Chapter 80

Farah

@farah53

To all of those who have been with me constantly throughout SAY,

You will never know how the words from you guys used to make me smile every alternate day. Thank you so much for making me feel so good.

& I know how I wanted to see a worthwhile after marriage-phase for ArShi. So I understand your request. But please understand, at this point of time in life, there is no way I can extend SAY. & the only reason, I have been able to continue SAY post the 50th part, is because I had planned it so elaborately at the very beginning in my mind, & that fuel kinda kept the whole engine running. So even if I do write something like SAY, this is definitely not the time for that. I need to have the same kind of planning again, otherwise there is no way I'd be able to cope up with the kind of pressure I am facing from my real life right now. Being away from ArShi was never gonna be an easy decision for me, & the love from you guys has made it all the more difficult.

Thank you for all the love & support you have unconditionally & quite abundantly showered.

PS: I have ended SAY in 2 parts.. so all of you who wanted a surprise update from me, this is it.. & all of you who wanted at least one more update before you could say goodbye to SAY, this one's for you too.

Part 77

Arnav didn't know how long he was sitting hovering over the pool of blood when he looked up as he felt a warm touch over his cold cheek & he saw the concerned face of his sister. As soon as Anjali got a better look at his face, she became more distressed as fresh tears flew out of her eyes. Anjali cupped his face in her hands urgently & forced him to look into her eyes when he would have looked down instead to stare wordlessly at Khushi's blood again. Then she said in an uncharacteristically strong voice, "Did you listen to what I said? She was breathing! Rohan had already taken her to the hospital! She's going to be OK! We'll let nothing happen to her! Get up, Chhote! Khushi will be fine, but to know that for sure, you have to go to her, right? Get up now!" & that alien scolding tone from Anjali cut through to him as Arnav turned his head to look around & he saw besides Anjali, only Aman was standing by the door. Arnav nodded confusedly, & tried to get up on his feet when both Aman & Anjali rushed to clutch his arms to support him.

As Arnav came to his feet, he looked up again & this time he noticed the mixture of shock & extreme astonishment with which both Anjali & Aman were looking at him. & despite all of his thoughts being on Khushi, Arnav asked both of them in general, weakly, "What? Why are you both looking at me like that?" Anjali rapidly shook her head, & coming in front of him, she started wiping his face off with the end of her Saari as she said gently, "Nothing, Chhote. Woh, haven't seen this in the last 12years na, so.." & as Arnav continued to look at her, confused, & not getting what she meant, Anjali wiped his face for the last time as she whispered wondrously, "You're crying, Chhote!"

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Arnav sat on one corner of the waiting area of the hospital, with Anjali taking turns in being by Rohan's side for some minutes & then by his side. From there, they could see the cabin Khushi had been taken in after her condition had stabilized. It was far, but it was still in sight, & Arnav knew they weren't even supposed to be in this area & he also knew, Aman had something to do with all of them now having been allowed to wait in here. Garima had the same blood group as Khushi, so she had given the first couple of bags of blood they had needed immediately. Payal also had the same blood group, but as she was away on her honeymoon, more blood had had to be arranged from the blood bank. Aman, again, had seen to it that all of it had gone without any hitch. The doctors had declared Khushi 'out of danger' after she had responded positively to the massive blood transfusion. & after all the painful waiting of almost 3 & a half hours from when she had been first brought into the hospital, the Doctor-in-charge had come out to inform the police that, Khushi was awake.

It was no surprise that all of the Gupta's had nearly started a race to the door of Khushi's room, but the ACP had stopped them. It was imperative for bringing Karan & Shyam to justice that, the police took Khushi's statement before anyone else saw her. So, the ACP, the inspector, & the Doctor-in-charge had gone inside Khushi's room leaving behind an extremely impatient & agitated group of family members.

Now, when they came out more than 20 minutes later, without a seconds delay, Shashi Gupta demanded to see his daughter immediately. The Doctor nodded understandingly, & said they could go in to see her, but as she had just woken up from an almost comatose unconsciousness, it would be best if they didn't crowd her & so he would permit only immediate family to see her. & Arnav instantly knew, that didn't mean him, as he was not Khushi's 'immediate family'.

Arnav was looking longingly at Khushi's Amma, Babuji, Buaji & Rohan entering her cabin, wishing he could go in with them too, when the ACP came towards him, looking to discuss something with him. As Arnav looked at the ACP, he didn't notice how before disappearing inside the cabin, Rohan stopped just outside the door, & looked back over at where Arnav stood, the expression in his eyes thoughtful.

The ACP informed Arnav that in her statement Khushi had asserted that her injury had been more of an accident than attack, but both Shyam & Karan had verbally threatened her & revealed intentions of harming her fatally & they had also told her they had been planning this for days. So, although they couldn't be charged with 1^st degree attempted murder, they could very plausibly be charged with kidnapping, 2^nd degree attempted murder as they had revealed the intention, assault, illegal use of banned drugs, false use of prescription drugs & criminal conspiracy. At this information, Arnav looked confusedly at the ACP & asked impatiently, "So what does that mean? Just because they didn't stab Khushi directly, they go scot free??!" But before he could lose his temper anymore, the ACP corrected him calmly, "No, Mr Raizada! You're getting me wrong. Forget about the other offences. They kidnapped Ms Gupta & they didn't make a ransom call in more than 5 hours & they had also told her that they intended to kill her off. Both of them had. They have threatened to cause death & by their conduct had given rise to a reasonable apprehension that Ms Gupta may be put to death or hurt. So, under Section 364 A of the IPC, kidnapping with intent to murder, they are looking at life to death.. unless of course they decide to plead guilty, in which case, each of them might get up to 14 years or more, each."

Arnav nodded as he felt relieved after so long. He didn't care about either one of those basterds, but if they got any of the sentences the ACP was implying, then that would mean, they'd be out of Khushi's hair forever. As Arnav looked up to thank the ACP for all of his works, his eyes moved past the ACP & he saw Lavanya Kashyap & her mother rushing towards the waiting area, looking very anxious. Suddenly, instead of thanking the ACP, Arnav asked urgently, "& did she say what she was doing out there, alone, when they grabbed her?" The ACP furrowed his brows at that & said concernedly, "That's a bit puzzling, Mr Raizada. Because, when we had asked her, Ms Gupta's friend had said Ms Gupta had needed to go somewhere, so she had left her alone. But when we asked Ms Gupta, she couldn't remember where she had needed to go. When we told her what her friend had said, she just vaguely said, she had needed to be alone." Arnav nodded grimly & thanked the ACP & his unit for all their help.

Then he looked over at Lavanya. She was expressing deep concern over Khushi's condition to Anjali. & Arnav couldn't resist, but let out a very indecent slang word, which startled a very somber looking Aman standing right by his side into looking towards him scandalously. Arnav didn't look back at Aman or anyone else, as he forcefully walked straight upto Lavanya & in front of the shocked eyes of her mother & his Di, he grabbed hold of her elbow & dragged her aside to the corridor beside. As soon as they were out of sight of prying eyes, Arnav almost threw Lavanya away from him on the wall, & said, not bothering to lower his voice, "I have never despised a woman more in my life than I despise you now! I can't believe you'd stoop so low as to-"

But he stopped as he saw the fake non-comprehensive look in Lavanya's eyes. Arnav felt his anger rising further & he fisted his hands to stop himself from doing something he'd regret later, as he almost shouted, "Don't act! Not in front of me! Did you honestly think I won't recognize your voice?! & Red- Khushi might not say why she was stranded alone so far away from home, but the fact that you decided to wait for 5-f**kin'-hours before you decided to divulge what you had seen, tells me all I need to know! So listen to me now, & listen good! You will stay the hell away from my Khushi.. Now & forever! I don't want to see you near her. I don't want to catch you trying to contact her in any way! & if I catch your filthy presence in my Khushi's life, even for once, I am warning you, when I'll go after you.. I'll go after your whole existence.. you.. your family, your whole world! Because, Khushi is my world, & when you went after her, you made it very personal for me!.. Now get your mother & get the hell out of here" & then before Lavanya could say anything else, Arnav turned his face away in disgust & walked back in fast strides back to where Anjali & Lavanya's Mom were standing, their faces telling him that they had heard every bit of his really loud threats.

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As soon as Khushi parent's reached her bedside, it was a total out of control situation. Everyone was too overwhelmed to see Khushi, lying like a tiny thing in that otherwise small hospital bed that had seemed to just swallow her up. Garima started crying so uncontrollably that in the end Khushi extended her hand towards Rohan, asking him to help her sit up. & despite everyone's instant protesting cries, she kept insisting & in the end, Rohan had to oblige to her obstinacy as he went towards her & gently holding her up in his arms, he helped her sit up as Buaji hastily propped up the pillows behind her. Then Khushi pulled her mother's hand in her lap & caressing it weakly, she kept reassuring Garima over & over that she was fine. & Garima did get a grip over herself, but as soon as it started to look like everyone had regained control of their emotions, it all started again & this time the initiator was Khushi herself.

Shashi Gupta had taken a backseat at the face of his wife's obviously disturbed state & his daughter's trauma. But the moment his wife calmed down suddenly & his daughter too seemed to regain a bit of her usual life as she tried to comfort her mother, he just had to go & touch his daughter a little.. He had to know for himself that his youngest, his darling was alright & was actually sitting in front of him. So, went & kept his right hand over his daughter's head as if he was blessing her. Khushi immediately looked up at him, & then without any warning, she just burst out in tears, almost throwing herself in her father's arms. & this time all of them let her get it all out. No pair of eyes in the room was dry, but no one made an excessive sound. They just let the room fill up with Khushi's sobs & as Shashi held her close to his heart, Garima, Madhumati & Rohan all just comforted her by patting her head, or caressing her shoulder or rubbing her back.

It was more than 15minutes later that Khushi sobered up as she was just tired from all the crying. & as Garima wiped her face & Shashi made her drink some water, Rohan abruptly said, surprising everyone else, "Babuji, let's go outside for a bit? Let Bachchi rest & plus, Anju's Dadiji, Naniji & Mama-Mami has come too. I think they'd want to speak to you. & Buaji, can you please call Payal back? She was crying hysterically the last time I spoke to her.. when Bachchi was still unconscious!" All of them, including Khushi, looked astonishingly at Rohan. They couldn't understand how all those things were more important than them being in here with Khushi, but as Garima was just about to refuse Rohan's suggestions, Shashi suddenly spoke up, his eyes steady on his son, "If Rohan says so, I think we should step outside for a bit."

As soon as they were out, Khushi looked questioningly at her brother, & Rohan carefully reached out & brushed some hair away from over her left eyebrow as he said gently, "Do you wanna hear something interesting?" As Khushi didn't say anything, but just furrowed her brows, he continued, "I think, today, I'd have killed Karan out of my rage. Do you know who stopped me?!" Khushi searched his face for a second, & finding no clue there, she started unsurely, "Bhabhi-?" But before she could finish, Rohan shook his head & exclaimed, "Arnav! He controlled himself, stopped himself from beating Shyam all the way to hell & then he stopped me! All he thought about was you!" Then he bent down & pressed a long kiss over Khushi's bent head & said strongly, "Bachchi, when it comes to you, I think even I could kill those basterds.. So I don't really blame Arnav. I think, none of us would ever be able to just stand aside & let anyone get away after hurting you! But Arnav did stop that darkness from taking him over completely. & he did take care of us.. Babuji.. while you were- Point is, if you are willing to do the same, then I am willing to give him another chance. So what say? He was looking at me quite like a sappy little puppy on my way in here! Should we throw him a bone?"

Khushi immediately gave out a short laugh, a thing she had thought she wouldn't be able to do in days to come, but so hilarious was the use of the words 'sappy little puppy' when it came to the Arnav she knew. Then she sobered up & looking up straight at her brother's eyes, she said simply, "I'd like to see him now.. not because he stopped himself from doing something I was afraid of.. But because, when I was bleeding out & I thought I was dying..? All I could think of was how pointless all the excuses I made to be away from him were & how if I was actually dying, I only wanted to see him.. be with him.. just once.. & then, once more, & then once more again.. just be with him." Rohan looked down wondrously at the girl sitting in front of him, looking almost dead because of how pale she was, & he quickly bent down to give her a gentle hug & then he rapidly went out of the cabin. As soon as he was out of the cabin, Rohan saw Arnav listening attentively to Shashi as he was describing Khushi's state to Naniji. Rohan ignored the surprising glances he earned as he went straight upto Arnav & said crisply, "Just go inside & ask Bachchi herself how she's doing, instead of eavesdropping on elders' conversation!"

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