CHAPTER 12

A MIDSUMMER MIDNIGHT

“So what did you say your name was ?" Mrs Jha asked with an attitude while Khushi served the Pulao to her.

“ Ji, Khushi. Khushi devi Upadhyay.” Khushi replied  proudly yet hesitantly. She didn’t want to get shouted on again.

“Kusi as in happiness?” smirked Shyam.

Khushi served the pulao to him.
“It’s Khushi.”she smiled.

“That’s what I said, Kusi.”

Arnav chuckled making
Khushi glare at him.

“Oh I forgot to ask you, you are Khushi‘s brother, right?” said Mrs Jha making Khushi drop a spoon and ASR cough.

"No, no Mrs Jha. He actually is a very good uh ... a family friend of ours." Indrani smiled.

"Yes, I am just a family friend. Nice to meet you Mrs Jha and Mr Shyam Jha. I am ASR." Arnav said looking towards Khushi.

"Just ASR? Such a short bad name. Look at my name, it is so nice. Right, Maa?"

"Of course beta! Shyam, such a heavenly name. So desirable isn’t it, Indrani ji?" Mrs Jha turned towards Indrani.

"Oh of course! Of course!" Indrani smiled awkwardly.

"Actually his name isn’t ASR.Those are his initials. His name is Arnav Singh Raizada."
This time Khushi didn’t hesitate to be proud and this didn’t go unnoticed by Arnav. He turned towards her. She avoided his gaze and put more pulao in his  plate.

"Accha? Looks like he is quite close to you?" Mrs Jha frowned.

" He is just my clie..." Khushi stopped as Indrani glared at her.

"The food is alright, not very bad."Shyam looked at Khushi.

"Uh, thank you." Khushi gave an awkward smile.

"Well I think it is marvellous." Arnav smiled to Khushi who reciprocated it happily.
"You aren't eating the Kheer?"

"I have Diabetes." Arnav casually said making Khushi gasp in shock.

Dev too had Diabetes.
She thought to herself.
She controlled her emotions and decided to talk to him later about this.

Khushi took a seat between Arnav and Shyam.

"I think it is typical educated woman food, referred from cook books..." Khushi tried to interrupt but was stopped by the show of Mrs Jha's palm.
"You are quite educated, huh?" Mrs Jha kept a scrutinizing gaze on Khushi.

" Yes, I hold a Master’s in literature and…"

"Oh, so you must be working too."
Mrs Jha folded her hands.
Khushi was about to answer when Indrani intervened.

"No, my Khushi is a typical homely girl. She likes doing all house hold work. She prefers being away from all these outdoor affairs."

Khushi put her head down while Arnav looked on, confused.

"That is really good ! My previous daughter in law  was educated and  so all the airs she showed. She would do no house work . That lazy girl!" Mrs Jha scoffed.

"Oh! No, I ensure you Khushi is nothing like that. She will satisfy your needs well." Indrani held her hands together and smiled.

Shyam licked his lips on hearing that Khushi shall satisfy his needs.

Arnav didn’t like all that was  going around him. He couldn’t understand why Khushi was being betrothed to a divorcee,  taking in all this insult. After all she was a strong woman, she knew how to stand up for herself. Why was she doing this?

***********

Mrs Jha and Shyam had left after sealing the 'deal' that it shall be Khushi and Shyam’s marriage in some days. Khushi didn’t even have a say in that.

Everybody had left to their rooms to call it a night. Khushi, however was left back in the kitchen to clear everything like the modern Cinderella she was. Ira and Esha had voluntarily stayed back to help her.

"Jiji, did you like that Shyam?"Isha nudged Khushi.

"Not Shyam Ira! He said his name is Syam!"Esha laughed.

"Esha, we must not make fun of his inability. Everyone has their own ability." Khushi mildly rebuked Esha.

" Oh come on Kusi, I know you want to laugh too!" Ira imitated Shyam making the trio break into a laugh.

"I don’t know, Esha. This was just the first meeting. I don't find it fair to make any opinions about him as I didn’t even have  a proper talk with him." Khuhsi looked at the messy counter and sighed.

"But yet jiji, something..."

Khushi held an utensil to rinse it and turned towards Ira.
"I don’t know, dear."

"Jiji, you know my heart is beating very fast." Esha held her hand to her heart.

Khushi remembered how her heart beated fast when she met Arnav.

"What, why?" Khushi turned.

"Arre jiji you forgot, it is Esha’s wedding tomorrow night." Ira nudged Esha making her blush.

Hearing night, Khushi remembered Arnav had called her at night at terrace. She wanted to know more about him as she felt that there was certainly something strange about him .

"Arre haan! What are you both doing here then? Go, have your beauty sleep! Go!"Khushi nudged both of them to go to sleep.They hesitantly agreed on her insistence.

"Good night, Jiji!" Esha and Ira said as they left the kitchen.

Khushi turned to gather the leftover food from the serving bowls but was surprised to see none was left.
She  was pretty sure that some food was left, then where did it go? Maybe due to hunger, she thought, she had started seeing things.

She hadn’t eaten anything since morning in order to follow Indrani's instructions. Indrani had forbidden her to eat today saying it was bad manners to eat in front of in laws.

Logically thinking, what about Shyam? He had spread the whole food on the table while eating, taking more than 3 helpings although he didn’t each that much, wasting so much food and above all, he burped on the table without saying excuse me! Why was he allowed to eat while she wasn't?

She sighed.
Truly galti se mistake was not allowed for girls, only for boys.

She washed her hands and left for the terrace.

**************

Arnav was standing near the terrace railing, his  back facing the door. He heard Khushi‘s anklets tinkle as she ascended the stairs to enter the terrace.

She saw how beautifully the terrace was set up and gasped.What were all these arrangements for?

Arnav turned to face Khushi's pleasantly surprised face.
Winds blew in their direction in the melody of their trademark tune.
Rabba Vey!

“What is this?"she asked, looking at him with eyes filled with hope.

“Nothing much."he answered shrugging his shoulders. “Just a small surprise for you to thank you for tonight's dinner.”

“This is a small surprise? Then what is big surprise, Mr.Raizada?”she wandered around the terrace gazing at the beautiful lights.

He chuckled looking at her childlike excitement. "Hold your horses, Khushi. There are more surprises awaiting you. Come near the table...”

As she came near the table, she saw that there was a delicious looking chocolate cake awaiting her.  It was simple and sweet, without unnecessary decorations.
Exactly  like she liked it.

It had been years since she had eaten a cake like this. Indrani liked  to do lots of show off and had made sure to make the  birthdays of her daughters a public affair, where she would introduce people to Khushi. This would increase sponsors for temple.

It had been years since…Dev! she gasped at her thought. No! He is a closed chapter. she said to herself.

“Go ahead, have a bite.You seem to like my surprise?”

“How do you know I like this?” Khushi turned towards Arnav.

“Just a guess. Well, if you don’t like this then there is something else awaiting you which I am sure you will love!” Saying this he went  away and brought something in his hand covered with a dish. Khushi’s eyes widened when he opened the dish.

It was a stack of jalebis arranged like a cake!
Jalebis!
She thought excitedly like a cake.

“ You are right, I love this! I am going to eat both of these dishes!” She grinned showing all of her 28 teeth and tried to catch hold of  the Jalebis.

“Uh-huh!" he kept the plate away making her frown. “You shall have dinner first and then  the sweet dishes.”

He brought forward a dish with a serving of all food  that she had made for dinner.

On seeing this, she folded her hands on her chest and pouted.

“Oh, so it was you who had taken the food? Here I was thinking that I have gone so mad that I had  misplaced the food I had kept for myself.”Khushi giggled.

“ Or rather the food that was leftover?" Arnav looked at her making her hide her face. It was true, wasn't it? The food left was in leftover quantity.

" You know Khushi, I was going to save some from my plate but the food was so tasty, I couldn’t resist overeating. I thought that you might have kept some food for yourself for sure. The food was really awesome. I haven’t had anything like that all my life, thank you.” he said in her ears making her blush.

Arnav gathered some food in a spoon.

“Open your mouth.”

She opened her eyes wide

“What?”

He stuffed the food into her mouth.

“Stop talking, Khushi. You will tire yourself, you haven’t eaten anything since this morning...”

“How do you know that?” Khushi looked at him inquisitively.

“You think that no one notices what you do and what you don't do? It didn’t go unnoticed by my eyes that you weren’t having time to serve yourself some, thanks to Shyam. How many servings did he take ?”

“ 3 servings of the Pulao , 4 servings of the Paneer , 2 servings of the Bhindi and 10 Rotis. It would be better if you don’t ask about the dessert.” She giggled.

Arnav joined her laughing out aloud.

“Imagine he eats not-so-good food like that so how must he be eating nice food? “he said making her laugh.

Seeing her laughing out so loud, he started singing.

Tumke paaya hai toh

jaise khoya hun

kehna chaahun bhi

to tumse kya kahun

He fed her more food. Once she finished it he  wiped off some rice from the corner of her lips and raised her up. Holding her by her waist, he swayed their bodies together.
She stood astounded by his actions and did as his hands framed her to, like if she was a doll, his doll.

Kisi zabaan mein who

lafz hi nahin ke

jinme tum ho kya

tumhe bata sakun

He twirled her towards himself.

main agar kahun

tumsa haseen

kaynath main

nahin hain kahin

tareef  yeh bhi kam

sach hai kuch bhi nahin.

He offered her some flowers and came down on his knees

“Khushi devi Upadhyay, will you bestow the pleasure of being Mrs Khushi Arnav Singh Raizada on me?”

Khushi looked on shocked at his proposal!