One Step Closer (IPKKND FF | Complete)

Chapter Twelve

Manorama was feeling all warm and fuzzy. Maybe it was the general revelry, or the fact she had already received five compliments on her outfit, or yes, maybe even the bhang, although she had only drunk a little bit.

Whatever it was, she was feeling happier than she had in weeks, ever since Akash's engagement. Although she had to admit - now that Bloody Leg was actually living in her house, things were not nearly as bad as she had feared. In fact, being a mother-in-law was pretty great at times, and just a moment ago Smita-ji had said what a nice girl Payal really was. And that old hag never said anything nice about anybody!

With a tray of colours in hand, Manorama sashayed over to her son and his wife, sitting on the garden swing and swooning over each other.

"Hello hi bye bye! Happy Holi!" She applied a pink powder first to Akash, and then to Payal as well. "You know, Bloody Le-- I mean, Payal-bitya, you're... you're not so bad."

Payal's face lit up with possibly the biggest smile since she'd moved into Shantivan.

"Just remember who is in charge here!" Manorama sniffed. "Now excush me, I need to go and find out more about this Navya girl NK invited..."

Before the newlyweds could say anything, she was off to her next target. Her sister in Sydney would want to know all about this nurse on their next phone call. It seemed like every young woman who came to the Raizada house would end up trapping one of the young men, hello hi bye bye!

"Seeeee Payal, I told you maa would come around," Akash cheerfully exclaimed. "Now wait here while I get us some bhang. Don't go anywhere!"

Obediently, Payal stayed put. Her heart was singing with joy, the air in the courtyard was thick with dust and sunshine and music, and Payal felt that right in that moment it might just be the happiest she had ever felt in her life. Then she noticed her sister.

"Khushi, there you are! Happy Holi!" Payal jumped up and grabbed the nearest handful of yellow and pink, ready to toss at Khushi in a ritual they had done since childhood.

But seeing Khushi's bewildered expression and the red on her face, Payal's expression quickly changed to concern. She dusted off her hands and pulled her sister aside.

"Khushi! Are you ok?"

Khushi stared at her Jiji, dumbfounded. She didn't even remember how she had ended up in the courtyard, didn't even notice anyone around until Payal had stopped her in her tracks.

Khushi's heart was pounding in her ears and butterflies had literally taken over her entire body, at least definitely the stomach, no, she was not feeling okay at all... Or was she? How should a girl feel after her first kiss?

"Jiji... I went to get the colours for Anjali-ji and dropped the plate... because of Arnav-ji. And then we.... I mean he... no, I mean we..." She trailed off and blushed, but the silence was enough for Payal to deduce that the two must have shared a very special moment.

Preoccupied with the huge changes in her own life, her days busy trying to please Manorama and learning to be a wife for Akash and a Raizada bahu, she felt guilty for having neglected her sister, since she had entirely missed the signs of what Anjali-ji called "the great romance".

Oh, how she wished she could sit Khushi down and ask when this whole dance with her laad governer had started! But even though they spoke on the phone nearly every day, so far the opportunity just hadn't come up. She cupped Khushi's cheek.

"I'm so, so happy for you! Oh Khushi, isn't... isn't love just so beautiful?" Payal exclaimed, right now she was just too excited about everything.

"Love...?" Khushi muttered to herself, her heartbeat quickening. Before this moment, no one had put a name to the feelings that came over her whenever Arnav-ji was near, and even when he wasn't. Devi Maiyaa, is this love!?

Just then Akash reappeared, carrying a cup of bhang lassi for his wife.

"Oh, Khushi-ji, happy Holi! I just got Payal bhang, would you like some too?"

Khushi blinked, trying very hard to focus on what Akash was saying. Payal came to the rescue.

"No Akash, our Khushi never drinks it, and that's probably for the best since she is plenty crazy without it, as Buaji always says!"

"Oh well then... shall we go dancing!?" the usually quiet Akash had switched gears and was in total party mode now. There was no chance his wife could steal a moment to talk to her sister.

"Promise we'll talk later?" Payal hurriedly whispered and squeezed Khushi's arm in what she hoped was a reassuring gesture. "And, Khushi... please be careful?"

Khushi nodded, she had finally sobered up and come back to her senses. She knew exactly what Payal meant. And she had already skirted so many lines, Devi Maiyaa, now what!

"There you are, Khushi."

She froze. She could recognise that intense, gravelly voice anywhere. Nobody else said her name quite like that.

Slowly, she turned around to face him, embarrassed still after behaving so shamelessly. She was not sure what to expect. This man with an anger as stormy as the ocean itself, she thought she knew him by now. But what if, what if he's changed his mind again?

Khushi peered up at Arnav's face; and the second their eyes locked, all her doubts melted away. This was still the same man who had kissed her by the poolside. And she had let him, no, she had wanted him to.

In fact, right now she wanted nothing more than to be close to him again, to feel his breath... Oh, Devi Maiyaa, now even her thoughts were embarrassing her, and that too in public! She blushed again, stared at the ground and started fidgeting with her dupatta.

Without another word, Arnav took Khushi's hand and led her into the nearby gazebo, draped with colourful silks that fluttered in the wind. The quaint structure stood under an old weeping willow, its branches cascading down one side - here they could have some privacy.

"Khushi, we didn't finish that."

Arnav lifted his hand to reveal a handful of yellow he must have grabbed somewhere on the way over. Khushi was puzzled.

"D-do you want--?"

He smiled and came up close to her, then gently took her wrist and pressed her hand in the powder, his fingers always, forever sending sparks across her skin.

Without breaking eye contact, Arnav lifted Khushi's fingers to his stubbly cheek and drew a bright streak right across.

"And now the other one."

Unable to resist the demand, Khushi replenished the colour and, with a trembling hand, drew it across Arnav's other cheek.

"This will always be your right, Khushi Kumari Gupta," Arnav whispered and tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear.

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