IPKKND FF:The Final Decision (Ch.8, p.37) UPD:8/21 - Page 18

looks like everybody is conspiring against Arnav... waiting to c how Arnav will know..

i really can't wait for the next update dear...

YOu updated after a long time...good one!!!!!!!!

Amazing update...thanks for the PM

An Excellent FF! read all the chapters,do add me in.👏

sry for the late replay..but just loved it...waiting for arshi to meet but make arnav suffer first!!!

Beautifully written FF...

Sorry I haven't updated in so long.. Been busy with graduation rehearsals. But I hope this was worth the wait.

Chapter 7

It was a different day today. If someone asked him to describe what was so special about this particular day, he could not have described the feeling. The day was just different. There was something in the very air, a certain something that filled his deadened heart with a spark of hope and he had woken up with a smile on his face. He had almost forgotten how to smile in the past months.

He slowly made his way down to the dining hall where his grandmother reined at the head of the table. He was so lost in his own thoughts that he did not notice the furtive glances of his brother and sister-in-law, as he carelessly shoveled food into his mouth. And as he got into his car, he did not hear the whispers of the servants surrounding him.

It was a quiet ride, as it always was, except for the times she had filled up the silence with her incessant chatter. He did not realize he had taken a detour from his path until he reached the gates she had so often graced. His hand curled around the object in his pocket. He had kept it with him since it had arrived; it was his last remaining link to her and he could not bring himself to discard it, though it was mangled beyond repair. He took the broken mangalsutra out of his pocket now and stared at it, the few remaining black beads glinting in the bright sunlight. He continued his intent observation as he walked up the smooth marble stairs and as it was, he did not notice the woman until he walked straight into her. His hands immediately went around the woman's waist in a practiced gesture as she stumbled against him and the mangalsutra went flying from his hand. As he gazed at the woman's face, the same hazel-green eyes which had haunted his dreams for months now looking up at him, her own hands around his neck, he did not even attempt to catch the piece of jewelry he had coveted for the last several days. But he did not need to, as the mangalsutra landed around the woman's neck, returned back to its rightful owner.

He had felt today was a different day and now he knew why. His reason to live had come back to him.

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As she stared at the pools of molten chocolate that seemed to sear her soul, she had an odd desire to stroke away the lines of grief embedded into the handsome planes of his face.

Dhak-dhak. Dhak-dhak.

Khushi looked around wildly, hoping to locate the source of the loud noise. It sounded strangely like a heartbeat, but that wasn't possible. How could a heart beat with such intensity? But when she could think of no other alternative, Khushi placed a hand on her violently thudding heart and sure enough, her heartbeat matched the sounds she was hearing. As she looked down at her hand, where it was resting on her chest, she noticed something which had not been there a few minutes ago. She fingered the necklace now nestled around her neck and glared up at the man she had been admiring just seconds before, wrenching herself out of his rather firm grasp in the process.

"How dare you? How dare you put a mangalsutra around my neck?"

"What?"

"What nahi! What the! And that is what I am asking you! Such audacity!"

"Khushi, I'm sorry, it was an accident."

"An accident? Then what about how you were holding me? That is unacceptable! Have you no shame! I don't even know your name!"

With that, Khushi stalked away, her cheeks red with anger and another emotion she could not describe, leaving Arnav behind with a stricken look on his face. It was not until she got home that she realized she still had the mangalsutra around her neck. For some inexplicable reason, looking at the broken piece of jewelry brought tears to her eyes. She impatiently brushed them away and leaned against the door, her chest heaving, as though she had just run a marathon. The scene in the mandir replayed in her head over and over again, as she tried to pinpoint the oddity. He had said something, something strange. But what? And his voice had sounded so familiar' It was not until late that night, as she lay on her bed, her eyes drooping, that it came to her. A whisper, carried by the wind. A low husky voice, speaking in the way she had longed to hear. Khushi. Her name. He had known her name. That was her last coherent thought before she succumbed to slumber, her hand curled around the ornament she could not bear to take off.

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"I don't even know your name." She didn't know his name. Arnav was still at the mandir, his mind whirling with unanswered questions. She really hadn't known him, he realized now with a dawning unease. It was as though she had never met him. But how was that possible? He was missing something, the crucial piece to the incomplete puzzle. As he ran over their meeting in his mind, he noticed the details he had missed in his initial shock of seeing her again. The scars on her face, stark white against her porcelain skin, the cast on her leg, and the angry red scratches all over her arms. It was evident she had been in an accident of some sort. Arnav leaned against one of the marble pillars of the mandir for support as he finally understood her lack of recognition. Memory loss.

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"AKASH! PAYAL! AKASH! PAYAL! COME DOWN NOW! WHERE ARE YOU!?"

The two came running down to meet him, their faces alight with curiosity at the happiness evident in his normally grave voice.

"What happened Bhai?"

"Is everything ok Arnavji?"

"Ok? Ok!? Everything is more than ok! She's back Akash! Khushi is back Payal! She's back!"

He had expected tears from Payal, and perhaps from Akash too. At the very least, he had expected surprise and relief, all combined into one delightful outpouring of joy. But all he saw was acceptance, almost a grim resignation.

As he looked into the eyes of his brother and sister-in-law, guilt in the former and defiance in the latter, Arnav was stung by the betrayal. Payal's omission he could comprehend, even sympathize with, but Akash's lack of loyalty he could not tolerate.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

And the answer was his own words echoed back to him.

"Because Bhai, if you truly love something, you have to set it free. And if it's meant to be, it will come back to you."

Before he could respond, another voice spoke up, a soft modulated voice which usually never dared to address him. She addressed him now, and though her voice was still soft, there was an undercurrent of steel running through it that warned him to heed her words.

"This is your second chance Arnavji. Use it well."

A second chance. It was more than he deserved. But he would grasp the opportunity with eagerly waiting hands. This time around, he would make the right decisions.

*THIS IS ENTIRELY MY OWN WORK. PLEASE DO NOT COPY OR REPRODUCE.*

How was that guys? Please do like and comment!

nice chapter, khushi did not recognize him.

wow!! I am so addicted to all your stories. The scenes are well conceived and amazingly written..please update more often if possible..Very eagerly waiting for the next update of 'winning you back'.