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HELLO EVERYONE!!!!
Firstly I know that I need to apologise for almost being MIA and not updating the stories.And I am really Sorry for the delay but things have been hectic and to top that My Intenet Connection has a permanent animosity with me.
I hope to be active here from now on and get back to the stories soon.
This TS is something,I wanted to see in the show.What Arnav and Khushi shared was beyond anyone's comprehension and the way it was only them who could read the other beyond their words has been the most heartwarming thing about them.
The ever smiling Khushi did had some feelings buried inside her and the way she was always reminded of the fact that she was adopted always hit me.
Hope you will like this series.Criticisms are always welcome.
ARSHI TS - BELONGING TO YOU
It was one jovial evening in Raizada Mansion,Payal and Aakash were back from States and celebrate their homecoming a family dinner has been organised.Khushi stirred the dish adding the final touches to the special sugarfree lemon pudding she has made for her husband.As the aroma of the dish hit her nostrils she let out a contented smile.There was an inexplicable joy in doing things for someone who meant the world to her.
The door bell rang announcing the arrival of guests.Telling Hari Prakash to serve welcome drinks to them,Khushi made her way out of the kitchen.She greeted her Amma and Buaji lovingly with her infectious smile and sat besides them.She had just started aquainting them about the recent accolade awarded to her catering service when Payal emerged from her room.
And suddenly the whole air around her changed.She watched on as her words died in her throat when Buaji and Amma took Payal in their loving embrace and then making her sit between them smothered their concerns over her.
Their whole attention got fixated on her as they appreciated the change in her dressing style and outlook completely forgetting the fact that she has been amidst of saying something important.
She started feeling suffocated wanting to run away from the scenario unfolding in front of her eyes and hide in a corner as she felt the similar but long forgotten ache and torment rise in her heart.She felt like the same 8 year old girl who stood by the window of her room looking at the dark sky covered with the blanket of stars wanting and wishing her parents to appear magically in front of her.
They were joined by Naniji and others and though they tried to engage her in the conversations as Payal narrated various incidents one after the other about their stay in US,Khushi found herself answering in monosyllables.Her eyes started glistening with unshed tears as Buaji draped a shawl around Payal's shoulders,she herself has knitted to keep her warm from the Delhi's winters.
Plastering a smile on her face,she excused herself to check on the dinner preprations and flew out of the picture as soon as she can.The nagging feeling of not being belonged started gnawing on her senses as her childhood flashed in front of her eyes.
She was all but a little child and the only thing she wanted in her life were her own parents,hers for keeps.Her parents with whom she can demand and fight,at whom she can throw tantrums and get her every whim fulfilled,where the only worry she would ever have was which dress to wear or which chocolate to eat.
But the reality of her life was miles apart from her only wish,Khushi thought with a sad smile as the painful memories made its way back to her.
How during the initial days the relatives would not leave any opportunity to taunt her Babuji that he had undertaken an extra burden on his shoulders by adopting her.The times of summer vacations every year when Buaji would come and how it was always Payal she greeted or bestowed her with gifts and she was always the obliged recipient.
Her Amma staying quiet when she hurled hurtful words to her.She was too young to make a head or tail of the sitiuation but the innocent doe like eyes would often look at people around her wanting to know the reason from where it all stemmed from.
Though as she started growing up,the mist surrounding all her questions cleared up on its own.The reason for the difference struck as bolt of lightening to her.She was a girl who has lost her parents and who has been lucky enough to be adopted by her mother's sister and her husband.
She was not their own blood and realisations hit home steadily.She never harboured any negative feelings for Payal as she has been all but loving towards her.The fact remained that Payal was the next of the kin and hence she held the right.
She didn't and therefore she accepted what was given to her without any questions or complaints.She never once demanded anything because for a person to demand,required the right and space to do so,something she hasn't been able bereft of.
Garima has been her mother's sister but she herself has loved Payal a little more.It was as clear as daylight.The night of Payal's first broken marriage,Would they have blamed her the same way has she been their own blood.Would they have forced Payal the same way,they had did to her for getting engaged to Shyam inlieu for all they have done for her.
The night when she and Arnavji had gotten married first,it has been a huge shock to them she knew but the venomous words they have spilled out to her,reminding her that she was not their own daughter,not their own blood.Had it been the same if Payal had been in her place?.
It wasn't that these questions never sprouted in her mind or her soul neevr cried for her own parents.It did but she has longed ago accepted the bitter truth of her life learning to plaster a smile on her face even when she was killing on the insides.The only person who never differntiated between them has been her Babuji.
Perhaps that has been the very reason that she has been closest to him among all but all the love and respect has been coupled with the sense of deep rooted gratitude towards him.
All her life she has been averse to the innate feeling of belongingness,the void that had occupied a permanent space in her heart.Until he came along whispered her heart and her fingers on their own violition gripped her phone tight in her arms which displayed her husband's smiling picture as its wallpaper,her subconscious heart calling to the one person who could ebb away all her pain.
Arnav had been driving home wanting to reach ontime for the dinner,lest he gets fired by his wife.Khushi has reminded him ten times not to be late as it has been a while since they spent quality time with their family with both of them being busy in their respective work commitments.
Spotting a vendor selling Chana at the other side of the road,he took a U-turn to buy one of his wife's favourite things as his lips curved into a smile imagining her childlike reaction.His mad and outright adorable Khushi who found happiness in the smallest of things.
But it took a fleeting second for that smile to turn into gutwrenching worry.His heart constricting with familiar throbbing pain he felt whenever Khushi was distressed and upset.He drove the car at jetspeed wanting to reach home at the earliest.
The sight that greeted him as he entered his home only heightened his restlessness as he saw everyone laughing engaged in conversations minus Khushi.Arnav Singh Raizada straightaway made his way to kitchen without having the need to ask anyone about her whereabouts,his heart guiding him to her as it has always does.
Khushi turned around sensing his presence and what he saw was enough to rob him off his breath.The liveliness and the chirpyness that was synonymous to her no where to be found.Her shoulders were dropped dropped,her eyes sunken with an ocean of pain that only he could read.
Khushi rushed into his arms,holding him in a vice like grip as his arms closed around her holding her in his protective embrace,shielding her from anything and everything that had dared to come close to her and drove her in this condition.
Khushi didn't shed a single tear,she just stood there letting his presence sooth away the aching of her heart.Arnav's worry grew by each passing second but Khushi's hold on him didn't slackened a bit.With great difficulty,he pulled back a little to look at her but she closed her eyes not wanting to see those concerned filled eyes that would break her resolve.
Sensing her resistance,he didn't said a word.Encasing her hand in his,he walked her out of the kitchen,greeting everyone as they strode upstairs to their room,completely unbaffled by how the whole scenario appeared to their family who passed teasing remarks at their retreating backs on how Arnav and Khushi couldn't do without each other.
Once in the safe heaven of their room,Arnav stay glued at his spot as Khushi handed him his night clothes.Seeing her abnormally quiet,he took the clothes silently from her and made a quick dash towards the bathroom while Khushi sat there staring at the wall that was adored with their pictures,the various beautiful moments of their life immortalised by the camera.
Arnav emerged out of the bathroom only to fing her staring at the wall,they both have decorated together.He vividly remembered how during the renovation of their room,Khushi hasn't liked any of the patterns for the corner wall which has resulted in both of them painting the wall together.
"Shall we move downstairs Khushi?".Arnav asked softly.
"So now you have problem with me being in my own room?".
Arnav was taken aback by her retort for a moment when he heard her saying in soft whisper,her voice pulling at his heartstrings.
"I don't want to go downstairs.Can I just be here ?".
Cupping her dear face in his hands,he pressed a loving kiss on her forehead and announced.
"This is your room and home Khushi.You never have to ask anyone about anything.Ill just go and inform everyone that we are not joining them for dinner".
"You can go if you want to Arnavji".
"You really think,Ill leave you alone".Arnav said with the tint of anger in his voice for her even suggesting something like that.Did she really think he would leave her alone?. EVER?.Carefully studying her stance,he told her firmly.
"Ill be back in a moment".
Informing everyone that he was having a headache and hence he would like to rest alongside insisting that they should carry on with their plans and there was no need to worry as as Khushi was there to take care of him,he strodded towards his room.
Locking the door behind him Arnav couldn't zeroed down on anything that would have led to such a drastic change in Khushi.Though her behaviour has given away more than she had wanted.If she thought that she could hide her worries or whatsoever it was then his wife was gravely mistaken.
He knew her better than he knew himself.Hadn't it been always been only him who could see past her plastered fake smiles and decipher the myriad display of emotions in her eyes.The Khushi who had been so excited about the dinner now didn't want to leave the premises of their room.
He may not know the reason of her distress as yet but he was no fool to recognise her need of being here.Their room,these four walls,the poolside,who has been witness of their journey held the key to ultimate solace for both of them.
Walking towards her he picked her up swiftly taking her by surprise and deposited her on the bed.Sliding besides her he took her in his arms,holding her close to his heart.
The questions,the reasons could wait.What mattered now was that His Khushi needed him and there wasn't going to be any moment in their life till he was alive when she would ever feel alone.He will be there to protect her,to console her,to love her and just being with her Hamesha as Khushi said.The vow he would fulfill at any cost.
My thought behind this series
"Everyone needs a space where they are no pretenses,no laid up masks,no questions asked cocooned by the blanket of unconditional love and care".
TO BE CONTINUED
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