ArHi FF || Serendipity #5 || CH 59 Pg 136 (JAN 16TH 2017) (new update) - Page 76

"You know this doesn't actually mean anything, Di. Call off the act"

Arnav smiled as his sister glared menacingly at her newlywed husband, a man too occupied with flourishing the ring he'd managed to find in an unnecessarily large vessel of milk to notice his wife's growing irritation. The incident only cemented Arnav's perspective regarding such obsolete traditions-- because if anyone believed that Aman would be the more authoritative between the two, they severely underestimated the force that was Anjali Mathur. There was no chance.

In a bizarre way, Arnav felt as though there was a certain growing up, a certain maturing he was transitioning through today. True, it was his sister that was getting married, moving away and building a new life, but he, perhaps even selfishly, felt as though the marriage was just as liberating a process for him as it was for her. For as long as he could remember, his life had revolved around Anjali-- she was the sun of his world. Without her, Arnav had been certain that he would fall apart-- whatever little was left breathing and thriving inside him would wither away without a chance of revival.

But, strangely enough, the prospect of the sun and her light shifting away had not plunged him into the darkness.

In fact, and though the notion made him feel more than a bit guilty, he was actually quite eager to begin the new phase of his life.

Akash, Mami and Payal were looking to shift to Switzerland in the coming weeks, to assist his uncle with ongoing European contracts. Nani would temporarily be shifting to Manhattan with Anjali as well, to help her adjust to married life in a new city.

Shantivan, for the first time in many years, would be his and his alone. There would be nobody to unrelentingly question whether or not he had taken his medications, nobody to pull open his curtains at the first break of dawn and call him down for aarti. He could bring a decent non-vegetarian meal into the kitchen and enjoy it with a glass of cold beer. He could even (and granted he found the thought beyond absurd) bring a woman home and spend the night with her. It was unabated freedom, freedom that he had not tasted since he had gone to college over a decade ago.

His gaze traveled to Khushi at the thought, and he smiled bitterly to himself. Looking back today, he could not begin to imagine how foolish he had been, to think he could tie this woman down with this illogical impression of their "supreme, eternal love". Love was not binding. Love was not obligatory. Love was supposed to be liberating, emancipating... and he had never felt his love stronger than when he'd decided to let her go. His one, difficult decision had soothed away the deeps lines upon her brow, the anxiety that had constantly clouded her eyes. She laughed more, smiled more, joked more-- and knowing that he had contributed in any small way to bring joy to her face was enough for him.

"Wow, you're in deep."

He startled upon hearing the sultry voice, oblivious to the fact that a woman had been sitting in the chair beside him. A spectacularly beautiful woman, he noted, with long legs draped in black sheer and long black hair that fell in tight curls until her waist. She lifted a glass of champagne to her lips with a slight smile, eyes twinkling in poorly concealed amusement.

"Don't deny it. I've been trying to catch the handsome gentleman's attention for the past ten minutes. You haven't looked away from her once."

"It's not like that," he began, weakly attempting to defend himself. "She's just--"

"Just a friend? Just an ex? Just your unrequited love? Or a combination of the three? "

Arnav frowned. "Listen, I don't know who you think you are, but I don't appreciate strangers meddling in my personal life. I'd strongly suggest that you--"

"I'm Sharika," she interrupted again, extending her hand with unperturbed confidence. "And to be very candid, Arnav, I'm a little offended at being called a stranger."

His mouth fell open.

The last time he'd seen this woman, she had been a girl-- nerdy and awkward, with an unruly mop of frizz piled upon her head and spare Lego blocks stuffed inside her pockets. Sharika Rastogi had been his neighbor and very good friend back when he used to live in Sheesh Mahal. They had spent several summers playing and laughing with one another, until of course, tragedy had struck the Malik family and Arnav had left for his grandmother's. He uncomfortably remembered the last moments they'd spent together, memories of a cold day under a neem tree, and her whispered confession that she was beginning to fall in love with him. Arnav had dissuaded her rather ungraciously, certain that her feelings for him had spurred from pity and that time would dwindle whatever it was that she was confusing as "love". Besides, she had only been sixteen years old. It was impossible that whatever she had felt was genuine.

Sharika chuckled as his eyes fell back to the floor. For a man as influential and successful as he'd become, Arnav was laughably intimidated by how to approach her after this recollection.

"Don't worry, Raizada. I haven't been single and pining for you."

She wiggled her ring finger teasingly, winking as he caught the twinkle of the solitaire upon her finger.

"Though my husband is a pretty much a human puppy dog and not at all the Mr. Darcy types. Not as brooding or sexy or mysterious as you, so no need to get insecure."

Arnav couldn't help but smirk at the cheek in her underhanded compliment. Her sarcasm had remained impressively intact, if not grown stronger.

"So scrappy little Sharika got hitched, huh? Who would've thought that you had it in you to lock a sucker down?"

"Well, what a big surprise that Sir Perfection, Arnav Malik, had been right all along." The glimmer in her eyes grew dim. "Farid and I are getting a divorce. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, I think the papers are going to be filed tomorrow."

Shocked and unable to formulate a proper response to this unexpected news, Arnav somberly watched as she gently slipped the ring off her finger and dropped it into her ridiculously thin clutch. Shaking her head at the stupidity of the pain she felt in doing so, she sighed and looked her old friend wistfully.

"I love the idiot', she shrugged. "And I know a part of me always will... but Farid just wasn't happy with me anymore and I wasn't happy with him. We didn't want the same things from life. His dreams were too big, too heavy, and I just couldn't accommodate them. God knows I wanted to, Arnav. I wanted to so badly."

Arnav wrapped an arm around her as the first tears broke through and fell. Watching his old, happy go lucky friend hurting so deeply pricked unpleasantly at his heart. He silently listened to her recollect the last six years of her marriage, and how her seemingly secure relationship had fallen through the cracks. His grasp around her tightened as her head settled upon his shoulder, tears seeping through the fabric of his expensive suit.

"Sharika," he started, gently rubbing his palm upon her right arm. "It's taken me years to realize this, but you've got to accept that loving someone doesn't mean having them beside you. It means being beside them, despite it"

He felt her body tense before her eyes shot up to his, and for the shortest, most vulnerable moment, his own eyes trailed to her lips.

Sharika had a strikingly beautiful appearance, he contemplated, but if she was anything like her sixteen year old self had been, he knew that she was a far, far, far more beautiful woman on the inside than the out. She had been a wonderful presence in his life-- supportive, nonjudgmental, and cheerful. And now that he reminisced about those first agonizingly lonely months away from Sheesh Mahal, he realized just how much he had... missed her.

Arnav did not know what he was feeling, what he was thinking or what he was doing when he gently put his mouth upon hers. He did not love Sharika. He did not plan to fall in love with her. But for the first time in many years, he had felt attracted to another woman, and a crazy, unhinged, perhaps even desperate part of his brain wanted to test the waters and discover where it would lead him.

And to his pleasure, she did not move away. But she did not deepen the kiss either. She simply allowed herself a moment to feel the faint semblance of a connection with someone.

It had been ages since she'd felt anything at all.

Arnav quietly pulled away and gave her a soft smile, one which quickly transformed into a frown as he noticed an inquisitive Anjali motioning for him to join her. He excused himself from a rather dazed looking Sharika reluctantly, but not before scribbling his cellphone number upon a napkin.

"I don't want to lose contact for another decade" he grinned, before walking towards the table where the cake was being rolled out.

And tonight, for the first time in many years, his eyes did not feel the need to search desperately for Khushi Gupta... a woman who had wordlessly witnessed the exchange between the two and could not stop herself from smiling ear to ear.

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CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN: F A R E W E L L

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