Arshi FF : Merger Thrd # 2 Link to Thread #3 on Page 1 - Page 30

Originally posted by: manugan

excellent narration!!!!👏

Originally posted by: ifsaal044

First, excellent write up on betrayals in particular Payal's to Khushi. I came away thinking this was the most significant betrayal from the last chapter as well and you penned it very well.

Second, it's clear that Khushi and Arnav have a far more important journey ahead. So, the story went through this episode of learning to gain trust between the two. And the kudos to you for making it so very entertaining.

Originally posted by: DMGFan-2b-not2b

lovely update!

So glad that you updated. Have been waiting!

Arnav and his stupid Harvard brain! Thats what half baked information does to you :-)

Hmmm.. interesting, I like the way Khushi chastised him but the most telling was her comment about him being a bad looser - I am wondering has either of them realised the significance of her instinctively saying so and he quietly accepting it?

Originally posted by: SilentShadow

Thanks for the note.

Especially payal's part.

And I didnt really think about them. All focus on ArHi only. 😉

I liked how they fought. Even though I don't want their moment to end. I so wanna see what happens at the party.

I want Anjali to tell Arnav about Aman. It feels really bad to trick him like this.

Khushi's mom is so annoying. -.-

Originally posted by: koisk

Glad the mu got cleared... Atleast now Arnav can be peaceful.

Originally posted by: snehashetty34

Thank god misunderstanding got cleared,, hope we will get some arshi moments now,,

Originally posted by: Arilip

Wooohhh Arnavji really needs bashing😉 But he makes up for it fabulously😳

Originally posted by: rulama

Loved it...

ASR and his jumping to conclusions! What a pleasant way to discover that you have misunderstood!

A/n: Thankyou all so much for showering such an amazing response to the previous chapter.

I would first let you get on with the update. Have written my note at the end.

So, here goes the next chapter.

CHAPTER 21

THAT NIGHT OF THE ENGAGEMENT

Arnav returned to his room and looked around. What the hell was he supposed to do next? His mind went fuzzy. This time around, it was he who was caressed. First by those soft, supple hands and then the cool back. He was severely conscious of the warmth oozing out of his chest at the moment.

And his heart beats??!! They were deafening right now. As if he had just sprinted a long race, as if he was about to meet his investors or a big customer for the first time.

He had never given thought when he had designed back-less garments. But today he had mixed feelings about them. Whoever came up with that design for the first time was either an extreme romantic or a sadist. One way or the other, it was meant to kill the woman's lover. Either by the treat to his eyes of the luscious skin of his beloved, or out of jealousy when other men would ogle at his beautiful one.

She never wore these kind of dresses. He had not seen her atleast. Di does, but how come, he never had such an opinion earlier?

Oh God! Wait a minute... Di... She had asked him to call back as soon as Khushi reached home.

He quickly got dressed and went to Kaka's room

"Khushi!"

Her dupatta was fixed now. Modestly covering her front and back. Just like my girl! He pursed his lips with a hint of a smile.

She had a foot on the suitcase, lifting up her lehenga to climb on that wobbly stool again.

"Tch! Kya kar rahi ho tum? Here, let me get that for you." He stretched his hand towards the bag.

"Ji nahi. I don't need any help." Her tone was distant. She stopped his hand.

"Stop it Khushi."

"Humney kaha na. I will do it myself."

"Are you still hung up about what happened in the last 3 months. Can we just forget about it as a slight misunderstanding and move past it?"

"Slight misunderstanding? Itna aasan hain yeh aapkeliye? You still don't get it, do you?"

Standing on the suitcase, she was now eye to eye with him.

"Do you have any idea how I have lived these, two months, 3 weeks and one day? Every minute, every second I have rummaged my mind as to what stupid thing might I have done, to have earned such a fierce hatred from you. Do you even know how torturous that feels? When I found no such reason, then the only thing that made sense was that you were regretting associating yourself with a person way below your league."

"Khushi..." He bellowed. But she didn't let him speak.

"Problem yeh nahi tha key aap gussa the. Problem yeh nahi tha ke aap baat nahi kar rahe the. Par kya humari itni bhi haisiyat nahi ki humko pata ho, ki kis galati ke liye hum sazaa bhugat rahe hain. Don't I deserve to know for which crime am I being punished?"

"Ofcourse I don't. Because I am a girl and you are a man. A man can choose when and whom he wants to associate himself with. And he can leave the scene, without as much as a goodbye. And the woman doesn't even have the right to know why she has been abandoned all of a sudden."

"Imagine, if we turned the tables. What if I had seen you with someone and come to similar conclusions? And if I had done to you and put you through the same agony? Would you be able to let it all pass and be normal with me?"

"Honestly, I don't think it would have bothered you even one bit. Kyun ki hum aapke liye utna maine nahi rakhte jitna aap humaarey liye rakhte hain. I am not as important to you as you are to me. You wouldn't go through the same agony."

"After all we have been through during Chutki's mess, and after knowing just about every minute of my life since that incident, how could you think that I would hide such a big thing from you? How could you cut me off at the drop of a hat? Kya humari itni hi haisiyat hain aapke nazar mein?"

A lone tear drop fell from her right eye.

"Bol diya? Ki aur bhi hain ilzaam laganey ke liye? Tum kya samajhti ho? That I was having a gala time all this while. Don't you dare think that..."

A sharp ring from his phone interrupted him. He looked at the phone.

Di calling.

"Haan Di." He said rashly.

"Chotey! Anjali admonished. What's with this impolite behavior? Enough of it already. I have been silent for two months now. But not anymore. What is bothering you so much that you have become so harsh and hard hearted. You don't eat. You don't sleep. And don't tell me it's work. I have known you all your life. I 'know' it's NOT work. It's not even Mamma and Papa's death anniversary. I can understand when you are sad at that time. But what has happened that ..."

"Di... You've got to stop... Don't think you all can rant and I will mutely accept all your accusations." He looked sharply at Khushi, while continuing to talk to Di.

Khushi looked from his phone to him. Given their proximity, she had heard everything that Anjali had said. So he was sad too?

"What do you mean 'you all'? Who else are you referring to?"

He shut his eyes in frustration. These two women were going to drive him crazy today.

"Di, why did you call?"

"Hasn't Khushiji reached yet?"

"She is here." He shoved the phone in front of Khushi's face.

She took it. He walked out of the room. Came back again. Pulled the stupid bag from the almirah. Shooting daggers at her he walked away.

Khushi told Anjali that she will return asap. And went out of the room with the bag and the phone. Arnav was finishing tying his shoes. He got up rashly and grabbed the car keys and the phone from her hand. He opened the door and stood with his head bent down. He could set a forest on fire, given the way he was fuming. Khushi walked past him towards the lift, unperturbed.

***

All through the drive, her words kept haunting him. Why was she not able to let go? Agreed he had made a mistake. A huge mistake. But she had to cut him some slack here. Anyone in his position could have misunderstood. And he was sorry. Genuinely sorry.

Suddenly his thoughts stopped as he remembered something she had said.

"Because I am a girl and you are a man. A man can choose when and whom he wants to associate himself with. And he can leave the scene, without as much as a goodbye. And the woman doesn't even have the right to know why she has been abandoned all of a sudden."

Wait... Was she comparing him with her father? That he was an abandoner just like him?

He looked at her suddenly. All her outburst now made sense. He could clearly see things from her perspective. And like hell he was going to let her put him with the likes of her father. He was anything but that. And he would make sure she understood that too.

The car came to a screeching halt in front of the party hall. Khushi bunched up the lehenga and opened the car door, when she heard him.

"Ok"

"Huh?!!" She looked back, not understanding what he was trying to say.

"Ok. Let's turn the tables. You can do to me whatever I did to you. Will that help in setting things right?"

She stared at him in confusion. Right now she was so mad at him.

"Huh??!!"

"Don't keep saying Huh huh! Say something." He couldn't wait to hear her punishment.

Just then, Kaka came rushing down the steps of the party hall.

"Khushi bitiya, jaldi andar chalo. Bohot badi problem ho gayi hain."

"Kya hua Kaka?"

"There is a big fight going on inside between Sarita bitiya's father and the groom's family."

"What?!!"

Khushi ran inside the party hall. Arnav gave the keys to the valet and went inside behind her.

Anjaliji and Sarita were trying hard to keep the tempers down. The two fathers and NK were yelling at the top of their voices.

The fight ended with NK and family barging out of the party hall.

NK came back a moment later and fumed at Sarita. "If your father doesn't apologise to my father, then it is all over between us." He hissed with gritted teeth, and left.

And just like that, Sarita's dreamland came crashing down.

In sometime, Sarita and her parents went to their hotel room.

Kaka, Anjali and Khushi cleared up the party hall. Kaka took a taxi with all the luggage. While Anjali and Khushi sat with Arnav in his car.

"How can her parents be so insensitive to her wishes? You know Khushiji, Sarita's father was the one who instigated this entire fight. And both fathers kept hurling insults against each other. Why cant a girl's family be happy for her. All this, just because she chose her "jeevan-sathi" on her own and not them?"

"Di, don't talk as if we are in the 19th century. In the present day, anybody can choose anyone."

"Will you accept it Chotey?"

"What??"

"Will you accept the man I chose for myself, without judging him? Will you all take my word that I trust him and have faith in him? Just because I love him."

"Ofcourse I will Di. We all will. Wait a minute, is there a someone?"

"That's what all of you say Chotey. Anjali side-stepped the main question. Even Saritaji's family told her she can choose her partner. But when it finally came down to the reality, everyone backed out. And see how the events have turned out."

It was evident that Anjali was completely shaken by the incident. Arnav, who had almost decided to chide her, decided otherwise. He gave it a deep thought before answering.

After a few minutes, he calmly spoke to her.

"Di, the word love is alien to me. I don't understand it and neither do I want to. Because I don't believe in all this jeevan-saathi and all that nonsense."

"And to answer your question, yes I would support you if you chose someone to spend your life with. I mean it. But I will exercise my judgement to check if the person is atleast "fairly" appropriate for you. And I will not compromise on that factor."

"And coming to the present discussion, I don't understand what all the fuss is about. Given our personal experiences, at least you and I should not be propagators of marriage." His father cheated on his mother. How could Di have faith in the institution of marriage?

"I didn't know you have such a low opinion about marriage Chotey. And in marriage, it is the individual's character and ethics that matter. Not their background and families. Are you telling me that you and I don't have the ethics that a marriage demands?"

"You are getting me wrong Di. I don't have low opinion. I have NO opinion. I think it's just like any other relationship. Two people meet and decide to live together. And once the joint journey begins, life must go on for both of them. Else, the relationship is bound to face a dead end. And I don't understand why people keep harping the word "love, love, love". I just don't get the word. For two people to live together, there are lot of things required. Affection, commitment, empathy, trust, faith, support, being for each other in the highs and lows of life and many more things. How can you limit using just one word to describe all this? You love your parents, your siblings, your family. Why isn't that love as romanticized as this one?"

"That is exactly the reason why the word "love" is used Chotey! The word love encompasses all the things you just mentioned and many more. The real question is, do you feel for your jeevan-sathi the same way as you feel for your close and loved ones. We would never think about leaving or abandoning our family, do we? We put up with the eccentricities of all family members, irrespective of how annoying they are. Then how come people have very little band-width to put up with the habits of their spouse. They find "leaving or abandoning" their partner as an "option". Agar aap kisi ko aapna banatey hain aur apna samajhtey hain, then you will not give up on them. You will strive to keep up the relationship. You will put as much effort as it takes. Not because it "has" to be done. But because you "want" to. Because you cannot survive the next minute without making peace with the other person."

Hearing the word "abandon" Arnav looked up to see Khushi through his rear view mirror. She was looking at him too, with hurtful eyes.

Anjali continued. "This relationship needs extra attention because the bond is very delicate, Chotey. Hence the reiteration and highlighting by the society to consciously invest in strengthening it."

"Whatever Di. I just find this talk about love and marriage extremely futile. I am better off in my world, where there are no such complications." Arnav made amends to preserve his vanity. Boys don't talk about love-shuv and marriage. It is anti-masculine.

"Chodiye Chotey. You are a wrong candidate to discuss this matter. Your calculative management brain wouldn't understand the matters of the heart."

"Khushiji. You have been unusually quiet. What do you think about love?"

"Even I don't know what love is Anjaliji. I find love and marriage too scary. I don't think I can survive a bout of abandonment. The way NK did to Sarita today." She had always wondered how her mother survived all these years, when her father left her without a word. Her mother had used cynicism as a shield to protect her heart from bleeding.

"All I know is that the person should be "bankable and trustworthy". And I don't think I will ever enter the relationship of matrimony. Given my inherent fear of abandonment, I cannot find myself worry every minute of the day, when I would be abandoned."

"That is kind of harsh and unfair response towards yourself Khushiji. Our insecurities should not be the hurdle for us to lead a normal life. You should give life a chance. And it is unfair to expect a rosy walk all through our life."

She went silent. This conversation was going nowhere. All three of them were right in their arguments.

Heaving a big sigh, Anjali said "I really don't know what to say about this relationship. I guess all it needs is that leap of faith. And trust your instincts that the partner you have chosen is the right one for you."

The three of them dived into their own thoughts.

Anjali - Was Aman the right one for her? Yes, she had to make that leap of faith.

Khushi - Was Anjaliji right? Did you have to make the leap of faith? If the person is bankable and trustworthy, shouldn't the faith be implicit? Then where is the question of the leap. The word leap implies a certain factor of the unknown. And she knew, she wouldn't want to venture into the unknown. She was too messed up and scared to do that.

Arnav - Di made a very valid point today. He was not averse to the idea of marriage. And no, he was not his father. But he could not imagine to embark upon the journey without having some assurance that his partner is equally committed to him, if not more. He would be committed. There was no doubt about that. But how would he know if his partner shared the same feelings. No, he couldn't make a leap of faith. He had to be sure about his partner's intentions. Else, he wouldn't embark upon the journey itself. So much for claiming that he was detached about the topic. He had almost shared his real thoughts with Di. No...no...no...no. Boys don't share their opinion about soft topics like love and marriage, especially with their siblings and family.

***

He dropped of Anjali at home asking her to pack and be ready. They were on a tight schedule now. They would go to the airport as soon as he was back. And he proceeded to drop Khushi at her PG.

***

CONTINUED IN THE NEXT POST