Kaisey Yeh Rishtey - 21

Chapter 21 

The remainder of the evening was pleasant, and Khushi relaxed slowly after a while. Except for a couple of ladies, including the not-so-subtly hostile Lavanya, most were pleasant, as were all the men. She had always been good at talking to people - that was part of her job, she was intelligent, articulate and well read, so she found herself able to converse easily with most people, and as she relaxed, she found herself enjoying the company.

It was quite some way into the evening, that Khushi felt somebody's eyes on her. At first, she tried to ignore the feeling, telling herself that she was imagining things. But more than a few times, she looked around, feeling somebody looking at her. And every time, she saw the same man staring at her.

She tried to ignore it at first. But after a while, she started getting annoyed. The next time she felt the man looking at her, she lifted her head, and stared back, looking at him directly.

To her surprise, he was an elderly man. Tall and imposing, with a head full of snow white hair, he was impeccably dressed in a well cut suit with waistcoat, and a neatly knotted conservatively patterned tie. He was more formally dressed than most of the younger men there. The gentleman seemed not the least bit embarrassed at being caught looking at her. Instead he smiled, and started making his way slowly over to her. He walked slowly, with the help of a cane, but he leaned on it very little.

Khushi waited for him to reach her, her curiosity aroused.

"Congratulations on your wedding," he said. His voice was cultured, low.

"Thank you, sir," she replied politely, her eyes questioning. He smiled slightly, but didn't answer the unspoken question in her eyes. Instead he spoke again, gently, casually.

"You handled the situation very well, child. Arnav is lucky to have got a girl like you," he said. "Where are you from? We have not seen you here before, have we?"

His easy familiarity threw Khushi off guard, as did his referring to Arnav by name. It must someone who knew Arnav or his family, she thought, she had probably either forgotten his name among the many she had been introduced to, or Arnav hadn't got around to introducing her yet. Relaxing, she replied to his gentle questions easily and politely. He was an entertaining conversationalist, and it was some time before she realised that he was gently probing her background.

"What does your father do?" he asked. "Is he a friend of Arnav's father?"

"No, uncle," Khushi said, unconsciously following Arnav's lead and keeping to the truth as far she could. "He used to work in a factory. Now he has more or less retired."

"And your family?"

She looked at him frankly.

"We are a middle class family, sir. I have one brother, also working in a factory, and I am a psychologist. I work in a hospital."

"Your mother?"

A shadow crossed Khushi's face. "She died soon after I was born. I don't really remember her."

"Do you look like your mother or your father?"

Khushi smiled. "Since I haven't seen my mother, I can't really say, but my father sometimes says I look a lot like her."

The gentleman nodded, as though satisfied by her reply. "You are a beautiful young lady, and what is more important, you have character. It shows in your face. You have an interesting face. That's what made me come and talk to you. Most of these young girls these days are so made up, that they all look the same!"

She smiled. "Thank you for the compliment, sir."

The conversation stayed in her mind. The old man didn't introduce himself, and as he was so much older than her, she didn't like to ask his name. He moved away, and the rest of the evening passed without Khushi seeing him again. Later, when she and Arnav were on their way home in the car, she remembered the conversation, and idly asked Arnav about him.

"Arnav? That elderly gentleman I was talking to earlier ... did you see him? Who is he? Were we introduced?"

"A friend of my father's, I think," said Arnav, frowning in an effort to remember. "Or maybe just a member of the club. He looked familiar, but I can't quite place him. This is a very popular club, you know."

"I don't," she said frankly, and he turned to look at her, surprised at her blunt reply. She smiled slightly at his surprised look.

"I really don't know, Arnav. This is not the kind of place I have been in the habit of visiting! My world was very different, as you know."

"Then make it into a habit," he replied easily, and she shook her head.

"After a year, two years, I will be back to my own world. Better not to develop such habits! As it is, that man was very curious as to where I came from. Obviously, I don't belong in such a sophisticated place!"

"What were you talking about with him?" Arnav asked, frowning as he concentrated on the road ahead. It struck Khushi that she was very comfortable talking to this strange man, more comfortable than even talking to Aman. After their first disastrous start, they seemed to have found a common wavelength.

She told him about their conversation, and Arnav was intrigued.

"It does sound like he was grilling you," he said. "I think I'd better find out exactly who he is. I really can't place him at the moment."

He looked at her again, and raised an eyebrow at her.

“So how did it go otherwise?”

She looked at him, slightly surprised by the question. He smiled slightly at her.

“You were nervous,” he reminded her. “You thought you wouldn’t fit in. Did you?”

Khushi smiled. “I … it was okay, I think,” she said hesitantly. “I don’t know what they all thought of me … but everyone was very nice …”

Almost everyone, she thought, remembering the sultry Lavanya, and that conversation ridden with undercurrents. She wondered if she dared to ask Arnav about her. The name seemed familiar, but the face had definitely not been. Where had she heard the name recently?

They reached the house, and he parked, but made no move to get out of the car. She looked at him, still hesitating. He looked back at her and a slight smile came back to his face.

“Why is it,” he mused, “that I can almost tell what you’re thinking? You have a very expressive face, Khushi, did you know that? Your eyes speak when you don't say a word. Ask away.”

She gaped at him, and his smile widened. How did he know, she wondered, as an answering smile grew slowly on her own face. She shook her head at him.

“You’re dangerous,” she said, her smile in her voice. “Remind me never to lie to you. How did you know …?”

He put out a teasing finger and stroked it gently down the side of her cheek. Khushi forgot to breathe. She almost forgot what she wanted to ask him, about the mysterious and ever-so-possessive Lavanya.

“Who’s Lavanya?” she blurted out, her senses so haywire with that light touch that she couldn’t think straight, couldn't frame her question less than directly. His face went blank.

“Forget her,” he said, and withdrew his finger. “You don't need to worry about her. Just don’t mention her to Akash, that’s all.”

Khushi looked as baffled as she felt. Where had Akash suddenly crept into the conversation from?

“Akash?” she asked carefully. “What has Akash to do with Lavanya? Surely she’s much older than him … they’re not …”

He didn’t answer and when he looked at her, his face was bleak, his eyes dark. She hated that look. Without thinking, she lifted her hand to his face and touched it. His skin was rough, warm and the touch sent a tingle through her arm. She dropped her hand in slight confusion.

“What is it, Arnav?” she whispered. “What’s troubling you so much?”

Arnav looked away again.

“Lavanya’s sister is … was … Akash’s girlfriend,” he said flatly.

Khushi was dumbfounded. Then she remembered where she’d heard the name. Radhika looking at her when she said that she, Khushi would be her badi mummy. "Then that Lava aunty won't come here any more." 

Khushi was getting a vague picture here through the fog. That there was something between Lavanya and Arnav was obvious, had been obvious to her from Lavanya's barely disguised barbs, and Arnav's subtle protectiveness. But what? Did Akash blame her for the end of Arnav’s relationship with Lavanya … if there had been one? Had that affected his own relationship? Was that partly or wholly why he was so antagonistic?

And Lavanya? What was she to Arnav? Was she anything still? She seemed to think so, but Arnav had certainly not given her any encouragement this evening. Still … was Lavanya the girl who was the reason for that bitterness Khushi sensed in him? 

She bit her lip in worry and looked back at Arnav. The bleak look was still on his face, and she couldn’t stand it. She ached to reach out to him, to wipe that look away, to bring back the warmth, the teasing, the love … she stopped her thoughts.

Not love, she thought. What was wrong with her? This was the second time this evening she had thought about love and Arnav in the same breath. Affection, she thought firmly, it was affection … and a strong mutual liking and respect. That was all.

“Arnav,” she whispered. He looked back at her, at the worry in her face, and the bleakness left his. He sighed, and shook his head.

“How I wish …” he began and then grinned at her crookedly. “If only life was simpler, right, Khushi? Or maybe we just make it more complicated for ourselves. Come let’s go in – before someone sees us and wonders why we’re sitting here, instead of in the comfort of our room!”

She smiled and they went in. As they reached their room, he looked at her again.

“By the way,” he said softly. “I think you passed tonight’s test … with flying colors. Well done.”

He didn’t mention Lavanya again and Khushi completely forgot about the incident with the old man. So did Arnav.