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With her back resting against the wall and knees drawn to the chest, Khushi was the very epitome of fury and sorrow mixed in a excruciating brew. She had lived her life with a motto that for those who are honored, dishonor is worse than death and she would try every possible in the world to not bring dishonor to herself.
She belonged to a not-so-well-known royal family which still upheld certain ideas of honor and those were instilled into her but however she grew to overpower many of them. But it could never be easy to be treated as dirt for being right after being honored like a celestial being. She was burning in the fire of injustice, of vengeance and the greatest vice of sanity- logic.
Ironically, it was her own logic which was costing her sanity. Hadn't everyone learned that the good triumphs over evil? She was the 'good' one and he, Arnav Singh Raizada, the bad one. Yet, how was it that she was curled up like a child and he was roaming with a pride which could rival the lord of gods, Indra, around like he was the most righteous person.
The man of her thoughts walked in and tsked away, leaning against the wall with fake sympathy etched into his features. She jumped to her feet, wiping away any signs of tears, reluctant to show her weakness to him as disgust washed over her features.
"How the heck did you walk into a girls washroom?" she shouted, hoping that someone would hear her and Arnav Singh Raizada would be punished but unfortunately, luck seemed to side with him and not hers.
"Not the first time I have come here, darling. But surely the first time I came to check upon someone," he purred into her ear, disgust filling her senses at their proximity.
"Check on me? You? What is this? Joke of the day?" she mocked him, continuing to struggle against him but his physical strength proved to be more than hers.
"You hurt me, darling! I had come to check on you. To see if there is any more harm I can do and I see that there is room for improvement for the damage done, ain't it?" he teased cruelly, circling around her in a way predator does before attacking its prey.
Bile rose through her throat as she replayed his words in her brain. To stand on the same ground as him, to breathe in the same air as him and to be in the same space as him seemed to a more potent torture than there could ever be in the hell.
"You disgust me, Arnav Singh Raizada," she spat angrily, before trying to move away from before a grip on her waist stopped her before she could take the second step towards the exit. She was ruthlessly pulled towards the owner of the hand gripping her waist, who rested her against the wall, effectively trapping her between the wall and him.
"Aww, your words torment me, baby! Let me scatter this facade of yours. After all, my-oh-so-precious-dignity tirade is fallacy meant for the stupid," he mused sarcastically, his lips brushing against her nape with each word he enunciated.
Fury reached every cell of hers but she knew better than to let her fury take the better of her. He was undoubtedly stronger than her and she could take on him only if she uses her brain.
"Well, well, Phir Parda Uth Jaane Do.." she whispered in the provocative tone she could muster, setting her earnest desire of smacking him across the face aside.
Any other man in the place of Arnav would have felt a speck of surprise if someone's hindrances vanished away into the thin air by the drop of a hat but tangled in the web of humanly emotions like arrogance and lust blinded him to an extent where he could see it as his victory.
Her right palm gently made its way towards the center of his back while her other palm encircled itself around his right elbow. Focusing all her energy and thoughts away from Arnav's nibbling on her ear lobe, she twisted his funny bone and pressed the center of his spinal cord to send jolts of impulses through his body.
In a swift move, ignoring his whimpers of pain, she pressed her index and middle fingers into his collar bone, immobilizing his forelimbs momentarily as she brought down her right foot onto the arch of his foot while the combined pressure brought him down to his knees.
In a calculated and fast move, she jerked her knee ahead to hit her knee-cap against his forehead, almost knocking him out.
"Remember, anyone's dignity would always be higher than anyone's ego, Arnav Singh Raizada. What did you say? Facade? Remember this before you question anyone henceforth of their intentions, or else," she said before delivering the final blow by striking his ankles with her heels, making him land on the rough and dirty floor," you would face your downfall."
Giving him one final look, Khushi walked out of the room while Arnav stared at her retreating back in wonder and partial admiration which he would never admit, or rather his ego would allow him to admit.
But as the realization grew, he grew furious. A girl had knocked him down. A famous street fighter. How dare she?
Blood oozed out of his temples and torn lips. He wiped the blood with fury ablaze in his eyes. His ears resonated with her blows while he could feel the stinging sensation of her moves on him. That pain made him feel lowly for reasons he wanted to forget.
That pain made him think. Introspect. Retrospect.
That pain made him human, which he did not want to be.
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FLASHBACK
AJAY SINGH RAIZADA, A RAPIST!
The headlines surely had broken the news but it had also broken a home.
It would shatter the innocence of a young boy, who would witness his family being broken in front of his eyes.
It would tarnish the judgement of the boy whose idol was being dragged to the court.
It would ruin the boy who loved to dream and love.
But it would give birth to a man whom everyone would respect yet fear - Arnav Singh Raizada.
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The strength of Khushi Gupta's personality surely caught him by surprise. But there were beliefs which were etched deeper into his heart which no word or action can erase. There was an emotion which could wash over the blackened canvas to create a beautiful picture with the help of the woman who made him question himself for the first time but the emotion was a complete contrast of what she would feel and beyond the range of emotions which he could reciprocate.
Will Arnav Singh Raizada ever realize his mistake?
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