Ek Duje Ke Vaaste

Part 5

The guptas were half way home almost when khushi screamed: hey devi maaiya

Buaji; hai rey nandkisore..kaa hua? (what happened?)

Khushi: buaji hum aapna phone waha shantivan mein hi bhool aye..humey abhi jana hoga usey laney(I left my phone at shantivan..i have to go now)

Buaji; itni raat gaye akeli kaisi jaogi..(how will you go alone so late in the night)

Khushi: kuch nehi hoga buaji..hum yun gaye aur yun aye(nothing will happen..i will go and come)

Before anyone could stop her khushi took an auto and went to shantivan.

Everyone was in their room at shantivan apart from arnav who had come to the kitchen to get a glass of water for him, while he was on a call.

Khushi knocked the door. The househelp hariprakash opened it.

Khushi: ji hamara phone kahi rahe gaya (I left my phone)

Hariprakash : ji andar aayiye (come in)

Khushi walked in and searched for her phone. Arnav was coming from the kitchen at that time; still busy on the call. Khushi's eyes fell on the phone which had fallen near the staircase. She picked it up and stood up but banged against arnav, who was taken aback at the sudden encounter. Khushi was about to scream when their eyes met and she realized she was in arnav singh raizada's arms. As they looked at each other from such close proximity both felt something in their heart for the first time. Arnav once again realized how beautiful she was, her hazel eyes, her beautiful hair, her pink lips. Khushi looked into his eyes, the anger, the rudeness that she had seen earlier was not there at that moment...instead it conveyed something which khushi was unable to comprehend. Suddenly khushi realized it was none other than arnav singh raizada..!!!

She quickly got up, bringing arnav back to his senses as well.

Arnav knew he had already goofed up by looking into her eyes for so long, he looked away and said: tum? Tum yahaan kya kar rahi ho? (you? What are you doing here?)

Khushi's situation was no better. She fumbled as she said: hum..aapna phone ..phone bhul gaye they (I forgot my phone)

She took the phone and started to go. Arnav felt an extreme urge to stop her. He said with gritted teeth: waise bhi lagta hai tumhe sab kuch bohot jaldi bhulne ki adaat hai (seems you have a habit of forgetting things)

Khushi: ji?

Arnav: shayed tum bhul gayi ki yeh arnav singh raizada ka ghar hai..aur mujhe nehi lagta yahaan tumhari koi zarurat hai (may be you forgot this is my house and you are not needed here)

Khushi: Mr. Arnav Singh Raizada shayed aap bhul rahe hai ki humey yahaan aap hi ke parivaar walon ne bulaya tha, tabhi hum yahaan aye they (you must have forgotten that I was invited by your family members)

Arnav : tum yahaan isiliye aayi taki tumhe di ki jaan bachane ke badle kuch hasil karne kaa firse mauka mile.... that's why u came here damn it!! (you came here because you must have thought that you would get another chance to get something as a reward for saving di's life)

Khushi couldn't believe her ears. She looked at him shocked.

Arnav said sarcastically: tum to aise shocked ho rahi ho, jaise yeh pehelibar hai..pehele bhi di ke jaan ke badle mein tum pachhish lakh le chuki ho..but never mind yeh rakam meri di ke zindagi ke agey kuch nehi hai. (you are getting shocked as if this is the first time...before also you had taken 25 lacs...but never mind that money is nothing infront of my di's life)

Khushi couldn't take it anymore. Tears rolled down her eyes as she said: hum kabhi soch bhi nehi saktey ki koi aise....her voice choked and she couldn't say anything else.(I cannot even think how can someone..)

Arnav looked at her eyes, he regretted every word he said as soon as he saw those tears, those teardrops told him how far he had gone and how much he hurt her.

He turned around and closed his eyes, then composed himself by clenching his fist and then again turned towards khushi, only to see she was not there. He muttered: khushi and ran towards the door. The only thing he could see was khushi disappearing behind the huge gates of shantivan. Arnav stood at the doorway for a while and then went back to his room.

Khushi went back home with a broken heart. She felt miserable after the insult. She asked payal to sleep and sat in the balcony alone for a long time looking at the sky.

Devi maaiya ab aap hi humey koi raasta dikhaiye..humey kisi bhi haal mein unke paise wapas karne hai..said khushi. (god please show me a way..i have to return his money)

She missed her parents terribly. She slowly tiptoed into her room and opened the cupboard and took out a box where there were things which belonged to her parents. She looked at her photograph with her mom and dad, where she was happily smiling. She clutched the photo to her heart and cried. There were some papers in that box as well which she had always ignored. Even today she was about to put them back, when they fell on her feet. She picked them up and for the first time she noticed that they were not normal papers, they were stamp papers. She opened it and whatever little she could understand it looked like her parents had a land purchased in her name in lucknow.

Hamarey naam zameen ke kagzat, lucknow mein...lekin amma, babuji ne to kabhi iske baarey mein...aur agar itna sab kuch hamarey naam tha to fir amma babuji ne itni taklif kyun ki, babuji ki naukri chale jane ke baad amma ne itni taklif uthai...woh to..(there is a land in my name in lucknow but amma babuji never told me about it...if there was so much in my name why did they suffer so much..amma had gone through so much after babuji lost his job..they could have...)

Humey kal unse iss baarey mein baat karna ki hoga...(I have to talk to them about this)

Then she thought: nehi khushi agar tu unse iss baarein mein abhi baat karegi to woh tujhe kabhi woh karne nehi denge jo tu karne ka soch rahi hai..hum jantey hai amma babuji ne hamarey liye jo kuch bhi kiya uske samne hum jo karne ja rahe hai woh kuch nehi hai..lekin issey kam se kam unhe kisike ehsaan taley zindagi nehi guzarni paregi...she closed her eyes and arnav's face flashed infront of her eyes. She opened her eyes immediately and said: arnav singh raizada hum aapko aapka ek ek paisa chuka denge aur yeh hamara waada hai aapse. (no..i can't talk to them about this, then they would never let you do what you are thinking of doing...I know this is nothing infront of whatever they did for me, but atleast they don't have to live at anyone's mercy for the whole life...... I will give back every single rupee Mr. Arnav Singh Raizada)

She held the papers in her hand, looked at the sky and said: maa, babuji hum jantey hai ki aap humey dekh saktey hai tabhi to aapne aj humey yeh diya... Ab humey aapka ashirvaad chahiye ki jo hum karne ja rahe hai usmein hum safal ho. (I know you can see me..thats why you gave this to me today..i want your blessings so that I am successful in my mission)

She folded her hand and prayed.