Chapter 31: Uncertain Plans

Uncertain Plans

(Chapter 31)

1 Month Later

Khushi walked into her house, looking around she saw that nobody was home; so she went up to her room. She checked her phone to see if she had gotten any missed calls and there were none. She then went into the bathroom to get changed out of her work clothes. After changing, she heard her phone ringing and quickly went to grab it.

Before the person on the other line could even say anything, she started bombarding him with her questions, "You were suppose to call me 2 hours ago? Where the heck were you?"

"Khushi listen I'm sorry...," Arnav started off but was interrupted by her.

"Don't Khushi" me ok!" she said, "I'm not talking to you."

"Well you're stuck with me for the rest of your life, so you will have to listen to me," Arnav replied.

"We will just see about that Mr. Raizada," she retorted.

*flashback*

Khushi was slightly bored at the New Years Party as she didn't know anyone or had ever met them before. It had been a bit over an hour since they had come down to the party, and now Arnav was talking with a few colleagues so she had left him alone. Looking up at the clock, she saw that it was almost midnight. Khushi walked outside through the doors that were located in the back of Maan and Geet's house to get some fresh air. A lot had changed since Arnav and her had come for this business trip. They had gotten to know each other a bit more than before.

Standing looking up at the moon, she heard the door behind her open then footprints approaching her. Khushi looked over and saw that it was Arnav, who came and stood beside her. They stood there in silence, just watching the night's sky, only to be broken out of there thoughts from the loud noise inside that had begun; the countdown till the new year.

Arnav took Khushi's and turned her around to face him, and looked up at her face that held a confused look.

"Khushi I know this is a bit too early for us to decide anything about the future, and I usually don't believe in these kinds of things, but it wouldn't hurt to try. We barely know each other, and we can change that in the future," he said but she just scrunched her eyebrows.

"About what Geet said she read in the newspaper that if you see someone else at exactly at midnight, then you'll spend the rest of your life with them.," he continued then cupped her face. He leaned in till his lips met hers and slowly kissed her. Khushi felt her heartbeat pick up pace as his lips moved along hers, taking the breath out of her lungs. She heard the faint final countdown till the New Years "5!...4!...3!..." Arnav broke the kiss and rested her forehead against hers, "Happy New Years," he whispered as the abrupt cheers from inside could be heard.

*flashback ends*

"Yeah we will," he told her, "But for now let me tell you that there was no network so I couldn't call you, and I just called Di before you."

"I have to go for meeting now, will call you tonight," he said.

"Bye," she replied hanging up the phone then threw it onto her bed.

Last night, Arnav had left for Sydney because the AR branch there was having some problems. He had told her that he probably be back till a couple weeks and left her to help Aman, as he was always given the job to handle the office whenever Arnav left.

In the past month since they got back from London, they had been on multiple dates; out for dinner, to the park, the cafe across from AR during their breaks and many others. They were now becoming more and more comfortable with each other's presence around one another, and able to talk about anything. Also helping Akash and Payal with the wedding preparations as the date was soon approaching.

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

"Khushi can you go put these reports in the filing room with the rest of them," Aman said handing her a stack of the recent balance statements.

"Sure," she said grabbing them.

"And then you can leave for the day," he said looking up at the clock.

Khushi went over to the filing room, which was located in the back of the office. She turned on the lights then went to place the records in the correct files. It took her awhile to find the correct one as there were so many of them. Grabbing the nearby stool, she placed it in front of the shelf then got on top if to reach them. While doing all this she didn't notice a pair of eyes that were watching her from only a few feet away.

She filed the reports then held onto the shelf for support as she tried to get off the stool. Nut before she could even place one foot on the ground, the stool tilted to one side making her lose her balance and her hand let go of the shelf.

Khushi let out a yelp as she fell backward and closed her eyes tightly anticipating the fall on the ground; but that didn't happen. Not feeling herself hit the ground, she opened her eyes slightly and looked around, and met her gaze with a pair of honey brown eyes.

"Arnav you?!" she said placing her hand on his shoulder to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.

"Yeah me, did you expect someone else," he asked placing her on the ground.

"But you weren't suppose to come till tomorrow night," she replied.

"Do you want me to go back then?" he said smirking but was slapped in the shoulder and then engulfed in a hug by her.

"No but really, how come you're here early," she said her arms still around him.

"My work got finished early so I got my flight moved," he said moving out of the hug.

"How did it go here for you?" he asked.

"You've asked me that same question almost everyday on the phone," she replied smiling.

"I have?" he said and she nodded.

"Ok then let's get out of here," he replied taking her hand but Khushi quickly came out of its grasp. And this was one thing that just annoyed him too much; she wanted for them to not show public affection in the office because she didn't want for the employees to think that he's favoring her over them.

Arnav headed over to the elevator that was located near his cabin, they both got in and took it down to the ground level. Majority of the staff had already left, so there weren't many eyes on them.

"Where are we going?" Khushi asked as they got into his car.

"It's a surprise," he replied.

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Chapter 30: A Glance Into the Past

 

"The big ferris wheel?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said.

Khushi gulped, how would she tell him that she had a fear of heights?

They all got ready and headed out for the day. Maan and Arnav sat in the front seats, while Khushi and Geet were in the back. The snow outside had slowed down, and occasionally snow flakes would fall, but the cold winter air was still there.

Maan dropped them off near the London Eye and then went to park the car. Geet went to a near outside show that was next to the location to look around, while Khushi stood rooted looking at the London Eye and Arnav near her.

"Maybe we should go somewhere else," Khushi told him.

"Why? What's wrong with the London Eye?" he asked.

"This doesn't seem very safe," Khushi said looking at the big ferris wheel.

"Khushi it's been open for years, so obviously it will be safe," Arnav said.

"Yeah, but there's always a time for first things," she added.

"Like how we are going on it today," he told her from behind and wrapped his arms around her.

"No. I mean like what if it gets too windy and falls over? Or maybe the glass cracks and we fall out then die? Or what if we get locked in there?" she said

nervously.

"I wouldn't mind getting locked in there with you," he whispered into her ears, his chin resting on her shoulder.

"Arnav I'm being serious here and you're trying to be romantic," Khushi said in a whiny voice and shrugged him off her.

Before Arnav could say anything further, Maan had come and told that they should go in.

"Let's go Geet," Khushi said grabbing her hand and going ahead of both men. They walked behind them and entered. They weren't that busy since it was early morning, nor was there a long line formed; giving both couples a capsule to them.

First Maan and Geet's a capsule arrived so they got on.

"How long will we in there?" Khushi asked ARnav who was now standing next to her.

"Hmm about half an hour I think," he said.

"Half an hour?!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, it is going to do a full rotation so it will take that much time," he replied casually.

"But I--" she said but was cut off by one of the workers.

"Your capsule has arrived sir," he said to Arnav.

Arnav put his hand around Khushi's waist and walked her into the capsule with him. They walked in and only the outside was visible through the glass. The door behind them closed a few seconds later, leaving them alone only in silence. Arnav took Khushi's hand to lead her to the table that was in the middle and they sat down. The capsule started moving slowly,  and began to pick up to a constant speed.

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

Maan and Geet had been waiting at the main level waiting for there capsule to arrive, and after about 20 minutes it did arrive. Out of the door came Arnav with  a somewhat nauseous looking Khushi next to him.

"What happened?" Geet asked looking at Khushi.

What happened, Khushi thought. Well to start off right when the capsule had started to pick up pace, Khushi's heart started beating faster and she had begun to get very nervous. Arnav had been talking about how beautiful the scenery was from such a high altitude, but when he had looked over at her, she had her eyes scrunched tightly. He had moved closer and asked her what was wrong, taking her hand in his to which she opened her eyes. She began to tell him that when her parents car had fallen over the cliff, she had gone with the police officers to see it. She had stood near the edge of the cliff, and nothing could be seen for miles, just trees and trees everywhere. Ever since then, she had developed a fear of heights. While Khushi had told this to Arnav, all he had done was wrapped her in his arms with a hug, consoling her with calm words till the ride ended.

"Nothing, I just got a bit dizzy," was all that Khushi replied with to Maan and Geet.

After the ride at the London Eye, they went shopping at the nearest mall. Khushi didn't buy anything for herself; just a watch for her father, a pendant for her mother and a dress for Payal. They all had decided to have lunch at a nearby Italian Restaurant, then continued their exploration through the city.

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

The next couple days went by with the four of them hanging out, enjoying their time together and having fun. It was nighttime and all of them were sitting at the table eating dinner.

"Khushi do you want me to help you pack?" Geet asked.

"No I'll handle it, it's not much," she replied.

"When are you guys leaving again?" Maan asked Arnav.

"We're staying for the New Years Party tomorrow night, and will leave the next morning," he told him.

"Speaking of New Years, there was an article about it in the newspaper this morning," Geet said, "It said that it often come trues that the person you see at midnight is the one you'll spend the rest of your life with."

And as if on cue, both Arnav and Khushi turned to look at each other.

_____________________________________________

Chapter 29: Unexpected Meetings

"Did you forget we have a dinner to attend Mr. Raizada?" she asked looking up at him with a smile

“You do know how to ruin a romantic moment,” Arnav said resting his head against hers.

“Let’s go,” she said pulling his hand and they walked out of the garden. Arnav decided it would be better if they just left for the dinner instead of going back inside. He took out his phone and decided to give Maan a call.

“Hey,” Maan said picking up the phone from the other side, “Where are you guys?”

“We were outside, now we’re going to go straight to the dinner Mr. Kapoor invited us to, you both can leave and we’ll see you tomorrow.” he said.

“Ok, we’ll see you tomorrow then,” Maan said.

They walked to the front of the building where the car was parked.

“I hope you don’t mind going like this,I actually didn’t have an idea of this so we didn’t have time to change,” Arnav said as they sat in the car, “I’ll tell one of the assistants to send your stuff home tomorrow.”

“Yeah that’s fine,” she said.

They reached Mr. Kapoor’s house in a few minutes since it was very close, also there weren’t a lot of people present either, just a few business people. They walked in together and were greeted by a few people, some congratulating him.

“Ah Mr. Raizada glad you joined us,” Mr. Kapoor said when he spotted them and they shook hands.

He turned towards Khushi and noticed that she had on the show stoppers dress, “And you must be the showstopper?”

“Mr. Kapoor this Khushi, Khushi this is Mr. Kapoor,” ARnav said introducing them.

“Nice to meet you,” she said politely.

“Same here, loved your ramp walk today, and the dress designed by AR was splendid,” Mr. Kapoor said.

“Thank you,” she replied back.

“I would love for you to walk the ramp for my show any day,” he said.

“I actually don’t model, this was my first one and only on Arnav’s insistence,” Khushi said motioning to him.

“Oh well if you would like to take up my offer then here, take my business card,” he said handing her his business card, “And enjoy the party.”

They spent some time talking with the other people and chatting.

“I’ll go get something to drink, what do you want?” Arnav asked.

“I’ll just have some juice,” she said. He left to the corner to get it, leaving her alone where she was.

"Well well, looks who's here?" Khushi heard a familiar voice behind her and turned around to see who it was.

"Surprised to see me Ms. Khushi Kumari Gupta?" she said but Khushi didn't reply back.

"And before you ask why I am here, let me just tell you that myself," she started off but was cut off by Khushi.

"I don't really care to know why you are even here, so stop wasting your breath in explaining," she said.

"Attitude much? Well obviously you got it from your so called boyfriend," she said, but before she could continue any further, another voice joined their conversation.

“Not so called boyfriends, I am her boyfriend Natasha,” Arnav said coming to stand by Khushi and handed her the cup of juice.

“And now if you’ll excuse us, we are going to go eat,” he said and they walked away leaving an angered Natasha

The dinner had been assembled at a large dining table, so that pretty much everyone would be able to sit together. Arnav pulled out a chair for Khushi and sat down in the one next to hers.

The servants came and placed the food on the table so that they could eat. The dinner was spent eating and everyone talking amongst each other trying to catch up on their lives. The business folks talking about business, and the others just chatting away. Khushi didn’t really know anyone nor had she ever been to a business dinner before, not knowing what to say, she just remained quiet and focused on dinner.

“This must be very boring for you,” Arnav whispered tilting his head towards her.

“It’s fine,” she replied back.

After finishing their dinner, they decided to leave as it was getting late.

“Mr. Kapoor, we’ll leave now it’s getting pretty late,” Arnav said going up to him and noticed Natasha standing with him.

“Well okay then, and thanks for coming,” Mr. Kapoor said and saw that he was looking next to him where Natasha was standing.

“Do you guys know each other?” he asked between them.

“Yea, we’ve met before,” Arnav said trying to keep it brief.

“Then no introduction is needed then, but she just joined our company a few days back as a new model,” Mr. Kapoor added, “Apparently she got fired at her old job because her boss offended her and said bad things.”

“And how do you know that?” Arnav asked.

“She said so herself,” he said.

“Oh really?” Arnav asked raising an eyebrow and looking at Natasha. The nerve of this girl.

“Uhm... uhm yeah,” she said looking around.

“Well you never know Mr. Kapoor, it could be the staffs fault also,” Arnav said making Mr. Kapoor a bit confused.

“Never mind, we’ll take your leave now,” he said.

“Okay, see you then,” Mr. Kapoor said.

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

The next day at breakfast everyone was seated and eating. Maan had taken a few days off work they could show them around the city. Khushi got up to go to the bathroom.

“So where do should we go first?” Maan asked Arnav.

“You guys take us to wherever you want to , I don’t really know it that well around here since I’ve only come a few times,” Arnav said.

“Let’s go to the London Eye, it gives you a view of the entire city and will be a lot of fun,” Geet said. They agreed and decided that is where they would go.

Khushi came back from the bathroom, “So where are we going?”

“The London Eye,” Arnav said.

“The big ferris wheel?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said.

Khushi gulped, how would she tell him that she had a fear of heights?