Chapter 58 Frozen hearts...will they melt by Deepti

CHAPTER 58

“What the hell are you doing?”, said Kushi,which broke his trance and made him jerk. Pulling his hand away while he looked at her cursing himself for loosing control, “Stop staring at me and fix it fast. I need to be with Di before the groom arrives”, she said, sliding the bangles on her right hand.

Wondering how she knew what he was doing while he stood still,”FAST!!”, came the order.

Hesitatingly he lifted both his hands and after few more seconds of delay he finally caught the ends of the blouse with his hands. As he tried to get the ends closer, his fingers brushed against her skin and this made his mouth go dry while she too felt something strange. As she continued sliding bangles on her hand, he tried to make the ends of the blouse meet and in that process he tugged her towards himself. And though his action didn’t make her collide with him, she jerked and said, ” Careful! Are you planning to tear it or what!”

“I wish I could“, he thought staring at her milky white skin while his hormones started creating a havoc inside him.

“Will you be able to fix it or do we need to call someone else?”, she asked him bringing him out of his thoughts. And since he had no such intention of losing the wonderful opportunity which she bestowed upon him, he brushed off the newly budding thoughts aside and got back to work. With utter concentration when he finally managed to clasp the flower shaped clasp his finger tips touched her skin sending different sensations to both the skins in contact. While Arnav had to fight  his inner turmoil and control himself from letting his fingers graze on her skin, Kushi felt tickled and she giggled.

“Stop doing that. Don’t you know how ticklish I am”, she said between her giggles. “Now quickly knot those strings too”, she added, while she finished wearing the bangles and leaned forward to pick up the half sari from the bed.

While she stood straight and started pleating the sari, ” God!! This isn’t going to be easy”, thought Arnav taking the strings in his hands as his eyes fell on the nape of her neck. He felt like leaving a mark of his lips there and as that urge started growing strong, he sucked in his lips to control himself from doing so and looked away thinking, “ Don’t look there. Don’t look there”.Pulling his eyeballs away from there he looked at the strings he was holding and tied them into a knot and finally managed to finish his job with great difficulty.

“Good! Now help me pin this up”, she said turning around, extending the pleated end of the sari towards him and stood still getting a thousand volts shock.

As her eyes grew wide in her face as if they were ready to pop out of the sockets, her hand did let go the fabric  it was holding,  making it  crumple on the floor and she stood still like a statue for few seconds while he was all together in a different world.

The moment she turned around his mind froze seeing the sight she was offering. Had he thought that he was going to have a sleepless night seeing her in a backless blouse, he was totally captivated seeing the front view which was capable of giving him many more sleepless nights. The visual treat she gave him till then was in no comparison to the one she was offering now facing him in that gold and sequins heavy work short sleeves shimmer blouse that was tightly hugging her bosom, defining the perfect curves for him. He couldn’t let his eyes trail off from there for couple of seconds. But when he did and they traveled downwards, her oval shaped navel got all his attention.As he scanned that region, he noticed how beautiful were those two curves on either side of the navel giving a perfect shape to her waist and for a moment he was tempted to measure the circumference of her waist with his hands. As his eyes traveled further below, the pink and golden paneled lehenga least interested him as it was completing covering the other half of her body and he quickly shifted his gaze back onto her midriff and after letting it linger there for two seconds he finally  let it rest on her bosom, which captivated him to no extent. Astonished, while he stood still with his wide open eyes, gawking her, the girl who came out of the initial shock, followed his gaze and looked at herself.

And the moment she realized what view she was offering, she popped up her head and crossing her hands against her chest she screamed, “Aaaaaaaaaa!”

As that scream reached his ears, he felt like he was being kicked from his paradise to face the reality, and coming out of his trance he said, “What the”, looking at the girl who was screaming at the top of her voice, while her eyes were tightly shut.

Not understanding how to react and worried that her shrill scream may attract attention, he took a step forward and closed her mouth placing his right palm on it while his left arm encircled her waist.

And when she shot open her eyes and looked at him in utter disbelief, “Stop screaming”, he said pressing his palm further to shut her up. Looking at his face which was pretty close to hers and feeling the palm which was crushing her soft lips, she got scared and whimpered while she wriggled to set herself free from his grip. But since her hands were tied up in acting as her shield and as he was too strong for her, she couldn’t move an inch away from him.

“I said stop! If you continue screaming, you will draw unnecessary attention and people will start knocking on your door. Do you want them to see us like this?”, he whispered which made her realize the compromising state they were in. As she moved her eyes and got lost in a thought wondering what he was doing in her room in the first place, he slowly loosened his grip on her since she  was no longer fighting him back.

He was about to remove his hand too but since she was in a rush to free herself, she rescued herself by digging in her teeth in his palm and pushed him away placing both her hands on his chest.

“Ouch!!!”, he reacted as she bit him and he went and collided his back to the corner of her dressing table as he was completely off guard.

“Have you gone mad!!!”, he yelled rubbing his back with his left hand, while his eyes were scanning the right palm which was stained with lip stick and had teeth marks.

“Are you a dog! Crazy girl!”, he remarked shaking his hand off to ease himself from the pain.

“If I’m, then what are you? Thief? Dacoit?”, she questioned placing her hands on either side of her waist totally forgetting that she was not completely dressed.

“What!!”, he responded while his eyes were still on his hand and neither of them noticed the sari which was lying on the floor since one was in pain and the other one was lost in her very own  moment of triumph.

“What WHAT!! First tell me how you entered  my room?”, she questioned him and in his pain when he looked past her shaking his hand off, she followed his gaze and said,” Haaw! From the balcony? I must have guessed”, looking at her balcony.

“What rubbish! How will I enter from the balcony?”, he asked rubbing his right palm with the left hand fingers, without taking his attention off his hand.

“Just like you did the last time”, she replied and when he shook his head in disagreement, ” Then from where did you land in here? Were you hiding in my room even before I entered it?”, she asked dreading the worst and thought, “Don’t tell me you did”, while she started biting her nails in tension as she imagined him sneaking under her bed and watching her from head to toe as she got dressed. As she shut her eyes with the very thought of it, ” Shut up Kushi! Why will I hide in your room?”, he asked irritated, while his attention was still on his right hand.

“Then what are you doing in my room??Why did you come here”, she almost yelled at him as she was quite confused for which he said, ” I came here because you wanted me to”, looking at the teeth marks on his hand.

“What!!! I wanted you to?”, she asked perplexed.

“If not who? Weren’t you the one who popped your head out of your room and ordered me to come inside?”, he asked adding a bit a sarcasm and when she said, ” But that was for Preeti!!”, he shot up his head and looked at her.

While both understood what led him to land in her room, Kushi banged her head with her right fist and that’s when he noticed that she was still not properly dressed.

“Can’t you do at least one thing right! You wanted to call someone and you ended up calling someone else. And this is all because of that dumb Preeti. Does she have to decide to shut her mouth on this particular day??”,  Kushi muttered while her hand was still on her head and seeing her like that he forgot all about his pain and just watched her while his lips curled into a smile seeing her innocence. More than her bare midriff or her bosom, he found her innocence and cute expressions more attractive and as if he was in a trance, he walked towards her with his gaze fixed on her face.

As she was lost in her very own self analysis she didn’t pay attention to anything else but when he picked up the sari and stood straight right in front of her, she jerked seeing him so close.

“Now if you are done with your exposing..first cover yourself properly. You can later find fault with yourself”, he said huskily which made her realize the state she was in. Looking at herself she crossed her arms against her chest and turned to the other side in a jiffy.

She was thoroughly embarrassed for arguing with him for the past few minutes without realizing how she was dressed and turned all red as she realized that now.

“I don’t think your hands are enough to do the work. You might need this”, he whispered  from behind while he extended his hand having the sari towards her and without wasting a second, she grabbed it from him and covered herself with it.  She peeked sideways and when she noticed that he had turned to the other side facing his back towards hers, a smile danced on her lips and she quickly started working on wearing the sari. She pleated the sari in a rush and after pinning it to the blouse with the safety pin that she found on the bed, she wrapped the other half of the sari around her waist and tucked it in the lehenga, keeping an eye on him every now and then.

As the jingle of her bangles came to an end,” Are you done?”, he asked for which she said,  ” Hmm”.

He turned around and looked at her from head to toe and under his scrutinizing gaze she stool still feeling a heat gushing to her cheeks. He would have continued staring at her had it not been the knock on the door which pulled them both to the present world.

Both stared at the door and looked back at each other, and while Kushi became all worried  Arnav  started thinking for an escape route.

“What if it’s Maa or Mamma?”, she said as she started jumping in her tension for which he said, ” First you go and see who it is.”

“And what will you do?Stand here like a statue and greet them?”, she asked him and then said, ” Go and hide somewhere”.

“What the”, came his reaction and as the knocking on the door continued,  ” Go and hide in the bath room and continue your what the what the there”, she ordered him while she herself moved towards the door.

Rolling his eyes at her, while he went into the bathroom and closed the door, Kushi checked on him and finally opened the door. Stopping the girl who was barging into her room, right at the door step, ” Wait wait! What are you doing?”, asked Kushi addressing Preeti. And  surprised with Kushi’s reaction when Preeti gestured that she was the one who called her, ” Couldn’t you come earlier”, asked Kushi.

“What happened?”, gestured Preeti all confused for which ” You are asking me what happened? You should ask me what not happened! Of all the days did you have to decide to stay dumb on this particular day?”, said Kushi, recollecting how he fixed her blouse and she started banging her forehead softly to the door while her cheeks turned all red with the very though of him working on her blouse.

Not following anything while Preeti  shook her up and gestured her to provide more clarity on the topic, ” First you go from here. I will come in a while”, replied Kushi who started loosing patience seeing Preeti’s gestures.

And when Preeti demanded an answer for being called in the first place,  “The purpose for which you were called has already been fulfilled. So you just forget about it and leave from here”, responded Kushi, literally pushing Preeti away. Wondering why her friend was acting so strange while Preeti left from there, Kushi shut the door and locking it she leaned onto it, breathing a sigh of relief.

“Now what is this guy doing inside”, she muttered walking towards the bathroom, where Arnav had been hiding for the past two minutes. The moment he entered her bathroom, the fresh jasmine smell from her after bath provided the evidence that she had been there earlier  and as he inhaled the fragrance  he got lost in his very own thoughts thinking about the soft skin which brushed against his finger tips when he clasped her blouse. Smiling, while he was looking at his image in the mirror, he heard a knock on the door and opened it immediately.

“You can come out”, she ordered and then came back to the bedroom while he followed her silently.

She opened the bedroom door to take a peek and was stunned seeing the sight in front of her room. The entire hallway which has the bedrooms on either side was filled with ladies who were eager to take a look at the bride. And sensing  the danger of falling into someone’s eyes,  Kushi closed the door with a thud and placing her hands on the chest of the man who was  eager to exit the room she pushed him backwards saying, ” You can’t go out”.

“What! Why?”, he asked looking at her hands and she took them off instantly saying,
“There are people outside”.

“Dammit!!”, he reacted and checked the time on his watch. ” The groom’s party will be arriving soon and I need to be at the gate  before that to receive them”, he muttered looking for an escape route for which Kushi screamed, ” Idea!!!”, clapping her hands in her excitement.

“God!!!”, he reacted rolling his eyes as only God can save him from her idea and when she made a face seeing his reaction, ” Okay! Go ahead”, he said, folding his hands.

“You can go from the balcony. Just jump over the railing like you have done earlier,  enter your room and exit from there. That’s it. Simple! What do you say?”, she asked quite impressed with her very own thoughtfulness.

“It’s not bad but there is a tiny problem here. Unlike you I don’t have the habit of leaving my balcony door unlocked”, he said enlightening her.

“Oh no! Then how will you enter your room now ?”,  asked Kushi placing her hand on her head for which he just shrugged his shoulders.

“The hallway is filled with a clan of ladies…. your balcony door is locked. There is no other way to exit my room. What do we do now?”, she said thinking about all the possibilities.

“Stop panicking and let me think”, replied Arnav and right then they heard a knock on the door.

“Not again!!”, reacted the duo looking at each other and then at the closed door.

“Kushi! Open the door”, came Madhu’s voice from the other side of the door which made Kushi panic.

“Oh no! It’s Buaji!”, she muttered biting her nails. And as Arnav looked here and there,      “How long will you take to get ready? Are you sleeping or what?”, came Madhu’s next question along with the banging sound on the door and this  made Kushi all nervous.

Picking up Arnav’s gesture, “Coming Buaji. Just a minute”, shouted back Kushi while she started jumping up and down in that tension filled moment.

And as Arnav took a step towards to his previous hiding spot, Kushi grabbed his arm and stopping him in his tracks she said, “You can’t hide there.What if she wants to use my bathroom?”

He gave it a thought and agreeing with her thinking he said, “You have a point! Then what do we do now?”.

“There is only one option”, she said thinking while Madhu kept banging on the door calling out Kushi’s name.

“Which is?”, he paused and waited while Kushi responded to Madhu,  screaming back ,      ” Oh my God! Buaji!!! Can’t you wait for a minute? I’m getting dressed.”

And as Arnav arched his eyebrows hearing her reason, “You just go and wait in your balcony. I will somehow get into your room when no one is around and will unlock your balcony door for you. Okay?”, she said ignoring the expression on his face.

“How long will you get dressed??? Make it fast! If not I will break the door and come inside”, threatened Madhu who needed to use the restroom and hearing this Kushi panicked. “She is quite capable of doing that. Now make it fast”, she said, literally pushing Arnav towards the balcony.

“But….”, he tried to say something but before the next word could escape his mouth, she pushed him into the balcony and closed the sliding french door. And before he could realize what just happened, she drew the curtains and left him all alone in her balcony.

“Unbelievable”, he uttered looking at those cream drapes and  took a deep breath to think calmly about the situation he was in. He then jumped over the railing and waited in his balcony for her to provide an entry into his room.

And when Kushi went and opened the door for Madhu, asking what was the urgency, Madhu went straight to the bathroom without even replying to Kushi.

“Glad that he didn’t hide there!”,  thought Kushi though she said, “Was it that urgent”, teasing Madhu. And when Madhu glared at her and closed the door Kushi giggled and waited for her to lock the bathroom door. And once she was sure that Madhu wouldn’t be out of the bathroom at least for a minute or two she went and checked her balcony by lifting the drape slightly. Finding it empty she let out a sigh of relief and turned around only to find Madhu there.

“What are you doing there?”, asked Madhu.

“Nothing. How come you came out so early. Looking at the way you banged on my door I thought you wouldn’t be out any time soon”, teased Kushi for which she got a slap on her shoulder from Madhu and also tons of appreciations for the way she was looking.

While the duo started pulling each others legs Pragya came to call Kushi as Anjali was waiting for her and  everyone quickly went to Anjali’s room. The moment she entered Anjali’s room she was flooded with compliments and even between all those compliments she didn’t forget about the poor soul who was waiting for  her in the balcony.

She was just waiting for the right moment to escape the crowd and go to his room when someone announced the arrival of the groom and this caused a commotion in the room. While some of the girls rushed to have a peek at the groom, it occurred to Kushi that Arnav needs to receive the groom. Slapping her head while she muttered, “Oh God! This place is so packed with people. Now how will I get him out”, “Come Kushi, let’s have a look at the groom “, said Pragya grabbing Kushi’s arm. Freeing herself from her friend’s grip she asked her to carry on and saying that she would join  shortly she sat next to Anjali and waited for the place to get little cleared.

Once Pragya and Preeti went downstairs, she made sure that no ones attention was on her and then raised from her seat.”I will be right back, Di”, she whispered in Anjali’s ear without drawing anyone else’s  attention.

“Come soon”, pleaded Anjali who looked quite nervous at the moment. Understanding the reason behind that nervousness, Kushi placed her hand on Anjali’s and  gave assurance with her eyes that everything would be fine. And when Anjali nodded her head, Kushi smiled and tried to walk out of the room. She was about to turn towards Arnav’s room but then met Nisha in the hallway who was hell bent on taking her downstairs to join the rest who were waiting to greet the groom. It took couple of minutes to convince her pestering friend to leave her alone and by the time she was done and tried to take a step in the direction of Arnav’s room, she heard Anjali calling her from behind.

As she turned around and looked at Anjali’s gloomy face she felt that her sister needed her attention more than anything else and walked back to attend her. But the moment she went and sat next to her, her hands got trapped in the nervous wreck Anjali’s and she couldn’t move from there to rescue the man who was waiting for her in the balcony.

H waited impatiently for ten long minutes but  the moment he heard the sounds of the drums which were becoming louder with each passing moment, Arnav’s restlessness knew no bound.

“What the!! Where the hell is she??”, he muttered raking his hair with his hand and then  tried to move the locked door. And realizing that with it locked from inside and there is nothing he can do except for break the door, he gave up that attempt and looked down from the balcony. And since jumping from that 40 feet height didn’t seem to be a very wise decision, he finally opted for the only escape route he had and jumped over the railing, hoping that she didn’t lock her balcony door. And when he slid the door and it moved, he sighed and entered her bedroom.Closing the french door behind him, he walked towards the bedroom door and opened it.But when he stepped outside and raised his head, he stood still finding his surprised grandmother there.

“What are you doing in Kushi’s room?”, she asked coming out of the initial shock for which he mumbled, ” Dhadhi..I”, falling short of words.

“Where is Kushi?”, came the next question and before he could respond, ” I’m here Dhadhi”, came the reply from behind. After giving some moral support to Anjali she just stepped out of Anjali’s room, when she saw him exiting her room. And just like Devyani though she too was surprised, masking her actual feelings with an innocent expression,     ” What happened?”, she asked as Arnav and Devyani turned their heads and looked at her.

“You were in Anjali’s room and Arnav was in your room… what’s going on here? Will someone care to explain”, asked Devyani looking at the duo one after the other.

“What! You were in my room? What were you doing there?”, asked Kushi shocking him to the core as if she had no idea what he was doing there.

While he just stared at Kushi and mumbled, ” What the!”, “She is asking you Arnav. Now answer her”, said Devyani who was all confused and curious to know what’s happening there.

He stood still for few seconds and then coming up with the best excuse he could give, he said, ” Dhadhi! I was in a rush and since both our rooms are right next to each other, I entered hers instead of mine. Only after going inside I realized that I was in the wrong room. That’s it! What’s the big deal!!”, throwing his hands in the air.

“Really!! I thought I was the one who had issues with my memory. Looks like you too have some with yours”, responded Devyani hearing which Kushi giggled.

He threw a glare at the giggling girl  and announcing that he needs to receive the groom he went down the stairs leaving the ladies in the hallway. And before Devyani could prolong the conversation, ” Di is calling me”, said Kushi escaping from there.

Looking at the duo who were in a rush to escape her, the elder women sensed something was definitely fishy but as the sound of the drums became louder, putting a break to her thoughts she too went downstairs to welcome the groom’s family.

Karan’s family was received with great honor and after the initial rituals were done he was made to sit in the mandap. And though he started performing the rituals which the pandit was making him do, he was anxious to see his bride and waited eagerly for her entry. And after testing his patience for few more minutes he finally got a glimpse of Anjali who started descending the porch stairs accompanied by Kushi and few other girls.

Holding by her shoulders while Kushi was guiding her towards the mandap, “This is so scary Kushi”, murmured Anjali, holding the edge of her veil tightly.

“It’s all in your head, Di. You are marrying no stranger. So stop worrying. Everything is going to be fine”, whispered Kushi, flashing smiles to the known faces, on their way to the mandap.

“But still…I’m so nervous…I feel like running away from here”, whispered Anjali.

“Okay! Then let’s do it”, responded Kushi.

“What!! Are you serious?”, asked Anjali looking at Kushi through the veil.

“Of course I am?”, replied Kushi.

“But what about Karan??”, asked a confused Anjali stealing glances at Karan, who was waiting eagerly in the mandap for her.

“That shouldn’t be any of your concern. You want to run away so let’s just run away”, said Kushi encouragingly and when Anjali became blank for two seconds, ” Make a quick decision Di.We are almost approaching the mandap and once you set your foot there, there is no looking back”, she warned her.

“I don’t want to miss Karan. He is a great guy”, Anjali finally uttered which made Kushi grin.

“Then forget about running away and just follow your heart and join him to start a beautiful journey”, said Kushi giving a gentle squeeze on Anjali’s shoulder.

“Are you sure it’s going to be beautiful?”, Anjali raised her doubt as she set a foot on the mandap.

“That’s all in both of your hands, Di. But I do have a strong feeling that you both will weave a wonderful future”, replied Kushi as she helped Anjali take a seat next to Karan.

And as those words and her would be’s smile erased all her worst fears, Anjali left a deep breath and smiled back at Karan. While his presence next to her boosted her spirits, “Nervous?”, she heard him whisper.

And when she nodded her head in response, ” Me too. Don’t worry! It’s our first time, right. So happens”, he said making her smile. And with this friendly gestures when he finally succeeded in making her push all her inhibitions aside, Anjali finally got involved in the rituals, enjoying every moment of her wedding.

Seeing her Di happy Kushi was very relived and she finally shifted her gaze from Anjali. As she lifted her head she found those chocolate brown eyes staring right at her and as the intensity with which he was staring her make her flush, she broke the eye contact and started looking elsewhere.

He had been noticing her from the moment she appeared on the porch stairs and his eyes never left the gorgeous girl who was an epitome of beauty. Though he wondered what’s the conversation between the girls he didn’t bother about it much as it was her occasional smile that caught his attention and didn’t let him think about anything else.

But he did notice the relief on her face when she saw the bride and groom conversing and met her eye when she finally looked at him. Though she broke the eye contact she did look back at him and finding his stare still on her, she felt very conscious. She started looking here and there to avoid his gaze and that’s when her eyes shined as her gaze fell on Karan’s footwear. And when his gaze followed hers, he knew what she was up to.

She got down from the mandap and after making sure that none of Karan’s relatives were watching her she gestured her friends to come close to her. And when they followed her order and joined her, she whispered something in Pragya’s ear which in turn was passed on to the other two girls. As the three girls moved close to the footwear and stood right next to each other Kushi disappeared behind them and he figured what she must be doing behind her friends back. After two minutes the girls moved from there and joined the others and when Arnav looked at the spot where he had last seen Karan’s footwear, gone were those and the girl who had eyed them.

He checked on his family who were involved in watching the wedding and slipped from there to find her. He went straight into the house  and was climbing the stairs when he saw her coming out of her room. With a big smile on her face, she closed her bedroom door but froze when she  spotted him on the stairs. As the smile vanished away from her face, she became tensed wondering what he was doing there and with the house all empty she preferred to not get in his way for her very own safety. Avoiding his gaze as she started descending the stairs, he just stared at her but when she walked past him and behaved as if he didn’t even exist there, he kept his hand on the railing blocking her way. She tried to turn the other way round but unfortunately as his other hand came in her way she got totally trapped between him and the railing. As she looked at his arms which were on either side of her  and sensed the nearness between their bodies, she felt her heart pounding.

“Not again! Why does his nearness affect me this badly“, she thought as she tried to calm down her racing heart  and lifted her head to finally meet his gaze. And as he stared  into her eyes she too drowned in them for a moment but not able to match his intensity as she looked away and became all crimson it became hard for him to resist himself from leaving his mark on her red cheeks. He had been fighting a battle with himself after the blouse incident and now finding her so close he wanted to put an end to it. As a strong urge to feel her skin made him bring his face close to hers he got ready to  convey the message with his lips on her cheeks, but before he could succeed in his attempt,  ” What are you doing?”, she asked him pulling him out of his trance as she placed his hands on his chest and stopped him from proceeding further.

Clearing his throat he quickly composed himself and in order to not look like a fool,  “That’s  my question. What are YOU doing here??”, he asked in return.

Feeling his heartbeat under her hands as she stood still without responding, he followed her gaze and smirked finding it land on his chest.

“Are you done?”, he asked with the smirk still on his face hearing which she jerked and took her hands off him saying, ” What done! Which done”, panicking as if she was caught red handed committing the crime of feeling his heartbeat.

“Why are you panicking like that??? I was just asking what you were doing here and if the purpose for which you are here done or not”, he said with a loop sided smile which made her fluster.

“And how is that your business?”, she finally managed to ask and also added, ” And for your kind information no one is panicking here”, on a latter note as she preferred to counter attack him rather than surrendering.

“Oh really?? Then what’s the cause of this redness on your cheeks”, he asked as he gently tapped on her cheek with his index finger and his bold move amazed her to no extent. Though her eyes grew wide in her face, placing her palm on her cheek where he just touched her, “It’s a manufacturing defect. Now let me go. I don’t want to miss the wedding”, she said looking at the floor as she just wanted to get away from him at the moment.

“Answer my question and I’ll let you go”, said Arnav, who was amused hearing the way she uttered ‘manufacturing defect’.

“Spit it!”, she said for which he arched his eyebrows and said, “My words…directed back to me??? Not bad”, looking at her impressively.

And when she didn’t respond for his remark, ” What happened to you yesterday during the sangeet”, he asked out of the blue which made her raise her head and look at him. Though he finally asked the question to find the answer of which he had followed her into the house, he got no answer from the girl who was surprised to hear that question.

“You were fine until you got down from the dance floor. But after that something did happen which ruined your mood. And I want to know what it is”, he asked demanding an explanation.

Of all the questions she never  expected him to ask this particular one as she didn’t categorize him under the  species who would be worried of others’ mood swings. And after hearing the clarification which he gave to his sister regarding her, she never thought that he would be concerned about her bad mood to that extent that he would want to figure out the reason behind it.

“In what way is that your concern?”, she managed to ask as she wanted to know the reason behind his sudden inquiry.

“I think you are the one who is supposed to answer my question”, he replied ignoring her question and this triggered her anger.

“You want an answer right. Here it is… MY MOOD MY WISH… enough”, she replied recklessly, and looked away from him though she feared his reaction.

“Will you ever grow up! I asked you a simple question. Can’t you give a proper answer to it”, he asked getting irritated with her stubborn nature.

“I did give you one. But looks like you don’t want to accept it as an answer”, she replied recklessly which made him roll his eyes as he tried to not lose his cool.

Leaving a deep breath, ” Kushi, I’m asking you one last time. You better give me the actual reason. If not”, he asked and paused to make sure that his threat was reaching her head.

“If not what? Do you think I’m scared of you and your threats?Do whatever you can. I don’t care”, she retorted though deep down she knew that she was digging her own grave by provoking the lion.

“Don’t challenge me! You will regret it”, he warned her but she was in no mood to take a back step.

“Really!! Then even I want to see how I’m  going to regret it”, she replied very coolly.

“And don’t say that I never warned you”, he whispered in her ear as he slowly took one of his hands off the railing, setting her free.

“I wouldn’t…never”, she replied him back and without wasting a second she descended the stairs in a rush. When she reached the end of the stairs she turned back and gave one last look to him and on finding him smirking at her, throwing her braid behind her back, she jerked her head to the side and ran off from there.

” You left no other option to me. When you have finally challenged….how could I not accept it and not win it”, he said to himself and then looked at the door of her room.

Back in the lawn, Devyani was the first one to notice Kushi’s absence and when she looked around she figured out that Arnav too was missing there. Wondering where the duo could possibly be while she was looking around for them, ” Did you see Kushi anywhere?”, she heard Sakshi ask her.And as she didn’t want Sakshi to go looking for her daughter, ” I sent her inside to get a medicine for me”, replied Devyani, giving an excuse for Kushi’s absence.

“Medicine!!! Why? What happened? Are you not feeling well?”, inquired a panicked Sakshi for which Devyani said, ” It just a head ache. Nothing to worry”. And adding,”Why don’t you go and see if Aarthi needs any help”, she sent Sakshi away and was elated for succeeding in her attempt to not let anyone intervene between the couple who were           nowhere to be seen. She was sure that the duo were together somewhere but when she saw Kushi coming out of the house all alone, she was very disappointed.

“Where is Arnav?”, she asked the moment Kushi came and stood next to her.

“How would I know?”,she replied as she was  mad at him at the moment.

“What??Weren’t you together?”, asked a confused Devyani and when Kushi looked at her all surprised and said, ” Why would we be together? What made you think so Dhadhi?”, she realized the blunder she made.

Covering up her previous statement as she said, ” Actually he too wasn’t around so I thought you both must have gone inside to take care of something related to the wedding”,”I don’t know about your grandson but I did go inside to take care of something related to wedding”, replied Kushi. And when she enlightened Devyani that she went to hide Karna’s footwear Devyani’s turned pale as her high hopes took a great fall.

And when Kushi inquired about the cause of the sudden change of color, worried if it was a health issue, Devyani mentioned that she was just fine and said, ” Between, if your mother asks you where you have been, tell her you went to get a medicine for me”, as she didn’t want her lie to get caught.

“What? But why?”, asked Kushi as it didn’t make any sense to her.

“Because I’m asking you to say so. Now stop bugging me with your questions and look at the wedding”, she ordered shutting Kushi up.

Though she had no clue what was going on in the elder lady’s head, Kushi had her own doubts and she  looked for the person who was the cause for all this misunderstanding. Not finding him anywhere  she wondered what was keeping him away and kept looking for him as she had no idea that the person of her interest was busy in searching her room.

From the moment he entered her room, he started looking for Karan’s footwear in all the places.  After looking under her bed and other obvious places, he went to check her wardrobe which was pretty huge with  four doors. He opened the center two doors with both his hands and gave a quick glance to the vibrant colors of her anarkali suits and salwars which were hanging neatly in the upper section. The lower section had her ethnic wear and he couldn’t resist himself from running his fingers on them.

“Focus Arnav! Focus”, he mumbled to prevent himself from getting carried away and pulled out the drawer which was in between the upper and lower sections. Finding all her jewelry there he was surprised to see that she left it unlocked. After making sure that the object of his interest was not in that area, he closed those two doors and moved onto the other door on left. Finding her night wear in one section and blankets and bed sheets in the other one, he closed that door too and moved to the last door which was on the utmost right. While her jeans were neatly stacked in one corner, with the kurthis hanging on the other end, he bent a little to check the lower section which had few other clothes which were neatly arranged in few piles. Everything in her wardrobe was so neatly arranged that it didn’t make him feel that she could have hidden the footwear there but as a last attempt he pulled out the drawer which was the only section which wasn’t scanned by him and slammed it back as her intimates said a quick hello to him.

“Gosh!”, he muttered closing his eyes but as he got a flash of something, he shot open them and gathering himself he grabbed the handle of that drawer to open it again. Slowly and steadily he started pulling the drawer out with one of his eyes closely shut and the other one taking a tiny peek into the drawer every now and then for the object he was looking for. He preferred not to look at anything else in that drawer and when he finally spotted the tip of the sandal, peeping through the paper wrap which was kept in a corner, he opened both his eyes and a smirk adorned his face as he finally found the treasure he was looking for.

” Of all the places did she find only this one to hide the sandals”, he wondered and then mumbled, “May be she should have thought it to be the safest place where no one would look for them. True! Who would come look for them here”,while his mind added, “Except you”

He kept his right hand inside the drawer to grab that package but as his focus was getting deviated towards the other stuff in that drawer, he shut his eyes and grabbed that package in a swift moment not aware of the  unwanted guest that was accompanying it, after which he closed the drawer quickly and rushed out of her room and the house. As he descended the porch stairs his eyes fell on the huge vase that was decorated with flowers and felt that it would be the perfect place to hide the package. He looked around and after making sure that he wasn’t being noticed, he removed the flowers from the vase and dropped the package into it. And while doing so, he felt  something else slipping from his hands on to the floor . After placing the flowers back in the vase  when he looked at the floor to check what it was, he was shocked to the core.There it lay, a maroon color brassiere making fun of him and he stood still for a moment not understanding how it ended up there.

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Deepti © Myriad of my dreams - Never stop dreaming.

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