TERE DIL KA MERE DIL SE

Chapter Four

“How can we forget, I'd thought Bhai was possessed by some evil spirit when I saw him laughing on our Sangeet.” Akash said grinning.

“You'd really thought that?” Pragya asked her father, slightly too surprised.

“To be honest, I had my thoughts running along the same lines. I mean, I hadn't heard him laugh for over a decade by that time. Although I had seen him laugh, a little earlier than the Sangeet.” Anjali confessed almost sheepishly, her eyes shining with happiness on remembering the good-old-days.

"Before Sangeet?" Pragya exclaimed.

"Oh yes! Khushi had been making fritters, and being the Sanka-Devi that she was, smudged the whole of her face with the batter. It had made me laugh so bad, But that's when I had heard my chotte laugh for the first time in years!!" Anjali recollected with a smile.

“Khushi had become an integral part of Arnav Singh Raizada's life even before he realized it.” Aman interjected.

“She was a ray of sunshine in his life, full of the dark clouds of the past. I remember, Mumma always told us stories about angels, I almost felt like she was an angel Mumma had sent for her Chotte.” Anjali sighed. “An angel he couldn't treat the way she deserved”

“Mumma-?!” Arnav frowned, Having thought of ArShi as being the best couple, the words of his mother didn't quite sit right with him!

“Not that he didn't love Khushi, He did. But he was just too stubborn to acknowledge that.” Anjali shook her head sadly.

“Khushi was stronger than I'd imagined her to be though, The initial meetings, Be it in Sheesh Mahal in lucknow, or in the AR office in Delhi, ASR didn't quite appreciate her presence around himself and she knew that, and yet, despite all of Arnav's tries to push her away, They only grew closer with every passing meeting.” Aman smiled.

“I had never thought, Arnav will one day fall in Love though and that too so deeply, He didn't harbour a very high opinion about love, He was always a little too practical for love. But.. as they say, Love changes everything.” Lavanya said.

“Love did change him alot Lavanya, The Arnav for whom his life revolved around his sister, Her wishes, Her comfort, Her wellbeing, That man..”

“I know.. I had never thought that I'll see him the way I did on Khushi's funeral, It was as if nothing mattered anymore, as if every other thing had suddenly ceased to exist. The way he stood there.. in front of her burning pyre, completely broken, I knew he was going through hell.. But he didn't cry. He didn't talk, He didn't.. He didn't respond. He was just.. just-”

“He was just there..” Akash whispered.

“The next two weeks, anyone of us hardly saw him. Office-Office-Office, It was all about office.” Anjali said

“He was just making things easier for you and Akash, He didn't want to leave AR in the middle. AR was his baby, His hard work.” Aman spoke.

“Thirteenth Day of Khushi's death was the last day any of us ever saw bhai.” Akash said sadly. “He left without letting anyone know where he was going.”

“Although, Somewhere deep down we all knew it was inevitable.” Anjali said “He had to leave, One day.”

"Also we did know where he could be." Payal said "I mean.. Ofcourse it was a guess.. that worked."

“Where?” Jane asked

“The farmhouse as the only place that gave peace to Arnav, He stayed there most of the days after Khushi's funeral. Two days later, We received a call from the Farmhouse caretaker saying that Arnav wasn't responding to his calls and wasn't opening the door to his room.”