Silent Whispers
-CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT-
The Owner
"Namaste Khushiji!"
"Hey H.P. ... Is Arnav here? Or did he already leave?"
"Bhaiyya is getting ready upstairs."
"Okay, thanks!"
It was evening time in the bustling city of Delhi, a day after the successful Sangeet night of Shyam and Anjali. Khushi had just arrived at Shantivaan, smirking to herself at all the ideas running through her head and not to mention Arnav's reaction once he heard them all. Following the loyal Hari Prakash's words, she swiftly went up the stairs, past the main hallway, straight to the room she had long ago mistaken to be Akash's.
And thank god she did.
Khushi couldn't imagine what things would have been like if she hadn'taccidentally kissed Arnav on her birthday that night. Would he have been just as curious to hire her as his intern? Would he have paid the same extra attention to her all those late nights in the office?
All those questions fled her mind however, when she spotted the man himself. Completely bare, save for a towel loosely hugging his waist, Arnav stood facing his wall sized closet, clearly confused on what to wear. It seemed as if he had just stepped out of the shower.
Grinning to herself, she cleared her throat. "It doesn't matter you know. I am not going to be there, so you can wear anything... it won't count."
Arnav whipped around, shocked. "When did you get here?!" he asked, slightly flustered.
"Just long enough to see you look really good with wet hair," she replied, marching into his room like she owned every bit of it.
He suppressed a smile. "How about why you are here?"
"What does it look like?" she asked, stopping a few feet from him and spreading her arms out to display the obnoxiously low cut black dress she was wearing.
She had the satisfaction of watching his eyes widen in astonishment.
"Are you planning to come to the bachelor party with me?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
She smirked. "You wish. But because this is the twenty-first century and guys are not supposed to have all the fun, I decided to throw Anjali a bachelorette party."
For a split second, it was almost as if Arnav was going to refuse flat out. Khushi could see it in his eyes as he considered the idea of her staying out late dressed in barely anything. But to her utter surprise, he shrugged uncaringly and turned back to his closet.
She couldn't believe her eyes.
"Are you not even worried?" she asked when he continued swifting through his clothes.
"Why would I be? As you said, this is the twenty-first century. You are allowed to have as much fun as any other man. Literally and figuratively."
Her shoulders fell in disappointment. So much for trying to irk him, just like how he did her yesterday.
"Wear the white shirt," she finally said, sulking. "With the blue blazer."
Arnav glanced at her. "Considering a career in fashion?"
She rolled her eyes and flopped down on the recliner nearby. "No. I simply did a PhD on you."
He ignored her comment and continued browsing through the hangers. She gritted her teeth, knowing full well that he was throwing her a cold shoulder on purpose. He hadn't forgiven her for their argument last night, even after she had called truce.
It was frustrating to say the least.
Her phone buzzed with an incoming call from Anjali. Having no other choice, she stood up to leave.
"We are gonna leave," she said gloomily.
Arnav simply nodded.
It was all suddenly too much. His ignorance, his attitude, his coldness; it hit her too hard. So throwing away all her shackles, Khushi hugged him tight, burying her head in the nape of his neck and letting the fresh scent of his cologne consume her.
She knew she had caught him unexpected, for his arms had instinctively closed around her. However, much too soon, he let them drop, forcing her to look up into his curious stare.
"No strippers," she mumbled, stepping away from his embrace.
Arnav raised his eyebrows, confused.
"I don't care if this is the twenty-first century," she continued, biting her lip. "But you better come home without a bloody hook-up."
And without waiting for his reply, she turned away and marched out of the room. She looked over her shoulder for one last time, when she saw him pulling out the same white shirt and blue blazer she picked out.
* * *
"If I didn't know better, I would say you were planning your escape."
Arnav looked up, startled to hear a voice break through his reverie. It was long since the sun had set, throwing his farmhouse in Agra in the shadows to welcome a serene night. While all his buddies were joking around a barbeque in the backyard, he had drifted to the quiet pool in one corner of the house and settled himself on the ledge, the cool water tickling his feet. He had been so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even notice the approaching figure of Shyam.
"Thanks," Arnav muttered, taking the bottle of beer he was handed. "And no, I wasn't going to leave. I was just thinking about the wedding."
Shyam settled down next to him. "Yours or mine?"
Arnav snorted. "Do you seriously think your sister will ever agree to marry me?"
"Well," Shyam answered, suddenly serious. "That depends on what you consider as agreement."
"What do you mean?"
"It's obvious, isn't it? She is never going to step up and accept that she loves you. Even if she knows it, she will never say it. But if you know her, like I do, and watch her, then you might as well get married with me in two days time."
"I do know her... which is why I am saying marriage is not how this will end."
"You are kidding, right?" Shyam asked, slightly incredulous. When Arnav didn't reply, however, he let out an exasperated sigh. "The sun doesn't rise until you wish her good morning, sleep doesn't come until you have said the last word... you don't know her as well as you think you do if you don't see that she really can't function without you."
Arnav took a swing of his beer, choosing not to respond to that.
"What's this really about?" Shyam asked, patient. "You didn't plan this bachelor party to come sit out here alone and neither did Meeti plan Anjali's bachelorette party out of the goodness of her heart."
He snorted, remembering Khushi's orders from earlier that evening.
"What? Did I say something funny?"
Arnav shook his head. "No... Your Meeti planned a bachelorette party to get back at me. I may have mislead her to think that we invited strippers today."
Shyam burst out laughing. "Strippers? And she believed you?"
"Apparently."
"She is crazy," Shyam replied, shaking his head. "So is that what you two were fighting about during the sangeet yesterday?"
Arnav sighed, all humor gone. It seemed Shyam wasn't going to let the topic divert.
"You don't let anything slip do you?"
Shyam grinned. "Not when it's about Meeti."
"Then you are not going to like what I have to say."
"Try me."
Arnav took a deep breath, knowing it was pointless to evade the questions any longer. "She doesn't trust me."
"She doesn't trust anyone."
"But she has to trust me... She can't love me and go out with me and not stay with me."
"Why do you think she doesn't want to stay with you?"
"Because it's obvious," Arnav muttered, looking across the darkened pool. "She is always preparing to run... No matter how good of a time she has with me, no matter how much I prove to her that what we have is real and permanent, at the back of her head she's always thinking about what to do if all of it fails... I can see it every time she is in front of me."
Shyam listened patiently.
"And I don't want that," Arnav finished. "Because how can we ever start a life if she always has one foot out the door? She can't have both me and her fears. It's either one or the other."
The roar of distant laughter suddenly filled the air; their friend's were joking about something in another world altogether. Arnav vaguely wondered what could possibly be so funny.
"You know sometimes I can't help but wonder if all of this is just one big lie," he murmured, watching the still water. "One big misconception. She hates absolutely everything about being a relationship, so why am I kidding myself into thinking that she will be okay being in a relationship with me? Why am I any different from all the other boyfriends she had in the past? She can break up with me just as easily as she broke up with them. It's just that she hasn't gotten an excuse to yet."
Shyam remained mum.
"Don't get me wrong," Arnav continued, misunderstanding his quietness. "I always knew what I was walking into. She never lied to me about who she was or what she wanted... it's just... I don't want it to be so easy. I don't want it to be so easy for her to walk away from this, to give up on me. Is... is that too much to ask?"
Silence followed his question. As the placid night droned on, Arnav grew more and more confident that he wasn't going to get an answer; after all they were talking about Khushi.
To his astonishment, Shyam finally spoke. "No... no, it's not too much to ask."
Arnav stared, bewildered.
"I know Meeti Arnav," he said, seeming to understand his surprise. "She is determined, cold -with some exceptions of course- and just stubborn. You may know why she is like that, but I know that doesn't make it any easier to accept."
Arnav looked away, having no idea where the conversation was headed.
"In the beginning it's sympathy," Shyam continued, almost in a detached voice. "We feel sorry for her, try to comfort her, give her anything she wants. And then slowly it becomes an adjustment. But eventually, it will end up being a burden."
Arnav listened intently.
"So, I won't blame you if you want out. Because I did."
A weighty silence followed his words. The wind shifted its direction and the leaves rustled in the background, but all Arnav could hear was Shyam.
"She is a lot like my mother," Shyam said with a small smile. "But I don't think anyone saw it except for me. When my father left, my mother was adamant about getting him back. She didn't care what it would cost her, and more importantly us... She always got what she wanted. There was no room to consider other options.
So, when she repeatedly tried to kill herself -mostly to get my father to pay some attention to her- I did nothing but watch. Because I sympathized with her, with her pain. My father, regardless of what he is, was the love of her life. Her entire life was about him, so I knew it wouldn't be easy giving that up. But as I got older, I realized I had adjusted my life to accommodate her choices. I chose a profession that paid the hospital bills, a job that didn't take me far from home... I lived a life that always kept me chained to her. And when I got even older, I realized it became a burden that I was tired of carrying.
Sometimes I wonder if that's the reason I didn't object when she refused treatment for her cancer. A part of me was exhausted from taking care of her and somewhere I might have wished for all of it to just end. Don't get me wrong...I love her, I miss her, I grieve for her... but I am also relieved. Relieved that I no longer have to worry every time I go out of town for two days, that I don't have to dread picking up Jaya's phone, hoping it's not another ambulance call, that I can go out and not panic about what's going on at home... I am incredibly relieved.
You must be thinking I am the worst son in the history of this world, and maybe I am... but my point is - what is my sister to you? If she is the love of your life, then you have everything you want. If she is a burden..."
Shyam trailed off, letting the silence of the night to once again settle in between them. It was Arnav who spoke next:
"If I do that, if I leave her, do you think it will make any difference to her?"
Shyam smiled. "I know it will... because I have never ever seen her as restless as she has been these past two days."
Arnav was touched to hear that, and more so to hear it from Shyam.
"You realize you have just given me permission to break up with your sister, right?" he asked with a small grin, changing the topic.
Shyam chuckled. "No, I have given my best man the best advice I could. Tomorrow I will go back to being my sister's brother."
* * *
The rest of the chapter is continued below! The update was too long to fit on one post 
So, without much delay, here is the next chapter: 
Comments (11)
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Jai Shri Ram @SoniRita
+ 32
7 months ago
ASR wants Khushi to trust him, that is all he wants aww ❤️ loved ASR Shyam convo.
Jai Shri Ram @SoniRita
+ 32
7 months ago
Gosh Shyam is so so strong, he went through so much but yet he was able to move on unlike Khushi.
coderlady @coderlady
+ 8
1 years ago
Shyam has seen a lot in his life. He lived though so much.
Jai Shri Ram @SoniRita
+ 32
1 years ago
Asr n shyam convo was too good. They know khushi so well.
MorallyGrey @WildestDreams
+ 32
1 years ago
Ahh…this is way short of a chapter! But beautifully written!👏🏼