"DADI!" he shouted. By this time I'd come downstairs and I was standing by the staircase watching Arnavji stand there with fists clenched, teeth gritted, eyes spitting fire and his whole body shaking with rage. I'd heard every word of Dadi's and I couldn't so anything to stop the endless tears which ran down my cheeks.
But right now more than my own pain, I felt HIS pain. If looks could kill, then this Dadi' would have died a million times by now. Arnavji looked like a raging tiger that you just wouldn't want to go near. But behind all that, he was in pain I knew. I didn't know how, but I did.
As he stood there glaring at Dadi, I waited with bated breath waiting for the volcano to erupt.
"Ek. Aur. Shabd nahi,(Not another word.) " he said in a low, menacing voice, with gritted teeth. I shivered with fear hearing the threat in his voice, even though it wasn't directed at me. "Iss ghar mein kon aayega or kon nahi - yeh main decide karunga. Yeh MERA ghar hai. Yahaan Khushi rahegi yah nahi - yeh fesla karneka haq sirf MERA hai. (Who will enter this and who won't - I will decide this. This is MY house. Whether Khushi will stay here or not - the right to decide that is only MINE) THIS IS MY HOUSE!" I flinched at his loud tone, but turning to see Dadi I saw that she hadn't even moved a centimetre. "Agar aapko Khushiki yahaan rehenese problem hai, toh aap is ghar ko chodkar jaa sakthe hain. Aapko koi nahi rokrahe hain. (If you have a problem with Khushi staying here, then you can leave this house and go. No one is stopping you. "
"Mujhe pehlehi pathaatha, (I knew it) " Dadi whispered. "I knew it!" She turned to me. "You haven't been in this house for 24 hours and you have already started to take my grandson away from me," she accused. "MY grandson is going against ME because of YOU - a cheap, middle class s**t-"
"DADI!!!" he roared. Tears started to flow down my cheeks even faster than before. What had I done that Dadi hated me this much. I barely knew Arnavji and I didn't even know Dadi! How could I be separating them already?! And... I would never want to come between a grandmother and grandson. I could never do that to them. Never in my life had I ever thought of being the reason of breaking up a family - and I wouldn't do that now either. I swallowed my remaining tears and wiped my tears off quickly.
Arnavji was going to say something when I interrupted in a weak voice, "Hum chaltehain, (I'm leaving,) " before starting to walk towards the door - only to be held back by a hand holding my arm.
"Tum kahi nahi jaarahi ho, (You're not going anywhere,) " he said, still not letting go of my arm.
"No, it's best if I leave. I don't want you two to fight because of me," I told him, my voice breaking, looking into his eyes.
"Don't act, you sl*g!" screamed Dadi. "I don't know what black magic you have done on my Arnav that he can't even be away from you for a second. You've already created the wedge between me and my grandson and now you are pretending to be innocent. You may have made him fall for your charms, but these won't work on me, and I won't let you take him away from me!" she warned.
I held back my tears this time and thought maybe I could convince her that I meant no harm to them. "Aap galat samajrahen ha- (You're misundertandi-)"I tried to tell her, but I got cut off.
"Upar jao, (Go upstairs) " Arnavji said with surprising calm.
"Lekin- (But-)"
"Suna nahi tumne maine kya kahaan? (Did you not here what I said?) " he asked in a low but stern voice. "I said go upstairs!" he ordered me. I knew that arguing with him or going against him in this state would probably be a disastrous, so I obediently went upstairs. As soon as I had my turned my back on them, I let the tears run freely down my face.
When I knew I was out of their sight, I ran back into the room I came from, and sobbed as I crouched down to the floor. I brought my knees up closer and buried my face in them. Was Dadi right? Is that what I am? A s**t? Maybe I shouldn't have let Arnavji force me into staying with him. But I never had a choice in the first place did I?! Why did Dadi hate me so much?
All of a sudden I just felt too tired with everything. I didn't even know my life anymore. Why? What? Who? When? I just had a million questions running in my head, but absolutely no answers. Why was I being chased? Who was after me when I had nothing to give them? And why did Arnavji appear in my life all of a sudden. I looked up, waiting for Devi Maiyya to give me some kind of answer, and when none came, I just let the tears take over again as I buried my face between my knees again.
It seemed as though I was sitting there for years when I heard the door being opened. I quickly wiped my tears and turned around to see Arnavji striding into the room, anger and frustration written all over his face. He shut the door behind him and closed his eyes in pain. A few seconds later his expression changed as though he suddenly became aware of something, and then he opened his eyes to look directly into my waiting eyes.
I didn't know why I was doing this, but as soon as I saw his in that agonised state, I wanted to soothe his pain. I didn't know how. But I wanted to tell him everything would be alright. But at the same time I knew that I was a no-one to him. I had no place in his life and I had no right to interfere in his matters. So asking him to talk about it was not an option, and trying to talk to him wasn't much of an option either going from his state of mood. So I did the only thing I could do in that situation.
As he met my eyes I looked right back into his molten caramel depths, trying to give him all the comfort I could through my eyes. At first it seemed to work because I saw his expression relax a little. However, all of a sudden it seemed as though he noticed something within my eyes which caused him more distress, because I saw him clench his fists, trying to control himself. I could tell that he was hurting inside, but he let out all his hurt in the form of anger. Funny how we all have our own ways of expressing our pain - some cry, some laugh, some scream, and some never let it out. And I could tell that Arnavji was a mix of the last two. But what caused him so much anguish? I had no idea.
Without a word he left the room, leaving me to wonder whether I had done something wrong. But I hadn't done anything had I?
I was still pondering over the last few minutes when he walked back into the room with a tray of food in his hand.
"Have your breakfast," he said to me as he laid the food out on the table next to the bed.
"Ji, (Yes,) " I replied in a slightly croaky voice. Ok so the effect of my breakdown was still lingering I guess. I cleared my throat and asked, aren't you going to eat too?"
"I've already eaten," he answered brusquely, not meeting my eyes.
"I don't want the food," I said all of a sudden. He looked up questioning silently, confused with my sudden refusal. "You're lying," I explained. I could point out the exact moment the meaning of my words sank into him.
"Khushi," he warned.
"Hum nahi kaayenge! Jab aap khud kaane keliye manaa karahain hai, aap mujhe majboor kesain kar sakthe hain? Agar aap nahi kaayenge tho hum bhi nahi kaayenge! Bas! (I won't eat! When you yourself are refusing to eat, how can you force me? If you don't eat then I also won't eat! That's it!) " I told him.
"Khushi," he warned again. I didn't move. "Khushi kao, (Khushi eat) " he repeated, pushing the tray towards me. I didn't reply. Who did he think he was, ignoring his own health but trying to protect' me? How dare he do that to himself?! In no way would I let him do that. He thought he could threaten me to eat did he? I smirked internally. He didn't know who he was dealing with here. If he was stubborn then so was I. After all, I'm Khushi Kumari Gup-
I couldn't finish my thought as I felt a morsel of food get forcefully fed into my mouth.
I froze as I felt my mouth close around his fingers instinctively. When I looked up, I got to know that it wasn't just me who had frozen after all. Arnavji looked lost and a bit shocked as though he just realised what he had been doing.
Arnavji was still lost in his own world, when an idea clicked into my brain.
Note: I know many of you wanted Arnav to blast Dadi, and today's update probably wasn't up to your expectations of that. This has been done on purpose. Trust me when I say that Dadi will be taught her own lesson and their will be a day when Arnav and Dadi will have a proper, full blast confrontation. But for that you have to wait a little bit to see how the story unfolds ;)