The moment Arnav felt Khushi relax, his control slipped. His hands moved down to her thighs and he pulled her closer to him, almost wrapping her legs around his waist. He kissed her till they both couldn't breathe and when he moved his lips away from hers to let her breath a little, his lips lingered on her cheeks, placing soft kisses around her face, hoping this moment could last forever. She was so soft and pliant and he had no idea how he had waited this long.

He trailed kisses down her face, onto her chin and as he placed a light kiss in the hollow of her neck, she softly moaned and moved her head back, giving him more access to her neck as she grabbed fistfuls of his hair. Instead, his nose trailed from her neck, up her chin and onto her right cheek and his breath caught in his throat when she moved her face brushing her lips against his. His lips caught hers again and when he finally found her responding back, he slowed down, letting her take control.

Khushi felt as if she was flying. Her body felt as light as a feather even though the pounding in her ears made her feel like her head was too heavy. He smelled so fresh and clean and even though a part of her brain told her to stop, her hands and lips didn't cooperate. She felt him slowing down and when her hazy brain registered that, she almost pulled back but he held her head steady and she could feel him slightly shaking. Hesitantly, she opened her eyes and tried focusing on his face. He was breathing hard, his eyes hooded, his hair ruffled and as she tried to pull away again, he pulled her back and slammed his lips hard against hers this time. She gasped in his mouth and his tongue slipped in, tasting her. The next instant, he grabbed her thighs, lifted her off the table and instinctively, she wrapped her legs around his waist as he walked out of the kitchen towards the couches. He fell back on the recliner, with her legs still wrapped around his waist and she could feel his hardness against her bottom now. Shocked and scared, she opened her eyes and tried pulling herself off him when his one had gripped the back of her neck and the other held onto her lower back, stopping her from moving.

"No..." he whispered looking into her eyes. As much as he knew that he should just back off now, he didn't. Instead he looked at her, and when she stopped moving, his hand moved forward to cup her face and he lightly ran his thumb over her lip, noticing it slightly tremble. He pressed his thumb against it a little harder, stopping the trembling. His gaze fixed on her face.

"Can I kiss you some more?" he asked huskily and when she didn't respond, he took it as a yes and kissed her again a little more urgently this time. His hand that rested on her lower back now moved to the hem of her shirt and he played with it for awhile before he slipped his hand underneath. He lightly traced her lower back while his lips and tongue continued to assault her senses. A while later, his lips moved away from hers and he looked into her eyes as his hand traced her lower back and slowly moved up her spine. She sat on top of him, breathing heavily with her eyes closed tightly.

"Do you want me stop" he asked her gently as his hand rested just below her clasp and he slowly traced his hand back down but she didn't move or open her eyes.

"Bolo Khushi..." he probed again and she opened her eyes looking at him a little unsurely. Did she want him to stop? She didn't know. Did she want him to continue? She didn't know about that either. These feelings that he was stirring in her were not in her control and as much as her body wanted this to continue, she knew they shouldn't. She quietly sat on top of him, her eyes lowered, cheeks flushed, chest heaving, hair falling out of her ponytail and her hands clutching his shoulders. He gently fixed her hair up and caressed her warm cheeks.

"Are you ok?" he asked and she nodded her head shyly, her eyes now looking everywhere except towards him. Cupping her cheek, he steadied her face and waited for her to look at him and when she did, his heart warmed. She looked almost unsure and embarrassed and all of a sudden reality hit him hard. She had never been kissed before! Her hesitant response, her unsure looks and something about the way she was sitting and looking at him now, he realized just how innocent and inexperienced his wife was. As tough as she was from the exterior, she was just as unsure about her feminine side. He had had his fair share of relationships and even though he knew Karan was her first, they had been in a relationship long enough that they could have take things further and he had no problems with that. We were all humans with primal needs and he wasn't the kind to think that it was ok for a guy to be physically involved with someone before marriage but his wife couldn't have been. However, something about knowing that she hadn't been with anyone before and that he was her first, made his heart swell. As he looked back at her, she sat with her hands now holding onto the sides of his shirt, her head lowered.

"What happened?" he asked lifting her face but she just nodded her head in a no.

Knowing that she probably didn't want to talk about anything right now, he pulled her closer to him and wrapped his arms around her, taking in her scent and this time he didn't need an intruder to interrupt their moment as his stomach grumbled loudly. She looked up at him and laughed and he sheepishly grinned back at her.

"I think we need to eat" he told her as he lifted her up and walked her into the kitchen to eat the daal roti which was probably cold by now.

Dinner was a quiet affair and he noticed Khushi barely eating. She played with the daal in her bowl while he stuffed down his food to get that grumbling to stop. As much as he wanted to tell her to eat, he realized that he should give her some space as she seemed to be a bit lost and the confusion on her face was quite readable. He helped her with the dishes after and as she was about to walk out of the kitchen, he told her that he will be back in a few minutes and she dazedly nodded at him to go take a shower and clear her head.

She stood in the shower, letting the water pour over her, hoping it could pour away all the weird thoughts that were crossing through her head. First, Karan's disappearance. Then, Shyam being in town and not notifying them. As much as she tried to reason that it wasn't him, her sixth sense told her it was. Plus her hasty marriage to Arnav. Was this all suppose to tie together? It didn't feel like it and she hoped it didn't.

As much as she tried to think about what was going on, her mind kept wandering back to what happened earlier on and she could still feel his scent lingering on her. She turned the shower off and stepped out and as she put on her clothes, she looked at her own reflection in the mirror. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips swollen and unconsciously her fingers moved up to her lips. Before her thought process could go wild, she heard the faint knock on the door and Arnav calling her name. She threw her clothes on real fast and rushed out of the bathroom and she almost squealed at the sight before her.

Arnav was standing at the door with a McDonalds bag in one hand and a tray with two icecreams in another. The smell of cheeseburgers engulfed the room and the next second, she dropped her cloths on the floor, jumped up and looped her arms around his neck pulling him into a hug, forgetting all about the awkwardness from before. As she looked back up at him, with a smile that could have lit up the whole house, he chuckled at her response.

"How did you know I like cheeseburgers?" she asked him absolutely amazed that he would know something like that about her because in the past month or so, she didn't remember mentioning to him, her love of McDonalds.

"Remember our drive to your parents for your pag phera? You mentioned it then...." His sentence stopped midway as he looked over at her as she hurriedly grabbing the burgers out of the bag along with the apple pies. She gave him one apple pie along with an icecream and then stared at the three burgers infront of her.

"But I only eat one..." she told him eyeing the burgers.

"I know. The other two are mine. Just to let you know, I more like inhale cheeseburgers..." he told her laughingly.

She looked at him a little unsurely. Didn't this guy just throw down seven roti's like half an hour ago? What was wrong with him? Shrugging her shoulders, she bit into her burger and closed her eyes enjoying the taste. By the time she was 3/4 done her burger, Arnav literally had inhaled the two burgers and was now moving towards his apple pie.

"What the!! How in hell did you eat those so fast??!! Didn't you eat like seven roti's half an hour ago or something?"

"Actually, I ate six but I think your forgetting that you ate too...no?" he responded back and noticed her looking away a little embarassed. Deciding to let her off the hook, he switched the TV on and both leaned back against their bed to enjoy their desert. Right before he could have put the spoonful in his mouth, she grabbed his hand and looked at him absolutely shocked.

"You shouldn't be eating this" she told him and his heart fluttered that in all her excitement, she still remembered.

"I am allowed to cheat one in a while. I rather have the black coffee everyday so I can enjoy something like this once a month or so. Plus I've got all the meds I need to control the sugar levels" he winked at her and went back to his icecream.

As they both silently sat there with Arnav watching TV and Khushi sitting on the laptop, Arnav looked at her from the corner of his eye and noticed the smile playing on her lips as she finished her icecream and pie and then the next moment she was frowning at something she was looking at on the laptop. Grabbing all the garbage, she walked into the bathroom, brushed her teeth and came back to bed and laid down. He turned the TV off right away and after tossing his garbage came back to bed to lay down beside her.

As he laid straight on the bed, he felt her turning and facing him but she didn't say anything. Feeling her stare on him, he turned to look at her and she smiled.

"Thank you" was all she said and she slowly got up, leaned over him and placed a soft kiss on his cheek.

"Your welcome." He mimicked her actions and leaned over her to place a soft kiss on her cheek.

He laid down facing her and with the help of the moonlight, he could see that she had her eyes closed now and a smile on her lips. As if she knew he was looking at her, she opened her eyes.

"I wanted to talk to you about something" she told him a little unsurely, not too sure if she was even doing the right thing or not. But like they both had said, they were friends first and right now, she needed to talk to her friend to sort all these confusing thoughts she was having. He waited for her to speak up and knew whatever she was going to say wasn't going to be good news from the look on her face.

"Remember when I went to go get Starbucks today?" she asked him and he nodded.

"I really didn't go for Starbucks" she stopped and looked at him, waiting for any reaction but none came. He laid there looking at her and even though she couldn't tell what he was thinking, his mind wandered back to that look on her face when he had seen her staring at the hospital and he knew where this was going.

"I went to the hospital" but she still couldn't tell what he was thinking. Was he neutral about it or was he mad? She thought about turning the light on but kept it off for her own sake. He just sat there, holding his breath, waiting.

"When I was looking out the window in the morning, I saw this guy walking towards the hospital and I am quite sure it was Shyam jiju" she told him and looked at him as he let out a sharp breath but he only nodded for her to continue, not wanting to interrupt her.

"It was weird because the guy was in like a hoody and a baseball cap but I swear it was Shyam jiju. He looked towards your office window as he walked towards the hospital and that's when I was quite sure it was him. Since you were in a meeting and you didn't mention anything about jiju being in town, I don't know what I was thinking, but I decided to follow him. I went to the hospital and looked around and he wasn't there. I thought he probably went to go see Karan but I saw Karan with a bunch of other doctors but jiju wasn't around. So I left the hospital and decided to call Anjali Di and you know the rest" As she finished telling him what happened, she looked at him and he was now leaning on his elbow, looking down at her carefully. Her heart pounded in her chest and she wasn't sure why she told him this but she wished for a moment to take everything back.

"Ok maybe I am mistaken, but it was just kind of bugging me and I didn't know who else to talk to so I..." she trailed off when she felt his finger on her lips and he turned the nightside lamp on and grabbed the laptop.

"It's ok Khushi... I do want you to tell me if something is bugging your or if something is wrong. If you do feel that it was him, then let's check their credit card statement to see if anything is on there. If he bought it cash, sucks for us I guess. The credit card statement will show the destination of his flight. Even though if he was in town, I think he would have told us. Doesn't matter if he was here to see Karan or not, I don't think he would hide it... well atleast I don't believe he has a reason to hide anything. Plus, him and Karan never really talked as far as I know." As he opened the website to check their credit card statement, Khushi grabbed his hand and when he looked over at her, he realized she already had done this.

"I am sorry. I know I shouldn't have checked like that but since I have access to all the accounts for Anjali Di too to complete her corporate and trust returns, I just checked while we were eating" she told him sheepishly.

"And..." he asked as his heart beat loudly in his chest.

"He got in at 9 this morning and took the flight out at 2" she told him. He didn't say anything but sat there with the laptop closed now, having no reason to check anything as he trusted her, but why had Jiju come to see Karan or even if he didn't come to see Karan, how come he didn't tell them about it? Deciding that he will talk to Anjali in the morning and ask her if she knew where Jiju was, he thanked Khushi.

"We'll look into this. I'll ask Di casually tomorrow to see if she knew where he went. I mean he is a grown ass person and is allowed to go and do whatever he wants, it's weird that he would be here like that unless he has something to hide." He put the laptop away and switched the light off and the next instant, he pulled her closer to him.

"I want you to be able to tell me everything ok? Don't ever be scared or nervous and I swear on my Di's life that I have no idea why Karan left Khushi. I know you won't ask and with the way Karan looks, I am kind of worried too but he isn't willing to talk so there isn't much we can do. If you want, you can try talking to him" he told her but she shook her head negatively.

"I want to know what happened too, for my own piece of mind but I don't want to see him. He has my number. If one day, he feels like telling either one of us, there are many ways he can communicate with us" she told him and yawned. It had been a long day and within a few minutes she fell asleep.

They were still talking when he noticed Khushi not responding anymore and as he looked at her carefully, he found her fast asleep. She was definitely a heavy sleeper, he thought laughingly. He placed a soft kiss on her lips this time instead of her forehead and moved over to his side.

He laid in bed, dreading what he had just heard. He couldn't explain the relief he felt when Khushi told him the reason for her visit to the hospital. She was an innocent soul. As professionally smart as she was, she had lived a sheltered life and he wasn't sure how much she knew about Karan and his past. Karan had made a few mistakes in his life and he prayed that those hadn't come back to haunt him.

But what was this whole thing with Shyam Jiju? he wondered. Something was definitely not right.

Phew! There was Chapter 17! Thank you everyone for the kind comments, they keep me going. Let me know what you guys think!Pinki