SS : The Spice Of Life Part 3
1AM...
Khushi lay in bed thinking about her day...
For months she'd been learning how to cope without him near her...
Now, as sleep evaded her, she wondered how she'll be able to manage her heart over the next few days...
"He was so close..." she mumbled to herself..."Did he always stand that close to me..."
"And the way he kis...kissed...me..." her fingers ran over her lips...
"He kissed me..." her breathing quickened...
"No...No Khushi...He didn't trust you...why should you trust him...why now? He had 5 months to talk to me, to try and have a real marriage with me...but he didn't..."
She let her heavy lids close and immediately she saw his eyes...
Shaking her head..."Laad Governor...I can't even escape you when I close my eyes..."
'...
Arnav also had trouble sleeping...
He had retained his composure the entire day, and now he was failing...
"What if I can't convince her...What if she trusts her family over me...I wouldn't blame her, I have no right to her heart seeing as I was the one to break it...but...5 days...I have to get her back...I have to..."
He closed his eyes, knowing he'd see her in his dreams...
'...
The next morning, Khushi was silent at the breakfast table...
"What is wrong Khushi? Has something upset you?" her Amma asked...
"It's almost 9am..." Khushi mumbled...
"What?" Garima asked feeling confused...
"What? Didn't you just ask me what the time was?" Khushi said looking up...
"Khushi...are you okay? are you unwell?"
"Ofcourse...I'm..." her voiced started to trail off..."5 months...and NOW he wants to see me..."
Garima heard her and guiltily looked towards her..."Khushi..." Garima pulled out the chair beside Khushi and sat down...
"Khushi...He...He did try to see you...we just felt...we saw how distraught you were, how much pain you were in...we didn't know if it would be the right decision to let him see you..."
Khushi couldn't speak...her thoughts warred for the right reaction...
"They stopped him from seeing me? Arnavji DID want to see me all this time? I understand their concern, but he is my husband...why didn't he insist thought? since when does he take no for an answer?! but he would want to respect my family since he said he lov...does he love me? my family love me enough to protect me from him...but..."
"Khushi?"
Slowly she looked up...
"Did we do right? We only wanted to protect you..."
Khushi didn't think, her emotions burst out...
"No no Khushi, please don't cry more..."
"Amma, I don't know anything anymore...I love you all for wanting to protect me, but I also lov..." her voice froze...
"Do you love him Khushi?"
She couldn't bring her eyes up...afraid that her answer would shine forth...
'...
Arnav drove towards the Gupta house...silently praying..."Let her believe my love...let her feel it...Let love erase the pain I caused..."
As he parked his car outside, he saw her out front laying some blankets over the railing...
"Khushi..." he breathed
Her head lifted, hair flicked, and eyes sought...turning instantly to where her heart led...
Their eyes locked onto each other...
Arnav's heart began to pound...
He exited his car and sauntered towards her...
As he got closer she finally found courage to speak..."You...? You're here...again?" Her voice came out shaky and she mentally scolded herself...
"My heart is here...I can't breathe without my heart..."
Her husband now stood before her...
"You're so tall..." she mumbled out before she could stop herself...
Arnav smiled...
Khushi's hand flew to cover her mouth in embarrassment...
Seeing her discomfort, he quickly spoke...
"Come..." he said as his arm outstretched to lead the way...
"What? Where?"
"Just take a walk with me..."
"Here?"
He took her hand as they started down the stairs...
Khushi gazed up in surprise...
"In case you fall," he said smiling...
And knowing that she was more agile than a monkey, he held her hand firmly...
Her step was jaunty, keeping time to the music in her head...
Hoping he couldn't feel her racing pulse, she tried to regulate her thoughts...
"Rather than losing his appeal, Arnav Singh Raizada is working his way even more deeply into my heart..."
But then her heart took over her mind..."I love holding hands...There's something so wonderfully romantic about it."
Intuitively, he lifted her hand to his lips and planted a gentle kiss on her palm.
Their gazes united...
He thought his heart would burst with love, and he longed to take her in his arms and shout that love from the top of his lungs...
The memory of their kiss ignited sparklers inside her body.
"Where...um...where are we going? because I have things I need to do..."
He felt the fence go up between them and knew that he would have to cut another gate.
Stopping quickly, he turned round, keeping hold of her hand..."Not going anywhere...I just want to spend time with you...I love holding your hand...holding you..." he replied softly.
Her mind returned to all of their wild embraces...angry, loving, surprising, rescuing...
She had already explored that difference, and it was far too hard for her to handle the memories...
"I'm not as strong as you are, I couldn't get away from your hold...and I couldn't help falling that day I met you...I tripped and..."
Arnav's hand tightened on hers, and he walked in silence until they came back to her house..."
Suddenly he gripped her shoulders, forcing her to look up at him.
"I'm sorry Khushi..." he said, holding her gaze with his.
Now fearing his reaction, she quickly retorted ..."I shouldn't have said anything..."
"Khushi...You've always been candid with me. That's one of the things I love about you. Please don't be afraid of me..."
He pulled her into his arms and cradled her head against his shoulder...
He knew she wasn't at ease, but he held her anyway as her arms stayed still by her sides...
"You keep erecting barriers where there should be none...There should have been none from the beginning...All my heart wanted was the two of us...I'm sorry Khushi..."
Nervously, she lifted her face to look at him...
As she was about to speak, Arnav's phone began to ring...
"What the HELL!!! I told them NOT to contact me for ANY reason!"
Khushi backed away trying to stifle her smile...
His eyes followed her..."No...I'm not answering..."
"NO!" She welcomed the breathing room..."You answer, they may need you...you are Arnav Singh Raizada..."
Arnav shook his head but Khushi spun around and began to find something to immerse herself in...
She heard Arnav let out a frustrated sigh as he walked off, harshly abusing the person on his phone...
Khushi quickly grabbed a cold drink..."5 days left...I can do this...can't I?"
Her thoughts were interrupted by someone screaming..."YOU CAN DO IT!!! YOU CAN!!!"
Her body jerked to attention...
She looked around in bewilderment...
"Go on! keep trying..." the voice yelled again...
Khushi looked out the kitchen window and saw two children...One standing on the ground yelling up into a tree...
Khushi craned her neck further and saw a boy trying to climb higher to reach a kite that had become stuck in the branches...
"Ohh...he'll never reach it climbing that way!!!" she said to herself...
"Hey...You are climing in the wrong direction!" she called up at the boy...
"You don't know anything! You're a girl!" screamed the boy
"Oh really! I have climbed this tree before! Now shimmy down and I will get it for you..."
The little boy slid down and tumbled to the ground, landing safely beside his friend...
Khushi pulled her dupatta off and tied it around her waist...
Staring at the tree, Khushi smiled..."Hello old friend...Now I will show them!"
Beginning at the lowest branch, Khushi skillfully climbed the tree to the top...
The children watched in amazement..."Hey, she's fast!"
"Hey, I did well! I just missed that other branch she swung from there!"
Khushi looked down for a moment..."Oh don't fight...here is your kite..."
With one push, the kite came free and flew down...
"Thankyou!" the boys sang out and ran off...
Khushi waited a moment, looking down around her house...
"Khushi?" Arnav called out...
One of the boys was running past and quickly pointed..."She's up in the tree..."
"what?!" Arnav slowly lifted his eyes...
"WHAT THE!? Khushi! What the Hell are you doing!?"
"Stop overreacting! Their kite was stuck in the tree! I was helping..."
"This is CRAZY! You could have been hurt! you could have fallen! Just come down slowly...I'll stand here incase you slip..."
"I won't slip...I've climbed this tree before...ridiculous Laad Governor..." Khushi began to climb down carefully...
"It's not ridiculous to care about your safety Khushi!" Arnav was trying to control his agitation
"Now see here Mr. Raizada! I am perfectly able to take care of myself!"
He mentally acknowledged that she was doing quite well, until her foot slipped on the last branch and she fell...
He quickly reached out and caught her and they crashed to the gound...
His arms wrapped around her as they rolled in the dirt.
With legs entangled and lips only a kiss away, Arnav and Khushi had thoughts only for each other.
Skyrockets exploded inside them as their bodies pressed together...
Looking up at her, he ran his hands along her body...his hands froze when he felt her skin...her pants had ripped slightly and her thigh was exposed...
A half-strangled sound escaped his lips as he raised himself to his knees and looked down at her.
"Are you all right?"
"Yes," she said, but her mind was screaming No! She would never be all right until she had Arnav back in her life for good...
All of him'not just a hungry embrace in a hallway or an intimate tumble in the dirt, but every glorious inch of him, without restrictions.
He scooped her into his arms and carried her inside to the kitchen.
"Let's brush away all that dirt," he said, but what he meant was "Let's get inside before I lose control of the situation."
Still keeping his arm around her waist, he set her down beside the kitchen sink and reached for a towel, turning on the water with one hand. "This will only take a minute."
"I hope it takes a year."
Unbeknownst to her, she had spoken the words out loud...
"Khushi?" He turned and saw her eyes, naked with desire...
The towel dropped to the floor and the water gurgled down the sink drain as he pulled her into his arms.
His hands tangled in her hair, and he crushed her against his chest as if he would never let go.
They stood this way for a moment, swaying to the combined rhythms of their runaway hearts.
In slow motion he inched away so that their lips could meet.
The moment his lips touched hers, his arms tightened posessively around her...
The kiss was a blending of drugged sweetness and honeyed desire.
It was passion and joy and burning need.
And it was perfection because their hearts loved each other...
Trapped in their notions of barriers and past heartbreak, they let their bodies speak what they dared not.
He pressed her hips against his, marveling at how right it felt, while his tongue plied its urgent message inside her mouth.
She writhed in his arms, moist and open with undisguised longing.
The fever that possessed them raged unchecked, and they gasped with the heat of it.
His mouth moved away from her lips and seared down the side of her neck.
She threw back her head to accommodate his questing mouth, and her hair fanned out in a dark curtain against his arms.
Her pulse tore at her throat as one of Arnav's hands moved along her exposed skin...
A thousand stars burst inside her at his touch...
And when there was nowhere else to go except the over the edge, Arnav gently released her. "I think I took care of all the dirt."
His breathing was still ragged and his smile was lopsided.
Khushi lifted her hair away from her flushed face.
"I don't know how this keeps happening," she whispered. "It's not supposed to."
"We can't prevent it, Khushi..."
"We must...I...After everything..."
"I love you...I won't ever treat you that way again...EVER...I love you..."
She waved her hands in the air, setting her bracelets to jingling. "I can't think of all that right now...I just..."
She paused and a small grin lit her face...
"You...your..." She smiled at the way his hair was sticking up...
He watched in awe as her fingers ran through his hair straightening and styling...
Realizing what she was doing she quickly lowered her hands and said..."The water's still running."
"Huh..." Arnav was successfully entranced...
"You forgot to turn off the water."
Arnav grinned sheepishly as he twisted the faucet handle. "You made me forget."
"So did you." she whispered
'...
"Titaliya!!!!!" Buaji voice bellowed through the house...
Khushi immediately pushed away from Arnav...
A horrified expression tumbled across her face as she saw her torn clothes..."Oh God!!!"
She blushed as her eyes darted back up to Arnav, but his eyes only held dark desire as he remembered his hands gliding over her...
Rushing to her room and slamming the door, she slumped back..."what is happening..."
'...
Buaji and Garima entered the kitchen and saw Arnav leaning against the kitchen bench...
"Damaji?" Garima said softly...
"Hi...uh..." he paused..."Did you just address me as..."
"Garima! What are you saying!" Buaji was fuming...
"Jiji...He is out son in law...until they sort out their own lives, we need to keep up our respect..."
With tears in his eyes, Arnav walked forward..."Thankyou...I...I can't tell you how much this means to me..."
Garima lifted a hand to his face, "it's okay...and I let Khushi know that you had tried to see her over the past few months..."
"What is all this!? why are you destroying all the progress we made with Khushi!"
"Buaji..." Arnav turned to her..."I'm truly sorry for causing such heartbreak for Khushi..." his voice was cracking with emotion..."Please give me a chance...I know I don't deserve this, but I love her, truly love her...and I can't imagine my life without her..."
Without replying, Buaji just stormed away...
"Give her some time...She feels badly as well, we all do for how we reacted to your marriage...Everyone blamed Khushi...now everyone is more protective..."
Arnav stood square in front of her..."I am protective of her. I swear, I love her ...I am in love with her..."
Garima smiled softly..."Where is Khushi..?"
Arnav glanced towards Khushi's room..."She..." he sighed..."I found her outside...up a tree...trying to free a kite for some children..."
Her expression changed to one of anger..."AGAIN! We told her not to climb that tree again!!! She said she just wanted to be closer to the stars and the last time, she fell and severely sprained her wrist!!!"
Just then, Garima noticed the traces of dirt on Arnav's shirt...
"She fell again...But she's fine...I caught her..."
Garima shook her head..."I will speak to her..."
"no no, don't be angry...she's okay, that's the important thing..."
'...
As Garima entered Khushi room she saw her changing her clothes...
"What!? You even tore your clothes as you fell!?"
"Amma! It's okay..it was only a small tear, I can fix it, no problem..."
Just when Khushi thought her Amma would explode with frustration, Khushi put on some music...
Garima couldn't help but laugh..."crazy girl!!!"
'...
Music...
Khushi couldn't hold in her enthusiasm...
With Arnav back in her life, and her family adoring her again, she felt all the burdens that had been weighing her down suddenly fly away...
She began to dance...
Her heart felt lighter and the need to swing and twist took over...
Garima had left the door open slightly and Arnav couldn't help but stare at her...
He was mesmerised...Her movements enticed him, Her smile enraptured him...
Khushi began to recall all the times she had danced in her life...
The last time she felt such strong sensations was when she danced with Arnav...
Her smiled broadened...the way he held her when they danced, the way he looked at her, the way his fingers grazed her bare abdomen...
The dance ended with a drum cadence, which turned out to be the beating of her heart...
"Beautiful..."
Startled, Khushi spun around to see Arnav leaning quietly against the wall.
Without thinking, she flew across the room...
His arms welcomed her trim, perspiring body.
He held her gently, knowing that she would pull back at any moment...
He was right...She quickly stepped away and couldn't seem to look at him..."How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough to know that I want to dance with you again...you're beautiful..."
Her anguished cry was born of the realization that once again she had let her heart rule her head.
Without thinking she had yielded to her natural impulse'to get as close as possible to the man she loved.
"Khushi...Can't you see that you belong right here...with me..."
She put her hands against his chest and pushed herself out of his arms. "I didn't mean to do that...again..."
"I'm glad you did... It proves my point."
"I...I don't want to know"
"You already know..." he said stepping towards her..." We were meant to be together and nothing can stop us. Not anything nor anybody."
He caught her shoulders and pulled her back into his arms. "Not even you."
Yep, you guessed it!!!! 10 more pages of comments please!!! I'm a bossy , blackmailer 😛
Edited by Desi- - 12 years ago
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