Dark Night Dawning Chapter 2

There was loud knocking on the bathroom door. ‘Khushiji?’It was Shyam!

Shyam had wanted to talk to Khushi after the incident in the kitchen. Why did she always react like that whenever he went near her? He would have to explain to her that there was nothing to fear. He had looked around to see no one around and entered the bedroom. She didn’t seem to be there. Then, he heard an odd yelp coming from the bathroom. It had sounded like Khushi. He would have to find out. He lifted his hand and knocked on the door.

‘Khushiji?’

Arnav fisted his palms in anger and made a move toward the door. Khushi caught his arm with her free hand. He looked up at her to see her shaking her head vehemently, telling him not to go. Arnav shook off her hand and yanked open the door.

Shyam took an involuntary step back like someone had punched him in the face. What was he doing here? He was so sure he had heard Khushi. What were they doing together? His face began to twitch.

As Arnav stepped out of the bathroom he saw Shyam looking like he had seen a ghost, with one side of his face twitching badly. Arnav looked at Shyam, his eyes smouldering, his body afire with barely controlled temper. Before he could say anything, he heard another voice.

‘What are you doing here?’ Anjali had rushed into the room and was addressing Shyam, ‘Hariprakash told me that Khushiji had been calling out for me some time back. Apparently, he forgot about it when he came down. I came as soon as I found out ’.

‘Y….yes….Rani Sahiba.I…..I too heard Khushiji calling out for you’ he stammered, ‘I thought I should check it out first.’

Arnav’s anger rose up a couple of notches at his lie. He was nowhere near the room when Khushi had been calling out. His innocent Di standing a few paces behind him couldn’t see his ugly lying face, which was just as well, in her condition.

‘Relax, Di,’ said Arnav concerned for her, ‘Please don’t strain yourself for all this. Everything is under control.’

‘What are you doing here, Chotey?’ Anjali repeated looking at Arnav now, ‘Aren’t you supposed to be at work?’

‘Well, I was,’ Arnav explained how he had heard Khushi calling out just as he had come into the room to pick up an important file for which he had come back all the way from work. When he found out she had no water in the shower, he had first checked the valve outside to see it was fine. He had then realized that it might be a blockage in the shower head and had to step in as Khushi was new to all this.

‘Hmm…..’ said Anjali , ‘But I didn’t know that it takes 15 minutes to clean the shower head these days’ she added tongue in cheek.

‘What?’ he asked her with a ‘You got me’ expression on his face, ‘Isn’t a husband allowed to help his wife without being spied upon by his family members?’

‘Not at all, Chotey!’ she exclaimed,‘You are free to help your wife anywhere and anytime you want. And I am sure your jeejaji agrees with me on this one’ she added gleefully.

‘I am sure he does Di,’ Arnav turned around to stare at Shyam, his tone flippant as he said, ‘Just like him, I take my duties as a husband very seriously. And it is my duty to make sure my wife has no problems in her life.’

When Khushi stepped out in her red suit, it was difficult to decipher which was redder -----her suit or her face. She saw all pairs of eyes turned toward her and got even more flustered and began to adjust her dupatta unnecessarily.

‘Come, on,’ Anjali said pulling on Shyam’s arm, ‘I think it is time we leave the love birds alone.’

**

When Anjali and Shyam left, Khushi went to the dressing table. She couldn’t face Arnav just yet. As she sat on the stool, applying kajal to her eyes, she saw Arnav walk up to the wardrobe. As he stood in front of it contemplating what to wear, he took off his shirt. Khushi’s hand froze half way up to her eyes. His masculinity never ceased to fascinate her. As he began to rub his wet hair with a towel, she watched the play of muscles in his back, biceps and forearms. His body seemed wound up and tensed and she felt a fluttering response in her own body. She realized that she was beginning to understand every nuance of his body language now. She wanted to go up to him and wrap herself to his back until he calmed down. Where had that thought come from? She was so lost in him that she failed to see that he had turned around, to catch her staring. He began to walk toward her, holding her gaze, until he stood right behind her. He bent down and took her hair in hands. They were dripping wet. He pulled off the towel from his shoulder and wrapped her hair in it.

‘Wipe your hair Khushi,’ he said softly, ‘You might catch a cold.’  He walked back to the wardrobe leaving Khushi a little more flustered if that was possible.

**

Shyam started pacing about in the room like a caged tiger, his face was twitching badly. What had happened in the bathroom? When Anjali had questioned Arnav he had replied ambiguously and when Khushiji had come out had she looked flustered. They were both behaving strangely since they came back from Nainital. Was there something going on between them? Hadn’t he told Arnav that no one could come between him and Khushiji? He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t see that Arnav had entered the room.

‘Arnav!’ said Shyam startled, ‘What do you want?’

‘I thought I should let you know that it is bad manners to go into people’s bedrooms without their permission,’ said Arnav in a quiet but menacing voice.

‘I ….I told you ….. I came in because I heard _____’ he began.

‘And you and I both know, that is a big lie,’ Arnav cut him off firmly,‘So let’s do away with all the lame excuses. I think I told you once before and I will not repeat this again. I don’t ever want to see you anywhere near Khushi again.’

‘You can threaten me all you like Arnav, but how are you going to stop Khushiji?’ he asked his lips twisted in derision.

‘Oh you don’t have to worry about that anymore jeejaji,’ said Arnav and walked away marking the end of the conversation.

Shyam was flummoxed. What had he meant by that last comment? He would have to watch them a little more closely.

**

Khushi sat in her room thinking about the incident in the bathroom. When Shyam had knocked on the bathroom door, at first she had been embarrassed but then when she heard Arnav’s explanation she was glad. She knew Arnav was putting up a show for his sister but if it meant it would keep Shyam away from her, she was all game. But it was not Shyam she was really worried about.  It was Arnav.

Since that last night in Nainital, his behaviour toward her had changed. Did he think that he could just come up to her and kiss her anywhere and anytime he liked? Suddenly it hit her. Of course he did. He probably wanted to exercise physical rights over her as he had told her in Nainital! It was not a big deal for him. He did not believe in love or marriage. But that did not mean he did not believe in physical intimacy. After all, he had wanted to live-in with Lavanya. She knew that many people did not think that it was necessary to be in love to be physically intimate. But she was not one of them, and he couldn’t force her in this matter!

Force? Who was she kidding? He had never forced her at all, not when they were stuck in that mountainside hut, nor on that last night in Nainital. Even this morning in the bathroom, she remembered how her treacherous body had responded to him shamelessly. Hey Devi Maiyya! She could never let that happen again. She would have to avoid him at all cost.

**

That night, as Arnav prepared for bed he thought it was strange that he hadn’t seen Khushi since he got back from work. He switched off the bedside lamp and went to sleep.  When Khushi entered the bedroom some time later, Arnav was fast asleep. Khushi went up to him and looked at his face. His hair was tousled and had covered his forehead making him look boyish. He looked so calm and innocent in his sleep. His beautiful molten brown eyes that often reflecting pain, anger, determination, jealousy and most recently ---- desire, were closed. She realized he had beautiful eyebrows for a man, eyelashes a woman would die for, an arrogant nose that flared up when he was angry, perfectly chiselled cheeks speckled with stubble that had scratched her soft skin, lips expressing so many different emotions, a thin line when irritated, twisting into a smirk when arrogant, a slight pout when he said Unbelievable!,and sensuous just before they met hers.  Sensuous. She felt an odd pain in the region of her heart, like someone was squeezing it. She would have to get out of here as soon as possible. But first, there was no doubt that she would have to keep out of his way.

**

The next morning Arnav came out of the shower in his trousers. Khushi busied herself in making her bed with extra vigour, lest she be tempted to go up to him and run her fingers through his hair that always covered his forehead after a shower. She jumped when her cell phone rang suddenly. It was Shuklaji. When Arnav heard her talking on the phone, about her dabba business, he swore silently. The business as such was not a problem. But it was the operations part of it that bothered him. He didn’t want Khushi going around taking orders herself. He didn’t like the puppy dog looks his male employees gave her. He would have to do something about it.

‘I don’t think you should be coming to work for the dabba business anymore Khushi’ he said buttoning up his shirt.

‘Why not?’ she asked him, her voice low.

‘Uh…’ he was suddenly not sure what to tell her, ‘Because I don’t like you mingling with the office staff so casually. It’s not good for my image’ he decided to be honest.

‘You can’t tell me what to do,’ said Khushi anger rising in her.

‘I just did,’ he said, I don’t want to see you at office anymore and that’s final.’

She acquiesced silently, tears welling up in her eyes.

Why did she have to be so difficult he thought uneasily. Whatever it was, he will be able to work in peace, at least in the office without the sound of payals or kangans driving him crazy.

**

Arnav came back from work that evening and immediately got into a conference call. While on the call he saw Khushi in his Nani’s room with a bunch of kids. On his inquiry his Nani had informed him that Khushi had decided to continue giving tuition to kids from her old tuition class in the evenings, now that she had begun to take the dabba orders from home and had more free time. He felt colour creep up his neck when he remembered that morning’s conversation.

A little later, when Arnav came down for dinner, there was no one at the table as it was past everyone’s dinner time. When he heard the khan-khan of bangles his heart skipped a beat as he turned around. It was his Di.

‘Do you need anything Chotey?’ she asked in her usual affectionate tone.

‘No Di. I am fine. Please go and get some rest.’ he told her.

‘No way. I want to spend some time with my brother, if he doesn’t mind it too much.’ she teased him.

**

When he finished his dinner and went up to the bedroom, there was still no sign of her. Where was she? But why was that bothering him so much? He was used to being alone his entire life. Had he begun to miss her? No way! Arnav Singh Raizada did not need anyone in his life. He changed and went up to the bed and lay down on it. But sleep eluded him. In about 10 minutes he heard Khushi enter the bedroom. She seemed to be trying her best not to make any noise as she went into the rest room to change into her night suit. A few minutes later he felt some movement on the bed and he opened his eyelids a fraction to see that she had arranged a wall of pillows at the centre of the bed like they had done in Nainital. He smiled to himself in the dark as she switched off the bedside lamp and went to sleep. He opened his eyes and looked at her face illuminated by light filtering into the room through a gap in the curtains. Her mischievous almond shaped eyes were closed, her long and thick eye lashes fanned her rosy cheeks, her nose ring shone on her nose. If anyone had told him a year ago that he would even look at a woman with a nose ring, he would have laughed. But now, it was impossible to imagine her without one. It was so sexy. But it was only second best to her lips. Lips that stretched to their full limit when she acquiesced, had a mischievous twist when she was up to something, the way they stretched over her teeth when she was angry, but he liked them best when they were slightly open, showing a bit of her pearly white teeth and quivering in anticipation of his kiss. Just the way they were right now. He was so tempted to give in to his desire and touch them with his own. But he knew it was not time for that…..yet. He kept looking at her until his eyelids drooped and sleep finally claimed him.

**

The next day, as Khushi sat in Anjali’s room giving her an oil massage, she found an old picture by the bedside table. It was of a girl and a boy and she asked Anjali about it.

‘It was taken on Arnav’s 7^th birthday,’ she said affectionately, ‘As you can see, he doesn’t look very happy in that picture. I had gone up to him and kissed him on his cheek to wish him. He hates displays of affection.’

Khushi listened quietly as Anjali reminisced about their past.

‘It is not that Chotey doesn’t know how to love. It’s just that he doesn’t know how to express it.’

Khushi looked up at Anjali wondering if she was trying to tell her something when Anjali said, Khushiji, I know you love working and all that, but if you keep yourself so busy how will you manage to give him attention? Yesterday night during dinner, he looked very lonely and then again this morning at breakfast,’ she said a little sadly.

Khushi gave her an assuring smile and scurried out of the room in embarrassment.

Everything had its consequences. How could she tell Di why she was avoiding him? Hey Devi Maiyya! She would have to figure out how to give him attention and avoid him at the same time! Suddenly, she remembered something else Di has said. Her lips twisted in that mischievous smile. You are a genius Khushi Kumari Gupta Singh Raizada! she told herself……