Ch 11 Arnav had been too quiet after receiving the documents, and that obviously made Khushi feel suspicious about him. Mish had fallen asleep after eating cake and playing hide and seek with Khushi and Arnav, while Khushi was seated in the living room, clasping and unclasping her hands time and again, fishing a way to talk to Arnav. He seemed restless and she wanted to know the reason. The doubt that somewhere she was related to those documents was eating her up with each passing second."Arnavji?" She breathed out quietly, breaking the eerie silence finally. His narrow eyes which were concentrated on his phone snapped open, but he didn't look up at her. She sighed inaudibly and continued, "Is there anything that I should know?"He closed his eyes and swallowed a lump in his throat, before raising his eyes up from his phone and attaching his gaze with hers, "This may sound to be very wrong, but trust me, Khushi, I am doing this because I want you to be safe."She squinted her eyebrows confusedly and moved her head in the slightest shake, "What?""Here," he picked up the packet and she noticed his hand trembling, "These are yours and Shyam's divorce papers."And all of a sudden, the colour of her face drained and her orbs widened to their maximum extent, forcing the expulsion of an audible gasp from her gaping mouth. Divorce? This was something she didn't expect. This was something she never thought about. The kind of love she had for her husband at the time of their marriage had made her promise herself that she would do anything and everything to make their marriage work; but now? No, she wouldn't be responsible if this divorce, by any chance, happens. Or will she be?She didn't realize when her tears left the shelter of her eyes and streamed down her cheeks, her eyes still staring wide at the packet in Arnav's hand.No, I won't do that. I can't do that.Arnav studied each and every change of expression that occurred on her face in the span of mere seconds, from confusion to extreme shock. He had somewhat expected this and the expectations had created a room for fear to peep in, giving him uncertainity to reveal the documents to her. If asked for a reason as to why is he doing this, he would have no answer. Who is she to him? Who is he to take decisions for her?"Hey," he got up from his couch and sat beside her, wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulders, "I am not forcing you into this. If you don't want this, it won't happen." In response, Khushi shoved his arm away from herself and left the living room. Arnav sighed and leaned back on the couch, his finger reaching up to massage his temple gently.
As soon as his eyes closed, something blurry flashed at the back of his eyelids.
"Di, why didn't ma come to pick us up today?" He asked and intertwined his fingers with his sister's, looking around the bus stop for his mother. Dressed in now-dirty school uniform with disheveled hair, he expected his mother to be there as any other day. "I don't know, chhote." She answered uncertainly, pulling her little brother with herself as they walked to their residence from the bus stop. "MAA" an ear-piercing scream resounded in the whole place as they both saw their mother hanging from the ceiling fan of her room, dead. His eyes snapped open, huge beads of sweat making their way down his forehead the next second. His mouth opened to take in more air, his head was bursting out with pain. He swallowed the group of lumps formed in his throat and got up to retire to his room.
*Tugging Mish under the covers, Arnav gently kissed between her hair, before turning the lights off and leaving the room. He had received a text from Anjali that she had to leave for Bangalore along with Varun suddenly, for Varun's mother got a minor attack and she needed proper care. Anjali instructed Arnav to not to tell anything about this to Mish as she didn't wanted her to miss her sports day preparations that were going on in her school. Arnav reassured her to not to worry about Mish as she would be under his care.Passing by Khushi's room, he thought of checking her once before making his way to Raizada Mansion to fetch some files that he'd be needing for a meeting the next day.
Her room was darkened again. In past few days, every time he passed by her room, he would always find it illuminated by bright light; but this time, it was dark, just like the earlier days when he brought her there. He felt like killing himself for this, like everything happened because of him. Everything was going so right, so smooth and he hated to bring up the topic of divorce. But what he did had a reason behind it. He wanted to eliminate all the elements that could break her down again, because he knew she was trying her best to put herself together. "Khushi? Are you there?" He called out very softly, walking in the room. She was curled up on the floor near the pool, her face resting over her arms which were wound around her knees. She didn't seem to be crying, but her face could tell that she was very upset. She seemed to be indifferent of his presence, so he just went ahead and sat down beside her, pulling up his trousers and crossing his legs together. He glanced at her again, but didn't receive any response. He shifted his gaze back to the shimmery water in the pool under the moonlight.
"Maa used to lock Di and me in the room," he began, not really caring about what this would lead to. He had no idea himself, as to why he started talking about this very topic, since it was something deep hidden somewhere inside him, and no one except for Anjali knew about it. He felt her straightening up a little, but he kept his gaze towards the pool. [/CENTER]
"Our father wasn't a good man. He used to come home drunk and it was very disturbing for both of us. I always wanted to get out of the locked room and confront him, ask him as to why was he hurting my mother, why was he being so mean to us; but Di stopped me. Maybe she did what Maa wanted - our safety."
He licked his lips and closed his eyes for a second, trying to ease out the sudden tension in the muscles of his head. He looked sideways, only to find her looking at him with rapt attention, as if she was the one he was talking about. She seemed to have replaced herself in place of his mother in the story.
"What did your mother do?" she asked with such innocence, like she wanted him to tell her that his mother did something which she should have done with Shyam, something that would actually make her stand against all the shit that her husband made her go through.
"She committed suicide," he whispered, looking straight into her eyes. Her eyes widened for a millisecond, before an expression of disappointment shadowed over her face. She opened her mouth to speak something, but stopped suddenly, anticipating him to speak.
"I never cried. I was too angry to cry over her death. How could she even leave us just like that? We were also suffering along with her, but-" his voice choked and he paused briefly, standing up from the floor and walking a few steps away from Khushi. With his back facing her, he continued, "She could have been strong. For us, for herself, but no. She chose to be weak and just walked out of our lives..."
No teaser for Ch 12! :p Edited by -SanjanaSobti- - 8 years ago
708