ArHi FF: My Prince Charming (Thread2 Link on Pg1) - Page 52

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Chapter 6: It's Party Time

A week after the engagement, Khushi was hanging out with a couple of friends in her room on a Friday afternoon.

"Oh come on Khushi... It'll be FUN..." Rhea, Khushi's best friend whined.

"Rhea we have no clue as to what goes on at such parties. Mom will never allow." Khushi said making a sad face.

"Oh come on Khushi, you are going to be married in a few months, you're not a kid anymore." Neha, Khushi's 'NEW' friend said sternly. "Besides it's my best friend's party. There is nothing to worry about." She reassured.

"Yes and once you are married, I'm not sure if we'll be able to have such fun." Rhea argued.

Neha's friend Nishant was throwing a party at a club on Saturday night and had asked Neha to get Khushi and Rhea along. Neha had made friends with Khushi ever since her marriage was fixed to the 'Rich & Famous Arnav Singh Raizada'. She was always flattering Khushi. She knew Khushi wouldn't go anywhere without Rhea so she had asked Rhea to go as well.

Khushi & Rhea, though both belonging to rich & high profile families had never been allowed to attend such parties.

"No" Khushi insisted "Mom will not agree."

"It's just a bit of coaxing you have to do Khushi." Neha pushed. "Besides, didn't you say your Mom agrees to everything you ask for these days? And we'll be back by 10 PM."

Khushi sat thinking. She did want to go and check out the party and Rhea was right, once she got married she may not be able to have fun with friends.

"You know the party is gonna have music arranged by the best DJ in Delhi. Great music, dancing and lots of other cool stuff. Think about it." Neha said temptingly.

"Pleeeaaassse Khushi. I'll get my car and driver." Rhea pleaded.

"Alright, I'll speak to Mom." Khushi finally gave in.

~~~~~~

It turned out though that Neha was right about at least one part, that Khushi's Mom agreed to everything that Khushi asked for these days. It took very little pleading on her part for her Mom to agree, on the conditions that Rhea would indeed get her car along with a driver and they would return by 10 PM.

Khushi willingly agreed to that. She and Rhea excitedly dove into preparations for the party. Dresses, shoes, accessories were decided and redecided over and over again. Finally Khushi in a deep blue knee length sleeveless dress and matching accessories joined Rhea in the back seat of her car to reach the party at sharp 7:30 PM.

~~~~~~

It had been almost an hour since they reached the party and the two girls were enjoying the music and dancing when Neha's friend Nishant came up to them.

"Hey Khushi, enjoying?" He asked smiling.

"Yeah very much. Thanks for inviting us." She replied.

"Anytime. Why don't you two come with me? You must be thirsty, let me get you something to drink."

"Sure." Rhea agreed and the two followed him outside the dance floor to a sparsely crowded area.

"Wait here, I'll get drinks for you." He said and left.

"Khushi, I really need to use the washroom. I'll be back in 2 minutes." Rhea said & ran away.

Nishant returned with two glasses of what looked like orange juice. "Here you go." He said handing one of the glasses to Khushi and keeping aside the other one. "Where's Rhea?"

"Oh, she'll be back in a moment." Khushi smiled at him. She was about to take a sip out of her glass when she realised that it smelled odd. "What is this?" She asked indicating the glass.

"Orange juice." Nishant grinned "With just a hint of..." He winked at her.

"Oh no, I can't have this. I don't drink." Khushi said horrified.

"Hey, it's just Vodka darling, go on." He urged.

Khushi remembered sneaking up to Ashish's room and finding a Vodka bottle. This stuff Nishant was offering definitely smelled much worse than Vodka.

Khushi refused the drink but he caught Khushi's hand and started forcing the glass to her mouth. Khushi realised that he was already too much drunk. She tried to back off but after a few steps her back hit the wall. Mustering all her strength she pushed the glass away and it slipped out of her hand & went flying towards their side and shattered on the floor.

"I said I won't drink that." Khushi yelled at him furiously.

Nishant was staring at the shattered glass. He turned to glare a Khushi. "How dare you? You are so going to pay for this baby." He said coming closer with an insane smile.

Khushi who was already backed against the wall felt trapped. As he was about to pounce on her drunkenly, she shut her eyes tight and held up her arms to shield herself, not sure what was to happen now. She waited but nothing happened. Slowly she opened her eyes only to open them wider and wider until they were as round as saucers.

From the entire world she had not expected ARNAV to be standing in front of her. He was glaring at Nishant, who was oddly to Khushi's surprise, sitting on the floor for some reason and clutching his gut. To say that Arnav looked angry would have been the understatement of the century. He was looking at Nishant with a murderous glare like Khushi had never seen before.

"A-A- Arnavji? Khushi managed to say after taking in a couple of deep breaths.

The look that he gave her sent chills down her spine and her knees buckled.

"KHUSHI? What happened?" Rhea came rushing towards Khushi, taking in the scene.

"He tried to make me drink spiked juice." Khushi said giving Nishant a disgusted look.

"OMG! Such a creep!" Rhea exclaimed looking shocked.

"How did you girls arrive hear?" Arnav asked in a tone that instantly got them to pay attention.

"I... We... In m-my c-car." Rhea stammered scared to see Khushi's intimidating fianc for the first time.

"YOU drove?" Arnav raised an eyebrow at Rhea.

"Oh n-no, there's a d-driver." She managed somehow.

"Alright, you go home in your car, NOW. I'll drop Khushi." He commanded.

"Yes, s-sure. B-bye Khushi." She exchanged a scared look with Khushi and ran out towards her car.

Arnav turned to look at Khushi, who was still backed against the wall. "Come." He ordered grabbing her wrist and dragged her out.

~~~~~~

Once in the car, Khushi sat quietly, with her head bowed, staring at her lap. She was cursing herself for ever deciding to come to such a wretched party. Though she was glad that Arnav had come just in time to save her but she couldn't help but feel mortified that he had to see her in such a state. What would he be thinking about her?

She chanced a sideways glance at him from under her lashes. The expression on his face was such that she shuddered. He looked as if he had no intention of speaking to her, probably ever. He looked straight ahead but it was clear that he was still too angry for her to dare to say anything, let alone apologise.

Arnav kept on driving, not saying anything. How dare that idiotic boy misbehave with Khushi? He thought angrily. What if I hadn't been there at the exact time? How dare he try to... His train of thoughts were broken by soft sniffing sounds coming from beside him. He turned to quickly glance at Khushi and was horrified to see her sobbing, large tears flowing down her red cheeks.

"What the...?" He pulled over immediately at the side of the street and turned to look at her. "Khushi... What happened? Why are you crying?" He asked worried.

Listening to his question, Khushi only started to cry harder. Arnav had no clue, what was going on. He snapped open their seat belts and turned her to face him. "Khushi, Please stop crying. Please. Tell me, what's the matter?"

Taking a few moments to calm down Khushi tried to reply. "You... You... You are *Sob* a-angry at *Sob* m-me."

"What? No... No... Of course, I'm not upset with you." He replied trying to calm her down. "It's that boy I'm angry at. How dare he... misbehave in such a manner?"

"So you are not mad at me?" She asked wondering, but still sobbing.

He cupped her face in both is hands and wiped off her tears with his thumbs. "Shhh... Calm down... No, why would I be mad at you? It's not your fault. I saw what happened."

"Hey Devi Maiya, I'm so glad you reached at the right time, just like a hero." Khushi said relieved that Arnav wasn't angry at her. "Dunno what would've happened if not for you!" She shuddered at the thought.

"Shhh... It's ok Khushi. Don't worry. It's over." He said soothingly.

"Thanks." She said softly.

"That's fine. It's my job to protect you." He smiled at her.

She smiled back. "But what were YOU doing there?" She asked curiously.

"I was in the VIP lounge with some clients, while returning I saw that vile, slimy creature forcing you to drink the spiked juice." He explained through gritted teeth.

"Oh!" She replied.

"But Khushi why did you two go to such a party at all? And why didn't you take Ashish with you?" He asked her trying not to sound offensive.

"Oh Ashu Bhaiya was out with Dad." She answered. "Neha said that it's a simple music and dance party. So we agreed."

"Neha... that girl who was with you?" he asked.

"Oh no, that was Rhea, my best friend." Khushi clapped her hand to her forehead. "Oh no Arnavji, I forgot to introduce you to my best friend." She said annoyed with herself.

"Maybe some other time when I'm a bit calmer & the two of you not so scared of me." He said with a smirk.

She smiled sheepishly at him.

He was serious then. "Khushi, next time you want to go to any party, you'll have to either take Ashish or me with you. Do you understand?" He asked a bit sternly.

She nodded with surprise.

"Do you promise?" He asked to make sure.

"Yes. Alright!" Khushi said relaxed that she wouldn't have to bear his wrath. He seemed to have a terrifying temper.

~~~~~~

The rest of the drive went smoothly with Arnav driving quietly and Khushi fiddling with the radio, playing crazy songs, the likes of which had never been played in Arnav Singh Raizada's car.

Arnav stopped the car outside Khushi's house and got down to open the door for her.

"Good night Khushi." He said as she started to walk towards the door.

"Won't you come in?" She asked surprised that he was leaving already.

"No Khushi, there'll be a lot of questions. And it's late. What will your parents think? They might think we are meeting secretly." He replied.

"But Arnavji..." She said but was cut off.

"No Khushi," he interrupted. "When I take you out on our 1^st date, it will be with your parents' approval."

"You will take me out?" She asked a bit sceptically.

"Of course dear. Soon; very soon." He answered wondering why she looked so doubtful.

He was rewarded with a dazzling smile. "Thank you Arnavji. I thought you'd never ask..."

~~~~~~

Arnav drove back to his home in deep thought.

'I thought you'd never ask...' Those simple words, uttered casually by an excited Khushi had shaken him. For the first time he realised that she was expecting... and that too since a long time it seemed... that he give her some of his time. He realised that she was waiting... waiting for him to take the first step to mark the beginning of their relationship... And he realised that he was already failing...

He recollected that she had not complimented him for the engagement dress or the jewelry until HE had brought up the topic. Of course, she had grown up wearing designer outfits and expensive trinkets, she must hardly care for them. Khushi was not like the models he had been with who could be won over by silly, expensive gifts. She would expect more... something no girl had ever expected of him... gifts that money could never buy...

Her fear today that he might be angry at her, her embarrassment on the engagement day, only showed how much 'aware' she was of him. Maybe her age was not such that she could express her feelings more openly or understand them either. But whatever she felt, she honestly admitted without holding back.

Khushi might be a nave teenager. But as he recalled words that he had spoken to Nani just a few weeks ago, the truth of it hit him with much more force than before. Khushi was much more mature than one could imagine. Probably in ways even he did not understand. He sighed. It was time he started...

-X-X-X-X-X-X-

Fun Facts:

Thanks to all of you who supported my decision to post-pone the wedding And to those who are pro for a rush wedding, I would just like to say that If I get them married in the next two updates, then the story will end before we reach chapter ten. So decide...

As I have replied in some of your comments, Khushi will meet Lavanya before she gets married. Don't want our princess to get married totally clueless, do we?

Have patience, I promise I'll not drag it too long and I'll try not to bore you guys either...

Chapter 7: Oh Honestly...! Arnavji?

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