Chapter 51- Frozen hearts..will they melt by Deepti

Chapter 51

She was thrilled to receive the mail which she had been waiting for and screamed with joy when she read the entire content of the email. Not able to hold back her excitement she stood up on her bed and started jumping on it saying, “YES! I DID IT! I DID IT!”. She couldn’t remember when was the last time she was this excited about something and was thinking about sharing the news to her father immediately, when she heard the knock on her door.

“It must be Babuji”, she said to herself and jumped off the bed to greet her father and to share the news to him. In her excitement she didn’t bother to look at the person who was standing at her door step and  threw her arms around him and gave him a bear hug as soon as she opened the door. Lost in her very own joyful mood, she shut her eyes and embraced the man, resting her head on his chest.

Arnav stood still for few seconds as his mind froze with her warm hug. And when the  warmth from her body seeped into his skin making it evident that it wasn’t a dream, he raised his arms to reciprocate the hug. “Kushi!!”, he uttered tenderly while his hands were still in the process of curling around her back.

And when the emotion in his tone got registered in her head, Kushi jerked and  opened her eyes.As a look of disbelief  drew upon her face realizing whom she was crushing in her arms, blood drained from her face. She loosened her grip on him which in turn halted his hands in the air. Bringing them back to their initial position, he stood still while she took her hands off him and stepped backwards, setting him free.

As she couldn’t meet him in the eye she stared at the floor with her flushed cheeks while Arnav waited patiently, giving  himself and her some time to recover from the affect of the moment that they just shared.

“How could I act so dumb? Without even looking at his face, I went and…”, Kushi got lost  in her thoughts while the color on her cheeks deepened with each passing second. He figured out that she was quite embarrassed and watched her keenly waiting for her to speak out. But when silence prevailed between them for more than the anticipated time, he decided to take the lead and said, ” What happened?”

“Sorry, I thought it was my father”, replied Kushi sheepishly, wanting to clear the misunderstanding if there was any.

“I heard your scream and came to check”, Arnav replied,without acknowledging her apology though he thought, “Is she apologizing for hugging me? Silly girl!!”.

As he reminded her about the scream, he saw a new wave of excitement fill her spirits and then with a spark in her eyes she said, ” You know what, I made it into Central Saint Martins for their postgraduate program”,  with happiness filled in her voice and eyes.

“Oh! That’s a great news. It’s the top fashion school in the world”, remarked Arnav feeling genuinely happy as he became aware of  her achievement.

As his words encouraged her, setting aside the equation which she shares with him, she went into the details saying, “Yes. It’s my dream to do my masters there. I applied for it a while ago and was waiting to hear back from them for the past two weeks. At last, I got it today. I didn’t knew that this mail would bring such happiness to me.I wasn’t very sure about getting the admission. With the  competition and the limited seats they offer, it’s really tough to get into that school”.

“Ya I know”, responded Arnav  nodding his head while his eyes didn’t leave her face which was filled with excitement.

“I need to tell this everyone”, she said suddenly, as if she was talking to herself and took a step towards the stairs.

“Now???”,  said Arnav which made her stop in her tracks.

“Yes. Now.”, she responded looking at him,  not understanding why he was so surprised about it.

He gestured her to look at the cuckoo clock and when she turned her head and looked at the time, ” Oops!! It’s 1.30 already!!”, she said , making a sad face.

“Yes,  it is”, he said trying to not laugh seeing the expression on her face.

“Everyone must be in a deep slumber”, she said as she took her fingers to her mouth.

“Yup! Except for us, who are discussing about their sleep”, said Arnav scratching his brow as he mumbled the latter part.

“Now what should I do? I really want to tell them”, said Kushi chewing on her finger nails as she kept looking here and there.

“Hmm.. you have two options. Either you can go and wake them right away and make them suffer from some headache or you can go back into your room and sleep tight and wait till morning to share the news to them”, replied Arnav as he slipped his hands into the pockets of his track pants.

“I will take the second one”,  said Kushi who didn’t want to cause any discomfort to others.

“Great!”, he said gesturing her to get back into her room.

And when she turned around to move from there, “There is one more thing which you should be doing”, he said which made her pause and look at him.

“Stop chewing on your nails like that. There wouldn’t be any left if you keep on doing that”, he said on a teasing note which made her pull the fingers out of her mouth and give a sheepish grin to him.

As her actions brought a smile on his face, he smiled and said, ” Good night!”, which made her heart skip a beat. “Good night!”, she responded and after sharing a eye contact when he went back to his room, she closed the door and leaned against it. She felt good, to be precise  too good.

She walked to her bed and fell flat on it wondering how and when  the equation between them has changed. She never remembered having a decent conversation with him which ended on a friendly note. And as per her knowledge this was the first and best. And when she recollected his smile, her lips stretched into a wide smile. She was surprised that she spoke to him all about her college admission as if she was sharing the news to her dear one and was more than surprised when she realized that he actually showed interest in the conversation.

She tried to analyse how their relation started taking a new turn, but couldn’t come to a conclusion as the hug she gave him invaded her head. Slapping on her forehead she felt extremely silly and shy at the very same moment thinking about the moment. Curling her legs and pulling the blanket over her body she slept on her side, thinking about the smile which disturbed her even in her sleep.

And on the other side, Arnav was going through a similar phase. He couldn’t forget the hug which had been disturbing him for the past few minutes and thought about the girl who became a threat to his peace of mind. As he recalled how excited and animatedly she shared the news of her achievement, he felt good. Unlike other times where his heart and head were against each other, they were in perfect sync this time when he thought about her. Her smile, her excitement, her happiness, her shyness, her nervousness, her nearness…he went on with the list trying to recollect all the emotions which she displayed since that morning. And one thing became crustal clear to him. He could think about her for endless hours and in fact he liked to do so. Running his hand on his chest and recollecting the tight hug which challenged his sanity, he dozed off to sleep sometime in the wee hours.

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The morning rays peeped through the blinds and disturbed her.Rubbing her eyes with the back of her hands, she peeped through them to have a look at the wall clock.

“8.45!!”, she squeaked and sat upright realizing that she was late for the breakfast.

“Everyone must be at the breakfast table now and babuji might leave soon” , she muttered as she got off the bed and dashed towards the rest room.  She got ready in ten minutes and went downstairs to meet her family at the dining table.

She greeted everyone at the table and noticed that Arnav was not among them. ” He must have left already”, she thought as she went and stood next her father and jumped straight to the topic which she had been waiting to share with the rest. ” I have a fabulous news to share”, she said with her face beaming with happiness.

As the curious faces looked at her waiting for her to continue, “I got admission in the world’s best business school for their master’s program, Babuji”, said Kushi breaking the news to everyone.

“Wow! That’s fantastic!”, reacted Anjali while ” And where is this world’s best school?”, asked Sakshi.

“In London, Maa”, replied Kushi placing her hands on the back rest of her father’s chair.

“Then forget about it. You won’t be joining there”, responded Sakshi hearing which Kushi went blank for few seconds.

“But, Maa”, she tried to explain once she was out of the initial shock but wasn’t given a chance by her mother who shut her up saying, ” You won’t be going anywhere to study further. That’s it.” “Now sit and have your breakfast”, she ordered without giving any time for Kushi to react.

Losing the battle which she hasn’t even started, “Babuji”, said Kushi, looking at her father hoping that he would support her. But all her hopes went into the drain when she heard her father say, ” I agree with your mother, Kushi. We don’t want you to go anywhere for your higher studies. If you are interested in doing masters, you can do it right here. We do have couple of good colleges here. What’s the need to go to London for that?”.

“Babuji, you too”, said Kushi as her face went pale.

” Try to understand, Kushi. You know that I can’t stay away from you. Don’t you. Then how did you think that I would send you abroad and live here with peace?”, asked Shashi in his attempt to persuade Kushi.

“But it’s only a matter of one year, Babuji. It’s a 45 weeks course. I will be back in no time”, said Kushi trying to explain.

“I don’t want any discussion in this regard, Kushi. Be it 45 weeks or 45 days. You are not going anywhere”, declared Sakshi trying to end the topic. And when Aakash and Aarthi too supported her parents and asked her to give up the idea of studying abroad, Kushi got thoroughly frustrated.

“Why don’t you all get it that it’s just a matter of a year. It’s not like I will be gone forever”, she said throwing her hands up in the air.

“I don’t  understand what’s wrong with you people. When I don’t want to study, you bug me to and when she want’s to, you are not  letting her to. Why can’t you just let her do what she wants to?”, reacted Rishi, speaking up for the first time in favor of his sister.

Kushi was surprised to hear him speak in her defense and was looking at him when she heard her mother say, ” You better not speak in this context, Rishi. How many times should I tell you not  to interfere when we elders are talking? And no one here is asking her to give up her studies. It’s just that we don’t want her to go to out of this city for it. So keep your mouth shut and think twice before you say something”.

Rishi who got annoyed hearing the lecture, dropped his spoon on the plate and got up from his seat saying, ” Fine!! I will just shut my mouth and mind my business.You people do whatever you want to do”. He pushed his chair and walked away from there giving a glance to his sister and feeling sorry for not being helpful.

As her only soldier departed from  there, leaving her all alone in the battlefield, Kushi was almost at the verge of crying when she heard one more voice raise in support of her.

“I don’t see what’s wrong in sending her to London. Why are you all so against it?”,asked Anjali who was done hearing all elders speak.

“Anjali!”, called out Aarthi trying to shush her daughter but Anjali  who didn’t give in for that  went ahead with what she wanted to ask.

” If Arnav could study abroad and when no one had any issue with it, then why not Kushi? Even you couldn’t stay away from him, Mamma. Yet, you let him be there. He was there for seven years and all Kushi is talking about is one year. So what’s the big deal?, she asked addressing her mother.

“That’s different and this is different”, replied Aarthi.

“Can you care to explain in which way?”, retorted Anjali who was not so pleased with her mother who was supporting Kushi’s parent’s.

“No one needs to give any explanation. I have already made my decision. Kushi is going nowhere”, announced Sakshi raising from her seat. Leaving her unfinished breakfast at the table, she left from there and went towards the kitchen.

“Maa”, Kushi called out to stop her mother but when Sakshi turned a deaf ear and Aarthi followed her silently,  Kushi turned her attention towards the  men who were getting ready to leave the table.

“Please drop the idea, Kushi. At least for my sake”, said Shashi patting  on Kushi’s shoulder and walked away from there without meeting his daughter’s eyes.

“Babuji, please”, said Kushi trying to plead him while her eyes started tearing up but since Shashi had already made up his mind he said, ” Sorry Kushi! Not this time”, and without turning around, he stepped out of the house with Aakash following him.

“Dhadhi! Why were you so silent?? Why didn’t you support Kushi??”,demanded Anjali who was disappointed with her grandmother, as they were the only ones left at the table.

“Because even I’m not so comfortable with the idea of Kushi living all alone in some foreign country”, replied Devyani.

“But,Dhadhi”, Anjali tried to explain but couldn’t as giving  some excuse Devayni dispersed from there.

“Something is seriously wrong with everyone”, mumbled an annoyed Anjali and when she met Kushi’s eyes, her heart melted seeing the girl who was at loss and  was all set to shed tears. With an intention to console her, Anjali raised from her seat, saying, “Kushi”, but since Kushi was thoroughly hurt, she ignored her and ran from there. Even in her worst dreams she never thought  that her family would stand against her. But when she faced the harsh reality, she was hurt. Thoroughly hurt. She wanted to be in the comfort of her  room where she can shed all her tears and cry her heart out and  was in a rush to reach her room when her vision became all blurry and she collided with what came in her way. She lost her balance and shut her eyes since her mind alerted about the fall. And when she did that the tears which she had been holding at the edge of her eyelids, found an escape route and slipped from the corner of her eyes.  Feeling the secure grip on her arm which prevented her from falling down, she opened her eyes and met the chocolate brown ones which were filled with concern.

Arnav had slept late and got up quite late compared to his regular timings. He took a leisure bath and  got ready recollecting the sweet dreams which didn’t let him have a peaceful sleep. Realizing that he was getting late for work, he picked his belongings and was rushing  down the stairs looking at his schedule on his phone when Kushi came and collided with him. Thanks to his reflexes that he was able to grab her arm just in time and prevented her from falling down. Once he felt that he was in control of both their weights, he looked at her face and was stunned to see the tears which were rolling on her face.

She opened her eyes and when they met his, they welled up again, worrying him to no extent.

“Kushi!!!”, he called out softly with concern filled in his voice, not able to see the pain which was being reflected in her eyes.

As she stared back at him with her teary eyes, he gazed into them and knew that she was deeply hurt.  She tried to move, and he released his grip on her slowly, giving her time to get back on her feet. But when he left her completely, she ran from there without giving him any chance to converse.

“Ku….”, he opened his mouth to call her but stopped when he heard his sister call him from the foot of the stairs. Hoping that she might be the right person to answer his questions, he came downstairs asking, ” What happened to her?”, looking at the concerned face of Anjali.

Anjali who was equally disturbed with the whole episode instantly gave him the much needed details and Arnav listened to her patiently until she was done talking. And when he learned that none among the elders supported Kushi, he was mad. Mad at the people who  neither tried to understand her nor gave her a chance to explain.

Spotting the siblings who were in a conversation at the foot of the stairs, Aarthi interrupted them saying, ” Arnav, how come you are so late today. Didn’t you get a proper sleep? Come, I will serve your breakfast”.

He looked at his mother and not bothering to answer her former questions, he said, ” Not today. I will have something at work”, in a serious tone  making it clear that he was not so happy with her.

He turned away and walked out of the house without bidding good bye to anyone, and this worried Aarthi.

“Now, what’s wrong with him?What did I do?”, mumbled Aarthi and looked at her daughter for some response. But when Anjali looked away and ascended up the stairs, Aarthi figured out what’s up with her children’s mood.

Back in his car, Arnav was thoroughly miffed. He couldn’t get the image of her teary face off his head and was mad at the people who were the cause of her suffering. ” Why couldn’t they see how excited she was to get this admission in that school. How could they miss the spark in her eyes which I’m sure she must have had when she made her little announcement”?”, he wondered recollecting how excited she was last night when she shared the news to him.

He reached his office but  wasn’t able to  focus on anything as her teary eyes kept flashing in his memory. In his whole life, there wasn’t a situation where he was this disturbed about something and  he felt suffocated as his restlessness kept growing. He attended a meeting in the afternoon along with Shashi and Aakash but preferred to ignore the two men who played a role in making Kushi suffer. He didn’t respond to their queries like he used to and when the meeting was done and he was back in his private room, he was surprised with his very own behavior. Why was he so mad at people who were so dear to him. He had never behaved like this with them. Then why now?

As he sat in his chair and tried to set right his jumbled thoughts, he understood one thing. She meant something to him. May be much more than something. He couldn’t figure out when and how these feelings for her have developed but realized that they were so intense that he wanted to go against his entire family to make her dreams come true. And all that mattered to him at that moment was her smile and he made up his mind to get it back on her face.

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-Deepti©

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