MY IMAGINATION

Part 12

She is still thinking this when the door opens and Arnav "will be right back, wait for me".

Khushi would have waited for him till her last breath. She was very happy now that he would come back. She makes herself comfortable and leans back on the bed and closes her eyes to wait for his return.

Arnav goes down with everyone and asks Akash to drop Payal and her family home. He then turns to Nk and asks him to take Di and everyone home.

Anjali " Chote , aap hamara saath nahi aa raha?"

Arnav "nahi Di, I have brought my own car, you go I will come on my own." After a pause he adds "I think I forgot to sign the papers that the nurse had given me at the time of admitting Khushi. I will go and sign those papers and then come. You carry on." He impatiently waits for everyone to leave and heads back to Khushi's room.

He knocks on the door. On getting no response he quietly opens the door to find Khushi sound asleep. He looks at his sleeping beauty and pulls the blanket over her and noiselessly comes out of the room. Khushi must have fallen asleep waiting for him. He is annoyed at everyone as they had taken so long to depart and by the time he returned Khushi had fallen asleep. He then reminds himself that it had been a long and tiring day for her. She must have been drained out of all her vibrant energy and needed to rest before the next day. The coming days were going to be crucial. He had to think very hard and come up with a plan as soon as possible. Time was one thing which he did not have. He had to protect his Di from getting the shock of her life and also his Khushi. He realized that Khushi was right, he was not writing his fate. If he had been doing it he would never have written this for his Di or Khushi. Everything happens as per the wish of God. He started jotting down the various options that he could take, but was at cross roads. He had to come up with a plan that would keep his Di and Khushi safe and also expose him. He realized that he could not do this without his Khushi. He so badly wanted her to be by his side, hold his hand and tell him that everything will be fine. He had finally chalked out a perfect plan that would keep his world intact.

This plan had only one loophole he could not tell Khushi that he loved her, atleast not now. It had to wait. If he told her now she might think that it is because of his Di that he is saying it. He wanted to tell this to her at the perfect time, perfect place and the perfect moment. This was not the appropriate time. He looks at his watch, it was almost 5.00 in the morning. He sits down to work out the execution part and closes his eyes.

Khushi is woken up by the nurse who had come to check her Blood Pressure.

Nurse "Mam, the BP is normal. I am sure the doctor will discharge you today."

She had fallen asleep waiting for her Lad Governor to come but the medicines had got the better of her and she had fallen asleep. She was very disappointed as she had lost the opportunity of meeting him alone. Today she would be discharged and would go home. She would not get a chance to meet him, and even if she did others would be there. The nurse looks at the sullen face and asks

Nurse "Mam are you OK." Khushi nods. "Mam, may I say something?" Khushi without even looking at her nods "Mam, your fiance loves you a lot. He has been pacing the corridor the whole night. I don't even remember the number of times he checked in to see if you were sleeping or not. Mam, you are a very lucky girl to have him as your would be husband."

Khushi could not believe her ears. Her Lad Governor had not gone home, he had been there with her the whole night. Her spirits started to rise and she wanted to rush out to see if was still there. She tries to get up to go out.

Nurse "mam, please wait I will call him"

Khushi "he is not my fiance." , Khushi wonders why is it so hard to say this. She knew it so why the pain. "No its ok, I'll go" She comes out of the room and looks around for him. He is sitting on the sofa in the corner of the corridor.

Nurse "he must have fallen asleep just now, because when I went to check the patient in room no.15 he was walking around. Mam please go back to your room, if he gets up he will yell at us for not taking care of you".

Khushi "its ok, I'll talk to him you carry on with your work".The nurse leaves. She walks upto the sofa where he was sitting.She could see the lines of tension and anxiety itched all over. The anger had been replaced by worry, worry for his sister. She wanted to kiss away all his tension and worries. How she wished to hold him in her arms and let him know that she is with him always. She notices that his head is about to tilt to the side as there is no rest, she quickly moves and places her hand underneath his head. He moans for a second and then makes himself comfortable on her palm. She sits like this for some time and would have sat there for ever. She is unable to resist the urge to kiss him and bends forward to kiss him on the forehead.