Arshi: Off The Stage (On-hold)

25

"Well, it was me Aman. My mom had this habit of showing up way too early to the airport and checking in. I have the same habit." She spoke. She wasn't lying. Garima showed up way too early to the airport/station for every trip she took. The whole family used to tease her about it. Khushi also went early, but she went 10 minutes early while Garima went an hour early.

Aman did not leave Arnav's side the entire time before boarding and all the latter could do was sneak glances at his girlfriend.

Arnav finally let out a breath he was holding as soon as he entered the flight close behind Khushi.

"You want the window seat?" he asked Khushi.

"Depends. What if some pretty girl ends up next to you on the aisle seat?"

"I am definitely seated next to the prettiest girl in this flight." Arnav said and Khushi smiled. He was a smooth talker. She took the window seat and he, the one next to it. Khushi was happy when a man in his fifties ended up next to Arnav in the aisle seat.

"Is it uncomfortable? You could've easily taken the business class ticket and left us in the economy no?" Khushi asked and Arnav explained how everyone in AR took only Economy tickets for domestic work travels. No one was an exception, not even him or his dad who held the highest positions within the company.

They talked through the journey and by the time they landed, they knew a lot more about each other.

As Arnav walked ahead of her with their luggage in hand, she took a picture. To anyone else, the picture would come off as a random picture of the view. But to her, this would be the first picture she puts up of her boyfriend, even though she wouldn't call it out explicitly.

"I am going to post this to my story." She told him, sticking out her phone to his face.

"That okay with you?" She asked. She didn't want to invade his privacy by posting his picture without asking him first.

"I don't mind Khushi. You don't have to ask for permission. By the way, can you even tell that is me?" he asked with a smirk forming on his face.

"Yeah, people who know you would know."

*********

Payal was being restless in her hotel room. It was way past midnight and she had a lot to prepare for the meeting. Arnav Singh Raizada had trusted her to carry out the deal on their behalf and she wanted to do a good job.

"Payal, are you still nitpicking on the details?" Akash asked as he turned on the bed to see her on the couch, working on her laptop.

"Akash, I need everything to be perfect." She spoke. Here eyes were fixed on the screen.

Akash got up from the bed and moved to sit next to her on the couch.

"You know Payal, you have perfected everything on the presentation. You know everything inside out. No one can do this better than you. Not even ASR." Akash said and Payal scoffed, her eyes still fixated on the computer.

"I am seriously telling you Payal. You know, there is one thing you can do to make things go better in the meeting." Akash said and Payal finally turned to look at her fiancé.

"What is it Akash? What did I miss?"

"Sleep." He told her and her eyes narrowed.

"You should sleep well now so that you can look fresh in the morning. At this rate though, you are going to have dark circles all around your eyes." He explained.

"I will sleep in a couple of hours. I have something more to do." She said, turning back to her laptop.

"Yeah right, in a couple of hours, it will be time to get ready for the meeting." He remarked as he took his phone out and started browsing in the hope that him staying up, staring at her, would force her to stop working.

He opened up Instagram and started looking at the stories.

"Aha, Khushi and the team has already reached Jodhpur." Akash said turning the phone to show Payal. That gained her attention. Payal took the phone from his hand to take a look at it.

Khushi had posted a story with the comment 'Hello Jodhpur'. It was a random shot of the airport. But Arnav was in it. He was walking forward, possibly unaware of the picture being taken.

Her next story was of the hotel room with the message 'Good night'.

"See, even Khushi is asleep in India. And here you are." Akash taunted and this time it worked.

"Okay fine." Payal said handing over the phone back to him and closing her laptop.

"I am going to sleep." She said getting up.

"Finally." Akash signed and Payal rolled her eyes at his overreaction.

*********

Arnav was right. Khushi lay on her bed, unable to sleep. But as he said, coffee wasn't what caused this lack of sleep. It was the excitement of what was to come that caused this state.

*********

Arnav was a few rooms away. Honestly, he was disappointed when he found out the living arrangements. He expected them all to be in single rooms. That would have made it easy for him and Khushi to sneak out on their dates. She wanted to keep the relationship a secret for the time being and she respected that. The guys had all gotten single rooms. But to his shock, Khushi and Lavanya were in a suite with two rooms. That meant they were at a risk of her finding out. They'd have to be extra careful with their dates and he did not like that. 

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Hi guys,

I managed to find time to update again. Two updates this week. Hope you guys like it. Let me know what are your thoughts about this chapter in your comments.

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