ArHi FF || Serendipity #2 || Link to Thread 3: Pg 1 - Page 24

Originally posted by: LondonChick

I have just read this FF and I must say I am hooked

Khushi is so broken here I almost had tears in my eyes.

To love someone so vehemently and to have him hate you that much is just something that no one should have to live with. But Khushi did. Everyday for those six months. And I must say you bought out all that pain so well

Loved every chapter. I read the whole thing in one go. Please may I be Pmed for updates?

"Ar... Arnav Ji?"

Arnav looked up from his laptop to see a nervous Payal knocking lightly at his door. He had not communicated with her since Khushi had left Shantivan, the feeling of loss from interacting with her sister far too overwhelming for him to endure. And Payal steered steadfastly clear of Arnav's direction, uninterested in jeopardizing her marriage because of her sister's failed one. Therefore, he was rather startled to see his reticent sister-in-law seeking his attention. Payal Raizada hardly ever spoke to him... let alone walk to his door to enquire about an issue.

"What is it Payal?", he curiously asked.

She began fumbling nervously with the end of her pallu, her eyes fixed on her fidgeting fingers.

"Actually... Amma had called. She wants us both to meet her."

He should have disagreed to the request immediately. And if not that, Arnav should have at least enquired as to why Khushi's mother was suddenly inviting him to her home. But with his mind drowning in memories of bright laughter, counting stars and ringing bangles, he ignored sanity's feeble please to decline. He convinced himself it was simply his desire to confirm her deplorable state of anguish that was persuading him to concede to Payal's requests.

"Let me grab my keys. I'll meet you in the car."

As Arnav sat alongside Payal upon the inexpensive, wooden furniture in the Gupta's living room, he could not help but clench his fingers in panic. Something was wrong. He had noticed the tremble in Garima's fingers when she served him tea and the way Madhumati grasped the kitchen counter to steady herself while preparing refreshments. And what frightened him by far the most... was the formidable, fiery and merciless blaze within Shashi Gupta's eyes. He scowled and grimaced in desperation, lifting his hands and lightly kicking his legs in an effort to communicate. Taken aback, Arnav concentrated on his lukewarm chai, anticipating when Bua Ji and Khushi's mother would commence questioning him about the circumstances behind the dissolution of their marriage. Why else would they have called him here?

Yet his patience faltered as the women continued to inaudibly share apprehensive glances, the only individual exposing any desire to talk being her paralyzed father.

And Khushi? That who*e was nowhere in sight. Probably toying around with another wealthy man, as the end of their marriage had clearly not upset her.

Furiously realizing that the repulsive woman did not seem interested in meeting him, he hurriedly composed himself. He wanted to leave the Gupta house immediately, unwilling to be caught weak in front of relatives that would relay the news to the object of his frustration. Placing the stale tea on the timeworn table, Arnav coldly began reiterating the same cliched reason for their divorce... as though clarifying the intentions behind the termination of a business deal.

"Aunty and Bua Ji, I know why you have called me here. I am sure that Khushi has already explained the circumstanced to you, but we were simply not compatible as husband and wife. Such relationships doomed for failure do not deserve our time and effort. But I assure you, our intent was not to hurt our families."

He was prepared for the pleading and the waterfalls of tears, but neither of the women responded visibly to his explanation, the only sound coming from Sashi continuing to struggle within his wheelchair. Suddenly, Arnav understood that this was not the reason that he had been called to their home that evening. Garima confirmed his doubts when she quietly asked with the first tears finally breaking free,

"Then... then you don't where Khushi bitiya has gone? We... we thought she may have... may have called you or Payalia"

Arnav stared at the woman dumbly. Gone? Gone where? Where could she go? Only to the market or the mandir, if anything.

"She wasn't in her room this morning bitwa. And her clothes and belongings... everything is gone."

Arnav Singh Raizada prided himself in being a strong man with nerves made of steel, uninfluenced by emotion or sentiment. Vulnerability was one quality he fervently detested -- something he had abandoned the day his mother shot herself. The world had been cruel to a young boy in pain, questioning him about his father's deceit and his mother's betrayal. He had learned then, that the human race was cruel and unforgiving, and stood fast by his dictum... until he met a woman named Khushi Kumari Gupta. But even she had crushed his first stirrings of faith, and left him vulnerable again for the first time in fourteen years since his mother had died. Arnav had risen through the pain of deception quickly, regaining his control and authority by marrying the woman who had dared to wrong him.

And therefore, to be found defenseless again, in tremendous concern for that same woman's safety frightened him. Straight to his core. As Garima and Madhumati relayed the events of this morning to Payal, he felt his heartbeat speeding to an excruciatingly painful pace.

The women had walked into a pristine, but unoccupied bedroom this morning, finding no note or indication of where Khushi had gone off to. Their fear escalated at finding her cupboard and closet emptied, her luggage missing. They then proceeded to hunt through the neighborhood and inquire with her close friends, only to be unsuccessful in their quest. With no indications or clues, they finally decided to call Payal or Arnav, to ask if they had any leads as to where she might be.

As Arnav's fear intensified and heightened, so did ASR's infamously destructive anger. Anger that a woman so lewd and deceptive continued to have him wrapped so tightly around her fingers. That she had so brutally victimized him, but still had control over his feelings. Fear to such a debilitating extent was foreign to him. He detested it.

"And... And Chetan Mistry had come with a proposal for Khushi last night, Payalia".

He did not attempt to scrutinize Payal's gasp in horror. For hearing Khushi's name linked so intimately with another man's caused any semblance of the strained control on his antagonism to split, shatter and vanish. Instantly.

And Arnav spat with as much loathing and revulsion he could muster, "Then I suggest you search for your daughter in his bed."

The women's dumbstruck faces did not resonate. The numbing silence did not resonate. The sound of Payal falling in shock onto a nearby lounger did not resonate. Garima and Madhumati's widening eyes and endless tears did not resonate.

For the only thing that truly resounded was the frail voice behind him. Unknown and unfamiliar. Weakened, wounded and barely audible, yet unnervingly confident, controlled and determined.

"You filthy, worthless son of a b*tch"

The mumbled words dawdled thick in the tense, humid air.

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