"Yes, Arnav Malik," Khushi repeated, "What is this all about, Arnav? Did you take a new name? Why?"
"It's not a new name, Khushi," Arnav replied in a flat tone as he moved away from the railing, pushing his body away from it with a jolt. The metal of the faux fence just before the shatter-proof glass window oscillated under the sheer force of his arms. He turned his back on Khushi and faced the French windows that opened into the lobby, "It's the name I was born with. Arnav Malik is my real name," he muttered as he stared into the elevator lobby, though he could capture her figure partially from the corner of his eyes. He noted her shoulder slump just a little bit at the revelation.
Khushi stared at his chiseled form, his half-turned stature accentuating his washboard abs and strong arms. "I - I'm not sure I get you," the words escaped her involuntarily, "I don't understand."
"I'm not surprised; I wouldn't expect you to know," he said as he walked in circles around the balcony absent-mindedly. A while later, he spoke, "I'll answer your next question too, Khushi, while I am at it. I am here because of one person. You know who that is. If you have come this far in search of me, you probably already have some idea about whom I am talking about."
"What are you talking about?" she asked, her voice an octave above normal.
Arnav smiled despite himself as he turned back to face Khushi; his eyes briefly flickered to the skyline past her before he focused on her face. The pleasant azure of the sky had vanished for long now. Someone had forcefully draped black velvet over it. Arnav stared at the flashy neon lights that lined most of the architecture of that beautiful city. The red and the green crept into the sky; their haphazardly smudged spikes masking the shimmery sparkles that spread across the empty, hollow space above them. His life was no different, he thought bitterly. They heard a car zoom on the road several floors below as the whoosh of the engine cut through the silence of the night. He breathed in the cold, salty air that lingered in around them, taking in the crude aura of the endless nature stretched itself, unrolling to some unknown vista.
"Shyam," he spat with disgust laced with his tone - as if he was not someone worth talking about. He stared at the faint luminescence produced by some distinct lamp far away, avoiding looking at her for some reason, "I'm here because of Shyam."
"Shyam ji?", Arnav heard her shriek, "But how? He left the same night as -"
"- the same night as me. I know," he completed the sentence for her for the second time that evening, "And there's a reason why."
"What is it?"
Arnav grimaced, "You are far too innocent for your good, do you know that? You shouldn't be."
"I am innocent," she snapped as she repeated his words back at him, her eye-brows raised into her forehead, "What kind of an explanation is that for not telling me anything?"
"Yes, I agree, it's not the explanation", Arnav shook his head, "And no, that's not the only reason."
"That is not even a reason!" she yelled, frustrated.
He smiled weakly as he turned his eyes to the ground, "I was never good at answering questions from others, Khushi. You know what's strange though - now I wish I was. I wish I had trained myself for handing out explanations."
You put your faith in the wrong people, Arnav...
Shyam's words rang in his ears as if he was hearing them fresh.
Well - leave her now. Or watch her die. It's your choice either way. Who am I to say anything against the great Arnav Singh Raizada? Khushi isn't ever going to be yours, Arnav. She loves me. You saw it yourself. You know it.
He still wished he had the means to wipe that filthy smirk off his face.
Then run, Arnav, run!
He twitched as Shyam's words refused to leave him alone for the last eighteen months as they banged and echoed in the chambers of his brain, never-fading down - never dying out. He tried to tune them out, but he was always unsuccessful at that - and he didn't hope for anything better that night.
"Let's go home, Khushi," he muttered, trusting his words to carry themselves to her because he wasn't sure if he had put enough weight in them to sail to their destination, "This is not the right place to talk."
"Khushi?" he called at her when she didn't answer for a minute. Maybe his words were loud enough to reach her. He thought back to another thing he needed to apologize for before they got anywhere with the current discussion they were about to build on to.
"Khushi, I'm sorry for what happened earlier -"
"Yeah, I know", she snapped, "You are sorry for everything. I don't see why you shouldn't be anyway."
"So, you are coming with me?", he asked his eye-brow flying up to his forehead.
"No", she retorted as she turned her face away - her eyes stony as she gazed at the seascape.
"I thought so," his reply was prompt, "Perhaps your apartment then. We need to talk," he shrugged as he spoke to her back, "I've been quiet too long. It's unhealthy."
"Talk? Isn't my innocence coming in the way now? And anyway, you will be the one to decide everything, is it like that?" she said, her words escaping into the cold of the night. Silently flowing sea-breeze jumped on her words hungrily, stealing them. "Arnav?", she added as she turned back to face him, only to find him staring back at her.
"Yes," his voice was laced with unpremeditated simplicity as if he had stated the obvious, "It is like that," he repeated.
***
Lavanya Kashyap paced across her room, her hands folded across her chest. She threw her phone on the bed after a couple of rounds around the room and watched it spring up on the plump material of the mattress after the impact. She sighed. She was tired of waiting for her phone. It had been more than a day and there had been no contact of any sort from Khushi.
She cursed her under her breath as she poured herself another drink from the wine bottle placed on her side-table. She had spent hours contemplating where Khushi might have gone this time, but she had come up empty-handed. She was down two drinks when she heard a knock from the door.
She drained the remains of her third glass in a gulp before she replied to the knock, "Come in."
Lavanya sighed when she saw Anjali saunter in the room.
"Lavanya ji, Nani is calling everyone down for the evening tea", Anjali told her, "I made some pakoras for you. It's raining outside," excitement dripped from her voice.
Lavanya kept her glass in front of the mirror, "Yes Di. I'll have some pakoras. Thanks", she said, as she turned to look at her.
Anjali smiled. "Did Khushi ji call?" she asked; her eye-brows pulled together.
Lavanya shook her head in denial, "No. I have been waiting for her call myself. She should have called by now."
"She spoke to Akash though", Anjali informed as she picked up the wine-glass from the table and sniffed, "Wine?"
Lavanya nodded as she idly folded some clothes that were lying on the bed.
"What happened?" Anjali asked, "Tensed? Is it work?"
"I am just worried about Chamkili, Di," Lavanya spoke to Anjali's reflection in the mirror, "I tried calling her many times but her phone always came unreachable. I wonder how Akash got through. What did she say anyway?"
"Nothing much, mostly about the deal Akash was looking forward to," she told her, keeping the glass back on the heavily polished Mahogany, "She's in Auckland."
"What?", Lavanya exclaimed, "New Zealand? For what? Why didn't she tell me anything?"
Anjali turned to face the room in a fluid motion, her beautiful hair flying into the right as they landed on one of her shoulders like a corsage; her layered hair adorning her natural beauty. "I wish I knew something about it, Lavanya ji", she said, adjusting her hair to fall back, "Anyway, come down soon."
"Yes Di", Lavanya replied.
"Sure."
"Di, is Akash home yet?"
"Yes. He said he wants to freshen up", she told her from the door, "You want to talk to him about Khushi ji?"
"Yes", she told her without any hesitation, "He might know why she is in New Zealand."
"Maybe", Anjali agreed, "Don't worry Lavanya ji. If anything wasn't right, Akash wouldn't be so relaxed when he came home. She is alright - Khushi ji. Don't worry about her. You have groomed her well. If anything, you should be proud of her that she is taking her decisions independently and living through them with so much confidence."
"I am", she smiled at her, "I'm very proud of her", she choked on her voice as the memories came flooding to her.
Anjali looked at Lavanya - a girl who she had grown fond of since the first time she met her. She had stood a witness to the transformation in this same girl over the last two years. She was surprised at how much she had changed. First for Arnav and then for Khushi. True, she wasn't related to either of them by blood, but the bonds their hearts shared - of respect, of friendship, of love were as good if not deeper. She had seen this once selfish girl help her family altruistically to get over their sorrows, to learn to overcome the pain. For the year that they lived under the same room, never - even for a moment had she let anyone know about her feelings, but Anjali had seen through her. She knew Lavanya didn't say it out loud, but she still loved her brother. It had been as hard for her to accept Arnav's disappearance.
No, Anjali had never seen her cry silently at night. She had never seen her lost in thoughts while her fingers played with the food. She had never seen her fuss about anything. She wasn't the girl she knew anymore. But yet, she was still the same girl she knew.
Lavanya had been Anjali's strength. She had taken inspiration from her to stand tall and firm amidst all the chaos. Life had always taken unforeseen turns for Anjali, but she had learned to live with them. Just because of this girl who just loved everybody from the bottom of her heart. And Anjali had vowed never to let anything harm this gem of a person.
"I'm waiting for you downstairs," Anjali called over her shoulders before heading to the stairs, "The pakoras will turn soggy if you don't hurry up!"
***
The door clicked as Khushi swiped her card. She pushed the door open with her hand and loaded the card in the slot right next to the door. She silently watched the room getting lit with several lights that shone brightly against the dull, murky sky that was visible through the full-length window across the room.
"Nice suite," she heard Arnav mutter from behind her.
"It's not mine," Khushi hissed as she swapped her boots for soft slippers, "I have just rented it."
"I can still appreciate it though, right", he replied as he stood by at the door, "May I come in?"
Khushi turned on her heels and saw Arnav at the door, momentarily forgetting that she had a half-opened bag in her hand that she was supposed to keep on the rack on the wardrobe. She stood dumb-struck at his question, "You have to ask?"
Arnav shrugged, "I thought I should confirm it just in case you have changed your mind," he stepped in and gently closed the door behind him.
Her hands flew to her hips, her bag bouncing off her waist when she did. "If I had changed my mind, you would have been nowhere near my suite right now, Mr. Raizada," she fumed. She accidentally dropped her bag on the floor.
Arnav swiftly picked her bag from the ground and kept it on a rack next to the door. She quickly picked up the bag and zipped it shut, tossing it to the couch.
"True," he muttered to himself as he walked to the sofa. He paused midway close to where she was standing, "Would you like some coffee, Khushi?" he asked casually, leaning a bit in her direction.
"What?" she asked; puzzled, "You are in my apartment and you are -"
"Well you just said it's not your apartment", he cut her across, "Anyway, that's hardly the point. Coffee?", he asked again, looking at her almost flabbergasted expressions on her pretty face.
"Why are you so weird?", she frowned at him, throwing an incomprehensible look at him.
He shook his head, "I don't know what you mean by that, but I'm in dire need of some caffeine."
She sighed. "Be my guest", she retorted as she flung her hands.
"Thanks", he waved a hand at her in appreciation, ignoring the bitterness in her voice.
Khushi sat on the couch, feeling it sink a little under her weight. She watched as he brewed some coffee in two large pastel-colored mugs. The room was soon filled with the strong aroma of caffeine, adding a tinge of regal to the softly lit white and gold interiors of the suite. He put the mugs in a tray and carried it to the lounge.
"The right one," he told her as he lowered the tray to her, "Two teaspoons of sugar if I remember right."
Khushi picked up her mug and muttered thanks under her breath. He nodded as he picked up the other one and settled down on the eclectic love seat right opposite where she was sitting.
"You were saying -," Khushi began as she blew into her coffee, watching the light creamy foam ripple across the mug.
" - what you wanted to know", he sipped his coffee, his eyes closing momentarily as the taste of the coffee lingered over his tongue, "Arnav Malik."
"I'm listening. Go ahead."
He took a deep breath. "There's a difference in those two people, Khushi. Arnav Malik and Arnav Singh Raizada", he said, his eyes fixed on the elegant pattern carved on the mug, "There was a reason to my outburst when you called me a - a coward," he flinched as his own words hit his ears.
"I'm sorry for the before, Khushi. I truly am. I wish I had better control over my actions. Please, you have to know this. And I don't know if you will ever believe me or not," he paused for a bit before continuing, "But Arnav Singh Raizada was never a coward. And as strange as it sounds, but Arnav Malik was. Don't ask me since how and when, it took me eighteen months to figure out these things", he chuckled. "He ran away. Not once, but twice in his life. The first time was because he was afraid of himself. And the second time again, when he was afraid for people who made him what he had become."
Arnav gulped his coffee down in one go and rolled the empty mug over the flat of his palms as he dug his fingers into the ceramic hoping to feel the warmth of the coffee from the outside.
"Are you cold?" Khushi asked when she watched him rub the mug in between his palms, "Should I turn on the heat?"
"No, I'm good," he mumbled, "Thanks."
"Shyam was like the elder brother I never had", he resumed, "Before I met him, no one cared about me. Sure, Di was there for me, and Nani and Mami. But nobody seemed to understand me. No one understood the aloof, scarred fourteen-year-old boy who was thrown out on the streets of Lucknow after the death of his parents with a sister in tow. They saw my work towards a goal of achieving success; they watched me grow from a nobody to a top graduate at Harvard to a businessman. I worked hard for all those years, Khushi, I did not want to see Di shed tears - I did not want to see Di broken as she was on that night ever again if I could help it. It was her wedding, Khushi, the day my parents committed suicide. I knew I had to be strong to support her. I never realized how time flew past me. I never saw when the child in me - kind of - metamorphosed to Arnav Singh Raizada. I won't give me any adjectives, Khushi, or you know - the prefixes the World attached before my name. But I relied on them. I somehow believed that they were exactly who I was. Ruthless, arrogant, heartless, monster, womanizer, shrewd. I didn't care what they meant. I probably wasn't even half of what they implied I was, but it became my identity. My source of power."
Khushi watched him; her coffee was forgotten in her hands. She had never seen Arnav speak his heart out.
"I was reigning, Khushi", he continued, "My business was setting new standards for my rivals every day. I enjoyed that position of power I had worked so hard for. But by the time, I didn't know who I was. And strangely enough, I didn't have time to think about it," he let out a throaty chuckle, "Nobody offered me a single peaceful moment in all that time. And that was when Di brought Shyam into my life. Things - changed. We were friends. He was sweet to me. He was kind. So much that I started to trust him as I had never done before. Arnav Singh Raizada had learned one lesson from Arnav Malik - never to trust anybody. But - but it was different with him. I don't know why. He helped to normalize things in my life, in Di's life. He helped me when no one did. He brought a smile to everyone's faces. I couldn't remember Di being happier about anything when she got married to Shyam. And I was happy. Because I was getting a brother. Arnav was getting a brother", a smile formed on his face as he remembered that time.
Khushi stared at his face. She didn't know when but her coffee mug now rested on the graceful center-table in front of her.
"I will skip over the part when you came dancing in my life - blowing away everything around me. Hurricane that you were," his smile widened momentarily before it faded again, "I came to know about his infidelity. I saw you with him, in his arms -", he paused.
He gulped. It wasn't easy for him to recall the nightmarish moments of that fated day, let alone relive them. But he wanted to force himself to say it for the sake of her. "He gave me a choice. A choice that I never wanted to make. I didn't fathom when the Arnav Malik in me resurfaced. He brought back the fears from the depths. I had buried them, Khushi, so deep that I didn't know they even existed then. But he had the key - I had given it to him. I had trusted him so much in the past. He knew me in and out. He knew me as nobody did. I had presented him that right. So foolish of me," he sighed.
"Arnav," his name escaped Khushi before she could stop it. She had never seen him so vulnerable. It killed her inside just by looking at his face. The strained lines that stretched across his face, the light traces of moisture on the chocolate-brown of his eyes, the almost visible circles that extended to his hollow-set cheekbones - she didn't realize when her heartbeats increased in the sheer agony of having to watch him like that.
"And Arnav Malik fled, Khushi, he ran away", he said, "Arnav Singh Raizada would never have. But Arnav Malik was an altogether different story. Arnav Singh Raizada changed into Arnav Malik for his Di. And more importantly - for you."
His eyes shot up to her from the spot on the rug he had been staring at. He had said it. He was there because of his only weaknesses.
Di and Khushi.
The heels of Achilles...
***
Author's Note:
Here I am - with the sixth chapter of Achilles' Heels. I remember writing this chapter a few years ago - and I remember how hard this was for me. But I hoped then, as I hope today, that you have enjoyed reading this! If you did, please hit vote and leave a small comment! I always look forward to reading them!
Before you exit the story to read some of the other gems on Wattpad, please read the next part that explains the terms 'Achilles' Heels' and 'Iago'. I know you have been reading the title of the story for a while now, but this was the first chapter when they were introduced in the story. I feel some background would be helpful to those of you who aren't into Greek mythology or Shakespearean literature.
And to those who are celebrating, I wish you a happy Durgashtami and Dussera!
See you all in the next chapter!
Lots of love,
Pearl