SS: Race - Part 9
Part 8 - https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/iss-pyaar-ko-kya-naam-doon/3063462/ss-race-part-8
Heyy!! So as promised! I present to you Part 9 of Race! This is the Part many and maybe even all of you have been waiting for desperately!!
So without further adieu... Here It Is!! ENJOY!!! 😊
Recap:
They both sat there at the dining table, they both knew they had to talk about last night, Arnav had to tell her he knew and Khushi had to tell him she knew more.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I know everything, Khushi. NK told me everything." Arnav said, holding his breath as he waited for her reaction.
"No," Khushi response confused him for a moment, but then she went on, "No, Arnav, you don't know everything. No one knows everything, and that just maybe be the only reason they're still alive."
Arnav stared at Khushi, what was she saying? Hadn't NK told him she knew nothing of people after her and of her adoptive parents? But then...suddenly everything she said last night ran through his mind...
-"That's exactly what's wrong Arnav! You love me!" Khushi's words shocked Arnav before she went on, "You don't know them! It's me their after, Me! Ever since, ever since they killed my adoptive parents! I've stopped making friends! NK, Payal, and Akash, how I wish could push them away but I can't...I won't. They've already been dragged in too deep, even if they left me alone now! But Arnav you, you haven't been with me for years! They don't know what you mean to me! And I want to keep it that way! It's me they want! And to get to me they'll do anything, they already have!"-
...She knew, she even said they were after her, they had killed her birth parents and her adoptive parents...she knew more than they any of them thought they did.
"Then tell me, Khushi tell me. Why are they after you?! I know you know. Tell me." Arnav took her hand into his, giving her the courage to go on. Khushi looked up at him, then at their hands, and then back up into his eyes.
His eyes shone with pure love and sheer trust. For her. His eyes told her he has been and always will be there for her.
Khushi was now sure of herself and what she was about to tell Arnav. She knew that if he was sitting here, across from, her hand in his despite knowing as much as he did, that he would be sitting there with even after she told him the rest.
And with that knowledge, Khushi took a deep breath,
"You've heard of the story of the girl with whom life had played a miserable game yet that was only half of the story, only half of the game." Khushi looked past Arnav, behind him yet not seeing the room around them as her eyes glazed over and she was taken to the past.
"That girl was found giggling in the streets by a young couple, who later took her in. They never choose to question how she had gotten there, but they received an answer nevertheless. The day that girl turned eighteen was the day her life was turned upside down, the day that miserable game began. That day changed Khushi Kumari Gupta to the point where she would never be the same ever again." Khushi paused, looking into Arnav's eyes for something that would her the final push in helping her tell him everything once and for all.
"She was handed over custody of everything her birthparents had left behind for her. She had questioned the lawyer sent by her deceased parent, 'Birthparents?' he had gone on to tell her that her birthparents had left practically everything they had to her, they had called him, asking him to watch from afar and then on her eighteen birthday to give her all that was rightfully hers. He continued with a tear in his eye, 'I was the last phone call they ever made, two gunshots, a gasp, a scream cut short, and the line was dead...Mr. and Mrs. Sharma were like family, how could I not fulfill their dying wish?' That one line shook her entire existence, her birthparents were dead, they had been shot...they were mu...murdered."
Khushi's breaths hitched, tears welled up in her eyes. She moved away from Arnav, grabbing a bottle of water she chugged it down. Once she had calmed down she went back to her seat, but Arnav pulled her onto his lap instead, staring at her hand in his once again she continued,
"Mr. Pathak, the lawyer, had brought along anything and everything he could have given to me that. She spent her eighteenth birthday locked up in her room going through memories she never knew of and the thoughts memories she could have had yet never will saddened her. Her mother's wedding joda, her mother's anklets that since that day still adorn her feet, her father's first paycheck, her father's lucky pen, her parents wedding rings, her own baby clothes, her birth certificate, photos albums filled with memories that would haunt her for life. Anything she hadn't received had been given to the orphanage her birth mother had started and she now continues."
Khushi sobbed into Arnav's shirt helplessly as if everything she said seemed like had happened yesterday. Arnav did nothing but tighten his hold on her knowing she needed to get it all out with any disturbance on his part.
"She spent moments taking each and every item given to her, holding it close, cherishing them as she still does now. She had gone through almost everything when her eyes noticed a envelope with nothing but the word 'Evidence' written in neat scrawl. The contents of that letter were the reason for everything wrong in her life, they were the board on which the game was being played."
Khushi had stopped her tears by now. Her head resting on Arnav's shoulder shifted slightly as did the expression on her face, her features were a mix of hatred, disgust, guilt, and helplessness.
"In that envelope was photos, documents, and other such evidence against the underworld king, Sharafat Ali. There were documents containing solid evidence against SA's gang for illegal drug dealing and firearm dealing accompanied by a few photographs. The rest of the photographs were of either children, young girl or women. The photos of children showed them tied up, bruised, frail, weak and on the back of each photo the words 'Working Station' along with an address or place were written. The kidnapped kids and did gods knows what to them before putting them out on the streets to beg, beg for the money they were going to use for themselves, their leisures! And those photos of those young girls and women, who wearing hardly anything, showed them tied up yet their faces plastered in makeup. On the backs of these photos the words 'Shipped To' and an address were written. They were being sold! Sharafat Ali, king of the underworld, was running his own black market from smuggling weapons and drugs to illicit sex trade."
Khushi's face was full if sheer disgust and hatred along with guilt and helplessness as she could do nothing for those poor children and women. Arnav sat there disgusted to the core, how could anyone drop so low and that to for money?! He knew now was not the time to express his utmost hatred for those people as Khushi continued,
"She knew then and there that her parents had lost their lives trying to save those of others. She hid this from the adoptive parents, she wasn't ready to have them know all this and put their lives at stake as well. But being parents the knew her behavior ever since her birthday ha changed, not for better or worse rather they didn't have a name for what their daughter had become. She had stopped eating, talking, going out, everything and they knew their daughter well enough to know that she knew something they didn't, something far more than the news of her birth parents. And of course the went through all the things she had received and they too came to know of what she did. But they handled it better, giving her the support she needed they assured it that it would all be okay, that they would handle it, make it all go away. And they had made it better, made it go away for almost two whole years."
Khushi began shaking as her memories suddenly took over her again. Arnav began to worry as he shook Khushi trying to bring her back to reality. When she didn't responded to him, he fiercely grabbed her face and kissed her hard, bringing her back to her senses. Khushi looked up at him, grim yet thankful to him for bringing her back out of that nightmare.
"And well you should know what happened during Diwali when I was in my second year of college. After that I didn't get close to anyone, Payal, NK and Akash remained my only friends. But I knew that Sharafat Ali wouldn't stop until he got want he wanted, the evidence and...and... He also wants..."
Khushi shuddered at the thought, her voice seemed to have run away, away from the dreadful thing she was about to say. But Arnav wasn't about to let it go.
"What else does he also want Khushi?! Does he want money? I'll give that bas***d all the money he wants! I can give anything he wants Khushi, just name and I'll give him if it means your safe. Dammit Khushi! Say something!" Arnav couldn't take it, all the disgust, hatred, anger came out at the thought that Khushi's safety was just a insignificant thing away, whatever Sharafat Ali wanted he would get if it meant that His Khushi would be safe.
"Me..."
Sooo?!!?? What do you think guys?! Did it meet you expectations or not??
Anyways...please LIKE and COMMENT!! Good or Bad! Whatever! The lengthier the comment the nicer it is but even just a few words make my day!! 😆
If anyone wants PMs for future updates please just Buddy Me! And for those already on my PM list I will be sending PMs momentarily! 😃
Please please please please please Like and COMMENT! 😳
