The turning point- Arhi (Chpt 9 - 7/1) - Page 11

Originally posted by: mnprtkaur

WOWW!!!!!
FINALLY THEY MEET😃😃
thnxx for the pm :):)

NOTE

will be waiting dear

Originally posted by: sweetdesire

will be waiting dear

And story pace is just fine

take care

Arnav's POV

One thing Arnav Raizada could not have predicted was the way his world turned on its head in a mere matter of minutes. Just a few minutes ago, he was "shopping" with Suraj.

And boom! A blast from the past! She looked exactly the same except her eyes were filled with pain. I wondered what she thought of the new me. A completely different Arnav Raizada met her today. The "star" of his college, the happy-go-lucky Arnav Raizada was no more. He had died after the incident. Arnav had made sure that his past was hidden forever and that no aspect of it could ever come into his life again. He had never expected to meet her again.

"Hi... you must be Arnav" she said, while extending her hand towards me.

Why is she addressing me like a complete stranger? Did the relationship we shared mean nothing to her? I bet her friend next to her did not even know that I existed. She was posing as an innocent girl who had never had an affair. I had no doubt that she would have hidden her college day escapades from the group of friends she had now. Who would have thought that the love he held for her was now replaced by bitterness. Well if she wanted to act like a complete stranger, then there was nothing I could do. I shook her hand, shivering as a jolt of electricity went through me.

Looking around I saw that Suraj had disappeared with his fiancee. I would deal with Suraj later. He knew all about us and yet he had the nerve to leave me alone with her.

"So we meet again Arnav.." she said. What was she trying to achieve? Why was she even talking to me now? Did she not remember that she was the one who broke of all ties?

"Not the way we expected things to unfold huh?", I said. "Let's go. The sooner I drop you home, the sooner I can finish my work. I have no interest in spending more time with you than is absolutely necessary. I certainly did not expect to see you here. I'm guessing Sunaina does not know anything about us. Looks like you really broke off all the ties we had. All the memories we shared meant nothing to you."

The ride to Sunaina's house was silent. The tension in the car was tangible. You could cut through the tension with a knife. The silence was broken when I heard Khushi mumble something.. "can't believe I ended up with the 'stone hearted creature' in his car!"

"People will keep talking... thats their job... but again, they're like the dogs barking on the street..noone cares.. everyone just walks past them...why should I care" I mumbled, loud enough for Khushi to hear.

I heard Khushi shift on her seat.. But before I could say anything further, She started shouting, startling me.

"If I'm the street dog, then you're the hypocrite annoying street cat. You pretend like you dont care, but yet what I said affected you soo much that you actually found it necessary to reply! You pretend like you dont care! Thats how you portray yourself to the media, but yet you offered to drive me home...Yet you came to shop for Suraj...! Why the hell are you such a hypocrite..?" she said, and then released a deep breath... as if she had told me everything she was keeping to herself...

"I do not portray myself to be anything Khushi! I never spoke to the media in my entire career! All the tags associated with me are from people's interpretation of what I am! And you stop coming to assumptions without letting me speak and hearing me out..! You assumed then and you are assuming now. And about dropping you home, I am doing it on humanitarian grounds so stop thinking otherwise"

"Humanitarian grounds? Yeah right... Oh see! The man sleeping on the footpath there! Go get him in the car so we can find him proper shelter for the night... On humanitarian grounds! " She said, challenging me.

"Fine Khushi. I give up.. I'm doing this for the relationship we shared 10 years ago... and for the sake of all the good times we had together, stop arguing and direct me to your place"

The house was situated in the heart of Mumbai. The location was fantastic. Real estate around here was a good investment. There I go again, thinking of business.

"Do you want to come in for some coffee or tea?", Khushi asked interrupting my thoughts of business. I'm sure she was just being polite...On humanitarian terms ofcourse..

"Sure, I would love some.", I said trying to be sarcastic. Under my breath, I mumbled "Just make sure that you don't add poison in the tea."

The decoration of the house reflected Khushi's tastes and I could see glimpses of her at every corner of the house. One wall was covered with photos of Khushi, her family and Sunaina. One photo caught my eye.

Khushi with another man. They seemed to be very close and the photo looked to be fairly recent. That must be her boyfriend or husband. she certainly did not take much time to move on. As I looked at the rest of the photos it became evident that the relationship we had was meaningless to her. For her, it was just a fling while I had poured my heart and soul into the relationship. Even after she left, I could not look at any other woman. She had completely changed my life. It hurt me to see that I mattered so little to her.

Suddenly I heard a crash in the kitchen. Rushing to investigate, I noticed a broken photoframe lying on the floor. The photo in the frame was familiar to me. I remembered the day it was taken just like yesterday. It was taken just before the incident. Before everything changed. Before I became the 'stone-hearted man'.

--- Flashback---

"Arnav! Look at that teddy bear. So cute! Can you please win it for me? Please?"

"Khushi! If you want a teddy bear, then I can get you one from the shop. Why do you want to waste time on a stupid game for a stupid prize anyways? It's completely irrational. Plus I'm hungry and I want to eat that pav bhaji at the stall. Come, let's go eat."

"Arnav Raizada! If you do not play that game and get me the teddy bear, I would NEVER speak to you ever again. Khushi Gupta's anger is legendary in all of Lucknow. Do you know that hundreds of boys would jump to be in your position? When I was in Lucknow, boys lined up to fulfill even the smallest of my wishes."

"Okay, okay. I'll go play the game but you owe me a favour. Remember that, Khushi Gupta."

---End Flashback---

Khushi loved going to fairs. She made it a point to attend all the fairs held in Delhi. She became a child when attending fairs. At one fair, we had dressed up and had our photos taken. I had dressed up as a villager and Khushi dressed as my wife.

"You kept this photo all this while? I thought you would have gotten rid of all my memories." I asked her sarcastically.. My heart was doing a thousand somersaults and I closed my eyes, knowing that I still loved her.. If only.. If only a human heart was capable enough to stop loving someone...

"How could I? You were such an essential part of my life. I could not willingly remove all evidence of our relationship. No matter what happened, I loved you at one point of time Arnav. You were and will always be my first love."

She loved me. Past tense. Clearly, she did not hold the same feelings for me now. I wondered if the man in the other picture loved her as much as I did. I hoped for her sake that the man loved her more than anything. If she had moved on, there was no point in holding on to my feelings for her. I had to let her go.

Preview:

Khushi POV:

If he only knew how important he was for me. Just one sign. That's all I wanted. One sign that he still loved me. One sign that he was willing to work out our differences. One sign that we could be together.

I knew him. He might put on a farce for the rest of the world as the 'stone-hearted' man but I would always know what he was thinking.

I closed my eyes, reliving the moment we met..I had seen the pain in his eyes and I saw something that made me hope. Hope that we could be together. The emotions I had suppressed for the last 10 years were now re emerging.

Originally posted by: praseetha

nice update.

Originally posted by: crazyweird

Nice

Lovely update
She still kept his photo wow and she just need one sign from him how sweet
I wonder who the person was in the photo maybe friend or brother
Continue soon
Thanks for PM

Originally posted by: fan123GUNJ

Lovely update
She still kept his photo wow and she just need one sign from him how sweet
I wonder who the person was in the photo maybe friend or brother
Continue soon
Thanks for PM

Originally posted by: casker

Nice update