PART 11
A smile is not the one that plays at your lips but it is the one that reflects happiness felt by the heart in the eyes.
Anjali had everything in control. Not once did she let anyone realize how broken she was. The pain clawed inside her, but the smile on her lips did not falter for her Chote. It was his time to experience LOVE and she would no longer be a hindrance. Truly life was like a castle of cards, a gust of wind could tear it down and her dreams had scattered just like the deck of cards. She could not change what had been done by HIM but she would no longer let anything stand in the way of her Chote and Khushi. She would be the protector now, adopt the role her brother had shouldered for so long.
In the darkness, crept all the memories of HIM, the room that they had decorated together, their own small home, reminded of him but the memories did not bring happiness. The flashbacks of three happy years spent together ended with the most vivid picture, Khushi's lifeless body cradled by a broken Arnav.
Tears sprang to her eyes and she tried to muffle her sobs with a pillow but her pain broke through. She cried but not because she had cheated on her, but because she failed to look through his pretenses and her mistake had cost someone else. She cried for the dreams that now haunted her and cried for her nightmares had turned into a reality. Each memory played in her head as a never ending loop of images and each image brought an onslaught of tears.
The house that echoed her laughter, was witnessing her muffled sobs. Her sobs broke through the stillness of the Raizada Mansion startling the one inhabitant; she tried to hide her grief from.
*knock knock*
Anjali tried to calm her nerves and make herself presentable before opening the door. She knew her red eyes and tear stained face was an instant give away but she could do nothing about it.
"Di! I am sleeping in your room today. The AC in my room is not working."
She looked through his excuse in a minute and gave him a weak 'I know you are lying' smile in return. She loved the care he showered on her but today, she had to fight her own demons to strengthen herself.
Arnav pretended to not notice his sister as he made himself comfortable in her room. He knew she was putting up a faade to keep him happy but he had let the scene play till its end. He was not ready to argue with her and make her fighting will crumble. It hurt him to see her so broken but he knew the one person who could infuse life in his sister and make her smile again.
"Di, someone wants to ask you something!"
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Arnav was strolling in the house engrossed in Khushi's hilarious version of how Payal and Akash must have confessed their love when he had heard muffled crying. He did not need to hear it twice to know who it was and it quick strides he rushed to his Di's room. Khushi sensed his distress and he filled her in. She had one request,
"Arnavji, please put the phone on loud speaker."
He had entered his Di's room and let Khushi do the talking after all who could challenge Khushi at her game.
"Who Chote? At this time?" Anjali's voice broke through Arnav's thoughts.
"Bolo..." Arnav said into the phone raising it to his mouth.
"Vo Anjaliji hum hai..." a not so confident Khushi's voice came emanated from the speaker.
"Actually I was curious, how did Jiju propose to Jiji? They barely talk to each other, I cant imagine the whole scene?" an excited Khushi asked.
Anjali narrated the whole falling in love episode of Akash and Payal and then the incident with Khushi and the support that Akash had lent to her family. The story telling had managed to divert Anjali's mind from her past and it was nearly midnight already.
Arnav was just lying on his side of the bed, barely listening to the conversation, comforted in how the two important persons in his life drew comfort in each others presence. He did not notice the topic of conversation drift from Akash but a sudden question had his complete attention.
"Khushiji, how did Chote propose to you?"
He noticed Khushi falling silent and he could imagine a blush creeping up her cheeks making her face glow.
Anajli turned to him a mischievous smile playing on her lips.
"Chote, come one please tell me?"
"I will keep the phone Anjaliji, Jiji is calling." an embarrassed Khushi cut the call while Arnav averted his eyes.
"Di I am tired, lets sleep."
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It was nearly two days since he had last heard Khushi's voice and he ached to hear it again. For the first time in his history of business meetings ASR was not paying attention. He for the first time ever agreed that they were a bore and it was best cut short. He grumbled inwardly as the presenter switched to another slide describing in detail of the current market trend and demand.
It was nearing 8 in the night but the guy was not ready to call it a day. Damn him! It was the second time in 5 minutes that he had cut Khushi's call. What was wrong? Something inside him warned him, she would not have called twice if he had cut the call the first time. Another call from Khushi and his stomach churned.
"Khushi..." he said into the phone after excused himself from the meeting.
"Arnavji... Vo Khushi" Payal's broken voice resounded in his head. Those were the only words required to confirm his growing suspicions and drive upto Khushi's house.
In 12 minutes and three long strides from her house door to her room, he was besides Khushi. The picture in front of him rattled his soul and would haunt him in the coming days.
She lay curled up tears streaming down her cheeks in an endless cascade, a blank look in her eyes and face twisted in a mask of pain.
Payal tried her best to pull Khushi out of her trance but when nothing worked she had called Arnav.
Arnav pulled Khushi in his arms as he sat besides her and tried to break through,
"Khushi" he called several times, his voice rising in volume each time she did not acknowledge it.
"KHUSHI" he cried shaking her by her shoulders dread evident on his face but she did not even glance at him. No flicker of emotion was evident on her face, he did not even know whether she had realized he was there.
Nothing, that was how he felt, his world seemed shrunk at this moment with the images of a broken Khushi.
Giving up he turned to Payal for an explanation. Payal has watched Arnav repeated attempts fail to grab Khushi's attention with increasing fear.
"What happened to her? What is wrong with her?" he asked a coldness enveloping his heart.
"The children in the neighborhood were bursting crackers. The noise of the bomb go startled her and she collapsed. It is nearly 20 minutes but she is not responding."
"The medicines? Where are the medicines?"
"They are over. The doctor has specifically mentioned to not take more than prescribed."
He did not know what to do apart from holding her and comforting her, trying to convince her everything is fine.
Today, he truly understood the magnitude to which Shyam had affected his family. If he were not safely behind bars he would have hunted him down and killed him, a slow painful death to avenge each tear spilled by his Di and Khushi.
He clutched Khushi harder to his chest and muttered "You are safe, he is not coming back. I will never let him hurt you again. Please come back." He said it again and again hoping each time for her to react but nothing. The doctor could heal her bruises but could never make the pain go away.
BOOM!
Another cracker exploded in the air and Khushi stiffened in his arms and her body went cold. He cursed under his breathe and called for Payal, who had left to tend to her father.
"Ask them to stop right now." he said with such authority that Payal heard the treath interlaced, "if they know what is good for them".
She rushed out of the house while Arnav rubbed Khushi's palms trying to warm her and pulled the duvet over them.
Khushi had returned to the place she had locked away so many days ago. She never wanted to visit it again, even in her nightmares. They were too real, too vivid for her to forget, for her to fight and keep her hold onto the present. It was her past, and she tried to tell herself that each time she wandered in but today it was too dark to fight it. The longer she spent in wandering around trying to find the door out the darkness seemed to grow not just around her, but inside her. Hope steadily dimmed inside her As each time she neared the door the room would rotate and she would be lost again. She had to be strong, something inside her commanded her but she could not fight it any longer.
She was Eight years old again, waiting her for her parents to return from their trip. She waited but they did not come, she cried but they did not come, it became dark but they were still missing. She prayed, she starved, she cried, she ran around, she stepped out onto the porch to wait for them, it was cold, but she waited. She waited with each passing hour for eight hours and it slowly became light but a darkness still enveloped her life, her eyes for her parents did not come. The darkness reminded of the wait, an eight hours wait that today had stretched out to become an eternity.
They never did return.
Her world had darkened then, but she had fought. Fought back her destiny and embraced life and lived.
With the bullet, the darkness had returned, it had transformed to become even mire darker if that was possible. At that time, she was numb but today she felt pain, in her shoulder where the bullet had pierced her and that hindered her and dimmed onto the last strands of hope that she clung to and it started to get cold, like that day.
Arnav counted in his head to a hundred nearly hundred times but she did not emerge from the hell that she was flung into. He felt helpless today, he could do nothing to bring her back and he cried. Tears flowed unchecked from his eyes and the grief that enveloped him intensified with each passing minute. He held her in his arms, rocking both of them back and forth trying to comfort her with the same words again and again. He chanted it as a mantra, he promised to never leave her and promised to keep her happy, the worlds happiness and his Life.
Slowly he felt her ease in his arms, her breathing return to normal as her eyes close and drift off to sleep.
At that instant in time nothing could have made him more happy. The best deal, the biggest award, the largest amount of money or the fastest car when in her sleep she whispered his name, "Arnav". A soft whisper, as she cuddled into his chest had his heart thudding, elated and without thinking for the second time, he planted a kiss on her forehead.
Khushi was finally losing hope after an endless battle where the time had ceased to hold any meaning and the darkness enveloped her and surrounded her in a never ending abyss.
At that point in time she heard his voice like before calling her back to him and she she tried. She tired frantically to reach the door but she couldn't and after a long time she gave up the pain to painful and the cold just too cold.
She felt the presence of two people in the darkness even before she saw them and the veil of darkness lifted slightly. Hope burned inside her, as she saw the two people she had searched in vain for from when she had been eight years old.
The held her head, Amma and Bauji at her side, holding her hand and smiling at her like when they went out to the garden.
They lead her to the door leading her ahead as she stood behind her encouraging her to move forward when she reached for the door. This time the room did not spin and she opened the door waiting for them to follow her out but they stayed where they were together hand in hand smiling like they always had.
"Go back to your life, we are always watching over you, over both of you. He loves you and there could never have been anyone better." Amma said and a lone tear escaped her eye looking at her only daughter.
They were gone like they had come at the blink of the eye but she was whole again. No pain could erase the last beautiful memory of her parents, in burnt in her heart as a passion, a talisman.
Ppl hope you like it. I am extremely sorry for a really late update, i guess its been more than two weeks but could not help it. My head has been swimming with this theme but had like mountains of work.
Hope it was worth the wait.
For all the ppl who follow my other SS: A Turning, i will update that soon.
Cheerios,
happy friday.
Pms later
Edited by Devilways - 13 years ago
CID
41