46. Hum To Aap Hi Ke Hain





"Hum to aap hi ke he, lekin...", Khushi stopped, her eyes wide as the consequences of her words seeped into her mind that till then had been dulled by the shock of Arnavji's sudden appearance at the Shagun ceremony. Her glorious eyes looked into his melting ones, and slid away to give herself time to gather her lost sense together.



Khushi, you idiot! Where does your brain go to graze grass when you open your mouth in front of Arnavji? And he? How dare he walk into Buaji's house as though he owned it (he did!), expect his family to be happy that he had graced them with his presence (they were!) when Dadi had made it a point to dissuade him from attending the Shagun function, herd her out of the room into her bedroom for a private conversation, and then confuse her with his words? She pouted. His eyes lingered on her pouting lips and the frantic attempts of her eyes to hide from him.

"I am going to the living room!", she declared crossly, and turned to walk towards the closed door, annoyed at his patented, fool-proof, sneaky, & underhand means of getting his way.

He caught her by her shoulders, and came close to her. So close that her back was resting against his front. Khushi squirmed, the warmth of his body doing unmentionable things to her own.

"Khushi?"

She twisted her neck and looked at him, still miffed with him & herself.

"What happened during Shagun?" An errant finger trailed down her cheek.
"Woh... Woh..." , she stammered, her eyes tracking that dangerous finger, "Mamiji, Di, & Jiji g..gave me g..gifts to welcome me into your family..."

"Gifts?" The finger touched her dangling earring under the fall of her hair.

"Jjji... J...jewellery, saris, s...s...sweets... Things like t..t...that..."

"Oh! Doesn't the bridegroom give a gift to the bride?"

Her eyes shot fire at him. She shook her face & dislodged his finger. "The bridegroom is not supposed to attend the function. I told you not to come here...", she whined. "Why did you have to irritate Dadiji further?"

"I just wanted to give you my gift.", came his calm, logical, rational reply.
She looked at him with narrowed eyes, long, intimate acquaintance with him making her suspicious of his motives.

He bent his head slightly, and placed a lingering, loud smack on a rosy, plump cheek.

Her eyes widened as far as they could, and her lips parted into a perfect 'O' of surprise. His eyes focused on her parted lips. He bent his head further to gift her another kiss, this time on her lips, but Khushi jerked out of his arms and stood facing him.

"Arnavji! What are you doing? Your Dadiji!"
"My Dadiji? I was kissing you, Khushi, not my Dadi."
"Arnavji!" Her screech conveyed her exasperation admirably well. "If she finds out... if she sees us. ...if we stay for too long in this room..."
His eyes grew cold. "What will she do? What can anyone do? You are my wife and I am your husband." 

Khushi sighed. Making him understand what he didn't want to understand was as painful, time-consuming, and useless as arguing with a recalcitrant toddler and persuading him to give up the neighbour's soggy toy he was chewing to pieces.

"I am not your wife. Not yet. Only the Shagun is over now. There are many more ceremonies before we become man & wife."

Arnav glared at her.

"You are Arnav Singh Raizada and I am Khushi Kumari Gupta."

She could hear him gritting his teeth. And see him clenching his fists.

"So you are not my wife?", came the soft query.

She smiled in relief that he had finally understood and accepted the point that she had been trying to make. "No. No, I am not. Not till we marry."

His hand came up and swiftly took hold of her mangalsutra. "Then what is this doing around your neck?"

She looked at him, her eyes wide and panic-stricken. Her fingers clutched his arm, trying to free her mangalsutra from his hold.

"Remove it. And wipe off the sindoor.", he commanded in his gravelly voice.

"No.", she gulped.

"No? Why not?", his query was innocent, his eyes anything but. "How can an unmarried girl wear sindoor & mangalsutra?"

"Aap chodiye hamein..." She tried to pull the thin string of black beads and diamonds free from his fingers, panic sending the blood rushing through her veins, beading her skin with a thin film of sweat... His hold remained firm.

"You are well-versed in the viddhi of marriage, aren't you, Khushi? Then how come you are still wearing this chain that only a married girl can wear?"
He watched her eyes flood with tears, her fingers fighting his for the right to keep on the simple chain, her lips trembling in her effort to control her tears. He swallowed.

"Why, Khushi?" His voice was soft, gentle, beguiling her into letting him into the secret caverns of her heart.

"Somebody...", she whispered.
"Somebody...?"
"Somebody tied it around my neck with a lot of love in his heart."
He swallowed.
"I won't remove it..."
"Khushi..."
She lost the battle with her tears. They trailed down her cheeks and dripped down her chin. "It is foolish. I know it is foolish to hold on to the mangalsutra when the contract period is about to be over. Our...our marriage will be over soon. I will n...no longer be your 'legally-wedded wife'..." Her voice trembled. Drawing in a deep breath, she tried to manage a semblance of control. "If all the ceremonies of this marriage go through, if your Dadi permits them to go through, if we get married, then you will be my husband and I will be your wife even after the contract ends. Otherwise...", she croaked through a choked throat, "...otherwise, I will remove the mangalsutra & wipe off the sindoor that seem to be irritating you. I...I won't claim them anymore after the contract is over..."

"Khushi..."

Her eyes blazed. "How could you be so stupid? Threatening to stop Jiji's wedding if I didn't marry you for 6 months!"

"Khushi..."

"All you had to do was ask! Just ask! I would have done anything for you! Anything! Run away with you. Married you. Anything!"

"Khushi..." His voice tried to calm her, his hands tried to pull her close.

 She resisted. She was in no mood to be calmed and hugged.

"Six months! Couldn't you have made it for life? Why did you have to write 6 months in the contract, you...you...Arnav Singh Raizada!", she bit out his name like an insult.

Arnav had to hide his smile as he tried to pull her into his arms. She pushed at his chest with both hands.

"Me in love with Shyamji! With that that scoundrel! That worm! That...that cheat!"
"Sshhh..."
"What Ssshhh...? How could you be so foolish? You pride yourself on your shatir dimag, don't you? Then how could you even imagine that I would look at a much-married, ghatiya man when I was dying for you? Dreaming about you day and night? Wanting to be with you all the time? How cou...?"

The rest remained unsaid as Khushi's lips were taken over by her Arnavji's. He rubbed his warm, firm lips against her soft, plump ones, tasting their addictive sweetness, sipping from her lips like a bee tasting honey from a flower. She lay dazed in his arms, looking at him with eyes cloudy with a new, till-then-unknown desire. She looked at his lips. His trembling limbs threatened to give way. He pulled her hard into his arms, holding her close.

He whispered in her ear, "You will never remove that mangalsutra as long as I am alive, Khushi. Never, got it? And our wedding is going to happen as soon as I can make it. In the shortest possible time, Khushi. And this time, it will be for life. For seven lives, Khushi. You are not slipping through my hands one more time. This time I am going to make sure of this. No Dadi is going to stop us, Khushi. This is my word. The word of Arnav Singh Raizada to his wife, Khushi Kumari Gupta Singh Raizada." He kissed her ear, and continued, "I am sorry I thought you were having an affair with Shyam. I am sorry I made it a contract for 6 months. I should have made it for life." He dropped a kiss on her eyebrow. "Sorry..." He kissed her eyelids. "...So sorry..." Her nose. "...I am sorry, Khushi..." He kissed the corner of her quivering lips.


"Arnav Bitwaa...", came Buaji's reluctant call from the other side of the closed door. "...If your conversation has ended, Nandkisore, can you come out? Oo kaa he, your Dadiji is ready to leave..." Her voice trailed away.

"I will be right out, Buaji!", Arnav reassured her.

"Nandkisore ki jai ho!", muttered Buaji under her breath, shuddering at Dadi's murderous glare. She took her place, safe behind Sasi babua's wheelchair. Payal stepped closer to her for comfort.

Arnav wrapped his arms tight around Khushi once more, hugged her for the last time, and then tried to free himself. But she was in no mood to let him go. She held him to her with all the strength in her puny arms, her face buried in his neck...
"Khushi..., I will come in the afternoon. We can have lunch together..."

She looked into his eyes. "Promise?", she asked.

"Promise.", he whispered. His naughty finger traced the line of her tender lips. She jerked back. He tweaked her red nose with a smirk on his face, and left the room.



All looked at him as he entered the living room. Dadi stood up, and asked in a quelling voice, "Shall we leave now? That is, if your conversation is over?"
"Of course, Dadi. Don't let me keep you. You came with Akash, didn't you? You can return with him." He turned to his brother and Di, "Akash, I will be going to the office from here, after I have had Buaji's ginger tea. Di, don't wait for me at lunch. I will be having it here." Anjali nodded, dazed, pinching herself to find out if she was caught in a dream.

He looked at the amazement on the faces of his family. "I will see you all in the evening." He smiled at them.

Dadi fumed. Nani & Buaji hid their smiles. The rest of them looked at him in wonder. Where had the khadoos ASR gone? The one who hated wasting a single moment of his day in frivolous activity? Who worked 24x7? The one who rationed out his smiles?

As they walked out, Akash asked softly, "Bhai, are you alright?"
"Never better.", said Arnav, patting Akash's shoulder.

Mami whispered in his ear, "Arnav Bitwaa, is everything alrights? Do you needs hajmola or mentos?"
Arnav smiled. "I am perfectly OK, Mami!"



NK looked closely at Nannav's neck. He then exclaimed loudly, "Nannav, mere bhai! What happened to your neck? There is a red mark there! Khoon, khoon, saat khoon kiya! Nannav!"

All looked at the betraying mark on his neck. Arnav said, "Oh, it must be Khushi's sindoor." All gaped at him. He smiled at them.