Chapter Twenty

Khushi and Payal took Arnav to their favorite cafe, where they used to hang out back in the day, whether to just eat and chill or study together. It was very casual inside, the mood rather humble. The trio sat in a booth, Arnav sitting beside Khushi, while Payal sat across from them. A waiter came and took their orders before leaving. While they waited, Khushi and Payal told Arnav some more stories, when finally their food arrived.

"So I've heard about all of the high school stuff, what about college," Arnav asked.

Khushi and Payal looked at each other before shrugging.

Arnav's eyebrows met in the middle. "What do you mean?"

"Well, to be honest," Payal began, "college was a bore."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Khushi nodded. "Many people after high school left town to go to college in the big cities. Some, like us, remained behind and stayed here for school."

"It's not that it exactly sucked," Payal said, "but it wasn't exactly anything either."

"Unlike your college experience, ours was... boring," Khushi said, pursing her lips.

"Well, I wouldn't exactly say boring Kush - remember that party sophomore year?"

Khushi looked away, making Arnav curious.

"What happened," he asked.

"Well, we hadn't gone to any parties freshman year, so we decided we'd finally go to one. And so we did, and we had our first taste of alcohol."

Arnav's eyebrows shot up.

"It was totally by accident, we were trying to get the non-spiked punch, but ended up drinking the wrong one."

"I told you it was the wrong punch," Khushi scowled.

"Oh would you stop Khushi, it was years ago! And its not that big of a deal, you always drink bhang on holi."

Khushi opened her mouth to reply, but couldn't come up with anything, so she just stuck a fry in her mouth, chewing with annoyance.

"Wait a minute," Arnav said, shaking his head. "You drink bhang?"

Khushi reached for another fry and chewed on it, her cheeks heated.

"Oh yeah! You bet she totally does," Payal grinned.

Khushi gave her a warning look but Payal ignored her.

"Just wait till holi arrives," Payal continued. "It is in a week or so, after all - you'll totally see what I mean then."

"Is that so," Arnav grinned.

Khushi looked up at Arnav as he looked at her. Khushi felt her cheeks heat up once more, so she looked away. Payal watched their exchange and found them to be very cute. She only hoped that the two would come close together soon.

"By the way," Payal began, "what are you guys doing tomorrow?"

The couple glanced at each other before Khushi shrugged.

"Not sure yet," she replied.

"Well I have errands to run, so unfortunately I won't be able to show you around tomorrow, Jij."

"That's fine," Arnav smiled with a nod.

Payal returned a smile of her own, when an idea came to mind. "Hey Kush, you should take him out to the fields."

"The fields?"

"Its this plot of land our family owns where they do like farming stuff, like harvesting things. Khushi and I used to play there a lot as kids, and oh! We even have this huge swing on this this large tree, you'll totally love it Jij!"

"Okay, sure, I'd love to check that out."

Khushi looked up at him. "Are you sure?"

"Positive," Arnav nodded.

"Then it's all settled," Payal grinned.

*~*

The day soon came to an end and Payal headed home while Arnav and Khushi headed their way. It wasn't long until they arrived back at Khushi's and just in time for dinner.

Dinner went by smoothly and everyone headed on up to their rooms. Arnav had already changed and was sitting in bed, going through his phone. Khushi soon returned, having changed into her nightwear after her mother helped with her treatment. She went to the vanity and pickd up her comb, combing it through her hair.

Khushi glanced at Arnav through the mirror. "I hope today wasn't so boring."

Arnav looked up at her. "It wasn't boring at all. Today was quite fun actually."

Khushi turned to him. "Really?"

Arnav nodded. "It was nice to see you completely relaxed," he smiled humbly.

Khushi looked down, a small hint of blush on her cheeks.

Placing his phone aside, Arnav got up and went towards her. Khushi couldn't help but to look at him as he came closer and closer to her, stopping right before her. He reached out to take the comb from her, and confused as she was, Khushi handed him the comb. He placed it down on the vanity and then took hold of her hands in his.

"Seeing you the way you were today Khushi, I... I really liked it."

Khushi couldn't help but to look surprised.

"You were yourself, you weren't trying to be this.. perfect, proper person, you were just.... I'm not saying that you're not proper in general or anything but... seeing you just... being you - that's what I wanted. I got to get to know you better today, and I'm really happy that that is the case. However, I do want to apologize for this morning."

Khushi looked away.

"I didn't mean what I said, in that way. It's just that... I thought my brash behavior may have scared you, or that I may have forced something on you.... I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

Khushi looked up into his eyes. She could see that he really meant what he had said. She understood where he was coming from, and she was okay with it, as long as it didn't mean that he regretted his actions, much to her own surprise.

"Apology accepted," Khushi said softly.

Arnav gave her a little smile and unable to help himself, he placed a kiss on her cheek, right by her scar. Khushi gasped by the sudden action, her eyes immediately meeting his. For a moment, the two remained stuck in daze, when Arnav's notification tone rang off, snapping the two back to reality. Arnav checked his phone and Khushi quickly finished combing the rest of her hair. Not long after, both got into bed and fell asleep, looking forward to tomorrow.

Chapter Nineteen

As per Payal's request, both Arnav and Khushi had changed, and the three went about town, going to the girls' old high school. It was rather large, the canteen hall seperate in a building adjacent to the school, a large field sitting in the middle with goal posts set up.

"Did you guys have a soccer team," Arnav asked.

"Yeah," Payal replied. "The boys soccer team would play against other schools, while us girls just considered the whole thing as torture," she chuckled.

"You guys played soccer?"

"Well... I wouldn't exactly call it playing," she said, looking at Khushi, and the two chuckled.

"I don't get it," Arnav said in confusion.

The three halted for a moment, looking out at the field.

"You see, the girls didn't really care to play," Khushi explained. "Well, maybe except for a few. But for most of us, it was just something we dreaded, and most of the time, we just ended up hanging out instead of playing."

"The coach didn't say anything?"

"Oh coach Mithal tried... but it didn't do anything and she ended up giving up on us. Rightfully so, I think, there wasn't a chance in hell we were playing."

Again, Arnav was slightly shocked, but quickly overcame it. Khushi was beginning to open up, and that was exactly what he wanted.

They continued to walk along the field, entering the main building.

"You sure we're allowed inside," Arnav asked.

"Yeah, its fine," Payal replied. "Why? You scared Jij," she teased.

"As if," he smirked.

Payal chuckled. "Its totally fine, especially since I come in now and then and help the teachers out."

"You wanna be a teacher?"

"That's the goal. I tried the business route like Khushi, but there was no way that was happening."

Arnav looked at Khushi while she shook her head at Payal.

"Honestly Pays, its not that hard."

"Dude, I can't even remember where I put my keys, you expect me to be able to know where all of the receipts are and check on all of the accounts? Yeah right!"

Khushi rolled her eyes with a chuckle.

"You managed Bapu's accounts," Arnav asked.

Khushi looked up at him and nodded. "I used to always look over the books, making sure everything was right - whether it was money being paid or money coming in, I kept track of everything."

"Wow... I bet having you at the office would be great."

Payal's eyes widened as she forced herself not to laugh. Khushi felt her cheeks heat, and Arnav immediately realized the way his words came out and he bit his tongue.

"Er, given that you have background of it, I'm sure you helping around at the office would be great."

Khushi nodded while Payal kept her lips pursed, nodding as well. The three remained silent as they walked the halls, when they reached a case full of trophies. Inside, Arnav saw the numerous trophies, several of them being for winning the soccer championships.

"Look Khushi, it's still here."

Both Arnav and Khushi turned to where Payal was pointing. There was a photo of Khushi, holding a trophy as she smiled away, wearing a beautiful yellow sari.

"Oh, I remember it like it was yesterday," Khushi sighed.

Arnav looked down at the little plate at the bottom of the frame. "53rd Miss Alluring: Khushi Kumari Gupta. What is this?"

"Just this pageant thing we do here in the school. Juniors are only allowed to take part, so a lot of girls look forward to this. Its silly, but being from this little town, its just something we do for fun, like a mock pageant. Its nothing really, just a little event-"

"Little? You beat freaking Sunaina for crying out loud," Payal exclaimed.

"And Sunaina is... who," Arnav questioned.

Khushi couldn't help her chuckle. "She was the it girl."

"The it girl?"

Payal nodded. "Yeah. You know like the queen bee, or like the biggest bitch of high school, something like that."

"Got it."

"Wait, what happened to her," Khushi questioned, turning to Payal. "Did anyone really ever find out why they left?"

Payal clicked her tongue. "Nah, but I'm pretty sure it had something to do with her sister."

Arnav looked at then in confusion, so Khushi cleared it.

"There was a rumor that her older sister had a thing going on with some guy from her college in the city, and that she got pregnant. So out of embarrassment, the family left."

"That's karma for you," Payal pointed. "If you honestly thought you could shit talk about everyone, just because you had money, well I'm sorry, it had to come back at you one way or the other. And lo and behold, the sister allegedly got pregnant and everyone was shit talking about that whole family."

"So no one ever saw them again," Arnav asked.

Both ladies shook their head.

"Wow... well this is getting really interesting - and you said this town was boring."

Khushi shrugged and Arnav chuckled.

"So, what other stories do you have for me?"

"Oh! Khushi, tell him about the time you dumped ice cream on Vijay's head."

"You did not," Arnav grinned.

"Guilty," Khushi smiled sheepishly.

"Girl, there's no need to be embarrassed," Payal said, "you did it for me after all."

"Why is that," Arnav asked, as they resumed walking.

"Well he did deserve it," Khushi said. "For some time, Payal had been crushing on him, actually, maybe since like the 7th grade. She wanted to go out with him, but she didn't have the balls to ask him-"

"Hey!"

"Oh hush it Pays! Anywho, so I went over to him during lunch to ask him. Mind you, I had already bought an ice cream to enjoy since it was a hot day. So I go over to this kid and tell him, like hey, my girl wants to go out with you but she's too nervous to ask, so I'm asking. This guy looks over my shoulder and looks at Payal and then he looks at me and agrees. But before I can settle the location, this dick asks me when I wanted to go out on a date with him," Khushi scowled.

Arnav's eyebrows shot up.

"I know! That was my reaction too. He even took hold of my hand to get me close to him, and before he could say a word, he reached out and licked my ice cream."

"What a pig," Payal huffed.

"No shit, and I was pissed, so I dumped my ice cream cone on his head."

Arnav couldn't help his laughter. "The douche deserved it."

"Definitely. And it turned out he was seeing 3 other girls on the low," Khushi said, rolling her eyes.

"Speaking of ice cream, I'm getting hungry," Payal said. "Let's go get something to eat."

The other agreed and they left the campus. While Khushi talked away with Payal, Arnav kept his eyes on his wife. Just these few hours with her was opening up a whole other side to Khushi!

And Arnav had to admit, be was absolutely loving it.

Chapter Eighteen

Arnav came downstairs, following behind Khushi, into the dining room. Nayan was already seated and he had Arnav sit beside him. Khushi helped her mother lay everything down on the table, and then the two ladies sat down. They all dug right in, Arnav and Nayan chatting away about business.

Breakfast was soon complete and just as Khushi was about to help her mother clean everything up, a shrieking filled the air.

"...iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!"

Khushi turned around and was immediately tackled with a hug by none other than her cousin Payal.

Sumitra placed her palm on her forehead. "Hai DM- honesty Payal, I thought it was a banshee or something that had entered."

Payal poked her head over Khushi's shoulder. "I'll pretend that you didn't say that," and she turned her attention back to Khushi. "You're back!"

"And you're still attacking me," Khushi chuckled.

"Oh hush it you," and she hugged her again, the two rocking back and forth on their feet.

Arnav watched them curiously, trying to remember where he had heard her name before. In a matter of seconds it came to him, remembering that Payal was Khushi's cousin, as well as her best friend.

Nayan chuckled beside him, turning Arnav's attention to him. "These two will never change, honestly. I thought that with age they'd calm, but they got even crazier," he chuckled.

"I'll say," Sumitra said.

"Instead of just smothering Khushi, say hello to your jeejaji," Nayan chuckled.

Payal let go of Khushi. "Of course Kaka, I most definitely will do that," she said, walking over to them.

She held her hand out to Arnav. "Hi, I'm Payal! And if you don't mind, I'll call you Jij instead since it sounds cooler."

Arnav grinned, shaking her hand. "Sure Payal, whatever you're comfortable with."

"You're nice and you seem cool - I think we'll get along just fine."

"Same to you," Arnav chuckled.

Arnav and Payal mingled, Nayan going to his work, Sumitra heading to the kitchen. Khushi stood to the side, letting the two get to know each other.

Suddenly Payal gasped, turning back to Khushi. "Oh my gosh, I totally forgot!" She rushed over to her, gripping her shoulders. "Guess who hooked up with who?!"

Khushi looked at Payal in confusion, but one look at Payal's expression had Khushi's jaw dropping. "Shut the fuck up!"

Arnav's eyebrows shot up in shock.

Payal shook her head like a bobblehead, grinning like a fool.

"When? How?!"

"Dude, when I heard the news, I was shook!"

"Shooketh the house!"

Again, Arnav was shocked.

"Like even though you expected it to happen one day or another, its still like duuuuudddeee!"

"I know, like we all saw it coming but like biiiihhhhhhh."

Payal nodded in agreement while making the duck face.

"It's about time, honestly."

"Honestly," and the two chuckled.

Arnav blinked. The two were continuing on with their gossip, but Arnav remained in shock. He was seeing his wife more animated than ever, and while he was happy to see her like this, he was still a little surprised. Arnav had never expected to ever hear Khushi to cuss because... well, he just didn't. She had always been so quiet and gentle, so to see her like this... he was glad.

I'm finally seeing the real Khushi.

"Ooh I know!"

Arnav snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of Payal's shrieking.

"Let's go to the high school, I'm sure Jij would love to see that."

"Um-"

"Right Jij," Payal asked, turning to him.

"Yeah... yeah I'd like that," Arnav said.

"See," Payal said, turning back to Khushi. "Now quickly go upstairs and get ready."

"But-"

"Go," she exclaimed, pushing her towards the stairs.

Khushi shook her head and headed upstairs. Arnav was about to go as well, when Payal stopped him.

"Just one moment Jij."

Arnav turned back to her. "Hmm?"

"You and Khushi... you guys aren't exactly there yet, are ya?"

Arnav looked to the side, giving Payal her answer.

"Don't stress it Jij. I'm sure it won't be long until you guys have your first kiss."

Again, Arnav's expression did the talking, and Payal gasped.

"Stahp! When? How?! Wait did you guys already-? No, I doubt that, given the way you two were behaving around each other but did you two at least...?"

Arnav looked anywhere but at her, once again giving Payal her answer.

"Oh la la, I'm gonna need the deets Jij."

"Uh... I-I'm sure your cousin can do that."

"Aww, you're blushing, that's so sweet! Tell you what, I'm gonna help you out so that by the end of this trip, both of you will be getting along even better than before."

Arnav arched his eyebrow. "Really? You'll help me to get to know her better."

"You bet."

Chapter Seventeen

To wake up in her room after such a long time, felt rather good for Khushi. The way sunlight would pour in through her windows to wake her up, hadn't changed. The way people bustled outside to get on with their day hadn't changed. What had changed, however, was that Khushi wasn't waking up and turning on her TV first thing, but rather gazing up at her husband.

Like other nights before, Khushi had found her way into his arms. It was strange how they curiously fit together perfectly, not to mention how much they moved and managed to make their way to each other in their sleep. It was simply strange - what was it that pulled them to each other almost every night in their sleep?

Arnav squirmed a little, taking in a deep breath before letting out a sigh and opening his eyes.  It took a moment for him to be aware of his surroundings and remember that he wasn't at his home but at Khushi's. He felt a familiar presence below his arm and looked down at Khushi.

"Good morning," he smiled softly.

"Good morning," Khushi replied softly.

"For a moment, I forgot where we were," he chuckled.

Khushi smiled up at him and glanced at her alarm clock. "We better get up, Amma will have breakfast ready soon."

Arnav nodded and Khushi pulled back to get up. However, her mangalsutra had caught onto the fabric of Arnav's shirt, causing Khushi to move back in. Her eyes quickly darted to Arnav's and then down at her mangalsutra. She was so close to him - much closer than before - and she could feel her nerves shooting up to the heavens.

Hai DM!

Arnav could see how nervous Khushi was. And like other times before, he felt that urge to kiss her. But this time, he held himself back. Instead, he helped her unhook her mangalsutra from his shirt. Khushi watched him in confusion as he did, somewhat surprised that he hadn't tried to kiss her.

I wonder why?

It wasn't that he didn't want to, no, not at all. He was very tempted to do it and he did want to, but he had only stopped himself because he didn't want Khushi to think bad of him. As he had told her the night before, he wanted for her to get to know him just as he wanted to get to know her. And to throw himself onto her as he had impulsively done before, just didn't seem right.

*~*

Heading down to the kitchen, Khushi thought of Arnav's actions from this morning. She had expected him to kiss her, as he had done so on other occasions before.

Why didn't he do it? He didn't before so why...? Well, there are the things we spoke about the night before... yeah, I think that's it. He did say he wanted to get to know me better, so maybe that's why... that makes sense... although, I wouldn't have minded one bit if he had kissed me- what am I thinking?!

"Laado?"

Khushi snapped out of her thoughts and looked up at her mother, who was looking at her curiously.

"Is everything okay?"

"Uh, yeah, yeah, perfect."

Khushi joined her mother to help finish up with breakfast. Although Sumitra was curious about what was going through her daughter's mind - especially when her daughter began burning the parathas.

"Khushi-! What are you doing?"

Sumitra quickly removed the paratha, bringing Khushi back to reality.

"Hai DM-! Amma, I'm so sorry!"

"Khushi what have I said to you time and time again, always pay attention when in the kitchen," Sumitra scowled.

"I know, I'm sorry, I just can't stop thinking about-"

Khushi stopped herself. Was she really going to share what had happened earlier with her mother? No, no way at all.

Sumitra arched her eyebrow at her but Khushi shook her head.

"I'll just... I'll go call Bapusa down while you finish up."

"Don't forget Arnav while you're at it."

Khushi nodded and left the kitchen.

What is wrong with me? Why am I letting this get to me? It's not that big of a deal! But then again....

Khusho went upstairs, heading to her parents' room.

I mean, okay, I want to get to know him and he wants to get to know me. But how do I do that? Where do I even take him in this tiny town?

Khushi arrived to her parents' room and knocked on the door before entering.

"Ah, Khushi, there you are laado," Nayan grinned.

"Breakfast is almost ready, Amma's about to set up the table."

"Okay. Where's Arnav?"

"Um... I think he's still getting ready."

Nayan nodded. "Come here laado, sit next to me."

Khushi nodded and went over to her father, sitting down beside him on the bed. Nayan placed his hand on Khushi's head, giving her a small smile.

"Tell me honestly - are you happy?"

Khushi nodded. "I am as long as both you and Amma are."

"That isn't what I asked laado," he said softly.

Khushi pursed her lips, looking down. "I am. Genuinely, I am."

"But...?"

Khushi looked up at him, curiously.

"There's always a but in these kind of sentences," he smiled lightly.

"There is no but Bapusa, honestly. Everyone there is so nice, they never give me a moment to feel sad that I'm not here with you and Amma."

"And Arnav?"

Khushi didn't say anything, looking down.

Nayan let out a small sigh. "Khushi, I understand that for many in your generation, arranged marriage is just a thing that old generations did. Many don't understand it anymore. Now, it's not that I'm against love marriages, I had told you that if you found someone, your mother and I would agree to meet him. But you told us that you would agree to whomever we chose, something many girls wouldn't think of doing.

"I know that the responsibility came down to me and your mother to find the right man for you, and after everything that had happened...."

Nayan looked down and Khushi took his hands in hers.

"Arnav is a really kind man Bapu," Khushi said softly. "Please don't think that you chose wrong."

Nayan lightly squeezed her hands. "You sure?"

"Positive. It's just that... I don't really know him all to well, that's all. But I'm sure in time things will change just like it did with Amma and you."

Nayan smiled and placed a kiss on her forehead. "You're right. I just worry, its what parents do."

"There's nothing to worry about," Khushi grinned.

"That's for me to decide," he winked, and Khushi giggled. "Now go, go get Arnav and bring him downstairs."

Khushi nodded and both got up, Nayan heading down while Khushi went to her room. She walked right in without a thought and was smacked with an eyeful of Arnav's ripped chest. Khushi froze and gaped at her husband while Arnav stood frozen, holding his shirt. Khushi's eyes darted up to Arnav's, to his chest, then his eyes again, before quickly turning around, her cheeks gushing red.

"U-uh, breakfast is ready," Khushi said quickly.

Arnav quickly put his shirt on, saving Khushi from the embarrassment. "Right... sorry."

Khushi's eyebrows met in the middle. "For?"

Arnav didn't say anything but Khushi understood.

"Its my fault," Khushi said softly. "I shouldn't have walked in like that without knocking."

"No, you have that right, it's your room."

Khushi looked down at the floor.

"...as for what happened back home..."

Huh?

"I shouldn't have done what I had."

Khushi immediately figured out what he was talking about, and she felt her heart pit. She slowly turned back around to him and when Arnav saw the expression on her face, he was surprised - she was hurt by his words.

"Khushi-"

"Everyone's downstairs, we should get going," and she left the room.

Arnav opened his mouth to call out to her, but Khushi was gone. To be honest, Arnav was surprised. He had only said that because he thought that she may have gotten the wrong impression of him, and he hadn't mean to exactly act that way. He didn't regret his actions, but he didn't want Khushi to think bad of him. After all, like they both agreed, they were strangers to each other, so to do such actions....

I... I didn't want to hurt you Khushi. Crap!