One Year Later.

This day had been her dream come true, She was happy and was surrounded by her family made it all the more special. She looked around the place that she built by her own work and felt thrilled to finally have her dream come true.

" So Khushi, you are finally happy aren't you " a voice sounded near her and she turned to greet her friend NK who happened to be her Partner for the last 10 months. 

"Yes, I am happy, this is what I want and I wouldn't have achieved it without your help , so Thank You NK " Khushi answered back still smiling at her friend until a possessive hand reached her waist and made her lean against him.

"Arnav, Play Nice. " Khushi whispered to the man she loves who had been busy glaring at her friend and Partner.

" That my cue to leave you two alone before he gets all angry " NK answered back as he left her alone with her Fiancée , a man who is always way to possessive of her and yet always let her do whatever she wants one of the reasons she loved him so much.

After he proposed to her for real, her family finally relaxed about her future and let her do whatever she wanted which was to open a Cafe , a fusion of Indian Sweets and Western Desserts.

Her father had decided to sell the shop after Payal Marriage, and the knowledge Khushi future was set as well made his decision easy but Khushi had been reluctant to let go off the shop which had been her dream as well.

Arnav offered to buy it for him and let her run it as she wished ,but Khushi Pride wouldn't allow that as she wanted her dream  to be not given to her by her Fiancée ,hence the partnership with NK , when NK approached her regarding the same investment ,she accepted it with the condition ,she will pay him back as soon as possible. 

NK offer felt more practical as he had been a silent partner and the shop was one of his many investments, it hadn't been easy journey but when the plot beside the shop became available, Khushi opted for an expansion as well and today was the Grand Reopening of the adjacent plot, her shop was slowly growing and the expansion had been a risk, yet Khushi believed in her dream and knew soon the whole shop will be filled with customers that it would be worth all the cost now.

"Congratulation Khushi" Arnav spoke up and she noticed the bouquet of flowers in his other  hand, she had been upset with him few minutes ago for being rude to NK as well as being late. That she turned to glare at him instead of her usual smile.

"Sorry the meeting went longer than I anticipated " he replied back as if reading her mind, She knew it was tough for him to fit her to his schedule but he had been doing the best he can that Khushi was willing to forgive that he was over an hour late but not his rudeness towards NK without an apology.

" And..." she said and waited for him to connect the other reason for her anger.

"He said he wants to marry you, he said he likes you and is willing to wait till you break up with me, I am not going to like him or say sorry to him " Arnav answered back with a hint of anger, Khushi had contemplated whether to tell him the truth or not few months back when NK confessed he always liked her and if it didn't work out with Arnav, he wanted her to give him an chance. 

Khushi told Arnav because she didn't want any secrets between then and  NK proposal or confession was harmless, he apologized for it later but Arnav hadn't quite forgiven him yet. 

" Fine, I don't want to argue with  you today, so tell me what do you think?" Khushi asked him instead as she waited for his opinion about the shop, he had seen the renovation process whenever he came to pick her up but it wasn't the full tour like today.

"I am Proud of you and I love it " Arnav answered back and that was the reason she loved him so much more each day, he valued her dream and never asked her why she likes to toil in the kitchen baking stuff for a small shop over a comfortable desk job with her Master in Business degree. 

"Arnav.." a voice called out so familiar that Khushi turned to see a beautiful woman marching straight upto her Fiancee and hugged him as if she wasn't standing beside him.

"Hi , Yamini right?" Arnav asked the woman in his arms and now it was Khushi turn to be possessive as she tried to gain her Fiancee attention hoping for an introduction.

"Yes, Arnav. I am glad you still remember me " Yamini said and blushed making Khushi more furious until Arnav got out of the hug and reached out to hold Khushi hand as if he got her anger .

"And this is Khushi, My Fiancée and the owner of this Shop" Arnav introduced her finally and Khushi liked the word Fiancée whole lot better now as if he belonged to her just by the word.

" Oh right, Hi Khushi.." Yamini greeted her with no sign of the initial smile and walked away as soon as she can leaving Khushi almost gleeful until an hour later when she overheard the conversation between Yamini and her friends.

" Poor Arnav, it must be his Nani who arranged the match ", " I don't think he will marry her, he hates marriage and I know it was the only reason we broke up back then , he must be just playing it for his family sake" , " This is Arnav we are talking about , he can never simply settle for a single girl , can you imagine him being married to her " and the conversation went on and on but Khushi heard enough by then to walk away. 

            *******************

Arnav knew this was not going to work ,yet the plans had been made and he has to try once again. For a guy who didn't want to get married, he was doing awfully lot to convince Khushi to marry him.

When she first agreed to wait till he was ready to marry , he had been relieved but after three months of only having barely few hours per week with her, he was ready to marry her.

"Let fix a date " he had said on their next date when he dropped her back home and she looked at him shocked as if she didn't understand what he meant and so he explained again that he want to fix the date for their marriage and she had said No.

" Don't be Silly Arnav " She had replied back then and walked away from the car, his pride hurt a bit that day, so he pretended to downplay that he had been serious when he asked her for the next few months .

Then there was the time when she told him about her partner proposal, he has been away on a business trip for a month and he missed her so much that he  drove straight to her cafe from the Airport and there she was laughing with NK and he didn't think he had been jealous but he was scared that he may lose her.

And when she told him about NK proposal the next time they went on a date , he fear made him ask her to marry him for the second time.

" That is why we should get married soon, you got your shop running like you wanted and we both love each other , so why wait " he asked her again.

" Why do you want to marry me Arnav, because you are jealous about NK and want ownership of being my husband or you suddenly forgot how much you hate the concept of Marriage ?" She asked him, she didn't dismiss his proposal as silly like last time but she demanded an answer from  him.

"Because you want to get married , didn't you say so " he tried again to remind her ,she had been the one who wanted the bond called Marriage .

" Yes Arnav, I want to marry but unless you got the right reason my answer will be No " She replied back that day and he was too stunned by her rejection that he stopped asking her about it again because he didn't know what she expected him to say that will convince her.

And that was months ago and he had almost given up on asking her again as he was sure her answer would be No, and while her continued rejection bothered him, he hadn't magically stumbled upon the answer that would make her say yes to marry him either.

It had become increasingly difficult to avoid answering his family question on why they haven't fixed the date yet either , two weeks ago he had enough and told his sister that Khushi doesn't want to marry him unless he gives her a valid reason.

That started off this match making plans of theirs as he remembered his sister asking him how he asked Khushi to marry her and she had been disappointed to learn all his proposal lacked any hint of romance.

" Chote, Khushi may have agreed to marry you but seriously let fix an date , No one would say yes if they got such a proposal " his sister chided him a little and soon his entire family had been fountain of advise.

That he burst out they should set the proposal instead if they are so sure about it, it was simple dare to make them stop their advise and he didn't think much of it until his sister walked upto him an two hours ago to tell him, that her crazy family went ahead with the plan .

" Every thing he set Chote, look even Shyamji had written what you got to say not that he agreed to it easily but you need to do better then let get married Chote, this is the address we planned everything , just drive Khushi to the place and propose , she will say yes for sure " her sister told him and he realized they pushed him into a corner .

" I am not doing it " he told them back then but today standing in the shop and seeing Khushi had made him realize, she would like a night out in celebration since they already arranged everything ,he drove to that location, he just could not ask her to marry him but enjoy the romantic night out courtesy of his family.

The truth had been each of her No had made him fear that he will never get an Yes from her and that marriage is a big deal to her while for him it was still a way to make her happy and be with her forever.

" You did all this for me " Khushi asked with a smile on her face as she took note of the candle light dinner setting for two in the middle of nowhere surrounded by what Arnav would admit a pretty romantic spot

" I had help " he admitted with a smile , and he felt a tinge of guilt that he didn't say who helped him and letting her assume it was someone Arnav hired to arrange the date.

The date went smoothly enough, Khushi was smiling and he liked seeing her happy and yet the paper his sister tucked on his coat felt heavy with the remainder he was supposed to ask her marry him again but those words failed to make an appearance in fear of her rejection.

It had been why he wasn't totally prepared for her rejection that came even without his proposal.

" Look Arnav, I love you and what we had is something I will always cherish but I think it was time to go our separate ways " Khushi spoke up, he heard the words but he couldn't understand them as it failed to make any sense to him.

" Why " he asked her not caring he had gotten desperate to not lose her.

" Because you still can't seem to find a reason to marry me , I know your family arranged for this date ,my sister spilled it out just before we came and I have been waiting for you to ask again and a part of me had hoped you finally found the reason to marry or realized the importance of marriage but all I see in your face is fear Arnav , the same fear I saw in your face an year ago , nothing changed for you when it comes to marriage.

I don't think our family will wait anymore, just tell them you asked and I said No again because that was what would have happened if you manage to ask me tonight as well " Khushi answered back leaving him at loss of words all over again .

P.S : " That it for now . Let me know your thoughts and feedback, Hit the votes if you liked it "

Juanita Reid