*Completed* Arhi Collab: Dire Consequences Epilogue pg76 5/12 - Page 47

"Chote did you see Manish Malhotra's newest collection? I saw pictures of it and I must say it was outstanding." Anjali quipped as the Raizada's feasted on the delicious breakfast spread that lay in front of them.

"Yes Di, I saw it. And it was pretty good," Arnav replied begrudgingly, not wanting to admire another designer so openly.

Just as Khushi sat down in her seat next to her husband and added an additional serving of yogurt into a bowl for him, she asked, "Di, who are you guys talking about?"

"Manish Malhotra. You know him; he has designed costumes for many popular films but also has his own fashion lines as well. In fact, he has so much experience from working in films, to owning his own boutiques, and even collaborating with major fashion brands such as Sheetal."

"Sheetal!" Khushi stated dramatically, only for the smile on her face to fade.

"Yeah Sheetal, it's the name of a famous designer boutique down in Mumbai," Anjali responded, not knowing that just a mere word out of her mouth was causing her sister in-law great distress. Arnav however did not miss the look of anguish pass over his wife's face as the conversation switched to a different topic. He quickly grabbed Khushi's hand under the table, entwining his fingers with those on her hand, and squeezed her palm tightly, as a way to reassure her that she had no reason to feel insecure.

"Khushi, tum theek ho?" Arnav questioned his wife as they entered their bedroom after breakfast.

"Hmm," Khushi murmured as she got busy searching for something in their shared wardrobe.

Gliding his way over to her, Arnav slid behind Khushi, effortlessly wrapping his arms around her waist. As he felt her relax her stiffened shoulders, he gently turned her around.

Staring directly into her eyes, Arnav spoke sincerely, "Khushi, I understand it still hurts you, but you have to remember that that woman is out of our lives now. Not only did she not break up our marriage, but those testing times proved to both of us how strong our relationship actually is. And I know it upsets you to even hear that name mentioned, but you have to remember, we will never let her or anyone else come between our marriage." Arnav smoothly spoke as he moved the errant lock of hair that was falling on Khushi's face behind her ear, leaving her skin tingling with sensations that only came about with Arnav's presence and touch.

Resting her head along his strong chest, Khushi finally spoke out, "I know it's over Arnavji, but I can't deny that it still hurts what she tried to do. And even though she wasn't successful, it still pains me to know that someone out there thought that we could be susceptible to their evil intentions." Arnav stroked Khushi's hair as he heard her lay out her deepest thoughts.

"All I can say is that phase of our life is over, and now we are moving to the next one - the biggest deal of our lives," Arnav tenderly whispered as his eyes dropped to Khushi's slightly swollen belly as he began to caress it. Khushi sighed in contentment thinking about their perfect choti si duniya, completely forgetting about the storm that erupted in their lives not too long ago.

After Sheetal's departure, Arnav and Khushi tried to get back to their regular routine, hoping that getting normalcy back in their world would make everything alright. With Aarav's abrupt departure, they both realized that they needed to have a proper discussion about starting a family; it was something that both realized they wanted after spending time with the kid. They decided to try having a child after a year, giving them enough time to finally capitalize on their newlywed status.

When the time came around to actually trying to have a child, it wasn't as smooth as they had thought it would be. They would get their hopes high every month, only to get them dashed with negative pregnancy test results.  They decided to not dwell on the results and instead let nature run its course. Their patience was rewarded when they finally found out that they were soon to become parents. Khushi had woken up one morning when Arnav was out on his daily morning jog. After brushing her teeth, she started to pop a few channe's in her mouth, something that Arnav always kept a steady supply of in their bedroom for his wife's convenience, and immediately sensed something was wrong when she felt nauseous at the mere smell of the small morsels of food. Deciding not to get Arnav's hopes high by alerting him about the unusual incident, Khushi decided to visit the doctor herself to get tested.

After the doctor confirmed the positive results, Khushi had immediately called Arnav to the doctor's office to share the news. As she had always expected, Arnav's reaction did not disappoint her. He had picked her up in his arms, twirled her around and then cautiously set her afoot, worrying about the side effects of the twirling to their unborn child. When the news settled in, both Arnav and Khushi relished the thought of bringing a child into the world, a son or daughter that would be a product of love, and into a family that would provide him or her with stability, love of two parents and an extended family that would dote on them endlessly.

The first-time parents took their first trip after the birth of their child, Aryan, to visit a city Arnav once called home. Not wanting to break the promise to his old friend, Arnav took Khushi and their son to Boston to attend his ten year reunion at Harvard. Once in the charming old city, they got a chance to tour the campus and take in the sights and sounds of the historic city; granting Khushi a chance to see Arnav in a whole new avatar as he excitedly told her about some of his adventures when he stayed in the foreign city he called home for a few years.

A day before the actual reunion, they met Anand and Aarav. Anand had come back from India with Aarav in tow and had taken up the task of attaining full custody of his son. It was an easy decision for the judge to side with Anand as Sheetal broke a strict US law which prevents one parent from taking a child out of the country without the permission of the other parent. Anand requested the judge to allow Sheetal visitation rights; although she was not the ideal parent, she was still his mother and he thought she should have a presence in Aarav's life. During this turbulent time, Anand allowed himself to get closer to the lawyer who helped him attain custody of Aarav, and only recently ended up proposing to her. His fiance, Sheena, was in the midst of planning their wedding as Anand blindly agreed to all the arrangements when Khushi and Arnav came into town. Khushi took an instant liking to Sheena; their respective partners mused that it seemed the two had known each other for years when the two women met for the first time. Khushi and Arnav also relished spending the day with Aarav; they had truly missed having him around in Shantivan and had persuaded Anand and Sheena to bring him back to Delhi during his summer vacation.

On the day of the reunion, Khushi was nervous to attend the actual event, as well as leaving Aryan with a nanny in a foreign city. Her concerns about Aryan's wellbeing were allayed by Arnav who had assured her that they were only a phone call away from their son, but he unfortunately could not quell her fears about attending the reunion. She knew that Harvard was one of the preeminent universities in the world and that she would be surrounded by some extremely intelligent men and women, a thought that gave her some kind of anxiety. However, she seemed to dazzle whoever she talked to with her liveliness and perfect situational anecdotes when needed. Arnav looked on with a sense of pride as his wife left a lasting impression on some of his old classmates.

Khushi was speaking to Sheena when Arnav interrupted Khushi to introduce her to his roommate from his freshman year.

"Brian, this is my wife, Khushi Kumari Gupta Singh Raizada," Arnav started.

"Wow, that's quite a mouthful. I'm not sure I will remember all of that, but I think I can manage just Khushi." Arnav chuckled at his old friend's reaction to his wife's elongated name.

Gathering Khushi close to his side by holding on to her waist, Arnav said, "Khushi, this is Brian Atkins, my first roommate at Harvard. Over the years, we have kept in touch and have even engaged in a few business deals together."

"So you must be one of the unfortunate few who have had to withstand his OCD," Khushi quipped, laughing at her own joke.

"Oh I definitely don't miss that," Brian joked good-naturedly. He went on to relay a story about a time when Arnav walked into their dorm room during finals week to witness a scene that resembled a disaster area after a tornado.  After he mumbled a few expletives about the disorderliness of the room, Arnav had tidied up the room without speaking one word to Brian the entire time, and after he finished, he left the room only to return a couple hours later, acting as if nothing had happened earlier that had left him unsettled. Over the years, Khushi had gotten used to her husband's quirky ways of keeping things in order, so she wasn't surprised to hear Brian share such a story.

"I think that's enough storytelling Brian. We don't want to share all my college secrets with Khushi now, do we?" Arnav tried to change the subject, embarrassed at being the subject of discussion for so long.

Khushi understood his need to shift topics, so she seamlessly initiated Brian into a conversation about his business and line of work, asking key questions and sharing her own unique insight with him.

Right after Brian was called over by another friend trying to catch his attention, he left with some parting words to Arnav. "You have surely met your match here. And after seeing you two together, I'm so happy for you. I always remembered you as the reticent kind, so to see you so open now makes me very pleased. I can only attribute this change to the missus. So congrats on finding your soul mate." Arnav couldn't agree more with his friend's analysis; he himself attributed to all his positive changes to his better half, something he tried to convey to Khushi as much as possible.

Before leaving Boston, Arnav took Khushi and Aryan to the harbor front in Boston. During his time at Harvard, this was the one place he went to in order to reflect and to seek solace. He realized that with Khushi's presence in his life, he didn't need to come to any special place in order to find serenity because at the end of the day, she was the one who provided him with the peace he needed to live his life.

"Arnavji, I loved Harvard and this city, but we can't send our son over here," Khushi worriedly told her husband as they looked on at the sparkling water in front of them.

"Why not? Our son should get the best education possible, and if not at Harvard, where else would he go?"

"There's no way I'm letting him come to this foreign city by himself, especially with its cold weather and bland food," Khushi pouted, making Arnav laugh out loud.

"Khushi, if I can do it, so can he," he tried to reason with his wife.

Owing to her to stubborn nature, Khushi did not relent. "There's absolutely no way our family is separating at all." Clutching their son as possible, Khushi whispered, "I just can't bear to be away from him."

Putting his arms around his wife and son, Arnav comforted Khushi.

"There's still a long way to go until this decision needs to be made, so let's not talk about that right now. All I know is that our life with our son is perfect, and there is nothing in this world that is going to break up our choti si duniya. Me, you and Aryan, this is for hamesha." The tender words from her husband brought a tear to Khushi's eye, making her count her blessings, and nod in approval to her husband's statement.

A/N: I sincerely apologize for the delay in posting the epilogue. I was out of town for ten days and came day to a very hectic/stressful asli duniya.

Please feel free to share your feedback with us; it will be greatly appreciated.

Also, thanks to Sami, Nidhi, Anjani for all their support through this journey. I thank you all for making me a part of this collaboration😊