CHAPTER 2
THE BEGINNING
"From small beginnings come great things."
When they reached outside the airport, Anjali and Nandkishore, Arnav's cousins, had already been waiting there to receive them. She had already heard a lot about them from Aunt Manorama, as she did not get to talk much with Arnav. The last time that Arnav and she had talked properly was one day before the marriage, when he hasked Khushi's mom to talk to her privately. Everyone had been very skeptical about it, except for her dad, who had asked him to go forward. The meeting was over as soon as it had started.
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"You must be wandering why I asked to speak to you in private?" It was more of rhetorical question, to which he did not wait for an answer, although Khushi had nodded silently, "I wanted to make sure that you were not forced into this marriage."
This was something he needed an answer to; she could tell that by the way his eyes were scrutinizing her face. This was the moment when his respect became dignified in her eyes. Even though she had been waiting for such an opportunity to knock on at her door, an opportunity to refuse the marriage which might not mean anything to her in the future, she could not bring herself to do it. The man standing in front of her had made sure that it was not possible.
"No. I am fine with this marriage," Khushi assured him.
Arnav had quietly been hoping a refusal, but was dumbstruck at her reply. She conveyed confidence and her eyes held no regret oh her decision, which prevented him from confirming what she had said once more.
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Arnav introduced Khushi to his cousins. She came to know that Anjali was the eldest one over there followed by Arnav and then Nand Kishore, who liked to be called by NK. Aunt Manorama was Armav's mother's sister. His parents had died at a very young age, and that's when she had decided to adopt him.
Khushi seemed to have got along with both Anjali and NK at the first meeting itself. Anjali seemed to be a really sweet person, whereas NK was really fun to be around and she realized that Arnav was very different from his cousins. They were like chalk and cheese.
A black SUV already seemed to have been waiting for them, as they all seated them inside it with all their belongings at the back. Throughout their journey to home, NK made futile attempts to crack jokes, which Khushi knew was an effort on his part to make her feel at home. She couldn't help but smile, but what surprised her more was an annoyed expression on Arnav's face, every time NK made an attempt. She could have been imagining it, but if her sixth sense was bang on, which by the way was always, she thought that Arnav was getting irked by NK. She realized that they did not even greet properly at the airport, but everyone seemed to be oblivious to his behavior.
After what seemed about twenty minutes, the driver reached the city of London, a place surrounded by nothing but tall buildings. It looked like every alternate building had been competing with the previous one in terms of height. Khushi was found staring in amusement at the view outside. All the cars traveling in their own line, not at all like Lucknow. The SUV swiftly passed through each of these buildings, when the driver finally took a right turn from a signal ahead. After traveling about a mile, he took into the basements of one of those tall buildings. The basement was almost empty by this time, as most of the people were at work, she believed.
As soon as the driver parked the car in one of the parking slots, everyone got out of the car and went towards the elevators, while Arnav instructed the driver to bring the suit cases to their room. As the elevator started to shoot upwards, Khushi's ears got blocked. She pretended to swallow large gulps of water to open them up, as the elevator halted to the fifteenth floor. They got out from the elevator and travelled along a never ending corridor, before they stopped outside the apartment 1504.
Arnav pressed down the door knob as he entered the apartment after one whole week and was greeted by the most appealing sight ever. The hall had been decorated with red roses, his favorite and sweet scented candles. The room was exceptionally dark, but the sunlight streaking in through the uncovered parts of the long windows covering one entire side of the room and the candles' light made it possible to make out everything.
"Who did all this?" Arnav asked aghast.
"We did not do this for you Chote, but for our Bhabhi," Anjali giggled uncontrollably.
By what it looked like, Arnav had gone red at the mention of 'Chote' and Khushi's head snapped towards him. She had to bite her lower lip to suppress a giggle escaping her lips too.
"Are you going to keep your wife standing in the doorway, Nanav," exclaimed NK happily. Even in the dark, Khushi could feel the heat emanating from Arnav's body, and she mentally made note of all the nicknames that Arnav possessed of.
Arnav moved inside and went over the switchboard to switch on the lights so that everybody could see properly.
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Anjali decided to show Khushi around the apartment. It was one the most luxurious and classy apartments Khsuhi had ever seen. The apartment comprised of two bedrooms, a hall, the study and the kitchen. The master bedroom had a king size bed at one end of the room, covered by duvet set that had a combination of red and grey patterns on it, absolutely complimenting the white and grey interiors of the room. Two sight tables of dark grey oak wood were placed at its either sides, with lamps on top. A round table and two chairs were placed at one corner of the room, while a large flat screen television covered the opposite wall of the bed. The bedroom did not have any windows, which made Khushi suffocated, as she was used to her house in Lucknow which was airy. There were no cupboards in the room, which made Khushi wander where everyone hung their clothes. Her doubts were cleared as they reached the washroom. The washroom was no smaller than the room outside and had built in cupboards inside it followed by the dressing area. The other bedroom was locked.
After having a thorough tour of the two bedrooms, they went to the study area. The entrance of the study was an open spacing without any doors. It had a shelf covering one side of the room and it was laden with books and a huge music system, while a study table and a settee lay in the middle. As soon as you entered the study, you were greeted by a beautiful site outside, an open sky view. Khushi was so lost in the calmness outside that she failed to notice a beautiful abstract painting covering the opposite wall, enhancing the charm of the room. She knew at that time, that this will be her most favorite part of the house, in between the books.
Khushi yawned loudly. All her energy had been drained out by now, as dawn approached. Anjali who had noticed this, said apologetically, "You must be really tired. I think so you can see the rest of the house later on. You and Chote must rest now."
"No Anjali Di'.I hope so I can call you Di'," she replied a little embarrassed.
"Off course you can call me Di and its fine Khushi Bhabhi to feel tired after a long journey. No need to feel awkward. This is your home now. Nonetheless mom, Nk and I were going to leave anyways."
"You don't stay over here?"
"No, we don't stay with Chote. He stays over here alone."
A small "Oh" escaped Khushi's lips as she began to comprehend that fact.
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After exchanging their last goodbyes for the day, Aunt Manorama, Anjali and NK left, leaving an awkward moment of silence between Khushi and Arnav, in which they stared at anything but each other. Khushi realized that it was the second time that they had been left completely alone and it was not at all helpful Arnav seemed to be man of few words and Khushi didn't know what to say.
After what seemed like eternity, Arnav finally broke the silence, "Anjali Di has cooked some food for us. I guess we should eat it."
Khushi agreed silently, not sure what to reply and after some help from Arnav laid out the plates on the dining table. The dinner was almost quiet affair except for some small talk, which usually Khushi started and Arnav answered by a yes or a no to most of the questions.
The dinner got over quickly, and both of them were extremely zonked so they went straight to bed after exchanging a sleepy goodnight wishes. Arnav fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, while Khushi had difficulty tuning with her new surroundings although she was feeling exhausted. After some tossing and turning extremely cautiously, she also fell asleep into a deep slumber.
Regarding the fact that the last chapter ended abruptly, I decided to make this update sooner than decided. I know this was a filler chapter like the previous one, but all this chapters are necessary for the future development of the characters and the story. Hope so you understand. I also know that it is not like a romantic story everybody had wanted, but please give me some chapters to develop that love as it takes time.😳
Please do leave you feedback and comments. Always love reading them and do let me know your take on the chapter.
Thank you for reading and a very big thank you to everyone who commented and liked the previous chapter.😊
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