Chapter 17: Arnav's Memories

Khushi slid down to the floor and hugged her knees to her chest.  This happened often.  Every time Aditya or Amber caught her crying, they both got very angry at seeing her tears and were always ready to punish the person responsible for her tears.  She knew that this one characteristic--the protectiveness--they'd gotten from Arnav.

*

"Yeah...and then he said 'I don't like it when you cry, mom.'  It was the sweetest thing ever!" Kripa smiled.

Arnav smiled to himself.  He'd been sitting with Angad and Kripa.  They were more than glad to tell Arnav stories of Aditya, Amber, and Khushi.

"Now that I'm telling you these stories, I can see how much Aditya and Amber have in common with you!" Kripa looked meaningfully at Arnav.

Seeing the sudden saddened expression on his face, Kripa exchanged a look with Angad and stood up.  The two left the room and left Arnav alone with his thoughts.

His thoughts had immediately darted to the first time he'd realized how much tears in her eyes bothered him.

(Flashback)

After a typical day at work, Arnav reached home and rang the doorbell, hoping that Khushi would be the one opening it for him.  He had made sure that he sent Hari Prakash out for some work; otherwise, Arnav would have had to see HP's face rather than his wife.  And he hadn't come home early for that.

He rang the doorbell again with an edge of impatience.  A couple of seconds later, he heard Khushi yell out "Just a second!"

He smiled to himself.  He heard the click of the lock being undone and then the doors opened and Khushi revealed herself.

Arnav could feel his expression change as he looked at her.  It went from a smile to confusion to instant anger.  Her eyes were red and she had made a lousy attempt at trying to wipe the tears on her cheeks.

"Hey." She sniffled. 

His blood boiled.  He grabbed her wrist and walked inside, yelling out everyone's name.  Khushi was surprised by his reaction.

"Arnav?"  She questioned with one word.

"Hold on Khushi."  He spat and Khushi was taken aback by the display of anger on his face.

Within half a minute, everyone was gathered around them, just as lost and confused as Khushi.

"Why is she crying?!  Did anyone say anything to her?" He roared.  All the eyes turned to Khushi while she frowned confusedly at him.

"Umm...Arnav...?" Khushi started but he shot her a look and she swallowed her words.

"I want to know who made her cry!" Arnav roared again.

Everyone looked at each other, completely bewildered.  Khushi called out to him again, a hint of fear in her voice.

Arnav turned suddenly and cupped her face, making her eyes go wide.  "Tell me Khushi!  Did someone say something to you?  You don't need to be scared of any of them.  Who made you cry?  Tell me!"

"Okay...I'll tell you.  But you relax first" Khushi said gently.

Arnav's expression softened just a little bit but he didn't let go of her face.  Khushi grabbed his wrist with one of her hands and slid it off her face, repeated the same with the other.  Then she held up a knife in front of his face with her other hand.  Now it was Arnav's turn to be confused.

"I was chopping onions...I'm not crying."

Everyone tried to suppress their giggles but Akash failed at it for a couple of seconds.  When he giggled out loud, Khushi couldn't help but want to giggle too.  She bit her lower lip to keep from laughing.

"Oh..." Arnav said he registered her words.  He was embarrassed at what he'd just done and he wanted to get the hell out of that room before the teasing started.  He looked at Khushi, who was trying not to laugh, and then looked at his family from the corner of his eyes.  "Sorry about that...I thought she was crying.  Uhh.  Excuse me."

And with that, he nearly ran to his bedroom, leaving Khushi to deal with all the teasing.  In the confinement of his room, as he unbuttoned the vest, he couldn't help but chuckle at himself for his impulsive reaction a few minutes ago.

He knew he had scared Khushi for a bit.  That was probably the first time she had seen him angry.  He had decided that he would apologize for that when he caught her alone.  But that didn't happen.

The next time he saw her was at the dining table at dinner time.  Her cheeks were still pink and she avoided eye contact.  He guessed that she had gone through a long session of teasing from Payal and Akash.  He would have to apologize for that as well.  For leaving her alone to deal with it.

Payal cleared her throat as soon as she sat down on the table.  Arnav checked for Khushi's reaction.  Indeed, her cheeks had gone even more pink.  That confirmed that she had been teased about the earlier situation.  He could sense the tremendous amount of effort everyone was putting in to not laugh.

When the effort started slipping and everyone started coughing or clearing their throats to control their laughter, Arnav thought it best to just get it over with.  Arnav set his fork down on the plate and sighed.  "Go ahead.  Laugh it out."

As soon as he was done speaking, everyone burst into laughter.  Khushi looked at them all nervously, trying to control her laughter.

He couldn't believe they were still laughing about that!  The situation was so ridiculous that even he started laughing along with them.  Seeing him laugh like that for the first time in their two months of marriage, Khushi couldn't help herself either.

Once the laughter had quieted down, Arnav picked up his glass of water and started sipping when he felt her hand on his under the table.  He choked on the water and coughed, putting his glass down on the table.

She moved her hand back much to Arnav's disappointment.  Once his coughing had stopped and everyone had started eating and talking again, Arnav reached across her lap to get a hold of her left hand.  She stiffened a bit initially but when he entwined his fingers through hers, she relaxed and resumed her dinner.  He held her hand under the table until they were done dinner.

After dinner, Khushi busied herself with the chores with Payal as usual.  Arnav made sure that he'd finished everything office related.  He stood by the French doors, looking at the pool.  The water shimmered in the silver moonlight.  He had dimmed his room lights as well.  The only light sources were the lamps by the bedside and the moonlight.

He reflected back on the past two months and how different he had become since he'd gotten married.  Suddenly, there was a new member in the family that he equally cared for.  Suddenly, there was someone he looked forward to seeing.  Suddenly, there was someone whose tears made him go crazy with rage.  And that sudden someone was Khushi.  Khushi. 

He recalled Nani's words regarding her name and now he agreed.  Whoever had named her had done her justice.  It was almost as if happiness was a physical being that was present wherever Khushi was.  An aura surrounded her that made everyone happy.  Life itself radiated off of her.

He wondered how someone could be so full of life when they've gone through so much pain and loss in their life.  Hell, she had it harder than he did...at least he had Nani, Akash, Mami, and Mamaji to lean on after losing his parents.  Khushi had no one.  Then why was it that she was so full of life and he was still grieving deep down.

He was so busy with his thoughts, he hadn't realized that Khushi had come in and had been standing next to him for the past five minutes, studying him.

"I hope you're not angry over the joke of the day." Khushi said.

He knew what she was talking about.  "No...I'm not angry."

"Right.  I forgot that your neutral expression is angry."  Khushi looked at the water. 

"Khushi...look...sorry that you had to see that side of me.  I really wish that I hadn't lost it so quickly..."

"On the contrary, I'm glad you did...now I know that you care about me just as much as my souten...if not more."

"WHAT?!"  Arnav said, flabbergasted that Khushi thought there was another woman in his life.  How could she think of him that way?

Khushi looked at him and smiled.  "yeah...my souten...I have two actually.  I found out about them a couple of weeks into our marriage."

"what the!!" Arnav was speechless.

"I guess...I'm the 'other woman' in their lives...they were in your life before me..."

"Khushi...stop beating around the bush.  Who are you talking about?  Who told you what?  How could you think that I'm cheating on you!  We've only been married two months and you're already doubting me!"

Khushi bit back her laughter.  "Well...are you denying that you are technically married to your laptop and your phone?  That makes them my soutens doesn't it?"

Arnav pointed at her and opened his mouth to argue when her words registered.  She threw her head back and giggled.  He smiled gently which eventually turned into laughter.  The smile lingered on his face for a few seconds.

"You know...you should laugh more often.  It makes the people around you smile."  She said gently and looked back at the moon.

Arnav stood there pleasantly surprised.  He looked back at the water and smiled to himself.  They stood together in silence for a few minutes.

"Feel like having a coffee?" Khushi asked suddenly.

Arnav shrugged.  "Why not?"

Khushi smiled at walked out of the room.  As Arnav waited for her, he walked out of the room to the poolside.  He sat on the ledge of the pool and stared at the stars that were reflected in the still water.

Khushi came back and handed him his cup of coffee and sat next to him, a little closer than she normally would, he noticed.  He thought back to how they had held hands under the table today.  In the past two months of their marriage, that was the first romantic advance they'd made and even that was initiated by Khushi.

They sat by the poolside, chatting away.  Well, Khushi was chatting away.  Arnav gave her small replies when appropriate but she knew he was listening to everything she was saying.

"How come you don't talk much?" Khushi said suddenly, taking him by surprise.  "How come you're so quiet?  I don't understand how you can go through the day being so quiet?  I love talking!  The worst punishment for me would be telling me to not talk for fifteen minutes."

Arnav smiled at how animatedly she was talking and shook his head at her constant chatter.

"No point in shaking your head now Mr. Raizada...should have put this down under the cons on your list." She rolled her tongue into her cheek.

"Excuse me?  You're the one who made the list..."

Khushi shrugged.  "If you'd made one, I'm sure you would have a long list of cons."

Arnav stared at her for a couple of seconds.  "Actually, I don't think I'd have anything under the cons list."

Khushi looked at him and found him staring.  She couldn't help but stare back.  His gaze started travelling across her face, pausing at every feature.  He knew his gaze lingered a little too long at her lips but he couldn't make himself look away.

"I don't know about the world, but for me...you're perfect." He whispered huskily.

Khushi tore her gaze away from his when she felt blood rushing to her cheeks.  Before her blushing gave her away, she stood up slowly.

"I'm going to take my cup back..."  She muttered and turned to leave.

A second later she stopped when she felt a tug on her dupatta.  Thinking that it was odd for it to get stuck on something, she turned and was surprised to see Arnav holding onto the end of it. 

"Don't go." He said huskily.

Her heart started in her chest like a jack-hammer as she watched him stand up.  He could see her hands trembling slightly.

Pleasantly surprised by the fact that he liked the affect he had on her, he took a few steps closer while she stood and watched his feet with a fixed gaze.  Still holding onto her dupatta, he walked up to her until he was a step away from her.

She slowly lifted her gaze and found herself drowning in the deep brown eyes that stared back at her.  She smiled gently.  That did it for him.  He didn't know what came over him after that.  It was as if an invisible force had drawn him closer to her until his lips touched the skin of her cheek right next to her lips.

She gasped lightly.  Then he heard a louder gasp and he knew it wasn't from Khushi.  He opened his eyes, moved away a little and looked over Khushi's shoulder.  Payal.  Khushi stood frozen in her spot, red in the face.

"I'm...I'm so sorry...I didn't mean to walk in...I should have knocked." Payal stuttered.

Khushi blushed even a deeper shade of red before turning on her heels and running out of there.  Payal suppressed a giggle and wiggled her eyebrows at Arnav.  In a response, he frowned at her.

"Talk about perfect timing."  Arnav said sarcastically.

Payal snorted and rolled her eyes.  "If you hate perfect timing so much, lock your door next time."

Arnav rolled his eyes and turned away after Payal walked out of the room.  A round of teasing had just ended and he had set the stage for another one.  Khushi was going to kill him this time.

(End of Flashback)

"Arnav!" Someone shook him.  A few more shakes.  A poke in the abs.  A slap on the arm.  A splash of cold water on his face.

Arnav sat up at once and wiped his face.  "What the--!" he exclaimed.

"What did I tell you about being on time for your first day at work?  Its forty minutes to nine!  Wake up already!"  Kripa yelled again.

Arnav looked around.  What was he doing here?

"What...I...did I sleep here last night?"

"No you didn't." Kripa put her hands on her waist.  "You went home and slept.  Angad and I kidnapped you an hour ago and brought you here."  She said sarcastically.

"What?"  Arnav was still groggy and disoriented.

"Oh for Heaven's sakes!  You were asleep when we got back so we didn't wake you up.  But now you need to go back home, shower, change and get to the orphanage by 9.  Now move it!"

Without another word, Arnav grabbed his keys, the phone, and ran out of the house.  He started his car and rushed home.  He took the quickest shower of his life.  He put on his pants, grabbed his shirt and vest and ran out, without bothering to put them on.  He dressed and drove at the same time and reached the orphanage.  He glanced at the clock on the dashboard and it glowed an unholy time of two minutes to nine.  He hopped out of the car and sprinted into and through the building to Khushi's office.

Anjali gave him a perplexed look as he--completely out of breath, with wet hair, and a flushed face--knocked at Khushi's office door.