Chapter 19 Home Sweet Home

Scene 1

The rest of the family walk casually to the car still lost in their talks and occasional laughing at NK’s expense. Their hands are heavily laden with numerous bags, no wonder the ladies feeling thrilled with the spoils of their shopping expedition. Suddenly their attention is diverted seeing the co-driver’s door open and a pale looking Khushi sitting on the edge of the seat, her head bowed. Payal immediately rushes to her side looking concerned. 

“Khushi! What happened to you?” Payal asks Khushi. The Raizadas too mill up around her looking worriedly at her. 

Khushi looks up at the gathering of people around her and hastily gets to her feet. She greets them with a smile, although she is panting as if she’s run a mile uphill and her racing heartbeats are taking their sweet time in calming down. “Nothing Jeeji, I’m completely fine,” Khushi replies reassuredly. NK looks at her scrutinisingly. 

“Liar liar,” he suddenly blurts. NK looks around at others’ curious looks. “Khushiji’s head was reeling. That is why she came to the car looking for the water bottle,” he explains to everyone. Khushi’s smile gets momentarily replaced by pursed lips as she glares at NK. As he notices her reaction, he realises he wasn’t supposed to tell anyone this. He immediately takes the bags from everyone’s hands and makes his way to the rear of the car to dump them in the trunk. Khushi again smiles at everyone. 

“So Anjali ji. Done with your shopping?” Khushi asks, in hopes to distract them. It works. Anjali looks at her excitedly. 

“Yes Khushiji. I’m so happy that you decided to join us. The salesmen would have robbed us blind otherwise,” Anjali replies as she starts getting on the middle seat. Khushi helps her get in, consciously aware of Arnav standing on the opposite door looking at both of them, lest they needed any help. Khushi tentatively raises her eyes just once to meet his angry ones and immediately looks away. Once satisfied that Anjali, Mamiji and Payal were all seated comfortably, Khushi slams the door shut and starts making her way towards the back to sit with NK and Nandini again. 

“You sit in the front,” the stern commandeering voice of Arnav stops her dead in her tracks. Her heartbeat starts racing again. She gulps as she sees Arnav standing beside the rear door. Wasn’t he standing up front a second earlier? How did her get here so fast? She wonders idly. 

“I’m fine sitting at the back,” Khushi mutters, not looking at him directly. 

“Khushi, better than you shouting the directions from the last seat, you sit on the front seat,” Arnav contradicts angrily. “At least other’s won’t get distrubed that way.” Khushi’s gaze hikes up and she indignantly gapes at him with her mouth wide open. Oh really? So I’m disturbing everyone now, she thinks angrily. Without waiting for her reply, Arnav marches back to the front and gets behind the wheel. Kicking herself mentally at not being able to retort back at Arnav with any snappy comebacks, Khushi beckons Aakash to come and sit at the back, while she sullenly gets into the front seat. Arnav turns on the ignition and eases the SUV out of the parking lot. 

Khushi tries very hard not to look at the grumpy person who is sitting next to her, but the waves of anger that are emanating from just inches away aren’t helping her at all. She steals a glance at him from the corner of her eyes and sees the taught muscles of Arnav’s forearms as he grips the steering wheel. It is not rocket science for her to figure out why he was so angry. Actually, she knew why he was angry. Because I pushed him away, Khushi tells herself. She looks to her left towards the door frame, her thoughts flying back to the surreal thing that had happened minutes before. 

Khushi feels her breathing steadily hiking up as she remembers the way Arnav had cornered her and they way he had talked to her huskily. They way he had prodded her to push him away in that challenging way all the while reducing the distance between them, walking towards her in that slow tantalising manner. She again sneaks a glance at Arnav who was sitting rigidly beside her and remembers the surprise on his face when she had pushed him away and how he had relentlessly walked towards her again. Khushi suddenly feels an unfamiliar warmth creeping on to her face. She raises her fingers to touch her cheek and realises that she was blushing! 

She leans her head back on the headrest and shuts her eyes, taking a deep breaths. Kuch nahin tha woh Khushi. Woh Laad Governer bas tujhe tang karne ki koshish kar raha hai. Tu behekna bilkul bhi mat, she steels to herself resolutely. Relieved to find her breathing returning to normal, she opens her eyes and stares at the road straight ahead, mentally promising herself that she won’t look at Arnav til the time she got home. 

*

Arnav only knew how he was managing to keep up his calm exterior as anger bubbled inside him. Everything was going brilliantly fine. He had her cornered, he had her captivated in his advances and then out of nowhere –she pushed me away! He thinks to himself incredulously. I mean how dare she do that? She wanted me too! I could see it in her eyes. She wanted me and she was scared that she did. Arnav thought frustratedly. Ever since the whole fiasco of the ring had cleared up, Khushi hadn’t allowed him to come close to him, or even to be alone in the same room. She had been evading him purposefully and the prospect was now making Arnav crazy. 

Even now, with her sitting so close to him, Arnav is in a near frenzied state. Actually, it was just a ruse to make her sit on the front seat. Since, Arnav’s road sense was brilliant, he already knew the way back. Despite his anger with her, he wanted to feel her close to him. And sitting in a car, this was as close she was going to get. 

His head feels heavy being saturated with her scent – a curious mix of fruitiness from her hair mingled with the faint traces of her jasmine perfume. His hands are itching to touch her skin again. And his eyes… his eyes are dying to look sideways to take a glimpse of the woman who was the sole reason of driving him insane but his ego steels him not to. And so, despite the cheerful talks happening in the back seats, a wary silence hangs between them, both thinking of what had happened by the door a few minutes ago and feeling physically conscious of the other person sitting merely inches away. 

* 

The car screeches to a halt outside the Gupta House half an hour later. Khushi sits still in the front seat for a moment longer, not participating in the conversation, waiting for Arnav to say something. But as he had determinedly promised himself, Arnav remains stoically quiet. Khushi frowns at him for a moment and then angrily gets out of the car, muttering “Laad Governer!” under her breath. Arnav glares at her retreating back. 

Everybody starts bidding their byes in the backseat while Anjali reminds Payal that they’ll send a car to take them to the airport the next morning. 

“Payal ji, please make sure all of you are ready by 07:30 in the morning. The flight is at 9:30 but it will take some time to get Bauji checked in. Aakash will come to pick you up in the morning.” Anjali smiles at the Gupta sisters. 

Just as Nandini starts making her way towards Khushi and Payal, NK blurts out, “It was nice meeting you, Nandini ji!” Nandini pauses, turns around and stares at him for a moment. Then she politely smiles back at him. “It was nice meeting you too, NK.” She replies. NK is thrilled that she smiled at him and without saying another word to Khushi or Payal, he dazedly walks to the back of the car and gets in. 

Nandini then makes her to the front of the SUV, and peeps her head in through the open window of the co-driver’s seat. Khushi feels her heart jump to her throat at seeing this. “Bye Arnav,” Nandini cooes smiling at him. Khushi’s eyes narrow as Arnav smiles back at Nandini. “Bye Nandini. It was nice meeting you.” He replies politely. Khushi seethes. Right, so Laad Governer can talk to everyone but me! She thinks to herself irritatedly. She walks to Nandini and gently tugs at her elbow to get her away from the car. Khushi and Arnav’s eyes meet for fraction of a second, Khushi glaring at him while Arnav is suddenly grinning unexplicably at her. Khushi furrowes her eyebrows in confusion. Now what happened to him? She wonders to herself. Arnav merely turns on the ignition again and drives away. 

The three girls slowly make their way back into the house and Khushi realises for the first time that her sister is holding a few bags too. It seemed Aakash had splurged quite a bit for his beloved wife. Just then Garima walks out of the house to greet them. 

“So all done with the shopping?” she asks smiling at the three girls who nod back at her. “Go and freshen up. Dinner is ready” She says and walks back towards the kitchen. 

Khushi and Nandini settle down on Khushi’s bed while Payal starts keeping her shopping packets inside her travelling bags. Nandini lounges lazily on the bed now that their shopping excursion was done and she had access to a bed again. She picks up a magazine that is lying on the bed and flips disinterestedly through it, sinking into a silence. Khushi studies Nandini warily, her mind going into overdrive as to how she could get the information out of her that she desired. 

“So Nandini ji, how did you like Jeeji’s in-laws’ family?” Khushi asks, her voice sounding extra cheerful. 

“Very nice,” Nandini replies nonchalantly still flipping through the magazine. 

“How did you like Jeejaji?” Khushi asks her again. 

“Really nice,” Nandini allows a small smile to appear on her face. “He’s quiet but Jeeji and he are a really cute couple together.” Khushi smiles back at her. 

“They they are,” she concedes. “Manorama Mami?” Khushi prods again. Nandini frowns. 

“She was just weird. And why does she talk in English if she doesn’t know English? Hearing her constant hello hi made my ears bleed,” Nandini says annoyedly. Khushi suppresses a giggle. Trust Nandini to be so blunt. 

“Mamiji is like that only. What about Anjali ji?” Khushi asks. Nandini smiles fondly. 

“She is so sweet. I have to admit, roaming around the shops even with in such a pregnant state. Which month is she progressing on?” Nandini asks. 

“It’s her 8th month. I think she’s expecting around Diwali.” Khushi replies, doing the math in her head. She notices Nandini was absorbed in the magazine. She cocks her head to one side and asks, “Nanhe ji?” Nandini looks up from the magazine and narrows her eyes. Khushi immediately straightens her head and pretends to casually fiddle with the bedsheet. 

“He was okay,” Nandini replies looking back to the magazine. Khushi’s mouth drops opens. All this planning, the carefully orchestrated meeting and all Nandini’s impression was- 

“Only okay?” Khushi exclaims. Nandini nods her head not looking up. Khushi looks disappointed. First meetings don’t go just okay in movies. In movies, the air blows gently, the dupatta flies in the gust of air, hero and heroine move towards each other in slow motion. Nothing of that sort happened here, Khushi thinks to herself sullenly. 

“By the way you didn’t ask about Arnav?” Nandini suddenly says and with only one mention of that name from her lips, Khushi is snapped out of her fimly world and back to reality. She looks at Nandini apprehensively. Did she really want to hear what Nandini felt about Arnav? 

“Nandini ji, how did you like Arnavji?” Khushi asks, this time actually fiddling with the bedsheet, trying to mentally block out all the images of her friend talking to Arnav and him laughing at her. Nandini keeps the magazine aside and leans over to Khushi. 

“Brilliant!” Nandini gushes breathlessly as Khushi had feared. “I mean what a personality! Wow! And his style of talking. His smile!”As Nandini goes on raving about her meeting with Arnav and listing all the wonderful things she thought about him, irritation starts tugging at Khushi again. She wonders why had she asked Nandini that question and she really didn’t want to hear any of it. Who would really? 

“Khushi?” Nandini prods her after a few minutes. “Why has your face dropped listening about Arnav?” she rests her hands on Khushi when she asks her curiously. 

“It would obviously drop. It’s because of that man that Khushi’s is going through all this today!” Payal’s angry voice suddenly joins the scene from behind Nandini. She seems to have just heard the question that Nandini had asked Khushi. Nandini looks curiously from Payal to Khushi, who is now looking even more forlorn, and back to Payal. 

“Meaning?” Nandini asks Payal who looks angry now. Khushi glances at her sister imploringly. 

“Leave it, Jeeji,” she murmurs. Payal stomps in closer to the two girls. 

“Yeah right, when it is his fault, why should I leave it? Admitted that now he has done a lot for our faimly.  But he created all the mess in the beginning didn’t he?” Payal asks agitatedly. Nandini is now gaping at Payal, looking completely clueless about where the talk is headed. Khushi bows her head down sadly and doesn’t reply. Payal picks up a salwar suit from the chair and walks to her closet to keep it inside. “First make a mess and then straighten it up. Arnav Singh Raizada is ranked one in that aspect! You’ve given him an apt nick name Khushi. Laad Governer!” she mutters irrtatedly, although more to herself. Nandini holds Payal by her elbow and makes her sit on the bed between her and Khushi. 

“Payal Di, what are you saying? I can’t understand anything,” Nandini says confusedly. 

“Arnav Singh Raizada is the same man who broke his alliance with Khushi!” Payal announces and jumps up from the bed. “He’s the one who Khushi was to marry, but because of his anger and ego, he ruined everything.” Payal vents and angrily walks out of the room to clear her mind. 

Nandini is now gaping at Khushi horrorstruck. She looks at Khushi inquisitively who nods sadly to confirm what Payal just said. Nandini jumps off the bed too. She starts pacing next to the bed muttering things to herself. Then she suddenly stops to stare at Khushi, opening her mouth to say something but changes her mind and resumes her pacing. Khushi looks at her worriedly. 

“Nandini ji? What happened to you?” she asks warily. Nandini suddenly stops, her eyes glinting with anger. 

“I spent an entire evening laughing and chattering with that person. With that person?” she seethes. It is now Khushi’s turn to gape at her friend wondering what brought this sudden change in her demeanour. She nods in reply to Nandini. Nandini growls and holds her head in her hands. 

“Why didn’t you tell me before?!” Nandini yells at Khushi who jumps back at being shouted at. She opens her mouth to reply but Nandini starts off again, “HOW DARE HE? he broke his relation with my friend! With my Khushi! What does he think of himself?” Nandini vents out aggravatedly. Khushi purses her lips, wondering what to say. A little while ago Nandini had been fawning over Arnav and now she was ranting about him. 

“But you said you like him, Nandini ji,” Khushi finally murmurs. Nandini flashes an angry look at her.

“Because I had no clue that it was Arnav Singh Raizada who you were supposed to get married to! Ohh, I so hope I knew this well in advance! I’d have broken both his legs!” she hisses as resumes her pacing, muttering to herself. 

Khushi stares at her friend in amazement. Friendship was such a strange thing really. It made your best friends side with you unconditionally. X person hurts you and your best friend would hate X from the bottom of their heart. Y person breaks your heart, and you should just pray that Y never meets your best friend, for your best friend is fully capable of doing bodily harm to Y at that point of that. And the exhibit was right in front of Khushi. She had been worried that Nandini liked Arnav. Actually she had been jealous, but we’ll go with worried as Khushi will never admit she was jealous. But now that the truth was out, Nandini doesn’t even seem to remember Arnav’s charms or his smile or his sexy broody face. Khushi reaches out to the pacing Nandini and hugs her, feeling a sudden surge of affection for the best friend she had left behind. That action stops Nandini’s muttering.

 “Nandini, Khushi come, dinner is served,” Payal’s voice leads them to break their hug. Nandini’s anger finally seems to have cooled down a bit. As she grumpily walks out of Khushi’s room, Khushi thanks her Devi Maiyya for giving her such an amazing friend, and adds a small prayer that Nandini and Arnav don’t meet again.. for the long life and well being of Arnav’s limbs at least that Nandini was earnestly threatening to break off.

 SCENE 2

To say it is a mad house in Gupta Niwas would be the understatement of the century. Nandini had stayed the night over and so, Khushi and Nandini had been up most of the night chattering up about their old days of friendship, reminiscing about all the funny things they had done. Payal would have rested had their punctuated giggles and laughters not kept her awake. She had resorted to every trick in the book to make the two go to sleep but to no avail. So now, Khushi and Payal both were looking like bleary eyed zombies as they rushed to finish off their last minute packing.

“Khuseee! Your towel is still hanging on the rope outside to dry. Remember to pack it in your bag,” Garima shouts from her room. “Why didn’t you pack your things like Payal did last night?” Payal shoots Khushi an exasperated look as she helps her younger sister pack her things.

Garima is tending to Shashi who is smiling amusedly watching Khushi run around the house. Was it just yesterday that his little girl was all sad to return to Lucknow? And now look at her – running around like her rear was on fire.

Just then they hear a loud horn blaring through the morning air. Aakash had reached. He comes inside the house and greets Garima and Shashi.

“Amma, should I have the luggage kept in the car?” Garima nods in reply. Aakash summons the driver and both of them start loading the luggage in the car. Payal walks out of the house carrying Khushi’s bags and smiles at Aakash warmly. She is extremely happy that they were finally returning back to Delhi, and onwards to Shantivan. Despite everything that had happened previously, it is a reassuring feeling that things are slowly progressing to normalcy.

Finally after bowing their heads in front of the idols in their tiny mandir, the Gupta family locks the front door of their home and gets inside the car. The drive from Gupta House to the airport took exactly 30 minutes. It was a good thing that they had decided to leave couple of hours early as Shashi needed a separate check in owing to his medical condition. The Raizadas had already reached the airport and were waiting for them for the Gupta family in the executive lounge. They all were travelling in Business Class from Lucknow to Delhi. Once Gupta family complete their check in formalities and join the Raizadas, greetings are exchanged between everyone. Payal touches her mother-in-law’s feet and then Nani ji’s. Khushi too touches Naniji’s feet.

Arnav is talking on the phone at a distance when he notices Khushi.

“Aman, I’ll give you a call once I land in Delhi. Yes, they are all here now. Okay, good.” he says before disconnecting his phone. He stands still watching Khushi as she hugged Anjali and gave a high 5 to NK. Was it just his eyes or did she look tired and sleepy? He goes closer to the group and greets them. He notices Khushi meeting his eyes a little warily but he doesn’t react. She is obviously suddenly starting about the previous night’s meeting.

Soon the announcement is made for them to board the airplane. Naniji, Anjai, Shashi and Garima first go in. Arnav quickly pulls NK and Aakash to a side and whispers something to them. Aakash smiles, NK winks and then both nod conspiratorially at Arnav. Shortly after, it is their turn to board the airplane. Aakash immediately whisks Payal away with him first. NK pairs up with Mamiji and they both proceed towards the gate animatedly talking about their experiences of Lucknow.

Leaving Khushi with Arnav.

He stands still and lets her walk before him. The flight attendant checks their tickets and shows them in with a smile. As soon as they enter the Business Class of the airplane, Khushi notices that all the Raizadas and Guptas were already sitting together in pairs- Shashi and Garima, Naniji and Anjali, NK and Mami and Payal and Aakash, leaving only two seats for them. She frowns while Arnav smirks to himself. He walks close to her.

“Window or Aisle, Khushi?” he murmurs near her ear. Khushi jumps away from him.

“What?” she replies confusedly.

“You prefer window seat or the passage seat?” Arnav asks patiently. Sit wherever you want Khushi, you’re going to end up sitting next to me, he thinks smugly to himself. He watches as Khushi looks dubious between her choices. Arnav knows that it is her first time on an airplane and so her confusion is endearing.

“I want to sit next to the window,” Khushi finally announces, having grudgingly accepted who her co-passenger was going to be after all. Arnav stands back and extends his arm politely showing her in. They both settle into their seats.

“OUCH!” Khushi suddenly exclaims, straightening up.

“What happened?” Arnav asks concernedly.

“Uhm, what is this?” Khushi stands up and looks towards the upturned buckle of the seat belt.

“It’s a seat belt Khushi,” Arnav replies, suppressing a smile. He parts the two straps and keeps them on the either side of her seat. Then he motions for her to sit down.

“I get its need in a car, what is the need in an airplane? Who’s going to apply screeching brakes here?” Khushi mutters to herself and settles down. The plane starts taxing out. The air hostess suddenly appears and starts explaining the safety procedures. Arnav, having heard the instructions a million times, just buckles his seat belt and ignores her. Khushi on the other hand has her eyes and ears glued to what she was saying, her eyes widening when the air hostess mentions about masks dropping from the cabin above them and the directions to be followed in case there was a water based landing.

“But there is no sea between Delhi and Lucknow,” Khushi suddenly exclaims loudly. Arnav stares at her. “Are they going to land the plane in the river Ganges?” she asks innocently. Arnav stifles a chuckle. Trust Khushi to come up with perfectly insane questions. But that wasn’t the end of it. Once the air hostess goes back to her seat after finishing the announcements, Khushi’s struggle with the seat belt begins. Arnav watches her tongue slightly stick out from the side of her mouth as she studies each buckle and belt and checks how to get it right.

“Should I help?” Arnav offers. Khushi looks at him as if he is mad and then shakes her head vigourously.

“I’ll do it on my own,” she replies sternly. Arnav sits back and goes on watching her. After hearing the fifth grunt of frustration from her, he leans over to her. Khushi grips the armrests tightly and her eyes widen in shock as she watches Arnav come close to her. She gulps trying to moisten the sudden dryness in her mouth. Arnav gazes into her eyes, knowing quite well the way he was affecting her, while his hands dexterously buckle her seat belt into place.

Khushi is suddenly transported to another time; the first time she had gotten into Arnav’s car last year when they had gone looking for Anjali Di. She had had trouble putting her seat belt into place back then too and Arnav had grudgingly put it for her. History repeats itself eh? She is getting more and more aware of the way Arnav’s hands are brushing her gently near her waist. He tugs one strap to tighten it, and Khushi suddenly gasps breathlessly. Arnav allows a smirk to appear on his face. Then he loosens the seat belt to a comfortable level.

“Are you okay?” he whispers huskily to the wide eyed Khushi. Dazed as she is, she nods mutely. He hands her two ear buds. “Put them in your ear. You won’t feel uncomfortable when we take off,” Arnav explains. Khushi timidly takes it from him. The demerits of sitting on the window seat suddenly fly into Khushi’s mind. Trapped between the wall of the airplane on one side and Arnav Singh Raizada on the other wasn’t the best of conditions to be in.

The plane starts racing on the runway and Khushi is pushed back onto the backrest as if an enormous weight is resting on her chest. Khushi shuts her eyes in panic. Hey Devi Maiyya! It would have been so better for us to go to Delhi by train itself, she thinks scaredly to herself. Arnav notices Khushi’s expressions and smiles shaking his head slightly.

Suddenly she feels a pat on her shoulder. Her eyes snap open and she sees it is Arnav tapping. She freezes. I have an elephant sitting on my chest. What the hell does he need right now? She wonders. But he merely points towards the window. Khushi suddenly realises the reason why she had chosen the window seat was to watch outside while the plane took off. Excitedly she turns to the window, forgetting all about the elephants sitting on her chest. Arnav smiles again.

Once the plane reaches the cruising altitude, Khushi’s excitement fades and she yawns widely. Watching her so closely, Arnav realises that she indeed was looking tired. He frowns. Didn’t she get any sleep the previous night? He watches from the corner of his eyes as she coils up to one side, tucking her feet under her and closes her eyes. Arnav notices the goosebumps on her forearm and realises that she’s probably feeling cold, the vent being directly on her head. He adjusts the vent but when he sees the goosebumps still present all over her bare arm, he motions for the air hostess to get him a blanket. He carefully spreads the thin shawl-like blanket all over Khushi. He’s actually surprised that she had fallen asleep so quickly. He always had trouble sleeping during flights. In her sleep, Khushi’s head slowly droops inch after inch till it falls on Arnav’s shoulder.

Arnav freezes for a moment and watches her unsurely. Once convinced she indeed was asleep, he gently adjusts her head on his shoulder at a more comfortable angle. She mumbles something incoherent but cozies up to him. A fuzzy warm feeling envelops Arnav’s heart as he watches Khushi sleep. Who would have thought that just a few hours ago, she was fighting so hard to stay away from him?

Anjali suddenly shifts in her seat and turns her head sideways. She watches Arnav and Khushi sitting diagonally behind her. Well, Arnav sitting and Khushi sleeping on his shoulder. As if the message was being telepathically passed between the siblings, Arnav suddenly glances across the floor to look at his sister. A happy smile lights up Anjali’s face; happiness at seeing her brother slowly reducing the distances from his beloved Khushi. Arnav smiles back his sister and then goes back to watching Khushi.

It is so strange that the a week ago when he had flown down to Lucknow, all he had been doing was hopping from one seat to another, so much so that the entire 45 minutes of the flight duration he hadn’t been able to work at all on his laptop. Right now, Arnav doesn’t even remember that he has brought the laptop with him. He realises he is holding his breath, as he watches her sleep. Shaking his head slightly at his idiocy, he resumes breathing again.

A jolt and snapping noises jolt Khushi out of her sleep. She had slept all through the flight and also through the landing. She feels a strange pain in the crick of her neck and she realises it was because she was resting her head on something hard. No, not something, someone. She raises her head and looks up to find the chocolate orbs looking down at her. With sudden recognition, Khushi straightens up wiping the corner of her mouth, hoping she had not drooled on Arnav’s coat.

“Are you alright?” Arnav asks again. Khushi stares at him. Twice within one hour?She wonders. She again nods mutely at him. “Should I unbuckle it for you?” he offers. Khushi just sits back in her seat, knowing that he’ll end up doing it for her as it is. Arnav smirks as he understands her reaction and undoes her buckle. He stands up and gets out of the way for Khushi to come out to the aisle. Khushi immediately rushes next to Payal as if staying with Arnav for a moment longer could be hazardous. Arnav smiles amusedly at her antics.

A few minutes later, the big gathering makes their way to the baggage claim. It is decided that they would split up into two parties with Anjali, Nani, Mamiji, NK, and Arnav heading to Shantivan and Aakash, Payal, Khushi, Garima and Shashi returning to Laxmi Nagar. Once Shashi gets settled, Aakash and Payal would go back to the alternate house to pack up their remaining things and finally return to Shantivan in the evening.

Khushi waits for her bag and Arnav walks to stand next to her.

“Till when are you going to ignore me Khushi?” he asks her in a low voice so that only they can hear each other. Her eyes widen.

“when did I stop talking to you?” she counter questions him. Now it is Arnav’s turn to get wide eyed.

“You have been avoiding me since yesterday. Why are you constantly running away from me? I’m not going to eat you up,” he says with a smirk on his face. Khushi’s eyes narrow. She knew that cocky expression all too well. She starts getting irritated.

“What do you want to talk? Speak!” she hisses at him. Arnav looks around him in surprise.

“Here? Now?” he asks.

“Yes. Here. Now. Speak!” she repeats, looking at him crazy eyed. Arnav is about to open his mouth when NK smilingly walks between them and picks up his bag. Aakash immediately follows after NK. Khushi stands and stares at Arnav with her hand on her waist. Finally her own bag arrives that she picks up, puts on her trolley and starts walking towards her family, leaving Arnav standing alone and frustrated yet another time.

Scene 3

Aakash, Garima and Payal are happily talking to each other about the prospects of returning back to Shantivan but Khushi is silent during the whole journey between the airport and Laxmi Nagar, giving only monosyllabic answers when talked to. She is just staring out of the window, watching the landscape flash by her eyes in a hazy blur. But her mind is not registering that either. She is thinking about her experience in the flight.

She feels breathless for a moment as she remembers his gaze on her, his breath close to her face, his fingers brushing her torso… the playful words, the teasing talk, the murmurs of concern, and finally confronting her as to why she was running away from him… Khushi holds her head in her hands and shuts her eyes. So much had happened in the past week; the promise she had made to herself on the night of Aman’s party, of not meeting or seeing or talking to Arnav, had pretty much flown out of the window from the day she had seen him sitting outside the hospital ICU.

His shocked eyes gazing at her as if she was an apparition… the relief filtering in through his hug… his admitting that he was worried about her… Buaji’s and Payal’s words confirming that Arnav had indeed rushed to Lucknow thinking she had the accident… him coming to their home and apologizing to Garima and Payal… him meeting her in the kitchen telling her that he had never stopped thinking about her… the concern in his voice when he had asked Aakash if she was ok post watching the CCTV coverage… him clearing Khushi and her family’s tainted name once and for all in front of the media… him showing his engagement ring to the whole world declaring that he wasn’t over her… him telling her that he never took off his ring…

Khushi rests her head on the glass of the window. There was no denying that Arnav had done a lot for her family in the past days. And now, finally things were getting back to normal; her jeeji was going back to her rightful place in the Raizada family; her Bauji was getting medical care for his post-op recuperation; her Amma was finally smiling. Khushi sighed.

*

Naniji, Anjali, NK and Mami are happily talking to each other about the prospects of returning back to Shantivan but Arnav is silent during the whole journey between the airport and Raizada Mansion, giving only monosyllabic answers when talked to. He is just staring out of the window, watching the landscape flash by him eyes in a hazy blur. But his mind is not registering that either. He is thinking about her experience in the flight.

He feels his heartbeats race for a moment as he remembers her doe-eyed look at the air hostess, first her stubbornness and then her acceptance for allowing him to handle her seat belt, her head on his shoulder as she dozed off peacefully… the painful exclamations, the cute questions, the dismissive retorts, and finally the counter questioning him as to when had she stopped talking to him… Arnav leans back on his seat and shuts his eyes. So much had happened in the past week; the promise he had made to himself on the night of Aman’s party, of not meeting or seeing or talking to Khushi, had pretty much flown out of the window from the night he had figured out that Khushi knew the truth about Garima and his father much earlier than he did.

Her asking why would she be in the ICU… her reminding him that he wasn’t part of her family anymore… her questioning him that when had he thought about what she may feel during every time he had mistreated her… her asking him if he could forgive himself… her lying cold in the middle of the night… her blurting out that she only returned the ring to him because she thought that he’d taken it off first… her jealousy at her friend showering him with attention… the need in her eyes as he prodded her to push him away…

Arnav gently squeezes the inner tips of his eyes. There was no denying that Khushi had gone through a lot in the past few days. And now, when he had hoped that finally things would get back to normal she was knowingly keeping herself at a careful distance from him. Arnav could figure that much of his own. But the question remained that if he had made his intentions perfectly clear to her, why was she still running away from him? Arnav sighed.

[Gupta House]

The first car halted outside the Gupta House and everyone slowly started getting out. The driver and Aakash help to get Shashi out and carefully seat him on his wheel chair. Garima, Payal and Khushi in the meantime start getting their bags out from the trunk at the back of the SUV.

“HAYE RE NANDKISHORE!! If while you go on decorating the house with your stupid flowers, you knock the TV down, then I swear to Devi Maiyya I’ll break both your arms!!” Buaji’s angry yell echoed out till the courtyard making the new arrivals freeze on their spots. Khushi and Payal exchange wide eyed looks, before rushing towards the house.

Couple of men in green overalls sheepishly walk out of the main door at the same instant as the two sisters reach it. Buaji suddenly notices Payal and gasps audibly.

“Oh Payaliya! You all are here! I never noticed. Since morning this house is resembling a zoo, I tell you” she exclaims irritatedly and pushes past the sisters to welcome Shashi and Garima. Khushi and Payal stare at Buaji’s retreating back once and then at each other. Then they turn to walk inside the house and just as Khushi steps into the house a gasp louder than Buaji’s escapes her.

[Arnav’s car]

A phone call makes Arnav open his eyes. He looks down to see “Aman calling” blinking on the screen. Arnav receives the call.

“Ya Aman. I’m on my way. I’m going home right now,” Arnav starts off.

“Sir, like you asked me to in the morning today, I’ve had 100 Rose bouquets delivered to Gupta House. I believe florists must have decked them up all over the house as well,” Aman replies.

“Hmm,” Arnav replies. Somehow, from the moment of seeing Khushi in the Lucknow airport lounge to the time he saw her getting into the car with the other Gupta family members, he had already forgotten all about the flowers.

“Thanks Aman,” he replies. “I’ll be reaching office in an hour. So see you then.” Arnav disconnects the call, suddenly trying to imagine Khushi’s expression as she’d enter her house.

[Gupta House]

The entire living room is covered with blood red roses; some in vases, some in bunches, some in elaborate arrangements. No flat surface is spared; the top of the centre table is covered with a square arrangement, and the cushions decorated with huge wreaths; the walls are covered in garland like strings. Even the floor is covered in a million rose petals. The air is heavy with the beautiful fragrance of the fresh flowers. Khushi’s hand flies to cover her the “O” that her mouth has formed. Her eyes widen as she scans the room from one side to another.

Completely oblivious to the rest of her family standing at the entrance and gaping at the garden that their living room now resembled, Khushi walks inside the living room dazedly. She lovingly caresses the almost life-size bouquet in front of her not realising that she is now smiling. She notices a piece of paper jutting out and she carefully takes it out. Khushi’s eyes widen again as she reads the text on the paper. It has only three words written on it.

Welcome Home, Khushi

 “This is what I was saying, Nand Kishore!” Buaji suddenly exclaims as she storms inside the living room. “Since morning, this flower vase people have been walking in and out of the house making this place a garden. I told them that there is already a garden outside near the courtyard, but Nandkishore, who ever listens to me?” Aakash, Payal, Garima and Shashi wordlessly enter the house looking around at this exuberant decoration awestruck.

“O Sankeswari, why are you standing there like a statue?” Buaji asks Khushi’s back.

Payal and Aakash exchange a glance before she firmly grabs Khushi’s arm and walks her to her room. Aakash follows behind them carrying Khushi’s bags. Khushi’s room too is filled with vases of roses. She mutely sits down on her bed, looking overwhelmed. Aakash keeps the bags by her bed. Payal and he again exchange another wary glance, then he motions Payal to get Khushi a glass of water. She nods and walks out.

“Khushi ji?” Aakash ventures tentatively. Khushi looks up at him. “Are you okay?” he asks worriedly. Khushi nods her head in reply.

“Okay. I’ve kept all your bags next to your bed here,” Aakash says pointing to the bag. “Unpack them at your ease. Especially, this bag,” he murmurs cautiously pointing to a big jute bag that looked like it was going to burst open at its seams. Khushi again nods mutely. Aakash stands awkwardly with his sister-in-law, at a loss what else to say. “Okay, so I should probably leave then,” he says lamely and starts walking out of the door.

“Jeejaji?” Khushi’s voice makes him stop at the door and turn around. Khushi walks to him.

“I’m really happy that jeeji has a husband like you,” Aakash looks at her, taken aback at this sudden track. Khushi bows her head down as she continues, “in the last 2-3 weeks, so much has happened. Had you not been there to support her, I don’t know what she’d have done.” Aakash too bows his head, feeling slightly embarrassed. “And in Purani Haveli too, you took care of me…” Aakash looks up and sees Khushi looking gratefully at him. “I mean… Thank you, for everything…” Khushi whispers.

Aakash gently squeezes Khushi’s shoulder. “Khushiji, you’re less of a sister-in-law and more of a kid sister to me. So taking care of my kid sister is my responsibility isn’t it?” Khushi looks at him smiling at her. She too smiles back in response. “And yes, whatever I’ve done for Payal, had it been you, Bhai would’ve done the same for you.” Khushi stands rooted to her spot. Aakash nods at her once and walks out of Khushi’s room. Her smile fades away a little.

But he didn’t do so…

[AR Design office, a couple of hours later]

Arnav walks into his office. His secretary immediately follows him up to his office.

“Welcome back ASR,” she murmurs reverentially. Arnav nods his head at her. “Sir, your catch up meeting with the Creatives and Production teams is at 11:30 today.  You have a meeting with the Singapore clients post lunch. And sir your banker has left word again that he needs to speak with you urgently.” His secretary reads out from her notepad.

“Fix an appointment with the banker after the catch up meeting. Where’s Aman?” Arnav asks her.

“Sir, Aman sir had gone for the Godown inspection. He hasn’t returned yet,” she replies back. Arnav dismisses her with a nod of his head. After checking his planner confirming the events of the day, he picks up his phone and calls up Aakash.

“Yes Bhai!” Aakash replies.

“Have you reached home?” Arnav asks.

“Right now I’m at the temporary house, Bhai. the Movers and Packers are expected shortly. After that Payal and I will leave for Shantivan.” Aakash replies. Arnav smiles. It wasn’t too long ago that Aakash had insisted on calling that house his home. And now it was getting labelled as a temporary house.

“alright. So I guess we’ll have dinner together then?” Arnav asks.

“Yes bhai,” Aakash replies in the affirmative.

“Great. Uhm, by the way, Guptas reached their home alright?” Arnav enquires cautiously, not trying to give away any emotions in his voice. Aakash smiles on the other side in understanding.

“Yes Bhai, they reached home alright. By the way, nice flowers,” he adds good humoredly. Arnav rolls his eyes.

“Did she feel that way?” Arnav asks curiously. Aakash understood who “she” meant.

“Yes Bhai. She was speechless for some minutes,” Aakash replies with a smile. “And yes, before you ask the next thing on your mind, I slipped in the box in her bag like you asked me to. She’ll see it when she unpacks her things.” Arnav sighed.

“Thanks Aakash,” he replies gratefully.

“Why didn’t you give it to her yourself, Bhai?” Aakash enquires. Arnav is rendered speechless for a moment. Because she is avoiding me? Because she doesn’t want to talk to me? Because she’s distancing herself from me? Take your pick.

“I just wanted to surprise her,” is what Arnav says instead. “Okay, I’ll get back to work. I’ll see you at home later then.” Arnav disconnects the phone and boots up his laptop.

[Gupta House, afternoon]

Khushi is on the floor on all fours picking up the rose petals that were covering it and transferring it to a small wicker basket. She had vehemently refused Buaji from using the broom to sweep them away. After all they were Roses! She’d keep them in her room rather than displaying the living room as a “garden” as Buaji so frequently kept repeating the whole morning.

Garima was talking about Lucknow and filling in Bua about the operation and the post-op therapy that Shashi was due to have. The two ladies sat in the living room completely ignoring Khushi as she flitted between the living room and her own bedroom, emptying the former of the rose vases and bouquets and shifting them to the latter. At one point Khushi caught Buaji muttering something about “Sankeswar” and “Sanaka Devi” but she went on about her business as if she hadn’t heard anything.

Right about lunch time did the living room start resembling its previous state much to Buaji’s contentment. Khushi’s room on the other hand resembles a RED box and the air is hanging heavy with the fragrance. Khushi sits down on her bed and looks around. Khushi was damn sure of who had sent those flowers as were here family members. But no one had uttered a word about it since they’d reached home. Finally sighing, she picks up her bags about to start unpacking them when Buaji calls from the kitchen.

“Parmeswari! Lunch is served. Go freshen up and join us!” Khushi keeps her bag away and runs out of the room.

[AR Designs, Arnav’s cabin, afternoon]

Arnav is sitting in his cabin when he gets a call on the intercom from his secretary.

“Sir, Mr. Bhushan, your banker, is here.” She announces.

“Send him in,” Arnav replies and keeps the phone down. A few minutes later the stockily built kind looking bald man walks into Arnav’s cabin and sits down in front of him.

“Hello, Mr. Bhushan. I believe you have been trying to get in touch with me since a long time now. I apologize that I’ve been out of station,” Arnav apologizes politely. “Please tell me.” Mr. Bhushan takes out a file from his briefcase and hands it to Arnav.

“Mr. Raizada I’ve with me the documents of the Laxmi Nagar house that you asked for. The mortgage has been cleared as per your directions and the ownership has been transferred to Ms. Madhumati.” Mr. Bhushan takes out another file from his briefcase and hands it over to Arnav.

“This isn’t a problem though right? Seeing how initially I had transferred it to Khushi’s name first?” Arnav asks as he goes through the papers.

“No Sir,” Mr. Bhushan replies. “You need signatures of both the parties on the documents. But since, Ms. Khushi never signed those papers, the house was never formally transferred to her. So please ensure that this time you get Ms. Madhumati’s signatures and it shold be good to go.” Mr. Bhushan finishes explaining. Arnav nods.

“Thank you Mr. Bhushan,” he murmurs.

“Mr. Raizada, there’s one more thing. I am aware that you have specified no expenses limit on your sister’s personal account?” Mr. Bhushan asks. Arnav nods as he takes the papers from his banker. “I want to bring it to your attention that in the last ten days, there has been some strange activity happening on your sister’s join account with her husband.” Arnav looks up at his banker with a raised eyebrow.

“Are you sure?” Arnav asks.

“Yes sir. If you remember, right after your return from London a few months ago, you had asked us to keep you notified if there was any activity happening on Anjali Jha’s joint account.” Arnav becomes thoughtful. Yeah that was past his kidnapping and throwing Shyam out of the house.  “Sir, there was no activity taking place in that account till now. But we noticed that money has again started being transferred from her personal account to her joint account in the last ten days.” Arnav’s eyes widen.

Mr. Bhushan opens a certain page in the file and taps it. “If you can see, this is the list of transfers being made by her joint account to another account based out of Delhi itself.”

Arnav quickly glances down the list. He notices that there was a threeway transfer going on; first from Anjali’s personal account to her joint account and then from there to another account. There were no other expenses taking place in the joint account, only a silent siphoning of money. But one entry catches Arnav’s eyes. Three days ago, a transfer for exactly Rs. 50000 had been made to a branch in Lucknow directly from the joint account. His eyes narrow. Strange. He looks up at his banker.

“Thank you Mr. Bhushan. I need you to continue keeping an eye on this account,” Arnav replies. Mr. Bhushan nods. The two men shake hands and then the banker takes his leave. Arnav goes on studying the file thoughtfully.