ArHi FF! Gravity - Thread 2 - [Completed] - Page 8

Originally posted by: Prakal

You know your writing in this FF reminds me of Christopher Nolan's "MEMENTO"' go figure 😉

Chapter 22: Lucifer

Khushi smiled looking at a happily laughing Payal. They were all celebrating start of summer holidays and Lavanya had arranged for dinner under moonlight in her orphanage. There were donors, her friends and prospective donors enjoying a casual evening amidst children. It was an annual event which children looked forward to and as a hostess, Lavanya took it very seriously.

"She looks beautiful, doesn't she?" Khushi turned around to see Arnav walking towards her. It was the first time she was him seeing dressed in casuals since her return. He looked every bit handsome in old khakis and black t-shirt but it was his relaxed stance and brilliant smile that made him look young and carefree. "Hey, we match," he pointed to her trouser.

"She has always been beautiful but when she is among these kids, it's as if her kindness radiates, you know?" She said leaning towards him as he came by and stood next to her. They stood in vast garden, their shoulders almost touching and both realized the tension flowing between them.

"She had a hard time coping after Dev's death. It took a lot of convincing on our part to get her out of the house. Your parents were devastated when she was under medication for depression," Arnav said.

"I am glad she had my parents, you and Lavanya to take care of her." Her voice was hollow and her eyes were distant. "Will you be mad if I tell you that I felt guilty for leaving her more than you?" She asked softly.

"I wouldn't be surprised," he said smiling softly. "You loved me but there were times when you chose her over me. I admit it used to annoy me but over a period of time I understood why," he responded, his eyes dancing under twinkling lights.

When Khushi didn't respond, he cocked his head side ways to see her staring at a shrub distractedly. "What is it?" He asked shifting on his right and bridged the gap that separated their shoulders. Khushi was startled at the contact was momentarily disoriented. Seeing Arnav, she immediately relaxed.

"Why is that everyone uses past tense when it comes to you and me? Why do people presume that I loved you once and not anymore?" She asked frankly, bitterly realizing that even Arnav thought the same.

She was tired from the detoxification of her solitary emotional confinement of seven years and everyone was walking around her in eggshells and waited for her past to expire like an old product in a grocery store shelf.

"It is the most logical conclusion to be arrived at after analyzing the circumstances and the frequency of your communication and appearances in past seven years." Arnav said coldly.

Khushi became still as his words hit her hard. What Arnav said was technically accurate without bothering to sugar coat the truth and that probably was the very reason why everyone believed that she must have moved on. But it still hurt her to know that even he assumed the same.

"Did you think the same?" She asked anyway. She didn't want to know the answer but her masochistic side was wide awake and very hungry.

"I believed it for a while. I believed that you woke up one day and realized that you didn't love me anymore," he responded without missing a beat. The pain she felt was so easily consumed that she started to believe that maybe she found solace in her pain. It had become her way of apologizing without words to people who she had hurt deeply. "But it seemed ridiculous, you know? You weren't the kind of girl to hide behind secrets if it were matters like relationship or love. You would have probably dumped me if that was the case. What you did was...jostling out of all our lives Khushi. I have no idea how strong the reasoning was behind your judgment to take a step like this. In my heart I knew that it wasn't something trivial but...my stupid, dumb and juvenile heart which started an avalanche whenever memories of you were flooded." He elaborated.

"The concept of loving you is a twisted, mind numbing, spine tingling whirlwind of emotions which I cannot give up even if I wanted to." He was smiling by the end of it and she couldn't help but smile back at him. It was so radiant, so...him.

They stood for several moments watching world around them bathed in bright lights.

"I am sorry Khushi," he said suddenly. She turned around to see that his face was hidden behind shadows.

"Whatever for?" she asked flabbergasted.

"I have been avoiding the conversation," he said.

"What conversation are you two talking about?" Arnav and Khushi turned to see Anjali standing couple of feet away from them with a raised eyebrow. Arnav looked at Khushi for a fleeting second and was awarded with a discreet nod.

"It's more of an explanation di; the reason why Khushi left," he said turning around and looking at Payal playing with children. "It's something left undone between us di and it has to be resolved before either of us can move forward."

Arnav and Khushi both missed the worried look crossing Anjali's face. "I don't think that's a very good idea. I mean what has happened has happened, right?" Anjali was suddenly very defensive.

Arnav turned around again and looked at his sister who was looking at him with wide eyes. "I want to know Anjali." He said definitively. Anjali knew that whenever he called her 'Anjali' and not 'di', he was being serious and a sense of detachment had overtaken him. It was a not so subtle hint for her not to interfere in his affairs.

"I don't know why you want to follow a forgotten dream Arnav. I don't want to see you hurt again. It took a lot of time to come out of your earlier trauma," Anjali said, tears in her eyes. Arnav knew that she meant well but he wasn't a kid who needed to be handled with gloves.

"I'll be fine di," he said lazily ignoring her plea filled look and turned back.

"You were never like this Chote!" She suddenly exclaimed panic lacing her voice. "You have changed so much that you aren't even willing to listen to my advice anymore," she cried out. Shyam, who was talking to a contributor few feet away, was on his wife's side in matter of moments when he heard her cry.

"Arnav, there is no need to your sister this way. She is only looking out for you," Shyam said handing Anjali couple of tissues.

Arnav and Khushi looked at each other and Khushi could see that Arnav was slowly losing his patience. "We all could have avoided these unpleasant and redundant conversations had we all sat together and discussed this together before the wedding." She blurted out losing out in game of patience first.

While Anjali and Shyam looked horrified at her words Arnav looked confused.

"Who stopped you from speaking about...whatever that is...Khushi?" Arnav asked anger slowly taking over calm exterior.

"I did," Anjali replied immediately. The strength in her voice made Khushi visibly flinch. "I made her promise not to tell you Chote. I didn't want your head garbled up in nonsense unless we had enough evidence to prove otherwise," she said commanding.

"What are you talking about Anjali?" He demanded.

Before Anjali could say anything Khushi interjected. "Can we have this some other time or at least some other place Arnav?" She said, her eyes darting around them checking out people.

"Now, Khushi." Arnav hissed. The softness she had witnessed minutes ago was long gone and was replaced with stoic, apathetic and indifferent Arnav. "Give me a summary," he said, voice hard. Arnav shot Anjali a warning look when she started to interject. Remembering Arnav's recent mood swings, she didn't continue.

"About six months before our wedding Shyam came to me with a photo of your father and my mother telling me that besides him, no one knows about it. The insinuation wasn't lost on me and I investigated a bit. What I found was...I don't know...just too dumbfounded to react. Before I could tell you, Anjali and Shyam visited me and told me not to tell you whatever I find out. I even promised Anjali in that regard." Khushi said looking at Arnav. He sported an unreadable expression and nodded her to go on.

She exhaled loudly and continued. "I hired some investigators and I worked with them along with Akash. We discovered a possibility that you and I could be siblings."

Arnav's jaw hung and he slowly took several steps away from her. She felt the knife that seemed to be permanently stuck in her heart was slowly being twisted.

"I didn't know what to do with this information. It wasn't confirmed and we didn't have enough concrete proof but there was a great possibility and a lot of circumstantial evidence. I couldn't tell you and I couldn't marry you either. I was confused, torn, and helpless, and...I don't know...everything got to me and I just bolted. It seemed like best idea, back then. I came to know few years ago that though your father and my mother indeed had an affair, but...we had different set of parents." Khushi's voice was unnaturally calm and held a distant displeasure.

"Why didn't anyone tell me?" He asked Khushi but Anjali knew that the question was directed to her. Her throat felt constricted.

"It was for the best," Anjali said. Arnav whirled around and gaped at his sister. Did she really say that? "If the information did turn out to be true then...we could never undo your wedding. I was just protecting you Chote, that's why I didn't want you to know. You knew that mom killed herself because of dad's affair and I know how that incident has affected you. We all felt it was wise to keep you out of it till we figured out the truth."

Arnav didn't speak for a long time. Anjali and Khushi looked at each other worriedly.

Recovering from his shock, Arnav grabbed Khushi's elbow and swung her violently towards him. "Why didn't you trust me enough to tell the truth Khushi? I could have called off the wedding and would have helped you in finding out the truth. You know my anger at you is not for eloping from the wedding, right?" He asked searching her eyes for an answer.

"I know," she said, her words garbling at her throat.

"You aren't angry for running away from our wedding. You are angry because I wonderfully corrupted every fond memory, conversation, kiss, hug, love notes, wedding bands...I had tainted everything you considered holy. I was the antagonist for the undoing of your sanity." She said taking several steps back.

Arnav nodded and chuckled mirthlessly.

"I was the Lucifer in your personal hell." Arnav closed his eyes for a brief moment after her declaration and turned around and walked away without looking back.

Only then she let her legs do as they please and the collapsed pathetically. Her tears fell on the ground not leaving any traces of their presence

Next Chapter: Chapter 23 - Dissecting a heartbreak

There you have it folks! Arnav knows!!

Thanks a million for commenting and liking this FF...we are on thread 2 now! WHOOO-HOOO

Anyway, here is the thing. I am on vacation from 18th March to 25th March and I won't be writing anything in that period. So, here are three things I was thinking of to do over the weekend.

1) As Gravity is tad difficult to write now, update one chapter on each day of weekend.

2) As I am working on another story whose genre is humor [for now] can be started and four chapters can be updated over weekend.

3) Update We, the people.

Let me know your choice! [Democracy...]