Chapter 6: First Date (Part 2)

 

"So you decided to come to the mandir everyday after that to come see me?" she said before he even had the chance to say anything, leaving him stumped as to how she knew that.


She looked at him noticing that he wasn't saying anything and just looking at her with a somewhat shocked expression, she smiled and replied, "Piya, the girl I babysit, saw you and your car outside the mandir a couple days after the one where we met. And days after that, I'd noticed that you kept on coming."


The waiter arrived with their plates of food and set them on the table.


"But what was that you wanted to ask me," she said while beginning to feast on her pasta.


"After marriage, I will have to move to New York in order to handle our branch there. Nani has already talked with your parents about this and they have no problem, but I wanted to ask if you have any problem of moving their with me," Arnav said hesitantly not knowing what she would reply back with.


"No," she replied.


Hearing her reply, Arnav didn't know why, but he felt a bit angered. How could she just reply like that, without spending too much time thinking about it, and not explaining why she had decided that.


She could've spent more time, and replied with more than just a one word answer. They barely knew each other very well at all, but she had already decided on this?


"No?" he repeated her.


"Yeah no, I don't have a problem moving with you after marriage," Khushi said while eating her pasta.


"But how can you make that decision so quickly?" he said.


"Why? Don't you want me to come or do you want me to stay here?" she asked looking up at him.


"Of course I do, but we barely even know eachother and you already decided to move to the other side of the world with me," he said.


"You're going to be my husband, so I'll go wherever you go," she told him.
 

"Khushi," he said in a calmed voice, "I am happy that you agreed to this, because I was having doubts that maybe you wouldn't want to move away from your home, leave all your family and friends behind."


"But I also want you to know that just because I am going to be your husband, doesn't mean you have to agree with everything that I tell you, nor do you always have to do it; before marriage and even after. We live in the 21st century and will be equals in this relationship. You have the right to voice out your opinion to me and tell if you think differently than me," he finished off.


"Are you still okay about moving to New York with me after marriage?" he asked.


"Yeah I am," she replied with a slight smile.


"So tell me about you?" she asked.


"What do you want to know?" he asked.


"I don't know, a lot of things. You just said that we barely know each other, so tell me whatever you want about yourself," she said.


"Well I grew up here, then moved went to study abroad at Harvard. When I was younger, my parents died," he said.


"I'm really sorry to hear that," she interrupted.


"It is, but everything happens in life for a reason," he said.


"How did you get into fashion though?" she asked.


"My dad had been running the business before and since it was a family business, I was the one next in line. But I do enjoy it," he said.

 

 

The waiter came with the bill and Arnav paid for it then handed it back to him.

"Shall we go?" he asked and she nodded. Getting up from their chairs, they both made their way to exit the restaurant. At this time, the place was very busy. Many people coming in and many people leaving. The outside of the restaurant was very crowded, so Khushi moved closer towards him, making sure she didn't stumble in her steps. As they were exiting through the first pair of doors, someone bumped into Khushi making her loose her balance a bit but Arnav caught her and steadied her.


They heard a murmured "Sorry" come from that person yet they didn't even bother to turn around and check if she was fine, but instead just kept on walking inside.  Arnav moved Khushi in front of him, and nudged her to walk before him. Once outside, they were walking side by side.


"Uhm can your bring the car around to here?" Khushi asked him.


"Sure," he said, realizing that it might be too long of a walk for her in the dark, then left to get the car. Pulling the car to the curb near where she was standing, he leaned over from his seat and opened the door. Khushi sat in and they drove off.


"I told you a little bit about myself, what about you?" he asked.


"Me?" she said.

 

"Yeah tell me about you," he replied.


"I grew up here also, then went to college, you already know about my parents," she said and paused for a bit remembering them.


"Where do you work?" he asked trying to change the subject.


"Every morning I usually babysit Piya for a few hours because her mom parents aren't hoe, but next week she starts school so I won't have to do that anymore. But other than that I work at a bank and over the weekends volunteer at an art gallery," she said.


"Art gallery? What do you do there?" he asked.


"We usually have new pieces of art come, so I help in hanging them and setting them up. We also give art classes to kids in the afternoons on Saturdays," she said and he noticed how passionate she was about it all.


He pulled the car into her street, parking it outside her house. Khushi unbuckled her seatbelt and turned towards him, "Thank you for the dinner."


"No problem," he replied, "I'll see you again soon."


She nodded then stepped out of the car and closed the door behind her. Having only taken a few steps, she heard him calling her name then turned around to see him walking towards her.


"Yeah?" She asked.


"Woh...what's your number so I can call you," he said.


She told it to him and he added her to his contacts.


"I don't have my phone with me so I can't note down yours," she said.


"I'll send you a message from mine," he said.


"Ok goodnight," she replied.


"Goodnight," he said. She walked to the door and opened it, turning around she saw that her was still there in his car waiting for her to get in safely. She waved to him and then closed the door, haring the engine of the car fade into the wind while walking up to her room.


Arnav had just gotten home when he received a phone call, "Hello," he said picking it up.


"Sir the job is done," the voice from the other side said.

 

 

Chapter 5: First Date

"Uncle and Aunty, if I have your permissions, can I take Khushi out to dinner tomorrow?" he asked.


"Sure Beta," Sashi replied. Sashi and Garima left the doorway, leaving only Khushi and Arnav alone there.


"I'll pick you up at seven," he said.


"Okay, sounds good," she replied leaving him a bit surprised since he'd never heard her speak in English before.


"You speak English?" slipped out of his mouth, then he realized how offensive it might've sounded to her.


"Yeah," Khushi said.


"Oh, it's just that I didn't know, hope you didn't--" he said but was interrupted by her.


"No problem, we barely know each other yet, so it's acceptable to not have known," she said.


"I'll see you tomorrow," he said.


"See you," she replied and he turned around to leave. Maybe there's much more to his soon-to-be-wife that he would've thought, Arnav thought walking to his car.


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The next evening Arnav walked down the stairs getting ready to leave for Khushi's house.


"Yea Beti, I will tell him to tell her about it," Nani said on the phone and then saw him coming down, "Chotte!" she called out.


"Ok I'll talk to you later," she said onto the phone and hung it up.


"Yeah Nani?" he asked. And came to stand by Anjali who was sitting on the sofa also.


"I just spoke to Garima on the phone about the wedding. We decided that Khushi bitiya and your wedding will happen a week before you leave for New York," she said.


"But why a week before?" he asked.


"Don't you want to go on a honeymoon Chotte?" Anjali said with a cheeky smile trying to tease him but dropped it once he gave her a glare.


"And we will have Payal and Akash's wedding after a few months, but both engagements will be held in two weeks," Nani said.


"That's fine with me," Arnav said.


"I didn't ask you if it was fine with you or not," Nani said, "I wanted to tell you that I've talked with Garima and Sashi about you having to move to New York and they have no problem, But you will be one who has to break the news to Khushi."


Break the news to her? Arnav thought. He had totally forgotten about moving to New York, and having to take her along also. But would she agree to doing that just for him?


"Nani I'll talk to her about it tonight," he said and left the house. Upon driving at Khushi's house, he got out of the car and went to knock on the door. A few seconds later the door was opened by a beautiful sight in front of him. Khushi. She was wearing a beige colored dress that came up to her knees, with a bow securing it around her waist. Her hair was in loose curls, resting just in the middle of her back.

 

 

"Hi," she said when nothing came out of his mouth.


"Hey," he said in a husky voice and then broke out of his reverie, "Shall we go?" he asked stepping aside to let her come out.


Khushi stepped out then closed the door behind her and they both walked to the car. ARnav moved in front of her to open the door, she stepped in with her left foot and sat on the seat. He noticed she was having difficulty in lifting her right foot in, so he lifted it in for her.


"Thank you," she said and he in return just smiled at her. He closed the door and made his way to the driver's side while she put on her seat belt.


Arnav started driving and looked over at her, she was just sitting looking outside the window.


"So how was your day?" he asked trying to start up a conversation.


"It was good, how was yours?" she said looking at him for the first time since they had sat in the car.


"Not very interesting, just had a lot of meetings with a some other companies," he said.


"Meetings usually are boring," Khushi replied, "Especially when people talk in monotone voices, just like professors."


"Where did you go to study?" he asked her curiously.


"I got a Degree in Accounting from the University of Mumbai," she said.


"So do you like math and numbers a lot?" he asked.


"It was my best subject at school and I enjoyed doing it, but I also liked art," she said as they pulled into the parking lot of a fancy restaurant, a restaurant that she usually wasn't used to eating at.


"But why didn't you go into art?' he asked.


"Just not a lot of job available these days," she replied. He had parked the car and went over to her side to open the door; taking her hand he helped her out. Khushi stepped out and straightened her dress.


They walked towards the restaurant that was shining with lights and very elegantly decorated on the inside.


"Welcome Mr. Raizada," the man in the front said to them as they walked in and Khushi assumed that he probably visited her frequently.He looked down at his booklet in front of him that was sitting on the small podium, " Table for two reserved, number 7."


When they walked in, a few heads turned towards them. It wasn't everyday you saw Arnav Singh Raizada in a restaurant and that too not for business purposes. Khushi suddenly felt self conscious of herself at all these people staring at her, of course people stared at her because of her limp. But now standing next to such a big man, she didn't know what to do. Before thinking any further, an arm wrapped around her waist. Even though she was wearing a dress, she could still felt the contact of his warm skin against hers, sending a new sensation she had never felt before through her body.


She looked up at him and her eyes made contact with his warm honey colored ones. He had said something to her and for some reason she hadn't heard it, but by the way his lips moved it seemed like he had said "Relax."


He walked her over to their table, then moved his chair out for her and they she sat down. The waiter arrived with the menus and they began looking through them. He arrived back in a few minutes to take their order.


"What would you like sir?" he asked.


"What's the special today?" Arnav asked.


"Raviolli chicken pasta," he replied.


"I'll have that then," Arnav said.


"And would you like the same ma'am?" the waiter asked to Khushi.


"No, I'm a vegetarian. But I'll have the Italian Pasta with Marinara sauce," Khushi replied to him. He wrote it down and walked to the kitchen.


She's a vegetarian? Arnav thought. How the hell would that work out? It's not like he was obsessed with meat, but he had grown up eating it his entire life.


Putting the thought aside, he decided to focus on some more important things.


"Khushi I needed to tell you something important," he began hesitantly not knowing how she would react to it.


"Ji?" she said looking up at him.


"To start off, I'm marrying you because my I will be moving to New York in two months since I have to handle my business there and Nani insisted I get married before I leave. But it's not like you're just a random girl who I chose. That time at the mandir when I saved you,  I immediately liked you," he said and paused for her to comprehend all that he had said.


"So you decided to come to the mandir everyday after that do come see me?" she said before he even had the chance to say anything, leaving him stumped as to how she knew that.

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