"Khushi let me explain," he said when he reached behind her. They were standing in the garden that was connected with the banquet hall, flowers aligned the edges and a fountain was in the middle, with a bench at one end.
Khushi turned back around and said, "You better have a very good explanation for this!"
"Khushi let's take a seat and talk," Arnav said. He took her hand and sat her down on the bench with him.
He turned towards her and looked at her, "Khushi I know I should've told you this before."
"Who all knows?" she asked him.
"I only told your Mom and Dad, but I think they've probably told others also," he told her.
"Arnav how could you do this without asking me?! I had told my Dad that I would tell him if anything was up or anything. But you decided to go and tell him," Khushi said.
"Khushi I know you're angry at me, but just listen to it all," Arnav said. She didn't say anything,so he took this as a signal to continue, "When I had asked you to be in a relationship with me that day in the office, if you had agreed then or even later, I never wanted it to be kept a secret from our families and friends. I didn't want for them to find out this from another source other than us, especially the media."
"When did you tell my Dad?" she asked.
"Remember when I came to pick you up for the airport?" he said and she nodded.
*flashback*
Arnav parked his car outside the Gupta's house. He looked at the clock and realized he was earlier than the time he had told Khushi to be ready by. He got out of the care and made his way to the door. Knocked on it a few times and the door was opened.
"Namaste Aunty," he said to Garima while stepping inside.
"Namaste Beta, would you like anything to drink?" she asked and motioned him to have a seat in the living room.
"No Aunty, I'm fine," he replied back.
"Khushi is still packing, should I call her?" Garima asked.
"No Aunty, actually is Uncle here? I wanted to speak to him and you about something," Arnav asked hesitantly.
"Umm, I'll just go call him," Garima said and left the room. Arnav looked around the room trying to ease himself. He had went over this many times and knew that he would have to talk with Khushi's parents about this soon. He would've talked to her about talking with her parents also, but she hadn't given a response yet. But hopefully she would in the time they were in London, so it was better if he talked with her parents beforehand.
A few minutes later, Sashi walked into the living room with Garima right behind him.
Arnav quickly got up the sofa and greeted him, "Namaste Uncle."
"Namaste Beta," Sashi replied back. He told Arnav to sit back down, and himself sat down on the adjacent sofa with Garima right next to him.
"Garima said you wanted to talk with us about something?" Sashi asked. Although he could kind of guess what the man in front of him wanted to talk about.
"I actually don't know how to say this, because I've never really done this before. You probably don't know anything about me, other than the fact that I'm you're elder daughters to be brother-in-law.and then I'm also the boss of your other younger daughter," he stopped and paused for a few seconds.
"I like your younger daughter, Khushi and would like your permission to be in a relationship with her," Arnav said and looked up at the people sitting in front of him. They didn't show any expressions of acceptance, but they also didn't show any rejection.
"Well Beta, to be honest, I'm not very surprised at what you said. We don't have any problem with this, as long as Khushi is okay with it and doesn't think otherwise," Sashi said.
"I have asked her, but she said that she needs time to think.. I just wanted to ask for your permission incase she ends up making a decision while we're in London, since I don't want for the both of you to be surprised by it," he explained to them.
"Khushi does take awhile to come along and agree to something this serious. She has rejected other guys that have asked her in the past and is stubborn. But I'm glad that you decided to tell us before we heard anything otherwise from the media," Garima intervened into the conversation.
"Yes, we would have rather heard it from the either of you than an outsider," Sashi said agreeing with his wife.
"So you guys don't have any problem in it?" he asked for confirmation.
"No, we are absolutely fine with it as long as you both are happy," Sashi replied back.
"Thank you Uncle. And could you please not tell Khushi anything about this yet, I will tell her later when the time is right," Arnav said.
"Sure Beta, but what about your family? Do they know anything about this yet?" Sashi asked.
"No one knows for sure yet, but I'll tell them also," he said.
Just then they heard footsteps coming down and Khushi walked into the living room.
*flashback ends*
"Khushi I know I should've told you about this but at that time you hadn't agreed or anything," Arnav said and looked up at her. She was now standing near the fountain, with her back towards. He walked up from the bench and stood behind her. Khushi felt the movement behind her and turned around to face him.
"It was't right of me to keep that away from you," he said wrapping his arms around her waist.
"Arnav it's not that fact that you kept it away from me that is bothering me right now. I don't like the fact that you decided to take such an important decision in our relationship without talking about it to me also," Khushi said looking up at him.
"Khushi we weren't even together then, so how could've I asked you? You would've bursted out on me like you did on the plane," he said trying to reason with her.
"Okay fine I understand that we weren't together when you had asked, but can we just promise that we'll talk about everything from now on. I don't want to hide anything from you, and I don't want for you to hide anything from me. We need to talk through everything if we have misunderstandings or arguments, please," Khushi said.
"I promise that we'll agree to everything about use together from now on; I won't hide anything from you, and same the other way around; And I also want us to talk when we have to because I really want for this to work," Arnav said leaning his forehead against hers. She placed her arms on his chest.
"Thank you," she whispered back listening to his heartbeat in the silence that had taken over the garden. They stood their in the silence, totally ignoring what was going on inside the hall, what everyone was talking about, the fireworks that were being exploded; quieting everything around them and only being together.
"So are we better now?" Arnav asked her in a whisper.
"Almost," Khushi said pulling her face away from him and looking at him clearly.
"Almost? What's left now?" a confused Arnav asked.
Khushi took her arms from his chest and wrapped them around his neck, she looked up at the sky and he followed her gaze.
"See the fireworks?" she asked him.
"Yeah, what about it?" he asked.
Khushi looked back at him with a glint in her eyes, "I've always wanted to kiss under fireworks."
"So are you asking me to kiss you?" he asked tilting his head to the side and raising an eyebrow.
"Uh-huh. Unless you want me to go find someone else who," she said playfully but was cut off as he pressed his lips against hers.
"Don't even think about it," he whispered against her lips then claimed them again. Arnav tightened his hold around her, her body crushing against his. He bit her bottom lip, making her gasp and then slid his tongue inside of her mouth.Khushi felt her heart beating faster when her tongue made contact with his, she tightened her arms around his neck pulling him closer, if that was even possible. She would've loved to continue this with him, but slowly pulled away from the kiss.
"Did you forget we have a dinner to attend Mr. Raizada?" she asked looking up at him with a smile.
