Harvest Moon

Chapter 14

ARNAV stepped into the living room to see Khushi washing the dishes in the kitchen after dinner. They had returned a couple of hours ago after the hospital had discharged him reluctantly. The doctors had suggested another night stay but he had vehemently refused assuring them he would take all the medication prescribed as wells as the diet restrictions that needed to be followed. After one night at the hospital he was glad to be back home.

Somehow this domestic scene looked too good to be true. It was time for a talk.

"Khushi — " He said, "Thank you for taking care of me at the hospital."

"You gave me a fright." Khushi had no idea where she had found the strength to manage the whole ordeal that had begun when she had spotted the bite mark on Arnav's leg. She shuddered to think what might have happened if she had missed it.

"Khushi — " Arnav walked into the small kitchen and took the utensil from her hand so he could wipe it clean. "I want you to know how very grateful I am to you for bringing me my mother's letter. You don't know how much it means to me — to know that I at least had one parent I could look up to."

"Arnavji — please — I just happened to find it accidentally."

"I can't believe we hadn't found it in all these years," he said.

"It was probably because it was too painful for you all to look through their personal belongings."

Khushi was right. The entire family had coped with the horrifying incident by never talking about it. He had tried to suppress his memories to the extent that he barely remembered his childhood.

"Arnavji?" She looked up at him. "Do you think you will change your mind now about doing the ceremony this year?" She paused. "It will mean a lot to Naniji."

They were standing so close that their arms almost touched. He would have said yes to anything she asked for right this moment. "I will." This wasn't good for his own health. He walked back into the living room and sat down on the sofa.

"Khushi I think you should go back to Faridkot," He said in a rush, "I can take care of myself now — "

"You just got out of the hospital and you are still weak," Khushi pointed out.

"This house is not going to be comfortable for you — it's pretty rustic here. This house is just a temporary place for me to crash when I am here. It doesn't have and AC or a television. I haven't even installed an inverter here and the power goes out a lot."

"You know Daler is taking off in a couple of days, don't you?" She asked him, "He wants to go home so he can attend some mela —"

"Oh hell — I completely forgot about the Jor mela."

Daler had told her that every year a religious fair took place at the Kandh Sahib Gurdwara in the centre of the town, to commemorate the marriage of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikh religion.

Another thought occurred to him. "What about your new job at school?"

"I took care of that," she said smugly, "I convinced Navneet to help out Mr. Bedi until I get back."

"Wow that's pretty resourceful of you." He quipped.

"Don't be sarcastic," she said coming up to him. "You took care of me when I was hurt — It's my turn now."

"So you are returning the favour." He stood up, his brown eyes simmering.

"Yes," Her heart skipped a beat as his eyes bore into hers.. "I don't want you to taunt me about not keeping my end of the bargain." She took a step back.