Incandescent

Chapter 13

December 2017

The December air was brisk and cold as Khushi let herself into the courtyard of Gomti Sadan, her home in Lucknow. She took in a deep breath, taking in the refreshing scent of home and the delicious aroma of her mother's cooking wafting in from the kitchen. She gave in to the memories of life as it had been just last year, carefree, light and beautiful.

Her mother came out from the kitchen just then to retrieve something from the fridge and stopped short when she saw Khushi.

"Khusi? When did you come? Why didn't you call out to me?"

Khushi may have been really angry with her mother but at that moment all she wanted was to hug her and she did just that, running to envelop her in a bear hug.

"Amma.. feels so good to be back home.."

Garima returned the hug with equal affection and stood back to survey her daughter, "You look so beautiful..."

"Look who has come home. Looks like someone finally remembered their old babuji..." Shashi Gupta entered through the front door and walked towards Khushi, splaying his hands wide. And within seconds, his arms were engulfing his darling daughter in a tight embrace. Unlike her mother, his comments on her appearance was more like, "Do you even eat anymore?"

Later, after Khushi had refreshed and put her things away, she gave both her parents the gifts she had got them from Delhi. She had bought a beautiful watch for her father which she thought was elegant and perfect to go with her father's personality. Her mother's gift was a saree from Elan's ethnic collections. Her father loved his gift and immediately wore it saying he would never remove it.

"Haan babuji. This watch will always remind you of me..." Khushi said.

"Bas ek saree? Aur kuch nahi layi? You've come home after almost a year," her mother asked which made Shashi and Khushi look at each other and roll their eyes.

Garima huffed and walked back to the kitchen, Khushi in tow. As the dishes simmered on the stove, Khushi let her mother to ramble and complain about anything and everything with an indulgent smile.

The next day morning, Khushi overslept, snuggled into her bed and blanket. At this rate, she thought she was never going to go back to Delhi. The thought of work invariably went to thoughts of Arnav and she had already spent last night tossing and turning unable to block him out of her mind.

She couldn't understand his audacity, the way he had touched her. But whenever she felt anger at being handled that way, she also knew that she had given him the space. She hadn't stopped him, had she?

The need to be with him felt like an ache, deep inside of her. But she couldn't do it. She couldn't hurt herself like that. She could not risk just an affair with him.

Didn't she hear his thoughts about love and marriage?

She would very easily fall in love with him and he will never love her back. Then why had she been so happy when he had said Samira was just his friend? He wanted her, he had made no secrets about that. But to want someone and to love and care for someone is different.

They were different.

She had to pull up her defenses. She couldn't let this happen to herself. In an attempt at defense, she tried to mentally tick off the faults in him.

Arrogant
Short-tempered
Authoritative
Demanding
Self-assured

But somehow these shortcomings didn't matter at all. They all seemed like compliments and her brain also seemed to come up with adjectives to retaliate.