Khushi was lost but only
for a second. She couldn’t let it happen again, she wouldn’t. She averted his
hot gaze she could feel burning her. She stood up and Arnav let go of her. “I’m
sorry,” Khushi said turning around ready to walk away. “No, I’m sorry Khushi,”
she stopped dead in her tracks and turned around to look at him. He was looking
at the ground but almost as if he sensed her turn around, he looked up at her
but the sight she saw stabbed at her heart. Pain. Pain was all she could see in
his eyes and it was clear on his face that he regretted whatever he had. “No,”
she thought to herself. She wasn’t going to give in so easily. Just because he
was in pain didn’t mean she had to try and stop it, it didn’t mean she had to
run into his arms and try to soothe his pain. What about all the pain he had
given her? He hadn’t thought about what would happen to her when he dragged her
and threw her out of the house, out of his life. She could feel anger flooding
her, all those memories of what he had done to her and how he had hurt her. She
stormed off in the opposite direction not turning around to look back.
It wasn’t unexpected, how
could he expect her to do anything after what he had done to her. He wasn’t
going to give up. He had found her after searching for so long but he knew she
would only forgive him when she was ready but still he had to try. She was his
life and he couldn’t live without her. Only he knows how he had survived all
this time without her, cursing himself every day for causing her so much pain
and not knowing how to make it right. He had found her now and he knew what he
had to do the only decision he had to make was if he would try himself or let
fate decide if she was his. He walked a couple laps of the showroom looking at
designs and speaking to designers and decided to leave after an hour. He made
his way out the showroom into daylight with the sunshine the first thing he saw
when he opened the doors.
Khushi had been looking for
Shweta for about an hour after she bolted from the showroom and was just about
to give up when she heard her phone ring. She looked at the screen and answered
the call, “Where are you? Do you have any idea how long I’ve been looking for
you?” Khushi had an annoyed look on her face until she heard Shweta’s answer,
“I… uhhh… I’m with Adi. There was an emergency at his house and they needed me
there so I left without telling you.” Khushi was silent for a few seconds, “You
are so unbelievable Shweta! You could have phoned earlier! I’ll see you at
home,” Shweta was scared from the anger she heard in Khushi’s voice but she
knew it would only last five minutes and she’d get over it. “I can’t believe
her. She left me here all alone and he’s
here. I’ll sort her out,” Khushi was ranting on like a mad woman and didn’t
realize the heavy gust of wind that came and blew her scarf away. “Just great,”
she thought all that she needed was to chase a runaway scarf. She sighed and
started running after scarf but slowed down when she saw it had already been
stopped. She giggled watching the man trying to take the scarf off because the
wind kept blowing it back. “Looks like you could use some help,” Khushi said
stifling a laugh as she pulled her scarf. “Thanks,” Khushi looked up in shock.
She knew that voice. She had heard it so many times and knew he was there. She
had just seen him a while ago. “Ar… Arnav?” she managed to get her scarf off
and was holding it when in her hands when Arnav opened his eyes.
He saw the girl holding the
pink scarf that he had just been attacked by. He was just about to leave when
he saw the mangalsutra around her neck and his eyes widened with shock. He
didn’t even have to look at her face to know who she was. The mangalsutra was
one of a kind, exquisite yet simple. He had gone to the jeweler to get it made
just for her because there wasn’t a single one that she would have liked in the
store. He looked at her and saw the shock on her face. “Khu…,” he trailed off
watching her run away. He closed his eyes. Why? Why couldn’t she just listen to
him even for a second? All he wanted to do was apologize. He would try and live
without her if he had to as long as he knew she had forgiven him what he had
done. He wiped away the runaway tear and went to the parking lot. He couldn’t
stop thinking about her since he saw her. She was a part of him and even though
he regretted what he did and didn’t realize what he did to her out of pure rage
he also felt the pain. She was the only one he had ever loved and ever will.
Nobody could ever take her place in his life and in the world. He put on his
Bluetooth earpiece and dialed Sanjana, “Sanju, I need to talk to you. Get home
now. It’s important.” He cut the call and took out his earpiece trying to get
home as fast he could. He couldn’t wait any longer.
Sanjana couldn’t believe
her brother. He always did this. “Ma’am, Mr Mehra is here. Should I send him up
now?” Rosy, Sanjana’s secretary had been waiting for her to finish her call
before telling her about the client. “No Rosy. I need to leave now. Tell Mr.
Mehra that there’s an emergency and I can’t make it for the meeting so Aakash
and Sameer will conduct the meeting as soon as they’re done with Mr. Oberoi.
Sameer has the files so there shouldn’t be a problem okay. Give him my
apologies and tell him that I’ll arrange another meeting with him as soon as I
get back. Thanks Rosy,” Rosy had been working with her for three years and was
a good friend. She was probably the only one who understood why she always ran
to Arnav when he called her. Sanju grabbed her laptop, shoved it in the bag
with a couple of files and raced down to the parking lot. She got in her car
and drove to Shantivan as fast as she could.
“Sanju, are you okay? Did
something happen in the office?” she could hear the concern in Di’s voice and
didn’t want to trouble or worry her. It was her first trimester and she needed
to take special care of herself. “No Di. I finished early so I thought I’d
come home and relax a little,” Anjali smiled at her and walked into the
kitchen. She lugged herself up the stairs having left the bag in the lounge and
made her way towards Arnav’s room. She walked in shutting the door behind her
to find the room deserted. She walked to the poolside and saw him lying down on
the recliner. “This better be good. I cancelled a meeting for it and I’m
seriously going to hurt you if I did it for nothing,” Sanju said casually as
she leaned against the wall. He sat up and looked at her, “You won’t regret it.
I promise. I need your help.”
She didn’t know what to do.
She couldn’t handle it anymore so she turned around and ran away. She didn’t
bother stopping a rickshaw. She just needed to get as far away as she could, as
far as her legs could carry her. She had ended up in Devi Maaiya’s mandir and
was sitting on the floor hugging her knees to her chest with tears pouring down
her face. She turned and looked at her Devi Maaiya, “Why are you doing this to
me now? I tried so hard to forget everything and was starting over. Everything
was fine and I was doing okay. Why? Why did you have to bring me back to him?
Why are you making relive it all again? You know I still love him despite
trying to hate him so much.” The tears just wouldn’t stop. She could still feel
the pain. She had loved him and only him with all her heart. She would’ve
happily given up anything in the world for him. she would’ve happily left
Shantivan that day if he had asked her as long as he listened to her. As long
as he knew her side of the story. He was her world and he left her with nothing
when he threw her out. Maybe he didn’t love her, maybe it was just a façade,
but then how could he have kept it up for so long. Had he pretended that he
loved for a year or was it real? It was eating Khushi up inside and she needed
to know.
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