HWGA Chapter 15: Identification and Permission

The reason I've updated this week is because I've just realised I'm probably not going to update any of my stories until mid/late January because of my exams and coursework. Also the last chapter was a bit short so I thought I'd update this week. I'm sorry but I'm not going to be back until mid/late January. As always the purple bits are meant to be Hindi. Until I see you guys again, enjoy :)

Chapter 15: Identification and Permission

Arnav saw Karan standing outside the haveli and approached his way. He tried to walk past Karan but he blocked his way. He tried again but again he was blocked. Arnav gave him an irritable look but Karan stared back at him calmly. The man looked some what familiar to Arnav.

“Who are you?” demanded Arnav.

Karan decided to play with him a little. “I should be asking you that sir.”

“I’m Arnav Singh Raizada. Now answer my question.”

“Karan Singh Malik.”

“Let me pass Karan.”

“I’m afraid I’m going to need some identification and permission from Mr Gupta to let you in.”

“What nonsense! Mr Gupta knows me. I’m his son-in-law’s brother.”

“Sorry sir, I need identification and confirmation before I let you in.” Arnav sighed and handed Karan his drivers licence. “Meena!” A little girl came running from inside the house. “Take this to uncle and ask him whether or not I should let this man in.”

“Ok Karan Bhai.”

While they waited for Meena to come back Arnav decided to have a staring match with Karan but Karan refused to participate. Arnav hadn’t blinked or looked away whereas Karan was blinking freely and looking around. Finally Meena came back and whispered something in Karan’s ear. Karan widened his eyes in surprise and scrunched his forehead.

“Thanks Meena.”

“No problem Bhai.” She then ran off.

Karan turned to Arnav. “It seems that sir is coming down to speak to you personally.”

Sure enough a few minutes later Sashi Gupta had come to the front door. He hugged Karan.

“Thank you for doing this Beta.”

“It’s no problem at all. In fact I’m thinking of hiring some proper guards for the haveli.”

“You don’t have to do that beta.”

“Of course I do.”

Sashi then turned to Arnav. “I only have one thing to say to you. Stay away from this house and stay away from Khushi.” He didn’t wait for Arnav’s response, he just turned and walked inside the house.

“You heard the man, leave.”

“Yeah and I also heard the conversation between you and him. If you’re not a guard who are you?”

“I’m sort of like a guard.”

“You look familiar.”

“Do I?”

Then it a light went on inside Arnav’s head. “You’re NK’s Karan.”

“I’m no one’s Karan. But I do know NK.”

Then another thing clicked into place. “What are you doing here?”

“Have a guess.”

“You and Khushi live together in England.”

“Ding ding ding, you’re almost right. We used to live together but the house was getting too small as our kids were growing up so I moved a street away.”

All Arnav heard was “live together” and “our kids” and he saw red. Before Karan could react, Arnav punched him square in the jaw. Karan landed on the floor and before he could get up, Arnav punched him again and again. After the 5^th punch, Karan had managed to flip them over and was beating the shit out of Arnav. Arnav rolled out from underneath Karan and staggered to his feet. Karan also got to his feet and they were about to start fighting again when someone grabbed a hold of Arnav. Before Karan could comprehend anything, he was held in a headlock and forced into a kneeling position.

The adrenaline had finally died out and the fog had cleared. Karan saw that Akash was holding Arnav and trying to calm him down. The grip loosened on Karan’s head and he was finally able to get up. He turned to find his captor was Amba. He looked around his surroundings to find Payal, Khushi, Garima and Buaji staring at them.

Karan closed his eyes and sighed. “Shit!”

“Dad what the fuck is going on?!” demanded Amba. “Why were you hitting Mr Raizada?”

Karan turned to Amba and whispered in her ear. “How much did everyone see?”

“I think Akash uncle and Payal aunty saw everything because they were already here when I arrived. I took an earlier taxi than mum, grandma and Buaji because I thought I was going to be late. You have no idea how long these poojas last.” Amba whispered back.

“Believe me I do. How long have Khushi, Masiji and Buaji been here?”

“They literary just got here.”

“Good.”

Khushi had had enough of the suspense and ran to Karan to make sure he was ok. This built up the rage inside Arnav once again; thankfully Akash was still holding him.

“Karan what happened?” Khushi asked.

Arnav couldn’t take how much care was in her voice when she asked him that and this made Karan smile. “I’m ok. I thought Payal’s Jeetji was a thief or something so I beat him up. I acted irrationally.” He turned to Arnav. “I’m sorry man, honest mistake.”

Arnav glared at him. “It’s fine. I was just passing by and then you attacked me so I had to defend my self.”

Khushi turned to Karan and scolded him. “That was incredibly stupid of you.”

“Well you can never be too careful.”

She then turned to Payal. “Well introduce me to everyone.”

Payal didn’t really want to but she had no choice. “Umm Akash, Arnavji, this is my sister Khushi. Khushi this is your Jijaji Akash and my Jeetji Arnavji. Well we have to be going-”

“Hold on!” yelled Khushi and put her hands together. “Namaste. I’m sorry I don’t remember you guys but it’s because of my accident. I’m sure Jiji’s already told you.”

“No problem Khushiji. Take your time and recover. I’ll bring our kids over so you can re-meet them.” Said Akash.

But Arnav saw an opportunity and took it. “Why should you bring the kids when she can come to the kids Akash?” Everyone turned to glare at him but he continued talking to Khushi. “Our niece, Neha, is getting married. Why don’t you come over for all the rituals and celebrate with us? In fact the sangeet is in 4 days time.”

 

Khushi’s eyes lit up. “A wedding? I love weddings! Jiji why didn’t you tell me?”

“There was so much to talk about yesterday and so little time.” Mumbled Payal.

“Of course I’ll come, but only if I can bring the whole family.”

“Bring anyone you want.” Said Arnav.

“Eeep thank you!” Khushi was going to go and hug Arnav but something held her back. She didn’t know what it was and put it down to the fact that so many people were around. She reddened at the thought of what she was going to do and turned and ran into the house.

Arnav stared at the running wistfully. He was about to leave and get into his car when both Karan and Akash cornered him.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” asked Akash.

“Excuse me?”

“After everything Payal said, you’re still willing to risk it.”

“Nothing bad happened and I didn’t do anything to remind her of the past.”

Karan turned towards Akash. “Akash I beg you, let me finish this guy.”

Akash looked like he was actually going to say yes but the voice of reason won in the end. “Sorry Karan but violence is never the answer. No matter how much you might want to use it to solve things.”

“Fine, you deal with him.” He turned to find Amba staring at him with an eyebrow raised. “Aren’t you going to be late for your meeting?”

“Considering that you beat up my client, I don’t even know if I have a meeting anymore.”

“I know Arnav Singh Raizada. Trust me, you still have a client.”

“How exactly do you know him?”

“You’re getting late.”

“And why did you beat him up? Don’t give me some bullshit excuse about him being a thief; you just said you know him.”

Karan thought for a moment. “Let’s just say he and your mother used to date.”

“What?!”

“Yeah.”

“So why do you hate him?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Is he a rapist?”

“No.”

“A murderer?”

“No.”

“Any criminal records?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Then he can’t be that much of a bad person. And since you don’t want to tell me the full story, I’m going to assume that he is a good person until proven otherwise.” With that Amba stormed off to get ready.

“Amba!” Karan called after her and ran to keep up. They stopped outside Amba’s room and before she could slam the door in Karan’s face he managed to slip in. “Why won’t you try to understand?”

“I’m sick and tired of being understanding.”

“Amba you’re acting like a child.”

“I don’t care and you can’t make me understand anything because you’re keeping major secrets away from me.” She walked away and began to take her business cloths out of the wardrobe.

“Do you think I want to keep things from you?”

She turned and snapped, “Then why won’t you just tell me?!”

“Because I promised your mum dammit!” he roared.

Amba’s face softened. “You must really love mum.”

He sighed. “Yes I do and I love you too. I have spent a good 23 years hiding things from a lot of people simply because your mother asked. And I want to tell you everything honey, I do, but I want your mother to be there too. It’s her story to tell, not mine. Plus I pinky promised that I wouldn’t tell a soul.”

Amba smiled at the last comment. “Fine. No more resistance from my side.”

“That’s a first.”

Amba hit him lightly. “Now go, I’m getting late for my meeting.”

“Promise me you’ll be careful around Arnav Singh Raizada.”

“I promise. Now go.”

Meanwhile Akash had managed to take Arnav back to the car without hurting himself and now he was on his way to the office. But Arnav wanted revenge on Karan. So he decided to make a few calls.

“Arman.” Aman had long ago moved to a new job and after him had come many many new assistants but Arman was the best he had so far.

“Yes sir.”

“I want you to find out what Karan Singh Malik does.”

“Sir?”

“I want you to find out what he does and convince his employer to fire him.”

“Mr Raizada-”

“I don’t want to hear it. I want it done. Oh and prepare the conference room.”

“It’s already done sir.”

“Good.”

He cut the call just as he pulled up outside AR. He went straight to his office and viewed the schedule for the day. He was immersed in work when Amba arrived, exactly 5 minutes before the meeting. He had Arman lead her to the conference room and help her set up. He then entered 5 minutes later.

“Mr Raizada.” She said as she extended her hand.

“Ms Amba Singh Malik I presume.” He said as he shook her hand.

Amba looked confused for a moment before she remembered that she had to pretend to be a Malik. “Yes, you finally got my name right. Before we begin I want to apologise for my father’s behaviour this morning. It was totally uncalled for and he isn’t normally like this.”

Arnav nodded. “I understand. If you don’t mind me asking Miss Malik, is Khushi your mother?”

Amba looked Arnav right in the eyes and lied. “No she isn’t, she’s my aunt.”

Arnav let out a sigh of relief and relaxed. “Shall we begin?”

“Lets.”

AAD Chapter 3: Deals Made, Deals Broken

People this story is 16+ so kids please don't read it. I have decided to update because I don’t know when I’m going to get another time in this holiday because I have a lot of exam prep and coursework to get through. As promised this chapter is longer and hopefully it doesn’t sound like it’s dragging. As always the italics are thought and the bold bits are memories. Enjoy :)

Chapter 3: Deals Made, Deals Broken

Gupta Haveli

Shashi Gupta was a man with very few regrets in life. He didn’t regret it when his parents told him to stay at home and work so his siblings could get a good education and good jobs. He didn’t regret it when he had to remarry a woman a month after his wife had died so his daughter could have a mother. He certainly didn’t regret taking in Khushi when her parents died. What he did regret was not being good at maths.

Shashi sighed and began with the numbers again. They wouldn’t have been in debt in the first place had he been a better business man who could handle the numbers properly. But alas he was just an uneducated halwai who couldn’t even put his daughters through college no matter how much he wanted to. The wedding had taken a lot out of them and money was incredibly short.

Not that he told his daughters about that. Khushi would die of guilt and Payal would go into depression. He hated to see any of his daughters upset. He continued to stare at the papers and only one solution came to mind. He’d have to sell his beloved ancestral home. It was that or sell all his wife’s, sister’s and daughters jewellery. And he couldn’t bear to do that. His daughters were in the prime of their youth and would be getting married off any day. How could they do that with no jewellery? Even if he did manage to sell both his wife’s and sister’s jewellery, it still wouldn’t cover everything.

He made a decision. He would sell his house to someone who would let them stay if they paid rent. It was a fairly reasonable thing to ask for. Plus the house was huge. He wouldn’t mind other tenants in it too as long as the landlord didn’t kick them out. He didn’t really want to sell his home but times were tough and he knew what he had to do.

Raizada Mansion

After Arnav had finished reading Khushi’s file, he had made a few phone calls and headed home. As soon as he walked through the door he headed towards his sister’s room. He barged in without knocking.

“It’s rude to come into people’s rooms without knocking, Chote. Besides, you don’t know what I was doing.” Said his sister.

“Jijaji is out of town so I can safely deduce you were doing nothing in your room.”

“Well…” she said suggestively.

He rolled his eyes. “Di, I’m going out of town for a few days.”

“What? We just got back.”

“I know but some important business has come up in Lucknow and I’m needed.”

“Chote, if it’s about our uncle, leave him alone. He doesn’t deserve our attention.”

Arnav clenched his fists. “He deserves to die a slow and painful death and so does Dadi.”

“Chote!”

He ignored her outburst. “Rest assured that I’m not going after that scum. I promise. I just need to close this business deal. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

“Ok, just be careful.”

“Di, I’m not a child. I don’t need to be careful.”

Anjili brushed his comment aside and got up from the bed to pull his cheeks and mess his hair up. She then walked away leaving a shocked Arnav behind. He was dragged out of his stupor by the ringing of his phone.

“Sir?”

“What do you want Aman? You’re meant to be taking the day off.”

“I know sir but-”

“Next time I’m not going to give you any holidays. No matter how much you beg for them.”

“Sir, some interesting developments have occurred.”

Arnav smirked. “Have they?”

“Yes sir. I think you need to come to Lucknow as soon as possible.”

He already knew Aman had sorted everything out. “When’s my flight?”

“In 2 hours sir.”

“Private jet?”

“Of course.”

“Sheesh Mahal?”

“Yes sir.”

“Aman, you’ve just earned another raise from me.”

There was a shocked silence. “Thank you sir.”

“No problem Aman.”

He hung up and began packing.

Gupta Haveli

Shashi Gupta ran into the Haveli with a box of sweets in his hand. He began feeding sweets to everyone in the Haveli. Everyone looked at him like he was crazy.

“Has Shashi babuwa gone crazy?” asked Buaji whilst holding her head.

“No no Jiji. I haven’t gone crazy, yet.” Replied Shashi.

“Then why are you stuffing sweets down everyone’s throats?” asked Garima.

“Who cares, its sweets!” shrieked Khushi as she began stuffing more sweets in to her mouth. Garima smacked Khushi around the head to make her stop eating but it just made her choke on the sweets.

“I have found the solution to all our problems.”

“You’ve found another groom for Payaliya?” asked Buaji.

Everyone took a sharp intake of breath and held it. They all turned to look at Payal who was munching on her sweets. Khushi and Garima were about to engulf her into a hug when Payal spoke, “Well have you Babuji?”

“Umm no. But I have managed to find a buyer who wants this Haveli for triple its price!”

There was another shocked silence. “Babuji, you’re selling our home?” asked Payal.

“I have to Payal.”

“But why?” asked Khushi.

Shashi sighed. “I didn’t want to tell you guys this but we are in a lot of debt.”

Khushi and Payal gasped and looked at Garima and Buaji, who looked away in guilt.

“You all knew and you didn’t tell us!” demanded Payal.

“What would’ve you done?” asked Shashi.

“We could’ve gotten jobs.” Said Khushi.

“No!” yelled Garima.

“What your mother means is that we were hoping that we’d get you and Payal married by now and so our burden would be lessened. But it seems like it’s harder to find good grooms now a days.”

Payals face fell and she left from there with Khushi chasing after her.

Shashi sighed and looked at Garima and Buaji. “Everything is going to be fine now. I promise.”

But little did he know this was only the beginning of all his problems.

Khushi had finally caught up to Payal who was furiously wiping tears from her face. Khushi grabbed her shoulder gently and led her to their room. Once inside, Khushi made Payal sit down on the bed, then she got up to lock the door. She came back to the bed and Payal clung on to her and sobbed her heart out. Initially, Khushi winced because Payal was pressing on her bruises but she ignored the pain and concentrated on comforting her sister.

“This is all my fault.” Hiccupped Payal.

“How is this your fault?”

“Abishek and I could’ve been married by now if I didn’t argue about the dowry so much. Then I wouldn’t be so much of a burden to Babuji. You even went to try to convince him. He’s selling the family house Khushi. How could he do that?”

A cold shiver went through Khushi as she remembered what had happened when she had gone to talk to Abishek.

He bit her lips and pushed his tongue into her mouth. Her taste was addictive; he couldn’t get enough of her. He brought himself closer to her to make sure there wasn’t any gap between them. His hands began to caress her soft milky thighs travelling higher to her hips, waists and her breasts.

Khushi felt like throwing up again and made a mental note to take yet another shower. She rubbed her sister’s back in comfort. She felt like it was all her fault that they’d had to go through this.

If only I hadn’t gotten onto that God forsaken ramp. If only I had found Abishekji and talked to him. Then maybe Jiji would be married and we wouldn’t have this problem. But no. You have the worst luck in history, Khushi Kumari Gupta. You had to get on that ramp and you had to fall into that rakshas’s arms. And he just had to punish you! And what did you do? You just lay there and when he was done, you ran away! You didn’t even think about your family. Well who thinks about family after something as traumatic as that? Besides if it wasn’t for that Laad Govner, then the situation would be different. That’s right Khushi, don’t blame yourself. It wasn’t your fault. It was his.

Khushi’s eyes began to fill with tears. “It’s going to be ok Jiji. Devi Maya knows what she’s doing and so does Babuji. We’re going to be fine.”

Both sisters held each other and cried over their bad fortune.

Lucknow

As soon as Arnav Singh Raizada landed in Lucknow, he requested for his luggage to be sent to the Sheesh Mahal. He then received the papers he wanted and set out for his destination.

Aman truly is brilliant

When he reached his destination, he was approached by a man and a woman in their mid 40s to early 50s. The man welcomed him warmly into his house and began giving him a tour. They then got down to business.

Sheesh Mahal

He had just got back from the elderly man’s house and was relaxing in his room when his phone rang. He sighed when he saw the number.

“Yes Di?”

“How come you didn’t call me as soon as you landed to tell me you were safe?”

“Because we crash landed. Then the car I was taking to the Sheesh exploded. Then I got mugged. And now I’m dead. So you see Di, I’m not safe at all. In fact, I’m dead.”

Anjili sighed. “A simple ‘I’m fine Di’ would’ve sufficed. Why did you have to go all sarcastic on me?”

“Di, you’re smothering me. No wonder Jijaji is always out of town.” He joked.

“You! I just…I can’t…Fine! I’m never going to ask how you are ever again. Happy?”

“Very.” He grinned.

Anjili slammed the phone down causing Arnav to chuckle. He was about to get himself a drink when his phone rang again.

“I’m sorry Di-”

“Umm sir, it’s me.” Said Aman.

“What do you want Aman?!” snapped Arnav out of embarrassment.

“Sir I just wanted to inform you that Lavanya is on her way to Lucknow.”

“But I didn’t send for her. Why weren’t you on this?!”

“You gave me the day off sir.”

Arnav sighed. “Why is she coming over?”

“To fulfil your contract sir. It’s been a week and you haven’t had any girls. So as per your contact, she has to fly out to wherever you are to meet your needs.”

Arnav had totally forgotten about the contact, what with his fashion show and punishing his uncle. And Khushi, whispered a small part of his brain but he ignored it.

“Tell her it’s not needed. I was planning to terminate our contract soon. Tell her that it doesn’t mean that this will impact our professional relationship. Tell her she can still keep her job.”

“Sir, she’s already on her way.”

“Well do something about it! What do I pay you for Aman?!”

With that he hung up the phone, poured himself a drink and settled into his armchair. There was a sharp knock on the door. He groaned.

Can’t a guy ever get some alone time? Well you know what they say Arnav, there’s no rest for the wicked.

And he certainly was wicked when he wanted to be. He got up and prepared to shout at whoever was behind that door. When he opened it, he faltered. It was Lavanya. She was wearing a pair of red 6 inch stilettos and a beige trench coat.

He gulped and said hoarsely, “What are you doing here Lavanya?”

“Can I come in?” she said seductively.

He stepped aside and she strutted into his room.  He closed the door and locked it.

“Isn’t it a little warm to be wearing a coat?” He asked as he settled into his armchair.

“That’s precisely what I was thinking.”

With that she took her coat off. All she was wearing underneath was a barely there red lace lingerie. She walked over to Arnav and straddled him, making sure to grind his already hardening erection. She began kissing his neck.

“I don’t think we should be doing this Lavanya.” He said in a strained voice.

Continuing on with her activities she asked, “Why not?”

“Because I was thinking about cancelling our contact.”

“Which one?”

“This one.”

“Well that’s too bad.” She stopped kissing him and looked him in the eyes. “Ok, so you’ve cancelled the contract. Break up sex?”

He didn’t reply. Instead he grabbed her and threw her on the bed. He then proceeded to rip off the poor excuse for underwear of her body and stripped himself.

Gupta Haveli

The family was running around getting the house ready, although Khushi couldn’t understand why. She wanted to sabotage any attempts to sell the house but she knew they must be really desperate to sell it so she kept quiet and did what she was asked to do. Her father was downstairs with the person who wanted to buy the Haveli and all she wanted to do was kick him out of the house. Her family must have known she was planning to do that so they had lured her to her room and locked her in. She was trying every way to break out of her room but it seemed very fruitful until she had a brilliant idea.

Khushi Kumari Gupta, you’re a genius.

Shashi Gupta led the man into his living room.

“My wife’s coming in with the tea.”

“That’s alright, I just need your signature on these papers then I’ll be on my way.”

Shashi signed the papers and shook the man’s hands. Just as the man was about to walk away Shashi stopped him.

“Wait.” The man turned and sat down again. “I have one request.”

“I’m listening.”

“Can my family and I stay in this house?” The man frowned and Shashi hastily added, “We’ll be paying rent and my family doesn’t mind other tenants living here either.”

“Mr Gupta, we should’ve discussed this before you signed the contract.”

Shashi cursed himself for not thinking about this before. He got distracted by the great offer the man had proposed. “Please Mr Raizada there must be something you can do.”

Arnav smirked.

Meanwhile, Khushi had blackmailed her sister into letting her out of the room by telling her that she needed to go to the bathroom and that she was starving. As soon as she was let out, she ran. Payal was going to chase after her when her mother stopped her.

“Let her go Payal. The deal is done, there is nothing she can do about it now.”

She stopped outside the living room and started eavesdropping in on her father and the man’s conversation.

“There is something else I want in exchange of letting your family continue to live here.”

“But we don’t have any-”

“I don’t need material possessions. As you can tell I have enough money to buy whatever I want.”

Khushi held her breath. She couldn’t understand what the man could possible want from them. And another thing kept bugging her, where had she heard that voice before.

“Then what do you want?” asked Shashi.

“I want your daughter.”

Shashi was shocked but he recovered quickly. He couldn’t believe that such a good proposal came to his daughter. Especially after her first marriage broke. He was about to say yes when Khushi fell into the room. When Khushi saw who her father had sold the house to, she froze.

Note: I don’t know why I was trying to keep Arnav’s and Shashi identity a secret throughout this chapter. I wasn’t trying to put in a twist and I knew you guys would figure it out. My brain is a strange place. And now I’m rambling because I’m tired. I apologise for making you guys waste your time reading this.

AAD Chapter 2: Awake At Night

The next chapter of Devils and Angels. I must warn you, this isn't my best piece of writing it's more of a filler chapter :S Here's a look at Arnav's apartment. The bold bits are dreams and italics are thoughts. People this story is 16+ so kids please don't read it. Enjoy :)

Chapter 2: Awake At Night

Sheesh Mahal

There was a knocking sound coming from somewhere and Arnav swore that if it didn’t stop he’d kill someone. Just as he was about to bite someone’s head off, someone flung open the curtains in his room. Arnav felt as if fire was burning his eye balls and an elephant parade decided to march through his head. In short, Arnav clutched his head and groaned in agony.

He was about to unleash his inner demon on whom ever had the audacity to wake him up when a voice interrupted him. “Serves you right for drinking the entire mini bar dry.”

He recognised the voice immediately and calmed down considerably. All he could do was grunt in response and burrow himself deeper under the covers. The figure went towards him and ripped the covers off.

“Oh no you don’t Mr Raizada.”

“Di please!” he begged.

“Nope. You have a very important meeting this morning and then we leave for Delhi.”

Arnav sat up straight in his bed when she mentioned the meeting. He’d been preparing for 12 years for this moment. 12 years to get back at the bastard of an uncle who had kicked them out when they had needed him the most. 12 years to take back what was rightfully there’s. Just because he was hung over didn’t mean he was going to throw 12 years of preparation away.

“Thanks for waking me up Di.”

He rushed out of bed, took a long shower and got ready in 10 minutes. He put on his shades to cover his red eyes and then he called Aman to make sure he was in position, when he got his confirmation; he moved out of his room and headed for the terrace where his uncle was.

The deal had gone as smoothly as he had planned, his uncle’s partner had double crossed him. His uncle was now let penniless and homeless and he now owned the Sheesh Mahal fully. It was a good day.

It would be a better day if I could get that damn girl off my mind.

Gupta Haveli

Khushi was also having the same problem. She couldn’t keep her mind off the man who looked like an angel and acted like a devil to her. Every time she moved, some part of her body would start hurting and she would again be reminded of him. She had single handedly managed to clear up all the wedding decoration and she had started cleaning the whole house. What she really wanted to do was make some jelabies but that would raise too many questions.

When the house seemed pretty much spotless she had gone to the kitchen to make the jelabies but had realised that it was pooja time. When she had gone down to pooja to help set everything up, everyone was surprised. They’d normally have to drag Khushi out of bed and drag her downstairs. So seeing Khushi come to pooja by herself was something of a phenomena.

“Hey Sanka Devi! You’re here.” Said Buaji in surprise.

“Of course I am Buaji, where else would I be?”

“Why are you up so early? Were you hoping to eat a few sweets before pooja?”

“No Buaji, I felt guilty about yesterday so I thought I’d clean everything up.”

Her mother looked at her with concern. “Is everything ok Khushi?”

“Of course it is Amma. Why’d you ask?”

Garima noticed the dark circles under her eyes. “Did you sleep last night?”

“I didn’t feel like it. I wasn’t tried. I had so much energy so I started cleaning.”

“Hey Devi Maya! You’ve been cleaning since last night?”

“Yeah so?”

“After pooja you’re going straight to bed.”

“Amma.” Whined Khushi.

“She’s right Khushi.” Said Sashi. “You need sleep beta.”

“I’m fine Babuji, I promise.”

“Khushi stop acting like a child and listen to us.” Said her father firmly.

“Fine.”

After the pooja had finished, Khushi had taken her prashad and gone up to her and her sister’s room. As soon as she lay down on the bed she felt sleep claim her. She tried to fight it off but she realised just how tired she was. Her mind and body were screaming for her to give in so she did.

Khushi was having a wonderful time at her sister’s wedding. She had managed to convince Abishekji to lower the dowry. Heck he even said he didn’t care about dowry, he only wanted her sister. The Gupta’s had been over joyed when they had heard about this and Khushi had been treated like a hero.

She had clapped and thrown flowers when her sister had taken the pheras. She was currently dancing with all the kids when she felt a vice like grip on her arms. She turned around to find Arnav something or other (honestly it was too much of a long name for her to remember) staring at her with cold eyes.

“Come with me now!”

Khushi glanced around fearfully but for some reason no one seemed to see them. No one had so much as raised an eyebrow at her being dragged away by a strange man. She wasn’t sure how but he had taken her to her room and pushed her in. He then locked the door and pushed her against it. Khushi lowered her eyes as he pressed his body to hers.

“You ruined my show.”

“I’m sorry.” She said in a quiet voice.

“I worked very hard on that, so now you must be punished.” He purred.

She looked up and the look in his eyes sparked some sort of foreign feeling inside of her. Before she could respond, he had claimed her lips. She let out a satisfied sigh as if she had been waiting for him to do this to her for all of eternity. His lips moved against hers in passion and soon she was responding equally fervently. His lips moved down to her neck and on to her collar bone. She clutched his shoulders tightly as he held on to her waist. He nipped at the bone and licked the area. He continued to do this and the room began shaking. She wanted to tell him to stop but he just wouldn’t.

Khushi opened her eyes to find her sister staring at her in concern. She looked around and there was on sign of that Arnav guy.

“What happened Jiji?”

“I was about to ask you the same thing. What were you dreaming about?”

“Why?”

“Because you were thrashing and moaning in your sleep. And whispering things I couldn’t quiet catch.”

Khushi turned red. She couldn’t believe she had a dream about that man.

It wasn’t a dream Khushi, it was a nightmare. Dreams are meant to be filled with pleasant things and what he was going wasn’t nice at all. You’re right it was beyond nice. Shut up brain, no wonder everyone calls you Sanka Devi.

Khushi looked back at her sister to find her staring at her weirdly. “I don’t remember what the dream was about but thanks for waking me up Jiji.” She lied quickly.

“Maybe I should’ve let you sleep longer. You look like you need it.”

Khushi yawned. “I think you’re right Jiji.”

Payal moved out of the room and Khushi lay on the bed once again, trying very hard not to think about that wretched man.

Raizada Mansion

Through out the day the girl in pink and green had occupied his mind. All through his meeting, all through breakfast and all through the drive to Delhi. It was 2 am and Arnav’s thoughts were still filled with that bright eyed beauty. The way her lips felt against his, the way her body pressed perfectly on his, the way her skin felt. He couldn’t take it anymore, he wanted her badly.

He called up Aman. “Aman!”

A groggy voice came from the speakers. “Yes sir.”

“I want you to find everything you can about that girl.”

“What girl?”

“The one in the green and pink lehenga.”

“What?”

“The one that ruined my show dammit!”

“Oh ok.” There was a pause. “You want me to do it now?”

“Yes of course I do!”

Aman sighed. “I’ll get on it sir.”

“Good. As soon as you find something tell me. Otherwise you’re fired.”

“If you fired me the amount of times you said you would, I’d be jobless by now.” He mumbled.

“What was that?!”

“Nothing. I said I’ll work all night and see if I can find anything.”

They cut the call. Arnav could finally sleep peacefully knowing that Aman was on the job. However the pink and green beauty still managed to haunt his dreams with her luscious lips and doe like eyes. Aman, on the other hand, got no sleep what so ever as he had the extraneous task of finding this mysterious girl that his boss had taken a liking to and if he didn’t get any information by morning, he knew what his punishment would be.

By morning, Aman knew everything about Khushi from her birth date to the colour of her favourite dress. He was so tired he felt like he was going to collapse. But like a faithful employee, he got fresh, got dressed and left for work. When he arrived, he saw that ASR was already in his cabin. He knocked and waited for an answer.

“Come in.”

“Sir.”

“Ah Aman. I trust you have everything I need.”

“Of course sir.” Aman handed him a big file labelled Khushi Kumari Gupta.

“So her name is Khushi.”

“Yes sir.”

“What else is in this?”

“Everything and anything you could possibly want to know. If it’s not in there, it’s not about her.”

“Good work. Oh and Aman.”

“Yes sir?”

“Take the day off.”

“What?”

“You heard me. You’re no use to me in your tired state. I want you fresh and ready to work tomorrow morning, 6 am sharp. Is that understood?”

“Yes sir. Thank you sir.”

Arnav knew that Aman was one of a kind. He always got the job done better than ASR sometimes. He made a mental note to give him a raise before he walked out of the office carrying a heavy file. He drove to his private apartment and went straight to the kitchen. He had missed breakfast in his haste to get to the office and get the information of the girl in green and pink, whose name is Khushi apparently.

As expected there was barely any food in the kitchen, just some small snacks. Even though he came here often, it was mostly to “entertain” his guests. Oh why put the matter lightly, he used this apartment to have sex with as many girls as he wanted. He walked to the mini bar and poured himself a drink and headed to the living room. He had told the decorator that he wanted the apartment to be modern and that he liked the colour red. And the decorator had defiantly gone to town with that information.

Once in the living room; he took off his jacket, unbuttoned his waistcoat, loosened his tie, kicked his shoes off and relaxed. He took a sip of his drink before he dove into her file. By noon he knew her better than she knew herself, or so he thought. He had found out many interesting things about her and he was prepared to use that to his advantage.

“Since you’ve been plaguing my dreams, I’m going to plague your life, Miss Khushi Kumari Gupta.” 

I told you this wasn't my best piece, I promise the next chapter will be better and longer. I know the dream scene was disappointing too, it was my first time writing something like this. I promise to read up of these matters so I can write better scenes.