"Oh will you grow up," Deviyani said with a roll of her eyes. "Your sister has been in love with your friend, she didn't commit a crime."
Arnav's eyes widened as he stared back at Deviyani.
"Why is this family so afraid to say anything," Deviyani sighed, and she headed out the room. "Only Anjali managed to get my courage."
"We heard you," Arnav and Avantika called out after her, but Deviyani didn't respond and left.
Avantika placed her head down on her knees again. "Ugh, first he heard the voice memo, and now Bhai knows - I'm way beyond mortified!"
"I... bye," and Arnav left.
"What-? Bhai," but Arnav had already left. "Khushi, can you go after him? And make sure that he doesn't kill Virat?"
Khushi was about to roll her eyes, but then paused - she had seen many times how overprotective Arnav was when it came to Avantika. And be it Virat or anyone, it didn't matter and Arnav would swing his fist if necessary.
Shit!
Without another thought, Khushi dashed after Arnav, going to his room. When she reached it, she found Arnav sitting on his bed, his chin resting in his folded hands.
Now to this, Khushi couldn't help but to roll her eyes. Oh, it is not that serious, drama king!
Khushi entered the room and sat down beside Arnav. Arnav snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Khushi, then took her hand in his. He remained silent, looking down at their entwined hands.
What is going through that head of his?
Bringing her other hand to his cheek, Khushi tilted his face up so that he would meet her eyes. She tried to see if she could figure out what he was thinking, but he seemed to be confused as well.
Arnav let out a sigh. "Honestly, I dunno if I should punch him or just kick him where it hurts most."
Khushi scowled at him. Oh would you- it's not that big of a deal!
Khushi let go of his cheek and pulled her other hand out of his hold, and crossed her arms.
"Hey!"
Khushi scowled at him once more and looked away.
"Hey, she's my little sister! And I'm not gonna let any fucker just-!"
This time Khushi arched her eyebrow at him. Oh, so one of your best boys is now a 'fucker' hmm?
Arnav looked away, irritated.
Arnav....
With a sigh, Khushi wrapped her arms around his, placing her head on his shoulder.
"I know that she's not a kid anymore," Arnav said in a low voice, "but she'll always be my baby sister, no matter what."
Khushi nodded in agreement. True... but she has a right to fall in love with someone.
"It's just... why'd it have to be Virat? Not that Virat is bad guy, we both know how he is - way better than if it were Vikram, that fucker would've been knocked out cold at this point if it was him, but...."
Well you have a point, thank goodness it wasn't Vikram; but Virat's not bad at all.
Khushi rested her chin on his shoulder and Arnav looked at her. Her eyes said the words her mouth couldn't, and Arnav understood.
"No, Virat's not even close to as bad as Vikram, but Avantika is still my little sister. Do you honestly think I should just let it be? What about the awkwardness that would be created if things don't go well?"
Don't think negatively!
"Okay, okay, cool it, stop widening your at me like that," but Khushi scowled in return.
"I just don't want things to get weird."
That's not something we can control. It all comes down to those two.... The ball is now in Virat's side of the court - we'll just have to see how he responds.
Arnav let out a groan and laid back, taking Khushi with him. He held her in his arms and buried his face in her hair. "First us, and now my little sister and friend - what is going on?"
Khushi couldn't help her grin. I guess love is just in the air.
Arnav pulled away so he could look at her. "I'm not allowed to do anything, am I?"
Khushi shook her head.
"Not even a punch?"
She scowled at him and Arnav chuckled.
"Okay fine, I won't do anything on one condition - you have to kiss me."
Khushi rolled her eyes, even though she was absolutely humored by him. She had no problem with his condition whatsoever, so she kissed him.
"Question - can I hurt him if he hurts her," he murmured.
Khushi nodded. Absolutely!
"Perfect," and Arnav kissed her, holding her in his arms.
*~*
It's safe to say that after that day, poor Avantika was on edge. She was absolutely terrified to go before Virat and would do whatever she could to avoid him. Khushi, Anjali and Deviyani found this ridiculous, but Avantika was just being that - Avantika.
Arnav had managed a way to take Khushi out on their first date without Amoli or Vijay being suspicious whatsoever. The excuse had been that Anjali and Shyam was taking them out to dinner and that they'd meet the new couple there, thus allowing for them to leave separately. Of course, Anjali and Shyam had gone off to do their own thing, while Arnav took Khushi to an elegant restaurant.
Although many words weren't exchanged, for most of the time, the couple would hold onto each others hand. After dinner, they took a stroll in the park, walking hand in hand under the star-filled night sky. Later in the evening, when they went home, Arnav took her to her cottage and kissed her goodnight.
While there was a desire to take her to his room instead, Arnav knew it was wrong and suppressed his male urges. He did so every time because he loved her and respected her, and would never force her to do anything she didn't like. And so no matter how many times they went on a date, he would suppress it. Its not that it bothered him, but there was something else that did.
Her voice.
Arnav missed hearing Khushi's voice very much, and he knew his family did as well. With each day he spent with her, he hoped that it would encourage her to speak again. But as each day passed and she remained silent, Arnav began to lose hope.
"You should never lose hope Chote."
If there was anyone Arnav could turn to, it would always be Anjali. He had voiced his concerns to her many times before, and he did so this time as well.
"What else should I do Di? I can't exactly go up to her and be like hey, I want you to talk to again but you won't because you're traumatized, let's go to therapy! I mean that just sounds absurd."
"It is, and I get your frustration, trust me; we've been dealing with it for almost 4 years now."
"How can you tolerate it," Arnav asked, turning to her. "Her staying quiet and creating her own version of sign language, I mean how... shit!"
Arnav looked away and Anjali placed her hand on his shoulder.
"I wanna kill that fucker," he said, his voice menacingly low.
"I understand your anger, but you won't - it's wrong and you can never do something as evil as that, nor will you ever do anything that would keep you away from Khushi forever, and I don't just mean by going to prison."
Arnav didn't say anything, still quite angry.
Anjali sighed. "Even if we were to get justice, it just isn't possible. We don't know what that guy looks like and Khushi could never get herself to describe that man-"
"He's not a man, he's a monster."
"Whatever he is, we can't find him. We can only hope that he comes out on his own."
"He'll regret it the moment he does."
"Hmm.... Speaking of coming out, are you going to come out with us to the Kapoor's camping event?"
"Nah, I don't want to."
"Me neither, although Avantika is torn in between going and not going."
"How come?"
"Well," Anjali sighed, "there's the whole thing with Sana, you know how she can be when it comes to that girl. Then there's the matter of Virat."
Arnav rolled his eyes.
"Think what you want, but you know she's always been very childish."
"I know, and that's exactly why I'm making this face. I admit, I wasn't too happy about this in the beginning, but the way she's behaving is ridiculous. I mean she hid in a bush! A fucking bush!"
"Wait what? Why?"
"Remember two weeks ago when she asked me to pick her up from the mall? Well Virat was there buying a gift for his mother's birthday so when she saw me talking to him, she dived into the bushes and didn't come out until Virat left. And then she had the nerve to blame me for ruining her blowout."
"Hai DM-! What am I going to do with this girl?"
"Help her get some guts, I mean this has gotten way past the point of ridiculous."
"Agreed, I'll have to have a talk with her. Oh, and another thing...."
Arnav looked at his sister curiously.
"Have you and Khushi gotten past that point," she asked, wiggling her eyebrows.
Hard as Arnav tried not to, his cheeks heated. "Shut up Di."
Anjali burst out int laughter. "Hey, I'm only asking because I want to make sure my little brother is being safe."
"Di!"
"What," she laughed.
Arnav muttered below his breath, wishing for Shyam to be back. Ever since his case went back on, he had been even busier than before, giving Anjali even more time to mess about with her siblings.
"No really Chote," Anjali said as she calmed down, "have you two?"
"No, now drop it!"
"How chivalrous of you," and she crossed her arms. "Would you?"
"What the-!"
"Would you? That is, if you could, would you?"
"What is with this would and could nonsense," Arnav scowled.
"Oh hush it with that male ego, you know what I mean - if Khushi agreed, would you?"
Arnav looked away, very much annoyed with his sister.
If she thinks she's going to get an answer out of me, well, she's sadly mistaken.
"I mean... I know what her opinion is on this topic but oh well," and she turned away to leave.
What the-?
Arnav turned to Anjali. "Wait what?"
Anjali glanced back at Arnav with a smirk and Arnav scowled at her.
"Di!"
"What," she said innocently. "I just know some things through girl chat."
"First of all, she hasn't spoken in years," Arnav frowned. "How would she have actually chatted about it with you?"
"Who said she told me recently? And who said I didn't make a recent follow up to know if it's still very much true," and she turned to leave.
"But- wait, Di," he called out, but Anjali had left.
What... she... what?
No comments:
Post a Comment