Ariya FF There Has To Be Something More (Part 13b added) - Page 5

Part 9

Dadi stopped and glared at Khushi. She was about to say something when Arnav stood up and blocked Khushi. Dadi looked shocked but just walked to her room. Arnav looked at Khushi and noticed her upset face. He knew she wasn't going to let anyone know she was hurt and sure enough she started acting happy. "Accha toh ab humein settle hona chahiye. Hum sab ko office jaana hai. (Okay so we should all get settled. We all need to go to office too.)" Everyone realized the truth in her words and quickly got their stuff and started asking about rooms, bathrooms, and everything.

Khushi noticed something on Arjun and started laughing. "Kya hua Khushi? Kyun hans rahi ho? (What happened? Why are you laughing?)" Chotu looked at her confused. Arnav turned to look at Chotu and was surprised to see the size of the jolly sounding man up close who was now amusedly staring the the hysterical Khushi and the irritated Arjun. "Chotu, Khushi hamesha se aisi hi paagal hai. (Khushi has always been crazy like this.)" Arnav smirked and waited for Khushi's reaction. "Haw!" Khushi started to hit Arnav playfully with her mouth forming an "O" but she looked at him and stopped. Arnav started to wonder why she was behaving so formally with him.

"Waise Arjunji. Aap ne mujhe bataaya nahin ke aapko makeup lagane ka shauk hai. Hum share kar lete. (By the way. You never told me you like wearing makeup. We could have shared.)" Khushi spoke teasingly. "Kya bakwas kar rahi ho Khushi? (What nonsense are you saying Khushi?)" Arjun snapped at her much to the chagrin of Arnav. Khushi, though, quickly pulled out her mirror from her purse and held it up to Arjun. Suddenly, everyone noticed the red lipstick mark on Arjun's neck. Arjun shot a violent look at Riya who looked away nervously, biting back laughter. Riya quickly walked away towards her room and everyone else burst out laughing at Arjun. Everyone received a death glare before Arjun stalked off.

Arjun and Rathod still couldn't go two minutes without fighting with each other so Arjun and Shree were sharing a room as were Rathod and Chotu. Arjun was in the bathroom in his room, remembering Riya's lips hitting his neck, when he heard Shree entering the room and quickly washed the mark off. Rathod was sitting in his room, remembering the accursed wedding time when he ran off and regretting how he must have made Anjali feel. He never had imagined his past would enter back into his life like this. Chotu walked in whistling and Rathod snapped out of his reverie.

Arnav checked on both of the rooms with the men to see if everything was okay. Then, he walked into Riya's room to see if she was comfortable. He saw Khushi unpacking her suitcase. "Tum kya kar rahi ho? (What are you doing?)" Arnav was confused. "Apna saaman rakh rahi hoon? (Keeping my stuff?)" Khushi was equally as baffled by his question. He looked at her expectantly until it hit her that he was expecting her to move back in their room. She looked at him but then remembered her getting shot and finding out her baby was dead. She knew he didn't know and that she should have told him but she couldn't afford his anger getting in the way of her revenge. She looked down and Arnav's anger flared up. He walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Khushi flinched and quickly blinked her eyes so she wouldn't cry as Riya watched out sadly from the bathroom.

The ETF team left for their office. The day went by slowly for them and Arnav, who had meetings and couldn't even concentrate from worrying about Khushi. Riya and Khushi were stuck doing paperwork. Shree worked on some new software and Chotu spent the day in the gym. Rathod was acting like a lost soul for some reason and Arjun never left a chance to comment on his changed behavior. Shree told them that Arnav informed him that Shyam was on trip and was going to return the next night. The day was finally over and Arnav and the ETF team pulled up at Shantivan at the same time.

They all entered together and walked towards the dining table to eat. Khushi felt odd not making anything in the kitchen but thought it wouldn't go down well with anyone besides Arnav. NK, Payal, and Akash were out of town too. Anjali, Nani, Mami sat down and Dadi had refused to sit with them at the table. Everyone was served food except Khushi. "Tumhara khaana wahan servants ke paas pada hai. Jahan tumhe hona chahiye. (Your food is with the servants. Where you belong.)" Anjali smirked at Khushi who tried to stare right back. "Agar Khushi Di ko khaane ka koi haq nahin, toh humara haq bilkul bhi nahin banta. (If Khushi Di doesn't have the right to have the food, then we definitely don't have that right.)" Riya defiantly looked at Anjali and pushed her food away. Rathod, Shree, and even ever-hungry Chotu followed suit along with Arjun, after much contemplation. Arnav finally fed Khushi with his own hands and glared at Anjali with hurt in his eyes while Khushi just stared at him. Anjali walked off and Khushi ran to the poolside. Everyone excused themselves one-by-one and Arnav went after Khushi.

Khushi was staring at the stars and crying. Arnav came up and hugged her from behind. "Yeh tumhara modern look kaafi suit karta hai tumhe. (Your new modern look really suits you.)" Arnav nuzzled her bare nack that used to always be covered by her dupatta. "Pata nahin main tumhare bina yeh pichle 6 mahine kaise kaat raha tha. (I have no idea how these past 6 months passed without you)" Arnav hugged her tighter. "Humein wapas nahin aana chahiye tha. (I shouldn't have come back)" Khushi looked lost and just whipered. "What the? Kya kaha tumne? (What did you way?)" Arnav pulled her to face him and it took all his self-control to not grab her shoulders and shake her. "Humare wapas aane se hi aapke saare rishte bikhar rahe hain. (Your relationships are suffering because of me.)" Khushi couldn't bear to look at Arnav after making him be rude with Anjali. "Are you mad Khushi Kumari Gupta Singh Raizada?! Main Di se tab se naraz hoon jab se tum gayi thi! Tumhare jaane se main phirse woh pehla wala ASR ban gaya tha. Ab main Arnav hoon. Tumhara Arnav. (I am mad at Di ever since you left the house. After you left I became that old ASR again. Now I'm Arnav. Your Arnav.)" Arnav pulled her closer to him and she looked up with teary eyes. Arnav leaned in and kissed her tears as her breathing increased. Their proximity left each other just as affected as it always had. He slowly made his kisses go down to her neck. She closed her eyes and he looked up at her parted lips. Arnav pushed Khushi's hair out of her face and leaned in.

Riya had just gotten out of the shower. She wore a simple white patiala suit to go to sleep. Her hair was wet and dripping on her face and neck. She danced to the music playing on her iPod unaware of someone staring at her from the doorway. She looked into the mirror and spun around shocked. Her hair sprayed water onto Arjun's face and got stuck acrosse her face. Arjun noticed how pretty Riya looked even at night with no makeup on. Her face was glowing the moonlight and he could see every drop of water on her neck glisten. Arjun stared at her, walked towards her slowly, and then pushed her hair out of her face. Riya, who's eyes were closed from her hair hitting her face, looked at Arjun confused, when he snapped back into attention. "Agar tumhara yeh naach gaana khatam ho gaya hai toh hum sab Rathod ke room mein kuch discuss karne ke liye jaana hai, Khushi ke bina. (If your singing and dancing is over, we need to go to Rathod's room to discuss something, without Khushi.)"

Precap: None

Part 10

Riya looked down embarrased and shuffled behind Arjun to Rathod's room. Shree and Chotu were waiting on the bed, wearing bunny pajamas when Riya walked in and nearly collapsed with laughter. Shree and Chotu looked at her angrily and were about to retort when they saw Arjun walk in behind Riya. He glared at all three of them and they all silenced and stayed that way waiting for Rathod to come out from the bathroom. Rathod, surprisingly, burst out into laughter seeing the two boys and their matching kidish pajamas. Arjun looked at him, lost, as if he was remembering something but soon shook his head to snap out of it. Meanwhile, everyone else was laughing and rolling around on the bed and floor grabbing their stomachs and wiping their tears.

"Okay guys. Hum log hasne ke liye nahin aaye hain. Maine ek special meeting bulaayi hai. (We havent come here to laugh. I have called a special meeting.)" Rathod quickly composed himself and got into his typical "business mode." "Phir humne Khushi Di ko kyun nahin bulaaya? (Then why didnt we call Khushi?)" Riya felt confused since she thought everyone had accepted that Khushi was a very able officer and should be treated the same as all of them older and more trained officers. "Khushi ke baare mein hi discuss kar rahe hain. Tumne notice kiya ke Khushi Arnav se bahut door reh rahi hai? (We have to discuss about Khushi. Have you noticed that Khushi is staying away from Arnav?)" Chotu answered and started the discussion, knowing about Rathod's plans, which was about the only benefit of sharing a room with his scary, overbearing boss. "Haan. Aaj subah woh Arnav se aise behave kar rahi thi jaise woh iss ghar mein mehmaan hai. Woh toh apne kamre mein bhi wapas nahin jaa rahi. Mere hi saath kamra share kar rahi hai. Aap sab ko Arnav ki shakaal dehkni chahiye thi. Ghusse mein hi office chala gaya tha. (Yea. This morning she was acting like she was guest in the house in front of Arnav. She's not even going back to her old room. She's sharing the room with me. You all should have seen Arnav's face. He went to his office pretty mad.)" Riya was relieved that the meeting had nothing to do with Khushi's officer abilities and that she could vent out the worry she had been feeling all day. She knew that between her and her team, they would be able to think of something to bring Arnav and Khushi back together the way she had heard they had been, from Khushi.

"Ho sakta hai ke yeh sab bachche ke wajeh se ho raha hai. Doctor ne kaha tha ke kyun ki Khushi itni jaldi shock se nikal gayi, shayad usse der lage mentally ready hone ke liye kuch physical relationship se. (This could be because of the baby. The doctor had said that because Khushi got over the shock so quickly, she might take a little longer to mentally be ready again for a physical relationship.)" Rathod quickly recalled and reminded everyone of the doctor's warning to them when they had decided to start her training right after she had physically healed from her wounds. "Lekin Khushi ne bachche khone ki baat hi nahin ki. Usne toh Riya ko kehne se rok diya tha. Aur che mahine ke baad, Khushi ko heavily pregnant hona chahiye tha. Toh Arnav ko kaise nahin pata ke bachche ke baare mein kya kya hua? Unless... Khushi ne Arnav ko apne pregnancy ke baare mein bhi nahin bataaya... (But Khushi never mentioned losing her child here. She even stopped Riya from mentioning it. And after six months, Khusshi should have been heavily pregnant. So how did Arnav not notice about the child. Unless... Khushi didnt tell Arnav about the pregnancy either...)" Shree brought the obvious point up and everyone sat down to wondering what the reason could be for Khushi hiding her pregnancy from Arnav and her family. They all decided they would ask Khushi later along with the fact that she had been kicked out of the house, since Rathod remembered her mentioning that in the morning to Anjali as well. "Toh... (So...)" Riya started to speak up. "Hum kyun uss ki personal life mein interfere kar rahe hain agar yeh case se relate nahin karta? (Why are we interfering in her personal life if it has nothing to do with the case?)" Arjun scolded all of them remembering how much he hated it when people looked into his life. He didnt want to be called a hypocrite for keeping people out of his life and then looking into someone else's.

"Kyun ki hum sab aap ki tarah patthar dil nahin hai SIR! Hum sab ko Khushi ki parwa hai. Hum chahte hain woh khush rahe. (Because we arent stone-hearted like you SIR! We all care for Khushi. We want her to be happy.)" Riya spoke deliberately and with great annoyance. She had enough of Arjun's attitude. If by now he couldnt realize that everyone considered Khushi to be family then he was definitely not 1/4 as bright as anyone gavehim credit for. Arjun stared at her grimly and for once Riya glared right back. After secretly admiring Riya's peformance, Rathod quickly intervened and told everyone that anybody who wanted to help could and noone was going to be forced into it. Arjun started to walk out when he realized he was the only one. He sighed and walked back into the room.

"Accha toh ab kya karna hai? (Okay so what should we do?)" Rathod smiled slightly at seeing Arjun return and started planning. "Arnav ko Khushi ka sach bata de? Ke woh pregnant thi? Shayad Arnav kuch kar paye agar usse pata ke Khushi exactly upset kyun hai. (Tell Arnav Khushi's truth? That she was pregnant? Maybe Arnav will be able to do something if he knows exactly why she's upset.)" Shree thought this was obvious and personally felt that Arnav needed to know as soon as possible. "Nahin Shree. Woh bata kar humein koi misunderstanding nahin create karna hai. Khushi Di ko khud jab batana hoga woh bata degi. (No Shree. We don't want to create any misunderstandings by telling. When Khushi will want to tell she will tell)" Riya knew from experience how hard it was in maintaining a relationship and she didn't want to risk any problems in Khushi's marital life. "Humein un dono ko kareeb rehne par majboor karna hoga. Aur dono ko hamesha yaad dilaana padega ke woh pati patni hai. Aur Anjali par nazar rakhna hoga kyunki woh toh definitely rukawat ban sakti hai. (We have to force them to stay close. And we have to constantly remind them that they are husband and wife. And we have to keep an eye on Anjali because she will definitely be a hindrance.)"

Everyone's mouths were wide open after hearing Arjun give his idea except Rathod. Rathod remembered the time in college he liked a girl Aisha. She was pretty popular in the college and since this was after he had left home, Rathod had always been studious. Arjun, who was his best friend at the time, had made a plan to bring Aisha closer to Rathod and of course, it had worked. That is until everything went sour between them and Rathod lost interest in having a love life.

Rathod snapped back into present time where the rest of the team just stared at Arjun, who was smirking ever-so-slightly. "Err… Toh theek hai. Kal se 'Mission Arhi' shuru. (Err… So okay. 'Mission Arhi' starts tomorrow.)" Riya grinned at the idea of bringing two people who loved each other together considering her past. But, she didn't want to think about such bad things at a happy moment where she was going to bring happiness back into the life of her best friend. She wiped a small tear from the corner of her to see that the men were looking at her like she was crazy. "Arhi?" Arjun and Rathod looked at her with exasperated expressions while Chotu and Shree looked as blank as a clean chalkboard. "Yea! Arnav + Khushi = Arhi?" Riya looked just as exasperated with them and walked out with a flip of her hair. The guys just glanced at each other, shook their heads, and thought, "Girls."

Arnav leaned in to kiss Khushi. Khushi closed her eyes. She saw a van come up to her and a masked man holding a gun straight at her stomach. She saw the hospital room and the nurse telling her that her child is no more. Khushi's eyes shot open and she pushed Arnav away. Arnav looked at her in shock which then turned into anger. "Nahin Arnavji! Hum yeh nahin kar sakte hain! (No Arnavji. I cant do this!)" Khushi felt like she wasn't ready for physical intimacy after her child died and after staying away from Arnav for so long. "What the?! Khushi tum meri patni ho! (Khushi you are my wife!)" Arnav screamed at her and grabbed her shoulders. "Pata hai par bahut kuch hua hai inn pichle che mahinon mein. Humein thoda waqt chahiye. (I know but a lot has happened in these past 6 months. I need some time.)" Khushi the officer quickly brushed off his hands to his hidden amazement and Khushi the wife sqeezed his arm reassuringly before walking away to Riya's room, noticing she couldn't even consider it her own room in her thoughts.

During the night, Khushi and Arnav stood in their respective rooms and looked at the stars. "Amma. Babuji. Humein pata hai ke humne Arnavji ka dil dukhaaya hai. Humein bhi bahut dard ho raha hai. Lekin humein waqt chahiye. Sab pehle jaisa nahin hai aur main jaanti hoon ke agar maine Arnavji ko Shyam aur bachche ke baare mein batadiya, woh ghusse mein humse humare badle lene ka mauka le lenge. Pehle yeh saara Shyam ka case khatam ho jaane do phir hum unhe samjha denge. (I know that I've hurt Arnav. I'm hurting too. But I need time. Nothing is like it used to be and I know if I tell Arnav about Shyam and my child, then in anger he'll take my chance to take revenge. First let this Shyam case pass and I'll make him understand.)" Khushi spoke to her parents in the stars who seemed to lack luster that night and cried to herself.

Mann jaage saari raat tera deewana

Arnav sat on his chair by the poolside of his room with his laptop open. But, instead of working, he was looking at pictures of him and Khushi. He was looking at pictures from Payal and Akash's wedding. He remembered all that had happened because of Shyam during that time and how he had been stupid enough to blame it on Khushi. He forced her to marry him and deep down he knew it wasn't just to save his Di. He couldn't handle imagining Khushi with anyone else but in his selfishness he had ruined Khushi's life. He remembered her coming and sitting in front of him, after confronting the family, broken, and telling him that she had been orphaned again because her family left her. She had endured way too much because of him. Yet, she forgave him so easily.

Mann maane na yeh baat ke woh tha begaana

Arnav went through some more pictures until he came to one from Raksha Bandhan. He smiled thinking about how Khushi was the reason he wore a kurta pajama for the first time ever. He never even listened to his mother as much as he did his Khushi. Then, he saw pictures of his and Khushi's mehndi and Anjali's godh bharai. He recalled all those moments where his Di lost her child and Khushi came and comforted him. Anjali stubbornly kept on wanting Shyam back in the house, not trusting her Chote. Khushi, knowing she was bringing back the man who had his dirty eyes on her, brought back Shyam just for Anjali. Then, Shyam was the one who got Khushi kicked out of the house by brainwashing Anjali. All because Khushi cared about his Di more than herself. Arnav thought of all he had done to Khushi for his Di when in reality his Di chose her spouse over her Chote. Arnav knew his Di was dependant on Shyam but he now realized he couldn't hurt his Khushi for her anymore. He saw a picture from his and Khushi's wedding and regretted how little that their happiness lasted.

Hai khud se hi khafa khafa, kya chahiye nahin pata

Arnav thought about how much Khush had suffered and how he had to guts to still blame her for keeping distance from him. She had the right to be a little uncomfortable with him after 6 months of seperation and like always he let his temper get hold of him. Arnav broke the glass in his hand, glass shattering everywhere.

Khushi, looking out the windowsill, punched the pillow sitting there. She knew it wasn't Arnav's fault that any of this happened and she knew he would blame himself once he found out everything. She told him to let her leave the house though, for their Di's happiness. But the guilt was eating Khushi, knowing that she had kept the child secret from Arnav. What could she have done though? She found out for sure of the pregnancy the day her world turned upside down and she had to leave her Arnavji.

Paaya jo na chaaha, chaaha woh na paaya, jiske peeche bhaage woh saaya hai re saaya

Arnav squeezed his hand into a fist in frustration and blood dripped onto the ground. He decided the give Khushi her space and rebuild their relationship.

Kya kya raste dhoonde, kya kya dukh na paaye, par saaye tehere saaye ke haathon mein na aaye

Khushi imagined how life would have been different for Arnav and her if somethings had been different in their lives. But, now she had to expose Shyam for good and gain her relationship back with her Arnavji and her family.

Precap:

"Khushi, kya hum dost ban sake hain? Waise bhi, aise shuru karke hum phirse apne rishte ko strong bana sakte hain." Arnav held his hand out to Khushi.

"Yes! Our plan is working!" Riya screamed and hugged Arjun.