Being The Missus

Chapter 5 - Sinking Ship

Bzzz

...

Bzzz

...

Bzzz

...

Khushi shuffled slightly, her body warm with happy aches. It had been many days since she felt so content and secure.

NK was a genius! And yes, step 3 - get all his attention.

Clicking a yawn, she winced as bright sunlight shone in her eyes.

Bzzz

...

Stifling a groan, Khushi crawled towards her husband's iPhone. Afrown settled between her eyebrows seeing the ID of the caller.

‘Shanaya’

"Who is it?" Arnav grumbled, casually surprised to find his wife on top of him. Curling a hand around her hip and one behind his head, he lazily smiled "Well good morning. God what the fu-" He swore, picking his phone.

Before he could speak further, Khushi nuzzled against the crook of his neck. Did he feel the way her heart beat against his in love, fright, joy or insecurity? Was she being silly? Amazing Khushi Sen Roy, turn into a poet!

"Yeah okay... alright, Shanaya I'm kind'a busy right now - I'll call you later." Arnav cut off, wondering what thoughts consumed Khushi’s pretty eyes.

Somewhere down the line, an hour later in the shower, with Arnav pressing sweet kisses on her shoulder, Khushi thought if this was the only way to have her husband's attention.

Had she asked him to cut the call to talk to her, would he have done that?

Had she asked him to ignore the call because she didn't like Shanaya, would he have done that?

Arnav ran a hand through her wet hair, his smile dimming. His conscience nagged him, asking him if he had taken their marriage for granted.

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Despite her inner turmoil, Khushi found herself giving Arnav a sweet kiss before he headed to the office.

"Newlyweds." Shanaya clucked her tongue while strapping her heels. "We're nearing a year." Khushi clarified while setting up his tiffin. "Well every marriage is in its honeymoon phase for the first five years and-" Shanaya paused, assessing the steel tiffin in Khushi's hands.

"-ah, the classic steel tiffin box. Even my driver owns these!" Stiffening at the thinly veiled insult, Khushi smiled back "Wonderful, so does the rest of India, right?”

"Of course." Shanaya suddenly smiled, "You own a Tiffin service, right? The one that’s faili- I mean, it’s great that you’re following your husband’s footsteps." With a gentle hug, Shanaya left a stunned Khushi at the door side.

"Didi..." Hariprakash started, having heard all.

"Is that right?" Khushi asked, "Does everyone know about my company’s failure?"

"Well, with you being Arnav sahib's wife, the media gets a whiff about your tiffin business before you." Hariprakash softly said.

"What are our sales this month?"

"Less than 10,000 rupees," Hariprakash added with a sigh. Along with the production costs being close to 60,000 rupees and the food getting spoilt due to lack of customers - they were at a dead end.

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"Get back with the profit analysis as soon as possible," Arnav ordered, watching the office members disperse from the room. Except for Akash.

He remained.

With an idiotic smile.

"What?" Arnav snapped, suddenly self-conscious.

"You didn't look much in the mirror today?"

Grabbing his laptop, Arnav shrugged "Was running late."

"Clearly, check your neck." Akash chuckled, bursting into peals of laughter once he caught Arnav looking at him like a deer in headlights!

Checking himself in his phone, a bright blush spread through his cheeks at the bright red hickey.

"Well, I'm married." Arnav coughed, buttoning his collar quickly.

Akash nodded, never recalling a moment when his cousin blushed like a newly wedded bride. He couldn't imagine the shy Khushi to being someone daring!

Huh, strange. Both the sisters seemed to unveil their hidden temptresses at the same time.

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"Finalise aloo gobi for today," Khushi told Jaiprakash to find Mohan hurrying outside. Confused by the chauffeur's behaviour, Khushi passed the dish to Jaiprakash and hurried outside.

"Mohan? Who's coming at this time? Wait, is Arnav fine?"

"Yes, Didi don't worry. A phone call came from Shanaya madam; she said Aarav is sick in school - so bring him home." Mohan said. Khushi frowned, wasn't Arav studying in a boarding school in Dehradun? What was he suddenly doing here? Above all, how come as a mother Shanaya not be there next to Arav!

"What's wrong with him?"

"Shanaya madam said he's running high fever and vomiting."

"Oh poor boy, I'll come along with you," Khushi said, her heart clenching for the little six-year-old.

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Lying in the sick room, Arav quietly shed a few tears. He knew his mum wouldn't be here, and his schoolmates bullied him when he began crying for his mother once the fever kicked in high. Having vomited in his first day in new school in Delhi, nobody apart from the peon and class teacher helped him back home.

"Mrs Roy? What a pleasure to meet you. Oh, you are here to take Arav home? Yes, he's in. Poor boy, I think he's caught a severe case of the flu. It doesn’t help that he just recently shifted from a different city." Arav strained to hear more, c*****g his head to the side but couldn't see anyone yet.

Just before he could call out, a sudden wave of nausea hit him.

And then he puked.

...

He heard the nurses hissing and calling for the peon.

He smelt the disgust all over him.

He tasted acid in his tongue.

But he felt a warm touch on his back, a soft embrace.

"It's all okay dear. It's ok."

-------

Khushi felt no revulsion in carrying the boy in her arms to the nearest bathroom. Removing his shirt and throwing it in the bin, she gently washed his face and body with soap. For once she expected a sour face, angry, even spoilt child but Arav was just like an angel.

"It's okay baby. You're all right." She hushed, kissing his forehead.

"I'm sorry-" Arav hiccuped. Oh, he was such a bother! He felt her hands cup his soft cheeks, her eyes clouded in confusion. "Sorry for what?”

"F-for troubling you and d-dirtying you." Arav sniffled, recalling the moment his mother would call for the maid whenever he fell sick.

"No! You're not a bother, nor are you dirtying me!" Khushi fondly scolded while rubbing him clean. Combing his hair through her fingers, Khushi made Aarav take a nausea inhibitor and paracetamol. "Soon doctor uncle will come and look after you, okay?" Arav nodded, biting his lip to control his tears.

"What's wrong?" Khushi asked, worried as tears filled in his large brown eyes.

"Why did you come?" Arav asked, raising his arms for Khushi to carry him. Resting his head on her shoulder, Khushi replied: "I wanted to."

...

Hours later, tucked into a bed and grabbing Khushi's hand as the doctor injected a medicine, little Arav felt tears well in his eyes for the third time in the day.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Khushi whispered.

"S-sorry for always crying. Mumma hates it. She says its weakness. And this is not the way I wanted to meet you for the first time!" Aarav mumbled, his eyes fluttering shut when Khushi gently patted his forehead.

"Shush, expressing your emotions is the strongest thing in the world. That's why very few people can cry, laugh, love fearlessly." Khushi said, snuggling closer to him.

"Oh." Aarav rest his head on her shoulder, biting his lower lip. "Today everyone laughed at me. And it was my first day in Delhi." He whispered and continued his entire bullying session to a horrified Khushi.

Holding him tighter, Khushi said "Only the weak bully. Fun fact, when I first came to Delhi, everyone in the office bullied me - they made me take out the trash, wear weird clothes and even spoilt the projects I worked on!"

“But how did Arnav uncle allow that?” Arav asked.

“He was hardly my husband then! But as they say, hard work and intelligence goes beyond everything. So Lavanya, my immediate boss and now best friend figured out where things were going wrong and then I was reassigned to work directly with her and Arnav.”

“So that’s where you fell in love!” Arav clapped, he remembered seeing the wedding photographs in the newspaper. In his opinion Khushi was way prettier in real life.

“Well, something like that. But I won’t say anything else until and unless you eat your supper!”

"Okay captain!”

For the first time Arav felt something akin to home. He hung on to every word as Khushi told how she and Arnav met. Soon she shifted to telling fairytales - of warriors, princes, scholars and adventurers.

Dreaming of fighting the evil bully on his pegasus, Arav didn’t realise when he fell asleep.

Curling into Khushi, he drowsily smiled when Khushi placed a soft kiss on his chubby cheek.

"Goodnight Aarav."

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Something snapped in Arnav to watch a child cuddle Khushi. He had never imagined his wife in the role of a mother, and now he asked why. In spite of being a bundle of an adorable mess, a quiet strength resonated in the woman who hugged the child.

A force no money or power could have bought.

"Hey, oh. Aarav-" Shanaya cut off when Arnav held her elbow.

"Mohan said Aarav was very sick and that Khushi stayed back with him, I think it's wise if we leave them the way they are."

Shanaya narrowed her eyes on the duo, "Yeah he often gets cranky and clingy when he's sick."

Offended at her brashness, Arnav nudged "Yes but he is a little child."

Shanaya hastily nodded, tightening the grip on her bag "Of course. Sometimes I'm so lost in providing enough for him that I forget he needs me. It's difficult being a single mother. It's difficult being alone."

"Hey, you aren't alone. We're always there." Arnav smiled, side hugging Shanaya. A surprised gasp left his mouth as Shanaya pressed her lips gently against his.

And that's what Khushi woke up to.

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A/N: Needs formatting. Thanks for reading!