Seeing the Light

Broken Hearts And Bruised Egos

Khushi Kumari Gupta was a simple girl with simple dreams, well, just two main dreams actually -
1. Work hard and provide a good life for her family.
2. Fall in love and marry the prince of her dreams.
All her life, she had been watching old school Bollywood romance movies and lived in a hope that when she did fall in love, her life will be just as sweet and simple as the movies showed.

Her ideal man, Khushi thought, would have the characteristics that resembled the main lead in a Sooraj Bharjatya film - Kind-hearted, Sweet, soft spoken and Compassionate.
But instead, her foolish heart had fallen for a man who could easily essay the leading role in an itv serial produced by Gul Khan - Rich, Rude, Arrogant and Egoistic - but hiding behind all that façade was a beautiful and damaged heart.

One wrong turn... Just one wrong turn, and her life was turned upside down. The fateful day when she her benevolent heart thought she could fix a problem in her sister's marriage, but instead she had fallen right into the arms of a broodingly handsome man.

The moment she caught sight of him, something snapped in her.. She didn't know what it was.. Nor was she in a position to analyse why her heart suddenly started to pound against her ribcage. In hindsight maybe it was because her heart recognised its mate residing within the man holding her in his arms.

She was confused with everything that happened, scared of what might happen, but at the same time she also felt very safe in his arms - weird, considering this was the first time she saw the man. She didn't even know his name.

A lot happened in her life after that incident, some memories she wanted to bury six feet deep under ground, while some - she cherished very close to her heart. She didn't know how and when, but she fell in love with him. Deeply and irrevocably in love with him.

Some days she had foolishly let her heart lead her to believe that he felt the same way for her, after all, It was there in his eyes, in his gestures, as clear as day. However a few days ago, reality had hit her like a ton of bricks - he had publicly announced that he was ready to get engaged to his long time girlfriend - Lavanya - who Khushi also considered as a very good friend.

It was then that she realised how wrong she had been for allowing those feelings to develop in her heart.. but it was not like she had purposely tried to ensnare her friend's beau, no, she had not. It just gradually happened without her knowledge, without any effort from him, without rhyme or reason. Khushi had vowed that day, that she would keep her distance, that was in everyone's best interest. But her best friend - her favorite Goddess i.e. Devi Maiya seemed to have other plans.

So here she was, yet again, standing in front of the man who owned her heart in its entirety - Arnav Singh Raizada.

Tears were stinging her eyes, tears which were a result of - the hurt she felt due to her aunts word's on the phone, the humiliation she felt because of Arnav's demand for an apology, the frustration she felt because the stupid ring simply wouldn't fit into her finger.

Arnav had taken the ring from her hand when he saw her struggling with it, he held her left hand up like it was a delicate ornament, his thumb gently caressing the scar on her ring finger. A scar left by the wound that he had inflicted on her by accident.

Her mind took her back a few days, she had come to his poolside to return the key she had been holding on to. Arnav was not in a mood to listen to anything she had to say, he just told her that he didn't want to see her face ever again, and pushed her away - literally. Yet he was the one who had come seeking her out, at the temple of all places, just so he could tend to her wound - a wound she got because he had pushed her away - the irony!

She remembered how he had tied the gauze around her finger in the temple just as the evening aarti was taking place. Her little heart, that was hopelessly in love with him, couldn't help but overly analyse what that actually meant - did it mean she belonged to him? Was that why she could feel his presence anywhere before her eyes actually saw him? Was that why her heart starts to beat erratically when ever he was close?