FF: It's Not Right - Chapter 35

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Chapter 35 

Khushi woke up to the sound of her name being spoken softly into her ear but was loathe to open her eyes and leave the warm comfort of her dreams.

‘Khushi, I have to leave.’

‘Leave?’ She opened her eyes then, confused and disorientated as she realised that the voice speaking in her ear was not that of her sister and the warmth surrounding her came from a pair of hard muscular arms rather than her soft cosy blanket.

‘Arnavji? What are you…’ Khushi looked around to see the hospital hallway bustling with staff and rays of sunlight from the newly dawned sun peeking through the high windows. ‘Hai Devi Maiyya, did you stay all night? You should have gone home! Why didn’t you wake me? Did you sleep at all?’

‘Shhh, shhh Khushi calm down,’ Arnav tightened his hold on her to stop her squirming. ‘I did sleep, I just have to go now or Di will notice I haven’t been home.’ He had only managed a few hours of sleep himself, spending the rest of the time watching Khushi sleep; observing the shadows playing on her face in the moonlight and the contrast of her dark eyelashes against her milky skin.

‘Oh of course. Yes you should go straight away.’

He stood up and kissed her lightly on the forehead. ‘I’ll be back later.’

‘No, no you don’t have to…’

Arnav pressed a kiss onto her lips to stop her talking. ‘I’ll be back later,’ he said straightening up and stretching slightly.

---

‘Sanka Devi, can you ever forgive me?’

‘No Buaji, you don’t have to apologise to me! You have every right to say whatever you want.’

Her Buaji hugged her and Khushi allowed herself to be swallowed up into the larger woman’s embrace. There would be some that would hold a grudge and accuse Madhumati of favouring her biological niece while always vilifying her adopted one but Khushi could not. She intended to hold onto every parental figure in her life with everything she had no matter how they responded to her. 

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Khushi smiled as she watched Anjali, Akashji and Naniji greet the rest of her family and slowly made her way to stand next to Abhi and Arnav who were standing slightly apart from everybody else.

‘Hey Khushi, Arnav was just thanking me for letting him be a hero last night.’

Khushi saw Arnav roll his eyes before he nodded in agreement. ‘Although Abhi had yet to learn how to accept victory with grace instead of crowing about it.’

The change in the way they both addressed each other didn’t go unnoticed by her and completely disregarding the fact that Buaji had only an hour ago forgiven her for exactly such behaviour Khushi flung herself at Arnav and Abhi, an arm around each of their necks forcing them into a group hug they might otherwise never have partaken in.

---

‘Erm… I got you something too,’ Arnav half whispered as he stood next to Khushi while Anjali handed out care parcels to the Guptas who protested but accepted them good-naturedly.

‘What do you mean?’ There was a thrill of excitement as Khushi found herself being led away from the families and out of the hospital although she couldn’t deny that she was sad to be missing out on all the food.

Once they both stood outside his car, Arnav opened the boot and retrieved a package he’d deposited there this morning on his way home from the hospital and held it out to Khushi. ‘You’re still wearing the same clothes as yesterday so I thought…’ He shrugged and tried to maintain an air of nonchalance even while he watched greedily for Khushi’s reaction.

Khushi opened the packet, feeling disappointed already that she could smell no tell-tale wafts of her favourite food and then her breath caught in her throat. The plain brown wrapping housed inside it a beautifully detailed red dress. She took it out properly to better examine it handing the wrapping back to Arnav. It was simple in design but when the sunshine caught the hundreds of iridescent beads that it was decorated with it sparkled and shined. ‘It’s beautiful, Arnavji I can’t… I mean Arnav I… I can’t wear this now.’

‘Of course you can. Come to my house, you can get changed there and we’ll be back before your Babuji gets discharged I promise.’

Khushi opened her mouth to protest but seeing the hopeful look on his face fall she closed it again and nodded with a shy smile. They sat in the car and as Arnav drove she touched the beads on the dress, marvelling in their tiny size holding such a wealth of light to be reflected out. The label inside said AR Designs and she wondered if Arnav had designed this specific dress himself.

There was no family present at the Raizada House when they arrived there, the female members and Akash left behind at the hospital and Mamaji were both presumably at work and Khushi walked in behind Arnav full of nerves. She had never been alone in the house with Arnav before and the thought of what Buaji would make of her entering an empty house with a young unattached man caused her steps to falter as they approached his room.

Arnav looked over his shoulder to see Khushi had stopped. He tried to think back to the last time Khushi had been in his room, well before everything with Shyam had unravelled and he wondered if that was the reason for her hesitancy. ‘Khushi? Do you want to use the guestroom? I just came here automatically but you can of course if you want to.’

She nodded and he led her away, reassuring her with a smile that he wasn’t offended in any way. In fact it was probably advisable because he wasn’t sure he would be able to recover from the intimacy of having Khushi naked in his shower. He’d forever spend his time in his room imagining what wonders his bathroom had witnessed.

---

Khushi hadn’t examined the entire contents of the packet beforehand but as she stood in the guest bathroom, freshly showered and dry her face flamed when she saw that the packet also contained a set of red lace lingerie in her exact size.

As Khushi dressed the question of whether Arnav had designed the items that she was now clothing herself with rose again. As the cool fabric slid over her smooth skin she felt as if it was Arnav’s hands touching her with feather-light strokes. She hurriedly put the dress and trousers on and draped the scarf across her neck, and tied up her damp hair in a loose knot at the base of her skull.

Arnav sucked in a harsh breath as she emerged from the bathroom. He’d been sitting on the bed answering e-mails on his phone but stood up immediately and held his arm out to receive her. ‘You look beautiful,’ he said and the pink blush on Khushi’s cheeks deepened. ‘Did everything fit okay?’

Khushi could no longer meet his gaze, so afraid was she that she would burst into flames. She nodded and played with the ends of her dupatta as she worked up the courage to speak, ‘how did you… know… how did you know my size?’

Arnav smirked as he realised the reason for her discomfort. He leant down slightly to meet her bowed head and spoke in a low voice, ‘I’m a designer Khushi, I can tell these things just by looking.’

Khushi’s eyes flew up to meet his, scandalised and even further embarrassed by his admission. ‘You mean you designed everything?’

Arnav nodded and then took advantage of her momentary shock to reach behind her and free her hair.
‘Now it’s okay. Come on, you must be hungry,’ he said casually trying to ignore the deafening beat of his heart.

Khushi touched the layers of damp hair that he had freed before a smile overtook her at the mention of food. Her embarrassment forgotten, she rushed after him out of the room.