OS: Whatever Arnav Wants...

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OS: Whatever Arnav Wants...

Arnav checked his emails on his phone again and sighed in boredom. The only reason he'd even agreed to come to this lunch was so that he could see her. They'd been here nearly an hour and he'd only seen Khushi twice when she came out of the kitchen to give the tea and again when she came to take the empty teacups and she'd avoided his gaze both times.

He couldn't even find a pretense on which to go into the kitchen to see her since there was water on the table in front of him and he knew the washroom he'd be directed to if asked didn't allow him to pass through the kitchen.

His eyes darted from his phone to the doorway of the kitchen constantly ignoring the conversations around him until finally he saw her. She had some plates in her hand and walked over to the table to set them out unnoticed by anyone except him and unfortunately NK who jumped up immediately to assist her.

'Khushiji, let me help you with those.'

'No, no, of course not Nanheji. You're our guest, you sit down and talk with everyone, I'll do this.'

He briefly wondered if her response would be the same if he tried to help her but he doubted his efforts would go as unnoticed as NK's had and so he stayed where he was watching as she went back and forth from the kitchen, her movements hesitant and jittery as if she knew he was watching her. Then he watched amused and intrigued as she edged towards him and tilted his head up to look at her properly as she came closer.

'Erm... I need... the chair, you're...' she indicated the chair he was sitting on and he got up automatically still unsure what she wanted when she picked up the chair and began to move it to the table.

He moved quickly, placing his hands over hers, 'leave it, I'll do it. You know you can't do anything I can do.'

She looked up defiantly and began to speak when she remembered the rest of the family surrounding them and let go of the chair, looking over her shoulder at him as she went back into the kitchen. He moved the rest of the chairs over to the dining table as well while she finished setting the table, making sure to catch her eye every time their paths crossed.

Khushi stood next to her Babuji who sat at the head of the table with Mamaji at the other end and finally she was in his direct line of vision. Her continued refusal to look at him began to irritate him and he waited until Mamaji, Jeejaji, Akash and NK had all filled their plates and started to eat before he deliberately picked up a dish he could tell was spicy from their reactions.

He began to ladle the daal onto his plate when he heard her seemingly clear her throat and he looked up to see her shaking her head at him almost violently. Arnav raised his eyebrows at her questioningly and she in return indicated another dish near to Akash who was sitting opposite him. Arnav grinned and continued to maintain eye contact as he replaced the dish in his hand with the other one, watching while Khushi blushed and looked away to feed her father.

She looked at him more often now, possibly having finally gotten over her embarrassment over his kiss yesterday and Arnav looked back more than aware of NK, Jeejaji and Shyam eyeing them both curiously.

When they were finished eating, Khushi moved over to his side to let Akash pass and Arnav stood up at the same time. 'Thank you,' he whispered close to her ear, receiving a delightful blush in return before he moved back over towards the living area.

He watched as she again stood where she had been before, this time next to her Buaji as the women ate and he wondered why she wasn't eating herself. Apart from the obvious lack of an extra chair for her, the others being taken up by Nani, Mami, Di, Payal and her mother. She'd also presumably been the one to cook everything since she had been the only one missing while everyone talked beforehand and he felt himself itching to stand up and demand that she eat.

He continued to watch in anger as her family finished eating and moved away again leaving her to do all the work herself. He stood up immediately this time without her prompting to move the chairs from the dining table to the living area again so that everybody had a seat giving Khushi an indignant look which she probably misinterpreted judging by the expression on her face.

He waited 5 minutes before he strode into the kitchen, not bothering with excuses this time. They could think what they liked. She had her back to him putting something back into the cupboard but she turned when she heard him come in. 'A...Aap? What are you...'

He moved around the counter towards her and as she usually did she began to move backwards until she had to stop. 'Have you eaten?'

'Huh?' Her eyes flew up to meet his in shock.

'Have. You. Eaten?'

'I erm...' she looked down again, her eyes darteing around the room avoiding him, 'I just have to finish cleaning and then I'll eat.'

He stepped back away from her pleased at the flash of disappointment he saw in her eyes which quickly turned to surprise as he picked up one of the plates she had just cleaned and began to fill it.

'Wh... What are you doing?'

Arnav looked up at her and raised an eyebrow at her, it was more than obvious what he was doing. 'you need to eat Khushi,' he stepped closer to her again.

'I... I... I already ate while I was cooking, you know. I'm always snacking and I couldn't resist tasting everything so I ate some while I cooked. I'm already full.' She spoke in a rush, her words meshing together almost incoherently.

He picked up a morsel and held it towards her ignoring her speech as she held up her mehndi clad hands as if to stop him advancing further. He observed the 'A' imprinted on her hand in dark maroon almost black with fondness before he moved his hand closer to her mouth. 'So you cooked everything?

'I'll eat myself!' She tried to take the plate from him but he moved it out of her reach while holding his other hand out more insistently.

Realising the futility of her arguments she opened her mouth hesitantly and Arnav smirked before he fed her. He looked down at his now empty hand, rubbing his fingers together softly, 'that was nice.'

'Huh? What?' Her eyes were wide eyed in surprise again.

Arnav picked up some more food and held it out to her again, leaning his head closer to hers as she ate. 'The food Khushi, I meant the food that you cooked. It was nice.'

There was that gorgeous pink blush again, almost matching the pink of her lips and it stayed on her cheeks while he continued to feed her. He reached down for the last morsel when her hand moved over to cover his. He watched as she picked it up and held it out towards him shyly, not quite meeting his gaze. He waited for a few moments, studying her face before he bent down to take her fingers in his mouth, trailing over them much longer than necessary.

He washed his hands first and then leaned back on the counter and watched as she washed hers. 'That doesn't prove anything Khushi, you still can't do whatever I do.'

She looked up at him, a small smile playing on her lips while she worked around him cleaning the kitchen of the remaining mess. When it was done she leaned against the counter opposite him so they were facing each other. He had his arms folded across his chest still watching her, amusement written all over his face, his lips curled up into the tiniest smile.

'So,' she said biting her bottom lip, her eyes darting towards the door and back at him. It was either an indication that he should leave or she was assessing the situation before she proved him wrong. There was no way Arnav was leaving today without getting what he came for so he continued to stand there waiting for Khushi to leave and Khushi Kumari Gupta to take over. He liked Khushi, he liked the effect he had on her senses but he liked the effect that Khushi Kumari Gupta had on him more.

There was a sudden whirl of activity as she flew towards him, her hands went to his folded arms for support as she stood on her tiptoes kissed him swiftly on the cheek  and then stepped back and folded her own arms with a self satisfied smirk and a raised eyebrow.

The throaty chuckle that escaped his lips was unconscious as was the hand that went up to his cheek to touch the place where her soft lips had grazed his rough stubble far too lightly for his liking. He stepped towards her predatorily, her eyes widening in surprise once again but she had nowhere to step back to as she was already against the counter. 'Hmm, well that was interesting. I wonder, what else can Khushi Kumari Gupta do?'