(Chapter dedicated to Ethereal-Path with loads  of thanks for being so sweet to gift me the banner)

Mrs Garima Gupta was busy furiously rolling out rotis for dinner, the news coverage on the television still on and falling into her ears, when the door bell rang..

The rolling pin still in her hands she shut the television and moved to open the door..

Khushi widened her eyes as she saw the sight before her..was it really this bad??..

Arnav himself was not quite relieved at what greeted him..like, not that he was expecting an aarti thaal or something, but seriously! Rolling pin??

Mrs Gupta was certainly etching out a very beautiful 'mother in law' image for herself..greets daughter's future husband with rolling pin..

Both Arnav and Khushi heaved a sigh of relief as Mrs Gupta slowly handed over the rolling pin to a Payal who had come rushing down the stairs hearing the doorbell...

there was a terribly awkward silence which followed and then Garima motioned the duo to enter inside..a wise move considering that by now the entire colony was straining their eyes to pain trying to catch a glimpse of the latest haps live..

"Khushi, where is Rohit?"

"maa..Rohit..Rohit and Supriya.." Khushi gulped..

"Rohit and Supriya what Khushi?"

"they went away together at the resturant"

Mrs Gupta widened her eyes.. "and what were you doing the while?"

"i was..er..i mean we were talk-"

"i see. You two were busy talking..i wonder why Rohit left now"

"mam we-" Arnav interrupted..

"break up was it Mr Raizada?"

"it was meant to be but-"

"but suddenly you changed mind and proposed my daughter in glare of live coverage by media"

"it couldn't be helped"

"i see..and I suppose so couldn't what followed the proposal"

this time Arnav got the indirect reference to the PDA alright..and dare he act ignorant..

"i gave you word it would be either breakup or engagement in the next 24hours. Since circumstances didn't allow the breakup we publicly declared the finalizing of our engagement"

Mrs Gupta kept staring at him for a few moments

"and may I know why the so called circumstances didn't favour the breakup?"

Arnav chose to remain silent..

Garima sighed..

"well..i am happy that at least you respected your word though your manner was certainly unexpected..and I hope you two spare us of any other shock..not a break up today, not a break up ever I hope..and pray"

Arnav and Khushi simultaneously gulped at this blessing..

"have a seat..i am just coming..."

Garima had just made her way to the bedroom when someone rushed down the stairs, skipping two at a time..

Arnav looked confused at Nihal who cried out "LATTU!!" the next instant and had his arms around Khushi..

[for those who don't get it, Lattu is the hindi word for spinning top..finally Khushi Kumari Gupta gets her own name]

Arnav wondered whether this was another potential threat to her relationship status..as he extended his hand to Nihal..

"Nihaal Gupta..pleased to meet you..again.."

Nihaal shook his hand smiling..

"Lattu! You never told me your cement pile was Arnav Singh Raizada!"

while Arnav swallowed the 'cement pile' addressal with considerable effort Khushi widened her eyes..

"you both have met?"

"of course we have! Just last October back in the States at a seminar"

"oh.."

Arnav remembered him alright..MD of U.S branch of Ennova...who from no angle looked or behaved like the MD of the U.S. Branch of Ennova..

"you here?" he just asked him plainly..

"oh yes" Nihaal replied "business work plus it had been two years since I had met my Lattu"

he hugged Khushi tighter

"as if you have any time for me now" Khushi eyed him..

"oh shut up" Nihaal replied..

"excuse me, but you are..?" Arnav raised a questioning brow..

"Khushi's cuz..and childhood mentor to her craziness"

cousin..relax Arnav...cousin brother...

they were still seated in the guest area when there was a ring on the door and Nihaal immediately volunteered to check it out..

Arnav , Khushi and Payal turned their heads together to see the new entries at the door..

and widened their eyes..

at the sight of Aakash Singh Raizda and dearest sister Anjali standing before them..

Anjali smiled a smile at Nihaal who reciprocated it vehemnetly, while Aakash craned his neck to have a silent smiley hello with his surprised bookworm...

"Cool! Look who's here lattu! Partner in crime herself! How do you do?"

Arnav who was about to say "di..you here?" stopped short at Nihaal's referring to his sister as 'partner in crime' and widened his eyes at Nihaal and then at Anjali..

"di! You've met him??"

"um..ya chotte..but 'partner' in crime has nothing got to do with it, rather it shoud be 'witness' to crime..right Nihaal?"

"redeemed crime mind you! And this is..?" he raised inquiring eyebrows at akash who extended his hand to him..

"Aakash Singh Raizada"

"so YOU are fire extinguisher!"

this was the second time it was happening with Aakash. Being referred to as an inanimate object with such immense conviction...and it really bugged the poor guy..was he red? Did he look cylindrical? All disturbing thoughts started floating in his mind..

Khushi stepped on Nihaal's toe who did an "Ouch! oh..oh yeh...don' mind bro..just kidding" and exchanged a firm handshake with Aakash..

Soon Mrs Gupta emerged with an aarti thaal and sweets from the kitchen..

and halted at the view of an increased population before her..

Anjali quickly moved forward and folded her hands in greeting..

"Good Evening aunty. This is Anjali. I am Arnav's sister, and this is my brother Aakash" she motioned towards an Aakash who too presented his respectful greeting and gained the coveted look of approval from Mrs Gupta's eyes..

"we know this..all this media proposal and all must have been really shocking to you and believe me nani at home is not very pleased about it either. It was really irresponsible of chotte to-"

" what? Just me! And what about Khu-"

"chotte let me speak"

"this is-"

"chotte!"

"Whatever"

"so I was saying that nani couldn't make it since she is not keeping well, and mami stayed back to look after her so we have come on the entire family's behalf to ceremoniously finalize this engagement and complete the shagun cereremony..."

"WHAT?"

"WHAT?"

Arnav and Khushi screamed out in sync.

"chotte you finalized the engagement and did the proposal your way didn't you?And Khushi agreed! Now will you please let us do our business?"

"di but we-" Khushi moved to say, that is before she was literally hammered to her place by the hammering vision of her mother..

Arnav smirked..so someone could make her shut up after all! Interesting..

Mrs Gupta turned to Anjali..

"sure beta, I am glad your nani thought of it...in fact, I was going to bring it up myself.. let's start then..by the way, are you immediate siblings?" she motioned towards Arnav and Anjali nodded in approval..

"i see..doesn't look like it.."

Khushi bit her lip in amusement and arched her eyebrows at Arnav who gave her an 'I don't give a damn' look...

Mrs Gupta turned to face Arnav and for the first time in the entire evening a smile crept on her lips , as she began circling the aarti thaal before him..

To say Arnav felt weird would be a horrible understatement..

Khushi with great effort managed to stifle the erupting giggle in her throat..

"chotte, Khushi.." Anjali motioned them to touch Mrs Gupta's feet

Khushi started bending when she realized Arnav was still hesitating over it..

Holding Arnav's hand in her own Khushi pulled him down along with her to touch her mother's feet..ignoring his 'what the!"

while Mrs Gupta lovingly placed her hands on the two bent before her, Arnav , fuming, murmered..

"don' you dare do that again"

"i will, if you hesitate that way in touching my mother's feet...in fact I can pull harder.."

"oh really?"

"yes"

Arnav immediately held her other hand tightly and murmered..

"now try getting up"

"what? What do you think you are doing?"

Mrs Gupta meanwhile was done with giving blessings and was waiting for the two to get up

"Mr Raizada are you crazy?"

"um..i think these are enough blessings for a day right?" Nihaal spoke out at length..

"apologize" Arnav murmered..

"i'll be damned if I do" she responded

"fine then"

Khushi looked at him for a few seconds then spoke out as loud as she could..

"ARNAV WHY ARE YOU HOLDING MY HAND?"

A totally unsuspecting Arnav almost sprang up straight as Khushi too straightened up..

"Khushi Kumari Gupta, Mr Arnav Singh Raizada..now explain" she spoke through her eyes..

Arnav ground his teeth before his plastic look took over again..

"I held it to tell you to touch your mother's feet and not the floor Khushi. What's wrong with you? Why are you so lost and nervous?"

Khushi couldn't believe just how callously and glibly this man could lie..

Arnav merely smirked at her..

The rest of the ceremony proceeded normally with exchange of sweets, hugs, congratulations and the like, also there were some wooohooos by Nihaal..

Only two people were feeling completely out of place the entire while..guess...poor cement pile and lattu...

Garima Gupta wouldn't hear of letting them leave without dinner now...and despite Anjali's excuses ,they had to stay back..

A while later

Arnav entered the kitchen as Khushi poured out the tea into cups..

poor guy happened to make an unfortunate entry from the wrong side of the kitchen resulting in his coming in the way to the trash bin as a result of which the soaked tealeaves from the seive Khushi just aimed at the trash fell on his coat and leaving a beautiful mark there stuck to it...

"WHAT THE!"

"OH SHIT! I thought you were the trash bin!"

Arnav raised an eyebrow high..

"i see.."

"no..i mean..forget it! Serves you right for what you did in front of maa right now"

"i see" he moved forward and again got hit straight in the head by the slight protruding end of the wooden shelf..

"oh gosh! You hurt?" Khushi ran forward "shit! It was pointed!!"

Arnav was massaging his head when immediately Khushi took the task to herself blabbering all the way

"i thought of doing something about it, but forgot, myself got hurt this morning, is it paining, mine did, do you-"

she stopped as she realized the situation and what she was doing..

Butterflies in Arnav's stomach is not the correct way to put it..flying files? Yes, that's better..

tiny thick files were flying in Arnav's stomach..

while evolution re-commenced in Khushi's...

she gulped and moved back..

there was an 'um.." awkward moment..

Khushi recomposed herself..

"and perhaps you deserve this too"

"excuse me?"

"of course! For planning to marry me like that!"

that certainly blew the lid..

"don't you even think I am gonna get married to you or something Khushi Kumari Gupta. We will break up before that"

"oh really? Why do I feel as if I have heard that somewhere before?? WHEN will you break up? At our engagement? Or are you waiting for the wedding maybe? Why not break up after marriage? That would be real cool-"

"shut up"

"NO I will NOT shut up! WHAT the hell do you think you are doing with our lives! We are going to get engaged this Sunday for heaven's sake! THIS SUNDAY! And when I join the job i-"

"job? What job?"

"i am unemployed doesn't mean I will remain unemployed for the rest of my life! I am joining office tommorrow. I made my mind in the car"

"Arnav Singh Raizada's fiance is NOT going to work in any whatsitsname organization, do I make it clear?"

"as clear as your breakup plan"

"which means-"

"which means you don't. And I am going work tomorrow"

Arnav held her shoulders and jerked her towards himself..

"i.said.you.are not.working in ITC. Thats final"

"not that I working in ITC makes a difference, but I am not working for it"

"then?"

"i am joining as assisstant junior editor for business weekly"

"oh.."

"yes. It's a good job, it's not going to effect anyone's image, neither yours nor mine, the editor is very pleasant and nice too"

"the editor?"

"yes! There has to be an editor right?"

MALE OR FEMALE???!! He wished to shout out but had to quite unwillingly take another route to it..

"name?"

"name? Oh yeah,it's..what was it..not remembering right now, starts with S.."

"What do you mean you don't know the damn name!! you're gonna work there dammit!! and you don't know his name??"

Khushi stared at him disbelievingly..

"his name? How do you know whether the editor is male or not?"

" isn't?" he asked hopefully

" is. I was just wondering how you know.."

great...another one on the list..

"old chap is very nice though.."

every cloud has a silver lining..how true...

"old chap?"

"of course..he is about to retire.."

"good"

"what?"

"nothin'"

"did you just say good?"

"i said food. It must be waiting"

"you go. I am coming"

"right"

"Mr Raizada?"

"what?"

"can you leave me now?"

"what?"

"for some reason you are still holding my shoulders.."

Arnav strode out of the kitchen..

Anjali was quite sure she heard a rustle behind her..

She turned to look and then her eyes literally popped out at the sight before her..

as a panting Nihaal jumped over the boundary wall..

she was about to scream at the top of her voice when she realized who it was..

"NIHAAL?"

"OH SHIT!! You're here??"

"of course I am! Why did you just jump into your own house? wh-..what's in your hand?"

Nihaal quickly hid his hand behind his back..

"oh..nothing"

"it's ok if you don't wish to tell"

"shoot! Forget it..but don't tell your brothers ok? It's our dinner.."

"what?"

"yeah..i mean we never knew you were coming so it had to be bought from outside.."

"oh but we never expected the food was being cooked at home! How is that even possible in such a short time? In fact, I was just going to ask aunty where the dinner was coming from.."

"you mean I jumped over the wall when I could just have entered respectably from the main door?"

"um..yes I guess so.."

"shoot..well it was exciting nevertheless.."

"what?"

"yes! You know, when I was small, I wanted to be an A class burglar, take burglary to all new heights, but mum and dad didn't quite approve-"

"how surprising! I wonder why..." Anjali responded

There was a strange silence at the table between Arnav and Khushi..

Aakash and payal, Anjali Nihal and Garima were engaged in talking...when Nihal suddenly exclaimed.-

"oh of course after Lattu's marriage we can all visit Switzerland along with the newly weds!"

"WHAT?" Khushi exclaimed..

"don't worry Lattu..we will..stay a bit aloof..no worries.."

Khushi immediately choked on the food she was eating..

she gasped for breath as bouts of cough seized her..

and before anyone knew Arnav had sprung on his feet and patting her from behind..

"ARE YOU CRAZY! CAN'T YOU SHUT UP WHILE EATING!!! DRINK WATER! BREATHE! STOP DRINKING! BREATHE! BREATHE!"

he rubbed his hands in swift motion..

Khushi was completely normal within moments but the scene at the table was something of this sort-

Nihaal rolled his tongue, mischief screaming in his eyes as he looked at Anjali who reciprocated the exact same look as they had a quick high five under the table.

Aakash himself smiled a terribly amused smile and bent his head into his plate aimlessly tossing food around

Payal arched her eyebrows high while Mrs Gupta restricted herself to a small smile careful of the youngsters around her.

"um..ASR?" Nihaal interrupted..

"what?" Arnav raised his head

"is Khushi breathing?"

silence...

Arnav slowly slipped back into his seat while Khushi, beetroot red, tried to look everywhere except Nihal and Anjali who were now grinning at them..

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it's late here..will send out pms tomorrow! hope you had a nice read

if you want, i can run with the story,finish it off in few updates, but i really don't wish to, and i hope you don't either..would love you to keep patience..but all suggestions gladly welcome.

Thanks to all of you for your good wishes for the thread and loads of love for your sweet comments, i cherish all of them!

NEXT UPDATE- PAGE 38

[MEMBERSONLY]

saucechips2012-08-16 10:33:34