Arnav had been concerned about Khushi and her health when his sister had told him she was having fever. He had searched around the house and found her entering only to be left flustered with her weird behavior.
Something was wrong with her for sure, but then he was not behaving sanely either. First the tape in the mouth then it was the watering of his plants. What had come over him he wondered. He recalled his sister's words about wanting to see her every day, wanting to be close to her every moment. He felt restless when she was not around. He seemed to be developing an ESP where she was concerned. He went to sleep with her thoughts and dreams of her tortured him. He was a possessed man, possessed by this ethereal beauty with luminous eyes.
What the …? he thought as he went up to his sister who was packing diwali gifts.
"Ye kya hai Di?" he asked looking at the packages.
"Ye sari hai, ek Lavanyaji ke life air ek Khushiji." Anjali explained showing the two packages she had made. The others were for Mama, Mami, Arnav, Nani and even a new outfit for Laxmi. The house help were also given new clothes. All the packages were surrounding Anjali on her bed.
Hearing her name made his heart skip.
"Khushi ke liye?" he asked.
"Haan who bhi ton iss ghar ka …"Anjali stopped deliberately. She had seen earlier when he had been staring at his shirt and when she had quizzed him about it, he had muttered something about not believing in love. But he had been jolted when he had seen image of Khushi rather than Lavanya when Anjali had mentioned love and Anjali had seen that look which had looked questioning rather than accepting. That had looked strange to her. Last few days, Arnav had behaved strangely. He had gone and given Dabba to Khushi, he had not gotten mad when the vase was broken, he had not gotten mad about the fall and the rangoli spoiling his outfit. Something was happening to Arnav and somewhere she felt Khushi was reason behind it. He was changing.
Anjali gave the packages to OmPrakash to be kept outside for distribution near the temple. Arnav picked up the package Anjali had pointed and went up to Khushi who was tying up toran on the temple altar. He said, "Khushi, ye tumhare liye hai." handing her the package.
"Kya? Humein kyon?" Khushi asked surprised.
"Di har saal sabko deti hai. Tumhare liye bhi hai. Kal sab ye naye kapde pehnege. Tum jab kal aaogi toh ye pehenogi na? Arnav had especially wanted to ensure that she wore the sari. He could not let go of the image of her wearing the sari on the shoot day and earlier when she had been showing Lavanya how to drape a sari. He had been spellbound, lost in her.
"Woh … hum …" Khushi started but too shy at the look he was giving her, she took the package and ran away from him. Arnav smiled slightly imagining how she would look tomorrow in the sari. What color was it? He hoped red for that was his favourite color just like that day in office when she had stolen his breath away.
She did not know how beautiful she looked with her hair down, a flowing sari. The image of her on teej flashed before him and he had held her close. What was happening to him? Why did feel compelled to think about her all the time? She was driving him crazy. He could not imagine a single moment without her around him. He raked his hand through his hair, a lock falling forward and he muttered to himself, "Ye kya ho gaya hai mujhe?"
**
He was restless from morning, he wanted to see her, he had asked twice, why Khushi was not there yet. Did she not have to teach something to Lavanya today? He paced the floor of his room as he waited for her to come. Irritated at the restlessness, he went and stood near the pool to get some peace amongst his plants. He looked at the calming water but all he could see was her image in the red sari. He closed his eyes and saw her in his being, smiling at him. He wanted to touch her, her porcelain skin, delicate and soft. She looked exquisite. Just then he felt her presence.
He turned around and the image he had seen in the water turned real. She was walking towards him, in a red sari with gold border. Gold jewelry that was not overpowering added to her beauty. Her hair was down and he could not stop from giving a half smile of satisfaction at her fulfilling his wish. Her downcast eyes made her look like a bride, his bride. He stopped at the thought. He stood there transfixed as she looked up at him, taking in the white sweater shirt with red collar and cuffs over white chinos.
He took a step back as if physically appalled at his train of thought. He was against marriage, how had she ingrained herself into his psyche to this extent where his beliefs were changing. He felt the air underneath his feet rather than the floor behind him and saw Khushi's expression of horror and concern with arm outstretched towards him as she ran to stop him from falling.
She grabbed his hand and pulled before he could fall in the water, but his weight was too much for her to pull back and she felt herself go forward as well. As they both hit water, she felt his one hand around her waist, holding her. Khushi was stunned at the impact of water on her and felt herself go under on top of him. She struggled to right herself up with the pallo entangling around her waist and falling off of her shoulder. She stood up to find Arnav pushing his hair back and wiping water off his face with both his hands and stilling as he saw her sans palloo, which was half floating in the water and half hugging her waist. She sat back into the water but it did not hide much from his eyes.
Arnav had opened his eyes to find Khushi, hair limp stuck to her skull, drops of water clinging to her and rivulets washing down her body as she stood there without her palloo, starting back at him. He saw her lush figure for a second before she sat into the water to protect herself from his devouring eyes. He turned away but the image stayed in his mind. He peeked at her face to find her looking up at him and she had crossed her arms in front of her. He could not help himself and he bent forward to hold her shoulders to make her stand up. Averting his eyes he picked up the floating palloo and wrapped it around her over arms and all slowly, knowing full well that the now transparent palloo did little to hide her modesty.
In a swift movement, he then picked her up in his arms and walked to the other end to go up the steps that got them out of the pool. He then took her straight into his bedroom dripping. Not stopping anywhere, he pushed open the bathroom door and stopped once inside to kick the door shut behind them. He slowly let her slide down to the floor, as the water had pooled around their feet. Khushi stood with her head tucked into her chest looking down starting to shiver.
He went up the railing that held towels brought one and put it around her to start rubbing her dry. He could not help looking at her lashes bunched togethers with water drops, wet cheeks, shinning lips that were moist. He looked at her and curbed his instinct to gather her in his arms.
Just then he heard a knock on the door and Lavanya asking, "ASR, Chamkili tumhein bulane aayee thi, usse dekha kya?"
"What the hell, Lavanya, mein bathroom mein hoon, usse kaise dekhoonga?" Arnav retorted back, putting a finger on Khushi's lips who had parted them to speak. He had not taken his eyes off of her as he replied.
On hearing Lavanya leave, he could not stop himself for running his finger on her lips before he saw her come to life and take a step back.
Coming to senses he whispered, "Mein abhi tumhare liye kuch change karne ke liye le aata hoon!" And walked out of the bathroom.
Tum Kitni Khoobsurat ho - Jungle mein Mangal
Tum kitni khubsurat ho yeh mere dil se poocho
ein dhadkanon se poocho tum
kyon dil hai tum pe diwana
tum kitni khubsurat ho
Sharma rahi ho jana
bal kha rahi ho jana
mujhey maano yah na mano
apna tumhi ko maana
tum kitni khubsurat ho
Na bahar mangta hoon
na karaar mangta hoon
main toh zindagi ke badle
tera pyar mangta hoon
tum kitni khubsurat ho
Kabhi dur jaake luta
kabhi paas aake luta
yeh situm kiya jo tumne
mujhey muskurake luta
tum kitni khubsurat ho

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