Mirage #3 Check note on pg 149 for next thread! - Page 89

"Khushi, where are you?" she heard Arnav shout furiously over the phone.

"I'm at my house." Khushi replied quietly. After her encounter with Lavanya, she had cancelled all her shopping plans and decided to return home. Only when Arnav had called her up, she remembered that he had told her he would pick her up from the mall when she was done with her shopping.

"You could have atleast informed me right? I'm waiting for you for the past twenty minutes at the food court." Arnav replied in an annoyed tone.

"I'm sorry. I forgot." Khushi apologised, but her mind was still hovering over her earlier conversation with Lavanya.

"It's alright. I'll be coming there in twenty minutes." Arnav replied, trying to calm down his anger and disconnected the phone. How could he not be worried for her? Anything could happen to her any minute. How could she be so irresponsible to not inform him? And here he had been nearly dead with panic, wondering all the worst things that could have happened to her.

He quickly drove through the Delhi roads and reached her house just in time. Without knocking the door, he furiously swung it open and marched in to find her sitting silently on the sofa, lost in her own world.

"I want you to inform me every single time you go somewhere." He ordered through his gritted teeth, marching towards her and clutching her shoulders tightly. "Do you understand?" And then suddenly, he realised that she was squirming with pain and he instantly, loosened his grip on her. Inhaling a deep breath, he tried to gain control over his anger.

"What am I doing?" he asked to himself, rubbing her stinging shoulders. "I proposed to you just this afternoon and now, I'm shouting at you."

"I know I should have informed you." Khushi replied, looking down at the floor.

"I was worried about you, Khushi. If you say you will meet me at the food court and then don't turn up for the next twenty minutes, what am I supposed to infer?" he asked in a calmer voice.

Khushi looked at his eyes and could clearly see the worry and concern for her. She was confused whether she should reveal about her encounter with Lavanya to him. But he already seemed visibly upset and decided it would be better to conceal it from him.

Not knowing what else to do, she crawled towards him and wrapped herself tightly around him, finding solace in his arms.

"Khushi, what happened?" he asked with concern, stroking her back.

"I was feeling a bit sick. That's why I returned back home early." She lied to him.

"Why didn't you call me up? I would have brought you back home. Are you alright now? Do you want to visit a doctor?" he asked, putting his hand across her forehead and neck to check her body temperature.

"Who? Akash?" she asked back, grinning at him, trying to make the atmosphere lighter between them.

"There are other doctors in the world than Akash." Arnav replied grimly, scowling at her.

"I'm alright now. Can I stay here tonight?" she asked earnestly with puppy eyes, forcing him to adhere to her request.

"Yeah. I don't mind staying here either, if that's what you want, although, I prefer my soft comfortable king size bed over yours." He replied, smirking at her, finding his mood change instantly seeing the smile on her face.

"No, I meant I want to stay alone. You can go back to your house." she clarified it. Somehow, she wanted to spend some time away from everyone, including Arnav.

Arnav pondered over her request carefully. Rarely had Khushi ever asked him for something and if that is what she wanted, it was his duty to fulfil her requests. That was the least he could do as penance for making her go through all the heartbreak he had caused her.

"Okay, till we are going to get married, I will allow you to do whatever you want to. But after that, I'm not going to let you stay away from me." He replied smiling at her.

"Thanks." She said, resting her head on his shoulders.

"But what if you fall sick once again in the middle of the night?" he asked, holding her hand.

"Then, I'll call you up. I'm sure you won't mind coming running to my rescue even at 3 am." She said, smiling back at him.

"Yeah, that's true. But I'll be here for breakfast okay?" he reminded her.

"Okay." She agreed, cuddling him. But Lavanya's accusations still kept revolving around her mind. Was she wrong in taking Arnav's side? He had even relented to her request without questioning back. Why was it her fault that she loved Arnav so unconditionally and irrevocably? Arnav was a good man who had unfortunately committed certain unpardonable mistakes. But was it right to punish him, completely ignoring the good side in him?

"I'll see you tomorrow morning then." He said, getting up to leave. "And if you really miss your fianc, just give me a ring. I'm at your service 24x7." He said, kissing her goodbye, going towards the door. And Khushi waved at him, standing beside the door as he got on his bike and drove off disappearing in the corner of the road in front of her house.

And closing the door, she felt unstoppable tears roll down her eyes that she had been holding back all throughout this time.

o0o

The next morning, Arnav sat across the table, staring at Khushi's face as he ate the Aloo Parathas that she had specially prepared for him, learning his own secret recipe. And just as he had promised, he had arrived right on time for breakfast to her house.

"What are you staring at?" Khushi asked, feeling conscious about his unwavering gaze on her.

"I was just admiring you." He replied smirking at her.

Khushi glared back at him, narrowing her eyes and suddenly squinted her eyes, sticking out her tongue that made her look no less than a cartoon character, taking him aback with absolute shock.

"Don't I look pretty now?" she asked, making a funny face, causing Arnav to burst out laughing.

"You still look pretty." He grinned at her. "Do you really think I fell in love with you for your beauty? Nope. I love you for what you are, not what you look like."

And Khushi didn't know why but all of a sudden, her heart was beaming with warmth and pride for the man in front of her. All night, she had only thought about her decision to marry him, questioning herself a hundred times whether she was doing the right thing. And all those times, she had reached only one conclusion and that answer was substantiated every minute she spent with him.

Yes, her decision was absolutely right.

Suddenly, they were interrupted by Arnav's phone ringing in his pant pocket and fishing it out, he saw an unfamiliar number flash across the screen. Wondering who it was, he lifted the call and was immediately greeted by an elder woman's voice.

"Hello, Arnav beta, I'm Devyani Singh Raizada, your Nani." She spoke in a hushed voice, as if she was apprehensive about someone hearing their conversation.

"Nani?" Arnav asked, scrunching up his forehead wondering why she had called him up, especially after he had come to know that the Raizadas were not interested in maintaining any relationship with him.

"I wanted to meet you. Can you meet me in an hour at the Saraswati Mandir in Keerthi Nagar?" she asked. "Please, don't refuse. I want to talk to you."

"Ok. I'll come." He said and before he could say anything else, the elder lady disconnected the call.

"Who was it?" Khushi asked curiously.

"It was Nani. She said she wanted to meet me. Will you come along with me?" he asked back, feeling anxious about meeting the Raizada matriarch.

"Okay. I'll come." He heard her reply and striding towards the living room, he grabbed his bike keys and went towards the door, while Khushi followed him.

o0o

"Are you sure she said Saraswati Mandir?" Khushi asked for the third time in the fifteen minutes they had been waiting at the temple for Nani to arrive.

"Yeah. That's what I heard. And she said Keerthi Nagar too. Are there any other temples here?" he asked, and before Khushi could respond, they saw Nani walking towards them frightfully, turning her head back every few steps as if she was worrying somebody was following her.

"Come with me." Nani announced in a panicked voice as she grabbed Arnav's hand and led him to the backyard of the Temple, out of vicinity of the passing by people.

"Nani, are you alright?" Khushi asked, taking in the sight of a visibly palpitating lady.

"Oh, Khushi Bitiya, even you are here?" she asked, finally noticing the younger girl's presence.

"Nani, what happened?" Arnav asked in a concerned voice, holding her fragile shoulders for support as he made her sit down on the marble platform behind them. Even though he had behaved rudely with her the last time, somewhere he knew that he needed to respect his grandmother.

"Arnav, I'm so sorry." She started and instantly embraced her grandson, crying on his shoulders. "I'm sorry that I have to make my own grandson go through this. I'm sorry I made your mother go through all this. I just wish I was stronger to cope up with my family, my society and stand by you. You know, from the time I met you, I couldn't stop thinking about you every minute of my night and day. When Akash told me the truth about you, I was heartbroken to learn about what happened with you. But at the end of the day, I'm a mother. And only a mother understands her children's pain. I don't know what made you choose this path, but I know my Aarti's son would never choose this path if he had any other choice. I cannot even bear to imagine what you must have gone through losing your mother and being left all alone to defend yourself at such a small age. I just wish I had met you earlier to ease your pain."

Nani moved apart so that she could hold his face affectionately with both her wrinkled hands. "But maybe even then, I would have been a coward just like I have always been. I could never support my daughter in her decisions and now I can't support my grandson. Forgive me Arnav Beta. I know everyone in my family is dead against accepting you back into the family. If I had my way, I would have stood by you. But I'm just an old woman. No one listens to me anymore." She explained, her eyes filled with tears.

Arnav didn't know how to react to his grandmother's words. It was the last thing he had been expecting from her. But he couldn't deny that somewhere, deep inside, he was really moved and touched by her words and gesture.

"I shouldn't be meeting you. Otherwise, my son and daughter-in-law will be very upset and so will be my other grandson. They don't know that I've come to meet you. I lied to them saying I was coming for my weekly prayers. But I think Devi Maiyya will forgive me for this one lie. " Nani said, wiping away her tears.

"So how did you get my phone number?" Arnav asked curiously.

"I got hold of Akash's mobile when he was in the bathroom. I thought he will have your number. And thankfully, I found your number in it." Nani replied. Only she knew all the pain she had taken just to meet her grandson and now finally meeting him, she knew it was all worth it.

"Nani, I'm sorry for that day." Arnav whispered, feeling his throat choke with unexplained anguish. He couldn't believe the extent his grandmother had gone just to meet him.

"No, beta. Don't apologise. You must have been confused and upset learning about your mother. I'm the elder one here. I should have understood your plight and not bombarded you with questions." She replied.

"Wait. I have something for you." Nani said, suddenly remembering something and rummaging through handbag, she retrieved a steel box out of it. "This is for you." She offered the box to Arnav. "Open it." She said smilingly.

Arnav took the box and opened it to reveal orange coloured Motichoor Laddoos waiting inside it.

"Aarti loved this so much. She used to tell me to prepare it every weekend. I didn't know what else to bring for you. I thought you might have similar preferences like Aarti." She explained.

"Actually Nani, I like Besan Laddoos." Arnav replied and immediately felt Khushi nudging his back hardly with her elbow. And seeing Nani's disappointed face, he realised the impact of his answer.

"But Khushi here likes Motichoor Laddoo. I'll share it with her." he tried to patch up his slip of tongue.

"Yes Nani. We'll both eat it." Khushi joined him, picking one of the laddoo and putting it inside Arnav's mouth. "It's delicious." He managed to say with his mouth full.

"Really?" Nani asked, with hopeful eyes.

"Yes, Nani. They are so tasty." Khushi replied putting one in her own mouth too.

"Even you have one." Arnav said offering one to her.

"No, beta. I can't eat. I'm diabetic." She said, refusing it. "But I'm so happy you liked it."

Maybe they weren't Arnav's favourite sweets, but they had every ounce of a grandmother's love in it and that made it very special for him. The love that he had been yearning for all these years was suddenly right in front of him. And he felt a lone tear of happiness escape his eyes, dripping down his cheek.

Closing his eyes, he felt a tight reassuring squeeze in his palm and opening them, he saw Khushi smiling at him reassuringly.

He didn't know what made him say this but somehow, he felt she was the best person to first share the best news of his life with.

"Khushi and I are getting married next week." He announced, taking both the ladies completely by surprise.

"Really?" Nani exclaimed out in ecstasy hearing the news. Ofcourse from the time she had set her eyes on this girl, she had wanted her to be a Raizada daughter-in-law. She had envisioned her for Akash. But maybe the Gods had different plans altogether. Arnav was no less a Raizada himself. Maybe it was God's destiny for Khushi to end up with Arnav.

"I'm so happy for both of you. You have made the perfect choice. But I don't think I can come for your marriage." She replied with a sad face.

"Don't worry Nani. Maybe we can try sneaking you in." Khushi replied as the elder lady hugged her fiercely. "Khushi, atleast you give him the share of happiness he never had. I will pray for both of you." She whispered in her ears. "May Devi Maiyya bless you both with a long, happy married life."

"It's so sad I have nothing to give you for your wedding." Nani said, looking at Khushi. Suddenly her eyes lit up with an idea. Looking down at her wrists, she removed the only pair of bangles she had been wearing and gave it to Khushi, making her wear it. "Atleast take this. These bangles were given to me by my mother. I wanted Aarti to wear them on her wedding day. But my wish never came true. I hope atleast you will wear them. It would finally give peace to this old lady."

"But Nani..." Khushi protested.

"If you really accept me as your Nani, you will take it." Nani said and Khushi had no other choice than to accept it.

"And for you Arnav, I have nothing else to give you except my blessings." She replied, holding his hand.

"Can I ask you something else?" Arnav asked after carefully pondering over his thoughts. "All my life I never had a surname. I neither knew my father's nor my mother's. I had no idea where I belonged to. But now that I know that my mother was a Raizada, I only ask for one thing. Can I add her surname to my name? I want to honour my mother for all the sacrifices she has done for me. I know every child has his father's surname added to the name. But my father didn't even acknowledge my existence. Hence, I only want to be known as my mother's son. No one else's."

"Ofcourse you can, Arnav Singh Raizada." Nani replied, smiling warmly at him. "For me, you are always part of my family."

"I have to go now. My driver is waiting for me. Otherwise, he will get suspicious and call up my daughter-in-law and I don't want to hear her two hour long lectures." Nani told them, rolling her eyes. "You both take care of yourselves. I'll try to sneak in and meet you whenever I can." And hurriedly, she went back in the same way they had arrived, leaving behind both to themselves.

"Arnav, Nani is such a nice lady. Now I know where you have got the good genes from." She said, wrapping her arm around Arnav's torso. "And we thought no Raizada wanted you as part of the family. See, you have her on your side. She loves you."

"I don't know what to say." He replied, his gaze still lingering over the corner where Nani had disappeared. "I never expected it."

"Arnav Singh Raizada huh?" Khushi asked, winking at him. "Has a nice ring to it. Sounds nice nah?"

"Yeah, Arnav Singh Raizada." Arnav repeated his own name, with a warm content smile on his face, feeling a long lost void complete inside him.

"Oh, so what would that make me after I get married to you? Khushi Singh Raizada? Ha ha... Mr. and Mrs. Raizada." She laughed. "Sounds like some exotic name." She said, looking at the gold bangles that were now adorning her wrists. So now, they even had the elders blessing for their wedding.

"Hmm... that reminds me I have to go and meet Khalid Bhai and get a wedding date fixed. So shall we go now?" he asked, standing up, taking her hand in his and leading her towards the entrance of the temple. Who knew happiness came knocking at the door when you least expected it. Atleast not Arnav, who had never known happiness for most of his life.

"And I think I have developed a liking for Motichoor Laddoos." She heard him laugh as they walked down the stairs of the temple.

o0o

Aman stood outside the car that was parked at the side of the highway. He had borrowed Arnav's car for a day, saying that he had to go for some official work. But infact, he had come to pick up his brother who was being released today after being in captivity for three months.

He glanced at his watch impatiently. It was about time his brother had arrived. And just when he was about to call up Shyam, he noticed a black SUV, come and halt behind his car. And a minute later, the back door opened and a young man, who was apparently Aman's younger brother, was pushed out of it. And within a couple of seconds, the SUV drove off in the same speed it had arrived.

Aman took a whole minute to take in the appearance of his brother. His clothes were in a dishevelled state and his face was sunken by the emotional torture he had to endure for the past three months.

"Aman Bhai!" the man, not younger than three years to Aman, cried out.

"Jeet!" Aman exclaimed as he ran towards his younger brother. He could see the reddened marks on his wrists, indicating that he had been tied up throughout the journey. "How are you? How are Amma, Babu and others?"

"Bhai, they are fine. I'm alright. I'm so relieved to meet you. I thought I would never get to meet you again." Jeet cried, hugging his elder brother. "Bhai, why did they do this to us? What have we done? We were just living our lives all by ourselves without disturbing anyone. Then, why did they take us captive? When will they release the others?"

"You don't worry. I'll see that everyone is released. Please don't worry. I will bring back all of them. I promise." Aman said, consoling his brother. If Jeet had been so much disturbed by this, he wondered what trauma his other younger siblings must have gone through, especially his baby sister Guddi.

"Now listen to me. Take this gun." Aman said, handing over a revolver to him. "Keep it with you always. I cannot make you stay with me. You have to go back to Rohtak. But if anyone else tries to attack you once again, just shoot them with this. Okay? Be safe. And by next Wednesday, everyone will be back home. And after that, I will decide what to do about your safety."

"Okay, Bhai." Jeet nodded.

"Now, I'll drop you to Rohtak. Come." Aman said, opening the door of his car. For once, he thanked the Gods for keeping his brother safe. It was as if a huge heavy boulder had been taken off his shoulder and he just hoped everyone else would be back safely just like him.

o0o

Arnav stopped his bike on a street before the road in front of Khalid Malik's house. He had decided this was the best time to introduce Khushi to him, while arranging the wedding dates with him. But suddenly, he realised that not everyone had yet seen Khushi and there were chances that other members of his gang would be present at Malik's home. And when he was sure that someone had already infiltrated their gang, colluding with the rivals, he couldn't take any chances.

"Khushi, can you veil your face just like yesterday?" he asked, turning around to face her.

"Okay." Khushi relented and wrapped the nylon shawl around her face, so that only her eyes were visible. And after making sure that Khushi's face was not visible, he drove the bike to Khalid Malik's house.

"Wow! This house is even bigger than Lavanya's or Akash's." Khushi exclaimed, getting down from the bike, taking in the sight of the huge mansion lying in front of her eyes. All around her, she could see security guards moving around with weapons in their hands. Arnav waved at the man near the door who opened the huge doors to let them in.

"My God! How much is your boss earning?" Khushi asked, unable to believe her eyes. It was no less than visiting an exotic castle that were found only in the movies. "This was built by my boss's father. They are minting millions in a day Khushi." He whispered into her ears, holding her hand and leading upstairs to Khalid's bedroom where he was usually found.

Finally reaching the room, Arnav knocked the door and they heard a sturdy male voice asking them to enter in.

"Khalid Bhai!" Arnav greeted and the elder man turned around to face both of them standing at the door.

"We have a visitor I see." Khalid replied amusedly taking in the sight of the veiled face of the girl. Closing the door after him and making sure no one else was inside the room, Arnav ushered Khushi to remove the shawl off her face and introduced, "Bhai. This is Khushi Gupta, the girl I have decided to marry."

"So you finally decided huh?" he asked, chuckling with delight, taking in the appearance of the young woman standing in front of him.

Khushi suddenly felt like she had seen the man somewhere. His face was very familiarly etched in her memory, but she couldn't pinpoint where she had seen him.

"May Allah bless you both. You look perfect for each other. And Khushi, I hand over my responsibility to you henceforth. I have taken lots of pain to bring him to this stage. He's one tough cookie to handle. Now, I hope you take good care of him. If he doesn't listen to you, just scold him once. He fears anyone scolding him." Khalid explained to her amusedly, pulling Arnav's leg at every chance he got.

"Khalid Bhai!" Arnav exclaimed, frowing at the elder man. "Khushi, that's not true."

"Oh yeah! You know if I just shout at him once, he'll obey everything silently without questioning a word. He gets angry at times, even at me. But he comes around everytime. You don't need to worry." Khalid told Khushi, patting Arnav's shoulder.

And Khushi's eyes didn't miss the peculiar bond that the two men shared with each other. It was something different. She had never seen this side of Arnav before. The level of ease between both of them was at an entirely different level. Maybe it was a result of spending more than a decade with this man.

And it wasn't just from Arnav's side. No one who looked at Khalid Malik right now at this moment could say that he was the head of Delhi's Mafia. He just looked like an ordinary adorable man and she realised that she had developed an instant fondness towards him.

"Bhai, about the wedding I wanted to ask you to arrange with the registrar..." Arnav mentioned it, only to be interrupted midway by the all knowing Khalid Malik.

"Yeah, sure. I'll do that. Give me a minute." Khalid said and taking out the phone, he dialled a number followed by him barking some few orders and within two minutes, he disconnected the call.

"They said you can get married next Thursday. Bloody rascals were telling you needed one month notice and all that crap. But I said I would slap twenty lakhs on his face tomorrow morning. Guess what? He agreed instantly." Khalid said rolling his eyes. He looked at Khushi who was staring at him dumbfounded.

"Oh! She's the innocent type huh?" Khalid asked Arnav, amused to see her reaction. "Don't worry Khushi. Being with Arnav you will soon learn how the world runs on money. Welcome to the gang." He smiled at her.

"Thanks Bhai!" Arnav replied gratefully. "I'll see you soon." He turned around to leave but suddenly remembering something, he turned back. "Bhai, I have one more request. Can you be present as one of the witnesses for my marriage?" he asked.

"Ofcourse Boy! I was going to come even if you didn't invite me." Khalid said chuckling at him. "Afterall, Khalid Malik's right hand is getting married. Now, you both go, before Khushi gets scared of our talk." He said, pointing at Khushi's awestruck face. "One more thing Arnav. Abbas told me he wants to meet you. Just meet him later to find out what he wants and do the job, okay?"

"Okay, I'll meet him. Shall we go?" Arnav asked, holding Khushi's hand and she nodded and wrapping her face with shawl once again, they both stepped out of the room. She didn't say anything the whole time till they reached the bike and drove off. The whole experience about visiting Khalid Malik and his house was too overwhelming for her to grasp and react.

"So how was the whole visit?" Arnav asked Khushi, reaching back to their house.

"Khalid Malik seems like a nice man. He is nowhere close to what I imagined him to be like. I thought he would have a scary moustache and a huge spot on his cheek below the eye like the villains in the old movies." She said and heard Arnav chuckling at her words.

"But you know, I'm pretty sure I've seen him somewhere before. But I dont' remember where it was." She said, echoing out the thought that was nagging her since the time she had set her eyes on the elder man.

"Really? Khalid Malik likes to remain low profile. I don't think he has appeared publicly anywhere." Arnav clarified her doubt.

"Yeah?" Khushi asked, scrunching up her nose with disappointment.

"Maybe he looks familiar coz you've seen his younger brother Abbas. They look a bit similar." Arnav said dropping on the couch beside her.

"Maybe." She echoed, still not convinced, her brain running fast, impatiently, trying to figure out the connection.

"I wanted to ask you one more thing. Arnav, why didn't you tell him that you came to know about your mother's family?" Khushi asked curiously.

"Khushi, just because I share everything with you, doesn't mean I do it with everyone. The truth is I have never ever spoken about my past to anyone except you. Not to Aman, not to Khalid Bhai. No one. My life has taught me a painful and a valuable lesson to never trust anyone. So I don't want anyone else to know about my private life. In my world, information is a weapon which can be used anytime against you. It's part of our gang code. We never share our private life with anyone." Arnav tried explaining to her.

"I'm glad you found me worthy enough to share your life's secrets with." She said cuddling him.

"Oh Miss Khushi Gupta! You didn't leave me with any other choice." He replied back, pulling her against his chest. "Done with your questions? Ssshh... enough of talking. Now let's get into action. I'm tired and I need to be energised back." He whispered in a husky voice enough to turn her on, as he dived to taste those pink luscious lips.

"Yeah, even I'm tired." She said, grabbing his neck to reciprocate his actions and need. "You behave like a horny teenager at times." She managed to say just before he plunged his tongue inside her.

"You are no less." He said smiling against her lips as he let his hands explore her mercilessly with an aching need, wanting a release from a long tiring day, absolutely oblivious to what lay in store for him in his future.

CHAPTER 55