Chapter 5
Khushi looked upwards towards the stairs to see if Arnav was coming back or not.
‘Laad Governer kahin ke!’ she thought and continued ‘Said we would tell this together. Now he has left me alone with Nani and Di and escaped from here. And this Aman too, every time he manages to intrude with his phone calls. Wonder how he does that? Some telepathy I guess. Got to do something about him. But, later. Meanwhile, I have to think of something. What should I tell them? Hey, Devi Maiyya, help me.’ Khushi prayed.
‘M… Ma… Mami, Has Mamiji called, Di?’ Khushi finally managed to ask something to change the topic.
‘Yes, Khushiji. She called and said she’d reached safely. She said she will call again later’, replied Anjali.
‘Khushi bitiya, you and Chotey were telling something, isn’t it? We are waiting for that’, Nani reminded.
Khushi realized her plan to change the topic failed. ‘A… A… Actually, Naniji…’
‘Trr..rrr..ing, Trr..rrr..ing’, it was the sound of the landline. ‘That must be Mami’, said Anjali and got up to pick up the phone.
Khushi immediately stole the chance, told Nani that she will be back soon and went upstairs. Nani was about to call her, but Khushi left by then.
As she approached the bedroom, she wondered why it was taking so long for Arnavji’s phone conversation to end. But, when she entered the room, she saw Arnav standing near the french window in deep thought.
‘Arnavji!’ she exclaimed. ‘I thought you were talking on the phone! And we were waiting for you to come back downstairs. But, here you are standing and thinking something.’
‘Khushi, what happened? Did you tell them? What was their reaction?’, Arnav asked enthusiastically, keeping aside Khushi’s grumbles.
‘No, I didn’t tell them. I told you that I won’t be able to tell them’, said an upset Khushi.
She turned towards the bed to sit down. but couldn’t go further after a couple of steps. Her hand was caught by Arnav. ‘Khushi’, she heard Arnav call softly. As always, his soft call was enough to calm her down. She turned to look at Arnav and his eyes immediately hinted at something. She realized that since the good news of her pregnancy was given to them, they were now finally alone, in their bedroom. Arnav came close and hugged her.
‘Thank you, Khushi, for being a part of my life … and now … for giving me the biggest happiness of my life.’
Hearing that tears flew down from Khushi’s eyes. She lifted her hands and completed the hug. She was too overwhelmed to speak anything. Arnav realized that, broke the hug and kissed her on her forehead. ‘Khushi, are you happy?’ asked Arnav. Khushi nodded and smiled through her tears.
‘Wait, I have something for you’, said Arnav, went to the wardrobe and took out a small box from the drawer. ‘Khushi, this is for you. I wanted to give it to you this Saturday before the office party, but there can’t be a better occasion than this to give it, isn’t it?’
Khushi opened the box and found a beautiful diamond bracelet inside. Her face immediately brightened and she smiled broadly at the sight of the beautiful glittering ornament. Arnav’s heart was filled with joy looking at the happiness on his wife’s face. In the dim light of the room, he thought his wife’s smiling, glowing face was far more dazzling than the diamond bracelet.
‘Arnavji, thank you so much. This is so beautiful’, said Khushi. ‘No, not as beautiful as my wife, come here’, said Arnav and he hugged her again. Khushi blushed and said, ‘Arnavji, aap bhi na… ‘
‘But now what shall we do. We have yet to tell Nani and Di’, Khushi continued.
‘Hmm… I have a plan. Let’s not tell anything now. We will wait for a couple of months and then they will automatically come to know about it’ said Arnav naughtily and winked at her.
‘Arnavjiii!!!’, said an embarrassed Khushi and hit him on his arm. ‘Do you know, your nose is red right now?’ said Arnav teasing Khushi further and broke into laughter looking at her wife’s pout face. Soon, Khushi too joined him in the laughter.
‘Don’t worry, Khushi. We will just go down and tell them right away, Okay?’, Arnav assured her and Khushi smiled.
‘Chotey, Khushi bitiya, both of you come down immediately’, Nani’s stern voice startled both Arnav and Khushi. Worried, both of them went downstairs to the living room.
~ ~ ~
… To be continued …
