EPISODE SEVEN
“Miss Braveheart?” Arnav asked as he picked up a card from Khushi’s desk
Khushi chuckled in response, “Yeah… they did that for me, really sweet of them.” Her face lit up with a natural glow, as she thought about the wonderful surprise and all their love.
“So… a second visit in the day, am I missing anything?” she asked, slightly hoping that he wanted to enquire after her health. He looked into Khushi’s eyes and for a second words dried on his lips as he focused at her large, hazel eyes.
“You do remember the interview you were briefed about this morning,” he said, at last.
A momentary flash of disappointment in Khushi’s eyes did considerably boost his male ego, but her avoidance of a deeper conversation put him off again.
“Yes, of course, interview… work… of course,” she said, unable to conceal her disappointment. Arnav looked into her eyes.
Though his mind refuted the idea vigorously, his heart sang a little in joy.
She was attracted to him.
But alas! Little are the mind and heart connected by thoughts the way they are by a bundle of nerves.
Khushi stopped her rambling abruptly, and her breath became erratic as she realized that Arnav had been looking at her without uttering a word.
“Are you fine?” he asked.
Khushi chewed her lower lip and nodded vigorously. “Of course! I have been brought up by an army man! I’m stronger than you think. I did get fever due to body fatigue but appar…” Khushi stopped, as Arnav had a mock smile on his face, surprisingly eyeing her with a tenderness that she had never known him to possess.
One could bear the brunt of passion unflinchingly, but in the face of raw tenderness, the heart had no option but to surrender.
“You’re not,” he said softly. Khushi closed her eyes, lest he see her tears.
“Is it okay to admit that I was and am scared?” her voice broke, and hot tears poured down her cheeks. The facade had been up too long for the sake of everyone, and to pretend as if she had forgotten the horrors of the previous night just like a nightmare was a far cry from truth.
Her reverie was broken as handkerchief was firmly thrusted into her palm. “Where do you keep getting these?” She half chuckled and cried as she wiped her tears and rubbed her nose.
“People cry, not because they’re weak. It’s because they’ve been strong too long.”
Khushi looked up to find Arnav smiling at her, genuinely. For the first time, she saw him smile without any charm or sarcasm.
Khushi’s heart skipped a little beat as she gazed at his wide, caramel eyes. Her own pupils widened in response “We are proud of you, Khushi. No one expects you to be strong; no one expects you to be a super human. Being who you are is the most important thing in life, remember that.”
Arnav was almost about to reach out for her shoulder, when his phone buzzed with an incoming text. They were both startled and uncomfortable, promptly looking away from each other.
Her cheeks still blazed for no particular reason and his fingers itched to touch her just once. Arnav frowned at his own childish emotions and shook his head. He had thought that awareness of a mutual vibe would reduce the intensity of his emotions… but it seemed to have done just the opposite.
“Johnny Depp.” Khushi shot.
Arnav broke from his stance, startled by her sudden declaration.
“What?”
“The quote, people cry not because…” she said, with a smile, her voice slowly regaining its original quality.
“Ah!” Arnav chuckled slightly. “Yes… though I wish you hadn’t guessed.”
Khushi rolled her eyes and sniffed slightly, “Don’t you forget that I am quite passionately attached to the entire film fraternity, and that includes Hollywood as well!”
Arnav found himself amused as he recalled the silly tiff between them during the Hridhwaan case. “We were really childish, then,” he pointed. Khushi noted his indirect apology and finally, buried the hatchet.
“So…” Arnav dug his hands in his pockets “Get ready for a short interview in my 9 PM show, I’ll have a fifteen to thirty minute talk with you, regarding your account of the attack and how you survived this ordeal,” he said. Looking up at her, and seeing the trauma reflect in her eyes at the mention of the attack, he wondered if it was good idea.
“I still don’t understand, why me?” she asked. “There are so many more deserving survivors! Gosh… I’ll make a fool of myself. This is in front of the camera? Silly me of course it is! I…” Arnav excused himself and walked back towards his cabin, laughing softly as he heard Khushi babble to herself non-stop.
Oh, he was so sure that the interview would go perfectly!
---
Akash couldn’t help but clap at the end of the interview. His eyes were trained on the journalist he had mistaken for a kid.
Khushi Kumari Gupta was an uncut diamond.
Few knew of Akash’s outstanding foresight and eye for talent. The only reason for his strong friendship with Arnav was that Akash had spotted a spark in him at a time when no one else did. When a young man from a modest background, fresh out of journalism school, came to Mumbai fifteen years ago with a vision, no one took him seriously - except Akash.
Today, Akash saw the same spark in the woman next to Arnav.
Hunger was what she shared with Arnav - the hunger for news, the hunger for justice. They were definitely miles apart at the moment, but Akash could easily envision Khushi scaling great heights.
But then, she would have to be put to test.
---
Khushi stopped abruptly, her eyes blinking a few times as Arnav stared at her, unflinchingly. Brushing a strand behind her ear, her cheeks bloomed a dull red as his eyes never left her face for a second. However, a slight glance at the prompter and she knew that her story meant more.
Much more than the silly heartbeats caused by a hot, centred gaze at her.
Yet the assurance in his eyes warmed her heart because she knew that he would be the only one who knew of her harrowing experience recounting the tale.
As NK signaled cut, she took in a deep breath and flashed an understanding smile to arnav.
She mouthed ‘Thank You’ to him. Had she not been focused on his eyes, she would have missed the slight crinkle of happiness around his eyes that said ‘Welcome’.
They were both silent as they packed their belongings and prepared to leave for the day.
“Goodnight?” he said, while Khushi nodded slightly.
“Goodnigh…” her voice trailed, as Arnav took her handbag and files.
“Come on...” he said.
“You… my bag… I mean why are you taking my bag?” Khushi asked, confused.
“Don’t you know? I like your bag so much that I’ve decided to steal it,” he said, with a deadpan expression to Khushi, who scratched her head and nodded sheepishly.
“I… I’ll drop… how are you going home?” he asked and Khushi paused for a minute.
She turned to NK who was busy staring at the monitor. “Maybe I’ll pick up a taxi or something.” she said.
NK swiveled in his chair and was about to open his mouth while Arnav beat him to it “I’ll drop you.”
“Oh-kay,” Khushi said, turning behind she still found NK gaze hard into his computer.
“NK aren’t… ” Khushi started but NK cut her off.
“No issues. Firstly I was a bit busy and secondly I was going to drop Lavanya today,” NK fibbed. Khushi raised an eyebrow at him while he rolled his eyes.
“Cool!” she said. NK’s smile dimmed as he watched her walking away with Arnav.
As they sat in the car, Arnav turned towards her. “What’s between Nazir… ” he started.
“Fifteen years of friendship!” she paused to look into his eyes. “Nothing else.”
“I didn’t ask.” he said, mildly embarrassed at himself, while Khushi peered into his eyes.
“Yeah, I know,” she said.
“Well… thank you… like during the interview…” Khushi fumbled and played with her fingers, while Arnav shrugged his shoulders.
Khushi didn’t know why she felt the need to explain.
Arnav didn’t know why he felt relieved upon learning that it was just friendship between NK and Khushi.
Some things just need not be explained.
---
“Lavanya, I’ll drop you,” NK jumped over to Lavanya’s desk..
Lavanya crossed her arms and looked slightly uncomfortable. “Usually you drop Khushi, right?” she said.
“Does that mean I can’t drop you?” NK asked, raising his eyebrows and leaning on her desk.
Lavanya was visibly flustered. “No… I… I didn’t mean that,” she stammered.
“Chill! Now do you want to come or not? If you don’t, I’ll have to take Om with me and trust me I don’t want to reach home three hours later!” NK chuckled.
“Three hours?” Lavanya asked, confused.
“Yeah! Om needs to stop at every corner to find the fifty fifth first love of his life!” NK laughed. Lavanya joined in the mirth, but stopped after a moment. She simply watched NK laugh from the bottom of his heart, with her own lips curving into a beautiful smile.
It did strange things to her heart.
Very strange things.
“Now will you come or will we have OP’s fables?” she asked and trotted forward, while NK smiled.
Lavanya was different.
It felt good to have someone’s attention on you.
Lavanya glanced at the man beside her. Shaking her head, she leaned her head on the headrest and stared at the metropolis whirring past.
---
The next day was a hectic one for all of MBC. Media offices were always buzzing with activity after such disasters.
Finally, as they all found some time, the entire group sat in the canteen for dinner.
Khushi smiled gently as Arnav passed her a soft glance of recognition, it was nothing much for Khushi yet for her it was her hero reciprocating back. True the crazy weeks had made her dislike him to a great extent but understanding a man was never a day’s job. And somewhere it felt good that her dreams about her idol wasn’t completely wrong nor shattered.
Chewing into a roti, Khushi found her eyes trained on Arnav as he moved around his cabin. Sometimes busying himself with a call or files. Khushi snapped and looked away the minute Arnav found her looking at him.
Grinning slightly to himself, he watched as Khushi passed him a hesitant look or two and leave office for the day. He soon realised that Anjali and Akash were staring at him as if he had grown horns. They weren’t used to him being so generous with his smiles.
“Em… so yeah, what’s the matter, Singhania?” Arnav cleared his throat and settled down on a chair.
“You know that one of our reporters, Mehak, is getting married and shifting to America, right? So we’ll be short of a senior reporter, very soon...” Akash said.
“Hmm… so?” Arnav asked, looking at another file.
“I took a day to review Ananya’s work for the past one month, and I think she’s perfect to take Mehak’s place.” Arnav’s eyebrows shot up at Akash’s words.
“Singhania, she’s been with us for barely one month and half. Who gets a promotion in one month?” Arnav said, incredulous. Anjali smiled seeing Arnav supporting her in some way!
“That’s exactly what I told Akash! But he doesn’t seem to listen to me!” Anjali said, shrugging her shoulders.
“Anjali, Arnav hold your horses. I did a complete analysis and found out that Khushi has been instrumental in delivering over eighty percent of our big coverages this month, going by which we can safely give her a good amount of credit for our soaring TRPs over the last few weeks. Also the connections this girl has... the way she wiggled her way through Zara’s friendship. You know gaining Hridhwaan’s confidence and getting us exclusive rights for such a big story was not a piece of cake. She does have an insane talent for on field journalism. And the way she didn’t even flinch while recounting her tale, even though with Arnav’s constant support, was truly remarkable. The girl surely has some spark.” Akash smiled, and deliberately drawled on the world support.
Arnav frowned. Ruffling the feathers, as it were, of the ever in-control Arnav Singh Raizada was always a pleasure for Akash.
What the fu… Singhania what did you mean by that?
Akash adjusted his cravat, and continued looking at Arnav with a smirk.
Arnav, I‘ve known you fifteen years.
Akash narrowed his eyes and continued,
And you see Arnav, I know exactly where, rather on whom your eyes were fixed on during the interview.
Arnav coughed slightly and stiffened his arms. “Well, we’ll do the usual promotion check and see if Khushi is deserving enough.”
Anjali started and looked at Arnav and Akash. “Wait, am I missing something? I will do the promotion check. I’ll let you guys know after a week,” she said, snatching the file from Akash and skimming through its contents.
“Anjali, we’ve been through all this yesterday… why are you still skimming through this file?” he said, looking exasperated. “Okay, I’ve an idea… let’s keep this conditional, what say? If she can keep the work up for the next two months then her promotion is permanent, else… she’s back to her spot.” Akash pressed his sore temples, as Anjali nodded and walked out of the cabin.
Arnav waited for Anjali to leave and turned to Akash “Anyway, just for your information, we’ll have the Garewal interview within the next few weeks. There are some things to be finalized before that, which I’ll do myself. You don’t need to send anyone to him. Regarding Khushi, hmm… let’s see if this works out, fine.”
Arnav took a sip of water, and turned to Akash again, “Singhania, even I have known you for fifteen years… I truly hope that there’s no other reason for your sudden decision to promote Khushi.”
“Of course not. I don’t intend to gaze at her forever Arnav. By the way, nice moves! I knew she was interesting but it looks like… ” Akash replied nonchalantly.
“Singhania, with due respect, please fu** off.”
“With pleasure.” Akash smiled and bowed to Arnav who generously smiled back.
Heading back to his own cabin, Akash eased the stiff posture of his back and glanced at his iPad. “Hmm…” Akash hummed as he re-read the information.
“Well, Khushi, I am sorry for not being completely honest, but then I truly hope that you excel and show your best.”
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