SS: IPKKND Colours of Compulsion C10 P79 Conclude NEW SS PG 82 NOTE! - Page 29

Okay guys here we go thank you for waiting.. i'm really very sorry for the delay and thank you so much for all the comments.

I have read each one of them, my next mission is to write the conclude of Bitter sweet which I hope will be up sometime later this week..or sooner if I can.

Chapter 8

Aakash seemed on edge ever since the early hours of the morning. He wanted to be a helping hand to his brother whilst he was around, he was to accompany ASR to work this morning but he was nervous and he had no clue why.

As he stood in front of the mirror to review his attire it was perfect, yet Aakash wanted to check and double check.

Maybe it was just something of the past that he always recalled that brought on this feeling in him.

Flashback

At the breakfast table one morning and Arnav gets up to leave for work Aakash follows his lead only to be scolded by his brother.

"Do I have to pay someone to dress you! Sort yourself out I'll wait in the car."

Arnav Singh Raizada could sound rather harsh when he wanted to but it was just the way he was on a bad morning.

Khushi understood that and sympathized with poor Aakaash who had no idea what was wrong with the way he looked. He tried very hard and still seemed to displease his brother in some shape or form.

Whilst one had scolded the other smiled that's just the way it was.

Khushi feeling bad for Aakaash as ever managed to resolve the moment with her care.

Approaching a really unsure Aakaash Khushi put her hand to his shoulder in reassurance and smiled. Aakash watched whilst his bhabhi fixed his collar and tie and told him just how handsome he looked.

End of Flashback

As Aakash walked down to the lounge trying to remind himself that all that was a long time ago he was pleased to see Khushi at the breakfast table. He didn't want to share this silly feeling of his but it was apparent non the less. He couldn't concentrate on his breakfast he ate a little and then gave up, Khushi could tell something was wrong.

"Bhabhi woh .. Bhai ke saath kaam kiyey hue kafi vakt hua hai na toh I'm nervous unke expectations aur.."

Before Khushi could respond they had already spotted Arnav approaching but he was far from the brother Aakash was thinking of.

He looked like he was trying to fix one of Aditis broken toys as he strolled in with a screwdriver to hand and it was after a while that he realized that the two were looking at him and he was supposed to be ready for work but he really wasn't.

he could be ready for work if he wanted to he'd happily walk out the way he was heck I'd take the dam toy with him and fix it at AR if he had too that's what being a father did but he soon noticed a very sharp looking Aakash and then thought of himself in that shirt and jumper. Only his wife could see what he was thinking and as ever she was able to react perfectly.

"Aap breakfast kijyey.. I'll get your tie and blazer she said with a smile."

Khushi took a glance towards Aaakash almost as if to say "Look I told you, you have nothing to worry about!"

...

Aakash took a head start and went out to start the car whilst Khushi helped her husband into more formal attire. Seen as it was just the two of them there she helped him wear his tie. It was always the little things in life that were special and this was one of them. The affection and attraction for one another certainly lingered in the air but even as Khushi held her husband into his blazer he knew what he was thinking.

He was worried about what would happen when her daughter would notice that her favorite toy was broken.

"Ek baat kahe ..?"

Arnavs eyes became all that more expressive..
"Aap Aditi ke favourite ho..woh khilona nahin" (You're Aditis favorite not that toy") she said as she hooked his reading glasses into the chest pocket of his blazer so he wouldn't forget.

It was a lovely reminder and it was true but Arnav was still going to fix the thing, that he promised her before saying his goodbye.

...

Aakaash's wife seemed to really get on well with Khushi, they both took Aditi out for the day and Aditi's auntie treated her to lots of new' toys that kept her busy all afternoon and distracted from her fathers absence.

When the little one had finally fallen into her afternoon nap and the ladies were busy clearing away the toys on the lounge floor, Payal brought up a conversations she had been meaning to for a while now.

Khushi bhabhi I am doing alright aren't I? Woh shaadi ke baad ham phehli baar sasuaral ayay hai na toh" (it's the first time I've stayed at my inlaws after getting married.)

Khushi hadn't realized, in all her own term oil she had forgotten that they hadn't welcomed Aakash's wife properly into the family or the house yet.

There were responsibilities other than Aditi and themselves they had to take care of now Aakash was home, 6 months back Khushi would have never overlooked these things.

...

When Arnav returned from work that evening he was surprised to see that Aditi was already in bed in her own little nursery. He took a peak into the room, kissed his daughter goodnight and left without making any noises which was difficult because Aditi could sense her dad ever so well.

Walking into his room Arnav is even more surprised to see Khushi wasn't in bed. Rest is what she needed.

Before he could look further into the room he felt a gentle touch as his shoulders and as he turned he little he found Khushi behind him.. helping him out of his blazer. it bought back a lot of memories did this ..

he let her do so..and when he turned to see her completely he saw that under her dressing gown she was dressed in some night wear he had bought her long before her ordeal. It was one of those she wore on occasions when they were trying for a baby.

It was indeed his favourite thing to see her in back the day.

Maybe the intimacy between Aakash and his wife still disturbed Khushi..maybe his earlier attempt to put her mind at rest hadn't worked in its entirety he thought as Khushi stood before him. She was never one of those to make the first move. She was rather docile when it came to love but today her eyes carried a yearning Arnav had seen the other day in her. As her hands lingered on his shirt Arnav knew that his wife waiting for him to initiate intimacy.

Everything about her showed signs of longing for love and everything about him was ready to love her. Putting his hands around her gently Arnav could feel himself getting lost within his wife but he stopped and Khushi knew why.

She was recovering from an operation and even though it had been some weeks now he didn't want to overlook that at any cost. Khushi's eyes reassured him and his told her that the moment he sensed an inch of distress in her he would stop. She smiled for a man who she struggled to have a conversation with despite being his wife was now talking to her purely through his eyes and she was picking up the art slowly but surely.

He was so much more gentle than she recalled, his kisses, his caresses everything about his ways was filled with care and affection and Khushi soon warmed to her husband after the initial nerves but there was one thing that still bridged a gap between the couple and that was Khushi's surgical scars.

As Arnav pulled at Khushi's night robe and then made his advances towards her nightwear Khushi put his hand over hers to stop him to ask him to dim the lights before he did that but he refused for she was beautiful regardless.

Khushi slowly learnt that it didn't matter for her husband knew of her every scar, he knew where to touch her and where not to because he knew her scars better than she did the ones that adorned her body or the ones that she carried in her heart...and he was going to kiss each and everyone of them better, they had a night ahead of them in which Arnav was going to fulfil his wifes wishes.

...

The next morning as Khushi lay upon her him Arnav's eyes had opened a little early but he didn't want to wake Khushi. He took a moment to just to watch her and think about their night together. Although he was hesitant at first the morning bought no regrets.

Maybe life had its way of turning out okay after all, he had Khushi, he had Aditi, and now his family was warming to him too. Thinking of Aditi there was something Arnav had to do whilst he remembered.

When Khushi finally began to stir in her sleep she woke up on his shoulder at first it was a simple good morning, then a little eye contact and finally after Khushi spoke. He was tying something on his laptop which Khushi found a little odd at this moment in time but she soon realized what he was doing.

Arnav took five minuites every day to write to his daughter in the hope that one day she would look back and cherish her fathers memories of her as a baby. Today he wrote about how he spent the yesterday fixing her toy in the office whilst he should have been working!

Khushi who didn't mean to pry happened to see Arnavs emails to to his daughter and found it ever so adorable. Her husband was sweeter, kinder, more lovable than she had ever imagined him to be and he didn't even realize it.

They had talked about a lot of things, things in the past, things of the future and the present and one of those things was never leaving this moment. It had taken both of them a long time to get to this point in life and they cherished every minute of it. There feelings were there own, sadness, comfort hurt, regret the couple had various closed doors and this was just a knock on each of those doors. Arnav had at least proved to Khushi that he was willing to do anything to break those divides between the two of them down. Matters of the heart were very sensitive certainly for the likes of Khushi so Arnav was careful not to force Khushi to open up he simply let her love take its course and his too. There was a comfortable silence between the two as Arnav caressed Khushi's hair as her head sat upon his chest.

She took this opportunity to tell Arnav about her thoughts on having overlooked Aakaash and payal's return to the house after marriage, especially its implications on Payal who was newly married Raizada bahu it was all good and well to say that custom and traditions could take place even now, it wasn't too late they could give them the attention they deserved and would happily do so but there was something Khushi was forgetting that her husband reminded her of.

Something more personal Khushi would have to battle in order to make this happen.

Khushi knew what Arnav was referring to.

...

He stood with her as they looked towards Shantivaan's puja ghar Khushi hadnt entered ever since she returned from hospital.

What was once Khushi's strength was now her biggest doubt but with her husbands helped Khushi had cleared a lot of that doubt in her mind not only that she was stood here because of him. Maintaining faith for the most religious person in though times was difficult and for someone as sensitive as Khushi it was even more difficult. Isolation in her relationship, pressure of a bearing a child and then when she did finally conceive, of loosing it. There was so much in her life that had caused her to loose faith in god but today when she looked at her husband beside her who looked at her with love, who had turned everything back to front a little corner of her heart told her she could do this and she did.

She walked into the temple once she had entered.. once she had laid eyes on her devi maiya none of that anguish remained. At least for sometime..

When she turned to look at her husband she saw a smile on his face and the understanding in his eyes even god failed to give her. Things weren't pitch perfect yet they were better.

...

Next: Khushi isn't sure why the conversation between her husband, Akaash and his wife in ASR's room goes silent as soon as she walks in. She only came with the message that dinner was ready and being the type of wife and lady she was she didn't voice her curiosity on the matter, she did as she intended and left.