UE part 32

"I don't UNDERSTAND why some people even visit the library when they are simply not INTERESTED in books!!" Payal banged her handbag on the table in disgust...

Khushi looked up from her laptop screen at her sister..

"my my..are we pissed off.." she muttered..

"seriously!" Payal exclaimed.. "this top to bottom wardrobe of a woman ruined my day today! Doesn't know a word about literature and throwing her weight around miss high and mighty 'beauty without brains!'"

"Chill! Chill !" Khushi exclaimed..it was not often Payal burst out this way.. "you fought with her or something?"

"of course I fought with her! To the extent that the librarian had to interfere, and..pull us apart"

"PULL us apart??!"Khushi shouted... "it was THAT bad??oh wow wow wow.. My bookworm had an adventure today!"

"Shut up Khushi! Is Nihaal back?"

"naah..still stuck at work, will be home soon now I guess.wait a sec! There's a call..oh! It's di.."

"hello?"

"hey Khushi"

"oh hi di! Whats up??"

"whatsup? Your fiance has not yet finalized his sherwani for tommorrow, in fact, he is still in denial mode.. insists on wearing his usual black stuff, I tried explaining it's supposed to be a traditional affair as per nani's wishes, but it's him you know, so I am wondering how to drag him to the showroom. This call is to inform you that you and Payal are supposed to accompany us too-"

"what! Why??"

"because darling , there is some more shopping to be done, in fact there is a LOT more shopping to be done, and I am definitely not doing it alone..so please please please with a cherry on top don't refuse.a friend's request"

Khushi eyed her pending work in dismay, then bit her lip..

"okay! I'll manage. Do one thing, bhai will be reaching home anytime, he will pick you all up from RM, then we will halt at AR, I will ensure your brother accompanies us, then we will divide ourselves in the two cars and head for the shopping. Done?"

"perfect! Best part being 'I will ensure your brother accompanies us'..believe me Khushi, you've taken up some task"

As Nihaal, accompanied by Khushi and Payal drove the car to a halt outside RM, they were soon joined by a company of Anjali and Aakash's mother, Mrs Raizada..

Khushi heard Payal draw in a sharp breath as she eyed the woman beside Anjali..confused, Khushi gave her a questioning look..

"Khushi!" Payal urgently whispered... "it's her! That library woman!"

Khushi widened her eyes.. "WHAT! Oh shit.."

Mrs Raizada, mother of Aakash Singh Raizada was apt to be called the epitome of sophistication..a Gucci handbag, pearl necklace, Sidwani labelled saree, prada heels, wrapped in branded perfume she was a fashion magazine come alive..

The meeting of Payal with her was, as expected , one of a kind, what of forced hellos and fake smiles,and they repelled each other with as enormous an intensity as was possible..

"CAN'T HANDLE ONE DAMN FILE!!!" Arnav banged the files on the table "I AM SURROUNDED BY A BUNCH OF IDIOTS!!"

The secretary gulped several times as he hastily sorted out the various documents..

"I SAID 'THAT' FILE DAMMIT! THAT FILE! THAT! IS IT ROCKET SCIENCE FOR YOU TO UNDERSTAND ONE DAMN THING! THAT.FILE!"

"Yes sir, I mean no sir, I mean sorry sir"

"out"

"ok sir" the poor guy was a bunch of nerves as he fumbled with the papers..

"i said LEAVE THE DAMN FILE AND OUT!!!" Arnav screamed and the poor guy immediately dropped the entire bunch on the floor, then didn't know what to do and almost ran out of the room in the process, colliding with a Khushi who had just opened Arnav's cabin door...

The poor guy cursed his fate, escape boss, bump into boss's fiance...

Khushi's heart went out to the poor guy as she gently smiled.. "it's ok..it's ok.." ..and he, muttering profuse apologies made an exit..

there was silence in the cabin while Arnav tried to control his breathing to normal..what a time to tell a person he needs to buy a sherwani..

he finally looked at Khushi who was eying him with raised eyebrows..

"what?"

"have you heard of pranayama?"

"khushi. I am not in the mood for nonsense. If you have come all the way here to tell me what is pr-"

"it helps with anger management"

"are you done?"

"no"

Arnav ran a palm through his hair..

"i have come to tell you there is a car waiting outside this building for us"

"why?"

"we are going 'sherwani shopping' for you"

Arnav took a deep breath and then looked at her..

"first, there is going to be no sherwani shopping. Second 'we'??"

"yes we! Your and my family combined. With an exception of your grandmother and my mother"

"i have said before. And I am saying for the final time. I, am not coming"

Khushi stood silent blinking at him for a few moments, then before he knew she skipped close to him and in a jiffy had the bundle of files on his table tightly in her arms and quickly stepped back

"what the! Khushi, keep. that .back"

"i won't. I have left some very important work of my own unattended just to save di from disappointment. If you don't wish to come, fine. But when I am not being able to work because of you , I will make sure ,you, are not able to work because of me"

"this is RIDICULOUS DAMMIT! Khushi, I am NOT in the mood for nonsense right now"

"right now? You mean there are times when you are in the mood for nonsense? Phew..first sign of your being a normal human bei-"

"SHUT.UP"

"Last time I am asking you Mr Raizada, are you coming, or not?"

"and the last time I am replying, no" Arnav spoke with determination and moved forward so as to grab the bunch of files from her hands..

She instantly jumped back, holding the files tighter to herself..

"don't you even dare to snatch them from me. If you do, I will shout, and imagine what kind of pretty picture that would make of you in the eyes of your employees"

"You shout as much as you want to Khushi Kumari Gupta I don't give a damn to-"

he moved forward extending his hands, but too late..

Khushi was fast to open her large size bag she was carrying, stuff the entire bundle untidily into it and at top speed run out of his cabin..

She slowed down on the stairs as she came into he view of the AR employees who she pleasantly and warmed smiled at before heading for the door..

while they wondered what could possibly be the reason of the sudden enlargement of her bag size from flat to nearly rounded..

"unbelievable..Khushi Kumari Gupta.." Arnav muttered as he kicked the stand of a chair and throwing his coat over his shoulders literally exploded out of his cabin shutting the door with a bang that shook the AR foundations..

"see!he didn't agree! I told you!" Anjali moaned as she saw Khushi entering the car alone..

"oh he is coming di. No worries"

"what?Really!" Anjali exclaimed..

and sure enough, moments later they saw a fuming Arnav marching towards the car..

in a swift motion he flew open the car door and eyed Khushi in a manner which would put dracula to shame..

Khushi suddenly seemed a little too concerned about her nail polish...

"Khushi. I won't say it again. The files. Now!"

"that is the third time you have said you won't say it again"

"you think it's very funny-" he said as he stepped inside the car in the driver's seat in view of everyone on the back seat, a driver's seat which had been recently vacated by a Nihaal who had left moments ago after being struck with the idea of buying ice creams for the entire group...and had just returned..

seeing Arnav in the driver's seat, Nihaal without any ado slipped in the back row beside Anjali who with the rest of the family was nervously witnessing the palpable tension at the front.

"I never said anything's funny. I am damn serious..by the way, are you driving the car?"

Arnav looked at her steadily, then in one swift motion the bag had been snatched from her hands and he was out of the car before Khushi could even react..

Arnav was stopped in his tracks by Nihaal who had hopped out of the car to him and was blocking his way..

"hey hey hey chill man..easy...i know there's work..k? But you are getting engaged tommorrow! And almost everyone's here just let's have fun!"

Khushi craned her neck out of the window..

"Anyway Mr Raizada! You are about to enter your office with a ladies handbag..LOL!!"

"Lattu! Shut up!" Nihaal called out then whispered in Arnav's ears.. "dude, please agree bro, I want to eat this ice cream very desperately which won't be possible if I drive..and I don't trust Lattu with the car..so please, could you drive?"

Arnav stood in his dragon avatar for a while before entering the driver's seat and shutting the door with a bang..

Nihaal smiled and took his seat..

moments later Aakash came out and joined them..and even Arnav's spacious SUV was quite crowded now..

"um..it seems quite crowded in here" Aakash spoke up.. "why don't we do one thing bhai? I can take my car and some of us might shift in that"

"that would be better" Nihaal agreed..

"Payal, ma, let's move"

Anjali grinned.. "already sure of the arrangement are we Aakash??"

Nihaal grinned as he set his hair smooth while Payal blushed and Mrs Raizada did an eye roll..

"no di..i mean, you come if you want to it's-"

"no no Aakash..it's perfectly fine.."

moments later, the shiftings were comlete..with Nihaal Anjali Arnav Khushi in one car, and Payal Aakash and Mrs Raizada in the other..

"you had to agree because I said so" Khushi whispered in Arnav's ears..

"i would be damned if I did" he replied..

"you had to agree because I said so" she repeated..

the speed of the car was immensely increased..

"GUYS! GUYS!" Nihaal called out giving his ice cream a break.. "we want to reach the showroom alive!"

"these two are hopeless" Anjali moaned to Nihaal.. "WHO would say this is a couple supposed to be getting engaged tomorrow evening!"

Nihaal nodded.. "you bet! Know what? I can very well imagine their post marriage life...imagine this scene..it's night time..a starry night,all alone at home, candles all around the place by your swimming pool, these two sitting at a table, and..and..banging each other's head on it! How romantic.."

Anjali couldn't help laughing as she placed a palm on her forehead..

"You are the first brother I know who spends time drafting out his sister's post marriage life scenes..nevertheless, I can't help but agree with you.."

there was a silence which followed after which Nihaal looked at Anjali and smiled..she looked confused at him for a while before she smiled herself..

"are you sure?" she asked..

"why not?" he replied and winked..

"chotte! Stop the car please"

Arnav drew the car to a halt outside the mall..

while Anjali got off from one end Nihaal did the same from the other, and the two shut the doors while Arnav and Khushi looked on puzzled..

Peeping in from Arnav's window Anjali spoke-

"i thought why don't the two of you help out each with your shopping while the rest of us can look after the other things on the list..we've given a call to Aakash to join us here..they must be coming any moment now.."

"di what-"

"bhai-"

"if you two don't mind, we are getting pretty late. Happy shopping! Bye!"

Anjali quickly finished and along with Nihal made for the mall before Arnav could even say 'what the!'

silence followed in the car..

"i can't believe it.." Khushi muttered..

Arnav slammed his fist on the wheel and there was a loud sound of the horn...

Khushi giggled..

"that's the second time you did it you know..wanted to hit the steering wheel and blew the horn inst-"

She stopped as Arnav gave her one of those ogre kind of looks..

"darling, is that Gucci?" Mrs Raizada spoke with an air of indifference as she eyed Payal's handbag..

"um no.." Payal replied..

"exactly! Doesn't look like it.." was the response..

Aakash shifted uncomfortably in his seat and made a random comment on the weather..

"which label do you prefer wearing?"

Payal scratched her forehead..

"i don't go for labels.."

"i see.. doesn't look like it either.."

Payal had had enough,..

"by the way aunty, what do you think of Michael Hern's latest book?"

Mrs Raizada fumbled with her handbag...Payal smiled..

"i..Aakash, where are we meeting Anjali ,dear?"

"um..at Regal mom.."

Payal turned her face to look out of the window,and grinned..

Arnav with pure disgust was checking out the various sherwanis while Khushi moved the hangers ,checking out some herself..

"That's the colour Pallavi wore yesterday isn't it?" Arnav remarked as he pretended to check out the light cream Sherwani...it was indeed the same colour, and Arnav very well remembered it by virtue of checking out Pallavi Khandelwal's photoshopped picture uncountable times ever since he received it...

Khushi's face immediately changed which did not go unnoticed by Arnav at all..

"oh really? Is it so? I don't happen to remember, you see, I don't take rubbish people seriously"

Arnav widely smirked..

"rubbish but beautiful...worth remembering.." he said lazily..

Khushi seemed to be moving the hangers a little too fast..

"Khushi, everything fine? You look..disturbed.." he whispered in her ears...

Khushi got on the defensive..

"of course I am disturbed...i just remembered how Karthik got mad at me once for wearing the colour once..he hated it.."

"Karthik?"

"my college valentine"

Arnav's face immediately had the smirk off of it..Khushi rejoiced...

"you are right..good looking people are hard to forget..i still can't get over Karthik.his smile, his sense of humour-"

"what led to the break up then?" Arnav snapped.. "he left you. How sad"

"oh he didn't leave me..i left him.."

"i see..how strange of you to let go of such a 'hard to forget' man so easily..you know, his smile, his sense of humor-"

"just the way you found it terribly easy to let go of an equally 'hard to forget' Pallavi I guess.you know, beautiful-"

"i still have an option. She might be willing"

"so do I..he might be too"

"you are still in contact?"

"of course I am!"

"fine. Then why don't you go to him?"

"why don't YOU go to Pallavi?"

"it's my choice"

"choice or wish?"

"why does that make a difference to you?"

"who said it does?"

"looks like it"

"your illusion. Why do YOU have a problem with Karthik?"

"who said I have?"

"looks like it"

"what a delusion"

(from being involuntarily jealous, to deliberately struggling to make each other jealous, Arnav and Khushi had certainly come a long way)

Arnav glanced right towards her then up and then his eyes widened as he suddenly shouted-

"KHUSHI MOVE!!"

"Wh-"

Khushi looked up and her own eyes widened in horror as she felt herself going numb on the spot..

she shut her eyes tight and before she knew, arms went around her as she was roughly, strongly, literally lifted off the ground and pulled with a force which had her crashing into Arnav..

while the heavy crystal chandelier completed it's downward journey from the high ceilings of the traditionally designed Ethnika showroom and crashed on the floor..

Khushi gasped in horror as she buried her head into his shoulders..the grip tightened around her as Arnav asked in a desperate voice..

"KHUSHI! You're fine?? speak dammit!"

(in another situation, the writer would have taken mighty pleasure in taking a jab at Arnav's worry. Oh yes Mr Raizada...the way you are holding her doesn't leave much scope for...ahem..but you see, he is worried, so I won't say anything..)

"yes..yes..i am fine" Khushi slowly recovered from the shock and stepped back and then hell broke loose as the showroom staff literally ran towards them..

Arnav held the collars of the caretaker as he pulled him forward in a jerk..and literally breathed into his face..

"that thing.could have fallen. On. my. Fiance. I hope..you have an explanation.."

"sir i-"

"JUST SHUT UP!" Arnav's voice boomed and shook the entire showroom..the staff trembled in their places..

"Arnav!" Khushi ran forward and literally pulled his hand away from the man's collar "what are you doing! It's ok! I am fine ! Relax! Please!"

Arnav very well didn't relax till the manager himself had to come and profusely apologize for the unfortunate incident..

they had been inside the car in complete silence for some time now..

Arnav glanced at Khushi's pale face and smirking, spoke-

"you do get scared don't you?"

Khushi coloured..

"i was not scared..i was..just..shocked.."

"didn't look plain shocked the way you-"

"i didn't...i was pulled" Khushi immediately spoke,the colour rising..

"yes ,but the way you buried your-"

"when are we reaching?"

"head into m-"

"are we home?"

Arnav smirked...and Khushi played nervously with her hair trying to control her massive heart rate while she turned to looked out of the window..

That night Gupta household was a sight worth watching. Amid Dress trials, phonecalls, there was the noise of Payal narrating her sarcastic exchanges of the entire visit, Khushi moving around red all over, remeberances of the showroom incident making the evolution too difficult to handle, Nihaal teasing her with - 'my tomato Lattu', 'Lattu is going reeeddd', 'haww Lattu what happened??' and at 'hey, did cement pile collapse or something' Mrs Gupta had to intervene to save the vase from being broken on Nihaal's head.

Next evening-

The Raizada Mansion was dressed as the Raizada Mansion should dress on the occasion of the engagement of Mr Raizada. Anjali had personally looked into all aspects of the decoration and arrangements,and in this sphere, she was certainly no less than her brother..everything was classy, yet traditional and the breathtaking beauty of the glimmering hall earned showering compliments..

Arnav smoothed his sherwani sleeves as he walked down the stairs, Aakash by his side discussing this and that when Anjali's eyes fell on her brother..

Arnav looked at her she raised her eyebrows high in a 'my brother looks handsome doesn't he?' fashion..

Arnav slightly smirked as he shook his head at her..and was soon surrounded by guests, business partners, and the elite company which graced the occasion..ample care had been taken to ensure the media did not walk past the main gate of the mansion (which was kind of ironical, not calling the matchmaker for the engagement tst tst)..the Guptas nevertheless would have to face the spotlight until they walked into the premises, and the dozens of cameras awaiting at the site would very well make sure of that..

Arnav kept eying the door repeatedly, his mind wandered to the last party the mansion had witnessed, where he, the host had entered in a drenched state from the main door while Khushi had took the backdoor route..he slightly smirked as he remembered the incident..

little had they known then, that the next party which was to be witnessed in the mansion would be of their engagement..

"The Guptas are here!" Mrs Raizada called out as she tiptoed on her heels, balancing her 'screaming the label' saree, to Anjali..

All heads turned towards the main door..

And sure enough, Khushi Kumari Gupta, balancing her lehenga, (this time thankfully from the main door) stepped into the hall..with an awesomely handsome Nihaal escorting her inside..while the rest of the family followed..

And that's when several breaths hitched..

for an engagement which was supposed to be fake, Khushi certainly looked breathtaking...

for an engagement which was supposed to be fake, Arnav certainly looked too awestruck..

for an engagement which was supposed to be fake, Khushi certainly blushed quite a natural pink..

for an engagement which was supposed to be fake, it certainly didn't look like it..

for a couple which was supposed to be namesake, they certainly looked in love...

for their love story which was supposed to be unexpectedly expected, it was certainly turning out to be one..

(picture credit- google images)