Chapter 57 Frozen hearts...will they melt by Deepti

CHAPTER 57

“Arnav, come join us”, said Rishi grabbing Arnav’s arm as soon as he approached him.

” Me and dance! No dude. It’s not my cup of tea. You guys carry on”, replied Arnav as he tried to release his arm from Rishi’s grip. And though Rishi tried his best to  persuade him, he finally had to return back to the stage empty handed.

Seeing the man who would not give in so easily, Kushi just shook her head and for a second, thought of approaching him. But when she heard Preeti say, “Looks like you want to dance with him. Why don’t you call him. We too would get a chance to shake our feet with Mr.Perfect”, she gave up that idea and continued dancing with her friends.

The dancing event continued for a while after which dinner was served. And as everyone started getting off the stage one after the other to move towards the area where the dinner was being served, Kushi noticed that Devyani was in a rush to get to the house. She ran behind the elder lady and said, “Dhadhi, If it’s for the medicine which you need to take before dinner, I will get it for you. Why don’t you sit here”, showing an empty seat to Devyani.

“How did you know that I was going for my medicine”, asked Devyani,  stopping in her tracks.

“That’s me”, replied Kushi giving a broad smile after which she dashed towards the house.

He lost her in the crowd after she got off the stage and had been looking for her for the past few minutes, though he was greeting everyone who came in his way.

“Where did she vanish?”, he mumbled as his eyes wandered in search of her and he climbed the porch stairs in order  to get a better view of the people in the lawn.

Stretching his neck as he kept looking for her in the crowd, he felt a gentle tap on his left shoulder. And when he turned towards his left, ” Missing someone, Arnav?”, he heard his sister whisper in his right ear.

“Ha!”,he reacted  as he was caught off guard and when Anjali insisted on knowing what or rather who he was looking for, ” Nothing Di”, came his reply.

But since she had only a day left in her account, Anjali didn’t let him escape that easily. She wanted to hear it from him what he actually felt for Kushi and hence she said, “Try and hide how much ever you want to.  But I do know that you are looking for Kushi. You are missing her. Aren’t you?”, with a wink and a naughty glint in her eyes.

It would take him only a nod to confirm his sister’s words. But since he had no such intention knowing the repercussions of his confirmation,  ” What??Kushi?? You got to be kidding, Di. Why would I look for her?”, he asked Anjali, with a straight face.

Kushi,who  just came out of the house with the medicine bottle in her hand stopped in her tracks hearing him take his name and stood right in her spot not understanding what’s the conversation between the siblings. And since neither of siblings noticed this, they continued their conversation not knowing that they had a silent spectator there. In fact a very important spectator.

“Don’t deny, Arnav. I have seen you. You were staring at her all the while. Don’t think that I was so involved in the event that I didn’t notice anything”, said Anjali as if she was challenging him to prove her wrong.

While Kushi blushed hearing this, it didn’t last for more than five seconds hearing Arnav’s reply.

“You totally misunderstood it, Di. I wasn’t staring at her. I was looking at the outfit which she was wearing”, he replied coming up with the best excuse he could think of at that moment. And when Anjali reacted saying, ” What!!!”, “Yes Di. Don’t you think that royal blue  would be great for the launch of our next project. I was actually thinking about getting all our designs done in that one particular color. Don’t you think it would be a huge hit!”, came his reply shocking Anjali to the core.

“Arnav! What am I talking and what are you talking? I was asking about Kushi and you are talking about royal blue color?”, asked Anjali throwing her hands in the air.

“That’s what I noticed in her, Di”, replied Arnav pretty coolly folding his arms, which made the two women there stare at him as if they were watching a wonder of the world.

Anjali got thoroughly confused  hearing him, and in her confusion she blurted out, ” But I thought  you like her”.

“God! Damn! This Di is not going to leave me today. How can I tell her that this is  something much more than just liking….I will someday…but definitely not today”, he thought looking away from his sister.

While Kushi was all ears to hear his answer, ” And what made you think so?”, he asked his sister carelessly, arching his eyebrows.

“You stopped fighting with her. You jumped in to help her during her fashion show. You convinced everyone to send her to London. Why would you do all these if you don’t have anything special for her. What do you want me to make out of all this, Arnav?”, asked Anjali trying to prove her point to him.

“Oh come on, Di! Are you expecting me to fight with her the way we used to when we were kids? Not that I mind… but don’t you think we are too old to get into those petty fights?”, he asked his sister.

“But”, Anjali tried to open her mouth but was cut off by him, who said, “And coming to the helping part… She is family Di… how can you expect me to leave my family in crisis. I had to help her during  the fashion show and had to speak for her  taking her side, just because that is what I would do to anyone who is in her spot. She needed help and I just did what I felt was right. Stop drawing conclusions for my actions, Di”, in a no nonsense tone.

Though Anjali was dumbstruck hearing his clarifications, she wasn’t ready to give in. She wanted to convince him that he had feelings for Kushi not knowing that he already realized them and as  a last straw she said, ” I saw you carrying her yesterday night, Arnav. Don’t think I didn’t notice the look in your eyes when you were carrying her”. Hearing this he left a deep sigh and looked at the crowd. And after running his hands in his hair he turned back to his sister and said, ” I don’t know what you noticed, Di. But all I did was… help her reach her room since she was having trouble in walking. That’s it!Nothing more than that”.

As her brother gave the conclusion, Anjali just stared back at him blankly as she had nothing else to say and seeing the expression on her face, he was glad that he was successful in his mission. But had he turned around and seen the expression on the face of the person who heard his confessions aka statements, he would have repented for uttering every word which he just uttered.

Kushi was completely shocked hearing him out and was trying to take in each and every word which he said when she heard Anjali ask, ” That’s means… there is nothing between you two?”, with disappointment filled in her voice.

Though he thought, “There is going to be lot between us two.. soon… very soon”, he  shook his head in negative which made Anjali leave a sigh in despair and someone else stare at him as if she wanted to turn him into ashes.

Their father’s call interrupted the duo and while Anjali plastered a smile and went to greet the person whom her father was introducing, Arnav just  left a deep sigh of relief. ” Was saved today but need to be more careful hereon. Can’t fall into others’ eyes when I have my eyes all set on her. That reminds me. Where is this girl now?”, he mumbled looking at the crowd in search of the royal blue color half saree. He descended the porch stairs and went towards the lawn in search of her, unaware of the blazing eyes whose gaze was piercing his  back.

She came back to the world with her mother’s call and looked at her mother who was passing by her to go into their house.

“What are you doing here, standing like a statue?”, asked Sakshi stopping in her tracks, sensing that something was not right. And when she had a closer look at Kushi’s face,         ” And why are your eyes so red?”, she asked all concerned holding Kushi’s chin in her hand.

“It’s nothing Maa. Something must have fallen in them”, she finally manged to say rubbing her eye and without giving chance for further conversation, she escaped from there with an excuse of giving Devyani her medicine, leaving a worried Sakshi behind.

“Something is wrong with this girl. She doesn’t look normal”,thought Sakshi as she went inside the house and on the other end  Kushi went directly to Devyani and handed her the medicine. She waited until the elder women took her medicine and then went to get dinner for her. She filled a plate with the delicacies and brought it back to Devyani, without meeting anyone’s eye and after making sure that Devyani was comfortable, she excused herself and moved away from the crowd, to a place where she could be left alone for some time without being noticed.

After reaching the other side of the house which was completely secluded, she turned around and after making sure that she wasn’t being noticed, she clenched her fists, gritted her teeth and let the emotions which she had been holding back for the past few minutes, out in the form of a shrill cry. She was hurt and she was mad. Utterly thoroughly mad. Mad at that one person who  made her feel otherwise when he himself had no feelings for her and hurt because he stabbed the feeling which just started taking root in her.

“He was helping me??? To hell with him and his help. When did I go to him and beg him to bestow his boons on me. Moron!!”, she uttered, completely forgetting the fact that she did seek his help in Abhay’s matter.

“If he did all that out of generosity, why does he have to look at me like that… making my heart go all mushy. And I…. like a fool… spent hours in front of the mirror to impress that moron”, she said looking at herself, accepting the fact that she did get ready for him.

“He was staring at me all the while and when Di asked what did he say…..Planning to launch designs in royal blue…..my foot….as if he is seeing this color for the first time in his life”, she imitated his words, while looking at her dress.

“Here when I started to think that there could be possibly  something between us… there he openly denied any such thing. Hopeless idiot!”, she said fuming with anger and cursed him for the next few minutes.

“He keeps doing this to me again and again and I….world’s biggest living fool… keep getting attracted to him again and again. To hell with him. I hate him…. hate him and hate him”, she said aloud to vent out her anger and after few minutes when she finally felt little better she took a deep breath and walked back to the place where the others were.

He spotted her the moment she was back in the lawn and he instantly felt that something was wrong with her, seeing the eyes which looked all different to him. For a second their eyes met and Arnav was shocked to the core seeing the way she looked at him and broke the eye contact even before he could read them.

In the next ten minutes their gaze did collide multiple times and all he saw was anger in those hazel brown orbs, which were earlier filled with shyness.

Not understanding what could be the reason for her anger while he was all confused, he was called by his father who wanted to introduce a friend and the friend’s daughter to him. As Arnav approached them and shook his hand with his father’s friend who seemed to be in his fifties, Kushi’s eyes fell on the beautiful girl who was standing next to the man. And when Arnav extended his hand towards the girl for a hand shake and the girl extended hers, Kushi saw red as those two hands met.

After a quick hand shake when Arnav tried to pull his hand back, he realized that the girl was not ready to let him go and when he turned and look at the men who were lost in their own conversation, he felt like he was  trapped. Feeling uncomfortable under that girl’s gaze and with his hand in her grip while Arnav was struggling, Kushi fumed with anger.

“He doesn’t have anything for me but look how he is holding that girl’s hand”, she thought not knowing Arnav’s actual situation.

“Looks like he is done helping me by lifting me in the air yesterday. Now he is extending his generosity to that girl by lifting her hand. I’m sure that if questioned now, he would say,  ‘I’m just helping her carry her hand weight. Poor soul was having trouble in carrying her hand'”,  mimicked Kushi eyeing the duo whose hands were still glued.

“He can’t carry his head weight and she can’t carry her hand’s. What a match!!”, she muttered, getting restless watching him with the girl and felt like smashing his head with something.

” Look how he got glued to that girl. I won’t leave him today. After all that he said about me  and all that he is doing now, he deserves something in return “, she said  looking for something to throw at him and on spotting a flower pot nearby, she went near the pot and bent to pick it up.

“Now why is this not moving?”, she muttered trying to lift  the pot which seemed to be quite heavy and didn’t notice the man who came and stood next to her.

“Need some help?”, she heard a male voice ask  and instantly replied, “I don’t need anyone’s help. To hell with you and your help. Go mind your business”, without even looking at the owner of that voice as that word ‘ HELP’ didn’t go well with her.

“Oookay! Just curious… what are you planning to do with that pot?”, the man asked again which annoyed Kushi further.

“Smash his head and if you don’t leave me alone will extend it to you too”, she blurted out  and then lifted her head to look at the man.

As her eyes grew big in her face, feeling embarrassed for loosing her cool, “Abhay! You!!”, she said raising to her full height and when Abhay smiled and said, “Ya, it’s me”, she gave a sheepish grin to him.

“Between, who is that unlucky fellow who is going to get his head smashed by you?”, he asked and though she opened her mouth to take Arnav’s name, she stopped herself just in time and said, ” No one. I was just kidding”.

“Then what were you doing with this pot”, Abhay inquired for which she said, “Nothing. Forget about the pot and tell me how have you been. It’s been a while since we last met. Isn’t it”, to divert the topic.

“Ya, quite a while. If I remember correctly…. just few minutes ago when we danced on the stage”, Abhay said teasingly which made Kushi realize how stupid her question was.

“Oops! Sorry….It’s just that….”, Kushi tried to cover up when Abhay interrupted her saying, “Hey it’s okay. I was just joking. Anyhow… where is your partner in crime.”

And when Kushi looked all confused and asked, ” Who?”, ” Who else, Arnav”, he said making Kushi’s temper take a hike again.

“Don’t even take his name”, she almost yelled at Abhay and seeing the  shocked expression on his face, realized what she was doing.

“I mean… don’t take his name so loudly.. no one knows about us right… You mentioning him as my partner might attract unnecessary attention. Hope you understand”, she whispered immediately in Abhay’s ear, trying to cover up the mistake she made.

“Right! I get it”, responded Abhay getting the point which Kushi was trying to convey.

“So where is he?”, he asked again without taking Arnav’s name for which she said, ” Where else! He is right there! Got stuck to that girl like glue”, muttering the last few words to herself. And when Abhay gave a confused look to her, she pointed her hand towards Arnav and showed him to Abhay.

On the other hand,  though  he was successful in pulling his hand from the girls grip, Arnav  was waiting for an excuse to escape  from the girl who seemed to be quite interested in him. And when he spotted Abhay and Kushi at a distance, he found an escape route.

As Abhay waved his hand looking at Arnav, Arnav waved back at him, and after showing Abhay to that girl and mentioning that he needs to catch up with his friend, he excused himself from her company and walked towards the duo who were watching him. While one of them had a welcoming smile on his face, the other one was watching him as if she was ready to spit fire at him. And seeing him fast approaching them, when Kushi just walked away from there, giving a lame excuse to Abhay, Arnav was more confused.

“Did you both have a fight? She was acting bit strange!”, said Abhay as soon as Arnav came to him, expressing the doubt he had in mind.

“I don’t know… but yeah… she is acting quite strange”, replied Arnav, looking in the direction in which Kushi went.

He soon switched topic from Kushi and the guys then spent the rest of their time chatting while they had their  dinner together. Though he was in a good company, he didn’t forget to keep an eye on her and from her actions it was clearly evident  that she was purposefully avoiding him. And though he had no clue about what’s the cause behind this drastic change, he didn’t like it at all.

After two hours when the event finally came to an end and all the guests left, the family assembled in the living room one after the other. He was the last one to join the group who were chit chatting about how the evening went and was surprised to not see Kushi there.

“Where is Kushi?”, asked Shashi right at that moment and Arnav couldn’t thank him enough in his mind, for asking the question which he can’t ask though he was keen to know the answer.

“She went to her room to sleep. She was all tired and sleepy”, replied Sakshi giving the reason behind Kushi’s absence.

Though he was desperate to know the reason behind her sudden change in attitude towards him, since there was nothing which he could do at the moment,  Arnav too went to his room. And that night passed with one of them cursing and the other one  wondering.

*********************************************************************************
The next morning, it being the wedding day, the house was full of hustle bustle from the moment the sun greeted New Delhi. And as soon as he came out of his room, he looked for the girl who seemed to be a puzzle to him. He spotted her with the ladies cracking some jokes and having a hearty laugh and was glad to find her back in her usual self. But the moment her eyes landed on him, proving him all wrong, she wore the expression which he had seen the previous evening and looked away as if she didn’t want to acknowledge his existence there.

And all surprised when he descended the stairs and walked towards the group, she got up and went to the kitchen in a jiffy. He looked around to make sure that he wasn’t being watched by his sister and then changing his tracks he too went to the kitchen.

She opened the refrigerator  to grab a water bottle and her hand was still on the door handle when she saw his hand coming for the handle.

As he pushed the door close holding the door handle, Kushi darted a glance at him which was highly capable of turning him into ashes.

“What?”, he asked

“What are you doing here?”, she asked as if he had no right to enter the kitchen.

“I came to have some water. Do you have a problem with it?”, he asked with his hand still on the handle.

“Then have it! What are you waiting for? And if the water in the bottles is not enough for you to quench your thirst then let me remind you….we have a big swimming pool right out there. Go help yourself”, she said sarcastically.

“What rubbish! What’s wrong with you? Why are you talking like this?”, he asked all confused not understanding what to make out of her out burst.

” Glad that you reminded me. Why am I even talking to you!”, she said aloud and walked away from there leaving a confused Arnav behind.

“Something is seriously wrong with her”, he mumbled looking at her disappearing back and grabbed a bottle from the fridge and had few sips from it to calm himself and to think straight.

He later came out and noticed that she was quite normal with the others and understood that her special treatment was exclusive for him.For the rest of the afternoon she either kept darting looks at him or ignoring him and this didn’t sit well with him. He wanted to figure out what’s the issue with her but  with the house full of people he couldn’t get a lonely moment with her. And even when he finally found one post lunch and tried to talk to her, she just looked away and walked away from him as if she loathed his very presence.

One thing became very clear to him and that was, she was mad. And exclusively just at him. “What did I ever do?“, he wondered getting restless seeing her behavior and decided to find an answer.

“Let’s see how long you can hold onto this. I know how to deal with you and I will make you talk very soon…before Di’s wedding starts”, he said making a promise to himself.

After taking care of all the arrangements he came back to his room to get ready for the wedding which was scheduled to take place that evening. He took a cold shower and came out of his restroom, with a white turkey towel wrapped around his waist and  opened his wardrobe to take out the  sherwani which Kushi designed for him.

“Now I will see how you will stop yourself from talking to me”, he said with a smirk on his face looking at the Sherwani and spent the next few minutes  to get ready for the event to impress that special someone.

********************************************************************************

In Anjali’s room, a beautician who was specially called home to do the bride’s hair and Kushi were totally busy in helping Anjali to get ready for the event. Once the hair and dress were done, Kushi was working on Anjali’s face when she heard her say, ” Kushi, if you get stuck with me like this, when will you get ready? Leave the rest to this lady and go  get ready”.

“Don’t worry,Di. We have enough time. Let me just finish your make up”, replied Kushi, who was applying eyeliner on Anjali’s eyes.

“How long will this take. My face isn’t a canvas that you are spending so much time painting on it”, complained Anjali who was not so fond of makeup and when Kushi shushed her and asked her to stay put, ” Why don’t you do all this to yourself and leave me. I’m happy with whatever you did till now. It’s enough, Kushi”, she said pleadingly.

“Di, if you keep complaining like this, I will leave right away and take this lady also along with me. And believe me, you will look terrible in all the wedding pics with this half done makeup on your face”, Kushi warned to make Anjali listen to her. And holding the tip of the eye pencil between her lips, while Kushi kept working on the second eye with a brush filled with gel liner and with the eye liner bottle in her other hand, Anjali sat still without making a sound.

After a minute when Kushi declared that the eyes were done, Anjali left a deep breath and said, “Good. Now you go and get ready. I can do the lips”.

“No way. I can’t leave my artwork unfinished. I will do it”, responded Kushi shuffling through the makeup kit for the pink lip liner she had in mind.

“Listen to me, Kushi. You won’t get enough time to get ready. It’s just lipstick … I can do it”,  said Anjali trying to persuade Kushi for which Kushi said, ” Di! Why are you so worried about me getting ready. I don’t need hours to get ready. Okay! Anyways..for whom should I spend hours in front of the mirror to get ready”, muttering the last sentence.

“You are not getting it. I don’t want to go to the mandap without you. I want you to accompany me and I’m just scared that what if you don’t make it on time. I’m feeling nervous, Kushi”, said Anjali expressing her major worry.

“Di Di! Just relax. I’ll  be the one who is going to take you to the mandap. Okay”, said Kushi holding Anjali’s hands, while her eyes made the silent promise.

And when Anjali felt bit relaxed and nodded her head, Kushi got back to her search.

“Now where is this one?”, she said not finding the lip liner in the kit.

“I should be having one in my room. I will go get it”, she said and without waiting for Anjali’s response walked out from there.  She exited the room but  stood rooted at the door step spotting the sight in front of her. There he was right in the hallway talking to her brother, and she couldn’t look away from him as he was  looking devilishly handsome, all ready for the event.More than that light stubble and the gelled hair it was something else that caught her attention and when she realized what is was and looked at the sherwani he was wearing, she was all surprised.

She opened her mouth to question him why he was wearing the sherwani which she designed for him but on second thoughts as she recollected that she was mad at him and was not on talking terms with him, she zipped her mouth and walked past the two men to get into her room.

He  had seen the expression on her face when she realized what he was wearing and expected her to flood him with questions. But on a contrary when she preferred to ignore him and walked past him, Arnav was bit disappointed since his plan didn’t work.

“I like your sherwani more than mine dude. The fit is perfect and you look super hot in it. I wish I could say the same about mine. Some how I feel it’s bit tight”, commented Rishi, checking his own sherwani.

The slight movement behind made Arnav aware of her  presence and realizing that Rishi provided him a wonderful opportunity to rile up the tigress, he smirked and said, ” You too. Even I feel the same about mine. I don’t feel comfortable in these clothes”.

She was on her way to go back to Anjali’s room with the lip liner she found but had to stop in her tracks hearing the men’s remarks about her work. She would have ignored and proceeded had he not added more fuel to her anger by saying, ” I wonder why people make such stuff! Very annoying”. But after hearing such a comment how can she remain silent.

“What’s so annoying to you?”, she demanded an answer coming close to the men, placing her hands on either side of her waist and looked at Arnav, waiting for him to respond.

“We weren’t talking to you”, remarked Arnav which made her gape at him but she recovered instantly and said,  “But I AM talking to you.If you have the audacity to pass comments on my work then you need to hold your ground and tell me what made you say so”, coming onto him.

And without giving him an opportunity to reply she continued, saying, ” If you think it’s so annoying then why don’t you just take it off? Who asked you to wear it in the first place? As far as I remember you didn’t think that it was good enough for you. Didn’t you! And said that you will get something else to wear for the wedding. Then what made you get into it?”

As he stayed mum feeling amused seeing his tigress back in action, she turned her attention towards her brother and said, ” And you! What did you say? It’s tight on you? Of course it is. Why wouldn’t it be if you sit at home and eat like a pig and gain more kilos. Who asked you not to maintain your body?”

“How can you say that Kushi? Look at my six pack”, responded Rishi who was offended hearing his sister’s remark, pressing the sherwani against his abs.

“Six pack! My foot! I would call it a family pack. Now if you are done here go and help papa and babuji. Shedding some grams might make you feel little comfortable in your TIGHT dress”, she replied throwing a suggestion at him.

Right at that moment since Sakshi called him from downstairs, Rishi found an escape route and thanked his mother for helping him escape his sister’s wrath.

Though she was not done with him since Rishi slipped from there, she shifted her focus back to the man who was standing still watching her.

“Now what are you staring at? I didn’t get an answer from you. Why are you wearing my sherwani when you didn’t like it?”, she asked facing Arnav.

“My wish”, came his instant reply while a naughty glint danced in his eyes.

“What my wish. You have no right to wear it. Go and change it. I don’t want to  see it on you”, she commanded as if he would obey.

“Excuse me! This is mine and I will do whatever I want to do with it. If you have a problem with me and my attire then close your eyes”, he suggested, looking straight at her.

Hearing his annoying response, Kushi rolled her eyes but calming herself she finally said, “Right! You and your dress!! GO TO HELL! I don’t care”, and walked away from there. She went inside Anjali’s room and closed the door with a bang showing her frustration on the door and this made him smile. Shaking his head he smiled and went downstairs to take care of something while Kushi went and sat in front of Anjali.

“Now what happened to you?”, questioned Anjali as soon as she noticed the girl who looked all irritated and when Kushi said, “Nothing Di! It’s just that this house is so full of stupid people”, Anjali just gaped at her.

“Does that include me and you?”, she asked hesitantly which made Kushi instantly smile, shaking her head. Getting back to her work, she applied the lip liner on Anjali lips and later filled it with color.  She was almost done with Anjali’s make up  when her friends barged into that  room and seeing them all decked up in beautiful ethnic wear Kushi was pleased.

“Why are you still in these clothes?The wedding will start  just in an hour, Kushi. When are you planning to get ready”, complained Pragya as soon as she spotted Kushi in her night pants.

“That’s what I have been telling her but this girl is so fond of turning a deaf ear to me. At least now will you go and get ready?”, asked Anjali giving a helpless look to Kushi.

“Just two more minutes, Di. Let me pin this pallu and then you will be all set”, replied Kushi opening a safety pin with her mouth.

She took Preeti’s help to pleat the pallu and during that process noticed that her chatterbox friend was unusually silent.

“Now what happened to her?” she asked the other two hoping that they didn’t have any fight on their way.  And when she came to know that Preeti wouldn’t be talking on that day, Kushi was all surprised.

“But why?”, she inquired further for which Pragya said, ” She prayed to her favorite God and took an oath to stay mum for today. All this is to get a charming husband in return”, making fun of Preeti. Hearing this while all the girls in that room giggled, “I wish she does this for the rest of her life.  We will be saved from her nonsense and her husband would be the luckiest person on the earth”, teased Kushi pinning the pallu to Anjali’s blouse.

Looking at the bride who was all ready from head to toe when Kushi breathed a sigh of relief, Anjali literally pushed her out of the room asking her to rush and get ready.

Her friends asked her if she needed any help but  saying that she might need some and would call them once she is done with her shower, Kushi went to her room.She took out the dress which she was planning to wear for the wedding and kept in ready on the bed. She then opened the jewelry box and stared at the diamond set which reminded her of the other set which she couldn’t get. And leaving a sigh she took it out of the box and placed it next to the dress. She later arranged the  green,golden and pink bangles in a pattern and after making sure that she had everything ready, she went  into the attached bathroom.

She spent a good ten minutes in pampering herself with a hot shower and a soft scrub, and once she was done, she came out of the bathroom, wrapped in a pink bathrobe. Checking the time she quickly started patting her hair and later blow dried it to speed up the process. She next combed the hair and braided it slightly towards the right  side of her head and decorated the braid with few butterfly shaped clips. Once done with the hair she applied moisturizer on her skin and dabbed some compact powder on her flawless face, looking into the mirror. Moving on to the eyes she defined them with a kohl pencil  and applied mascara to give that extra volume to her already thick long lashes and then gave a blink and checked if she got them right. Picking up the lip liner, she drew an outline around her luscious full lips and then filled them with a pink color lipstick. She then applied a nude lip gloss for that extra shine and gave one final glance to her face in the mirror. Content with her work, she unwrapped her bathrobe and after throwing it on the bed, she picked up the lehenga. She slid the lehenga on her body and tied it securely around her waist, two inches below her navel. And  then picked up her back open blouse and slid both her hands into the sleeves but faced the real problem when she tried to button it. Holding the blouse with both her hands at her back she moved close to the mirror and looking at her back in the mirror she tried to button it. She designed that blouse on her own and used a big flower shaped clasp to hold the blouse in place but now faced the challenge of clasping it.

After several failed attempts she removed the choli and tried to clasp it by holding it in front of her and she was successful in clasping it. But when she wore it back and tried to clasp it from behind,she failed again. “When it was so easy from front, why is it so tough to clasp from behind!”, she muttered as she continued trying to clasp it, looking in the mirror. As with each failed attempt she got more impatient, she finally gave up her trials and decided to take help from one of her friends.

She opened her bedroom door to take a peek and seeing Preeti  at the doorstep of Anjali’s room, she was all relieved and called her friend.

And when Preeti  stopped in her tracks and arched her eyebrows at Kushi, “I need help. Come here”, whispered Kushi.

Preeti took a step to come towards Kushi but since Anjali called her from behind inquiring about the package looking for which she went downstairs, Preeti nodded her head in response  and gesturing Kushi that she would come in five minutes, she went inside Anjali’s room to give the package to her and closed the door behind her. But since Kushi was too busy in looking here and there, making sure that no one was coming that way, she missed the gesture which Preeti made and thinking that Preeti was still on her way to come to her room,   “Come inside and make it fast…. before someone comes this way”, she said looking towards the stairs which were  to the left of her room,  unaware of the man who was on the right side.

Not sure why she was calling him, while Arnav bent and looked at her popped head, “Fast!”, she ordered and went inside her room leaving a confused Arnav behind.

“Now why is she calling me inside her room?“, he couldn’t help but wonder though he took a step towards her room. He stood at her doorstep hesitating for a moment and when Kushi heard the movement near the door, she said, ” How long should I wait. COME!!”, while she walked towards the bed to wear the bangles.

“She is waiting? For what“, he wondered as he placed his hand on the door to push it open and when he heard her say, ” And close the door quickly. I have no intention to give a free show to the passers by”, he stepped inside and shut the door without even looking inside the room, though he was more confused than ever.

“Lock it! With so many people in the house, you never know who might barge in” she said and he followed her order obediently without looking around.  Once he locked the door he turned around slowly and stood dumb folded  as his eyes fell on her. There she stood, standing five feet six inches tall, with her bare back facing him and he forgot to breathe as his eyes landed on her skin. In an unclasped blouse and the braid towards the right of her head as she offered a clear view of her back to him, all he did was stare at the treat which she was offering. His eyes traveled along the length of her spine and after giving a glance to the golden color lehenga which was covering the lower half of her body, they traveled back to where they started their journey. He kept staring at the spinal curvature but jerked when he heard her say, ” Stop watching and fix this one. I wasn’t able to clasp it”, pointing her hand towards her back.

As she continued wearing her bangles turning towards the other side, he moved towards her like a robot as he was not in a state to think straight. And with his each step as he kept getting a closer view of her naked back, he felt a sudden heat building up in his body which was only taking a hike with his each step forward.

“I was able to clasp it when I held the blouse in my hands. But wearing it.. uuuhuuu. It seemed to be an impossible task. I got so irritated. I will never ever use such a clasp again”, she complained while she continued sliding the bangles one after the other on her hand and by then he reached her and was standing right behind her.

Staring at the  softness which was at such a short distance, he completely got carried away and a strong urge  to feel that softness took rise in him. Wetting the lips which went all dry when he first spotted her, he slowly lifted his hand to touch her.

************************************************************************************

-Deepti © Myriad of my dreams - Never Stop Dreaming.

Please like comment ans share so that I can be motivated for typing another chapter.