Chapter 11

First published on 4/July/22

Title translation - tied in a thread of trust

Before we move on, it's important to tell you why I chose the title for this story, 'Best foot forward'. It has two distinct meanings that suited very well from Khushi and Arnav's P.O.V. -

Best foot forward (British English): to try as hard as possible to do something difficult.
Where Khushi tried to fight for herself, her dignity and honor and for her love

Best foot forward (US English): to behave very well in order to gain someone's approval.
Where Arnav did his very best to get approval from his love and from everyone that mattered to her, did everything that mattered to her

--*--

Arnav couldn't believe he was ACTUALLY doing this. Like, seriously? But as he looked besides him in that dark theatre, he knew he wouldn't want to be anywhere else except with her, no matter where she dragged him. Like this movie date of 'Dabang -a Salman Khan Movie!'

As an action scene came up and the hero was getting overpowered by goons, she clutched his arm and he hissed in pain as her nails dug more into his skin. And then he remembered their conversation from a day before...the day when he proposed to her in front of whole Lakshmi Nagar! The video clip of ASR proposing his already-his-wife Khushi had gone viral with people gushing over how romantic he was. He rolled his eyes at that...

*flashback from 1 day ago*

Kneeling on the ground amidst the huge crowd of Lakshmi nagar, Arnav was confessing his feelings in front of a stunned Khushi, "So, I only ask something in return..." he said, as she had started walking towards him in slow steps,

"Kya chahiye aapko (what do you want)?" she asked in a bare whisper

"A deal." as he said, he saw her eyes narrowed and her stance ready to protest, so without giving her chance to speak, he continued, "Let's make a deal Khushi, one in which you will be as crazy as you are, as rebellious as you want and as hard-to-get as you can but your every craziness, every rebellion, every chase will end with me. One in which I will be your laad governor, I will keep throwing insane tantrums and I will keep bossing you around, but my every rule, every tantrum, every command will be about you. A deal of lifetime togetherness where there will be lots of fights and banters but twice of that will be passion and love. So, haan hai (say yes)?"

The next moment, Khushi legit jumped in his arms saying a muffled "Haan!(Yes!)"and he stumbled back due to sudden attack. She was so overwhelmed by his Laad governor-ish confession where he neither said 'I love you' nor did he ask 'will you marry me', but it was thousand times more of all those emotions combined!

"May I?" he asked, and she nodded. He picked her bridal style, and everyone clapped behind them

"Wait. I am still mad at you for earlier -" she tried to complain with a cute pout, and he chuckled as he pacified her,

"I know, and I am so sorry for all that, again." he said kissing her forehead

"I still have a complaint that -." She said in a whisper, unable to think what she was saying,

"hmm. And I will do everything to make it up to you." he didn't let her finish, determined to remove all her complaints

"I am giving us a chance." this time she said looking at his eyes, asking him to not break her trust this time.

"And I will spend my entire life to prove it to you, how much you mean to me, how grateful I am for this chance that you gave to our love. I love you, Khushi."

"Hum bhi aapse, I love you!" she said in her unique way, making him happiest man in the world!

*end of flashback*

And that is how the very next day, he had Khushi demanding him to take her to the Salman Khan movie!

.

.

It was decided that they will indeed have a remarriage with proper rituals, not the dummy ones, and Khushi too agreed. Her dreams of a marriage that she had kept buried within her in last few days, came alive again.

She had however told Arnav her wish to be given away from her real maayka, her babuji's house, Gomti Sadan in Lucknow. And that is where the wedding was going to happen, in 1 week.

They were going to leave for Lucknow the next day and Arnav had asked her to spend time with him this evening with a place of her choice. If only he knew that the place was a cinema hall!

.

.

The white SUV stopped in front of her Lakshmi nagar house, and they knew the next time they will meet will be in their wedding rituals in Lucknow. Arnav still felt all this too surreal to believe. He and khushi, happy and together! But there was one thing he still wanted to take care of, to tease her!

"Khushi, ek minute ruko (wait a minute)." he stopped her and opened the glove box of his SUV to take out a pouch. And from that he removed...a nail cutter? WHAT?

"ye kya?"

He made a sad face and wordlessly pointed to the arm that she had clutched during the movie, which had many scratch marks. It didn't take long for khushi to know who did it and she got flustered. But soon her fighter streak took over,

"So what? I don't have a lot of experience of being this closer to someone!" she taunted and stepped out and Arnav was taken aback. Jeez, he didn't see this coming.

--*--

And finally, after 1 week of marathon of rituals from Kuldevi ki puja, to shagun, to sagai, to haldi and Sangit, today was the grand finale! The day they were going to get married, once again. Khushi had reconciled with her jiji, amma and buaji but Shashi had still not forgiven them. Both, he, and Khushi only spoke bare minimum words with them so as to not create unnecessary gossip amidst a happy occasion of this wedding.

The wedding itself was very private and happy occasion. With only their closest friends and relatives, they had managed to maintain it being small-scale. Yet, it was no-way simple, as Shashi had done his best to arrange best of the best things for his dearest daughter's wedding. From Lucknow's best food-caterers to best decorations, he had ensured it was perfect. Raizadas and especially Arnav too had outdone himself in choosing the wedding trousseau for Khushi. He had personally selected each item for her and left everyone's jaws dropping at his impeccable talent of choosing the best of the best!

"Dulhe ki behen gathbandhan ke liye aage aye (Call groom's sister for gathbandhan). And you both stand up for phere" panditji's words broke his trance, as he got up as well as helped Khushi and Anjali tied the end of his stole with Khushi's pallu.

And as they completed the final ritual of phere, everyone had identical huge grins on their faces, happy for this crazy-yet-romantic in their own way-couple.

.

.

As Arnav stepped in their decorated room, his eyes automatically searched for the one woman he was always eager to see. And when he hoped to find her on their bed, she was standing by the window, looking at the stars. He slowly went and stood beside her, taking in her beauty with his eyes. She was still in her bridal attire, her crimson-green lehenga was perfectly contrasting her milky complexion, her bridal jewelry making her look like a princess, and the sindur and mangalsutra telling the story that she was his now.

Tujhko dekh kar, aankhein muskuraane lagti hain, tujhko milkar dhadkane gungunaanein lagti hai,

Aisa hota hai kyun, mujhko khabar nahi, pehle kabhi hua aisa asar nahi,
Jo mere dil ke paas hai, naye jaadu naye ehsaas hai, aise mein kya karun...kya karun, tu hi bataa,
Iss pyaar ko kyaa naam doon? iss pyaar ko kya naam doon??

Eager to make sure she was indeed here and not a dream, he reached out to hold her hand. And she immediately turned to hug him.

"Hey. Relax. There is no pressure" Arnav said engulfing her as she had hugged him, he sensed her increased heartbeat which actually had matched his own. His Khushi was really here, in his arms and his bedroom scratch that, their bedroom, despite him royally screwing up things earlier. Oh how thankful he was that she blurted out the truth like that or else Shyam had almost managed to ruin- he won't think about that slime now. This time was for him and khushi.

"Easy for you to say. But unlike you, it is my first time for-" she said looking at him and a little annoyed. his eyes darkened,

"khushi I know you have a very bad impression of me in this regard and I know I haven't given you any reasons to believe otherwise but please don't assume that I have been a womanizer...you are the only woman in my life." he said in an earnest tone (a/n- arnav's virginity is debated a lot, but let's go with this theory here)

But he could see distrust in her eyes and that hurt him, made him restless. How should he convince her that he was really only hers? That he was really saying the truth? And then he realized, how she must have felt when he accused her of having an affair with Shyam. No wonder she had slapped him. In fact, he was lucky she still married him.

"But...you were in live-in with Lavanyaji" she pointed out, and he was quick to clear at least that part,

"It was my rebellion against my family, khushi. My own way to prove to them that I don't believe in marriages. But for some reason I have never let myself loose like that. Of course, I never wanted to marry, and I would have probably given into the desire, but I am sure it would have only been you! Trust me, you are the first and last woman in my bed! And I-" he was desperately trying to prove that he was only hers as much as she was and was not finding enough words. That's when he felt her shush him with her palm on his mouth,

"I trust you." she said, with a small smile. As she said that, he realized how much those words meant to him at that moment, even more than a love confession. That one line tied them in the final thread of matrimony, TRUST!

That night, Arnav and Khushi finally overcame all the barriers between them and became one in every sense of the word.

--*--

After one year:

It was the naamkaran ceremony of Anjali's daughter. Everyone was happy to see Anjali was trying to be strong for her child,

"Her name will be Roshni. She is the light of my life." Anjali announced the baby's name, and everyone clapped.

"Bohot accha naam hain bitiya (that's a nice name). Aur ab agli bari hain Payal bitiya-Akash aur Chote aur Khushi bitiya ki, humein nati aur pote dene ki (and next turn is Payal-akash and Chote-khushi to give me grandkids)" Nani said as both Payal and Khushi blushed.

"Tumne suna na nani ne kya kaha (you heard right, what nani said)?" Arnav whispered near her ears, eager to see more crimson adore his wife's milky skin. But it would not be Khushi if she didn't have a retort, would it?

"Arnavji bacche bhagwan ki den hote hain, jab aana ho tabhi aate hain (babies are God-given, they arrive when they are meant to). Thik hai?" she whispered right back and then sashayed away carrying a tray of sweets.

Arnav chuckled in her wake. Life was fun with this feisty, yet cute woman and he loved every bit of it!

--*--

A/N - Writing the note for the last chapter of a story is always emotional. It's like I am letting my baby venture out in the world to make her own journey now on...Gosh, I am emotional now...

From writing this as an OS to making it 11-part SS, it was a crazy journey. From using my own annoyance at Arnav for contract marriage to using theories from old news articles of 2011-12 who at that time were hoping this contract marriage was arshi's plan to uncover shyam, it was a fun ride. And from bringing closure to Khushi's babuji to shyam's right punishment, it was a roller coaster! All in all, I hope I was able to put my best foot forward with this story and you all enjoyed it just as much!

I want to thank you for all the love and votes and reviews. Until next time...

July 4th, 2022