Hi IPK Fans,😊
Arnav's arms automatically clasped her to him as Shyam collapsed, shot by Mr.Yadav from the doorway, and the bandit on the floor rolled over, clutching the wound in his arm inflicted by Shyam's gun. It happened so fast that it took a moment before Arnav realized that Khushi was suddenly very heavy, a dead weight sliding down his body. Tightening his arms, he tipped her chin, intending to tease her about fainting after everything was over, but what he saw struck stark terror in his heart: Her head had fallen back, lolling limply on her shoulders, and blood was streaming from a wound at her temple. "Get a doctor!" he shouted at Yadav, and lowered her to the floor.
His heart hammering with fear, he knelt beside her, ripped off his shirt, and tore it into strips, binding the ugly wound in her head. Before he'd half finished, blood had already soaked and spread around and through the white linen, and her color was rapidly turning an ashen grey.
"Oh my God!" he whispered. "Oh my God!" He had seen men die ; he knew the signs of a hopelessly fatal wound, and even while his mind was recognizing that she would not live, Arnav was snatching her into his arms. Cradling her against his chest, he ran down the path, his heart hammering in frantic rhythm with the refrain pounding in his heart: Don't die… don't die … Don't die…
His chest heaving with exertion, Arnav burst into the clearing, carrying his limp, beloved burden. Oblivious to the stricken faces of onlookers, who stood in quiet, watchful groups, Arnav laid her gently in the car , Mr.Yadav had evidently told someone to pull up at the edge of the woods.
An old woman, a midwife, took one look at the bloody bandage around Khushi's head and the deathly pallor of her skin and, as Arnav raced around to climb into the seat, she quickly felt for Khushi's pulse. When she turned back to the cottagers gathered around the carriage, she sadly shook her head.
The women whom Khushi had helped and befriended a month ago gazed lovingly at her still form in the car and, as Arnav drove off, the soft sounds of weeping began to fill the clearing. Only ten minutes before, it had rung with the gaiety she had brought to them.
^
The defeated expression on Dr. Manan's face as he stepped into the hospital hall outside Khushi's room and closed the door made agony scream through Arnav's brain.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly to the distraught group waiting in the hall. "There was nothing I could do to save her. When I got here, she was already beyond hope and beyond reach."
Nani pressed her handkerchief to her lips and turned into Aakash arms, weeping while Payal sought Anjali's embrace. Dr.Manan's hand came to rest consolingly on Arnav's shoulder.Dr. Manan continued, "You can go in now and say your goodbyes, but she won't hear you. She's in a deep coma. In a few minutes—a few hours, at most—she'll slip away quietly." At the expression of raw anguish on the Arnav's face, Dr. Manan added gently, "She'll feel no pain, Arnav, I promise you."
A muscle worked spasmodically in Arnav's throat as, with a look of wordless, impotent rage directed at the innocent physician, he walked swiftly into Khushi's room.
She lay as still and white as death upon the satin pillows, her breathing so shallow it was almost imperceptible.
Swallowing past the lump in his throat, Arnav sat in the chair beside her bed and gazed down upon her beloved face, wanting to memorize every line of it. She had such smooth skin, he thought achingly, and such incredibly long eyelashes—they lay like lush, dark fans against her cheeks… She wasn't breathing!
"No, don't die!" he cried hoarsely as he grabbed her limp hand, frantically feeling for a pulse. "Don't die!" He found a pulse—thready and faint but still there—and suddenly he couldn't stop talking to her. "Don't leave me, Khushi," he pleaded, holding her tightly. "God, don't leave me! There are a thousand things I want to tell you, places I want to show you. But I can't if you go away. Khushi, please, darling… please don't go away.
"Listen to me," Arnav begged urgently, somehow convinced that she would stay alive if she understood how much she meant to him. "Listen to what my life was like before you hurtled into it— Life was empty. Colorless. And then you happened to me, and suddenly I felt feelings I never believed existed, and I saw things I'd never seen before. You don't believe that, do you, darling? But it's true, and I can prove it." His deep voice ragged with unshed tears, Arnav recited his proof: "The flowers in the meadow are blue," he told her brokenly. "The ones by the stream are white. And on the arch, by the arbor, the roses are red.your favraoite "
Lifting her hand to his face, he rubbed his cheek against it. Oh, and darling, there's something else I have to tell you: I love you, Khushi."
Tears choked his voice and made it a tormented whisper. "I love you, and if you die I'll never be able to tell you that."
Driven by anger and desperation, Arnav clutched her hand tighter and abruptly switched from pleas to stern threats. "Khushi, don't you dare leave me! If you do, I'll throw Laksmi your best friend out. I swear I will. I' ll marry Lavanya. She'd love to fill your shoes as Mrs.Raizada
The minutes became an hour, and then another, and still Arnav kept on talking, switching mindlessly from pleas to threats and then, as hope finally began to die within him, to cajolery: "Think of my immortal soul, sweetheart. It's black and, without you here to make me mend my ways, I'll undoubtedly slip back into my old habits."
He waited, listening, watching, her lifeless hand gripped in his as he tried to infuse his own strength into her, and then, suddenly, the determination and hope that had driven him to talk ceaselessly to her crumbled. Despair wrapped around his heart, suffocating him, and tears stung his eyes. Gathering her limp body into his arms, Arnav laid his cheek against hers, his massive shoulders racked with sobs. "Oh, Baby," he wept, rocking her in his arms like a baby, "how will I go on living without you? Take me with you," he whispered. "I want to go with you…" And then he felt something—a whispered word against his cheek.
Arnav's breath stopped and he jerked his head back, his eyes frantically searching her face as he gently lowered her against the pillows. "Khushi?" he implored achingly, bending over her, and just when he thought he'd imagined the faint flutter of her eyelids, her pale lips parted, trying to form a word.
"Tell me, darling," he said desperately, leaning close to her. "Say something, please, sweetheart."
Khushi swallowed, and when she spoke, her words were so faint they were nearly inaudible. "What, darling?" he pleaded urgently, not certain what she was saying.
Again she whispered, and this time Arnav's eyes widened as he finally understood. He stared at her hands held tightly in his and then his shoulders shook as he began to laugh. It started as a low rumble in his chest, then exploded in great, gusty shouts of laughter that rang out along the room, the doctor, and Aakash running into the room in the obvious misapprehension that Arnav's grief had destroyed his mind.
"Aakash," Arnav said with a wobbly grin, holding Khushi's hand in his and beaming at her. "Khushi thinks," he said, his shoulders beginning to rock with laughter again, "that Lakshmi is the only one besides her who is capable of becoming Mrs.Raizada".
Khushi turned her head on the pillows as Arnav walked through the doorway :It had been two days since she'd been injured, two days and nights of drifting in and out of wakefulness. Each time she had awakened, he was sitting beside her bed, keeping a silent vigil, his fear for her etched deeply into his drawn features.
Now that she was fully conscious, she would have liked to hear him talk to her in that same tender tone he'd used these past two days, or to look at her with love burning in his eyes. Unfortunately, however, Arnav's features were perfectly composed and completely unreadable this morning—so much that Khushi wondered if she'd only dreamed the tender, tormenting sweetness of his words to her when he believed she was dying.
"How are you feeling?" he asked, his deep voice conveying only polite concern as he came to stand beside her bed.
"Very well, thank you," she returned with equal courtesy. "A little tired, that's all."
"I imagine you have some questions you'd like answered—about what happened two days ago."
What Khushi wanted was for him to put his arms around her and tell her that he loved her. "Yes, of course," she replied, wary of his unfathomable mood.
"To be brief, and as I have mentioned before that Shyam and you are in a torrid affair and Shyam had plans to kill di. Since because of me Di could not be targetted , Shyam planned to kidnap me and made a plan to get me out of the picture.that is to kill me. However Shyam's plan was not succesfful as I escaped.
Khushi gazed at him in astonishment. "You never told me that you were kidnapped?
"I saw no reason to alarm you," Arnav said, then shook his head and gruffly added, "That's not the complete truth. I also had it in the back of my mind that you and Shyam both have planned this.. And you had told me that very day that you'd do anything necessary to get out of our marriage.I even read your diary 100 ways to irriate me"
Biting her lip, Khushi turned her face away from him, but not before Arnav the pain and accusation in her eyes. He shoved his hands deeper into his pockets and went on: "Yadav is an investigator that I had hired to investigate and to keep a check on you and Shyam. He investigated all the incidents, and it looked as if you were the only one who could possibly assist Shyam in this fiasco.
"Me?" she cried softly. "How could you think such a thing!"
"Mr.Yadav had proof . He seen you interacting with Shyam many times. He even took pictures."
Khushi swallowed painfully. "In your mind, you accused and convicted me of trying to murder you, based on evidence as flimsy as that?
Inwardly, Arnav flinched at her words. "I did it based on those things and the fact that Negi who is one of Yadav' men, followed you to Park Street on two separate occasions. I knew you were meeting with him in secret, and that—combined with everything else—made the evidence against you seem very damning."
"I understand," she said bleakly.
But she didn't understand at all, and Arnav knew it. Or perhaps she understood too well, he thought grimly. No doubt she clearly understood that he had failed in his promise to trust her and that he had repeatedly rejected the love she offered. She also understood, he knew bitterly, that she had risked her life once for his sake and in return he had rewarded her with callousness and mistrust.
Arnav gazed down at her beautiful pale face, knowing perfectly well that he deserved her hatred and contempt. Now that she was fully conscious of the true depth of his heartlessness and stupidity, he waited, half expecting her to banish him from her life.
When she didn't, he felt obliged to say the things she should be saying to him. "I realize my behavior to you has been unforgivable," he began tightly, and the sound of his voice filled Khushi with dread. "Naturally, I don't expect you to want to remain married to me. As soon as you're well enough to leave here, I'll give you a bank draft for a 20crores. If you ever need more…"
He stopped and cleared his throat as if it was clogged. "If you ever need more," he began again, his voice rough with emotion, "you have only to tell me. Anything I have will always be yours."
Khushi listened to that speech with a mixture of tenderness, anger, and disbelief.
Pausing, Arnav gazed down at her, unconsciously memorizing every line of her face so that he would have it before him in the empty years that lay ahead of him. In silence, he looked at her, knowing she represented every hope and every dream he cherished in his heart. Khushi was goodness and gentleness and trust. And love. She was flowers blooming on the hillsides and laughter floating through the halls.
Forcing himself to finish what he had come to say and then get out of her life, he drew a long breath and said unsteadily, "Buaji also told me about your parents and what happened after they died. I can't wipe away the hurt, but I wanted to give you this…"
Arnav held out his hand and Khushi saw within it a long, flat velvet case. She took it from him and with trembling fingers unfastened the latch.
Lying on a bed of white satin, suspended from a fine gold chain, was the largest ruby she had ever seen. It was cut in the shape of a heart. Beside it, in another shallow tray was an emerald surrounded by diamonds—in the shape of a heart. Beside the emerald was a magnificent, glittering diamond.
The diamond was cut in the shape of a tear.
Biting her lip to stop her chin from quivering, Khushi raised her eyes to his. "I think," she whispered, trying to smile, "I shall wear this every single day of my life.
With a groan, Arnav pulled her into his arms.
"Now that you've said all those other things," she whispered when he finally lifted his lips from hers several minutes later, "do you think you could possibly say 'I love you'? I've been waiting to hear that since you began and—"
"I love you," he said fiercely. "I love you," he whispered softly, burying his face in her hair. "I love you," he groaned, kissing her cheeks "I love you, I love you, I love you…"
I hope you guys like it . Do comment. And Forgive me for any mistakes that is made. I am in office actually ...so please ignore my mistake.
Kabhi Neem Neem Kabhi Shahad Shahad
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