Delhi University had transformed into a festive haven, with fairy lights adorning every nook and corner of the building, fresh flowers in the shades of red and yellow to emphasise the traditional Indian warm colours and the aromatic fragrance of a wide range of sweets dispersing through the atmosphere. The hall had been metamorphosed into the perfect desi gathering place for the occasion of Diwali.
Dressed in a white V collar sherwani with simple, yet elegant fabric works, Arnav stood in a corner, gently leaning against a pillar, his eyes fixed on the entrance to the hall. Amidst the effervescence of the Diwali celebrations taking place, he had chosen to remain on his own, only waiting for 'her' to come. Never had he thought that the person he would want to incarnate 'her' would change from the one he thought he loved to the one whom he thought he hated.
"Happy Diwali ASR" Lavanya cheerfully exclaimed as she approached Arnav, who was still concentrating in staring at the entrance way.
Noticing that Arnav seemed to be indifferent, Lavanya tried her luck again.
"ASR, are you still angry?" Lavanya asked, and after Arnav nodded negatively, she added "Then why are you not saying how am I looking?"
Without even glancing at what she was wearing or how she was looking, Arnav just told her that she was looking good, which Lavanya found hard to digest. The one who had tried every possible way to win her back was now slipping from her hands and she felt a weird sense of defeat when she heard Arnav so casually talk with her. He was behaving so ignorantly with her that she could not tolerate this fact, and was about to continue the conversation when he noticed Arnav excusing himself and moving away towards NK.
Since the past few days, Arnav's sole preoccupation was Khushi: how, when and why had no answer. He only knew that whenever Khushi smiled, he smiled, and whenever Khushi was sad, he was sad. He did not attempt any efforts or even try to bring Lavanya, and the fact is that he did not even care. But the one thing he cared at the moment was the reason why Khushi was still not here. With a view to digging some information about this, he turned to his ally, NK who told him that Khushi was busy for Diwali and that she would be coming soon. Arnav realised that with the number of orders Shuklaji had given to her on his behalf would be a tiring process which nonetheless had brought upon her all the happiness of the world.
Arnav's eyes suddenly conveyed a sparkling gleam and the world seemed to have stopped the moment his gaze paused on the beautiful silhouette that had just crossed the threshold of the hall entrance. Time was no longer ticking, people had stopped moving, and everything had been brought to a standstill like mere props: only two persons stood apart, Arnav and Khushi.
Without blinking his eyes, Arnav stared at Khushi who was dressed in a three-quarter sleeve blouse and a red saree adorned with fine golden patchworks which gave the entire cloth an aesthetic appeal that knew no bounds and Khushi's flawless figure elevated it to perfection. Scrutinising Khushi from top to bottom, not a single detail could escape from Arnav's sharp eyes about how different she looked from her usual clothing style. Her silky black hair, complimenting her natural skin glow, topped with the minimum jewellery and accessories gave her a refined and natural beauty that made her the most beautiful girl in the party, or scratch that, the most beautiful girl ever.
The minute Khushi noticed Arnav, she moved towards him, her expressions showing surprise at the sight of spotting him in a sherwani. She quickly remembered how Anjali had narrated to her memories of Arnav always acting stubborn to wear traditional clothes, but today he had done an exception. Did he hear her words on the eve or was it just pure coincidence?
***Beginning of Flashback ***
"Arnav, you will come to the university's Diwali party tomorrow right?" Khushi asked.
"Yes, I will" Arnav answered, as he contemplated once more her smile as she left.
"He will come, but in his usual formal chic dressing style! I wonder why can't he ever wear something Indian and traditional!" Khushi murmured, oblivious to the fact that her words had not gone unnoticed by Arnav.
***End of flashback***
"Happy Diwali" Khushi wished Arnav, who reciprocated the greetings, before moving towards NK, leaving Arnav behind.
Arnav kept his eyes on Khushi throughout the duration of the party and this was slyly caught by NK who could not help himself at smiling about how things were evolving. What started as war had slowly turned into friendship and now signs of something new and more profound could be detected, NK thought and he was ready to make sure that things worked properly once he confirmed his doubts from both sides.
Despite it being still early, Arnav was not much of a party gathering person and was about to leave when something or the other always stopped him. A smile naturally paved its way at the sight of Khushi munching jalebies one after the other as if it was the only food among the numerous sweets that were worth it. Upon realising that Arnav was giving her strange looks, Khushi offered him some, thinking that he must be mentally noting that Khushi is a big foodie. Just at that moment, a voice cropped up from nowhere.
"Chamkili, ASR cannot eat these. He has diabetes!" Lavanya revealed, causing Khushi to mechanically stop eating.
"Sorry, I didn't know!" Khushi said, almost teary at the idea that Arnav had sugar problem, and that she could have unknowingly caused him harm.
"Khushi, relax! It's okay! And you did nothing wrong, okay?" Arnav attempted to cheer Khushi up, whose smile had returned, and she instantaneously thought of compensating for this by preparing sugar-free sweets for Arnav on the following day.
Lavanya stood dumbfounded at how calmly Arnav was speaking to Khushi: one she absolutely hated Khushi, and second never had he shown such a sweet and patient behaviour before. It was always this side of his character that she felt was missing with Arnav who had always let anger and selfishness overpower any other feeling. She could clearly see a sudden change, but little did she know that Arnav had always possessed these traits but she was just not the one meant for him.
Wanting to leave Arnav and Lavanya some time alone for them to clear out any more differences if any, Khushi excused herself and undertook the responsibility of lighting up all the diyas that were aligned one after the other on the side of the hall. She slowly positioned herself in a seating position and took a matchstick to light them up. However, due to the extremely windy weather that dispersed through the hall because of the windows which had been left open, every time Khushi managed to light the matchstick, as soon as she approached the flame to the diya, it got extinguished.
After several efforts, she finally achieved success but not without the help of the pair of hands that had wrapped around her hand and the diya. She lifted her head and found Arnav gently bending towards her, trying his level best to provide her with any help she needed by shielding every diya from the wind. A sudden feeling of reassurance and peace overwhelmed her and this was reflected in her smile. Soon after Arnav had instructed the people in charge to close all the windows, he took hold of another match box and they both finished the row of lamps. Once again, their teamwork had yielded fruitful results.
"Thank you Arnav" Khushi let out, not knowing when a certain sense of awkwardness had imbibed within her. She had never felt this way with Arnav, but something was clearly different when she had felt Arnav's hand around hers. Trying to distance herself from what was causing herself to feel such new emotions, she moved away while glancing at Arnav from time to time, who also stole glances.
Just when time had willed, both had looked at each other at the same time, with Khushi looking embarrassed while Arnav seemed to convey a message through his eyes. He pointed towards Khushi and touched the tip of his ear with his fingers, causing her to hold her ear and realise that her earring was no longer there. She frantically looked around in search of her lost belonging, her eyes sketched on the floor as she moved along. But to no avail!
Khushi made up her mind to look for it outside and reached the parking area, which was luckily greatly lit up, enabling her to easily look for the earring. The sound of foot steps behind her suddenly made her shudder but soon she heaved a sigh of relief when she realised that it was none other than Arnav.
"Arnav, you scared the life out of me!" Khushi exclaimed "Am looking for my earring…I can't seem to find it and I can't go inside with only one earring"
Slowly approaching towards Khushi, Arnav further bridged the gap and stretched his arm towards her, bringing his hand to her hair and brushing it with his fingers in such a way that her locks completely covered the ear which had no earring. Khushi showed surprise on her face and spontaneously touched her covered ear, and smiled at what Arnav had just done. She was about to go when she saw Arnav further moving towards her, while she moved backwards, taking in shallow breaths, until her back faced the wall.
Was it the illuminative, magical setting? Or the proximity with Arnav? Khushi sensed the presence of millions of butterflies churning in her stomach, and her heartbeats were accelerating each second she drowned her gaze into Arnav's, who was only at a one foot distance. Arnav mentally captured the beauty of the moment and stared at her innocent face as she was slowly closing her eyes, with the lips slightly parted. Cupping her face into his hands, Arnav bent towards her face, following his instincts and his heart when suddenly a phone call shattered the build-up.
Khushi frantically opened her eyes, and searched for her phone that was lying in her bag, and as soon as she read the dialler's name, she pressed the answer button, while Arnav looked on, slightly distancing himself from her.
"I will be right here! I know I promised you that I would come on time, and you know that I never break my promises, right? I love you too Rahul" Khushi answered on the phone.
The last few words that he had just heard seemed to have shaken his entire world. Never had he thought that Khushi could have a boyfriend, or maybe he did not even have the right to know so much about her personal life. When he had a girlfriend, why couldn't Khushi be committed to someone? He tried to convince himself that all of what just happened was just a silly mistake and that he needed to bring himself right on track. Arnav did not even know why it mattered so much to him that he had heard Khushi say "I love you" to someone.
"Arnav, what just happened or was about to happen…I mean…" Khushi stammered.
"It was my mistake" Arnav said before impulsively adding "I thought it was Lavanya until your phone rang and bought me back to reality".
Khushi's silence spoke louder than words and she cursed herself for having even for some seconds thought that Arnav could feel something for a girl other than Lavanya. Both looked at each other one last time, their eyes reflecting a hidden pain that they tried to suppress deep down.
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