Chapter 37
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[MEMBERSONLY]
[NOCOPY]
SAVING KHUSHI
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Part 17
Section 2
Arnav sat beside Khushi for the pooja. He looked sideways at her. Her eyes were on the havan, her hands folded in prayer. Her body was by him, but her mind and her thoughts were far away, in some unpleasant place in the past...
Arnav swallowed in pain.
As he watched, her lashes fell over her eyes, and she sat praying.
After the pooja, Khushi was given a plate of prasad and asked to distribute it among the guests. She offered a laddoo to Nani, Mami, Akash Jiju, Jiji, Di... Then she came to Arnavji.
She took a piece of a laddoo and held it out to him. She expected him to hold out his hand for it, but he parted his lips instead.
Khushi gulped, and slowly placed the tidbit in his mouth, feeling a hundred eyes watching them.
Arnav leaned forward and kissed her on her cheek in gratitude. Khushi gaped at him.
The crowd of guests stared at them.
In shock, the laddoo she had placed in her mouth went down the wrong passage, and Mami choked. It took the concerted efforts of her son & daughter-in-law to bring her back to normal.
"Khushiji, will you check on the diyas? Some of them may be dying out for lack of oil." Anjali pleaded nicely.
"Ji." Khushi smiled politely, and went on to do as requested. She went through the hall, her sharp eyes not missing a single diya. She checked the stairs and went to the poolside. A diya was dying out for lack of oil. Khushi quickly bent down and poured oil in to its cup, watching the flame revive.
She stood up, capped the oil bottle, and turned around to see Arnavji standing by her.
"Arnavji!" she whispered in shock.
"I am sorry, Khushi." he said softly.
She looked at him, silent.
"Sorry for subjecting you to such insults. Sorry for hurting you now and last Diwali. Sorry for not having the guts to face my love for you last year. Sorry for messing up your life and playing with Lavanya's feelings last year. I... I don't know what I was thinking, Khushi. I was in such a hurry to run away from my feelings for you that I ended up committing one mistake after the other." His voice was slow, but sincere.
Khushi looked away.
"I have done many terrible things to you, Khushi. Insulted you, hurt you physically, wounded you with my tongue... but Diwali night was the worst. The worst. Worse than the night I forced you to marry me... because when we got married, at least I was with you. We were together in the misery. On Diwali night, I... I..."
Khushi's head remained firmly turned away.
Arnav cupped her face and made her look at him. "It is no consolation, but know that when I hurt you, my heart was torn to strips. Every tear of yours fell like acid on my heart. I couldn't sleep at nights, seeing you look at me with wounded eyes through the glass window..."
Khushi lowered her eyes.
"The full realisation of the pickle I had gotten myself in to came when people started congratulating me for an engagement I had never wanted to or planned to get in to, when Lavanya was hugging me, and the one I wanted, you, were turning to leave me and go out of my life."
Khushi lowered her lashes to shut him out.
He sighed. "Khushi, look at me. Please."
Khushi lifted her lashes.
"I will never forget the last look you gave me, the look that said, now you have gotten what you wanted, haven't you? Are you happy now? I knew the answer at that moment. I knew that I had made a mistake of mammoth proportions, driven by my panic. But it was too late to backtrack. Too late." he confessed.
They stood silent among the burning diyas. The sound of fireworks filled the air.
"Don't give me anymore red saris. I hate the sight of them." Khushi said.
"I won't." Arnav promised, a lump in his throat.
"I burnt the one I wore last Diwali. I will burn this one too." Khushi threatened him.
"Burn it. Look through Di, Mami, & Payal's wardrobes too, and burn every red cloth you can find. Hell, burn the whole house down if you want to." he invited her.
A small smile appeared on Khushi's lips.
"I won't make anymore diya for Diwali." Khushi stated.
"You won't come to my garden to steal mitti anymore?" he asked, disappointment rife in his voice.
"No." Khushi declared.
Arnav sighed, "OK."
"I won't light diya around your pool." Khushi threatened him.
"Oh! Khushi, they look so nice..." His voice died away under her militant eye. "OK." he said, defeated.
"Every Diwali, I will go to Buaji's house. You can sit here listening to witches bitching about me, and I will burst crackers and eat jalebi with my bacha party." Khushi declared.
"No, Khushi. I want to spend Diwali with you. Take me with you." he requested.
"Let me think about it." Khushi pretended to ponder on the issue.
"Khushi..." Arnav put his hand in to his pocket. "Here's your gift for Diwali." He pulled out a small jewellery box and handed it to her.
Khushi opened it. It held a beautiful diamond necklace, the stones sparkling fire in the dim light.
"Shukriya, Arnavji." Khushi whispered, kissing him on his lean cheek, caressing his stubble with her soft lips.
"I know you prefer jalebis to diamonds. There is a box of them waiting for you on our bed. From Chagganlal Mittaiwala." he whispered against her cheek.
Khushi almost jumped up and down in joy. "Arnavji! Thank you, thank you!"
Arnav looked at her smiling lips. "Where is my gift, Khushi?" he lowered his head to steal a kiss, but Khushi moved back.
"One minute, Arnavji." she said as she vanished in to their bedroom. She returned with a white cover which she handed over to him.
Arnav frowned at her as he flipped it open. Inside was a single sheet of paper. From a lab!
"Khushi!" Arnav gasped. "Are you sick? Why didn't you tell me?" he panicked.
"Arnavji! Read the whole thing before you scold me." Khushi pouted.
Khushi Kumari Gupta Singh Raizada had been tested for pregnancy, and the result was... Positive!
Arnav stared at the paper and then at Khushi's face. He then looked at the writing on the paper carefully again. Maybe he had misread it...
"Offo! Arnavji, you are so slow! If it were Salman Khanji in your place, he would have lifted his wife in his arms and swung her around..." Khushi teased him.
But Arnav was beyond all teasing.
"Khushi... Khushi... we are going to have... a baby?" he asked. "Really have a... baby?"
"Ji. I think it is a baby. It may be a jalebi for all I know..." Khushi smiled, laughing at him.
Arnav stared at the report once more. He folded it carefully and put it in his pocket. He then lowered himself to his knees at her feet, and touched her tummy with reverent fingers.
"Khushi, our baby..." he said softly, as if scared of disturbing him or her.
"Ji." Khushi smiled.
"I will take care of you. Make sure that nothing bad ever happens to you..." he promised the unborn child, tears clogging his throat. "I will be a better father than mine ever was to me." He kissed her tummy repeatedly.
He buried his face against the soft skin of her stomach. She could feel his tears against her skin. She held him close for a long moment.
Then he asked, "Khushi, how did you know?"
She frowned. "It was the most amazing thing, Arnavji! Can you imagine me refusing jalebi?"
Arnav shook his head, a small smile on his face.
"Buaji made jalebi for me, and the minute she opened the bin, I almost threw up. So I knew there was something very wrong with me." She was perfectly serious.
Arnav stared at her in wonder.
"I went to a general physician, and he sent me to a gynaecologist." she smiled. "It is then that I realised that the problem was not the jalebi but chotu-sa Arnav Singh Raizada."
"Khushi!" He stood up and hugged her tight. Khushi burrowed in to his arms, feeling safe and content. "Khushi, this is the best Diwali of my life."
Khushi smiled.
"And this is the best Diwali gift you could ever give me." He rained kisses on his wife's face and lips, punctuating the words with addictive kisses, some sweet as honey, some hot as chilly.
"Arnavji, promise me..." Khushi whispered, her face serious for a moment.
"Promise." he said.
"Promise me that whatever happens in the future, whether good or bad, we will always be together..."
"I promise."
He scooped her up in his arms and carried her to bed.
"Promise me that even if we have an army of children, you will always love me the most." Khushi pouted.
"I promise." Arnav smiled against her lips. "You will always be my first and best Sanka Devi."
The End.
Thank you, friends, for staying on this journey with us. The next story, Marrying Khushi, will begin next week.
Part 17: Section 1: 93741131
LINK TO MARRYING KHUSHI
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