Chapter 33

Pearl_Oyster

@Pearl_Oyster

Part 33

"Flowers, table, my shirt, hair, all set..!" Abhay told himself for the umpteenth time, running to the mirror in every five minutes.

"Damn..! The room freshener! How can I miss it?" He almost screamed, typically slapping his forehead with his palm.

"How is the setting going to smell romantic without it? You Duffer Singh..!" Abhay had his rambling on full swing. But by the time he can rush to his room to get it, the doorbell called for him.

The doorbell as though an alarm made Abhay run towards the mirror again, giving himself a final contented look.

"You'll do it Abhay Singh. You can" with this mantra, he walked towards the door and opened it with the most charming smile adorning his clean-shaved face.

"Welcome" He said, trying his best to sound throaty.

"Shukriya Bhaiya ji" came the reply and Abhay lifted his gaze from the unpolished shoes in his doorway to see his milkman standing there.

"What the F***" Abhay growled at his own stupidity earning a confused look from the innocent milkman.

"Bhaiya ji, hum to wo, doodh lekar aaye hain" (Sir, I have come to deliver the milk) The man clarified, thinking Abhay was pissed at him for some reason.

"So what are you waiting for? Give it" Abhay replied, feeling mocked and stupid.

"Give in what? Where's the can?"

"I'll go and get it" Taking large strides, Abhay hurried to kitchen and returned with a can.

Taking the milk, he closed the door and the minute he turned his back to the door, another knock was made.

"What now?" He said, opening the door with one hand, while holding the milk can in other.

"Hi" Anjali was there, giving him incredulous look.

This was the first time she was welcomed by a man who was sporting a milk can in his hand.

"Come in, Anjali" Abhay smiled warmly, after opening the door and seeing Anjali standing there, too lost and happy to remember the can hanging in his hand.

Although she had decided not to come, she finally had.

"Where is Khushi?" She asked, sitting on the couch and looking around, trying not to stare the can in his hands.

"She's in office. And we're alone here" Abhay replied.

Anjali felt her nervous system kick into action by the way Abhay made it sound.

"Oh" She managed to say.

"Would you like to have some coffee?" He asked, his eyes never leaving her face.

"Yeah sure" She replied. Anyhow she wanted him to stop staring her and let her nerves cool down.

"How do you like it? Strong or soft?" He further asked.

"What?" She asked, confused.

"The Coffee"

"Strong. By the way Abhay, can you please put down this milk-can? It's distracting me. Doesn't go well with your attire" Anjali said sceptically which made him realise that he was even holding something in his hands.

"S**t, Abhay. You have made a fool out of yourself" Abhay cursed himself as he hurriedly left for the Kitchen, too embarrassed to look at Anjali, while the latter was having a big time controlling her laughter.

~~***~~

Khushi, after her weird little time in Mr. Roy's office, thought it was safe to get back to her own cabin, and so she did.

Now, sitting in her chair, she recalled her words.

"Yeah Sir. The rate of onion and other vegetable is touching skies"

"ONIONS? Seriously Khushi? What were you thinking? But wait. You weren't even thinking. Just went there and hoisted the flag of your self-imposed stupidity" She said out loudly, in her most typical mannerism.

"Well, that didn't come as a surprise, Khushi" Arnav cut in, as he entered her cabin, without a knock but of course with his copyrighted smirk.

"Excuse me?" She retorted while springing out of her chair, and not believing he had dared enough to come in her cabin, that too without a knock.

She had seen this smirk over his face after a real long time. And to say, she didn't like it would make her a liar.

But that never meant she'll stand idly in her own cabin, letting him mock her latest antic.

"I said, this is not the first time I have seen you making a fool out of yourself" He spoke frankly, tired enough of watching his emotions and words.

Well, he was right. But then again, she was simply not going to nod in affirmation and get all nostalgic about her college antics.

"You have no right to mock me, Arnav" She said, rather stated.

"I am not mocking you, Khushi. I never can. I am just... By the way, do you mind if I take this chair?" He asked casually and dropped in the comfortable chair.

For Khushi, she was going through a cocktail of emotions.

When was it the last time, Arnav had been so cool around her? Maybe when she had joined his office for the month long designing and he was in his full spirits to crush her confidence.

Walking back to her chair, she pulled a professional mask on her face.

"Everything apart, May I know why are you here, Mr. Raizada?" She asked and wondered if she could have made herself sound more business oriented.

"Back to being Mr. Raizada and Miss Gupta. Are we?" Arnav asked, his gaze intense, trying to cut through the shield she had covered her face with.

"Mr. Raizada we are in my office, in my cabin. And this time, YOU are not the boss here" She replied.

"I know that very well, Khushi" Arnav replied, his tone soft.

"So once again, I ask you the reason of you coming to my cabin"

"Before I answer that, I would like to know the reason behind YOUR sudden appearance in Mr. Roy's cabin" He asked, once again in a very calm tone, which was very different from the havoc going on in his mind.

The question shut her, verbally; and aroused emotionally.

~~***~~

"So why did you call me here?" Anjali asked, trying to sound indifferent, after they have silently finished their coffees.

Abhay was too embarrassed to initiate a conversation while Anjali was occupied with her assumptions about being called here.

"Anjali, I, I, I" Abhay stammered, Google-ing his brain to find the suitable words to begin with.

"I guess I already know l, Abhay. Don't say it. I don't think I'll be able to handle it" Anjali said, moisture pooling in her eyes.

"Oh,Thank You, Anjali. Thanks a lot. You know not, you have given me what. I never knew saying a few words can be this hard. See, my palms are already sweating" Abhay said as a smile broke loose on his face and he hugged her.

Tears, violating all the boundaries started streaming down Anjali's cheeks.

Abhay, after several minutes, pulled back from the hug to cup her face and noticed her tear-stained cheeks.

"Anjali? You crying? Why?" He asked, surprise flooding his features.

"I thought you'd be happy" He further said, while Anjali sobbed more.

"Hey, please stop crying. You are scaring ne now. Anjali, talk to me, sweetheart" Abhay said, his voice shaken.

"I don't want to break-up with you, Abhay. It hurts." She said and sobbed again.

It took minutes for Abhay to know what she was saying.

She thought he was going to break-up with her?

~~***~~

Arnav knew she wasn't going to answer but he anyways had asked.

"Tell me, Khushi, Why did you come there?" He said, pulling his chair further towards the table and leaning against it.

"Because this is not your office, Arnav" She replied hastily, her tone icy again.

"What?"

"Yes, because this is not your office. This is Mr. Roy's office and I work here. So I have all the liberty to visit any cabin, any time, without being liable to answer you"

"That is again not the answer of my question, Khushi. You are diverting the topic" Arnav accused.

"I am NOT" Khushi screamed, furious at the fact that he had seen through her attempt.

"And what do you want to hear exactly? That by some magical phenomena, I was informed of your presence in Mr. Roy's cabin. And the mere knowledge of your presence in there shot an arrow through my heart, urging me to run all the way to the cabin and have your glimpse?" She shouted in a single breath, spilling out all her emotions and covering it beneath her fury.

"I think so" Arnav was never short of guts.

"Leave my cabin" Khushi said in slow words, taking in deep breaths.

This was so wrong.

She was not supposed to let him know that her heart was getting treacherous.

Not so early.

~~***~~

As Anjali's word slowly set in his mind and brought the realisation, Abhay found it hard to breathe.

Had he really hurt her so much that she was thinking he wanted to break-up with her?

How could he have been such a jackass?

But he indeed had been.

And now was the time for him to evolve himself from a jackass into a sapien.

"Do you know, Anjali why did I call you here?" He asked, wiping the fresh tears on her cheeks.

"Yeah, because you want to tell me that you don't want to be with me anymore" She replied, the words burning her throat as they come out.

"No, Anjali" He said.

"Then why?" She asked, blinking her eyes in surprise, suppressing her sobs.

"Because I love you, Anjali" Abhay said, slipping down the couch and going on his knees, holding out a small box at her which had come out of his pocket.

Anjali gasped in surprise as her hand went up to cover her mouth.

~~***~~

"I'll leave, Khushi, but tell me this one thing. If once, by mistake, or let's say in my own selfishness I break a glass of water. Won't I ever get another glass of water to quench my thirst? Will I, for the rest of my life; be destined to live without water?" Arnav asked, emotions choking his throat.

"You'll get the water, Arnav. But you won't get it in the same glass, because that glass is broken; beyond repair"

Khushi replied, her eyes locked with his.

(picture credit to the editor)

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Pearl_Oyster2013-11-15 08:14:11