Words to say I love you.. (Complete)

Chapter 20

The four friends sit around the campfire talking about things. Sachin pours himself a drink and asks the others about their preferences. Khushi now understands what Sachin was telling Arti in the afternoon. She says,"Haye aap log tab drinks ke barein mein baat kar rahe the. I was thinking what are you people talking about.. " She starts to laugh on this. Sachin asks,"Red wine for my love, Rishi what will you have??" Rishab replies,"Nothing.." Sachin smiles and says,"That's out of question my friend..aaj khanna, pina aur gana sab hoga..Have a beer at least."He handles them both their respective drinks and asks Khushi, "Tu kya legi.." Rishab replies for her,"Cold drinks." Khushi says,"Woh toh thik hai..but mujhe na wine pineka bada mann hai.." She looks at Rishab with the same puppy face, but he ignores the face and says,"Not possible. You are not drinking." Sachin and Arti enjoys the scene taking place between them. Rishab gives her a cold drinks and Khushi acts disappointed. Rishab smiles and gives a kiss on her head.

Khushi asks Sachin and Arti about their love story. Sachin tells her that he, Arti and Rishab were childhood friends as their families were close. He was in love with her from the day he had first seen her. He knew he would marry her one day. They both studied together and later went to abroad together. Arti considered Sachin as good friend but later while they were in London that she understood her feelings for him. They returned back, set up their business and then got married. Khushi says,"Haye love stories are so interesting. It's so beautiful to fall in love na. You both are made for each other. I will toh marry only after falling in love, that's it. But problem kya hai pata hai, nobody falls in love with me. I also haven't found someone good yet. Hmmm..." Everybody laughs and Arti taking this opportunity and tell her,"Khushi it's not true that people don't fall in love with you. They might be but you just didn't know. Kyun Rishi?" Rishab ignores her and Arti continues,"By the way what kind of guy do you want to fall in love?" Khushi excitedly replies,"You know what I want someone like the heroes in the Ranvir Malhotra's novels..But those are frictions right..hmm..(looking at Rishab she says)I want tall and handsome guy with good physic. He should be matured as he has to handle me..He should be caring and must have connections with books.." Sachin smiles and says,"Rishi you are tall, handsome, with good physic, caring, mature and publisher.. Wow.. Khushi tu iske baare mein bol rahi thi??" Khushi blushes on hearing it and Rishab says,"Please yaar.."

Sachin brings out a guitar and asks Rishab to play. Khushi asks,"He can play guitar?? Wow. I love guitar. Let's sing." Rishab plays the first song and Khushi sings,"Chura liya hai tumne jo dil ko.. " Then Rishab sings,"Dil kya kare jab.." Rishab and Khushi keep looking at each other while singing the romantic songs. Sachin and Arti enjoy listening to them and complimenting how well they sing together. They even dance together on some numbers. After few songs together, Sachin starts singing. He has already become tipsy from alcohol. Arti tells him,"Sachin, don't drink anymore. You are already drunk." Sachin starts saying,"N..o..I am not drunk..Arti.. I love you yaar. You are the most beautiful woman I..have e..v..e..r seen." Rishab goes to him and holds him as he is not able to stand properly. He says,"No you are not drunk but we all are tired now. Let's end the night now and get to bed." Sachin plants a kiss on his cheek and says,"Okay...alright..you all are tired then let's go. But you know Rishi you are my best friend, my brother..See we had so much fun here...And you never wanted to come here because of Ritika..Let Ritika go to hell..We will come here and enjoy..Okay mere bhai.. you are my best friend..my brother." Rishab takes him inside into his room as he keep on repeating the same thing.

Khushi asks Arti,"Who is Ritika??" Arti replies,"Ritika is Rishi's ex-girlfriend." Khushi asks,"Rishab didn't want to come here because of her??" Arti explains,"Rishi had stopped coming here after his mother passed away as his father no longer brought him here. Later he didn't want to come here as this place reminded him of her. Even after we returned from London, he used to avoid coming here. But afterwards he had come with us along with Ritika twice. During the second time, she had broken off with him here." Khushi does not say anything more. Arti gets up saying,"Rishi is the most amazing person I know. He has a heart of gold but he has been hurt many times. He has feelings for you I can see that. He cares for you and I know you like him too. Please take care of him..I am going to my room. See you in the morning..Good night." Khushi smiles, she knows she likes Rishab but she really does not know if he likes her too. She says,"I will sit here for some time..See you in the morning. Good Night." Arti leaves, as she goes in she meets Rishi and says,"Don't think about her, look ahead..Khushi is sitting outside, you go. Good Night."

Rishab comes out and finds Khushi siting putting her hands around her arms. He finds a shawl on the chair nearby and puts it over her. Khushi turns back to see him and smiles. Rishab sits down beside her and asks,"Will you go inside now?" Khushi says,"No, not now. It's so beautiful here. I want to stay here for some time. Will you stay with me?" Rishab smiles and says,"I am not leaving you ..ever." Khushi asks,"Can I ask you something?" Rishab replies,"What?" She continues,"You were upset today in the morning when we arrived here. Were you thinking about your mother or.. Ritika?" Rishab looks at her in surprise then he understands that Arti must have told her about Ritika. He turns his face towards the fire thinking and then answers,"I haven't thought about her from many days now. I was thinking about my mom. There are so many memories with her in this place." He stops saying anything more. Khushi can feel his pain. She says,"Sorry if I caused you any pain..Just wanted to know if you still care or think of her..I mean.." Rishab completes her sentence,"Ritika..No.." Rishab is surprised that it's true. He has stopped thinking about her after he has found Khushi. Khushi is happy hearing the answer. Somewhere inside she had a feeling of jealousy hearing the name Ritika. She says,"Good. You don't need to think about her anymore." She pauses a bit and then says,"My father used to say hame achi yaadon ko sambhal kar rakhna chahiye and keep the bad ones closed in a box. Remember all the good memories to stay happy and open the box of bad memories to gain strength to fight battles..Your mother's memories are happy ones, cherish them. Don't make them the reason to be sad." Rishab pulls Khushi into his arms and gives her a peck on her head.

Khushi loves it when Rishab does that. She finds this cute. Rishab asks,"Aaj sone nahi jana??" Khushi replies,"Tomorrow we will return back to Mumbai and back to work life..Just want to stay like this for some time.." Rishab says,"Yes. That's true. Life is hectic in Mumbai. There is so much pressure of making the business work." Khushi asks,"Pressure from your father??" Rishab says,"Haven't you heard him talk about traditions and all? He doesn't like that things change. But we have to change things to be in the race with time. Publishing business is difficult and to top that up you have a pressure of up lifting your family traditions..I am proving things to everyone everday." Rishab closes his eyes and lays his head on the chair. Khushi suddenly sees how tired he has become. She is starting to see his problems, his pain, his loneliness. It hurts her too. She gets up, stands behinds Rishab's chair and starts massaging his head. Rishab opens his eyes, he smiles and again closes his eyes. He doesn't want to think about the complexities in life for some time. All he cares right now is to be here with Khushi.