Let's fall in love (Story By PINKI)

Chapter 14

"Khushi?"

She halted at the voice and could feel her heart starting to race and her blood almost boiling. For second she felt like just walking away but that didn't suit her personality. Plus, she had nothing to hide and she had no reason to be mad at him. He was the one who should be ashamed of what he did. She was stronger than this and she knew it. Taking a deep breath, she turned around and smiled at the face that she had once fallen in love with.

"Hello Karan"

Arnav impatiently waited for the lights to turn green so he could cross the road, but when the lights didn't change for a few seconds, he ran across the street avoiding the cars honking insanely at him. As he looked for the emergency ward entrance, his heart pounded against his chest. Praying that he would see Khushi walking through one of these doors any second, he ran around and finally noticed the red 'emergency sign'. Looking around one more time and not noticing her anywhere, he ran into the emergency area hoping he wouldn't have to either see Khushi or Karan right now.

Karan slowly walked towards her and looking at her, the lump in his throat grew. What was she doing here? He wondered. He had thought that she would be back in her hometown and would probably never come to this city again. But here she was looking as fresh as a flower and looking as calm as she always did.

"How are you?" she asked him again with a slight note of irritation in her voice hoping that he would stop walking towards her as he seemed to be in a bit of daze, but he didn't. As he walked right up to her and stood in front of her, he felt the tears forming in the back of his eyes but he held it all back.

Her tone finally registered in his head and halted his footsteps. He looked at her a little unsurely,but he knew he deserved it. He was hoping that he would get some more time to get his act together before he contacted her again and hoped she would someday have it in her to forgive him.

"I am ok...How are you?" he asked with a cracking voice and as he took another step closer to her, he noticed someone running towards them.

"Arnav?" he whispered and hearing his name, Khushi turned around and saw a breathless Arnav come and stand in front of her. His eyes darting back and forth between them wondering if Karan had already found out everything.

"What are you doing here?" Karan asked him again wondering why he was running. They both were suppose to meet next week so why did he come running into the hospital like this?

As Karan looked at Arnav slightly confused, the irritation in Arnav's eyes was obvious and it took Khushi a second to realize that Karan had no idea about her being married to Arnav. She looked at Arnav and waited for him to say something but he didn't. He didn't even notice her looking at him as his gaze was hard on Karan. She looked back to Karan's face and noticed the dark circles under his eyes. His form was slightly hunched and he didn't look like the carefree and jovial Karan she knew. He looked a lot thinner too than the last time she had seen him, which was what? About a month ago? Before she could say something to either one of them, Arnav's voice broke her thoughts.

"Hi Karan, long time no see" he asked with pure loathing dripping from his voice and Khushi could feel the atmosphere tense up around them. Seeing Arnav's anger, her heart beat wildly, scared of what was going to happen. Before she could muster up the courage to try and talk to either one, the intercom overhead brought them back to their worlds.

"Dr. Karan please report to unit 3C"

"I got to go. I'll see you next week" Karan told Arnav and looked towards Khushi, taking her profile in as something he could remember when he would ponder on the past. Arnav looked towards Khushi who was looking at Karan with a confused expression on her face. Karan's eyes looked over Khushi's face and then his eyes looked down at her left hand noticing the glittering diamond he had given her missing. As he turned around to walk away, he stopped and turned back around sharply. He stared at her neck and noticed the black beaded necklace peeking through the black shirt that she was wearing. He looked up at her forehead and there was nothing. Slightly confused, he tried to walk away when she shifted a bit and the neckline on her t-shirt shifted bringing into full view, her mangalsutra.

Noticing that Karan was looking at her a little weirdly she brought her hand up to pull her neckline unconsciously when her hand touched the beads. Her hands froze as she noticed the look in his eyes but before she could say anything, Karan covered the distance between them in two long strides and her whole body jerked as he took hold of her upper arms and pulled her towards him.

"Karan, leave her" Arnav dangerously whispered but Karan kept staring at her waiting for her to say something.

"This is between me and Khushi. You stay out of it" Karan replied back in just an equally dangerous voice and avoiding a scene, Khushi patiently raised her hands to remove his hands from her arms as she noticed Arnav's fist clenching and about to come up.

"You lost every right to question me when you ditched me at the mandap, Karan" was all she said and giving him a blank look, she walked away. Giving Karan one last look, Arnav turned around to walk after Khushi but stopped.