Chapter 16
Khushi stood holding Nani who was in tears too watching her other grandson walk in. It was her naughtiest grandchild who came back, the one who troubled her the most, the one whom she loved d most, the one whom she missed the most.
Anjali di (in tears): aap, (moves her hand over his shoulder and arms) kitne duble ho gaye hai aap. Thik se khana nai khate honge.
Rey: (sobbing) aap jo nai thi khana parosne k liye.
Anj: Toh phir (pauses as her voice got choked) toh phir aap wapus kyu nai aye?
Rey: (just nods his head for few minutes as he couldn't speak) Himmat hi nai hui. Muje Arnav bhai pe barosa karna chaiye tha par maine unse itni batamizi se baat ki, muje laga ki aap sab muje kabhi maaf nai kar payenge.
Anj(slightly hits his head) buddu..hume pata hai, chotey batate nahi par aise ek din bhi nahi jab wo apko yaad nai karte. Apse koi jyada der gussa reh sakta hai kya?
Rey hugs Anjali di. He felt so good knowing that they still love him the way they used too. After breaking their hug he walks towards his room. Khushi stands in between his way.
Khu: Apko Taani se maafi mangne padegi.
Rey keeps his bag down and folds his hands
Rey: Main uss Shyam Shikhawat k behen se maafi kabhi nahi mangunga.
Khushi (tensed ) aare aisse kaise nahi mangenge? Jab tak ap unse maafi nai mangte tab tak Taani ghar wapus nai ayengi. Kitna bura bartav kia apne uske saath.
Anjali: Khushi thik keh rahi hai Rey. Isme uss bichari Taani ki koi galati nahi hai.
Rey (holds Anjali di's arms): Wo shyam ki behen hai, muje uss parivar k kissi bhi sadasya se koi maafi nai magni. (he walks in his room, Anjali di looks at Khushi all wondering how will they fix this.)
Scene shifts
Taani's room
Taani sat in one corner of her bed. She stared at the walls and all around her room. Quickly wipes her tears and walks near the mirror and looks at herself. Touches her face, it was moist because of her tears. She moved her fingers through her hair. She looks at her clothes. Shabby, lose clothings. Now she focuses at her eyes, her tired, sleepy eyes. What had she done to herself?
She quickly walks towards the fridge and takes out a huge box of chocolate ice cream. She went to take out a bowl but then kept it back and just walked away with the whole box and a spoon. She turned on the TV and kept switching channels, and stopped at Colors channel, comedy nights with kapil. Yeah that could light up anyones day!! Isnt it??
She watched a whole episode giggling as she ate almost half the ice cream. As soon as the episode got over, Taani was feeling restless again. She wanted to distract her mind from the fact that she is alone. But from now one she had to live alone, she was fed up of being sad the whole time. So she takes a deep breath and gets up from her seat. She takes out all her clothes from her wadrobe. She realized that all her clothes were boring. She packs them all in her suitcase and pushes it under her bed. Took out a note pad and started writing,
To do list
- Get new clothes
- Get a new haircut
- Spend time with friends
She remembered how her little cousin brother back in Jodhpur would enjoy playing on his Xbox, Yeah!! That would keep her busy as hell.
4)Get an Xbox
And last but not the least, in order to be happy and happening, she must do one most important thing.
5) Forget everything and Get over Reyansh Singhania.
She took a deep breath as she stuck this paper on her refrigerator. It somehow made her feel better. For the first time she was not focusing on anyone else but her. She walked in her room with a smile on her face and jumps on her bed, She had a feeling that she will get a good beauty sleep tonight.
---
Scene shift
Raizada Mansion.
Khushi just finished unpacking her suitcase. She was about to close the wadrobe when Arnav walks in.
Arnav: (irritated) What the... Ye tumne kya kia Khushi? Mere kapde aise. Aise wadrobe k ek corner mein kyu?
Khu: aare adha almari apki aur adhi meri.. tabhi toh humare kapde bhi fit honge na?
Arn: No ways Khushi, mere kapde jaise the waise hi honge, abhi k abhi saare kapde wapus suitcase me daldo. And don't forget, maine tumhe iss ghar mein sirf Anjali di k wajah se laya hai. Don't even for a single minute think ki mere aur tumhare beech mein kuch hai. get that? Yeh (points to the room) Ye karma mera hai, aur ye (points the cupboard) ye wadrobe bhi mera hai. Abhi k abhi tumhara saaman nikalo isme se.
Khu: (stubborn tone) Ji nahi!! Agar humne yaha se nikal diya toh phit kaaha rakenge? (holding the wadrobe's door) Humare kapde isime honge.. buss!!
Arnav rolls his eyes and walks towards the wadrobe and annoyingly with full force shuts it, Khushi's eyes pop out and she screams out of pain as her fingers gets jammed between the two doors as she was holding it. Arnav quickly holds her hand.
Arnav (Tensed & Angry): Damn it Khushi. Apna haath kyu rakha waha!!
Khu: (painful voice) haan,.. ab isme bhi meri hi galti.. Hey devi maiya.. (crying tone) ungliya todd di..
Arnav drags her holding her hand and walks straight to the kitchen; he could see that Khushi was in immense pain. Her fingers had turned tomato red. He quickly opens the fridge and takes out the mini ice bucket and without instructing Khushi shoves her fingers in it. Khushi's eyes widened and she opens her mouth in a perfect o as she gets a cold attack. She was breathing out from her mouth and staring at Arnav with a shocked expression.
She was trying to speak to Arnav but she just kept nodding her head back and forth when Arnav asked her, "Dard kum hua?"
(Rabbe Ve) Arnav kept staring at Khushi, will the kid in her ever go away? Strands of her hair were playing with her cheeks, and she would keep blinking. They way she gulped her saliva while staring at him and breathing out from her mouth, how come she manages to be so adorable without putting any effort and well her hand, it was soft as ever, smooth as butter. How he wish he could just hold it.Khushi kept looking at Arnav, she knew he somewhere still did care about her.
Arnav: (as he left her hand)Wo, apna haath isme rakho for sometime. Dard kum ho jayega.
Khushi just nodes her head as her brain was freezed already. Arnav looks at her and then walks out of the kitchen.
As he reached the living room he spotted Rey walking opposite him. Rey couldn't walk a step further, flashback of their arguments just screened infront of them. Rey couldn't face his brother; this was harder than he thought.
He kept looking at the ground and at the wall. Arnav walked closer to him. This was really awkward for both of them.
Arnav: (avoiding the awkwardness) Well, Tumhare room ka cooler karab hua tha, last week check karaya tha maine, they said ki thik kardenge. Is it working?
Rey who had tears in his eyes, still looking at the ground just moves his head saying yes.
Arnav: (raises his eyebrows) Good. Aur wo tumhare music system, uska speaker thoda.. thoda kharab hua, Anjali di keh rahi thi awaz nai aa rahi so, I ordered a new one, (Irritated) I don't know yeh itna time kyu lag raha unhe, ek mahina ho gaya. (looks at Rey who was now staring at Arnav) I'l check with them aur
Before Arnav could say anything, Rey jumps and hugs his brother. Arnav stood there still. He had tears in his eyes too. Rey hugged him tight.
Rey: I'm sorry bhai, I am so sorry, Maine apki baato pe yaken karna chaiye tha. Sab meri galti hai. Itne batimizi se baat kia aur..
Arnav breaks their hug.
Arnav: Hey!! (holds his shoulder) jo hua wo I know nahi hona chaiye tha but ab wo sab baatein karke kya faida..M glad ki you're back, (looks around the house) ajeb lag raha tha tumhare bina yaha, So..(takes a deep breath) kya kehte hai tumhari language mein.. Chillax!! Yeah Relax and Chillax... yahi bolte hai na?
Rey found it amusing hearing it from Arnav, as much as serious the situation was Rey couldn't help but start giggling, Arnav had a smile on his face too. Quickly Rey gives him another happy hug. This time Arnav hugs him back, holding his head, he felt peace within him, as if a part of his body was fixed back and now he could live to his full extend.
Standing in the corner Anjali di couldn't help but have tears of joy in her eyes. She just looks above and thanks god for it.
Udne Ki Aasha
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