Birds dares to enter near the den and took a perfect place on the branch of the only big tree that present there. Unlike anonymous tweets on the virtual platform, birds tweets in real announcing the arrival of a new dawn. The blazing sun gradually spreads it’s light on the sky, giving life to a new day. As it grow gently, the light peeks into the screen cladded door reaching the person’s eyes.
“Khushi.” He, husband of the great KKGSR mumbles, hoping his wife would do something about the light which disturbs his beauty sleep.
But to the contrary he feels more brightness and he realised his call is unattended. Groaning in irritation, he places his arm above his eyes hiding it from the light.
“Khushi.” He calls again only for it to get resonate inside the confines.
There cannot be worst morning other than this, He muses pushing away the comforter as sleep flies away without any trace.
Dismissing his morning jog, he decides to take shower first knowing his khushi would be running like a rabbit inside the kitchen preparing breakfast. Even though he isn’t a senti person, he couldn’t help about the seeping displeasure at the absence of khushi in the morning itself.
‘Control ASR. She’s just downstairs.’ He scolds himself, taking a bright colour shirt as per her likes. He hasn’t revealed his plans for today with her thinking he can surprise her not knowing he’s gonna be surprised by her actions.
“Chotte…” A knock disturbs his thought process and he looks up with a frown noticing the coffee mug on her sister hand.
“Di?”
“Good morning chotte.” She sweetly wishes handing him the coffee mug.
He took it without a word expecting his sister to spill khushi’s whereabouts like always. Not betraying him she lives upto his expectation.
“Khushiji went to her home. Why are you are habitual of upsetting her on special days chotte? Poor khushiji, she has to keep her wishes away only because of you.” Anjali expresses her grief feeling sad for her sister-in-law.
“What the? She went to buaji house. Diiii… for your information I didn’t said anything which upsets her.” He defends himself feeling angry for getting cornered without his fault. He couldn't fathom what black magic Khushi has done to his family that every member jumps on him by the very sight of her frown.
“Don’t lie to me chotte. Now go and pacify her.” Ordering him sternly, she leaves the room praying to God to keep his brother and her khushiji happy.
“What the…” He watches his sister inwardly wondering about his wife’s sankiness. Mentally preparing himself for the worst, he gets ready quickly. After knowing his khushi is upset with something which he isn’t aware of, makes his heart twist in pain and the distance is not helping him either and not to mention the arrogant part of his is angry with her stunt of running to buaji house whenever she gets upset. Why can’t she solve their issues without running away? Thought the ASR who always runs away from his emotions.
Devayani and Anjali watches their chotte leaving through main door with a sober face, disappointed by his actions.
***
“Hairee nandhakishore… Everywhere there’s heart shaped rangoli, balloons, Rose bouquets as if we’re gonna die tonight and we'll not be here to show our love to our loved one’s from tomorrow. Hey sankadevi why are you silent? I am seeing you from the time you arrived. Tell me did you fight with Arnav babua?” Buaji nudges khushi’s elbow who in turn flares her nose.
“Buaji why do you always think I fought with him?”
“Your sankiness is an universal fact. Arnav babua is the sanest amongst you two.” Buaji counters back munching the jalebi which her niece made mountains.
“Rightly said buaji.” There arrives the person in talk.
Khushi stubbornly thins her lips and averts her head to other side not wanting to face him.
“Arey babua come come. See what your sanki wife did?”
Arnav lifts his brows seeing the jalebi mountain and walks towards the plate and took one. The moment he is about to take a bite, khushi slaps his hand harshly.
“What the.” His eyes widen at her audacity of hitting him in front of his in-laws.
“You only know that.” She huffs walking away with extreme anger.
“She’s angry.” He whispers on buaji ear who in turn showed the jalebi plate “Feed her one or two, she’ll be back to her sanki form.”
Arnav chuckles as buaji winks at him. Throwing a salute on her way he made his way to khushi’s room with her jalebi mountain. As he enters, he saw khushi standing near the window staring nothing at particular. Soundlessly he saunters towards her from behind.
Khushi crosses her arms across her chest knowing what is coming. Her dhak, dhak already announced his arrival. She has been expecting a back hug following by sweet nothings that she got surprised, feeling something sweet on her lips. She expresses her astonishment without marring and her husband catches it without fail.
“Sweet is a better way to start a day especially when it’s a special day.”
Khushi got shock after shock by his sweet words. She turns around without wasting a minute and felt her heart congests with love for the man she loves. Unconsciously her lips parted letting the sweetness to seep in her tongue.
“Shall I know what craziness brought you here?” He asks while she relishes her jalebi.
“I’m n..o..t cra..zy.”
“Oh really?”
“Don’t dare arnavji. I am sure you forgot what is today?” She rage in fire after finishing the jalebi, angry on herself for forgetting her anger seeing her favourite sweet.
“Excuse me? How can you know I forget what is today? Wait… Is this the reason behind your visit?” Arnav asks after realisation taking a step forward with gritted teeth.
Khushi nods carelessly “You took whole five minutes to guess this.”
“Shut up khushi. For this stupid reason you left me in early morning. Dammit khushi! I planned to spent my whole day with you and you spoiled my mood in morning itself.”
“So? What can I do? You always have the habit of forgetting special days, so I thought…
“You thought to punish me before I commit mistake as you assumed I’ll forget what is today.” He asks in an accused tone.
“Don’t turn the tables arnavji. I am sure someone must have reminded you else how can a person who forget his marriage anniversary remember this? Wait, Are you sure you know what’s today?” She asks suspiciously unable to believe her husband’s memory regarding the dates other than his meets’.
He bit his inner cheeks knowing khushi’s accusations are partially correct. If only aman hasn’t asked leave yesterday stating valentine’s day, he would’ve been in real trouble.
“Of course I know dammit else why would I take an off? Khushi do you realise you’re wasting our precious time and delaying my plans?”
“You’ve plans? Really?” khushi enlarges her eyes in surprise as she knows her husband is not fond of planning celebrations unless someone pesters him.
“Yes. Now come on, give me your beautiful smile.”
Khushi smiles in glee and drags him outside “Have you had your breakfast?”
“I thought to have it with you.” He whispers hoarsely making her plump cheeks adore with pinkish hue.
Buaji who has seen them coming, left the place to give them their space. Arnav thanked her inwardly and made a quick note to visit his in-laws often.
Khushi makes him sit on the chair and serves a plate for him. Following by, Arnav drags the nearby chair and make her sit on it as he doesn't want his wife to feel uncomfortable on her home by his romantic gestures.
“Arnavji…”
“Shh… Shh... Let me feed you and before you worry I assure you no one can actually disturb us here.”
“But…”
Arnav already stuffed her mouth that she couldn't continue her talk. When he extended his arm with second set of morsel, Khushi stops him and feed him the same with her hands.
Arnav smiles and licks her fingers naughtily earning a slap in return.
“Shameless Raizada.”
“Shh… shh… Enough of talks. Now finish this. We've lot to enjoy today.” He declares feeding her with his hands. Khushi doesn't raise any questions as she's eager to spend her day with her laadgovernor who happens to be aware of the day and is equally eager to spent his day with her.
.
.
.
.
.
“Buaji… Aunty… Uncle…” Arnav calls everyone after filling his stomach.
“What happened Arnav beta?” Garima asks pushing the wheelchair of Sashi out of her room.
“We're going out Aunty.” He says gesturing everyone by his hands.
“But…”
“You've to come for me.”
Do they have any say after arnav's sweet proposal?
“Arnavji where are we going?” Khushi asks for umpteenth time from the moment she boarded the car. Garima and shashi smiles at their impatient daughter while Madhumati hits Khushi head playfully for disturbing Arnav time to time while driving.
“You've zero patience Khushi but you dare to complain that I'm impatient.” Arnav scolds applying the brakes as they reached the destination.
Khushi shows her tongue and excitedly climb down from the car only to get startled by the place where her husband took her. They're now standing in front of the temple.
“Khushiji…”
She turns her left and her lips stretches to extremities seeing their whole family assembled there.
“Di, Nani, Mami.. jiji…” She hugs everyone as if she’s meeting them after ages. Arnav rolls his eyes seeing his family reactions. They're behaving as if they're meeting after ages when in reality they're living under single roof except Gupta's. Aakash took a step back gauging his brother’s reaction who was about to share a hug.
“Di, did your brother hit his head somewhere or Is he clone of Arnavji? He’s behaving strangely.” Khushi asks in whisper clutching Anjali arms not able to trust the change in Arnav actions.
Anjali chuckles at her crazy sister-in-law thoughts.
“I heard that.” Arnav says joining them and send some serious glares at her way.
“Are you both going to start your fight blocking the way?” Nani told sternly in precaution which stops the Tom and Jerry at right time.
Both gave fierce stare to each other before climbing up on the stairs following the family. Arnav also helps Shashi to climb up with wheelchair through the slanting path.
Once they're up, Khushi slowly sauntered backwards and stood beside Arnav leaving everyone in the front.
Arnav raises his brow seeing his wife's unusual behaviour as she always stays with family whenever they're with them. Khushi ignores his stare and whispers slowly on his ears, pulling his long sleeves “Did the sun rise from West today?”
Arnav glares her in return “Fine I’m going.” He threatens fakely turning the opportunity on his favour. But who can win against KKGSR? Khushi twists her lips & colorfully scolds him on her mind for cornering her with such blackmails.
“You suck at blackmailing arnavji.” She retorts back in complain.
“Excuse me?”
“What? You would’ve left the place if you’re annoyed not standing and threatening me like this.”
He groans in irritation. He was always proud of khushi’s capabilities to read him but situation like this make him loathe the same quality “Shut up.”
“Don’t use foul words in temple.”
He swallows the brimming curse words as lest he gets more scoldings today making him regret on taking an off. Luckily the temple bell rang for arti distracting them from their fight.
Khushi looks at his closed eyes & joined palms with a content smile. Her day is almost made by this small gesture. Thanking her devimaiyya for all the things bestowed upon her, she followed him wordlessly letting him to take the lead.
As the car speeded on the national highways, khushi wondered about his plans as she expected him to take her out privately but unlike of him, he took the whole family with them.
“Our next destination.”
Khushi startles in her place being interrupted on her thought process. She looks through the window and gasps seeing the car being parked on a garden. Everyone climb down and inhales the fresh air away from the city pollution. It’s always such a treat to be away from our machine life and spends some quality time with family and their family is no less. So their frames automatically turned vibrant.
When everyone was stretching their arms and legs in relaxation after an hour of journey, Khushi walks to arnav and clutches his hard hand in her tender palms. Suddenly her throat constraints with unknown feeling.
“Why?” She manages to ask clutching his hand to her dear life for the reason she doesn’t know. Maybe she has expected some exquisite lunch at posh restaurant of his choice following by a simple dinner date of her choice with some cheesy bollywood songs and an English movie. So the places he’s taking them is astounding her and the day itself sounds full of positive vibrant that she started to looking forward to it than other occasions.
Arnav gulps his feelings which is close to choke his throat seeing the overloaded love in her eyes. Imprisoning her face in his large palms, he places a sound peck on her forehead.
“Valentine’s day is not only for couples khushi. It’s a day for ourselves to express our affection to our loved one’s. We’ve many days to celebrate our love khushi. Moreover we don’t need some special day to express it as if we’re fighting all the days in a year. But there’s no particular day to show our love to our family. I know we gather during festive occasions and spend our time but those days you women are packed with responsibilities starting from pooja, food & hospitality. Apart from those days, we’re too busy in our professional & personal life to have a decent conversation with them let alone show them how much they meant to us. And see how happy nani, mami, buaji, aunty and uncle looks. Whole year they’re spending most of time caring for us and It’s our time to keep them happy rather spending our time separately making them feel lonely. And I too know how happy you’re with this arrangements. You love to spend family time na, that’s why I thought to spent my whole day with our whole family. Next year, it’ll be only us and we can celebrate this way alternatively.” He gives a long explanation making her smile through her tears.
“I didn’t said it for you to cry.”
“I know.” She chuckles and tiptoed on her legs and give a quick peck on his cheeks. She’s too overwhelmed seeing him coming out of his introvert zone and trying to mingle with family.
She further nuzzles his ear with a whisper “You’re eligible for some reward Raizada.”
“What reward?” His voice came as a mere whisper.
“You’ve to wait till tonight to know that.”
His eyes shines exulting his victory which is reflected on her eyes. Keeping her head comfortably on his chest, she hears her favourite rhythm and closes her eyes in content “I love you arnavji.”
“Love you too dammit.” He whispers keeping his head above hers.
***
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