Okay. I cried again. Before work. God I am obsessed!
Coming to your chapter now. Fabulous update. I don't know how you manage to surprise us even when our guesses are on point. We guessed it would be La and Manali but now La panicked for real after the photos and Arnav suspects Manali had personally meddled in it. I hope he speaks more of it later on.
I will speak about both your characters in detail now. I don't think I have dived into what really makes them compelling for me.
I will come to Khushi first.
Can i say she is an absolute angel. First of all, there has to be a reason she is so attuned to Arnav's needs and doesn't pester him for anything. Any wife, after a certain point of time will not like that work is absorbing so much time of her husband. I know Arnav was working on starting two companies from scratch, but he himself admits to it in this chapter. Her being in the background mattered a lot. She was always his home. Where he could come back to leaving worries of the world at the doorstep.
It cannot be a coincidence. Khushi had made herself this way. Everyone who knows her, including Arnav's mother, knows that she BREATHES for her Arnav. We got a glimpse of it in the flashback early chapters. She is so concerned that he is always thinking of others that she wants to be the one who gives to him instead of demanding. We all know Arnav had some major troubles in the past and there must be a reason why he thinks Khushi is his anchor.
There are so many little snippets that show the depth of Khushi's love for Arnav, but I will take the one from her memory lane. She understands on some level that talking about kids upsets Arnav to a great degree. She is ELATED that now even his family wont pressure him for kids because she has stopped speaking about it since almost a year. She is concerned that he might feel alone. She thinks she wants nothing more than this wonderful man in her life. Her own worries forgotten behind in front of his struggles.
But she has also been hurting since a year. And pictures of such acts, placed in such a cunning order to make her feel like this was an ongoing thing must have felt like an answer. Remember? She has no answer for Arnav's behavior because he refuses to talk. This must have felt like a blow that this could be the reason he had been avoiding her for the whole year!
Arnav has felt protected around her. You-Know-Who has right. She is one thing in his life that has been untouched by negativity. Khushi's turning his first home into a livable space was symbolism. She had turned his life around, made it livable when he struggled with his demons. Her being submissive in this relationship was by choice becayse she herself says so - ARNAV HAD NEVER SAID NO TO HER!
god knows she didn't deserve what happened to her.
And Arnav! What a mightily complex creature. I feel so conflicted with him.
First of all. He IS a righteous man. No doubt about it. He had a full-blown panic attack at the thought of Lavanaya being pregnant and not once does he ask her to abort it. He feels like he has no sympathy for her and yet forces it out of himself because two women close to him have had tough pregnancies. He is ready to step up and give his name but just does not want an emotional connect with the kid. He specifically says that it's a good thing Lavanya doesn't move around in circle where being a single mom would land her in a world of trouble. But he still cautioned her to think thoroughly. he is the kind of a guy who would have married Lavanya if he was single and Lavanya was a gaon ki chhori.
He did not reveal Lavanya's name to his lawyers at first thinking of her reputation and in case the child was a false alarm.
if a man who would do so much for a stranger, pulling away from his wife who he misses terribly, then there has to be a reason. Period. he thinks he cannot tell Khushi why he hates his hometown so much so maybe he is trying to protect jis family including his parents and Khushi from something. We dont know how he got so rich suddenly. He was a struggling engineer in 2006 and he was producing a movie in 2009. I guess his software took off, but we will have to wait and see.
his first move was to safeguard Khushi's financial interest even though he was raging in panic at the thought of being a father. it makes sense. He is not a random guy. His money is always a target. There really is a lot of wealth at stake and as someone who came from a struggling background, he understands why it is important. He is so concerned and thorough that he wants to have an ironclad will because "he will not be able to help his family from the other side'. So that is why he had lawyers. I guess you left a very big hint when Khushi asked him if he had a lawyer already and he responded with "Yes Khushi but I needed to..." He was cut off in the first chapter. He completed now.
I know there has to be a reason he doesn't want to talk about children at all.
besides, he really is not a vile human being. He did not even care what Lavanya and Manli did to him. He was just so tired of it all that he let it go. Thinking he can close this chapter by ignoring it. That is why Manali B'tch must be confident that Arnav would give in to blackmail.
What she didn't take into account was that Arnav was ready to let go of all the wrongs done to him but so much as threaten his Khushi and he will hurt you where it stings the most. He neither held back his words, nor his actions. In his weird, twisted way, he does love Khushi. He just has a lot of communication problems and obvious demons in his past.
The last thing I want to point out in your story is the reality aspect of it. It is so easy for us to lose ourselves in the world of fiction and think Arnav should just go on a rampage to destroy La and Manali when they deceived him but stop and think for a moment. These were complete strangers who really tried to hurt him and his life. He has made his life with his blood sweat and tears and anyone will obviously be shaken at the realization that there are people out there who could hurt him like this. even the hero of a novel.
I am glad you showed that. More manly characters with this kind of vulnerability. He is obviously a very strong and formidable character and yet he felt unsafe. I think somewhere in his consciousness, he understands that he was taken advantage of and thus he feels UNSAFE. he cried out for Khushi while he wanted to be the one to give up the armor and her to be the knight. Which she had always been.
In awe of this story di. In awe of both the characters. I feel so much for them it hurts.
And the song you chose. Never thought i would be crying my eyes out listening to "demons' but here i am. I lost it at these two lines.
Don't wanna let you down
But I am hell-bound
Though this is all for you
Don't wanna hide the truth
and where he feels he cannot get out of this without khushi
They say it's what you make
I say it's up to fate
It's woven in my soul
I need to let you go
Your eyes, they shine so bright
I wanna save that light
I can't escape this now
Unless you show me how
pff...done. for now!
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