The Replacement

Chapter 22: She's The Man

Saturday came earlier than expected... and not soon enough for Khushi. For the last four days, as she made lists and arranged for food and snacks to be made, along with Payal, all she heard was farmhouse this and farmhouse that. Payal apparently really loved it there. Having grown up and lived in busy cities her whole life, Payal thought the farmhouse was a slice of heaven. The isolation, the silence appealed to her... for a bit atleast. Payal had finally confessed that she loved it there, but only for a bit. Eventually, the silence got to her city-bred sensitivities and she started missing the crowds and the polluted air in Delhi.

Khushi was looking forward to this trip way more than she should. She'd been to a few exotic locations, but the idea of a house in the countryside appealed to her. Payal's descriptions only whetted her appetite. Everyone in the house was gearing up for the party. Khushi went shopping with Payal and bought a beautiful necklace for Anjali as a birthday gift. It had a locket that you could put pictures in, and with Payal's help, Khushi got pictures of Shyam-Anjali and Hrishi-Aarya and added them in. Hopefully, Anjali would like it. She was all set for the party, and the mood in the house was all upbeat.

Except for one person.

For whatever reason, Arnav was being a grump. He'd been amused and happy on Tuesday, as he'd proposed the farmhouse idea and had appeared downright naughty as he'd whispered a thank you to her about the coffee, making her jaw drop. But when he'd come back from the office that evening, he'd been irritated and short with everyone. He'd even refused to make eye contact with her. She'd said a pleasant greeting to him as he'd walked across her, and he'd just looked right through her and walked away. She'd have thought he had not noticed her at all, but she was right there, wasn't she? And she had noticed his clenched fists as he strode by. Now what had gone wrong? Must be another office thing, she thought. Though it appeared that work seemed to make his mood oscillate a lot. That was definitely not a good thing. He needed to work less... or atleast take it less seriously.

After he'd barked at HP about something that was most definitely not HP's fault, she'd decided to stay out of his way. She was beginning to think that the content Arnav was an anomaly and this grumpy one was the norm. He had apologized to HP later, but his mood was still off until Saturday morning, and she'd avoided talking to him. Payal conveyed whatever needed to be shared about the food.

On Saturday, they'd gotten into three different cars – the 12 Raizada-Jha family members and Khushi. HP had come along too. Khushi rode along with Anjali and Shyam in their car, because Hrishi wouldn't hear of her traveling with anyone else. It was a really fun trip for Khushi, teasing Anjali with Shyam, discussing movies and books, and telling Hrishi stories adding his favorite characters into them. He listened so spellbound that Khushi could've gone on and on. After about an hour of telling him stories, they spent the rest of the time collaborating to make up a story with one character that everyone in the car chose. Aarya chose Elsa, of course. Anjali chose Harry Potter, Shyam chose Daredevil (Shyam was really a lawyer through and through!), Khushi chose Spiderman, and Hrishi chose Rani from the Diya Mohan books. They had a gala time adding all these disparate characters into an adventure story that ended up being more comic than adventurous.

By the time they reached the farmhouse, they were laughing their heads off at some of the mishaps that Khushi made the characters go through. The rest of the cars had already reached and were being unloaded. As they all stepped out laughing, Khushi looked up to see Arnav's eyes on her. He had an indescribable expression on his face, but his eyes were soft. Finally, he looked like he had relaxed a bit.

"What are you guys laughing so much about?"

"Payal mami, Rani chased Spiderman with bug spray", Aarya managed to get out one sentence while laughing.