The Wait - Chapter 11

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CHAPTER 11

KHUSHI ARNAV SINGH RAIZADA


I didn’t expect Arnav to be so sensitive suddenly over my words. I stare at him as he leaves the kitchen angrily. It’s the first day after our marriage and we fought. However silly I think the argument was, I’m not going to let it pile on.


“Khushi?” Nani enters the kitchen glancing behind once and then back to me. “Why is Arnav’s mood sour all of sudden? What happened?”

I don’t want to give the details of our conversation though I know all Nani wants to do is help. I put a smile and shrug.

“Nothing serious, Nani. We are good. The kheer is ready by the way. I need bowls to serve them.” I try to divert her.

She opens the side closet and takes out a tray and a few bowls.

“here..” she passes them to me.

“I didn’t know we had the bowls here. I was going to get the ones stored at the top shelf.”


Nani smiles and helps me fill the kheer in the bowls.

“Don’t be upset over Chotte’s words, if they have hurt you, Khushi,” she speaks.

I look at her.

“It’s the other way round. I think I said something which hurt him,” I admit.

Nani looks into my eyes and gives me another warm smile.

“Arguments between a husband and wife is common but don’t stretch them and don’t let silence takeover in your relationship either. Sort it out then and there. That’s the secret of a happily ever after.”


I like her advise.

“I’ll speak to him.” I assert. “you don’t worry.”

“I know you will set everything right.”

She kisses my forehead and then leaves the kitchen.


It’s been an hour now and I’ve successfully passed my first Rasoi after marriage test. Everyone loved the kheer I made and couldn’t resist having two bowls of it each. The only person who didn’t taste it yet is Arnav who is holed up in his home office doing business. Akash had gone to call him but he gave some work excuse and ignored the invitation. So, finally taking Nani’s advise, I decide to sort the issue myself.


I take the bowl of Kheer and knock the drawing room door.

“I’m busy..” he shouts from inside thinking its one of the servant again.

I knock harder this time. “It’s me..” I say.

The moment he hears my voice, he goes silent. I unlock the door and slide it open without his permission. Arnav glances at me once, then at the bowl of kheer I am holding and then his gaze is back on the file before him.

“Everyone had the Kheer except you.” I say.

“I’m not hungry..” His voice is clipped as if he doesn’t want to talk to me.

“It’s just one bowl of Kheer, Arnav,” I argue.

“I said I’m not hungry.” Arnav keeps flipping the pages of the file before him without even looking at me.

Fine! I knew he wouldn’t be an easy husband ever. I turn around and lock the door of his study room and then march inside. Arnav realizes I’ve locked us up here but he doesn’t take his gaze off the papers. I keep the bowl of Kheer on his desk and then whirl his chair to force him face me. He looks a bit startled by my actions but I don’t care.

“It’s not about you hunger but the family’s traditions, Mr. Arnav Singh Raizada. Your newly wedded wife made this kheer for everyone and if her husband doesn’t taste it, there is no point doing all of this. We vowed to understand each other and stand by each other in times of happiness and sorrow. So just a day after taking those auspicious marriage vows you can’t hold me responsible for something I just said in the heat of the moment. Something which I didn’t mean the way you perceived it. So..” I pull the bowl near him and then exhale. “Please have the kheer when you have time or rather when you are hungry.”

I turn around to leave but before I can walk away, Arnav grabs my wrist and pulls me on his lap. My hands automatically shift to his shoulders and grip him there as Arnav circles his arms around my waist and looks intensely into my eyes. My breathing sky rockets at the sudden closeness between our bodies and all my focus goes on his lips which have a smirk on them.

“Feed me,” he demands huskily.

What? My jaw drops at his demand.

“That’s also a part of the ritual, isn’t it?” he asks. “I’m not asking something out of the world, Khushi. If we are fulfilling every tradition and every vow we have taken towards this relationship, then this is also a part of it. You need to feed the Kheer to your husband and not just demand him to eat it when he has time.”

A flush creeped over my cheeks as he finished. I’m almost hypnotized by the way he looks into my eyes and the way his fingers gently skim over my waistline, that I don’t even retort over his demand. Taking the bowl from table, I gently immerse the spoon in the kheer and bring it to his lips. Arnav parts his lips and tastes the kheer. The next moment I know he shuts his eyes savoring its taste.

I take a few seconds to gaze at him. The satisfaction on Arnav’s face makes me feel proud of my culinary skills. I didn’t really learn much, just some basic cooking but seeing how much everyone in the family has appreciated it, I plan to do more of cooking in future. Arnav opens his eyes.


“Wow, this kheer is amazing! You have made it so creamy and delicious. And I love the way you have added saffron and nuts to it.” He makes me feed him one more spoon of it. “Thank you so much for making this special dessert for us, Khushi.”


I stare at him bewildered as Arnav takes the bowl from me and puts it back on the table. I’m still on his lap, clueless what he is going to do next. But why do I care? What am I waiting for? He has eaten the kheer and appreciated too. The ritual is over. I should be going back and mind my business. The moment I decide to get up, Arnav gently grabs my wrist and then brings it to his lips, without breaking our eye contact. What is he doing? My heart flutters the next instant when he kisses the inside of my palm, looking intensely into my eyes, appreciating my cooking like a husband would. The way his lips linger over my palm after the kiss, sends tingles throughout my body. I squeal on his lap, wanting to stay there but wanting to run away too. That kiss is so simple, yet so intense that it holds the power to make me faint if he doesn’t stop it.


“Bhai? Bhabhi?” Akash’s voice knocking the door breaks our stance. I quickly withdraw my hand from Arnav’s and getting off his lap, I rush to the door. The moment I open it, Akash grins looking between Arnav and me. I don’t stop there for his teasing and hence stride out without turning around.


ARNAV SINGH RAIZADA


Damn hell!! Akash interrupted our first moment after marriage. Had he not disturbed us, I would have had Khushi in my arms for a bit more longer.


“Oh oh..” Akash gets inside as soon as Khushi is out of the room. The grin on his face is enough to tell me he has read between the lines. “Looks like I intruded something beautiful,” he teases.

I turn my chair and focus on the files again, trying hard to calm my racing heart.

“That’s right, you did. Couldn’t you knock a few minutes later?”

Akash chuckles.

“Sorry, Bhai. Next time, I’ll keep that in mind. Anyway, I wanted to tell you that dad has picked Di from the Gupta house and Shashi Uncle is here to take Khushi Bhabhi along with him.”


I rise from my chair. My father-in-law was here and I cannot let him leave with my wife without meeting me. I walk out and then touch his feet as soon as I meet him. He looks too happy for my gesture and blesses me the immediate second.

“From shaking hands to touching feet now.. we have come a long way, Arnav, don’t you think?” he asks, patting his hand on my back.

“Absolutely, uncle. Outside we are business partners but at home, you are my wife’s father. You deserve every bit of respect for giving me your daughter.”


Khushi looks at me from far as she hears this. She has been speaking to Nani and Maami. I look at her too and she withdraws her gaze and focusses back on the family ladies.

“Uhh.. you look smitten my son..” Shashi uncle chuckles as he sees me sharing glances with Khushi.

I can’t hold my smile either.

“On that context, is it necessary for Khushi to stay today at her Mayka? Can’t I bring her back here tonight?” I shamelessly ask.

This time everyone around me who hears it, laughs heartily. I wasn’t joking anything. I am serious. When I look at Khushi again, it feels like she is subconsciously finding a place to hide herself.


“Chotte..” Nani reaches us. “It’s hardly a matter of one night. Once she is back tomorrow, She is all yours.”

All mine.. Yeah. I see them off in a while and then wait eagerly for my Di to reach home for her Pag Phera. I’m sure she must be as excited to stay for one night with us, like Khushi seemed while going back to her home.


KHUSHI ARNAV SINGH RAIZADA


Coming back home felt like a relaxing holiday. Though it had been only a day since I was away from the Gupta mansion, but it was still my home where I lived and raised all these years. Spending the entire day with Dad and then chatting with Mumma alone after dinner, telling her a bits about how nice the Raizada family members are, and skipping the part where Mumma asks me about how Arnav and I spent our first night, I get into my bedroom and change back into my home wearing clothes to sleep. I take out my diary which I’d left here in my closet and sit to write again. I’d purposely not taken the diary to Raizada mansion because I don’t want Arnav to read it ever. This is too personal and has my feelings all inside it about Dhruv and my love for him. I scribble a few feelings in there and then check the notifications on my phone. My friends have posted stories on their social media of my wedding. They have tagged Arnav and my social profiles in the stories. I can’t help click on Arnav’s Instagram profile. This is the first time I am showing interest in knowing more about him. I should have done it long ago when my marriage got fixed, but never got time. He doesn’t look like a social animal to me on such mediums and has a decent number of posts, unlike Dhruv’s whose every social media profile were flooded with pictures, some solo, some with his family, a few with his friends and a few flaunting his fashion sense.


I shut my eyes trying to avoid those memories of Dhruv again. I’m married now to his twin and he is the one whom I should have in my head all the time. I come out of Arnav’s profile and about to close the app when I see the notification of being tagged on an Instagram story by Arnav. I quickly open it and see a picture of our wedding when Arnav was tying me the Mangalsutra and how for the briefest seconds our eyes had met at that moment. The picture was perfect but the highlight of it was the caption which Arnav had written ‘I found the one whom my soul loves. 🥰’


My heart blooms with an unknown joy. Arnav is leaving no stone unturned to make our new relationship special. Even today I’d no expectations he would give up his anger anytime soon but he did and also made me feed the Kheer to him. I might be slowly taking steps towards our marriage and becoming Arnav’s wife in true sense, but Arnav was marching fast towards me as my husband. Only time will tell how soon we will find that common point and take the relationship ahead together.


I repost Arnav’s story on mine tagging him and then browse through the missed calls. Many friends who couldn’t make it for my wedding had texted me to wish me yesterday. Hence the missed calls were not many. There was one though from an international number which piqued my attention. It was from a European number. I’d a few friends there but none whose number I hadn’t saved. Plus, this person had called me last night.. very late. I recall it was the same time Arnav was easing my worries during our suhagraat and making me feel comfortable. Whose number can it be? I dial the number to find out but the number is switched off. Mentally making a note to call this person later again, I shut the bedside lamps to sleep. It’s strange that despite being my home and bedroom, I don’t get sleep for hours. Spending one night on Arnav’s bed has changed my entire sleep routine.


To be Continued

NEXT PART 

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𝘽𝙇𝙐𝙍𝘽
𝐀𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐚𝐧 𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚
I know to make money, a hell lot of it, and that’s what has made me the man I am today. But a tenacious woman named Alisha Sethi, owning a prime property that I wanted in Mumbai’s hottest real estate sector, stood in my way. Though I kept women at bay, there was something in her I couldn’t ignore. Alisha’s one condition smashed down the barricades of my heart, and despite all the hot and cold conflicts, she turned into an obsession I couldn’t get over. No matter how far she planned to test me, lest did she know when I was dared, no one but me won the challenge.

𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐚 𝐒𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢
I firmly believed my prince charming was just a dream away. But all I got was a pompous and demanding as hell real-estate billionaire, Armaan RaiSinghania, who was continually hounding me to negotiate a deal with him for his next project. I’d sworn never to give up fighting for what I believed in, and yet, one night, one earth-shattering moment changed it all. I’d waited for a romantic lover and got a fiery inferno instead. Armaan might live in the illusion of winning me over, but lest did he know the game had just gotten interesting.

𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐚’𝐬 𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐚𝐧’𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐭?

𝑨 𝑭𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒗𝒔 𝑰𝒄𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒛𝒛𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝑨𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒂𝒏 𝑹𝒂𝒊𝑺𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒂, 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑨𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒂 𝑺𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊, 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆.