Chapter 31
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[MEMBERSONLY]
[NOCOPY]
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Part 7: Day 7
Section 1
Arnav sat looking at a sleeping Khushi, his eyes on her sweet face as she curled under his blanket after a terrible day.
They had brought Di back from the hospital today'no, yesterday, he amended looking at the clock. Buaji had accompanied her and met Khushi. Payal and Buaji had hugged Khushi, silently commiserating with her on the death anniversary of her parents.
Khushi had been silent all evening, helping the others see to Di. He had tried to talk to her but the demands on her and his time had been great, and by the time he had come to bed, she had been already asleep.
So young in age! he thought with a pang in his heart as he looked down at her. And so old in her ways at times. Old before her time. Wise beyond her years. And so playful at times, bearing the weight of her tragic childhood apparently with ease.
A small smile played on his lips.
Seven days more.
The smile died away. Only seven days more. Why had he specified a period of 6 months? He could have just forced her to marry him and left it at that! No! he had to pick six months, Arnav cursed himself. And now that clause was biting him where it hurt the most! Seven days. What if he couldn't persuade her to stay at the end of the period? Give him another chance? No, that was not an option. She couldn't leave him. She loved him as much as he loved her. She couldn't live apart from him, any more than he could, he comforted himself.
He reminded himself of his resolution of showing his love to her as and when he felt. She would understand how much he loved and needed her. He would make her understand.
He got up and left the room, snatching his car keys from the low table on his way out.
Khushi felt something soft touch her cheek. Was Laxmiji kissing her? She had a habit of stealing into bedrooms at night and nibbling on people and things. She fluttered her eyelashes open to see that it was not Laxmiji, but a blood-red rose. Her eyes shot open. The rose was held in a very familiar hand. Her eyes travelled up the hand, the shoulder, the neck, to Arnav Singh Raizada's face.
"Khushi..." he whispered.
"Ji?" She sat up, all sleep falling away. "Aapki tabeeyat theek he?"
He thrust a big bunch of red roses in to her hands. Khushi looked at the roses, at the clock, and then at Arnavji's face.
"For you." he said as though she had expressed some doubt.
"Kya hua?" she asked finally, when she could find her tongue.
"Does something have to happen before I can give you roses?" Arnav asked in his gravelly voice.
Khushi looked at him and then at the roses. She brought them to her face and breathed in their heady fragrance.
"Shukriya..." she said softly.
"Khushi..." Arnav said. She looked at him.
"Khushi, I was wrong to force you into marriage." he began.
Khushi looked at him in silence.
"You had nothing to do with Shyam. He lied to me and I was wrong to believe him. I should have tried to find out the truth, but my anger, the situation, Di..." Arnav said.
Khushi said, "It is alright."
"It is not alright. I blackmailed you into a marriage for 6 months. And tried to make your life hell. I was angry with you..." Arnav tried to apologise.
Khushi didn't know where this was going, but she tried to make light of the situation, keep the conversation from straying into dangerous waters.
"You are always angry with me. From the day we met, steam has been coming out of your ears like it does from a train engine. I am used to it now." she smiled.
"It is not alright." Arnav said. "My family, your family... you faced their anger alone... I... I didn't even tell you what I was punishing you for... You could have died falling from the terrace that day... If I had been a few minutes late..." His face blanched. He cupped her cheek.
Khushi felt a frisson of approaching danger. She yawned, throwing his hand away. "It is all over. It is the past. Can I go to sleep now?"
"No, you can't." he said. "Khushi, that day at Buaji's house, when you described your wedding to your friends... Khushi, I took away all your dreams, didn't I?" he asked, pain filing his voice.
Khushi looked at his penitent face for a moment and then sighed. "Yes, you took away all my dreams" She put the bouquet aside.
Arnav swallowed hard.
Khushi sighed again. "They were just wishful thinking, Arnavji, never meant to happen. That is why they are called dreams."
Arnav stared at her.
"My dreams are just that, dreams. Do you know what they were? I thought that when I met the man I would want to marry, flowers would rain from the sky, there would be band baaja & fireworks, stars and lights would shine bright, it would be an occasion of joy and laughter..." Khushi said.
Arnav could feel the blood leaving his face.
"Do you know what would have happened had we never met? Some boy and his parents would have come to inspect me at our home in Lucknow. I would have been pushed in to a sari by Jiji and my friends. Amma would have placed a heavy tray of tea cups and plates of samosas and sweets in my hands and asked me to serve them." Khushi smiled.
Arnav stared at her, feeling like wringing the neck of a boy who did not exist.
"Buajii would have pulled the pallu over my head. Just imagine the scene, Arnavji!" Khushi laughed.
Arnav smiled slightly, his eyes on her laughing face.
"I can't walk without tripping even on normal days, Arnavji. Imagine me with the tray, sari, and pallu! I would have emptied the tray on the boy's lap. Instead of flowers, I would have a shower of abuses from his parents. The fireworks would be in the groom's pants, what with the hot tea and all, Amma & Buaji would bajao my band, and I would see stars after Buaji thumped me on the head..." Khushi doubled over laughing.
Arnav had to chuckle at the picture she drew with her words.
"So much for my dreams... So don't feel bad about taking away my dreams..." Khushi smiled, praying desperately that he wouldn't pursue the point.
But he was Arnav Singh Raizada. Worse than a dog with a bone.
"But our marriage... I pulled you up the steps of the temple, Khushi. As you said, there were no witnesses, no purohit, no saat phere..." Arnav persisted.
Khushi hid her sigh and smiled.
"Why do we need all of them for a contract marriage?" she asked. "It was a deal, Arnavji, just a deal. You offered the terms, I accepted them. It was just a legal contract."
"Khushi, it is a marriage..." Arnav protested.
"A contract marriage, with shartein. Which I followed. Where is the place for dreams in a business deal?" Khushi smiled.
"Khushi..." Arnav protested.
"Is this the way you do business, Mr. Arnav Singh Raizada?" Khushi laughed at him. "Mixing deals with dreams?"
He caught her by her arms and shook her slightly. He knew what she was trying to do. Ease out of their marriage with little fuss, blocking every attempt of his to have a serious discussion or pin her down...He couldn't let that happen.
"So our marriage was just a business deal for you, Khushi?" he asked, his voice cold and dangerous.
Khushi tried to smile. "Ji. As it should have been for you too." She chided him for reading too much into their hasty wedding.
"Where was it written in the contract that you had to risk your life to save mine, Khushi? And that too, twice?" he asked, his eyes burning into hers.
Khushi swallowed, trying to drag her eyes from his.
"Or that you should commit suicide so that I can have a life with someone else?" he shook her.
Khiushi looked away.
"Look at me if you can, Khushi, and tell me that your heart does not beat faster when I come close to you, that you don't feel breathless when I look at you..." his hold on her arms firmed further.
She tried to pull away. How did he know...?
"All these... they are not important..." she muttered as she tried to free herself.
"Not important?" Arnav fumed. "Not important? Then what is important?"
Khushi managed to free her arms from his hold, and scooted back in bed.
"What is important is your work, your business, Amanji..." she started. Arnav looked at her in disbelief. "Your Di and her future, your family, your life here, your peace..."
"Khushi..." Arnav gasped.
"And my life, my Amma & Babuji, my Buaji, my Jiji..." she hugged her knees.
He stared at her.
"Far, far away from you. Then you can live in peace, knowing that I am not going to fall in to your arms and destroy your fashion show again. Or your Di's life. And I can live in peace, knowing that you are not going to shout at me again or twist my arm." she smiled.
"Khushi, I am sorry..." Arnav felt wretched for the hurtful words he had thrown at her a few days back.
"It is over. Shyam is gone now. Let us think about the future now." Khushi smiled.
"Khushi, marry me." Arnav said, desperate.
Khushi felt her world shake, its foundation tottering, but she managed to keep a smile on her face.
"Again? You want me to sign another contract?" she frowned slightly as though she had not grasped the meaning of his words.
"No! Not a contract marriage. A real one lasting all our lives. With flowers, band and baraat, lights and stars, your red and green lehenga, our families, your friends, saat phere, purohit... the works... everything you ever dreamt of..." Arnav insisted.
Khushi quivered, but she smiled. "People marry once and regret it. And you, who never wanted to marry, want to marry twice? And that too, the same girl?"
"Khushi, I am serious." Arnav caught hold of her shoulders. "I want to marry you, in the presence of our families..."
Khushi smiled. "I am serious too. I don't want to marry you."
"Khushi..." Arnav protested.
"I would be a terrible wife to you, Arnavji. Sanki and pagal, poor and middle class..."
"Khushi.." Arnav protested, the pain behind her words and smile eating in to his guts like acid.
"Without character... wiling to do anything for money..." Khushi smiled.
"Khushi, I am sorry..." Arnav tried. If only he could kick himself!
"With a low class mentality, no haisiyat, bad aukaat, ajeeb, wearing too many clothes, not good in English..." Khushi continued cheerfully.
"Khushi..." Arnav placed his hand over her lips to silence her. She shook him away. She was on a roll.
"So dangerous to you, so unworthy of you that you ran away from me on Diwali night and announced your engagement to Lavanyaji, even though you did not want to be engaged to her!" Khushi laughed.
Arnav sweated. "Khushi..."
"How hard you tried to fight my charms!" Khushi laughed. "As though I were a zukham you were trying to avoid..."
Arnav swallowed hard.
"And you would be a terrible husband for me!" she laughed. "You are not sanki enough. You are too educated, a Laad Governor. Too serious. You consider me a burden, a pagal burden. And your ghussa. Your cutting tongue..."
"Khushi, I love you." he croaked.
Khushi looked at him, her eyes curious.
"What is love?" she asked finally.
Part 6: 89825109 Part 7: Section 2: 90104178
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