SS: Living Without You: Part 27 updated - Page 58

🥳 wow!! they are getting married!! awesome!!! couldn't wait for your pm...am officially stalking your thread!!! muahahaha!!! love your work!!!

They gonna get married.. Yayyy!! 🥳

Smita is busy today??
No updates after part 26?? :(

Wonderful..

Part 27

(All pics credited to uploaders.)

(Sorry, I couldn't send PMs. Too busy. Thanx a million for being so accommodating!)

Tears ran down her cheeks as she folded the letter and placed it carefully in the box.

She stood up and came close to him, cupping his cheeks with her palms and looking straight in to his moist eyes.

"I promise to bear your anger. And to return your love a thousandfold.", she whispered through her tears. She hugged him tight, holding his head against her heart.

Arnav stayed still, his ear pressed to her heart. He could hear the steady beat that his own heart echoed. The sound lulled him into a world where pain ceased to exist, where peace, only peace reigned.

They lost count of time.

"Khushi... Khushi... Where are you? Munna has come asking for you. There are too many customers in the shop for the children to manage. Khushi..."

"Shall I come down with you?", he asked in a choked voice.

She shook her head, meaning he shouldn't.

"Why not?"

"I won't be able to keep my mind on the work. You... you distract me..."

He smiled.

"You distract me too."

"I do?" She was thrilled.

"Yes..", he admitted.

"Good!", she said triumphantly, and ran out of his room laughing.

Diwali was 3 weeks away. Her wedding was three weeks away. The thought sent a shiver of excitement down her spine. But she was no longer an untried, raw girl with no common sense. She had to be mature, act her age, she told herself, biting the lower end of her pencil. She was the daughter of a halwai and the wife-to-be of a businessman. She was also a budding businesswoman and a trained halwai in her own right. She firmed her shoulders and straightened her spine as she took her notebook to make a list of all the things she needed to do.

Diwali meant that there would be a huge demand for sweets. The ingredients had to be purchased. She had to make the sweets for her own sagai, sangeet, mehendi, & wedding. There would be Naniji, Di, Jiji & Jiju, and Mama & Mami to stay. They would be coming atleast a week before the wedding. So she had to stock up on the staples. Gifts and clothes had to be purchased. Arrangements for the puja and wedding had to be done. Catering, flowers, mandap, lights... The list was endless. She felt all the helplessness of a father planning the wedding of his daughter. It was like she was marrying herself off. She laughed.

She had to go to the flower mart, the vegetable market, the provision store, the caterers, the decorators... The list grew in length. She called to her boys, "I am going to the market to get the ingredients. Is there anything you want to add to the list?"

"Nahin, Jiji. We have covered everything."

She informed Amma and Buaji of her plans, and left home.

She crossed the courtyard, and the doorway to find Arnavji leaning against his car, waiting.

"What happened? Are you waiting for Amanji?"

"No, you."

"Me? Arnavji, I am going to the market."

"I know."

"The car won't be able to enter the market. The alleys are narrow and crowded."

"I know."

"Arnavji, it will take a long time."

"I have the time."

(momma1128, thanx)

"I need to buy the ingredients needed to make sweets. I have to bring them back with me."

"I will help you."

"Arnavji...", she hesitated. "I need to give orders to the flowershop, the caterers etc for the wedding. You will feel bored."

He smiled. "It is my wedding too, Khushi Kumari Gupta Singh Raizada."

She looked at him, unsure.

"How many times should I tell you that you don't have to do everything by yourself?" He looked at her, challenging her.

She slowly settled back in her seat, and smirked. "You are going to regret this."

He was a good boy. She had to admit it. He stood silently by her as she fought with the vegetable vendor, haggled with the caterers, tested each grain of rice, each onion, each potato that she bought to the dismay of the shop owner, teased and argued with the man selling nuts, touched the feet of the elderly man who had been supplying milk and ghee to the Satwik Mistaan Bhandaar for years, joked and bargained with her usual suppliers... It was a revelation for him. The animation on her face, the joy, the sense of achievement... He hadn't seen it in months. He had missed it keenly. He also realised how much Babuji was respected among his peers, how much Khushi was loved, how all her chachas and mamas enjoyed the banter...

He helped her load all her purchases into his car, both of them in good humour.

Then he said, "Khushi, I want to pay for the wedding."

She looked at him with wide, direct eyes. "No."

"Khushi, let me do this. I have hurt you so much. The last 6 months of our marriage..."

"You don't have to compensate for the hurt with money."

"I am not compensating, Khushi. I am just trying to help."

"I will manage. I don't want help."

(PurpleFairy, thanx)

"Khushi..."

"Ever since we met, I have heard your speeches on aukat and money. I don't want to hear anymore. I don't want to spend my life listening to such, such..."

"Khushi..., Khushi..., I didn't mean it. I am sorry. I...I was just trying to push you away from me..."

"Maybe. But they hurt."

"Khushi..."

"I don't want to take anything more from you. I had a tough time paying all my debts to you. I don't want any more debts between us."

He remained silent for a moment. Then he asked, his voice low but sure,

"But what about the debt I owe you, Khushi?"

Thread 3: Part 28:

https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/fan-fictions/3001953/living-without-you-3-link-to-thread-4-part-41

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Aha.. Such a light hearted update after soo many emotion laddens ones... Khushis monologue...🤣 I almost imagined wedding lehenga clad khushi sitting cross legged with her head tied buaji style and frying jalebies when the pundit is shouting for her... She wants to make sweets for her own wedding????🤣... Had a lot of fun imagining...