Part 6

"Think about what we told you, Mr. Aman Mathur. It has benefits for both of us. This ruling party and Gupta father-daughter duo will never value you like we will do. Kismat badal jayegi aapki." said the opposition party leader Babu Dayal, who had been in touch with Aman for sometime.

It was a perfect opportunity for Aman, a perfect time to encash his years of service to Shashi and then Khushi. He decided to talk to Khushi and tell her his decision.

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"Are you insane, Aman? You are trying to blackmail me to cancel the land deal AND go against the majority of cabinet ministers? Otherwise, you will walk out and-" Khushi was more upset than shocked at Aman's demand. Out of all the people that had potential to backstab her, she never thought Aman would too. Aman, who considered her as his sister once...

"I have not said 'yes' to opposition leaders, Khushi. That is why I am telling you about it, right? But I can't guarantee I will continue like this. After all, I have to think about my future too."

"Don't do this to me right now Aman. Please." Khushi knew going against other ministers would result in her ousting from the throne, at the same time, if Aman joined opposition party, he will threaten their rule with all the inside secrets he now knew!

"I don't have a choice Khushi. But I am still not as heartless as you, you are still my sister, so I will give you some time to think about this. but don't expect me to wait too long.." saying so he left, leaving a shocked Queen, who learnt yet another lesson about the 'throne', the flowers can turn into thorns too!

--*--

"Where is Arnav?" Khushi followed by her Z+ security walked in Mehra group's headquarter to look for Arnav, maybe he can convince Aman? She knew he and Aman had become good friends once again.
"Mukhyamantri(chief minister) madam, aap? Namaste! Arnav sir left with Swara mam a while ago." his PA who was in awe of the CM herself visiting here, informed her, much to her dislike. It had been quite a frequent occurrence in last year. Arnav and Swara had become very close and Khushi could sense that. But her insecurities as well as anger that Arnav might be playing a game with her dear sister-in-law like he did with her, made her upset. Coupled with that, Aman's recent deception made her reach out to the only person she knew could guide her. Her babuji.

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"You need to plan a family now, Khushi. A child brings a man to his wife. I am telling from my own experience, after your birth, I became more committed to your mother." Shashi Gupta advised her and Khushi went into thinking...

--*--

It was a few weeks after their first wedding anniversary when Khushi approached Arnav, "I want to redo something in our contract."

"ok, and what would that be?" Arnav said calmly.

"I want to become a mother. The natural way." she insisted on second part. When he stood dumbfounded, she continued, "I understand if you're not ready for this. There are other ways I can-"

His anger came to the surface as she was speaking this. At first he had felt very happy that she wanted to have family with him. Maybe this was that opening to her heart he was waiting for? But when she hinted at taking other means, he lost it.

"The hell there are. I am perfectly capable of fathering a child. You had distanced yourself from me Khushi, I had not."

"And who is responsible for that? Look Arnav, I am not saying I have found my love for you again. I don't even know if I can love you again. But I also have wishes and I want to fulfil them." that effectively silenced him.

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"Do you think you can ever love me again, Khushi?" Arnav asked after a long time

"What is love, Arnav? My amma used to tell me if you can respect your life-partner, that is real love. I had aspired to have the same respect that my amma and babuji had for each other. But unfortunately, I lost it for you the day you insulted my feelings. And then, as I had almost given up of ever finding that kind of love again, Swayam earned his place in my heart. So yes, I had loved you, I had loved Swayam, I still do but I don't know if I can love you again." she said honestly. She owed him that.

"Fair enough. But I will hope, if we ever have a child, he or she can do what destiny has snatched from us, a chance to become a normal family." he said, giving up.

--*--

A Year Later:

Too many things changed in the intervening one year.

Arnav and Khushi became parents to twins, a boy and a girl. An extremely happy Rani ma named them, the baby boy was named Veer and girl, Vanshika.

On one hand, motherhood was calling Khushi but on the other hand, her being away from politics for the time of her childbirth had led to internal disputes within her party. So, as soon as the kids were born, Khushi involved herself with handling the party battles and securing her chair. She did all motherly duties that were bare necessary like feeding them, taking care of their health, but apart from that, she wasn't around. For many weeks, she used to be away for her political tours!

For Arnav however, biggest blow was Ratna's death! And then, Arvind Raizada suddenly disappeared. It was like no one knew where he went. All of this and a newfound parenthood resulted in Arnav getting fed up of relationships! He deliberately buried himself in work. He knew he was ignoring his fatherly duties, but he didn't want to lose the position he had achieved in his business now. Resulting in him being on a lot of foreign trips.

The result was, their kids were mostly taken care by their nanny or their servant HP and his wife.

One good thing that came up in this year however was, Babu Dayal, the man who had offered Aman a position in opposition party was jailed and that party went in a ruckus. Aman eventually stayed where he was but he found himself a new ally, Swara Mehra! Swara, who was much recovered now, had found her voice while Aman was slowly becoming disenchanted with politics. So their friendship found footing with mutual feelings of anger over how politics messed their lives!

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It was one fine day when Swara came home to find her Rani ma and Khushi's babuji discussing the strategy to tackle a new opposition leader as well as handling Malhotras who had become a nuisance in last few months. Arnav and Khushi both were away in different cities for their works, while the kids who were almost an year old now were with their nanny! And hearing how this new business strategies meant Arnav and Khushi would be eventually at the forefront to fight these wars, made Swara flip.

"Wow! Congratulations Rani Ma! You have successfully made Arnav and Khushi just like you! They can't see beyond power and crown, just like you! They too can ignore their kids." Swara taunted Rani Mehra, while Aman too had followed her.

"They are born as prince and princess, Swara. Including you. Even if you want or not, this is their destiny." Rani ma answered calmly, still going over the file she was looking at.

"Exactly. Raja banana aasan nahi hota, kurbani deni padti hain. Hamare bacche kab bade hue humein pata bhi nahi chala (It's not easy to be a ruler, you need sacrifices. When did our kids grow up, we never realized)." Shashi added

"And yet you are not stopping them? Why sir?" Aman dared to ask.

"Aman, since I considered you as my student, I will answer this. This is how their life is Aman, Khushi is a queen and a queen has responsibility of her kingdom's livelihood as well as protecting her throne. And Arnav has responsibility of the business, he can't sit at home worrying about only his family. A king or a queen doesn't have that choice. You are saying so now, but if you were born in a family like theirs, you'd have done exact same things, they did." Shashi said getting up, indicating they were dismissed. Aman and swara looked at each other, knowing they will never be able to change anything.

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"I am leaving, Swara. I can't do this anymore. If I stay here longer, I will lose myself." Aman told Swara the next day, as she had tears in her eyes. Aman had become a very good friend for her. Probably her only friend.

"I have emailed Khushi and I will call her tonight. She will understand. But if you ever need me, remember I will be a call away. take care." saying so, Aman left.

The last Swara heard, he had become a professor in Delhi university.

--*--

Days passed by. And soon, a day came in arnav and Khushi's lives that changed them forever...

It was a day when Arnav and Khushi who had returned from one of their business tours, stood shocked, as Vanshika called, 'ma' and 'baba' which was not meant for them, but their servant HP and his wife!

To their horror, when they tried to reach to her, she hid behind HP's wife, while Veer started crying, as his own parents had become strangers to him...

And that broke something inside their hearts.
That did the trick what nothing else did.
That broke the iron lock on their hearts, melted the ice, thawed frozen feelings.

It was as if they realized, if they lost this battle now, they will never win anything else. With that new realization in their eyes, they looked at each other, for the first time, not as rivals, nor as ex-lovers, but as their kids' parents.

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They reached their bedroom which had become one over last year albeit mostly unused.

And as soon as they reached there, Khushi broke down. A tightly held dam on her feelings finally let lose...it was a mother who was weeping, not a strong Queen!

And seeing her like that, Arnav too let his tears fall. He too needed this, to let go of his carefully held emotions.

"That's why I didn't want to come into politics Arnav. It leaves you destroyed and empty. It brings an inner demon within you. And I feared that." she said in between the hiccups. "You saw it right? I have lost everything....everything..." she hid her face in her palms, crying, and Arnav finally embraced her in his arms. The embrace was real, with all the love he had for her and his family! The love that had gone into hiding over last 2 years, resurfaced and this time, he decided to not let it go.

"Hear me out, Khushi." he took a deep breath, and continued, "I know I have wronged you, I know what I did with you in the past was horrible thing to do to someone who had left her entire world for me and I deserve losing respect after how I broke your trust. And I know that is what somewhere led you into politics. But this is also true that I am not that man any more Khushi, and maybe that's why I have got strength to say this, -I am sorry Khushi." he said as she looked up, it was a long due apology, and it healed something inside her."
"I am sorry for what I did all those years ago, for breaking your heart and trust." he said amidst tears of love and regret and she hid herself in his arms again. "But this is also true that I love you. I love you a lot...you said love is respect, and I have found that for you. not just now, but when you didn't lose strength after what I did to you, after Swayam's death, after our marriage, and after successfully defending your throne for 4 years! You are not a loser Khushi. You are a strong ruler and even stronger mother! If you decide, you can correct this too." he said, caressing her hair. And saying this finally left a burden from his chest which he had been carrying all these years.

His words gave her strength and she realized, she found what she was looking for in his eyes, all these years, honesty!

"Take me away, Arnav, take us away." Khushi said, wrapping her arms around him. He didn't need to be told twice.

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Next day, both of them approached Rani ma and Shashi at the same time,

"I want to resign..." they both said together, holding hands.

"Is this a joke?" Rani ma asked, "I didn't make so many sacrifices to see my kids throwing everything away."

"Exactly. You both don't have any value of what you have got, as you have got it ready made" Shashi too agreed with rani.

"Exactly. But I won't let you both ruin my years of hard work. Khushi, don't forget I made you what you are today and Arnav, you had lost everything when I took you under my wings and gave you such a high position. you both owe me-"

"Our lives? Is that what we owe you Rani Mehra? We don't care, We want to go and we will go." Arnav said determinedly. he really didn't care anything anymore, except khushi and his kids.

Rani didn't expect him to retort like that. And for a few minutes, no one said a thing.

"Fine. You can leave if you want. but leave Veer and Vanshika behind. They won't grow up as beggars just because their parent decided to throw away the palace!" Shashi Gupta said much to Khushi's anger.

"Enough." came Khushi's strong voice, "listen to me. You both made me this, a ruler, a queen and I am thankful to you for giving me the kingdom, the freedom and the power I never knew I had. But I have learnt a lesson, the battle between heart and throne is eternal, it was here from thousands of years ago and it will be here until manpower exists, it will need someone to rule them, and thus people will have thirst for power. Everyone has their own priorities in this game. But for us, hearts of my kids are much above any throne! Please let me go."

Rani and Shashi both became quiet after that.

Soon Arnav and Khushi loaded their bags in a taxi with their peacefully sleeping Veer and Vanshika in their arms. This was their new battle, to win their kids back. And they both were determined to make sure victory was theirs.

They settled in the backseat of the car.

"Where are we going Arnav? You never told me." khushi asked laying her head on his shoulder.

"It was a surprise, but anyway, even I can't hide it anymore to see your reaction. We are going to Kasauli." he said, much to her surprise and heard her gasp.

"My nanihal(mother's parents place)! how did you know?" she asked, raising her head, searching in his eyes. Kasauli held too many memories of her and her mother.

"I had done research on you." he said earning a slap on his shoulder and she against rested her head there.

"Welcome to our new lives, Khushi!" Arnav said kissing her forehead and they started their new journey, together.

--*--

A/N – Yup. This is it folks! Please let me know if you all liked it. Stay tuned to know answers to the questions, what happened to Swara, will Arnav ever tell her he is Rani Mehra's biological son, how did Rani and Shashi let them go easily, will Arvind come back? Otherwise, this is their happy end.:)

Thanks for all the love on H.O.T., I am very grateful 😇 Don't forget to share your votes and thoughts on this one too.