OS - Lekin Mujhe Fark Padta Hai *Finished*

                Arnav felt a little better. He didn't know if he was supposed to feel relieved looking at her, uncomfortable and hurt, or to comfort her and be at her side when it comes to her tears. He felt as he was near to accomplish his mission. What was it? To make her confess her feelings for him? To make her blurt out the truth that it indeed makes a difference to her if he is getting engaged or not? To force her to accept the fact that she was certainly not happy at the occasion of his engagement. Whatever it was, he knew deep inside that witnessing that "hurt" look in her eyes was giving him a satisfied feeling. He knew that he was pushing her emotions to the level where they would definitely burst apart. Her tears were not giving him pleasure at all but a satisfaction that she gets affected by him, his every act affects her, his presence affects her, the thought of him getting engaged to someone else, no matter who it was, is indeed tearing her apart inside. He wanted to assure her that everything would be all right, that everything will be placed at its right place in their lives, that he, himself, would make everything right in their lives, but to do that, he needed to make her realize that nothing was going right at present. It was necessary for him to make her aware of what has actually happened to both of them. The moment she refused to nod in positive that he affects her, was when he felt that it was his responsibility to let her know of his importance in her life. He did not plan to hurt her, to make her beautiful, dark brown eyes shed tears, to tear her vulnerable heart into million pieces, to do anything at all, but he had a new goal in his life now that he needed to accomplish before he slips a diamond ring into La's ring-finger. He had set his mind onto only one thing, and that was to make her realize that she is not separated from him. She was a part of him. She was the fragrance of his garden and he, he was an inseparable part of her life. Her jalebis held no existence without the sweetness of his touch. Her laughter held no importance unless she laughed out with him. Her smile held no value if it wasn't for him. It was just two of them, made for each other. To be with each other, as soul mate, for the rest of their lives.

                The ringtone of his cell phone broke his chain of thoughts. He looked at her, staring right back at him with million questions in her eyes. Probably she wanted to ask him the reason behind his rude behavior towards her, his cold looks at her. Only if she knew how much he longs to cup her face and kiss away the sadness taking over her angelic face, he thought. He left the room as an excuse to answer the annoying call. It was Aman, his right-handed employee, whom he trusted the most in his business. This guy will definitely have to pay hard time for all his interferences between me and her, he thought with a determined look. He finished his business on phone and stepped inside the boutique once again, only to make a fist with his warm fingers. He completely hated the scene in front of him. He felt as if his eyes were getting burned at the sight his eyes were witnessing. Khushi was smiling. Yes, she was smiling. He didn't care to notice if her eyes were even with her lips where that little breathtaking smile was playing but his heart melted looking at her, smiling. He wanted to join her in happy times, to take her hand in his and smile back but his blood boiled in rage at the person she was smiling at. A mere salesman. How dare that cheap and synthetic type man get to touch her hair, to move away the hair strands bothering her little precious eyes and get to brush her soft skin with the back of his hands? How in the would the-one-and-only ASR ever bear to see HIS KHUSHI being touched by any other man? That was impossible. That was not what he had been expecting to see after that little conversation he had with her moments ago. The salesman was fixing the dupatta on Khushi's shoulder. The same dupatta which had the tag attached to it and the tag he had used to pierce through her heart, once again. Khushi was resting on a little sofa and THAT man was facing her, kneeling down a few inches away. The look on her face clearly showed that she was certainly not uncomfortable with this man around her as she always feel around Arnav. She was rubbing her palm across the rough surface of the gold embroidery that framed the red colored dupatta. She had clearly informed him about her dislike towards that expensive piece of cloth but here the look in her eyes was speaking her mind that she indeed liked the dress. Or probably that creepy salesman had been successful in convincing his lady that how that particular dress was just made for her, he thought. Well, the man had been wrong in this case as it was Khushi, his Khushi, his angel who had been made for this lehnga, not the lehnga itself. He smiled at his thought and noticed La standing besides Khushi to her left and smiling with a twinkle in her eyes at Khushi. La saw Arnav watching them and ran upto him. Arnavji, this dress suits Chamkeeli the best, doesn't it, she asked side hugging him. Her touch irritated him to the core but he had to tolerate it just for her, just for the sake of his own love. Whatever is it, was the only reply he could think of that suited this moment the best, and she looked at him with that same quizzical look in her eyes.

                The manager packed the dresses the girls bought in pink and shiny handbags and handed them over to La and Khushi, respectively. La had forced Khushi to buy that lehnga for her and ASR's engagement. She wanted everything perfect for her engagement. Not that she disliked Khushi's outfits but the thought of her best friend looking gorgeous at her engagement had lead her down the way. She had bought a pink and blue lehnga for herself and was keen to imagine herself and her Chamkeeli the night of the engagement, a few days after. She grabbed onto her handbag and pulled Khushi out the boutique in a rush, leaving Arnav behind for the payment. Arnav didn't leave after paying off the bill but left for the same spot where that creepy, as to him, man had dared to touch his Khushi Kumari Gupta. He walked to the place and noticed the man coming towards his way. This is even better, he thought.  He stood still nearby a piece of saree hanging at the wall, pretending as if he was interested in the orange colored piece of cloth, and waited till he could make out the man's figure nearby him, with his periphery vision. He turned abruptly when the salesman approached to his side, causing the poor one to lose balance and hit the ground. The salesman turned on his back with a worried face as if he was apologizing to the great ASR for something he hadn't done. Sorry, who could expect that from ASR? Rather than giving the person a hand to stand stable on his feet, ASR rushed back to the entrance, not without hitting the little statue to his right and causing it to fall on the man's chest. He heard the man wincing in pain, faintly, while approaching the door of the boutique, thinking, that's what you get boy when you mess up with MY Khushi.

                The ride to the home was full of silence as La, sitting besides Arnav in the passenger seat, was busy making notes on her phone about the things she needed to get done before her engagement. Arnav kept stealing glances every second at Khushi in the rearview mirror, who was lost taking in the diversity of traffic on the roads of Delhi. She was unaware of what had made Arnav stay back in the store for so long after they left the store. Ofcourse La had wondered but decided to keep quiet as she didn't want to enrage her to-be fianc at any cost. Arnav walked straight to his room, shutting  the door behind him, causing everyone to jump at the sudden noise. He went straight to the restroom, took a warm shower, thinking back about what he did to that stranger salesman. He wondered at his own reaction but as usual, came up with a silly excuse. Khushi is engaged to someone and that salesman had no right to touch her with his dirty hands. Yes. It was indeed a good way to calm his nerves down but he knew, he knew deep inside that that wasn't the case. He shrugged off her thoughts and went downstairs to ask OP for a cup of tea.