Unknowingly /On Hold/ Note on Page 1 - Page 35

Nice update.

awesome one...finally anjali is aware of arnav feelings for khushi...

Heyyy you are back😊

Anjali though tries to be concerned about Arnav was she not trying to dissuade him from the relationship? Nice try but was stumped by her Chote with his declaration!

started reading this. love this version of Khushi. looking forward to this ff.

very interesting story line. please continue.

Statutory Warning: Too Filmy😃

Part- 20

Arnav saw the red eyes of Abhay, but it wasn't just anger that he saw.His whole form looked tensed and rigid.

He had his fists tightly closed, so tight that Arnav wouldn't be surprised if he found blood in his hands yet he looked like least bothered about the piercing of his nails in his skin.

The hurt and pain that Arnav saw in his glassy eyes even scorched his unknown heart. Outwardly Abhay looked nothing better than a stone statue but his soul was writhing in agony and his eyes reflected his pain not betraying the intensity even a little.

Arnav's confused questioning eyes turned to Khushi seeking answer for this sudden change in Abhay and saw her slipping the phone back in her pocket before she slowly pulled off her shades.

Her straight eyes met his unsuspecting orbs and he drew in a sharp breathe seeing the same intensity in her eyes as Abhay's. The only difference was that she held herself composed unlike Abahy, who stood rooted to his spot lost in the depth of his suffering .

Arnav's hand at once reached for her shoulder for a gentle comforting press, even though all he wanted to do was to pull her in a tight embrace. But he controlled himself taking in their surrounding. In response she closed her eyes assuring him that she was fine.

He opened his mouth to ask what happened but Khushi shook her head negatively letting him know not now, before she made her way to Abhay.

Holding Abhay's arm Khushi made him turn towards the door and started walking out dragging his lifeless body along with her, knowing well that it would take a long time for his unsettled mind to settle down and to function properly again.

Arnav stood stupefied for a moment, before he too followed them.

Today he couldn't stay back. He needed to know how one name could make two strong persons vulnerable like this.

And Abhay? What had this man did to him that he looked so tormented hearing his name just once?

Even Khushi!

Since he had known her, this was the first time he had seen her guard drop before him and just because this one name 'Khaled'. Does it mean this man has something to do with her too? If yes then what?

In any other day he would have been ecstatic with this small change in her towards him but not today. Today her little moment of weakness made him impatient, making his resolve stronger to seek his answers, regarding this person from her.

And somehow he felt that today Khushi wouldn't send him away like every other day she had done whenever he had questioned her something regarding her life, because whoever this Khaled was Arnav had a feeling that he had some connection with him too.

Uncannily the name and the faceless man behind the name felt like a bad omen to him making him restless to a point that he couldn't wait to know who he is? Hence he followed them without any delay.

He didn't have to go far as he found them in the vast lawn of Raizada Mansion sitting on a bench under the shade of trees.

As he took steps to cross the distance between them he found NK too was there standing a little ahead of them, his posture defeated. He paced faster to reach them, but soon stopped a few feet away from them.Suddenly he didn't feel too confident to walk in something which looked a very private moment for them like a trespasser.

The look they wore on their faces were grave unlike any other day. As if they were grieving for something or someone. Whatever they were worried or sad about, it seemed the three of them were on same page where he was an outsider here and had no idea what made them so disturbed. So it didn't look fair in his part to interfere, his logical part of brain concluded.

As much as he wanted to think and become the closest person of Khushi, he knew that he still had miles long bridge to cross and some very thick barriers to break to reach her heart and soul, where these guys were much closer to her and to each other to grieve together for each other's loss, of which he had no idea of.

It hurt him a lot truth to be told, because he didn't want to be an outsider when it concerned Khushi or anything related to her, but he knew very very less of her whereas they knew each other enough to be together in situations like this. He sighed heavily before he turned to leave not wanting to be noticed by any of them.

He had hardly taken a few steps when a hand on his shoulder stopped him in his track. His eyes went wide recognizing the touch and feeling his heart race he turned with trepidation to see Khushi looking at him with soft eyes. The sight pleased him to an extent that he couldn't describe. He smiled back at her with relief and joy.

Khushi knew Arnav would come. He had read their anguish and the kind of person he was she knew he would come to find out, not out of curiosity but out of his nature to reach out for the people he cared.

She had seen him come and stop at a distance. She had seen him thinking and she knew what. And finally when his shoulders had slumped and he had turned without barging in their silence she couldn't stop herself from reaching out for him.

She couldn't let this man, who thought nothing but only best for her leave like an outsider and so she had came running behind him to not make him feel left out.

Abhay was too lost to care for her sudden departure and if NK had seen her coming after Arnav, which he had sure, he would pretend that he hadn't, that was how he was, understanding, though he pretended to be not.

Khsuhi saw the unsure eyes of Arnav as he looked in hers before he smiled and she sighed.

It was hard to talk about Khaled for her as it meant recalling the moments which she never wanted to remember again if possible. It meant let Arnav know the a little part of her and much of Abhay's life, which was hard to share for her. But he deserved to know as this now concerns him too and also it was necessary to make him understand that what exactly they were dealing with,when they take the name Khaled anytime during their next step of investigation.

She smiled faintly putting him at ease and without words letting him know that he was going to get his answers.

"Khaled is a renowned name in crime world. He is the God of underworld." Khushi enlightened Arnav as they took a seat on another bench little away from other two present there.

"And..., Arnav probed knowing well that this couldn't be the reason behind their distress. They dealt with crime and underworld in day to day basic. There was more, and there was.

"Khaled was the reason for the death of Abhay's whole family." Khushi let out the information with a deep sigh and closed her eyes as a smiling face of Priya flashed before her eyes.

Arnavs' eyes widened and darted to Abhay's direction, who looked caught in a maelstrom, lost without the knowledge of a way out.

"I met Abhay on the very first day of my duty. He was my senior."

Arnav could only stare. Her words didn't make any sense to him. If Abhay was her senior then how come she was leading their team...?

Khushi saw the question in his eyes and smiled. She was getting there.

"A very warm, nice, cheerful and caring person, that is how I knew him since I met Abhay."

Arnav looked as though she was talking about some alien and the look he gave made Khushi chuckle in spite of her.

"He never let my guards work around him. He always saw through them as a friend, as big brother."

Unnoticed by both of them Arnav heaved a sigh of relief.

"He never let me feel that he was my senior or he was someone I just recently came to know. That was how Abhay was." Khushi gulped the lump now looking at Abhay's direction who had his head in his hands.

"I had a good fortune to meet and know a few good persons in my life in spite of my past." Khushi said a little lost and Arnav knew she wasn't just talking about Abhay but he didn't probe to put her back in her defensive mode.

"Through Abhay I met his wife Priya, a lovely and lively girl, who had an impeccable talent to put a smile on your face just by smiling herself. That infectious was her smile and like her smile she had a very bright personality too. She was like a sun, around whom, Abhay and his parent's whole world revolved." Khushi had a soft smile playing on her lips unknown to her as she talked about Priya.

Arnav wanted to tell her that she too had a very beautiful smile and had the power to light his world by her one smile, but he knew she wouldn't believe him if he did say. Sighing wistfully he let her continue.

"I don't know when and how I became a part of this happy family, a friend and sister to Priya who would hear her nonstop chatter without protest and a daughter to Abahy's parents, whom they would shower their unconditional care and love not minding her lack of response. They behaved as if they could see through me, that how much they and their all the gestures to make me feel home with them meant to Me." she chuckled.

Arnav had his heart in his eyes as he saw her eyes shining when she talked about Abhay's family, and also shared a part of her past with him unknowingly.

"Abhay used to tease Priya saying that she would make my ear bleed by her senseless chatter one day. He used to warn his parents in mock anger that if they showered anymore love on me, which was of course by fretting over my lean figure and feeding me to their heart content, I would be soon declared unfit for police service and would be led out of the department." She laughed silently and Arnav joined in. He couldn't believe that it is Abhay she was talking about.

"My guards soon dropped before them. They forced out the person buried inside me, a side of me that I myself almost had forgotten, a side that knew how to show the normal emotions out in open." Her voice cracked a little in the end and Arnav swallowed the lump in his throat.

What happened to you Khushi that made you build walls around you that no one can reach the real you? And if your walls had come down once, then why did you build them back again?' the questions started to bother him as soon as he heard her, making him feel restless.

"But then the catastrophe happened changing our lives for worse. Everything was lost in a snap of a finger." She said in faraway voice and Arnav dreaded to hear what was coming next.

"We were after Khaled for a long time and one night our informers informed about his coming arrival in his farmhouse to meet his wife and his six years old son."

She continued looking ahead and Arnav continued to stare at her expressionless face with curiosity and anxiety writ large on his face.

"We prepared to catch him on the day when he would come in the city to meet his family because it was impossible to catch him otherwise. His underground hidings were too much hidden and protected to reach for normal police force like ours."

"On that day we surrounded his farmhouse outskirt of the city, with armed men scattered everywhere, prepared for a deadly battle. As expected his men started shooting as soon they got whiff of our presence. But we were well prepared and the encounter began." She said all too calmly like she was narrating a tale not a live encounter.

Arnav recalled the night when he got shot in his hotel and the encounter that he had witnessed. The image of the dead body of that goon, bullet stuck in his forehead, still fresh in his mind. He felt shiver ran down his spine as he recalled the sound of constant firing. But that was just a small and short encounter. What Khsuhi was talking about might have been a fest of blood and human slaughter, Arnav thought feeling tremors run down his body. He was scared dreading the possibility that if something would have happened to her. His fearful eyes took in Khushi's unfazed expression and he remembered what Anjali said this morning, her profession... it's too dangerous, and he for the second time felt so but this time little more worried for her, fear of losing her little more gripped his heart.

Unaware of Arnav's thought process Khsuhi continued still lost and caught in memories.

"We had no plan to do even a tiny bit of harm to his family but when did things happen as we plan?" she asked smiling ruefully, Arnav frowned.

"Abhay saw Khaled trying to escape through the back door and shot in his direction to stop him. But out of nowhere Khaled's wife came in middle of the bullet and Khaled."

She sighed heavily as she said, "The bullet which was meant to just injure him. killed his wife."

Arnav stared horrified but it wasn't the end,

"His son saw his mother falling on the ground in a dead faint and came running. The firing between Khaled's men and Police men was still on and as soon the child came out a bullet from our side went straight through his head, killing him on spot. Khaled lost his family in a matter of few seconds but couldn't do a thing and Abhay who thought that Khaled's family had already left after their meeting as we had been informed that they would and had planned the whole attack accordingly, could only watch the whole scene unfold horrified, along with us."

Arnav pressed his temple unable to digest what he heard and Khushi closed her eyes in regret.

"Abhay got disturbed and distracted for a moment and our men too stopped firing as soon they saw that small child became victim of the encounter, but it was too late. They both were dead. Taking advantage of our little distraction his men dragged a stone like Khaled out of that place, whose eyes stayed glued to his dead family until he was out of sight. No one but I saw them escaping. I wanted to stop them but before I could they were gone." Khsuhi looked away.

Arnav looked ahead feeling his hands getting cold and clammy.

"We thought we lost Khaled again. Abhay was immensely guilty for being the reason of his wife and child's death, but Priya and I made him understand that it wasn't his fault, he didn't do it intentionally. It was an accident and he shouldn't feel guilty. He understood but Khaled didn't. He came back for his revenge."

Khushi's dead eyes met Arnav's dreadful ones.

"We were on duty when Abhay received a call from him, "Tune mera pariwar khatam kar diya aur maine tera, hisaab barabar. (You finished my family and I finished yours, now we are even)" Was his exact words to him before the line went dead."

Arnav gulped seeing the slight hint of horror in Khushi's eyes and quiver in her voice.

"We raced to reach Abhay house as soon as we could, but still we couldn't reach on time. When we were meters away from his small ancestral house we heard the blast and saw the flames go in every direction."

Khsuhi closed her eyes and Arnav for the first time saw tears run down her face. He himself found it hard to believe that in mere minute how a person's world could turn upside down. Swallowing hard he moved his gaze to Abhay who was now talking furiously in phone, his posture rigid. NK was watching him close by not making it obvious to him.

"Abhay was hysteric. If Kavi and I wouldn't have caught him in time then he would have jumped into the flames too. His desperate helpless cries to let him go, his ear piercing calls for Priya and Amma-Baba were stabs to our hearts but we had to wait till the fire died down. After several hours when the fire finally came in control, we dragged an almost dead Abhay inside the ruins of once his home."

Khushi haunted eyes looked into Arnav's teary eyes as she said, "Believe me Arnav what we saw we couldn't wish for our worst enemy. It was like living your worst nightmare."

Arnav caught hold of Khsuhi's hand which was holding the edge of the stone bench in a death grip feeling her need to be supported as she lived the nightmare for him again, knowing she wouldn't make any move from end to seek strength from him. So he took it upon him to hold her, giving and drawing support to one another. Unknowingly Khushi's tightened her hold on his hand recalling the memories of the ghastly sight which was still afresh in her memory as it had happened just yesterday.

"We couldn't recognize whose body was which one. The smell of burnt flesh made us gag. But Abhay... he recognized Priya. Miraculously her wedding ring was in a better condition than her body"

Arnav felt her shudder and he tightened his grip more on her.

"I could still hear Abhay's anguished scream after that." Some more tears spilled from her eyes.

Arnav shut his eyes tight letting the tears flow freely. Feeling the pain of the person, who was stranger to him until a few minutes back? If it was so horrible to hear this anguished tale of past than how it was for Abhay and for Khushi, who had lived through it? The thought struck him hard making him clench his fists harder.

Khushi let out shaky breath "We tried but couldn't locate Khaled after that. By the time Abhay lost his will to serve Police department... actually he lost his will to live all together. Soon after amma-baba and Priya's 13^th day's ritual he gave his resignation letter and left the city without a trace. We tried to stop him... I begged him to at least give a link so that I could check on him, but he simply said he needed to be left alone and he would call me when he could. Nothing worked, not our practical argument not our emotional pleas, he left."

Khsuhi rubbed her face with both palms to clear any trace of tears. Arnav kept a calming hand on her shoulder but his eyes were looking at Abhay with a pained expression.

"But we met again. Months later he called me. May be he was tired of grieving alone and wanted the only person beside him, who was, if not family yet as important to him as his family. He gave me his address and I didn't waste a minute to reach him." Khushi smiled recalling her urgency to reach him.

"He cried and cried on my shoulder until there was no tear left and that was the end of the effervescent Abhay Raichand." Khushi stated in deadpan voice, making Arnav's eyes jerk in her direction.

"He didn't want to join Police force again, so he started working as a bouncer in a popular club. I supported him in his decision because I understood his pain but then the scam happened."

Arnav understood Khushi was talking about the same scam, about what Shashi had talked on that day to him.

"Dad needed his best officers and Abhay was one among the bests. So he sent me to convince him. He didn't want to do it but finally he agreed for me, but didn't want to lead saying that he had already proved fateful as a leader and didn't want to repeat the mistake." Khsuhi let out an exasperated sigh before she added "...and that didn't change till date."

Arnav nodded now understanding why after being a senior to Khsuhi he doesn't lead their team and he also didn't miss Khushi's slip that she called Shashi uncle Dad before him too lost in her narration to care. He saw her looking away as if trying to hide something from him as she talked about the operation and thought of asking about it later, when she would have better state of mind and ready to answer him.

"After that operation he wanted to go back to his bouncer job again but then Dad made a proposition to our team which was kind of lucrative for us who loved their job but didn't like the way the law and order bounded out hands to take quick decisions and carry out with our plan as we pleased. It made Abhay think and a little bit of pestering form my end made him stay back. And I know that he also stayed back because he wanted to get his hold on Khaled's neck and this was his perfect opportunity." Khushi looked back at him as she now concluded in a serious tone. "So now you know who Khaled is and what connection he had with Abhay and if our sources are right that he is the one who is behind your attacks, which make things really serious and dangerous beyond your imagination. But the only question is why a gang star like Khaled will be after your life without a reason?" Khsuhi's eyes stared at his suspiciously, but Arnav had no answer to it so he could only blink unsure what to say. Apparently he too had no idea why a person like Khaled would be after his life

**

awesome update... abhay did not do it intentionally... past is so sad...

it was a quite devastating tragedy...
i cant say anything more...
continue soon..