Warrior - Chapter Twenty

After getting some food in my belly, I feel so much better. Arnav Singh Raizada and I are just chilling at our table with Payal, Akash, and NK. Everyone is getting along just fine, which is nice to see. A few guests come by our table and talk to us, most of them being business associates of Arnav's. He introduces me to every one of them, though I do recognize some of these people. When they go away, the photographer comes back to us, along with his fellow cameraman, and he starts taking pictures of us again. Fortunately, I'm not eating right now, so I don't care about the camera guy, and flash some smiles to the photographer. When he's done, Arnav and I decide we should probably mingle a little more just to make face, so we do.

As we walk around, I notice a couple not so far away. Something about them seems familiar, and it only takes a few moments to realize that not so long ago, my family and I had attended their wedding. I remember pitying the couple - feeling sorry for them and their arranged marriage. And yet here we are now, the couple looking very happy as they held each other and me getting into another one myself.

Wow.

"Khushi?"

Arnav's voice snaps me out of my thoughts and I look up at him.

He jerks his head slightly. "Why don't we escape for a while?"

I nod in agreement and I follow after him, escaping the party. We cut back inside, finding a few people still in the ballroom. I continue to follow after Arnav, going to the foyer, before we head out the front. There's not much people around here, other than security, valet, and the chauffeurs that had driven over, chilling by the cars.

Arnav leads us over to the large fountain, and we sit along the very wide ledge. It's nice and quiet, other than the sound of the water surrounding us, but it was calming.

"You okay," Arnav suddenly asked.

I look over at him.

"You seem a little off... distracted even."

A small scoff escapes my lips as I look down at the water. I don't say anything and neither does Arnav, and I figure that he's waiting for me, making me scoff lightly once more.

"It's kinda crazy," I finally said, looking back up at him.

"What is?"

"This; that I'm doing this."

Arnav looks at me in confusion and I sighed.

"After what happened to me.... Amma always tried to get me back into things. She thought it was important for me to connect with people again, be distracted from my issues and gaining interest in other things. Because of that, she constantly took me to any and every function... even weddings."

For a moment, I don't say anything, and Arnav patiently waits for me to continue.

"Some of these weddings... actually," I scoffed, "a lot of the weddings were arranged. And given my experience... I felt sorry for them. I pitied them, I thought they were fools when they would exchange smiles with their soon-to-be spouse... I thought they were all fucking idiots. And yet, look at me now! Getting into another arranged marriage myself."

I looked away, letting out a heavy sigh.

"I'm such a hypocrite."

"Hey, don't say that," Arnav said softly.

He reached out, and slowly and tentatively, he took my left hand in his. My eyes spring down to our combined hands before dashing up to his.

"You're not a hypocrite," he said softly, yet as a matter of factly. "There's a reason why you thought that way, and you have every right to it."

I don't say anything, simply looking at him.

"You're totally justified for what you thought and felt then. ...even now."

I look at him for a moment, then speak up. "I don't think you're a fool for agreeing to an arranged marriage."

He smiled at me softly and caressed my hand with his thumb.

"I mean it. I don't think you're an idiot for agreeing to an arranged marriage. Maybe for agreeing to marry a wild one like me...."

Arnav starts to laugh, his eyes twinkling in the light, and I'm slightly stunned for a moment by the sight.

"I'll have to disagree with that one as well," he chuckled. "A wild one, yes, though I'd say feisty is a better term. But an idiot for agreeing to marry you? No, I'll have to disagree with that."

His humor-full eyes met mine and he smiled at me. I find myself to be returning a smile as well, when something comes to mind.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot," I murmured.

"Forgot what?"

Opening my clutch, I retrieved my phone and texted Harry. He responds almost immediately and moments later, he comes to us by the fountain with a box in hand. Harry hands it over to me and I thank him, and he goes back to the car. Arnav eyes the box in my hand with slight confusion, but by the look in his eyes, something tells me he's figured it out.

"Just a guess here," he begin, "but those wouldn't happen to be the famous chocolate cupcakes by Monica, would they?"

"The one and only," and I hand the box over to him. "I had her make a dozen of them and keep them aside so that no one stole any. Then before we left, I had our butler Gomez put them in the car for me."

"Wow... thanks Khushi!"

"It's the least that I could do after you got me those amazing cannolis."

He smiled at me and opened the box, the smell of chocolatey goodness reaching our noses.

"Wow that smells good," he grinned. "Here, take one."

"Oh no-"

"I insist. Besides, there's no way I could eat 12 cupcakes on my own. Plus, there's that gym guilt."

I scoff as I playfully roll my eyes. "Oh please, it's not like you won't easily be able to work them off."

Arnav shook his head and held the box out to me. "Not a chance, so please, I insist."

"You know that I can't resist her cupcakes, right?"

"Good, then that means you'll definitely end up taking one, sparing me and my muscles."

I can't help my chuckle and reach in to take one. Arnav sets the box down in between us, and he picks one up for himself. I watch him as he lowers the wrapping and takes a bite, and a moan of satisfaction instantly leaves his mouth.

"Whoa, these are really good!"

Ha ha!

"Told you so," I grinned, and I take a bite of mine as well.

We continue to eat our cupcakes, Arnav definitely surprised by how good they were, and enjoyed himself. He ate another and gave me another as well, and we ate them. He offered a third, but after all the food we ate, there was just no space for anything else in my stomach. So he took the used wrappers and tucked them in the corner of the box, moving all of the cupcakes over to one side.

"Better take these inside."

Arnav gets up and so do I. He leads me back inside and leads me down a hall beneath the righthand staircase. We soon arrive to the kitchen, which looks absolutely stunning in all the white with the occasional mixture of black and splatters of color here and there, the steel appliances looking absolutely shiny. One thing for sure, it was definitely larger than ours back home. I mean heck, they have two fridges.

Arnav tossed out the used wrappers and we washed our hands. 

One of the staff members spot Arnav and goes up to him. "Did you need something, Master Arnav?"

Master, huh? How fancy!

"Nigel, could you put these cupcakes away and make sure no one gets their hands on it?"

"Not a problem, Sir," he smiled, and he took the box away.

Hopefully luck favors him in this. I managed to scarf down all 12 mini cannolis in one night by myself so I didn't have to worry about someone potentially finding them and eating some.

It sounds selfish, but oh well.

"Nigel, have you-! There you two are! I've been looking for you two," Shalini said as she steps into the kitchen.

"We were just getting some air," Arnav said.

"Well, I don't blame you two for doing so," she smiled. "Khushi, I was wondering if you would join me for a bit? I thought it would be a good idea to show you around the house a little."

House doesn't even scratch the surface of what this place really is. Museum - now there's a word you can use.

"You have to do that now," Arnav frowned.

"Well why not," Shalini asked, tilting her head. "Both of your haldis are planned to take place next week - Khushi's at her house and yours here, obviously. So the next time Khushi will take step in this house is when she becomes your newly wedded wife, and she should get an idea of her future home before all of that."

Both Arnav's and my eyes widen. I knew our mothers wanted to do things quick because they were super excited, but I didn't realize they were this ridiculously excited.

What the fuck?

"But mom-"

"But nothing, Chote," she frowned.

The both of us glanced at each other and then I made my way over to Shalini's side. She beamed at me and wrapped her arm around me, and led me to the entryway of the kitchen. As we do, she paused and looked back at Arnav.

"You know, you are more than welcome to join us," she smirked.

"You know what, I just might," Arnav frowned, and walked over to us. "Who knows what embarrassing stories you'll try spill from my youth."

Shalini only laughs. "Oh sure, oh sure! If you say so!"

Arnav glanced at me and I looked at him, and then we followed Shalini. She walks us back down the hall and to the foyer. I spot the beautiful, grand dining room to our left, so that's already obvious.

"Over there across the foyer is the formal living room," Shalini pointed at the room across from us.

The entryway is large, revealing the massive formal room with its luxurious couches. I could see many bookshelves covering the walls, as well as a fireplace and a grand piano in the corner by the large windows.

"Like the name suggests, we usually use it when there's guests. Down the hall by the left staircase is the den, and that's where the family will usually hang out. The hall also leads you to the conservatory, as well as the basement. There's access to the basement as well through the kitchen. Now you've already seen the ballroom... I guess upstairs it is then," she smiled.

Shalini leads the way upstairs and I follow after her, Arnav behind us. When we reached the top, Shalini turned to me.

"So here's a small detail about the way the house works. We have all of us elders and our rooms on one side, while the children, if you will, on the other. Down the right are ours, and down the left is theirs. There are other rooms as well, but we'll get to those fun things once you're officially moved in," she beamed with a small clap.

Someone's clearly excited.

I glanced back at Arnav, who looks a little embarrassed by his mother's childish behavior, scratching the back of his head.

Aren't we all embarrassed by our elders in some way?

"But until then," Shalini continued, "let me show you to your future room."

Shalini goes off again and we follow behind. Arnav gives a small apologetic smile and I pinch my lips, trying to hold my smile back.

We pass several doors and turn a corner, then stand outside a door at the end of the small hallway.

"Chote, if you would please do the honors," she smiled.

Arnav shook his head with a roll of his eyes, a small grin on his face. He moved in front of us and opened the door.

"Your future bedroom," Shalini smiled, holding her hands out like she were a magician's apprentice.

I hold back my chuckle and instead, walk into the room. As we go in, Arnav turns on the lights, illuminating the large bedroom.

I look around with amazement at the gray and white themed room. To the left, against the wall, is a white larger-than-king sized bed with a large fabric-cushioned headboard. Along the back wall are large windows with white curtains, and a door that leads out to the balcony. There's a small seating area, along with some shelves on the wall, containing many books, as well as pictures. Directly to my right, against the wall, is a humongous flat screen with full entertainment section beneath it, and I definitely spot the gaming consoles. To the right wall, there's a large vanity and mirror against it. I notice the entryway to a walk-in closet beside it, which Shalini takes me into and holy fuck! This shit is three times bigger than my own!

What the fuck!!!

The closet is more of a blue-gray tone with white lights illuminating it. Clothes were filled along many of the sections, all open rather than the closed wardrobes I have in mine. Some spaces were more empty than others, but then again, it's not like men need much or use so much closet space. Yet the amount of black suits I see are ridiculous! Not to mention grays, navys, and other colors as well.

"I'm sure sorting out closet space will be easily done," Shalini said, looking at her son.

"Not a problem at all."

"Good. When you get the chance, start clearing space for Khushi."

My eyes slightly widened. "But-"

"But nothing," Shalini said, shaking her head. "This space will equally belong to you as well, but let's face it, us ladies always need more than our half," she winked with a small smirk.

No lies there.

"How do you like it?"

"It's... huge."

...what?

Shalini lets out a chuckle. "Oh, I guess it is. You get used to it after several years."

Arnav stepped over to his mother and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. She gave him a smile and leaned her head against his arm.

I glance over at the two. They both mentioned how for many years, due to Arnav's grandfather, they weren't a part of the family, living on their own. I wonder what their conditions were like then? Is that the reason why it took so many years for her and her son to adjust to such large rooms and large closets, or heck, a palatial home like this?

There are some details I have yet to learn.