Chapter 1

I don't know how good or bad I am at writing one-shots; but I couldn't stop myself from writing this one. This is based on the precap - which had left most of us in tears... I don't want to add up to those tears; it is just my way to recede mine... I don't know how much it will work on you...

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Loads of love!!!

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"Arnav, you can't walk away like this...", Anjali's voice echoed in the corridors. The silence that filled the house was not unheard of; the house had definitely seen worse. But even then, the house couldn't take it; the walls couldn't take it... Every whisper that was murmured inside the living room echoed and travelled throughout the house; bouncing off every corner...

"Chotey, you have to explain... What does it all mean?", Anjali asked desperately as she walked to his room as fast as her legs could carry her.

Arnav closed the door with a large thud behind him. He didn't even realize that he literally banged it shut on his sister's face. He didn't know how the day turned out to be how it had... All he knew that he wanted to get away from everything - from everyone... He just wanted to be alone... There were times when he had tested his determination; his madness before. Wasn't being 'The ASR' all about living under a mask? A perfected disguise that he could never be distinguished from himself by anyone? A careful pretence to protect the bruised heart - ripped in his tender age?

Arnav's hand froze on the lock above his head. "I'm sorry, Di... I'm really very sorry...", he muttered. The magnificent form of Arnav lay pressed against the semi-transparent glass-door; marking the outline of his body even from the outside. He didn't care if his sister could make out him standing against the door for support. He was too tired to notice anything going on around him... He didn't know what to do... He didn't know what to say... His legs gave away and he fell down to floor; leaning against the door frame. Tears pricked his eyes as they filled the negligible volume they could occupy inside his eyes and then trickled down his face. He felt he saw something green fall down on the floor on the other side of the door... He felt he heard someone scream something somewhere... He felt something orange and red and white join the immobile green mound on the floor... Something moved and the next moment it was all gone...

But he couldn't comprehend anything. He didn't want to... He was in the safe-heavens within the confines of his room. ASR ruled this place - but he suddenly wasn't so sure about Arnav's authority over that area defined by merely four walls. He always found peace in this room; but was that a part of his imagination?

He blinked his eyes when he couldn't take that unclear vision in front of him. He felt something hot - burning hot engrave in his flesh as fresh stream of tears rolled down the tracks of the half-dried ones. The hot rollers moved all the way from his eyes to his chin - finally dripping off his face and disappear into his suit...

Something cool touched his face. He was surprised he could still notice it. Silent breeze was flowing through the French windows that opened to his beautiful pool-side. It soothed the scorching tears... He inhaled in the air - fresh, untouched from the one he had been breathing in... Away from all the lies... Away from all the pain... He took another breath - only because his body responded to that gust of wind... Only because it was vital... Absolutely necessary for the survival for Arnav Singh Raizada... His subconscious took over his calculative mind. It sensed something flowery around... It didn't seem unfamiliar - no, not at all...

Instinctively his head turned towards the source of that most beautiful scent in the world. It chimed as it moved... He blinked his eyes yet again. Was he really imagining things now? The slow strike of melodious waves hit his ears gently as she walked towards him...

"Arnavji?", she called out for him.

His line of vision shifted from nowhere in particular to her face and she flinched. This wasn't the man she had fallen in love with... This wasn't the man who had proposed a contract marriage to her... This wasn't the man who had grabbed her arm as he pulled her inside the house... This wasn't the man who had held her when her mother slapped her... This wasn't the man who had looked away from his sister because he couldn't answer her plea...

She didn't know who he was...

She forgot about her tears; leaving them wiped half-way. She ignored a million questions that stormed inside her head - they weren't as important... She didn't have slightest of idea what this man had gone through; and she didn't know if she was strong enough to absorb any of his pain... The complex mixture of salt-water glistened against the light that crawled into the room from the pool-side as she lifted her hand to hold his face.

"Arnavji?", she whispered; caressing his cheek with her thumb. His eyes stared into those deep eyes with a blank expression... They flickered to the maang that was filled with his favourite colour - a colour of love; a colour of evil...Something he wanted to be; something that he was... He saw her mangalsutra dangle and oscillate in the air as she bent over him... And then they returned to her eyes... He couldn't read anything in those any more... Perhaps there was nothing in them to read... Blank; it was all blank - like his heart - empty... Yet so full...

"I don't know why you did this", she told him in a low voice, "Married me...", her voice cracked on the last word. The sound of her brought him back to reality. He realized their faces were much too close. He could see the smudged kohl under her eyes. He could make out the slight puffs of her swollen eye-lids... He could see the reddish tint that spread over one of her cheeks - he could see the finger-marks imprinted across it...

"There must be some reason", she continued, "I know you, Arnavji... I know you wouldn't have done this if you had another option...", she looked at his face; trying to gauge some reaction but she got none. She cupped his face between her small palms.

"I don't know how much you trust me, Arnavji. But I trust you...", she told him, "If you ever feel like you could tell me something, I'm always there... Not as your wife, as a friend... A friend, who would always believe in you no matter what...", she added, as she wiped another onslaught of tears off his face... Someone who would always love you no matter what...

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[MEMBERSONLY][NOCOPY]