IPKKND FF:Tearing Ourselves Apart Parts 1-26 :) - Page 72

I am back with the next update, I hope you all enjoy it very much. Thank you for all the support, you guys are wonderful, and anyone wanting PM's when I update, please BUDDY me. Thanks !

Also: because I have so many wonderful readers, I wanted to put up a title banner for my Fanfic as it is special to me! I am not good at photo editing, as you can see from my own siggy, so I wanted to ask all my dear readers whether any of you would be willing to make a banner that reads Tearing Ourselves Apart with photos of Arnav and Khushi representing what you think of the story. I look forward to any banners being PM'ed to me, I hope I get even one! Anyway, I shall bother you no more, pleasant reading xx

He thought for a minute, finally making up his mind, opening his eyes to the darkness.

"Tomorrow" he whispered back "We tell Di tomorrow"

She only held on tighter to him, in fear of what was to come, as she fell asleep in his arms.

"Rani Sahiba, there was nothing I could do, the staff asked both your brother and the man he fought with to leave."

"Is he allright?" she had asked, worried, only to be reassured by him that he only had a few scratches and that he had gone with Khushi to walk it off.

He knew Arnavs patience was wearing thin, from the look of things yesterday, he could feel his time slipping through his fingers, like sand through an hourglass, and he felt like the more he tried to hold on, the faster it slipped away from him. If he was going to do anything to get Khushi, he would have to act fast.

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Arnav felt her stir in his arms and he opened his eyes to find himself holding on to her. She was lying on his chest, breathing against him, with her face buried in his shirt.

Slowly, and cautiously, he lifted her up and placed her down on the bed so that he could gather himself. After pondering on what to do after waking up so early in the morning he ended up sitting in the lone chair next to window, watching her sleep, clutching at the bed sheet beneath her.

Her question yesterday had been fair.

"Why did you hit him?"

He had made a decision the day he had confronted Shyam about what he had done. Looking back now, he knew it was the wrong one, but at the time he didn't know that, and he had decided to let him go. He hadn't had to deal with him for the two weeks approaching his marriage to Khushi.

If only Shyam had been around then, he would have found out sooner, and maybe he wouldn't have had to shatter Khushi's dreams the way he had. He knew how sacred she thought the bond of marriage was, she had lectured him about it countless times. And he had taken that very bond that she admired for its strength and turned it into something she would hate and admonish for its weakness.

Staring at her now, still clad in the dark red and black clothes from the day before, watching her skin pulsating from the blood beneath it, her hair against her face, her cheeks flushed, her lips so soft, her beauty, her innocence.

He knew that he was in love with her, and he wasn't hiding it from himself anymore.

The feeling that had taken over when he had seen Shyam touch her had only confirmed what he knew he felt towards her, why did he care so much when he touched her? Touched the very skin that sent a jolt of electricity through him everytime he felt it. Why had he hit him? He repeated her question from yesterday to himself.

Because she was his, and Shyam had touched her. That was reason enough, it was plenty of reason and he didn't regret it, not for a second. If given the chance, he would go back to the garden at the party a month ago when he had first found out about Shyam and beat him to within an inch of his life.

For all the pain he had caused the two women he loved most in his life. And for the pain he was about to cause.

"What are you thinking about" she asked through the silence, shocking Arnav who thought she was fast asleep.

He quickly brushed off her question and walked out of the room, leaving a dumbfounded Khushi wondering what was responsible for that look on his face, it was a look she had never seen before.

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Late in the afternoon Khushi decided that she wasn't just going to sit on her bed all day, it was exactly this sort of behaviour that was upsetting her. The old Khushi would never just sit around and sulk in a room waiting for him to come back after having left in the morning. So she decided to get dressed up and go out with Anjali, she browsed through the wardrobe where she had hung all her clothes, taking a quick shower and changing into her favourite dress from the lot, a white full sleeved anarkali dress, hinted with gold borders.

To give you an idea, I mean something like this

She let her hair dry, waving it slightly with her hairbrush and she put on makeup, complimenting her lips with pale lip gloss and highlighting her bronze eyes with dark mascara. She smiled at herself in the mirror, she really did look good. She never really thought of herself as pretty, she had never thought about stuff like that at all, it was all the effect he had on her.

The sound of the door slamming made her jump out of her thoughts and she slowly stepped out of the bathroom to see Arnav walking in. His breath stopped at the sight of her, her dress beautiful in its simplicity, just like her.

She was just like the snow outside, pure and loving.

He snapped himself out of his daze, not wanting to repeat last night when he had watched her walk up to him, unable to move.

He looked around nervously, at anything but her warm eyes "D..Di... Di wants to go.. and...e..eat ..out" he spluttered, finding it difficult to string a sentence together.

She looked up at him, questioning him with her eyes whether Shyam would be there.

He understood her plea, and replied with a nod, watching her face drop from an emotion he couldn't quite make out.

He walked up to her as he saw fear in her eyes and entwined his fingers around hers, giving her a little reassuring squeeze before walking outside with her behind him.

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They parked their cars at the edge of a lonely road upon Anjali's insistence and had started to walk through the sparse forest down a decline into what looked like a valley, everything covered in white.

Khushi kept herself behind Arnav as they walked through the cold snow, the sky a dull grey, spotted with a few scattered rough clouds that threatened to pour flakes down on them. Arnav was aware of the fact that she was using him as a shield and he felt like ripping Shyam apart when he thought that he made her feel that way. Anjali kept her chatter at a constant high, happy that she could have people so important to her so close by, she looked over at Arnav and Khushi, surprised that they were acting so quiet, especially Khushi who was normally so hyper. She mistook it for the fact that her brother had been in a fight yesterday and they probably needed some time to warm up. Thinking of warming up she shuddered as she took in the snow around her. It was beautiful, but gosh was it freezing.

They stopped about twenty minutes later when they reached the edge of the lake, it was untouched apart from their few footsteps, everything was covered in the purest snow and it was on the verge of freezing over. It looked like something out of a fairytale. "Lunch spot?" Anjali chimed, hands on hips.

Everyone looked over at her like she was crazy for suggesting that they eat out in the cold.

"Don't give me that look" she played, concerned about why the three of them were so silent, they weren't even looking at eachother.

"Di, we are not eating out here" Arnav argued.

"Do you suggest we go to another restaurant so you can end up fighting with someone else and getting yourself kicked out?" she argued back "It is so beautiful, okay, maybe a bit cold, but we have food with us" she said, pointing at the bags Shyam was holding.

Arnav looked over at him, hate reflecting in his eyes, only nodding his approval at his sister because he didn't know what else to say.

He had told Khushi they were going to tell his sister today, and he had tried to muster up the courage all morning and afternoon, to no avail.

Arnav noticed, for one more time than he could take as Shyam looked over at Khushi again as he handed a single black bag over to Anjali and Khushi shuffled behind him. His eyes filled with anger as he grabbed Khushi, spinning her around him so that she was standing in front of him, facing Shyam. He wrapped his arms around her waist and felt her jump against his cold hands as Shyam watched on. He pulled her closer into his chest, and rested his head on her shoulder, looking Shyam in the eye showing him what he could do as Khushi flushed a bright shade of red.

"What are you doing?" she furiously whispered to him, surprised as they had hardly spoken since the morning.

"Letting him know that you are mine" he replied against her soft hair and cool skin.

Anjali happily took the bag that Shyam was holding and started to straighten out the plaid picnic sheet she had brought with them over the snow, unaware of what was going on around her.

Shyam looked on as he wrapped his arms around her and touched her. He was touching his Khushi. He started to shake from rage. She whispered something to him, and he replied with something that made her go a deeper shade of red than she already was, they looked comfortable, he shuddered at the thought of Khushi with someone else, how dare she do this? How dare she even think about someone else? When he loved her with all of his heart?

He reached into his pocket when Anjali interrupted his thoughts "Can you please pass that bag over there" she said, pointing near his feet at the second bag he had brought down.

He couldn't take this anymore, he wasn't just going to stand by and let this happen, he couldn't watch his Khushi become someone elses.

"We forgot the drinks, Sale Saab, why don't you help your sister with the food, I saw some shops back up near the road, Khushi ji can come along and give me some company" he said, looking her in the eyes as he spoke as Anjali continued to take out food she had brought with them.

Khusi froze and Anjali turned to protest when Arnav spoke up first, he had felt Khushi's back shiver against him as Shyam had spoken.

"I'll go" before anyone else could say anything, what the hell was this man thinking? He had had enough, he was going to tell him to take the car and leave, leave his life, leave Khushi's life, leave his sisters life and never come back, or he was going to make sure himself that he never got to breathe again. He was going to let him off for all the pain he had caused because he knew it was what his sister would have wanted. He had the courage now, nothing was more important to him than the two women that stood near him.

Khushi raised her hands to his which were wrapped around her, he held on to her hand as he turned her around and kissed her lightly on the cheek "I'll be back" making sure that Shyam was watching, atleast he got the pleasure of inflicting a bit of pain, watching as Shyam visibly flinched and shook from jealousy.

She only nodded in response, feeling the touch of his lips lingering on her cheeks as she looked at his eyes listening to him go on.

"I'll take care of Shyam, I'm not going to let him hurt Di anymore, Im not going to let him near you. Can you stay here with Di? I'll explain things to her when I get back, I think she should hear it from me and we've had enough of all these lies."

Khushi squeezed her cold hand to his to let him know that she would do what he asked taking a deep breath as she prepared herself for what was coming, he had told her he would do this today.

"Be careful" she whispered back.

"You too."

Shyam gave her one last look before reluctantly starting the walk up and Khushi watched them both walk away. The sky started to become darker as the sun started its descend from its point high in the sky.

Khushi busied herself in helping Anjali out with the food they had brought, taking everything out and arranging things on the sheet. Finally done, she sat down in the snow and looked up at the sky.

"It looks like it is going to snow" she said to Anjali as Anjali also snuck a look up to the skies.

"Khushi ji, have you ever had food out in the snow? It makes everything taste so much better."

Khushi smiled back at Anjali and squirmed in her jacket "We'll try it out in a bit then and see if you're telling the truth."

Looking back out towards where Arnav and Shyam had disappeared she got worried, Arnav had said he would take care of Shyam, what had he meant? Was he telling him that he should just leave now, or was he telling him that it was time to tell Anjali the truth. She couldn't imagine Shyam taking that lightly.

As they made the lengthy walk back up to the road, Arnav and Shyam were both lost in thought. Arnav wanted to beat Shyam up before sending him on his way, but his rational thought told him that was not the best idea, he should just tell him to leave, tell him that he had run out of patience, that he had wasted his second chance, it was over for him, but he wasn't sure he could manage that.

Meanwhile, Shyam shook, masked by the cold, from anger as he kept seeing Arnavs hands wrapped around Khushi, as her dark eyelashes fluttered from shyness against her pale skin, her dark brown hair flying against the wind matching perfectly with the gold borders on her angel like dress. He wasn't just going to stand by and let him take over her. He had set his eyes on her first, that made her his. His brother in law had no right over her. Marriage was a small thing compared to how much he wanted Khushi.

He dipped his hand into his pocket, tracing his thumb lightly across the blade.

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"Khushiji, why do you keep looking back, don't worry, Chote will be back soon!" Anjali teased.

Khushi absentmindedly turned back around, thinking of him as she did. For some reason she didn't feel right, she wanted to see him.

"Oh no!" Anjali exclaimed.

Khushi turned around to find her sister-in-law holding the bag that had previously lay next to Shyams feet.

"What is it Di?"

Anjali slowly lifted out two bottles, bringing her hand to her forehead "The drinks are right here, they're walking all that way for no reason!"

As soon as Khushi had seen a hint of the drinks in Anjali's hands she had jumped to her feet, not looking behind her as she ran as fast as her legs would allow her...

...to him.

Thats all for now! I know, not alot of ArHi, Sorry I have left you all at such an awful moment, but there will be more to come! I will update around the weekend, thanks everyone for reading, hope you liked it and do drop by a comment and like or any criticism, all are welcomed.