"Do you know why?" Arnav asked closing the door behind him of his room and looked back up at Khushi.
"Why?" she asked.
"Because you still are fat," Arnav said laughing only to get a gasp from Khushi and a slap on his shoulder. Arnav ran away from her and quickly made his way down the stairs trying to run away from her
They both stopped when they reached the bottom and noticed the family sitting there.
"Are you guys done," Arnav's mom asked the kids.
"Yea Auntyji we're done. I should get going now," Khushi said swinging her back pack over her shoulder.
"Stay for dinner at least," Naniji said.
"No, I really need to go," Khushi said.
"No beta. Maaji is right, at least stay for dinner. It's the lease we can do," Aarti said.
"B..but'" Khusi said glancing at Arnav.
"Khushi just stay for dinner, then you can leave," Arnav said.
"Ok, if you all insist so much then I will. Let me call my parents and tell them," Khushi said.
"Achaa, till then I'll tell Hari Prakash to set the table," Nani said getting up and heading towards the table.
Khushi dialed her phone number and it rang a few times till someone picked up, "Hello," she heard the voice from the other side with Aarti following her.
"Hey Mom," Khushi said, "I just finished my work here and Mrs. Raizada wants me to stay for dinner." Khushi was chatting with her mom on the phone when Aarti came back from the kitchen.
"Let me speak to your mom," Aarti said and Khushi handed the phone to her.
"Hello, this is Aarti, I'm Arnav's mom," she said.
"A'a..aarti? Aarti Khanna?" Garima said shocked.
"Yea, that's what my name used to be. But how do you know?" Aarti asked a bit confused. Arnav and Khushi just looked at each other also with confused expressions.
"Do you remember me?" Garima said.
"N..no? Why?" Aarti asked.
"Garima Patel?" Garima said.
"GARIMA tum?!" Aarti exclaimed.
"Haan main, now do you remember?" Garima said with a smile.
"How can I forget? We practically grew up together," Aarti said smiling to herself.
"So you ended up marrying Jiyten? Right? No wonder you are now a Raizada?" Garima asked.
"Yea I did," Aarti said.
"Betiya come on! Dinner is served!" Naniji yelled from the kitchen
"Listen, I have to go. But we definitely need to meet up and catch up. I didn't know Khushi was your daughter. So can she stay for dinner?" Aarti said.
"Yes we do need to catch up. And Khushi can stay for dinner; my daughter is like your daughter," Garima said, "And by the way, is Anjali you're daughter? Because she is here working with Payal."
"Yea she is. Ok, give me your phone number so then I can call you tomorrow," Aarti said. Garima gave her phone number to Aarti and she saved it in her phone. She then hung up the phone and Aarti handed it back to Khushi.
"She said you can stay," Aarti said and walked to the kitchen. Arnav and Khushi just gave each other a what-just-happened-look. They both followed Arnav's mom to the table and sat down. Naniji sat at the head, with Khushi to her right and Arnav to her left. Aarti sat next to Arnav and they all started eating.
"Mom what was all that?" Arnav asked while eating.
"Oh. Well when I was younger Garima and I grew up together in the same school ever since we were young. We were best friends back then and when we grew up, we ended up getting married. So that caused for us to move away and not see each other again. We lost touch with each other since we didn't know where either of us lived," Aarti said while eating her food.
"So you and my mom have known each other from before," Khushi said.
"Yea, we do," Aarti said, "And now I also know that you're her daughter." Everyone then finished their dinner quietly.
Khushi stood up from her seat, "Thanks for the dinner, I should get going now."
"Hold on, we'll have the driver drive you home," Naniji said.
"But Maaji the driver had gone to the auto shop to get the car fixed," Aarti said looking at her mother-in-law.
"It's ok, I'll just walk home," Khushi said.
"But it's very dark beta," Aarti said.
Khushi was about to speak when Arnav interrupted, "Mom I'll walk Khushi home, it's just a few blocks away."
"Ok, that would be better," Aarti and Nani said.
Arnav and Khushi walked out of the house and were walking along the driveway of his house.
"It's such a coincidence right? That our mother's know each other," Arnav said.
"Yea it is, like out of all people. And we also go to the same school and know each other," Khushi said.
"Amazing how we run into people like that," Arnav said turning around the corner to her house.
"Yea, maybe it's just our destiny," Khushi said. It was getting colder and Khushi rubbed her hands on her arms to keep herself warm. Arnav looked at her and noticed what she was doing. He took off his jacket and handed it to her, "here," he said.
"What?" she asked.
"Wear it," Arnav said. Khushi was about to reject when Arnav said, "wear it or else you're going to get a cold and then my mom will yell at me why I didn't drop you off at your house safely."
Khushi took the jacket from his hands and put it on. She put her arms in the sleeves but they were only a bit longer than her arm; acting like gloves and protecting her hands from the wind. Khushi folded her arms across her chest and tucked her hands under her arms. A few minutes later they reached outside Khushi's house. Khushi was about to knock but the door already opened.
"Bhai aap?" Akash said standing at the door way with Anjali behind them.
"Woh actually the driver wasn't home, so I decided to walk Khushi home," Arnav said.
"Well that's good because we were also just about to come home also," Akash said getting out of the door with great difficulty due to all the books in his hands.
"Akash area you planning on starting a library at home?" Arnav teased him.
"No, Payal gave me all these books to borrow," Akash said. Anjali and Akash started walking home but Arnav still stood there at the doorway of Khushi's house.
Khushi got inside the house and turned around, "Bye. Thanks for dropping me off."
"No problem. I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight," Arnav said with a smile. He turned away ran to catch up with his siblings.
Khushi went inside and noticed her parents were already asleep. She went up into her room and took a shower then changed into her night clothes. She looked at herself in the mirror and her hand went to the spot where Arnav had pecked her on the cheek. She smiled to herself; maybe she was beginning to like him also.
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