Khushi snapped open her eyes, staring at the light green fluorescent stars that covered her ceiling. For a minute, she was entirely perplexed at where she was. Turning her head to the right, she noticed the warm sunlight streaming in through the window and looking at the adjacent wall, she realised that she was lying on her bed in her own bedroom.
She was not in his house.
Turning her head to the other side, she noticed that there were no molten brown eyes to greet her. A tear escaped down her eye to the pillow, as she remembered the way he used to cuddle her, the way his mischievous fingers used to traverse all over her body tickling her, the way his lips greeted her with a warm kiss every morning.
"No Khushi, you have to be strong." She reminded herself as she got up from her bed and dragged herself into the bathroom. Splashing the cold water on her face, she looked at herself in the mirror. Her eyes had turned puffy due to the excessive weeping yesterday. Staring at her own reflection, she felt a new determination ignite within herself. Whatever had happened was unfortunate. But she had to let the bygones be bygones and move ahead.
Summoning up all her courage, she concluded that she needed to bring back her life onto the track. But it was easier said than done. How was she supposed to begin it? She had wandered too much into Arnav's world that now she couldn't find her way back or recollect how her life was before he entered it.
Suddenly, her eyes lit up as a tiny flick of hope paved its way into the absolute darkness of her life. Yes, she realised what she had to do now. Even though it was a small step, she knew that this would help her to assemble the shards of her life and glue them up together.
And for that, there was only one person who would help her out.
o0o
"You will find this first man in Maligaon. This is his house address." The dark skinned man said in a local accent, holding out a piece of paper to him. "And this bag contains all the necessary items to carry out the task. One rifle, two pistols, just in case of emergency and three packs of catridges. It should be sufficient for you." He continued and handed over the bag too. "But you have to make sure of one thing. Those men should never come to know who attacked them. They have never seen your face. So they can't recognise you. But even if you get caught, you cannot reveal any of our names. Otherwise, everything will be jeopardised."
"I know that very well." Arnav nodded, looking out at the window, into the city of Guwahati that was bustling with activity.
"Do you need anything else?" the other man asked, waiting for Arnav to reply. But Arnav remained silent and ushered him to leave him alone in the room. As soon as the man left the room, he took out one bullet from the pack and held it in his palm, admiring the craftsmanship which designed it. Enclosing his fingers over it, he let the warmth of his hand seep into the cold metal.
As he closed his eyes, he could only see one face in front of him, her smile that never failed to bring happiness into his life.
Remembering her, he felt the same affectionate feeling bubble within him, only to give way to the thorns of sorrow and anguish to pierce his heart a minute later.
He stood up and went to the mini bar located in his hotel room and retrieved out his favourite vodka bottle from the cabinet. Pouring out a glass of undiluted liquid for him, he gulped it down, letting it scorch his throat. It had been just twenty four hours since she had walked away from his life, but he felt like an entire millennium had passed in that time.
He yearned for her touch, the way she comforted him when he was feeling low and dreary, the way she made him feel loved and important. As minutes ticked away, turning into hours, he realised that not only had she grown very close to him, but infact started becoming his support system, without which made him feel incomplete and lonely.
Pouring out another glass, he gulped down the contents once again and soon felt the effects of the liquor kicking into his system.
He remembered those dark eyes filled with immense fear and he instantly, felt a shiver run down his spine.
He went on to pour a third glass and consumed it, not at all bothered that it was right in the middle of the afternoon. The grief was too much for him to handle and he knew the only way out of it was to lose his senses.
But somehow, before he could get himself a fourth shot of vodka, the glass slipped from his hand and smashed onto the floor. Arnav stared down at the broken shards, seeing a reflection of his life in it. His life was exactly like this, shattered, irreparable and meaningless.
Even if he was successful in getting out of this criminal world, it would be absolutely futile if he couldn't share his freedom with Khushi. What would he do with his life?
No, he had to mend it. He couldn't let it be broken like this. He had to piece together every single shard.
Arnav bent down and picked the broken glass with his bare hands and assembled the tiny fragments on the table. He tried to fix it, but realised that he had no idea where every piece belonged to. He desperately attempted it, but due to the delirious state he was in, he failed to realise that it was next to impossible. He didn't realise when his fingers started to bleed and the glass shards were stained crimson.
But that didn't deter him. The pain in his hands was nothing compared to the pain in his heart. Infact, he welcomed this physical pain that slowly started to numb the other pain.
I cannot possibly love you anymore.
The words rang in his ears and he closed his eyes tightly, allowing the pain to numb him completely, as he cried out her name in desperation, begging for his fate to be merciful to him, just this one time.
o0o
"Hello Akash?" Khushi spoke over the phone, waiting for the familiar voice to greet her back.
"Khushi?" she heard a surprised voice at the other end.
"Yeah, I needed a favour from you." She said, inhaling a deep breath, hoping that he could help her out. When she heard him answer affirmatively, she continued. "Can I resume my work at your clinic from today?"
Khushi had pondered over her present. If she had to live in her house, she had to earn money. Otherwise, it would be next to impossible for her to survive. That was when, she had remembered Akash's offer of work at his clinic. He had previously told her that she could resume her work whenever she wanted to. And she realised that this was infact the best idea. What better ways than to get involved with some work that would prove to be some sort of distraction from all the recent events?
"Ofcourse, sure." Akash replied, wondering what made her suddenly to return back to her job. As far as he knew, Arnav would have never allowed her to get anywhere closer to him. Then, why was she doing it?
"Khushi, is everything fine?" he asked a little bit worried for her.
"Yeah, it's fine. Can I come right now?" she asked and he agreed. Disconnecting the call, she kept back her phone on the table, wondering if this was the right decision she had taken.
She stared blankly at the empty space ahead of her for a few minutes. One work was done and now, for the other one.
All of a sudden, she picked up the phone, lingering her fingers over the number pad, contemplating on whether she should make the call or not. No, she had to, she decided. Dialling the number, she waited for the other person to pick up. But to her disappointment, after two rings, the call was disconnected.
Heartbroken, she kept down the phone as a lone tear escaped her eyes. This was the third time she had called up Lavanya, but her friend had like the previous two times, disconnected the call without answering it. Khushi had wanted to explain to her friend that she was innocent and that she had been just used as a pawn in this game. But Lavanya wasn't in any forgiving or understanding mode.
How could her friend whom she had known for the past decade just abandon her like that? Was their friendship so fragile that it couldn't withstand one misunderstanding? Would her best friend never give her a chance for an explanation to prove her innocence?
Anyways, she had tried her best. It wasn't her fault if she was perceived as guilty. Devi Maiyya knew that her heart was pure and she never had vile intentions.
As she walked to her bedroom to get ready to go to the clinic, she just prayed that maybe one day, she could assemble together the shards of her devastated life and mend it, leaving behind all sorrow and grief.
o0o
Akash looked at the door when he heard someone knocking it. A smile lit up his face, when he saw Khushi standing near it.
"Come in. I've been waiting for you." He said, putting aside the reports that were in his hand. Khushi managed to put on a faint smile and took the chair opposite him.
"I came here because you said that I could join back whenever I wanted to." She began, tapping the edge of the table nervously.
"Ofcourse. You are always welcome here." Akash smiled back at her. "But after you left, we made some slight changes here. I've decided to operate my clinic only thrice a week in the afternoon coz I have a busy schedule at the hospital and the coming month, I've been assigned to assist operations. I hope you don't have any problem with it." He looked up at her and saw a slight sign of anxiety in her eyes.
"But you don't have to worry about your salary. It will still be the same." He added, and noticed that her eyes relaxed instantly.
"It's fine with me." She replied back in a calm tone, brushing aside the strands of hair that were covering her face, behind her ear.
It was then that Akash suddenly noticed slightly brown finger marks on her wrists and his eyes widened with alarm.
"Khushi, what happened to your wrists?" he asked, and reached out to get a better view of it. But she quickly withdrew her hand and put it down on her lap, away from his sight, before he could get a glance of it.
"Nothing." She replied, looking down at her wrists. She remembered how Arnav had twisted them the previous day, the fury and the intensity of his madness and she shuddered closing her eyes, trying to block away all his memories.
"Did he do it?" Akash suddenly growled, as the realisation struck him and he instantly knew that something was wrong between them. Something had definitely happened and led Khushi to return back here. Otherwise, it was next to impossible for Arnav to allow her to work here, especially after their heated encounter a week before.
"Who did what?" Khushi asked back, trying to hide the matter and brush it aside.
"You know it very well. I'm talking about Arnav here." He said, getting up from his chair as he walked towards her.
"No, he didn't." She replied back instantly, looking away from his face.
"Is this the reason why you came back here?" he continued and saw Khushi glancing back at him reflexively for a second.
"I don't know what you are saying." She denied and looked away, but then suddenly, the reality dawned upon her. Did it mean that Akash knew Arnav's truth all along? Hadn't Arnav said that they were friends and knew each other? Or was Akash also oblivious to his real identity?
"Khushi..." he softly called out her name, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder, noticing the worried creases on her forehead, confirming that something was definitely wrong with her. "You can tell me." He said.
"Did you know that Arnav is a...?" she asked instantly and he nodded. "Yes. I knew it." He said, without waiting for her to finish the sentence. So now, Khushi finally knew the truth about Arnav. Therefore, did that mean they had broken up? It very well explained the reason why she was here.
"And yet, you never told me?" she asked, with accusing eyes.
"I wanted to tell you about him. Infact, I approached you so many times. But he stopped me every single time." He sighed. "Wait, so did he hurt you?" he asked, holding her wrist as he carefully examined the marks on it.
"No. He didn't." She iterated once again. This physical pain was nothing when compared to what she felt emotionally. "Did you also know that he used Lavanya to accomplish some task of his?" she asked, feeling a familiar ache surfacing in her chest.
"What? No, I didn't know that." He replied utterly surprised.
"You know Akash, today my best friend thinks that I backstabbed her and cheated with her ex boyfriend, when she doesn't know the truth that Arnav only used both of us as pawns in his dirty game." She said, looking weary and tired. "I have lost my best friend as well as the man whom I loved the most, all in a day. I'm all alone." She whispered and caught his hand helplessly, trying to hold on to something as she found herself drowning into the dark abyss. She went on to tell him every single thing that had occurred in the past couple of days, while he listened to it patiently.
"Khushi, you are not alone. I'm with you." He said, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"I don't know what to do." She cried out desperately, finally finding some solace in his company.
"Maybe he was never meant for you." He said, holding her hand, entwining his fingers with hers. Somewhere, deep down inside, he couldn't deny that a part of him was relieved to know Arnav was finally out of the picture of Khushi's life. But he also couldn't deny that he indeed felt sorry seeing her in this state, completely heartbroken and devastated.
"Just try to forget all that happened and move on. I'm sure you have a great future lying ahead of you." He continued, giving her hand a little reassuring squeeze.
Khushi looked up into those warm charcoal eyes and smiled, wiping away her tears. Maybe she could indeed move past Arnav and start a new life and maybe this was the beginning to it.
"So what work do I have for today?" she asked eagerly, standing up, pulling away her hand from his.
"I think you could help me to sort out these reports here. That would suffice for today." he said, pointing to the huge pile of reports on the table beside him.
"Ok, let's do it then." She said enthusiastically, putting behind everything that had happened and took the first step of change in her life, while Akash smiled at her. A small voice at the back of his head told him that maybe he did have a chance with Khushi afterall and felt a tiny flick of hope simmer in his heart.
o0o
He stormed into the big oak doors of the large mansion, seething with uncontrollable fury, clenching his fists tightly. As he stomped down the large empty corridor, the only noise that disturbed the absolute silence around him was that of his footsteps. The rage was so enormous that if he had a gun in his hand, someone would have been definitely shot down by him.
Approaching the large expanse of the expensively decorated living room, he saw one of the menservants dusting off the artefacts displayed on one corner of the room.
"Where is Khalid Bhaijaan?" he barked, scaring off the servant.
"Upstairs, in his bedroom." The servant replied in a soft trembling voice and scurried away from the scene lest he be a target of this man's fury.
Hearing the reply, he immediately marched upstairs, his eyes reddening every minute. After what seemed to be a long walk to the bedroom that was located at the other end of this mansion, he stood outside the closed doors.
No, he couldn't go in like this, he reminded himself. Taking in a deep breath, he counted upto ten, closing his eyes and tried to control his rage and only when he was sure that it was perfectly under his control, he put on a calmed mask on his face and knocked at the door, looking absolutely fine, as if the rage was never present at all.
"Come in." He heard his brother from inside and pushed open the doors. He saw that the elder man was sitting on his bed, his back propped backwards on the headboard, reading some book that looked like an old personal diary of his. But he also noticed that as soon as his eyes travelled over the diary, Khalid immediately put it under the pillow on his right, away from his brother's eyes.
"Abbas, did you need something?" he asked curiously, taking off his reading glasses.
"Yes." Abbas smiled, inhaling a deep breath, flashing a perfectly calm smile at his elder brother, leaving behind no traces of fury that was bubbling beneath his calm exterior just a few seconds earlier. "Do you have any idea where Arnav could be right now?" he asked, trying to phrase it in the most normal way without raising any alarm bells.
"Why? Did you have some work?" Khalid asked, standing up.
"Yeah, I needed him for some work with those dealers I was talking about last week." Abbas lied, not knowing what else to say. He simply prayed that his brother wouldn't dive into further details.
"He's busy right now. I've sent him to Guwahati for some work. Maybe you could use Aman or Shyam for your work. They are also equally good since you say that the work is related to dealers. Take Aman if it is some serious matter." Khalid suggested.
"What kind of work?" Abbas asked suspiciously, wondering what his elder brother was upto.
"Nah, nothing that you should worry about. I'll handle it myself. I don't want my younger brother to take all this tension. You just enjoy your life." Khalid replied, walking over to Abbas and patting his shoulder. He concluded that it was best if he shielded Abbas from all this. He may have crossed fifty, but he still felt the same old protective instinct towards his younger brother. Nothing would ever falter his love for him.
"So when will he return back?" Abbas asked instantaneously, clenching his fists a second later realising his folly.
"You seem very interested with Arnav." Khalid replied, sensing it immediately.
"No, it's just that I thought Arnav would be perfect for this job." Abbas said, cursing his slip of tongue. "I need to go now. Have some important work to do. Allah Hafiz!" he said and turned around, walking out of the door before Khalid could question him further.
"Okay. Allah Hafiz!" Khalid smiled at his brother and turned around to resume his place on the bed. His brother would never change, would he? He could never understand what went on in Abbas's mind but over the years, he had simply accepted it as a part of his personality.
Taking out his old diary, he resumed reading it, the smile continuing to linger on his face.
18 th May, 1977.
Today, I saw her once again sitting on the swing in her garden. Due to my good luck, the huge gates of her house were open and I managed to get a glimpse of her. She was wearing a pretty yellow dress that covered till her knees and was reading a book. I couldn't see which book it was. But she seemed to be enjoying every bit of it. Their old gardener once again caught me staring at her and tried to shoo me away as if I was some bird. And this finally caught her attention and she looked at me, her eyes becoming serious all of a sudden. I smiled at her sheepishly, but she was not amused with it. She picked up her book and turned around to go back into the house. But as she walked into her house, she suddenly turned around and I'm pretty sure that she winked at me and swaying her hips a way bit more than usual, she entered the house, closing the door haughtily behind her.
But I knew there was more to come. She went to her bedroom upstairs and tried to catch a glimpse of me by peeping through the curtains. She never realised that I knew that she was staring at me. I have to admit, she is one feisty girl. I would have stood watching her for few more minutes, if it hadn't been for my impatient little brother who wanted to go home quickly.
This was the second time I saw her at her house. Hopefully, I'll get to see her more frequently.
Khalid smiled even more remembering all those fond memories. More than three decades had passed, but these memories were still one of the best of his life. He flipped over another page to read one more excerpt of his diary.
25 th July, 1977.
Today, I won the Interschool shooting championship, all thanks to my mentor. I had worked for this for the entire year and now, I'm qualified to enter the District championship. And the best part was that the Principal of our school awarded me the Medal in front of the whole school. And guess what? She was standing right in the front of the Assembly hall and surprisingly, for the first time she smiled at me.
So atleast now I know that she acknowledges my presence. And I also came to know that she is in Abbas's class. He tells me she is a serious girl who doesn't really talk to any boys and also that she is the topper of her class. Do you really think she would like me? I haven't got even a single chance to talk to her. Hopefully, I will get soon.
He sighed, thinking about how naive he had been at that time. But he couldn't blame himself either. He was just eighteen and unlike other boys of his age, this was the first time he had a crush on a girl that too, who was four years his junior.
The first and the only girl he had ever loved.
Feeling the muscles of his eyes ache with too much of reading, he decided to give them some rest and thus, keeping aside the diary, he closed his eyes as he let her invade his dreams, lulling him to sleep.
CHAPTER 45
Arjun
Cricket
Indian Mythology
193