Chapter 43-
9 months later-
Arnav parked his cycle at an isolated point in his cycling trail from Andes to Amazon. He had been cycling for about two months in South America and had covered quite a lot of distance. After everything that had happened in the last year of his life, after everything he had done, he decided to take a break a from his everyday life in Delhi in the hope of finding himself, finding an answer to the questions plaguing his mind, finding a closure to his guilt. He got off his bike and took his bottle out to sip some water as he saw the beautiful sight of the landscape ahead of him.
'I hate you Arnav. I will hate you all my life.' Khushi's words haunted him once again, as it had done from the day he had last seen her.
He closed his eyes. 'I love you Khushi. I'm sorry for everything.' He whispered to the winds hoping they would carry his message to her.
"""""""-
Khusi walked into her room.She felt nothing. The happenings of the day should have hurt her, killed whatever was left of her spirit, but it didn't. She felt like laughing at herself.
'Fool! Fool! You are such a fool!' She screamed at herself.
Once again she had allowed the world take her for a ride. Months after Arnav had called off the wedding, after the tears, breakdowns and relentless sadness later, her parents had convinced Khushi to accept Avinaash's proposal. The whole town was indulging in gossip about her broken marriage. Many had also managed to find out about her pregnancy. Avinaash had initially accepted the proposal even after knowing the entire truth. But on the day of their 'roka' he developed a cold feet and decided against going through with the wedding. After all who would want to marry a woman, who was jilted by the same man who loved her or claimed to have done so.
Khushi found herself stranded once again. But this time, there were no tears, no pain, just an acceptance of the shambles her life had become. She looked at her hollow reflection in the mirror. She was wearing an extravagant red salwar. At that moment something inside Khushi snapped. She lifted the vase near the mirror hurling it at the mirror, breaking it into many tiny pieces.
And then there was nothing. NOTHING!
xxxEnd of Book 1 xxx
Author's note- I'm sure a lot of the readers are not entirely happy with how I have ended this book, but this was how the story was meant to be from day one. Thanks to all the readers for staying with the story, through my irregular updates and unplanned breaks. Also an apology to those who have given up on the story due to the same reasons. A big thanks to my real life Arnavji, Twiggy and Meera who have helped develop this story at various points of time in the past. I still recall the discussion I had with Meera which led to the birth of this story.
The character of Arnav in this story is heavily inspired from someone I know very closely. There are many people like this Arnav in this world, who are fabulous individuals and good natured but for some reason they cant get themselves to commit to a woman. The person I know is one such person. Few years ago, a wonderful girl entered his life. We were all very happy because we felt this was it. But sadly he let her go in a couple of years.
Whatever said and done, in a way I feel it was better for Arnav to call off the wedding when he wasn't sure, than go ahead with it. You cannot have a successful marriage when one of the partners isn't invested in it completely. Trust me it shows in a matter of days.
Khushi comes with her own weakness of character- she wants to please everyone and she cannot hold on to one decision. She also knew what she was getting into when she pursued that relationship with him. But compared to Arnav, her weakness of characters isn't that grave or serious nor does it affect other's lives.
Book 2 will be a completely different ball game. It will start 10 years after the last chapter. It will be very different from the setting of Book1. It will be take on adult relationships. Except for the prologue all chapters will be posted in a blog as it will deal with some matured themes.
When the blog is ready, I will circulate the link, but its my earnest request to readers to not ask for the link if they are below 18 yrs of age. There will be a lot of content which should not be read by those below 18.
Thanks & regards
Basanti
THREAD 1 (Chapters 1-10)
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
CHAPTER 25, PART A
CHAPTER 25, PART B
CHAPTER 26, PART A
CHAPTER 26, PART B
CHAPTER 27, PART A
CHAPTER 27, PART B
CHAPTER 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30A
Chapter 30B
Chapter 31A
Chapter 31B
Chapter 31C
Chapter 32
Chapter 37
Kabhi Neem Neem Kabhi Shahad Shahad
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