Chapter 4

Pearl_Oyster

@Pearl_Oyster

Part 4

Arnav turned and noticed the girl standing before him. Dressed in a knee-length long, flawless white and turquoise evening dress, she was looking strikingly gorgeous.

"Khushi?" No sooner his eyes fell on her face, the words were out of his mouth. He was visibly awed and surprised after seeing her...AGAIN.

She seemed as much surprised to see him as he was.

"Seems like You and Mr. Raizada know each other.." Mr. Roy addressed Khushi.

She couldn't do anything but bring a fake smile on her face and nod.

"You are right, Mr. Roy. Khushi and I were in the same college. And we were great friends. Isn't it, Khushi?" Arnav replied, purposely ignoring the grim face of Khushi.

"That's pretty great, Mr. Raizada. Khushi is the most talented fashion designer of my company" Mr. Roy mentioned while constantly failing in sensing the discomfort spread on Khushi's face.

"Please excuse me, Sir. I have an important call to make. I'll join you back in a moment." she made the excuse and left the spot.

"Yeah sure, Khushi." Mr. Roy nodded and she left.

"Please come, Mr. Raizada, I'll introduce you to my other guests."

"Sure" Arnav threw a glance at the receding frame of Khushi and followed the elderly gentleman.

*~~~~~*

Another two hours, Khushi tried her best not to fall in his path. She was feeling rather self conscious and uncomfortable due to his presence in the party. The air seemed heavy and tensed.

She strongly wanted to be anywhere but the place where she was.

Her previous two efforts to walk out of the party were successfully thwarted by her boss. Instead, he had introduced her to some other guests and later had asked to make herself comfortable in the party.

And now she was busy (or let's say busy in pretending) chatting to her colleagues.

She had the feeling that the chocolaty brown pair of eyes were constantly monitoring her every move.

"Khushi..? Are you alright? You seem lost" Zoya, one of her colleagues asked.

"Can't say I am alright. I don't feel good. I think I should really take a leave now.

"oh.! Then you must go and have some rest. We'll see you tomorrow in office."

"hmm. I guess so. Have a good time. Bye Everyone." She waved a hand and walked out of the venue.

*~~~~*

"Want a ride, beauty?" She heard a male pitched voice and looked around to discover the source of it.

And she noticed a rough or say one of those roadside romeo types man was staring at her, poking his head out of a car.

She had been waiting for a taxi since past fifteen minutes but the luck didn't seem to favour her tonight. And now this man. This wasn't her best day.

She noticed the gaze of the man was lingering on her exposed legs. Maybe wearing a knee-length dress wasn't a really good idea. But you can't wear a saree in an official party. Can you? She tried to reason with herself.

"Come on, darling..! Get inside. You won't get an auto or taxi at this time of night, especially in this area. I can help you, you know?"

She thought she caught a glint of shine in the man's eye.

"No thanks. I'll manage." She replied.

'Maybe I should call Abhay to come and pick me.' That was her first thought. She threw a glance at her wrist watch and it showed 11:48 p.m. Too late. By now he must be snoring in his bed.

She was startled out of her thoughts when she heard the man come out of his car and walking towards her bearing an impudent look on his face.

"F**k your fear, babe. I won't eat you. Come and get inside the car. I'll take you anywhere you want" he spoke knavishly, reaching for her wrist.

Khushi felt knots developing in her stomach out of fear and nervousness. Her heart started sinking the moment she felt the man grabbing her wrist.

"Leave her hand if you have any love for your life." Before she could utter or do something, she heard another voice strike her ears.

Only this time, the voice was full of authority and suppressed rage.

In the same second, she and the man turned around to locate the owner of the voice.

"Arnav...!" she breathed out the words in dismay.

The man at once stiffened and glared at Arnav with a 'mind your business' look.

The look did nothing to ward off the firm and settled composure of anger from Arnav's face.

"Get your filthy hands off her. And take this as the LAST warning." Arnav's voice had grown cold and deathly.

Khushi was surprised to see that the man let her wrist go and walked back to his car, swearing curse words under his breath.

She watched the car speed away and soon was out of the sight.

"I'll drop you home. Get inside my car." Arnav addressed her.

"Excuse me? Look Arnav, I am thankful to you for the help. But don't you dare assume that I am coming with you."

"Oh, So you want to wait for another bas***d to come here and try to molest you? And for your knowledge, I am not offering you the ride because you are Khushi Kumari Gupta- my ex girl friend. I would have helped any random girl in this situation. So don't count on it. We are still the same. I still have the offer open for you. You'll have to forget our past and we can be friends."

" So Cool.. This is so cool of you, Arnav. You're all ready to forget the pain you caused me and be friends with me. What a sacrifice..! I am indeed impressed" Khushi mocked him, suddenly feeling very angry.

"Hold your tongue, Khushi. Don't test my patience. I had made my self clear on our convocation day. I never loved you. Let's just say, I was physically attracted to you and you wanted my attention. It was an even scale. Moreover there is no use of digging the past. Now get inside the car and I'll drop you home."

"What did you say? I wanted your attention? How can you name my feelings as mere attention? And you're right. There is no use of digging the past. I have gotten over it. I am never going to forgive you for that hurt, pain and betrayal..."

"Enough of your tantrums, Khushi. I am seriously in no mood for that. And to enlighten you, I am not seeking any bloody forgiveness from you. As you just said, you have gotten over our past, so prove it now. Get inside the car and lemme drop you to your house." Arnav's voice was sharp and commanding.

"I don't owe you any sort of proving. Do you get that? And I am not coming with you. I'd instead prefer to stand here alone entire night." She retorted back.

"FINE! So be it, then.. Your wish prevails." Arnav lost his temper. How dare she speak so rudely to me? Just because I was trying to be good?

He gave her a 'live or die, I don't care' look and walked back to his car which was parked few metres away.

Now when Arnav had walked away, the power of sensible thinking was restored in Khushi.

"How am I going to get home? To hell with not disturbing his sleep, I am going call Abhay." She decided and pulled out her cell phone from her purse.

"Bloody hell...! battery drained." She exclaimed in utter disappointment.

"Now what..." she thought. She looked back and saw Arnav had settled inside his car and was fastening the seat belt.

"No, Khushi. Don't even think that. How can you take the help of the man you hate the most?" a part of her brain fought with the other.

"No...I won't take his help. Never." She convinced herself and watched his car speed out of sight.

After a brief course of thinking she walked back to the party venue and took a lift from Zoya, who was still in the party.

"Thanks a lot, Zoya.." Khushi acknowledged her when she stepped down the car.

"Come on, Khushi. You don't have to thank me for this. A friend in need is a friend indeed. Isn't it?" Zoya chuckled.

"Yeah indeed. See you tomorrow." Khushi said and walked into the apartment.

She got into the lift and pressed the '14' labeled button. The lift started up and so did her thoughts. Her little argument with Arnav surfaced back to her mind.

"How can he act so calm and casual about all this? After nearly ruining my life, how can he even think I'll forget everything and be a friend of him...? So disgusting of him." Her chain of thoughts continued as she walked out of the lift and reached her flat.

With the thought of not disturbing Abhay, instead of ringing the bell, she took out the duplicate key from her bag and unlocked the door.

The flat was dipped in darkness. She walked in and locked the door behind her. Her eyes turned saucer sized as soon as she switched on the lights of the hall.

_________________

Pearl_Oyster2018-05-23 03:44:43