Dark Paradise Chapter Forty Six

Arnav groaned when he got out of the shower to see all the pictures still up on the walls, okay she'd had her fun but it was time to take them down now. He looked at Khushi happily writing in her baby book, she'd decided to keep a log for their baby to read when it was older, Arnav didn't really see the point in it. Why would their child want to know what Khushi thought when she was pregnant? She didn't make sense 99.99999% of the time, now that had gone into overdrive, poor kid would be confused if it attempted to understand the workings of Khushi's mind.
"Khushi ab bhas karo na, kafi raath ho chuki hai. Aur ha kal yeh sab photos ko vapaas meri cupboard mein honichaiyhe. Understand?" He said giving her a stealthy look. Khushi rolled her eyes.
"Humari cupboard, har cheez ab sirf tumhara nahi hai. What's mine is yours bholuji!" Khushi said with a big grin and Arnav clenched his jaw and got into bed.
"Khushi I'm serious, I don't like all this. Just get rid of it okay, I don't want to be angry with you." He warned, Khushi folded her arms over her bump.
"Nahi! Tumhe vaaje bhi nahi patta aur humhe hookum derre hoon ki saab photos ko nikalo. Nahi." She said and Arnav inhaled deeply, closed his eyes and exhaled.
"Okay, why did you put up the photos?" He asked, giving into her pagaalpaan. Khushi smiled, she wrapped her arms around one of his and rested her head on his chest.
"Aapko pata hai na ki jab ek aurat pregnant hothi hai toh jisse voh zyaada dekhe uske bucha uske roop mein attha hai?" Khushi asked and Arnav recalled hearing this silly wives tale before.
"Hmmm." He agreed, Khushi smiled, she could feel the vibrations of his confirmation through his chest.
"Well aap toh hamesha kaam mein busy hoon, aur hum yahaan kamare mein rehti hoon, toh maine socha ki tumhari tazveer lagao aur phir mera chotha sa pyaara sa Munna apne gussawala, akkarwala, lekin pyara sa Pappa pe jayega. Tik kiya na?" Khushi asked, she waited for some kind of response, a groan, a moan, an insult...anything really but all she had was silence. She looked up at Arnav whose expression was blank.
"Kya hua?" She asked.

"Nothing. You can keep the photos up, that way my princess wont turn out completely crazy like her Mamma. Goodnight Khushi." He said as he kissed her forehead and turned over to go to sleep. Khushi sat there mouth gaping, Khsuhi and pagal- how rude? She strangled the air whilst making strange faces at his back. Then stopped, as she realised it was this behaviour Arnav was talking about. Khushi scanned her eyes across the room, he hadn't seen her do it, she slowly slid down into bed and after wrapping herself around Arnav she drifted into sleep. When Khushi woke up the next morning she observed the pictures were still up and smiled. She patted her belly, "Akkir Pappa maangaya." She said happily and then got ready to go downstairs. Khushi had recently had to get looser fitting Anarkalis and she felt like she looked like a circus tent half the time but it was okay because Di was always there to give her confidence and support. Khushi slowly made her way down the stairs, she'd been warned so many times by Arnav about her clumsiness and how she'd better take care of herself properly because he didn't have time to watch her 24/7 blah blah blah. She shook her head as she made it to the bottom of the stairs, she had been self sufficient for nearly 23 years before she met Arnav Singh Raizada and she could continue to be so now also. She was walking to the kitchen table when a sight shocked her to the core making her gasp aloud. Everyone stopped eating their breakfast and turned to look at a pale Khushi.
"Kya hua?" Arnav asked looking at her, his face screaming the "what the" that was missing from his lips.
"A-ap aur ghar pe? Aap tik hoon na? Kohi bimaree toh nahi?" She asked and Arnav rolled his eyes.
"Ha ha very funny Khushi." He said shaking his head, turning his attention back to his toast.
"Nahi, main mazaak nahi kari, Devi Maiyaa kasam, aap tik hoon na?" Khushi asked in full seriousness, this earned Khushi a stifled laugh from Mamiji.

"Khushi I'm fine okay. Zyadaa nataak maat karo. You said last night that you hardly see me now, so I'm working from home today. I'm the boss and I can do it. Besides I have no meetings today its mainly just paperwork that I need to catch up on. Its not a big deal so lets not make one out of it. Got it?" He said and Khushi hid a smile. He would remain as naive as ever, did he really think she didn't see the love behind the gesture? He thought he was such an enigma to Khushi, unreadable and unpredictable. When in actuality Arnav was as readable to Khushi as a book in fact Arnav was Khushi's favourite book to read. She sat down beside him and she mulled over what to eat. Arnav looked at her and shook his head as he began to plate up Khushi's breakfast for her. She gave him a look of confusion, echoing his infamous "what the" look.
"What?" Arnav asked quietly, so that only Khushi could hear. She shifted her gaze to the plate and then back to him. Arnav rolled his eyes. "Khushi tum itna waqt lagari thi, humara bucha bhooka betha hai. Besides you'd only eat rubbish anyway. If I'm here I'll make sure you eat right and look after yourself." He said and Khushi groaned as he plated her up with toast, fruit and some juice to wash it down with. Whereas Akash Jiju, Payal, Mama and Mami were all having aloo ki parathe. Khushi's mouth watered at the sight of it. Arnav caught her look.
"No Khushi, I'm not letting you put that crap in you. Chup chaap kao." He said, Khushi frowned at him and began to eat, if you can call it that. Only God knows what he had planned for the next twenty four hours to torture Khushi with!


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