To say that nothing could be worse than exams proved to be an incorrect statement to Khushi who had other reasons to worry about. As if the upcoming exams week was not stressful enough, that now she was constantly overworking her mind about the nature of her relationship with Arnav. There was no longer any doubt as to the fact that they shared a bond that exceeded that of friendship but it was yet to be named.
Since all students were given few days' leave solely for the purpose of revision, Khushi rejoiced the fact that she would not come across Arnav, who was apparently the major reason for her lack of concentration. However, Arnav's face, his voice, his smirk intruded in her study time at every moment, as an indicator that never would she able to ever erase him fully from her mind. With the pressure of earning good grades which was the final step towards securing a good job to help her family, Khushi decided to cast aside such thoughts, despite it not really helping.
The sound of ruckus caused Khushi to wake up with a jolt, and she immediately peeped at her clock which showed 10:00 am. The whole night she had been so laboriously studying that she overslept in the morning. Khushi rushed towards the living room to find out the cause for such an animated morning when she nearly screamed seeing Arnav sitting on the sofa, next to Rahul, both playing video games. Quickly adjusting her dupatta on her sleep time salwar, Khushi approached the two boys with anger shooting from her eyes which were staring at them.
"Good morning Khushi" Arnav gently said.
"Can you tell me what you are doing at my house now?" Khushi asked Arnav, her hands on her hips showing an anger which was clearly shown to him. "And Rahul, don't you have school? Hey Devi Maiyya, you bunked classes today?"
"Momsy Buddy, chillax. You forgot that I am in holidays?" Rahul told.
"It completely slipped out of my head. With so many things to put in this little brain, I completely forgot. Sorry baby" Khushi hugged Rahul.
"It's okay, and I thought of calling Arnav to spend some time playing. Nice idea, right?" Rahul innocently tried to confirm.
"You called Arnav to play? And why not me?" Khushi enquired.
"Because you have exams" Rahul replied.
"Oh yes…" Khushi let out "… But Arnav also have exams"
"Wrong! Actually I am not sitting for the exams. Remember I came to Delhi University for the course only. I already have a degree, so I am done. No exams for me" Arnav explained, shrugging his shoulders as a way to show his cool composure.
"What? … Lucky People! So you both will be playing right beneath my eyes while I will be dying with my books" Khushi looked at them, waiting for some reassuring and encouraging words to come out.
"Yep" both Rahul and Arnav replied in unison, surprising Khushi with their lack of compassion, who stormed off back to her room.
"Rahul is a kid, but Arnav…he is so mean. I want to…I feel like… I hate him." Khushi murmured to herself while walking to and fro in her room.
Arnav soon knocked at her door with a proposition in mind, and as Khushi opened her door, Arnav shared his idea of taking care of Rahul while she would be busy with her university work.
"So actually you are now Rahul's babysitter?" Khushi giggled.
"Not babysitter. Sort of a guardian till the time you finish your exams. Aunty will be tired all alone" Arnav explained.
"And what do you want in return?" Khushi asked, raising her eyebrows.
"Sometimes things need not be done for a reason. They just happen" Arnav stated, stamping his words, and leaving Khushi all silent.
***
Khushi approached a stool to the cupboard which contained the important documents that were of utmost importance to her preparation for the exams. Climbing up the stool, she extended her hands upwards in an attempt to reach to her needed papers but it seemed they were unreachable. She elevated her feet in such a way that she was finally standing on her toes, putting herself in such a delicate situation that she was actually instable on the stool. Few seconds later, the stool could no longer support the disequilibrium, with Khushi shouting and falling … falling in Arnav's arms, who had been fast enough to save his most treasured possession from any tragedy.
Khushi slowly opened her eyes which she had spontaneously closed upon feeling her fall, and she gripped Arnav's shirt even tighter, drowning deeply into those fudgy chocolate eyes that were gazing at her. She felt his strong arms capturing her petite body in a gentle scoop as if she was a feather, which only accelerating her heartbeats that were seemingly feasting abundantly these days.
"Careful Khushi…what if I was not here to save you?" Arnav broke the ice, still intently looking into Khushi's eyes which had suddenly conveyed confusion, before finally helping Khushi get down from his arms.
"I guess I knew you would be around" Khushi let out to herself in a low tone which did not go unnoticed by Arnav who responded with a smile before leaving her room.
***
Since Garima was out for an 'important' task, Rahul and Arnav thought of an idea to ease Khushi off all her tensions by preparing a delicious lunch. Theoretically the idea was a mind-blowing one but when put to practice, disaster was the only word that could come to anyone's mouth upon seeing the mess that was made in the kitchen. Plates were lying unarranged, in a disorderly manner, with ingredients scattered over every possible surface, and not forgetting the two boys themselves who had their hair and face covered with flour.
Taking a break to prepare lunch, Khushi slowly advanced towards the kitchen and discovered its pitiful state. She was about to burst out of anger when her eyes paused on Arnav and Rahul both sporting a sad look which rendered their messy state even more miserable. And that was it, Khushi was not able to refrain herself from laughing out loud at the sight that was in front of her. She quickly ruffled Rahul's hair to help him get rid of the flour that had deposited, and her hands itched to do the same with Arnav's but she stopped herself when she saw Arnav himself doing it.
"What was that supposed to be?" Khushi playfully asked, holding the piece of burnt food in her hand.
"Roti…" Arnav said, looking dejected "I am sorry! We thought that we could help you with some cooking so that you can concentrate more on your work, but see that was a big failure."
Khushi looked at him, all touched by his attempt at doing something to help her and that unnamed feeling that she was harbouring in her heart was resurfacing.
"Since all we made were big disasters, we resorted to preparing some basic sandwiches" Arnav explained, showing Khushi the big platter of sandwiches that they had prepared.
"This seems yummy. Let's have lunch now" Khushi smilingly said, with Arnav smiling back, happy that he had made her smile. "Hmm, these are delicious."
***
Since Rahul was in a messy state, Khushi ordered him to take a quick shower, else he would dirty the whole house. After thirty minutes, she headed towards his room to make sure he was fresh and as she opened the door, she stood still. With her eyes popped out, she immediately closed them and was about to shout when a hand flew to her mouth to prevent her from screaming further.
"Shhh" Arnav let out.
"Where the hell do you think you are?" Khushi asked, pressing her eyes close enough.
"In my house, I mean, in your house" Arnav rectified. "Rahul let me use the bathroom. I needed a shower to get rid of all the sticky flour"
Arnav was one foot away from Khushi, and was wearing only a white towel which he had wrapped around his waist. She felt droplets of water dripping from Arnav's hair and the fact that he was very close to her caused his moist chest to leave wet traces on her salwar. Slowly opening her eyes back, she admired the muscular, lean body that was right in front of her, and almost smiled thinking about how Arnav had hero-type bodies. She mentally slapped herself for even staring at him and quickly turned around.
"Wait I will give you some clothes" Khushi told as she went to the opposite room and brought her Jeejaji's clothes for Arnav to wear.
"Thanks" Arnav said, hiding his smile at the sight of a blushing Khushi.
***
Seconds passed, soon followed by minutes, hours and days until the day of the first exam. All throughout the revision period, Arnav had been a shadow to Khushi and Rahul like never before. Knowing how Khushi was stressed for her first paper, Arnav put his alarm clock to wake up as early as possible to reach Khushi's house the fastest. He had meaning to accompany her to her exams every single day and had in fact stated this fact more like an order rather than a permission, to which no one could refuse.
As soon as Arnav reached the Gupta House, he immediately looked for Khushi who was sitting at the breakfast table, seemingly lost in thoughts. Without even realising what he was doing, Arnav stretched his hand towards her, taking hers into his, and showed support to her as he tried to reassure her about how she had prepared well for the exams and that she would clearly give the best that she could. As if Khushi only needed such simple words to boost her that she was immediately smiling and confidence built within her.
A hug from Rahul and blessings from Garima were the final keys to cheer Khushi as she sat in the car, ready to go to university. Once they arrived, Khushi was about to move out of the car when Arnav stopped her and pulled a small packet from the pocket of his pair of jeans. He asked Khushi to bring forward her hand and he deposited the gift in the palm of her hand. Khushi immediately opened it and her joy knew no bounds when she saw a charm bracelet.
"It's a good luck charm bracelet. It will give you the world's luck when you are giving your exams" Arnav revealed.
"You shouldn't have bothered. I mean…" Khushi almost teary said.
"No, Rahul wanted to gift you something, and he asked me to buy it for you" Arnav told, knowing that Khushi would never accept a gift on his part, thus he brought Rahul into the picture.
"Okay, if you say so." Khushi smilingly said, inwardly knowing that it was only and only Arnav who had come up with this idea.
Since Khushi was struggling to put the bracelet on, Arnav immediately seized the opportunity to help her and he tied the bracelet around her wrist, leading to a staring session that sort of proved lucky for Khushi.
"All the best Khushi" Arnav said as Khushi got out of the car.
***
And the five days of exams soon got over with Khushi happy with the efforts she had furnished. No more lectures, no more university… only one last function at the university, namely the farewell party which was scheduled by the end of the week. One chapter was ending in Khushi's life but another one was soon going to start.
On the last day of exams, Arnav was heading home when he was curiously intrigued by what Anjali and his Nani were doing in the living room. A heap of pictures had piled up on the table and he heard them chatting and giggling, throwing some pictures while keeping some aside. Slowly approaching them, he took a quick glance at the pictures and realised they were of guys.
"May I know what is happening here?" Arnav asked.
"Chotte, we are looking for a suitable boy" Anjali replied, still busy with sorting the pictures.
"But for whom? I mean there's no one here who is getting married" Arnav said.
"We are looking for a groom for Khushiji. Now that her exams are finished, her Amma is looking for someone and we are giving her some help. Fantastic, right?" Anjali told, hiding her sly smile and trying to gauge Arnav's reaction.
"For Khushi?" Arnav said to himself.
"Yes Chotte. How is this one?" Anjali asked, showing him one picture.
Without even replying, Arnav left to his room while Anjali high-fived Nani, happy that the beginning of their plan was meeting success. They knew how stubborn their Arnav was and that he would take an eternity to pour his heart out, and they had no other choice than this to speeden the process. And there Arnav was sitting on his bed, already thinking about the next step to take.
Chapter 17: No one between us 😉 will be up on Wednesday.
And wishing you all Merry Christmas in advance 🤗
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