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Chapter 7

rulama

@rulama

OS 2: Finding Khushi

Part 6

Arnav looked up.

Khushi stood in the doorway, all wet & bedraggled. A few strands of her hair had come loose, and were sticking to her pale face. Her red suit was like a second skin.

"Khushi...", his voice was little more than a whisper. "You.. you are wet.."

Khushi did not deign to reply. She looked at his clock. One minute to four. Munshiji had returned too late from lunch, and she had been too late in going to the jewellers... and the mad race here...

She walked to him, breathing rapidly after her frenzied dash to his office, pulled open the flap of her bag, took out a cover, and placed it on his table.

"Your rent. Please count it.", she said softly.

"Khushi..."

"I need a receipt too.", she added.

Arnav looked at her, shivering in the cool air in his office.

Fury like he had never felt before overpowered him.

"Can't you take care of yourself? Why did you have to get wet in the rain?", he shot at her. He quickly shed his coat, and moved towards her to wrap it around her.

Khushi moved back, but Arnav was quicker this time. He caught hold of her arm, pulled her close to him, and covered her with his coat, lingering over pulling the flaps over her chest... his eyes drowning in hers...

Khushi shivered. His fragrance... the warmth of his body... enveloping her... his angry eyes softening, focusing on her trembling lips, promising her till then unknown delights...

Arnav's hand moved of their own volition to cup her shoulders.

Khushi trembled and pulled back. She blinked, and said, "The receipt."

Arnav clenched his jaw. He called his secretary and asked for a receipt to be brought.

"Count the money, please.", said Khushi.

"How did you raise it in such a short time?", he asked, his eyes on hers.

"What does it matter?", she asked. "Please count it."

Arnav filled in the receipt, signed it, and handed it over to her, deliberately caressing her palm with his fingers.

She trembled & drew her hand back as fast as she could. Then she turned to walk away.

She halted at the door. She was wearing his coat. She made to pull it off, but Arnav stopped her.

"Keep it on. I will take it later from you.", he said. That was one more excuse to go to her office.

"No. I will manage." She tried to shrug the coat off.

"Dammit! Khushi Kumari Gupta!", he bit out. "You have no idea what you are doing, and what is happening around you'."

Khushi stared at him.

"Are you really planning to travel across Delhi wearing a wet suit that clings to your body?" The fire in his eyes was different from the fire in his voice''

Khushi gulped. She turned to leave the room, the coat on her.

"Khushi..", he called. He didn't want her to leave.

She looked at him.

"Come back to RM."

"No."

"How will you pay me 20,000 every month?"

She looked at him.

"Come to work at RM, and I will waive the rent in addition to paying your salary." He was at the end of his tether.

"No."

"You are turning down a very profitable deal, Khushi.", ASR warned, his face slowly turning red with anger. "You managed to raise the amount this month. How will you do it for the next?"

"I may not need to. We will be vacating your house at the earliest.", Khushi said, and left the room.

A moment of stunned silence later, he called, "Khushi..."

But she did not stop to listen...

Arnav sat in a stupor throughout dinner.

Anjali, Nani, Mami, & Akash looked at each other. They passed him dishes. They served him food. His plate remained full & untouched.

"Chotey! Eat something. You have to take your medicines.", Di said.

But Arnav was deaf, dumb, & blind. He sat there, lost in his pain-filled thoughts.

She had slipped through his fingers ... and was going farther and farther away from him. She had left RM and him... the job... And now she was vacating the house too?

He got up and walked away, climbing up to his room.

He shut the door behind him, and sank on to the bed. He sat with his head bowed, his fingers locked.

Something was wrong. No, everything was wrong. All his plans were coming undone. Khushi, instead of coming closer, was moving farther away from him...

Anjali knocked on the door, but he did not hear her.

He put his head into his hands. Something had jarred when she had come to the office. What? What? What was it? He jumped up and began to pace his room, trying to remember.

Her beautiful face, hair, colourful earrings, the red suit, her red bangles... her eyes... Her smile was missing... But that had been missing since Diwali... Arnav turned his anguished eyes to the image of the culprit in the mirror.

Khushi sat in her room on her bed, her legs curled beneath her. Amma, Buaji, Babuji, & Jiji had decided their future plan. At the end of this month, they would all return to Lucknow. Babuji's treatment here would be over by then, and they could safely take him home. Buaji would call Aarti Chachi who ran a textile store in Lucknow, and arrange jobs for her & Jiji.

Lucknow... Her home for all her life except for the short visits she & Jiji had made to Delhi... Then why did it seem like an alien city now? Her fingers automatically took hold of his coat lying on the bed beside her, and pulled it closer to her.

His fragrance wafted from the coat. She pulled it closer to her heart. The look in his eyes as he had seen her standing in the doorway... the warmth of his body as he had come close to her... the feel of his warm hands on her shoulders... She shuddered, overwhelmed by the overload of sensations...

What was this madness? This inability to sleep, eat, think, laugh... this weakness when she heard his voice or saw him... feeling as though her legs would give way and her heart would burst out of her chest when he came close to her...

One moment of... was it love?... on Diwali night... and days of agony... Khushi fell across her pillow, burying her face in the neck of the coat... Tears seeped out of her eyes, and wet the coat. She wept silently till sheer exhaustion drew her into sleep.

Arnav jumped up at midnight, sweating... Khushi's name on his lips...

Her payal... He hadn't heard their sound when she had come to the office. Why hadn't he heard the sound?

Every single time... whenever she had come to him, he had known that she was coming... It had helped him put on his cold face...

The hundreds of times she approached him daily... the many excuses... to call him down for the pooja... to call him for his meals... to apologise... to give him tea... to give him messages... to talk to him... sometimes just to stare at him... He had always heard her payal. The payal had given her away everytime... The payal that he had kept in his locker, safe from all eyes except his... the payal that he had fastened around her ankle...Her Amma's last nishani...