Akash arrived outside Khushi's house in his white car and looking at his watch, he realised that he was right on time. Rubbing his cold palms against each other, he tried to warm them up. He had never been this nervous before, not even when he was interviewed by the medical board for his exams. This was the first time he was going to take a girl to his house to meet his family.
Looking into the centre mirror of the car, he adjusted his hair to make sure he was looking alright. He observed the dark circles under his eyes that were present due to his late night shift at the hospital. It was no surprise that till now no girl had approached him, well except for the weird new nurse at his workstation in the hospital who somehow, couldn't stop gushing about him whenever he walked past her.
Rolling his eyes, he stepped out of the car, arranging his striped blue shirt that now had little creases on the sides. He looked down at his shiny black shoes and realised that there was a tiny speck of mud on it. Annoyed with that blemish, he took out a tissue and wiped it away to make his shoes spotless clean and shiny.
Perfect! He exclaimed out to himself. Khushi would be definitely impressed with him.
Taking one slow step at a time, he finally reached the door and inhaling a deep breath, he rang the door bell. One, two, three, four, five, he counted in his mind and on the sixth second, the door opened to reveal Khushi who flashed a faint smile seeing him.
"Whoa!" he exclaimed out aloud, instead of what was supposed to entirely his mind screaming out stunned with the absolutely gorgeous girl standing in front of him in a midnight blue Salwar Kameez. He bit his tongue a second later, feeling utterly embarrassed at his reaction to her. Afterall, what else could a man do if he saw a woman as beautiful as her?
"Anything wrong?" Khushi asked a bit astonished at his reaction. She looked at herself, wondering if there was something wrong in her dress.
"No, no..." Akash stammered, "It's just that you look very pretty in this dress."
Khushi looked towards the ground, feeling a bit embarrassed by his reaction.
"So are you ready? And don't be nervous." He said, directing the last piece of advice more towards him than her. "It's just a casual lunch. Actually, since I speak a lot about you, my sister was curious to meet you. Hence, it was all her idea for this lunch." He smiled, slapping himself mentally for lying. Ofcourse, it was his ingenious idea. His sister was just an excuse although he couldn't lie that she had been indeed curious to know more about Khushi.
"Yeah, I'm ready." She said and stepped out, locking the door behind her, while she followed Akash to his car.
Khushi had no idea why had she even agreed for this. It felt so awkward to go and meet Akash's family like this. Afterall, he was just a good friend of hers.
"No, Khushi!" she reminded herself. She needed to move on and venture out into the world. Afterall, how long would she remain holed up in the confines of her house? She needed to meet new people, make new relations and bring back her life to normalcy.
But she couldn't convince her heart either that still wanted Arnav despite of every lie he had told her.
No, Arnav had hurt her a lot. She couldn't forgive him. Atleast, not that easily.
o0o
Khushi stared in awe at the large mansion that stood in front of her eyes, while the car rode inside the huge gates.
Raizada.
The name was engraved near the gate. She had guessed that Akash was quite a well off guy. But she never knew he was this rich. Even though it wasn't as big as Lavnaya's, but it was still nowhere comparable to the tiny old house she lived in Laxmi nagar.
Turning her head to sides, she noticed the beautiful garden that was maintained all around her. Even a tiny pond was located at one end of the compound, where she saw around four to five ducks swimming in it. And moving her gaze a little ahead, she saw a colony of rabbits, hopping around in the vast garden and she instantly found herself smiling with amazement at the sight in front of her.
Akash noticed this and smiled at her, feeling happy that she had finally relaxed after the tense silence between them on their entire journey from her house to his.
And as if this was not enough, she saw a collie come running to Akash as soon as he stepped out of the car and then lick all over his face, while he burst out into laughter.
"Hey Dynamite! See who I've brought for you." He said to the dog, rubbing his mane while it yelped out with happiness.
"Khushi, this is Dynamite, my best buddy." He said, carrying the dog to Khushi
"I never knew that you were so interested in animals." Khushi said looking all around her.
"Yeah, everyone has the same reaction like you when they come to know about it." He chuckled. "But I love animals. I feel incomplete without them in my life. Dynamite has been with me for the past three years. And oh look! I think he likes you too." He said, pointing towards the Dog who was busy nuzzling Khushi's arms.
"Come let's go inside." He said, putting the dog down, leading the way. Khushi turned around to see the rabbits and ducks once again, when her eyes did not miss the sight of a swing in the middle of the garden.
Entering the house, she noticed how grandly the living room was designed, classy yet contemporary at the same time.
She was busy admiring the beauty of the house, when all of a sudden, she heard a young girl excitedly shriek from the other end of the room.
"Akash!" she came running and stopped beside both of them. "You must be Khushi right?" the girl who seemed to be of her age, asked. "I'm Anjali. Akash's younger sister." She said smilingly. "Akash talks a lot about you." She giggled, nudging his arm while he punched her lightly.
"Hi!" Khushi held out her hand, taking an instant liking to the vivacious girl. "What does Akash talk about me?" she asked curiously.
Anjali was about to reply, when suddenly, Akash pulled her away, highly embarrassed with where this would lead to, warningly glaring at her. "You know Khushi, Akash was telling me..." Anjali giggled, pulling her brother's leg, while Akash mouthed a 'Shut up!' to her, while Khushi smiled silently, enjoying the banter between the siblings.
"Khushi, Let's go. I'll introduce you to my Dadi and mother. Ma!" he called out, and soon they heard footsteps coming from the kitchen and they were greeted by the sight of an elderly lady, draped in a cream coloured saree making her way towards them.
"You must be Khushi Bitiya right? I'm Akash's Dadi. He speaks a lot about you." She said smilingly, while Khushi bent down to receive her blessings.
"Looks like I'm the subject of your conversation at every dinner." Khushi replied letting out a chuckle.
"Akash, you forgot me?" they suddenly heard a voice behind them and turning around, Khushi noticed a middle aged woman, decked up in a purple saree and heavy jewellery who looked no less than as if she had returned back from wedding reception.
"This is my beloved Ma." He said, going towards her. "How could I forget you Ma?" he asked.
"I'm Manorma Raizada." She declared haughtily glancing Khushi from top to bottom, taking note of every single thing that she was wearing. Akash's Dadi noticed her daughter-in-law and knew she had to take control of the situation before she scared the hell out of that girl.
"Khushi Bitiya, Lunch is ready. Why don't we proceed and resume our conversation there?" she asked and Khushi nodded, following the family to the dining table.
A sumptuous lunch was served, while Anjali and Dadi eagerly served Khushi with enthusiasm, forcing her to take a bite of every dish present on the table. Anjali was busy talking to Khushi when suddenly Khushi heard her name called out from the other end of the table.
"So Khushi Gupta, How long have you been working with Akash?" Manorma asked, scanning Khushi's face once again, making the young girl feel even more uncomfortable at her gaze.
"Just for a month." Khushi replied silently and continued with her lunch.
"Do you have any ex boyfriends?" Manorma asked out of the blue, causing Khushi to splutter out her food and choke on it, making her cough violently.
"Manorma!" Dadi stared at her warningly.
"I was just joking Sasuma!" Manorma laughed giving Khushi a villainous impression about her. Khushi looked at both the siblings and their mother. They were definitely not like her.
She quickly had her lunch and tried to stay away as far as possible from Mrs. Manorma Raizada. Anjali instantly noticed her discomfort with her Mother and tried to steer away Khushi from her. Her mother could become too overwhelming at times and she knew that the poor girl was definitely her mother's target this time.
"Khushi, why don't you come to my room?" Anjali offered to take her to her room upstairs. "I can show you around the house too." Khushi nodded and silently followed Anjali while Akash too decided to follow the girls.
"Akash bhai!" Anjali called out behind her, while walking around the house. "Is Khushi always silent like this or is it something special for today?" she asked smiling like a Cheshire cat.
"I think Ma must have scared her voice away." Akash laughed joining his sister. "Khushi, don't worry. Ma is just like that with everyone. We have got used to it after living with her for all these years."
"No, it's not like that. Your mother is nice." Khushi smiled, and both the siblings burst out in loud laughter.
"Ok, so this is Akash's room." Anjali said leading Khushi into a huge room with a large king size bed at the centre on which Dynamite was sitting and wagging his tail. "Oops, not exactly Akash's room but Dynamite's room coz Akash is rarely present at home. He spends more time in the hospital than his home." She said rolling her eyes. One side of the room was stacked with huge books which looked like his very own personal medical library, while the other side had various photographs of him and his family.
Coming out from the room, they continued walking through the corridor. "And there!" Anjali jumped with excitement and pointed to the room at the end of the corridor. "That's my room."
"I'm warning you. It contains only pink fluff." Akash said rolling his eyes earning a punch from his younger sister.
Khushi entered what seemed to be a completely pink paradise. All she could see around her was different shades of pink. The wallpaper, the bedsheets, the rugs, the curtains, everything was pink. Her eyes went and stopped on the huge collection of Barbie Dolls in one corner of the room.
"Yeah, I know. Anjali is crazy. She has every collection of Barbie dolls, even the limited edition ones. As a kid, she used to pester my Dad to buy these whenever he went on business trips. She is one rich spoilt brat. But she's the best sister in the whole world." He said, hugging his sister.
Khushi couldn't help notice the stark difference in the lives of these siblings and her own. They were brought up in such a lavish atmosphere quite contrast to her own where she hadn't even dreamt of a life like this.
"Let's sit here and talk. No one will disturb us here." Anjali said and the three of them sat down on the pink bed.
"Wait, I have an idea. I'll show some photographs of our childhood. I'll come just now." Anjali said and ran out of the room, leaving behind the two of them with a completely awkward silence between them.
"Hmm... so whose room is that?" Khushi asked pointing at the room opposite to theirs, not knowing what else to talk about.
"Oh, that was my Bua's room. But she passed away many years ago. So now no one lives there. It's been empty since the last fifteen years." He replied. "So have you heard anything from Arnav?"
"No." she lied, looking down at the floor. She didn't know why she lied to him. Maybe because their phone call of two days ago was still in her mind and she felt sad everytime she remembered it.
Another awkward bout of silence followed until finally Anjali returned back with huge albums in her hand and resumed her place on the bed. Opening one of the album, and flipping through two sheets, she showed a photograph to Khushi.
"Guess, who is this." she asked pointing to a picture of crying baby in a woman's arm. Khushi observed carefully and instantly recognised the woman as the obnoxious Manorma Raizada in her younger days. She was still the same, Khushi grinned inwardly. 'Jewellery shop!' she noted in her mind. She next noticed the baby and the familiar eyes and instantly replied. "Aww... is that you Akash?"
"Yeah, he's a big cry baby!" Anjali laughed while Akash retorted. "No, I'm not. She's lying, Khushi."
"Wait, I'll show you this one." Akash said grabbing the album and flipping through few more pages, he showed a photograph of what seemed to be a toddler Anjali screaming her lungs out while a little elder Akash drove her around on his cycle. "Who's the cry baby now?" he asked sticking out his tongue.
Khushi smiled silently at the interaction between the siblings. She had never had siblings in her life and it was quite interesting to observe this special bond so closely.
"This here," Akash pointed at a photograph that seemed quite older than the rest of them. "was taken at my parent's wedding reception." Khushi noticed the huge family posing together at a wedding reception.
"This is Dadi and Dada." Akash pointed out at his grandparents and Khushi noticed the elder man who barely smiled and who looked no less than those stern Generals of the Army. "These are my parents. Ma is once again wearing the whole Jewellery shop!" he giggled. "And that's my mother's extended family, my Nani and everyone else who I have no idea about. There are quite some specimens in our family." He said bursting out into another fit of laughter.
Khushi stared at the faces carefully and couldn't help agreeing with every word he was saying and joined them in their laughter. Suddenly, her eyes stopped on one woman, who was actually standing quite distantly from everyone else. She was wearing a simple yet beautiful red Lehenga and actually looked even more stunning than the Bride. But what was very peculiar about her was that she wasn't smiling in the photograph and quite surprisingly looked very familiar.
Wait! Khushi's eyes widened with alarm and she squinted her eyes to get a proper view of that woman's face.
No, she can't be! She exclaimed to herself as she instantly recognised those familiar pair of eyes.
Akash noticed this and followed her gaze that seemed to stop at the particular woman. "Oh, I forgot to tell about her. That's my Bua..." he stopped midway as Khushi interrupted him.
"Is her name Aarti?" Khushi asked immediately not letting her gaze wander away from that woman's face. Even though she had only seen the photograph once, she could never forget that face and especially those eyes that were etched in her mind permanently.
"How do you know that?" Akash asked narrowing his eyes. "Yes, she is my Bua, Aarti Singh Raizada, the one who I told you about, who had passed away years ago."
"Because she is Arnav's mother." Khushi said it out aloud as the words echoed through the entire mansion, as a deathly silence descended on the inmates of the room, leaving everyone completely bewildered and stunned with the new revelation.
o0o
"Who is Arnav?" Anjali was the first one to break the silence between them.
"Anjali, can you leave us both alone for few minutes?" Akash asked in a serious voice and Anjali nodded and left, not wanting to contest her brother in this mode. "And close the door behind you." He said after her.
Only after they were sure that there were all to themselves, Akash resumed his conversation. "What are you saying?" he asked with wide eyes, unable to grasp whatever he had heard. "And how do you know Arnav's Mom? She died long back ago."
"Arnav showed me a picture when I went to Mumbai along with him. It is her. I'm definitely sure about it." Khushi replied, looking at Akash's face.
"Khushi, this is insane. My Bua was not even married. How could she have had a son?" he asked, unable to digest the truth in front of him.
"Exactly, Arnav's Mom was not married. He was an illegitimate child." She said, the truth becoming clearer to her.
"No, that can't be true. Our family is one of the highly reputed families of Delhi. How could you even suggest such a thing? You have no idea how strict our Grandfather was. He would have never allowed Bua to do such a thing and dishonour the family." He defended back.
"Ok, so tell me how did your Bua die?" Khushi asked, trying to fit in all the pieces of the puzzle.
"I don't know. I was very small that time. I don't remember anything and nobody even talks about it."
"Where was she just before her death? Was she living with you all?"
"No, she wasn't. I don't remember her very well. I only came to know during her funeral that I had a Bua."
"Exactly Akash, because she was living with her son in Mumbai all those years. Oh God! I need to contact Arnav. He needs to know this." Khushi exclaimed, grasping her head.
Akash stared at Khushi with utter disbelief. How could a man he had known for the past few years, a criminal, turn out to be related to him by blood? The whole idea itself was preposterous. The man who had saved his life from the goons, the man whose life he had saved thrice, the man who loved and then broke the heart of the girl whom he liked was his Bua's son, his cousin?
And just when he had thought that he was one step closer to Khushi, Arnav had already arrived between them and foiled his plans.
"I need to go Akash. I need to meet him." Khushi said getting up from the bed and walked towards the door.
"I'll come with you." Akash said, not wanting to leave her alone near Arnav. That man had already devastated Khushi's life. He didn't want to see her shattering any more, not especially when she was trying her hardest to pull back the pieces of her life.
o0o
Akash drove Khushi to Arnav's house. Even though she doubted he would be there, since she clearly remembered him telling that he was going to Guwahati for two weeks, but she wanted to confirm it.
On reaching the house and ringing the door bell, they realised no one was at home, confirming her suspicions.
"Where's Arnav?" Akash asked frustrated, looking at Khushi.
"I'll call him up." Khushi said, remembering about his call two days ago and retrieved out her phone from the bag. Checking the call history, she located the number from which she had received his call and dialled it.
o0o
Arnav had just got back to his room, finishing the last of his deal in Guwahati. He was still wondering whether it would be safe for him to return to Delhi or not. He didn't know what awaited him.
Even though Khushi hadn't sounded vengeful or angry at him, she hadn't exactly forgiven him either. Somewhere his heart told him that she still loved him inspite of every wrong he had caused her. It was very evident in their last phone call. But would that prevent her from telling the truth about him to her best friend?
Deep inside, he just wished that everything would return back to normal between them. If she could just give him one more chance, he would do everything in his capacity to keep her happy for the rest of her life.
He was ready to do anything for her, just to see her smile at him, her one embrace that made him feel as if his life was perfect.
And just when he was thinking about her, he heard his phone ring. Wondering who it would be calling him at this time, he observed the number flashing on his screen and instantly realised it was Khushi.
He felt his heart skip a beat as his eyes couldn't believe what they were seeing. In what seemed to be a volcanic eruption of his emotions, he grabbed the phone immediately and heard her voice. The relief he felt when she called out his name was simply indescribable. It was nearly two weeks and he had never heard his name from her mouth and he suddenly felt overwhelmed.
"Arnav?" Khushi asked on the other end, wondering if she had dialled the right number. But at the same time she felt her throat choke as she spoke to him. Looking to her side, she saw Akash staring at her and she instantly, controlled herself from breaking down in front of him. Masking all those emotions that were bubbling inside her, she continued in a serious voice.
"Khushi, what happened? Are you alright?" Arnav asked in a panicked voice, losing it completely. He had never expected her to call him but now, when she did, his mind started imagining all the worst possible things that would have happened to her.
"I'm fine." She lied, inhaling a deep breath. Only she knew how fine she was, from the time she had walked out of his life. No, she had to focus on why she had called him, she reminded herself. "Are you still in Guwahati?" she continued.
"Yes, I am." He replied, feeling a bit relieved when she replied that she was fine. But still he hadn't missed that anxious tone in her voice and it only confirmed his belief that she too felt the same like him.
They were not fine.
"Can you come to Delhi soon? I need to talk to you about something and its very important." She said, thinking that she couldn't reveal such a big discovery to him on the phone. He wouldn't believe her and even if he did, she knew how much this would affect him. She had seen him break down in front of her the last time he had spoken about his mother and somehow, she didn't want him to go through it especially when he was away, all alone in some unknown place.
Atleast, now she knew that he hadn't lied about his childhood and she suddenly felt relieved. Atleast some of it was the truth.
"Khushi, what's the matter? Yeah, I'll come tonight itself." He said, going to his bag to pack his stuff. He didn't care about anything else now. If she needed him, he was going to be there at any cost, even if it meant he had to pre-pone his journey by a day. And anyhow, his work was done here. Whatever Khalid Bhai had sent him for, had been done.
"Just come." She said and disconnected the call. She couldn't bear talking to him anymore. The longer she talked to him, the more she felt drawn towards him, like a moth attracted to the flame. And at that instant, she knew she had lied when she said she couldn't love him anymore. Infact, she had never stopped loving him all this time. She was only fighting a losing battle, trying to convince herself that she hated him, when it was just the opposite.
"What did he say?" Akash enquired, leading her to the car.
"He'll come back tonight." She said silently as she sat in the passenger seat. Looking up at Akash's face, she tried to notice if there were any similarities between both these friends who were now related by blood and wondered what was going on in Akash's mind about this revelation about Arnav. It was probably too much for anyone to grasp and she knew Arnav would be in an even more shocked state when he came to know the truth.
Arnav heard the call disconnect from the other end and immediately pondered about his next plan of action. He could arrange for an air ticket back to Delhi for tonight, he decided. He just hoped it was nothing serious as it sounded in Khushi's voice.
Suddenly, a shocking thought struck his mind. What if she had told the police about him? What if this was just a part of her plan to capture him and put him behind the bars? No, she wouldn't do like that, he reminded himself again and again.
She still loved him, didn't she?
Or she didn't?
o0o
As Arnav rushed from the taxi into the airport, glancing at his watch time and again to make sure he was on time, he failed to notice the people walking in the opposite direction and by mistakenly bumped into someone.
He looked up angrily at the person and instantly his face lit up with startle seeing the face of the man he had collided with.
"Shyam? What are you doing here?" he asked surprised, and noticed how the other man's face had paled a couple of shades. It had been a long time since he had seen him.
"I have some work here." Shyam stuttered, not prepared with an excuse. To say he was shocked would be an understatement. He hadn't expected the man who he was plotting to kill to stand in front of him in Guwahati, let alone bump into him in a random place.
"What work?" Arnav asked quirking his eyebrow. As far as he knew, there was no work related to the gang in this part of the country and only he had been assigned by Khalid Bhai to look after that drug peddler's gang.
"What are you doing here?" Shyam shot back in defence and immediately noticed Arnav getting flustered up a bit.
"I came to visit Chandu." Arnav lied, creating an imaginary name in the last minute.
"Who is Chandu?" Shyam asked back immediately, trying to remember the name.
"You don't know him. Anyways, I've got to go. My flight's time is up." Arnav said and hurried into the Airport before Shyam could question him anymore. Khalid Bhai had clearly warned not to disclose anything about this mission to anyone in the gang. And Shyam wasn't someone whom you could trust, especially with his previous experiences with him.
CHAPTER 49
And reply to Lilly205's question:
Arnav used a false surname for his school records. His mother never wanted to have him associated with either of the families and that's why she changed his and her surname. And in this update, you will know why. It's because his mother came from an ultra conservative family. That was the main reason why she left her family when she was pregnant.
So Arnav neither knows anything about his Mom nor his Dad and that's why he couldn't make out the connections inspite of being surrounded by his relatives.
And @tata_tata:
This is why the story is named Mirage. You never know what's going to happen until the very end. Arnav's goodness to Aman will never be wiped away. Aman is just having a conflict of duty, choosing between his family and friend and is currently in a very unstable frame of ming. Who knows, he might have a change of mind at the last minute?š
And thank you for being patient with me for these 3 Arhi less updates. Next updates will be full of them and that will be the last moments before the final showdown and the FF finishes.š
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
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