Chapter 36
[MEMBERSONLY]
Chapter 28
Sublime...
Arnav didn't realize how two weeks had passed already. Time flew when
he was with the group, trying to understand the complexities of the research
they were doing. It was hard, Arnav could see that. They were practically
slogging, trying to collect data. Sun or rain, the two researchers never
stopped their work. Any problem in their way never dampened their spirits. It
surprised Arnav to see such a deep understanding between the two friends. It
was as though they communicated through their thoughts. Both of them knew each
other inside out. They read each other perfectly. They knew each other's style
of work, their thought process, their comfort zones like the back of their
hands. It was just amazing.
But the thing that made him
completely oblivious to the rest of the world was Khushi. He was totally
enthralled by her style of work. It was an art, to see her do her stuff. Her
small nuances kept him on his toes. It was an exhilarating feeling to see her
in her element. Arnav could see how much passionate she was about her work. Not
that Chris wasn't but Arnav didn't have any idea why Khushi affected him so
much. He just knew this woman intrigued him to know more about her.
Whether it was the way her eyebrows knotted when she was concentrating
on something or the way she chewed her lips when some problem bothered her or
the way she tapped her pencil when she was thinking. Small actions of her like
tucking a strand of her hair behind her ears, or knotting her hair with her
pencil or drumming her fingers on the table or whistling while she was bored,
all of it, all of it just enticed Arnav in a way he never imagined. Every
single day he learnt a new thing about her which would further instigate his
interest in her. Day by day he was falling for her charm without realizing it.
"Earth to Nannav," a voice brought him back from his la la land and he
turned to look at the smirking face of Chris who was standing there, holding a
confusing instrument in his hand, "Nannav is busy in some other world?"
"Would you stop calling me Nannav?" Arnav gritted his teeth. Next time
if someone called him that, he would totally lose it and go and wring NK's neck
for giving him that nickname.
"You need to loosen up, dude..." Chris chuckled. Arnav rolled his eyes.
No one seemed to take him seriously in this group. For a man whose name
radiated fear and a sense of power in the business world, it was pretty irritating
to be constantly teased. That too by an American and his annoying Indian friend
who didn't bother to give him any sort of respect. Her sarcasm was pointy like
a knife and as much as he enjoyed her ribbing, that still nailed him on the
head. There was only so much his ego could take.
"Whatever," he muttered irritably earning chuckles from Chris, again.
Damn it! He stomped his foot and turned away from Chris, "you really annoy me."
"Yeah I have been told that I am pretty impressive," Chris grinned,
"anyway, we are done for the day. Are you interested in coming back to hotel
with us?"
Arnav eyed him suspiciously, "why are you asking me like that?"
"It's just that NK and Khushi already left after yelling your name like
a million times. You didn't bother to reply so we thought you wanted camp out
here."
Arnav bit his lip. Shit! When did that happen. Was he so lost in his
thoughts that he failed to notice NK yelling at him. Oh, he was in such a big
fix. Now NK would never stop annoying him with this fact. Dang it!
"Yeah... I am coming," he shook his head and followed Chris who was
silently laughing at his plight. Shoot!
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Akash could sense something was wrong with Diya. For the past two weeks
she acted really strange around him and he couldn't understand why. Her actions
were forced, there was some kind of sadness in her eyes and she seemed to
deliberately stop herself from doing things. What was it that was bothering
her, Akash was scratching his head, trying to think and place a finger on the
problem.
He was still in the hospital, recovering. His family would always be
there, next to him, worrying, fussing over him and he relished the care they
gave him. It was a really strange feeling. After years of yearning for the
affection of his family, this amount of care and concern really pleased Akash
to no ends. Though it was sad to not have Arnav next to him, Akash had vetoed
the idea of calling him back from his tour. He had gone on a well deserved
vacation and Akash didn't like to bother him with such minor incidents though
he was pretty sure Arnav was going to flare up on not being informed of Akash's
accident earlier. But Akash had seen his brother suffer so much for the past
few days and this holiday was his way of recuperating with the pressures of his
life and Akash wasn't exactly fatally harmed in any way to call Arnav and ask
him to come back.
Anjali was still mad at him for that decision. Not only she missed
Arnav so much, she thought it was her duty to call Arnav and inform him of
every minute detail of their lives. Not that all the calls got connected but
Anjali seemed to think it was necessary to keep Arnav posted of the recent
happenings and it was really killing her to not tell about Akash's accident to
him. But Akash didn't want that to happen.
Lavanya meanwhile had become his anchor. She was doing everything to
make him feel comfortable and not bored in this godforsaken hospital. It was
really lucky to have her as his second sister and favourite cousin. In the
midst of all the crying and worrying, her presence was like a breath of fresh
air. Whenever she visited, Akash's mood automatically lit up. She was the only
practical and fun person around. Even Diya acted distant whenever she came and
it wasn't much.
Akash still couldn't figure why Diya was acting so strange all of a
sudden and amidst all this, a new problem had arisen. Two new problems
actually. A couple of days back he had received a message from an anonymous
number that sounded like a threat. The message was cryptic but he couldn't shake
the feeling that someone was watching him, keeping an eye on everything that
was happening around him which really bothered him. Two plus two and Akash
could understand that this was somehow connected to why Diya was so scared all
those days back. Was it possible that someone was threatening her?
As he mulled over this, the door opened and in stepped his new problem.
Payal. Diya's sister. She had accompanied Diya to visit him a few days back and
that visit had given him creeps. She was eyeing him like he was an eatable and
that irked Akash to no ends. He got the feeling that this woman was mentally
undressing him and it was just horrifying to be in her presence. Now seeing her
back and this time alone, Akash groaned. Why was his life so damn complicated!
"Hey," she battled her eyelashes as she sat by him on the arm chair.
Akash was silently praying, Lavanya...'
"Hey..." he gave her forced smile, "Diya didn't come?"
He saw a flick of irritation pass through her eyes at the mention of
her sister and he knew, at once, that this woman was behind him and she wasn't
going to let anything come between them. Oh good lord!
"No, she had some university work," Payal said sweetly, "I was here for
a routine check up. You know modelling and stuff. So thought of visiting you
and giving the update to my sister. She has turned super busy and I have no
idea why."
Akash could sense the blatant lies she was feeding him but he was
powerless to do anything but to keep the conversation up until Lavanya came.
His family had just left after making sure he would be okay to be left alone.
He was all for being alone a while back. Now he would do anything to get at
least one of them back into the ward. Dang this woman was just sick!
"Oh..." he tried thinking a more coherent response when he felt her
hand on his arm, "now how are you? When are you going to be discharged?"
Now how are you?' are you serious! Ah grammar police. Please come and
throw her into a jail was all that running in Akash's mind when he replied, "I
am okay though I have no idea when they are going to discharge me."
Her hand was slowly trailing up his arm and he couldn't bloody move it
because of the fracture. He was just feeling too miserable when the door opened
and Lavanya walked in, only to freeze near the door, looking at the scene
unfolding in front of her eyes, "who are you?"
Payal immediately got up, removing her hand from Akash's arm, making
him exhale in relief, "I am Payal. Diya's sister. I came here to check up on
him and give an update to my sister. She couldn't come today. I was just
checking whether his arm still hurt..."
"Oh..." Akash could see Lavanya's mind working furiously, grabbing at
all the possibilities. He could tell that she believed Payal no more than he
did and she was trying to analyse her every move. Lavanya was damn smart. He
knew she would work out the situation soon enough. One of the perks of being
Arnav's right hand in business.
"Anyway," Payal smiled sweetly, "I gotta leave. I will tell Diya to
drop by soon. It was nice meeting you, Miss..."
"Lavanya," she said as she extended her arm for a handshake which
looked really deliberate and extremely professional. It seemed to say this
relation was just limited to handshakes. No more than that or Payal would find
herself in big trouble. Oh he just loved Lavanya.
After Payal left, Lavanya rounded on him, "What the hell?!"
"I know..." Akash nodded miserably, "She is sick!"
"Is she Khushi's sister?" Lavanya muttered outrageously, "oh my god.
They are such polar opposites."
"Who's Khushi?" Akash asked, "Diya has another sister?"
"Yeah," Lavanya nodded as she picked up a magazine and settled down
next to him, "You know the researcher who NK is working for. It is her. She is
an amazing woman and this girl!"
"The researcher NK is working for?" Akash's eye widened in surprise,
"the girl Arnav bhai kissed?!"
"WHAT!" Lavanya almost shrieked, "Arnav kissed her. What the hell are
you telling?"
"Oh you weren't there the morning she came to pick NK up. They had like
the best row I have seen ever! This girl is the only one who is capable of
looking into bhai's eyes and telling the truth. She just told in front of
everybody that he kissed her to prove a point. How awesome is that!"
Lavanya's head was swimming. Arnav kissing another woman when all that
childhood love thing going on his life. How was that even possible! "How did Arnav kiss her? I mean after all that childhood love thing NK told, how could Arnav just kiss a random woman?"
"I have no idea what made bhai do it," Akash smirked, "but this woman
is the perfect match for him. I am already shipping for them."
"Shut up AK," Lavanya chided, "this isn't some soap opera to ship for
the lead couple to unite or something. This is against the very nature of
Arnav. How could he kiss someone out of the blue and how did Khushi even allow
that to happen? As far as I know her she beats up guys who as much as touch her
without her permission."
"Ask NK..." Akash said immediately, "call him and ask what bhai is
doing and how is their interaction. I am pretty sure they will still be
fighting. Though Khushi apparently responded to his kiss. I don't know how..."
"Okay this is just getting ridiculous day by day and how come I didn't
know about this?" Lavanya gritted her teeth.
"Ah..." Akash grinned sheepishly, "we didn't want to tell you about
this, you know, with you being in love with bhai and all. We thought it would
hurt you if we said bhai kissed someone else..."
Lavanya sighed, "AK... it might have hurt me before but it doesn't now.
I love him like a friend. I respect him for what he is."
"Well, I am glad..." Akash smiled, "I am glad to hear my La growing up
and all..."
Lavanya ribbed him, making him howl in pain.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NK was watching Arnav very discretely for the past two weeks and Arnav,
unfortunately or fortunately, hadn't realized that at all. NK didn't know how
he had turned into such a great observer without being caught but he seemed
really pleased with himself for achieving such clarity for how else could he
have made that amazing observation of Arnav bhai being totally smitten by Khushi.
NK knew Chris knew this. He was also being extremely secretive about
this and seemed to enjoy Arnav's love sick behaviour more than NK if that was
possible. Khushi meanwhile resolutely ignored Arnav for all the hilarity of the
situation. She seemed to treat him like a wall while Arnav was following her
every movement as though his life was dependent on it. It seemed Arnav bhai had
finally found his match and there was no one in this world more happier than
NK.
NK had grown up watching Arnav punish himself by being alone and
friendless. It killed him to see his brother suffer so much, contain so much
pain and agony in his heart and go about his life mechanically. But these two
weeks had changed something monumentally in Arnav. He seemed to relish his time,
laugh more, enjoy more and be happy for every second that he spent with the
group. Such change in Arnav was a dream come true for NK and he couldn't wait
to thank Khushi for the happiness she brought in his life even though Arnav was
adamant of not accepting it and Khushi was adamant of not seeing it. Though NK
had a shrewd suspicion that Khushi knew about this too. No one can be such a
dud of not noticing a change in the guy's behaviour. Especially someone like
Arnav who preferred self inflicted wallowing to being happy.
Yet, it was too soon to come to any sort of conclusion or come up with
a plan to unite these two egoistic individuals. NK would soon confer with Chris
about this but now he was happy to let the tide take its course. If all was
going accordingly then Arnav would soon make a move, NK was pretty sure about
that.
He was smiling and looking out of the window of his room when his
sister called him. Grinning broadly, he answered the call, "Wassup, Di!"
"NK how are you?" Lavanya's sunshine voice filtered through.
"I am great," NK smiled, "I love it here. It is just so amazing, Di. I
wish you could come with us. It feels really great here and you have to see the
way they work, Di. It is like an art..."
"I am glad you are enjoying," Lavanya replied, "Even I wish I could
join you guys. Now that Arnav's holiday is official, no new deals are being
finalized. Everyone wants him to be back, so I am free. Anyway, what is up with
you guys. How is Arnav?"
A smile crept NK's face, "Arnav bhai...oh he is just great. He seems to
enjoy this whole thing more than any of us. You will have a heart attack if you
see him now. He is calm, peaceful and happy..."
"Really," Lavanya seemed genuinely surprised. NK could hear some
background conversation going on, "Di where are you?"
"Oh I am with AK," her voice was somewhat strained, "we were just
discussing this new development of Arnav being happy. Is it something to do
with that girl he kissed? Khushi?"
"You know about that?" NK was shocked. Akash had told him that Lavanya
would not be told all that, given her history with Arnav but his sister didn't seem
hurt or anything.
"Just found out," Lavanya's voice was cheerful. Oh thank god, his
sister was okay with it, "how are they with each other?"
"Khushi is still resolutely avoiding Arnav bhai like plague. I don't
know why she is so angry with him," NK chuckled, "but bhai...well, I can't
explain the changes I have seen in him.
You need to see it yourself."
"Oh my gosh!"Lavanya almost screamed into the phone, "do you think ASR
is in love with Khushi after all that childhood thing you told me?"
"Don't judge him too harshly, Di..." NK said softly, "opposites attract
each other. Khushi is fire while bhai is water. Both act like that too. He has
been far too alone for all these years, Di. I think he deserves all the
happiness he is getting. May be Arnav bhai has finally understood that it is
okay to move on. And it is about time too..."
"You're right," Lavanya sounded guilty, "I was trying to analyse him too much. You are absolutely
right. He has suffered enough. I hope Khushi reciprocates whatever feeling
Arnav has for her."
"I hope so too," NK smiled, "but it is too early to expect anything
from bhai. He is too stubborn to acknowledge all these."
"I know..." and both of them chuckled, having same wish in their
hearts. To see Arnav happy and joyful for the rest of his life.
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"How did it go?" the voice was like knife against steel. Payal
flinched, "I think he doesn't like me."
"I didn't ask you to think," there it was again. The blatant threat.
Payal wondered how she even fell into this trouble.
"I..." she faltered.
"I asked you to get close to him. It is two weeks already and there is
not an ounce of progress in the task. Or perhaps you forgot what was at stake."
"No...no," Payal stuttered, her breath laboured, "I haven't forgotten.
Please. Give me some time. I will make sure it will happen."
"One more week," the voice raised her heartbeat again, "is all you get.
Make a decent progress or you are going to suffer."
"No..." she was on the verge of crying, "please. I will do it.
Please..."
"Alright," Payal felt relieved, "Do it... I will contact you again."
"Ok..." she sobbed and cut the call, flattening herself against the
wall. Her eyes were red with fear. She never knew how she fell into such a deep
chasm from where it was impossible to get herself out. There was only one way,
she had to get Akash to like her. By hook or by crook...
PRECAP:
Why?
What?
Why do you run away from me? Do I intimidate
you so much? Why cant we be friends?
I am not sure whether what is
going on between us can be called friendship.
Come on Khushi! Why do you
have to be so stubborn about everything?
Look who is talking...
A/N: How was it? Please do drop a comment :)
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Comments (26)
Well. ...I just came across this one.And this is fantastic. so arshi are childhood lovers but don't know this.shyam is after Diya.I got your dislike for payal...you made everyone think that she is sick...I mean in story...but it really increase the excitement. update soon.and pls add me.
9 years ago
Butiful chapter arnav is faling for khushi wondr why cant they recognise eabhothr i think dixa mu lav n akash relatin hapy to c payal cnditon she deserv it tanx for pm
9 years ago
part 28awesome dear...nice one...my God what a change in Arnav...cant believe it...hes falling hard and strong for Khushi...and NK is enjoying this...La has accepted that her feelings were only friendly...and she too is surprised with this change in Arnav...Aakash has noticed Diya's silence...and this Paayal is irritating him...shes being blackmailed?well she deserves this punishment...but loving this Arnav Khushi track now...cont soon dear...
9 years ago
gone are the premature conclusions that Akash will fall for Payal's trap...it would be great if everything works out between Akash and Diya and their ship gets to sail...thanx for the update...pls continue soon 😃
9 years ago
Is it Shyam behind mysterious calls and black mailing Payal?. What is Shyam's role in A&K life?. Arnav is totally smitten by Kushi 😊Waiting for conversation between Arnav & Kushi.
9 years ago
Great story...just nw came across ur story...its reallly good...pls notify me about ur update...pleaseee!!!!!
9 years ago
Read it in a go. Nice story . Do update soon. I love it when arshi fight.
9 years ago
hmmm...its getting more interesting...wonder whoz behind all dis mystery...n reg payal dont wanna talk...waiting for the next update...
9 years ago
loved it...that was really wonderful..cant wait for the next update...
9 years ago
superb...after sooo long...
9 years ago