Raabta

VII

"What wrong did I say, Nani? Why don't you ask Khushi if she is pregnant or not? And that too with ASR's child?" Lavanya said loosing her cool.

The information came as a shock to everyone. They couldn't believe on what Lavanya was saying. Khushi won't cross her limits and Arnav won't take advantage of a girl. So how could Lavanya be saying the truth? But why would she lie?

"Hello Hi Bye Bye, Phatti Saree, what is Ms. Lavanya tellings? Are you pregnant?" Mami asked with a scrutinizing gaze.

Tears fell from Khushi's eyes at being accused. Her hold on Arnav's hand loosened making Arnav look at her.

Khushi saw Arnav flinch at her face and she knew he hated to see her reaction. Khushi tried removing her hand from Arnav's hold but his hold on her hand just tightened.

"Khushi Betiya, please say whatever Ms. Kashyap is telling is wrong." Nani pleaded

Arnav turned towards the family and said in a clear voice, "Yes, Lavanya is right. Khushi is pregnant with my child. Neither of us regret having this child "

"How could you do this, Chhote? And Khushi-ji?" Anjali's voice came as a whisper as she took in the shock.

"It wasn't Khushi's fault. It was my-"

"You were not at fault either." Khushi whispered from behind Arnav, her face bent down.

"But you did bring shame on the family." Nanni said angrily.

"Nani, don't judge them. They might have a reason for this. We all know Saale Sahab and Khushi-ji won't do anything that brings shame on both families." Shyam spoke supporting Arnav and Khushi.

He knew both of them well enough to not judge them on a single news.

"What reason must there be, Jijaji? This Chamkili must have seduced ASR and ASR must have lost his control. She just wanted to trap ASR for money." Lavanya said with distaste.

"Enough!" Arnav shouted. Taking a dangerous step towards Lavanya, he said in a deadly voice, "One more word against Khushi or our child and I won't think twice before ruining your life, Lavanya."

Lavanya shuddered at his wrath. Arnav turned towards Shyam and said, "We were Nainital where we had to stay at a dhaaba overnight. The owner celebrated his wedding anniversary and Khushi and I got intoxicated after drinking bhaang. We both were attracted to each other since long and under the influence of bhaang, we both ended up making love to each other that night. The next day when I woke up, I realized what we had done. I didn't regret a moment of that but I regretted ruining Khushi's dreams and so I started ignoring her. I did not know Khushi was pregnant until yesterday when Khushi had confronted me because someone had messaged to her from my mobile asking her to abort the child. If not for she confronting  me yesterday, I won't have known about her pregnancy."

"But why didn't Khushi tell it to you earlier, when she came to know it?" Asked Aakash believing his brother.

"Khushi had tried telling me but I had announced my marriage and before that I had ignored her a lot. After announcing the marriage too she tried telling me but I kept ignoring her out of guilt and so she left a message on my phone but she got a reply to abort her child. And that reply wasn't from me." Arnav explained while everyone stayed silent.

"Who would send such a message?" Asked Shyam

"The one who would lose me and my money if I got to know about Khushi's pregnancy." Arnav said turning towards Lavanya.

Everyone looked at Lavanya with shock. This was to be the most shocking day for them.

"Don't blame me, ASR. I didnot do anything." Lavanya screamed in anger.