Chapter 1

A/N: I'm a new member here, even though I've been a silent observer for a very long time. All the wonderful FFs on this forum motivated me to try my hand at writing as well, and so I present to you, my very first OS! Please feel free to critique my writing--I've never done this before and I would love to receive some genuine feedback! This OS is based on the bangle episode--the one where Arnav gifts Khushi bangles during the Payaash wedding track, and in particular that one scene by the poolside where Khushi forces Arnav to accept that he had been the one to gift her bangles. That is one of my favorite scenes in the show, and while it was perfect the way it was, I wanted to write my own version of it. Hope you like it! 😊

Memories

Khushi turned her face slightly towards Arnav, and her voice barely more than a whisper, asked him, "Why?"

She felt him stiffen in response"he hadn't expected the question. She repeated, her voice louder than before, "Why did you buy the bangles for me?"

She still had her head turned away from him, but when she felt him turn around, she turned around as well so as to better gauge his response, and was shocked when she saw him standing right behind her.

She stumbled, her foot slipped, and her mouth involuntarily opened to ask for his help. But before she could get more than a syllable out, his hand caught hers in a firm grasp, and he pulled her into the circle of his arms, as always.

She let her head rest on his shoulder, and for a brief moment, let herself savor the warmth of the body holding her close, allowed herself feel cherished, protected, and safe, but just for a moment. She could not allow herself to feel safe in his arms for anything longer than a moment because he had reminded her multiple times that someone of her aukaat was not worthy of his respect, and definitely not worthy of feeling cherished in his arms. She made to pull away from him, but his arms still caged her, refusing to loosen, refusing to push her away, the way they usually would.

Confused, she looked up at him, and whispered "Arnavji.."

He pulled her even closer and his lips a bare inch away from her ear, whispered, "Hmm?"

"Arnavji...what are you doing? Let me go. Di...Di sent me here to pick up the flower platter. She'll be waiting for me." Khushi tried to pull away, not meeting his eyes.

Arnavji was acting unusually. She wasn't sure what his purpose was, wasn't sure why he would act this way towards her. Then it suddenly clicked"he'd bought her bangles and now, he was punishing her for it! He was going to insult her, yet again. He would probably say that he had only bought her bangles because he knew that her family wouldn't be able to afford to buy another pair for her. Her eyes filled with anguish as she thought of all those times in the past when Arnav had first created a beautiful moment, and then brutally destroyed it forever. Her mind conjured up the memory of the time she had gone shopping with Lavanyaji for her engagement clothes. Lavaynaji had forced her to try on a lehenga, and while Khushi herself couldn't have cared less about how she looked in it, she had felt Arnavji's eyes looking at her. She had turned around"and there he was! He had just looked at her, that was all he had done, but that was all it had taken for her to feel beautiful. She was not the kind of person to obsess over her looks, sab devi maiyya ki kripa hoti hai, but when Arnav had looked at her, in that room filled with mirrors, at that moment in time, she had felt...beautiful. There was no other term for it. But then he had destroyed that moment with his cruel words. His words. Oh how they had hurt! His words had always managed to hurt her, even though she had tried to steel herself against his words. But they hurt nevertheless. His words had hurt her so much that day, in that room. And today, he was going to destroy this memory as well. He was going to do it. She could feel it in her bones. But she didn't want to stand that pain, that feeling of loss, that feeling of rejection, one more time! She wanted to remember Arnavji's content smile every time she looked at these bangles. She didn't want to be reminded of his contempt when she looked at these bangles.

Her eyes now filled with tears, she redoubled her efforts to pull away from him. She wanted to escape before he could besmirch this memory. She wanted to run away before he reminded her that she was not his equal.

"Khushi..."

"Arnavji, let me go. Just let me go!"

"Khushi, listen to me!"

"Arnavji, I don't want to listen to anything. Please let me go. Now."

"Khushi,"Arnav caressed Khushi's waist with his right hand, while the left one caught her hand. "Why do you think I bought these bangles for you?"

Khushi refused to look up. The magical trance was broken. He was going to snatch away the beautiful memories associated with these bangles now.

"Khushi look up." Arnav gently caressed Khushi's face. Shocked, Khushi glanced up...into a face that was not blank anymore. There was the smallest smile on his face, and his eyes shone with a different light"the eyes that had never betrayed any emotion till that date, now...shone?

Khushi was confused. What was going on here?

"Arnavji..."

Arnav brought the hand that he had clasped up till his heart and guided it towards his chest.

"Do you hear that Khushi?"

Khushi did. She could hear his heart pounding, his heart going dhak-dhak...the way her heart had started beating all those months ago during Navratri.

"Khushi, I now know what you were trying to do during the navratri celebrations. I know because I feel it too, and I know it is not because of acidity."

Khushi was startled. Had he read her mind? How did he know about her acidity and dhak dhak?

"I know Khushi. Kyunki jab hum saath hote hain, humari dhadkanein ek ho jaati hain."

Khushi's eyes were swimming with tears. He hadn't snatched away a beautiful memory from her after all, but had made it even more beautiful, and something told her that this was just the start of a life filled with beautiful memories, and new memories to erase the pain of the old ones.