ArHi FF: Highway to hell-2, chapter 38, pg 141 - Page 10

Originally posted by: thecraze92

congratulationss!!

Originally posted by: dumas

on the new thread

Originally posted by: minimuffin86

AWESOME!!!! im so happy for you! you deserved it yaar!!!!! *busts a move* where's the booze? yes yes i know im not allowed to drink but i can have it in the virtual world right?!

Originally posted by: smileyhug7679

Congrats for awesome FF

Congrats on the second bread

Pls keep doing ur good work and we all can have fun u writing we reading

Njoy urself

Originally posted by: lexaxel

Oh WOW this is like SUPER news!!!!!!

CONGRATS VIDHYA!!!!! You totally deserve it!!!!!

which reminds me, u must write another OS⭐️

p.s: I'm like so mad at myself for reaching late.

Originally posted by: tes_v1

Vidhya!

Congrats jaaniya! *breaks into a jig* You totally deserve it! But tell me, when and where was this contest held?

Originally posted by: tinsel

Congratulations on the second thread!

Awesome update.👏🤗

Originally posted by: Nici0306

I m in love with the story.. It is so touching and sensible.. I read everything in one go..

Originally posted by: sarach

congo for winning that

Chapter 24: The long haul begins.

10 Days later

Khushi sat in the hospital room that had been her home for the past week. Nita was finally asleep. She'd had a rough day and had woken up several times to throw up. Her poor baby body was having a tough time dealing with the chemotherapeutic agents they were treating her with. The doctors were efficient and kind. The nurses were absolutely wonderful. They were sympathetic and loving. They cared for Nita like she was their child. But of course, Nita wanted her mother. So, Khushi had been spending her days at the hospital and only going home at night because the nurses and Arnav pushed her to leave. Arnav had also reminded her that she had another daughter who needed her. Sheila had been unwittingly thrust into this maelstrom. She didn't understand what was happening, and she wanted her mother too. Khushi was stretched to breaking point, really. If it hadn't been for Freddy, Nigel and ASR, she would've never been able to cope with the emotional toll this had taken on her.

Nigel took care of Sheila and coddled her. He came once a day to see Nita and bought Sheila with him. Nita loved the daily visit. She looked forward to seeing her big sister. And Sheila, though she was scared of the hospital, she played with her sister affectionately. Khushi had explained to her that Nita was sick and would need time to recover, and that she must take care of her baby sister till she got better. Sheila took her word for it. She had always doted on her sister, but now she'd become extremely protective of her. It was touching to watch them play quietly with their dolls. Nita, smiling wanly as Sheila dressed them up and combed their hair and then put them next to Nita, for her to cuddle while she slept.

"Khushi! Time to leave," whispered ASR, coming into the room quietly.

"Oh! Is it?" she asked quickly, looking at the clock.

"Yes. I think she'll sleep the night through. And if there's a change the nurse will call us. C'mon, home and dinner for you, young lady," he said, handing her her coat and gloves. They walked out together into the cold night air, their breaths rising up in swirls of steam. He put his arm around her, hugging her to his side. "Cold?" he asked.

"I'm OK, ASR. How's Sheila doing?" asked Khushi.

"Good. She ate her dinner. She wanted to wait up for you, but Nigel and I got her to bed between the 2 of us. We told her you'd do breakfast with her tomorrow and take her to school too, so she agreed and went to sleep quietly. I read her The Velveteen Rabbit. She sure loves that book," he grimaced, having read it to her atleast 20 times in the last 10 days.

Khushi grinned. "Kids will read the same books and watch the same cartoons over and over again. Like a million times. You're lucky you missed her when she was going through her "Teletubbies" phase. I hated those teletubbies. They were almost scary looking and not at all entertaining, I thought, but she loved them. Watched them every single day for the 30 minutes of television she was allowed. I was glad when that phase was over!" she sighed.

"How's Nita today? What did the doctors say?" asked ASR, as Khushi linked her arm through his. They walked swiftly down the street. She lived a short walk from the hospital and this had become a daily routine for them. He walked her home every night.

"She's OK. She has lots of nausea and some diarrhea from the chemo, poor baby. They are giving her IV fluids to keep her hydrated. She can't keep anything down. But the tests today say her White counts are down, so she is responding. But they're going to wipe out her immune system almost completely with the drugs. So, she's going to get much worse, before she gets better." Said Khushi stoically.

"She'll get better Khushi. She has to. For all our sakes'. Nigel is driving me crazy with questions, by the way. He wants to know how she's doing every other minute. I have to talk him out of calling you about a dozen times a day. This, inspite of the fact, that you call at least twice a day yourself, with updates," Said ASR, crossly.

"Hmmm. And how does ASR handle all these tantrums so patiently? My elder daughter crying for her mom! My nanny crying for my younger daughter! How do you deal with all that without breaking something at least once a day? The old ASR would've thrown a fit by now," Said Khushi, grinning.

"Simple. I think about this moment. These 20 minutes I get alone with you every day when I pick you up from the hospital and walk you home. This makes my day. It makes everything worth it, Khushi Kumari Gupta," said ASR sincerely. "By the way, I will have you know, that I do love your daughters too. It's not just you I care about. In case you had any reservations," He shot her a quick glance.

"No reservations Arnav. None. Not any more." She said quietly.

"Did you eat lunch?" he asked, changing the subject abruptly.

"Yes. Freddy took me out, as usual. He makes me eat every single day, even though I'm not hungry most of the time. He stopped by for his usual luncheon visit. Nita loves to see him. She just adores him," said Khushi. They were at her home now. She had a nice house on a quiet side street in a busy suburb of London. It was an expensive area. But she made good money and could afford it. She put the key in the lock and stepped in.

"I'll be going Khushi. You eat dinner and get some rest," said Arnav.

"What about dinner?" she asked him.

"I already ate with Nigel earlier in the evening."

"OK. Want to come in for a cup of coffee?"

"No. I should be going. I need my beauty sleep too. Besides, I have several business calls to make." He said, patting her hand and walking down the steps quickly. 'Good night Khushi. See you tomorrow!" he waved.

"Good night Arnav." She disliked seeing him go, she realized. She wanted him to stay. But not one day had he stayed to dinner. He would walk her home every day and that was all she saw of him. She knew he came to her home every morning after breakfast and took Sheila to school. He bought his laptop with him sometimes and worked at her home. Other times he helped Nigel with the housework and Sheila with her homework. She spoke to him on the phone every day and he also checked in on Nita in the hospital. But his vists usually coincided with Freddy's, so she was out to lunch when he came in. She guessed that he and Freddy had planned it that way, so someone was with Nita all day long. But she didn't see much of him at all. And she missed him, she thought. The idea popped into her head all of a sudden, surprising her. She missed Arnav. "Now, there's a crazy thought!" she smiled to herself and called to Nigel as she went into her kitchen. "Nigel, I'm home. What's for dinner?"

"I made some dal chawal. ASR told me how to make it," said Nigel, kissing her on the cheek lightly.

"Dal chawal! You made dal chawal. Wow! I'm impressed. Bring it on. I'm hungry," said Khushi.

"ASR called Payal and asked her for the recipe. She told him what you like best. The he went out and bought the ingredients. I made it, 'cos he can't boil water without burning it, he said. Then he and I ate some together. He said it was pretty good!" finished Nigel proudly.

"You guys are rockstars!" said Khushi, hugging Nigel. She sat at her kitchen table, as he heated up the food and bought it to her. She had barely begun eating when the doorbell rang.

"Bet that's Freddy. I'll get it," said Nigel, rising from his chair. He was right. Freddy walked in with a big bunch of daisies in his hands. He plonked them down on Khushi's lap. "So you always feel fresh as a daisy and never stop smiling, my sweet!" he said, kissing her cheek.

"Thanks Freddy! I love you." She said, putting the flowers away. Freddy came home every night for a half hour to hear about her day and how Nita was coming along. He always came armed with a small gift for her, and an outrageous story or two to make her laugh. He was a rock of strength. He had smoothed the way with the best doctors in the UK. Gotten Nita the best possible care in a fantastic Pediatric unit of a very good hospital. He made Khushi laugh, and he perked Nigel the Ninny up with his jokes too. She had never loved Freddy like she loved him now. She was a lucky, lucky girl she mused, to have such wonderful friends. She had barely sat down when the bell rang again. "I'll get it." Said Nigel. "I wonder who that is?" said Freddy, "It's kind of late."

Khushi heard the sound of muted greetings and some laughing. She heard a silvery female voice commenting on the weather in London. Aadit and Anjali walked in to her kitchen, followed closely by Nigel.

"Hey Minnie! How are you? How's Nita?" asked Aadit, kissing Khushi's cheek.

"Nita's doing as well as can be expected. Chemo's hard on her. But she's a trooper," smiled Khushi.

"And you? How are you?" asked Anjali, looking at Khushi's tired face worriedly.

"I'm fine Anjali. Thanks for asking," said Khushi stiffly. For some reason, she wasn't able to open her heart up to Anjali completely. She didn't know why. She had forgiven her family. She had forgiven ASR. But she couldn't, for some unfathomable reason, forgive Anjali.

"Will you guys join me for dinner?" she asked politely.

"Nah! Minnie, we already ate. Our flight got in late this afternoon. We went home, showered, ate dinner and came straight to see you. I tried to call you, it went to voice mail," said Aadit. He shot a scared glance at Freddy, whose face had tightened when he saw who the visitors were. He didn't bother to acknowledge Aadit and smiled slightly at Anjali.

"Sorry about that. I barely look at my phone during the day. Too busy with Nita in the hospital," said Khushi, apologetically.

"How is Chotey Khushi? Has he forgiven me yet?" asked Anjali worriedly.

"I don't know Anjali. He hasn't mentioned it to me at all. But he's doing fine. You just missed him, by the way. He walked me home barely 10 minutes ago. He's putting up at a hotel for now. But he's thinking of renting a place, since he plans to stay for sometime," said Khushi.

"I see," said Anjali softly. Her eyes filled with tears. "I don't think he'll ever forgive me. He was so angry," said Anjali. Aadit hugged her from behind. "He'll come around Angel. He just needs time. He loves you, baby." Nigel rolled his eyes at Khushi. He thought it spectacularly selfish, that when Nita was so sick, Anjali and Aadit were concerned about ASR's anger. To Nigel, it was heinous. Khushi understood a little better. She knew how important ASR was to Anjali. It was Freddy who broke the strained silence.

"I know you are upset about your brother's reaction Anjali. But Minnie has other things on her mind. Could you not bring up your trivial problems to her in her precious free time please? She gets about an hour of peace before she goes to bed. I'd like to see her enjoy that hour quietly." Said Freddy crushingly.

"Ohhh! Of course. I am so sorry Khushi. I didn't mean to burden you at all. I apologize. It's just, I've been so worried." Said Anjali.

"Don't give it a thought Anjali. I don't mind at all," said Khushi, trying to sound friendly.

"We really should be going. We just dropped in to say a quick hello," said Aadit stiffly. He didn't like the tone Freddy had used when talking to his wife. He also didn't want to make a scene in Khushi's home. "We'll see you tomorrow Min. We want to stop by and see Nita in the hospital."

"Of course. She'd love to see you! She loves her Addy. You know that. You too Anjali. She'll enjoy seeing you as well," said Khushi, not wanting Anjali to feel left out. They left shortly after that, saying goodbye hurriedly.

"Freddy, did you have to be so rude? She was almost in tears!" Khushi rounded on him, as soon as the door closed.

"Don't care. They did an unforgivable thing." Said Freddy calmly.

"Freddy! I don't need the drama, OK. Honestly, I don't have the emotional bandwidth to feel upset that Aadit married her in such a hurry. I don't like her. Yes. That's true. Somewhere, in my heart, there is a very sore spot with her name on it. But, for now, I have a sick child. If being pleasant to her makes my life easy, I am going to do it. And for my sake, I'm requesting you not to pick a fight with Aadit over this. Just forget it happened and be nice. Please."

"You are a very forgiving creature Min. I'm not. I can't forgive him. And I can't condone their behavior. But I will be pleasant to them. For your sake." Said Freddy, looking none too happy.

"Good boy! Thanks Freddy. Now, will you and Nigel go out for a drink and let me have a few minutes of peace. I want to be alone for sometime," she said plainly. After they left, she went upstairs and changed into her PJs. She looked in to Sheila's bedroom and saw her sleeping silently. She kissed her cheek and went into her bedroom and got under the covers. Her last thought before drifting off to sleep was, "I wish he was here with me."

So...enough of a ASR-KKG moment in there? Or not quite? Lemme know what you think. 😊

aww... arnav is the best guy ever!! the way he is supporting and helping khushi out is soo sweet!!! hope khushi tells him wht she feels for him soon!! absolutely loved the update!! thank you so much for the pm! continue soon!!