...wo tum kar nahi pao gay!
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Have you ever experienced something like falling off the cliff, breaking each and every part of your body either its your bones or your skin slashing you with blood oozing out of every fibre of your being yet you don't die?
You are forced to live. To breath. Even though both are stuck somewhere inside you.
You writhe in that excruciating pain.
Writhe and the worst part is that you can't scream out in agony, in pain because you have been deprived of that relief too that any normal human being have.
Have you?
Because he has had. They both had. But more than him, she has had.
Thought he, Arnav Singh Raizada whilst dragging his wife's numb form along with him out of the guestroom whilst the family stood paralyzed on their feet with the defeated yet frustrated, angry yet scared looks on their faces.
Reaching the middle of the corridor he held her up against him concerned as she abruptly slipped out of his arms letting all of her muscles loose at once as if her body has been paralyzing with every passing second too just like her brain was in all these painful moments of silence.
She needed to react.
React.
REACT!
In order to not lose her senses altogether.
Was his first thought as he carried her inside his--their room before kicking the door shut with the back of his foot. Heading to the bed he made her sit on the bed before crouching down on his knees before her gripping both of her hands in his.
"Khushi?" He called softly with tears stuck in his throat. She was looking at nothing in particular. Neither did she protest like she usually did whenever he touched her, held her.
"I can explain if you'll let me. Please?" He tried again.
Silence.
Swallowing he tightened his hold on her hands subconsciously as fear nagged him which has been potent every single second of the last two weeks he has stayed away. The fear of losing all of his chances to be with her. The fear of losing her to never get her back. The fear of never seeing her ever again. The fear of her endurance level reaching to the brim before she would lose her senses once and for all one day.
Was today that day?
"Don't--" He cleared his throat."Don't you want to know where was I for 14 days?" Another attempt from his end to break her stupor.
But prickling silence continued.
Feeling desperate he left her hand only to cup her cheeks firmly.
"Do you know how much I-I m-missed you all these days?" He croaked caressing her cheeks with his thumb reaching over closer to her before dropping his head on hers.
"I wish I-I could..show you, make you feel how much I actually craved for you." He choked.
"It was a pure hell for me." He rasped.
Yeah. The hell of your own making!
His own conscience shoot a bullet straight at his heart by rebuking him sternly.
"Khushi!" He called out this time sternly pulling back a bit.
"Don't you remember for whom you cried for back there? If you don't then let me remind you. You said that I can trouble you all I want if only I would come back. Look here I am. I am back Khushi!" He gritted out at last still getting no response from her.
His hands dropped from her cheeks to hold her upper arms as he shuddered with anxiety seeing her not moving at all, not reacting at all, not saying anything. She just sat there silently frozen on the bed.
"KHUSHI" He shook her this time hoping that his harsh tone might force her to fight back. Didn't work though.
"TALK TO ME MRS-" There he stopped before dropping his hands off her and moved back himself.
"Here." He raised her palm and placed the papers on it holding it upturned.
"You are not a Raizada anymore." He whispered secretly to her.
He closed his eyes, lowered his head and slipped his fingers into his hairs before clenching them in his hands, in fists.
Tears brimmed on the verge of pouring out as a well of pain dug inside him and he felt himself drowning into it. Deep. Deeper. Deepest. There. At the very end.
"I never wanted to do that. Believe me!" Next moment he was holding her closer again with his palms pressed to her cheeks.
"Dammit you're the most.. most precious...person in the whole world. For me."
Yet not precious enough to let go of your revenge eh?
Mocking continued inside him.
Not getting any response from her still he let his head fall on her lap and that.. was it. The moment his head touched her abdomen, she flinced. She pushed him away as if electrocuted before standing up abruptly and taking harsh breaths ran to the other side of the bed before slipping into the blanket with both of her hands wounded around her midriff protectively. If only he could see it.
He sat there on the ground with his eyes shining with tears too hurt.
"I need you Khushi. I need you. Please." He whispered touching his head to the bed sniffling.
She needs you too. First give her the respect back which you snatched from her before demanding something from her in return.
His conscience rebuked him.
He has to fight not only his insides but outside war as well and that wasn't pretty feeling at all to be torn in between the right and wrong.
Right was putting his wife back together. Wrong was to hurt her. Right was to forget his past. Wrong was to keep holding on to his revenge. Right was to cherish her like she deserved to be. Wrong was not to show his love for her whenever she needed him. Right was to keep her with him respectfully as his wife. Wrong was to divorce her and still keep her with him.
All the rights were in front of him yet he choose to do all the wrongs.
Why?
Because he was stuck badly in the past. In that moment. With his mother. That every time he tried to even think of moving his mind would drag him back to that night and then he would be back to square one. Back to his vengeance. Back to think of tactics of hurting that Garima Gupta.
"MAA!" He rushed to her and slipped on the floor falling on his knees before her writhing body slowly coloring with her own blood. Red.
"No. No. No. Maa.No. No." He shook his head hard with tears blurring his vision. He furiously wiped them pulling her head on his lap softly, very gently before rasing his shaking hand to her bleeding head.
"DI. DADI. CALL THE AMBULANCE. CALL THE DOCTORS." He shouted to them who were now gathered in the room stunned to silence before turning his attention back to his mother.
"C-C-C-Cho--te." She choked bringing her trembling hand covered with blood to his cheek.
"Kuch nahi ho ga tujhe Maa. Kuch nahi.(Nothing will happen to you Maa. Nothing.)" He shook his head desperately holding her hand to his cheek before cupping her cheek with his free hand ever so softly as to not hurt her whilst he himself rocked with emotions and gut wrenching fear of losing her.
What would he do without her?
No. No.
His life would be meaningless without seeing her everyday. Without getting showered by her motherly love. Without hearing her call him Chote which he though pretended to be irritated with it yet he would give away anything for her to call him that everyday.
"Maa. Please. Please. Please. Don't leave me.Don't go. Tera Chote akela reh jaye ga tere bina(Your Chote will be left alone without you.) Mai jee nahi paun ga phir se. Sun le mairi baat Maa. Sun le. (I won't be able to live ever again. Listen to me Maa. Please.)" He cried out while he vaguely heard his sister crying sitting besides him in her bridal wear when their mother closed their eyes the next moment.
"MAA. PLEASE STAY. PLEASE." He grabbed her in his arms desperately and held her to his chest.
"Chote. She is gone." Anjali cried with her hand on his head.
He nodded his head vigorously holding on to her lifeless form close to his chest with all of his being. The next moment they heard another gunshot making their head shot up to the figure standing before them making a gut wrenching cry leave Anjali.
"PAPA!"
For a moment he kept staring at his father's lifeless body once he fell on the ground with blood oozing out of his head like water shower and was about to mingle with his mother's blood on the floor. The next moment he didn't know what came over him that he placed his palm in between not letting his blood mix with his mother's.
"You don't deserve it." He ground his teeth whilst Anjali cried holding onto his arm whilst he held his mother in his arm from the other.
As he performed their last rituals he remembered what his mother once said to him.
"Have faith in devi maiyya Chote. If you kept it intact she will give you everything you ever wished for."
"You were wrong this time around Maa. I did keep faith yet she took away my everything. All I ever wished for was to be happy with you. With Di. With my family." He spoke with vengeance looking over his mother's body over the wooden bed turning into ashes with every passing minute and with her his faith burned into ashes too.
That day Arnav Singh Raizada lost faith in god and became an atheist and promised himself to never rely on some deity or anything whatsoever ever. Instead he would become so strong that no one would be able to take away his dear ones from his life ever again. Now that includes his Di. Only Di.
He would write his own destiny. He would write everyone else's too who messed with him or his sister ever.
No one knows why he likes the color red so much. No one but he, himself. It was his own torturous way of keeping his mother's last memory intact within him so that every time he sees red, he would see her blood covered body, it would swam before his eyes and remind him of his topmost purpose in life. To avenge his mother. To avenge his life for she was his life which has been brutally snatched away from him.
Until she entered in his life and changed the whole meaning of that color for him. Red on her started changing his feelings of years.
Torture became relief
Hate started turning to love
Revenge became a foggy, vague, distant memory when.. when he saw her for the first time in that saree. Red Saree. Red. Red. RED dammit.
For those moments when he kept staring at her, he has felt the burden of the past uplifting from his chest. Uplifting and gave him relief so profound that he almost reached out to grab this opportunity to come out of his suffocation of the last 15 years. Fifteen bloody years. Until a flash of camera lightening her face broke his stupor, his trance and he glared at her flabbergasted from inside of what the hell was he about to do.
What in the fucking hell?
It has dumbfounded him. That strong pull towards her has stunned him to the core. It made him realize how dangerous this woman was for him, for his revenge. She could make him forget it which he won't and can't let it happen. Ever.
So he buried those feelings. Put concrete over it. Concrete of hatred, disgust, hurful and peeling words.
It was the main reason why he believed on Shyam's lies so easily when he has lost the battle of his heart to her and decided to move on and propose her. Because that 14 years old boy still lived in him somewhere and he grasped at the opportunity to stick to his purpose of years and years and he did what he wouldn't have.. had he haven't been so engrossed and muddled in the past.
Good that she turned out a cheat. In that way he won't have to let go of his revenge. He won't have to forget the past and move on. He won't have to forgive that Sharma, the woman who killed his mother.
That was the only reason he didn't confront Khushi but Shyam. Maybe subconsciously, deliberately he wanted her to be proven a bad person. A characterless girl. The young Chote wanted her to turn out pathetic so that he could find one good reason to stay stuck in his past. Forever.
His Di was in his mind. Yes she was. He was shattered for her, yes. But then, on the other side he was happy for himself. For that young broken Arnav, Chote whom he has buried somewhere deep inside him in order to start a new life with Khushi.
As that broken young Arnav stirred relief within him, the Chote bled as a bitter reality suck his breaths.
Khushi has turned out to be another Sharma. Like that another woman who has killed his mother. Only difference was that that her surname starts with G not S. Khushi Kumari Gupta.
At that Arnavji, her Arnavji protested deeply. Firmly.
Oh so you will let her go?
Won't you propose her?
Oh don't. Let her be another Sharma and ruin your sister this time around. But then so what?
In the past your mother died and now your sister will. You will be free of any burden of relations and responsibilties.
So stay back and relax. Soon you'd be free of all the worries with your Di gone where your mother already had had.
NO!
An immediate shriek brewed up within him. The bellow was too loud that it silenced every other emotion or voice within him. It silenced the love. It silenced the softness. It silenced her Arnavji along with his heart. Made a wall around that beating organ so strong that it won't protest for what he was about to do. A dark, deranged energy has filled within him and..
The next thing he knew he was dragging her up the stairs of the temple and shoving the vermilion in her parting and snaking the beaded chain around her neck like a shackle of a prisoner. Like a rope of a death sentence. Like a promise of never ending hell. He couldn't punish his mother's murderer. He couldn't punish Sharma then so what? He would punish a Gupta, his sister's culprit. After all what was the difference between either of them? Nothing. They were the same anyway. Cheaters and gold diggers.
He realized it. He realized it no sooner than he married her that how wrong he was. On that Holi Day. When she confessed. Indirectly. But she did. And he understood. Pretty clearly.
"Why does it happen that whenever you come close to me my heartbeats pace up? I tried to understand but I can't. I tried to forget but I can't do it either. Why does it happen?"
She never asked any explanation from him for his disgusted conclusions regarding her and he didn't clear himself either. If he had had then he would've had to confess to her that he knew about her innocence in just a few days of their marriage yet he kept quiet. Kept blaming her. Kept torturing her. Until she tried that stupid suicide stunt thinking that he was having an affair with Lavanya and due to some fate or something or some kundali he has married her.
He has scoffed inwardly. Inwardly. He would've laughed out loud only if it was that easy for him at her unbelievable conclusion when he has himself broken his relation with Lavanya because of her then how can she even think that he would marry her for changing his freaking destiny?
Hell, you idiot woman. I write my own destiny like I told you so many a times!
Her suicide stunt has horrified him. Made him guilty for putting her through all that he did and was still doing but a certain thought sucked off all of his other ones.
How dare she think about him like that. How dare she think that he was that cheap like his father to marry one and have affair with another?
As if you haven't?
You thought the same about her. In fact you made sure she turned out like that by never confronting her.
The cutting of his subconscious was getting too much and he let it all out on her only. He may had never believed her yet he wanted her to have full faith in him. He may had made her life hell yet he wanted her to burn in it along with him. He may have loved her too much yet he was hell bent on finding reasons to turn that love into hate.
If he couldn't do that then she will and he would give her plenty of reasons to do so. Starting from this very one whilst she stood there before him demanding answers after he prevented her from jumping off the roof.
"Kyun ki mai tumhare aur Shyam k baray main jaanta hoon. Jaanta hoon k tumhara aur Shyam ka affair chal raha hai isiliye ki maine tumse shaddi ta k mairi Di ki shaadi ko tum say kisi tarha ka khatra na ho!(Because I know about you and Shyam. I know that you are having an affair with me. That's why I married you so that you won't remain a threat to my Di's marriage at all.)"
"Tum jitna bahir say masoom dikhti ho ander se utni hi. (Your innocence is a facade for the world because from inside you-)"
"Because you dont have a character!"
Things would've gotten the way he had wanted them to be. Even though it was painful yet they were drifting apart. The thin thread of their relationship was shaking like a destructive bridge hanging by just a single string from one end of the river to the other. Just a little pressure and it would collapse.
Surprisingly that bridge didn't collapse. He did and so did his ways to ignore her love and take her for granted as he got kidnapped and she came for his rescue on the verge of risking her own.
As he sat there at the edge of that cliff where he has found her after those kidnappers pushed her off he felt petrified, terrified and what not as he held her limp body in his arms not responding to him. Not breathing. Not talking to him. Not blabbering. Neither opening her eyes nor holding his collars like she usually did.
It sent him back .. years back to that night in Sheesh Mahal when he has held his mother exactly like this and has begged her to stay with him. To keep her eyes open. To be with him. But she didn't listen. Not only did she close her eyes but also never opened them back despite his various pleads.
Same happened there sitting on that cliff and his fear knew no bounds when he felt wetness on his hand holding the back of her head. He retrieved his hand only to see her blood.
Red.
Blood.
Maa.
Blood.
Khushi.
Red.
Blood.
No. No. He won't lose her too.
Not you too Khushi.
Not you too.
I promise. I promise I will make up to you. Please I will make up to you. I promise to never hurt you sweetheart. Please.
He kept begging her to wake up through words but from insides he was making promises to her to never hurt her again.
Maybe Khushi's favorite deity or best friend took pity on him and gave him his wish that time around. Didn't take Khushi too after his mother and Khushi woke up. In that moment he decided that he was done. It was enough of all this. Now he will cherish her forever and ever.
Easier said than done though because not so long after he called her the biggest mistake of his life.
BIGGEST ONE. On her face!
Not because he considered her one. Only because he saw his Di in the same position he saw his mother in. On the verge of committing suicide because of her husband. Just like their mother did.
Tears.
Her tears broke his trance from having yet another.. another face off between his reality and the past even though he promised himself.. to her silently, that he would never hurt her yet he did.
They say right, Never say never because you never know.
Despite wanting to, he couldn't console her broken self when he himself was so torn and splinted from inside out. It was like his body was one yet so many forms of his own self resided within. Each one trying to dominate the other. One succeeding, the other losing and the vicious cycle continues.
But about one thing he was absolutely sure of. In fact it became absolutely clear of for the first time in his life that he can't be without her and that only happened when she opted to leave him after his hurtful words but not because she considered him guilty. Instead she thought the other way around. She believed him that she was responsible for everything wrong happening in his and his Di's life and he like a coward didn't correct her because correcting her would mean accepting his own faults. Faults which might make her back off from her love for him. Yes, she never said it out loud but he knew, they both knew what they both feel for each other.
But how can he let her be guilty and get punished for something she never did? How could he let her leave when she has become his necessity, his reason to breath? His addiction? How could he? Never. Ever.
So Arnav Singh Raizada did what he was best at. Blackmailed her to stay by bringing the contract in between them again and he saw the hurt followed by defiance in her eyes. What followed was some more blackmailing and some more dominance from his part and like always she had to give in and in a day it became like it always were. She became like she always were. Selfless and forgiving that she forgot all that and accepted him back wholeheartedly.
Then came the real destruction. Ultimate one when everyone came to know about their contract marriage and the fear took rebirth in him the minute his Dadi pointed out fingers at his Khushi and told her Buaji to take her with him that she can't stay without marriage with her(Subhadra) grandson now that their charade was over and exposed in front of everyone. That fear of losing her made him agree for the remarriage.
Everything was going so smoothly. They were so happy. He was so content. She was so joyful and chirpy. They confessed. They accepted their feeling in words as well. They openly showed each other their true feeling unlike their earlier behavior.
They had several romantic and blissful moments during all the rituals and the most memorable one was when she came furiously barging in his apparently a bachelor party and thought he was having some girl there in the room with him followed by her crazy dance on one of her favorite Bollywood songs for him. To make his bachelor party special and then.. then.. the most beautiful night of his life has happened.
She surrendered to him. Because of her love for him not caring of anything else. Neither her morals nor her parents preaching and certainly not her own self either, she gave in to him trusting him and he made sure to break that trust on the very next day on their wedding. In the altar. In front of their families. He threw the same night on her face as an invisible slap, as a knife stabbing to her gut, as a hand clawing her heart squeezing it to death, as a finger pushed into her windpipe stopping her breathing.
"Miss Garima Gupta, no one will come to marry your daughter who slept with a man before even marrying him properly. Mark my words, this will be your punishment for killing my Maa!"
Not only that. He forced her mother to leave her. He forcibly married her again and this time It was to continue his quest for revenge as all hell broke loose when his Dadi told him that his search has finally ended. She has found the Sharma and she was none other than Garima who was now a Gupta.
He swallowed clutching the bed sheets tighter in the fists as he suddenly heard the muffled sobs coming from her who was lying with her back to him, him who was still sitting on the floor with his head resting on the bed he sobbed along with her.
If only she knew that the first time he married her it was also more for his mother rather than his Di. And three months ago he married her again for the pretty same reasons. Nothing has changed except that the former bond was of some contract and latter was the real one yet more painful than ever. Just that he himself broke this one mercilessly.
In a few minutes his whole life passed through his eyes like a panorama. He lived all of it again for those moments when they were happy even if the moments were rare. He lived with her all over again in their past. In their hate, later turned into love which turned back to hate not so long after.
They all may think that he has gone mad and he don't know what he is doing at all. If only they knew that he was fully aware. Of each and every single thing he did to her. He was doing to her.
"Sorry for not keeping any of my promise. I am so sorry."
Staggering he got up from the floor and walked to her side of the bed before crouching down on the ground with his eyes glued to her face. Lids covered her eyes but he knew she wasn't sleeping. How could she when he has snatched her self respect brutally by giving her divorce even though he claimed that he can't live without her, without having any rights on her. Still he did and only he knew how!
"So much has happened in this one year haven't it Khushi? We met. We got married twice. We got divorced once. Do you remember how much of a beast I were back then to you and how things changed. And now again let me think. I still am a beast. Back to square one." He chuckled dryly.
Not getting even a single twitch in her stance he felt utterly helpless.
"I know you aren't sleeping." He murmured placing his hand on here shoulder only to get it slapped whilst she turned to the other side without opening her eyes.
"Don't you want to let out all of your anger on me Khushi?" He asked more like pleaded while Khushi clenched the sheet in her hand with her back to him.
"Do I have to pleasure you every night too?" She turned abruptly and asked him looking into his eyes causing him to look at her stupefied. Her eyes were red yet there wasn't a single tear in them. As if they had dried.
"W-What?"
"You heard me." She rolled her legs to the floor. One of her hand was still around her midriff caressing it rubbing it occasionally as if to tell her baby that she would make it alright. She would fight for him/her even if she has to put aside her broken self.
"No." He cried."Of course not. NO." He shuddered blinking back the tears.
"Then what do a mistress do in your world Mr.Arnav Singh Raizada?"
"YOU ARE NOT THAT. DON'T CALL YOURSELF IT." He exclaimed glaring at her.
"Then what am I? A slut?"
"SHUT UP KHUSHI."
She scoffed.
"I guess I am your favorite toy, the strings of which you always want to be in your hands. To pull and push the way you like. That's appropriate description for my place in your life isn't it Mr.Raizada."
"A piece of paper can't break our relation. I-I thought we were beyond that stage long ago." He whispered hurt.
"Just stay with me. Be with me. That's all I want. Nothing else." He croaked.
She let out a mirthless laugh that grew louder and louder with every passing second making him panic.
"Khushi. Khushi. Calm down." He got hold of her shoulders raising himself on his knees and shook her.
She continued to laugh until tears came out of her eyes.
"K-Khushi" He choked cupping the side of her face wiping her tears but didn't stop her from crying. He bent her head to rest it on his chest and hugged her. She hiccuped before shoving him and standing up.
"I AM NOT WORTHY OF THAT NAME ANYMORE. I AM NOT FOR A WHILE NOW." She finally yelled out loud and her voice reached the room where the family was sitting anxiously. It made them all tear up. The dam was broken loose and soon it willl drown them all in its deep sorrow.
He closed his eyes.
"IF YOU ARE THINKING THAT I WILL LIVE WITH YOU WITHOUT MARRYING YOU THEN YOU'D HAVE ANOTHER THING COMING YOUR WAY." She cried out and then gasped for breaths with her fingers threaded in her hairs.
He wiped his eyes and face and was about to get up to go to her when she fell on her knees a few feet away from him and sobbed out loud burying her face into her lap. Gulping hard with his heart twisting he scooted closer to her and took her in his arms before hugging her tightly.
"LET GO. LET GO OF ME." She protested frantically.
Akash stood up in the other room hearing it only for Manohar's hand to stop him. He shook his head. Akash sat back anxiously.
Khushi punched his chest and wriggled with full force to come out of his embrace but no. He kept holding on. She punched, she pushed. She shoved, she slapped. But no, he kept her encaged rubbing her back. Peppering kisses on her hairs, her face, her temple, her head.
"It's over. It over for you Khushi. No more hurting you. I prom-" He trailed off.
Promise?
Another rusty one?
"This was my last attempt to hurt your mother through you. I swear it's the last." He caught her hands and folded them at her back before pulling her in his lap when he felt her determination not to listen any of his explanations.
"Now when she would know that I divorced you that will be her end for sure. I will be done with my revenge once and for all. With her gone we will build our own life together with my past finally being dealt with. Did you hear me? Did you get me Khushi? We will be together. We will be happy!" He murmured close to her ear with his nose buried in her hairs.
"Kill me!" She murmured.
"What?" He pulled back stunned hoping he has just imagined it. She didn't say it.
"Kill.Me." She gritted out.
"Khushi?" He choked.
She pushed him away taking advantage of his dumbfounded state.
"Now I get it why everyone keeps compairing you with your father. Now I know why your mother committed suicide. I know why everyone see another Arvind Malik in you." She growled and with every word took a step back to him.
"Because that's what you are. That's what you'll always be. That's what you'll stay so. Because hats off to you. Your father brought your mother to suicide and you.. you are doing the same to me. You have done the same." She gasped hiccuped as she finished.
It was now his turn to be numb. Stumped.
Though everyone every other day did compare him with his father .. it slashed him no doubt but hearing the same words from her. Khushi. His khushi. He felt crushed. Crushed into pieces from within only if there were any pieces left whatsoever.
It was like she paid him back with interest for all that he did back in that room before everyone. By divorcing her and then refusing to leave her either.
"Don't say that." He stood up on his feet with his body shaking with emotions.
"I'll prove it to you that who you really are even if you call yourself a Raizada." She pulled open the drawer reaching to the other side of the bed. He stood across her bewildered and his fear knew no bounds when she took out scissors and held it horizontally under her chin before hiccuping.
"No. No. No. Khushi. No. No." His mode turned defensive. He shook his hand and waved his hand frantically asking her to drop it.
"You want to bring my mother to the point of death didn't you? You are succeeding. You may succeed. But you forgot one thing Mr.Raizada. You forgot that I told you that we won't have any future together if anything happened to my mother. You should be happy anyways. You freed me off our marriage. A big relief for me." She choked.
He blinked back the tears pleading for her to let it go. He took a step forward.
"DON'T. DON'T COME CLOSER OR I'll CUT MY THROAT AND BE DONE WITH IT ONCE AND FOR ALL." She shrieked hard that did reach the occupants in the room at the end of the corridor.
They all ran to their room and Akash pushed open the door before barging in followed by Manohar, Manorama, Anjali and Payal.
The sight that greeted them gave them chills.
"NO Khushi. Chod isse(Leave it) Khushi!" Payal shrieked.
"NO!" Khushi cried out when payal tried to reach her.
"If any one of you came near then I swear I will kill myself and.. and.." She choked, trailed off and in a moment the scissor left her hand as her numb mind registered what she was going to do. Motherly feeling took over and she stepped back from the scissors now lying on her foot and slumped against the wall behind before sliding against it to the floor.
Arnav stood dumbstruck as she broke down when Payal hugged her. Anjali cried along with her and so did Payal.
Akash took deep breaths to calm himself down but as Khushi's sobs grew louder he couldn't control himself and the next moment he was facing his mentor, his brother.
Anjali shrieked and so did Manorama when Akash punched him making him hit the wall behind.
"Why don't you understand that what all you are thinking and presuming is just a mere misunderstanding and why don't you believe Aunty? Why are you ruining.. no.. no not runinig. You have already ruined your life because of a misunderstanding Mr.Raizada. It's all your father's doing. Just his. No one else's " Akash gritted out startling everyone by the coldness in his voice.
"Akash" Anjali pleaded.
Akash stood up.
"Please Di.Its enough now.He is acting as if he don't even possess a brain.He is behaving stupid.If Aunty told him everything about Payal being Arvind Malik's daughter and also her marriage to him but he still thought it to be her make up story." He breathed out before continuing.
"Enough is enough.If he thinks that she is lying than why don't he fucking investigate it? HE IS THE ARNAV SINGH RAIZADA. IT'S NOT THAT HE DON'T HAVE RESOURCES!"
Everyone agreed with him but Arnav didn't react as his eyes were glued to Khushi whom Payal was holding in her arms sitting there on the floor. Payal has her hand covered over Khushi's ears as if to stop their voices to reach her sister's already broken self.
"Why are you silent now? Speak up. Don't have any retort? Because you know that I am right. You want to stick to your illusions because you don't want to be proved wrong. But one thing is for sure. Now you don't have any freaking right on Khushi anymore. So don't even think about being with her."
"AKASH!" All stood up hearing Arnav roar as he couldn't stay silent at what he said at the end. Anjali and Manorama flinched.
"What that woman has done to you huh that you are singing her praises?" He growled.
"That woman is my mother-in-law. Show some respect Bhai and as far as I know she is your mother-in-law as well, remember?" Akash said coldly chilling everyone present there with the iciness in his voice. He never talked to Arnav like that no matter what. But now..
"SHE IS NO ONE TO ME. GET THAT CLEAR! Stop these fucking sympathies of yours.If you think she is innocent then why don't you take your wife and get the hell out of here?" He bellowed whilst its made everyone there freeze. They hoped Akash won't take his advise. To their relief he didn't.
"Chala jaata agar Nani, Di, Maa aur Dad ka khayal na hota(I would have if I didn't care for Nani, Di, Maa and Dad) But I know they need me because the elder son of this house is so busy in taking his revenge that he is forgetting that he has Nani, Di , mama, Mami, A BHAI, A BHABHI AND MOST IMPORTANTLY A WIFE.. oh scratch that an EX-WIFE WHO IS BROKEN BEYOND REPAIR AS HE IS HELL BENT ON DESTROYING EVERYTHING AND EVERY DAMN RELATIONSHIP TO AVENGE JUST ONE OF HIS."
"Ab tum mujhe btao gay k maire konse rishte hain aur muje unhe kaise nibhana chahiye?(Now you will tell me what relations do I have and how to fulfill their responsibilities?)" Arnav said through clenched teeth.
"Considering how you are handling them all for months now, yes. You left the house, you cage your voice, you dominate her, control her, hurt her and now this is limits you divorced her and are still thinking of keeping her with you. So definitely now someone has to tell you the meaning of relationships because you have forgotten about it already. Until now I always followed you knowing that no matter what you will never do anything wrong but not now Bhai. This time YOU ARE WRONG AND YOU WILL HAVE TO ACCEPT IT."
No one interrupted Akash because they knew he was right.
"I am not going to accept any shit.You think and accept whatever is in your mind and let me be and stop interfering in my matters." Arnav declared sternly and was about to walk to Khushi when Akash words stopped him in his tracks.
"Ye sab karne se Ratna Bua wapis nahi aa jayen gi Bhai..(By doing all this Ratna Mami won't return)" Akash knew he was being cruel but he had to do this to make his Bhai see sense.
Arnav's face paled and everyone saw him staring at Akash in shock.
"Yes Bhai. Apki Maa na hi louten gi, na hi unhe ye acha lage ga k unka apna beta apne hi pita ki tarah ban gaya hai. Apni biwi ko uss baat ki saza de raha hai jis mai uski koi galti nahi hai. Jhoot ki patti itni buri tarah usski aankhon par padh gayi hai k wo kisi aur ki koi bhi baat sunane ko tayar hi nahi hai. Aap maano ya na maano aaj apne sabit kar diya hai ki ap Arvind Malik k bete ho.(Yes Bhai. Neither your mother will return nor will she like that her own son has become just like his father. He is punishing his wife for the things which she has no hand in. He is not ready to listen to anyone because of the blinds of the lies on his eyes. Whether you accept it or not today you have proved that you are Arvind Malik's son.)"
Arvind Malik's son he was called.
Again?
AGAIN!
"SHUT THE FUCK UP AKASH." Arnav grapped Akash's collar making everyone shriek in horror.
"Chote leave him!" Anjali chided him. Manohar blinked his eyes at Anjali.
"Di and all of you. No one will come in between us today." Akash declared sternly and then turned his gaze back to Arnav whose eyes were spitting fire at him.
"Itna gussa kyun bhai?(Why this much rage Bhai?) Tell me can this all revenge bring back your mother huh? Can it? If yes then kya saboot hai ap k pass k jab aap apna badla pura kar lain gay toh aap ki Maa wapis aa jayen gi?(If yes then what is the gurantee that your mother will return after you'll be done avenging her?)"
Anjali's eyes teared up at Akash's question because she knew it's impossible.
"Muje tumhe kuch prove karne ki zaroorat nahi hai Akash.(I don't need to prove anything to you Akash) Now not even a word more about my mother." Arnav said pushing him away.
His heart was searing with Akash's words.If only he could bring back his mother.
"Oh Okay. Not one more word about your Maa." Akash said sarcastically making Arnav clench his hands.
"Fine by me. Why don't we then we talk about Khushi. YOUR EX-WIFE huh?" He scoffed.
"Stop it Akash!" Arnav warned him.
"Why should I Stop? I can see what is going to be the state of her in coming days. We already saw it few minutes ago didn't we?" Akash declared.
"Kehna kya chahte ho tum?(What do you want to say?)" Arnav's voice had an edge to it.
Everyone held their breaths.
Akash walked to Arnav and said looking straight into his brother's eyes.
"A gunshot...White sheets...Cries everywhere." Akash whispered through clenched teeth.
"In amidst all this, KHUSHIJI'S DEAD BODY." He shouted on his face the last words and Arnav lost it and punched Akash right across his face making everyone gasp.
"HOW DARE YOU TALK LIKE THAT ABOUT MY KHUSHI? KUCH NAHI HOGA USSE! MAI USSE KUCH HONE NAHI DUN GA!! WO SIRF MAIRI HAI. MAI KISI KO BHI USSE KHUD SE DOOR KARNE NAHI DUN GA. NA USKI MAA KO NA HI KISI AUR KO!(Nothing will happen to her. I won't let it. SHE IS MINE. I won't let anyone snatch her from me not even her mother and certainly not anyone else either)"
With his every word Arnav punched Akash.
Anjali, Payal, Manorama, Manohar kept shouting at him to stop but as if he couldn't hear anything except the words "KHUSHIJI'S DEAD BODY" echoed in his being cutting him, piercing him, bruising him.
Manohar tried to break them apart but to no luck. They both entered into an ugly fight all over again.
"I am saying the truth Bhai!"
*Smash*
"SHUT UP!"
"Because of you history is going to repeat." Akash shouted with his nose bleeding.
*Smash*
He staggered back but didn't stop. He stopped fighting back to his brother's punches because he knew that his words were enough of slaps. They would do the needful.
"Because of you, your own wife will kill herself one day when she won't be that strong to bear this torture. In fact she is already at that stage."
*Smash*
"Maar lijiye jitna maarna hai because aaj mai chup nahi rehne wala(Hit me as much as you want as i won't shut up today!)"
Anjali, Payal and Mami were sobbing by now pleading Arnav to leave Akash. Payal looked on horrified seeing her husband's condition. She looked at Khushi in her arms and then at her husband and half-brother before gesturing to Anjali who rushed to Khushi as Payal stood up.
"Arnav bitwa, chodh do Akash bitwa ko pleej!(Leave Akash. Please.)"
"Arnav. Come to your senses!" Manohar shouted trying to pry his hands off Akash's neck but no luck.
Arnav's mind was blocked at Akash's words.Akash was on the verge of fainting.
"Aap ki khud ki wajah se aap apni Khushi ko kho denge!(You will lose YOUR KHUSHI because of your own self!) Who am I kidding? You already have lost her!"
Arnav was about to punch him again when his hand stopped in midway as Payal stepped in between folding her palms together.
"Please Arnavji. Wo mar jayen gay (Please Arnavji? He will die!)"
Arnav's red eyes met Payal's and Garima's voice echoed in his ears at that time.
"She is the daughter of Arvind Malik. Your step-sister actually!"
The hate came back and so did the rage. He was in full mood to push her out of his way but the next moment he did exact opposite with his one hand still holding Akash's collars.
He left him and turned around breathing heavily.
Payal rushed to Akash while Anjali giving a nod to her Mami came to Arnav's side after making sure Khushi will be taken care of by Mami. Manohar sighed in relief as it ended.
Anjali reached to Arnav.
"Chote?" That was it Arnav's endurance level peaked and he let out a strangled cry before looking up devastated at his sister.
That word Chote did the trick.
Anjali's heart went out to him even though she was hell angry on him. Blood was oozing out of his mouth, nose and knuckles yet he didn't care. He kept looking at Khushi whom Manorama has helped to the bed who looked at him with her lifeless eyes.
He took a step to her. Anjali stepped in his way shaking her head.
"Some piece of paper can't her away from me. It can't." His lower lip trembled.
Her heart twisted painfully. She couldn't help but feel this way for him. She knew him. She knew when he hates he hates to death but when he loves, he loved to the fullest, to extremes. Like the way he has loved their mother. Like the way he has loved Khushi. That losing her, the fear of losing her despite his wrong deeds wasn't an option for him. He still want to hold on to her even if he knew he has lost all the chances. Big time.
Till now she knew he was suffering because of the war between his heart and mind but today seeing the result of what it had made him, made her heart cry for her younger brother. His face was a mark of misery. She can't even imagine how he has lived last 14 days without Khushi. He looked exactly like the boy whom she has seen 14 years ago at her wedding...broken and shattered into bits.And that didn't go well with a sister like her...not at all.
As Payal took Akash to their room, Anjali dragged her brother to hers despite his protests. Manohar left to his room too giving a nod to his wife.
As soon they left Khushi got down the bed making Manorama frown.
"Khushi? Where are you going?"
"I am hungry Mami. I have to e-eat for my baby." She whimpered.
Manorama pressed her palm to her cheek blinking back the tears.
"Tell me what do you want to eat. I will get it for you." She said softly.
Khushi looked at her surprised.
"Don't look at me like that. I am also a mother. I understand. So tell me?"
"Some light food Mami and a glass of juice."
"Sure." She stood up and left the room asking her to rest till she get her food.
But minutes later when she came back the room was empty with no sign of Khushi at all.
"Di, I--" He tried to remove her hand from his elbow but she gave him a warning glare.
She made him sit on her bed and sat besides him after fetching the first aid box from the cupboard.
Before she could say something or treat his wounds, he got down on the floor and rested his head on her lap making her heart ache. She ran her fingers through his hairs biting back the sobs.
"Chote, tum-(Chote, you-)"
"Please Di, let me have some peace for sometime. No questions Di." He pleaded hoarsely hugging her waist. Anjali couldn't help but lean in and kiss his temple.
"Okay." She choked.
After sometime Arnav heard his sister say.
"It's okay if you lose control and cry. Sometimes that is all you need to gain strength.Tears are not only the weakness which you presume them always. Some days like today these drops give you courage to fight the toughest battles. Hmm?"
Anjali's own tears rolled down at what he said next.
"Boht roya hun Di. Apko pata hai kitna dard hota hai usse takleef mai dekh kar? Usse hurt kar k?(I have cried a lot Di. Do you even know how much it prickles to see her in pain. To hurt her?)"
He sniffled.
"Na mujhe sukoon milta hai na chain. Har bar jab bhi apni aankhen band karta hun, uska udaas chehra mairi aankhon k saamne aa jata hai.(Neither can I get peace nor relief. Whenever I close my eyes, her sad face swim before my eyes.)"
"Di ye maire saath hi kyun? Kyun mai uss insaan ko dukh de raha hun jisse mai dunya ki saari khushiyan dena chahta hun. Kyun Di? (Why this is happening only with me Di. Why with me? I am hurting the same person whom I want to give all the happiness of the world.Why Di?)"
In front of Nani, he has cried for his mother whom he can't forget. In front of her, he was crying for his wife whom he has hurt beyond repair and whom he can't let go of at any cost.
He looked up at her with his red bloodshot eyes and Anjali wiped the tear stains from his face and cupped his cheeks as he continued in shaky voice.
"I love her Di. Khud se zyada(More than myself). But I think this more often how can I hurt her like this if I love her so much? How Di? It is like hurting my own self thousands, million times whenever I give her pain." He cried out.
"Mai toot chuka hu Di.(I am shattered Di.)" He splinted into sobs.
Anjali sobbed caressing his face while he hugged her letting out all his grief.
"Mai bilkul toot chuka hu. Aur apne saath maine usse bhi todh diya hai.(I am already shattered. With me I have broken her into pieces as well)"
As the brother and sister let out their own grief in eachother arms, a lone figure ran from outside the room sobbing covering her mouth with her palm.
"Why don't you just forget the past Chote. See what it has made you.It is only hurting you. I can't see my Chote this hurt and in pain. Chote let it go. Whatever happened in the past wasn't anyone's faults but Papa's.He--"
He stood up angrily. Wiping his face furiously he bit out.
"Ofcourse it is his fault but she is equally responsible for all of our pain that we both went through all these years."
"But she didn't--"
"Yes she did. Even if I believe that she was married to Arvind Malik how can she not know that he was playing a game?"
"Listen-"
"Di, koi bhi itna bewakoof nahi ho skta (Di, no one can be this foolish..) unless or until they pretend to be. That woman is doing a very excellent job at that. She has lured you all in too but I am no fool. You tell me Di. He was so elder to her. Then why did she agree to marry a man twice her age? That's because she must have seen his property. She was nothing but a bloody gold digger that she didn't even think once before marrying a man like him."
"Chote she wasn't ready to marry him. Her father--"
"Cut the crap Di. Who are you fooling here? Me huh? Now don't tell me that she agreed because her father asked her to."
"Yes Chote.She agreed because of her father. She was so young at that age. Just in early 20's. She wasn't even prepared for marriage but her father was adamant because he didn't want to let go of the apparently a very good man which he perceived our father to be."
"Yes. That means her whole family was a gold digger including her father who didn't want to let go of the rich and wealthy son-in-law."
Anjali's eyes widened.He was not even thinking beyond the perspective of money.He has made up his mind about that woman who was responsible for their mother's death to be a home-wrecking gold digger and over the years that resolve has strengthened to the extent that every woman he met was a gold digger to him.
Even Khushi when she first met him. And Anjali didn't know what to do to make him come out of that thinking because he has made up his mind years from now and just an advise and few talks won't change his ideologies regarding the same woman who he thought was responsible for their mother's death. But still she would try her best.
"Chote. Why are you hell bent on considering her a gold digger.There are emotions beyond money as well."
"That's what she is.And those emotions can go take a hike for all I care."
"I can't believe this. Just minutes ago you confessed your love for Khushi and now you yourself are denying that other emotions do exist."
"Khushi's case is different Di."
"Maybe Papa's case was also different for Garima's Aunty as well at that time."
"What the heck. This isn't logical."
"Logic is not the only way of getting to know the truth. Sometimes you just have to look into your heart to know what's right and what's not."
"And what is the truth huh?"
"That maybe she has fallen in love with him. That's why she didn't even think once before agreeing huh. His age didn't matter to her. His money didn't matter to her.All that mattered was him just like he mattered the same way for our mother."
He clenched his jaws.
"You know na Chote. He was charming, handsome even in his 40s. He had a personality--" Anjali's eyes teared up remembering her father.No matter what he did, he was her father even if he didn't deserve that title.
"You tell me who wouldn't fall in love with him with all these qualities and Garima aunty was young and naive at that time. He must have used his charms to lure her."
"Stop it Di." He burst out. "I don't want to listen his praises. If only he was alive I would have myself kill him with my own hands. Then maybe I would've gained some peace, some relief and I wouldn't have been living like this." His voice came out hoarse heavy with all the crying.
"Now I understood why Maa committed suicide. What must have broken a strong woman like her. It must be Payal. Maa must have gotten to know about her husband fathering a child behind her back. She could have overlooked the affair some day , any day but knowing about a child too must have torn her apart. Hence she must have thought death was the only escape from that pain of betrayal from the man she loved with all her heart." He cried and so did Anjali remembering her mother.
"In all this Payal has no fault. She is our sister no matter what."
"SHE IS NOT MY SISTER. JUST YOU ARE. Just--you." He croaked turning to her.
"Do you know why I divorced my Khushi? Why? Because Garima gupta had an illegitimate affair and a daughter out of the same without wedlock then how can I give her daughter the respect of being married? No. I couldn't. I won't. So I snatched the last relief from that woman that at least her daughter was married. Married." He gritted.
Anjali swallowed thickly.
"But in that process I have hurt my world. I have snatched the ground beneath my life." He ground his teeth.
"I thought a paper won't make a difference. It can't change my feelings nor hers then how can it break it? But no. I was wrong. I realized it the minute I handed over the papers to her that she won't accept this relation anymore. She won't stay with me. She won't." He choked.
"Then why did you carry on with your dirty tactics still. You could've just let her decide this time of what she wants." She reasoned.
"I CAN'T." He shrieked. "I can't because I know what she would choose. She has never chosen me. Never Di. And this time too, she won't give me a privilege. No. I can't give the reign of our relation in her hands for she would crush it under her feet. I had to save it. By any means."
"Not she. You have crushed your relation with her under your feet." She told him the blunt truth silencing him for a moment.
"I know. I accept every sin I committed towards her and the minute I would be done with Garima Gupta I will make it up to her. In fact I will send a copy of our divorce papers to her home soon. And then my revenge would be complete."
Anjali stood up horrified to face him.
"You won't do anything like that."
"Please Di. I didn't take the pain to divorce my Khushi for nothing. I have to complete my plan."
She quickly held his elbow and dragged him to the bed. She tended to his wounds despite his protest. Once done she rubbed his arm before linking her arm with his resting her head on his shoulder.
"Please think about it well before doing something like that. If you want to have a life with Khushi then doing this would take Khushi far away from you. Forever. Do you want that?" She tried to make him understand in his language.
He gulped hard. She let out the breath she has been holding seeing him somewhat convinced.
Exhaling he pulled back and stood up feeling churned. Suffocated.
His only solace now was HER.
And he needed to see her immediately to keep himself from breaking down once more before his sister. Even if she won't tolerate his suffocating presence after everything but still he needed to be with her.
"Arnav!" Anjali called out as he abruptly turned around and left her room.
He straight forwardly walked to their room where she must be with his Mami according to him.
Only if he knew she has heard everything which he said to his sister, his confession and also his inner turmoil. His pretense of hate too. She knew it all now.
Reaching outside their room he didn't know what came over him that he turned around abruptly and walked away as he remembered what he did the last time when he broke down in front of Nani and then went to Khushi to relieve his worries. Instead of getting comfort from her he has forced himself on her.
No. He can't repeat his mistakes. Never. Not when he has done the worst by divorcing her already.
Boht roya hun Di (I have cried so much)
Har bar jab bhi apni aankhen band karta hun, uska udaas chehra mairi aankhon k saamne aa jata hai. (Whenever I close my eyes, her sad face swim before my eyes.)
Apko pata hai kitna dard hota hai usse takleef mai dekh kar?(Do you even know how much it prickles seeing her in pain?)
I love her Di. Khud se zyada!(More than myself)
Mai toot chuka hu Di.(I am shattered)
Khushi ran inside their room and shutting the door behind leaned against it before sobbing hard.
"Khushi bitiya?" Manorama rushed to her who was waiting for her in the room as she has spotted her going toward Anjali's room.
"M-Mami. How can he say that he loves me and not understand my suffering at all at the same time?" She choked.
She whimpered while Manorama hugged her feeling choked herself.
Pulling back abruptly Khushi ran to the washroom with his words ringing in her mind causing her heart to clench and unclench piercing through every fibre of her being.
"Have this thought ever crossed your mind Khushi ji that if you'd tell him about the baby then he might move on from his past and revenge to start afresh?"
Di has asked and it's time to find its real answer instead of speculations.
I will tell him if that is what make him come out of it. Maybe what Di said turn out true. We can't be together but our child can have both of us. Both of his/her parents.
Khushi came out of the washroom and walked out of the room with determination despite Manorama calls.
Khushi searched him in the whole house but he wasn't anywhere.
Has he disappeared again?
She clenched her jaws in anger and frustration.
She swear if he has had then this time when he came back he won't find her here waiting for him.
Last time he was in his Di's room crying his heart out.That scene instantly flashed in her mind and she swallowed thickly. She needed answers. She needed them badly. She needed to know why did he do that to her when he has brought hell together to make her his wife?
Why?
He said he was weak. Too weak to let go of his rights on her. Then from where he got the strength to do so?
Composing herself she climbed the stairs to the terrace, the place which was left where she hasn't looked yet.
There he was with his back to her.His hands resting on the railings while he was looking up at the sky.
"Leave me alone Khushi." He commanded hoarsely without turning back.
Startled at his sudden voice she felt her heart soften towards him at the fact that he still can sense her presence whenever she is around just like she can. Just for a moment but being weak won't do her any good. Not at all.
Clearing her throat she asked.
"What if I don't?"
"Then I will kiss you right here at this moment because you don't know how much I need to touch you to get peace. After everything I don't think you'd want that." This time again he didn't turn but the desperation in his voice was clear that sent tremors down her spine.
Khushi's heart thudded violently in her rib cage at his blunt response.Only he knows how to unnerve her by just his mere words. She didn't say anything and was just trying to compose her harsh breathing.
"Go Khushi. Otherwise don't blame me if I lost control." She heard him saying again but she was just rooted to the spot..She was here to tell him an important news but he was looking unapproachable.
She decided to at least say whatever she was here for then she would leave.
"Mr. Raizada. I-"
In the next minute like a flash of lightening he was before her with his arms gripping her tightly pulling her closer till the tips of their noses were touching.
"Dammit Khushi Singh Raizada. If you didn't leave right now, right this moment then I will make love to you right here at this floor of this terrace and I swear I won't hear anything and i won't even care if you are ready for this intimacy or not and certainly I won't care we aren't married anymore either. I MEAN IT MRS.RAIZADA and trust me I won't be that gentle and caring which I was on that night." He growled against her face with gritted teeth and then stopped when he saw tears pooling in her eyes.
He closed his eyes in sheer helplessness.
"Please Khushi. I am at my worst mood. Don't push me too much at this time.Go. Jao yahan se!(Leave!)" He pleaded releasing her.
Khushi was so much scared at what he said that she almost ran away from there.
If it was up to her she wouldn't have been that terrified but what scared her most was the safety of her baby.She didn't want to harm her child in any way and the way he was warning her she knew he would have done whatever he said if she hadn't left.This behavior of his has degraded her so much that she quickly dropped the idea of telling him about her pregnancy without a second thought. Without thinking of the consequences.
"You mean to say that I can leave you? Thank you for the permission and by the way it's Khushi Kumari Gupta not Singh Raizada anymore." She knew how to make him unarmed.
She turned and as expected he blocked her way.
"Don't even think about it."
"You can't live without me can you?" She mocked. "What a pity. Arnav Singh Raizada dependent on a certain middle class girl to breath even."
"Khushi!" He warned.
"Bohat hurt hota ho ga na. Apki ego ko. Ap k macho ko jab khud pe qabo nahi kar sakte hamare saamne. Haina?(It must have prickled a lot. Your ego. Your macho of not being in control before me isn't it?)"
"Stop it Khushi!"
"Good for you. What better punishment could be for a control freak like you that you can't even control yourself before a weak, powerless woman!"
"KHUSHI"
"Chillaiye mat. Hum aise bhi apko achi tarah sun aur samajh sakte hain. Aur aik baat kan khon k sun lijiye Humein divorce dene k baad ye baat apne dimagh se nikal dijiye k hum aap k sath aik kamde ya aik chatt k neeche rahen gay! (Don't shout. I can hear you well, alright? And listen this with all your ears. Forget about me living with you in the same room, under the same roof after divorcing me!)"
"Don't you dare Khushi. Don't you dare."
"Jaante hain k aap humein jaane nahi dein gay. Na hi hum Amma k pass ja sakte hain. Toh humne aik beech ka raasta nikala hai. Hum ussi mansion mai ja k reh lein gay jahan apne humein aik mahine hamare parivar se door qaid rakha. Lekin is bar humein wo qaid manzoor hai par aap uss jagah se door rahein gay. Humse kabhi milne nahi ayen gay na hi humse baat karen gay.(I know that you won't let me go nor can I go to my mother. So I have chosen a middle ground. I would go to the same mansion where you have kept me caged for a whole month away from everyone. But this time I will willingly accept that prison but you will stay away from that place. You won't try to meet me nor would you talk to me.)"
"Aur agar maine aisa na kiya toh?(What if I didn't do any of it?)" He glared.
"Then I still have that scissor with me Mr.Raizada. Aap k sath shaadi k bina rehne se behter hum khud ko khatam karna pasand karein gay lekin hargiz hargiz hum khud ko aur nahi gira sakte khud ki nazron mai. Bilkul bhi nahi. Sawal hi paida nahi hota.(Killing myself would be the better option for me rather than living with you without marriage and lowering myself in my eyes all over again is out of question. Enough is enough!)"
He cupped her cheeks harder desperately.
He pulled her in his arms when she slapped his hands and moved back.
"I will marry you again Khushi once all this will be over if that is so important to you." He gritted.
He was petrified of her threats. Now he knows how she must have felt every time he threatened her.
"You may have made that sacred bond a laughing stock but for me marriage is no joke Mr.Raizada. Forget about marrying I won't see your face ever again. Thank you for freeing me yourself." She said firmly.
His fingers trailed up her arm to cup her nape before he pulled her face up to his.
"You can't live without me either. Don't you remember your condition when I wasn't here for 14 days?" He reminded her ruthlessly.
"At least I didn't die. That means I can live without you." She spat out the words struggling to break free.
"Soon it will be over. Very soon. In fact in a day or two then we will go to the court and marry as soon as possible. Listen to me." He shouted when she kept shoving him.
Tightening his hold around her he pressed her head to his chest and embraced her forcibly burying his head in her neck.
Frustrated she screamed harder against him which would've echoed in the silent night only if it wasn't muffled with her mouth pressed to his chest.
"I love you. I love you so much. Please. Forgive me. Please." He murmured hoarsely against her ear. She finally managed to free herself and ran away leaving behind a weak, desperate man. He always was when it comes to her.
A scared and a dumbstruck Arnav saw the fear, hate, anger and at last determination that pass through her face as she ran away from him. He clenched his hands and leaned against the railings.He wasn't kidding when he said he would take her right here because he knew touching her, feeling her always make him calm and composed BUT he also knew in all of this, he would have hurt her because he wasn't in his senses at this time.The war was again ON in his heart and mind. And with her new threats it was getting more profound.
His mind wanted nothing else but to punish and push Khushi away to hurt Garima. He just have to make one phone call to finish Garima gupta chapter but he still haven't. He don't know why.
His heart wanted nothing else but HER. No revenge. No blame games. NOTHING ELSE except HER LOVE.
On one side, he wanted to avenge his mother.
On another side, he wanted to cherish Khushi and love her till she forget all of his misgivings, taunts, accusations, hurt. Most importantly his monstrous behavior of him forcing her and then divorcing her.
If only he would have listened her. He would have found all the solutions to his problems.
IF ONLY!
But here it was ARNAV SINGH RAIZADA we are talking about.
When has he listened to his heart?
Instead he headed out to finish his revenge. That was only option left now. His Di has asked him to think. The time to think was long gone. Now it was time for action.
After that he would find out Khushi's secret to make sure she give him a chance to mend their relation.
Upon reaching Gupta house he came out of the car and stopped short when he saw the locked doors.
He felt enormous rage and frustration.
Upon asking the neighbors he found out they left suddenly in a rush just an hour ago and where they didn't know.
He clenched his hands with his bloodshot eyes.
"Di!"
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