Chapter 56 Frozen hearts...will they melt by Deepti

CHAPTER 56

After recovering from the shock which he just gave,  Kushi turned around to get back into the house only to get the next shock for the day in the form of a startled Devyani, who was standing right at the main door of the house, with a wide open mouth.

“Dhadhi”, Kushi managed to utter hoping that the elder woman didn’t witness what her grandson just did, though she highly doubted that possibility seeing Devyani dumbstruck. And as Kushi’s call brought her back from the jolt of shock which she just got, Devyani composed herself and closed her mouth.

“Are you done with your call, Kushi? I came to help you with your phone”, replied the wise lady, pretty casually, giving a reason for her presence there, pretending that she had no idea about what just happened there.

“Yes, Dhadhi”, replied Kushi uneasily, though she was still not sure if Devyani did see or didn’t.

“Then where is your phone?”, questioned Devyani putting Kushi in a fix and when Kushi looked in the  direction where Arnav and Rishi were standing, ” Oh! It’s with Rishi?”, she asked, providing Kushi an easy way out.

As that question cleared the doubt she had, Kushi concluded that Devyani’s entry into the scene was only after her grandson’s exit  and she nodded her head in response, saying,       ” Yes Dhadhi. It’s with Rishi”.

“Lair!”, thought Devyani as a naughty smile danced on her lips ,covering which she said,   ” Then let’s go inside. He will bring it in later”.

As Devyani took the lead, Kushi followed her silently, recollecting what just happened in the porch. And as the feel of his touch still lasted on her waist, she turned all crimson by the time she went inside the house and joined her friends.

While her friends questioned her if it was her wedding or her sister’s, seeing the blush on Kushi’s face, she shushed them and tried to act normal though a strange tickling sensation was making her smile every now and then. And while the girls were busy in dancing and pulling each other’s legs, Devyani managed to get a lonely moment with Anjali and filled her with the details of what she witnessed in the porch.

“Seriously, Dhadhi!! Arnav??”, questioned Anjali as her eyes grew big in her face. And when Devayni smiled and responded with a nod, ” I just can’t believe he did that??”, she said with a wide grin on her face.

And as Devyani joined her, the duo had a hearty laugh at the end of which Anjali said, “I’m  so glad that at last there is some progress. Seeing these two, who weren’t even crossing each other’s paths for the past few days, I was so worried that nothing was happening as we thought it would”.

“You can forget about all those worries now. I think soon we can plan for one more wedding in this house”, Devyani smiled and said, hearing which Anjali too smiled, looking in the direction of Kushi.

Back in the lawn, he was giving some instructions to the decorators, pointing his hand towards a table , when his eyes fell on the green stain on his index finger. He brought his hand closer to his face and looked at the mehndi which was still slightly damp. His lips curved into a smile as he recollected  how he got that mark on his finger and didn’t feel like wiping it off . He then shifted his attention to  the phone in his left hand and tapped on the home button. And as Kushi’s phone came to life with that action, he stared at the wallpaper which was a picture of a smiling Kushi with her teddy in her arms.

He lifted his head , looked around and after making sure that  he wasn’t being watched, he forwarded that picture to his phone, thanking the girl for not setting the auto lock enabled on her phone.

And after making sure that he received that picture on his phone, he slipped both the phone’s into his pockets and got back to work.

In an hour the mehdhi function slowly came to an end and the guests started leaving one after the other. She bid farewell to her friends and turned around when she found the mehndi designer waiting for her.

“Mam, shall we do it now?”, she asked Kushi, showing the mehndhi cone to her.

“Don’t you think it’s too late. I’m really tired and you too must leave with your staff. So let it be”, replied Kushi, looking at the other girls who were packing their stuff.

“It will take only 15-20 minutes, Mam. I will do it quickly. Moreover, I came on my own vehicle. So I don’t have to leave with them”, said the girl  which made Kushi rethink.

“Ya.. get it done. The mehndi on your hands is totally dry now. So you won’t have any difficulty in scratching yourself”, teased Sakshi who was about to leave from there.

And when Kushi glared at her, she giggled and left with the other ladies of the house, who were on their way to their respective rooms to retire after a tiring day.

“Please mam, I will do it in 15 minutes”, requested the girl who was hoping to get few extra bucks and Kushi couldn’t deny it.

“Okay! Then let’s do it”, she said taking a seat and the girl joined her and opened a fresh cone of mehndi.  And  when Kushi lifted her lehenga few inches above her ankle and kept her legs on a small stool, the girl right away jumped into her role and started applying the mehndi on Kushi’s legs. While working on Kushi’s legs she mentioned the final amount she needs to get, settling which Aarthi too left to her room, leaving the two girls in the living room.

The girl spent the next 20 minutes applying mehndi and by the time she was done with both the legs, Kushi was half dozing.

“Mam.. it’s done”, said the girl, alerting Kushi which made Kushi  jerk and move in her seat. “Cool. Thanks!”, she responded checking her legs which were filled with a beautiful design.

She waited until the girl packed her bag and exited the house and then tried to get up to go to her room. But looking at her feet which were filled with mehndi, she realized that it wasn’t an easy task. She rose from her seat, lifting the lehenga by holding it with both her hands, taking utmost care to not get her mehndi ruined and finally stood on her feet.  She took few baby steps towards the stairs and found it very difficult to walk, as the design was almost touching the floor level.One wrong move and her mehndi would be smeared on the floor, ruining the white marble and her beautiful design.

“Tsk tsk… I shouldn’t have got this mehndi done on my legs. Or at least, I should have asked that girl to not apply it like this. Now when will I reach my room if I need to walk at this pace”, she said to herself as she slowly dragged her feet, one after the other, moving forward.

With her head bent she kept moving forward, watching her each step very carefully but had to come  to a sudden halt when she noticed another set of feet, near hers. As she raised her head, she was surprised to find Arnav there and as he arched his eyebrows, she simply shook her head, and dropped her eyelids to avoid his gaze. Though she wanted to run away and hide somewhere at the moment, since the situation was not in her favor, she bent her head to continue her turtle walk again. But before she could move her feet forward, she was swept off the floor.

He entered the house when she was trying to get up from the couch and had been watching her all the while, amused, seeing her actions and her self talk. Seeing the difficulty she was facing , he approached her to help and picked her up in one swift moment and before she realized he had her cradled in his arms.

As her eyes grew wide in her face, she stared at the man who started walking, carrying her in his arms and when his eyes met with hers, she felt all relaxed and just stared at him, not worrying about the situation or the surroundings. He climbed the stairs with ease without breaking the eye contact and that magical moment lasted only for two minutes as he reached her room by then.

After making sure that her feet were away from the mattress he placed her on the bed and raised from the leaning position as he was no more sure of his actions, after having her so close to his body for the past few minutes. He stepped backwards to exit her room, staring at her while she too had her gaze glued on him.

“Good night!”, he said before closing the door and stool still for a moment at her doorstep as he felt something strange happening to him. He felt like he was leaving a part of him behind and left a deep sigh before turning around. And when he did turn around he was shocked to see his sister there. One look at her face and he knew that she had seen him carrying Kushi.

And when Anjali arched her eyebrows, “I was just trying to help”, he said throwing his right hand in the air. And when he got no reaction from her, ” She had this green stuff on her legs and was having trouble in walking”, he added.

“I didn’t ask you, Arnav. Between, that green stuff is called mehndi”, said Anjali for which he rolled his eyes and saying,” Whatever!”, tried to slip to his room to escape from his sister.

“Won’t you say GOODNIGHT to me?”, she asked innocently, suppressing her urge to giggle aloud, making Arnav stop in his track.

Hearing this he shut his eyes and turning around he opened them and said, ” Were you stalking me, Di?”, looking at Anjali.

“I was right here all the while. It isn’t my fault if you haven’t noticed me”, Anjali replied with a shrug, for which he shook his head and saying, “Good night, Di”, he went into his room and shut the door.

And in Kushi’s room, she still couldn’t believe   whatever happened, happened for real. But the places where his touch was still alive, and her very own heart which was beating in a very new rhythm proved that she wasn’t dreaming. When he carried her, while his one hand was under her knees, the other one was around her back with the finger tips rested on her exposed waist. And now when she ran her finger tips in that region, she giggled as she got tickled. Her eyes moved to the region where he wiped the mehndi off, and as a smile lit up her face, she blushed profusely, recollecting his actions.

As shyness overtook her, she closed her face with both her arms and as the fragrance of the  mehndi filled her nose, she inhaled deeply and looked at her hands.

“This mehndi is so special to me”, she said looking at the hands which were completely dried and placed a kiss on them.

She recollected  how he carried her to her room and the very thought of it felt so nice. Though she was carried by him earlier, since she was asleep then, she had no clue how it felt to be in his arms. But now, as she wasn’t, she experienced every bit of it.  It felt so right to be in his arms and she couldn’t disagree with that fact at all. She couldn’t stop smiling, recollecting all the moments which she shared with him that day, and struggled to sleep with his thoughts disturbing her for the rest of the night.

Back in Arnav’s room, he was in the bathroom, splashing water on his face, when he noticed the orange stain on his index finger. The water did wash off the green stain which he had been preserving as her reminder, but it did reveal the deep orange mark there which would last at least for few more days. A smile lit on his face seeing that mark and he kept staring at it till he rested on his bed. As he recollected the moment when he touched her waist, the softness he felt then came back to his memory and it made him crave to feel her skin again. He tossed and turned in the bed feeling restless and took out his phone to look at the cause of his restlessness.

“You are doing this to me and smiling about it”, he said looking at her picture and after staring at it for a while, he covered his face with a pillow and groaned, “Damn!!I’m completely loosing it”, with the phone still in his left hand.

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The next evening, Kushi and her friends were in Anjali’s room, helping her to get ready for the Sangeet, when Pragya brought  up the topic of Anjali’s prince charming.

“You are so lucky,Di. You finally found your prince charming and you are going to start a new phase of your life with him tomorrow. Aren’t you excited about it?”.

“Ya all excited and a bit scared too”, replied Anjali and when her eyes fell on Kushi who was arranging the bangles in a pattern, a naughty thought crossed her head.

“You are right that I finally found my prince charming. But what about yours? How do you want him to be? Any specific qualities you have in mind?”, asked Anjali addressing Pragya.

“Mine!! My prince charming should be tall, dark and handsome…. Just like the  mills and boons types. But in addition… he should be very understanding, kind, sweet, friendly, considerate…hmmm”, paused Pragya while Preeti jumped into the conversation saying,  “Hello Madam! Hold on! I don’t think there is anyone on this earth who would fit into the profile you have in mind.”

“Why not. There will be plenty out there. All we have to do is look”, replied Pragya.

“Seriously!!! So did you look and find any. Your complete perfect package?”,  taunted Preeti.

“Not yet. But I will. Someday…. just like Di found hers”, retorted Pragya, sticking her tongue out at Preeti.

And when Preeti rolled her eyes at her and the other girls giggled, ” Tell me, Di. Don’t you think Karan jiju has all these qualities?”, asked Pragya, to prove her point.

“Hmmm…may be”, said Anjali.

“May be?? Are you not sure?”, asked Pragya, taking a seat next to Anjali.

“To some extent… I am. But you can never know a person completely until you actually live with him. So I guess there is a lot more in store for me.  All I know is… Karan is a person with whom I can take my chances”, replied Anjali looking at her hands which had Karan’s name in bright red color.

“But you talk to him all the time on phone. So why do you think  that there is a lot more to know about him?”, inquired Preeti.

” Talking to someone on phone is not enough to completely know  that person. It’s only when you start living with that person under the same roof, you will get to know the real him/her. Between, who told you that I talk to him all the time?”, asked Anjali.

And when Preeti looked at Kushi, Kushi gave a sheepish grin to Anjali.

“Obviously!! It should be you. Let your turn come and I’ll see how much time you will spend on phone”, said Anjali for which Kushi just smiled and got back to her business.

“Between ,Pragya… why don’t you add one more attribute to your list of the perfect prince charming?”, asked Anjali coming back to the actual topic which she intended to cover.

“What’s that, Di?”, asked a curious Pragya for which Anjali said, ” He should take care of you in such a manner that he shouldn’t even let you set your foot on the floor”, observing Kushi from the corner of her eye.

“You mean to say, he should be able to carry me in his arms, all the while?”, asked Pragya, dreamily.

While Kushi got carried away, hearing those words, “How romantic”, said Nisha.

“Hello madam! Come out of your dreams. Forget about all the while, I can bet that even if someone tries to carry you for ten minutes, for sure he would break his spine and rest in bed for the rest of his life. So you don’t even think about it”, said Preeti, addressing Pragya, which made Pragya mad.

“I’m not that fat. Okay. Don’t talk as if you are super lean. The same thing will happen with  anyone who tries to carry you”, retorted Pragya.

“Oh my God! Will you both girls cut it out! He should not let you set your foot down doesn’t mean  that he should be able to carry you all the while. Okay”, said Anjali intervening between the duo.

“Oh!!Then did you mean to say that he should be able to carry us at least some times?”, asked Nisha.

Though Anjali felt like banging her head seeing how the conversation was going on, Nisha’s words caught her attention.

“Ya something like that”, she said, stealing glances at Kushi.

“I don’t think your guy can ever do that. Poor thing will break his spine”, teased Preeti looking at Nisha.

“Same to you. Between, I thought you two were fighting. Why are you dragging me in between?”, responded Nisha.

“Because you too  are very much like us, unlike that lean figure sitting there”, replied Preeti, pointing her hand at Kushi.

“Ya, true. Be it all the time or when required, Kushi’s guy will have no trouble in carrying her”, reacted Pragya and when all the girls looked at Kushi, “Right! And if that guy is strong enough, he can  carry her up and down the stairs too. Without shedding even a drop of sweat and without breaking the eye contact with her.  Isn’t it, Kushi”, said Anjali which made Kushi jerk and look at Anjali.

And when she saw the naughty glint in Anjali’s eyes, “Oh No! Di has seen us“, thought Kushi. And when Anjali tried to put her in a fix saying, “What do you say, Kushi?”, ” How will I know, Di”, she replied ,sheepishly.

“Ya right… how will you know… you were asleep then… right?”, teased Anjali which thoroughly confused Anjali.

“Asleep??When was I sleeping??? Is Di talking about the first time he carried me?”, wondered Kushi, getting lost in a thought.

“Are we missing something here, Di?”, asked Preeti looking suspiciously at Kushi and Anjali and when her friend’s curious inquiry reached her brain, Kushi reacted fast and diverted the topic, saying, ” Are you girls here to help Di or to pester her with questions.”

“You both go downstairs and check if everything is ready”, she said addressing Nisha and Pragya and then ordered Preeti to go and help her mom. She literally pushed the trio out of the room, scared that their stay there might push her into trouble. She knew that if they ever come to know about Arnav and her, they will not leave her without embarrassing her in front of him and that is something which she didn’t want to happen.

After successfully sending everyone out, Kushi closed the door and turned around only to face an amused Anjali.

“Got scared that I would let out your little secret?”, asked Anjali for which Kushi just stared at her in response.

“Don’t worry. I will never tell them what I got to witness yesterday night”, Anjali said as she winked her eye.

“You saw?”, asked Kushi all surprised, as she passed the bangles to Anjali.

“Everything….. from start to finish”, replied Anjali putting on the bangles. Hearing this when Kushi became all red and lowered her gaze, ” You didn’t tell me how was it”, said Anjali, which made Kushi shot up her head.

“What?”, she asked  not understanding what Anjali was referring to.

“The feel of being in his arms”, replied Anjali watching Kushi pretty closely. And when the color on her face deepened with that question, ” I need to get ready Di. Will be back soon”, she  Kushi, in order to escape from Anjali. She opened the door to exit and on meeting Devyani at the doorstep, she hid her face by looking at the floor and fled to her room without turning back.

“Now, what happened to her?”, asked a surprised Devyani entering Anjali’s room and seeing Anjali giggling she too smiled though she didn’t know the reason behind Anjali happiness.

And when Anjali disclosed the matter which she had been waiting to share with her partner in crime, Devyani laughed heartily. ” Your brother doesn’t seem to stop surprising me. Glad that these two are making a very good progress”, she said feeling extremely happy and then the  duo conversed further about their favorite couple while Kushi was busy getting ready in her room.

Soon the groom’s family and other guests started arriving at the venue and were gathering in the lawn where a platform for the event was set up on one side, exactly opposite to the spot where the mandap was set. Though he was greeting the guests and exchanging pleasantries with them, Arnav’s eyes were in a constant search for that one person who made him have a sleepless night. He didn’t get to see her since morning and even now when the event was almost set to begin, there was no trace of her and this tested his patience to a great extent.

As he waited patiently for few more minutes, he finally  spotted her coming out of the house and stood still for a moment taking in the sight ahead of him. Dressed in a royal blue half saree as she started descending down the stairs, many heads turned in her direction and looked appreciatively at her. And he couldn’t take his eyes off her as she was looking ravishing in that royal blue attire, which was in total contrast to her skin complexion.

She was a natural beauty and he was completely aware of it. But today, there was something about her which made her look like never before. And as she started walking in his direction, he started getting a better view of her face and spent the next few seconds in studying the details. She was wearing a diamond set but it’s not the sparkle of those danglers which was making her shine radiantly. And he somehow felt that, that kind of radiance can only be seen  when someone is truly happy and are in the best of their joyful mood.

As she stopped to greet the guests, he noticed her lips which were coated with a shimmering gloss and when she started talking to them, he just stared at those soft petals and fell in love with them as they kept moving.

Along with her lips as if her eyes were also doing the  talking, he could see everything being expressed in her eyes, and when he looked at those eyes which were well defined in a black kohl, he felt that they were in search of someone or something.

Though she was talking to several people her eyes were in a constant search and when they finally landed on him and relaxed, he figured out what that search was for and felt content. And after few seconds of eye lock as she smiled and looked away feeling shy, something inside him churned.

She never knew spending  so much time in front of the mirror but today was an exception as she took some extra care in getting ready. And though she would never openly accept the fact, deep down she knew that it was…. for him.

“Will he like it???”, she asked looking at herself in the mirror once she was done with her make up and smacked her head saying, ” Come on Kushi! From when did you start worrying about impressing him”.

She tried to  shush her excited heart but from the moment she stepped out of her room, all she wanted to do was,  present herself in front of him. The heads which turned in her direction when she descended the porch stairs gave her some confidence, but it was only when she finally spotted him and noticed the appreciation in his gaze, she felt relieved.

He was looking ravishing in a navy blue sherwani which had a shade of purple in it and those chocolate brown orbs which were set on her, didn’t her eyes wander anywhere else. But after few seconds of  eye lock when she realized how hot he was looking and what a turn her thoughts were taking as she stared at that hotness,  she couldn’t continue the stare as shyness took over her.

Smiling at her very own thoughts as she turned around, she was surrounded by her friends who filled her in about the details of the tracks for which the groom’s side would be performing and this reminded Kushi about her very own performance. Pushing aside the thoughts which were tickling her senses, she shifted her attention to her songs and got back to the festive mood.

Soon the sangeet started with Karan’s cousins performance and after they danced for a bunch of songs, Kushi and her friends took over the stage. They danced for a medley and three full songs and when they were finally done after twenty minutes and got off the stage Kushi was surprised to find the same look on Arnav’s face, the one which she noticed when she first saw him in the lawn.

From that moment, she kept stealing a glance  at him every now and then while she  interacted with others and found that  though he was among people or in conversation with anyone, he still had his eyes on her. And though she smiled inwardly and felt extremely happy for getting all his attention, she herself was attracted towards the man who was making her feel all conscious. ” What is it that is more attracting in him? His brown eyes? His piercing gaze? A day old stubble on than firm jaw line?  Or the man itself who is a complete package?”, she wondered but couldn’t come up with an answer.

As the cool breeze made her hair dance to its tunes, few strands in the front fell on her face, blocking her view. And as she started tucking them gently behind her ear, he kept watching her with his full focus on her, when he heard someone whisper in his ear, ” Isn’t she beautiful”.

“Very beautiful”, he responded instantly and the next moment realized what slipped his mouth. And as he jerked and turned around to look at the person with whom he shared his opinion, “Dhadhi!!!”, he said all surprised.

“I was referring to the moon. What were you referring to?”, she asked suppressing her smile, seeing her grandson’s state. And when he said, “I was referring to the same”, “Is it??”, she asked suspiciously which made Arnav scratch his brow and escape from there giving the excuse of greeting some guest.

While Devyani kept smiling looking at her grandsons disappearing back, an announcement of the groom and bride’s dance performance was made and though Anjali kept blushing profusely all along the performance, she successfully moved her foot with Karan and danced for a duet. After the couple’s dance they had an open dance floor and hence  an excited Kushi and her friends started pulling everyone onto the stage. She was getting everyone from her family onto the stage one after the other when she finally noticed the one who was standing little away from the stage. She said something in her brother’s ear and when Rishi looked at him,  Arnav figured out what she must have said.

“Oh no! This is not happening”, he murmured  seeing Rishi fast approaching him.

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-Deepti © Myriad of my dreams- Never stop dreaming.