SS: Keeping Khushi Thread 2: Part 22 in Th 3 - Page 37

beautiful update love baba cant wait to see how arnav reacts when khushi tells him the truth mami is hilarious loved the update

Part 17

Arnav was driving towards Omkar the next morning when he saw Khushi walk up the steps to Devi Maiyya's temple. He braked immediately, and after parking his car at the nearest available spot, ran up the steps.

Khushi was praying, the pallu of her blue saree covering her head. She knew that Arnavji would visit her that morning. She looked at Devi Maiyya's benevolent eyes.

How could she tell him about her scars?

She would bear it if he took back his offer to marry her.

But what if he decided to marry her because he felt pity for her, responsible for his father's folly?

She asked the only mother she had now, silently, "What should I do?"

Devi Maiyya continued to smile at her.

"Please tell me what I should do. A sign, a signal, anything to show me your will."

Pigeons cooed around her, picking grains from near her feet and flying away to perch on railings.

"Devi Maiyya, you gave me my life. You gave me my Baba, my children, a home, my music. Am I being too greedy to hope for Arnavji's love too?"

Someone jostled her on their way out. She stumbled and staggered back. Warm, familiar hands curved around her shoulders, pulling her to rest against his strong body. His fragrance rose around her, comforting her. His touch soothed her mind, making her feel safe and secure.

But she couldn't stand in the temple like this forever. Khushi slowly pulled away from him. His hands left her shoulders reluctantly. She turned around to look at him.

(Kinma, thanx!)

Arnav removed his sunglasses to get a clearer view of her. She looked like his dearest dream, like everything good on earth.

"Khushi!", his husky voice pulled at her heart strings.

So Devi Maiyya had given her the sign she had asked for. Khushi turned to look at her, and silently thanked her.

"Arnavji, I... I was hoping to meet you. We... we need to talk."

"Shall we go to some cafe? Have breakfast together?"

But what she had to say could not be said in a restaurant where privacy would be in short supply.

"Let's meet at Omkar.", she suggested.

"OK.", he drawled. "As long as you let me drive you home."

Khushi nodded. She hadn't let him drive her home last evening after the concert. He had insisted. His family had insisted. But she had held firm.

They walked to the car together. Arnav opened the door for her, and helped her settle in, tucking in the folds of her sari so that they wouldn't get caught in the door as he shut it. He pulled the seat belt and fastened it across her, looking at her face from close quarters and loving the view. He drove her to Omkar, his eyes straying to her face again and again.

She took him to a small living room, showed him in, and locked the door after her. The pallu covering her head slipped down, leaving her head and right shoulder uncovered. Her silky dark hair hung down her back in a single tidy plait, down to the back of her knees.

Arnav asked, his voice more husky than usual, "What are you planning to do to me, Khushi Kumari Gupta?"

"Do to you? I..I just wanted to..."

"You should know that I am a well brought-up man, unused to spending time in closed rooms with ladies. Should I worry for my virtue?", he asked, tongue in cheek.

Khushi blushed.

Arnav asked, serious, his eyes fixed on hers, "Marry me, Khushi. Come home with me. It is very lonely there without you."

Khushi paled. She swallowed hard. The time had come. There was no going back now.

She showed him to a chair. She sat down facing him.

"Arnavji, there is something that you should know if you are...if you are serious about the... proposal."

"I am always serious about everything concerning you, Khushi.", he said, his gentle voice not masking his steely determination to get and keep her.

"I didn't want to tell you all this. I never wanted you to know. But if we are talking seriously about m..marriage, then you should know this."

"I am listening, Khushi. And I am going no where till you finish."

Khushi drew a deep breath.

"I... I have s..scars on my body... The accident... From my neck downwards. I ...I cannot wear short-sleeved clothes. My arms, torso, waist, hips, and legs...they are all b..badly scarred." She looked into his eyes to read his reaction.

His eyes were moist.

"You were burnt.", he whispered.

She nodded.

He shut his eyes tight.

"May he burn in hell... My father...", Arnav whispered.

She looked at him, silent, waiting.

"There was not a day he didn't make Mama cry... Bad husband, bad father, bad son, bad son-in-law... And on his way from the world, he took four innocent people with him and left you dying, an orphan..."

They sat looking at each other, both trying hard not to cry.

"You were in the hospital for months, weren't you, Khushi?"

"Ji. After I went with Baba, he used to take me to the hospital regularly for check ups. For years."

Arnav nodded.

"So I never thought of getting married... The scars... They are pretty bad. I am used to them, but... but to someone who is new to them..."

"Marry me, Khushi.", he pleaded.

"Why? Because you feel guilty?"

"No. Oh, I will never stop regretting the hurt and loss that my father caused you and many others. Never. But I am not marrying you to make up for what he did to you. My proposal of marriage is no compensation."

Khushi looked at him, silent, waiting for him to speak his mind, her heart in her mouth.

"Tumhe pata he, Khushi, I fell in love with you before I knew who you were. I had decided that I would marry you and only you long before I knew of the accident and my father's role in it. In fact, I had told my family that I wanted to marry you, and we had made plans to visit you the next morning to meet Baba and propose to you. It was then that we found out..."

Arnav looked at her, his eyes melting with love for her.

"That's why Nani, Di, Mami, NK, & Akash treat you like you belong to us."

Khushi smiled slightly, remembering Mami's demand for Munni Badnam Hui & Second-hand Jawani.

"Believe me, Khushi. Guilt has no role to play in our relationship. I love you. I want to marry you. Bas." His sincerity shone from his eyes.

"Why did you fall in love with me, Arnavji?"

He smiled, his mind back in the studio where he had gone to shake up Singhania and ended up being shaken himself.

"You were talking to Chotu on the phone. You called him 'Chotu' with so much love that I wished you were calling me. I turned around, and there you were. Beauty personified in a white anarkali that covered every inch of your body. But more than your beautiful form and face, I was trapped by the love in your eyes and voice when you talked to Chotu. Your eyes brimming with love for him. Your loving smile. The care in your voice as you asked him to have the karela sabzi you had made for him as it is his favourite. Your warmth. Your immense capacity to give love. I was frantic to make you mine."

Khushi stared at him, astonished.

"I wanted to carry you away, take you away from the other man you were so concerned about. I wanted all your love for myself then. But now, I know that your heart is big enough to hold me and my family, Baba, the children, and a hundred others..."

Khushi swallowed hard.

"The more I tortured you, the more you resisted, and the more I fell in love with you. Your innate goodness. Your self-respect. Your generous heart that made you forgive my family. Your love for Baba. The love you shower on your children and the love they return to you. Khushi, marry me , please."

"Arnavji..." Khushi had to clear her throat to get the words out. "The scars are bad."

"Do they hurt you?"

"No."

He heaved a sigh of relief.

"If I strain too much or sit on the floor, my legs..."

"I will make certain that you don't strain too much. And I will talk to Vivek, and we will fix railings for you in Omkar and RM."

"Arnavji, the scars. They are bad. Ugly." She had to be truthful. She had to let him choose.

"If you can live with them for 11 years, then I can live with them for the rest of my life."

"Arnavji!", she sighed. "Living together...with this body..."

"The scars don't matter to me, Khushi."

"They should."

"Maybe. But they don't." He was certain, sure.

There was nothing else she could do. Khushi unpinned the pallu and let it drop to the floor. Her fingers went to the first button of her blouse to undo it.

Part 18: https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/fan-fictions/3248201/ss-keeping-khushi-thread-2-part-22-in-th-3?pn=71