I wanted a change from tbe stories I'm writing currently. That's why I wrote this.

Dedicated to HritaAkashi who is waiting impatiently for this update.

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Arnav met Khushi through NK. Khushi and Lavanya planned an outing and NK dragged Arnav along with him so that Khushi won't feel left alone. Their first conversation was very awkward as Khushi wasn't interested in talking to him. He too thought that she was a mean girl who think so high of herself. From then onwards they met occassionally and he understood that she wasn't someone who will talk to a stranger that easily. She was a strong woman who don't bow down to anyone that easily. She stood for her right and totally went crazy if someone tries to show her down as a woman. As they got to know about eachother, he understood that she is a person who know what's happening around her. She is someone with who you can talk both socio-political things and art. She never tried to get someone's attention in contrast to the field he works. He don't know when he fell for her. When Khushi rejected him he felt that he read too much about her feelings. Then when he met her again, he got to know about the reason for her rejection. Hearing that he understood that her mother hold an important place in in her life and he is ready to meet her mother to prove himself infront of her. When he heard her story, it only made him respect her more than what he does. He is a man who loved his family. When he heard her about her past he wanted her to have the family he is bestowed up on. He wanted to give her a family and make her feel the love of a family. He knew that his parents won't deny his wishes and will accept Khushi and her mother wholeheartedly into their family. So he packed his bag to meet Khushi's mother to prove his love.

Right now he is standing in front Khushi and her mother Nisha. He don't know when he dropped his bag, but for a moment his mind went blank seeing Nisha who stood almost his height and had hard muscles on her arms. 

"Arnav, are you okay?" Khushi asked seeing him staring at her mother which made her heart broke. She knew that look,the look of shock and bewilderment.

'He is going to prove me right.' Khushi said to herself knowing that he would reject her after meeting her mother.

Arnav snapped back to reality hearing her questions and awkwardly smiled at them.

"I'm okay and I'm sorry for staring." He told them and took his bag.

"Namaste beta, Khushi have told me about you. Come inside. Both of you must be tired." Nisha said in her deep masculine voice and invited Arnav into the house. He sat on the chair while Nisha went inside to get their refreshments. He ran his eyes over the small hall which had a shelf, a LED television, a small table and a few plastic chairs. There were few paintings and home decors in the house.

"Should I switch on the TV?" Khushi asking pulling a chair for herself and sat opposite to him.

"Hmm, no." He said awkwardly and decided to make a conversation.

"These paintings are nice." Arnav complimented looking at the painting of a mother and child.

"Amma made it."

"Ohhh." He then noticed the white rangoli outside the door step.

"Your mother is from south?" He asked curiously looking at her.

"No, she pick up this habit from south when she was working there." Khushi saw her mother coming ti the hall with their refreshments.

"Here, have this beta." Nisha said serving them cold lemonade.

"Thanks aunty." He gulped down a glass of lemonade and looked at the two ladies.

"I will lay down the lunch while both of you get fresh." Nisha took the glasses and looked at Arnav and Khushi.

"Come, I will show your room." Khushi said walking out of the house. He followed her after giving a smile to Nisha. The house is a two storied one and the stair is situated outside making it a separate house.

"Hmm, is this your own house?" Arnav asked her.

"No, it's rented. The ground floor belongs to us and our landlord is generous enough to accommodate you in here." Khushi said opening the door.

"You shouldn't have taken the pain, I would have stayed in a hotel." He stood next to her as she entered the house.

"Why? Are you uncomfortable to stay here with me and my amma?" 

"No, no...I didn't mean that." Arnav halted his step to clarify that. 

"What I meant was you don't need to pay money for my accomodation. I mean your landlord must have…"

"No, our landlord don't take money from us for accomodating you here. Also, there isn't any hotels near by our home. This is a small village Arnav, you won't get everything that easily here." She unlocked the door and entered.

"I hope you are okay with this room." Khushi walked towards the window and opened it revealing the natural beauty hidden behind it. From the window he can see vast wheat fields.

"Is that wheat field?" The city grown Arnav asked enthusiastically.

"Yes, sometimes amma sneak out and go to work there. Would you like to go there?" She questioned standing beside him.

"Sure."

"Okay, we can go in the evening. You get fresh and come down to have lunch." She walked out of the room and stopped near the door, turning to face him.

"My amma cooks so well and you should try her food once." She said with pride and walked away. Once she is out of sight, he sat on the single bed and exhaled a deep breathe.

'Her mother is a transgender.' This thought kept ringing in his mind. He have seen gays and lesbians a lot in his life, all thanks to the profession he is in, but this is different. Thousands of questions popped up in his mind.

'Transgender, does that means her mother was a male and got changed into a female physically? Or her mother is still man dressed in woman's clothes?' He realised that his knowledge about transgender is minimal like any other person. Arnav took his phone and googled about it which only left him more confused. In India, transgender is a word that collectively used to call the whole LGBTQ community while it's a part of the word itself. He don't know if he could ask this to Khushi or not and decided not to do it for now.

Arnav got fresh and came down to have lunch. When he reached in front of the house he got to see Nisha drying her hair while she is whining like a child.

"Why are you treating me like a child amma? I can do this myself." Khushi who sat on the chair with the towel covering her face told to her mother.

"You never dry your hair properly. I don't want you to catch a cold. Sit there steady and let me do this sankadevi." Nisha scolded her daughter.

"Amma, you tummy look like that of a pregnant lady. You should eat less." She teased her mother and Arnav made a noise to attract their attention.

"Ohh beta, you got fresh up. Come inside.' Nisha stopped drying her hair and Khushi moved the towel away from her face to look at him.

"Wait for a minute, let me arrange everything. Khushi dry your hair properly." Saying this Nisha went inside and Arshi stared at eachother. This is the first time he is seeing her without any ounce of makeup or accessories. She looked like a freshly blossomed flower. 

"Did you call your family?" Khushi asked to removed the awkwardness between them.

"Yes." Arnav lied to his family that he is going for some work related stuffs 

"Ohh,that's good." She nodded her head. Nisha invited Arnav for the lunch and he sat down in front of the four chair dinning table.

"I could only make this much within this time limit." Nisha said politely while a lot of dishes spread across in front of him in a banana leaf.

"She pick that from the south." Khushi said pointing at the banana leaf.

"Are you not having you lunch?" Arnav asked Nisha.

"I will have later. First both of you have it." 

"Amma, don't force feed him like the way you do with me." Khushi warned her mother in advance knowing her habit of force feeding her with the excuse of her becoming thin like a stick. 

They started to have the lunch and true to her words, Nisha is an excellent cook. She kept compelling them to have more food which she got sucessful. His tummy got totally full and Khushi saved him from Nisha who was about to fill his leaf again. Arnav took a nap after the giant feast and in evening Khushi woke him up along with his tea. Khushi asked him to get ready so that they can go for a walk in the field.

Arshi left for the walk and on there way Arnav heard some men making indirect comment about giving them a chance before people from outside which is directed towards him. He was about to lash at them but Khushi stopped him only asking to notice the brown shirt guy working in the tea shop near by.

"Khushi, why did you stop me?" Arnav asked her when they reached near the wheat field.

"They only barks Arnav, they will do nothing else." 

"Why did you ask me to notice the guy in the tea shop?" Arnav questioned her as he looked around the vast wheat field.

"Did you saw the slight bend on his right arm?" To her question he nodded his head.

"I was in first year when we came to live here. That man flashed at me once and I got terrified. Amma came to know about it and beat the shit out of him. His right hand got broken and he was in hospital for almost a month. From then, nobody made any moves directly. Just ignore that it was directed towards us." Khushi assured him as they stood in the middle of the field.

"Did he complain to the police?" He enquired.

"No, he didn't. He knew that he was at fault. Well that's an advantage of having a transgender mother who is strong enough to break the bones." She giggles and he laughed.

"So your mother is a transgender as in male to female person?" Arnav asked her.

"No, she is not a trans woman. If I have to specify, she is what we call hijra or kinnar." She said in a serious tone.

"And what the difference between all these?" He asked feeling small in front of her. He don't know anything about LGBTQ community like majority of the population.

"Should I enlighten you about it?" She asked with a smile on her face.

"If you are okay with it." He told running his hand over the wheat waiting to be harvested.

"I'm always happy to create awareness about it. Come let me show you the mustard field which is on the other side." Saying this they started walking.

"Okay, in our country transgender is a word used to call everybody in LGBTQ community. In our context, hijra or kinnar means intersex. You know when we are born people assign our sex by looking at our genitals. In the case of intersex, they will be having both sex and it's hard to distinguish if they are boy or girl. My mother is an intersex. In such cases, they carry out dna text to check their sex. My mother is a man by her dna but she always wanted to be female. So she became a female."

"That's something new."

"Well, our sex education is pathetic." She joked.

"That's true." For a few minutes both of them walked in silence.

"So trans man and trans woman are people who just have one genital but feels the opposite in their mind?" He broken the silence between them.

"Yup, it's like they are in a wrong body where as intersex have the option to chose a gender or live as intersex." She crossed her arms under her breast and walked. They reached the mustard field and Arnav admired the beauty of the place. Both of them didn't talk anything till they decided to return back home.

"You don't have anything to ask me?" Khushi asked him.

"Hmm I do have, but it's not the time." He told her.

"You don't have any doubt regarding my sexuality?" She questioned tapping the wheat on her palm.

"If I say no, it will be a lie." 

"I'm a girl, both biologically and psychological from birth."  She told the crucial information.

"Ohh, that's good." He said making her laugh and they walked towards her home. Arnav spend the rest of the day in the room provided to him and get down only to have dinner.

Arnav heard a commotion at night and get out of his room to check what's it. He saw a police jeep in front of her house and walked towards them. Khushi is talking to the inspector while Nisha stood beside her. As he nearer them he understood that it's regarding him staying there with them. Someone have informed the police that immoral activities is being carried out by Nisha and Khushi. Being a lawyer, Khushi told the police to search her house and find any evidence before acting upon the anonymous call. The inspector went from there after understanding that he have no provision or evidence to arrest them. 

"Khushi, I'm sorry. Because of me you have face all these." He apologized to her and turned towards Nisha.

"I'm sorry aunty."

"It's not your fault Arnav. There are people who only see bad in everything. Let's ignore them." She told Arnav and get into her house.

Khushi is lying on her bed, covering her face with her arm.

"Titaliya." Nisha called her and she moved her arm from her face. Her mother sat next to her. Khushi shifted her head onto the lap of her mother.

"Thinking about Arnav?" Nisha questioned and she remained silent.

"You like him a lot, don't you?" 

"It doesn't matter amma. I don't know how he going to take all these once we go back to Delhi."

"He seems to be a good man titaliya. He addressed me as aunty and talked to me without any inhibition."

"Amma, he is a gentleman and he will surely behave like this but I don't know if he still wanted to have a relationship with me." 

"Why are you so negative titaliya? He really likes you. The way he look at you, it shows that."

"Amma, don't hope so high. It doesn't matter if he wants me or not. Nothing is important than you." She said wrapping her arms around Nisha.

"Bitiya, I didn't brought you up to be like this. I want you to find someone who will love you and have a family of your own." Nisha stroked Khushi's head lovingly.

"You are my family amma. I'm happy in my life. I waited twelve years to be with you like this in a home. I wanted to compensate all those moments I missed while we were apart and for that I need you in my life." Khushi mentioned about her orphanage stay. Being a transgender, Nisha can't adopt or look after Khushi. So the best thing she could do was to admit her in a orphanage where she was safe. Every two weeks, Nisha visited her and spend a day with Khushi. She comes at morning and leave by evening. From age of four to eighteen, this continued without any interruption. Once she reached eighteen, the law didn't restrict Khushi to go to the only mother she knew. Nisha rented a small house and they started to stay together. Khushi stayed in hostel during her college time but rushed to her mother whenever she got a break. It's been six years since they started living together.

"Titaliya, your happiness is my happiness."

"And my happiness is with my amma." Khushi said and Nisha decided to drop the subject. She lightly patted her head and slowly Khushi fell asleep. Nisha made her lie in the bed and wrapped the blanket over her. She looked at Khushi who is sleeping peacefully.

Her titaliya have grown up into a beautiful girl. All these years, a lot of her acquittance have asked her to let Khushi into the flesh business. She have hiding her from all those vultures who were preparing to feed on her. She wanted her daughter to have a life which she dreamt to have. She wanted her to have a good life and a happy family. She have saved each penny for the bright future of her daughter. In this world, she only have Khushi and she will do anything for her happiness. Placing a kiss on her forehead, Nisha went to her room after switching off the light.

Next day, Arnav woke up hearing the loud noise of Khushi. He moved the curtain and saw Nisha chasing Khushi for hair massage. He watched as Nisha dragged Khushi to sit on the chair and poured a large amount of oil on her scalp much to her annoyance. Khushi kept whining while Nisha told her about the benefits of oil massages and the importance of hair for a girl.

"Sankadevi, what have you done to your hair? Are you not using the oil I prepared for you?" Nisha asked looking at her conditioned hair.

"I do use it." Khushi said.

"You are using it for thrice a week?"

"Not like that. May be once in a month."

"Khushi…" Nisha called her name in displeasure.

"It smells a lot amma. You make something more fragrance."

"It's best to grow hair and you don't even care about your hair. Now sit here calmly and let me do my job."

"This oil massage is the only thing I hate in you. Yuck." She wiped the oil oozing into her forehead.

"Whine as much as you want." Arnav smiled hearing their banter and got fresh. After spending time with Nisha, both Arnav and Khushi left to Delhi after noon.

Throughout the journey, they didn't talk anything about the visit or their feelings. They exited from the bus and faced eachother.

"I hope that you had a nice time in my home." Khushi said forwarding her hand for a shakehand.

"Yeah, it was good." He reciprocated the shakehand and they stood in front of eachother not knowing what to say. It was Arnav who broke the silent between them.

"I will see you later Khushi. Bye." He told her.

"See you soon Arnav." They smiled at eachother and parted away without saying anything about their feelings. Khushi wiped her lone tears and walked towards her apartment with a heavy heart.

'I shouldn't be greedy when I have a wonderful mother who loves me very much.' Khushi told herself and get into the taxi.

After two weeks, Arnav and Khushi decided to meet in Qutub Minar. This will be the first talk after they parted away in the bus station. Arnav smiled at Khushi who came there after some work. They walked around the area and sat under a tree shade. 

"Khushi, you knew why I called you here. It's regarding my proposal to you." He said looking at the flowers in front of them and faced her.

"Khushi, I don't want us to have a relationship." Arnav told her the exact words she expected to hear.

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