Chapter Four
"I knew it, I knew this girl was going to be the death of me. All we ask is for her to go to work, bring in some money and yet for her this is the hardest task in the world. When I was a young girl, I used to walk ten miles to the bazaar in the scorching heat, dust in my eyes, my feet burning from the hot ground and yet our precious Khushi can not even walk an hour before collapsing at her work place. What must have they thought when they opened up the door and she fell right in their home?" Her mother complained, whilst chopping up the onions. The smell of the onions were causing Khushi's eyes to burn and she wished her mother would just turn into an onion herself so Khushi could just throw her outside of the window.
Khushi moved to place the pillow over her ears, not wanting to hear her mothers words. Her head was still hurting from yesterday and the last thing she needed was to hear that annoying voice ringing inside of her ears. Unfortunately for her, her mother had decided to set up camp in Khushi's room, alongside with Buaji so they could continue to lecture Khushi on her recent behaviour.
Thankfully, she felt Kala's Zubaida place a cold compress on her head, allowing her to breathe out a sigh of relief.
"Let the poor child rest as she's in pain and does not need to be disrupted. We can prepare dinner in the kitchen." Kala Zubaida's soft words made Khushi smile, however she then heard her mothers angry reproach telling Kala she can sleep when she's dead. A few seconds passed before she heard her Buaji announce they should move into the kitchen since she could hear her bones cracking. Khushi sighed with relief when she heard all three of them shuffle out of her room.
She then opened her eyes.
Yesterday had been a bizarre day.
Khushi shifted in her bed, not really understanding why she felt really weird for some reason. It had all started when she had starting feeling slightly faint when she had been walking to work. Her head had been hurting and she had tried to find some shade amongst the journey to alleviate the pain, but there had been no luck.
She remembered how she had knocked on Miss Sonakshi's door, holding her head in her hands because it felt heavy all of a sudden.
She did not remember when she had collapsed,
She did not remember when the servants had carried her to the guest bedroom,
She only remembered that voice.
Go back to sleep.
It was a husky, silky voice and she did not know whether she had imagined the voice or whether someone had actually told her to go back to sleep. Was it really god speaking to her? Was she finally losing her mind? She had woken up disorientated and found herself sitting in the most glorious bedroom she had ever laid eyes on. There were beautiful art pieces on the wall, a plush arm chair in the corner of the room and the most spectacular view from the window beside her.
She had jumped with surprise when she heard her a woman's voice from beside her. She turned to see the most beautiful woman she had ever seen sitting by her side,
She had kindly introduced herself as Miss Sonakshi and explained that Khushi had collapsed and so had been resting for hours now. Khushi felt horrified and embarrassed at that thought but was soon reassured by Miss Sonakshi that there was nothing to be worried about. Sonakshi had insisted Khushi to rest for sometime and so they spent a few moments talking about Khushi's designs. Miss Sonakshi seemed really happy with the designs which made Khushi smile.
However, a servant had entered the room and said Khushi's father had arrived. She had then realised that it was five pm in the evening and her father would have been worried about her whereabouts. She had forgotten that she had actually arrived here to give In her notice, which should have just taken ten minutes and not the whole day. Khushi was thankful that Payal had always insisted of writing down all her workplace addresses so it meant her father was able to locate her.
When she eventually met her worried father, she quickly reassured him she was fine and after thanking Miss Sonakshi a few hundred times, she made her way home with her father. Although she insisted that Khushi should rest a few days and then return to work and Khushi was thankful for her kindness.
Even though Kala Zubaida, Uncle Choudary and his wife and Payal were distressed about what happened to Khushi when she had arrived home that evening, her mother and Buaji had not stopped showing their outrage at her. Who collapses at their work place? How shameless could one be to spend the entire day resting in someone's bed? Or maybe it was all a ploy to spend time with wealthy people? Thankfully Kala Zubaida had ushered Khushi to her room and so she had spent the entire night sleeping.
However, Khushi felt unusual.
Ever since she had woken up yesterday in Miss Sonakshi's room, her body had felt strange. She felt goosebumps alongside her arms, a shiver would erupt randomly, her cheeks would often go pink and all in all Khushi felt like she had been exposed...to something or someone?
What on earth was going on?
...
"Eh Khushi, no one will marry you if all you do is wander the streets with Dhruv" Dhruv turned around to see Rav sitting outside of his house, a smirk covered his face as he winked at Khushi. It did not take long for him to see Khushi stomp over to Rav, throw the cold ice lolly he had been holding to the ground and threaten him that she would spread rumours he had been acting inappropriately around her.
He wasn't surprised when Rav hurriedly apologised and ran inside his home.
Khushi was a complete force of nature. In fact he was sure the whole block of streets pretty much stayed away from Khushi whenever she was outside. She was the most feisty person he had ever met and even though she got in trouble all the time, he admired her fearless behaviour.
It helped in situations like this.
He sighed a little inside when he realised that moments like this were increasing. The looks, the taunts and the whispers had been growing and he had been warned by his father that he needed to be careful. The only reason most people had not cried outrage so far was because Dhruv worked alongside Khushi's father which made him in their eyes 'family.' However, it was only to last for a short period of time because he knew they were both getting older now. It wasn't as appropriate. Dhruv had tried to limit his visits to Khushi, but not only was it hard to stay away from his best friend, he found his life without Khushi very boring and silent.
Dhruv has been friends with Khushi ever since he was 9 years young. He had been playing with a few friends outside of his home when he heard the sound of a girl shouting with anger. He and his friends had thought someone had been hurt, but when they turned around, they had seen this little girl punching this boy to the ground. After she had finished punching him, she had stalked over to Dhruv and had asked if she could drink the juice he had been holding.
Wild hair, blue kameez and the fury of a boiling hot kettle.
He had been terrified of her and so had said yes.
They had been friend since.
He pushed the thought away when he heard Khushi's angry voice whilst she stomped back over to him.
"I will kill him, I will kill him and squash him like an orange and then I will make a nice juice from his scalp. I don't understand how a grown boy like him just sits outside of his home all day -"
Dhruv chuckled to himself, directing Khushi to sit on the bench on the side. He then quickly interrupted her and asked her to continue the story she was telling him before they were interrupted.
"Oh yes, Veera aunty called me to her house yesterday and I was panicking because I thought I did something wrong. However, she had a message from Miss Sonakshi as Sonakshiji did not have my home address and could not get in touch with me."
"And the message was that Miss Sonakshi asked you to stop working for her?" Dhruv inquired, slightly confused.
"Well In nicer words she actually said one of her friends was urgently in need of a seamstress and so she had recommended me to them. Even so, I don't understand why I couldn't just finish my work at Miss Sonakshi's and then work for her friend afterwards?" Khushi explained, moving to pull her hair up in a bun.
"Maybe her friend has an emergency wedding to attend? Or a function of some sort? What about your left over work for Miss Sonakshi?" Dhruv enquired, slightly confused by the whole situation.
He knew that a few days ago Khushi had collapsed at work and he had been worried for his friend. The heat was making the working conditions incredibly difficult and he wished there was a solution for them all.
"Hmm maybe, yeah Miss Sonakshi said I could continue my work after I helped her friend. Although she did not give me a name of her friend, just an address. It will take a two hour journey for me to get there so I'm assuming they live in the wealthier area?" Khushi complained, now moving to pick up up her handmade fan and rigorously moved her hands to keep herself cool.
"Probably, rich people usually have rich friends." Dhruv mused to himself. It was just the way the world worked. He was about to ask Khushi when she started but he heard Khushi's sister call out to her from the other side of the street. She quickly bid him goodbye and Dhruv watched his friend run back to her home.
It was when Khushi disappeared inside that he heard the voice behind him.
"You should be more careful Dhruv bhai" He turned to see Salman, one of his brothers friends walking up to him. Dhruv smiled at him politely and shifted a little so he could sit next to him on the bench.
He knew what he was going to say next.
"The last thing you want is for people to gossip about you and Khushi. It will be difficult for you and your family to live peacefully once people start wagging their tongues" Salman adviced him politely, Dhruv turned away, not being able to look at him in the eye.
"I don't mean to embarrass you my brother, I am only advising you because you are a good person coming from a good home. If you care for them, or this girl, you will know what to do."
He felt Salman place a reassuring hand over his shoulder, Dhruv turned to nod at him.
He understood.
...
Khushi slammed the door shut behind her, not caring that she nearly broke the door in anger. She immediately looked for her little suitcase, not before locating it besides her stack of clothes. Opening it, she hurriedly zoomed around her room, shoving all her belongings inside her suitcase. Her books, her clothes, her journals, her hair bands and her stack of needles.
She could hear the voices coming from outside of her door, but she did not care.
She was leaving,
Closing her suitcase, she scanned the room once again, making sure everything was in her suitcase. She then turned and flung the door wide open, coming face to face with everyone.
"Khushi, your mother did not mean those words, please dear-"
Khushi ignored Kala Zubaida's words and pushed past everyone. She had never in her entire life felt this angry, this hurt and her heart was beating so fast that she was sure it was going to pop out any second. She quickly climbed her way down the stairs, her satchel slung over her shoulder and her suitcase clonking alongside her.
"Khushi stop this, you are not going anywhere-" Buaji shouted,
"Khushi dear, you can come to my room and spend some time to calm down there" Uncle Choudaries wife hurriedly called out,
"Khushi, you know what mother is like, don't take her words to heart" Payals terrified plea interrupted everyone's voices but Khushi did not even stop at her sisters voice. It was only when she had reached the last floor, when an arm stopped her from walking forward.
She turned to see her father standing there,
"Beta, where will you go? Who will take care of you? Yes, your mother said the most terrible thing but she did not mean it. I am your father and you are my daughter and you will not go anywhere" Her father's voice was firm, yet polite. She watched him as he made a move to take her suitcase from her, but Khushi stopped him.
This was about to be the first time in her entire existence that she was about to refuse his words.
"I am leaving father. I am leaving this place for one and all and there is nothing that you can do, or say that will stop me. Yes I have no where to go, I have no other friends, I have no money, I have no shelter, I have no idea how I will survive in this heat, I can barely cook and I can 't even wash my own clothes properly because of my hands. However, even knowing all these things, I still choose to leave. Why? because I refuse to live in a place where I am called a wh**e by my own mother."
Khushi remembered this morning she had been getting her things together. After spending last evening with Dhruv she had spent the rest of it preparing herself for today. She was going to Miss Sonakshi's friends house today to start her dress making and she was excited to start working again. She had been forced to spend three days at home and it had been the worse thing ever.
She did not realise how awful it was to be in the presence of her Buaji and her mother for so long. She always made sure she worked every day of the week because it meant she was out of the house. Payal never understood just how difficult it was for Khushi to live with two women that never failed to say harsh things to her. Khushi had spent a lot of her childhood being secretly jealous of Payal because she was never the receiving end of their harsh words.
They loved Payal.
Khushi knew she was a lot different to Payal. Payal liked her things clean and proper whilst Khushi did not mind hers being all over the place. Payal liked plaiting her hair but Khushi preferred hers in a messy bun over her hair. Payal spent hours talking to her father about politics whilst Khushi preferred spending a few hours doodling In her notebook. Payal rarely ever joined in when their were arguments in the house, but Khushi's voice was always the loudest amongst them all.
Khushi did not understand why her mother could not just see that they were just two different people. Her mother and buaji made it a mission to ensure Khushi knew her choices her wrong.
She was in the wrong job, wore the wrong clothes, had the wrong talents and did not behave in the correct way a woman should.
Khushi had been placing her needles inside of satchel and was about to make her way down the flight of stairs for breakfast, when she had heard the conversation between her mother and buaji from down the stairs.
"Khushi is turning into a street wh**e"
Khushi stopped in her tracks,
Garima Gupta, her own mother had just called her a street wh**e.
Khushi literally felt as if someone had ripped her heart out from her chest, she felt her breathing accelerate and for the first time in her life she felt her gut collapse to the ground. Khushi had barely been able to control the tears that fell down her cheeks as she refused to pretend she did not hear those words.
"Am I a wh**e mother?"
Never had Khushi yelled with so much rage that she actually felt as if she was about to shatter the glass from the windows. Her blood boiled as her mother looked up at her, her eyes bulging with surprise when she realised Khushi had heard every word. Khushi did not know much, but everyone knew exactly what a wh**e was, why people used that term and the filth attached to it.
She had not spoken to her mother in a few months now, always ignoring her every word and so the words just stumbled out of her mouth as she climbed down the stairs slowly, whilst rubbing away the tears that flowed down her cheeks. Her mother and buaji had stumbled backwards, not prepared at all to see this side of Khushi.
"Is your daughter, Khushi Kumari Gupta a little street wh**e that stands outside on the streets and waits for men to throw money at her?"
Khushi watched her mother stumble a little further, whilst Khushi continued to charge at her, her blood pumping with rage. Her voice was laced with so much threat and anger that Khushi had had to fist her hands into a ball to make sure she did not attack her mother. It was only then when she heard everyone has run up all the stairs to see what the commotion was about. Kala Zubaida, Uncle Choudary and his wife, her father and Payal stood there, concerned about what was going on.
Khushi did not remove eye contact with her mother when she spat out the next sentence,
"My mother, who is supposed to love me, guide me, cherish me, protect me, praise me and unconditionally support me, but instead has spent her entire life blaming me, shouting at me, chiding me, slapping me, pushing me, blackmailing me, bullying me, taunting me has just called me a street wh**e"
And with that she had ran all the way to her room, packed all of her belongings and was now standing in front of her father. Her father's eyes bulged with shock when she had just told him that she would not stay here any more. Her voice had been so firm, so violently firm that even Payal had taken a few steps away from her.
"Khushi you can not possibly leave-" Her father continued a few seconds later, the panic increasing as he moved to pull her arm gently.
She pushed him away.
"I am leaving father, I am leaving and I hope to god I do not have to resort to pushing you to the ground so that I'll be able to leave here."
Khushi heard the surprised gasps of Kala Zubaida and Uncle Choudary as she just threatened to hurt her father if he did not let her leave. For once in her entire lifetime, she did not feel guilty. Her father was a frail old man, and even she knew he would not be able to chase after her.
"Khushi" her sister's voice plea made Khushi turn to look up at her, her sister was her everything but the way Khushi was feeling, even her sister would not be able to cajole her to stay here a second longer.
"This is nonsense child, where will you go? A young girl walking the streets alone? I shudder at the thought. Yes, what your mother said the most awful thing but she did not mean it. Stay with us for a few days and calm yourself down" Uncle Choudaries voice boomed with concern.
Khushi ignored him and her eyes moved towards where her mother and Buaji were standing. They had been silent during this. Khushi placed her suitcase down and made her way towards them, her heart thudding in her chest as she did so. She did not notice that her buaji had practically scrambled away to stand behind her father and so now she was just face to face with her mother.
Silence.
Khushi took a step further,
Her mother took a step back,
Khushi moved two steps forward and placed her lips near her mothers ear, letting out a soft whisper.
"Your words are about to come true my mother. I will become a street wh**e now and as I dance around the men that throw money at me, I will whisper your name to them. I will let them know you are mother, that Garima Gupta is why I'm doing this, that I was influenced by mother to start this profession. I will ask them to spread such awful things about you that you will wish you had never been born. Everything that is important to you, your dignity, your honour and your husband will be taken away from you. I will make sure you will spend your entire life burning in hell and wishing you had not never done me any wrong, my oh so sweet, darling mother."
Her mother sucked in her breath and held on to the wall as she collapsed to the ground. Khushi could hear the shouts of concern as everyone hurried to the woman's aid. And that's when Khushi turned around and moved to to pick up her suitcase and ran as fast as she could outside of the doors, and outside of her home.
She ran so fast that she was sure her feet were bleeding,
Khushi did not look back to see her sister and father running behind her and she did not stop running for the next hour.
She would never look back now.
...
So there you go! I'm sure many of you were not expecting this kind of chapter today, but I like to keep my beautiful readers surprised 😆 Please do let me know what you thought about the chapter as I love reading your words <3
Did Khushi do the right thing? What do you think about Dhruv's worries? What are your thoughts about what Khushi's mother said to her? Are you surprised at how scary Khushi turned out to be?
SPOILER - ARNAV AND KHUSHI WILL FINALLY MEET IN THE NEXT CHAPTER 😃
Thank you SO much <3
Mazz xx
Edited by Skyfall - 9 years ago
Real Estate
Book Talk
55