Arhi FF : Living and Loving ~Lnk for Thd 2 on pg.1 - Page 11

Thanks for the PM. Nice prologue. Interesting.

Fab start! Loved it! Do continue it :)

LOLZ! Loved it! And the last part made me smile! Please continue soon!

This sounds really interesting looking forward to reading it

Khushi woke up and stretched her arms inhaling a long breath and exhaling in a gust. She reached to the side table and opened the drawer. Extracting a picture frame from it, which had a picture of her and Arnav. Khushi had smiled for the camera, while Arnav had his lips against her temple, smiling, murmuring how crazy she was.

Crazy, she had been. Sighing at her own foolishness of the days of past, she looked at the smiling Arnav once again.

An ironic smile spread across Khushi's face as she hugged the picture to her heart. Putting it back in its place, she squared her shoulders, reminding herself to live one more day. Live one more day for others. Not that she was complaining. Living for others was far better than living purposelessly. And that is what her life had turned into.

Purposeless.

Arnav had told her to leave Delhi, and never show her face to him.

Arnav, whom she still loved.

Even after all this.

Keeping herself alive with that weak hope that he may realize that he had misunderstood her, and he might, JUST MIGHT come back.

She was about to open the door to her washroom, when someone banged on her door. She hurried to open the door to see who it was, and what it was about.

Shiva was gasping for air, a hand on her chest, as she hunched her back, making her short form seem even shorter. "Shiva?! Kya hua?! Kya baat hai?!" Khushi asked, as she held Shiva's shoulder. Shiva gulped a little, trying to ease her dry throat, before she spoke up, "I really don't understand why you insist on living in the top floor!" Khushi clucked her tongue in impatience and said, "So that you get your exercise! The point, please??!"

Shiva slapped a hand across her forehead dramatically, before she sighed and started tugging Khushi along, as she explained, "You need to see this, sissy!! Our volunteers brought in a handicap woman right now. Artificial right leg. She's pregnant. And she's unconscious. Not waking up. I think she's under some kind of shock!"

As soon as the words pregnant and unconscious came out of Shiva's mouth, Khushi turned to her in concern, which Shiva understood perfectly well and answered, "I don't see any bleeding. So the baby is fine. Hopefully!"

They had started walking towards the lobby, where the this woman had been brought in. Khushi, fully on professional mode now, first talked to the two volunteers from the neighboring college, who explained where and how they had found the woman. "Good job, guys! Let me take care of her, now. Bye." She said, smiling at them and waving them off.

Shiva was wiping the forehead and brows of the woman with a wet cloth, and Khushi didn't bother to have another look at the woman for now, as she made a call to her other best friend, Dr. Aditi. She always made a point to visit "House of Hope", the welfare home run by Khushi for all sorts of homeless living beings. She would immediately come down when such cases came in at Hope. After explaining the situation to her, Khushi ended the call, making sure that Aditi would be there at the earliest. She came and sat in the chair next to the unconscious woman, on her other side.

Gasping when she saw the woman's face, she sat with eyes wide, not knowing how to react. Shiva was fanning at the woman's face, smiling at the innocence that the woman seemed to exude even in her unconsciousness, when she saw Khushi gasp, and sit back in a daze. Frowning as she got up, Shiva called Khushi's name to wake her up from her stupor. When that failed, she shook her shoulder, questioning what the matter was, when Khushi finally looked up.

"Shiva!" Khushi gasped, making Shiva mutter something in her mother tongue, Tamil. Usually, Khushi would ask the meaning of that, as she had started learning Tamil off late. But today, she just looked back at the unconscious woman, with the same amount of shock. "What, Khushi?!" Shiva almost yelled, when Khushi pointed a shaking finger at the unconscious woman, and whispered, "Di. . . Anjali Di. . . .", making Shiva's face go pale, as she thought, 'So this is the woman for whose sake, Khushi's life was ruined... Anjali, sister of Arnav Singh Raizada. . . .'

The admiration Shiva had had for the woman, was thrown out of the window immediately. she couldn't help but remember the state Khushi was in, when she had found her.

Lost.


Shocked.


And then, when Khushi had finally realized that she was all alone in Goa, a very new place, she had been scared senseless.

It had taken a while before she had started trusting Shiva, though they lived under a same roof.

But Khushi had opened up to Shiva. Little by little. Telling Shiva, all about her unfortunate love story. Now Shiva was the kind of a woman who rarely got attached to people. But when she did, she would do anything under her control to protect them, and keep them happy. So right now, she did have a good mind to murder this Arnav person. The worst thing was that Khushi still believed that Arnav might return to her, after he realized that he had misunderstood her. She acted otherwise. Oh, she could act all she wanted! But Shiva understood very well what Khushi felt and thought!

Shiva used to work as a software engineer, back then. And when she came back home after tiring meetings and a day filled with stress and then some more, she loved being welcomed to her own home by another living soul.

It had been a month, and they had gone shopping for a few dresses for Khushi, who had smiled, finally, after days of having the same haunted expression on her face. Shiva paid the bill and turned to find no Khushi. She had been terrified and had ran out of the shop, to see Khushi cleaning the wounds of a street dog, who had a small wound on her leg. Maybe some accident with a speeding vehicle.

The concern, on Khushi's face, and then her winning smile, when the dog limped a little before it gave a grateful lick at Khushi's hand, made Shiva realize that the only way that Khushi could forget her own pain, was by tending to others' pain.

That was how the idea of House of Hope was obtained, and Casey, the dog was the first member of the family. Sure, she was spoilt to the core, an advantage of being the only pet for a houseful of people. And this Arnav, whoever he was, had kept true to his word and paid Khushi the promised amount each month, which now helped to feed and shelter 36 members and a bratty dog.

Returning to the present, she wished the same could somehow happen to Anjali too. But the thought made her feel a tad little guilty, tied down by the duty of her position. She quickly called the housemaids to take Anjali to a room and get her cleaned up before Aditi came to check on her.

"Khushi. . . . . Are you okay, kannu*?" Siva asked, looking at the grief stricken face of the person, whom she considered her soul sister.

Khushi smiled a fake smile of hers, knowing that Shiva recognized it too. Nodding once, she left for her room.

Shiva sighed, knowing what was about to happen now. Lots of jalebis, and replaying of the memories of her days spent with Arnav. . . . . . .

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* Kannu- a Tamil endearment. [:P]

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**Edited**

Ahh thanks for clearing where Khushi is now!

I was so confused after the Prologue lol 😆

So, Anjali is need of help, and unknowingly is guided to Khushi's doorstep..

Wow!

Can't wait for the story to continue!

Thanks for a wonderful update, and PM! =)

superb start... 😊😊😊😊😊😊