Chapter 11
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[MEMBERSONLY]
[NOCOPY]
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Part 3: Day 11
Section 1
Khushi woke up in the morning with a smile on her lips, feeling all warm and cosy within her blanket. She didn't want to get up. She never wanted to leave the bed.
She yawned.
How come she couldn't lift her hand? Why did her body feel so heavy?
She looked down to find the Rakshas almost sleeping on her. His face was buried in the crook of her neck, his arm was around her, clasping her to him, and his leg was over hers, locking her in place.
Khushi swallowed, her heart picking up speed till its sound almost deafened her.
She had to leave the bed before he woke up, slide out from under his body before he opened his sinful eyes and looked at her lips like she looked at jalebi.
She tried to push him away, nudge him off her body without waking him. His arm tightened around her. Khushi panted after her exertion.
Arnav woke up, alert the moment he opened his eyes. He was coiled around Khushi and she was trying to get out of his clutches. He shut his eyes again.
She tried to move her body away from his, inch by difficult inch, but he was in no mood to let go of her. His legs twined around hers, and his face burrowed deeper into the scented hollow of her neck.
"Hhmmm..." he murmured.
That was it. Khushi could bear it no longer. She pushed his arms away and tried to thrust his legs away by moving her body vigorously. She squirmed and tried to throw his weight off her.
Arnav deigned to open his eyes. He looked into Khushi's wrath-filled eyes with his dreamy ones.
"Good morning!" he drawled, his husky voice touching every single nerve in her body.
Khushi looked into his warm, twinkling eyes. "Let me up." she demanded.
"Why should I? You were the one complaining that we had never shared a bed." Arnav said.
His audacious statement left her mouth open in an Awww.
"Tumhein yaad he, when we woke up in Gupta House and you were all over me..." Arnav reminded her.
Khushi paled. A good memory was a curse.
"I asked you why you slept in Taekwondo pose in Gupta House while you slept properly in RM, and you asked me how I knew? You complained that we had never shared a bed in RM."
Khushi looked away, and tried to leave the bed.
"You want to get up?" Arnav asked, tightening his hold around her, loath to let her go.
Khushi nodded. Her voice had vanished to Gupta House.
"Theek he! You can get up after you give me what I want." he declared.
Khushi's startled eyes flew to his naughty ones. His eyes slipped to her lips, losing their naughty twinkle and taking on a wicked glint.
"No." Khushi protested.
"Then we can stay here the whole day." Arnav proclaimed.
Khushi tried to stare him down to no avail. She tried to wrestle with him, but his superior strength & training in wrestling made her efforts ineffectual.
"There is no other way, Khushi." Arnav whispered. "Give me what I want. Then you can leave the bed."
He Devi Maiyya, He Devi Maiyya... she chanted, her eyes shut tight like a child's. Arnav smiled, seeing her distress.
He lowered his lips to sip at her tender, plump ones. But before he could taste them, there was a knock on the door.
Arnav & Khushi looked towards the door.
"Chotey! Are you awake? I need to talk to you for a moment." Nani said.
Khushi took advantage of Arnav's momentary shift of attention, and slid off the bed. She grabbed her clothes for the day and ran into the bathroom.
"Chotey, I think Anjali Bitiyaa should join us for meals. It is not healthy, sitting in her room like this, crying..." Nani sighed.
"Yes, Nani. We will get her to come down for breakfast. The doctor will be coming at 10 anyway for her regular check up." Arnav said.
Nani nodded and left.
"Khushi, I will get Di down for breakfast today." Arnav told her as she left the bathroom. "It is not good for the baby that she remains alone, crying..."
Khushi nodded.
When Arnav, NK, & Akash led Anjali down, only Mami, Nani, & Payal were in the hall. Arnav looked around for Khushi. Where was she? he wondered.
All sat down around the table. HP & Payal began serving breakfast.
"Where is Khushi?" Arnav asked loudly.
Nani & Mami looked anxiously at Anjali. There was no change in the closed expression on her face.
"She went to the temple." Payal murmured.
Arnav frowned. He had so hoped to share his meal with her. And why had she left without letting him know?
After the meal, Anjali was escorted back to her room. The rest of the family, including Nani, sat in the hall, relaxing. Akash left for the office, & Arnav, dressed in casuals, walked out of the house.
"Chotey, are you going to the office today?" Nani asked.
"Without coatwaa and bootwaa?" Mami asked.
"I am going to get Khushi from the temple." he said.
Nani nodded, smiling.
Khushi sat in one corner of the big hall that held an idol of Devi Maiyya, her hands on her lifted knees, her chin on her hands...
What was happening to her life? From a seemingly carefree life as a girl in Lucknow, she had hurtled into a contract marriage in Delhi. And from August 15th, she would be neither a spinster nor a married woman. What would she be?
People walked up & down the hall, chanting under their breath, praying. A baby cried. Bells rang as the arti began. Pigeons cooed as they flew around pecking at grains & perched on the rafters. But Khushi saw or heard none of these.
Would they have to get a divorce? Would they have to confess the truth to their families? How would they react? Her heart quailed at the thought of giving pain to her family. The tears, the disappointment on their faces... What would she do after eleven days? If Amma, Babuji, & Buaji threw her out, where would she stay? What could she do? Her future stared at her, looking bleak and dreary.
But worse than all these was the state of her heart. She knew for certain that she would never know a moment's peace all her life, worrying about a man living far away from her, longing for him but having no claim on him...
Her throat hurt with unshed tears. He would forget her... maybe, even marry again... and she... she would spend all her life clutching his memory to her heart, reliving the few months they had spent together...
Her fingers touched her mangalsutra. She would have to relinquish this too, leave it behind as she left... How could an unmarried girl wear a mangalsutra? Eleven more days... that was the life span of this mangalsutra. After that period, the thin thread of black beads would come off her neck. Her maang would become unmarked again... she wouldn't need a sindoor box again. Her life would change beyond recognition. She would be alone again... till the end of her life... with only her parents for company as they glimmered in the night sky... Her fingers tightened around the mangalsutra.
Arnav looked at the lone figure sitting in the dark corner. Her fingers were curled around her mangalsutra and her face was pale. He swallowed hard. It was all his doing. All his fault. His bad judgement. His impulsiveness. His thoughtlessness had brought her to this point, of hiding in a corner in the temple, worrying about the future...
As he watched, Khushi wiped a tear away from her eye and clasped her knees closer to her chest.
He couldn't bear to see her sitting like that, defeated, scared, lost. He marched up to her.
She was so lost in her misery that she did not notice his presence till he called softly, "Khushi..."
She looked up, shocked. What was the Shaitan doing in the temple? He didn't believe in God. Or love. Or marriage. He was free. Always free to do whatever he wanted, leaving others to bear the consequences... Whirling into her life like a typhoon, leaving destruction in its wake... Images of their marriage flashed through her mind. The Rakshas dragging her up the steps, tying the mangalsutra around her neck, dabbing sindoor in her maang, his face a picture of fury, his eyes full of contempt for her-- the destroyer of his Di's perfect marriage, the siren who had lured Sant Shyam into betraying his Rani sahiba, the 'other woman' in his precious Di's life...
He and his contract marriage! Marriage for 6 months! What did he know about marriage? What did he know about the significance of the mangalsutra or sindoor? Nothing. What did he know about how this contract marriage would reflect on her family's and her character? About how it had destroyed her life? Nothing. He knew nothing. And he cared even less.
His words of love over the phone had been said in desperation. He had been in a tight spot and maybe he had even meant them at that moment. But now that he was free from the kidnappers, she was a burden to him, she being the star of Shyam-Anjali-Khushi farce. His pursuit of her was not motivated by love now, but by his ego which had been hurt by her decision to leave him before the contract period was over.
Her fury dried her tears.
"Yes?" she asked.
"Khushi, what are you doing here? Come home." Arnav said softly.
"Is there anything in our contract that forbids me from praying in a temple?" Khushi asked evenly.
"Khushi... " Arnav protested.
"What are you doing in a temple, anyway?" Khushi asked. "Usually Anjaliji has to try emotional blackmail to get you here."
"Khushi, come home with me." Arnav said.
"Whose home?" Khushi asked. "Oh, yours! Yes, yes, I will come to your home with you. After all, I have no choice. I have to stay there for eleven more days." She got up to accompany him. "Ab khush?" she asked him, a plastic smile on her face.
"Khushi, don't talk to me like that." Arnav bit out, his heart hurting to see the lines of pain & desolation on her face, the lines that he had drawn with a careless hand.
"Kya kar lenge aap?" she asked, staring defiantly at him for a moment. Arnav stared back, helpless.
Then, to his shock, she started chuckling, "What else is left for you to do? You have done everything, destroyed everything I ever had. There is nothing more you can take away from me."
Arnav stood still, his heart bleeding at the pain in her words.
She was about to walk away from him when the Purohit called her to give her prasad. She went up to him and put out her hand. After giving her the prasad, the Purohit turned to Arnav. Arnav did not lift his hand.
Khushi smiled and told the astonished Purohit, "Don't worry, Panditji. He does not need Devi Maiyya's blessings. Don't you know who he is? He is Arnav Singh Raizada. He makes his own destiny."
The Purohit looked at both of them for a moment and walked away, wondering why the husband & wife had brought their fight into the temple. He set the thaali aside and prayed to Devi Maiyya to show them both the right path to happiness, to protect them from all evil...
Khushi entered the house on silent feet, and leaving Arnav to talk to his family sitting in the living room, walked up the stairs. As she was about to enter their bedroom, she remembered the clothes she had left to dry on the terrace. She quickly crossed the bedroom, walked out into Arnavji's garden, and went up the steps to the terrace.
Two saris and three suits with their matching dupattas were drying in the sunlight and the wind. She put out a hand to unclip a red sari from the clothesline. The wind blew the sari to cling to her body, covering her entirely. Khushi smiled and managed to free her face.
Her breath stopped.
Shyam was walking out of Anjaliji's room, across the garden, and up the steps to the terrace. She stood petrified, unable to believe her eyes.
As she stood under the cloak of her sari, she saw Shyam look to the left and right, anxious not to be seen. Khushi stood still, not daring to breathe. Shyam walked down another set of stairs and left the house.
Khushi felt her legs tremble. She sat down on the terrace, panting, her brain racing to comprehend the many ramifications of what she had just seen. The saris and dupattas danced all around her in the wind. She sat there for a long time till Arnav came looking for her.
"Khushi, what are you doing here?" he asked. "Are you feeling dizzy? You haven't had your breakfast yet. And now it is almost time for lunch!"
"How is Anjaliji?" she asked.
Arnav frowned at her strange question. "The doctor examined her. The baby is fine. But Di is not eating enough. She is weak." he replied after a pause.
He helped Khushi stand up, and led her down to their room. He ordered HP to bring her breakfast to their room, and watched her eat.
A while later, Nani came to see Arnav.
"Chotey, Anjali Bitiyaa is refusing to take lunch. She is crying for Damadji."
Arnav clenched his jaw. Khushi stood silent, listening to them.
Arnav, Akash, NK, Mami, Nani, & Payal crowded around Anjali's bed, trying to persuade her to eat. But she was adamant. Arnav paced his room, worrying about Di. Khushi sat silent, folding her clothes and placing them in his wardrobe.
Dinner was a repetition of lunch. Anjali refused to eat, and her family begged and pleaded with her to take food, if not for herself, then for her baby. But Anjali was adamant.
Arnav walked the length & breadth of his room, his fists clenched, his face stern, wondering how to get his Di to eat. Khushi watched him silently, sitting on her bed.
There was a movement near the door. Both Arnav & Khushi looked at the doorway.
Anjali stood there, all weak and fragile, hanging on to the door. Nani, Mami, NK, Akash, & Payal came running after her to prop her up.
"Di!" Arnav whispered, shocked out of his skull.
"Chotey!" Di called. Arnav rushed to her and hugged her. Anjali put her arms around him. "Chotey, you c... can make everything alright, can't you? You always have, right from childhood... You will make your Di happy, won't you?"
Arnav nodded, still stumped, trying to figure out what was happening.
"Hamein apne Shyamji lauta do, Chotey!" Di asked. "Hum unke bina jee nahi sakte."
Arnav stared at her. She wanted that two-timing bigamous toad with a propensity for kidnapping his saala back in her life?
"Make everything as it was, Chotey! How happy we were! Bring Shyamji back, Chotey!" Di pleaded before she collapsed of exhaustion.
Khushi watched the entire family helping Anjaliji walk to her room. As they left, she went to stand by the pool.
Arnav came in an hour or so later, baffled at his Di's demands and worried about her health. He found Khushi sitting by the pool, looking into the water that reflected the lights in his garden.
"Khushi..." he said, desperate for comfort from her.
"Shyam came here today." Khushi said. "I saw him come out of Anjaliji's room, cross the garden, walk up the steps to the terrace, and go out when I was on the terrace."
Arnav stared at her, slack-jawed in shock.
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