Three years had passed. They were long but short at the same time for the Raizada Family.
Anjali had delivered a cute baby boy Aditya, a few months after the unfortunate tragedy with Shyam. The baby was healthy and born without much complications except the really painful labor that Anjali went through. He was the apple of everybody's eyes in the house.
After becoming a mother, Anjali had gained the much needed sense and was stronger than ever. She wasn't very proud of her past deeds, in fact she was tremendously ashamed of her heinous behavior, but now after establishing, polishing and well grooming herself, giving herself the much needed composure, she was a proud mother and women. She'd started a NGO for children. The homeless, the ones with crisis, the ones that needed shelter, the ones that needed food, love, care, peace. Every kid was handled with the utmost care. She had realized that she had been utterly oblivious in the past years and hadn't done anything except staying at home. She got her strength and courage from Payal who was a successful businesswoman now, and had devoted herself to her work managing her in laws and husband at the the same time, that too very decently. The only thing that pained her was Khushi and her absence from their lives.
Khushi, the name that bought delight yet sadness at the same time on their faces. They all missed her immensely! Her cute childlike antics, her pranks, her sunny smile that lit up the darkest rooms, her attitude, her presence. THEY MISSED EVERYTHING ABOUT HER. They knew she was safe and had become quiet successful but they never got the chance to talk to her or see her in the last years, because whenever they would question Payal about her, she would always shrug it off her shoulders, making vague excuses. She would've made such a good mami to Aditya. If only she'd come here or see them.
They had seen how successful and rich her whole family had become, from Shashi's health to their well established business to Payal and her 7 star restaurant that kept her occupied most of the time. They had come a long way.
Shashi Gupta was required to have some operations performed for his betterment to which Arnav decided to volunteer and provide as much money as they needed, which the family respectfully refused, stating that they had more than enough money saved for his bills and hospital expenses which was earned by Khushi from her dabba service, and then they also had buaji's pension and their own savings.
The relation between the two families remained delicate after knowing about the unfortunate tragedy. They too were ashamed of hiding the truth but buaji had lashed out on everyone for making her niece go through so much which Payal later handled. They had to remain civil for the sake of their daughter Payal.
Payal was a proud, grateful and a very happy women. Proud of her sister and herself. She had an abundant amount of respect for her sister. She knew long before that the 'gharelu bahu' (typical daughter-in-law) wasn't getting her anywhere. She thanked Khushi for without even knowing, providing her with the sense that she didn't have before. She was very well aware of Khushi's success and her achievements. Payal had decided to grow a much needed spine and become the confident women that she was today.
She understood that if one got married, in laws weren't the only thing who you should commit to and please your whole life, they didn't become the sole priority. Yes, they were her responsibility from which she didn't back down but that didn't mean the daughter-in-law standing in the kitchen the whole day roasting her head, listening to her mother-in-laws taunts and her weird commands. She was definitely available at home for her responsibilities and duties as a daughter in law, she would also give her husband who had thankfully gained more common sense than anyone else, the much needed quality time he deserved but she also had other responsibilities which were running her successful restaurant that her sister gifted her a year ago, her maternal home, and keeping a check on Khushi regularly. Her restaurant was up and running and she would soon be opening a second branch in Dubai to expand her business. She was in a genuinely happy place, if only that was the case with Arnav Singh Raizada too.
Arnav had spent the last few years grieving over his wife. He had felt lonely, lost and hurt. He was disheartened by his sister and the family when they didn't believe a thing he and Khushi told them about Shyam. His sister had hurt him a lot. Aditya was the apple of his eyes but after he was born, his sister had completely ignored him. He understood that she had a responsibility of a little child now but making a small talk, a formal conversation wouldn't kill all of her time. Though he was really proud of her for who she had become now, a strong independent women and a beautiful mother, those things still hurt.
There wasn't a day gone by where he didn't think of Khushi. She was the one who owned his heart and mind at all times. He had busied himself so much in his work leading him to become more successful than ever, he did that to forget about her. Boxing, gym and swimming, all these athletic activities had kept him busy apart from work. Arnav had become a regular visitor to the gym in the last years. Whenever he would be frustrated and would yearn for for her, he would leave for gym, and take all his frustration out there, which lead to his now even more muscular, shredded body.
He knew he would find her, meet her, win her back in a few years as Payal had pleaded him to give her some tranquility at least for some years. He impatiently waited for the day where he would get to see her again. He knew that he had wronged her, hurt her brutally, had embedded the pain deep inside her, he knew he didn't deserve her but he was selfish. He was very selfish when it came to Khushi, she was his peace, his calm, his home. He knew she was in a good place now, he knew that she was successful. Payal had continuously pleaded him not to reach her which he hadn't done in the past years. But he was losing himself now, he just needed a small glimpse of his Khushi, just a little glance.
He impatiently waited for the day, when he'd finally see her.
The relation between Payal and Arnav in these years had grown somewhat stronger and deeper, much to their shock.
It was after a few months Payal had actually started really noticing the difference between him. He looked awfully scrawny. He didn't interact, nor did anybody pay attention to him. He distanced himself from everyone and everything. Day by day he looked more sick, more scrawny, more depressed.
Everything was happening to him that had happened to her sister in the first several months of her sudden marriage. Every now and then he would come to her and plead to give a little information about Khushi, how she was doing, where she was, which she always declined. It was then few weeks later after he moved out of Shantivan, she found out from Akash how Arnav had fainted five times in the office in the past two months, how he never took his medication, how he rarely ate. He also told her that he had seen these things himself and when he went to confront Arnav he pleaded not to tell anyone, and promised that he would be fine.
Nobody took the initiative to talk to him, in fact Anjali hadn't muttered his name in so long. It was then that Payal knew she had to see him. She couldn't just go to his room and confront him as he had shifted to his penthouse. So she had commanded the driver to take her to his place.
Flashback:
It was a bright sunny Sunday morning. She was headed to confront Arnav about his careless behavior. Upon reaching his penthouse she pressed the bell next to the door. The minute the door opened she was presented by his scrawny form, grown out beard and hair. He looked sick, in fact he was sick. He looked astonished by seeing her at his doorstep.
"Can I come in?" She questioned, to which he just nodded.
She made her way inside the luxurious place. Things were roughly scattered on the floor, there was a lot of mess everywhere. She didn't remember him being like this. He offered her a seat on the comfortable couch and she sat down.
"I'll get you something to drink." He said.
"There's no need for that, I just wanna talk about a few things with you." She replied, he looked troubled upon hearing this.
She confronted him with everything she heard from Akash.
"Look you can't keep doing this to yourself, your gonna die if this continues." She whisper-yelled.
"THATS EXACTLY WHAT I WANT PAYAL. THIS IS WHAT I DESERVE, I DESERVE TO DIE AFTER ALL I'VE PUT KHUSHI THROUGH, THIS IS MY PUNISHMENT." He screamed hysterically.
Payal went near him and held him. She wanted him to speak, wanted him to let it all out. Yes she was infuriated with him because of how he behaved with her sister, but the worry was about his life now, the form that he'd taken in just a few months was terrifying. She knew nobody listened to him, nobody had the heart to talk to him, nobody questioned him about his health, his whereabouts. He was being brutally neglected, and she knew he deserved it but he looked like he was gonna die, he looked atrocious.
"This is exactly what I deserve after what I've made her go through Payal. I would do anything to correct my wrongs but it's too late now. I just want to know if she's ok, if my Khushi's fine." He went on and on, murmuring.
"Please just sit here, I'll get you water." She said and walked towards the kitchen. The sight shocked her. The kitchen was filled with plenty bottles of alcohol. Some of them were closed, some of the lids open, some empty, some half empty and some full. He was drinking himself to death, she thought horrified. She quickly filled a glass with water and walked to where he sat.
She made him drink it and set the empty glass on the table. She had a lot to say to him.
"Are you really sorry for what you did to Khushi?"
"Yes!"
"Would she be ok finding that you killed yourself in her absence."
There was fear and uncomfortableness on his face upon hearing this. She questioned again.
"No she wouldn't be ok, she would feel guilty and hold herself responsible for my carelessness." He whispered honest and truthfully.
"Exactly, and you definitely don't want that, do you?"
"No no I would never, never in a million years." He let out desperately.
Payal placed her hand on his shoulder. "Arnav look you can't keep doing this to yourself. You can't do this to your family, to Khushi. I saw the hundred alcohol bottles scattered around in your kitchen. Don't do this to yourself, don't drink yourself to death, don't neglect your health. There are a lot of people that still need you and will be needing you till they're alive. Don't become so careless of yourself. Khushi definitely won't like it if she was to see you like this. Now I'm not saying that she will get back to you and happily accept you, that I don't know but even if you ever meet her again in this lifetime, would you wanna show yourself to her like this? I'm still very very very angry with you for what you put my sister through, but that doesn't mean I wish death upon you or just calmly sit and see you kill yourself. You're better than that Arnav and you know that too. The family is angry with you because they need time to digest your heinous deeds. I'm not gonna defend you and say, what you did was ok and that you should be easily forgiven. No Arnav it wasn't ok, it was terrible, awful! You have a long way to repent your mistakes. Do you already give up? If you ever meet Khushi one day, won't you like to repent for your what you did?"
"More than anything Payal, more than anything." He whispered helplessly, his head bowed and gaze lingering on the marble floor.
"There you go! Now what I suggest is for you to join therapy because Arnav you're not ok, you're not in your right mind. Look what you've done to yourself, the once good looking ASR, now looks like a homeless and father of ten." She chuckled trying to soften the thick atmosphere. His lips curved upon hearing this.
"I'm just being honest, and I'm sure you wouldn't want that." She smiled. Gaining her serious composure back she begun again. "Arnav you have responsibilities, a lot of them, and you can't just back down from them. There are a lot of people that are dependent on you. You have your family to take care of, your business, and now there's little Aditya too, please just try to be ok, try to handle yourself." She heaved a deep sigh, throwing her hands in the air. "Man just go and join a gym, gain your muscles back that Khushi used to praise so much, hell she even forgot about her Salman Khan. And the moment she left, you're sitting here with your scrawny, old form." She chuckled.
He smiled!
"Payal please, I'm not gonna go and trace her, even if I have all the opportunities, even if I'm tempted to do just that every second, I'm not gonna do it because you told me not to. I'm not gonna continue asking where she is from you. The only thing I wanna know is, is she ok, is she safe, is she protected?" He asked choking last few words.
"Yes Arnav, she's fine, she's safe, and she's well protected." She replied softly and heard him let out a sigh of relief.
"Where is she?" He questioned.
"You just said you wouldn't ask that. Like I said, I'm no one to tell you that, I don't know it clearly and even if I do I can't tell you. You'll find it when the time comes....or maybe not, I have no say in that but I wanna assure you again that she is ok wherever she is." She told him and yet again explained him to take good care of himself, to which he agreed.
"I know you're just nodding your head and agreeing because you want me to leave but do remember that I'd be keeping a check on you. I'll make sure you join therapy, go to gym regularly as you used to, get your medicines and don't drink to death." She explained sternly.
"Damn women what has gotten into you?" Hé quirked his brows. "Ok ok I'll do everything you just commanded." He smiled.
"Good! Because what ASR did wasn't ok, we still miss his khadoos akdu face." She laughed. (His angry face)
Flashback over!
They had this conversation three years ago. From that day he improved himself, changed himself for the better, though the ASR persona still remained in him because that he had to maintain because he was always considered a ruthless, arrogant yet successful young businessman, and it was something that he could never fully let go of because that was his second most crucial identity after Arnav, he had started taking people's feelings quiet more importantly. And he still impatiently waited to see his Khushi and repent for his mistakes.
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That's it for this chapter.
I wanna clarify that payal isn't completely siding with him, she realized how everybody was ignoring him and how his health was worsening while nobody realized that because of the anger clouded in their heads. She still held onto the promise she made to khushi about not disclosing her location.
Do let me know your thoughts!
XOXO