Chapter 17

Khushi Kumari Gupta was on bed..

courtesy the great mid- party adventure with Mr. Arnav Singh Raizada..

whom she was cursing every 5 minutes for the same..

last time she had caught cold and threw a drama..

this time, it was fever..

and you can imagine...

"stupid stupid stupid cement pile! I am going to diiieee"

"Khushi will you stop it? You AGREED to go! For that matter it was EQUALLY your plan as his!"

"but it was his stupid stupid stupid car that gave away right in the middle of the road"

"whatever..now shut up and sleep! In fact, please shift to the guest area for a while, i'll change the sheets"

"what were you and fire extinguisher talking about at the party?"

"when?"

"don't you 'when' me... I have eyes!"

"are you going?"

The weather had not grown any better..in fact it had worsened...the flashes of lightening and loud thunder shook Delhi periodically..

but Anjali had still come...

she had called up to thank khushi for the present idea but had been informed of her sickness by Paayal accompanied by long ' I AM SICCCKKK!!!!" in the background...

and she had immediately decided to leave...

the weather had worsened all the more after her arrival, streets were slowly going empty..

Anjali's phone rang beside her

"hello?"

"di I hope you are at home. Stay there"

"um..actually no chotte..i am at Khushi's place.."

"WHAT??WHAT THE!"

"she was sick chotte! And I had to see her! I am just coming"

"no you are not. Stay there!"

"what?"

"i am coming to pick you up. Stay there!"

"but-"

"di!"

"fine!"

Anjali had to use the restroom and Payal had accompanied her to show the way..the main entrance to the guest room was slightly ajar

Arnav seeing the door ajar pushed it open and entered..

his eyes widened at the sight before him..

Khushi completely oblivious of his presence,half lying on the sofa set had resumed her moaning as soon as Anjali took momentary leave..

"I AM DYYYIINNNGGG!!!!" she moaned slapping her palm on her forehead

Arnav stood at the door looking at her for a few moments, hand inside trouser pockets then rolled his eyes and sat down on the oppsite sofa drawing a magazine from underneath the table..

"Oh..oh..oh..it feels so sick.."

"ohhh..myyy..goooddd...i am dyyyiinnnggg"

"unbelievable" Arnav muttered..

Khushi immediately sprang opened her eyes

then blinked..

then blinked again..

"am I dead already?" she muttered confused at him..

Arnav momentarily looked up from the magazine, nodded in approval and resumed reading once again..

Khushi got up stealthily and walking up to an Arnav who was reading the business magazine with pure concenration,pinched him hard..

"WHAT THE!"

"so I am not dead! Phew!!!"

"dammit are you mad??!!"

"i was just checking!"

"couldn't you check it on yourself??" Arnav grinded his teeth as he spoke..

"oh chotte you are here!" Anjali entered along with Paayal

" 'evening Mr Raizada" Payal greeted him..

" 'evening"

"Khushi WHAT are you doing standing there?? please sit !"

"are you feeling a little better now?" Anjali asked Khushi as she leaned back again on the sofa in weakness..

"ya..ya i'm fine"

"can't even find a doctor in this weather..we will have to wait till tomorrow..even maa is out of station"

Arnav kept listening grimly, then turned to Khushi and slowly bending down brushed the hair away from her forehead as he placed his palm gently on it

As far as Khushi knew, she just had fever, her stomach had been completely normal all day..

but it seemed to have suddenly gone altogether in a salsa mood..

she could suddenly state unexperienced and new kinds of fever symptoms..

like she haden't known before that butterflies in the stomach usually accompanied a 101 degree fever...

her eyes widened in surprise at the sudden and unexpected gesture..

he momentarily looked at her.. and she looked dazed back at him..

"slight fever" he muttered at length removing his palm, straightening up again.."paracetamol will do"

"oh yes, we have that..i was just going to give it to her"Payal nodded...

the term 'slight' used in regards to her fever immediately put Khushi back in defensive mood...

"do you think it has got to do with a car breaking down somewhere??" she hissed to him..

he completely ignored her statement and sipped the tea which had been just offered to him..

Anjali got on a call as Payal moved into the adjacent room..

Arnav sat down on the adjacent sofa to her and got back to the magazine..

"i hope you realize you should be apologetic"

Arnav remained silent as he kept on with his reading deeply buried inside the magazine

she was obviously not pleased

"very apologetic" she added..

no response..

"profusely apologetic"

"forget it" he murmered..

"excuse me??"

"i said forget it"

Khushi immediately threw her fever to the winds and sat with folded legs on the couch..

"you are not even apologetic??"

"why should I be?" he asked completely nonchalantly

Khushi made an 'O' with her mouth..

"oh.perhaps because YOU took me to buy YOUR sister's gift, oh well,she is MY friend also , right in the middle of a party in YOUR house, in YOUR car, which gave away right in the middle of a deserted road in ghastly climate, which made ME suffer the thrill of having to enter YOUR house from the backdoor in dripping wet state which put ME in fever!"

she paused to breathe..

and all that came from his side was- "am I the car?"

she blinked confused, then said "no.."

"then why should I apologize?"

"then should I go and demand an apology from your car??"

"go ahead" he said turning the pages..

"i find you absolutely insensitive and a total ce-"

his hands froze as he stopped turning the pages..he looked up and she gulped deciding very prudently that the 'cement pile' part could be left out..

Arnav suddenly threw the magazine back underneath the table and resting his index finger on his forehead started staring at her

"what are you doing?" she asked

"oh nothing..i am trying to give a damn"

Khushi fumed..

"keep trying! Because I don't care whether you give a damn or not, I don't care if your chivalrous instincts are practically non existent , because I for one-"

it's not good to shout in fever and she felt herself going dizzy, and a sudden dryness down her throat

Arnav sensing she was losing it shook his head in exasperation and walked up to her..

straightening the falling pillow behind her back he spoke..

"it's not that hard"

she looked up confused at him..

"what's not that hard?"

"to shut up"

"i-"

"shut up"

"you-"

"SHUT . UP"

"fine! But i'll continue later"

"shut up"

"i think we should be leaving now..the weather's just worsening" Anjali said as she bent towards the half lying Khushi "get well soon..all the best!"

Khushi smiled and nodded..

As they were leaving, Arnav looked over his shoulders at Khushi and within an audible range turned back and said to Paayal in cool amusement "All the best to you"

Paayal suppressed a giggle while Khushi puffed her nostrils in rage.

Arnav merely smirked..

Anjali got a call from nani while she , Arnav and Paayal were in the verandah..

"who's puchu?"

Arnav suddenly threw the question..

"excuse me?" Paayal was obviously surprised..

"um..puchu, who's he?"

he mentally kicked himself for having said 'he', what the hell! Why on earth had he said 'he'? Who told him it was a 'he'? Hell, why did it even matter whether it was a 'he' or not. It could be a she, a pet anything! And he had blurted out 'he'!

In short, damn 'he' !

Paayal's lips slowly curved into an amused smile..

"How DO you know about puchu?"

note to self- damn you Arnav Singh Raizada!

"no, 'nuthng"

"he is THE star in Khushi's life"

so it was a 'he'...and suddenly he hated his gender...except himself of course..

he kept silent...

"come..i'll let you meet him"

"he lives here??" Arnav was absolutely startled...

"Khushi didn't leave us with an option"

before Arnav could deny, Payal was already leading him to another side door from the verandah..

they stood at the door and Payal motioned to a big ,almost as big as a sitting person, giant fluffy off white and dirty teddy bear , the dullness of the texture being a proof that it had seen quite a number of years..

"that's 'he'" Paayal gave him an amused smile "Khushi's puchu; her childhood buddy...she claims he's the only one in her life who can understand her"

"let's call him a genius then" Arnav added and Paayal vehemently agreed..

Arnav suddenly felt a wave of relief filtering through him..well he had no problem if this was the puchu of 'puchu_loveyou'...hell, he had no problem, if there were a dozen such beloveds with her..if only they were teddy bears..yes, if only they were teddy bears..

his own track of thoughts starting to be very disturbing to his own self he swerved out nodding, and Payal followed him out..

Anjali had ended the call and Arnav helped her out with extreme caution to the car as Paayal bid them adeiu..

Lying in her bed Khushi stared deeply at the ceiling , touching her forehead with her palm repeatedly but her stomach felt completely normal now..

why had it felt so weird...

"slight fever" his words echoed in her mind as she remembered him leaning and placing the palm on her forehead..

she smiled..then widened her eyes at her own gesture..

"great! Another reason to avoid cement pile..."

he made you stupid and put butterflies in your stomach..