2. Home is where Heart Is
"Are you sure you are going to be okay?" he asked, his voice laced with concern, while letting her wrap the scarf around his neck.
She nodded as she moved back and handed his laptop case to him. He almost leaned forward when the light on his smartphone flashed and she smiled. He saw the flickering fear in her eyes and placed a quick peck on her lips before exiting the door. She slumped onto the bed throwing her pallu over her shoulder.
"Khushi bitya!! Aren't you going to come down to make sure your Arnav ji goes straight to airport?" A chirpy teasing voice echoed in the halls of Shantivan; at whose doors, the whole family was busy fretting over the older grandson who was going away for about thirty days to United States to overlook the expansion of AR Designs.
Khushi held up the pleats of her sari before walking downstairs with a half gloomy smile. It was the third time Arnav was leaving after the whole kidnapping fiasco but this time it was no longer for just fifteen days or a week. She reached the bottom of the staircase to see him look up at her while being coddled by hi sister about his schedule.
"Di you called me?" she questioned reaching up towards the family who was surrounding her husband as he was preparing to step out.
"Oh yes yes! Aren't you going to be the one saying the final goodbye like always?" she questioned cheerfully without realizing the fears that had settled into couple's hearts after an earlier fiasco.
"Di, I asked Khushi to rest upstairs. She's going to get stressed." Arnav spoke pulling her out of the spot light.
"Di, I think we should at least leave the love birds alone now." Akash teased not daring to look up at his brother's face who seemed more frustrated than before.
Giggling and nodding, almost everyone left them to themselves in mere seconds that followed next, hiding behind the pillars to see what would be a follow up.
"Khushi?" his husky voice caused jitters inside her. "Take care of my princess." he whispered before leaving down to place a long feather kiss.
"Prince." she muffled as his lips brushed against hers.
he broke apart before pushing the strand of hair covering her eyes back behind her ears. "I'll call you as soon as I get there and as soon as my work is done." he responded to the silent prolonging fear in her eyes.
"Just came back soon. Promise me." she uttered throwing her arms around her.
"I promise." he whispered. "Okay, I'll be late for my flight if I don't leave now. Love you." he replied softly before placing another pec on her cheek and walking out.
She sighed before turning around to see half the family teary-eyed standing in front of her.
"You both are adorable." Anjali sniffed before pulling Khushi into a hug.
**The clock struck four in the morning when the phone started ringing endlessly over and over. Khushi turned around, reaching her hands out towards Arnav's side table to pick up the phone. She sat up groggily before uttering a sleepy Hi.
"Were you sleeping?" he laughed at the other end.
"Arnav ji, it's four in the morning. I was up till two but then I don't know what happened." she replied snuggling back into the quilt.
"I told you to not stay up late Khushi. I was going to keep calling you till you picked up." he implied being angry at her.
"Ok baba, I won't stay up from tomorrow. But tell me, did you take your medications and had something t eat yet?"
"Oh yeah, I had it with the dinner served on the flight. We landed at Heathrow about half an hour ago and we'll be boarding in one more hour. Aman, I think went to talk to his wife and family right now." he replied taking a stroll past the duty free shops.
"Thats good. Don't be too hard on Aman ji over there Arnav ji. Poor man didn't even know till last week where he was going to be." she uttered laughing.
"It'll be okay. Now just g back to sleep. I'll call you once I reach New York."
"Okay. Bye.
"Love you." he whispered as she disconnected the call. He came back to where both the men were seated to find his trusty old friend engrossed n checking the schedules of all the meetings on his own smart phone. He smiled before pulling out his laptop without the fear of his wife calling him to bed, which of course he never minded.
***"Khushi ji? Aren't you going to play with us?" NK questioned the gloomy doll who was aimlessly walking around the house with the phone clutched in her hands.
"I think she's really missing Arnav ji." Payal suggested from behind whole holding the small cushion.
"I think its the pregnancy hormones." Anjali mused over frowning. "She's always played with us every time Chotte has left for a business trip."
"But this time it's a whole month Di and he's going further away from London. States is about 18 hours far." Payal chipped in.
"I really think we should try cheering her up. Khushi ji is always so happy. Nannav would be mad at us when he comes back and find how sad his wife was."
"Bhai should be angry at himself because he was the one to call us back early and then taking these trips knowing very well that Khushi ji doesn't appreciate all of this."
"Arre, are you all playing something here?" Nani came in seeing the boom box placed over the chair with the youngsters gathered around on a small carpet.
"We were playing Dadi, but the we saw Khushi ji and right now we are all contemplating over how to cheer her up and how to deal with bhai once he comes back and find we left his wife drowning in misery." Akash said dramatically shaking his head.
***"Arnav ji. When are you going to come back. It's been FIFTEEN DAYS!" Khushi wailed over the phone.
"I miss you too Khushi but you know that I need to make sure that the branch is set up perfectly before I come back." he tried explaining to her. Dealing with Khushi was a challenging task but dealing with a pregnant Khushi was more than just a challenge. He sighed before speaking again, "Look Khushi, Akash made sure there wasn't much that I had to go after but being the CEO, I do have to make sure about many of the things and I can't keep postponing them. Let me just finalize everything in these few more days so that fro next time, I can bring you and hopefully our children too."
"I still miss you Arnav ji." she sighed impatiently. "I wish you can come back soon." Her hand slide over now swollen bell. "Even the baby misses you."
Arnav turned around towards the left side of the bed, noting the empty space that might have been occupied by his crazy beautiful wife if she'd tagged along. He heaved a sigh after eventually disconnecting the phone call. Sitting up he went over the notes from the parter board and called up Aman.
"Aman, how many meeting do we have after the inauguration?"
"About three sir but they are on alternate days."
"Can you forward the copy of agendas to me and request Mr. Smith to consider moving these all the day after tomorrow?"
"I can try Sir but I believe his secretary said that he has to visit his office in Chicago."
"Alright. Just try rescheduling with his secretary and if things do not work out, call me again so I can ask him personally." Arnav replied exhausted and tired.
**"Mr. Raizada, it was more than a pleasure having your company here."
"It was a pleasure being here and I am very happy about how successful our venture has turned out so far."
"New York is a hotspot for fashionistas Mr. Raizada but I would love if you collaborate further with us in Chicago." The grey haired man replied with a wink.
"Oh, let me handle this first Mr. Smith. I don't think my wife is going to let me live in peace if I divulge myself into more work for next two years."
"Ahh, thats the thing with expecting ladies. They have no clue of anything else besides how remarkable there family is going to be."
"Thats one thing we can agree on." Arnav laughed before sipping on to the champagne.
***The house was hidden under the blanket of darkness. Arnav motioned the guards to open the doors as the airport cab dropped him off inside his house. He turned around to monitor the security locks before lifting his suitcase and laptop case towards the main door.
He pulled out his phone to unlock the door security and silently step in. It was around three thirty in morning. He smiled to himself before rushing upstairs as fast as he could with the heavy suitcase.
Pushing the room door open, he noticed his wife had wrapped the quilt around herself tightly like a shield. Taking his overalls off he fell on to the bed and wrapped his hands around her petite figure. Sensing the familiar warmth and both wanting her dream to be disrupted, Khushi moved towards him, snuggling deeper.
"You're early." she mumbled.
"I thought you were sleeping." he whispered back.
"I know when my teddy bear comes back to me."
"I really liked Laad governor better."
"Shut up." she remarked before emoting up and capturing his lips into a kiss. "I love you.' she whispered before wrapping her legs around his and resting on his shoulder.
**Anjali and Payal stood around inspecting the duty free gift bag that was left on the living room table. The idea of peeking inside the bag would probably result in something not so pretty from the person who had been hiding in his room after the secretive return while the curiosity of not knowing what was inside was killing both of them painfully. The struggle was a real.
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