Retrouvaille: An IPKKND FanFiction

Chapter Thirteen: Broken Realities

Khushi jerked back to reality as the elevator come to a stop and beeped. Her hand nervously wrapped itself around her dupatta when she heard a mechanical voice announce that she had reached the parking level at AR. She dragged herself out of the elevator as soon as the doors opened but came to a sudden stop in the middle of the parking garage. She suppressed a sob and took a deep breath, trying to locate her borrowed AR sedan among the rows of expensive cars parked across from her. Mercifully, she saw Mohan approaching her from the periphery of her vision. She sighed in relief.

"Mohan ji," she called out, putting as much weight in her voice as she could, "Can you please drive me back home? No – actually, can you take me to Laxmi Nagar?"

She saw Mohan nod before he sprinted to a white BMW parked to his right. No sooner did she wish to follow, she heard footsteps behind her. A click, her mind corrected itself, something that sounded like a pointed heel. She took a deep breath and brushed off the lone tear that threatened to burst out of her eye. She couldn't be caught a nervous wreck in the AR Garage. Not anymore, she told herself, not when she was married to Arnav.

"Whenever you are ready, Ma'am," she heard Mohan.

"Give me a minute," she said as she turned on her heels and was forced to flash a smile when she saw Lisa walk towards her, her hips moving sideways to match her delicate but poised gait.

"Khushi," Lisa chirped, "Nice to see you here again! I didn't get a chance to properly thank you at the studio – you literally saved me from ASR's wrath. If only he had heard I had delayed it."

"Not a problem," said Khushi, "I'm glad I could help. Did the rest of the shoot go well?"

"Couldn't have gone smoother after you left," she replied airily, leaning against a car next to her. But she quickly re-adjusted her posture when they heard a pair of hurried footsteps approach them, "Oh, hi ASR!" she greeted him.

"Lisa," Arnav acknowledged nonchalantly, but his concerned eyes were fixed on the woman in vivid glittering pink standing next to the supermodel he had hired. He was quick to notice her go stiff with his arrival; her eyes suddenly developed an interest in the concrete pavement of his garage. "Didn't think I'd see you here," he added for Lisa's benefit, his gaze still fixed on his wife. His eyes slightly softened as soon as he noted a hint of uncertainty and hesitation in Khushi's demeanor. She looked nervous to him; she appeared too strained to be forced into a taller posture – a position that wasn't natural about the woman he had come to know all of last year.

"Oh, I was about to head out when I ran into Khushi here," Lisa's words pulled Arnav out of his chain of thoughts, "She was a great help during the shoot today. We couldn't have done it without her."

Arnav nodded at nothing in particular, "Yes, I just heard about that. I'm not surprised; she is one of the smartest people I know."

"Arnie," she lightly tapped his shoulder and let her fingers wander around his blazer as she spoke, "You underestimate her, hon. She is fantastic," she said, enunciating each syllable.

Arnav tore his gaze from Khushi, who had been staring at the ground ever since he had joined the conversation, and stared at Lisa's hand informally resting on his shoulder. Deep within, he was relieved that Khushi did not witness Lisa's attempt at being closer to him, however casual and unpremeditated that it was. He exhaled and lightly brushed the hand off him.

"I know that about my wife, Lisa," he said as calmly as he could, trying not to pull Khushi's attention towards them. She deserved better. She did not have to see this part of his world – a world where professional and personal boundaries habitually merged and separated without a warning. A glamorous world where beauty only ran skin-deep. A world where relationships were meant to be insincere, unfaithful, and superficial. A world far removed from hers.