FF: Temporary Insanity - Part 8

Read all previous parts of this series over here.


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Part 8

'Hello, you must be Suhana? This is my brother Arnav.'

Arnav looked at Khushi standing next to Dhruv out of the corner of his eye before he stepped forward and smiled widely.  'Hi Suhana, how are you? Let's leave the adults in the study and go to the living room.'

Khushi looked at Dhruv immediately in shock but he only looked mildly confused. She held onto his arm keeping him in the hallway, 'Dhruv! What's he doing?' Dhruv shrugged his shoulders, amused at the cleverness of his older brother and followed behind everyone towards the living room. Khushi folded her arms and pouted before she followed as well.

Arnav waited for Khushi to come in, wondering if he'd been wrong. Maybe she wasn't jealous? Otherwise why was she still out there talking to Dhruv instead of in here with him and Suhana?  He saw her come in behind Dhruv pouting adorably and looking suitably annoyed. He met her gaze and smirked before he turned towards Suhana who was sitting next to him. 'So Suhana, how do you feel about kids?'

'What?!'

The answer was asked simultaneously by everyone in the room, although Arnav's ears were only listening out for Khushi's exclamation which was the loudest of all.

'But Arnavji, you don't like children!'

'Khushi, shhh. Don't interrupt. Go and get Suhana something to eat.' Arnav waved a dismissing hand at Khushi before he moved closer to Suhana on the sofa and looked at her attentively.

Khushi clenched her fists together, to stop herself hitting Arnav and instead pulled Dhruv up from his seat and dragged him to the kitchen. 'What's happening? What is he doing?'

'I have no idea, Bhai has always been hard to understand but...'

'Dhruv! Why don't you care? He likes Suhanaji!'

Dhruv rolled his eyes, 'Yeah she's my girlfriend, and it's my problem, I'll deal with it. Why do you care so much Khushi?'

'I... I... He...' Khushi stopped as she saw Anjali and Payal coming into the kitchen.

'I'm going up to my room, call me when they set a date,' Dhruv spoke to Anjali as he smiled in satisfaction and left the kitchen.

---

Khushi poured the tea out angrily. Why was she even doing this? Oh right, because she was the future daughter-in-law of the Raizada house. Except that she wasn't. Dhruv didn't even want to marry her and Arnav... Arnav was too busy sitting in the living room flirting with Miss Suhana Sehgal.

What did he think of himself? Did he have no shame? Openly flirting with a girl in front of his entire family! She pushed the tray towards Payal and stormed out of the kitchen, refusing to look in the direction of the living room and went upstairs to Dhruv's room angrily, not bothering to knock and walked in to see him wearing only a towel.

Arnav watched Khushi storm upstairs and grinned as he saw her muttering to herself angrily. He turned back to Suhana trying to think of an excuse so he could get away. Being charming and nice was definitely too much effort to keep up on a regular basis especially when the other person was doing everything to avoid talking to you. It was almost as if this Suhana wasn't interested in him at all. Not that he was interested in her, but it was still a blow to his ego.

He took out his phone to pretend he had a phone call to attend to when he heard the scream. The sound was muffled by distance, but there was no mistaking it. 'Khushi?' He rushed to stand up and took the stairs two at a time following the sound of her continuing scream.

Dhruv stood in shock for a second before he moved over to Khushi and clasped his hand over her mouth to stop her scream. 'Khushi? Khushi? Stop screaming!'

'Mmm nnnhsgm!' Khushi tried to speak against Dhruv's hand as she put her hands on his shoulders to push him back.

There were suddenly other hands on top of hers and she watched wide-eyed as Dhruv was pulled backwards away from her and Arnav stood in front of her holding her arms behind his back protectively.

'WHAT THE F**K WERE YOU DOING?!'

Dhruv pushed himself up off his bed that he'd fallen backwards on, 'What?! I didn't do anything! Khushi, tell him!'

Khushi finally realised she'd overreacted and tried to move past Arnav, 'Arnavji, he was just...'

'Khushi, shut up!' Arnav pushed her further behind him, furious at himself, furious at Dhruv. He had let this whole Dhruv and Khushi thing get too far because of his own stupid pride. He couldn't bear to think about what could have happened if he'd only been a minute too late. 'How could you even think about touching her?'

Dhruv put his hands out in a surrendering gesture, he'd never seen Arnav so angry before, 'but Bhai, I didn't...'

'Dhruv, stop talking while you still can before I forget you're my brother.' He held Khushi's arm and pulled her behind him, past Anjali, Suhana, Akash and Payal who were standing outside of Dhruv's door all with stunned expressions on their faces.

Arnav didn't let go until they'd reached the poolside, 'what the hell is wrong with you Khushi?! Why are you always in his room?! What did he do to you?'

Khushi stepped back angrily, 'why do you care? Go back to your new girlfriend! I'm sure she's waiting to pick out baby names with you!' Khushi sniffed and turned around trying to stop herself from crying.

Arnav felt himself getting angrier as she turned her back to him and he grabbed her shoulders and turned her around roughly, 'I don't want to have children with Suhana! I want them with you!'

Khushi's eyes widened in shock and she opened and closed her mouth trying to speak but no words would come out.

Arnav loosened his grip on Khushi's shoulders and shook her lightly, 'Khushi? Did you hear what I...'

Khushi didn't let Arnav finish his sentence as she put her hands on his chest and pushed with as much effort as she could muster and watched as he fell backwards into the pool.