Chapter 10
Virus In The Soul
~ I am good but not an angel ~ I do sin but I am not the devil ~ I am just a small girl in a big world trying to find someone to love ~
Marilyn Monroe
"Mom look", the little girl squealed in excitement, pointing at the colorful butterfly fluttering over the flowers of Bougainvillea plant. Taking a cautious step towards the plant, her pony tail bobbing in the air, she looked at the butterfly with avid interest as the little creature tried to settle on the leaf, her pink, aquamarine and golden wings glinting in the sunlight filtering through the dense growth of trees in the garden.
"Don't Khushi", a gentle looking woman admonished her over the cup of her coffee, as she had a premonition to what her daughter's next step was going to be. "Mom, see it's so beautiful", Khushi addressed to her mother who was sitting in the garden chair, her eyes on the newspaper held in one hand, while she took little sips from the coffee mug held in her other hand. "Ofcourse dear it would be beautiful, every butterfly is beautiful", she answered non-committally.
"But mom it's the most beautiful one that I have ever seen, so pretty that I want to capture it and keep it with me", she was now circling the plant with baby steps, her keen eyes focused over the quivering wings of the butterfly. "Khushi, you can't make a pet out of a butterfly, let it go child", she gave a disbelieving snort. She would be lying if she would say that her daughter didn't make her feel uneasy. It was true that sometimes Khushi's overzealous curiosity in creatures of all kinds and her weird and abnormal behavior patterns made her quite a difficult child to handle.
But she had never tried to know a reason behind her daughter's behavior as she had consoled herself by thinking that maybe her daughter behaved like that because she was lonely and had no siblings to play with. "Maybe she would get better with age", she thought seeing her swiping a hand like a cat across the leaves to capture the butterfly in her hand.
"Oh no leave her Khushi", Garima groaned exasperatedly. When she saw that Khushi wasn't going to leave the butterfly any soon, she got up from her chair and headed towards her daughter, who was now standing still, staring down at her fist where the poor butterfly was beating her wings madly, trying to get out of the iron bars of human fingers.
"If I can't keep her as a pet mom, then she had no right to come into our garden", before Garima could stop her, Khushi had already squashed the fluttering butterfly in her hand. Garima froze with horror, her gaze transfixed at her daughter's face, which was twisted into a demon like mask. Her eyes glinted with an unholy light as she opened up her fist to let the writhing, twisting body of the butterfly fall to the ground, her pulverized wings cascading to the ground after her, in a colorless shower. Their color offered as a sacrifice to the hand which had slaughtered them in the first place...
Khushi rubbed at her hand while a horrified silence ensued in the garden with Garima looking at her with disbelieving eyes. "Stupid color", she snapped with frustration, rubbing at her hand vigorously. When the golden glitter refused to leave her hand, she stamped her foot like a toddler throwing a tantrum and stormed towards the living quarters to wash it off her...
"You'll regret it one day Garima and then you'll know what have you done?", Garima could hear the hated snarl of a woman echoing in the chambers of her mind, from a long ago time. "Like father like daughter", another voice echoed from her long buried memories and she half-sat, half-fell on the chair with a listlessness that belied her young years...
"Ladies and gentlemen we are gathered here today on the eve of "The Fancy Dress Gala", the host was speaking confidently in the mike. The stage was set in the most famous college of the whole country, where only the children of the elite and prestigious class could study.
Disco and party lights were glinting around the decorated stage and the whole ground was covered with snowy white tables, comfortable chintzy chairs covered with satin and arrangement of fresh roses, lilies and Chrysanthemum. Lamps were lit on the lampposts covering the entrance and strings of little bulbs, shaped in the form of stars were hanging from the trees, covering the whole ground.
It looked as if the stars, the moon and the sun had broken away from space to join the party spirit of the earthlings. The function had started but hustle and bustle was still going on as some people were still trying to settle in the comfortable chairs while on the other hand some were trying to find the nearest table, to get a good view of the stage.
Late arrivals, who were mostly the parents of the children, belonged to that business class who are always short of time. Frowning with displeasure at not getting the VIP treatment which they had thought they had deserved and snorting over the beautiful arrangements they settled too on the vacant chairs...
"Ghosh Khushi, I am sweating", Angie was wringing her hands nervously. She was wearing a red and green contrast Anarkali frock with churidaar and put together with heavy Kundan jewellery, makeup and greenish gold eye lenses, she looked quite pretty which was something different from her customary skirts and bedraggled and geeky, spectacled state. "Not more than me", Khushi made a face while angling her head to have a better look at her eye shadow in the mirror. "Girls, girls don't be nervous just take a deep breath and be yourself", their chemistry teacher took that moment to burst inside the changing room.
"I might burst out of my seams, if I tried to take a deep breath", the plumpest girl of their class groaned who seemed to be poured into her dress, such was the tightness of her dress around her bust. They all broke into raucous laughter, while their teacher Mam Suhaana shook her head, running her fingers through her corkscrew curls.
"Mam how is it outside", another girl piped in nervously. "Obviously it's very suhaana mausam (Beautiful weather) outside", Khushi threw a remark, emphasizing on the word Suhaana while looking at her teacher through the corner of her eyes. Their teacher flushed to the roots of her dyed hairs. Pursuing her lips in displeasure she turned on her heels and headed towards the door.
Suhaana had wanted to set the little b****h right on many accounts. But the main problem was she was a lowly teacher while Khushi was the daughter of a rich businessman, Shashi Gupta who was also one of the trustees of their college. Khushi had a habit of taking digs at the teachers and students whom she didn't like or who were too lowly for her haughty taste. "Be ready in ten minutes gals, our show is gonna start and Khushi you do remember that you are the show stopper, don't you", Suhanna halted at the doorway to give the instruction to the other girls and couldn't help herself at reminding Khushi about her status as her teacher.
"Ofcourse mam", Khushi stared at her mockingly. Clenching her jaw to control herself from slapping the insulting smirk from her face, Suhanna stormed outside. "See what I did to her", khushi elbowed to Angie who had suddenly fallen in interest with her tab, her back towards Khushi.
"Hey I am talking to you babe", Khushi tugged at her friend's shoulder, who was nervously watching the blinking screen on her tab, that indicated an oncoming call. "One minute Khushi I need to take that call", Angie suddenly held out a hand to Khushi who pouted at her friend's sudden lack of interest in watching her taking digs out of other people. "Oe you've got a boyfriend", Khushi whispered teasingly, leaning on Angie's shoulder to look at the blinking screen.
"No it's from home", Angie dismissed her claim then added hurriedly, "Khushi I've got to take that call, it could be urgent". Shrugging Khush's arm from her shoulder she hurried outside, the tab held tightly in her perspiring fingers. Khushi watched her friend going outside with an uneasy expression on her face. Angie was definitely hiding something from her...
A shadow detached itself from behind the trees as he saw a girl heading towards the dense growth of greenery. Her nervous face and cautious eyes were lit by the lights coming from the side ground where the gala was still going on with full force. In the half-moon light that was flooding the grounds and illuminating the tall trees and plants with a gothic-like radiance, he saw her stop near an oak tree whose almost naked branches were curled towards the ground like some monster's arms.
Smiling with satisfaction he put his two fingers in the mouth and whistled, causing her to almost jump out of her skin and her alarmed eyes to search for the source of signal. "Here", he stepped out of the shrubs towards the girl and relief and recognition replaced the nervousness in her eyes as his face was revealed to her...
"Welcome Angie", Arnav man whispered, the strange light in his chocolate brown eyes sending chilling shivers down her spine. "Ummm...everything is settled", she ran out her tongue nervously on her dry lips.
"According to the plan?", he asked moving a little near her, with a jungle cat's lithe grace. "Yes", she answered breathlessly, her eyes round like saucers, staring at him with an expression that he had seen on many a woman's face in the past. The girl was like an open book, every expression, every nervous twitch showed him that she was nave, suffering from inferiority complex and being overshadowed by her friend Khushi's glamorous personality...
"You know what you have to do?", he raised a questioning eyebrow. "Yes I know", she wiped her sweaty hands across the seams of her Anarkali frock. Smiling that strange smile of his he took a step towards her which brought him so close to her that he could feel her excited breath whispering across his chest.
"Very good Angie, I am proud of you", his lips twitching in a mocking smile, he ran a sure thumb across her lips, causing her breathe to flutter in her throat and to stare at him transfixed, captivated by his mesmerizing eyes. Arnav watched her open face being lit from inside by an expression of girlish adoration, which caused his mocking smile to deepen until he bent his head to share a victorious kiss with her...
Nothing would go wrong in his plan now, he thought with a deep satisfaction humming through every nerve ending of his body. His mind won't be in peace until he would see his enemy writhing in the fires of his revenge, dying every day in agony then waking up every night to breathe again in the poison permeated air that Arnav would have left for him to breathe into.
Revenge was only a minor part of his plan. Such was the extremity of his hatred for his enemy that he had left the major part of the plan for the end. To savor the victory gained from it with every broken fiber of his being...
For his final victory he knew he had to take each step carefully and cautiously, while letting his enemy know that he wasn't safe anymore in his little glass house. His first step had been to involve Angie in his plan. He very well knew how the mind of Angie type girls worked who were fat, obsessed with food, lonely and hungry for love and affection and of course jealous of smart, thin women...
Just like that she had been jealous of her own friend Khushi. So much jealous that she hadn't thought twice before betraying her only best friend. And so he had used that burning jealousy of hers for his own benefit. Shyam had told him about Khushi's best friend Angie who was more of her shadow than her friend. Shyam had protested as it was getting very difficult for him to know about the whereabouts of Khushi and there was also the danger of getting discovered by her as Arnav knew her to be a very sharp and clever girl...
To get information about Khushi and to keep an eye on her whereabouts he had to have someone very close to her as his ally. And to his great amusement he had found the Perfect Judas in the midst of Khushi's circle. After the coffee incident with Khushi he had decided that he wouldn't stalk after her to know every tiny detail about her life...
It was at that time when the girl's were exiting the restaurant that the fat girl had turned her head to throw him a sympathetic look. Her eyes were apologizing for Khushi's behavior and some other emotion was also being directed towards at him from her hazel eyes. And he had instantly caught her signal. She was interested in him as a man...
Arnav had started his plan by first visiting the restaurant where Angie had liked to go. He had begun with a simple hello, then gave her a compliment which had made her blush to a ripened peach. He had offered to buy her a dinner, she had already eaten but he had told her that it will be a first for him meeting a person who loved to eat as much as he liked to enjoy eating various delicacies...
She had relented instantly recognizing him as the man whom Khushi had made a bet on. He had asked her politely that would she like to eat with him every day in the top restaurants of the city, his treat ofcourse. A greedy look had appeared in her eyes on his offer. He had known about his attraction, knew that women would give an arm and a leg to be with him and he had used that same attraction to lure that Angie in, and it had taken her only one single day to fall straight into his arms...
He had pleasured her body in various ways which her tiny mind would have never imagine off. In the throes of her deepest pleasure she had poured out all of her insecurities, jealousy and hatred that she held for Khushi. He had listened carefully, savoring her hatred against Khushi and then had carefully started to brainwash her, fanning the flames of her jealousy by saying that Khushi was using her only as a shield and that in reality she wasn't her best friend like Angie thought it of her...
Arnav had provoked Angie on helping him take revenge on Khushi for his humiliation and had even said that he would do this all for her to give her, her proper place as a leader of the girl's group. Didn't she want to establish herself as the girl's leader? Didn't she want to take the limelight away from Khushi? Didn't she want to take revenge from Khushi for taking away every man that she had liked in the past? For taking away Josh from her, he had said while his eyes had been probing her changing expressions, to look at the turmoil that had been going through her mind.
She had said yes she would help and like the pea-brained fatty she was she had given him every bit of information about Khushi. Her likes, dislikes, her weaknesses, her strengths. While all the time he had been laughing inside thinking that the poor gal had no idea about the grievous error that she had committed against her best friend...
Honestly he had liked using Angie because she was part of Khushi, her best friend cum her shadow. It was first fall to him exploiting Khushi's weakness by infiltrating through her close circle and making her best friend fall for him. He had broken the wall of trust by dousing it with jealousy's fire and now he not only wanted to own khushi's body and mind but also her every emotion too, until he would be a virus in her bloodstream eroding away her will. The Gupta's girl was now no longer an object of lust for him but she had also become his obsession...
He smiled victoriously remembering lying with Angie telling him excitedly about her birthday celebration in the same restaurant where he and Angie had met and then many days later about tonight's Fancy dress gala in their college...
So innocent of her to spill all the beans to such a devil like him, he had thought while a demonic light had lit up his eyes, turning them from a chocolate brown to a reddish brown...
Khushi was laughing so hard that tears of mirth were starting to fall from her eyes. Angie had just cracked a joke and a wave of laughter had crashed right over their group and all of them were now almost rolling over the floor of their changing room, wiping tears of mirth from their eyes.
The first show was over and the second was about to begin in fifteen minutes, so they were killing time by sharing jokes with each other. "Khushi are your mom and dad coming?", Angie asked her suddenly growing serious as only five minutes were left in their next show and some of the girls were starting to get up from their chairs while the others had started to give up last touches to their makeup, peering into the mirrors which were lining up the walls of the changing room...
"I can't say anything about Mom, but dad would be coming as he is the trustee of the college, but he would come in the end for his speech", she rolled her eyes dispassionately. "Yours are they coming?", she threw a questioning look who had already gone into some deep thought. "Hey I am talking to you", she nudged her friend's shoulder.
"Oh...yeah...what are you saying...sorry I was thinking something else", she stammered wiping at the sweat forming over her brow. "Angie are you alright, do you know you are acting weird tonight?", Khushi asked anxiously. "Infact now I come to think of it you are acting weird from your birthday?", her brows furrowed quizzically.
"No...no...nothing happened to me, it's just I am feeling hungry as you know that I can't control my hunger well", she threw a fake sheepish smile towards Khushi. "Ladies and gentle men put your hands together for the best talent of our college that would be soon coming infront of you in their best avatars to make this night more special for all of you", the host's voice cause a little vortex among the wave of girls and they all started piling up behind the little room that would lead them straight to the stage...
Then it was Khushi's turn and she gracefully glided out under the glare of hundreds of overhead lightning, a confident smile on her face and her eyes skimming boldly among the faces of the crowd to get a glimpse of her parents. But to her disappointment her mother was not present among them although her father was there sitting at one of the tables that were reserved for trustees, looking at her approaching the end of stage with a stiff face.
He had always disliked her bold and overconfident ways but was unable to say anything to her as he was afraid of angering his one and only pampered daughter and now mores so as she was also a consenting adult of 20 years...
Her mother had never liked those noisy garden parties and galas. Even in their high society functions it was only on account of meeting with Shashi's business associates wives that she would go to attend the function and that too on Shashi's insistence. But she would always steer clear of the crowd when they would start dancing, or making noises, telling Khushi to enjoy the party while she would sit at a table, in a secluded corner and would watch her and Shashi dancing and having fun with a little smile on her face...
And when Khushi had grown up it had dawned on her that her mother was anti-social but she had never gathered up enough courage to ask that of her that why does she always avoid crowded places?
Feeling a little let down as she always had when her mother would promise to come but would never come, making an excuse as minor as busy in cooking or cleaning while Khushi would know that her mother had never done any cooking or cleaning at night...
Crestfallen, Khushi sauntered across the stage with a fake smile pasted clearly on her face. Her back stiff, she reached the right corner at the end of stage and there she stood still, seething from inside. She let her hard gaze wander over the gathered crowd of men who were watching her with awestruck eyes and boys who were staring at her mesmerized.
Winking at them boldly and blowing them an air kiss she placed a hand over her hipbone and stuck it out a little in a model's pose while her other hand went to hold the corner of her lehnga. The silent crowd went in uproar, catcalls and wolf whistles begun falling like thunder and lightning all around her and her father's face turned a deep beetroot red with embarrassment and disapproval...
Serves them right, she though with satisfaction then throwing a covert glance at the men from beneath her lashes she twirled her lehnga and made to turn towards the other corner of the stage, but through the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a face that she would recognize even in a hundreds and thousands of men. Her breath froze in her throat as the man sitting not far away from the stage lifted his empty goblet in a mock toast, his sardonic gaze fixed on her pale shocked face...
The devil had arrived, decked in all black, colorless, a part of the night. His hair were slicked back from his face, while from this distance his eyes were shown to be a whirlpool of black in which she could feel herself falling forever without hitting the rock bottom. The only colorful thing about his persona was the tongue of flame which was adorning his neck in the form of a red tie. Black for darkness and red for danger, the black dress with a red cape, the devil's attire...
Why was he here, Khushi thought with a numb mind. No that was a totally wrong question, how dared he come here that was a right question, she thought as anger started to burn inside her like a torch. Like a robot on an automated mode she twirled as the model behind her hissed with impatience then left her lehnga to go towards the other corner at the end of stage.
Angry at the jittery feeling coursing through her body at seeing him sitting on his chair casually with one leg over the other and one arm lying negligently over the back of his chair, his hard mocking gaze stripped her raw. Leaning casually against the chair he stood out against the crowd as a reckless crusader, the buttons of his waistcoat and open to reveal a powerful chest. She couldn't deny that he affected her nervous system even from such afar a distance while she stood stiff at the corner for a moment then headed back towards the start of stage with his gaze burning a hole through her clothes...
"Now it's time to announce the winner of our Gala night, ladies and gentlemen hold your breath its...no...no...I won't spoil the surprise by announcing the name myself", the host let out a jittery laugh and the models who were standing near the banner of the gala night at the start of the stage rolled their eyes. While Khushi bit at her lips to hold her nervous chattering. Her sixth sense was warning her that something horrible was going to happen with her...
"Ladies and gentlemen put your hands together for our first and foremost VIP, who had come to grace our college on this prestigious event. My dear guests let me tell you all with utmost pleasure that our VIP is also a famous business man of our city and who had recently joined the ranks of our college trustees by endorsing an amount of 50 Lakh rupees in our college fund reserved for providing scholarships to the students", the host was addressing the crowd excitedly while Khushi almost had a bad premonition of who he would be. Her heart was thudding so loudly in her ears that she was amazed that no one was able to listen to it's crazy beat...
"Ladies and gentlemen...thud...thud... may I call on stage...thuddd..thhud...thuddd... Mr...THUD...THUD...Arnav...THUDDD...
THUDDD...Singh...THUDDD...THUDDD...Raizada...", the host ended his call on a burst of applause that came out from the crowd. But the world had stopped moving for Khushi, her heart must have stopped beating as she felt nothing, saw nothing, heard nothing as right there on the stage she turned into a frozen statue...
Itti Si Khushi Sab TV
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