Chapter 44

'Tum mile, toh lamhe tham gaye,

Tum mile, toh saare gum gaye,

Tum mile, toh muskuraana,

aa gaya...'

"Aakash, what are we doing here?" Payal looked around the 5-star restaurant they happened to be sitting in...

Aakash braced himself as he bent forward in his seat..

"Look Payal I need to tell you..I wanted to tell you..you know, I wished to let you know-"

"Aakash, you are doing this since the past 15 minutes. What?" Payal said sipping the drink before her..

Aakash threw his hands in the air..

"You know what? this wouldn't have been so difficult had you not been someone having read more than a dozen confessions by God knows what out-of-this-world romeos thereby putting the risk of my confession looking like total bleh.."

Payal choked on her drink immediately as she stared wide eyed at him..

"WHAT?"

quite a few heads turned at that...

Akash felt a dozen heroes popping out in shining armors out of thick fat novels and laughing at him and felt like the roasted chicken on his plate..

Endless moments passed until he couldn't take it any longer..

"yes! I love you ! There you go! Take it or leave it! Compare it to whoever you-"

"Aakash-"

"I know Payal! Look, you don't need to agree, or you know, this wouldn't change our friendship, but-"

"me too"

silence..

"what?"

"me too Aakash" Payal smiled as she blushed..

and that marked a sudden transition from roasted chicken to Alexander the Great...

1 new message from cement pile-

Heli lands in Delhi shortly. Don't you DARE take ONE more plane. Don't you DARE drive to the helipad.

1 new message from bhai(Nihaal)

Arnav Singh Raizada just payed a visit to the New York International airport. I guess it failed to impress him since he took off to Mumbai in just an hour. Thought you'd like to know ;)

Delhi to New York to Mumbai to Delhi...that explained the private helicopter...

Khushi stared blankly at her mobile screen for a few moments, standing at the Delhi International airport Exit lounge, trying to put two and two together.

A soft , meaningful smile broke on her face as the realization of the current state of affairs dawned on her. It took a few more moments for that smile to turn into a blush... and then a grin.

And a few more moments for her to stand right in the middle of the airport exit holding her forehead with her palms and laughing, earning as a consequence of her action a disapproving look from an old lady next to her who quickly made an addition to her 'book of why the current generation is not what the current generation should be'..

A while later a taxi drew to halt beneath the sunny October afternoon sun somewhere near AR headquarters. Khushi stepped out and was greeted by the sight of a hoard of journalists, cameramen etc spread all around the place who were probably under an impression that he was returning after a conference abroad or something..

Her breath hitched as she felt the weird sense of deja vu numbing her mind.

The same journalists...

The same bright afternoon sun...

The same helipad...

The same wait for Arnav Singh Raizada..

She smiled as she remembered how not long ago, she stood at this very spot and cursed a certain 'high and mighty thinks he rules the world'..

...the difference was that the scorching May heat had been replaced with the warm and mild October gusts..

the wait was as painful, but the reason, different..

the impatience was the same, the desperation different..

It was like coming around after having traveled one large circle...

but, that was true, wasn't it?

Khushi suddenly felt someone clearing his throat behind her..she broke out of her trance and swiftly turned around to face the uniformed guard who looked surprised at her..

"Ma'am we never knew you were here. Why don't you just move into the car? You know, the media is all over the place and if-"

but it was already too late, Khushi was soon spotted by the paparazzi who took almost no time to surround her from all sides..after a loud 'IT'S HER!"

"Ma'am, when are you getting married?"

"I am sorry I cannot comment on-"

"Ma'am we never heard anything about the progress of your relationship after the engagement, is the wedding still on?"

"Yes I-"

"Ma'am is it true that Mr Raizada slapped your ex at Mrinal Bhatiya's reception?"

"what? My ex?"

"yes of course! Designer Hitesh Sidwani, your ex flame?"

"WHAT? Look, I have NO idea about any such ex and now if you will please excuse me I-"

She stopped at the sudden drawing sound of rapidly moving helicopter blades above. She raised her head towards the skies as did about a dozen journalists along with her..

"He's here..finally!"

someone shouted as the sound became increasingly deafening..

Khushi involuntarily stepped away from the crowd and went and stood by the barricades, overcome by an overwhelming feeling of joy and anticipation..forgetting the very simple exercise of breathing in and out..

"Oh get down already!" she muttered under her breath..

The helicopter finally made a landing on the ground..after what felt like years..

The metallic door swung open as uniformed security stepped down..

And then he came out..

The Arnav Singh Raizada of a few months ago had stepped down on the same Delhi turf a few months back, annoyance and arrogance reigning his face as the scorching weather and un-welcoming sight of desperate paparazzi had greeted him..

The Arnav Singh Raizada of today didn't give two hoots to the weather..nor to the presence of the paparazzi..arrogance however, was always a part and package of his persona..

He moved to instruct his staff when his eyes fell on a lone figure, standing away from the crowd , immediately behind the barricade quite a few feet away...

It didn't require him a closer look to guess who it was..

Clad in denim jeans, and white kurta, her hair loosely fallen over her shoulders and slightly moving about in the gentle breeze Khushi stared straight in his direction..

It seemed like endless moments of strange silence passed between the two of them before Khushi bent her head, starting to shake with laughter..

Arnav, himself, gave a light chuckle as he looked on..

those endless break up plans..

those relentless efforts to stay off...

those strong self denials..

those rumors, those confusions, those mess ups, those sleepless nights all played along as rapid flashbacks and all they could do, was, laugh..

"Get out. NOW!"

"Out? My pleasure!"

"Khushi! I am there! Relax!"

"They have put hearts! HEARTS! DAMN IDIOTS!"

"Fiance? Wife? Jiji, am I dead? Is this hell?

"so what do you propose we do now?"

"break up"

"Arnav, why is this becoming a 'till death do us apart thing for us?"

"Just say we are seeing each other.."

"WHAT?"

"Do you have another choice?"

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the engagement of Mr Arnav Singh Raizada to Miss Khushi Kumari Gupta"

"After all, you want to break-up.."

"NO! I mean..yes..I mean, so do you, right?"

"who THE HELL is Pallavi Khandelwal?"

"Jiji I think I am in love"

"You are leaving for 5 Goddamn years and I get to know this from your brother!"

"you let her go, chotte"

Arnav slowly bent his head down, rapidly typed away a message on his blackberry, then raising his head signalled her to look into her mobile..

Confused at his choice of mode of communication Khushi bent her head to her mobile screen as the display lit up with the message-

1 new message from Cement Pile.

I am not married, but to be married, not engaged, but to be engaged, wanting to get married and wanting to get engaged. Are we done?

Khushi stared confused at her screen for a couple of moments before realization hit her. She bit her lip in sheer amusement..

then hurriedly typed back-

I am sorry I cannot do much about that, and I for one am not done Mr Raizada.

She waited as she saw him smirk a highly amused smirk at his mobile screen before she received another message-

And why should I care whether you are done or not?

She bit her lip, thoroughly enjoying re-living the moment of their very first encounter..

Because I, have an appointment. Khushi Kumari Gupta,err...jobless :P

That was as far as they remembered and moreover this was too much...these few feet of separation were even more torcherous than the miles that had separated them all these hours..

He took large, firm and quick strides forward, but Khushi Kumari Gupta had never been famous for her patience..

the media, was forgotten..

the fear of looking ridiculous, was forgotten...

Slipping past the barricade (while all the poor security could do was make an 'oh shit, what am I supposed to do?' expression) she broke all her high school annual sports day records as she sprinted like a dart towards Arnav, who could only chuckle at her antic as for the first time in her life, Khushi, despite running, could reach her destination without tripping as she flew straight into him..the impact so strong, that he literally had to take a step back...

It was hard to tell whether it was her bullet like launch, or his steely grip around her , hoisting her up, but the fact still stood in place, that Khushi Kumari Gupta, at the moment had her two feet inches above the ground..

The security fully co-operated by moving back a considerable distance and choosing to take a sudden interest in their respective watch makes, the afternoon sky, leather shoes, etc. etc.

The media fully co-operated by effectively placing palms over each other's mouths to maintain a silence from their end only to be interrupted by a dozen cameras clicking away rapidly...for after all, such PDA after PDA, didn't come served on plates every other day, and some PDA it was..someone tried to shout and was hit by a mike on the head..

Khushi felt a surge of peace flow through her within the embrace and the feeling of finally being back home as she felt arms tightening around her..Arnav himself felt his entire being relax as the anxiety which has been gnawing on his mind felt ebbing away...

Still within the embrace, Khushi slipped down, her feet touching the ground , eyes a little glazed as their faces came into level with each other..

Arnav chose not to let go of his steely grip, tightening all the more with each passing moment,which was creating significant breathing problems for her, but breathing problems, currently, were not Khushi Kumari Gupta's biggest issue..she could hell well have developed gills for the same without noticing..

"Gosh..this is so..filmy!" Khushi laughed through the choke in her throat..

"It's Khushi Kumari Gupta" Arnav replied, smirking "if not dramatic, then what else?"

"in Delhi, may I ask why, Mr Raizada?" she spoke with a mischief laced voice..

"some business stuff" he countered.. "some people need to be shown where some people are damn well supposed to be. You?"

"Oh me?" she replied.. "just came back to extend my gratitude to someone for their sweet little 'Goodbye Happy journey'..then I'll be back to New York"

"I see.." he raised an eyebrow "so let's see how you do that Khushi Kumari Gupta"

"who's stopping me?"

"try saying New York once again and you would see that"

She giggled..

"Gosh..you're so slow! you know that? I told it to you weeks ago and you react, like now!psh.." Khushi spoke after a moment..

He raised his eyebrow, before jerking her forward..

"How's this for being fast?" He replied as he fished out a sparking ornament from within his pocket, and his eyes as stubborn as amused, he grabbed her left hand and forward and proceeded to push the ring up her finger..

Khushi pulled back her hand fircely and stepped back..

Confused, he questioned her with his eyes..

"A girl likes to be asked" she drawled in a deliberately lazy voice as she suddenly began blowing cool air over her nails..

"I see" he replied, his smirk not hiding his absolute amusement..

Stretching an arm forward and wrapping his hand around her wrist he jerked her forward yet again as she fell flush against him..

"So, Khushi Kumari Gupta, will you marry me? I give you two choices, yes...or, yes?"

Flustered already at the close proximity, Khushi tried to formulate the correct string of words..

"I..urm..I."

"Is there another Khushi Kumari Gupta here?"

"..no"

"then yes, you. Khushi, don't test me, yes, or yes?"

She smiled and blushed a pretty shade of pink, before a twinkle lit in her eyes

"If we get married, will you stop shouting at me, stop bossing around, stop throwing totally unexpected news on me and be all 'it's a warm sunny weather' about it, stop going all 'Goodbye. Happy Journey.Your life. Farewell' and such crap on me when I am already hell confused and literally commit the decision blunder of the decade, and not ROFL if I tell you something, I didn't tell you all these days because I thought you would ROFL?"

"No.No.Depends.Yes.what is ROFL?"

(Arnav Singh Raizada, was never famous for his patience either)

"Roll on the floor laughing!!" Khushi gasped out, exasperated.. "you never read my cool lingo list did you?"

"and why would I do something like that?" Arnav counter questioned, not being able to think of any situation calling for his rolling on the floor..hell, why would he roll on the floor?

"oh..ok.." Khushi bit her lip.. "then I will try..to..say..you know, what I want to say.."

"I am listening"

"urm.." she gulped.. "Arnav..."

"yes?"

"I..you..i mean we.."

"yes Khushi, I, you, he, she, we , their, his, hers, whatever...next?"

"wait a minute!" she shouted and pulled back.. "why am I doing this? I shouldn't be the one doing it! YOU should do it! I am supposed to smile and blush and you are supposed to do the talking not the other way round!

Arnav, who was still trying to figure out a reason good enough for him to roll on the floor found the additional disturbing image of himself blushing make a pretty horrifying picture and it was not long before he put two and two together and got what she was struggling at..

Mischief, and an irresistible urge to tease her, flitted through his eyes as took a breath in and eyed the pretty confused creature with flaring nostrils before him..

"I should say what, Khushi?"

"You know what?" she started off, furious... "I think I should go back to New York! Because you are too slow for a snail! To HELL with what you have to say! I don't CARE! I don't CARE whether you don't have the freaking sense to freaking tell me that-"

"I love you"

"Exactly! And then you expect me to-...wait... what?"

"I.love.you"

silence...

"Khushi?"

silence..

"okay, I expect a response to that Khushi?"

silence...

"I thought this is the part where you smile and blush"

As if following a manual, Khushi suddenly turned a pretty shade of pink and he smiled, glad to know that his confession had not ended up into one of those 'paralyzed lover gets admitted to hospital' kind of things..

"that's better" he whispered, and she turned red..

"So.." he raised her chin with a finger.. "is this a unidirectional thing or do I get to hear something too?"

She had practiced this N number of times, but Khushi would have preferred reciting Latin poems, than the fix she found herself in returning those three words back to him..

"same here" she smiled..fiddling with her hair..

"same what?" he wouldn't let go that easily..

She took a deep breath, shut her eyes, shut all the 'you shall say and he shall ROFL' fears, thought about the immense crap she had undergone the past 26 hours all for this moment and breathed out..

"I..love you too"

Arnav felt his heart growing so large within his chest that he felt he might as well have to book a trolley back home to carry it along with him...

this was twice better than hearing himself being announced as the Young's business entrepreneur of the year.

This had to be the best thing to have heard in the world!

Khushi slowly opened her eyes, saw the look in his, and a second trolley was mentally booked for a co-passenger for Arnav's heart...

"you didn't ROFL.." she whispered..

Taking her hand into his he slipped the ring up her fingers with such a force, that she literally winced..

"Arnav! My finger ends there you know!" she laughed..

"Don't you freaking play out that 'I think this is yours' thing again with me do you get that?" he darted a look with dangerous warning to her...

She smiled sheepishly before holding his hand and pulling his engagement ring out of his finger..earning a confused look from him..

"what? She replied.. "if I am getting engaged twice, so should you!"

"I see" he smirked as she tried her best to apply comparable pressure in thrusting the ring up his finger..

If rings could have two eyes and a mouth, the two of them on their respective fingers, would have been probably making a 'duh!' expression at the moment..

"Happy engagement!" she beamed at him.. "but I still haven't thought about how will the break-up go on.."

"Oh we will figure it out" he replied, his face inching closer to hers..

"pish posh! You suck at breaking up!" she laughed..

"this coming from you? I feel like such a failure..." he spoke as he cupped her face within his palms and inched yet closer..

Automatically, Khushi shut her eyes, as she felt herself conveniently switch to 'freeze' mode..mentally cutting the inauguration ribbon of her internal sanctuary which had seen no turning back ever since the construction works had begun..

he smiled at her response , stood looking at her some more, and inched closer..bending..

"WOOOHOOO!!! *whistle * WOOOAAAHH!!"

The media, which had safely decided that Mr Raizada and his fiance did not give two hoots to their presence finally broke their silence , hitting the proverbial axe on their feet, as the duo suddenly broke out of their trance and finally realized that a walking talking world existed around them..

Arnav's own security had 32 out grins on their faces which could very well have qualified them for happy dent white advertisements..

Khushi's eyes widened in horror while Arnav gave a frustrated scrunching of features...

"Oh shit" Khushi muttered..

"Oh shit" Arnav wondered..

"Oh shit" the media regretted, as they suddenly wished to sprinkle invisibility powder on themselves and fade into nothingness, lest the PDA stopped...

Khushi felt Arnav's hand wrap around Khushi's wrist as he motioned to the security which immediately blocked the way of a hoard of journalists making it's way towards them..

"Maa's gonna kill me" Khushi muttered as Arnav, with sure confident steps led her to the car...

Back in the car Khushi slumped back on the seat beside him, not noticing the slight pressure he coolly applied on a button by his side as the partition curtain slid down effectively putting the front seats out of view and granting the much desired privacy..

"you know what?" Khushi turned to him, biting her lip, a sight, which for the first time, failed to irk him as he lazily smirked...

"I think I am in a legal mess" she eyed him with wide eyes..

"You are in a legal mess Khushi" he replied..

"WHAT?I have to...go to jail or something?"

He struggled to prevent the laughter bubbling inside his chest from escaping..

"yes, or perhaps be hanged or something"

"Arnav I am serious!" Khushi moaned..

"Ok relax!" he replied.. "A fine has to be paid since you have signed the contract and done the formalities and all"

"Are you sure? How much?" she asked, fiddling with her fingers..

He was sure, since he had read her contract thrice better than her and had given each detail his undivided attention..

"How much, is none of your concern" he spoke curtly..

"Excuse me? What does that mean?"

"That means, that this is the part where you shut up"

"But I-...why are you looking at me like th..that?"

"like what?"

"like...I..ARN-" she gasped as she was pulled forward and landed inches apart from a devilish smirk..

"Arnav!" she gasped at his outrageous action and her eyes flew to the front seat and widened when she found it out of view..

"Arnav you really need to stop doing that when I am in the car okay? What must they be thinking?" she flustered, trying to get out of his hold which after a widened smirk, tightened..

"what?" he asked, appearing to be the innocent angel, while Khushi could very well draw horns above his head at the moment..

"that we..are..you know.."

"we are what?"

"that we are..doing..you know..we are like.."

"and are we not ?"

"what?"

Arnav chuckled before he bent his head down and pressed his lips on her, none too gently, earning a gasp in return before it slowly turned to a sigh , and she relaxed as she lost herself in the feel of pure bliss without the need to panic, hurry ,or pull back any more...it grew deeper and intense, until jet lag was not the only thing that dizzied the two of them..

The driver and chauffeur tried desperately to maintain straight faces as they focused their eyes on the road ahead..

INDIAN TIMES

Page-3

Engagement, followed by...engagement?

Uncaring of the presence of dozens of cameras around them, Mr Arnav Singh Raizada and his lady love , the charming Miss Khushi Kumari Gupta played out their engagement ceremony yet again, for the world to see last afternoon at the tycoon's private helipad. In what came out as a heart wrenching, emotional re-union the blindly-in-love duo engaged in a significant amount of PDA(why are we not surprised?). Though the patch up was delightful enough to awe the entire spectatorship, one still wonders what could have been the reason for the break-up in the first instance.Had Pallavi Khandelwal's claims truly held waters? Is it about Miss Gupta's rumored past flames? For more, keep your eyes glued to this column.

Also read, Katrina Kaif and Priyanka Chopra wear same gowns at event, does Siddharth Mallya have commitment issues?PG-3

The week that followed, saw Payal and Aakash officially declaring their commitment, though not engagement, before the family. It saw a Khushi Kumari Gupta single handedly managing housework as sweet revenge from her family for ruining their packing efforts despite her various attempts at emotional blackmailing. It saw an Arnav Singh Raizada, strictly following his regime of calling upon his fiance at the most odd hours possible. It saw newspapers and magazines filled with break-up speculations, which had Khushi often freaking around the house with shouts like 'who the HELL is Hitesh Sidwani" and throwing cushions at anyone who dared to say 'your ex flame', it saw an Anjali Singh Raizada going on confrence calls with Nihaal who had them connected to Arnav or Khushi's line randomly and proceed to tease the hell out of them, though with Arnav it mostly ended with abrupt end to the calls, followed by Nihaal and Anjali exchanging hi fives via Skype. It saw a Garima Gupta greeting her future son-in-law with a broom (again a sorry co-incidence) the next time he visited their house, considerably freaking him out as to what would follow after rolling pin and brooms and mentally preparing himself for a pistol soon. It saw Mrs Raizada, roaming around with loud audible sighs over his choice of a mate then going all 'nothing darling, I will take her for you' on her son..

It saw Arnav and Khushi kick starting their journey of true commitment..(though Arnav had suddenly become downright flirtatious in his own way of course, and Khushi, much to his amusement, had begun threatening him with break-up threats and getting flustered and furious at a pretty fast speed)...

It promised , for two people who had..

Unexpectedly met..

Expectedly repelled..

Unexpectedly got linked up..

Expectedly failed at break ups

Unexpectedly tried to fight love..

Expectedly failed..

Unexpectedly realized..

and Expectedly confessed..

a life ahead which promised to be as pleasantly unexpectedly expected as it had always been..filled with fights, threats of break ups, small moments, laughs, confusions, delights and made them a part of one big crazy destination, which would be the Raizada and Gupta residence for years to come...

A house, which still had lots to see, and couldn't wait to have, it's Lattu and Cement Pile married pretty soon now...

"Okay, so if you are done with your elephant trumpeting can we get back to the rest of the world?" Fate rolled it's eyes at Love who was busy finishing heavenly supplies of tissue papers..

"Like seriously dude! Do you have to do this every single time? That is why I hate watching confessions with you..."

"congratulations" Love threw it's arms around Fate and Fate did a 'okay..okay..yeah..whatever...' and couldn't help a small smirk itself...

Love quickly jumped back and rubbing it's hands in glee bubbled "Who's next?"

"hmm.." Fate mumbled as it crossed it's arms on it's chest and looked at the world map yet again.. "let's see.."

while cupid tightened his grip on the pulled back arrow in the bow once again before he received the next signal to shoot it off..

[lyrics, picture quote, not owned]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please do leave your opinions on the update and the story below, while I go and make a big emotional mess out of myself. Thank You.

(Will update the note below a little later and I have got so many of you to thank ...PMS will be delayed a bit..)