TS : To think of him or not! Pt. 2 on pg.3 - Page 2

"Whatever!" Khushi muttered, and the door flew open when Arnav pushed it, and Khushi was thrown back by the force of it, making her land on her bottom, and her lips turned into a downwards U, and for some silly reason which seemed unfathomable at the moment, tears sprang in her eyes. Arnav had seen her fall and was about to tease her when he saw her crying. Again, these tears were different. She seemed humiliated. 'Humiliated?! In front of me??' Arnav wondered, as he squatted down next to her.

"What was all that about?" Arnav asked, and Khushi turned the other way, refusing to meet his eyes, wiping the single tear which escaped the confines of her eyes. "Pagli??" Arnav murmured, softening at the sight in front of him, taking the help of the name that he used to call her with when he used to apologize to her in his childhood days, and felt her tiny fists flailing against his chest. "Ab yaad aayi ye pagli aapko?! Kyun?! Uss gori ka kuch aur pochna nahi hai aapko?! And I have been fasting for you! YOU!! You. . ." She sputtered, not even realizing what she had been saying.

Arnav held her wrists and stared at her with surprised eyes and she struggled for a while and then stilled, wondering why he seemed so surprised. She mentally rewound what she had said and there the truth laid. For the first time. She realized that her nanny had always been right. She had always loved him. HIM! 'Ugh!!' was her first thought. 'Of all the people in this god damned wide earth, tumhe yahi mila, Khushi?!' She shook her head and woke up from her trance and looked up into his eyes which had started to smile down at her.

She started struggling even more, only to feel his grip on her wrists to tighten around her wrists. "Leave me!" she ordered, and he whispered, "Never." Khushi's eyes widened and snapped up to look into his determined eyes, loving the conviction in his eyes. And like this, finally, the never-rested-and-always-at-work mouth of Khushi's had been tied up! She blushed then. 'Oh god! What's wrong with me?!' she thought, flabbergasted, and again thought, 'He must be thinking that I am a prize idiot!' She felt his grip slacken as she had stopped struggling, and making appropriate use of the situation, for the second time that day, she ran away.

She ran, and ran, and ran, until she reached the safe haven of Arnav's garden. She flexed her body in between the tiny gap between the adjacent walls and the tree in the corner of the garden. It was definitely more easy to sneak into that tiny gap when she had been a kid. Even Arnav would fit in there with her then. Not anymore, she thought and grimaced and her thoughts jumped to think how it would be, to stand so close to him, here, if at all he could sneak in with her.

"Khushi bitiya. . .?" She heard Nani call out for her, and was about to hide even more when she heard that the pooja was about to start as the moon had emerged from behind the clouds. She hit her forehead dramatically. 'What do I do now??' The thought of skipping the pooja did cross her mind, but then her stomach growled in annoyance. Her stomach had been put at rest far too much, she decided and left for the final ritual of the day, before she could eat something. She saw through the French doors that Arnav was standing there too, his eyes searching for something, and she realized what his eyes were searching for. All her resolve of joining the pooja crumbled right then as she turned her back. She was not sure whether she had it in her to face him, after what she had revealed to him. 'Foolish, FOOLISH Khushi! No wonder he calls you that! Pagli!' Khushi thought, though his nickname for her did make her go all warm, and a few millions of butterflies erupted in her stomach, almost upsetting her very empty stomach.

She turned around to see that the rituals had started inside the house, and Arnav was being made to take pictures of Anjali-Shyam, and Akash-Payal, though he did seem to be doing it begrudgingly. She smiled at that cute frown on his face, and once again realized that she loved him. She did not exactly remember when and where things had come to this. But, love him, she did! She silently turned around, took the pallu of her saree that she was wearing and lifted her eyes to see the moon through it, praying to shower Arnav with all the happiness and. . . well. . . basically provide him with whatever he needed. And then she turned to see Arnav, who she knew was standing inside.

What she had not realized was that he had entered the garden and was standing right behind her. She took a step back in surprise and realized that she was not able to, for his arm had snaked around her waist, pulling her closer to him. She stared at him with dazed eyes, and saw that he pulled her pallu in between them with his free hand, so that his face was partially hidden behind it. Annoyed, Khushi pulled it down and got back to staring at him with a small smile playing on her lips. The same small, contented smile which was being reflected on Arnav's face.

She saw that Arnav held a tumbler of water to her lips and silently urged her to drink from it. She blushed again, not minding her actions so much as she sipped from it. And then came a jalebi in front of her lips, which got a million-dollar smile out of her, as she bit into it with a mmm. . . . causing strange things to happen inside Arnav. Khushi had barely swallowed, when she felt something soft graze her lips. Instinctively knowing that it was Arnav's lips on hers, she let her eyes closed and brought her arms to his shoulders.

After a gentle kiss, she felt Arnav pulling away, and she involuntarily moved forward, in no mood to stop their tryst. She looked up into Arnav's eyes with her own confused ones. Arnav chuckled at her impatience, and before she could get irritated, he explained, "Not right now. People are waiting."

She allowed herself to be taken to the living room and mingled with old friends and the elders who were fascinated by the foreign-returned Gupta daughter. Arnav stood away from the crowd, a proud smile on his lips all the while, talking when absolutely necessary. As the guests left, the Raizadas, the Guptas, the two Jhas and Emily sat having a hearty dinner, Anjali asked, "Khushi? Kaha thi tum? Pooja ki samay tum kahi dikh nahi rahi thi??" ("Khushi? Where were you? I did not see you when rituals were going on??")

Khushi almost choked and Arnav who sat next to her, handed her a glass of water and gently rubbed her back. To say the whole family were shocked with this exchange would be an understatement. Finally, it was Emily who spoke up, "Khushi?! Are you two together now?! What about the laad governor about whom you were talking about all these years?!"

Now all the people turned to Emily. For they very well knew who this laad governor was. "She missed laad governor??" Akash smirked as he questioned her, and gave an understanding smile to his wife, who sat next to her. "Oh! You have no idea! She used to drive us all craaazy about how much this person irritated her! But we knew better! We in fact, made a phrase out of her actions. To think of him or not. When we were confused about something, we would tell, don't Khushi-fy it!" Emily exclaimed and laughed with the others. Anjali again questioned, just to confirm her doubts, "Tho aap donon. . . ??" ("So, you two. . . ??")

Khushi blushed and suddenly was too interested in the aloo-poori and Arnav became too interested in the old painting that hung over the wall. There was a whole minute of silence, before the family members shouted, "Finally!!" Arnav jerked his head in surprise, and turned to see the trademark "O" on Khushi's lips. She looked around the table, her blush turning darker shade of scarlet, before she ran out of the room, and Arnav sighed. His life would be very. . . . eventful, from now on, he declared to himself, and got up with his plate of food. "I am taking this to her." He announced out loud, knowing that his family knew better than to tease him at the moment, and had almost left the room, leaving both the family members dumbfounded, when he turned and addressed Emily. . . . .

"I am her laad governor."

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Let me know what you thought, please! 😳

*Forgot to add the most important thing!

Credit for Khushi's nickname goes to Angelteen aka Rae!! ❤️