Khushi
ran as if her life depended on it. And quite frankly, it did too. As
soon as she stepped out of her building, she looked at the spot where
Arnav had stood a few minutes ago. But he wasn't there anymore. She
didn't want to believe this and she took slow, measured steps towards
that same spot, hyperventilating in the process.
Yes. He
wasn't there. Tears hadn't ceased flowing from her eyes. She turned
around, searching for the face of that man whom she couldn't live
without, wiping the unstoppable tears so that they didn't blur her
vision. Amidst all those strange faces around her, she craved to see
that one face, but to no avail.
For the first time after
leaving him, she started getting scared. Shivering feverishly, she
hugged herself and stood among so many people, feeling all alone for
the first time in her life. She hadn't felt so even when she had
known her parents weren't coming back. Unable to take this any
longer, she ran back into her building, to see if Arnav was there in
her apartment. But she knew that wouldn't be so.
Since the
last fifteen or twenty days that she had left him and come to London,
her Arnav had followed her everywhere. The grief caused by the fact
that she couldn't see her Arnav anymore was such that it made her
give out a deranged cry and was so engrossed in her ache, that she
didn't see Anjali before she ran into her. Anjali steadied herself
with the help of the wall, as she held Khushi.
Arnav hadn't
slept a wink, and when Anjali saw her brother silently walk out of
the apartment, Anjali had thought of stopping him, and had slowly
limped towards the main door, and had just stepped out, when she saw
Khushi run into her.
Khushi pulled back to apologize, when she
realized it was Anjali. "Di!!?" Khushi exclaimed, and
hugged her tight and started wailing at her loss. They were standing
right outside their apartment, and Payal, on hearing the commotion,
came out see what was happening. "Khushi!!" gasped she, as
she hugged her sister. Khushi looked in wonder as she got to see her
jiji and Di, together. Not knowing whether she should be agonizing
over the loss of Arnav, or be happy over seeing her sisters, her
fragile mind promptly shut itself up in order to protect her from any
other shock or trauma, and she fainted in the arms of her two
sisters.
NK had been sleeping, exhausted due to the jet lag
when he was jolted awake, by someone screaming Khushi's name. He
rushed outside to see Payal and Anjali precariously balance an
unconscious Khushi, and he lifted her and took her inside. Anjali
called Lavanya, to tell her what had happened.
Lavanya was
actually in the living room of her apartment, trying to ward off her
sleep and took the coffee mug from Aditya. They had been up since 5
a.m in the morning, going to the airport to pick up the Raizadas,
persuading them to stay at her apartment. She hadn't told any of them
that Khushi lived right in the apartment opposite to theirs. And they
finally came to Aditya's apartment, after deciding to give some time
for their guests to get used to the change in timezone.
While
preparing coffee for his sleep deprived cousin, his thoughts wandered
to Anjali. There was this sadness in her face, which Aditya found
very disturbing. He just couldn't see the sad set of her lips. It
looked much better when she smiled. 'That is the way she's meant to
be...' he decided, as he poured coffee to two mugs and brought it
out. Handing one mug to his cousin, he had just sat down to have a
sip when Lavanya's phone rang. Lavanya received the call, wondering
what Anjali was doing, calling her, when she had thought Anjali would
be fast asleep due to the exhaustion. And when Anjali gave an account
of Khushi fainting outside their doorstep, Lavanya looked fearfully
at Aditya, who immediately knew something was wrong. He left his
coffee and rose from his seat, tugging a blanched Lavanya with him.
As they drove, Aditya persuaded Lavanya to tell him what
exactly had happened, and when he did tell him, Aditya ran a hand
through his hair in frustration, cursing himself for letting this
happen to Khushi. "Don't blame yourself, Bhaiyya. . ." Lavanya
said meekly, drawing out an exasperated reply from him, "How can I
not, Lav?! I'm a PSYCHIATRIST, for crying out loud!! I should have
known she is no state to take anymore of such shocks. . ."
"Bhaiyya,
please! We don't even know why all this happened!!" Lavanya said,
having had enough with Aditya blaming himself for Khushi's illness.
And she knew his frustration was not just for Khushi. He still blamed
himself for his sister's untimely death, and she very well knew it.
o0o0o0o
Arnav
didn't know why he was being brought to London, all of a sudden.
Had his sister come to know about Khushi too? If so, she didn't
show any sign of it. But he didn't completely believe her excuse of
visiting London like this. "You
need a breath of fresh air, Chotey" she
had said. Though why London in particular, he hadn't known. What
was still more confusing was to see Lavanya at the airport, waiting
for them, along with her cousin.
Aditya
Kashyap. His look had been so direct, peering into Arnav's eyes, as
if to inquest all the secrets out of his mind. 'I
am doing this for Di's sake' Arnav
had reminded himself, and had gone with her, not concerning himself
about anything or anybody else. They were taken to Lavanya's
apartment, and for reasons unknown, Arnav had started to feel
suffocated. When he was sure that Di, Payal, and NK had all slept, he
left. He didn't know where he wanted to go, but he just left.
As
he waited at the pedestrian crossing, Arnav felt he heard his name
being called out. And the voice, he didn't even have to look at the
person to recognize it. Khushi. But that was impossible! He turned
behind and when he didn't hear it once again, he sighed and put on
his aviators, not wanting anybody else to discover his moist eyes,
and walked across the street and towards the park that he could see
nearby.
Being
in the same city, where he knew Khushi was, his frail mind
felt even more frayed. He strolled through the park, not really
looking at anything. His gaze rested on a man who was as tall as
himself, pull a petite blonde who was squealing in joy, to himself
and kiss her tenderly. Arnav's eyes darted away from such a display
of love, missing his wife all over again. That
was
what she had deserved. All the love, gentle care, tender love. And he
had given her anything but that.
He
sat on a bench, his mind automatically wandering to Khushi. What
could she be doing? What would she do if she saw him? Was what he
heard on the phone true? Did she never want to see him again? He sat
there wondering about all this, losing all sense of time.
o0o0o0o
Aditya
held Khushi's wrist, as he searched for her pulse. When he found
it, he breathed a sigh of relief, seeing that everything was normal.
Her state of unconsciousness would be due to the shock then. "Is
she alright?" Anjali asked, her eyes glistening with unshed tears,
and Aditya smiled reassuringly at her. Anjali sighed too, closing her
eyes, and rubbing her temples to ease her slowly building head-ache.
Lavanya entered the living room with coffee for everybody, and they
all sat there, thinking of what should be done next.
"I
need to talk. To Arnav Singh Raizada." Aditya said, "But before
that, one of my colleague is on her way. To take a complete
check-over of Khushi." On seeing fear in Anjali, Payal and
Lavanya's eyes, he explained further, "She's alright. . . This
is just to make sure that she's fully well. . ."
"And
what do you need to talk to my brother about?" Anjali asked, unable
to hide the protective edge that entered her voice. Aditya smiled as
he realized that the fragile-looking-Anjali was like a mother tiger
when it came to her brother. "Khushi. She hasn't taken the
separation from her husband too well. She has been. . . . Imagining
him around her, not really ready to let him go. . . ." Aditya
explained, trying to make it all sound nonchalant. But Anjali had
looked straight into his eyes, and he lowered his gaze, feeling
guilty at hiding the facts from everybody. And now he was sure Anjali
knew there was more to Khushi's illness than he was letting them
know.
Payal
had felt tears fill up her eyes, and before she could even think of
her sister, NK had started sobbing, and she looked around
uncomfortably, to ask anybody to take him off her hands. Anjali
seemed to be lost with Aditya. She wasn't sure, but she felt as if
they were having their own silent conversation. And Lavanya, wiped
her tears away, sad that this was happening to two most important
people in her life, and looked at Payal. She saw, ASR's cousin, NK
cry and then at Payal, who was awkwardly patting his shoulder. She
smiled at the scene, and guided NK to the other room. Payal asked a
few questions to Aditya, to make sure whether her sister would be
fine. And Aditya assured that once she would take Arnav back wholly,
she would be fine.
His
colleague arrived then, and asked them all to leave and let her do
her duty. Dr. Anna, was the closest, Aditya had for a friend. They
had dated while in graduate med school. But it wasn't anything
major. He looked at Anjali, who was refusing to look him in the eye,
from when Anna had arrived. Payal and Lavanya were talking about
their family, NK fawning a little over Lavanya, and Lavanya blushing
at all the attention she was getting. Aditya came and sat right next
to Anjali, seeing her stiffen, and was about to ask what was wrong,
when Anna walked in through the door, asking Aditya to come over, and
that she needed to talk.
Anjali
had seen the flirtatious look that Anna had passed to Aditya as soon
as she had come, and she had been thinking that even Aditya was like
all other men! Cursing all the male population, she had purposefully
avoided his eyes, knowing fully well that he was looking at every
action of hers. And him being a psychiatrist, she knew he could
probably understand why she was feeling a little irritated at him.
And then he had come to sit beside her, and she knew that he would be
wanting to know what was wrong. But luckily, Dr. B*tch intervened
then and asked to talk to him. ALONE. Anjali looked at the retreating
back of Aditya, her gut, knotting with tension, hoping that he would
prove her theory of 'All-men-are-B*stards',
wrong. And he did. He turned to her, looking at her as to why she
hadn't come with him, and that her coming with him was the most
natural thing to happen, making her forget her irritation
immediately, and feel relieved.
He
was about to leave, when he looked back at Anjali staring at him. She
lowered her gaze, blushing a little when she was caught staring at
him. But he didn't seem to mind even a little, as he looked at her
questioningly, asking whether she wanted to join him. And she
complied, as she rose from her seat and walked ahead of him. They
stopped in the corridor, just outside the apartment and waited for
Anna to start talking. "Okay, I don't see anything wrong with her
physically. But I think she might be pregnant. I'm going to have to
make one more test before I tell you for sure. She keeps mumbling
Arnav! Get her this Arnav ASAP! And I injected a sedative to make her
sleep without any thoughts of this Arnav of hers. So she'll be
asleep for a few more hours." Anna declared, making Aditya and
Anjali grin happily at each other, at hearing the news about
pregnancy.
As
soon as Anna took leave, Aditya frowned, worried about Khushi now.
Anjali called him, but he was too engrossed in his thoughts, and she
put her hand on his arm, and regarded him with questioning eyes.
Aditya held her hand in between both of his, missing the
surprised look in her eyes, as he came out with his thoughts about
Khushi's mental state. He had been hiding this from Lavanya too,
and for reasons indiscernible to him at present, he poured over his
heart about Khushi. She silently listened to him, horrified for
Khushi, yet feeling a little comforted at the fact that Aditya seemed
to share it with just her, and was giving her the much-needed
strength at the moment, and in return, relying on her. As if he was
tired of all this, and she was the only one who could comfort him. .
. . .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Precap:ArHi meet!! 😃
Or do they??!! 😉 😈
P.S: Read and review, pweaseee?? 😳 😃
| topics | author | replies | views | reply |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| kavitha_r | 12 | 474 |
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