Accidentally In Love - Chapter 20

An awkward silence filled the main hall after Payal and Rahul's departure. Nani and Mami soon retreated upstairs to their own rooms and Akash, after staring longingly at the door Payal had exited from, joined them. Arnav and Fateh stood side by side staring at a stricken looking Anjali and feeling like they were 10 years old again and Rahul and Anjali had, had their first large fight. 

"Uh Di..?" Arnav began softly. Anjali jolted and glanced at Arnav, Fateh, and Khushi as though she had just remembered they were there.

"Voh uh Chote hum - hum bass abhi aaye. That - Arnav I - I'll be right back." she finished lamely, limping towards the stairs and disappearing into her own bedroom. 

The silence was deafening. Arnav felt his stress levels begin to rise again, thinking about what this would do to Di. Whether she'd be able to handle Rahul's reappearance in her life so soon after Shyam's desertion. Glancing down, he caught Khushi's eye. She was watching him with an unreadable expression in her eyes, an intensity of sorts. 

He took a small step closer to her and cleared his throat softly, intending to speak. She continued to regard him, her complete focus centred around Arnav as he opened his mouth to speak and -

"Hey Khushi, how do you know Rahul?"

He was going to kill Fateh any day now and that was that. Khushi seemed to jolt out of her, for once, Arnav-centric world and turned to look at Fateh. 

"Voh, jab hum Lucknow mein rehte teh, toh kuch derr ke liye aapke bhai humare padosi teh. Unki aur humari dosti khoob jamgayi aur voh Jiji ke bhi kaafi kareeb agaye teh. Leken phir voh business ke silsile mein chale gaye aur ajj humne unhe dobara dekh liya. Bada maza aaya! When I lived in Lucknow, your brother was my neighbour for a while. He and I became fast friends, and him and Payal got pretty close too. But then he moved abroad for business and then I see him again today! It was amazing!" 

"Khushi?" The trio glanced up as Payal poked her head through the door, politely smiling at Arnav and Fateh before focusing her gaze on Khushi.

"Chalo, let's go. Buaji Rahulji se milna chahti hai. Buaji wants to meet Rahul." Khushi nodded animatedly and said an enthusiastic goodbye to Fateh before turning to Arnav and freezing almost entirely. 

"Uh well..  namaste -bye Arnavji." She said softly, wrapping her arms around herself and nodding jerkily before fleeing out the door. 

"Bye Khushi." He muttered dejectedly as the door swung shut behind her with a dull thud and once again Shantivan plunged into silence. 

"Does this make me Harry?" 

"Shut the hell up Fateh." 

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"Okay boys. Akash is getting married in a week. Which means that we only have a week of fun left munchkins." Dhruv said clapping his hands together enthusiastically.

"Munchkin my ass, you are the youngest one here." Fateh said matter-of-factly and Akash nodded in agreement.

"Fateh don't be a little bitch okay? We are here to enjoy ourselves and that is what we will do." Dhruv declared and brought out a box from behind him.

"Guess what I brought?" He asked slowly and Akash looked uneasy at the implication.

"Cake?"

"No."

"Cookies?"

"No."

"Cheetos?"

"No."

"ICE CREAM?!"

"NO!"

"Then I'm not interested." Fateh scoffed, and Dhruv rolled his eyes, stalking closer to the pair before pulling a long, clear bottle out of the box.

"Is that -"

"No -"

"You didn't - "

"HOW DID YOU CLEAR CUSTOMS?!" Akash broke out with a shocked gasp.

"Well bend me over and fuck me silly - you brought me VODKA?!" Fateh crooned, yanking the bottle out of Dhruv's hand and cradling it to him.

"OHH AND IT'S THE RUSSIAN KIND." He groaned and Dhruv looked slightly disgusted before wrestling the bottle away from him.

"ACTUALLY IT'S FOR BHAI! I was gonna give it to him to try and butter him up so he'd give me a job," Dhruv admitted and Fateh snorted as Akash rolled his eyes.

"But now I think I might need to give it to him just so he doesn't kill me for hypothetically attempting to marry his woman."

"No bottle of vodka is going to stop me from killing you, you little shit." Arnav snarled from the doorway and Akash started snickering while Fateh plucked the bottle from Dhruv's now limp grip.

"See? He's going to offer you up as a sacrifice to Hades either way, so you might as well give that to someone who will put it to good use."

"Bhai! BHAI! MERI BAAT TOH SUNIYE. LISTEN TO ME. BHAI - NAHIN PLEASE!" Dhruv shrieked as Arnav stalked towards him, a steady growl erupting from between his clenched teeth.

"2 minutes. You have 2 minutes." Arnav snapped out , standing completely still; his frame was tensed and he glared down at  Dhruv who smiled meekly.

"Firstly, dayumn my brother you have some severe lycanthropic tendencies. Ever considered being chained on the full moon?"

When Arnav didn't laugh and Fateh and Akash boo-ed in disappointment, Dhruv hastened to continue after glaring at them sharply.

"Bhai - I - I ship you and Khushi - er Bhabhi?. Seriously you guys are my new OTP!"

"Your what?" Arnav said quietly, his brow furrowing in confusion. His expression however, hadn't softened in the slightest and Dhruv took that as a bad sign.

"OTP CMON ARNAV WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR LIFE!" Fateh called out, shaking his head as he passed the bottle to Akash.

"One True Pairing Bhai, aur kya? What else?" Akash said condescendingly, as he downed a swig of vodka before chuckling.

"Voh kya hai na, Di ne yeh sab kuch mujhse karaya. DI MADE ME DO ALL THIS. OTHERWISE, HEY I DON'T CARE. KHUSHI'S ALL YOURS." Dhruv cried, his hands up in surrender around him.

This was it. The moment of - well death. Arnav was going to finish him off once and for all and Dhruv would never again see the light of day. He would never get married, get a job, or even get to drink that expensive as fuck Vodka.

"Fucking hell Di - pass me the bottle you little bitches."
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"Well Arnav ma boy, I do believe you are drunk." Fateh said laughing at Arnav who was lying on one of the couches staring at the ceiling in a contemplative manner.

"I don't know, am I?" Arnav asked in a soft voice and Fateh gave a snort. "Is it really possible to be drunk? Or do we all just lose the fear that others will judge us."

"Woah there Oprah, calm your balls. I don't need another in depth discussion on Quantum Mechanics like the last time you had a few too many."

"Quantum Mechanics? Man, Physics is just amazing." Arnav began and Fateh groaned angrily.

"HEY ARNAV, ARNAV! LET'S TALK ABOUT KHUSHI! KHUSHI HUH, YEAAAH KHUSHI, PRETTY GIRL." Fateh encouraged with a cheesy smile and enthusiastic nods to further his point.

"Khushi?" Arnav asked, a slow smile spreading across his face and Fateh resisted the urge to squeal like a fangirl.

"Yessssss Khussssshi Kumaaaarriii Guptaaaaa. Remember her? You used to call me and complain about her at 3 am Toronto time?"

"How could I complain about Khushi? Khushi's perfect." Arnav crooned and Fateh snorted, choking on his laughter.

"Khushi Kumari Gupta is the most insolent, ridiculous, incompetent human being I've ever had the displeasure of unfortunately laying my eyes on." Fateh growled in a convincing impersonation of Arnav, who now hung off the sofa to stare at him with a poker face.

"Yo fuck you dude." he said simply and Fateh started to laugh.

"You care about her man." Arnav nodded in response to the statement and sighed as he fell back into thought.

Did he know whether he loved Khushi? Well - yes he did. He knew it well.

Was he going to admit that to Khushi? Well... that was another matter entirely.

"The way I see it Stud Muffin, there is no time like the present.  You love her? YOU TELL HER YOU LOVE HER. DO IT RIGHT NOW."

"NOW?!" Arnav gasped, sitting ramrod straight with a few spluttered coughs.

"RIGHT. NOW. Before some creep with a paan stall comes along." Fateh said emphatically.

"Who is this creep?!" Arnav growled dangerously, and Fateh groaned.

"Goddamn it dumbshit, you're missing the basic point here." He quipped, "Go tell Khushi you love her."

"I love her? I love her. I LOVE HER. THAT'S RIGHT. I DO." Arnav said, standing up and pacing the rug, "I. Love. Khushi. Oh fuck no, Fateh I love Khushi, what do I DO!?" His voice took on a high note of desperation at the end and Fateh dragged his hand down his face slowly with a low groan of exasperation.

"I knew I should have been friends with Manish Malhotra instead. Hey assbutt, how about you do what we discussed and you tell her."

"Okay," Arnav said solidly, and nodded sternly before whipping around again with a horrified expression on his face, "How do I do that?!"

"Open your mouth, and the words will come." Fateh said slowly and Arnav nodded again.

"What if she rejects me?" He cried, sitting on the floor at Fateh's feet with a muttered curse.

"Well then she rejects you, that's her choice. But you'll never know if you don't try. Besides, she won't judge you. Hopefully. Trust me I'm practically a human behaviour specialist." Fateh said soothingly, rubbing Arnav's head.

"You took one High School Sociology course," Arnav muttered, before taking a deep breath and gathering all his courage.

"Okay Fateh, you're gonna drive me to Khushi's house, and we're gonna tell her. I mean - I'm going to tell her. I'm going to tell her ki mujhe farq kyun padta hai. I'm going to tell her why it matters to me." Arnav said firmly before standing up and walking out towards the car with a new sense of determination.

"Why what matters? Crazy man," Fateh muttered before doing a happy dance of victory and quickly following Arnav out.

Khushi and Arnav were totally about to become a thing.