14. OS 19. His Elusive Lover (Part 14)

Part 14

Arnav stared at the gorgeous girl standing in his bedroom, her unbound hair flying behind her, her sleeveless white suit outlining her delicious body in ways that sent his blood rushing south.

“A..Arnavji...” she gasped.

“Kya hua, Khushi?” he managed to croak, holding together his unbuttoned white shirt with one hand. He had just gotten out of the washroom after a quick shower before working a few more hours and she had surprised him.

“Woh...woh...” she pointed to her room, unable to verbalise the threat standing on the other side of her door.

Arnav looked at the faint shine of tears in her hazel eyes, the pulse pounding at her throat, the way she was hugging herself with her arms and her heaving chest. Something was definitely wrong.

“Come with me,” he instructed softly before marching to her room through the connecting door.

She followed him on unsteady legs. Once in the room, she pointed at the door knob with a shaking hand.

As Arnav watched, the knob moved. Someone was trying to open Khushi’s bedroom door from the corridor. His lips tightened and his eyes became flinty. It could only be Shyam.

“It is Shyam. I am going to open the door,” he warned Khushi in an undertone.

She looked at him with wide, terrified eyes.

He blinked for a second to calm her down without words, to reassure her that he would take care of the problem, that she would be always safe with him.

Khushi drew in deep, calming breaths.

“Shut the connecting door,” he murmured and Khushi rushed to do it.

Arnav set about opening the door to the corridor. He lowered the bar and unlocked and unlatched the door.

Then, with a warning glance at Khushi, pulled open the panels of the door to see a Shyam standing there, his nose literally twitching in excitement.

His eyes widened in shock when they fell on Arnav.

Arnav frowned. “Jijaji? Here? At this time of the night?” he asked, running a casual hand through his disarrayed hair as though settling the strands that Khushi’s eager fingers had disarranged.

Shyam gulped. He hadn’t expected Arnav in Khushi’s room at midnight.

“Saalesaheb...” Shyam bleated. “Aap...yahan?”

Arnav smiled slightly. “You know how it is,” he said in a man-to-man voice. He ran one hand over his bare chest, letting the two sides of his white shirt fall apart to reveal his muscled torso and washboard stomach. “Khushi and I...we get so little time together after work.” He shrugged, giving the impression that he and Khushi had been engaged in foreplay.

Shyam’s scrambled brain cells tried to find an excuse for being there at midnight.

“What are you doing here, jijaji?” Arnav asked.

“I..I..” Shyam struggled to find an answer.

“Where is di?” Arnav asked, leaning forward as if to check if Anjali too was present in the corridor.

“I..I wanted to talk to you, Saalesaheb. I..I..thought..thought this was your room,” Shyam managed to find an excuse.

Arnav frowned again.

“My room is the first one, jijaji. This is the second room,” he countered. “What did you want to see me about?”

Shyam floundered.

Arnav continued, “If it is about me depositing money in di’s account, that will take a week or more. And if it is about giving you money to buy a new house in Delhi, I am afraid that’s not possible.”

Shyam’s big eyes bulged in shock.

Arnav threw a loving look at Khushi standing behind him, a look that only Shyam was fortunate enough to see.

“I am entering a new phase of my life and need to look out for myself,” Arnav continued. “I am sure you will understand, jijaji.”

Shyam could only stare at Arnav. All the castles he had built in air came tumbling down to fall at his feet.

“You and di have been married for three years now, jijaji and I have been paying all your expenses. It is high time you took responsibility for yourself and for your wife,” Arnav said quietly, making it clear that the era of handouts had ended.

Rage filled Shyam. One, his sacrifice of taking on a partner like Anjali had gone waste if no more money was coming his way. Two, his plans for his future had been dashed to the ground by Arnav’s decision to marry Khushi. Three, Arnav was actively involved with Khushi and there was no space for him in her life. He took a deep breath. Revealing his ire to Arnav would end his game that very moment. He needed time to regroup.

“I..I am sorry, Saalesaheb, for disturbing you,” Shyam said, his lascivious eyes still trying to get a glimpse of Khushi who was hiding behind Arnav. He could see only the top of her head.

“I am sure you will excuse us now,” Arnav said, turning to put his arm around Khushi’s shoulders and tug her to stand by him.

Shyam took one more look at the couple, felled by fury he couldn’t express and then walked away.

“Wait till he leaves,” Arnav murmured.

Khushi said nothing.

Shyam vanished from their sight and Arnav looked down at Khushi.

She was shaking.

He looked at his arm.

It was around her back and his fingers were on her bare arm. Her soft body was pressed sideways against his bare chest.

His fingers moved slightly.

She trembled further.

He swallowed hard, his throat feeling like Thar desert.

Their hearts galloped, their breathing became choppy. They stood, caught in the firm grasp of passionate desire, the craving and hunger new to both of them.