Arhi FF:Never Gone, Never Far. link to thd 2 pg.1 - Page 23

Originally posted by: ArhiIPKKND

angst i like and you do it perfectly...he he...patience is not one my virtues i'm afraid...so pls continue soon ...wonder what you have in store for us...

A new character coming up peeps!! Aditya Kashyap.

Sree came up with Karan Tacker for his character, and I thought he was perfect too! Though if you want to imagine someone else, you totally can!! 😃

I won't mind! Promise!! 😆

Part 2:

Hard Rock Cafe, Old Park Lane, London

Aditya watched his cousin Lavanya, and her friend, Khushi drink non-stop. He smiled as he remembered Khushi's reaction when she took her first sip of alcohol and cringed at its strong taste, making faces at it. But she had felt her body heat up against the cold, and had taken one more sip. And now, the timid Khushi he had seen when they strolled in the Hyde park, was lost somewhere.

Khushi slammed the 6th glass of vodka shot on the table and turned to an equally drunk Lavanya beside her. "He broke my heart, La. Nope! Not just break! He took it and seared a few million shrapnels. Then he threw it to ground and stomped all over it. And then he gave an evil laugh before he tossed it away!" Khushi explained animatedly to Lavanya, who was bawling her eyes out for Khushi's pain, while Aditya looked intently at her.

"You wanna know how I got these scars?" Khushi continued, and Lavanya cupped her chin with one of her hand and examined Khushi's face by turning it left and right. "Scars?! What scars?!! Did ASR hit you too?!" Lavanya asked, baffled at that aspect.

"I REALLY wish he'd have done that instead of marrying me. But I meant these scars. . ." Khushi said, pointing a finger at her chest, indicating it was her heart that had been scarred. And though Aditya rolled his eyes at the dramatic narration by Khushi, he knew she was hurt a lot. Khushi's voice was filled with disgust for her alleged husband, and she passed that same look filled with aversion to Arnav who was now sitting silently, next to Aditya in the opposite seat.

Aditya's intent gaze didn't miss this. He turned to see the empty seat next to him and then to Khushi with wide eyes. He had also noticed that even after drinking so much and telling how hurt she was, she hadn't cried. Her face was contorted with the remembrance of pain and hurt. Yet not a single tear had come out. Being a psychiatrist, he had now started feeling concerned for this young woman, who seemed to keep all the pain bottled up.

"You are a psychic right, Aditya? You tell me! Didn't he ever love me? At all??!!" Khushi broke his train of thoughts. Aditya was about to answer that he couldn't tell that without meeting her husband when Lavanya said in her slurred tone, "I'm sure he did, chamkili. That's why I don't understand. . . . . WHY. . . would he do that to you?!"

"Because he thought that I was sleeping with his brother-in-law and I intentionally wanted to trash Di's married life." Khushi answered bluntly, and Lavanya gasped with her eyes filled with horror.

"And. . . . . . Did you do it?" Aditya asked, trying to understand what had happened in her life.

"No!" shouted both the women in unison.

"Okay. That is why you're hurt, then. Because he didn't trust you." Aditya said. Khushi thought for a second before she nodded and answered his question, "Basically, yeah. . ."

Aditya thought of what he had learned from Lavanya's assertion, that Arnav loved Khushi too, plus the reason of the contract marriage. He wanted to explain why Arnav may have done that, and how much he may have hurt himself doing so. But he knew better than to explain such things to a drunk person. So he thought of telling this to her when she was sober and pulled out the two drunk women out and guided them to his car.

Aditya decided to take his cousin and her friend to his place, since he knew both of them would need someone to help them in the morning, when they woke up with huge head-aches. As he drove towards his apartment, he glanced at the two women huddled in sleep, through the rear-view mirror, and felt a surge of protectiveness take over him. Though Lavanya had been his second cousin, she was like his own sister and very close to his heart. But Khushi brought with her, the memories of his younger sister, whom he had lost when he was a kid. He pushed away those painful memories and turned on the music player to drown his thoughts in the soft melody.

---ooo---

Shantivan, New Delhi

Payal hovered near the dining hall, wondering when he'd be done eating, so that she could do her chores in the kitchen. Because she really didn't want to see his face anymore. It had been five days since her sister had left. She had been so angry on Arnav when Shyam's truth had been finally out and so had the reason behind Arnav-Khushi's sudden marriage. And even now, if she was holding herself back without lashing out on Arnav, it was because of her husband, Akash. He had told her that Bhai was suffering too.

'Well! He can suffer all he wants, and I couldn't care two hoots! How dare he?! How could he do it to my Khushi?! And Khushi??!! I should have known that she'd do anything for her family's sake. She did it all for me! Three months of forced marriage. Will I ever be able to forgive myself for hurting Khushi the way I did?!' Payal thought as she wiped the tears away, feeling guilty that she had been the reason for all the hurt Khushi had, and may still be going through.

When Khushi had left, though Payal had been heartbroken, she had felt relieved that Khushi was free of the monster that had sucked all happiness out of Khushi's life. Payal cringed as she thought the name 'Arnav Singh Raizada' She absolutely hated him now. Sighing once more, she left, deciding to come back later.

Anjali sat at the dining table as she watched Arnav trying to eat, in a dead silence. Not that her brother had been a man of many words even before Khushi left him. He had turned into a recluse since the day they both had lost their parents. But now it was like he had turned into living dead. The rare smiles which she had seen while Khushi was here were probably dead and buried well under. Nobody spoke to her Chotey now. And though she had felt disgusted that her brother had ruined Khushi's life, she couldn't help but feel wretched as she blamed herself for her husband's indiscretion, resulting in the alleged contract-marriage.

Anjali felt a wave of anger grip her. Anger, that she had so foolishly let a man betray her. She felt she was somehow, responsible for the brash decision that her younger brother had taken and married Khushi without giving her a chance to explain. And as a result, was suffering so much.

This was the fifth day after Khushi had left.

She still remembered Arnav pacing from room to room in search of Khushi, whereas Khushi was nowhere to be found. She still remembered her Chotey's deranged cries of losing his love. He had cried for hours for his loss, resting his head on her lap. Anjali had cried continuously too, at the hurt of losing Khushi. But mostly, she cried for the pain her Chotey was going through.

And then his eyes got this determined look. As he voiced the decision he made, to go through his personal hell because he deserved it, Anjali knew there was no coming back for her brother. Unless by some miracle Khushi forgave him and took him back. Knowing her brother, he would suffer even after that, remembering all the nasty things he had done to Khushi.

Yes. He was the man of past. He had never learnt to let go of the past and live for the future.

'Where are you, Khushi??' Anjali thought. She simply could not refuse the fact that Khushi had all the rights to be angry on Chotey, and despise him. 'But I was the only one who supported you when everybody else hated the sight of you when you married Chotey in a hurry. I supported you even when Shyam was exposed, and I loved you like my own sister. You left me too??' The moment Shyam's name came to her mind, her hand went to her stomach. Where her child had been. She didn't know whether she should be in agony of losing her child, or feel relieved that there was no part of Shyam left in her. Anjali felt a smidgen of moisture fill her eyes. But she willed them to go away, as she knew she had to be strong. Strong for her Chotey.

As Arnav wiped his mouth and stood up to go to work, Anjali stopped him and told him to come home early since she wanted to go to a temple. Arnav blankly nodded as he left. He drove towards AR, his mind on an auto mode, always preoccupied with Khushi, and Khushi only. Each and everything in his life was attached with Khushi in some or the other way.

Driving, for instance, made him think of all the instances when he had driven with Khushi by his side. How she always sat fidgeting with her hands. Out of her usual nervousness that he knew she felt when she was with him, or because of the fear of high speeds, he didn't know. A tender smile made its way to his face, and vanished as soon as it had come. He screeched the car to a stop, not minding that he was actually in the middle of the street.

His breathing quickened as he felt the searing agony take over his whole being. It had been like this since the day he had killed what could have been with his Khushi, with his very own hands. He clenched the steering wheel so tightly, his knuckles stood out against his skin. His eyes shut tight as if he was trying to ward off the pain. Pain as if he was being burnt at the stake. For a moment, he doubted if even being burnt would be as painful as being left by his Khushi felt.

He told himself that he totally deserved this pain. His eyes burnt from the unshed tears as an image of the stricken face of Khushi flashed through his mind. His eyes got misty at that. But before he could cry on his ill fate, there was a knock at the window, and Arnav saw a traffic cop peering through the tinted glass, trying to make out who it was inside the car. Arnav composed himself as much as possible by his weak mind, before he rolled down he window to face the cop. "Are you alright, Sir?" The cop asked, recognizing Arnav at once. Arnav nodded weakly, before he started his car and drove away. . . . . .

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Precap: "Remember when your parents separated when you were fifteen, La?" Aditya asked. Lavanya nodded, curious to know why Adi had brought this matter up. "You had wanted your dad back in your life so badly, that you had started imagining him? You know?? Hallucinating?" Aditya continued.

Lavanya blushed at that memory, annoyed that Adi knew her so well, that he had caught her "talking" to her imaginary dad when she was a teenager. "Why do you ask, Adi?" Lavanya asked, really curious now.

P.S: Leave me the comments and do temme how bad I suck at this. 😳 😃

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Link to Part 1

Link to Part 3