Days had fallen into a rhythm for Khushi during her short stay there. Lavanya and Khushi will have breakfast together, Lavanya then rushes to college, Khushi spends time reading some books from Nishant, then she would watch the kids play . By the time it is evening, Nadeen would come for a visit.. They would sit in the play ground talking about songs , painting etc. Nadeen had a creative side which few knew. Hailing from a rich family of business conglomerates, people tend to overlook his individuality hidden behind the expected playful and flirty attitude he put up for others benefit. He did enjoy it but when Khushi came by, he wished he hadn’t encouraged the image. But he was happy that she saw right through it. He had an excellent sense of humour and he flirted with her only when she was with others. He never made her uncomfortable.
Once Nadeen saw her friends arriving, mostly Lavanya first, he would leave her. Khushi had made everyone agree that she would prepare dinner as long as she was there. It was agreed after she had to put up a 1 hour fight from others regarding sharing responsibility. She argued she liked cooking and afterall she wasn’t doing anything else for rest of the day.
On the fourth day of her visit, she had went to see the campus. She was accompanied by Lavanya and that was how she came across Anjali Di.
Lavanya called her Di because she was Rohan’s sister. She was also the project mentor for Arnav.
Khushi was mesmerized by the lady with cute smile which could rival a new born baby. She was so chirpy , Khushi had hard time figuring out how Arnav managed with Di. She also noticed with admiration despite a small limp, she absolutely didn’t encourage any kind of assistance from anyone
Khushi invited Di also to have dinner until she went back to Lucknow. So Anjali also became a part of their daily dinner get together.
All of them, including Arnav, joined in together for the dinner . Khushi was a natural cook and they couldn’t get enough of it. In one day Khushi and Lavanya together convinced Anjali to move in with them . Anjali agreed to the emotional manipulation of Khushi. She had begun to adore Khushi.
With the project work,seminar and the looming internal, they never got time to spend with Khushi. On few occasions , Arnav had to stay up in the lab for the project. His project was his dream child and he wanted it to be perfect. The only way to do it was to give up on sleep which he did unapologetically. On one such day when he came home, he saw the door to Lavanya’s apartment open with Khushi sitting at the door with a book.
Khushi stood up and said “I am setting table for dinner.”
Arnav said in a tired voice “Don’t bother”
Khushi who was about to walk away, stopped on her tracks and said “I am bothering.”
When she didn’t find him in another 30 mins, rang the bell to his apartment and Arnav opened the door.
He had bathed and changed to his casuals .Khushi glared at him . He was too tired to argue so he just went with her.
She spread the table, went to kitchen, heated curries and made a fresh batch of chappathi. She took two plates and sat with him for dinner. She did have her dinner but just so that he didn’t feel embarrassed, she gave company. “Why? Why are you bothered if he is not having dinner” asked a small voice.
She retorted to the voice in her head that she would have done the same for anybody. “Right!” said the voice
They had dinner in silence. As he was about to finish, she came with a flask full of coffee. Giving it to him, she said “If you feel like having coffee …”
Arnav couldn’t have thanked her enough. He was beginning to have a headache and he was craving for a coffee. He took the flask and said nothing.
They didn’t notice Anjali who had seen the exchange. She had come out hearing the voice just in case Khushi needed help. Anjali was surprised Arnav didn’t scream at Khushi for practically forcing him to have dinner. She had known him enough to know that he hated to be compelled to do anything.. A smile tugged at her lips
Days flashed by. It was Saturday again and time for Khushi to leave. Her flight to Lucknow was in the evening. So they had taken her out for small picnic in the park,shopping and lunch. Arnav and Nadeen were absent without reason.
They reached home by 4:00pm and was surprised to see Arnav , Nadeen and Anjali waiting along with the kids from the neighborhood. They had planned a farewell party for her and she was overwhelmed. Each of them gave her a gift. Rohan gave her a set of elaborate painting colors, Anjali gave her a beautiful set of ear rings , Nishant gave her a set of fairy tale books including Cindrella ,Sleeping Beauty and Black Beauty , Aman gave her a Barbie doll and Lavanya gave her a photo album containing all her beautiful moments. She couldn’t wait to go through them. Arnav stood detached watching her.
They hired a jeep and all of them including Nadeen, except Arnav, climbed in along with Khushi. She preferred to be seated on the back and was laughing all the way to Airport. Arnav followed them on his bike and Khushi couldn’t help sneaking glances at him. She was struggling to find answer to what is that heavy feeling in her heart whenever she thought she is leaving him. The thought seems to choke her as if she was going hollow from inside, like all happiness is being drawn out.
They finally reached the airport and all of them bid a warm good bye. Khushi had extracted a promise from them that they would come to meet her at Delhi. Khushi saw guys had dispersed to get her things. Nadeen was talking on his mobile. Lavanya and Anjali was talking to a friend whom they met there.
As luck would have it, Arnav saw himself alone with Khushi. He looked at her for a moment and saw the gloom there “Tum theek ho?” he asked
Khushi jerked up her head . Looking into his eyes she shook her head sadly. He might as well have hit a rock for the pain he felt at seeing the gloomy face.
It was time for flight and she walked away waving to everyone. Just as she was about to turn the corner , she turned around and looked straight at Arnav who had also just turned. With an undecipherable emotion weighing both of them down, they turned the corners and disappeared. Both of them missed Nadeen turning around for a last glimpse of Khushi.
Back at apartment, they felt her absence. The tingling bangles and payal was not heard, the laughter which seemed to permeate everything was absent. Silently they went back to their routine.
Finally the exams got over and they all had gotten through the campus recruitment of big MNCs. Arnav had not attended the campus recruitment. He had other plans.
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