SS aRhI: Once upon a Secret CH 4 updated pg 73- 28 NOV 2014 - Page 46

UPDATING WITHIN A FEW MINUTES

Once Upon A Secret. . .

Chapter 4:

We weave moments with magical hands, we build dreams on meaningless words, we have conversations with someone's heart through our eyes... But sometimes the heart gets confused. Especially when we do not know whether to weave moments or to shake itself to reality, to build dreams or to just forget, to wait or simply ... to let go.

Khushi walked down the stairs and made her way towards Anjali's room, heart racing, her thoughts on the incident that conspired between her and Arnav. She didn't know the reason behind the sudden change in his behaviour and she was scared to read between the lines. He never believed that her heart loved only him but her heart never believed that. Till now. She didn't know what to make of his actions, of the sweet nothings that he murmured in her ear moments ago, of the touch his fingers left on her being, of the messages his lips left on her skin. All she knew was that he would love her for a while and her heart would dream but suddenly, unexpectedly he would withdraw accuse her of something and her life would be full of endless tomorrows where he did not love her, did not believe her. She had accepted the fact that he was but a wave to her shore, crashing towards her, letting her get lost in a moment only to drift afar leaving her broken and yearning for his love. He was but a stranger she loved and lost one moment in time.

Khushi touched her wrist where his lips had lingered, sighed and whispered in silence.

"I wish I could mean to you as much as you mean to me..."

Arnav watched Khushi descend down the stairs with a soulless bereft gaze. There had been confusion in her eyes, a bleakness, a hope that died a quick death and pain sliced through him like a knife. He recalled the moment, a while ago, when he had helped her put her jewellery on. He remembered her lowered eyes, the quickening of breath, the delicate red flush that touched her cheeks, he remembered the hurt that flashed in her eyes and his heart squeezed at the knowledge that he had placed it there. Running his hands over a photograph of hers that he had placed in his wallet, he said to no one

"I wish I could be to you what you have been to me."

__________________

Arnav walked aimlessly in the house, his thoughts on Khushi, hoping he had held her harder, tighter, fiercer.. hugged her and never let her go when the sound of Payal's voice snapped him out of reverie and he realized that he was outside Payal's room. She seemed to be talking on the phone and with the bits of the conversation that drifted his way he gathered it was buaji. He was about to make a move and would have walked off had it not been for the name that drifted to his ears made him stop short and hold his breath.

Karan.

Inching closer, he strained his ears wanting to catch the stray bits of conversation about the man who wanted to steal away his whole world. Payal's voice was distant yet clear or may be his desperation to hear everything was so potent that he could decode every word clearly.

"Buaji, we both know that with time Karan's love for Khushi has increased to such a level that he can go to any extent for her happiness and the thought that Khushi has suffered so much will make him angry enough to kill." Said Payal softly

Silence ensued as Payal listened to Buaji at the other end of the line. But that wasn't the only silence that reverberated off the walls. A slow fire was burning steadily in his chest and Payal's words had only fanned the flames of jealousy further. The fact that her family knew of Karan was an unexpected blow along with the knowledge that Karan clearly loved Khushi, had probably known her and loved her even before, he (Arnav) knew Khushi even existed. The thought had him punching the wall in frustration. As he turned around to walk away unnoticed to his room where he could lick his wounds in private, he heard Akash ask Payal who Karan was.

"Akashji, Karan was a neighbour in Lucknow." Payal said startled to find her husband behind her. She tried hard to act nonchalant and placed her phone on the dresser.

"But you hardly ever mentioned him" asked Akash perturbed. The usually calm Akash Singh Raizada's voice seemed to be strangely on the edge

"He wasn't that important."

"He seemed important enough the way you spoke of him to buaji. Payal you build walls between us all the time and I have to break them each time to come closer to you."

"What do you mean, Akashji?" Payal asked, her eyes lowered, her voice laced with hurt

"I mean that at some point I will be hurt in trying to break the wall or perhaps just be tired of breaking the walls each time only to find them erected once more, higher and stronger than before."

Having said that Akash walked off leaving Payal looking skywards in misery. Arnav wanted to go to them, to tell them about walls for who knew better than he how hard it was to smash a wall of his own making, to breathe life back in a dying relationship which he had choked in his own hands. He wanted to tell them to hold on to their love, to make the most of each moment for he knew how hard it was when the love dies for one while the other heart suffers, he knew how hard the choice was between waiting for the loved one and forgetting them. For him, however it wasn't a choice at all. For him, love, pain, happiness, emotions all were a six letter word. For him, they all meant one person. Khushi.

______

Khushi sat on the table inside Karan's kitchen as Anjali and Karan were laying plates. The sweet spicy aroma of food that the cook had prepared would have otherwise filled her senses making her mouth water but today they didn't make any difference to her appetite. She could see knowing looks passed between Karan and Anjali and she knew that they had guessed that she was thinking about Arnav but refrained themselves from asking. It was only during the middle of lunch when Karan couldn't tolerate the awkward silence any longer that he dropped his fork on the plate with a clang and spoke with exasperation.

"Khushi, I know you still have feelings for Arnav, but you have to move on. You must accept that he had never truly loved you."

"How can you say that, Karan?" Anjali asked sadly "I remember seeing love in his eyes during Payal's wedding. If only it wasn't for the poison that Shyam fed him. Shyam is the crux of all our problems. If we can expose his cruel deeds and take off the mask that he has put on all these years, all our problems will be solved in a jiffy."

Karan shook his head.

"Anjali if it was that easy, we wouldn't have to meet secretly or build up a castle of secrets. We need a proper proof to expose him or else in the eyes of public our relationship will be a sin. And besides Shyam isn't mentally stable. If we throw him out of the house, all our lives will be in danger. We need enough evidence to send him behind the bars and till then I will always fear for both your and Khushi's safety. And as far as Arnav's love is concerned, it has only given my sister pain and I think she shouldn't be holding on to a relationship that hurts to this extent."

Khushi pushed her plate away, food only half eaten and stood up

"I agree that holding on hurts but what am I to do when the thought of letting go hurts even more?"

With that she took her bag and told the couple that she would be waiting for Anjali in the garden and walked off before they could say another word leaving both her brother and her sister in law in a state of speechlessness.

_________________

Monorama Raizada rubbed her eyes unable to believe the sight that she saw in the rear view mirror. She had been following her husband because his behaviour lately had tickled every suspicious bone in her body. She had seen the mysterious long conversations he had when he was sure she was sleeping, she had seen him awake now for more nights than she could count, she had seen his shoulders stoop with tension as if he carried all the weight of the world on his shoulders and Manorama had made a resolution to find what it was that was bothering her husband or god forbid who'.

But here god had planned to reveal another secret entirely before her eyes. For at a distance stood Khushi kumari Gupta in the arms of another immaculately dress young man, who seemed to be holding her head in both his hands and telling her something. Perhaps declaring his undying love for her.' Manorama thought angrily. These Gupta sisters were a trouble and I kept repeating it over and over again but no one was ready to listen to me, she muttered angrily and without wasting another minute she took out her cell phone and called Arnav.

______________________________

"Mami, please don't ask me any questions. I know what I'm doing. I just want you to keep a secret. Whatever you saw, whatever you told me, whatever I know now should never be revealed. Please Mami, this is important" said Arnav worriedly

"I hope you know what you are doing Arnav bitwa. You cannot bind a cheating heart to yourself, it will only hurt you."

"She is not cheating on me Mami. You don't know the whole truth. If you knew, you would know that Khushi is the purest person alive." With that he hung up leaving mami praying to gods to keep his heart intact.

Arnav paced around his room wondering what his next plan would be. He didn't know how far he would go to tie her to him and if binding her to him was the right thing to do. It was true that he had always loved her even when he hated her, he wanted nothing but to live life with her by his side, he wanted to see life with her optimistic eyes, look at people with her forgiving heart, he wanted her to be the light that would guide him through life so that when he breathed his last, he would know he had every moment he could have, with her.

But there was Karan. The person who now held the place he once had and though it killed him to know that it was someone else who was the reason of her smile, he couldn't deny that where his love hurt, Karan's had healed. He knew even if he bound Khushi to him, if he were to read the longing in her eyes for Karan, ever, it would kill him. But how could he let her go when without her he would never know peace, happiness or love. How could he ever go back to the empty life again and hope to ever come out alive?

___________________________________

Shyam stood in the corridors of the hospital, talking to Sheetal, the girl who had been his first mistress after his marriage to Anjali. It had been those times when he had been in the good books of Arnav and had complete access to Anjali's bank account. He had been a generous lover in those days and it was obvious that generosity had its perks for Sheetal who was now the receptionist of the hospital, with the help of a few other hospital staff, revealed to him the one secret that Anjali had guarded so closely.

Crumpling the photo copy of the reports, he rubbed his palm over his sweaty face, his mind working furiously. It was obvious that his wife was no longer devoted to him and had suddenly turned into a two timing s**t, if he were to believe the news he had received from his trusted khabri. It was also obvious that whatever, Anjali was planning Khushiji was a very trusted accomplice given the amount of time they had been spending together lately. He didn't know why they hadn't revealed the truth to the family but whatever their reasons were, he would take advantage of this momentary stupidity.

He caught an auto right outside the hospital and went to the secluded cabin where he would be carrying out the rest of his plan. He straightened the crumpled report and held it in front of his face in one hand while put on the lighter in the other. He watched as the report caught fire and couldn't help but be grateful for the timing the secret that was revealed to him through this report. He was amazed that Anjali had managed to keep this a secret for four whole months from the eyes of the family.

This report unveiled the lie that Anjali had carried on for so long.

This report said that Anjai wasn't pregnant.

________________________

Khushi was in the process of making their bed when Arnav walked in. Holding the other end of the bed sheet, he met her eyes, dizzying melting browns against the greys of his, throwing the world in a slow motion. It seemed as if everything had come to a standstill for one infinite moment where they were both connected through the threads of undying love. Capturing her eyes, Arnav moved slowly towards her and tugged at the bed sheet causing khushi to tumble into his arms. He cradled her to him, crushed her weight to his chest knowing that within a few days his life could be long endless oceans of moments filled with empty spaces of what once was, that he would ache for throughout his life waiting.

"Khushi, I said this to you before and I am saying this again, I want us married for real. I know you don't love me but I love you enough for both of us. I know I don't deserve your love but if you have ever loved me, will you please give us a chance? If you need time I am ready to wait."

Khushi flung the bed sheet and angrily turned away from him, tears rolling down her cheeks. When she felt his hand on her shoulder she pushed it away. Turning towards him she said stormily.

"Four months ago if you asked me to marry you, I would have said yes. If only you had asked but no. You didn't ask, you forced me into the marriage without any explanation. Even after Shyamji's truth was revealed to you, after your kidnapping I would have still married you but you blamed me once again. Now you tell me that it doesn't matter if I didn't love you, you would have enough love for the both of us and you would wait for me. I wish you wouldn't. Because we both know that these are empty words with equally empty promises. If you loved me, really loved me, it wouldn't have been so painful, I wouldn't have to face trials every time, we wouldn't be this broken"

With that Khushi ran out of the room sobbing and Arnav knew her sobs would echo in his head for a very long time. Standing near the pool, he stared at the night sky and watched a shooting star at a distance and whispered into nothingness.

"I wish for you to become more than a wish.. I wish for you to become my reality."

Hello Arshians

res.

So good to have one of the best writers on the forum back!

oh my my!
secrets r waiting to erupt!

awesome part
shyame is always mental instable in ur stories

amazing update and i read the story from start and loved it a lot.. what a mystery and everyone is having a secret in RM.. khushi is right arnav is late.. but hope never too late.. khushi loves him and arnav just need to hold on as his khushi can't be away from him for long.. she is angry with him and she have every right after what he did with her and i don't want khushi to pardon arnav so soon.. loved this karan-anjali angle too.. shyamwa you will be very soon over.. hope that everyone comes together with their piece of information and together should flush out the creep who is responsible for so many wrongs in their life.. loved the update..

My only complain, the update was too small 😭

Glad to see that you are back..