Chapter 3
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[MEMBERSONLY]
[NOCOPY]
RECALLING ARNAV
Part 2
Section 1
"Khushi!" Arnav jumped off the recliner, looking for his wife. The bed was pristine, as untouched as it had been for 5 months.
'Where was she?' he wondered. He walked to the door leading to the poolside. It was locked.
"Khushi!" he yelled.
He rushed to the bathroom and pushed the door open. There was no one there.
"Khushi..." he whispered and sank on the recliner. She was gone. She had left him. No, he had discarded her, abandoned her, refused to marry her.
She was in Lucknow.
He buried his head in his hands. Sweat coated his face even in the cold night.
He was alone, as he had always been. But this time, he was alone because he had pushed her away. Had he appeared at the hall for the wedding, she would have married him, regardless of whether her aunt had been his father's girlfriend or not. But how could he live with her, knowing that her aunt and his father had together brought about his mother's death?
What if his love for her turned to disgust? What if the pain made him lash out at her? What if the nightmares conquered him and he punished her for her aunt's sins? How would he deal with his guilt if he married Khushi and made 'the other woman's' niece his mother's bahu?
Arnav lifted his face from his hands.
But the price they had to pay for his scruples and sense of justice was too high. Six months of marriage. One night of loving. Both followed by five months of tears and anguish. Was there no end to this pain?
He walked to the wardrobe and pushed it open. A few of her suits still hung there. He touched the yellow anarkali, the pink suit, a green dupatta... He buried his face in the dupatta. It still smelled of jasmine.
"Khushi!" he murmured.
"Payaliyaa, Khushi is asking about Akash Bitwaa's relations. She wants to see their photos, Nandkisore." Buaji's sigh reached Delhi.
"She called me and asked me for the pictures, Buaji," Payal replied, looking at the clock. It was late at night.
"I have burned everything here, Payaliyaa. She won't find anything here. There is nothing in Gomti Sadan that will remind her of Delhi and the Raizadas, Nandkisore!" Buaji claimed.
Payal nodded.
How long could they hide the truth from Khushi? But how could they reveal the truth to her? Reality would be too much of a shock for her. It would drive her insane with grief. It was better that she remained in the world of small dreams. A world without the typhoon, Arnav Singh Raizada.
"Payaliyaa, be very careful. Make sure that Devyaniji, Anjali Bitiyaa, Manoramaji and the men know nothing of what happened to Khushi. The story of a harmless fall from the steps will do for them. Oo kaa he, Nandkisore, we don't want them coming here and insisting on marrying her out of pity."
"Ji, Buaji."
"Arnav Bitwaa was wrong not to marry her. But Garima was wrong to hide her past from us and from her daughters. Anyway, Titliyaa is happy now. Let her be happy. Let her live like this. And may her memory never come back, Nandkisore!"
Khushi dried her wet hair and combed it into submission, humming some old, half-forgotten tune. She took the dupatta and coiled it around her neck.
She looked at herself in the mirror and frowned. She had left something out.
Bindi, kangan, jhumke were all in order. But her neck. Her neck was bare. Her fingers gently touched the skin of her neck.
"Amma, why does my neck feel so bare? Was there some chain that I used to wear regularly?" Khushi asked.
Garima looked at Buaji and said, "Naahi, bitiyaa. You never used to wear anything around your neck."
"Acha?" Khushi looked at her neck again. "Maybe you are right." But why did she miss the weight of a chain around her neck?
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