Wedlock - Part 54

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Chapter 54


San Francisco – Penthouse 

Khushi opens her eyes inhaling his scent tangled to her body. All she remembers so far is that they were kissing outside in the living room and it was 2 hours back. Meeting each other after 10 days of wait, with so much pain and feelings bubbling inside their bodies made the last 2 hours, worth it. They are on bed, enveloped around each other. She raises her head from his chest and finds him staring deeply at the wall above. His jaw is toughened which confirms he is thinking something hard.

“Still angry on me?” she sulks.

It draws his attention back on her.

“Some things are difficult to forgive”
His reply gets her worried. She touches his cheek.
“Only because I met Shagufta against your will?”
“No” he holds her wrist and kisses her palm. “Because you put your life in danger despite my warning”



She freezes as he continues to show her the fault.

“Khushi, sometimes it doesn’t matter if you are mature to take decisions. I know you are the not the same woman you used to be before. You have changed and I am really proud of you. But all this is on one side and my worry to keep you safe is on another”

Khushi pouts.

“Ever since you have told me what Vicky did to you, my fear has double fold. I don’t want you to face him ever again. I don’t want his eyes to ever fall upon you”

Khushi gulps hard the tears formed in the back of her throat. His protectiveness is melting her heart even more.

“You didn’t put Khushi Gupta’s life in danger” he explains. “You put my wife, Khushi Singh Raizada’s life at risk and for the first time ever I was so scared of losing you. I could survive our separation period Khushi, because there was always a hope that we would unite someday. But what you did this time, put me at fear of losing you forever”

He really took it seriously which was not what she expected. She hugs him tight, trying to make him believe they are together and she is absolutely fine.

“Promise me, you will never do this again” he murmurs.
“I promise” she mumbles keeping her head back on his chest. They lie on the bed for some more time, feeling each other’s presence, warmth and love.
“I am feeling hungry” she squirms.
Arnav smiles seeing her expressions and decides to show his cooking skills to Khushi. He gets down the bed and dresses up.
“Are we going out to eat?” she asks.
“We are not leaving anywhere tonight. Inform Shikha about your absence. I will tell Di.”

She cannot argue on this because that’s what she wants… to spend some cozy time with her husband.

“Then what about food?” she asks again. “Should I order some Pasta? We get some awesome pasta around”
“Please do. While I will make some delicious Salad for us”

Khushi is stunned.
“You are going to make Salad? When did you learn to cook?”

Arnav smirks and leans on her again, his arms pinning her between them.
“While my wife was away” he complains.
“Aww..” she kisses his jaw. “Put extra veggies, I am starving”
“Yes Ma’am” he hurries out while she uses the time to dress up.

*******************

When she comes in the kitchen, she finds him cutting the veggies on the chopping board. He does know to chop vegetables. A wife away situation can teach husbands cooking at least if nothing else. She smirks seeing all his concentration on that knife.

“Never saw a man cooking?” he asks, breaking her gaze.

She comes ahead.
“Never” she nods.
“Then you must admit, I can do this better than all the other husbands”
Khushi wraps her arms around him, crooking her head to his side, to watch him chop.
“How about you cooking at the weekends forever then?” she mocks.
He stops to give her a glance and grins.
“Give me double of what I want from you on weekends, I will cook”

She exactly knows what doubles he wants from her and hence pats his arm gently to brush that idea away.
“If I give you triple, will you cook on weekdays too?” she is no less in teasing either. He drops the knife on the chopping board and turning around, raises her up and makes Khushi sit on the Kitchen slab, her legs tangling around his waist.

“I am ready”
She giggles brushing his hair.
“It’s a nice haircut” she murmurs.
“I know.. many girls told me that” he teases.
Khushi frowns and untangles her legs from him.
“Get back to work Mr. Raizada. I am hungry”
“Yes Ma’am”

He picks the knife again and continues to slice. Khushi suddenly remembers asking about Aman. He hasn’t picked her call after giving her details of Shagufta. She is worried if he is angry on her or has Arnav punished him too.

“What did you do to Aman?” Khushi’s worry reflects in her voice. “I persuaded him to give me Shagufta’s address, don’t punish him please”

Arnav cuts the Veggies, paying a hard time to focus on anything else apart from his wife.

“Loyalty is all that I expect from people close to me. If anyone defies my orders, overrides them or disobeys, they don’t belong to work with me again”

Khushi’s jaw drops. She forces him to stop cutting the veggies and look at her.
“You fired him? How could you do that?” tears pool in her eyes. Arnav keeps watching her expressions. “Oh my God!! I … I took his job.. He… he was just.. Oh God.. No!! Arnav… You please.. please take him back to work… please.. He is not at fault”

She is about to burst crying when he pulls her closer, keeping the knife away, yet again.

“He is fine. Still working for AR.. I didn’t fire him”
Khushi stops pleading and looks at her husband with confused eyes.
“But he defied your orders. He told me Shagufta’s address and ..”
“He told me too” he interrupts.
Khushi doesn’t understand.
“Aman knows where to draw a line Khushi. He gave you the information but he also made me aware of that. Technically he broke my orders yet fulfilled them.”

Khushi takes a sigh of relief but pats on his chest.

“Why did you lie to me then?”
“Because I want to warn you that I won’t tolerate this further. He could have lost his job this time. You do such tricks again, using Aman as your source, I will fire him. You don’t want that, do you?”

He is threatening her but she knows he is serious this time.
“I will never do that again” she confesses.
“Good”
The doorbell rings.
“Looks like the Pasta has arrived” she gets down and wears her slippers again. “I will collect”

******************

Few minutes later

“This is Yum” Khushi munches the Salad prepared by her husband. They are seated at the dining table, adjacent to each other. She feeds him some salad from her spoon which he enjoys seeing her do. After finishing half of their meal, he decides to ask her about Shagufta and her meet.

“What did Shagufta speak to you?”

She becomes serious again.
“She was shocked to see me. Hadn’t expected I would meet her like that”
“You met her in the Pub, didn’t you?”

Khushi doesn’t wonder how he got that information. She had his guards along so obviously they would have told him.

“Why did you meet her Khushi?” Arnav pokes again. “Why all of a sudden like this? I know she is somehow connected to Vicky but I don’t think you went there to warn her about that. What are you hiding?”

Khushi freezes. She is not hiding, just waiting for the right time to tell him how Shagufta risked Anjali’s life in the past. She tells Arnav to finish the food first and then they talk about it. He senses it has to be very crucial which is why she sounds so tensed about this topic. They finish the food and head back to the couch. She holds his hand sitting next to him.

“Don’t freak out” she pleads.
“Depends how serious this is. You don’t keep any expectations that I will take things lightly if they are so deadly serious”

His response doesn’t give her any hope that he wont react wild to what Shagufta did. But she has to tell him no matter what actions he would take after.

“When I returned here after the re-marriage, Di told me that she already knows about our deal” Khushi exclaims. “That .. we were together only to show her that we are working on our marriage. And we were going to part after she left”
Arnav is shocked.
“How?”
“Shagufta met Di when we were in Cape Town the first time”
Arnav clenches his jaw. As Khushi keeps repeating what Anjali told her, she feels his body reacting strongly at the revelations.
“Damn!!” he grits his teeth. “I cannot believe Shagufta risked Di’s life for breaking our marriage. I should have stopped her before her feelings developed to this extent for me. It is my fault. I always took her as my best friend. I didn’t know she has so much poison for you in her heart that she could even risk a person’s life”

Khushi grips his hand.

“She is dangerous Arnav, she always was. When I met her that day in Pub, she was speaking to someone on phone. I don’t know why but I felt she was talking to Vicky”

Arnav sighs in frustration again.

“We will find that out” he replies.
“But how?”
“Vicky changed his number which we yet don’t have. But we are still tracking Shagufta’s number. I will ask Aman to check whom she talked that night”

Khushi is relieved to hear that.

“She is planning something big. I am afraid how this is going to end up Arnav”

Arnav senses her fear in voice and cocoons her.
“I won’t let her win. I promise” he rubs her back. She closes her eyes.
“Hum jaante hai.. humme bharosa hai… aap pe.. aapke pyar pe” (I know. I trust you.. and your love)

He leans back on the couch, with his wife on top of him, resting leisurely. She keeps talking, telling him about her meet with the Gynecologist. Arnav listens to her patiently. He feels like Home. Khushi, his wife in arms and there is no hurry. He is going to stay with her forever henceforth. No more separation, no more distances.


“Are you taking those medicines on time?” he asks her but doesn’t get back a response. He leans down only to find her dozing. She must have been tired working the whole day and then their love making an hour ago. She needs to rest. He slowly gets down the couch and carries her back to bed. There is a faint smile on his wife’s lips even in her sleep. She looks contended and happy. And he will ensure that smile stays on her lips forever.

******************

Next morning

“Arnav” she whispers in her ears, softly. Her fingers lingering on his stubble. He opens his eyes and finds her in a Robe, freshly showered and suddenly the urge to roll his wife back on bed surges. He is about to take her when she pins his arms.

“Don’t even think about it. I am getting late for work”
“Work? No” he pleads like a child who wants his mother to take an off for him.
“I would have stayed back today but something important has come up. Shikha told me we are called by the Client for some meeting”
“Screw it”

He unpins himself and cups her face.

“I have come here for you.. and you don’t even have a day to spend with me?”
“Awww” she pouts. “Don’t emotionally blackmail me Baby. I will come back soon. Meanwhile you meet Di, spend the day with them and pick me up in the evening from office”
“Sounds like a plan” he gets up and leans at the bed board.
“Why are you in Robe?”
“Because I don’t have other clothes to wear for Office today. I will call Shikha here with my clothes”
“You don’t have to”
“You want your wife to go like this at work?” she mocks.
“Definitely not” he says admiring her top to bottom once. “Open the closet”
“Closet?”
“Yes. Hurry”

She doesn’t understand why but follows his orders and opens the closet. All her choice clothes are hanging inside, waiting for her attention.

“Oh my God. You shopped? When?”
“Yesterday when you didn’t even know I was here”
She laughs happily.
“You are a perfect husband, you know that?”
Arnav nods.
“A perfect wife always deserves a perfect husband”

Khushi giggles at his comment and pulls a semi-formal dress from the hanger.

“I will dress up”

She rushes in the bathroom to change whereas Arnav lies back on the bed, making plans how to spend the day without her.

To be Continued.



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