ArHi OS: Silent Promises

As she decended down the stairs , everyone was in awe of her. Her beauty and grace stole evryone's attention from the bride. She was Khushi Kumari Gupta.

"Anjali ji I hope you don't need anything else!" whispered Khushi. 

Anjali smiled and nodded. She showed her the diamond necklace which was gifted to her by her in-laws.

"Bohut sundar hai Anjali ji!" khushi sighed. "Sundar toh hoga...aakhir meri rajkumari ki shaadi jo hai..." sneered anjali's mom.

"And listen , I don't want anything to go wrong here ok , servent?" she hissed at khushi and she flinched. "Yes Ma'am!" she whispered , wiped her tears and ran away from the room.

Anjali was shocked. "Maa...why did you talk to her like that?" she asked. Anjali's step-mom never loved hr or her brother arnav.

"Beta" anjali's mom gritted her teeth , "Don't do or say anything which will insult me , directly or indirectly!" she said as she was pretending to adjust anjali's saree.

"Maa , khushi is my best friend first and then a servant , I don't care if she does anything wrong but you know what maa? One day you will see that she is the one ruling this house and your'e just sitting there and watching!" anjali smiled and walked away.

Khushi came down to serve the other guests. 

Some of the boys were ogling her as she was wearing a deep cut blouse which somewhat revealed a lot from her back especially since she has a pony-tail.

As she was about to give the glass of juice to a woman , her hand slipped and the glass fell on the floor.

The woman rolled her eyes. "What type of a servant are you? You don't even know how to serve!" she glared at khushi. "I am so sorry!" khushi whispered and bent down to pick the broken pieces of the glass.

She heard one the boys's comment "Aha , kya larki hai yaar...solid hai..." another one "kon hai yeh...jo bhi hai aaj raat ke liye meri hai..." and heard others laugh. 

Her eyes teared away but she felt a pull on the elastic of her pony tail and then suddenly her hair , covering her bare back. She didn't turn back as she so scared. She just stared at blankly at the ground. But then she heard , a husky voice , which took away her breath instantly.

"You all should be ashamed of yourself...larki dekhi nahi ki shuru ho gaye...go! NOW!" she heard him growl.

She didn't realize when a piece of glass pierced her finger cutting it in the process.

She was about to pick up the pieces when she felt a tight yet gentle grasp on her injured hand.

"Your finger's cut can't you see that?" she heard the same man again. This she saw him kneeling down infront of her.

"Let me put some first-aid on it!" he said. This made khushi look up at him and the moment her eyes landed on his , their heartbeats fused and started to for each other.

"Woh...main...woh..." khushi reluctantly teared away her eyes and hands from this stranger , got up and ran away.

As the man was about to follow he heard the woman saying something. "Arnav beta , leave her , she deserves it...and even we face such small cuts everyday in the kitchen , so what's the big deal?" but arnav just glared at her furiously which was enough to shut her up.

He saw her going upstairs and followed her but soon bumped into the bride , his sister. "Chotte? What happened? Why are you in such a hurry?" she asked.

"Umm...di your looking absolutely gorgeous but umm...did you see any girl here?" he asked her , his mind still playing the moment when he saw those intense eyes holding so much of sorrow.

"Girl? Chotte are you ok? I mean tum , larkiyon main kabse..." anjali burst into laughter.

"Haha...very funny di now please move...if you can't help me!" he said. "Ok...fine , bolo , kaisi larki chaiyeh...?" she asked trying to supress her laughter.

"Woh...golden color ka lehenga and she was injured..." he said. Anjali sighed. She understood that he was talking about khushi.

"If your talking about khushi then I saw her running towards the attic but chotte..." before she could finish , she saw her brother running towards the attic.

"Khushi , the name suits her so much yet she is so sad..." arnav thought as he made his way to the attic.

He looked here and there and soon found her out. She was standing on a tool , trying to get some big boxes down. He noticed that she had bandaged her finger but the fact that she didn't let him do it , irked him a little.

"Tum kya kar rahi ho?" he asked sternly. 

Khushi was so shocked to hear his voice that she tripped from the stool and landed right into arnav's arms.

He gripped her waist to prevent her from falling and she in turn gripped tightly on his shoulders to balance herself. He noticed that her eyes were closed. He was mesmerized , enchanted by her beauty and innocence.

"Khushi!" he whispered.

And as if she was waiting for him to call her by her name to open her eyes.

Her hazel orbs fell on his chocolate ones. "Tum thik ho?" he asked , he was hyperventilating. "Why am I reacting like this?" he thought.

Khushi could only nod in approval as she was at a loss of words. "Why can't I say anything?" 

The two love birds kept gazing into each other's eyes , drinking in the sadness and confusion.