Chapter 14

                                 
                                         Close to HOME

           

            It was not only Khushi who was hopelessly irritated with Arnav's regular attempts to impress her with his professional tactics but even Shyam was so frustrated with his Sale sahab! No matter how many brilliant ideas he had provided him which were competent enough to win over Khushi Kumari Gupta's naive heart; but Arnav would always end up upsetting her more. Even the plan of visiting Lucknow was flop.When he joined them on second day at Lucknow, Arnav had surprisingly crept into his shell again.He had refused to join family picnic and even stayed aloof at the moments they all spent together. Shyam tried to know the reason behind his withdrawal but could not have gathered much.

                 Poor fellow, only if he could know what had his Sale sahib 

                          been through, the night  before his arrival.

flashback

         Arnav continued to draw his legs towards parking place drown in melancholy unknown to the outer world.The whole evening had been an emotional roller costar ride for  him.He was overwhelmed by the different feelings peeping in heart and then slowly securing places in his mind one by one. He was envy of NK for effortlessly making HIS Khushi laugh in her own tinkling sweet sound which he could never do, angry at Di as she could think of NK as a potential life-partner for Khushi plainly ignoring him to consider  for that  place, vehement for whatever had happened few minutes back.He had never experienced such vivid expressions together in his history of 14 years. What was the sudden change? Was he losing control over his own  mind? Was some kind of weakness enveloping his whole existence? Shall he forfeit his  every belonging again like that dreadful day in past? What  if something like that happens again? He would not  able to stand up this time like earlier .He would shatter into pieces if he was put to bear the pain again.Who will hold on to him then ?''  And at that instant he felt a tug at his hand bringing him out of his musings.He turned to find the source and saw Khushi holding his hand indicating he was crossing over his parking place.

      

          He looked at her.She was radiating with some serenely promising aura. Her soft hazel eyes were reflecting a smoothing assurance .She was his only hope if anything bad happens again.Only she could make him stand up on his feet if he falls. She was his alone strength. Suddenly he grabbed her in a tight embrace as if his life depended on it.A cool zephyr passed through his every nerve as he experienced her warm touch. His over beating heart composed remarkably achieving its own normal pace again when he heard her heartbeats echoing  in that quite place.Dhak Dhak Dhak Dhak...! And eventually his body relaxed with tranquility. His senses could no more hold back with all the longing he felt at the moment as they were drenched in a strong desire instantly making him aware of their close proximity. His grip loosened unknowingly with overcoming desire, that scared him too .

          

                 

             Khushi instantly took a step back as his grip loosened. She was confused about what has took over him suddenly. Her another step to increase the distance made her back rest at the door of his car. She peeked into his eyes hesitantly ..those  normally chocolaty orbs were darkened by desire n overpowering passion now.A shiver ran through her spine making her dizzy. She gulped watching those burning flames of yearning in his eyes, suddenly turning the cool breeze around them into a hurricane that would blow her away. She had never felt these kind of jitters before which would make her knee melt. It is another thing to blow a whistle when Salman Khanji  makes romance with his heroines in his movies but to stand up in front of a lasciviously boiling volcano which happens to be your love too and not to mention the bounteous looks of the man adding more flames ,must be something what people call as chutzpah.And before she could seek any support to restrain herself from sinking to the ground , his hands rested at her   sides providing her most aspired buttress. She clenched her dupatta tightly to control her quivering hands but could not do anything with her trembling lips when she saw him leaning down and closed her eyes in anticipation '..

    

             Arnav ran his tongue around his dry lips n bent down in anticipation to wet his equally dry throat, his entire attention was held by those plump ,luscious shivering lips.He felt he would die with thirst if he immediately dint drink that life giving sweet potion. He leaned down,counting every nanosecond needed to cover remaining distance between them. His mind went numb anticipating the heavenly feel of touching those lips when something blocked his path of serenity. He looked irritatingly at whatever had stopped  him and found two delicate palms resting at his chest. Khushi was shoving him back with whatever strength had left in her fuddled state. He looked at her confused, meaning to ask 'What?'

  

  

         "Ye galat hai , Arnavji'"(This is wrong,Arnavji..)She spoke  groggily.

   

        "Kya?"(what?) Arnav asked chafed.

        She just glanced at his eager lips.

     "Khushi, we soon would be getting married.." He spoke as a matter of fact to end that unnecessary delay.

         Her eyes filled with accusations. She spoke  in warning tone, "I haven't  yet  said  'Yes' to you Arnavji..! And besides that, it's not about getting married or not. It's about my morals. How can I let someone do...do..th..This to me...without even knowing he loves me or not???" She looked at him expectantly. His eyes gleamed with some unspoken emotions.  Khushi  predicted what would be coming from his mouth if he let it speak now. She hopefully gathered all her strength to hear those words she would die for.

        

     His eyes got softer for a second or more and... suddenly putting up their usual guarded expressions, he opened his mouth with immense control over his fury just to say "It's late.You wait here. I'll bring Di"  

He removed  his hands freeing her from their secured room and went leaving utterly disappointed Khushi behind.

                              

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

                          Shyam was getting ready to leave for his Court standing  in front of the mirror, lost his mind in thoughts about Arnav .

     "Shyamji, you don't pay even half of the attention to me, as much you pay to  yourself." Anjali said with mocking anger.

          He,startled at the voice being unaware of the witness of his Heebie- jeebies. It was very unusual of him not to come up with an equal retort to Anjali. But today somehow it seemed a very odd day for every man of the family. Shyam answered as if talking to himself, "Anjali ,you were right. It's a difficult task to bring Arnav into our world."

   A concern took over her suddenly.She came close to him and asked worriedly ,"What happened,Shyamji? Has anything happened between you and Chote?"

  "I have failed to trace out Arnav." He answered sadly.

  "But Chote is in his room.Or did he again go out of reach? Wait I call him and scold. He has become..."

    

       Without letting Anjali to start her usual  list of chote's don'ts,Shyam spoke ,"I could not find Arnav in him ,Anjali! There is only The businessman Arnav Singh Riazada not Arnav." He let out a sigh and continued,

  "He is unable to understand any cardinal business.It's really difficult to make him experience those magical  words 'Love'. I have miserably failed in doing that."

  

    Anjali was overwhelmed experiencing her husband's concern for her Chote. Her lips curved into genuine smile.Holding his shoulders,she assured him,"Don't you worry Shyamji.We will do something, I will help you. If he is Arnav Singh Raizada then I too am Mrs. Anjali Singh Raizada Jha. I have the best of both the worlds from business as well as your law."

    

         And folding her hands to her chest she boasted ,"And I am the one best matchmaker ,you know? But before I help you with this matter ,you have to accept your defeat" She winked.

        Shyam let out a chuckle at her naughty wife.  "I was fighting an already lost battle, Rani sahiba" and he bowed down to her animatedly.

 The laughter of the duo could not reach to perturbed room of Arnav.

*********************************

    

         Aman and Arnav were discussing about Mr.Agarwal's deal in ASR's cabin. Arnav had studied it thoroughly and told Aman to make some changes. Aman nodded in agreement and said,

   "ASR, I'l make changes accordingly and soon give you the modified copy. I know we can seal this deal on your terms."

  

  "If only it could happen with every deal, Aman.."  Arnav spoke vaguely   staring in vacant.

 "ASR, Please pardon me."

 Arnav took a thoughtful pause before asking him,

  

"Do you believe in marriages , Aman?"

 "Yes I have a great faith in marriage system. And I am engaged."  The one thing Aman had not failed to learn from ASR in those many years is, not to let your inner thoughts speak with even an inch of muscle of your face... At least not in front of ASR. So even if he was surprised to the core for having this out of the blue discussion with ASR ,he simply did not show it.

  "Ohh, so when is the marriage?"

  

"Whenever you sanction my leave application."  He was acute with his answers.

    ASR smirked at this and asked cautiously,

 "So what did you make to choose that girl? Is she more suitable for you?"

 Now Aman could not control himself from letting out a sigh before answering.

  

 "I don't allow my brain to intervene into matters where I don't need to sign legally for my decisions, ASR! Rather I opt for my heart in those. I did the same thing here."  And he dared to do something which he had never done before ,not even in his dreams.

   "And if this was a sort of advise seeking then I would suggest you to do the same." 

  ASR confirmed, his decision of choosing Aman as his P.A was the most righteous one. Aman just knew what exactly he has to do at every time.

  "You may go,Aman" He said curtly.

     Aman collected all the papers and moved towards door. Before he went out, Arnav called him,

  "And Aman ,fix your marriage date this month. But make sure you manage some temporary arrangements for your role before going on a long vacation."

Aman showed his gratitude with a genuine smile and headed towards his cabin.

  

   

  As Aman left the cabin, Arnav swirled himself back on his leather chair. Holding hands back on nape ,lost in his old dreading memories.

    'Everybody,every damn body tells me to listen to my heart. But why? Why should I listen to that dumb organ who knows no logic. It is the reason of everyone's sorrows, pains. Ma used to listen to her heart always then what happened to her? She lost her life because she blindly trusted her heart. She never paid  any heed to the alarms her brain rang. What happened to Di, when she chose to marry that bas***d  Varun by listening to her heart? Her marriage was brutally broken. And...and the man who was called his father had immense faith in his brother. And what he did? He overtook all his business making his own brother's children orphan. His past was ruined because his family had opted their hearts over their brains...that bloody organ..'

       

        He picked the paper weight kept on table unable to control his anger towards every unfortunate thing happened in his past and threw it on the wall hoping at least that will pacify his bad temper.The poor paper weight shattered into hundreds of pieces with a thud and spread out on soft carpet of the floor. He glanced at all those throbbing pieces.His face was as usual deprived of any emotion but eyes'his eyes pouring out lava which was burning inside. Not that those broken pieces could cool him down but instead  every single piece brought a new piercing memory along.

      

    Akash had come to office to sign on some important papers before leaving for his honeymoon today. He was passing by Arnav's cabin when he heard the sound of something cracking. He thought over whether to peep in or not and making a decision,knocked on the cabin door.When his knock was not replied for a minute or so, he opened the door as a concern took over him. 

 Arnav was railing over his chair with  eyes closed. 

  "Bhai, what happened? Is everything okay?" He asked looking at all those  scattered glass pieces and entered carefully.

  

  "..."

  

 "Bhai?"  He raised his voice.

  

     Arnav opened his eyes and looking at his cousin's worried face , suddenly asked something which would be totally irrelevant to him,

 "Akash, why all people choose to trust their hearts over their brains while making decisions?"

    

  Akash was confused hearing his question. ASR was the least expected one to talk on issues related to heart nor he ever gives damn to what people do. As he understood that something has gone terribly wrong with his bhai he chose to answer the question instead of asking a reason behind it.

  

   "You know Bhai, Science teaches us that heart is nothing but an another organ made up of flesh and  its function is only to supply blood to our body. But in our lives we hardly remember those lessons because  what we experience is; it is made up of all kinds of emotions and feelings. It is one of the purest thing in human life  as it can't think  beyond noble emotions like love, trust or hopes. Any man needs the higher strength to follow his heart over brain. Because heart can't take any decision on selfish ground or calculate the possible risks of it like brain. So the one who follows his heart is the strongest one and not all but only brave people can trust their hearts while making decisions without thinking about their outcomes. Because brave are never afraid of results to their decisions."

     

    Akash had rarely seen his Bhai with such a lost and defeated look. So his brotherly concern made him ask,

  

"What's wrong ,Bhai? Has anything happened which I must know? If it's something serious I can just postpone my trip."

  

  Arnav suddenly caught his guards on as he realized that he is making Akash worried. He rose from his seat pulling his usual neutral mask on face and  greeted him,

   

  "You are getting late for your flight Akash. Wish you very happy honeymoon" He hugged him with pure warmth.

  

 "Yeah, thank you Bhai. Hope,I could wish you the same one day.."

   

 "Bye Akash!"  he freed his cousin from the embrace.Enjoying such rare emotional moments with his brother,Akash left the room still uncertain about what may have happened to his Bhai.

                                                  

                    

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