Hate That I Love You #3 Lnk to Thd. 4 on Pg.1 - Page 80

Knowing that he would have skipped his meals, owing to the emotional burden he had faced that day, Khushi teased him all the way until she was sure that he had ate at least half of his normal dinner. And the teasing had turned slightly. . . . eventful.

Arnav had pulled her onto his lap, and she had felt his desire for her as she sat very comfortably on his lap. Neither tried to hide the feelings which they felt for each other, out of which desire was eminent, the separation of four days just adding more fuel to the already burning fire in between them. It would have probably gone on like that hadn't Khushi chosen that moment to dissolve into a fit of giggles, remembering the "Eels and caves" knowledge that she had gained from the book.

And when asked the reason, she simply shook her head, unwilling to expose the thoughts in her mind, deciding that he shouldn't be made privy to the fact that she had been thinking of a certain part of his when she had read about "Eels". Arnav simply raised his brows in a wry fashion, and ordered, "Tell." After fidgeting with her fingers, she had whispered, very hesitantly, in his ears, the reason for her gaiety. Her whispering had been unnecessary, and she knew it. There was nobody else present in the room. But it was the sudden bout of shyness that took over her, that had made her timidly answer his question. After listening to her with a patient mind, Arnav chuckled, and inquired, "Why do you women read such silly books?? Not that I object. I'm all for such books if it makes you think of me. . . ."

By the end of his question, though, his voice had turned suggestive, which Khushi ignored easily, and huffed in indignation, as she replied, "One. I don't need reminders to make me think of you. Two. That book was written by a guy. And three. It was in your library!!"

Arnav shrugged, "The interior designer must have been a woman. And since when have you turned into such a feminist??"

"Ugh!! Don't ask!!" Khushi exclaimed, and proceeded to explain how Lavanya and Payal had been the worst of the whiners that she had ever known! She told him how suffocated she had been feeling, being indoors for the whole day, "Its not like I'm an outdoorsy person, Arnav! But for four days!! Four, goddamned days! I've been made to sit and listen to the same old betrayal tracks! I just want to run away!!" And on she went, venting her frustration, rambling her heart out, to which Arnav listened silently, with a slight frown on his face. Quite frankly, other than driving his girl almost insane, this trip hadn't helped the "whiners". Period. He thought for a while, thinking of what should be done to help Khushi out of this. Khushi was now resting her head on his shoulder, as his hands rubbed her back softly, his mind deep in thoughts. Deciding it was time to adopt another plan, he took out his phone, and after punching a few buttons, he held it to his ears, and said, "I'm in Mumbai. Come!"

Khushi, who had almost fallen asleep, with her face well hidden in the warmth of the crook of his neck, asked drowsily, "Who was that??"

"Reinforcement." He answered and carried her to the room which was actually his, when he visited here. The same room, which Khushi had chosen for herself too. Snuggling next to her, he hadn't bothered to change out of his beige cargo pants and white cotton shirt that he had worn for traveling, and had soon fallen into a deep slumber.

Khushi woke up when the first rays of the sun made way through the wide open windows, and listened to the waves of the ocean, and the steady beating of Arnav's heart beneath her ear. She lifted her head with a smile to look at him, still peacefully asleep. His hair had already grown longer, within the four days she had been away from him, and now the ruffled hair almost melted her heart in adoration for him. Unable to stop herself, she ran a hand through the mop of his hair, noticing how silky it felt, how unruly it actually was, as opposed to the gelled look he usually sported, not a hair out of place.

He sighed and turned more into her touch, mumbling something in his sleep. Was this the Arnav Singh Raizada, whom she had thought had hated right from their first rendezvous? No. He seemed less formidable while asleep. Less imposing. Less menacing. But that could be because his eyes were closed, Khushi thought, wondering how much of a difference his magnetic eyes made to his whole persona. Those arresting, bewitching, mesmerizing, hypnotic honey brown orbs. She knew all those adjectives meant the same thing. But that was the depths/heights to which she loved those eyes of his. Those eyes, which seemed cold, calculative, shining down with so much authority that it could have the strongest of men, crumbling onto their knees, begging for mercy. But they had always spared her either the warmest, loveliest, or the hooded, desire-filled glances. She remembered the vulnerability they had displayed to her when he had shared his past the previous night, frowning at how life was unfair to him. But then her own past mocked her, and an ironic smile made its way to her lips. Shaking her head to clear the sad thoughts which might spoil her whole day, she made her way to the bathroom and freshened up.

Coming back, she noticed Arnav was still asleep. He must have been really exhausted - to sleep the morning like this. She drew the curtains close and left the room, quietly closing the door behind her. And as she sat down for breakfast, Payal sat opposite to her, and asked if she had slept well. Lavanya joined them, still rubbing her eyes sleepily. Well, that was a first, Khushi thought. Lavanya had been spending the whole of her time locked up in her room, usually coming out only for lunch. Khushi thought it would be better for them to know that Arnav was here and disclosed the fact. Lavanya's eyebrows rose, her sleep vanishing, tout de suite. While Payal stared in utter shock. "What's he doing here?!" she screeched after a while, making Khushi feel chagrined. 'That would have woken him up! So much for letting him relax for the day!!' Khushi thought, as she muttered in annoyance, "This is his house!"

"I thought we were on a girls' vacation. . ." Lavanya stated, her voice not at all bitter, unlike Payal's, yet managing to make Khushi's blood simmer with irritation. She was on her feet before she knew and had turned back, afraid that if she stayed there for a minute longer, she would do or say something she would regret later. "Khushi, wait! You did not answer my question!" Payal shouted, going behind her sister. Lavanya joined in the lecturing too, "Haven't you been seeing Payal and me suffering due to men, Khushi?? And you still are seeing him?"

Arnav had jerked awake when he had heard an unrecognizable voice yelling a, 'What's he doing here?!'He looked next to him to see Khushi had gone out, and sauntered drowsily out of the room, towards the sound of conversation. Still yawning, he had entered the living room and had just set eyes on Khushi to see that she was very, very angry. He saw her get up and turn towards him. He could see that none of the women aware of his presence there. And then he heard Lavanya ask, "Haven't you been seeing Payal and me suffering due to men, Khushi?? And you still are seeing him?"Khushi turned to her suddenly, and gave an exasperated sigh as she moaned, "What do you mean by that question, Lavanya?! That we should turn into nuns and adopt celibacy?! Stop being such grinches!" Her female audience gasped in horror, and Arnav smiled wryly, as she continued to snap at them, "Yes, Lavanya! That scumbag Steve played bitch on you. But that doesn't mean all men are the same!! And you Jiji! Just because your boyfriend didn't have the balls to push a woman off him, and is a wuss to take your crap --"

"Khushi!" Arnav had the sensibility to stop her there, knowing fully well that she would regret it if she told anything further. She would be feeling sick at heart for disclosing even this much of her thoughts to her friends. He could feel the three pairs of eyes turn to him, as he made his way towards Khushi and held her hand, pulling her with him, beckoning her with his eyes. They came out and strolled on the beach, feeling the sand, cold from the night, under their feet. Khushi's stiff shoulders were still stiff, and as she finally, fully relaxed, Arnav asked, "Want to go and apologize to your sister?" Khushi groaned, and told him to shut up, using a very colorful language. But before he could react, she turned to him with wide, a mortified expression on her face. "I am sorry??!!" she mumbled, and hugged him, not giving him any chance to show his famous rage at being ill-treated. Especially, by the woman he loved.

Not that he had been even slightly offended when she had told him to shut up in a rude way. It was usually him angry, and she took whatever he gave in his anger without even blinking her eyes. So that made him obligated to take her anger without complaining too. He hugged her tightly to himself, deciding to keep his new decision to himself.

---

Payal's eyes had welled up, as she listened to what Khushi had said, and Lavanya had been too shocked to react in anyway. Pondering on Khushi's words, Payal had slumped back on her chair, chewing her lower lip, when she heard a male voice call her name. "Akash?!" she looked up and saw him standing near the door, smiling down at her. It was all she could take, as she ran to him and flung her arms around his neck, and started sobbing. A very bewildered Akash looked at Lavanya, who was in no state to answer any of his questions. He pulled back a little, and with his arms still around her, tugged her out towards the beach. "What happened, Payal??" Akash asked, once her sobs seemed to have abated. "I'm soo sorry, Akash. I knew it wasn't your fault. But I had been scared with the strong emotions I had felt when I saw her. . . . No! I shall give you no excuses. I am sorry." Payal explained, and looked at him with hopeful eyes, only to be greeted by a warm smile. "It doesn't matter, Payal. But please don't give me the silent treatment to me. Ever!" Akash almost begged, making Payal smile sheepishly and nod her head in approval.

---

NK came in next to see none other than Lavanya there. He introduced himself only to be given a cold once-over by the dusky female in front of him, before she haughtily turned her back to him and left. 'What'd I do?!' wondered a bewildered NK, as he turned to the open kitchen, hoping to satisfy his hunger pangs.

---

Khushi thought whether she had been unnecessarily rude to her sister and friend. Yes, they were wrong in being diffident about Arnav. But that was mainly because they did not know Arnav as well as she knew him. 'Well, if they don't know him, they should just shut their gobs!' Khushi thought as she huffed, well aware of the silent Arnav walking beside her. Trust her to fall in love with a man whom the whole world perceived to be the exact opposite of what he actually was! If not on Payal, Khushi knew she had bestowed too much of her "tough love" on Lavanya. She hadn't deserved that. Going through a rough patch herself, she had just been concerned for Khushi. "Do you think I am a bad friend for shouting at Lavanya?" Khushi blurt out before she could stop herself. Arnav thought for a few moments before he frankly gave his opinion, "You're the closest I have of a friend. If you had annoyed me like your friends have annoyed you, I would have probably left you to yourself." Khushi gasped when he told her that, and Arnav raised a finger to indicate he wasn't done yet. "But! You're not just my friend. So I shan't leave you."

He felt her stiffen, and was about to tell her that he had been joking when he followed her line of sight and found Payal and Akash there. Arnav exchanged an exasperated shake of head at the dramatics, the two sisters managed to infuse into their lives, and in turn to the mens' lives too! Arnav pushed Khushi forward with a shove of his shoulder against hers. And when she turned to look at him in surprise, he jerked his head to tell her to go and talk to Payal. Akash had done the same with Payal too, and soon, both the sisters were blabbering apologies, simultaneously bawling their eyes out. It took all of the guys' self control not to laugh in utter amusement. And then Khushi was given a sound lecture by her sister for behaving gracelessly with Lavanya.

Khushi, deciding to talk to her too, walked ahead with Payal towards their beach house. Arnav and Akash, now completely forgotten by the girls, looked at each other, and sighed, as they shook their heads and silently followed them.

As they entered the mansion, Payal told her sister to wait in the living room and went to Lavanya's room to see how she had taken to her sister's suddenly too violent behavior. After a while, Payal came out of Lavanya's room and called out for Khushi, who suddenly started feeling too guilty of the way she yelled at her best friend. She entered the room very timidly and saw Lavanya staring out of the window, her shoulders slumped. Khushi went and hugged her from behind, crying, and mumbling how sorry she was. Lavanya turned and gave Khushi a sad smile, making Khushi feel even more guilty. "I was just worried for you, Khushi. . . . Whatever I've been through. . . . I would never want that to happen to anyone!! And you?! You are my best friend, Khushi!"

Khushi nodded, understanding Lavanya's concern for her. But she couldn't help but feel a little irritated that, somehow, Arnav was being doubted on. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, and knowing well that yelling would not solve the problem, she said, "I know, Lavanya. But that is the risk I'm willing to take! And Arnav. . . . He would never. I say, never do such a thing. I know you have all the reasons to doubt the man. But can't you trust me on this?!" Lavanya had looked down, not reacting in anyway, when Payal said, "You love him." Khushi sighed and nodded her head in approval with a smile on her face.

"Does he love you back?" Payal persisted, and Khushi replied with confidence, "Yes, he does."

"Has he told you that??" had been Payal's next question.

Silence.

Khushi had no answer for this. She knew that his gestures accounted for more than just telling her in plain terms, that he loved her. But that was not the answer for her sister's question, was it?

"No, he hasn't. But I do know this. If he has any problems that he cannot share with anybody, it's me he turns to. Its me, with whom he spends most of his time with, and yet, manages to miss me. Most of his precious smiles and laughs are shared with me. . . . ." Khushi replied, thinking of all such wonderful instances which had shown her his love. She could go on and on about his intimate gestures, which were reserved only for her and she smiled. That smile, symbolic of the happiness that each such gesture of his, brought with it.

Payal and Lavanya shared an anxious look, and Lavanya voiced her doubts, "Are you sure about this, Khushi?"

Khushi's smile vanished, as she sighed and looked into Lavanya's eyes, "Lavanya! I know you're very concerned for me, and I love you for that! But can't you see how happy he makes me?? Can't you stop worrying about all that and feel happy for me?You too Jiji! Please?!"

A grudging smile made its way to Lavanya's face as she hugged Khushi and answered her question, "Fine! And even if ASR dares to hurt you, he'll have to go through me!" Khushi whooped with joy, when she heard the hard edge that Lavanya used to have in her voice before she had faced the betrayal of Steve. Payal joined them too, happily flinging her arms around her two best friends of life, and for once, forgetting all the cares in the world. . . . . .

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