Himalayan Magic - The honeymoon

The business trip/honeymoon

Khushi lay on the bed lost in thought. Life seemed a little close to normal in the past couple of weeks. After holi, Shyam was off on another one of his trips. It was a relief not to see his face around the house. His face was looking scarier and scarier with each passing day. I wonder if I made a mistake not telling the truth? she wondered. There was one face she missed, however. Only because she was stuck in this house with questions to which the answers were hidden behind that face, she corrected herself. He had refused to answer any of them. She would just have to keep persisting. He was away on a business trip abroad. There was a strange feeling around the region of her heart. It felt like she was waiting for something. She was imagining footsteps or looking for a particular name whenever her phone rang or looking out of the widow whenever she heard a car drive in. She couldn't understand this restlessness.

On the brighter side however, she was happy that she was able to mend her relations with Arnav's and her own family. She had been spending a lot of time with Anjali Di. With Shyam gone it was a good opportunity to bond with her. She was the only person Arnav loved from the bottom of his heart. She didn't know why that had suddenly become very important to her. With these thoughts in mind Khushi finally fell into a deep slumber.

Khushi's dhak dhak was increasing. She had been dreaming about Arnav. 'No! Don't' she said playfully as she pushed him away.

'Khushi! Wake up! What do you think you are doing?'

'Stop it Ar --' someone was shaking her roughly. Khushi woke up and opened her eyes to see a pair of really angry eyes. It was Arnav!

'What are you doing here?' said Khushi rubbing her eyes to see if she was still dreaming.

'What do you mean what I am doing here? It is my house and this is my bed. Remember? In fact I was going to ask you what you were doing on my bed!'

'I ..I thought you were coming back tonight' said Khushi still drowsy.

'I was, but I had to come back a day earlier for a very important meeting scheduled for this morning. And thanks to you I will go in to that meeting all groggy' he said irritated.

'What did I do?'

'You woke me up when you pushed me off the bed!' he grated.

'You slept on this bed?!' asked Khushi now completely awake.

'How was I supposed to know you were sleeping here? I came in around 2 AM. I couldn't sleep much on the flight. I was too tired to put on the light and change before I crashed. The next thing I know I am on the floor!'

'I don't think I did anything of that sort' said Khushi turning red when she remembered.

'You also said "No! Don't". Who were you dreaming about Khushi?' Arnav was curious now.

'I .... I Hariprakashji! He added mustard to the tadka instead of jeera. So, I pushed him. I must have shouted then.' said Khushi suddenly very interested in making the bed. And since she was trying to avoid looking at him she completely missed the 'What the ____?' expression on his face.

Arnav came down to the breakfast table to see some excited chatter going on. He couldn't see Khushi there. Just as well he thought.

Earlier today, he had come awake when he felt soft hands on his chest. She hadn't really pushed him off the bed. In fact her hands had clutched at his T-shirt. That was when his dhak-dhak had started deep inside him. He had put his hands on hers to move them away from him, but instead he found himself leaning toward her against his own volition! But then, it was her 'No! Don't' that had shocked him into falling off the bed! And damn! her expression when she had said those words! He wondered if she was dreaming about .... he quelled the thought immediately. She had been totally bluffing when she had said she was dreaming about Hariprakash. Hariprakash? She could be really weird at times. He had no time for this. Work was already lagging due to the weddings and it was time to catch up.