Part 29(B)
With great effort Arnav managed to drive them safely to Siddivinayak temple. The sisters got down before the men went towards the parking. Releasing the breath she was holding, Khushi looked towards the receding car. Arnav in casuals was the first ever for her and it was tough holding up her senses, reiterating her resolve of ten feet distance in her mind she tried to focus on chanting her Devimayya's name.
Once Akash returned, prayers were offered in both the temples and three of them were returning to the car when Payal stopped at a retail outlet along the pathway, making Akash too stop in his tracks, while Khushi simply walked towards the car. Arnav was losing his patience sticking around in the car, even though he was away from their activity he couldn't complete his work, flashes of a lady in red is the perfect distraction. Deciding it was no use continuing to stare at his mobile while his concentration lay elsewhere, he stepped out of the car.
He was her crush for a long time, and she always dreamt of meeting him and spending time with him but when reality showed her how different he was from her imagination, the feelings of admiration were curbed and disappointment, anger started being more prominent. Today those buried feelings have made an appearance again, it was getting difficult to breathe the same air as him. She could sense a change in her thoughts towards his physical proximity, it was more physical. If she did not thread carefully, she would make a fool out of herself as Arnav would look at it as a middle-class girl trying to wring out money by trapping him.
Wincing at the conclusion she didn't look where she was heading before colliding head-on with the same man in her thoughts, fearing the sudden intrusion she tried stepping back in a hurry, but instead stumbled to her side hitting the plates of turmeric and vermilion placed outside the stalls resulting in the plates falling to the ground while the powders rose with the wind blinding their vision and covering them up in the colours. Finally finding her foot, Khushi tried to step back to have a better look at the person wanting to douse her frustration at the turn of events on him/her.
The hold on her hand stopped her from moving away and the powder did not allow her to open her eyes. Wriggling out her left hand, she raised the right hand to rub her eyes, which started burning, again it was held back and this time a warm hand touched her cheeks followed by a warm breath fanning her face, blowing into her eyes. Once the burning sensation reduced she opened her eyes to Arnav Singh Raizada standing tall in his glory holding both of her wrists with his one hand and the other still holding her cheek, face inches apart. Arnav took a step forward closing even the minimal distance between them, invading her personal space making her breath hitch, leaning into her looking at her eyes.
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"Khushi?" Payal worried about her sister's disappearance started looking around when she found her boss and his assistant with colours flying around, coated in them completely staring at each other as if posing for a couple shoot. Akash was the first one to come out of the shock, trailing behind Payal. He was also a witness to the scene. His brother was giving a very wrong picture to the people around, standing so close and giving those looks, wanting to stop them from going viral he stepped in touching his brother's hand pulling him back.
"Bhai?" stifling back the laughter erupting with Arnav's look, he called his brother to bring him back to the present world from whatever world he was in.
"What the hell is wrong with you? don't you look where you are going?" bursting his veins with anger, his face matching with the vermilion on his shirt he was back to ASR mode.
"I..I. I was just thinking.." Khushi still reeled in the fact of how close they were a few seconds before, her skin tingling with his touch.
"Thinking? you better not do any thinking with that pea-sized brain of yours" he dusted off his clothes, he looked like a joker.
"Pea? But you were the one who bumped into me, you..." She was still finding words to give a perfect come back but he was long gone with a string of cuss words with Akash behind him, giving backward glances.
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"Garima? did Khushi or Payal call you? I have been trying to reach them for a long time." Shashi sat looking at his phone for any update from their daughter.
"Uncle Ji, maybe there is a network problem" Shyam picked up his cup of tea from the dining table before joining Shashi on the sofa.
"Hmm, by the way, where does your family stay? what do you do for a living? " Shashi was not comfortable with letting any man stay near his daughters and this man in particular was giving all sorts of negative vibes from the very start, he decided not to cover up his displeasure.
"I'm a lawyer by profession Uncle Ji, and I'm from..." Before he continued his phone rang and he stepped away to take the call, at the same moment Shashi's phone too vibrated with Payal's call.
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"Yes babuji, we did the darshan and we are back to the hotel to freshen up before going to Gateway of India." smoothing out her dress, she looked towards the bathroom door to see if Khushi was out.
They have returned to the room and Payal was the first one to change back to a more comforting dress, a long cotton frock with a scarf around her neck and with her hair braided, while Khushi stood ranting to her best friend how she was not taken care of even in her temple. A few minutes later Khushi stepped out after a hot shower.
"Khushi, are you ready? Babaji wants to speak to you" she handed over the phone to her sister, while taking the towel in her hands to pat dry her sister's hair.
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