KHUSHI

Wow! I felt like I had gone back to the nineteenth century and I was visiting a king's palace, Arnav's house looked so Royal, everything about it screamed Royalty.

"Is your family Royal?" I looked at him.

"Yeah, our ancestors were, it's just come along." He shrugged as he gestured to me to walk inside so I followed him, he dint seem much interested in talking about, I mean if I came from a Royal family, I could be screaming about it to everyone.

As we walked into the huge hall, I couldn't even describe in words how huge it was, I couldn't even blink my eyes anymore, this place was beautiful from outside but from inside it was far better.

Each and everything about it just screamed Royalty.

A lot of people had gathered in the hall seated on those Royal chairs as if they were busy having a meeting, once the both of us walked in, they all looked at us and I felt so conscious suddenly.

All of them stood up, they kind of looked surprised, now I don't know if they were surprised because Arnav brought a girl home or because of the way I was dressed, if I knew I was going to be met with something like this, I would have dressed for it.

I was wearing a black casual mini dress with canvas shoes, and here all of them were dressed so Royally, I dint think things like this existed nowadays even.

Some ladies were dressed in beautiful Saree's, some in beautiful Indian dresses and the men too were dressed in the Royal sherwani, they were all so colorful.

I looked at them and looked at Arnav who was dressed completely opposite of them, you wouldn't even know this was his family.

They all walked towards us and now I was kind of feeling nervous, when he told me he was taking me home, this isn't what I expected, were all this people his family members or some were just guests?

There was one old lady, she looked like his grandmother maybe, I was just guessing then a couple standing together, they looked like his parents. The rest were four men, young but I guess of different ages and five ladies, one of them looked of his parent's age the other three were young.

Wow, those were a lot of people and they were all looking at Arnav and me, maybe waiting for Arnav to say something.

"Is there dinner for the both of us?" Arnav asked plainly.

"What? You're having dinner with us?" The woman I guessed to be his mother looked at him in surprise.

The rest of the people looked at him like he had gone insane and I stood there blankly having no idea what the hell was going on.

"If you all are going to look at me like that, I'm going to change my mind. Let's go eat outside Khushi." He looked at me, he seemed kind of angry but he was also trying to maintain his calm. What was wrong with him? Why was he behaving this way with his family members?

"No, don't go. Dinner is ready, we all were going to eat in a while, we can start now that you are here." The other lady that looked his mother's age said, Arnav nodded.

"I'll go change, Khushi please be comfortable." He said to me, I nodded as he headed upstairs and disappeared in seconds, now it was way awkward with his family, they all were staring at me, maybe thinking I was an alien or something.

"Are you his girlfriend?" The little girl asked, she seemed the youngest member of the family.

"No, I just work with his company." I replied with a smile.

"Oh okay, I am Diya, Arnav is my brother." She smiled at me happily, she looked like she was around fifteen years old, I couldn't guess exactly though.

"Hi Diya, I am Khushi. Nice to meet you." I shook hands with her, she then turned to look around the rest of the of family and started introducing them to me.

"That's my father His highness Mr. Ratan Singh and my mother Mrs. Mohana Singh." She pointed towards them and my guess was right, they were his parent.

"That is my dad's sister, Juhi." She said as she pointed at the lady who looked just her parents age and then next she pointed towards the old lady.

"And that's my sweet grandma, Sushma." She rushed to hug her excitedly. Wow their names were so difficult plus they were a lot of people it was kind of difficult to remember them all.

"This two are my brothers, Raj and Ayush and that is Ishani, Ayush's wife and Raj is still single. This is my twin brother Dhruv and you already Know Arnav, he's my brother too." She giggled, I just nodded, I was already confused.

And now finally this two are our eldest sisters, Priya and Payal and their husbands Prem and Rohan." She sighed, I nodded at them all and folded both my arms at each one of them as a form of greeting, I dint even know if I was going to remember all their names.

"Anyway let's head for dinner, Arnav will join us." Mohana said, Diya grabbed my hand and pulled me along excitedly.

I wish I had just eaten out, not that I had any issues with his family, it was just kind of awkward, they were a lot of people, a huge joint family and as for me, I dint even have a family so I dint even know what to do, say or how to behave with them.

I was welcomed to a huge rectangular shaped table, it was all golden and had some handcrafted design, there were lots of bowls placed in between and the plates were arranged in the sides, everyone settled down as Diya guided me where to sit so I sat down too.

"So how long have you known Arnav?" Mohana asked.

"Not much, we just started working together recently but we are friends." I replied.

"You know he has never brought anyone home, no guy, no girl, he also comes home just to sleep, it's surprising he brought you here." Priya the elder sister said. Her mother gave her a look and she shrugged.

"What? It's the truth I am speaking mom." Priya rolled her eyes, I thought Royal kids were obedient, not in this generation maybe.

Gladly Arnav came back dressed in Pajamas and sat beside me, he really looked different from his entire family, I mean just how he acted, behaved and dressed, he was kind of different from them all. But anyway I was happy he was back, it was less awkward with him by my side now.

"I hope you are comfortable." He said.

"I am, your sister Diya already introduced me to everyone one." I smiled.

"I expected that, she's the friendliest one, anyway you were hungry we should start eating. Today is cheat day, there's a lot of unhealthy but tasty food so eat anything you want."

Ishani started serving everyone food while the rest of them just sat silently waiting for their turn to be served, all I could wonder was if they couldn't serve themselves.

I pulled a bowl closer and started serving myself when Mohana interrupted.

"You don't have to serve yourself, Ishani will do it." She said.

"Why cant you all serve yourselves? She deserves to sit with us and eat with us instead of serving us like she's our servant." Arnav said rudely.

"What's your problem Arnav?" His father looked at him strictly.

"You all know what my problem is, can't you for once appreciate that I am sitting with you all after ages to have dinner and all you can do is act this way in front of me? Ishani please sit down, everyone is capable of serving themselves here." Arnav said as he looked at Ishani seriously, she nodded negatively looking like she was scared.

"If she doesn't sit down and eat with us, I am leaving!" Arnav said angrily.

"Ishani, sit down, it's okay." Ayush said to her, she looked at Mohana and Ratan who nodded so she sat down silently.

"Great now each one of you learn how to serve yourself the damn food and eat, you aren't babies, you don't need anyone to feed you." Arnav said as he served himself some food and started eating.

I felt like I was watching a hindi drama, this family was so royal, mysterious and they had a son like Arnav who was maybe the rebel.

"Khushi, I brought you here to eat and you aren't eating." Arnav looked at me, he picked up a bowl and started serving me while the rest of his family members looked at him in shock as if he was commiting some crime.

"Eat now." He smiled at me, I just nodded and started eating, gladly the rest of his family members too started eating.