ArHi SS/FF: Time After Time - Pt22 Pg 98 - Page 12

Part 7

Khushi sat in bed looking at Piyush. She watching himself and relaxed her head back onto the bed. She closed her eyes and let her thoughts slip back to that day that changed her life forever.

It was a few days after Payal and Akash's wedding. Khushi had stayed back at the Raizada house at nani's insistence. It would make things easier for Payal to have her sister around and it was too overwhelming for Khushi to go back to her own house and bed without her sister around.

"Hum apse bohut pyar karten hain Arnav-ji[I love you very much Arnav-ji]" she had whispered against his chest. He had stroked her hair and kissed her forehead but said nothing, although there was so much meaning in his words.

Shyam Jha had watched Khushi go into Arnav's bedroom and wondered what she would be doing there. A few minutes later he had seen them kiss passionately through the small crack in the door much to his horror and was about to get in closer, but just then Arnav picked up Khushi in his arms and locked the door in his face.

His mind raced at a million miles per second. HOW DARE HE TOUCH MY KHUSHI. But just as the jealousy had taken over him he realised how he could swiftly use this to his advantage. He walked off with a smirk.

At lunch time Khushi and Arnav had sat next to each other. "Chotey, aap aaj bohut fresh lag rahe hai? Kya baat hai?" Anjali teased as Khushi blushed, unnoticed by everyone except Shyam.

"Woh kya hai na Di, aaj ghar mein bohut Khushi chayi hui hai [Oh, its just that there is a lot more Khushi[happiness] in the air today" smirked Arnav. Khushi blushed an even deeper shade as Arnav slowly let his foot ride up her leg under the table.

"Waise Payal, iss ghar mein tumhari pehli kaam as a Raizada bahu hai ke tum humare Chotey ko pehele shaadi ke liye manao aur phir ek sundar si dulhan dhoond ke lao." Anjali turned to Payal who smiled.[Btw Payal, your first task as a Raizada family daughter-in-law is to convince Chotey to get married and then to find him a beautiful bride]

"Aaj tak hume to nahi pata chala Chotey ko kaisi ladki pasand hai, shayad aap hi yeh azmale." Anjali continued.[To this day even I haven't worked out what kind of girl takes Chotey's fancy]

"So Naanav, what kind of girl do you like?" NK piped in as he helped himself to some daal. Khushi immediately turned to Arnav half expecting him to explode and half wishing he says what she so desperately wanted to hear.

"I like quiet girls. Modern, glamourous, western. Shy. Doesn't like sweets much,because you know I can't eat sweets. Speaks very good English. And doesn't meddle in everything." Arnav smirked as he could sense Khushi boiling next to him. He was going to have fun teasing her.

Khushi's mouth had formed a perfect O. She kicked him hard under the table "OW! Khushi!" he exclaimed and everyone looked at him questioningly. "Oh laga aapko, sorry. Apne angrezi dulhan se kehena aake marham laga degi." [Oh did you get hurt, apologies, ask your English wife to come and put some balm on your sores.] "Angrez chale gaye inhe chor gaye.[the English left and forgot to take you with them] she told the rest of the family and they all laughed. Arnav smiled and held her wrist tightly under the table as she tried her best to free herself.

**

She was waiting in her room for him to come and say sorry. She had been staying in the guest bedroom of the Raizada house. Everyone had retired into their rooms in the afternoon. She stood by the windows muttering under her breath about her khadoos laad governor when she heard the door open and close behind her.

"Agaye aap, sorry bolne? Hum nahi manenge"[you came to say sorry? I am not interested] she was about to turn around when a hand went over her mouth. She tried to scream but in vain. It was an iron grip. Shyam Jha.

She wriggled and pushed in vain. He would not budge "Saali Kutti, mere saale ke saat to bohut aiyashiya loot rahi thi, ab mere baari" [Bloody B***, you were really getting it on with my brother in law, well its my turn now."

He dragged her and pushed her onto the bed and yanked at her dupatta. She scratched at him, flaying her arms, but to no avail.

Just that moment they heard footsteps. Khushi relaxed ever so slightly and Shyam smirked at this. He had left the door open.

He swift turned Khush over so she was lying on top of him and let go of her. Khushi let out a yelp. He put his hands above his hands and Khushi tried to lift her self off. Just then the door opened and Arnav walked in.

"Saale Sahab, Thank god aap agaye! Yeh Dekhiye naa, yeh ladki mere saath." [Thank god you are here, look at this girl she is trying to']

Arnav put his hand up and signalled Shyam to stop. He glowered at Khushi silently asking her to explain herself. "Arnav ji, yeh jhoot bol rahe hai. Yeh humarey mangeter the, aur hume pata nahi tha key eh Anjali ji ki pati hai. Hume aapse keh dena chaiye tha, who humse galti hogai, lekin inhone humari saat zabardasti ki."Khushi had tears streaming down her face. [Arnavji, he is lying. He was my fianc and I didn't know he was Anjalijis husband. I should have told you about it ' that was my mistake. He tried to force himself on me.]

"Achcha, jaha se mei dekh raha tha, Jija ji ne tumhe pakda bhi nahi tha aur tum to unke upar the na, aur awaz" Arnav closed his eyes, he couldn't even bring himself to imagine what he had just seen.[Oh but from where I was standing Jija ji wasn't even holding you and you were on top of him and those sounds.]

"Arnavji, yeh aap kya keh rahe hai, woh to inhone hume, aur hum to chilane wale the,[Arnavji what are you saying? He tried to...and i was about to scream.. ]"Khushi was now very scared at the turn of events. Shyam meanwhile had taken the opportunity to get out of the room and rush to Anjali.

"Hum to yeh kehene gaye the ke hum bazaar ja rahe hai, Khushi ji ko agar kuch chahiye ke nahi. Mehmaan hai, mehmaan jaise rahe, per nahi unhone to humse kuch aur hi umeed kar li thi." He cried to Anjali "Aur Rani sahiba, aap ko to pata hi ke hum apse kitna pyaar karte hai. Yeh ladki ki chalan humse bardasht nahi hoti!" He continued. [I went to ask her if she wanted something from the shops because she is a guest. She should stay as a guest - but no she expected something else from me. And Rani Sahiba, you know how much i love you. I can't stand the way this girl looks at me. ]

Anjali dragged her husband to the guest room and saw Khushi kneeling at her brothers feet begging him to listen.

"Saale Sahib isne to aapke saath bhi kuch aisi waisi ki hogi. Mein kabse dekh raha hoon, iss ghar ke sub mardo per inki nazar hai. NK ke shuru karke, mere saath kya kiya apne to dekh liya hoga." [Saale Sahib, she must have tried something similar with you too. I have been watching her and she has been hitting on all the men of this house, starting with NK and you saw what she was doing to me]

Arnav's fists clenched. His Jija was right. She had so readily given herself to him earlier toda, and there the way she danced with NK at the wedding festivities and now this. "GET UP and GET OUT. TUM EK BAZARU AURAT SE BHI GIRI HUI HO. GET OUT OF MY HOUSE KHUSHI KUMARI GUPTA AND NEVER COME BACK."[you are worse than a wh**e.]

She shivered at his voice and looked up at him, imploring him to understand her, to believe her. He couldn't look into her eyes. He shut his eyes and said "Jija ji, throw this woman out or I am going get physical and I would rather not cross that boundary of decency unless I have to."

Shyam took this golden opportunity to rid himself of the musibat called Khushi. With her gone out of the house and discredited, he could resume his old ways. He dragged her up and pushed her and Khushi came face to face with Anjali. "Anjali-humari yakeen kijiye"[Anjaliji believe me]

Anjali slapped her across the cheek. "Yakeen? Vishwas? Aur tumse? Ek vaishya se? Kya kuch nahi kiya tumhare liye. Aur to aur humari devta jaise Shyam ke upar itni ghinoni arob lagyi tumne? Itne din to humne tumse "aap" keh ke baate karte the, lekin tum is shabd ki haqdar nahi ho. Shyam isse ghar se nikal dijiye." [Believe you? trust you? A wh**e? we did so much for you and you point fingers at my god-like husband?You blamed him for something so despicable? I used to treat you with so much respect but you are not worthy of it. Shyam kick this woman out.]

Shyam dragged a screaming Khushi by her hair across the Raizada house towards the door when Payal had come running."Rukiye, yeh aap kya kar rahe hai." [wait,what are you doing?]

Anjali quickly explained what Khushi had been doing with Shyam. Arnav still stood with his fists clenched and eyes shut. He could hear her whimpers and his heart broke into a thousand pieces. He had finally given himself entirely to a woman and was going to tell her how much he loved her and she turned out to be the biggest betrayal of his life.

"Nahi Di, Khushi," Payal started to explain but was interrupted by Khushi, [No Di, Khushi...]

"Jiji, aap kuch mat boliye. Aap ko meri kasam Hume vishwas ki umeed jinse sab se zyaada thi, usine humari haat sub se pehele choda." [jiji, swear on me you wont say a word. The one person i had expected trust from was the first person to leave my side]

"GET OUT. JIJA JI WHY IS SHE STILL STANDING IN THIS HOUSE?" bellowed Arnav Singh Raizada.

Payal ran to find Akash and cried her heart out to him. He held her tight and said,

"Dekho, I believe you, I don't think Khushi is capable of doing anything like that, lekin is ghar mein Jija-ji ki jo izzat hai aur Di jitna mante hai unhe, koi bhi tumhari yakeen nahi karenge.[jija ji commands a lot of respect in this house and Di believes him so no one will believe you] And Ma doesn't like you yet, tumhari baat koi nahi manenge and I think that's why Khushi told you keep silent. You don't worry, I am going to send NK to look after her. We will get to the bottom of this." Akash explained to Payal and held her through her sobs.

NK had found a distraught Khushi sitting in the temple totally spent from all her tears. He eased himself by the ground next to her and said "I believe you. I don't know why, I don't know how we can prove it ... but I believe you."

She turned to face him and choked through her words, "Nanhe ji, maine kabhi bhi...main to Arnav ji se pyaar karti hu. Aur aaj subha woh humare beech..." her voice trailed off as she broke down in tears again. [Nanheji, i didnt do anything, i really love Arnavji and this morning we even...]

NK held her in an embrace. He walked her to the car and told her he would drop her home. As they reached outside, there was a small crowd outside their home. Cameras flashed everywhere, "Sunna hai yeh ek vaishya ghar hai jo amero ko phasane ki liye ek sundar vaishya apne aap ko bechti hai. Kaha hai who ladki?"[We heard this is a brothel where they try to ensnare the rich and famous. A beautiful wh**e lives here, where is she?] TV Cameras, Newspapers, magazines all crowded outside. Khushi collapsed on her knees as she watched the windows of her house closed. She couldn't go back anymore. They had all been shamed. Arnav Singh Raizada was getting his revenge and there was no way a girl like Khushi could escape.

"Come on Khushi, we can go to Lavanya's. She leaves this evening. You will be safe there." NK took her to Lavanyas and explained everything that happened. Lavanya called up her father who was a Diplomatic official, asking him to arrange for paperwork swiftly. Lavanya knew Arnav Singh Raizada well enough to know that he would not leave any stone unturned to ruin this girls life. She had no chance of living in Delhi ...or India for that matter. She had to get him out.

"Don't worry. I will get her out of here. You take care. Don't let a soul know that we are looking after her." With that she kissed NK and added "See you in Sydney in a week darling. I love you." Lavanya let go of NK and turned a surprised Khushi,

"Lavanya ji aap aur Nanhe ji?"

"First of all, its Lavanya from now on. None of this ji nonsense please. Secondly, tell me what happened right from the beginning." Khushi poured her heart out to her friend, right from her engagement with Shyam Jha to how she had fallen in love with and subsequently given herself entirely Arnav through to Shyam Jha dragging her out of the house.

Payal had called in the middle and told Khushi that they were working on getting her Visas to Australia and that she would find a way to prove Khushi's innocence. Khushi spoke to Buaji and her mother and the family agreed with the decision that it would be best for her to leave the country since the option was available.

**

The next day as Khushi Kumari Gupta got ready to board her flight she closed her eyes and said a silent prayer "DeviMaiyya, pata nahi aap ne mere liye kya socha hai. Bus unka khayal rakhna. Hum bohut pyaar karten hai Arnav-ji se" [DeviMaiyya, i dont know what you have in store for me, just look after him. I love him a lot.]

As the plane was taking off, Khushi gripped Lavanya's hand who placed her other hand on top of Khushis' and said to her "Dekho Khushi ' Delhi ko dekho. Agle baar jub tum iss sheher mein kadam rakhogi to tum bebas nahi hogi. Tumhari apne aap ko badalna hoga. Tab tum apne dum se, aur apne pair ope khade hoke lautna hai ' aur yehi log jinhone tumhe itna zalil kiya, who tumse maafi mangenge." [Look Khushi - Look at Delhi. The next time you set foot in this city you will not be so forlorn. You have to change yourself. You will come back to this city on your own terms when you can stand independently on your own feet. And just watch the very people that treated you so badly will come to apologise to you.]

Khushi opened her eyes and wiped away the tears. She looked at Piyush again and hugged him closer and closed her eyes.

Up on the terrace Arnav Singh Raizada sat and looked up at the night sky and remembered how he had sat here the night that Khushi left;

He had looked up at the night sky and a sudden chill taking over his body, a strange emptiness came over him and he gasped sharply for a breath but felt like he was choking. Just then a plane went over head that made him look up at the night sky. Arnav Singh Raizada looked up at the stars and whispered menacingly, "I was right Khushi Kumari Gupta. I don't believe in your stars. I don't believe in you. I hate you."

"I could never hate you as much as I tried for I loved you more than life itself." He whispered at the stars softly today.

**For PMs - Buddy ME**

Part 8 https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/post/51394167