ArShi FF : The Boy Next Door

ii. Almost Kisses and Confused Feelings

A/N: Italics is for Khushi's thoughts.

Khushi was busy hogging the kheer her mother had made, so much so that she didn't have a clue of the conversation going on.

Ever since she had realised that Arnav was her neighbour, she had been avoiding that thought completely. She knew if she fell down that rabbit hole, there was no coming back. So she decided to focus all her attention on the delicious sweet-dish.

"Raizadas"

Khushi was was suddenly pulled out of her vortex of relaxation and she choked with her eyes widening at the name.

Thanks a lot, Raizadas.

"What? What about Raizadas?" Khushi asked after having a glass of water to gulp down the kheer she'd choked on.

"Calm down, Khushi. This girl is always behaving weirdly and I fail to understand why", Buaji said.

"Buaji, tell me, what about the Raizadas?"

"Oh god, Khushi. Would you relax? You should be happy. They are our neighbours again!" Buaji exclaimed with a big smile.

Oh shit. I just hope they didn't-

"We've invited them for dinner tomorrow!"

Here goes my plan to focus on my job and settle. Good going, Gupta's!

Her mother went on to explain how buaji and her had met Arnav's naani earlier that day in the park when they had gone there to relax.

But Khushi wasn't interested. It didn't matter how it happened, what mattered was the fact that she was going to meet Arnav and his family after all these years and she had absolutely no idea how to react.

The clock ticked by faster than it normally would in those 24 hours. Perhaps, it was the fact that Khushi had kept herself busy prepping herself for her first day at work, helping out in chores and did whatever she had to keep herself from thinking about Arnav.

When she realised that it was dinner time, the panic struck her. She got up and raided her wardrobe looking for something to wear. Arnav was going to see her after so long and if she showed up looking like a hot clumsy mess, she would crawl under her blanket and never come out.

She settled on casual t-shirt dress that fit her form, mostly because the bell had just rung and she didn't have any more time to try the 15 other things that she'd picked out.

She rushed downstairs and saw the Raizadas being welcomed at the door by her family. Hugs, warm greetings, talking about how long it had been and there he was - Arnav, in his black suit and perfectly gelled hair.

Their eyes met and Khushi's anxiety just sky rocketed. Arnav smiled looking at her and she could've sworn that he'd just checked her out. Not that she minded, obviously but it sure did tense her up. As soon as he started walking towards her, she quickly walked and greeted Anjali with a hug and guided her into the house towards the dining table. She knew that everybody would follow Anjali and she needed things to move quickly because she wanted to be done with this dreadful evening.

Arnav looked a little confused, Khushi could see that from the corner of the eye but she didn't say anything or met his gaze. The dinner had been going smoothly with nostalgia hitting everybody until her father asked Khushi, "Why don't you show Arnav around the house? It's been so long since you two talked. Remember? You two were inseparable!

Everybody laughed and joined in adding their anecdotes on how the two of them were "inseparable. Khushi looked at Arnav and he tilted his head pointing for them to go.

This is such a bad idea. I can feel it in my gut.

They walked towards the balcony not saying anything, just walking side by side. In all honesty, Khushi just didn't know how to start the conversation. There had been so many times in the past years Khush had wanted to call Arnav but didn't and now... when he was right in front of her,  she didn't know what to say.

"So, what's your deal, Khushi?"

The breeze hit them as they stepped out and so did his question. Khushi looked up at him and went, "What?" Khushi didn't know what to expect of the part of the evening that would break the ice between them but this was certainly not how she wanted it to.

"What's your deal? Why so tensed, anxious and bechaari? That's not the Khushi Kumari Gupta I was expecting tonight" Arnav said with his signature smirk and suddenly somewhere some switch flicked and Khushi knew that this was really her Arnav.

"Which Khushi Kumari Gupta were you expecting?" Khushi smiled and leaned on the railing, still looking at him.

"The one that grew up to be gorgeous and was still sweet but sassy." Arnav took a step towards her as he said, "well, I guess you do live up to the first part of that sentence."

Saying that Khushi's heart was racing would be an understatement. Her heart was pounding out of her chest would be more suitable because the fact that Arnav thought Khushi had grown up to be gorgeous was definitely not what she was predicting.

"But sadly, you don't seem like the sassy, headstrong chick anymore. Did I take your sass in my suitcase when I left?" Arnav joked and his smirk was back again.

Khushi hadn't realised how close they were actually standing or she wouldn't have said what came out of her mouth next.

"You took away a lot of things with you when you left..."

Khushi said that, almost like a whisper. It was meant for only him to her and he did, as the smirk on his face was replaced by a serious expression with his eyes boring into hers looking for the hidden meaning of her statement. But deep down, he knew.

"Khushi I..." His eyes wavered to her lips as he realised the proximity between them. Both their breaths heavied and Arnav struggled to keep his eyes off her lips just as much as he struggled to get anymore words out his mouth.

Khushi noticed it all and the thought she had earlier came right back to her:

This is such a bad idea. I can feel it in my gut.

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