Hi All,
I am back at last.
Firstly, "Happy New Year to everyone"
Really sorry for the delay. Was tied up pretty bad during the holidays. To compensate for my delay I am posting a big update, may be we can call it my first MAHA update 😛.
Hope you all like it. I was really in a hurry to update soon that I completed this whole chapter in one go. So if it is bad then pls don't throw chappal's or tomato's at me 😆.
Kindly ignore the typos. Don't forget to hit like button and leave your comments. I am very eager to know what you think.
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Beauty And Her Prince
CHAPTER - 4
Khushi as if she heard him, turned around and looked at him one last time, making his heart skip a beat, before disappearing into the crowd.
Anjali was looking at an idol in a shop when she felt something missing. She then realized that her brother was neither hovering on her nor plaguing her to complete her shopping fast like he usually does when ever he accompanied her. Staying silently in background, giving her peaceful amount of time to shop is not Arnav's nature. He just hated shopping as patience was never his forte and she knew it very well. She looked outside the shop trying to find him, wondering why this courtesy on her today and simultaneously smiling, thinking what he would do if his wife happens to be a shopaholic.
The smile on her face vanished as soon as it appeared. Bringing her thoughts to a halt, she closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh. How badly everyone in the family wanted him to get married, how eagerly everyone including herself are waiting for that day but her brother is adamant about not getting married. At first she thought he was not ready yet, but later she understood that he was never going to be ready because he made up his mind to never get married. She tried a lot to reason with him, make him understand, even blackmailed him few times that she will also live alone, away from her husband till he gets married but nothing worked. He always got her everything she asked for and much more even before she asked, did whatever she asked him to, except getting married. Marriage was the only thing he ever refused when she asked. She always thought she understood her chote better than anyone but now she is not sure anymore. She doesn't know what she could or should do to get him married.
Her chain of thoughts broke when she heard the shopkeeper call her asking "Madam, Nachindha. Pack cheya manthara?" in his mother tongue telugu (Madam, do you like it? Should I pack it for you?")
She looked at him confused trying to understand what he meant, her mind still not completely out of her thoughts. The shopkeeper pointed his index finger towards her hand and she followed his gaze to see what he was pointing at. She looked at the cute Baby Krishna idol she was holding. Now understanding what the shopkeeper was asking her about, she nodded in agreement and passed the idol into his hands.
Once she paid for the idol, she started searching for her brother. While her eyes searched for him her mind wandered off again. Lot of things have happened in their family for past years which changed all their lives but changed her brother's the most. He was no more what he used to be. Now he hardly laughs, shares his feelings or talks. Fun, happiness, love left his dictionary that dark day when they almost lost everything. Now all he does is work, work, work, all day, 365 days. Anjali always felt guilty for not becoming the pillar of support to her family and her chote when they needed it the most. Instead she became weak, so weak that she needed support herself. As she was not strong enough, her chote, who is 4 years younger than her had to take all the responsibilities on himself. He took care of her and the entire family, even though he was the youngest of the family. Since then he always made her very proud. Her CHOTE. She even now feels ashamed of herself for not stepping up in hard times like her brother did, for not helping him when he was burdened, for not sharing the responsibilities. She blamed herself for Arnav's current state. He had suffered enough hardships in life alone. She now wants to redeem herself by getting love back into his life. All she wishes now is for him to get a beautiful, caring and loving wife who can fill the void in his heart and life. She wants him to get married, live, laugh and enjoy life like he used to.
Anjali suddenly came out of her reverie when she saw Arnav on the other side of the road. She crossed the road and started walking towards him. He was standing still in the middle of footpath and gaping in her direction. At first she thought he was looking at her but she soon realized he was watching something else when he failed to react as she waved her hand at him. She walked to him surprised to find him still staring at something in the direction she just came in. He didn't even realize she was standing next to him. Anjali tried looking in the same direction trying to figure out what he was looking at or for. When nothing caught her eye, she placed her hand on his shoulder to get his attention but he didn't budge even a bit. Now really worried for him she gave a slight push which made him lurch back to reality.
He looked at his sister blankly who was looking at him concerned. Getting more worried for him, she shot her questions, "Are you alright, chote? What happened to you? What are you doing standing in the middle of footpath? When and why did you come here? What are you looking at? Are you feeling alright?"
Arnav becoming fully aware of the situation with his sister cut her off, saying " I am fine, Di. Please stop with your questions. I was looking at nothing. Someone just bumped into me and I broke my cell. That's it, nothing else. Are you done with your shopping?"
Anjali not convinced with his answer, asked still concerned, "Yes, I am done. Are you sure you are ok? I have never seen you like this?"
"I am really fine, Di. What do you mean by seeing me like this?", he asked curious.
"Firstly, you left me all alone and came here. You never leave me, chote. Secondly, you look lost. I walked towards you right in front of your eyes and you failed to notice me. You were just standing here musing. It felt like you were looking at or for something very important? You look so desperate and confused. You are totally unaware of your surroundings. Everything you did now is so new to me. I have never seen you like this", Anjali let out all her worry.
Arnav took in everything his sister said and simply replied pointing to his cell which was still lying on ground, "As I said, someone bumped into me and I dropped my cell. I was just angry and was searching for the person. Thats it. Shall we leave now?" He bent down to grab his broken cell, not wanting to continue this conversation any further, mentally noting not to show his feelings on his face. His sister was good at reading him and he strictly made note to never let her know what he was really doing as he imagined what she might say or do if she even gets a small hint that her chote was following a girl.
As soon as Arnav got in the car he asked shiva, "Is there any cell phone store near by?"
Shiva looked at him and said "Sorry Sir. We are on Tirumala temple hills, only few shops and restaurants are here to provide basic necessities for disciples. No cell phone stores. We have to go down hill, to Tirupati city to get cell phone."
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After they reached the guest house, Arnav handed a slip to Shiva and asked him to get the cell phone of the model written in the slip, ASAP. Once Shiva left, Arnav moved to his room, freshened up and layed down on bed. As soon as he closed his eyes, he saw those beautiful caramel eyes staring directly at him. His eyes shot open as he recollected everything, right from when he first looked at her eyes to how she disappeared into the crowd. Not impressed by his behaviour, he mentally warned himself to stop acting stupid and to stop thinking about her. She was invading his mind, his thoughts and he was not liking it.
"She is just another girl, Arnav. Nothing special about her. You are always around beautiful models and when they didn't affect you, then how can she? Get grip of yourself", he kept repeating to himself. He even tried convincing himself that he followed her just out of curiosity and nothing else. He finally concluded, he will not be seeing her again anyway and will soon forget her. As his mind was trying everything possible to give reason for his actions, to get his thoughts away from her, to forget her, his heart was doing quite the opposite. His heart was fluttering so fast at the thought of her, it was aching at the idea of not seeing her again, craving to see her once more, to talk to her, stay with her. He automatically whispered "Khushi" as his mind and heart were completely occupied with the thoughts of her beautiful eyes, beautiful hair, beautiful voice, beautiful heart ... her beauty. He slowly dozed off still engrossed in her thoughts.
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Khushi dragged Lavanya through the crowd and got into a taxi as fast as she could. Once they were in the taxi she started explaining Lavanya what exactly happened. She concluded that it was all her fault as she was the one who lost balance and bumped into him.
She looked at Lavanya and said "Before I could explain anything, you jumped into stupid conclusion of him harassing me and created a huge scene. Thank God, he didn't get more pissed and start yelling at you too, or else it would have been a huge, huge fight. As always you were acting without thinking, Lav", she complained, disappointed.
Lavanya looked at Khushi in disbelief and answered "Oh right, now I am wrong. I was trying to help my best friend and see how instead of thanking me, she is making me the villain here. Ok, agreed that it might have been your fault but that guy must not have shouted at you nor said all those mean things. Arey, ussay ladki se baat karne ka tareeka nahi aata, tameez se pesh aana nahi aata, aur tum uss ko chod kar mujhe suna rahi ho. Wah, kya dost hai tu." (That man doesn't even know how to talk to a girl, how to behave with a girl and instead of getting angry at him, you are scolding me. Wow, you are really a great friend)
Khushi thought for a second and clapped her hands as if she just realized something. Looking at her friends she said, "I think he didn't know I was a girl when he yelled at me. I mean he didn't see me when I bumped into him, he saw me a while later and by then he was shouting. But as soon as he saw me on the ground, he stopped speaking. At that time I wondered what made him stop screaming spree but now I understand why he was staring at me continuously. He was shocked to see a girl. He stopped shouting because I was a girl. Oh my! I was so worried by the way he looked at me. He stared at me for a long time with those chocolate brown eyes of his that it made me shiver. Thank God, I understood the reason now or else I would have lost my peace of mind thinking about it. Also Lavanya, you know that I didn't inform in my house about this trip of ours, what would we have done if it all went out of control. I can't imagine what might have happened if my family found out."
Lavanya looked at khushi's worried face and immediately replied, "I am so sorry, Khushi. I am an idiot. I didn't think about your problem at all. You know me nah, I just lost it when I saw you on the ground and him shouting at you. Maybe he didn't see you like you said. I am sorry again. Let us just forget the whole thing and have fun, ok."
Khushi smiled at her, and the other friend nodded agreeing with Lavanya. As Khushi stared out of the moving car all she could think of was that stranger's eyes, how he looked at her, warned her to stop her friend. There was lot of depth in his mysterious eyes. Was it just surprise she saw in them or was there something more, she was not sure. But the intensity in his eyes as he looked at her, gave her goosebumps even now. "What is with those eyes and those stares?", she tried to comprehend. She was sure she saw happiness, pain and confusion in his eyes. She wondered how a person can show such different emotions, at same time in his eyes. The more she tried to understand, the more confused she got. "Stop it, Khushi. You are unnecessarily giving more thought about this incident and him. Anyway, its not like you are going to meet him again. There is no point in delving more into it. Ok, Khushi Kumari Gupta, from right this moment you are not going to think about him or his eyes. You will just forget the whole incident.", she told herself as they got down near their cottage.
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A few minutes later, Khushi let out a loud "Hey Devi maiya", startling the other two who sat next to her on the sofa, relaxing. Before they could even ask the reason she said, "I bumped into him, broke his cell phone and didn't even apologize to him. What must he be thinking? How can I be so mean to him?"
Lavanya and her other friend shuddered their shoulders looking at each other and thinking to themselves, "Khushi is Khushi. Always thinking about others". Lavanya muttered frustrated, " HE yelled at you in front of a whole bunch of people and you are worried about saying sorry to HIM. Unbelievable Khushi, only you can think like this. Now stop getting worried for no reason, he doesn't deserve your apology. If anything, he should apologize to you for misbehaving.", she said in a definite tone.
Khushi stayed silent, slowly getting lost in her thoughts, "Lavanya, you don't understand anything. He might not be sorry for what he did but I am. I am responsible for all this mess. I am the reason he lost his cell. I should have apologized. How will I apologize now? How can I find him when I don't even know his name. I have to meet him again but how? Who was he?" she questioned herself remembering how he stood rooted to his position, looking at her as she turned to look at him for one last time before leaving his sight. She questioned herself again "Who was he - The Man with those mysterious eyes."
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Eagerly waiting for the comments. PM's sent.
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Edited by Hope - 11 years ago
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