Valley of Flowers

Chapter 15

Nothing was lost though. He could still save Khushi. But before that this new crisis had to be dealt with, he thought smiling reassuringly at Anjali as he took the wheel.

Khushi paced about the room restlessly. She had bravely given her word to Anjali that she would bring Arnav to the hospital and she didn't even know where he was. How was she supposed to contact him when he had left his phone behind in the room? Would he be at Lavanya 's, she wondered in dread. It was way too early in the morning. What would she tell her if she picked up the phone? Excuse me Lavanya , would you mind letting me know if my husband is with you on which is supposedly our wedding night?

Suddenly she had an epiphany of where she might find Arnav. She quickly showered and changed into a simple blue suit and went down stairs. Luckily, she found the keys to the Honda City automatic kept in the small ornate wooden box on the console table in the foyer.

There were few people on the streets at this hour and Khushi stepped down on the accelerator hoping her hunch was right.

As she pulled up at the gates of the farm house an hour later, she was relieved to find Arnav's car parked there. As she walked up the driveway her eyes inevitably were drawn toward the lovely gardens and she thought of the first time Arnav had shown them to her on the night of the bachelor party.......

She had just seen Akash and Payal in bed with each other, oblivious of their spectators. Before Khushi could let out a squeak Arnav covered her mouth with his hand, closing the door with his free hand.

'I want to show you something,' he had whispered into her ears, 'come with me.' He took her hand in his and took her downstairs and out into the garden.

They walked in silence for several minutes, along a path lined by tall and dense trees, until they had reached a clearing with a beautiful fountain in the centre. There were beautiful flowering plants, in various colours and hues all around and her heart leapt with joy at the sheer beauty of nature.

'Oh my God, Arnav this is just beautiful!' she exclaimed, looking around her in awe.

'My mom, Di and I planted these,' he said his voice low. 'It was my tenth birthday and I was feeling very low as I didn't have any friends to invite for my birthday. Mom brought me and Di here and we planted some of these. After that, we came back here every year until I was sixteen.

Khushi's heart went out the lonely lost boy and wished she was there to hug him and tell him everything would be alright.

'This is the place I come to when I am restless or when I need to think. It gives me peace.'

She went up to the house and knocked on the door. How had Arnav managed to get in? Hadn't Narenji told her that Naniji had sold the farm house?

'Who is it?' Arnav opened the door, his mouth opened in a yawn, his eyes still closed.

'It's me.' Her voice came out in a squeak when she saw he was bare chested, his jeans riding low on his hips.

'What the f@#$!' His eyes popped open, his sleep vanishing in seconds. 'Khushi! What are doing here?'

'I ....I' She was trying to keep her eyes from wandering down to the waist band of his Calvin Klein visible just above his jeans. 'I have ....to talk to you.'

His eyebrows twisted suspiciously. 'How the hell did you know I would be here?'

'Lucky guess.' She squeaked tucking a strand of hair behind her ears.

'Khushi, about last night ----'

'That's not what I came here for Arnav,' Khushi intervened quickly, 'we have to go the hospital right away ---'