OS: Khushi Meets Aman

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OS: Khushi meets Aman

Khushi opened the door to a man she'd never seen before, she wondered if this was Anjaliji's ever absent husband. Although he was certainly good looking enough he looked a bit too young.

'Hi, I'm Aman. I'm here to drop some files off to Arnav sir.'

'Oh Amanji, hello. I'm Khushi.' She opened the door wider to let him in.

Aman started walking behind Khushi into the house, 'Khushi Kumari Gupta?'

Khushi stopped and turned back in shock. 'How do you know my name?'

Aman smiled at the look on her face, 'Sir talks about you all the time and I heard him talking to you when you were going to Nainital. I was really sorry I was on holiday when you worked at AR so I never got to meet you. But now I have!'

'What? No we weren't going to Nainital together! I mean it was an accident. I didn't mean to get stuck in the boot.'

Aman only laughed even more, 'It's alright Khushi, I know. Besides why would anyone want to spend more time with ASR than they absolutely had to?' As they got to Arnav's door he turned to Khushi 'you know actually I think we could be great friends. You see we're both in exactly the same situation.' He knocked on the door and bent his head towards her conspiratorially, 'Arnav sir is always telling me to shut up too!'

Arnav opened his door and his eyes almost popped out of his head at the sight of Aman and Khushi whispering to each other and then laughing.

'Aman!' He snatched the file in Aman's hand and walked back to his chair fuming. What was wrong with Khushi? Was she always so familiar with strangers? For all she knew Aman could be a mass murderer or something.

Khushi stifled a laugh as Aman mimed killing himself before she left to go back downstairs. She didn't really have to take Aman to Arnav's room as he'd probably already been there a million times but lately she seemed to take any opportunity to see Arnav even if it was only for a few seconds.

As Khushi made tea, she couldn't stop thinking about what Aman had said. Arnav talked about her all the time? It was probably all bad stuff and about all the times when she'd inadvertently ruined his work but it still made her smile to herself.

Khushi placed the tea and pakoras she had made carefully onto the tray. Really she could easily call Om Prakash or someone to take the tray up but she wanted to see if Arnav acknowledged that she had made his favourite pakoras. Last time he hadn't had any and she was the one that ended up eating them all while they were on their way to Nainital.

Arnav looked up again at Aman who was concentrating on the file in front of him. Arnav however had thought of nothing but Aman and Khushi since he'd seen them together. He knew they'd only just met and yet in the half an hour he'd been sitting there he'd conjured up a million images of Khushi and Aman together that were making it impossible for him to concentrate on his work.

There was a knock on the door and Arnav looked up to see Khushi coming in even more clumsily than usual because of the large tray she was trying to keep steady. He rolled his eyes as he got up to help her quickly noting that Aman also stood up when she entered.

'Couldn't you get one of the servants to bring this?' He spoke harshly as he took the tray from her and put it down on the table.

'Erm... they were all busy. So I...'

'Oh wow Khushi, pakoras! They're my favourite.' Aman spoke as he bit into one of the pakoras, 'did you make these?'

'Yes, I ma... erm, yes.'

'They're really good!'

Arnav looked disgustedly at Aman who was picking up yet another pakora before he gave Khushi a stern look, 'you can go now Khushi. We have work to do.'

'Oh..okay,'

He watched as Khushi scurried away as she usually did. Normally he felt a strange sense of satisfaction whenever she looked over her shoulder at him but today he wondered if it was him she was looking at or Aman.

'Rakshas! Laad Governer! I bet he won't even eat one today either,' Khushi spoke to herself as she cleaned up in the kitchen. 'What was I even thinking, making pakoras for him? He never appreciates anything anyway.'

Aman was normally one of the more sensible people that Arnav knew but today everything he was doing was just annoying Arnav. He was breathing too hard, eating too much, looking at the door too often. What was he expecting Khushi to come again? If Khushi did come in again it would only confirm to Arnav that she wanted to see Aman. And if that was the case she should start praying to her Devi Maiyya already because he was going to kill her. Or rather he would kill Aman, he thought to himself.

Arnav worked harder now than he had been before. The faster this presentation was finished, the faster he could get Aman away from Khushi. He didn't try to examine his thought process and why Khushi and Aman talking should even bother him but he just knew that it did.

As soon as they had double checked the presentation and done a run-through of how it should be done Arnav led Aman downstairs. He would never normally walk with any employee all the way to the front door but he didn't want to run the risk of Aman running into Khushi and have them whispering to each other again.

Khushi said goodbye to everybody and picked up her bag ready to leave. She felt the familiar goosebumps that always alerted her to Arnav's arrival and decided to leave quickly before he could get angry at her again for something. She rushed into the hallway and breathed a sigh of relief at having escaped him before she started to fix her bag and put it on properly.

Arnav clenched his jaw as they turned the corner and saw Khushi standing there fiddling with her bag. Before Arnav could stop him, Aman had begun to walk faster towards her.

'Khushi! Are you leaving as well?'

Khushi turned around and looked nervously from Arnav to Aman and then down to her hands. 'Erm... yes I was just going home.'

'I'm going now as well, why don't I give you a lift?'
Arnav had been walking up towards the two of them slowly when he suddenly strode forward, 'no!'

Khushi and Aman both looked at Arnav and he quickly corrected himself. 'I mean Aman, you don't even know where she lives. It's in the complete opposite direction to where you're going. It's easier if I take her.'

Aman merely shrugged his shoulders, he was used to Arnav's strange moods. 'Okay, bye. It was really nice meeting you... Khushi Kumari Gupta.'

Arnav clenched his fists when Aman smirked at Khushi. Only he called her Khushi Kumari Gupta like that. What the hell was Aman doing?

Khushi took her time saying bye to Aman trying to put off the moment when she would be alone in the car with Arnav. He was standing watching them with his arms folded and a murderous expression on his face. 'Khushi, today he's definitely going to leave you at the side of the road again. 100%,' she spoke to herself as Aman drove away. However she still got inside his car, not wanting to refuse the chance to be alone with him even if it would probably only last about 10 minutes.

Arnav sighed as he watched her try and put her seatbelt on to no avail. 'It's a seatbelt Khushi, not some sort of puzzle.'

'It's not my fault you make me nervous!' Khushi clapped a hand over her mouth as she realised what she had just blurted out.

Arnav raised an eyebrow at her but instead of saying something ridiculing he leaned over to do her seatbelt himself. He didn't rush himself, enjoying the limited distance between her face and his. She was definitely nervous, that much was obvious by her ragged breathing and wide eyes but he couldn't think why.

He clipped the belt in and leant back in his own seat. Okay, he could think why, he just didn't want to acknowledge it. Acknowledging it would make repressing his own feelings that much harder. He sighed to himself as he did his own belt and started the car.

Khushi looked at Arnav from the corner of her eye. He didn't look angry anymore but rather he looked thoughtful. If he had still been angry she never would have even dared to speak but the thought had been preying on her mind all afternoon and she needed confirmation of its validity. 'Amanji said you always talk about me.'

He looked over briefly at Khushi before replying, 'is that a question or are you telling me?'

'I just...' Khushi looked away from Arnav, feeling shy all of a sudden. So he did talk about her.

Arnav looked at Khushi again, noting her trying to control her smile. Maybe he wouldn't have to kill Aman after all.