[MEMBERSONLY]
Hi everyone,
Thanks to each and one of my friends who have been on this
journey of Valley of Flowers with me. The story concluded in the last chapter but I couldn't
end it without a hope for the future.
Your comments mean a lot. Some of the comments are really
really overwhelming. A special thanks to those who take time to write detailed
analysis. You know who you are.
Valley of Flowers – Epilogue
Five Years later….
KHUSHI stood in the garden picking jasmine
flowers, standing in the midst of the Plumaria, Ipomoea, Jacqemontia creepers. Suddenly she felt two strong hands
enveloping her waist and the rasp of stubble as her husband placed his soft velvety
lips on shoulder.
'Arnav, stop it,' she admonished him. 'Our
neighbours might see us.'
'You think those lazy gooses are up this
early?' he continued up her neck, sliding the spaghetti strap off her shoulder.
'You were so enthusiastic last night.'
The bathroom door
opened.
'Khushi?' He sat up
looking at her from top to bottom.
She stood there wearing
a short, red night gown with a deep U.
Lacy nets adorned the neckline and the hem. She looked utterly sexy with
her thick khol lined eyes, rose tinted lips and her long black hair on one
shoulder.
He gulped as she came up
to him. She placed her palm on his chest and pushed him back to lay on the
pillow. Then she straddled him and raked her nails across his broad shoulders,
his rippling chest, down to his abs and paused at the waistband of his pants.
She leaned over so her lips were inches from his. 'Tell me Mr. Arnav Singh
Raizada, what I can do for you tonight.'
She knew he wouldn't relent. She turned
around and allowed him to claim her lips in mind numbing, heart stopping kiss.
Then she pushed at his chest. 'Look how beautifully these plants have grown
Arnav.'
'Why wouldn't they?' he said nonchalant. 'You
personally re-designed this garden five years ago.'
'Thanks for buying me my dream house Arnav.' Khushi's
face filled with pride as she looked at their perfect two storeyed white house, with white Georgian
windows, white pillars and a white picket fence around it.
On their return from Dehradun five years ago,
instead of going back to the Raizada House he had driven her to a gated
community that was close to their farm house. Just as they entered the gates,
she had realized it was the same place Arnav and she had visited on the night
of Akash's bachelor's party, on her insistence.
Arnav had bought the house from the owner
paying much more than what it was worth and had planned to gift it to her on
her birthday. But their argument regarding the joint account had made him
sceptical and he had kept mum. Then, when she had accepted the car without a
fuss he had planned to surprise her with the house on his return from
Singapore. Khushi remembered how thrilled she had been at a chance to re-design
the garden to her liking. She however had to wait until much later to decorate
the house as they had left for their honeymoon to Mauritius the very next day.
They had come back and had immediately left
for the US, as Arnav needed to be back to take care of his business. After a
two year stay they had returned back when Arnav realized that Khushi had begun
to feel homesick.
They walked back into the house. 'Are we all
set for the party this evening?'
'Well, the event organizers are taking care
of everything,' Khushi replied. 'There is nothing for me to do.'
He looked at his phone and then back at her.
'Looks like there is nothing for me to do either – at least for the next half
hour,' He turned on his husky voice. 'There might be something we could do
together.'
'Arnav!' Khushi gasped, her heart beating its
erratic rhythm as he picked her up in his arms and walked up the stairs.
Later that evening, Khushi stood in the
kitchen, staring dismally at the last batch of jalebis, that were burnt beyond
recognition. She threw them in the trash cursing herself for her negligence.
Even after years together, her husband had the ability to distract her to this
extent. Oh well, it wasn't going to be a big loss as she had made enough
already.
When someone tapped her shoulder on her
shoulder, she turned around. 'Di!' she exclaimed taking Anjali in a bear hug. They
walked into the living room and Khushi saw Manav, coming in with a snoozing
toddler in his arms. Arnav showed him to the guest bedroom so he could lay him
down on the bed.
'Khushi, the orchids look beautiful!' exclaimed
Anjali.
'They just began to bloom Di.' She looked
around the living room to see her purple and white orchids, her pride and joy scattered
all over the place.
'You have put your husband to nanny job di.' Arnav
teased.
After Anjali and Shyam's divorce, Manav had
been instrumental in healing Anjali, slowly but surely. It was nearly a year
later that he had proposed to her and she had accepted readily.
'I haven't put him up to anything,' Anjali
retorted. 'He insists on doing this when we go out as he is so busy with the
hospital.'
'When do you plan to go back to work?' Khushi
enquired.
'Since Aarav has turned two, he will be ready
to go to play school very soon. I am going to start part time from next month,'
she explained. 'I miss going to work.'
Manav came out of the bedroom. 'The inmates
of Ashray miss you more. Every time I visit, they ask me when you will be back.
They don't care about me at all.' He sighed.
'Stop the drama Manav,' Anjali said affably.
'You know they love you.'
'Chachu!' Ashu barged in like a tornado and
Arnav picked him up in one sweep. 'Did you get it?' he asked excitedly.
Arnav put him down. 'Go look in the shoe
closet.'
'Bhai, you spoil him too much,' Aakash came
in holding his one year old daughter in his arms. 'That's a 5000 rupees bat.'
'Well a GM Icon bat doesn't come for less and
my budding cricketer has got to have the best.' Arnav said proudly. 'We might
have the next Sachin Tendulkar in the making.'
'Jeeju, put Akshara down next to Aarav in the
guest bedroom.'
'I simply love the style of your furniture
Khushi,' Payal said looking around the living room. All the furniture had been
shipped in from their house in the US. The sofa flanked by huge table lamps,
was a soft beige with a self design and the mahogany furniture contrasted it
beautifully. The curtains and carpet matched to perfection.
'When you came back, I thought you were
planning to stay with us', Akash said tentatively. 'Bhai, please bury all hard
feelings and come back home.'
Arnav looked at Khushi first and then turned
toward Akash and Payal. 'There are no hard feelings Akash,' he began. 'Mama and
mami have always thought that the house belonged to them. It will be hard for
them to accept me as the owner of that house, how much ever they try. I think
we should just let it be. I never ever had any intention to stay at the Raizada
House in any case. The house is a little too big for my taste.'
He continued. 'Moreover, I have no say in
this. This house was chosen by Khushi ten years ago. I go live wherever she
tells me to.'
'What crap!' Khushi said hitting her
husband's arm. 'I was the one who followed you
to the US Mr Arnav Singh Raizada.'
'But I made sure you were able to continue
teaching dance to your students via web cast, didn't I?' Arnav raised his
eyebrows cockily and Khushi agreed with a smile.
'Were you able to finalize the deal on the
dance school Bhai?' Akash enquired.
There was a pin drop silence while Payal
threw Akash a sharp look.
'What deal?' Khushi's eyes were wide with curiosity.
'That's alright Akash,' Arnav put Akash out
of his misery. He looked at Khushi. 'Mrs Bedi called me some time back. She is
going away to the US to live with her son. She asked me if I was interested in
buying the school.'
'What?' Khushi was astounded. 'She didn't tell
me a word about this.'
'I told her not to.' Arnav opened a drawer in
the centre table and took out the papers. 'I was going to surprise you today.'
As all eyes turned on Khushi, she leaned in
and kissed him on his cheek. 'You think I can do this?' She said tentatively.
'Of course!' he said without blinking an eye.
'You will be able to reach out and help those who are interested in the art but
can't afford it.'
'So
you both packed for your trip tomorrow?' Anjali said breaking into their
moment.
'I am still having second thoughts about it.'
Khushi muttered as she stood up.
'We have to go Khushi,' Arnav said looking at
her with disbelief.'The head of Sarpanch of Ghangaria has personally invited
us.'
'I heard you made a huge donation to build
the towns surrounding the valley,' Manav said.
'It was just money Manav,' Arnav said. 'The
people of those towns are the real heroes. Once it became habitable they went
back and rebuilt their homes with their own hands.'
Suddenly there was a noise and both Arnav and
Khushi rushed upstairs.
A little later, when they came down they held
a drowsy toddler in each arm – their two year old twins Ananya and Kritika.
'They look so adorable!' Anjali exclaimed as
Arnav and Khushi came down and sat down on the sofa. The twins dozed right back
to sleep in their parents arms.
'You are lucky you got twins Khushi,' Payal
said a little wistfully. 'At least you don't have go through pregnancy again.'
Payal wasn't very happy with the fact that she had put on a lot of weight after
the birth of her second one.
'Lucky?' Khushi said looking at her in
disbelief. 'Do you know how tough it is jiji? If Amma hadn't been there to help
me I don't know what I would have done.'
'And who told you Khushi won't be going
through pregnancy again?' Arnav said nonchalantly.
'No way!'Khushi's eyebrows snapped together
ominously.
'I want a boy so I can play cricket.'
'Arnav!'
'Ok ok you can decide when you go to Dehradun
tomorrow,' Anjali winked at her brother.
Before Khushi could open her mouth again, the
bell rang announcing the arrival of the elders, which was a cue to get the
twins ready for their second birthday party.
Later
that night, Arnav changed into his pajama pants and sat on the bed, browsing
through the pictures on his iphone. He looked at one picture of the entire
family and smiled. Mamiji kept a possessive hand on her grandson Ashu, mamaji
standing docilely next to her. Garima held her granddaughter in her arms standing
next to Shashi uncle who had recovered from his long illness, while Buaji
looked grim faced. Akash stood next to him with his arm around Payal who stood
sideways trying to make herself appear thinner.
He
looked at the joyous face of his sister her arm around Nani, while Manav stood
on her other side holding their son. In the middle of this group, he saw
himself and his three angels. These last five years with Khushi had taught him
the importance of family. He was glad Khushi had convinced him that they should
get back to India. How could he miss all this?
The
twins had enjoyed themselves immensely playing with their cousins and had
happily gone with Payal and Akash who were keeping them for a few days until he
and Khushi came back from Dehradun. This brought him back to the little fight
he and Khushi had a little earlier.
First
off all she had insisted on cleaning up and ended up coming late to bed. And
then she had spent half an hour on the phone with her mom giving her instructions
about how to take care of the twins. He had been miffed when she had told him
she was having second thoughts about going on the trip and then she had told
him he didn't understand a mother's feelings and walked into the bathroom and
banged the door shut.
Two
days later, Arnav and Khushi stood, looking at The Valley of Flowers in its
full glory. 'Arnav, it's back!' Khushi said emphatically clutching his arm to
her breast. Then she sobered down. 'I hope we never have to see devastation
like what we saw five years ago.'
'Khushi,
what we saw was a result of man's greed, the constant need to make money of
everything. This was nature's way of telling mankind that enough is enough. Until
this gets into people's heads, I don't think we have seen the end of this.'
Arnav
was in a sombre mood and Khushi knew that it was the result of the cold war
since the night of the party.
'Arnav
I am sorry,' she said turning toward him, her almond eyes searching his face.
'I know I have become a little fussy since the twins came. I –'
'You
can be as fussy as you want to be sweetheart,' Arnav said pulling her into
himself. 'It's your right as their mother.'
Khushi
smiled radiantly, hearing words that were not uncommon to her ears anymore.
'But
it is also my right to complain,' he quipped tongue in cheek.
Khushi
went on her tip toes snaking her arms around his neck and looked deep into his
caramel eyes. 'I am listening.' Her eyes dropped down to his lips.
Hell! Arnav swore under his
breath as his head moved of its own volition to claim what his sweet wife was
so blatantly offering, as the Valley stood witness to the effervescence of a
love so pure that it had endured storms again and again only to get stronger
with the passage of time.
Back
in Delhi, two little girls slept peacefully in their great grandmother's house
after listening to the story of a prince and his princess, caught in the midst
of love, hatred, deception and the ultimate triumph of love over hatred. Naniji
ended the story saying they lived happily ever after, and
why not she thought silently -- afterall
they were written in the stars.
The End
I feel motivated to
write more when I hear from you so do comment and feel free to give me your
feedback.
I am also going to try
an update this FF in a blog (just in case) Here is the link My Blog
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Comments (8)
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pridarshi9 @pridarshi9
3 years ago
beautiful story.. Read it in 2 sittings... very very well crafted story showing each and every character. continue writing.. read such a good story in good english after a long time.
BKuamr27 @BKumar27
3 years ago
Very beautiful story...totally loved it...
Kashaarv07 @Kashaarv07
3 years ago
Beautiful story... Read it in one sitting
LibranAngel @libranangel
+ 2
3 years ago
I can't believe it's over! I didn't want to end....i could lose myself in this story and in this valley of flowers everytime! It's become one of my favourites. You're style of writing is so heart wrenching at time and so euphoric the other! What a gift you have! I hope one day I can see your name printed across a hard cover! And to think I don't even know your name!!! All the love and praise in the world!!!
ilfordian @ilfordian
+ 2
3 years ago
Loved the story and loved reading it again. this new format is great.We do not have to turn a lot of pages.Thank you.
Nilima2016 @Nilima2016
+ 2
3 years ago
Beautiful story loved it....with lovely ending
MonnaS @msingh27
3 years ago
thank you so much dear. i have read this before but it always feels like i'm reading a new story. Beautiful creation & fabulously penned.
Iamlee @Iamlee
4 years ago
How many times I read VOF, it is like sweet nectar, I keep coming for more