29

"Khushi...!" Payal was panic. She pulled Khushi and kept her burnt hand under running water, opening the tap. Khushi felt better.

"Khushi...I am sorry!" said Payal with teary eyes. She had got ointment for Khushi. 

"Its ok, jiji! Nothing much has happened!" she said and went out. She went to her room.
Lavanya still lingering in her mind, she kept thinking about her. She couldn't imagine what her husband and Lavanya were doing in Mumbai together.

"Khushi...you stupid!" she slapped herself again. "Stop thinking about them... they are colleagues..."She thought.


"But she was his girlfriend once!" her devil mind laughed. "No, but he is my husband now!" she said to herself.

"Then why did he continue working with her?" asked her devil mind.

"For business purpose!" she said. "Oh! Really?" devil jeered. She shut her eyes tightly. Her phone rang.

"Ji, Arnavji!" answered Khushi.

"Khushi... why didn't you tell me you were sick?" he asked her angrily. If he would have been here, he would have grabbed her and shook her vigorously. 

"No! its is not serious... just stomach upset!" she stammered.

"Let me decide that!" he hissed. "I am coming!" he said.

"No..! I mean.. finish your work and then come!" she said with a knot in her stomach thinking about Arnav and Lavanya together.

"No! Lavanya has already landed. I will hand over to her and catch a night flight!" he said.
"And .. Take rest. Ok? I will be there by night!" he said hoarsely.

"No! I mean... no need Arnavji, I am fine!" she said weakly. But he had disconnected.
She sat there holding the cell. Her Arnav ji was coming to her!!

**** ******** *****

"That devil, he told my mother!" said the girl to the boy.
"Who?..... What?" he asked staring at her.
"That boy, who follows us everywhere!" She said disdainfully. "He told my mother that I meet you every day! She did not like it. She slapped me and punished me with this." The girl held out her hand. He saw the burns.
"What? She burnt you?' the boy got up with a jerk clenching his fists in rage.
"Hey.. Cool down! This is only a small wound." The boy held her hand gently for a long time…!
"Why did you come here to meet me? When your mother does not like it?" he asked going away from her.
"You are going, right? Never to come back?" he nodded. He turned and came to her.
"Don't go!" she pleaded. He stared at her.
"I have to!" he said seriously. They were sitting at the river bank. She was bending and playing with water, splashing it. He had held her other hand tightly. "No, don't ... the river is overflowing, swelling... let us go!" he said pulling her. She pulled him back.
"You will get hurt, again! She will beat you up! Go home!" he ordered her and turning back started climbing the ghat. She followed.
"Why do you keep staring at me from that terraces of your palace?" she asked him pointing up at the terrace. He did not answer.
"Will you remember me when you are gone?" she asked running after him. He was striding away.
He stopped and turned. "Where is your key?"he asked her.
"I lost it!" she was in a naughty mood. He came on to her. "You lost it?" he asked gritting his teeth.
She giggled and took out the silver key and held it on her palm. He took the key from her palm and replaced it with his key.
"You gave me your key?" she asked in astonishment. He gazed at her.
"Great! This way I will never forget you!" she said smiling brightly. "And you don't forget me!" she said in a whisper.
He turned.... "Wait... when are you going?" she called back from behind.
.............

"WHAT?... I came just now!" said Arnav shaking her. "Why would I go back?" he asked her.
"Arnav ji... when did you come?" she sat up in the bed. He was sitting beside her.

"Khushi..!" he held her close. "You know... I had a dream...!" she started off.

"Khushi.. No dreams....Please!" he said under his breath keeping his finger on her lips.

"Listen ... the girl had a silver key, the boy gave her. Their mannat ki chabi!" she said excitedly.
"Khushi... please stop it! He held her hand and released immediately.

"What? What happened?" he saw the back of her hand. 

"Nothing... the oil splashed!... I have applied ointment!" she said hiding her hand behind.
He pulled it. "Khushi...! Why did you go to the kitchen?" he asked angrily.

"I am ok, Arnav ji!" she said holding his hand. 

"Wait I will get your dinner!" she said getting up.

"No! You take rest, I will manage!" he said pushing her on the bed again.

"No. I will come with you!" she said. They both went down. It was midnight.

********* *********

"Khushi....!" He woke up with a start. He sat up in the bed and looked at the time. It was an hour before dawn.

"She is infectious!" he exclaimed.

"This is not done! I have to do something... she is crazy!! She is driving me crazy!" he blurted getting down from the bed. He went to poolside and stared at the starry sky. 

"I have to do something....She needs help!" he thought. He looked at Khushi from the poolside.. she was smiling in her sleep. His face lit up with a smile. 

"Avinash! I need to talk to you!" he had called up Dr. Avinash from the office in the morning.
"Ok! Lunch time CCD!" he replied.

***** ******** ********

"I think she needs help! I mean some treatment!!" concluded Arnav after narrating Khushi's state of mind.

Avinash thought for a while and said, "I am not a psychologist! But this could be her way of venting out her frustration her stress. This could be her defense mechanism. She is going through a lot of disturbing emotions. I don't see anything abnormal in this!" said Avinash.

"Not abnormal? I mean she is getting infectious! She has transferred her bug to me!" he thought of telling this to Avinash. He just gaped at Avinash without uttering a single word.

"Look, don't stop her! She is releasing her suppressed emotions through fantasizing in her dreams. Let her do that!" said Avinash. 

"But if you still feel she needs help, I will talk to my psychiatrist friend. He will help her in restructuring her thought process!" said Avinash seriously.

Arnav came back to his office. "How could I tell him that she is so infectious that even I have started getting the dreams of the girl and her tall boy!" his head was still spinning with his night's experience. He had shared Khushi's dream!

****** *********

"Hello, Khushi!" Dr. Avinash had called. 

"Hello... how are you?" she asked pleasantly.

"Khushi... Arnav met me at lunch time..." he told her about Arnav's worries. 

"But what can I do? I keep seeing those dreams!" she sounded miserable.

"Don't worry about the dreams! But don't talk about them !" he advised.

"Then whom should I share with?" she asked innocently.

"Ok! Khushi, here is a solution. Keep writing about your dreams every day. You said you remember them vividly, right?" he asked her. Her face brightened up.

"Yeah! That's a good idea!" she screamed.

"Yeah! And one day you will end up writing a book on your dreams!" he teased her. "The Dreams! By Khushi Arnav Singh Raizada!" he went ahead. She smiled broadly.

******** ********* ****

"Arnav! I talked to her. She won't bother you from now on!"Said Avinash.


"What did you tell her?" Asked Arnav.

"She will be writing down her dreams and will not tell you about her dreams! So you are sved!" said Avinash laughing.

Arnav looked puzzled. "Ok!" he said lost in his thoughts.

The rest of the day, he kept on thinking about Avinash's solution. At the end of the day, he opened the notepad on his laptop and started typing about the dream he had last night!

********* ********** *********

"Khushi... you are infectious!" Arnav declared. She flared up. "What do you mean? Am I a disease?" She said getting up with a jerk.

"You are contagious!" He teased her. She flared up her nostrils. 

He stared at her thinking "I mean look at you, you spread laughter, you make me smile with your smile, you put me in pain with your pain, You cry and my heart cries for you, and you made me dream, the dream you dream!" He thought to himself.

"Yeah! Another title to the great Khushi! Tell me ... is it a prefix or suffix? 'Infectious Khushi 'or' Khushi, the infectious'? A Deadly disease!!!" she asked him angrily. 

"Whatever, he said shrugging, providing enough fuel to her burning volcano!" 

She erupted and stomped out muttering! A smile spread over his face. He saw a diary on the bed.

"So, She has started writing!" he thought controlling his urge to see what she had written. He glanced at his laptop.

'She is unbelievable!" he said shaking his head.