was his first thought of the day. The moment it started to rain, Arnav could not but think of her red clad, drenched figure .. little water droplets sliding down from her eyebrow, her wet locks making her look more petite & fair. She had a beautiful complexion!

"Hello", Arnav mentally jerked himself. When did he even notice all this? He could see Khushi only a few feet away from him. Yes, she was glancing at him .. or may be his car. Was she expecting a lift? Arnav could feel his heart soften but he quickly regained himself.

No way.

But it is raining.

So what? She said me no.

But she was courteous.

How dare she say "no" to Arnav Singh Raizada?

Yes, but she is not like other girls who would be in your lap only if you lift your finger?

I don't care.

She seems nice .. and in distress ..

Arnav braked the car in front of her as if to put a stop to the pointless dilemma brewing insider him. He lowered the glass and stared at her without saying anything. Khushi also kept staring at him wide-eyed, waiting for him to say something. But nothing came.

Arnav was not sure why he had even stopped the car. Now that he had, what should he do?

Shouldn't you ask her if she needed a lift?

But she said me "no"yesterday.

If you had asked again, perhaps she would have said "yes".

Why shoud I?

You drove away ..

"Can I go with you to office, Sir?"

Khushi's voice cut in through Arnav's thoughts.

"Huh?"

"I meant can I go with you .. to office? Of course, if you don't have any problem .. only then .. "

There you have your solution.

How dare she ask me for a lift?

She asked herself; she needs one. Stop thinking!

She should be refused.

It is raining.

She should know how it feels to be refused.

It was not raining yesterday but it is today. Stop thinking!

Arnav unlocked the door and waited for Khushi to get in with his eyes fixed on the road. Khushi immediately got into the car & locked the door. She gave him a grateful smile but he did not reciprocate. Even before she could go for the seatbelt, he leaned on her, pulled the belt & fixed it .. brushing himself on her in various places in the process, completely unaware of her quite visible trembling form.

As the first few minutes of tension cooled down, Arnav tried to see what she was doing by the corner of his eyes. Apparently, she was mumbling to herself and playing with the ends of her dupatta. Those cotton balls .. bloody cotton balls. Arnav had no idea he could be so allergic to something. He felt like ripping those off her dress .. those made her look so stupid. She was already stupid .. those just made her look stupider, Arnav grumbled.

No matter how grumpy he was forcing himself to be, he could not deny how the air has changed. When he got into the car this morning, he suddenly had felt something was missing. Something was not there that was supposed to be a part of his car. It did not occur to him what it was until Khushi Kumari Gupta entered the car. That smell .. that stupid lemony smell. He never realized he was so fond of citrus fragrance. He had gotten the car fragrance changed last night but it did not do any good. The air felt incomplete till she came spreading her stupid fragrance. He had to know what it was .. must be some cheap, tacky perfume.

"I am going nuts." Arnav groaned mentally/

Khushi could see by the corner of her eyes that ASR was all grumpy.

"Laad Governor kahin ka," Khushi mumbled on, "If you are that much irritated, why are you giving me lift? As if I fell at your feet .. well, I did ask for a lift but you did not have to say yes. I already know how Khadoos you are. Nothing would have changed if you refused .."

"Can you please stop talking to yourself?" Arnav barked. "And I can understand half the things you are saying. So if you have anything to say to me or about me, you better say it on my face. At least, be honest."

Khushi's eyes went wide & she tried to gulp down her nervousness. She started biting her nails.

"Hey Devi Maiya, how did he listen to what I said? I was talking silently, naa? Nobody ever hears me talking to myself. What happened today?"

"No one just pays attention to you, Khushi Kumari Gupta." Arnav barked again. "Who would want to waste time on your meaningless blabbering?"

"But you are …" Khushi stopped midway.

Arnav frowned. She was not as he had perceived. He had thought she was just a meek, middle class girl who probably did everything Lavanya asked without a word. Apparently, she knew to talk! And God .. did she talk a lot or what!

"Yes but that is only because you are talking almost on my ears," Arnav reasoned harshly. "If you want to be in this car till we reach office, you better shut up."

"Laad Governor!" Khushi mumbled for the last time.

The rest of the journey went uneventful. As they reached the parking lot, Khushi almost attacked the clip of the seatbelt. She would do it this time .. herself. Arnav noticed and allowed her time as he organized his stuff from the backseat still being in the driving seat. He was done but she was still fighting with the seatbelt. Arnav took a deep breath. This girl would make him crazy. He roughly removed her hand and unlatched the seatbelt.

"I don't understand how Lavanaya puts up with you," he hissed & got out of the car.

Khushi almost ran out of the car flustered and called out.

"What did you mean by that??"

Arnav did not bother to turn and started walking away.

"Get an umbrella from next time. You have ruined my car for the second day."

Khushi stood on her spot shocked, raged and yet, embarrassed. It just dawned on her that she must have literally flooded the co-passengers seat today as well. And then she remembered she had not thanked him today. She ran to find him but he was already gone.

Khushi tried the whole day for an opportunity to thank him for the lift; and also to say sorry for flooding his car. She even decided to offer him help to clean it up. But as usual she did not even manage to see him even once. ASR's office was on the top floor of the building & employees with only privileged access had entry to that floor. Her only chance of meeting him was if he came down to their floor or somehow La-ji took her along in a meeting with him. Apparently, nothing happened.

Khushi went back home disappointed. He did deserve a "thanks" & a "sorry" from her.

"Devi Maiya!" Khushi talked to her best friend before going to sleep in her little old bed that she shared with her sister Payal. "This is not right. I should have thanked him. He is my Boss's Boss and still he gave me lift twice. And I even ruined his car. Help me, Devi Maiya. I feel like I am on loan."

Devi Maiya smiled from above. She would get her chance. Perhaps.

In another part of the city, Arnav Singh Raizada was trying to sleep on his plush bed. His eyes shot open as the moment he closed his eyes he saw a pink cotton ball .. the ball attached to a white cotton sleeve .. the skin underneath almost visible through the wet cotton .. the sleeve attached to a white cotton dress halfheartedly covered by a white chiffon dupatta .. still giving away a lot of what was underneath .. the beauty-bones just above the V of the neck .. water droplets running down from there towards the V ..

"What the …," Arnav could not believe himself as he sat up on the bad, shell-shocked. Did he even notice her this closely? It must be months of deprivation of female company, he decided. Else how could he be thinking of her so much? He needed to go out. Yes, he would go out .. on a date .. on multiple dates, in fact. This had to be it. Arnav kept on forcing himself to sleep, forcing out the visions in white .. a sweet lemony smell still lingering somewhere around.

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Arnav started for office the next day a bit early – almost 15 minutes than usual. He had no intention to be stuck with Ms. Gupta again .. under no circumstances. He had seriously thought over it. It had been months since he had been involved with anyone. He tried to think whom he could consider for company as he relaxed in the subtle citrus smell lingering in his car. It relaxed his nerves, he came to a conclusion last night. He would find out what this smell was but right now he needed to focus on finding a good company. As he mentally browsed through the known pretty faces, here & there another known face kept popping up frequently and he kept trying hard to force down under the piles of other images. It still kept appearing like a virus no matter how many times he deleted it. Arnav started to get frustrated and that was when his eyes landed on the reason of his frustration.

"What the hell is she doing this early?" Arnav groaned.

To his utter surprise, Khushi Kumari Gupta started waving her hands frantically at him when she saw him.

"What the ..?" a shocked Arnav muttered.

Khushi's face lit up with a thousand watt smile as Arnav braked the car in front of her. Oh that smile! Arnav shook his head to clear his thoughts. She was so .. distracting.

As he lowered the tinted glass, she saw him open his mouth to say her something, probably to shout at her but she did not give him a chance.

 "I wanted to thank you, Sir for giving me a lift yesterday." Khushi babbled on in her usual supersonic speed. "And also, I would like to say "sorry" for ruining your car. See, I have got my umbrella today. If you want, I can help you clean the car. I promise I will never ruin your car again. I just did not want to be late. You cut a day's salary for 3 days' late attendance. You know how much money that is? I cannot afford to lose that much. You know you should change this rule .. or may be not .."

"Get in the car." Arnav barked putting a stop to her apparently ceaseless speech.

Khushi, like an obedient girl, got into the car without a word & waited for Arnav to buckle her in. Arnav did not disappoint her too as he leaned forward immediately.