Part 4 Confliction
Manorama forwarded a teacup to NK who was in deep thought. He didn't notice it. She tapped his shoulder and NK looked at her plainly.
"Where were you lost?"
NK nodded no and took the cup from her hand.
"Don't lie... There is something and that is very serious... it has been written on your face" Manorama said, sitting on the couch.
NK drank the tea.
"Won't you tell me?"
"Khushi's husband is searching for her. He is in Mumbai now"
Manorama was shocked.
"Whaaat? How do you know?"
"He is none other than Aman's Boss"
"Whaaat? Aman's Boss? Then how did you not know about him so far?"
"AR is the biggest company. Aman became busy after joining AR. We didn't get time to meet each other. He even didn't get time to talk to me. He told me when he joined AR but at that time, Khushi was not with us. So, it didn't stay in my mind"
"Are you sure, he is searching for Khushi?"
"Mmm"
"But how it is happening? If Khushi's statement is true, how could it be possible?"
"I too don't know... why does he search for her all of a sudden?" NK said wearily.
"What would be the reason?"
"I can't understand anything, Mom"
"Didn't you tell Khushi about her husband?"
"Not yet..."
"Why?"
"Why should I tell her about the man who didn't trust her and humiliated her?"
"Nanne, we don't know what happened between them..."
Cutting her,
"What do you mean, we don't know? Don't you know? Didn't Khushi tell us everything when we were ready to send her to her husband when we got to know she was pregnant?"
"If he was a wrong man, he would have married to someone as of now instead of searching for her"
NK rolled his eyes.
"This is the matter of husband and wife. We should not interfere in that. It's not manners. Let her decide what she wants"
"Are you going to stress her again? Did you forget what happened to her all the time crying and thinking about her husband? Do you want her to suffer again?"
"She is suffering because he is not with her... she would be feeling better if they are together. Can't you understand how much she loves him?"
"But, he won't deserve her. The basic quality of LOVE is TRUST. But he didn't trust her. he blamed her for his sister's death. Do you know, Khushi loved Anu more than she loved her husband? How could she be the reason for Anu's death?"
"Let him be wrong. Being a third person, we don't have the right to restrict her from getting her what she wants"
"Mom, try to understand"
"You try to understand. We have to give her time to decide. She won't get it if her husband reached her"
NK stood hesitatingly.
"If you don't want to do that, I'm ready"
NK nodded ok.
"Don't be partial..."
NK looked at her wearily.
"I know you are angry with her husband. But this is not a time to put your perception in front of Khushi. She needs her husband and Anu needs her father"
NK walked to Khushi's room. He stopped seeing her talking with Baby Anu in a babyish voice.
"Anu baby, come here... change your dress. You have made it wet. You will catch a cold if you stay in the wet dress, beta..."
Baby Anu spilled water from the sipper when she drank water and she crawled away from Khushi giggling. She liked to play with her mother this way always. Khushi also crawled to catch her and Anu crawled faster. She clutched NK's leg tightly and giggled again, sitting on his foot.
NK lifted her in his arms and kissed her cheek. Circling NK's neck, Anu climbed on his chest trying to escape from her mother as she didn't want to get caught by Khushi.
"Oh, my God... Why are you troubling Mumma, Sweetheart?" NK asked.
"She is becoming naughtier day by day, Nanne... I can't run behind her these days" Khushi said. She pulled her dress off and changed it. Then, she huffed in relief.
"Khushi, have to finish balancing the account of our yesterday's export products?"
"Yeah, I have finished it in the morning itself"
"That's nice..." NK stood hesitatingly.
"Why are you looking restless, Nanne? Are you alright?"
In taking a deep breath, NK looked at her.
"HE is searching for you..." he said plainly.
Khushi's facial expression changed even though NK didn't tell her in detail that WHO was searching for her.
"Whooom are you talking about?" her voice broke.
"Arnav Singh Raizada..."
"Is he searching for me? But why?" she asked unbelievably.
"I don't know"
"It must be some misconception..."
"No... do you know Aman?"
"Yeah... He is AR manager but I didn't get a chance to talk to him"
"Aman is none other than my cousin"
"Whaaat?"
"Yes, staying at his place only, I studied UG"
"But, you never told me about him"
"I told you but at that time, he didn't join AR. And I always call him Ammu."
"Oh... Did you call him Ammu?"
NK nodded yes.
"He is the one who told me about his search. He asked me to help ASR to get his wife"
"Whaaaaat did you say?"
"I said no..."
Khushi sighed.
"I said no... but the decision is yours. If you want to go to Delhi..."
Cutting him,
"No, Nanne... I don't want to go."
"Doesn't your Baby need her father?"
"He doesn't even know he has a baby"
"Because you are far away from him. He will feel happy if he gets to know about his baby"
Khushi was silent. Yes, he would become happy if he got to know about Baby Anu. He would shower unconditional love on her just like he did with his sister Anu.
Khushi named her daughter Anu in remembrance of Arnav's sister Anu.
"Tell me, Khushi, shall I call Aman?"
Khushi nodded no.
"If he really wants to come to me, he will do it by hook or by crook."
NK nodded yes and left the room with Anu.
Khushi sat on the bed with a thud.
"Why Arnavji, why are you searching me now? Why do you want me now? What made you remember me? After blaming me for something I never did, why do you want to meet me now?" She tried to gulp her tears down and failed.
"How could you have the guts to blame me for Anu's death, Arnavji? How could you even utter such a killer word? I love Anu more than I love you. She was my friend who wanted me to be happy always. I agree, I HIDE the TRUTH about Anu from you... that too for only Anu. What can I do if she didn't want me to tell you? For that, would you ask me to leave you forever? Didn't you know how much your words would have hurt me when you said, you don't want to see my face anymore? Then why do you want to see my face again? Why Arnavji?" She cried brutally.
On the other side of Mumbai,
Arnav was looking at the sky blankly. He had a daughter. He didn't know about her. His wife and daughter were living in the stranger city... without him... don't know how...!
"How could you leave me, Khushi? How did you get the courage to live without me? What happened to your words, I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT YOU, ARNAVJI? Have you gotten used to living without me? Don't you think our daughter needs her Papa? What wrong did I do that you left me without even a note? I agree I got angry with you for hiding the truth. For that, would you leave me forever? Don't I have the right to get angry with you, Khushi? I didn't even utter a single word that can hurt you then why did you leave me? Don't you know I can't be without you? Did you forget our OATH that we made on our first night?" Lonely tears slipped from his eyes.
Don't know what happened in their life...! Khushi said Arnav blamed her for something she didn't do. But Arnav said he didn't even utter a single word that can hurt her and he didn't know the reason why she left him. Wasn't both the sentence conflicting? If Arnav didn't utter a single word, why Khushi was thinking so? Why? Only God knows...!
To be continued...