To Love or Not To Love

Chapter 20

Arnav Singh Raizada did not remember the last time he was rendered speechless. At a very young age, he had learnt it was often the unexpected that forced you to retreat in battle. And Arnav Singh Raizada didn't retreat. That is, not until he saw Khushi Gupta, dancing away to some tune, in the kitchen that belonged to his Business Developer's apartment. A strange sensation pulsed through him, one that he did not recognize and therefore refused to classify.

He cleared his throat to indicate his arrival. No response. Khushi was busy jumping up and down like a high-school cheerleader. He knocked on the door, still no response. He was just about to enter the apartment, damn her privacy when the earphones came off her iPod and loud came the next words of the song "Bajaye hai.....bajaye hai pandeyji seeti". And Khushi jumped up and down, her lips squeezed to a small o, her index finger and her thumb drawing a circle through it, pretending to blow a whistle.

Anybody else would have stood at the door with a smile on their face; mesmerized by the ability of this girl to enjoy life to the brim even in the most complicated and confusing of situations. But ASR wasn't anybody else. And so he did what he did. He raised his voice above the din of the music that blared from her iPod and screamed: "Khushi!"

Khushi opened her eyes, ready to tell off this unwanted intrusion into her fun and looked at Arnav Singh Raizada – shock giving way to confusion giving way to fear. ASR was back. 

Ashok Yadav's words came back: "Saab is very angry...Information and news always find their way to Arnav Singh Raizada." 

ASR indeed looked very angry. It seemed she had yet again transgressed some invisible commandment in his rulebook. Maybe it was her dress this time – ASR didn't like his Business Developers wearing a Salwar Kameez, or the fact that she was listening to music – ASR didn't like that either. Damn. She should have gone through her notes once more, said the timid part of her brain. Damn her notes, said the daunting part of her brain. She was not his Business Developer. She was a Trainee Designer and she would not cow down to his irrational demands.

And so after a few moments of opening and closing her mouth, imitating a goldfish, while the timid and daunting parts of her brain engaged in a debate, she decided to voice her thoughts.

"What are you doing here?", she asked, her voice faint.

"I should be asking you this question", said Arnav, hands crossed in front of his chest, his lithe body casually draped against the frame of the main door.

"I am..," she trailed off desperately thinking for an inventive excuse. What could she say?

"Go on, I am waiting to hear."

"I am here because.."

"Because you missed me so much, you couldn't bear to be away from me even for a day?"

The truth sounded better than that. 

"Because Ashokji said that you were angry and that it would be better if I moved in here before you asked for me."

Arnav stiffened. Khushi was here because someone had told her about him. Not someone, Ashok. His personal chauffeur who had, until this moment, never taken an interest in his personal matters. But apparently, Khushi had managed to find a benefactor in him.

"Don't get angry on Ashokji.", said Khushi sensing the direction of Arnav's thoughts. "He was only trying to help."

That comment drew a dry laugh from Arnav. "I wonder how you managed it all in such a short time. First my sister and now Ashok?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Khushi hissed, getting busy with tidying up the kitchen.  "I've never met your sister. And what have I managed?" Her fear was giving way to anger.

"If you don't know, then surely I'm no one to tell you, Ms. Gupta." The last words were spoken with a force that made Khushi realize that she was still standing in front of ASR.

Not liking the direction the conversation was taking, Khushi asked: "Why are you here anyway?"

"Coffee."

"Sorry?"

"I'm here for coffee. Lavanya used to keep an extra case of my favorite brand of coffee in case I ran out of it in my apartment."

"Do you know where she kept it?"

"No."

"Neither do I. I can look if you like." And at 10.30 at night, Khushi Kumari Gupta, under the pretext of looking for coffee powder, proceeded to open and close all the kitchen cabinets with a vengeance that made Arnav think, the cabinet doors would come unhinged any moment. Only she knew that the coffee powder she was looking for didn't exist. She had herself thrown it out that very afternoon. Khushi Gupta didn't drink Colombian Dark Roast coffee. She only drank tea.

After the percussion rendering of kitchen cabinets for what seemed to Arnav like an eternity, she turned, making her way towards the door and said in a saccharine tone: "I can't seem to find it. Maybe Lavanya took it with her. I would have offered to make you a cup of tea, but I'm sure you don't drink Wagh Bakri kadak chai. Have a good night and sleep well. See you at work tomorrow."

Khushi casually pushed him out of his own apartment and closed the door on him.

Arnav stood staring at the dark wooden doorframe for a few moments to come to terms with what had just happened.

Then he swore. He had been pushed out of his own apartment. And the girl had shut the door to his face. Khushi apparently didn't know who her boss was. He would make it clear tomorrow morning.