Arnav came out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel after his shower, and his eyes widened; the bed was empty, where was Khushi? He looked around before he screamed out her name, but then stopped and heaved a sigh of relief as he saw her near the wardrobe. He ran to her, took her arm and turned her around, scaring her and making her drop the clothes that she had taken out of the wardrobe. "Khushi, what are you doing? Didn't I ask you take rest? Why are you walking around, when the doctor has said you need complete bed rest?" Khushi looked into his eyes and stammered, "I.. I was taking out clothes.." Arnav snapped back, "You could have asked me and I would have gotten it for you. What do you need? Tell me. " Khushi's eyes filled with tears and Arnav realized that he was putting pressure on her arm and had been shouting at her. His face softened and he took her face in his hands. "I am sorry, sweetheart. Just you make me so mad, when you don't listen to me. I want you to get better soon. I cannot see you in pain, Khushi; it kills me. Now tell me, what do you need?" Khushi smiled and used her eyes to indicate the clothes that had fallen down. Arnav picked up the clothes and looked at it and at her; she had taken out a towel and a light green and yellow salwar. "Arnavji, I want to take a shower. Let me go take a quick shower and then we can go down for breakfast." She tried to take the clothes from Arnav's hand, but he shook his head and touched her face. "Khushi, the doctor has said that you shouldn't take a shower for two weeks." Khushi's mouth widened. "Two weeks? I cannot go without a shower for two weeks. I don't care, I am going to take a shower." She grabbed the clothes from him and started walking to the door, and he grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "Khushi, what did I just tell you? Stop fussing and listen to me." Arnav said sternly. "You can't take a shower, but you can use a wet cloth to wipe yourself. Hold on, let me help you. First you sit on the bed". Arnav helped her sit on the bed, and Khushi watched as he picked up a chair and walked into the bathroom. She heard the tap running and then she saw him walk out into the room and to the wardrobe to take a small towel. He walked to the bed, picked her up and took her to the bathroom and placed her on the chair; a bucket filled with water was lying next to the chair. "Here you go, Khushi. Do you need something else?" Khushi stood up and shook her head. She got up and turned around to remove her pallu from her blouse. Arnav looked away and started walking back to the bedroom, when he heard her cry in pain. "Khushi?" Arnav screamed and ran to her. Khushi's face was filled with pain and she had tears streaming down her cheeks. He put his arms around her and she put her head against his chest; "I can't walk, I can't take a shower, I can't even remove my clothes on my own, Arnavji. I hate this; when will I get better, Arnavji?" Khushi said, as she sobbed. Arnav touched her chin and lifted her face to meet his and said, "Soon, sweetheart. Now don't worry, I will nurse you back to health, Khushi and you will back to normal in no time." He released her from his embrace and touched her pallu. She looked at him, her lips trembling; Arnav looked at her as he removed her pallu from her shoulder. He touched her face and asked, softly. "You trust me, Khushi?" She nodded and turned around slowly, as he helped remove her saree. Finally, he wrapped her in a towel and placed her on the chair. He kneeled down next to her, took the smaller towel, dipped it in the bucket and squeezed the water out. Khushi watched Arnav, as he gently wiped her arms and her shoulders and tears filled her eyes. Arnav felt awkward, as they had never been intimate before and here they both were, just wrapped in towels. He swallowed the lump in his throat, as he thought of how soft her skin felt. He looked at Khushi and realized that she was feeling uncomfortable as well. Arnav cleared his throat, and said, to take their mind off the current situation, "Khushi, I forgot to tell you. Last night, I looked up Shyam's phone bill from last month. He had placed multiple calls to three numbers; I will get those numbers checked out. Maybe that will give us some leads. " Khushi had a concerned look on her face as she said, "Arnavji, I am worried that Shyamji might get to know that we are looking into his activities. If he gets suspicious, we might never find out why he kidnapped you and what his motive is. He might even try to hurt you again", a tear rolled down her cheek. Arnav shook his head and said, with a smile, "Khushi, I will be careful. And don't worry, nothing is going to happen to me, as long as I have you at my side. I love you, sweetheart." They looked into each other's eyes and Khushi's lips trembled, as she looked into Arnav's loving brown eyes. She took his hand in her hands and smiled, "I love you too, Arnavji and I will always be at your side, I promise." Arnav smiled and stood up, and as he helped her change into the green and yellow salwar, he said, "In the meantime, I am glad that Nani believes you now. Soon everyone will trust you, including Di". Khushi said softly, "I hope Di will be fine when she learns about Shyamji. I don't want her to be upset, Arnavji, not in this condition". Arnav continued, "Khushi, don't worry. She will be fine; we have to start building suspicion in her mind against Shyam, instead of giving her a huge shock. Also she has the entire family to help her survive; she will be fine". Arnav raised his eyebrows as he heard Khushi scream in pain, "Ouch". Arnav looked at Khushi and asked, "Khushi, are you alright?" She rubbed her eye and said, "Arnavji, you poked me in my eye. Where were you.." she stopped, as he touched her eye with his hand, and said quickly, "Khushi, I was trying not to look at you, so I didn't see'" he stopped, realizing what he had said. Khushi looked into his eyes, her eyes filled with tears, her heart filled with love and respect for her husband; he didn't stare, even though I was standing in front of him, with hardly any clothes on. Arnav looked into her eyes and blushed. Finally they both burst into laughter.
Arnav helped Khushi walk out of their room; he knew that she didn't want him to carry her around. They ran into Akash who was walking towards their room. "Bhai, I am sorry I didn't get a chance to talk to you yesterday. I mean, bhai, what happened to you all those days? Who kidnapped you? I wanted to talk to you before I contacted the police." Arnav shook his head, "Akash, I will take care of it". Arnav looked at Khushi and started walking away from Akash, his arm around Khushi. "Khushiji", Arnav stopped as he heard Akash call Khushi. Akash walked to them and looked at Khushi. "I am sorry, Khushiji. Payal convinced me that you would never do any wrong to our family and maybe deep down, I knew too that you always have a valid reason for everything that you do. I know that you could never do anything to cause any harm to anyone. Also," Akash looked at Arnav, "I always trust Bhai's judgement. If he trusts you, then I believe that you are innocent and this was all just a misunderstanding on Jijaji's part." Arnav smiled and put his hand on Akash's shoulder. "Thanks, Akash. I actually need your help. By the way, where is Mami?" Akash said, "She is in her room. Why, Bhai?" Arnav shook his head. "Oh nothing, I just had something to ask her. I will talk to her later. I will come to your room as soon as Khushi is done with breakfast, ok?" Akash nodded and watched with a smile on his face, seeing his brother's care towards Khushi. Akash didn't notice Shyam, who was standing in the corner and had heard the entire conversation.
"Akash, good, I am glad that all these money issues have been resolved". Arnav said, heaving a sigh of relief. They were sitting by the poolside, right outside Manorama's room. "The last thing I need now is for AR to be sued for tax fraud". Arnav got up from the chair, looked into Mami's room and then looked at Akash. "Akash, how is Di's house construction going?" Akash stood up and said, "Bhai, as far as I know, there has not been much progress in the past two weeks. Jijaji has been talking to the contractors about some issue that they have been having with the workers. So the work has come to a stand still. Last I heard, and this was three weeks back, I think they built the foundation and a few brick walls on the ground floor". Arnav put his lips together and said, "Hmm.. I see.. Jijaji took about 20 lakhs from Di's account last week. I wonder why they needed that money. I hope he is not in any sort of trouble. I need to talk to him about it". Akash raised his eyebrows, "20 lakhs? Why? I mean, Di didn't even tell me about it. Such a huge amount, why would they need that when the house construction is not happening?" Arnav and Akash walked into Arnav's room, without realizing that Manorama had been listening to their conversation. Construction has not been happening? But I thought, Anjali beti just told me two days back that work had started on the second floor. Why did Damadji lie to her? Maybe he didn't want her to worry. But still, he took 20 lakhs from her account and didn't tell her? Why? Manorama stood up, and started pacing the floor. She remembered how Khushi had said she was doing everything she could to find Arnav. Did Khushi find out about the 20 lakhs? Did she find out something else? Was that why Damadji accused her? Stop it, Manorama. You trust phatti sari more than Damadji? Hmm.. first I have to do investigation! Manorama ran out of her room.
Khushi sat in her bedroom, reading a magazine, when someone opened the door. She looked up thinking it was Arnav, but her eyebrows raised in terror as Shyam entered the room and closed the door after him. She tried to slowly get up from the bed, but he was too quick for her. He ran to the bed and put his hands on her shoulder. "Khushiji, you got shot? Why did you have to go search for Arnav on your own? Did you not trust me, Khushiji??? Or were you lying to me about your revenge against Arnav? If you hated him so much, why did you keep looking for him? Why didn't you just let him die? I hate it when people lie to me and use me for their benefit; if you used me, then you will suffer and so will Arnav." Khushi struggled as she tried to free herself from his grip. Suddenly the door opened and Arnav stepped in. His eyes widened as he saw Shyam with Khushi. Shyam slowly removed his hands off Khushi and got off the bed. "I just came to make sure that you were taking good care of Khushiji." Shyam walked past Arnav and Arnav said, his face furious. "I know how to take care of my wife, I don't need your help, Jijaji. Don't you dare step foot into our bedroom again!" Shyam grinned, looked at Khushi and walked out.
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Guys, don't forget to leave your comments! I changed my plan now.. hopefully this one will be interesting.. might turn out to be a bit overdramatic, but I hope you guys will enjoy it! Please please leave your comments.. can't wait to hear what you thought about the update. For those people who thought that there was a lot of romance and less action in this update, don't worry.. the next updates onwards you won't see much romance.. because I want the story to move forward soon!
Part 11: One learns to trust, while the other begins to distrust
Geet - Hui Sabse Parayee
Bade Achche Lagte Hain Naya Season
10