chapter 10

Updating a day earlier, for your saturday evening/sunday read. Happy weekend. ❤

--*--

Khushi somehow sat through the first half of the workshop. Nishant along with some other doctors gave informative speeches for the employees of Arnav’s company. Khushi’s job was only limited to taking notes whenever someone asked questions from the audience and she was distractedly doing it.

Because there was only one thing she was thinking about and that was getting her daughter back from him! She didn’t want to think about that blasted day or that harsh night. She didn’t want to ask any questions or give any answers. It was only about correcting that one mistake from that day, leaving without thinking about her baby. She should have taken her along with herself then. But such was the anger and bruised self-respect that everything else had faded in her mind back then. Not now.

.

.

Arnav kept stealing glances towards Khushi throughout the time. His parched eyes drank in the sight of his wife. The three years had not affected her beauty one bit. But the earlier glow on her face was lost now. And ever since Nishant revealed to him about how she hadn't moved on, he kept thinking if there was a chance of them to reconcile again. Was she also thinking the same? Was she willing to work on their relationship? He knew he would get answers only when they talk.

And it happened during the lunch hour. Khushi had deliberately stayed behind in that hall as everyone else slowly left for the buffet which was arranged on the other side of the building.

Khushi's eyes found Arnav who also seemed to have stayed back and she walked towards him in deliberate steps. He took a deep breathe, as she came and stood directly in front of him. The heavy tension in the air was inevitable.

“Khushi” he attempted to greet with a small smile

“Where is my daughter?” she chose to ask in reply and he realized what was on her mind

“Khushi, she is in creche, I will take her to meet you, but before that-”

“I said I want to meet my daughter, Arnav. When can you bring her here?” She asked without giving him any chance and he sighed in defeat.

--*--

“What are you thinking, Shashi?” Garima asked her husband as they were seated in the plane. He had been lost in deep thoughts.

“How did we fail to teach our kids about relationships. Shyam misused the responsibility given to him to overstep in his sister’s marriage while Khushi lost her patience at the last moment."

“She is not wrong, Shashi. Any girl in her place would have reacted strongly if her husband questioned her character.” Garima said. She was a strong headed woman herself and together with Shashi they had instilled same value in Khushi.

“And I don’t deny that. My daughter has every right to not take any insult thrown at her, we have raised her to be a courageous woman like that, didn’t we? Right from her childhood, we taught her the importance of self-respect, I had told her that she has full freedom to make her decisions and I will stand with her. That is why when she chose to be a nurse even when she could easily become a doctor, we supported her; when she had her heart broken with that guy in college(Nishant)-and no matter how much she tried to hide, we had an inkling- but we never questioned her and even when she banished her brother from her life, we stayed with her. But a relationship between a husband and a wife is a whole different story isn’t it Gari?”

She smiled and nodded understandingly, asking Shashi to continue his speaking,

“I mean your own strong headed nature was what attracted me to you, and in a way, I always wished our daughter was as self-reliant as you. Remember when kids were small, and I had asked you one day if you could stay at home quitting your job to take care of them? and you had strongly refused to do so. Didn’t I overstep that time and committed a mistake that fit classic ‘bad husband’ definition? Yet you stayed your ground and made me see how horribly wrong I was to demand something like that from you when I myself had not thought of quitting my own job when they are both of our kids. Do you think if that day you walked out on me and I also never tried to ask you for forgiveness, we would have led a happy married life for so long?”

“I know Shashi. And I agree with what you are saying. But Arnav had hurt her respect, and we don’t even know if he realizes his mistake-“

“He had come to our house the next day gari, what does that tell us? If he didn’t want to solve the issue and possibly- accept his mistake, why would he have come to us that day? I have seen that boy when he was a mere teenager gari and after that as he kept in touch, and I trusted my instinct about him which is why I wanted to give him one chance. BUT only if he is truly regretful and khushi is willing to forgive him...”

--*--

After the lunch hour, the next 4 hours of the workshop passed in a blur and a restless Khushi couldn't wait to get her daughter back in her life.

But just as the final talk was going on, she got a call from her father who informed her that he and Garima were going to reach there soon and wanted to meet both her and Arnav. Now, as much as Khushi wanted to deny that, she realized if her parents were with her, she would be able to strongly refuse any of Arnav's protests.

.

.

And that is exactly what she did, as soon she, Arnav and her parents met at the hotel where she was staying. Arnav had surprisingly agreed to come there, but he had left Aaradhya with aman and Anjali saying that he needed time to prepare her mind for this sudden arrival of her mother. Khushi looked annoyed but had to give in. In any case, after what she had in mind, he won’t be able to keep aaradhya away from her for long.

and so, as soon as the 4 of them sat down, Khushi spoke,

"I want Aaradhya's full custody."

It was a shock to shashi and Garima while a bomb on arnav's head! And shashi saw him ready to retort which he knew would make this uglier, he intervened,

“Listen to me both of you, if you take this to the court and fight over her custody, I can guarantee you that I will be testifying against both of you. I will tell in the court that you both are incapable parents for my granddaughter and her upbringing will be my responsibility.” he said calmly yet sternly.

“PAPA!” Khushi got up at once

“No Khushi, enough of your stubbornness.”

“But sir-“

"Oh no, not you either. I’ve had enough of your emotional vulnerabilities too. You both have made Aaradhya some sort of a trophy in your tug of war but I won't let that happen anymore. So, here's what going to happen now. I and Garima will give you 30 minutes to vent out your angers or whatever you both have against each other. and after that like 2 mature people, you will tell me what you have decided. but remember, whatever you decide, keep in mind that your child's future is also at stake here." Saying so, he took Garima's hand, and they left the room, closing the door behind them.

"You think it will work?" Garima asked as they walked out.

"It better, Gari. It better." he said patting her hand.

.

.

After wasting over 5 minutes in looking anywhere but each other, Arnav broke the silence.

"I didn't know you loved me." he said in a low voice,

"Excuse me?" she snapped back.

“How was I supposed to know that you loved me, Khushi? We both knew it was only me who was in love with you while you refused to even acknowledge the feeling-"

“I can't believe you are asking me this. I married you-“

“-we both know it was only me who was in love with you then while it was a marriage of convenience for you, to respect your father’s wish-“

“I gave birth to our child, your child-“ she said, trying to prove a point,

“-if that was a proof of love, my parents had me and yet moved on to different partners khushi. I am a living example of how false that claim can be-“ Her every claim had his answers which made her realize she never saw how it looked from his vantage point. How her behavior looked to him. Yet, she tried.

“-I stood by you after your accident Arnav, I nursed you back to health, I even earned for us-“

“-and then told me living a life like that was suffocating you.” he said, getting up and turning his back to her. And she gasped. Her words. How could she deny them?

She realized that maybe, just maybe, there was a scope for her to reflect on her own behavior too and accept her mistake. But the strong headed girl that she was raised, it didn’t come as easy to her either.

Arnav continued speaking, now that the dam was broken,

“After my accident, I was struggling with strong emotions. And then, as nishant came in our lives, I started feeling so many contradictory thoughts. I know we talked about it then, but there were still deep-rooted fears that would resurface every time I saw you and him together…and that night-” he took a deep breath talking about it,

“I was feeling very insecure. Not that I – I didn't believe you, I did. But my traitor heart kept giving me scary thoughts and thus, that morning when I came downstairs to receive you, and I saw you get down from nishant’s car and then hug him. That – that kind of blew a fuse. I now admit it was petty of me, but the Arnav from that time only saw it as a red flag khushi. I had only known to belong to you.” He said, recounting the day's events.

“I had also only belonged to you too, Arnav. And you questioned my character, you implied that I cheated on you.” she cried out, making him turn to face her. The tears ran unchecked.

“I f*cked up, Khushi. I know. But why didn’t you try to make me see sense then? Why didn’t you slap me? Why didn’t you– you instead said you were- you were with him.”

“I was angry Arnav. I just wanted to hurt you as much as I was hurting.” She said remembering her words clearly now and feeling guilty herself.

“It was my worst trigger, Khushi. You knew that. Khushi, that day when you left, - “

“You asked me to leave-“ she retorted and he nodded weakly,

“and you left. But after ensuring you had a last laugh, saying I didn't deserve being loved. After all that, I felt lost. You had left, without even looking at our baby. She soon woke up and started crying and I-." he took a pause running his hand through his messed-up hair, "It all reminded me of my own childhood when my parents used to leave me crying for hours. I won’t lie, for a fraction of second I even contemplated giving my life-“

She felt something break in her heart hearing that. She never realized the gravity of her words could have had THAT strong effect on him.

“-but then I looked at radha. Her innocent eyes were looking for you and she was as lost as me. That whole evening and whole night, as she clung to me, asking for you, I desperately hoped you would come back Khushi. We both hoped you’d come back. But you didn’t. You had even your phone turned off." He recounted that day's events and Khushi faced a mirror of truth!

"Finally, seeing no other option, I came to your parents’ house, ready to even beg you to come back. But when shyam told me you were done with me and you’d rather move on to someone else, I gave up. I agree, I didn’t fight more but look at it from my eyes khushi, you had never told me you loved me, you left the house and didn’t return for so long, your brother also confirmed your words, how was I still supposed to believe you will come back? And in that moment, I did the only thing I could do to protect myself and Aaradhya from the pain of rejection which I had been very familiar with. I didn’t want her to go through it Khushi. Honestly, I too wouldn’t survive that blow again. So, I thought if you are happy with someone else, let it be, but I and my child won’t sit there and watch that happen." he said as fell on his knees, tired with all these memories, with all the emotional turmoil he had been through and even today, it seemed it was not over. But he will not give up, he will try to make this work,

"So, I took us away from you and I made a huge mistake- I am sorry, so so sorry Khushi. But please believe me, I have never poisoned her mind against you.” he said as her face had been as tear stricken as his, her eyes as red with tears as his. He held her hand and asked hopefully,

“Will you be able to give me another chance, Khushi? Please?” he asked, bracing himself for her answer.

Many minutes passed, or maybe many eons! But she didn't answer.

And then, she freed her hand from his and ran away from there, once again leaving him heartbroken.

--*--

Precap – “Until yesterday, I only accused him, held him guilty for our separation, but now I realize I share that blame too, papa. How should I face him now? How will we move on from that?”

“Khushi, it takes a lot of courage to accept one’s own mistakes and even larger heart to forgive them. Arnav has shown that courage. now it’s your turn dear. Can you do that?”

--*--

A/N – As I was saying, I’ve seen so many unhappy couples around me who go their separate ways despite the love that was clearly there between them because they are not willing to forgive. and I keep thinking if we all do this, keep hopping from one person to the next, none of us would ever find true happiness. Because no one is born perfect, and everyone is going to have some or the other issues. Of course, the obvious red markers are non-negotiable like cheating/two timing, abuse and so on. But apart from that, if we keep a hand on our heart and ask ourselves, have we never made mistakes, never had regrets, what will be the answer? What makes one irredeemable is never showing remorse or trying to work on themselves. But if one wants to work for forgiveness, I think it is equally important that we give them a chance…no?

Anyway, thinking to wrap this up in next one, unless you guys want an epilogue. Deliberately not sharing my thoughts here on arnav’s confession and khushi’s feelings so as to not influence your true feelings on this chapter. Your comments are my litmus tests here so, please go ahead and pour out your thoughts, I am all ears 😊 Also, since it was emotionally draining chapter to write, I'm gonna need little extra love with your votes and reviews :)