Arnav's POV
"Chote , one day a person will enter your life and will rob your heart forever, That person would become your life and without her you will feel as if you cannot breath"
I didn't believe a single word which Di had said untill Kushi fell into my arms on the day of the fashion show in lucknow. My heart had skipped a beat for the very first time in my life.
And as the idiotic jerk I'm , I had ignored the feelings and behaved ruthlessly towards her , I thought she would not cross path with me again , but fate had other games to play , she would bump into me everywhere from office and then at home.
To be Truthful, everytime I looked at her , I felt scared , scared of my self , Scared that I would break the wall which I built around me to protect myself , scared that I would cross the line which I had drawn.
Yes, you are absolutely right I'm a coward, I'm scared of love and all the feelings associated with it , I'm scared of commitment. To mask my insecurities, I started being a jerk towards her. My only aim was that she stayed away from me. But the irony is , I was always drawn in her direction, no matter how far she went.
I opened my eyes slowly adjusting to the brightness , my head is throbbing. I can see the white walls , my left hand was sore , I see the needle was Pierced in my veins , the drips . I groaned.
Am I in hospital ?
Then the realization hit me. Everything from the morning played in my vision.
"Kushi" I stammered.
My mouth felt dry.
I saw Di sitting at the end of the bed wiping her tears.
I never believed in God , but at this moment I prayed to Kushi's Devi maiyya , "please keep Kushi safe , please let all this just turn into a bad dream, Kushi believes in you alot , please save her " I hoped my prayers turn into reality even though my heart was sensing the worst.
Di looked at me and came towards me hurriedly,
"Chote , how are you feeling now ? Do you need anything ?"
Do I need anything? , yes all I need is my Kushi , I want take her in my arms and never let her go. I want to caress her silky hair , I want to kiss her forehead, I want to apologise, I want ...
My reviver was broken when Di called me again.
"Kushi " I choked
New set of tears started to flow from Di's eyes .
"Vo chali gayi chote , hum sab ko chodkar chali gayi , she is no more "
She started to sob hugging me .
(She is gone, she has left us all)
I felt numb , what was I supposed to feel anymore ? I had already sensed this. Tears started to cascade down my face " I was right , there is no Devi maiyya, if she was there, she would have never snatched Kushi from me " before I knew, I was hugging back Di and crying like a child . Last time I had cried like this when mom had took her life.
Lavnya Kashyap's POV
I was leading very destructive life before Kushi entered. I had lot of friends and I would spend lavishly on them so that I would always be everyone's center of attraction, I was always scared of being left out, so I did what everyone of my age did. But no one knew me in depth. Everyone wanted to hangout when it's profitable for them. I always found myself alone in the lowest of times.
But Kushi was diffrent , at first I hated her , I hated her dressing style , I hated the way she spoke, I hated everything about her. I thought she was pretending to be good. How can anyone be so selfless?
But when she saved my face from Nani's wrath taking blame on herself for disappearance of Lazmi, changed my perspective , it is the first time someone did genuinely something for my sake. Yes! That's true , I'm born to a money and power hungry monsters who abused me emotionally all my life , I had lost my confidence and self worth , even if the world treated me like trash , I thought that was how it worked .
But kushi's kindness towards me brought back all the emotions which were hidden , I had cried hugging her that day letting out everything I was hiding from world infront of her . That day I had earned a genuine friend for myself.
It was not the cooking or the ideals of daughter in law which she taught me as everyone thought ,it was just an act infront of Raizada ladies. In reality she taught me how to be a better person , she taught me no one can define my worth.
I don't lie , but I was angry when I found out ASR and Kushi having feeling for each other. They did not express in words but I had been recently feeling it , their passion for each other right in their eye.
I was mad at both of them and a thought crossed my mind. Will I break my friendship with Kushi for this ? And I didn't even take a second to answer , no way , my friendship with Kushi is lot more then what I feel for ASR.
Boom! I had answers to all other question now. I and ASR were never meant to be , we never had anything physical or emotional in our relationship , it was always a showoff for the society that's it . I felt peace at myself. I should break my engagement with ASR and end this drama.
The call I got from Aman shook me . Kushi was in critical condition . I ran to hospital which Aman mentioned.
Once I reached there , the first thing I saw was ASR falling on ground and getting unconscious followed by loud cries of Gupta's and Raizada's.
It took me sometime to register what was actually going on.
I screamed " someone help ASR " , doctors came running towards ASR along with Akash.
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It has been two hours since Kushi left us, Its hard to believe. She was so young , so full of life . Ohh god , she didn't deserve it.
I sat there in corner cherishing memories of Kushi , the fun we had , her smiling face .
I saw kushi's dad was crying continuously, I should get him some water.
I made my way to water filter, I saw Gupta women Madhumati ( Kushi's bua) and Garima ( kushi's Amma) speaking in hushed tone.
I don't know why but I made my way sneakily and hid behind the wall to hear whatever they were saying.
Garima : keep quite jiji , someone will hear us.
Madhumati : How can I be quite, what about our payalia now ? Her marriage will again postponed because of this orphan ? How much we have to suffer because of her ? Finally we are spared now for once and for all.
Garima : Don't talk like that Jiji , what if someone hears you , Payal's happiness will be at stake. We have to get our self togather and perform her last rites now , as a family who is grieving the loss of their beloved daughter.
I was shocked was an understatement. Kushi was always proud of her family. And now the same family was talking in such a manner towards her . When she is no more , even in this situation they are thinking about payal 's marriage. Was Kushi no one to them ? Was her life didn't matter?
I felt sudden rage of anger , I wanted to slap them tightly to fill some sense inside their litter filled head.
But Aman held my hands stopping me from executing what I thought in mind.
"Aman look at them , what nonsense they are blabbering about Kushi, leave me I will shut their mouths once and for all"
" no Lav , this is not the time or place to do this"
I hugged Aman and weeped as if no tomorrow
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Arnav's POV
Doctor : Mr. Raizada we tried everything within our hands to save her. But her head injury was too deep. But we tried our best and her pulse stabilized at one point. The hope was back and we thought we can proceed with her head surgery. Then all of a sudden from no where she got heart attack and we couldn't do anything.
I'm extremely sorry Mr. Raizada.
I looked at the middle aged doctor Kapoor , what should I say? He was sorry , Is sorry enough for my loss? Is sorry enough for the pain and agony I m feeling ? Will sorry bring her back?
There was no energy left in me to pull Dr. Kapoor by his coller and ask these questions, so I stared blankly at him.
Doctor : " The reason I called you in my cabin Mr. Raizada , is that you should know something. Im aware you are not in the rational state of mind right now, but this is important.
Even though her injuries were deep and serious , she didn't give up the battle till the very end , she was one brave girl , she wanted to live"
My stomach twisted at his words , she wanted to live , why the fate is so cruel.
Dr. Kapoor continued looking me in the eye: I found something strange Mr . Raizada , in her body , there was something which was making her weak , which was shrinking the effect of medicine we injected in her. I cant be 100 percent sure , I can only tell you once the autopsy reports comes in. But if my speculation is true then this is more then a mere accident.
My legs started to shake without my permission.
"And what is your speculation Dr. Kapoor?" I asked my voice cold as ice.
Dr. Kapoor showed hesitation before slowly uttering : I speculate Kushi has been injected with slow poison.
I closed my eyes shut to sync in whatever Dr. Kapoor said . How can someone do this to her?
Dr. Kapoor patted my shoulder with concern in his eyes . " Don't disclose this to anyone untill we have autopsy report".
"Why?" I muttered
"Why me? Why did you disclose this information to me ? Why not to anyone from Gupta family?"
" I don't know but I felt Kushi trusted you alot , I felt she wanted you to know"
I chuckled in disbelief , did Kushi really trusted a monster like me ?
" Mr Raizada , the last words Kushi said was your name"
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2:30 AM (Arnav's POV continued)
Life is so strange , till yesterday morning Kushi was a person , a person who breathed , the person who would smile , laugh , be silly for no reason, the person who annoy me to the core ,entice me , challange me, compel a feelings within my heart which I loathed but got excited at the same time.
And now she was refered as a body , a corpse by everyone. A lifeless body whose dream of life was brutally snatched by the gambler called fate. It was as if her whole existence was a myth , her identity , her aspirations , her happiness , her sorrows nothing mattered anymore . She was just a flesh of blood and bones at end.
After all the formalities at hospital, Kushi was handed over to family.
"Sir please transfer the body to ambulance, I will get late" said the ambulance driver.
I don't know what got into me . Him refering her as body pushed the wrong buttons.
I grabbed his coller and punched him
"Her name is Kushi"
I punched him again
"How dare you call her a body "
Everyone else were too shocked to react.
He was bleeding from nose .
"Saab maaf kar do " he cried
"Sir forgive me "
I couldn't control my tears or my emotion. I was about to punch him again , when I froze. I felt the same chills down my spine . I could feel as if everything around me is freezing. The light bulb above me started to flicker .
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Thanks for reading beautiful souls .
Next part : Beginning of Haunting will be posted on Sunday. Please vote and comment if you liked this chapter