He breathed in and out, short and laboured as he lay on his chair with his head thrown back after running to and fro, bellowing on his employees and frightening them to heights, making them run like headless puppies.
Today was a big day for his baby company, AR. He had financed it from the money he saved from odd jobs along with his sweat and vitality. Though AR had a fair share of participation in the events across the country, today was a much bigger day for the company. Instead of showcasing a single line of clothes as they did in the previous shows, they were launching their creations for different age groups as well as for different cultures extending from eastern to western.
His eyes drooped for a mere second before opening with a new zeal, fanatic to reach newer heights. And with the new zest bubbling inside him, a tinge of disappointment raked through his spine as he kept his gaze focused on his phone softly. She hadn't called even once today, not to wish him, not to ask for his health, not to even ask if he has had his lunch as she used to do, 4 times a day. He chuckled.
Khushi Gupta was the person in thoughts here. The main model of Eastern wear of AR and the showstopper tonight. Over the time, they had begin to share a good rapport after Arnav had a sneak-peek into her inner persona, the person she is in reality. Her charming nature, her visualisation of life, her aims and fervor to achieve any target was what he admired the most. She was the person he had found after eons whom he could trust, on whom he could rely upon after the sudden demise of his parents.
He poured the chilling water down his parched throat to keep his thoughts at bay as he picked up the phone, wishing her luck through the text and stuffing the mobile into his pockets shrugging with a sigh. Must be in the makeup room getting ready, he mumbled irritatingly walking towards the alley leading to the makeup room.
*
"Ask for whatever you want Pam and you'll get that."
"Really?"
"Yes! Today I can't be more happy than I'm now. It's about time for the show to start and Khushi isn't here yet? No news other than this could be more pleasant to my ears right now." Sheetal smirked through the layers of makeup she had donned on for presenting the Western collection of AR. "Now I'm gonna shine throughout the night while Khushi can loose her job. Oh, I guess we must convey this news to ASR too. Who knows, she must have ran away with a richer guy!"
She laughed horrendously failing to look at a frozen Arnav at the door of an empty makeup room. Many thoughts tangled into his mind before it went to a frenzy and all the traces of Arnav in ASR flew away with the flourishing anger.
*
He drove in rage, his eyes narrow and cold and his mind flashing blurred images of Khushi. His attraction towards her was an altogether different issue, while foreseeing his reputation in the industry getting hampered and his tradition of showcasing nothing but the best, being at stake, all because of a mere model, was something he couldn't tolerate.
He reached the mansion where Khushi resides in no time. Taking huge steps towards the entrance, he felt his heart tell him a different story. Somewhere inside him, a voice told him that something wasn't right, like the things were not the way he was thinking them to be.
"She has been thrown out from here, Sir. After the sudden death of Khushi's parents in an accident yesterday, her chacha heartlessly threw her out of the mansion, not wanting to share the inherited property with her", One of the guard of the mansion told him sternly, while he felt his insides melt with guilt, followed by a feeling of immense concern for Khushi, his Khushi..
"Where had she gone?" Arnav asked and the guards shared tensed looks amongst themselves. Understanding their inability to reveal anything to him, he reassured them, "I am here to help her, trust me!"
"She must have gone to Laxmi Nagar Colony," a guard informed him reluctantly and he didn't waste another minute at that place.
*
To say, it was a congested and an extremely unhygienic place would be a mere understatement. Rotten smell wafted from the huge heap of garbage gathered in a corner of the area and uncivilised people stared at his SUV, a gush of gossips spreading amongst the folks.
"Have you seen this girl?" Arnav asked a vendor, holding his phone in front of his face, displaying Khushi's photo from one of her photoshoots.
The vendor widened his eyes at the sight of the photo, looking here and there with a frightened countenance. Arnav fetched a note out from his pocket and slumped it on his stall, earning the directions from the vendor where Khushi was present.
Perceiving his inability to drive through congested streets, he decided to walk through the lanes to get to the required place. Picking up his pace, he ran through the crowd of people and piles of garbage, his eyes darting to just one small house amongst all, where his Khushi was there, in a state that was unknown to him.
He arrived in front of the small house, his breaths short and heavy, his eyes widening at the view of a couple of men breaking into the house.
"Karan bhai is so lucky! Such a beautiful girl to have fun with!" Arnav heard a man say, before all the four men present started laughing horrendously.
His fingers fisted at the comment and he stepped forward in anger, before he heard a scream from behind the closed door of the house, which supposedly was of Khushi.
"Did you hear that? I wish I could make her scream like that! She would have remembered this day all her life!" Another man said, his eyes darted over to the closed door while the other three laughed out loudly, high-fiving each other and passing more comments.
Feeling his patience give up, Arnav caught hold of the collar of the man from back, choking him in the process. He pulled the man with his collar and slumped him to the ground, kicking his stomach and making his mouth spit out blood. The other three men who came from behind, in no time were crawling on the ground, groaning in pain after being punched and kicked by Arnav.
Making sure that there wasn't any more man left uninjured, he kicked open the door and broke into the house.
"Leave me!" He heard another scream, accompanied by some muffled ones, making him sure that Khushi was in trouble.
"Didn't you hear when she asked you to leave her?" Arnav yelled, gaining the attention of the person, who hovered over Khushi, her arms tied behind her back with her dupatta.
What followed was a punch right on his nose, that would surely change the structure of his face permanently. Arnav kicked his crotch, resulting him in taking a sharp breath and groan in pain.
"Arnav", a soft voice stopped him and he turned back to look at a wriggled form of Khushi, tears brimming down her cheeks and her whole body squirming to let her arms free.
"You b*stard! How dare you touch her!" Arnav shrieked at him, kicking him a number of times, before seeing him pass out.
"Khushi?" Arnav sprung towards her, untying her arms and scooping her into his arms, murmuring sweet-nothings in her ear to hush down her trembling body.
"Karan forced me to marry him... He.. He abducted me when I was searching for a place to stay... He said..." Khushi cried in his chest, a feeling of peace covering her heart, of being safe in the place where she belonged to be.
"Shh.." He kissed in between her hair and rubbed her arms to shush her low sobs.
"I..Papa..mama, the..they.." She became hysterical while he kept her head glued to his chest offering her whatever he could, his support, his warmth, his everything.
"Shh..i know. I do!" He said in a quivering voice looking at her withering state, his own eyes filling up with untimely tears. He knew her as a strong yet soft woman, not the one who was crying constantly in his arms. He had never seen her like that. An uninvited pain settled in his heart. He could never see her like that, never! And he would make sure to bring her to her real self. True that he cannot bring her parents back but he would make her remember only the pleasant memories with them. True that he cannot erase the harsh words her chacha would have spoken to her but he was sure, he would fill her ears with more words of love that she would be forced to forget the painful ones. And about her uncle's deeds, he was sure Khushi would get all those things her parents had left for her!
He looked down to see Khushi murmuring incoherently in her drowsy self when he clutched her more firmly, carrying her from the dark shadows of this house to his car's back seat laying her there and sprinkling some water on her face making her flutter her eyes open unwelcoming the sudden rush of memories.
As soon as she registered Arnav's face, another fresh set of tears cascaded down her cheeks while she couldn't manage to form any proper word from her mouth, she was again engulfed in a bear hug rocking her to and fro to ease the tension from her. As the wetness graced his shirt, his heart died a thousand deaths.
"Khushi!" He said in a hoarsed whisper after her sobs had died down to a certain extent. "Promise me something, Promise me that you will let me in. I cannot see you like this. Promise me that you will let me take up your responsibility. I know you're a strong woman Khushi, heck, the strongest of all i know, but let me heal you, let me love you!" His lips parted, his forehead resting on hers and his arm draped over her shoulders bringing her closer to him.
"Hmm.." She could only manage to bring a feeble voice out of her throat but her insides swelled with unusual happiness, the one which she had never felt, a lover's touch. The enigma of emotions bunched in her gut making her overwhelmed as she clutched his shirt in her tiny fists tightly rubbing her nose on his shirt clad chest. "I..i promise.." Never did Arnav feel this ecstasy which he felt now hearing her words.
Tucking his chin above her, he made an eternal deal with God, to keep this angel happy!*** Like and comment, folks 😃
Edited by -SanjanaSobti- - 9 years ago
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