ArHi SS:A Thing called Marriage #1 *Complete* - Page 32

He grinned looking at the bouquet of fresh white lilies he had bought for his mother and glanced up at the house in front of him.

He sighed finally feeling his heart at peace. He missed home. There was no doubt about that. But how terribly he missed it, he realized only now after finally seeing it in front of him. He smirked mischievously, imagining the surprised look on his father's face and shocked look on his mother's and Di's face.

He had straightway denied coming home for Diwali, stating that he will come back only next month with his MBA degree in hand. His parents and sister were sad to know that but little did they know that he was planning to pay a surprise visit to them and to tell them how he had scored highest marks in his batch and has been offered a job in a reputed MNC.

He smiled knowing how much happy they all will be to see him after a year. He just hoped that the gifts he had bought for them from the money he had earned doing the part time jobs, will be liked by them. With a haughty expression on his face, he opened the main door of his house pretty sure that this time, the amount of love and adoration he deserved won't be snatched by that Khushi.

Why the hell was he even thinking about her?

He looked around seeing all the servants quietly doing their work and looking up only when he entered inside, only to smile and greet him.

"Maa, Papa, Di, I am home." He shouted, expecting all of them to run out from their room after hearing his voice.

He waited when he heard a shriek from Di's room and ran inside only to see his Di throwing her phone on the floor, breaking it into pieces as color totally drained from her face.

"Di..."

Anjali looked up at him and he staggered back to see her face looking white as chalk, her mouth wide open. She clutched his hand tightly.

"Chotte, someone shot Maa and Papa. They are in hospital, Chotte."

He panicked seeing her crying hysterically. He never saw his Di like this.

Arnav fell on his knees after lighting his parent's pyre and watching it burn. Lost in his grief, he barely noticed people leaving. His eyes fell on his sister who was crying while hugging her husband who was trying his best to console her.

He blinked his eyes softly before getting up and rushing to her side, to calm her down forgetting that he hadn't cried at all at his parent's death.

"You see all this decorations, lights." He whispered while looking down at the person lying on floor, who was shaking uncontrollably with fear.

"My parents loved Diwali. I wanted to celebrate it with them but you ruined my chance." He said coldly, as the person started crying begging him to leave him and how sorry he was to kill his parents.

"Tch tch it's so sad that I can't let you leave. You ruined my chance and I will ruin yours."

"I ...I am sorry."

"You see, your sorry' cannot bring my parent's back. Say your final good bye to the world." He said picking up the revolver and placing it against his temple.

He pulled the trigger, ignoring the person's pleas and saw him dying in front of him with a strange satisfaction glinting in his eyes.

Arnav woke up, breathing raggedly as he looked around. He was totally drenched in sweat. Realizing that he won't be able to get sleep anymore, he sat up letting his face fall in his hands.

No matter how much he tried to forget everything, it all came back to him.

Haunting him.

Reminding him what had happened.

Looking at the clock at the bedside table, he noticed that it was past 5 in morning. Pushing the duvet off, he stood up walking to his closet and picking up his clothes for the day before glancing at Khushi who was stills sleeping.

In less than 20 minutes, he was out of Shantivan ready to leave after seeing his Di sleeping peacefully in her room which calm him down a bit.

Once Shantivan was the only place where he truly felt happy but now all he wanted to do was to run away from here, to never come back.

To never remember, he is Arnav. Arnav Singh Raizada.

When Khushi woke up that day, she was surprised to see an empty bed with Arnav already gone. She got ready and went downstairs to see Anjali sitting there looking tensed.

Anjali's face lit up when she saw Khushi and said "Khushiji, do you know where is Arnav?"

"Didi, I think he left early for work." Khushi replied nervously, not wanting Anjali to know that she had an argument with Arnav last night.

She watched as Anjali's face fell again at her reply and said once again "he must be busy in work Didi."

"I don't know Khushiji but I am feeling like something is not right." Anjali said worriedly, making Khushi wonder about the same.

That day, Anjali kept calling on Arnav's number again and again but he never took the call though she knew that he kept enquiring about her health from the servants. Neither did she saw him coming home that day as she waited a lot for him. She knew that yesterday after seeing her health deteriorating, he must have got worried for her. She knew how much he care for her, never saying no' to her. She loved her brother as much as he loved her and it was the love she had for him that she never wanted him to do something that he may regret later.

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Next day, Arnav's secretary visited Shantivan and delivered some trousseaus saying that Arnav had picked up these outfits for them for the wedding reception along with some jewellery boxes. Khushi who was least bothered about it, was concerned to see Anjali worried. Now even Khushi was thinking about Arnav. Not only had he stopped doing efforts to make her leave Shantivan, he also disappeared from Shantivan like he never had been there.

Throughout the day, Anjali was with her doing arrangements for the reception but she knew that she was worried for her brother very much. No matter how much she tried to pacify her, Anjali never looked at ease.

"Didi, you must go and take rest. I will wait for him." Khushi insisted after seeing how adamant Anjali was to wait for Arnav again for dinner. Though she wanted to avoid Arnav because she knew whenever they had been in front of each other, they always argued or Arnav insulted her to be precise.

"No Khushiji, I must wait for him." Anjali said stubbornly.

After very much insistence and pursues, Anjali went to her room while Khushi sat there, waiting for Arnav.

"YOU. What are you doing here at this time?" Khushi sat up immediately, looking up to see Arnav looking down at her. His eyes were red like he hadn't took rest since last 2 days, his expression tired but still there was unmistakable rage on his face as he focused on her.

"Anjali Didi was waiting for you but I decided to do the honors instead." Khushi replied sarcastically standing up.

Clenching his jaws, he grabbed her hand dragging to their room despite Khushi's efforts to free herself from his grip. He threw her inside before turning around and locking the door.

"Jeez. What's your problem exactly? You know how much your sister was worried for you? How much she waited for you?" Khushi snapped, messaging her wrists as she stood up.

She was taken aback when Arnav grabbed her shoulder, pulling her closer and shouted "YOU. You are my problem. I HATE you. I hate you with an intensity that scares me. I hate you so much that I feel like I am losing my sanity. I HATE YOU EVER SINCE I KNOW YOU."

I just hope that this update don't confuse you all. I will explain everything in next update. Waiting eagerly for your comments and please hit 'like' button.

Love,

Aditi 😊