Chapter 3

Loving You

Part 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBumgq5yVrA

"Kya ho raha hai yahan?!" her father's voice was neither sweet nor polite, something to which Khushi had grown accustomed to since her much loved and maybe even spoilt childhood. Instead it was furious, firm and more than a little bit shocked.

It wasn't like she could blame him for any of the three emotions she could detect the most fast and clear - after all he had caught his laadli daughter making out with his departed best friend's son, his employee, his Arnav beta.

And though her mother stood silent next to her father, Khushi knew that she was holding back many a questions inside, after all Garima Gupta had always been silent but strong in her appraisals of people and situations and when others would be busy passing harsh and hurried judgments, she would be studying the matter at hand closely to be able to give an unbiased opinion on it thus she was always credited with being the voice of reason amidst the family.

And so it was to her that Khushi knew that she would plead her case to and she took a step forward, her eyes fixed on her mother's when suddenly she found herself pushed gently behind by Arnav who stood in front of her like a shield, like a protector and suddenly the entire dynamics of the situation changed for Khushi - where she had been worried about explaining things to her Parents and pleading them to understand her and Arnav, somewhere telling herself that she would have to be the strong one for both Arnav and herself owing to his preference for silence even if led to suffering this sudden taking charge on Arnav's part made the lover in her swell inside of her and her heart berated her mind quietly but firmly for its apprehensions - Arnav had changed, in that small moment they had shared together just before her Parents had walked in, he had changed.

And a strange calm settled itself inside her heart as she watched Arnav stand up for her, for him and for them to the two people he had always considered to be like his own Parents, to the two people he had always idolized and prayed to keep happy and proud of him and his choices and actions, to the two people whose mere thought had kept him from being able to proclaim his love for their daughter, worried about how they would react, worried about how they would feel but tonight she could feel the difference in the air as his gentle, respectful but decisive eyes met her father's furious ones and her mother's curious ones.

Arnav, her love, had finally realized that the respect he felt for her Parents was the exact reason why he should be able to tell them what he felt truthfully and honestly because that's what they had always taught him, because that's what they had always expected of him and by not being able to do that, he had been disrespecting them for a very long time, he had been undermining his bond with them for a very long time, a bond which was independent of her, a bond which had been built the day he had entered the Gupta mansion from the by-lanes of Lucknow as a young boy of eighteen, fresh out of school.

He had lost his father when he had been sixteen and though Shashi and Garima had welcomed him and his mother into their house at that time, he had made the decision to stay back in Lucknow and complete his education before he made any decision and his mother, Savita Raizada had stood by her son and at the age of eighteen he had come to Delhi to pursue his higher education and had literally been dragged to Gupta Mansion by an elated Shashi as he finally got the opportunity to fulfill his promise to his departed friend, Arvind Raizada, of taking care of Savita, Arnav and Anjali, the youngest of the Raizadas.

It had been since that day that Arnav Singh Raizada and Savita Singh Raizada had become an indomitable part of the Gupta household. Savita had become Khushi and her sister Payal's Badi Ma' and Garima and Shashi had become Arnav and Anjali's Chotti Ma and Chotte Papa'.

And it had been since that day that Arnav Singh Raizada had realized what he owed to the kind family who had opened the doors to their homes and to their hearts to him and his family and with that had come the realization that he would do anything to keep his Chotti Ma and Chotte Papa happy even if it meant forgoing his own happiness.

And that was what he had been doing ever since he had realized that his feelings for the youngest Gupta were much more than just platonic. Khushi had captured his imagination since the very first time he had seen her...they had been four then maybe when the Guptas had visited the Raizadas in Lucknow and after that they had met many times but the most profound moment in their friendship had been when a nineteen year old Khushi had walked in on a weeping Arnav on the day of his father's birthday, his hands tightly clutching his results which announced his passing his BA First Year with First Division.

Since that day Arnav had found someone much more than a friend in Khushi, she had become his confidante, his support system, his person' and he had never even realized when the friendship between them had crossed the border into a much more intense emotion. It had hit him only when one day while crossing the road Khushi's heel had gotten stuck in the road and she had almost been hit by a speeding car but he had managed to push her out of the way at the last moment, clutching her close to himself as they lied on the road, their limbs all over each other.

She had buried her face in his chest and though he had wanted to scream and shout at her for her carelessness which could have injured her grievously, he had found himself rubbing her back comfortingly while whispering soothing words into her ear punctuated by kisses, kisses which he didn't even realize he was peppering on her ear, neck, hair before someone in the crowd had pointedly cleared their throat.

They had sprung apart then, both of them occupying themselves with anything that would not require them to look at each other but one groan of pain from Khushi, as she touched a particularly sensitive on her hand which had hit the gravel of the road when Arnav had pushed her, had sprung Arnav into action as he ignored everyone around them and pulled her to himself gently tugging at her uninjured hand with his eyes trained on the sore spot as he caressed it with nimble fingers, his lower lip caught between his teeth.

His face had expressed the myriad of emotions going through him as he checked her injury, hisses escaping him each time she twitched in his grip as he caressed a particularly sore spot as if her pain transcended over to him and Khushi had told him later that that was the moment she knew that she loved him with all her heart and that was the moment she had realized that luckily enough she was not doomed to a one sided love.

There had been no grand declarations of love but a rather silent comfortable acceptance of the fact from both sides had taken place - as if it had always meant to be - and suddenly the dynamics between them had changed, had shifted into something that seemed to have been always waiting at the horizon, finally called upon to fulfill its destiny and Arnav and Khushi had found themselves as each other's friends, companions, lovers.

It had happened suddenly one night that Arnav had realized who he truly was in Khushi's world at least as perceived by her extended family when one of her aunts, a nice lady who had always been kind to Arnav, his sister and their mother, had made an offhand remark about how the Raizadas would have never been able to make ends meet had Shashi not intervened and taken them under his wing, never realizing the effect it would have on him.

All of a sudden it was thrust upon Arnav how much indebted he was to Shashi and Garima and to the entire Gupta family, including Khushi and no longer could he consider them equals who had fallen in love.

And it was not something that he hid from her either but she always had a way of making him come back to her - with her tears, her conviction, her pleas and it was as if he was always just waiting for her to say something so that he could run back to her and give in to his heart's desire but soon enough his constant need to stray away had caused damage to their relationship and even the ever optimistic Khushi could do nothing much to convince him that her aunt's remark was not meant to be a jibe and that in any case Shashi and Garima loved him like their own son.

Arnav knew that his stubbornness in the matter hurt Khushi like nothing else ever had and it broke her heart every time he would talk about the differences between them and his need to stay away from her so as not to betray her father's trust or put him in a difficult situation by pursuing whatever was between them but it was him downplaying the very relationship which had managed to steer Khushi away and even gotten her to say Yes' to the marriage proposal her parents casually approached her with and that was when Arnav had realized what a big mistake he had made. The moment she accepted the proposal with a small Okay', he knew that his heart had broken such that it could never be ended, not without Khushi by his side anyway, and although he berated himself for being indecisive and selfish he could do little about the scowl he knew marred his face since that moment.

A part of him loathed Khushi for saying Yes', for not making him see sense yet again and making him apologize to her and kiss her senseless like she always had in the past, for not telling him that there was nothing wrong in their alliance and soothing away his fears with that beautiful smile of hers but the other part reminded him how that smile had dimmed over the years and it was all his fault and that it was better just for that that she find happiness with someone else because he had proved himself incapable of taking care of her.

And it had been this battle that he had been fighting within himself earlier in the day when Khushi's engagement had been announced when Khushi as always had picked up on his sour mood and had as always tried to comfort him making him leash out at her for no other reason but just for the fact that she had always been there and very soon she would not be and it was all his own fault.

But then his Khushi had surprised him as always. She had reached out to him just as he had been about to drown and he had found in her his reason, his prayers, his hope and his strength and in that moment when he had kissed away her tears, he had promised to her and to himself that he would never even talk of leaving her because it was high time he accepted he couldn't, it was high time he accepted that he loved Khushi and for her he would fight the whole world, he would fight even himself and his insecurities.

And that was what he was about to do now as he squared up in front of the couple who had taken him at the worst time of his life and given him and his family a loving home and to whom he would now plead to for their daughter's hand because finally he had realized that his home was nowhere else but with their daughter.

And he would fight for that, he would fight for her - his life, his home, his heart.

Only know you've been high when you're feeling low

Only hate the road when you're missing home

Only know you love her when you let her go

And you let her go

And you let her go

Well you let her go?

_______________
*Not proof read

Lyrics are from the song in the video - 'Let her go' by Passengers

I am not really sure about this chapter...its a sort of a different style of writing for me and hence your feedback will be even more helpful! I am all up for constructive criticism so please dont shy away.

Most of you guessed the reason for Arnav's lack of confidence in his relationship with Khushi to be that maybe he belonged to an economically lower class than Khushi or maybe he suffered from some physical disability. However those were not the reasons. The reason was a simple case of feeling indebted and an insecurity and under confidence festering out of it which is in more ways than one are Arnav's own making.

Hope you guys liked the 'twist'.

For PMs notifying the updating of the next chapter, comment on this one.

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