STARS AFTER THE STORM

31. BLISSFUL BEGINNINGS.

The crammed colony of Lakshmi Nagar- was the view from Khushi's room at Buaji's. "One more day, Khushi. Only one more day." she chanted to herself, for the umpteenth time.

The whole of the past week, Khushi had been staying in Lakshmi Nagar. The reason was her childhood friend's wedding. Being the bridesmaid and the caterer, required her full time presence.

The days had gone by with the pre-wedding rituals, wedding preparations and instructing the cooks- she'd hired with her husband's help. Though she'd been pretty occupied, she was dying to go back to Shantivan, to her Arnavji.

Arnav's state wasn't any different. He was working on a new project for AR and the given the work-monster that he was, he'd thought it would help him take his mind of Khushi. Unfortunately, he'd been very very wrong. Even, engaging in work wasn't helping him.

Khushi fidgeted with her phone. "Should I call him? What if he has work? He would have called me, if he was free, right?"

She walked to her Devi Maiyya and grabbed the Jalebi she'd brought as a night snack. "Hey Devi Maiyya, what should I do?...Sometimes, I just wish if you could directly talk to me, you know?" she nattered.

Just then, "Khushi!" she heard her name being whisper yelled.

"Devi Maiyya?!" she called out, astounded.

"Khushi!" she heard again.

"Is it really you, Devi Maiyya? But, your voice...?" she asked, still flabbergasted.

"Oh come on! Khushi!! Like really?" This time it was an annoyed hiss at her.

Realisation washed over her. "Arnavji?!" she still sounded puzzled.

"Finally!.. Can you come to window now?"

Following what she was told, she peeped out the sill. "What are you do....Woah!"Before she knew it, she felt a grip on her waist and she felt herself being lifted off of her feet, and the next minute, she was standing before him.

"Hi." he addressed in a light-hearted tone.

Khushi quizzically looked around and then at him. "Aap..?! What was that? " she pounded straight at him, right after she recovered from her bemusement.

"Shh... Relax.. I just came to meet you." he explained.

"Like this?... I got scared... For a moment, I thought Devi Maiyya was talking..." cavilled Khushi.

"See, that's how 'Unbelievable' you can get sometimes." he said as a matter of factly, air-quoting the word Unbelievable.

"And preferring a window instead of a door is very believable. Right, Laad Governor ji? "

"Everyone here must have fallen asleep at this time. I didn't want to barge in, in the middle of the night."

"Achcha..But, you could have called..."

"I wanted to see you." he concluded.

Khushi gave him her warmest smile. "I was just thinking of you too."

"That's what I wanted to hear from the very moment I pulled you down the window." he told as he entwined his fingers with hers.

"Now that you've got what you wanted, you should get going Arnavji." Would she ever miss a chance to pick a banter with him.

Arnav fake frowned. " You should write a book- '100 ways to spoil Romantic moments - Khushi Kumari Gupta Singh Raizada."

"You haven't gotten over that list yet?" she giggled. Ever since he'd found her secret list, Arnav had been making references to it every chance he got.