KHUSHI

Oh My God.

Okay, so I came to the masquerade ball with Rahat, we all started dancing and suddenly the lights went off, and this guy that was my partner just decided to kiss me out of nowhere. He either knew me, or thought that I was someone else.

As soon as his lips met with mine, I wanted to push him off, I mean this was my first ever kiss, I'd never had a boyfriend or anything before, and even though I dint know when I was going to have one, I wanted my first kiss to be with him, with a guy I loved.

But here I was, letting an unknown man kiss me because it felt so heavenly. What the hell was wrong with me? Why was I letting some stranger kiss me? And why did it feel so good? But the other part of me wanted to believe that maybe whoever this guy that was kissing me, he was someone I knew.

Maybe my first kiss dint happen as I thought it was going to happen, but it sure felt the way I had imagined it to feel and I guess that was more than enough for me right now, but as much as I wanted to continue kissing this man, I needed to know who it was first and why his kiss was making me feel this way.

I pulled apart and tried to look at him but it was too dark to be able to see, could someone please turn on the generator or something.

In the dark I tried to find his hand so I could hold on to him until the lights were back and I'd see who he was, but before I could do that, he got pulled away, I just felt him move and I tried to grab him but damn this darkness.

I was frustrated beyond measure, why the hell did the electricity have to go in such a moment, how was I supposed to know who kissed me?

In the next few minutes, the electricity came back, the music was turned on once again and everyone started dancing again, I decided to walk out and try to find Rahat or Arnav, but today more than finding them both, I really wanted to find this guy that had kissed me.

Damn it, what was happening to me? How did I go from wanting to earn enough to complete my studies to kissing a stranger and trying to find him?

I always had a plan, study, become rich on your own and then find a man to love and get married to, but everything went downhill, now I was trying to find this guy who kissed me because he made me feel butterflies when he kissed me, how was that even possible?

"Hey." I heard Rahat call me out, I turned around and saw him walking towards me with a smirk on his face.

"So, how was it?" He asked.

I looked at him in confusion, don't tell me Rahat was the guy I kissed? Seriously? He was the one I shared my first kiss with? He was the one that made me feel the butterflies in my stomach? No way in hell was that possible.

Maybe I should just ask him if he was the one that kissed me or not, but if I do he might make fun of me for kissing someone so randomly.

"How was what?" I asked.

"The dance, did you enjoy?" He asked.

"Oh the dance, yeah it was good, I liked it." I smiled nervously.

"Great, you want to eat? We can eat then get out of here, I can drop you home later." Rahat suggested.

"Sure." I nodded, just then someone called him so he told me to wait there for him while he finished up with whoever that was calling him.

I looked around yet hoping that the man that kissed me maybe knew who I was and he was going to approach me and tell me about it, I really hoped he did. As I kept on looking around, my eyes fell on Arnav who was standing in a corner, he seemed to be arguing with Tina about something and then suddenly Tina walked away leaving him alone.

He looked around and his eyes fell on me, he smiled brightly as he started walking towards me, and now I was nervous. Why was I nervous?

"Hey, I was hoping I'd see you." He said as he stopped in front of me.

"Yeah, you disappeared the entire day but I'm glad you are back." I smiled nervously as I looked at him from top to bottom.

He looked so great, if there was another description for the word perfect, then it could be Arnav, this man was so perfect.

"You look amazing Khushi, if I was trying to flirt, I'd say you took my breath away." He smiled at me.

"Thank you, so do you, I'm sure a lot of girls are dying to get a chance to talk to this handsome man tonight." I laughed.

"Well as for me, I want to talk to only one girl."

"And who is that?" I asked curiously, did Arnav have any interest in any girl? Why didn't I like that thought?

"I think you'll be able to guess who it is after I tell you what I'm about to tell you." He smirked.

"And what is that?" I asked curiously.

Before he could speak, a few girls came out of nowhere and stood in front of him excitedly.

"Oh My God Arnav, you look hot." One of them said as she admired him.

"And the way you dance, it always drives me crazy, you were so perfect on the dance floor tonight." Another one said.

Oh so he was dancing, could it be possible that he was the one that kissed me? I wish I had seen his face, all I remembered was a man in a mask and then the lights went off, only if I had been able to see his face.

Should I ask him if he was the one that kissed me? I mean it could actually be him, he knew me and he was the kind of a man I always wanted so it was possible that his kiss could make me feel that way but I was scared to ask him.

I mean why would Arnav Raizada kiss me? Plus what if I ask and then if he wasn't the one he ends up judging me. Jeez Khushi why do you care about what Arnav thinks of you?

Okay, this was so messed up, I just wanted to get the hell out of the ball and go home, whoever kissed me left me with a lot of thoughts in my mind.

"Sorry ladies, but right now I'm in the middle of a conversation here, can we talk later?" Arnav said as he looked back at me.

"Okay, if you say so." The girls looked at me like they wanted to kill me but walked away eventually.

"Fan girls I tell you." Arnav laughed, he looked so great when he laughed, I was left mesmerized by his laughter.

"I was saying something before we were interrupted, let me finish." Arnav looked at me seriously, what did he want to tell me? Please tell me you were the guy that kissed me, then all the mystery would be solved.

"Yes, say it." I looked at him curiously, I don't know why but a part of me hoped that it was going to be him now that I had learnt that he was dancing too.

"First of all I want to apologize, I know I shouldn't have..."

"Okay, I'm back let's go eat now, I'm hungry." Rahat interrupted. Damn it Rahat why couldn't you come a bit later? What was Arnav apologizing for anyway?

"I was talking to Arnav, he was saying something let him finish then we go eat." I said as I looked at him again.

"Don't worry, it's not important, we can talk tomorrow, you should go eat." Arnav smiled.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'll go find Tina, we had an argument and now she's angry." Arnav smiled as he walked away.

"Rahat, now that we are friends, can I ask you a question?" I looked at him curiously, I don't know why but the idea of Tina and Arnav dint seem to be making me happy.

"Sure anything."

"Is there something going on between Tina and Arnav?"

"Yeah, we'll talk about it when I drop you home let's go eat now." He grabbed my hand and pulled me along, I really hoped he was going to tell me about it later, I don't even know why I cared but well I did so I wanted to know.

*****

"Can we walk home? The car will follow us behind." Rahat asked once we were ready to leave.

"I don't mind walking but are you sure, you want to walk? I mean it's surprising that Rahat Raizada would want to walk." I laughed.

"I want to walk with you Khushi. I just feel like spending more time with you so walking you home would buy me some time rather than driving you home." He smiled, I smiled back and nodded, the Rahat I met on the first day and the Rahat that was with me right now were two different people.

Once we started walking, he held my hand into his, I dint try to pull away, I knew he liked me and he was genuinely trying to impress me so I was trying to be nice, but after the kiss I had tonight, I dint know what to fee about anyone anymore, I wish I could at least know who it was.

"You know, I never imagined that there would come a day when I would do things like this, walk on empty roads with a girl, holding her hand and all, but now that I'm doing it, it's making me so happy." He smiled at me.

"Good, now you know how great simple things can feel." I giggled.

He just smiled as we both walked silently for a while, I had a lot of thoughts going on in my mind right now, first the kiss, and then Arnav and Tina and then Rahat acting like this.

"You were to tell me about Arnav and Tina."

"Oh yeah, so Tina is in love with him, I mean why wouldn't she right? My brother is so perfect, but I think bro never felt the same for her. Anyway if you ask me I'd say, if not today, in the future Tina is going to be the girl he gets married to." Rahat said.

"Why would you say that?"

"I mean look at bro, he's never been with any girl, and who would be a better life partner for him than his childhood friend? I know one day he's going to fall for her, and let's hope it happens soon." Rahat smiled.

Whatever this guy might be like, at least one thing about him was genuine, his love for his brother, and I liked that about him. What I didn't like was that Tina loved Arnav, honestly speaking I don't even know why I dint like that.

Gladly my home wasn't really far from the place where the ball had been held, so within fifteen minutes, we were standing outside my house.

"So I'll see you at work tomorrow. We need to start preparing for your concert that's in the evening." I said to Rahat.

"Sure. Bye." He smiled as he let me go, I started heading towards the entrance when he called me out, so I stopped and turned to look at him.

"I just wanted to say I hope you trust me now because I really like you Khushi, and I'd be really happy to know that you like me too, if not today, maybe someday in the future." He smiled, I seriously dint know what to say so I just nodded and headed inside the house.

I had a lot going on in my mind, I mean I was kind of starting to trust Rahat, he sounded genuine now but the kiss that happened today had left me wondering a lot of things, I don't even know how I was going to find out who kissed me.

I sat down on my bed and typed a text to Rahat.

"Let me know once you reach home safely." I pressed the send button and in the next few seconds a reply popped up.

"Good to know that you care." It was accompanied with a wink emoji, this guy would never stop flirting seriously.

*****

Let's say my night wasn't even bad, it was horrible. I just couldn't stop wondering about the kiss and I knew I wasn't going to be at peace until I found out who kissed me last night.

I really needed to know.

I got ready and had breakfast with mom and Kabir then headed straight to work, I dint care whether Arnav was going to judge me for kissing a guy without even knowing who it was, but I had to ask him if he was the one.

Since the girls said that he was dancing, a part of me just thought he might be the one, because clearly I dint even know anyone else in the party neither did I have any secret admirer who would kiss me, the only people I knew in the party were Arnav and Rahat and maybe if Arnav dint kiss me then it must be Rahat.

I don't know why but somehow I just hoped and believed that it was Arnav, it sounded strange but I had never really experienced any sort of feelings or kisses before to be able to figure why I was feeling this way.

Once I arrived at the Raizada mansion, I headed straight to Arnav's room hoping to talk to him, I knocked at the door a couple of times but no one answered, thinking that maybe he was in the shower, I pushed the door slightly open and peeped inside.

I was surprised, no let me rephrase it, I was shocked to find Tina sleeping on Arnav's bed. All I could think of at this moment was about what Rahat said, maybe Tina was the girl Arnav was going to end up with, why else would she be sleeping in his room right?

I closed the door once again and headed downstairs, like I said it was really hard for me to understand what I was feeling at the moment, so I don't even know why I was feeling so hurt after seeing Tina in Arnav's room.