UE part 36

Khushi was still resting her head on the car door when she heard another car halting beside her..

she turned her head right to see a sparkling white Mercedes Benz by her side..

The chauffeur jumped off and opened the door while the driver too soon stood by his side..

Arnav stepped out, had a look at Khushi, who in turn chose to find the night sky more interesting, had a look at the SUV and motioned his staff to take care of it..

"yes sir. But sir, ma'am-" the driver moved to speak before Arnav cut him mid way..

"i will drive ma'am home. Take the car for repair"

"sure sir"

The chauffeur not certain of what was expected of him, had to receive just one look from Arnav..before he scurried behind the driver to the SUV..

Drive home alongside a dragon , whose SUV you had just dented, who you had the most classically awkward moment with just moments ago, who you had deserted alone in the restaurant, who was looking at you with a 'yes I eat flesh' kind of look, all alone?

NO WAY. She had hurt her arm but Khushi Kumari Gupta had not hit her head..

"i guess I should accompany them to the gara-" she started but Arnav's look was enough for her to leave it at that..

moments later,the SUV zoomed past them..

Arnav started stepping forward..till he stood at arms length from her..

"before you fire at me I wish to explain" Khushi immediately spoke..

Arnav crossed his arms on his chest in an 'I am listening' gesture..though you could still see the smoke coming out of the ears..

"so I was driving-"

"you left the damn restaurant and ran"

"and before I knew, this huge tree-"

" in my SUV"

"I tried to swerve left-"

"without an explanation"

"but it nevertheless hit before I knew"

"in front of the entire DAMN RESTAURANT!"

"Look ,can we please stick to topic A before switching to topic B?"

"Khushi do you even realize" he spoke slow and steady "what could have happened?"

"Look I know I am no Jenson Button at driving but it was not my fault-"

"o really! I guess you were driving right?"

"but it's such a big tree! How could i-"

Arnav raised his eyebrows in a 'oh I see!' gesture..

"Khushi was the tree driving towards you or were you driving towards the tree?"

Khushi still looked everywhere except him as she traced patterns on the mud with her foot..

before she knew, Arnav had taken a leap forward and held her tight by the arms..

"KHUSHI LOOK AT ME!! WHAT if it was not a tree but a TRUCK! WHAT if it had not been a mere bump? WHAT IF YOU HIT SOME GODDAMN SPEEDING CAR OR BUS AND-"

He didn't seem willing to even finish his sentence as If a genie was standing before him, ready to turn his words into reality..

Khushi blinked..then blinked again, eyes wide at the outburst, then lightly murmured..

"you.. would have to buy a new SUV?"

Arnav shut his eyes tight to gain control. Then opened them to present his dragon avatar before Khushi who was sure that all he needed now was a tail..

"Arnav ..please! It's just a dent! I will pay!"

"IT'S NOT ABOUT THE DAMN CAR!!" he roared and a few leaves from the tree could have fallen due to the thunder in his voice..

Khushi paralyzed in his grip, eyes wide in alarm, but just before Arnav could proceed, which he very well intended to, he felt something wet on his palm, which was still tightly on her arm..his eyes widened further as he recognized it to be blood..

and that was enough to land Arnav Singh Raizada from dragon to 'let's act mommy' mode..

He raised his eyes to her face, his look, screaming concern..

"Khushi.."

Khushi winced with pain as she had a look at the state of the arm herself..it was an abrasion, nothing very terrible, but blood had nevertheless covered quite a bit of the area..

she moved to touch the arm when Arnav snapped-

"just leave that alone"

he removed his hands and then looked at the bruise..Khushi winced yet again..Arnav gulped..

Damn SUV. Damn tree. Damn steering wheel. Damn mucous membrane.

"it's okay Khushi. It's just a bruise. It's not hurting k?..it's..stop touching the damn thing! ..it's okay..it's not hurting..yes..right!not hurting.."

"Arnav?"

"what?"

"it is"

"it is what?"

"it is hurting. Stop speaking on my behalf.."

saying that, she touched the bruise, frowning again..

"Khushi stop touching it k? Now you will SHUT UP and stand here. Am I clear?"

"but-"

ASR look given.

"...okay okay!chill!" (mumbling "cement pile..")

Arnav stepped back to his car and opening the door in one swift motion bent half his body inside to grab a bottle from the storage and the first aid box..

while Khushi, seizing the opportunity of him looking elsewhere slowly moved to touch her bruise when his "Khushi I think I told you to leave that alone!" from inside the car made her switch immediately to attention position pretending to tuck her hair strand underneath her ears..

"i..am not touchi-...what is that?"

He held her arm bringing it forward and before Khushi knew, her wound was receiving the same amount of careful inspection as the AR annual report had..

a slow smile crept up her face, despite the havoc inside her at the sight of Arnav tending to the bruise,..and before she knew, a slight pink adorned her cheeks..Arnav looked at her and raised an eyebrow. She blushed scarlet and looked elsewhere..he smirked and got back to the bruise..she drew in a sharp breath and played with her hair..he smirked wider and looked at her again..

the blood slowly got washed away as he poured water over it..his eyes never leaving hers all the while..

"WHAT is that?" Khushi exclaimed as she saw him opening a tiny bottle and turning over a few drops on the cotton..

"Acid" he replied nonchalantly..

"WHAT!! oh..it's dettol.."

"einstein.." he muttered as he dabbed it gently on the bruise..

That was enough to bring Khushi from 'blush' to 'normal' mode..

"excuse me! I didn't know it had started coming in blue color. I always used the yellow one ...you know? These people are always changing the colour of things-ouch!ouch!no..it's okay...now it will hurt the entire night and I won't be able to sleep..anyway, what was I saying? Yes, can you imagine they launched my favorite shampoo in green colour? Like seriously! Who would like to pour green stuff on their scalp? So I changed the brand...why are you emptying the whole bottle on one wound? Like you have already spoilt the dress...blue on onion pink! This is one of my favorite dresses, though when I saw it in the shop first time, I never thought I would buy it but jiji told me it would look good so-"

Arnav was done with the first aid and had straightened..

"Khushi"

"i thought I should buy it nevertheless and then-"

"Khushi!"

"haan? You said something?"

"yes. Shut up"

Arnav shouldn't have said it. He SO shouldn't have said it. And he realized it the instant he did. His very 'shut up' led to the rushing back of the memories of another 'SHUT UP!" of hardly an hour ago, and of what had followed..

and as very expected, the calm , cool atmosphere immediately turned into an awkward, tense one..

Khushi beetroot red, drew in a sharp breath..

Arnav mentally did a kung-fu on himself..

the street suddenly seemed too empty..why the hell wasn't some damn car passing by!

"um.."

silence..

"i..i guess I should..we should..you should..i mean both of us should-"

"leave" he finished it for her and abruptly turned and opened the car door..she nodded and stepped inside..

they had been in the car for a while now and Khushi folded her arms on her chest..

"don't rest it there. Keep the elbow straight"

she looked at him confused.he shook his head slowed down the car, turned and straightened her elbow himself.. "Now keep it that way!"

"Arnav?"

"what?"

"do I get a candy now?"

He turned to give her a shocked look which immediately turned back to 'whatever' look as he saw her grinning mischievously..

"what?" she asked "you ARE treating me like a 2 year old right?"

"that is because you behave like a two year old"

and while Khushi continued with her "excuse me?!!" after that, the car sped towards Aashiana blocks..

"Khushi!"

Khushi stopped in her tracks as she walked away from the car as Arnav called out to her..

she looked at him..Arnav stared at her for a while..

"in the restaurant..that..-"

awkward silence...

"ya..ya it's.."

"happens..so.."

"um..yes of course.."

"hmm.."

"er..well..goodnight"

"g'night..and don't touch that!" he pointed at the bruise..

she nodded and smiled before turning away..he turned back towards the car..

Khushi was at her work desk inside her room, when Nihaal slowly bent himself till his head reached her ears and lightly whispered..

"Lattu?"

Khushi jumped out of her skin as she swiftly raised her head to look at him..

"i hope you realize that you have been staring and smiling at that bruise since the past 20 minutes..that's not what people normally do in pain"

Khushi immediately turned beetroot red as she flustered.. "no bhai, actually i-"

Nihaal smiled an amused smile "Dinner's waiting. Come soon"

and left the room, leaving a confused, pink and flustered Khushi behind..

"Di why didn't you call me if nani was sick!"

"i called you chotte! Several times! You just wouldn't pick up! And I couldn't even contact the doctor-"

"then who brought the doctor home?"

"er..Nihaal"

"Nihaal Gupta?"

"obviously!"

"obviously??"

"no..i mean yes..i mean, what else could I do??"

silence..

"hmm.."

Payal broke the silence on the dining table , bringing two of her siblings out of some trance they seemed to be in..

"Aakash has called all of us for a movie tomorrow. At RM"

A Cheshire cat grin immediately lighted up on Khushi's face..

"Aakash singh Raizada called you for a movie?"

"Khushi I guess you didn't hear properly. I said he called 'us' for a movie"

"bhai can you believe fire extinguisher finally asked her out for a movie?"

"Khushi I said 'US'! You, me and Nihaal!"

"exactly Lattu! Finally! HER fire extinguisher called HER for a movie"

"Enough! And what do you mean by 'finally'??"

"Relax jiji..it's good he called YOU for a movie"

"that's it. I am done!" Payal got up from the table and marched out while Nihaal and Khushi shared a high5..

Siblings have eagle eye observation powers.

The fact that her brother had a plastered hardly-there smirk on his face throughout dinner never missed Anjali..

"um..chotte?"

"hm.."

(still lost and immersed in food. smirk intact. Note to self- Anjali Singh Raizada- your brother is a lost case)

Anjali ran her hands over her saree..

"beautiful, don't you think?" she asked..

"very" Arnav almost whispered, eyes still on the plate..

Anjali bit her lower lip in sheer amusement..

"ahem..very?"

"hm.."

"who?"

"Khushi"

pin drop silence on the table...even Mrs Raizada couldn't stop a smirk, while nani raised amused eyebrows at her grandson..

who suddenly realized the situation..

"Khushi? I see.." Anjali mumbled..

"Sushi. I said sushi. Di please pass the sushi" (damage control)

"should I pass the beautiful sushi or should I pass the 'very' beautiful sushi chotte?" Anjali asked innocently..

"forget it. I am done" Arnav immediately got up from his seat and marched towards the stairs..

"Chotte!" Anjali called out..and he turned his head towards her..

"Aakash is back tomorrow morning and has invited Khushi, Nihaal and Payal for a movie in the evening"

"fine"

"you are supposed to be there"

"no thanks di. I have work-"

"chotte" Nani interrupted.. "you can compromise on work for a couple of hours. Your fiance is coming and it is basic manners"

"nani I don't do movies"

"well, she does, and marriage is all about understanding and compromise"

"marriage?"

"you will get married someday right?"

"nani i-"

"chotte I insist. Please please please with cherry on top? Ok, fine, with AR files on top?"

Long live emotional blackmailing..and yes, AR files..

The young bloods of the Raizada and Gupta household were together at last..nani and Mrs Raizada gladly left the youngsters to themselves stating excuses..

Arnav and Khushi together on adjacent seats. Nihaal and Anjali just below them while Payal and Aakash occupied the seats on their diagonal left below..

"so 'dusky path' it is..Harrold Bane I guess is the male lead right?" Nihaal asked Aakash who nodded in approval..

"Harrold Bane? I guess Khushi is already pink by now?" Payal turned her head and raised her eyes at Khushi while Arnav did just the same..

and sure enough, Khushi was already pink.. "Excuse me! I am not pink!"

"just because your fiance is here I will refrain myself from disclosing some very interesting-"

"when does the movie begin?" Khushi immediately cut in while Arnav raised an eyebrow..

Anjali had arranged for popcorns and each of the three couples had one popcorn bag. Arnav Singh Raizada wasn't exactly a popcorn guy so it was all Khushi's fortune who had already begun munching away..

"genre?" Anjali asked Aakash..

"romantic tragedy"

Again Nihaal and Payal turned their heads to look up at Khushi while again, Arnav gave them a 'should I be knowing something?' look..

"be ready for elephant trumpeting beside you bro" Nihaal chuckled at Arnav who widened his eyes while Khushi threw the popcorns in her hand at Nihaal..

"OH GOD LATTU! You hit me with POPCORN! I am bleeding! Someone call the ambulance!"

"shut up bhai!"

"shhh! It's started!" Payal called out..

The lights dimmed and the movie began..or should I say...'movies'?

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