Silent Whispers
-CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN-
The Nightingale's
Song
"Good morning!" Khushi chirpily greeted, her voice carrying
across the private ward of Lilavati
Hospital.
Garima stirred awake, squinting through the bright sunlight
fluttering into the room. "You are
early," she said, groggily.
"You know I don't work on Fridays... how are you feeling?"
Garima shakily sat up. She was still recovering from a
recent surgery, which like the last, attempted to fix what chemotherapy
couldn't. "I'm fine. But what about you?
How are you feeling?"
Khushi paused from tidying up the already clean room and
turned to look at her mother, confused.
"I saw the news on TV," Garima explained. "I heard what
happened last weekend at that party."
Khushi sighed and took a seat on the stool beside the bed.
"I'm fine... I don't care for that man anymore."
"He is your fath-"
"No, he isn't," she interrupted calmly. "He never was and he
never will be. I was under a misunderstanding and now it's cleared."
Garima pressed her lips, but refrained from answering.
"I know what you think of him," Khushi continued, knowing
exactly what her mother wanted to say. "But you can't force him to love us and
neither can you force us to forgive him. It's over. Me and Bhaiyya moved on...
you should too."
"I wish it was that simple. But forget it, I don't want to
ruin the morning, especially when you look so beautiful. Are you going
somewhere?"
Khushi smiled. For the first time in a long time, she was
wearing a traditional outfit, a white colored anarkali suit, along with matching jhumkas and choodiyan.
"I went to the temple," she explained. "The one near
our house."
Garima's eyes widened. "My twenty-first century daughter went
to the temple?!"
"No need to be surprised... I just thought why not give this
whole praying thing a try."
"And did it work?"
Khushi shrugged. In truth, she went to ask for her mother's
health, to ask for the cure the doctors were yet to find. Only, she wasn't so
sure if her prayers were heard for what received in return amidst the crowd of
people, all singing in glory of the Goddess, was nothing but silence.
"Devi Maiyya sends you her regards," she finally said. Then
handing her mother prasad, she added,
"And so does the Panditji."
Garima simply smiled. "The evening aarti is very nice there.
You should go see it once."
"I will... once you recover, we will go together."
"Khushi-"
"No! I don't want to hear it! You will leave this place,
okay? At least... at least for my graduation."
A line appeared on Garima's forehead.
"I finished my MBA," Khushi explained. "The graduation
ceremony is in a month. You have to
be there, okay? You don't have a choice."
Garima took a moment to reply.
"I'm proud of you Meeti... always remember that, okay?"
Khushi sighed in disappointment. That was not the answer she
wanted to hear, but she knew well that it was best she was going to get.
"You sound like Bhaiyya," she muttered. "Would it hurt to lie
and say you are coming?"
"I would if I could... you know
that. Besides, why would you want an old lady like me there? All you friends
will be there no?"
"You are not old! I want you to see me up there on the
stage... You never came to any of my graduation ceremonies."
"But I saw all the photos. And the awards. I lost count
after then twentieth one."
Khushi grinned sheepishly. "Rumor has it that I'm getting
another one. Lavanya told me. Her dad is a trustee of the college."
Garima beamed. "Congratulations."
"Thank you. So now, you have no option but to come!"
"Who else is coming?"
"Well, obviously Lavs and Akash-"
"-isn't Akash in some workshop?"
Khushi nodded, surprised at her mother's accurate
recollection. "Yeah, but he is done in a week, so he is going to be back for
graduation. Of course, it's another thing that he will try his best to skip the
actual ceremony."
"Why?"
"It's a long story."
"And I have all the time in the world."
Khushi was caught off guard, vaguely hearing Arnav's voice
echo through her memories. He said the same thing to her once, on a darkened
highway from Agra to Delhi.
"What?" Garima asked, confused to see a smile spreading up
her face.
She shook her head. "Nothing... Someone else said the same
thing to me once."
Garima's eyes widened suggestively. "Who?"
"Arnav... he is my boss. And Akash's brother."
Garima didn't answer, instead choosing to look at Khushi, as
if trying to decipher something.
Uncomfortable under her mother's scrutiny, Khushi continued,
albeit hurriedly. "They don't get along. Arnav and Akash... Akash wants to be a
painter, but Arnav wants him to take care of AR Designs, their family
business."
"And you think Arnav is right?" Garima asked.
Khushi was surprised to hear that. "What? No! No, I don't
think Arnav is right... but he is not wrong either. He loves his siblings... a lot. I'm sure there is a reason why he
is so adamant when it comes to Akash."
"So you think Akash is being unreasonable?"
Khushi didn't know what to say. There was a time when she would have taken
Akash's side with her eyes closed, but that time was long gone. Now, if she were
asked the same question, her answer would favor something else entirely.
"So, what's he like?" Garima asked unexpectedly.
"He is... nice, understanding, clever... basically, everything I
am not."
"Akash?"
"No, Arnav... that's who you were asking about right?"
Garima smiled ambiguously. "I thought you were talking about
Akash, since you have been with him for... two years now?"
Khushi felt her heart drop. It was clear what her mother was
implying. How and why did she assume
they were talking about Arnav?!
"Meeti?" Garima called, when the silence stretched on
uncomfortably.
She cleared her throat. "Me and Akash have only been
together for five months now... I just know
him since the past two years."
"And yet, you think he is the one being unreasonable with
his brother?"
Khushi took a deep breath, trying hard to keep her head
clear of the doubts her mother was unthinkingly causing. "I think they are brothers... they would die for each other, so
really, this is nothing but a rough patch. They will get over it when they stop
being stubborn."
"Maybe it's not stubbornness. Maybe this is just their way
of showing their love for each other?"
"If it is, then it's very stupid," Khushi muttered. "Akash
absolutely resents Arnav, to the
point where he didn't even tell me who his brother was until after I gave my interview at AR Designs
- can you believe that?"
Garima was quiet.
"It's worse than the situation with Lavanya's Dad, who by
the way hasn't budged even an inch about the Aman issue. Aman actually flew
down from London, just to talk to him, but her Dad doesn't even want to consider the idea of meeting him. Not
even for his daughter. I don't get how someone can be so insensitive Amma!
Imagine if Nanaji did that to you?! Imagine if you weren't allowed- what?"
Garima was staring at Khushi, a wide grin spreading across
her face. It was both adorable and annoying.
"Seriously?" Khushi said, realizing what happened. "Can't
you get over it?"
"It feels good to hear you say Amma... Reminds of the very
first time you said it."
Khushi rolled her eyes. She had started addressing her
mother properly for almost two weeks now, and yet, every time she said it,
Garima would be pleasantly surprised, smiling as if she just received the
biggest gift ever.
"You were not even two years old," she continued in an affectionate
tone. "I assumed you would call me Maa, like Shyam, but you didn't. Instead you
said Amma... I don't even know where you picked it up from. But now, I think it
was meant to be... I used to call my mother that."
Khushi was surprised. She felt a sudden swell of pride run
through her, realizing that even as a toddler, she was meant to be her mother's daughter, to be a Gupta.
"What was she like? Nani?"
"She was very pretty - I used to tell her all the time that
she could become an actress if she wanted to.
But what everyone fell for was her voice. She could sing like no one
else. In fact, your Nanaji says her signing was as good as the Nightingale
itself - it was so beautiful."
Khushi pulled her stool closer to the bed and rested her
head in Garima's lap. "Do you miss her?"
"Everyday... sometimes I think she wouldn't have let Shashi do
all that he did if she was here. And even if he did, she would have at least
found a way to fix everything that was broken."
Khushi glanced up. "You told me that you don't hate him...
that even after all this, you can't get yourself to detest him like me and
Bhaiyya... Why?"
Garima gently stroked her head. "I don't know Meeti... Maybe
it's because when I was with Shashi, I felt... alive. I felt I could do anything
in the world, I felt as if nothing could go wrong. I can't describe the
feeling, but whatever it was, it was the best I have ever felt."
Khushi listened, intrigued.
"When Shashi left, I was hurt. I was angry, upset... I didn't
know why of all people, it was me who got betrayed. But when all of that faded
away, it was still there... the feeling of being alive, the feeling that made me
wish that my time with him never ended."
Garima looked down to her. "I tried not to... I tried and
tried to just get it out. To forget him, to make myself believe that he is not
important, that he is not the reason I should live. But no matter what, I
couldn't. I still wanted him, I still wanted to give up the world for him, I
still wanted to see him happy."
"Even after-"
"Yes, even after seeing him throw me away like I was a piece
of trash. I never expected anything from my marriage Meeti... I never expected
Shashi to have time for me, to take me out once in a while, to celebrate my
birthday, our anniversary... It just so happened, that he did. But even if he
didn't do all that, it wouldn't have mattered. I loved him. And it didn't
matter if he loved me back."
Khushi wasn't convinced. She detested her father, simply
after hearing about his misdeeds. How
did her mother not, after personally experiencing
them?!
"Think about it this way," Garima said, understanding her turmoil.
"If you and Shyam had a big fight, would you stop caring for him? If he got
into an accident the next day, would you not run to the hospital and do
everything in your power to save him?"
"Of course I would!" Khushi said, sitting up. "He is my brother!"
"And Shashi was my husband," Garima replied simply.
"Logically speaking, it doesn't make sense. But love doesn't have logic Meeti...
It took me a long time to figure that out."
"Then why did you try to kill yourself? If it made no
difference if that man stayed with you or not, why did you want to leave?"
"Because I didn't like it... I didn't like the fact that I still
loved him after all that; that I cared for him and treasured the years I spent
with him. So ending my life was the only way I saw to stop hating myself for
loving him."
An unnatural quiet fell about the room.
Khushi sat still, mulling over what was so casually put
forth her. For many years now, she had considered her mother weak, selfish and most
important of all, emotional. Sure, over the last few days she began to
sympathize with her, recognizing the grief that tore them apart; but never did
she anticipate the empathy running through her.
As strange as it sounded, Khushi understood her mother. She understood what had drove her to
extremes all those years ago, what had made her want to end her existence. She
truly was just seeking a refuge, a moment of peace, away from the judgmental
eyes of her very own conscious.
"That's scary," Khushi finally whispered. "To love someone
so much... that you end up hating yourself for it..."
Garima smiled. "You only hate yourself because you know it's
wrong. But tell me something Meeti - how is it wrong, when your entire being
says otherwise? How can it be wrong,
when it feels so good, so right?"
A wave of deja vu crashed over Khushi. Wasn't it just last
week that she was contemplating the right and wrong of her passionate kiss with
Arnav? Wasn't it just last week that she couldn't get herself to regret her
decision simply because it felt too good to be wrong?
"It's not wrong," Garima concluded slowly. "Our decisions
can be wrong, our actions can be wrong, but our feelings? I don't think so... love can't be wrong."
And without intending to, Khushi secretly began to agree
with her mother's point, even though she was not ready to believe the
implications of it.
"If love is not wrong," she said. "Then Babuji is not wrong
either... he loves that woman."
"And that, is why
I don't hate him Meeti. Because somewhere, I know he did it for love... Whether
that love is Juhi or someone or something
else entirely, I don't know."
Khushi looked at her lap, deep in thought.
"Do you still think I
am wrong?"
She didn't.
No matter how hard she tried, Khushi couldn't raise her eyes
and tell her mother that she was mistaken. The truth was that she understood
everything she heard, not because she believed Garima, but because she believed
what she felt these past few days.
She had always pushed him away, making some excuse or the
other. She thought he was rude, pretentious and outright annoying. But what she
failed to realize was that he made
her like that. He made her blood boil; he made her heart race and her mind
numb. He made her alive.
And most important of all, the feeling wasn't sudden. It was
always there, since the time they met. Despite their differences, he had always
been there in the background, silent, whispering words to support,
encouragement and truth. She just never paid any attention to it.
Until now.
"If you still don't believe me," Garima finished, watching
her closely. "Then tell me something - why is Arnav first your boss, and then Akash's brother?"
I have to say the last chapter was also one of my favourite ones!
Comments (139)
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Jai Shri Ram @SoniRita
+ 32
6 months ago
Nice convo between khushi n Garima. So finally Khushi falling for asr. Poor Akash
coderlady @coderlady
+ 8
1 years ago
Garima loved and lost. And she survived in a way.
Jai Shri Ram @SoniRita
+ 32
1 years ago
Loved the convo between Garima n Khushi.
MorallyGrey @WildestDreams
+ 32
1 years ago
Once again another beautiful chapter, Archi!
Jyothi Rockzy @jyothirockz
+ 2
9 years ago
Hey Archi,when will you be able to update..?
snoopy84 @snoopy84
9 years ago
Awesome story Khushi and Shyam have been through so much. Loved their family dynamic.
rulama @rulama
+ 8
9 years ago
Khushi owns up her mistake and makes a way for Payal to enter into Akash's life...Anjali with her prodding has elicited the response from Shyam...Payal with her patience has made Khushi understand that she needs to tell Akash how she feels about him before it is too late...Interesting update...
srilathas @srilathas
9 years ago
Thanks for the note dear...take your time dear...In my hectic schedule, yr updates always refreshes my mind and brings a smile...so i was little bit extra eager to see an update this weekend...
anjs @anjs
+ 6
9 years ago
thanks for the note...update soon
Oliver.Queen @Oliver.Queen
+ 5
9 years ago
I know hun.. but i don't think i will be able to update this weekend. Asli duniya is a bit overwhelming right now Hopefully I can update mid-next week P.S. - I accepted your buddy request! I can't believe I didn't have you in my PM list until now [/QUOTE]
Thanks for the note Archi. Take care.