Hello all...
Thank you for the wonderful, wonderful comments that you left for the last OS...
Here comes the next OS in the series... I've put the OS that I've been wanting to post on hold as per popular demand and this one's just Arnav and Khushi... Hope you guys are happy now :-)
Enjoy...and please do leave your comments...
22. Three Things
"KHUSHI!!"
The frustrated roar from the balcony made everyone at the breakfast table jerk upright. There was only one soul in the whole wide world who could take Arnav in his ASR mode with barely a flinch, and that said character came racing down the stairs, calling back to her enraged husband, "Nahi doongi! Chillaane se koi faayda nahi hain!"
"Khushi, I'm not joking! Agar tum abhi aake sab kuch return nahi kiya toh I promise you, I'll skin you alive!", came the next yell, accompanied by a bout of coughing.
"Ha! Dekha! Kya haal banaye rakha hai apna aur humein daant rahe hain!", yelled back his better-half, now safely positioned behind her champion and protector, her Di, just in case she needed reinforcements.
Sure enough, Arnav Singh Raizada came striding downstairs, his very body bristling at whatever it was that his wife had done. With the whole family watching with bated breath, he stalked upto his sister and snarled, "Khushi, come back upstairs right now!"
"Nahi!", came the prompt reply, from the scrunched-up face poking around Anjali's shoulders.
"Bus, bus, bus! Kya hai yeh, Chotte? Subah hi shuroo ho gaye hai donon! Kya kiya Khushiji ne ki tum unke upar itna chillaa rahe ho?", asked Anjali, standing calm and composed between the warring parties, much to Akash and Dhruv's admiration. But then, no one had more experience in handling Arnav and Khushi in their all-out war mode than their beloved Di.
"She's hidden my laptop, my purse, my phone and my car-keys! Di, tell her to give them back!"
"Di, hum nahi denge! Aap dekhiye naah, kitni buri haalat banayi hai apni, do din se khaansi chal rahi hai, aur aaj toh bukhaar bhi hai. Ek din ke liye chutti nahi le sakte toh apne khud ke kaarobaar rakhne ka kya faayda? Hum bahut koshish ki, aaj chutti lene ko manaane ke liye, par yeh nahi maan rahe. Isi liye humne aisa kiya", came her sister-in-law's reply.
Sure enough, the table erupted in concerned exclaimations led by Anjali herself, and reaching his limit once he spied the cheeky grins on his younger brothers' faces, Arnav yelled, "I'm fine!", only to double up in agony as he surrendered to another bout of coughing.
"Hah!", yelled his wife triumphantly, while rushing forward to support him as he swayed on his feet. Once Khushi came into the picture, everyone else backed off, and with only Anjali staying close in case her sister-in-law needed help, Khushi waited for Arnav to stop coughing, gently rubbing his back and chest, and murmured, "Please, Arnavji, humare chain ke liye hi toh sahi, aaj thoda aaraam keejiye."
His wife's plea his undoing as usual, he nodded and settled down heavily into one of the chairs, while she bustled around getting him hot ginger-tea to drink and making sure he had some breakfast in him before firmly taking his hand and leading upstairs to make him take his medicines and get him settled in bed.
Watching them go upstairs with fond eyes, Dhruv commented to his Payal Bhabi, who was serving him his quota of her much-loved Aloo-ke-parathe, "How the mighty has fallen, hai naah, Bhabi? Bhaiyya toh Bhabi ko naah nahi keh paate! Kaun believe karega ki the terrifying Arnav Singh Raizada apni biwi ke haathon mein putty hai!"
*****************************
Fed and watered, Arnav leaned back against the pillows, wheezing slightly with the effort to not break into another bout of coughing. After sending the dishes down and drawing the drapes closed against the sun, Khushi came around and sat next to him.
"Aap humse gussa toh nahi ho naah?", she asked, now worried that her Laad Governor had gone quiet in anger.
Smiling slightly and shaking his head, her husband rasped, "No. You know me, Khushi. Kya tumhein lagta hain ki main tumhe silent treatment de paaoonga? That is, even if you give me a reason to stop shouting at whatever crazy stuff you regularly end up in?"
"Haw!"
Pulling at her nose, he smirked, "Haw yourself! Now, can I please have my laptop? that way I can atleast get some work done from home."
Leaning away from his reach, she shook her head vehemently, "Nahi milega! Aapko aaj poori din aaraam karna padega." Getting up to escape his clutches, she lapsed into a now common mix of Hindi and English,"No kaam, no laptop."
Too tired to argue, and sure that he wouldn't win this one even if he tried, Arnav sighed, "Theek hain. Toh tum hi mujhe entertain karo. Meri yahaan chup-chaap aaraam karne ka ek condition hai. You'll have to keep me company. No housework, no running after Dhruv or Lakshmi, no trips to the zabzi-mandi, deal?"
Delighted to have him surrender so soon, and genuinely worried about his health, Khushi readily agreed to his conditions and settled down next to him. His head pounding too much to watch anything on TV, Arnav slid down the pillows and lay back, glad to have his wife sit by him quietly, running her cool hands gently over his forehead. He slipped into a deep sleep soon, leaving Khushi to sit watch alone with her thoughts.
Leaning against the headboard, still running her hand over his head, Khushi took in his beloved face, relaxed in slumber, like it frequently was now-a-days. She smiled faintly as she thought about the not so recent past when ASR couldn't be imagined to have a side like this. Her Arnavji had opened up so much over the years with her, and with Dhruv's return, the last of his secret burdens had been taken off his shoulders. He laughed more, talked more with his family, but as Khushi secretly rejoiced, only with his family. She treasured and guarded her Arnavji from prying eyes. To the rest of the world, he was still ASR, much to her guilty glee.
So lost in thought was she that she failed to notice that her husband was now awake, and looking up at her with a look that was reserved for his wife, and his wife only, the one that usually made Anajli frantically herd everyone else away from them, the one that Dhruv had titled, "Uh-oh, let's go."
Grabbing her hand and pulling her down, unmindful of her startled yelp, he nuzzled her cheek and murmured, "Do you even know how much you turn me on when you go into your loving silences? Just by that expression, mujhe pata chal jaata hai ki tum sirf aur sirf mere baare mein soch rahi ho. Itna pyaar kaise kar paati ho, Khushi?"
Pushing lightly against him so that she could lean up and see his face, Khushi gazed at him silently for a moment before bending down to kiss his eyes gently, "Kyunki hum jaante hai ki hum jitna bhi aapko pyaar doon, aap sood samet humein wapas dete hain."
Her soft words reminding him of the words left for her Bahu by his mother, Arnav pulled her close, cradling her face close to his, "Itni achchi tarah samajh paati ho, tum mujhe?"
"Ji."
Laughing slightly at the blunt reply that she seemed to have picked up from him, Arnav asked, his tone going from emotional to light-hearted in a jiffy, as it was wont to in the private moments that he shared with his wife, "Achcha? Toh let's play three things. Let me see how much you know me."
Intrigued, Khushi scrambled up and sat cross-legged facing him, "Khel? Kaisa khel?"
Grinning at the childish innocence and enthusiasm that was typical of his Sankadevi, Arnav too sat up against the headboard and replied, "Simple hai. I'll ask you three questions about me, and if you get them right, you get to ask a question of me, plus if you get more answers right than me, you get to demand something of me if you want. And I get the same, if I get more answers right to your questions. Okay?"
At the eager nod, he asked, "Ok, easy question. Meri favourite colour kya hain?"
With a dismissive 'pfft', his wife replied, "Apne oopar Black aur hum par Lal! Yeh bhi koi sawal hai?"
At his go-ahead nod, she said, "Ab hum poochenge, lekin humari demand hum anth mein kahenge, theek hain? Okay, humari baari. Humari sabse chaheeti dress kaunsi hai?"
Leaning back slightly, he thought for a moment and smiled, "That red dress I bought for you for our failed Suhaag-raat. You love that dress! By the way, kal ki function mein tum woh pehenna, please?", he said, reminding her about the party they were throwing for his personal staff.
Smiling and nodding, Khushi demanded, "Agla sawal poochiyena!"
"Okay, meri unfulfilled dream kay hai?"
Looking at his serious face for amoment, she cupped his cheek with one hand, gently brushing her thumb across it and said, "Humein Mamma se milwaana..."
His mood turning somber, he grabbed her hand and giving it a quick sqeeze, nodded at her to go ahead, at which she whispered, "Humari sabse badi darr?"
His eyes softening, he replied, without a hint of a doubt, "Losing me."
Shushing him with a finger to his lips, Khushi uncurled herself and lay down nex to him, pillowing her head against his chest, and nodded in affirmative at his question of "Hain naah?"
Slowly running his hand over her hair, he took a steadying breath as he thought back about all those times they had come near losing eachother. Shaking himself out of the reverie, he asked, "Okay then, last question. The thing that I find most annoying about you?"
As he had hoped, his firebrand wife leapt upright incensed, "Haw! Itni ghamand! Humein annoying bol rahe ho?"
The ASR smirk firmly in place, her husband replied, "Nope. Hear the question, Khushi Kumari Gupta Singh Raizada! The thing I find annoying!"
Huffing, Khushi settled back, not completely convinced that she hadn't been insulted, and thought for a moment, before blushing suddenly. Curiosity piqued, Arnav leaned closer, "Bolo..."
The blush staining her cheeks a dark crimson, she murmured, "Humari samajh mein, jab bhi koi hum donon ke 'private' samay mein disturb karein, aur hum jhat se aapse door bhaagein, toh aap adhiktar annoyed hote hain."
The "Uh-oh, let's go" look back firmly, Arnav pulled his wife closer, "Now that aisa karne ke liye aas-paas koi nahi hain, toh what say we make use of it?"
His wife's half-hearted protests having been dealt with swiftly and effectively, the rest of the family didn't get to see the couple until well after the evening tea-time. And when a much recovered Arnav and a blushing Khushi made their way down to a late tea, they were treated to another classic Arnav-Khushi fight. Jerking up in the middle of munching on a piece of cake, Khushi blurted, "Ek minute! Ab bhi humari ek sawal baaki hai!"
Unperturbed, Arnav mumbled without even looking up from his plate, "Shoot."
Narrowing her eyes at the dismissive tone, Khushi asked, not realising that the rest of the family were looking on with great curiosity, "Achcha! Theek hain, humari sabse chaheeti film actress kaun hai?"
Straightening up with a smirk, Arnav replied, "That's all? Easy... everyone knows that you're mad about...", before he trailed off, realising that she had said actress, not actor. Looking completely stumped, he sat staring at her, as his eidetic memory sifted through every single moment, every single conversation he had had with his wife, trying to catch hold of anything which would give him the answer.
The victorious smirk on his wife's face beginning to grate on his nerves, he snapped, "Wasting a perfectly good question on something this silly! Waise bhi tumhein tumhare Salman Khan ke alawa koi dikhta bhi hai? Everyone knows how you drool over him!"
Her eyes flashing at the unwarranted attack, Khushi shot back, "Ahaha! Jawaab malum nahi hai toh utpatang baatein karne lagte hain! Aur kya 'sab jaante hain'? Sab yeh jaante hain ki humein aapke siwa aur koi dikhta hi nahi! Aur yahan aap bolte jaa rahe hai ki...", she trailed off as she realised what she had said.
Suddenly remembering that they had been bickering in the presence of the entire family, Khushi reddened, leaning down into her plate to hide her face, unable to take even a peek at her husband to see what his reaction had been. The silence wearing away at her resolve to keep her face averted, she had just about gathered up her courage to take a quick look, when she got her answer.
Eight chairs scraped back as one as Dhruv muttered, "Uh-oh, let's go."
Author's Note:
A hundred comments would be a nice gift :-D
Next update on Sunday... now, that is an OS that I've been wanting to write for a while and I really want to put it up... but I doubt if anyone would be able to guess what it is about :-P
Fan Fictions
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Jaane Anjaane Hum Mile
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