Story starts from the time Arnav comes to the Gupta house to pick Khushi up after compelling her to go back with him to Shantivan
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Arnav knocked on the door. All set to take his wife back. One could say he was pretty excited with the speed at which he drove his car to reach Laxmi Nagar at the exact minute. He was content that after a long time, happiness was just a few seconds away before he can grab it and embrace it for a life time, never to allow it away from his sight for even a second.
His hands were clammy. A light smile ornamented his face. It looked brighter in spite of the perspiration that broke out on his manly self as he fidgeted waiting to see her face. The same face he longed to see for the past few days. The same face that was marred with worry just yesterday. And the same face he was going to care for with immense affection and love. He will apologise to her and all will be well. They will have a new beginning.
Seconds turned into minutes but no one opened the door. He kept knocking as his heart hammered hard against his ribs with unknown fear that gripped his soul.
He was about to knock again when the door showed signs of being opened. He breathed a long sigh of relief as if someone had blown life inside him that been was sucked out just a few seconds ago.
The door opened revealing the woman of his thoughts.
Beautiful as ever. Yet something was amiss. He only needed a single glance to notice differences in her.
Her eyes were not glistening with the usual care or warmth. He couldn't identify it for the first time. It looked......Distant. Neutral. Emotionless maybe?
Her posture screamed an undefined restraint- hands crossed over her chest. Somewhat challenging. His thought process didn't make him feel very comfortable.
What made him frown was her dress. She wasn't dressed. She was wearing her usual night clothes with her plaited hair pulled over her left shoulder.
"Do you want to come in or not." Her voice broke his jumbled ruminations.
Tone not appreciated.
Yet he kept his calm. Everything screamed her refusal to join him and that simply cut down the lifeline of his patience.
He walked in when she moved to the side. Waiting for her speak before he started his quota of questions as she secured the door from unwanted intrusion.
"So.." She stood in front of him. "Please have a seat. Otherwise Buaji will think I didn't welcome her guest. Especially if it's her damadji's brother".
What the hell! He shot a glare at her.
"What the hell are you doing Khushi. Why aren't you ready." He gritted his teeth. Khushi simply stared at him. Nonchalant.
"For?" Audacity as a word was incompetent to even describe her attitude.
"Don't test my patience Khushi. You are going back to Shantivan with me. Right now. Get it!" He spitted out. His patience was giving away. It won't be long before he grabs hold of her and drags her with him.
"Why?" Not even an ounce of fear could he see in her eyes. Who is she?
He clenched his fist. Taking a deep breath that calmed his nerves down he answered.
"Incase you may have forgotten. Yesterday you told me that you would be coming with me to Shantivan or else you will have to say goodbye to your house and aunty and uncle will come on..." He couldn't complete as his eyes widened in shock.
Khushi drew out an envelope and shoved it into his right hand with a smirk.
Rs. 50,000. It read.
"How did you like my surprise?" She smiled at him. A smile he couldn't recognise. It wasn't his Khushi's smile.
"It's double the amount you had asked for, plus 2000 extra for your miscellaneous purposes." Arnav stared on dazed. He took sometime to comprehend that she had indeed paid the full amount infact double the price plus 2000 extra to be precise.
What?
"What did you think? Only you can play games Mr Raizada? Or should I say...ASR." She mused and walked around him waiting for him to speak up.
"Khushi." He gulped. "Where did you get this money." He feared she had sold her jewellery or even worse, her mangalsutra which he did not find around her neck.
"I did not sell anything incase you're worried. Neither your jewellery nor your mangalsutra." He still thought low of her. Who was she kidding? He had always been like this. She chuckled painfully in her mind.
"Just for your information I had made enough money from my dabba service. For emergency purposes. Seems like this was it." She shrugged her shoulders.
She used her personal money that was reserved for emergency situations just to get away from him. Just so that she didn't have to go with him. The very thought pained him. She didn't want him. She was better off without him.
Obviously you fool! His mind mocked.
"Now... Since I've returned the money to you I think this house belongs to us now. So you may leave. The rent for three months is with you. Or do you plan to ask for more?" She mocked him.
"Why are you doing this Khushi. We are married. You..." He was clearly losing.
"Married?" She chuckled mirthlessly. "Which marriage? When did we get married? We didn't marry Mr. Raizada. We had a deal. A contract. A forced agreement that had a time period after which it becomes non existent. And I have fulfilled all the terms of the deal. And so we are done."
"No.." She was true but he preffered it as a lie.
"YES Arnav. Yes. A marriage is not a contract. It is NOT an agreement with a time span. It is not what we did. It is a lifelong bond. That is way above your understanding." She gritted her teeth in anger.
He was losing the battle. Pathetically.
"Our relation." His voice cracked. "Doesn't it mean a thing? Whatever we share? Does..." He gulped hard. "..none if it mean a thing? Are you willing to just let it go? Just... just like that?"
Khushi could see his strong facade peeling off slowly, but she had to stand her ground. It required an iron grip on her frame to prevent herself from embracing him and cradling him in affection.
Taking a deep breath she continued. Shattering his heart into a million pieces with her next few words.
"It doesn't. " She drilling holes with her eyes. "What means most to me doesn't mean a thing to you."
Confusion marred his hopeless face.
"My self respect." She stated. Reality came crashing down on his limp form. So caught up was he is snatching everything he didn't want to lose, either by hook or by crook, that he failed to realise the the consequences his actions were piling upon him.
She continued,"My belief. My dreams. My dignity. My individuality... my..myself." she gulped the lump that was formed in her throat.
"My own self and everything related to it means the most to me. Everything that you crushed with your own bare hands. Without even thinking for a split second...my belief in marriage that you tore down ruthlessly by a contract. For what? For a mere misunderstanding." Reliving the past caused her excruciating pain, but it did not deter her from putting her point forward.
"You made a freaking joke out of my dreams.. dreams of a happy married life. Dreams of finding love and experiencing it." Memories of her good times with him brought a small smile on her face and he noticed it. He knew what exactly she was thinking about.
Those were the days and moments he lived for.
"The myriad dreams I had seen, you burnt them alive without a second thought. You made my life a nightmare. I lost my individuality. My usual chirpiness. My contagious laughter. The smile that always remained intact on my face. You..." She pointed her finger at him. None of their eyes were dry. One's were glistening while the other's were flowing.
"You snatched them away from me!"she cried out.
"I was happy! In my own little world. My own little bubble! But you burst it brutally! Your... your hate shattered me Arnav! It's broken me."
"Noo.." he whispered. He tried hard to prevent his tears from coming out making his vision blurry. "No. I..."he tried to reach out to her but she pulled out. "I love you. I always.."
Did you?
"Love!" She scoffed sarcastically. "You never loved me. You hated me. My presence. My voice. My clothes. My aura. Everything related to me. You hated it to the core. Right from the beginning. It's not love. It's called hate. Get your concepts correct."
"Noo!" He retaliated. Maybe he was trying to convince himself more than answering her.
"I.. I always loved you. Everything about you appealed to me. Khushi you were...always the person to rule my heart. You always occupied my mind. I may have told you things but I never meant it. Trust me. Please." He pleaded. "I love you."
"Its not love." She whispered dejectedly.
Arnav stood rooted. Eyes widened in shock and disbelief. His whole life felt like it was slipping away through his limp fingers.
Words seemed far away from his mouth.
"What you feel for me is not love if... if it meant giving me all the pain I could possibly get. It's not love if it meant crushing my entire existence. It's.. it's not love if you keep saying things and hurting me so that you can presume later that it meant nothing!" She yelled.
"You call this love?? Forced contract! Making me sleep at the poolside irrespective of the weather! Using my sister as a bait! Manhandling me! Pushing me away and then trying to forcefully pull me forward? This is your love? I rather be loathed." She chuckled mirthlessly.
"My differences were appealing to you because you are surrounded by beautiful models in skimpy dresses yearning for your attention and you got too used to it. How often do you come across a middle class girl with a loud sense of traditional fashion and a skyrocketing attitude. How many girls had audacity to challenge your authority. A girl who was not afraid of you. A girl who was not pining for attention. How many Mr. Raizada?"
She was the only one. And that attracted him the most. The immense maturity garnished with innocent immaturity.
"You were infatuated by me. You were attracted my me. It was anything but love. Anything!"
This sparked a flame in his heart and he immediately grabbed hold of her. Habituated.
"Dont.You.Dare! Khushi! Dont! Don't you dare badmouth my love for you. I am mature enough to know the difference between love and infatuation!" He growled flushing her small frame against his large one. A frenzy of emotions amalgamated with their breath fanned the other's face.
Her steely gaze made him jittery.
"You are mature enough to know the difference between love and infatuation but you are not mature enough to understand the consequences of your actions. You were not mature enough to know whether to trust the woman you love or the man who shamelessly showed you his true colours! You...you were not mature enough to give me an equal opportunity to explain myself like you gave HIM!"She bellowed at him.
His hold on her loosened as her words cut through him.
"Oh! So this is what it was all about." He whispered.
"Oh? You think this is any less of the damage you have done!? You still don't understand do you? You don't! Oh my God!" She bemoaned clutching her head.
"Khushi..." He caressed her hand. "I'm sorry. Okay? I'm very sorry for everything I have done to you. Everything means everything! Just come home with me and I swear I will make everything alright! No more tears. No more pain. I was just carried away that day.."
"Carried away?!" She repeated sardonically. "You were carried away? So much so that you destroyed my life? You broke my family! You made me an eternal orphan! And you're sorry? Your one sorry will heal my permanent wounds you think?" She smirked painfully.
"Oh how Pathetic! Now I know! You Raizada people only know one thing! Taking advantage of people!"
"Don't drag my family into this Khushi!" He warned her.
"Why shouldnt I? Why shouldn't I when they have also gifted me with their own share of pain and suffering!" She walked around him allowing him to absorb everything she has to say.
"Your Di! She took advantage of my financial crisis so she can have me teach her to be sister in law, the etiquettes of an ideal daughter in law. Only to have her leave the house." She paused. "Your Mamiji took advantage of our status to ridicule us! Your Naniji! I respect her so much and yet...she can hurt anyone for her dearest granddaughter. Just because I was involved with him she has no right to bar me from walking wherever I want! I... I was a victim dammit! I was a victim too! He took a toll over my mental health! He petrified me. His lust disgusted me! Your sister has a whole family to look after her! Who do I have? No one! The people I believed would stand beside me left me too. I was alone. I am..alone!" She whispered through her aching heart.
"And you.. as if the pain was any less that you took advantage of my financial condition again to force me into your House! You call that a house? It's a jail for me! Amidst all the beautiful memories it filled my life with all the nightmares possible! And you.....you want me to go there? I would rather prefer prison than that!." She scorned.
"You made a joke out of my self respect and dignity! You manhandled me innumerable times within the confines of your room. You treated me even worse than the soles below your shoes by making me your servant for 24 hours! You did everything in your power to rid me off my self esteem and worth. You took advantage of my selflessness by using my sister as a bait. And yet again you took advantage of the gratitude I have for the Gupta family so that you can force me? Again??" She asked in disbelief.
Every accusation slashed his heart with the sharpness of its truth. The tears he was holding back started flowing out of his eyes. He was so taken up with what he wanted that he turned a blind eye to the sufferings he caused her! He became the reason she was suffocating in this life! He. His family. Everyone simply became a reason for her pain.
They murdered her. And every little thing that attracted them towards her.
Arnav had lost. The only thing he had ever loved.
"What kind of a man are you? You were ready to trade your brother's inlaws house so you can shove me into the claustrophobic surrounding of your life?" She yelled at him. Her heart pained to see him cry.
The brightness of his face and serene smile was long gone. Standing before her was a defeated man who was stripped off his strong pretence. Leaving behind the stark naked vulnerability of his soul.
"I'm sorry." He whispered. His shoulders slumped. Gazing at the floor. "But I love you. I always did."
"I know!" She smiled sadly making him look up at her. "I suppose your love was not enough to keep me. It lacked the most important ingredient- trust"
"Please give me a chance! I.. I will prove myself worth your forgiveness. Please come back. I'm really very sorry! I... I will...I" He whimpered. Words ceased to come out of his mouth.
He frantically tried to form audible and sensible sentences but he couldn't. He became hysterical under the immense emotional pressure.
No matter how much he tried, all his efforts seemed to go in vain. No matter how much he tried he just couldn't ask her to stay.
He needed her.
But she needed herself more.
"Okay let's make a deal."
The very word now made him disgusted. He hated the word. It made him lose everything he ever had.
He stared at her in confusion.
"I will come with you if you can do whatever I say. Otherwise you will leave. The next minute. Deal?" She held out her hand. In anticipation he held on to it the very next second. To attract the much needed warmth.
Maybe for the last time.
"I will come with you if you can give me back all those days I have lost in lamenting. All those beautiful days that you and your family turned into a nightmare,.. I want it back. I want my individuality back! The Khushi that you people murdered. I want her back! Do it or leave." She cried out. Cried over the loss of herself. Cried over her tainted fate.
He had somewhat expected it.
What could he even expect from someone who was scarred eternally because of him. She was pining for her lost self. And the least he could do was leave her and go far away from her. Equivalent to pushing the reasons for her sufferings away from her so she could heal herself with the ravages of time.
And so he did the most mature thing. The right thing for the first time.
Ignoring the soreness that gripped his heart he walked out. Leaving the envelope on the table. Leaving a large portion of himself with the broken woman. Leaving his happiness. Probably forever.
Khushi had gotten her answer. She slumped on the floor crying her heart out that wrenched mercilessly. She howled in agony as ache consumed her soul. Her efforts to tame her flaming emotions caused her more pain. But she didn't mind it.
She wanted to let it out. And she did.
If the Supreme Power wanted them together, they were bound to cross paths again.
This was her only belief that was not blemished. It had always remained alive and always will.
No matter what.
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Hey!
So this is a new shot that I have started. It will be a two shot or three shot.
Do check it out let me know your views!
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#Arshistan ❤