ARSHI FF ~THE GREEK GOD~ Chap 62 - Page 71

Wow A.., so finally it was Harshad who made the complaint. But in between Harshad's revenge and Arnav's resentment, Khushi faced all the hell. Will Khushi be joining today too ?
One more thing, I really don't like this attitude of Arnav not facing his mistakes or decisions head on? Is it not cowardice on his part not to apologize to Khushi, however adequate they would be to the wounds inflicted by him , knowingly and unknowingly , Its also cowardice not to tell Lavanya what he feels or doesn't feel anymore. Now I only hope Arnav won't get physical with Harshad and put his future in more risk than it already is.

glad that arnav came toknow the truth khushi did not complain against him

Nice update
What happened with harshaad's sister???

Nice update so harshad had got some personal grudge n it's something related to his sister but what it could be

~ CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE ~

Dhruv was in pretty early too. He spat out his morning cuppa with a start and shot up from his chair as Arnav blasted in through the door. But Arnav was in no mood to pick on him early in the morning. He didn't even notice him let alone bullying him. There were other pressing matters that he was struggling to deal with rather than pick on his subordinates. Dhruv sighed in relief as Arnav simply bustled away to his cabin and shut himself up.

Arnav's confrontation with Harshad had left a burning hole in his brains and an unbearable ache in his heart. It was Harshad who complained to Mukherjee and Waudby. Not Khushi... and I... thought it was her... and... shit... I tried to hurt her... dammit... Arnav felt so ashamed of himself and yet... he wasn't ready to admit it. He buried his face into his hands and allowed himself the pleasure of getting lost in its warmth and comfort.

-Flashback-

The horrifying scene in Waudby's cabin came gliding before his eyes. Surrounded by the imposing figures of Mukherjee and Waudby, he felt incredibly powerless and frightened like a slaughter animal on death row.

"What was that girl's name?" Waudby questioned Mukherjee. "From your department? She had to quit after suffering a mental breakdown?"

"Alya Saxena," replied Mukherjee soberly. Their voices echoed eerily in his head and made him want to sink into his chair and disappear forever.

"Yes," nodded Waudby. "Alya Saxena. The girl who used to be in Khushi's place."

-End of flashback-

Alya Saxena... Harshad's sister... I wish I could explain to these people... but how... I promised...

A knock on his door brought him out of the depth of his thoughts. Arnav pulled himself off his hands, took a deep breath and looked up. It was Cabir. He was holding the door ajar and watching Arnav with curious concern.

"Hey Cabir, what's up?" Arnav greeted in a low voice. The tone in which he said that made it clear to Cabir that he was down in the dumps.

Cabir came through in his usual attire - a leather bag hung over one shoulder, rolled up sleeves, a loosely knotted tie and a blazer dangling over one arm. "You alright bro?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah," replied Arnav. "Why in so early?"

"Little bit of paperwork," said Cabir as he pulled out a chair and plopped onto it. "So I thought that I'd pop in early and get it done before meeting those clowns at the government. You tell me. Everything okay with you? You don't look too good."

"Nah, I'm okay. Just tired." Arnav leaned back onto the chair and replied in a groggy voice. The fatigue had marked its presence around his eyes.

"Hmm," mumbled Cabir with his head titled to the side. "See look Arnav. There are a couple of things that I've been wanting to speak to you about." Arnav's anxiety began to build up as he looked up at Cabir. "Firstly... Whatever happened so far... has happened. Just let it go... I'm talking about Khushi... see... she has complained... fine... but just let it go... she's not well. Need to consider that. Moreover, she won't be around for long."

Arnav looked away. Her very name made him burn all over. After all, he knew the naked truth now. "And secondly," continued Cabir, "I understand that I was a bit harsh with you all these days and... I apologize for the same. No hard feelings bro."

A bit harsh? You've got to be kidding me. But Arnav just let his tongue play around in his gums before answering. "It's alright."

*******************

Arnav and Cabir spent some time behind closed doors discussing about work and other casual things until... "Whoa!" exclaimed Cabir as she shot to his feet and hurried to the door. "Didn't notice the time flying by. It's 8 already. I'll talk to you later. Let me get that work done. Need to take it along in a while."

"Alright," replied Arnav as he watched Cabir walk out, leaving his cabin door open in the process. He could hear Mukti's voice in the department now. Just one more person left to come in.

"Whoa-hoh!" Cabir's excited voice rang in the air as the department's door opened one more time. "And our lovely damsel Ms. Khushi Gupta is back with a vengeance!"

On hearing Khushi's name, Arnav's heart started to race like a Ferrari. Oh God... she's here... Fortunately or unfortunately for him, Khushi's work station was right across his door. Hardly ten feet away. He could see her clearly from head to toe as she sat with her back at the table.

He saw Cabir give her a warm and welcoming hug. "How are you feeling now darling?" he asked in a rich and romantic voice. Khushi broke into a huge, amused grin as she replied, "in the pink." It didn't take long for Dhruv and Mukti to flock to her side.

Overwhelmed with anxiety, Arnav wrung a pen in his sweaty hand as he sheepishly watched on the scene - a jovial Khushi surrounded by her warm and caring colleagues, ecstatic at her return. But Arnav had just one thing on mind. I need to talk to her... But his courage seemed to have gone on a vacation. It was nowhere around... especially now... when he needed it the most... And courage wasn't alone... his ability to think had also boarded the flight along with Mr. Courage. But I MUST talk to her... now...

Arnav shot up from his chair and stepped out of his cabin. The troubled lines that were etched onto his forehead a while ago were no longer visible. He had managed to mask his anxiety pretty well as he looked his usual confident self. "Oh... you came..." he said in a bored tone as he glanced at Khushi. "How are you now?"

Talking to this guy was never a part of her priority list. But at the moment, she had no choice. She was surrounded by her colleagues so she had to reply to his so called "concern"! "Better," she replied passively.

"Good," he answered dryly. "Can you meet me now? My cabin. And get file number 1528 along with you." Saying this, Arnav hurried back as if he was being chased by invisible spirits.

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Gosh. .gal u gave stopped updating these days...

Hi A , happy to see another update before I hit the bed. So, Arnav's ego is still not letting him man up to his mistakes, why am I not shocked ? Anyways, hope Khushi won't make things any easier for him. It will be fun to see her threatening him to report , if he as much as try talk about the past without apologizing. Hope she teaches him how to be a better person even after suffering the worst.

~ CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX~

Wonder what he wants to do with the file, thought Khushi as she nodded angrily and headed to the filing room. Shove it up his uptight ass? But Dhruv was already at the filing room's entrance with the file she needed. "Dhruv!" she whispered in surprise.

"You don't have to do all this," he whispered back. "All this bending, running, standing on your head and all that, right? You'd better leave it to me. Is that clear?"

"But Dhruv..." she said in a hushed voice. "I'm okay! I really am! If that monster finds out about this, he'll eat you up alive. And I don't want that!"

"Is that clear?" he repeated firmly but quietly. And this time, he had a mischievous grin on his face.

"Fine," she smiled at him and took the file. "Thank you so much. But please... don't do this again. I don't want him to yell at you because of me."

"Let me think about that," he said with a sheepish grin and headed back to his work station.

***************

Khushi presented herself before His Highness Arnav Singh Raizada in no time. Without a word, she placed the file on his desk.

"Close the door," he said grimly with his eyes glued on some paperwork spread over the table.

Though Khushi felt uneasy about this, she followed his instructions quietly.

"Sit down," he said in the same monotonous grim voice.

Done again. No questions asked.

"How are you feeling now?" he asked with his eyes still on the paperwork. There was an air of authority in his voice that pissed her off. She had nearly died that day and there was hardly any concern in the way he questioned her.

"I thought I already told you before," she answered in a polite tone.

Arnav gulped down the huge globe in his throat as his eyes flickered involuntarily. Her words felt like a tight slap but he was determined not to look weak. "Oh right," he replied as he scratched his temple furiously. "Yes. I forgot about that. So... did your roommate return?"

"Yes..." she replied to the point. Her one liners and single word answers stung him fiercely. It was obvious how much hatred he had managed to stir into her over the days.

"What was her name again?" he asked and tried to sound interested.

"If I remember, I've never discussed anything about her before."

"Umm..." Arnav was speechless. Slap after slap and he didn't know how to get to the point. "Yeah. Right again."

"So... did you... take your meds?" Arnav felt very uncomfortable when he said that.

"Yes," she replied bluntly. "Thank you so much." Arnav swallowed the ball of saliva once again as the sarcasm and hate in her voice stabbed him mercilessly in the chest. He could feel the tears of humiliation stinging in his eyes and threatening to spill over. "You still haven't got to the point," she continued in the most courteous manner possible. "I was wondering... if it's nothing urgent... maybe I could return to my desk."

"Y-yeah," he fumbled with the papers before him as he looked into her eyes with great effort. "Actually... I wanted to... discuss about that day..."

Though she tried to look normal, her features began to harden beyond her control whilst Arnav's faltered and broke apart. "...about what happened in the stairwell..." he said in a very low and quaky voice.

She could remember nothing of what happened that day. All what she could recollect was being pinned to the wall by the aggressive monster who was before her now. Right now... he looked like a guilty puppy. She so badly wanted to snap at him and storm out of there. But she held her tongue and listened to every word.

"I swear... I never wanted any of it to happen... I just wanted to... scare you... that's it..."

But Khushi snapped at him. "I've heard this before. Like a broken record. Do you have anything new to add?"

Arnav's guilty eyes shot up to meet her wet ones which were struggling to hold back the hurt and angry flood. "Yes... Nothing... nothing happened that day..." his brains were so messed up and out of circuit now that he simply couldn't figure out how to line up his words and present to her. "That's the truth. I wouldn't have hurt you... anyways... but... you just... went into a fit... that's all what happened... nothing like... what you thought it was..."

"And why should I believe you?" she asked hoarsely.

Arnav opened his mouth to reply but shut up immediately as he realized that he had nothing to say. He screwed his eyes shut and buried them in his hand whilst taking a deep, composing breath. Why should she believe me? I've done nothing for her to trust me.

"I know," his voice came out in a whisper as he struggled to talk. "I know that it's hard for you... to trust me. But... this time... you must... it's the truth. Nothing happened... I don't want you to think like that... You went into a fit... you blacked out... that's the truth... and I took you to the hospital. That's all what happened. Trust me..."

"Fine," she said quietly after managing to compose herself. It was a one-worded unsatisfactory answer for Arnav. An answer with no closure. An answer that left him hanging mid-air. What did she mean by fine? Does it mean that she accepted his explanation or does it mean that she doesn't give a damn to anything that he had to say?

"... I know that I could've been a better person..." He continued in the same low tone. "But... I know I was like... really bad... and... I'm... I'm sorry..."

Khushi couldn't believe what she just heard. Did he just apologize? A true to the bone, genuine apology?!!?

"... For everything..." He added. "I really am..."

It seemed that the uncomfortable silence would consume the room before Khushi finally spoke up. "Wow..." she replied quietly with a sarcastic smirk on her face. "Sorry...!!?"

Arnav was so disturbed. The mounting stress was beyond his capabilities and he was no longer sure whether he could handle her.

"That must have been difficult for you," she spoke again in a low voice, audible enough for him to hear. "But do you think that it will change anything? No, right?" Her lips quivered as her own question reminded her of the loss she had to face because of her absence. Chikoo. It reminded her of the insult that was showered on her family's memory. It reminded her of how alone and broken she felt and how hard she had struggled to pick up her pieces and move on.

The tears that had started to spill over her eyes told Arnav that it was going to be really tough for him to pacify her. He had no clue what to say. His tongue rolled within his open mouth searching for words to say... that will calm her down. But nothing came. Nothing at all.

Khushi's mind was like a raging storm, tearing away at the seams of her tolerance. She wanted to scream at this man before her... for everything... He had made her run around with the least bit of remorse, mocked her, harassed her and even hurt her to a personal level. And now... he thinks... that a simple sorry should do the trick? There was a lot she wanted to dump onto him... But why should she bother? He's nothing to me...

"I got to go," she mumbled as she quickly wiped her face, shot to her feet and made off to the door.

But Arnav was there before her, holding onto the handle like his life depended on it.

There was an entire essay at the tip of his tongue. Explanations... apologies... but he just couldn't get himself to spit it out.

"Arnav," she said strongly. "Let me go."

"I'm... I'm sorry..." he repeated. He was so desperate to get her to accept his apology that it looked like he would break down crying. "Please just..."

"Arnav," she repeated more firmly this time. "Once more. Let me go. Or I'm going to scream."

Absolutely delirious at what could happen if she were to stand by her words, Arnav finally let go off the handle, and stepped aside. He watched helplessly as she walked out of the door and sunk into her chair.

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Next update would probably be at night ;)

Loved it. Interesting interesting interesting.Can't wait...😊