Rules Of Attraction ( Updated Part 21)- Pg 139 - Page 9

It was a beautiful morning. The rain last night had paved way for a cloudy sky and a pleasant wind.

Khushi lay there, almost numb after the chemotherapy session. An unusual sense of fatigue had enveloped her. She didn't feel like moving a limb. If she could, she would have laid there the whole day, eyes closed, where she could see would be pitch black darkness.

'Wake up Khushi, or else Shalini will kill us both,' Ajay gently called out to the figure sprawled on the pristine white sheets of the hospital bed of the Cancer department.

She opened her eyes reluctantly, and smiled at him.

---

As the teak doors opened with their familiar creaking , Khushi was immediately pulled into a bear hug by a beautiful lady, a few years older than herself. But what was peculiar about her, was that she seemed extremely tired, her body frail, stooped shoulders, everything in sharp contrast to the mischievous twinkle in her eyes, the joy on her lips.

'Khushii..' she murmured into her hair.

'Shalu, you really have to stop doing that, I can't breathe,' Khushi gasped, as the hug had knocked out the breath of her already tired body.

Shalini reluctantly let go of her only to tug at Khushi's hands and drag her towards the dining table, completely ignoring her husband who was left standing at the doorstep of his own house, unattended to , completely.

Ajay looked on at the two most important women in his life. Both battling for their lives. Both extremely beautiful, their lives enveloped in a cruel tragedy.

Dinner was a noisy, yet pleasant affair at the Sen household . The three helped themselves to the amazing fish-curry Shalini had made, talking away into the bliss, about almost everything they could think of, scared of the silence that would follow if the conversation ceased. They talked on, perfectly ignoring the topic the feared the most, to discuss.

After having an ample serving of the sumptuous Mishti Doi, Ajay had so kindly bought from the famous Bengali Market, they sat down on couch, Shalini finally starting the impending dreaded discussion.

'So, any progress in her condition,' Shalini directed the question at Ajay.

'Shalu, the tumor's size has decreased since last time, but its still malignant. that is, still very much cancerous.'

Ajay's blunt statement had caused both Shalini and Khushi to shiver in the otherwise warm room. Khushi had been detected with brain tumor last month. She had been luckier than most, her tumor being at the primary stage, even though it was very much malignant, that it cancerous.

'Oye, I'll be fine in no time, okay?' Khushi spoke to Shalini, cupping her face in her small hands, easing out the suspended tension in the room.

Now that Khushi watched her best friend's face closely, she realized how weak, fatigued she had become. Her imminent hair-loss clearly noticeable to Khushi, who had watched her grow up with the most beautiful black hair anyone could have. Shalini too had a tumor lodged deep inside her head. But she wasn't as lucky as Khushi. Due to late detection, the tumor had spread to the other organs as well. Metastasis, the doctors called it.

---

After a teary goodbye, and more hugs, Ajay dropped Khushi back to NSD .

Th ride back to NSD had been a quiet one, as neither Khushi, nor Ajay, trusted themselves to speak even two coherent lines.He told her to take care of herself as he hugged her and left just as quietly as he had come.

Khushi stood at the gates of NSD for sometime, smiling sadly. After a few minutes, she dragged herself back to the hostel.

---

Arnav's room in the Guesthouse had huge glass windows giving him a clear view of what was happening below on the campus.

He saw them. A man, hugging Khushi. Khushi responding, maybe even crying slightly.

He watched as the man drove away, and Khushi standing there silently, looking at the retreating image of the car, expectantly.

Arnav felt angry.He had no idea why, maybe the irritation of the past two days of not doing anything, or even catching a glimpse of her face, and now the image of another man hugging Khushi, irked him deeply.

His feet dragged him, of their own accord, towards the gates to see her properly.

---

Khushi saw him approaching her. Her body immediately seemed to have got a triple shot of energy, warmth.

She smiled at him slightly, not looking at his eyes, but somewhere around neck.

'Listen, about the other night, I'm extremely sorry, I didn't mean to upset you..' she kept on blabbering, when Arnav interrupted her abruptly.

'Where were you yesterday?' He asked, his voice laced with anger.

Khushi's eyes shot up to his own at his steely tone.

'I had gone to visit a friend,' she muttered softly.

When Arnav didn't reply, she waited for a few seconds, and finding her voice, and a bit of courage, she spoke.

'My parents had passed away, when I was eight. So you see, I do understand.'

Arnav temporarily forgot what he had seen a few minutes ago when her words registered in his over-working brain.

He looked up at her face, his eyes closing of their own accord, in guilt at the sight of her tear-brimming eyes. He wanted to apologize, say a few words of comfort, but he couldn't. His parched lips seemed to have lost the ability to speak completely.

She looked at his face, a canvas of a thousand emotions, just waiting for the colors to bring them out fully.

Arnav listened to the slowly dying sound of her footsteps, as she walked away from him, his eyes still closed, his fists balled up tightly, in order to feel some pain. In order to force the tears out of his own eyes as let go , for once.

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Blog: ArnavKhushi

What a sad update :( But once again, love your writing and how you bring out the emotions of all the characters.

Edit:

Soo, I thought I would have enough time after the exam to comment, but I had another the next day and me being me was unprepared!

The update was great! Im so sad to hear that she is really ill. Its not connected to the fir that she mentioned but it bad nonetheless. Still curious to find out about their pasts! Im glad she told arnav that she does understand! Something like this also happened in the show! Im glad youve kept it in here as well! He needed to let her finish before he dismissed her like that, though I understnd why he did! Really good update!! :D