UE part 30

Khushi shut Nihaal's laptop from behind with a bang..

"Enough!! I am sick of this! And you said you'd have time for ME this month!"

Nihaal gave her a smile as he shook his head..

"Lattu..I AM here for you! But this M.D. business... Just keeps coming in between you know..anyway, you better get used to this, your future husband is a worse workaholic"

"oh don't even talk about him! At least the breaks you take from work are fun! I think he spends his free time in shouting rehearsals..di isn't very ecstatic about his lifestyle either.."

"haha..by the way Lattu...this Anjali, she is married?"

"waaaiii?" Khushi dragged the question with raised eyebrows..

"nothing just asking.."

Khushi gave him a brief regarding Anjali's past, she didn't know much herself for that matter, when Payal came inside bookmarking a novel with her fingers..

"Nihaal! Khushi! Dinner. And I am not dragging anyone downstairs. Don't come and have growling stomachs in the night for all I care!"

Nihaal grinned..

"Hey booky! It was a pleasure meeting your fire extinguisher today..right Lattu?"

"oh absolutely!" Khushi winked back..

"what do you mean by MY fire extinguisher???"

"oh, I am so sorry, did I say YOUR fire extinguisher? I never meant to say YOUR fire extinguisher! Why will I call him YOUR fire extinguisher after all? He is not YOUR-"

Khushi was doubling with laughter now...

Payal slammed her book on the table...

"As if one was not enough another comes all the way from United States to eat my brain out!!!!"

she stormed out of the room, coloured up, as Nihaal and Khushi exchanged high fives still laughing..

"JIJI DON'T GET MAD AT US..WE NEVER MEANT TO SAY 'YOUR' FIR-" Khushi shouted from behind..

"WILL YOU TWO JUST SHUT UP??!!"

Arnav tilted his head on the chair back as he finally signed the last file from among the huge pile on the table..it had been a long tiring day..for that matter, all his days were long tiring ones..

suddenly a thought occurred in his mind as he took his cell out and ran through the directory stopping at- Khushi IT..

he kept staring at the phone for a while before pressing the edit button and removing the IT from the name...though he didn't switch it to Khushi BW(Business Weekly) either..

just Khushi..

or should he make it Khushi Kumari Gupta?

Khushi Asst. Editor?

Was it too informal?

Too 'fiance-ish'?

Hell! Why would it be too 'fiance-ish'?? he wasn't putting honey or darling or anything!!

...how would that look by the way?

ENOUGH! Perhaps he really needed some rest..

Forget it! Just Khushi..

Khushi's phone buzzed beside her as she, still immersed in work picked it up..

cement pile calling..

"hello"

"where are you?"

"what?"

"where.are.you?"

"at work"

"stay there. I am coming to pick you up"

"what?why?"

"we are leaving for RM"

"what?why?"

"di has called us immediately"

"what?why?"

silence..

"hello? Mr Raizada??? you there?"

"what?why??"

Khushi got his point...

"ohkaay..ohkaay..why is di calling us?"

"to choose the engagement rings"

"what?-"

"don't you dare say why!"

"why?"

Arnav rolled his eyes in exasperation..

"because the rest of the world thinks we are gonna get engaged this weekend. And in case you are not aware , couples are supposed to exchange rings on their engagement"

"okay..so you are calling me to say that I am supposed to choose rings at your house for this not-gonna-happen engagement"

"di. Not me. Di is calling to say that WE are supposed to finalize the rings"

"hm..fine then..i'll wait for you"

"fine-"

"Mr Raizada!" she spoke just as he was about to disconnect..

"what?"

"how are we ever going to break up?"

silence..

she sighed.. "anyway, I was just thinking about something a while before"

"Khushi I am busy.later"

"see! That's it! You don't call me Ms Gupta! Then why should I call you Mr Raizada??"

"i never told you to. And you don't"

"what? Of course I do!"

"yeah right. In front of my face"

she bit her lip as she smiled mischievously..of course he knew of the cement pile reference...

"um..er..well, anyway, I thought of calling you Arnav ji , but then you don't call me Khushi ji, so.."

"you decide. I am busy. And I am disconnecting"

"Arnav-" she spoke and suddenly went silent...

he, who was just about to disconnect , somewhat froze at the mention of his name from her..

there was a weird silence..for some reason, it felt too informal, nobody, NOBODY called him ever by his first name. At home it was chotte or bhai, at work sir or ASR, and behind his back a dozen different names people had kept for him ' hitler, benito mussolini, dracula, and yes...cement pile..

Khushi, herself felt a weird feeling, as she spoke it..like, too informal...as if, as if he was her...fiance..

"i will..i will wait..Mr..Mr Raizada.."

silence..

"fine"

Khushi fastened her seatbelt as Arnav started the car..

as expected, there could just be a three second silence in the car before Khushi started off..

"you didn't ask me how my first day was? You know what? It was great! better than I had expected actually, though it was hectic,but you can't expect everything to be a bed of roses right? So I went there in the morning and-"

Arnav drew in a deep breath and braced himself to hear her entire day's happenings..

for frankly, Khushi was not giving him an option..

"And you know what? The entire office was staring at me when I entered..because of that newspaper and news thing you know, not that I blame them, I would have done a bit of staring myself in their place-"

Arnav had busied himself with thinking about Singhania files...

"but this one woman was total OMG!! Like seriously! She was staring and staring and I was like will she ever stop? But no! She kept on and on and...Mr Raizada?"

silence..

"are you even listening to what I am saying?"

silence...

"Cement Pile!!"

silence..

this made Khushi sure that her entire talking had grabbed the audience of only the windscreen..

"MR RAIZADA!!!!!" she clapped her hands in front of his face..

"WHAT THE!" Arnav shouted as they just missed banging straight into another car..

he furiously turned to her..

"ARE YOU CRAZY? WHAT AM I SAYING! YOU ARE CRAZY!! WHY ARE YOU SO HELL BENT ON CREATING AN ACCIDENT EVERY DAMN TIME YOU SIT IN THE CAR!!"

silence..

"what should I do if you don't see and drive.."

Arnav shut his eyes for a moment and continuously chanting the mantra of control.control.control. Restarted the car...

there was complete silence for another five seconds...and then..

"so I was saying this woman was total OMG! You know, kept staring on and on so I just started staring back her, and then I wouldn't stop, and she got so freaked out she got up and left the place-"

control.control.control...

"hello?"

"hello Payal? Aakash here.."

"oh..hi.."

"hi.."

"what were you reading?"

"how did you know I was reading?"

"oh like always, just a guess"

"i see.."

"di just wanted to know if you could squeeze out some time to drop in here today for a while.."

"really? Why?"

"oh the engagement is this Sunday and you know, jewelry and all have to be finalized..di is the only girl at our house, she could do with some help in deciding.."

"oh I would love to"

"great! Then i'll pick you up"

"oh you don't nee-"

"Payal please. I am on my way home as it is..you just be ready.."

"ok..by the way Aakash.."

"yes?"

"did you finish with the novel?"

"novel?"

"you were reading Atlas Shrugged right?"

"oh..oh yes..the novel..right.."

"you have started it haven't you?"

"of course I have.."

today he would definitely start it..note to self..Aakash Singh Raizada.

The jeweler vehemently opened set after set before them..

"I hate deciding.." Khushi grumbled as she blinked one by one at each of the jewelry set and rings before her.. "i abhor deciding..."

This is the way she had been..since childhood, of all the things Khushi Kumari Gupta found difficult, taking decisions on careful thinking was one of them, I repeat, on careful thinking, because if she were to take instant decisions, they usually got turned into a crazy mess, ample proof of which has been given in previous parts...her birthday candles at the age of 7 had been blown out by Payal since Khushi had kept on wondering what to ask for..

and right now, Khushi Kumari Gupta was doing careful thinking..

that is ,no decision had been taken as yet..

Arnav, who had cast one look upon the pieces before him, which was enough to take a decision, his own ring thus being finalized and kept aside long ago, shook his head in exasperation looking at her as he descended down the stairs, tapping away on his blackberry

Khushi had the expression of a five year old being explained integral calculus..staring at one ring, frowning at it, placing it back, picking up another, twisting it around, then comparing it one more, then placing both back on the table, picking a third and so on...

She turned her head to her right as she felt someone sitting beside her suddenly...

Arnav still had his eyes on the text he was typing out on his blackberry as he said-

"that's the 5^th time you are picking that set"

Khushi bit her lip..

"just stop it !"

"what?"

"biting your lip"

"again! What is YOUR problem??" she was indeed in a touchy mood..

Arnav extended his hand and placed the blackberry on the table..then eyed all the rings in one go...

he reached out and picked one..

"take this"

Khushi furrowed her brows..

"what?"

"since you have decided to spend time till sunday on this sofa trying to decide on one damn ring you don't even intend to wear, I am saving you the trouble. Take this"

Khushi eyed the ring he extended to her..it was indeed pretty, simple yet elegant, just the way she liked it, a sparkling diamond settled in a golden crown, placed on a smooth sleek golden band..

why hadn't she thought of it before..

she took it from his hand and smiled.. the spark of the carefully crafted diamond shone on her face..

she looked...wow...the light dancing away on her milky complexion, the soft smile dazzling on her face,,

evolution in its own way, re commenced in his stomach, not tiny thick files anymore, the file size as well as thickness seemed to have increased..

he himself never realized when a slow smirk ruled over his face, eyes as if fixed to her smile..

Anjali, who was sitting at a distance, along with Payal finalizing other accessories, nudged her in the elbow as both raised their eyes at the sight before them..

then looked at each other and giggled..

"ahem..ahem.." Anjali cleared her throat..

no difference..

"AHEM..AHEM.." the volume increased..

and suddenly, the room was very hot (yes, the AC was on alright..), the work was too much, Aman might have called from office, he had just left a file upstairs..

every lame excuse was available to Mr Arnav Singh Raizada as he suddenly sprang up from the sofa and rushed up the stairs..

control.control.control had just taken all new dimensions as he did a marathon yet again from door to pool to bed to door to pool to bed to door...and so on..

Khushi eyed him confused as he hurried up the stairs..this cement pile was so unpredictable, anyway, at least the ring had been finalized! The ring..she wondered..would she even be wearing it?? was this engagement even happening! Just two days more..to act..which for some reason, they weren't..

Her phone buzzed beside her and she picked it up..

"hello Lattu! Where are you?"

"your conference is over?"

"yups! On way to home, And now we can practice the 'sliding down the living room stairs bannister without falling' without any disturbance"

Khushi grinned..

"Ma has threatened me thrice that she will kill us if we even think about it. But she is off to Mithali aunty's place today so no worries ,but i am currently at Raizada Mansion"

"what? There? Ok, I will pick you up.."

"you will? Oh great!"

"seeya then.."

"who was it Khushi?" anjali asked as she ran her fingers over a set..

"oh my great cousin. It was bhai..he's coming to pick us up.."

"oh" Anjali replied and as she turned around, involuntarily, she smiled...

Arnav descended down the stairs once again after some time..

after his control.control.control mission had finally been successful and Singhania files had got his signature on them..

but sometimes things are just hopelessly against you..

Anjali was now making Khushi try out the various sets before them..

the necklace stuck in her hair band and khushi excused for a moment and slid the band down her hair as it fell beautifully across her shoulders..

she giggled and slightly blushed as Anjali complimented on how beautifully diamond complimented her looks...

not working. Just not working.

Back in room..

marathon begins. control.control.control ' from door to pool to door to bed to pool to door...

good luck Mr Raizada..

have you thought anything about the breakup? It's this Sunday you know! Better hurry up...that is, if you want to..you want to right?? right??...

we wonder..

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------