FF: It's Not Right - Chapter 28

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Chapter 28

Khushi pulled back almost as soon as he'd begun and he looked down at her confused. 'Khushi what...?'

'We're in public,' she waved her hand around at the almost empty cafe to highlight her point as Arnav rolled his eyes.

'You kissed me first Khushi.'

'I know but... what are you doing?' She quickly grabbed her bag as he pulled on her arm to make her stand up and began leaving the cafe.

She sat in the car and folded her arms waiting for him to get in.

'What?'

'Arnavji! Why did you make us leave like that? I hadn't even finished my tea.'

'It was your third cup Khushi, I'm sure you'll survive,' he said with a smirk as he started the car.

'Where are we going? Home?'

He looked over at her again stifling a laugh at her disappointed tone, 'if you want. I mean I have no problem continuing our kiss at your house.'

'What? No, that's not what I meant!' Khushi felt her blush rising and she folded her arms again and turned to look resolutely out of the window.

They'd been driving for 5 minutes when her phone rang, he continued to drive while she talked, his fists clenching on the steering wheel slightly when he heard Abhinav's name. They'd never yet managed a single date where she hadn't mentioned him at some point and today had been nearly perfect on that score, mostly because Khushi had hardly talked.

'You just have to tell him you're taking him out for a drink that's all. Nothing else. I already told him I'm busy and his mom told him she had a thing she couldn't get out of.'

He turned to look at her, his irritation turning to confusion as he took note of the phone she was holding up to her ear. He waited until she was done to talk. 'What's that?'

'Oh, it's just Rohan checking the details for Abhi's surprise party. I told you about it, it's on Monday remember?'

'No Khushi, I remember his birthday, you've only mentioned it a million times. I mean what's with the phone? That's not the one I gave you.'

Khushi looked down at the phone in her hand guiltily, she'd never mentioned it to Arnav and had never before received a call on it in front of him. 'Erm... just my work phone, you know.'

There was something off in her expression and the way she wasn't quite meeting his eyes, 'and you've never given me the number because?'
'Oh right, of course you can have the number, why not?' She picked his phone up from the dashboard and quickly typed her number in grateful for the excuse to avoid his piercing gaze.

When she'd finished she offered the phone over to him and he took it, still watching her carefully. Her smile was tight and her eyes didn't have the same sparkle they usually did. He pursed his own lips together and changed the route they were going in, suddenly angry at her and unable to fathom why.

Khushi looked around as she recognised the direction they were headed in, 'I thought you weren't taking me home?'

'I just remembered some important work I have to do.'

'Oh,' she tried not to show her disappointment at being taken home instead of somewhere more private to complete their kiss. Maybe she had been too bold, maybe she shouldn't have kissed him. Or maybe he was angry that she'd stopped him kissing her back? No, he'd been fine when they first got in the car so... so it had to be the phonecall. But he already knew about Abhi's birthday so why the sudden anger?

He parked the car a few feet away from her house and tapped his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel, her usual fussing to gather all her belongings annoying him rather than amusing him as it usually did.

Khushi put her hand on the handle to open the door before she stopped and turned back to look at him. 'Arnavji, is this about Abhi's birthday? Because I did invite you, you're the one that said you had some business thing to go to in London.'

Arnav sighed and gave her a condescending stare, 'Please Khushi can we have this conversation some other time? I have a headache and a lot of work to do, I have a business that doesn't run itself while I sit in coffee shops listening to your inane chatter okay!'

'I... I... I'm sorry,' she said tearfully before she quickly opened the door and bolted towards her house forgetting to close the door behind her.

'Oh hell,' Arnav closed his eyes in frustration as he watched her run away. He got out of the car with every intention of knocking on the door and apologising but an image flashed in his mind of her guilty face and the smile that hadn't quite met her eyes. He also didn't know how much if anything she'd told her family about them. Most days they met after work and he'd never actually been in her house since they'd started dating. He closed the passenger door and got back into his own seat, in a hurry to get home and at least attempt to unravel the mystery of her new phone.

---

The dates seemed familiar and he tried to recollect exactly what had happened that week. He leaned back on his chair for a brief millisecond before he shot up again. Of course, that had been the week he'd found out about Jeejaji, the week he'd accused her of being a golddigger. He examined the bills again, still feeling like a stalker, as if he was invading her privacy but he'd needed to know why exactly she needed a secret phone. Ever since that week all of her phonecalls had decreased significantly until they'd trickled into nothing. Then there were a few more phonecalls in the past month, but the only ever number on the bill was his. She didn't seem to use the phone for anything other than calling or texting him.

He shook his head at his own stupidity. He should have known, she had too much pride to keep taking something from him after he'd accused her like that. But where was the need for her to lie? Why did she have to hide her new phone from him? 'Because you would have got angry at her like you did today,' a voice said in his head.

Khushi bit into another jalebi as she watched but didn't really concentrate on the film that everyone was watching. This was what she'd wanted, an angry annoyed Arnav and she'd got it. It was her own fault for wanting more than she had. Why couldn't she just have been happy with what Devi Maiyya was providing? She was still staring at the TV when she realised Payal was shaking her shoulder.

'What?'

'Your phone's ringing Khushi!'

'Huh,' Khushi looked around still slightly disorientated as Payal answered the call and thrust the phone into her hand.

'Khushi?'

'A...Arnavji, aap?'

'Yes, I wanted to... Khushi I wanted to apologise for this afternoon.'

'Huh?' Khushi stood up and moved into the bedroom leaving her curious family watching her leave.

'This afternoon? I was angry, I said some things I didn't mean?'

'Oh right,' Khushi sat down on the bed unsure as to what the protocol was in this type of situation.  She and Arnav barely talked on the phone, she didn't think he was the type to have long phonecalls about nothing in particular and so all her calls to him had only ever been borne out of necessity if she needed to change plans or confirm them.

Plus she wasn't sure if she was even angry at Arnav for what he'd said or angry at herself for even extending this... whatever this was for more than one date.

'Khushi, are you listening?' Arnav moved the phone away from his ear to check she was still on the line and hadn't hung up on him or something.

'Erm yes, Arnavji, sorry what were you saying?'

'Khushi are you okay?' There was silence and he waited for her to fill it but there was no response. 'Khushi, if you don't answer me right now, I am coming over to talk to you in person!'

'Hai Devi Maiyya! At this time? No, no please don't! What will Babuji think?'

'Well then answer my question! Are you okay? Are... are we okay?'

'I... yes, I'm fine.'

He held his breath waiting for her to continue but she didn't. 'And us?'

'Hmm, erm... of course.'


She was clearly unsure but he was willing to take what he could get at this point. 'Okay then I'll see you on Sunday. Okay?'

'Sunday?'

'Yes, Khushi are you even listening to me? I told you last week. I'm leaving on Monday for London remember? So if I don't see you on Sunday I won't see you for two weeks!'

'Oh right, of course. Okay then, I'll see you then. Bye.' She put the phone down in a rush trying to get control of her conflicting emotions. It was much later in the night, when she'd already gotten into bed that she realised he had rung her on her new phone.