Arhi FF: Sunshine and Moonlight #3- Part 52 - Page 8

Originally posted by: canapoem

Yes, it's Saturday Saturday !!!!😊

Part 49:

Shit... shit... shit!!! What the hell was he thinking... what had gotten into him... why did he not stop and think... all for that silly girl... ok she was beautiful but not an un-parallel beauty...she was just another pretty face... and he had gone ahead and let his emotions rule his head... And now he was in deep shit...

He was so focused on his priorities... till that girl had walked into his life... he wanted to rule the Raizada empire just like he ruled the Raizada household. He wanted to slowly drain the Raizada industries and build his own empire on its ashes. He wanted to... destroy his sale-sahib.

He didn't know when it had started... but one fine morning he realized that he hated..., literally hated the site of his brother-in-law, it had happened much before the girl had walked into their lives...

It mostly started building up in his heart the very next day of his wedding with Anjali when his brother-in-law had softly but firmly put him in his place... by telling him that he need not bother about their family business and hence closing the doors to the Raizada Industries in his face. It enraged him to see how each and every family member worshiped the ground he walked on... though he never spoke much and when he did speak it was either yelling or saying something pretty rude... He would sweet talk his in-laws family till his lungs hurt all day long into taking a decision and then at the end of the day when his sale-sahib would come home, he would change the decision without consulting anybody and when he would announce it everybody would readily agree to him.

Though Nani looked like she held equal or more authority in the Raizada house... he realized she was only sitting on the throne only and only because his sale-sahib let her... he would not interfere in her decisions about the household and she always looked up to him to take the right decisions in business, always signing wherever he needed her to sign. She was the queen alright... but she was the dowager queen... she was held in high point because the ruling king respected her... and the king was his sale-sahib... she adored him... though she is tough on him when she disapproves of his actions... he was her life and everybody came after him...

Mamaji was a gone case... he always nodded his head to anything anyone said and if his nephew said anything it was like the writing in stone for him... Mamiji was the typical low class bahu for a high class family... but whatever she did or said... she never said anything against her nephew... not only that he noticed that she was actually very motherly in her own way towards his sale-sahib. He had noticed how she would say she is not sleepy and sit and watch tv late into the night but in reality he realized she was actually waiting for sale-sahib to come home so that she can be around for his dinner.

She would not heat the dinner up and serve him... but she would make good use of her vocal chords to make the Prakash brothers come out of their sleep and serve him a hot dinner. She would then sit at the table eating a fruit with him and talk about all the crap in her kitty parties and her daily soaps whether he responded or not... The day Arnav had announced that he would like to get married to Khushi she had thrown a fit bigger than the one she had thrown when Nani had proposed Aakash's wedding... she loved him... that was a fact... and if he knew Mami she would poison anybody who harmed him with a smile on her face...

And then it was no secret how much his own wife adored her brother..., if she had to choose between him and her brother, he had a feeling... if the situation was life and death... she would hesitate but... she might choose her brother over him... he had his doubts... Aakash was like the hutch puppy who followed his brother around everywhere with utmost loyalty.

All these people would listen to him, buy him gifts, praise him and make him feel like he was the king and then... as soon as his sale-sahib entered the palace... he would be reduced to nothig... no matter what he did for them to make them think higher of him... he just could not compete... their love for him was so solid... so the abhorrence he had for his brother-in-law only kept growing and growing...

On the business front whatever Arnav touched... any line of business... any stock... any idea that was executed always turned to gold for him... it was like he had the midas touch... nothing he ventured into ever hurt him financially... it only made him more successful... he hated his sale-sahibs luck... he hated his sale-sahibs business acumen... he hated his sale-sahibs guts... he hated his sale-sahibs good fortune... he hated his sale-sahib

As if all these were not enough... she had come into their lives the one girl he had actually wanted to keep to himself and not use and throw... the one girl who he thought was worthy of him... and then his sale-sahib comes down the stairs one morning and announces that he wants to marry her and gets his wish fulfilled... he loathed his brother-in-law...

Their wedding had been the last straw for him or so he thought... until last night when he had seen them other... had imagined them making love to one another that he could not take it anymore... and had used his old Lucknowi contacts... pretty much scum on the streets to take care of his brother-in-law... he repented it now... he repented it now very much...

He should have kept his focus on how to burn his brother-in-laws empire to ashes...he should have focused on how to build his own powerful empire... he should have focused on how to own all the Raizada money in his own name so that the Raizada family members would bow to him... he should have realized that if he had kept working towards that goal... a million Khushi's would have catered to his desires if he had become that filthy rich...

But he had faltered and had taken a decision based on his emotions and his hate instead of his intelligence and it had landed him in this situation... he looked around the room... sweat breaking on his forehead as he recognized the people sitting and waiting and softly murmuring in the huge living room of Shantivan... hmm... pretty much all over the ground floor... inside and outside the house... where ever there was space in the downstairs...

There were politicians of all levels including a couple of MPs, he had heard the home minister had already called twice to enquire. There were business people from all business lines... whose income per hour would be equal to an average middle class persons monthly income before taxes... they had been waiting patiently in the living room... talking softly among themselves. There were govt. servants of all types, IAS officers, IPS officers of the highest cadre were there... he had heard the IPS officers saying the investigation was underway. There were employee representatives from RI offices in different cities... union leaders from each and every factory that ASR owned, talking rather loudly about who had the guts to attempt this.

What surprised him and worried him the most was the other kind of people in the room, he could only recognize hem because he had dabbled in the underground world in his lifetime... they were the people who everyone else in the room feared...they were the people who solved issues by killing first and talking later... he also knew the people representing the underground world were no ordinary criminals they were pretty much the kings of criminals...and they looked pissed.

He knew his brother-in-law was powerful and had plenty of contacts but the story in the room spoke of a whole new story... people like the top politicians, top businessmen, top criminals, top union leaders...etc usually came after the person had recovered gave a bouquet of flowers had tea said get well soon and left... but these people had been waiting for at least the last 6 hours in the living room of Shantivan waiting to hear about ASR's health... this told him something else... this told him that these powerful people really cared about what happens to the man upstairs and this meant trouble... this meant that they would all try to dig about who would have done this... He was worried and scared...

**********************************************

Aakash looked around the room... it was filled with people he didn't know many in person... but he recognized them... they were all important people of society... his heart was longing to go upstairs and just stand outside the master bedroom door and wait like most of his family... they were waiting outside so that they don't crowd the room and stop fresh air from flowing in.

He looked up towards the stairs leading to the upper floor in the room, the stairs were lined with bodyguards every three stairs, there were more all around the house... on the terrace... they were the best bodyguards money could buy... they were there guarding every entrance... he wished these well-wishers would come later, so that he could go up and see how he is doing... the doctors had said he was stable... he hadn't gained conscious yet... so though he was not as terrified as he was when they had got that fateful call from Aman... he was still scared...

His thoughts went back to the time when his dad had received the call from Aman... they had freaked out like they had never before... everything was ablur to him... everything was chaos... Nobody knew how to handle the news... it was a complete shock... thinking back to it now... his wife was the only balanced one in the room at that time... she was the one who called the drivers and informed the security... she was the one who gave instructions to the house help on things that needed to be taken care of, she was the one who took them to the right hospital, to the right floor, to the right operating theatre where his brother lay at the mercy of doctors fighting for his life...

He took a deep breath, she was the rock...when the surgery was done and they had moved him to recovery... the doctors had explained to them that the bullet had lodged between his shoulder bone and collar bone and it had nipped the left major artery and hence there was tremendous blood loss which the cause for anxiety... especially since the patient was diabetic high chances of things to go wrong... those words had rung in his ears and he had not been able to think... but his wife had asked for the reports and examined them and calmly told them that she and the patients wife were doctors too and hence could like to keep watch in the recovery room as visitors were not allowed inside... the doctor had looked hesitant to approve this... but the hospital management were also there as the case involved a high profile client and hence they had grudgingly agreed to it on the point that neither Payal nor Khushi would administer any medications that would be the responsibility of the hospital staff.

Payal had agreed to it and Khushi and Payal had left to be with him in the recovery room and Payal had come out almost every hour and gave an update on how he was doing... Khushi though had never... not even once came out...

This morning around 8:30 am, 10 hours after surgery, Payal had come out and said he had briefly regained conscious and smiled at Khushi and had become unconscious again... that meant that he was totally out of the risk zone and he just needs rest to recuperate. Then things had happened very fast the IG had come to the hospital and had talked to them and the hospital staff and as it was getting hard to control the media who wanted to know the story and as he was on the way to recovery and also the hospital was the nearest to his office but not actually built to handle security and privacy... it was decided it would be best to move him home with necessary equipment and care.

They had all looked to Payal for advice, it had been so natural to look to her for taking an informed decision, she said it would be quite alright as he had already been given the amount of blood he needed and he had woken up once and recognized Khushi, so she said it will be perfectly fine to take him home.

On the way home though in NKs car, Payal had finally shown tiredness when she had leaned and put her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. He had smiled and wrapped his arm around her and held her close and then he noticed that though her eyes were closed her there was a frown on her face... so he asked "You are worried about Bhai??...the doctors and you said he will be fine..." She had opened her eyes but was not really looking at anything she was just deep in thought and she said "No bhai will be fine... I am worried about Khushi..." he frowned... thinking back to it now...

Khushi had not said a single word since she heard the news, she had not looked anyone in the eyes, she had not been involved in any activity, she had not even shed a single tear... he hadn't noticed it... he was too occupied praying and worrying about his brother. But now thinking about it... it was like she was moving around like a living corpse... damn he hated himself for not noticing her pain... he couldn't do much now either... she just seemed to listen and nod but not really respond... not even her mom or dad had gotten her to say a word or eat or drink very much... everyone was keeping an eye on her...

Even now she sat in their room, where he was comfortably settled on their bed and was always in deep thought or attending to his medications that were to be injected into the saline that was being sent to his body... he sighed he had never thought he would see a day like this...

Then his eyes fell on the man whose real face had shocked him just the day before when bhai had told him the truth about his jeejaji, he had hardly come to terms with it and this horrifying event had taken place... he was looking really worried... he didn't look so worried yesterday he seemed calm and supportive to Di and the rest of the family...why was he looking so worried now, when they knew Bhai was stable... why did he seem calm when he was supposed to be worried and worried when he was supposed to be calm...

Just then he saw Payal move towards his dad and tell him something... and then she turned towards him and smiled and went back towards the stairs that she had just come down... he knew what had happened... his Bhai was awake.. The was great commotion in the living room as one and all stood up and expressed about how relieved they were and they then decided that they will visit him another day and one by one said their good byes to him and to his dad saying that they will be back another day to talk to ASR in person and left the house... he was so glad for their understanding... he couldn't wait to get upstairs and hear his brothers voice...

**********************************************

He woke up, his eyes were hurting like hell... it took some time to open them and just as he was regaining conscious he remembered the events before he fell asleep. He remembered he had not fallen asleep but had lost conscious after being shot and his eyes snapped open and ready to take on the fight. Where was he?? Where was that b*****d?? Were his first thoughts...

But the first thing he saw in front of his eyes was his Di sitting there on his bed with worry creased on her face and tears rolling down her cheeks... it took him a second but he composed himself and conquered his anger and said gave his DI a reassuring smile and tried to sit up... he realized that his left arm was in a sling around his neck and there was saline attached to his right hand... as he tried to sit up he felt her hand gently on his back to help him sit up and she put a pillow behind him so that he could sit straight... he turned to catch her face to make sure she was ok... but she was turned to the other side checking the saline hanging stand... he just noticed how stiff her shoulders were... his heart longed to see her face... but he heard his Di'd voice...

"Chote..." so he turned to attend to his Di... and said "I am..." he had to stop to clear his throat and said "I am fine Di..." and tried to lift his right hand to hold her hand but he noticed the saline drip was pinned to his right hand... he looked to the other side just in time to see her leaving the room... raising anxiety and irritation in him... which caused him to glare at the nurse in the room who tried to stop him from taking of the saline and his family to protest to his actions at the same time. He was beyond annoyed... he probably had 10 to 11 or may be even less stiches... it was nothing... he must have lost blood and he was sure they would have given him enough by now... so he said "I am fine..."

Just then Payal had stepped into the room with another doctor behind her and said "Yes Bhai you may feel fine... but you are not really fine till the doctor says so..." she moved and let the doctor take over and do a mini checkup and finally declare what he has been saying all along that he was fine!! His eyes though kept checking to see if she was back in the room... and he had no such luck...

After the doctor left, he looked around the room at the concerned faces of his family... they looked tired and sleepless and relieved and scared all at the same time... only one who looked clear headed was like he expected only his sister-in-law. He took a deep breath and explained to him that he felt just fine and there was nothing to worry about.

They all expressed how worried they are for him or how happy they felt right now that he was feeling alright... it took him almost a half hour to convince them to wipe their tears... he was getting annoyed and the questions were turning a little serious... he needed to think and formulate and answer so when Di asked "Chote did you see your attacker?" he took a minute to compose himself but he heard Payal speak "Di we should all let him rest, it's time to change his dressing..." everybody nodded and seemed to look around for someone.

Then she entered the room with some medications in her hand and put them on the side table and started preparing the cotton, cleanning swabs and other things that were needed to dress him. Mami was asking him if it was hurting and Sheetal was saying something like of course it will hurt Mano aunty... but his concentration was only on one person in the room who was refusing to make eye contact with him... and her body was stiff I mean very very stiff like a rod... he wished to look in her eyes to see if was ok but she was not allowing it.

Then without turning around she said "Jiji it's ready..." there was silence in the room, there was something going on but at this point he didn't care to investigate he was just happy to hear her soft voice, he turned to Payal to see her reply to realize Payal was looking at him and then said "what are you waiting for Khushi... clean it and dress it." He looked back to see that she waited for a second and then she turned around her eyes lowered and took two steps towards his edge of the bed and slowly took the sling of and then sat down in facing him on the bed close to his thighs to get a good angle to clean and dress the wound.

There was some conversation going on around the room... but they were all jibberish to his ears... he couldn't get enough of her face, he just needed to see her eyes... so he was desperately trying to catch her eye and in that he had also forgotten that she was dressing his wound and when she took of the old dressing and took the material to clean the wound he could hold his patience no longer and said as gently as he could "Khushi... tum teek ho?"

That did it she looked sharply in his eyes and then searched his face as her eyes started getting moist and tears started rolling down her face very vigorously... she went back to dressing his wound... and her tears did not stop flowing and when she couldn't see because of the tears in her eyes she take her hand back from cleaning the wound and wipe of her tears with the back of her hand and then get back to working on his wound again... it was heart touching to see her like that...

He smiled at her actions he couldn't help it... the fact she was crying for him was spreading like warm fire from his heart to the tips of his fingers... making him feel alive again... he slowly lifted his not injured right hand... not caring that by now everyone in the room was concentrating on them... and tried to touch her face to wipe her tears off and out of nowhere her hand shot up and swat his hand away from her face... and then continued with her work...

He jerked back and he held his breath... he was not expecting that so he tried to reach her face again with his good hand and she swat his hand away from her face like one would swat a fly... and went back to dressing his wound like nothing had happened or got busy wiping her own tears...

His chest rumbled with laughter... he had formulated a hundred reactions from his wife from the minute he had woken up... but this definitely was NOT one of them... it tickled him... her innocent child like reactions and it showed him a whole new way to live... so he did not hold back... the third time when she swat his hand away and actually tried to glare at him through the tears pouring through her eyes... he burst out laughing...

He knew life without her was no longer worth living... he didn't want to give it a name... he just wanted to call her... his reason for living... his Khushi...