SS: Keeping Khushi (Part 14 Updt on Th 2) - Page 63

Conversation between arnav and khushi was very beautifully written,Thankz for update...

its a first time we got a honest n simple conversation bet these two...no anger..no ego...npthing only pure sensible like grown up adlts or frds kind of conversation...love it

(-NishaSobti-'s banner. Thank u, buddy!)



Part 10

"Ten?", he whispered.

The temple bells pealed.

Khushi looked at her watch, and jumped up. "I need to get home. It is so late."

Arnav caught hold of her arm. "Khushi!"

"Vivek will be coming by noon. I need to..."

"Vivek?"

Khushi smiled, her eyes filled with love. "My brother. Baba adopted him after he took me in." She said, proudly, "He is studying and working at the same time, in Mumbai. It is Baba's birthday tomorrow. So he will be coming over."

"You love him too." It was a statement.

"He is my brother." That was another statement. Khushi added. "He is the one who set up the railings in Anand Sadan for me. So that I could go about my daily work without depending on others."

Arnav looked at her, speechless. Who was she? Would he ever understand her fully?

"Acha, I need to go now. Goodbye!" Khushi took a step forward to seek Nidhi, but Arnav caught hold of her arm once more.

"Just two more minutes, Khushi."

She looked at him wondering why he was so insistent. He tugged at her arm, gently, and made her sit by him.

"Khushi, what happened to you? The accident?"

Khushi looked down at her hands in her lap, playing with the fringes of her pallu.

"My father, mother, and I...we were going for a movie. There was an accident." Her voice was low but matter-of-fact, as though she were narrating something that had happened to someone else.

Arnav closed his eyes, unable to look at her face. A few moments later, he asked, "Your parents?"

"Died then and there. Only I was alive."

(UltimateBarun, thanx!)

"You were badly hurt?", he croaked.

She nodded. "I was in the hospital for months. For treatment and because I had no other place to go."

"Khushi!"

"The doctor didi was kind. She kept me there for as long as she could, gave me two sets of clothes... And I met Baba there a few times." She smiled slightly. "When they discharged me, I had nowhere to go. I was standing outside the gate of the hospital, wondering what to do, when Baba called my name from behind."

Arnav couldn't breathe. He blinked to clear his eyes.

"He said that he was a drunkard. Totally irresponsible. Bekaar." Khushi smiled, thinking of her Baba's huge heart. "He said that if I was willing to go with him, I would have a roof over my head. Only a roof, not a home. Because he didn't know where his home was. That it had all vanished in a day." She sighed. "I didn't know it then, but he must have been talking of his wife's death."

"And?"

"I went with him."

"And?"

Khushi looked at Arnav.

"He took me to Omkar. I cleaned it up, learned to cook through trial & error, and managed. Baba sent me to school, bought me clothes and books... One day, he heard me humming some movie song. That day, he started my music lessons."

"Baba... Baba stopped drinking after he took you home?"

Khushi laughed. "No. His nightmares wouldn't let go of him. He needed oblivion more than he needed to breathe."

(UltimateBarun, thanx!)

Arnav stared at her, his eyes wide in shock.

"After I came to Omkar, Baba fell drunk on the street once, and got hospitalised. I locked the house, and ran to the hospital. He had a broken arm. I helped him back home, and for the next few weeks, fed him and held the glass for him to drink. Brandy, gin, rum. I learnt to identify them."

He looked at her, shock written clear on his face.

"After that, Baba never went out to drink. He would buy bottles in cartons and drink at home. I was so happy."

Arnav stared at her. "Happy?"

"Atleast, he was safe. If he fell, he would fall at home. And I could help him into bed. It was a big relief."

"Baba drinks still?", Arnav asked.

"No.", Khushi smiled. "He stopped a year after he took me in."

Arnav waited.

She sighed. "His drinking companions would come to Omkar daily to join him. They would sit in the living room, drink, sing loudly, laugh, cry, have snacks... I was not permitted to enter the living room. Baba was very strict about that. I didn't understand why he was so particular about this rule, till, one evening, one of his so-called friends entered the kitchen where I was cooking our dinner, and tried to..."

Arnav paled. He caught hold of Khushi's arm as though to keep her safe.

"I bit that man's hand and screamed. Baba and the others came running. Baba beat him black and blue. That day he threw all of them out, broke the liquor bottles... He pulled me into his arms, and cried all over me, apologising for not taking better care of me. He took me to his room, and he swore on his wife's photo that he would never drink again, never put me in danger again...

Then he took me to Shukla Chachaji's house, and asked him to give him Anand Sadan for rent. Chachaji was so happy that Baba was turning over a new leaf." Khushi smiled, lost in her memories of those days.

"He said he wouldn't take any rent from Baba. But Baba insisted. He didn't want anyone's charity. And that's how we came to Anand Sadan. When Chachaji died, Baba asked Mohanji to hike the rent. But Chachaji had asked his son not to increase the rent. That was how we lived there, paying a token sum every month to Mohanji."

Arnav nodded.

"Di?", Nidhi called. "Shall we go home? My stomach is hungry. It is making angry sounds. It says it wants laddoo."

Part 11: https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/fan-fictions/3239275/ss-keeping-khushi-part-14-updt-on-th-2

Oh wow

love the ff...its awesome...!!
pls pm me wen you update next

gr8 story...read it all in one go...lovd it

Oh My God... Smita... Ab bas aur nahin... I hope Khushi didn't have any more unhappiness in her past

Originally posted by: rrd29

Oh My God... Smita... Ab bas aur nahin... I hope Khushi didn't have any more unhappiness in her past

Her past has made her what she is today. Strong. Able to enjoy the small pleasures of life. A person who values relationships.

Would you want her any different?😃

awesome update dear
loved it
poor khushi has to go through so much
liked baba
continue soon

i just so wish that their relation just give her only happiness now...if arnav is planning something with this relation...with this affection he feel for khushi...thanks for update :)