Khushi
Kumari Gupta was in her bed..
courtesy
the great mid- party adventure with Mr. Arnav Singh Raizada..who she was cursing every 5 minutes.
last
time she had caught a simple cold and orchestrated a drama..
this
time, it was a fever..
and
one could only imagine...
"stupid
stupid stupid cement pile! I am going to diiieee"
"Khushi
will you stop it? You AGREED to go! For that matter it was EQUALLY
your plan as his!"
"but
it was his stupid stupid stupid car that gave away right in the
middle of the road"
"whatever..now
shut up and sleep! In fact, please shift to the guest area for a
while, I have to change the sheets"
"what
were you and fire extinguisher talking about at the party?"
"when?"
"don't
you 'when' me... I have eyes!"
"are
you leaving? Move!"
The
weather had not grown any better..in fact it had worsened...the
flashes of lightening and loud thunder shook Delhi periodically..
but
Anjali had still come...
she
had called up to thank khushi for her present but had been
informed of her sickness by Paayal accompanied by a very long ' I AM
SICCCKKK!!!!" in the background...
and
she had immediately decided to leave...
the
weather had worsened all the more after her arrival, streets were
slowly going empty..
Anjali's
phone rang beside her
"hello?"
"di
I hope you are at home. Stay there"
"um..actually
no chotte..i am at Khushi's place.."
"WHAT??WHAT
THE!"
"she
was sick chotte! And I had to see her! I am just coming"
"no
you are not. Stay there!"
"what?"
"i
am coming to pick you up. Stay there!"
"but-"
"di!"
"fine!"
Anjali
had to use the restroom and Payal had accompanied her to show the
way..the main entrance to the guest room was slightly ajar
Arnav
seeing the door ajar pushed it open and entered..
his
eyes widened at the sight before him..
Khushi
completely oblivious of his presence, half lying on the sofa set, had resumed her moaning as soon as Anjali
had taken her momentary leave..
"I
AM DYYYIINNNGGG!!!!" she moaned slapping her palm onto her forehead
Arnav
stood at the door looking at her for a few moments, hand inside
trouser pockets then rolled his eyes and sat down on the sofa opposite to her drawing a magazine from underneath the table..
"Oh..oh..oh..it
feels so sick.."
"ohhh..myyy..goooddd...i
am dyyyiinnnggg"
"unbelievable"
Arnav muttered..
Khushi
immediately sprang opened her eyes
then
blinked..
then
blinked again..
"am
I dead already?" she muttered looking with a confused expression at him..
Arnav
momentarily looked up from the magazine, nodded a 'yes' and
resumed reading once again..
Khushi
got up stealthily and walking up to an Arnav who was reading the
business magazine with pure concentration, and pinched him hard..
"WHAT
THE!"
"so
I am not dead! Phew!!!"
"dammit
are you mad??!!"
"i
was just checking!"
"couldn't
you check it on yourself??"
"oh
chotte you are here!" Anjali entered along with Paayal
" 'evening
Mr Raizada" Payal greeted him..
" 'evening"
"Khushi
WHAT are you doing standing there?? please sit !"
"are
you feeling a little better now?" Anjali asked Khushi as she leaned
back again on the sofa in weakness..
"ya..ya
i'm fine"
"can't
even find a doctor in this weather..we will have to wait until tomorrow..even maa is out of station"
Arnav
kept listening grimly, then turned to Khushi and slowly bending down
brushed the hair away from her forehead as he placed his palm gently on it
As
far as Khushi knew, she just had fever, her stomach had been
completely normal all day..
but
it seemed to have suddenly gone altogether into a salsa mood..
she
could suddenly state unexperienced and new kinds of fever symptoms..
like
she hadn't known before that butterflies in the stomach usually
accompanied a 101 degree fever...
her
eyes widened in surprise at the sudden and unexpected gesture..
he
momentarily looked at her.. and she looked dazed back at him..
"slight
fever" he muttered at length removing his palm, straightening up
again.."paracetamol will do"
"oh
yes, we have that..i was just going to give it to her" Payal
nodded...
the
term 'slight' used in regards to her fever immediately put Khushi
back in a defensive mood...
"do
you think it has got to do with a car breaking down somewhere??"
she hissed at him..
he
completely ignored her statement and sipped the tea which had just been offered to him..
Anjali
got on a call as Payal moved into the adjacent room..
Arnav
sat down on the sofa next to Khushi and got back to the magazine..
"i
hope you realize you should be apologetic"
Arnav
remained silent as he kept on with his reading, deeply buried inside
the magazine
she
was obviously not pleased
"very
apologetic" she added..
no
response..
"profusely
apologetic"
"forget
it" he murmured..
"excuse
me??"
"i
said forget it"
Khushi
immediately threw her fever to the winds and sat with folded legs on
the couch..
"you
are not even apologetic??"
"why
should I be?" he asked completely nonchalantly
Khushi
made an 'O' with her mouth..
"oh. OH. perhaps
because YOU took me to buy YOUR sister's gift, right in the middle of a party at YOUR house, in YOUR
car, which gave away right in the middle of a deserted road in a ghastly climate, which made ME suffer the thrill of having to enter
YOUR house from the backdoor in a dripping wet state which gave ME a fever!"
she
paused to breathe..
and
all that came from his side was- "am I the car?"
she
blinked confused, then said "no.."
"then
why should I apologize?"
"then
should I go and demand an apology from your car?"
"go
ahead" he said turning the pages..
"i
find you absolutely insensitive and a total ceme-"
his
hands froze as he stopped turning the pages..he looked up and she
gulped deciding very prudently that the 'cement pile' part could be
left out..
Arnav
suddenly threw the magazine back underneath the table and resting his
index finger on his forehead started staring at her
"what
are you doing?" she asked
"oh
nothing..i am trying to give a damn"
Khushi
fumed..
"keep
trying! Because I don't care whether you give a damn or not, I don't
care if your chivalrous instincts are practically non existent ,
because I for one-"
it's
not good to shout in a fever and she felt herself going dizzy, and a
sudden dryness seized her throat
Arnav, sensing she was losing it shook his head in exasperation and walked
up to her.. straightening
the falling pillow behind her back he spoke..
"it's
not that hard"
she
looked up at him with a confused expression..
"what's
not that hard?"
"to
shut up"
"i-"
"shut
up"
"you-"
"SHUT
. UP"
"fine!
But i'll continue later"
"shut
up"
"i
think we should be leaving now..the weather's just worsening"
Anjali said as she bent towards the half lying Khushi "get well
soon..all the best!"
Khushi
smiled and nodded..
As
they were leaving, Arnav looked over his shoulders at Khushi and
within an audible range turned back and said to Paayal with cool
amusement "All the best to you"
Paayal
suppressed a giggle while Khushi puffed her nostrils in rage.
Arnav
merely smirked..
Anjali
got a call from nani while she , Arnav and Paayal were in the
verandah..
"who's
puchu?"
Arnav
suddenly threw the question at Payal..
"excuse
me?" Paayal was obviously surprised..
"um..Puchu,
who's he?"
he
mentally kicked himself for having said 'he', what the hell! Why on
earth had he said 'he'? Who told him it was a 'he'? Hell, why did it
even matter whether it was a 'he' or not. It could be a she, a pet
anything! And he had blurted out 'he'!
In
short, damn 'he' !
Paayal's
lips slowly curved into an amused smile..
"How
DO you know about puchu?"
note
to self- damn you Arnav Singh Raizada!
"no,
'nuthng"
"he
is THE star in Khushi's life"
so
it was a 'he'...and suddenly he hated his gender...except himself of
course..
he
kept silent...
"come..i'll
let you meet him"
"he
lives here?" Arnav was absolutely startled...
"Khushi
didn't leave us with an option"
before
Arnav could deny, Payal was already leading him to another side door
from the verandah..
they
stood at the door and Payal motioned to a big ,almost as big as a
sitting person, giant fluffy off white and dirty teddy bear , the
dullness of the texture being a proof that it had seen quite a number
of years..
"that's
'he'" Paayal gave him an amused smile "Khushi's puchu; her
childhood buddy...she claims he's the only one in her life who can
understand her"
"let us call him a genius then" Arnav added and Paayal vehemently agreed..
Arnav
suddenly felt a wave of relief course through him..well he had no
problem if this was the puchu of 'puchu_loveyou'...hell, he had no
problem, if there were a dozen such beloveds with her..if only they
were teddy bears..yes, if only they were teddy bears..
his
own track of thoughts starting to sound very disturbing to his own self
he swerved out nodding, and Payal followed him.
Anjali
had ended the call and Arnav helped her out with extreme caution to
the car as Paayal bid them adieu..
Lying
in her bed Khushi stared deeply at the ceiling , touching her
forehead with her palm repeatedly but her stomach felt completely
normal now..
why
had it felt so weird...
"slight
fever" his words echoed in her ears as she remembered him leaning
and placing his palm upon her forehead..
she
smiled..then widened her eyes at her own gesture..
"great!
Another reason to avoid cement pile..."
he
made you stupid and put butterflies in your stomach..
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PUCHU'S MYSTERY IS SOLVED N ARNAV BITWA IS RELIEVED..
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