Tere Liye | ✔

Chapter Seven - Opportunity

Earlier comments on this chapter has been deleted as they would not make any sense with the revised version of 'Tere Liye'. Just a note to old readers, those comments are still very special for me and I have them stored with me to cherish forever. I just don't want any confusion for new readers.

Hope you enjoy! :)

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The sun seeped through the curtains and into the room, landing directly on her face. Khushi groaned and tried to reach for the blanket to block the morning light, when she felt nothing but void under her palm. She frowned, bringing her hand up to shield her face as she opened her drowsy eyes, only to find herself on the recliner. She was in the same sitting position as last night while she was waiting for Arnav who was in the study with Sheetal.

As the events settled in her, she sighed and turned to look at the bed. As expected, it was untouched, which confirmed her doubt that Arnav did not return back to the room last night. Straightening her saree, she thus stood up to go look for him. Her feet automatically lead her to the study whose door was left half open, giving her a peek of the thousands papers just laying on the table.

She shook her head in despair. She had told him not to tire himself more than he already was.

But when has he ever listened to her?

With that exasperating thought, she pushed the door completely ajar only to see her husband and Sheetal sleeping inside. Though she had expected something like that, what she did not expect was to find Sheetal's head on her husband's shoulder and her hands wrapped around his arms.

She gulped, hard, feeling the scene leaving her almost aghast. Something shot through her and she couldn't decipher whether it was jealousy or shock, but whatever it was, it made her punch the door, hard and loud so it would break the sleep both had slipped into. 

Whilst Arnav managed to sleep through the noise, Khushi seemed satisfied when Sheetal jumped into consciousness, looking at her with wide round eyes. 

Khushi averted her eyes from her, forcing an apologetic smile to rest on her face. 

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I just stumbled." She said, this time faking a chuckle at her own clumsy self whilst rubbing her hand that actually hurt after contacting the hard and cold glass door. 

"It's okay." Sheetal shook her head, signaling her that it was nothing. That was when she might have realized her state for she was standing at least at a three feet distance from Arnav the very next second. 

"I," She stammered, feeling Khushi's eyes on her, "We, I mean, we fell asleep last night while working, I guess. We didn't truly notice the time." She forged a laughter as if it were a funny incident to laugh at - her eyes darting everywhere except at Khushi.

Khushi gave a tight lipped smile. "Yeah, I guessed so."

Sheetal's face almost paled at Khushi's somehow miffed tone whilst her body went inexplicably tensed. As if not being able to stay in this situation anymore, she excused herself and almost rushed out of the room.

Khushi's frown deepened.

Her reaction as a wife would be pretty normal in such situation but Sheetal's reaction? Why did she had to run away when all she did was accidentally fall asleep on someone's shoulder? She could have said that Sheetal was scared because of the tone she used to talk to her but the latter seemed more than just being afraid. She seemed guilty, as if she didn't accidentally used her husband's shoulder to sleep on, but did something horribly wrong to her.