Chapter 22

22

Devyani Singh Raizada was highly irritated. She hated it when her things were not in the right place. In fact, not only her things, anything out of order always pissed her off. She knew she was a bit too particular about things. What was the disease Arnav mentioned once? OCD? Whatever! Why could not the people in the house just respect her need to have things in the right order? Just a bit symmetric. Just a bit aligned.

She took all her irritation out on Hari Prakash as she walked into the dining hall. "I never want to see the candles anywhere else," she finished blasting the poor man and pulled the chair for herself not letting him do it for her unlike other times. Only after she sat down & turned her plate, did she notice the new member at the table whose face pretty much gave away that she had managed to scare the girl to death. She was not sure why her heart jumped like that as her eyes rested on her face. She was beautiful. But more than that what affected her was the sense of familiarity the girl was instigating. Who was she?

Khushi tried to gulp down the nervousness that the scrutinizing eyes of the old lady was causing her. She seemed like Arnav's Naani by all means. Neither Anjali ji nor Maami ji showed any resemblance to Arnav in nature but this old lady could very well be the person from whom Arnav had got certain parts of his genes. She quickly put together her sweaty hands and tried to smile, "Namaste."

"Namaste," Naani nodded as her eyes inspected her face and accessories. She decided on her initial impression of the girl being a decent one, with decent clothes and with at least minimal etiquette. Girls have forgotten to pay respect to the elders properly these days. Since when "Namaste" had been reduced to "hello, hi, bye, bye," she always wondered.

"I don't think I have met you before," she enquired cautiously.

"Nani," Arnav volunteered, "Ye Khu .."

"Maine aap se poocha," Naani asked in a tone that shut Arnav up completely. She very well hid her surprise at her Grandson's unlikely behavior. Why was he introducing the girl? She could not recall seeing this new girl in the gossip columns or the business pages. And even the women who were seen with him never stepped into this house. Not that she liked any of the women he was involved with but she always demanded to meet them. He had to get married someday. Even if the girl was not a Raizada Bahu type – it was still better in her eyes to get them married than reading about their "love life" in the media. He needed to settle and she was highly worried about that. She already liked this girl better than those she had seen practically glued to her grandson. Why the girls were so besharam these days?

"I am Devyani," she introduced herself, "Aap?"

"Ji," Khushi could not hide her nervousness at all, "Main Khushi. Khushi Kumari Gupta. My company is doing a project with AR Industries. That is what has brought me to Delhi."

"Accha," questions did not leave Nani's eyes, "So you two are working today?"

Nani's eyes quickly searched Arnav's face and then shifted back to Khushi. Why Arnav brought her to work at home? She knew her grandson very well. She had seen him growing up, she had seen him change. The subtle softness in his countenance as he stared at the girl, did not escape her eyes.

"Nahi, Naniji," Khushi smiled at her, "I was missing home and Arnav said you too miss Lucknow. So I just kind of invited myself."

Arnav felt like thanking her for coming up with the best possible answer. She had hit the bull's eye just right. He relaxed in his seat as he noticed the face of her Nani suddenly brighten up. Lucknow. That was all Khushi really needed to say.

"Lucknow," Naani exclaimed, "Aap Lucknow se hain?"

"Ji, Naniji," Khushi smiled back, "Is it ok if I call you, Naniji?"

"Of course, bitiya. That's why I was wondering why you seemed so familiar. I smell Lucknow already. Anjali .. Manorama .. you knew she was from Lucknow?"

"Ji, Nani," Anjali relaxed in her seat too, "In fact, Khushi ji and I have talked for hours already. And we have prepared lunch for you. Special treat from the Lucknawi chefs."

Khushi's smile broadened as Anjali winked at her.

"Lucknow," it was time for Mami ji to exclaim too as she mentally ticked another box in her massive criteria list, "Why didn't you tell me earlier, Anjali Bitiya? Khushi Bitiya, have you ever won Miss Lucknow pageant?"

"Ji," Khushi was quite taken aback by Maami's question, "Nahi, Mami ji .."

"Manorama," Nani interrupted, "What kind of question is that?"

"Maa ji," Manorama could not hide her excitement, "I am only a few questions away from calling Akash Bitwa home."

"Manorama," Naani scolded her lightly as finally she understood why her daughter-in-law was over-hyper, "We are keeping a guest hungry at the table. Let's eat first."

Arnav and Khushi sat confused as they tried to understand what made Anjali giggle so much. Half of the words said by Nani and Mami went above their head already. Why everyone started speaking gibberish all on a sudden? Arnav frowned at Khushi and all she could do was shrug.

The lunch at the Raizada Mansion went smoothly as everyone relished the food prepared by Anjali and Khushi. The ladies chatted incessantly about everything and nothing while Arnav ate silently enjoying the liveliness around the dining table after a long time. He was waiting for lunch to be over and have Khushi all to himself in the pretense of work. To his utter dismay, Arnav watched the ladies hijacking Khushi and taking her to the living room for … well .. furthermore, chats.

"What the ..," Arnav grumbled as he munched on his customized sugar-free jalebis made by Khushi, "How could they talk so much?"

Arnav went back to his room determined to not care a bit about Khushi's continued lack of attention. She did not even look at him! And why was he so bothered?

"Minus 10, Khushi Kumari Gupta," Arnav muttered as he opened his laptop.

Not all resolution was meant to be a success.

After half an hour of forced concentration on the confidential facts and figures, Arnav finally decided to check on what the ladies were doing. After all, he could not take any chance of having the ladies bring down the house, he convinced himself. He went downstairs only to be back in his room in minutes all frustrated and grumpy.

Women!

Had Khushi totally forgotten about him? She seemed so happy with the ladies – laughing and talking. Was that why she had come to Raizada Mansion? Was that why he had brought her home?

Arnav kept punching the keys of his laptop furiously. If she could be so nonchalant, so could he. He wanted to do something special for her and he had done it. Enough.

After another thirty minutes, Arnav was seen walking into the living room in his ASR-ish demeanor.

"Khushi," he ordered her without any pretense, "Come with me. I have something important to discuss with you."

Khushi was having a good time with the Raizada ladies. Each of the three women was completely different from the other but each had something in common, something that made Khushi love them even within such a short period of time. Despite all limitations, each of them was pure at heart. Growing up under the care of these ladies, could Arnav be anymore different, Khushi kept wondering all the time.

Arnav's body language alarmed Khushi since she could feel the rigidity in him. Was he angry? But why?

"Ok, I am coming," she replied instantly and turned to the ladies, "I will be back."

"Sure, Khushi Bitiya," Nani already knew Arnav was disturbed, "Arnav, do you have to discuss work even today? I thought you brought her home for us."

Arnav shrugged.

Nani opened her mouth to question more but halted as Anjali gestured with a suppressed laugh. As soon as they left, Nani enquired Anjali.

"Is something cooking," she asked proving rightly she indeed was Anjali's Nani. She had not forgotten neither the changes she had noticed in his grandson nor his unusual gestures.

"I have a feeling, Nani," Anjali could not control a full-blown smile, "That he has brought her home with no apparent reason, is reason enough. But you know, Chotey!"

"Haan," Nani smiled slightly concluding in her head that both of them could not be wrong, "Let us give them some time. When the time is right, we can talk to Arnav."

Manorama was trying to make some sense out from this conversation but failed miserably since she still was stuck in her dreamland where Khushi was pouring her water and calling her "Maa ji" while passing shy glances at her Akash Bitwa. The obviousness of the situation totally skipped her happy brains. Was Arnav planning to get Khushi married to Akash? This day could not get any better, she decided, as she sniggered in glee.

When the ladies were happy in their own world, Khushi followed Arnav silently into his room. Arnav shut the door with a bang and turned to her.

"What," Khushi asked in surprise.

Arnav opened his mouth to give her a piece of his mind and found no word. What was he supposed to say to her? Why did she choose to chat with the ladies instead of spending "quality" time with him? He could never sound so desperate. He feared if he had already given her the "wrong" impression. Of course, he was not desperate. Arnav Singh Raizada was desperate only when it came to work. Women were not in his priority list. Nope.

"Nothing," he finally managed to grumble and walked towards his recliner in long strides. He unlocked the screen of his laptop and started going through some files.

"I think it is a good time we discuss about how to take the project forward," he said without looking at her.

"You really asked me to join you to discuss work," Khushi asked incredulously.

"Yes, of course," Arnav could not control looking up at her as his tone hinted the mockery of the statement slightly, "What else did you think?"

Arnav forgot everything else as he watched, all mesmerized, her mouth shaping into a perfect "O" – the one expression that had never left his mind since the day he had met her.

"You are unbelievable, you know that," Khushi asked, still not trying to hide her irritation and shock at Arnav's behavior.

"Aur ye tum keh rahi ho!" Arnav asked.

"Haan," Khushi replied mockingly, "So you asked me to stay back for a day to discuss work?"

"No," Arnav had already started to enjoy Khushi's frustration, "I asked you to stay back so that I could score you and make you fail … like you wanted me to fail."

"Haww," Khushi's eyes widened along with her perfectly rounded mouth. Laad Governor was trying to revenge!

Payback never tasted sweeter. Arnav smirked. How he loved when she rounded her mouth like that! And those beautiful eyes .. He forgot he was supposed to be angry. Who wanted to be angry anyway when there were better things to do.

Arnav suddenly stood up and in an instant, he was only inches away from Khushi. And before she could make out what suddenly changed Arnav's mood, she felt his thumb touching the corner of her mouth. Her eyes shot up to meet his and only to be drowned in the dark whirlpool of desire. His eyes always spoke more than his words. And what those eyes were telling her now, gave her goosebumps all over.

Arnav slowly circled around the outline of her mouth with his thumb. He made sure he was slow enough .. to make her breathing hitched .. to make her shudder .. to have the effect on her he intended to. By the time he finished circling, he knew her knees were on the verge of melting.

Arnav smirked again.

"I love it when you open your mouth like that," his voice came out huskier in desire than he was planning to. Damn this girl! She affected him more than he wanted to.

Khushi immediately shut her mouth and gulped. She knew too well what that predatory hint in his voice and eyes meant. She stepped backward instinctively only to have the distance covered again by Arnav stepping forward. In a while, she was standing with her back hitting the wall - caged between Arnav's hands on both sides of her on the wall.

"Arnav ..." her voice exposed every bit of her anticipation.

"Shhh ..," Arnav hushed her not trying at all to hide his intentions. He lowered his face with his eyes completely focused on the luscious lips – everything else forgotten. The slightly parted shivering lips made the blood rush through his veins faster and he did not want to wait anymore. He landed his lips on hers and all he got to do after that was shut his eyes in frustration.

"Arnav Baba," Hari Prakash's voice, accompanied by the heavy knocks on the door, broke through the trance, "Nani ji was asking if you would come down for tea."

"Unbelievable," Arnav muttered and slowly moved his face away from her, frustration completely evident in his face.

"We will be downstairs in minutes," he managed to reply calmly with great effort.

As the intruder left, Arnav turned to face Khushi who was standing with her lips pressed, amusement evident in her face. What was so funny about that??

"Argh," Arnav could not hide his frustration, "This house is jinxed. Two times. Can you believe it? Twice in the same day."

Khushi could not control laughing out loud. She completely adored the pouty Arnav. Who could imagine that "the" Arnav Singh Raizada could pout like a kid & whine .. and that too because he missed a kiss? She felt a kind of affection for him that she had not felt till date. It was not only attraction. There was more.

She did not realize when the words left her mouth. But it happened. Right there, right then. She said it aloud on his face as she kept laughing and admiring his babyish face.

"I love you, Arnav!"