Chapter 44

Chapter 44: Free

Thank you for the comments and likes for the previous chapter. I was overwhelmed... I hope you all like this one too...

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It was time for them to return back home. Khushi had been very restless in her cabin for the rest of the day. She had decided to go and check on Arnav several times but had stopped herself from doing so. But in the evening she finally walked into his cabin.

He was standing near the window, gazing out. As she walked close to him, she noticed his unfocussed eyes and knew that he was still thinking about what she had stupidly blurted earlier. He hadn't even noticed that she was there.

"Arnav?" She rested her hand on his arm.

He turned to look at her and smiled. "Khushi... you wanted something?"

Khushi decided not to dwell on the topic and instead try to divert his mind. "Arnav... it's time to go home. Come on, let's leave."

He looked at her surprised and then checked the time. "Oh yes, let's leave." He said and went to pick up his coat and laptop.

In the car, Khushi tried to make small talk. "Arnav it's Amma's birthday next week, will you take me out for some shopping? I want to buy a nice gift for her, maybe a Saree. What do you think?"

"Hmmm... We'll go tomorrow." He replied quietly.

"Arnav are you still upset with me?" She asked finally, since his mood was still gloomy.

"Upset? Why would I be upset with you Khushi?" He asked trying to be casual.

But Khushi could see how difficult it was for him. "For being so stupid earlier today. I'm really sorry Arnav. Please don't be like this." She pleaded.

He stayed silent for a moment and then spoke. "I'm fine Khushi. Really, don't worry." He smiled reassuringly.

She didn't say anything after that but she could feel that he had become quite aloof. She thought after sometime he'll be back to normal but even after 2-3 days he still had been the same. He dropped and picked her up from work but didn't stay at Emerald himself. He had also started getting quieter and quieter.

Khushi had begun to worry. Many times, she tried to persuade to work from Emerald but he refused. She called him several times to check if he had eaten or taken medicines or to ask silly work related questions which otherwise she would know how to solve. Every time he would reply her shortly and end the conversation.

He had started to get a lot of work home and kept himself busy. Khushi didn't know what to do to change his mood. Whenever she had tried to bring up the topic again or apologise, he had just avoided the conversation saying he was fine. It had been a week and they had still not talked to each other properly.

Next day was her mother's birthday and she decided to talk to Arnav. It was night time and as usual he had got a lot of work to do at home. He was sitting by the poolside working when she came and sat in a chair opposite to him.

"Arnav can you spare me a minute?" She asked nervously.

"Sure, what is it Khushi?" He asked looking up at her.

"Actually you know its Amma's birthday tomorrow right? I'm taking the day off from work; Jiji and I are going there since morning. So I was hoping if you could come there." She spoke. Arnav stared at her for a long time and Khushi could notice some unreadable but painful emotion in his eyes. It made her feel a little uneasy. She had seen various emotions in his eyes ever since she knew him, even when he had become over possessive for her when she had decided to marry Rohan. However, she didn't know why but the way he looked at her today was a little disturbing. "Arnav?" She called out to him.

He looked away from her, "I... I'm not too sure Khushi. I have a few important meetings lined up for tomorrow. I'll surely try."

Though he said that, somewhere Khushi knew that he didn't want to come. "But Arnav, you can at least come for dinner right? Even Akash Jiju is going to join us in the evening."

"I said I'll try Khushi. I can't promise anything right now." He said concentrating back on his work.

Khushi felt sad but she didn't say anything.

~~~~~~

Next morning Khushi got coffee for Arnav in their room. She kept the coffee and was about to leave to make breakfast for him when he stopped her.

"Can you please sit with me for some time?" Khushi was surprised at the way he almost pleaded.

"Of course Arnav." She said sitting next to him. They just sat quietly as he sipped his coffee and Arnav kept glancing at Khushi frequently. After a while, Khushi took his hand in hers. "Arnav is everything fine? Are you alright?" She asked worried.

He smiled and pressed her hand. "I'm alright Khushi. Everything is fine. When are you leaving for your Amma's place?"

Khushi knew he was trying to change the topic. "In an hour after breakfast. You will try to come right?" She asked hopefully.

"I will try." He said and got up to get ready. Khushi too left to make breakfast for him.

~~~~~~

Khushi and Payal reached their parent's place. It was quite fun as the four of them were together alone after a long time. Though Khushi had taken the day off, she had to keep on attending calls or send emails to work and stay in touch with her assistants.

After lunch, the four of them sat chatting casually when Garima spoke, "Actually I was hoping if you two could stay over tonight. I wanted to go to Devi Maiya's temple and do a small Pooja. It would be nice if you two could come along."

Payal frowned, "I can't Amma. Maaji has a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning and I have to go with her."

"Mamiji has a doctor's appointment?" Khushi asked surprised.

"Skin Specialist." Payal replied and Khushi laughed knowingly.

"What about you Bitiya? You can go to work from the Mandir after the Pooja is done." Garima asked Khushi.

"I don't mind Amma. I'll just talk to Arnav and make sure he has no issues with it." Khushi replied.

"So Arnav bitwa is coming over this evening?" Babuji asked.

"I'm not too sure Babuji. He was saying he has some important meetings. I've asked him to try and come at least for dinner. Let's see." Khushi replied and Babuji nodded.

"He called up to wish me this morning." Garima said. "He said he'll try."

~~~~~~

In the evening Akash called Payal to inform that he would reach in an hour. Arnav hadn't called yet so Khushi decided to check on him. She was about to call when she got a call from her assistant Susie.

"Khushi, I have mailed you the rough draft of the designs for the Mehta project and also the daily report. Can you check it and let me know if there should be any changes?" Susie asked.

"Yeah sure Susie. But right now I'm a little busy, I'll check it later tonight and reply back to you." Khushi replied.

"Yeah okay but make sure you reply back by tonight, you know we need to finalise this by tomorrow." Susie reminded her.

"Yes don't worry. I'll reply back by tonight." Khushi said and disconnected the call.

She then called up Arnav. "Arnav you are coming right? We are waiting."

"No Khushi. I'm sorry but I can't come. Actually an important meeting has come up and I have to go to Gurgaon for it. I'll be having my dinner with the client and then go home directly." He replied.

"Uh... Arnav. Actually Amma wanted me to stay back tonight. She wants to do a Pooja tomorrow at the Mandir, so she wanted me to go with her. I hope you don't mind." She asked. There was silence on the other side. Khushi waited for him to say something but he didn't respond. After a minute she said. "It's alright Arnav. If you are not okay with it, I'll come back."

"No..." He said slowly. "No, of course you can stay there as long as you want."

Khushi felt a little strange that he said that she could stay as long as she wanted, she didn't like it. "I'll be back tomorrow." She replied firmly.

Once again there was silence from his side but before Khushi could say anything he spoke, "Khushi I'm getting late, I have to go." And disconnected the call.

She called up Naniji and informed her that she was staying back at her parents place for the night and Naniji agreed. Khushi was very restless after that. She hardly realised what she was doing. She wondered if she should tell her Amma that they should postpone the Pooja and return back home. Akash came after a while and got a cake along with him.

Khushi was preparing for the cake to be cut when Akash came up to her and asked. "We are not waiting for Bhai? I thought he would be here before me."

Khushi looked up at him surprised. "Arnav has gone to Gurgaon for a meeting. He said he can't come."

Akash looked back at her even more surprised. "Bhai has gone to Gurgaon? That's strange. I had no idea. But the Gurgaon meeting wasn't that urgent, it could have been handled next week too. I wonder why he went today itself." Akash saw the expression on Khushi's face and realised that he shouldn't have said that and tried to cover up. "I mean there might have been some changes that I don't know about. After all I'm not personally involved in the Gurgaon project."

Khushi knew Akash was lying. She knew even if they were not personally involved, Arnav and Akash always kept each other informed about the progress of their projects so that if there was any problem both of them could handle it together. She wondered if Arnav had really gone to Gurgaon or just lied to her. But even if he had lied then why? What was the reason? If he didn't want to come for her mother's birthday, he could have said so. There was no reason to lie. She tried calling Arnav a couple of times but he didn't answer.

Khushi was highly distracted throughout the cake cutting and the dinner. After dinner, Payal was serving dessert to everyone when Khushi remembered that she had not replied to her work emails yet. She excused herself and went to her room and turned her laptop on.

She replied back to the mails and before closing she refreshed her mailbox one last time out of habit. She wasn't really expecting any new mails at this time so when the screen said 'One New Mail' she was a little surprised. She opened the mailbox and saw that the mail was from Arnav. Her heart sank on reading the subject. It said "I'm Sorry Khushi."

Her heart was racing fast. She had a bad feeling about it and her instincts screamed at her to not open the mail. She sat staring at the subject for some time before she gathered some courage and opened it. She didn't know why but she was having difficulty breathing. She closed her eyes and took a few long breaths to calm herself and then opened her eyes to start reading. It said...

Khushi,

I don't know how to start. But there are some things that I wanted to tell you for quite some time now and I can't hold them back any longer. You can call me a coward Khushi but I really don't have the courage to do this face to face.

Khushi I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything. For how I treated you when you worked with me... for how I misjudged you... for trying to take advantage of you that day... for taking away your innocence... for breaking you completely from within... for forcing you to work with me again... for forcing you to marry me... for threatening you under the name of your family... for mistreating you... for making you lead your life as per my wishes...

For every wrong I did to you Khushi, I'm sorry. I have realised long back that what I have done is wrong. But still I did not do anything about it. You have a large heart Khushi. You are one of the nicest persons I've ever met. After everything I did to you, you still forgave me, you relieved me from the burden that I was living under. And what did I do? I still held on to you. I have been extremely selfish Khushi. I couldn't live without you. So I kept you tied down to me. I took away your freedom from you, without ever asking what you wanted, without once thinking about YOUR happiness. Yes Khushi, it was very selfish of me to do that to you.

But I now realise how difficult all this must be for you. I realise how tied up and suffocated you must be feeling with me. I realise how burdened you must be feeling under the weight of this unwanted relationship that you were forced into. I can't bear to see you like that Khushi. I know you will never complain because you are such a wonderful person. But it's time I took responsibility of my deeds and take the punishment I deserve.

I love you Khushi. I really do and I want you to be happy always. I know you will never be happy with someone like me... someone who has given you so much pain. So I have decided to set you free from my clutches. You don't have to be tied down to a monster like me anymore. You are free to make your own decisions. You are free to lead your life the way you want.

I'll always be there for you if you need me but I'll never again interfere in your life. And if you don't want to see my face ever again, I'll make sure that will happen too. I just want you to be free and happy Khushi. Always...

May you get all the happiness in this world!

Only Yours,

Arnav.

Khushi had gone completely numb as she read line after line. Without realising tears had started flowing from her eyes. She sat staring at the screen of her laptop which flashed the words that had been sent by her husband.

Free... He had set her free... No ties... No bonds... Just free...

-X-X-X-X-X-X-

Chapter 45: The Realisation Of Freedom

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