UE part 28

"one moment dear"

Khushi whirled her head to look into his eyes which said- your turn over, now mine..

the intensity of the grip on her palm remaining the same, Arnav drew her forward..

and in about just as unexpected a gesture, drew his arm around her shoulder pulling her closer..

Khushi gasped in surprise and the media gasped with excitement..

she tried to distance herself in as discreet a manner as possible , the strong scent of Armani rising up her nose,but to no avail..the grip was steely...

Arnav looked at Khushi straight in the eye..

pretending to tuck her hair behind her ear she urgently whispered..

"what are you doing!!"

That seemed to fall on deaf ears..

"Darling..won't you tell them the reason..?" he spoke..

Darling? Darling ? And Arnav Singh Raizada!! was he drunk??

"w..what are you talking ab-" she stopped as he raised his hands and volunteered to tuck in the hair strand behind her ears which she had been fiddling with since long...

"you don't leave me with a choice do you?" he spoke gently..the media men suddenly grew several new pairs of ears...one tried to interrupt and he was practically strangled by the rest to shut up.

"why don't you tell them why I had to do it? Can't see you crying your heart out and refusing to talk to me just because I couldn't miss the London conference for your birthday..can I?"

"Ms Gupta!! you weren't talking to Mr Raizada??" someone shouted from the crowd..

Khushi widened her furious eyes at Arnav and he smirked..this man was taking his revenge back at her!!!

"you.." she began but was shut up as he placed a finger on her lips..

and there were several more gasps...Khushi wondered where her knees had melted away..she shook her legs slightly just to ensure they were still there...

WHAT was he doing..whatever was he doing!!!

"Khushi..i wanna ask you something"

Pin drop silence..

she was flabbergasted , she was confused , she was speechless, she was mad, she was numbed...

"Khushi "...he smirked and smiled... "will you marry me?"

there was a loud gasp..followed by a pin drop silence..before everyone present took in just what he had said..

and then there was a deafening noise of clapping, hooting, whistling and what not! And blinding flashes of cameras immediately lit up the place..

But to Khushi it was as if she had pressed the mute button somewhere..mute people opened and closed their mouths clapping silent claps around her...there was no noise for her, no clappings, she didn't even blink at the cameras..

just a pounding of blood in her ears, and drumming of her heart in her chest and the echo of what he had just bombed ringing around her..

as she stared and stared and stared at him, her eyes circling out the greatest diameter they ever had..

Her palm which she had been so long struggling to set free from Arnav's grip merely slumped in his and so did she within his embrace..you can't stand without your knees for very long you see..he kept looking into her eyes...

"YES! YES!! SAY YES!! SAY YES!! WE WANT A YES!!! GO KHUSHI!!!WOOHOOO!!! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!!!"

People were getting so impatient that they could gladly answer Arnav on her behalf..

Arnav pressed her hands stronger, strong enough and long enough for her to come out of her trance and look straight at him..

'say yes'..his eyes clearly sent the message..

"y..y.."

"YES!!SAY YES!!" the crowd cheered..

"yes" Khushi gasped..

the noise which followed was beyond deafening..the congratulatory screams which poured in from all around..people from inside the restaurant had come out to witness the proposal of Arnav Singh Raizada

"HUG !! HUG!!" everyone screamed..

before Khushi knew Arnav had his arms around her in embrace...too numb to resist, too shocked to respond, she slowly returned the embrace back..

Arnav tilted his head and placed a peck on her cheek..

Khushi just missed fainting..giant sized elephants created havoc within her...

there were shrieks and delighted squeals..

Arnav slowly broke the embrace but she held to his arm for support, she truly , desperately, needed the support of a cement pile right now, even if the cement pile had apparently cracked up...

they kept their eyelock alive for a few moments before Arnav turned to the media ..

"thank you everyone..This is a very special moment for us, and we would certainly respect some-"

"Mr Raizada!! when do we hear the wedding bells??"

"not any time soon..we are in absolutely no hurry to tie the knot..."

"engagement??"

"a possibilty"

"Mr Raizada-"

Arnav raised a hand in stopping motion..and motioned the security to clear the crowd..

huge, muscled, black suited men cleared the desperate crowd away as Arnav led Khushi to the car..

he seemed totally oblivious to the presence of the crowd now and was walking straight towards the car, holding Khushi's hands in his ,walking in his usual mechanical fashion..

he instructed to the staff that he would prefer to drive himself..

a very wise decision, certainly..

while the live coverage simultaneously played on the television sets of the Gupta's and the Raizada's...

The car had picked up speed and Khushi was still piercing her eyes into an Arnav who was royally ignoring her act, which all the more made Khushi boil and fume..

"Mr Raizada!" she finally spoke at length..

silence..

"MR ARNAV SINGH RAIZADA!" she raised her voice...

Arnav drew a cool breath and answered "what?"

silence..

"WHAT? WHAT? Don't you think you have some explaining to do?"

"no" Arnav continued staring at the road ahead..

"Stop the car THIS INSTANT!" Khushi was losing it now..

"why?"

"because I think you have either lost your mind or are drunk, and you shouldn't be driving in any case"

Arnav screeched the car to a halt, then turned to face her..

"what?"

Khushi drew in a deep breath, then exploded-

"How COULD you? THIS was your BIG plan? THIS was your idea of a BREAK UP!! YOU just PROPOSED to me in front of a dozen cameras doing LIVE COVERAGE and YOU have the callousness to ask me WHAT?? WHAT were you doing there Mr Raizada??? Do you even realize what you have done??How could you!!!"

"just like I could put a dozen pink heart cutouts in a pink chocolate box. Perhaps that's how"

Khushi stared at him incredulously...

"Are you seriously telling me you proposed because I had you for throwing the blame of our failed breakup on me in front of the media? Such a harmless thing!"

silence...

"are you even listening to what I am saying???"

"Arnav Singh Raizada never backs on his word. I gave word to your mother it would either be a breakup or an engagement. You ruined the breakup , so there was no choice left for me but to finalize the engagement"

"I? I ruined the breakup??" she stared at him incredulously..

"of course"

Khushi opened and closed her mouth in a goldfish fashion several times since nothing seemed good enough to hurl at his face..

"YOU are the limit! Do you even consider yourself human? Or are you beyond the race? Everything, absolutely everything has to be someone else's fault! You come running to save me in the blast, my fault! You bring me to a restaurant and forget to breakup, my fault! You come over my home and ruin my pasta inviting my mother's wrath, my fault! Your date runs away with mine, my fault! Look Mr Raizada! A crow is flying at night! Must be my fault! The dog out there just sneezed! My fault! Your car seat cover has lipstick mark! My fault! '.Ok fine, the last one IS my fault, but the point is-"

"you put lipstick mark on my seat cover!" Arnav widened his eyes..

"thanks for picking up the most pertinent point in my entire speech Mr Raizada"

silence..

"i was doing touch up anyway.and the lipstick kind of slipped.. I was going to be in the papers! Women prepare for such stuff!"

"in my car?"

"oh my God! Have you ever even heard of SURF EXCEL DETERGENT?? It's just a lipstick mark for heaven's sake, not blood!!"

"and blood wouldn't have washed away with Surf Excel?" he raised his brow..

"that was not my point. Anyway,are we in your car to discuss the efficacy of Surf Excel in washing out blood?? what were we discussing last??"

even Arnav had forgotten their last point..

"Oh yes!" she exclaimed "i was wondering whether you are even human!"

Arnav restarted the car...

"hello?" Nihaal picked up the phone...

Anjali furrowed her brows in confusion..the voice at the other end sounded somewhat familiar..

"hello , can I please speak to Khushi? I can't get her on her mobile phone.."

Now it was Nihaal's turn to furrow his brow in recognition of the voice..

"um..this is her cousin speaking and no she is not home as yet. Judging by the atmosphere this side , she shouldn't be here either.." he muttered , glancing at his fuming aunt..

"oh..ok..if she comes home could you please inform her that Anjali had called?"

"SO I WAS RIGHT!" he exclaimed. Mrs Gupta widened her eyes on the sofa beside him , while Anjali widened her eyes at the other end..

Payal who seemed to be in a walkie talkie kind of link with Aakash ever since the news had exploded the channels, her bookworm and his fire extinguisher instincts doing the combined job of trying to decipher just what their immediate siblings had exactly done,at the same time messaging Khushi in all possible languages 'dos and don't when you come home' also raised her eyes to look at him...

in short each of the 3 couples were in contact..

"so I was right" he whispered.. "This is Nihaal.i had recognized your voice.."

"oh! Oh my- you are Khushi's brother?"

"um..i think so"

"NO DOUBT!"

"is that a compliment?"

"oh..i mean you both are so alike"

"crazy you mean"

"no I mean-"

"Crazy. Just say it. We don't mind. We know it.."

"fine..ya, a little crazy..haha.."

"your brother threw quite a bomb moments ago.."

"i know..believe me, I have no idea what they were doing..let chotte come home-"

"YOU had no idea? My sister left home with a 'suitable boy' as per my aunt, chap named Rohit and we expected her to be home, arm in arm, declaring her breakup with some cement pile she accidentally got into a relationship with and happy with her new fiance and we open the tv to see the 'breaking' news..and my! Did it 'break' the peace of this house.."

"i know...well, let's see what happens. Something is certainly fishy. The two were far away from the proposal stage.."

"far from the proposal stage? You mean they-"

"yes of course"

Nihaal whistled.. "interesting.."

Khushi after exploding at Arnav for a mighty good time had resumed looking out of the window, after he had literally shouted JUST SHUT UP DAMMIT at the top of his voice and as a result just swerved his car away saving a pretty accident with another car coming from the opposite in full speed, which was followed by her gasps and WHAT AM I DOING IN THIS CAR WITH YOU!!! YOU WILL KILL US.. followed by a very ugly fight and a deadly silence in the car...

when the images of his PDA started floating in her mind...

she had felt elephants in her stomach back then, giant sized,the hand holding, the hug, the embrace, the..the...she involuntarily touched her cheek, and when she looked back upon it now, there were still baby elephants trumping away within...seriously, evolution inside her was taking place at a pretty rapid pace. From butterfly to eagle to elephant..phew!!

she shuddered at the sensation and glanced right to look at her, still fuming...

why had he done all that stuff!! on live television!! WHAT would she say to her mother?? and what was the need to do it in the first place. He had to propose right? Then why all the side stuff??

and such knee melting side stuff..

silence followed till she finally turned to him..

"Mr Raizada..have you..have you fallen for me or something?"

the car just missed another accident..

Arnav now turned 90 degrees in his seat to face her and arched his brow just about as high as he could..

"excuse me?"

Khushi coloured...

"no..i mean..what were you doing there? After..after you.."

she gulped as the scenes replayed in her mind..Arnav got her meaning all right..but would he admit!! he himself was trying to figure out from a mighty good while exactly what had prompted him to add the more than necessary additional stuff along with the proposal..not that it was a bad experience..in fact it was..period! It was just the demand of the situation! That's it! Yes..that's it...that's it..demand of the situation..exactly...of course..exactly...damn it just throw it out of your head!!

"what?"

"that..."

"what?"

"what you..that..that.."

Arnav was now getting amused but with great expertise managed to wipe it off his face..

"that..that..what?" he repeated..

"you know what!" she said in absolute frustration..

he smirked.. "can't remember... Remind me.."

"you are the WEIRDEST person I have met in my entire life! Do you have amnesia or something. I am talking of half an hour ago!"

"the clarifying that we are not fiances as yet?"

"no. after that"

"the proposal?"

she coloured.. "No! After that"

"the leading you to the car?"

by now, Arnav was thoroughly enjoying himself..

Khushi blew fire...

"after the proposal and before we came to the car!"

Arnav made an innocent face and shrugged his shoulders.. "what?"

"forget it. Start the car" she spat and then jerked her head to look out of the window..

"are you talking abo-"

"Mr Raizada I said please forget it and start the car"

Arnav smirked..

And the car sped towards Aashiana blocks..

As for his earlier anxiety of Khushi joining ITC which was-

ITC..That means a company.. a company of his competitor...who was young..who was a man...who could like her...engage her...marry her...she would be his competitor's wife...they would come to parties..hold hands...dance...and just close to picturizing their kids

had now become-

ITC..That means a company...a company of his competitor..who was young..who was a man..who might like her..but then would hear of her previous link up and finalised engagement...give it a second thought..disapprove of it..and leave her alone...

better. Much better.

Arnav drew the car to a halt and gestured Khushi to move out..

Khushi kept looking ahead...

"in case you need a reminder, this happens to be your home"

"and I am not entering it alone" Khushi responded..

Arnav raised questioning brows at her..

"Mr Raizada, my mother, I am sure, must be in a very desperate state to meet her daughter's fiance..AND her daughter..i am NOT going through this single handedly...you are coming to do the explaining business along with me"

"forget it"

"fine. Then I am not getting out of this car"

"fine"

silence...

"So the high and mighty Mr Arnav Singh Raizada is scared of his fiance's mother"

"excuse me?"

"what else?"

"Arnav Singh Raizda is NEVER scared of ANYONE"

"oh yes..apparently.."

Few moments later Arnav pressed the doorbell of Khushi's apartment while she stood,much to his disgust, biting her lip..again..

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