Next morning, Arnav covered his face with the comforter, when Khushi drew the curtains apart to let pale, fall sunshine in.
"Don't", he complained. "Let me sleep".
Khushi uncovered his face unceremoniously, and laughed, "Time to wake up, it's already 10 and we have to leave for our vacation too".
Arnav jet-lagged, hadn't slept till 6 in the morning and making good use of his time hadn't let Khushi sleep either.
Sitting up in bed, Arnav stretched and looked so adorable that Khushi gave him a sudden hug.
"Just 5 more days, I don't want to waste a single minute", Khushi thought wistfully.
After breakfast, their bags were packed and they were in the foyer bidding goodbye to Sachin and the twins.
"Preeti is already there, she will take care of the housekeeping and the driver will stay nearby too, so you can call him anytime you want to come back", Sachin said.
Arnav was puzzled, he couldn't find his shoes, though he was sure he put them in the hall closet. Khushi, helping him to look for them was puzzled too.Then she caught the expression on the twins' faces.
"Wait a minute. Did you guys hide it?, Khushi exclaimed looking at them.
"Yup", Ria said.
"We are well versed with all the shaadi rasams", Rashi giggled.
"Stop it..you too", Sachin said. "They have to leave".
Arnav however smiled at them indulgently. "So what's the deal...?
"Season 2", Ria and Rashi said.
Arnav and Khushi exchanged an amused smile.
"You have no idea, how sad and depressed we were, when the show ended abruptly without warning because you had to quit..so we demand season 2".
Ria opened her mouth to say something and then looking at her dad, went to whisper in Khushi's ear.
"We didn't even get the much promised honeymoon track", she said causing Khushi to laugh.
Finally Arnav looked at his watch and said, "Ok I promise if the channel or the production house decides to make a season 2...We will try our best to do it".
Khushi nodded smiling.
Content with that, the twins let them go..
They reached their cabin in Rodgers City just before sunset. Made out of pine and cedar, it stood charmingly on the shores of Lake Huron. Later they both stood in their small but comfortably furnished living room gazing at the sunset. The fiery orange orb, setting in the wide expanse of Lake Huron with a lone light house on one side of it was picture perfect.
Soon added to the picture were two silhouettes meeting in a passionate embrace.
Later in the night, Arnav lay in their bed looking at Khushi lovingly as she slept peacefully. In a floral cotton, sleeveless nightie with a demure neck line, she looked like an angel while sleeping. He kissed her lightly on her lips and then rubbed his stubble against her soft cheek. He noted with amusement as she murmured in protest in her sleep..
Arnav sighed. "I should probably let her sleep".
Taking his laptop ,he went to the living room to check news back home. Things were the same. At least they were not worse, he thought...May be they were running out of ideas now.
He decided to call Satish It was long due any ways.
Satish seemed so relieved to hear from him that it was almost comical.
"I was waiting for your call, Mr Raizada...hope you reached there safely".
"I am sorry I had to leave so abruptly", Arnav began.
"Oh ,not a problem Mr Raizada, actually me and my team have been thinking...so if you want to go ahead and marry Ms Gupta now..it's fine...what...,"
"Oh but I already did...yesterday", Arnav interrupted.
Satish had had his share of difficult clients in the past, but Mr Raizada was impossible.
He sighed and offered him his good wishes before continuing, "Ok...to continue what I was saying...it's fine that you both are married, but the best course of action would be to keep it hidden from the media for now...may be for a month...till our PR machinery gets a chance to do some damage control...planting positive stories, distraction tactics..etc etc...If you announce it now, even your die hard fans might not take it lightly...and you don't want to lose fans at this point of your career".
As Arnav sighed and thought, he felt Khushi come and sit next to him, her head resting on his shoulder.
Kissing her head, Arnav said, "I will call you in a few minutes after discussing with my wife.."
Told about Satish's proposal, Khushi agreed wholeheartedly.
"Just listen to him Arnav, don't give the poor man such a hard time.."
After talking to a relieved Satish and hanging up, Arnav pulled her on his lap.
"Why did you wake up so early", he asked flicking her nose.
She looked up at him and caressing his ears said, "I was missing you.."
Arnav smiled and bent down to kiss her.
Later he carried her to their bedroom, where the flames were still flickering in the fireplace.
They kept awake for the rest of the night making love in the fire light as the rain drummed against the window pane.
Part 26 on page 133
comment:
p_commentcount