FF: It's Not Right - Chapter 32

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Chapter 32

'Just go home, why don't you?'

Khushi lifted her head from where it had been on her desk and sighed heavily, 'the reason I have this headache is because of my house and you want me to go back there?'

Abhi put a pill and a glass of water in front of Khushi and took his seat across her desk. 'What did you argue about today then?'

Khushi swallowed the pill and drained the entire glass almost slamming it down on the table. 'Khushi can't do anything right. Khushi doesn't listen. Payal's such a good daughter. Why can't Khushi be more like Payal? Where were you last night? When was the last time you did some housework? Same old, same old.'

'Aah,' he said for lack of anything better to say. They'd had pretty much exactly the same conversation last night over dinner and all of his suggestions and words of wisdom had gone unheeded.

'Exactly,' Khushi said as she lowered her head back onto the desk.

---

'So do you want to come to my house and hang out for a while or something? Sleep off your headache?'

Khushi leaned on Abhi's shoulder with her hands around his arm as they walked towards the doors, her head was still pounding. 'No, I should probably go home early for once,' she sighed. The daily arguments were starting to get to her. She usually stood and listened silently until Babuji or Payal eventually intervened and ended the conversations in their own ways but Buaji seemed to be on a mission to break her down into retorting and it was getting harder and harder to stay silent.

'Er... Khushi?'

They'd stopped walking and Khushi had felt her eyes falling heavily until they were completely closed. 'Hmmm?'

Abhi shifted his shoulder to nudge her into moving, 'Khushi.'

'What Abhi?! You've been telling me all day to get some sleep and then you wake me up, couldn't you just carry me into the car or something?' Khushi muttered irritably rubbing her temple until she realised Abhi wasn't looking at her but something in front of him. She followed his gaze to where Arnav was standing in front of his car, jaw clenched and eyes hard like flint unblinkingly trained on her. 'Arnavji?'

Arnav stayed silent, he didn't trust himself to speak coherently. The blood pumping through his veins  seemed to be on fire ever since he'd seen Khushi and Abhinav come through the doors. Her head had been on his shoulder, their arms linked and Abhinav had been looking at her as if she was a cute little puppy while they walked.

'I guess you don't need a lift?' Abhi smiled at Khushi and then Arnav trying to diffuse the obvious tension in the car park.

Khushi shook her head nervously and said bye and began moving towards Arnav.

He'd been about to turn and open the car door for her when he noticed it. 'Your hair? You've...?' The waist-length hair was gone and in its place was a shorter, barely past her shoulders layered style.

Khushi's hand reached up unconsciously to touch her hair. It was another one of Buaji's constant complaints recently. She'd been nervous when she'd had it done, anticipating his reaction and then he hadn't even called and she'd regretted doing it but now she felt almost shy at having him finally see it. 'Erm... yeah it's just a trim.'

Just then Abhinav's car drove past them and Khushi waved as it did, missing the precise moment when Arnav's anger returned in full force. 'So did you get it cut for the boss then?'

His voice was dripping with sarcasm and Khushi looked at him in confusion shaking her head slightly. 'What?'

'Your hair. Obviously it's not for my benefit since you always have that stupid plait when we go out so it must be for him!'

The roaring in Khushi's ears and pounding in her head seemed to increase all at once, 'What? What are you going on about Arnavji?'

He stalked closer to her almost nose to nose, 'I told you to call me Arnav!'

Khushi took a step backwards blinking trying to make sense of what he was saying but failing miserably. Arnav was hard to understand on normal days and today her head felt like it was full of cotton wool and she was unable to even understand the basics. 'Sorry, I forgot. What are you...?  Why would I cut my hair for Abhi? Arnavj... I mean Arnav I don't understand...'

'Like hell you don't understand!' He grabbed her arms and spun them both around pushing her against his car, 'are you cheating on me?! '

There was a sudden moment of clarity and Khushi forgot all about her headache. 'WHAT?!'

'Don't give me that innocent stare Khushi, it won't work on me! I saw you before and I saw you today so don't give me all that 'we're just friends crap,' Okay!'

'I...' Khushi struggled against Arnav's grip and he finally let go, but continued to stand dangerously close looking down at her with seething eyes. 'What the hell are you talking about Arnavji? Me and Abhi? What 'friends' crap? We are friends! And what did you see?  I have no idea what you're talking about!'

His voice dropped down to a slow almost dangerous tone, 'I saw you with him the day I left. You were all dressed up for him on his birthday. The make-up, the hair,' he flicked a lock of her hair almost with disgust as he spoke 'not something you usually do for me is it now?'

Khushi narrowed her eyes as she tried to remember the day and then her eyes opened wide and she clasped a hand over her forehead. 'You...! you...!'

Her shock gave him a punch to the gut, he had been expecting denial and refusal but here she was practically admitting it. He stepped back away from her in disbelief.

Khushi closed her eyes tight trying to relieve some of the tension before she opened them to see Arnav further away than he had been when she'd closed them. 'Are you serious?' When he didn't reply she took a step towards him 'Arnavji, I'm asking you a question. Are you seriously accusing me of cheating on you? With Abhi? Because you... I don't know saw me with him and added 2 and 2 to make 5000?'

He looked away from her to the side unable to meet the anger in her eyes, 'Khushi, don't. I know what I saw okay.'

'You know what you saw? Oh right. Like you know what you heard, when you accused me of having an affair with Shyamji?!'

His eyes flew back to hers as her words registered and a feeling of dread began to seep through him.

Khushi felt the resentment and anger she'd been bottling for nearly three weeks take over as she tried to drown out the throbbing in her head. 'I cut my hair for you! I wanted to leave it loose for you! Although what for, I don't know since you went off and ignored me for two weeks! Then you come back and everything's just supposed to go back to normal?! And the make-up? Are you really that dense? I thought the great Arnav Singh Raizada had a brain! Well you never seem to use it! I had love bites! Love bites that you gave me, before you start accusing Abhi again. I had to cover them up with make up and with my hair! Make sense yet? Has your brain started working yet Mr Raizada?'

Unwelcome feelings of guilt and regret had set in as soon as she'd started talking and he'd realised how much sense he was making. Why did he have to be so damn impulsive all the time? He should have waited, he should have asked her or given her a chance to explain. 'Khushi...' he stepped forward and tried to hold her elbow but she shrugged him off.

'I'm done! Okay, I'm done Arnavji! I don't know what this is... was for you. Maybe I was just some little experiment, you wanted to try dating somebody middle-class for a change but I don't want to be a part of your games anymore!'

This time he held her arm with more force, not allowing her to move. How dare she think she could just break up with him? As if he didn't mean anything to her. 'You know what I think; I think you were the one experimenting, Miss Khushi Kumari Gupta. You wanted to see if you could be the one to make Arnav Singh Raizada finally change his views on marriage. That's what you've always wanted to do! Ever since we met! But now you've realised it's not going to work! I'm not going to be at your beck and call 24/7 and that's why you want to end things! Just be honest Khushi! You know I'm never going to marry you, so you've decided to cut your losses and move onto Abhinav while you still can right?'

Her mouth was open in disbelief and anger but she had no more strength to argue with him. There were a few minutes of intense staring and laboured breathing before Arnav finally let go of her arm and Khushi walked away silently still shaking her head in disbelief.