"Arnavji" Khushi said, stepping forward.
She shook her head, sending silent pleas for him to stop talking.
She knew her husband's temper well enough to be worried about its consequences.
His rage tended to be like a storm, destroying everything in its wake.
"Arnav bitwa, humko samajh nahi aavat hai ki uss matter aur iss matter ke beech'what is connekson?" Mamiji said, joining and separating her palms, just in case he hadn't understood what connection meant.
"Connection main hoon Mami" Arnav said.
Coming to stand beside him, Khushi touched his arm.
"Arnavji, yeh aap kya kar rahe hai" she whispered, hoping that her voice wouldn't carry even though she knew that everyone was standing too close not to hear.
This night had already gone from one of pleasant surprises to rude shocks.
Khushi wasn't sure if the house could remain standing if another disaster hit.
"Puraani baaton ko yaad karne koi faida nahi hai balki'"
"That's what I thought Khushi" he said, placing his other arm over hers. "Lekin past ko accept kiye bina, you can't move forward. And waise bhi, aaj sabko sach sunne-sunane ka mood hai"
Khushi hated the egde to his voice and even though he withdrew his hand with a reassuring pat, she saw the sparks blazing in his eyes.
"Payal ki sagaai isliye toot gayi thi because ladke waalon ne dahej maanga tha" Arnav said, "Dahej ke papers Khushi ke pass the aur maine Khushi ko Sheesh Mahak ke ek kamre me lock kar diya. Baarat inke ghar se laut gayi thi"
Mamiji looked scandalised and Khushi saw her shoot a fleeting look of pity towards Jiji. Jiji had closed her eyes and buried her face in Jijaji's chest. Jijaji was looking at his brother, perhaps debating whether to be outraged by the admission or grateful for the woman in his arms.
"Arnav, hum samajhthe hai ki aap kya karne ki koshish kar rahe hai" Dadi said, "Lekin aapne chahe jo kiya ho, usse sach nahi badal sakhtha"
"I know Dadi, main achi tarah se jaantha hoon ki sachaai ko koi nahi badal saktha" Arnav said.
He turned towards her again with guilt ridden eyes and Khushi felt a tingling dread as her instinct warned her of what was coming next.
"Aap sab bahut dinnon se yeh jaanna chahthe hai na ki Khushi aur maine bina kisiko bataye, secretly shaadi kyun ki"
Unable to hide her gasp, she tugged at his arm.
"Bas kijiye Arnavji" she begged him.
Di had gone pale and Naniji's eyes were round as buttons. Dadiji on the other hand, looked mildly interested for the first time.
"Khushi tum samajh nahi rahi ho, you don't understood what's going on here" Arnavji said, suddenly raising his hands to cup her face. "It's very important ki aaj sab sach bahar aa jaye, koi confusion na rahe"
Khushi had trouble breathing normally. Her heart was racing and her mind caught in the cross-fire of a raging battle. One part of her agreed with him, that it was well past time for the truth to come out in the open and the other wanted him to see reason, to avoid the carnage that this storm would leave in its aftermath.
Before she could reply, he let go of her and turned to Dadi.
"Maine Khushi ko blackmail kiya tha ki agar usne mujhse shaadi nahi ki toh main Payal ki shaadi Akash se nahi hone doonga" he said.
Even the air in the room froze on hearing his words.
Jiji let out a loud gasp and forward, out of Jijaji's arms and Jijaji finally managed to look outraged.
"Dadi, remember aap uss din pooch rahi thi ki koi ladki bina phere liye kisi aadmi ke saath kaise reh sakthi hai. In fact, aapne toh isse bhi bahut ghatiya baat kahi thi, so there's your answer ki Khushi ne aisa kyun kiya"
Khushi felt faint again but Arnavji's almost painful grip on her hand kept her teetered to her consciousness.
Naniji was wiping away her tears and shaking her head with disapproval. But she didn't look astounded like the others. Having known more about the truth than them, perhaps she had more or less guessed it.
"Chotey, yeh tum kya keh rahe ho" Di said, turning Arnavji's face towards herself. "Tumne yeh sab kyun kiya?"
Letting go of her hand, Arnavji took Di's hands in his and led her to the couch. He went down on his knees beside her and grasping her hand with both of his, he said.
"Di, kya aap jaanna chahthi hai ki bina koi saboot, maine Shyam ko ghar se kyun nikala tha?"
Khushi felt tears forming in her eyes, his voice had turned gentle of its own violation.
She felt Amma's hand on her shoulder and turned to see that Buaji had come to stand beside her too.
Di didn't answer Arnavji's question but looked back and forth from him to Shyamji who didn't look happy in the least at the unexpected turn of events.
"Maine aisa isliye kiya Di because I didn't need any proof" Arnavji said, his voice had dropped even further and he was stroking the back of her palm gently in an effort to lessen the impact of his words. "Shyam ne khud mujhse kaha tha ki he loves Khushi and aap unki raaste me ek rukavat'"
Arnavji's voice trailed off as the words become progressively more painful to say.
Khushi couldn't even imagine how painful they must be to hear. She wasn't surprised in the least when Di slapped him.
It wasn't a hard slap and tears of remorse hit Di's eyes instantaneously.
She sat back in horror, whether from his words or her action, Khushi couldn't tell.
Arnavji touched his cheek and said, "I'm so sorry Di, I'm so sorry"
"Rani sahiba" Shyamji said, sitting down and putting his arms around Di. "Yeh sab iss Khushiji ka kiya dhara hai, aap saale sahab ko galat math samjhiye. Issme inki koi galathi nahi hai, yeh becahare toh khud uljhan me hai aur vohi patti pad rahe hai jo yeh Khushiji ne sikhaya"
Khushi felt Buaji's grip on her shoulder tighten. She turned and shook her head, asking Buaji not to enter the foray now.
Arnavji stood up, looking unfazed by Shyamji's words.
"It all comes down to this Di" he said, "Agar aapko Khushi ki baaton pe vishwas nahi hai toh theek hai. It's my word against his. Aapko lagtha hai ki main aapse jhoot bol raha hoon?"
Looking from her husband's face to her brother's, Di opened and closed her mouth several times unable to find anything to say.
'Please Di' Khushi found herself thinking, 'Please believe us. Arnavji loves you so much, I love you so much'we would never lie to you and can't imagine hurting you even in our dreams'
Finally Di let out a soft moan of pain and Naniji rushed to her side. Extracting her from Shyam's grasp, she hugged Di to herself.
"Arnav" Dadi said, unleashing more of her latent anger. "Aap yeh sab bolke kya saabit karna chahthe hai? Anjali bitiya ko iss halath me aise pareshan karthe hue aapko'"
Arnavji let out a small laugh filled with bitterness.
"Abhi abhi Khushi behosh ho gayi and aap me se kisine apni ungli bhi nahi uthayi" he said, looking around the room. "You didn't even move"
He turned to Dadiji and said, "Meri Di hain, itne saalon se jab aap aashram me thi, maine hi unka khayal rakha. Main unka acha bura aapse behtar jaantha hoon and right now unka sach jaanna theek hi nahi bahut zaroori hai"
Walking back to Khushi's side, he held her gaze for a few seconds. Khushi wondered how it was possible that they had entire conversations without saying a word. Even though the fact that he was taking her side over his whole family had barely registered in her mind, she knew that gratitude was already in her eyes. And in his, she read his affectionate but firm scolding to stop apologizing and thanking him all the time.
Turning back to face the room, he said-
"And main kuch saabit nahi karna chahtha, I just wanted to tell you the truth. Because ab main jaanna chahtha hoon ki aap mujhse kya chahte hai? What do you want from me? Ki main Khushi ko chod doon, iss rishtey ko khatam kar doon because of some bizarre coincidence ki voh Garima aunty ki niece hai?"
"Aur agar aapne aisa nahi kiya, toh aapki Amma ki jo beizathi hogi, kya voh aapko gavara hai?" Dadiji asked.
"Mamma ki beizathi toh tab hogi agar main unke sikhae usuloon ko thod ke Khushi ko uss galathi ki sazaa doon jo usne kiya hi nahi" Arnav said, his voice steadfast.
"Chotey, hum samajh sakath hai ki iss sab me Khushi bitiya ki kono galathi nahi" Naniji said, "Lekin hum yeh baat kaisan bhool sakath hai ki yeh Garima naahi hothi toh aaj humri Ratna bitiya humre saath hothi Chotey"
Naniji dissolved into tears as if her own words had been too much to bear.
Khushi's heart went out to Naniji. If the ASR in Arnavji came from his father's side, surely Chotey was all Naniji's.
"Kyun nahi Nani?" Arnav said, "Itni baaton ko bhula diya humne. Main jaantha hoon ki galathi sirf aur sirf Papa ki thi, but maine bhula diya ki apni jaan dete time Mamma ne ek baar bhi Di aur mere baare me nahi socha. Nahi socha ki unke baad humara kya hoga. Humne itni badi baat bhulake unki yaadon ko apnaya because we love her. Toh yeh baat kyun nahi bhula sakthe?"
"Bas kijiye Chotey" Di said, standing up.
A small part in her heart rejoiced the fact that ignoring Shyamji's hand, Di stood up on her own.
"Aapan bache ko khone ka dard, aap nahi samajh sakath hai Chotey" Naniji said.
Arnav drew a deep breath and stepped back.
"Theek hai, agar aap sab ka yahi faisla hai toh Khushi is ghar me nahi aegi" he said, pausing to chose his words. "Khushi ke yahan aane se aapko Garima Aunty ki yaad aegi na, toh fir mere yahan rehne se bhi you'll be reminded of Khushi. Isiliye behtar yehi hai ki hum dono yeh ghar chod ke chale jaye"
Khushi wasn't aware of who spoke first or what everyone was saying.
She only felt his hand in hers and the warmth spreading through her body as involuntary tears overtook her yet again.
Through their haze, she saw her husband shouting down everyone's protests.
Khushi Kumari Gupta had been scared all her life. Even before the death of her parents she'd feared the dark and after they left her, the fear had worsened and many new ones had developed. The smallest of things succeeded in frightening her and she spent all her time trying to hide it from others by burying it beneath her cheerful faade.
But standing there with Arnavji by her side, she knew Khushi Kumari Gupta Singh Raizada would never be frightened by any of those things again. It felt like a transcendental, out of body experience.
'Pal me shaitan, pal me rajkumar'ek insaan ke do roop kaise ho sakthe hai?' she'd wondered this over and over in the early days of their marriage.
Now she didn't care, whether he was ASR or Chotey, he was her Arnavji.
She belatedly became aware that he had turned to face her and was saying something.
"Give me two minutes" he said, "Main apna bag leke aata hoon"
His words snapped her back to reality.
Seeing him heading for the stairs, she looked around the room.
Di was limping after him but fell back as he practically ran up the stairs. Naniji walked up to Di and they both turned to face her.
Dadiji threw her a venomous look before turning away and heading in the direction of her own room.
As comprehension slowly dawned, she said, "Nahi Arnavji" in a whisper.
She ran the length of the living room and hurried up the stairs.
Disregarding the slight rip she heard from the lower edge of her lehenga, she made for their room.
He already had a duffle bag on the bed and was removing his suits from the wardrobe when she entered.
"Arnavji" she said. "Aap is waqt bahut gusse me hain aur aap jaanthe hai ki gusse me liya gaya koi bhi faisla hamesha galath hota hai"
He ignored her and piled his sweaters and track pants and looked around the room for anything else he might need.
"Arnavji" she said, shaking his arm forcefully.
"Not now Khushi" he said, freeing his arm and packing up his laptop case.
"Bas kijiye" Khushi found herself shouting. "Hum apne parivaar ko chod ke aise nahi jaa sakthe'"
"Parivaar?" he said, directing his angry gaze at her.
Khushi took a step back and saw his eyes softening at once.
"Khushi, ab mera parivaar tum ho"
She swallowed the lump in her throat and thought of what she could say to argue that and whether she wanted to at all.
He stepped towards her and raised both his hands to her arms.
"Jab se Mamma aur Papa ki death hui mere liye mera parivaar sab kuch tha" Arnav said, his head bent low. "Maine apni zindagi sirf inke liye jee, sabki choti se choti baath apni sarakhon pe rakha. This is not about you Khushi, its about me. Iss sab ke baad, mere liye hi sahi, agar yeh sab tumhe nahi apna sakthe then yeh mera parivaar kaise ho saktha hai?"
The pain in his voice was breaking her heart.
Choking back sobs, she threw her arms around his neck and pulled him close. He hugged her back and Khushi felt his chest move with uncertain and unsteady breaths.
When she opened her eyes, she saw Di and Naniji at the door. Both were holding each other, crying silently.
Drawing in a deep breath to compose himself, Arnavji pulled back. He ignored Di and Naniji as he lifted his bags with one hand, took hers in the other and said, "Lets go"
Khushi allowed herself to be led back down the stairs where her family was huddled, exhausted and bereaved.
"Aunty, Buaji" Arnav said. "Chaliye"
Buaji looked from Arnavji to Naniji who had frozen half way down the stairs.
She joined her palms but didn't say 'Namaste' and Amma followed suit.
Pushing Babuji's wheel-chair forward, Amma and Buaji started walking to the main door, followed by Arnavji.
Khushi stopped at the door and turned around one last time.
Jiji and Jijaji were holding each other for comfort while Mamiji was wiping her eyes, for once not caring about her make-up running.
Naniji and Di were still standing on the steps, staring in disbelief as their Chotey turned his back on them and refused to look back even once.
Feeling his tug on her hand, Khushi tore her gaze away from their parivaar with all of them burned in her memory forever as she stepped out of Shantivan.
The promo was a perfect prompt for me to write something in my ishtyle! ...
Amidst the tumultuous storm of a high-stakes trial, Anushka Raisinghani, a ...
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pakpearl @pakpearl
+ 2
2 years ago
Kash IPPKND ka Arnav aisa hota..