*None of my work can be copied without explicit written permission from me. It's not polite to steal ideas.*
Writer's Note:Hey people! FIRST OF ALL CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF YOU for ARSHI's MARRIAGE!! 🤗 sacche pyaar ki jeet hui!!
I'm so happy that they got back together that I'm thinking if there is any point in keeping the name of this FF as "They way IPK should've been" when we all know what IPK IS 😆
Anyway! Back with a new update. Hopefully your curiosity will be quenched a little.
Btw, I had asked you guys to guess what was in the trunk. The only people who answered were -Siaa-, ipknndfanforeva, Iammyself, so a big hug from me to you guys (for reading the notes I write 😆)
We are getting to the interesting part folks. I can promise a big confrontation scene in the next chapter. Promise! Stay tuned and bless me please with your feedback. Ok this time a special request. Write one line about your most FAVORITE scene of this FF so far. PLEASEEE!! 😳
cheers!
Raghav returns with the keys ten minutes later seemingly out of breath and starts working laboriously on the old rusted lock as the three Raizada brothers tapped their foot impatiently.
"Ye bahut purana taala hai sahib. Isiliye thoda time lag raha hai," Raghav murmurs apologetically. Finally with a loud click the lock opens. Raghav pushes open the door with his hands and stands aside. NK quickly peers inside.
"Yahan to kitna dark hai!" he exclaims excitedly. Arnav throws him an annoyed look but before he can say another word, NK disappears down the stairs. "Come on guys! Mere phone mein torch hai," his voice echos back up weirdly. Arnav and Aakash exchange a glance. Aakash shrugs and follows NK.
"Raghav ek kaam karo, kuch candles aur torches le aao. Hum log neeche hi hain," Arnav directs before stepping on the stairs leading to the crypt below.
Arnav walks down some 15 steps before reaching a huge open space. The beams of light from their phones seem to be the only source of light in the darkness around them. As Arnav beams up his torch to the ceiling of the room, he deduces the "dungeon" to be at least a floor below the ground level. Dadi had been correct about this place being shut down for years; the air was heavy with a pungent smell clearly a testament to that. He looks around him. The room seems to be full of old furniture, broken and useless. He can see old beds, some high arched chairs and the remains of an old wadrobe. Dusty old sheets were covering up most of the items. Arnav took a tentative step back remembering about his allergy to dust.
"Bhai ye kaun hain?" Aakash calls from a distance. Arnav follows his voice to see Aakash pointing at a life size portrait of a regal looking man, gilded in a beautiful intricate frame. Arnav seems to recognize the features of the man from old family albums.
"Woh mere dadaji the, Brijesh Singh Mallik," Arnav says in an awestruck voice. "He was a big landlord in his time. He died before I was born." Arnav notices similar life size portraits of some of his other family members also lying around. As if someone had left them back here in a hurry and no one came to claim them afterwards.
"OUCH!" NK's yelp of pain distracts them both and they rush towards the direction of his voice. They find him crouched on the floor, rubbing his toe in agony.
"NK Bhai, are you ok?" Aakash asks concernedly.
"Obviously not Aakash! I was looking around, when I banged my leg against this!" NK exclaims disgustedly and points to the reason of his pain. Arnav says, "Aakash, behtar hoga agar tum NK ko upar le jao. I don't want him banging against other things and hurting himself." NK looks affronted.
"I'm fine Nannav! I'll get up wait," NK struggles and stands up. Arnav shines his mobile torch to where NK had pointed to see it was an old trunk. He was surprised. In a room filled with broken furniture and old paintings, this was the only thing that seemed out of place. He walks closer to the trunk and sees a crest engraved on top of the trunk's surface. Weird.
"Aakash, help me to life up this trunk. I want to see what is inside it." Arnav says to Aakash. Both the brothers heave the trunk to an old dining table covered in dirt. NK peers around them. They see that the trunk too has a huge lock similar to the one they had seen upstairs. NK gets disappointed. Isn't anything exciting goin to happen today?
Arnav slowly touches the clamp holding the lock and it just crumbles with his touch. The iron around the handle was so rusted that it couldn't even bear a gentle touch. The three brothers exchange a look. Arnav slowly eases out the latch from its grove and keeps it down along with the lock. He slowly pulls the lid up. NK realises he has held his breath in his excitement.
The trunk lies open in front of them. Arnav realises its contents have been wrapped in an old white dhoti. He gently unwraps the many layers. Finally when the last layer is removed, he sees there are a number of small wooden engraved boxes. He picks up the topmost and eases it open. It bears a beautiful metallic fish. Arnav confusedly passes it to Aakash who immediately realises what it is as Payal had one back at home. He holds the fish from its tail firmly and slowly rotates it about its front. Arnav gasps as he sees it has a hollowed out compartment inside filled with some black coloured thing.
"Bhai ye kajal rakhne ke liye hota hai," Aakash whispers. Arnav stares at him in disbelief. It was a metallic fish to store kohl? NK picks up another similar wooden box containing some pieces of old rustic jewellery. He quietly keeps it back. Arnav picks up a third box and opens it. He lets out an audible gasp as he stares at its contents. NK and Aakash move closer to have a good look. The box contains a pair of silver payals. Arnav's heart starts thudding harder. He suddenly starts feeling light headed and grabs the edge of the trunk steadying himself.
"Bhai!" Aakash exclaims alarmed. "Aap theek ho? Kya hua?"
Arnav goes on staring at the payals. He realises that he actually recognises them! He recognises them because he had hidden them once a very long time ago and had ended up being beaten up for his mischief.
He recognizes them because they belonged to his mother.
"Batao na Nannav. Kya hua?" NK asks him persistently.
"Ye meri Maa ke the," Arnav says calmly. Aakash and NK straighten up and look at each other. They had been peering into the belongings of Arnav's parents for the past 10 minutes. Aakash glances at Arnav as the latter stands frozen, still staring at the payals. He indicates to NK to walk away from Arnav and give him some privacy.
After a few silent moments, Arnav realises that his brothers have left his side and feels grateful for their understanding. He didn't want anyone barging into his private moment with his parents. He gently closes his mother's other jewellery boxes and keeps them back inside the trunk. He slips the box of payals into his own pocket. Then, he shifts the other similar boxes inside the trunk to a side and goes through the rest of the contents. He is starting to feel a frission of excitement tingling through his body. This was the first time in 14 years that he was physically holding something that belonged to his parents in his own hands. He finds his hands are trembling. He goes on shifting things aside when his hands finally rested on a leather diary, bound together by a string. He picks it up. It is almost an inch thick, having numerous papers sticking out from its leaves. He undoes the string and eases the diary open.
He freezes as he reads the line written in a beautiful cursive handwriting on the first page.
Diary of Rajeev Singh Mallik.
Before his mind can register anything else, a loud shout fills the room.
"AAPKO KAHA GAYA THA NA, KAAL KOTHRI MEIN AANA MANA HAI?" Dadi thunders, her voice echoing manyfold in the enclosed space. Arnav hears the mutterings of his two brothers. He glances at the trunk and impulsively tucks the diary inside his tee shirt and closes the lid of the trunk jamming the latch back into its grove in record speed. Then he quickly walks away from there towards the source of the commotion.
He sees Dadi standing at the end of the stairs looking furiously at his two brothers who looked extremely uncomfortable. Behind Dadi, Dinanath was standing looking extremely worried and further behind him stood Raghav, looking extremely embarrassed.
"Kothri maine kholne ko kaha tha Dadi," Arnav says coolly. Dadi looks momentarily shocked to see Arnav there as if she thought only Aakash and NK had snuck in somehow. She readjusts her expressions.
"Kothri mein aana mana hai Arnav," she repeats firmly, trying to keep down the irritation in her voice. Arnav raises his eyebrow.
"Dadi, ye mera ghar hai, remember?" he reminds her politely. "Aur apne ghar mein main kahin bhi ja sakta hun." Dadi's anger returns. She opens her mouth to reprimand again before Arnav continues, "hum to yahan sirf ye dekhne aaye the ki iss space ko hum store room ki tarah use kar sakte hain ya nahin. That is agar main ye ghar business purpose ke liye use karta hun to," he says smoothly. Dadi glares at him.
Arnav turns to Aakash and as if resuming a conversation they had been interrupted in, he says conversationally, "Aakash I don't think we can use this place. It's too suffocating." Aakash understands what his brother is trying to do and immediately nods in agreement.
"Yeah Bhai. Aur ventilation ki bhi problem hogi yahan par. Koi ducts ya openings nahin hain. It's all closed up." Aakash replies indicating the ceiling of the room.
"And yahan bandi smell bhi aa rahi hai," NK also enthusiastically joins in. Arnav and Aakash glance at each other and then at NK in exasperation.
"Bandi nahin NK bhai. Gandi," Aakash quietly corrects NK. Dadi listens to their conversation disinterestedly. She suddenly raises her hand indicating them to stop.
"Theek hai. Pooja ka samay ho raha hai. Aap log upar jakar tayyar ho jaiye," she says sternly and leaves as abruptly as she had arrived. Dinanath also leaves with her. NK lets out an audible sigh of relief. Raghav slowly ambles towards them, looking apologetic.
"Maaf kijiyega Sahib, mujhe nahin pata tha Baba Badi Malkin ko saath le aayenge. Main to bas unse torch maangne gaya tha," he mumbles embarrassedly. Arnav slaps his back gently.
"Koi baat nahin," he says assuringly. Then turning to NK, he adds teasingly, "So NK, tumhara adventure trip ho gaya?" Aakash lets out a guffaw of laughter telling Arnav how NK almost shit his pants when he came face to face with Dadi, and they slowly start walking back up the stairs.
[King George's hospital, in the evening]
Khushi has been sitting outside the Operation Theatre for almost five and a half hours. Although she had been told by the specialists that the operation would take time due to the intricacies involved, she is starting to feel worried. No one has come out in all this time to tell her what was going on. She guesses all she can do is be patient and hope for the best.
Finally, after another 15 minutes a man walks out of the OT wearing a pale blue gown and a mask. As he notices Khushi, he purposefully walks to her and pulled off his mask.
"Khushi?" Khushi springs up from the seat and nods her head vigourously in response. "Operation successful raha. We'll keep him in the ICU for a couple of days under observation. But your father is doing fine." Khushi immediately whispered a prayer of thanks to Devi Maiyya. The doctor continues, "he is still unconscious. Hosh aane mein kuch ghante lagenge. Hum tabhi jaan payenge ki operation ka success rate kitna raha." They start walking towards his office. On the way the specialist explains that the next stage of the treatment would be speech therapy as Shashi would still have trouble talking for a few days. After having a discussion about recuperative therapies with the doctor, Khushi goes to the ICU to check on her father.
The nurse shoos her away saying ICU visiting hours were very strict, stricter than the normal ward visiting schedule. She advises Khushi to go home and get some rest, and assures her that she'll take care of her father till she returns.
[Purani Haveli, later in the evening]
The Shradh Pooja has finished. The Priest is speaking to Dadi about what needs to be done with the items of the Pooja. Arnav is sittin on the swing in the Haveli's courtyard and gazing towards the sky, a look of sadness in his eyes. He feels someone squeezing his shoulder tenderly from behind. He turns around to see Anjali walk over and sit down beside him on the swing. She too looks extremely sad. Arnav pulls his sister into a half hug, both quiet allowing their grief to pour out of their bodies.
There is no need of conversing, because both of them are feeling the exact same thing.This one day of the year serves to be a painful reminder to both of them that despite so much time having passed by, despite having a loving family, despite having a doting Nani, they were still alone.
Arnav stares at the steadily darkening evening sky. He can see some stars blinking up at him. Anjali also follows his gaze towards them.
"Pata hai Di? Khushi hamesha kehti thi ki humare parents tare ban gaye hain," Arnav mumbles. Anjali looks at him, surprised to hear such a lovely statement and the reference to Khushi. Arnav seems to realise it a moment too late and bows his head down.
"Chotey..." she starts when Arnav suddenly gets up from the swing. "Main apne kamre mein jaa raha hun Di," and walks away. Anjali stares at his retreating back sadly, praying to the almighty to bring some relief to her brother's pain.
Raghav returns with the keys ten minutes later seemingly out of breath and starts working laboriously on the old rusted lock as the three Raizada brothers tapped their foot impatiently.
"This is a very old lock sahib. That's why it is taking some time," Raghav murmurs apologetically. Finally with a loud click the lock opens. Raghav pushes open the door with his hands and stands aside. NK quickly peers inside.
"It's so dark here!" he exclaims excitedly. Arnav throws him an annoyed look but before he can say another word, NK disappears down the stairs. "Come on guys! My phone has a torch," his voice echos back up weirdly. Arnav and Aakash exchange a glance. Aakash shrugs and follows NK.
"Raghav do one thing, get some torches and candles. We'll be downstairs," Arnav directs before stepping on the stairs leading to the crypt below.
Arnav walks down some 15 steps before reaching a huge open space. The beams of light from their phones seem to be the only source of light in the darkness around them. As Arnav beams up his torch to the ceiling of the room, he deduces the "dungeon" to be at least a floor below the ground level. Dadi had been correct about this place being shut down for years; the air was heavy with a pungent smell clearly a testament to that. He looks around him. The room seems to be full of old furniture, broken and useless. He can see old beds, some high arched chairs and the remains of an old wadrobe. Dusty old sheets were covering up most of the items. Arnav took a tentative step back remembering about his allergy to dust.
"Bhai who's this?" Aakash calls from a distance. Arnav follows his voice to see Aakash pointing at a life size portrait of a regal looking man, gilded in a beautiful intricate frame. Arnav seems to recognize the features of the man from old family albums.
"He was my grandfather, Brijesh Singh Mallik," Arnav says in an awestruck voice. "He was a big landlord in his time. He died before I was born." Arnav notices similar life size portraits of some of his other family members also lying around. As if someone had left them back here in a hurry and no one came to claim them afterwards.
"OUCH!" NK's yelp of pain distracts them both and they rush towards the direction of his voice. They find him crouched on the floor, rubbing his toe in agony.
"NK Bhai, are you ok?" Aakash asks concernedly.
"Obviously not Aakash! I was looking around, when I banged my leg against this!" NK exclaims disgustedly and points to the reason of his pain. Arnav says, "Aakash, you better take him back upstairs. I don't want him banging against other things and hurting himself." NK looks affronted.
"I'm fine Nannav! I'll get up wait," NK struggles and stands up. Arnav shines his mobile torch to where NK had pointed to see it was an old trunk. He was surprised. In a room filled with broken furniture and old paintings, this was the only thing that seemed out of place. He walks closer to the trunk and sees a crest engraved on top of the trunk's surface. Weird.
"Aakash, help me to life up this trunk. I want to see what is inside it." Arnav says to Aakash. Both the brothers heave the trunk to an old dining table covered in dirt. NK peers around them. They see that the trunk too has a huge lock similar to the one they had seen upstairs. NK gets disappointed. Isn't anything exciting goin to happen today?
Arnav slowly touches the clamp holding the lock and it just crumbles with his touch. The iron around the handle was so rusted that it couldn't even bear a gentle touch. The three brothers exchange a look. Arnav slowly eases out the latch from its grove and keeps it down along with the lock. He slowly pulls the lid up. NK realises he has held his breath in his excitement.
The trunk lies open in front of them. Arnav realises its contents have been wrapped in an old white dhoti. He gently unwraps the many layers. Finally when the last layer is removed, he sees there are a number of small wooden engraved boxes. He picks up the topmost and eases it open. It bears a beautiful metallic fish. Arnav confusedly passes it to Aakash who immediately realises what it is as Payal had one back at home. He holds the fish from its tail firmly and slowly rotates it about its front. Arnav gasps as he sees it has a hollowed out compartment inside filled with some black coloured thing.
"Bhai this is used to store kohl," Aakash whispers. Arnav stares at him in disbelief. It was a metallic fish to store kohl? NK picks up another similar wooden box containing some pieces of old rustic jewellery. He quietly keeps it back. Arnav picks up a third box and opens it. He lets out an audible gasp as he stares at its contents. NK and Aakash move closer to have a good look. The box contains a pair of silver payals. Arnav's heart starts thudding harder. He suddenly starts feeling light headed and grabs the edge of the trunk steadying himself.
"Bhai!" Aakash exclaims alarmed. "Are you alright? What happened?"
Arnav goes on staring at the payals. He realises that he actually recognises them! He recognises them because he had hidden them once a very long time ago and had ended up being beaten up for his mischief.
He recognizes them because they belonged to his mother.
"what is it, Nannav. what happened?" NK asks him persistently.
"These were my mother's," Arnav says calmly. Aakash and NK straighten up and look at each other. They had been peering into the belongings of Arnav's parents for the past 10 minutes. Aakash glances at Arnav as the latter stands frozen, still staring at the payals. He indicates to NK to walk away from Arnav and give him some privacy.
After a few silent moments, Arnav realises that his brothers have left his side and feels grateful for their understanding. He didn't want anyone barging into his private moment with his parents. He gently closes his mother's other jewellery boxes and keeps them back inside the trunk. He slips the box of payals into his own pocket. Then, he shifts the other similar boxes inside the trunk to a side and goes through the rest of the contents. He is starting to feel a frission of excitement tingling through his body. This was the first time in 14 years that he was physically holding something that belonged to his parents in his own hands. He finds his hands are trembling. He goes on shifting things aside when his hands finally rested on a leather diary, bound together by a string. He picks it up. It is almost an inch thick, having numerous papers sticking out from its leaves. He undoes the string and eases the diary open.
He freezes as he reads the line written in a beautiful cursive handwriting on the first page.
Diary of Rajeev Singh Mallik.
Before his mind can register anything else, a loud shout fills the room.
"WEREN'T YOU TOLD THAT THE DUNGEON WAS OUT OF BOUNDS?" Dadi thunders, her voice echoing manyfold in the enclosed space. Arnav hears the mutterings of his two brothers. He glances at the trunk and impulsively tucks the diary inside his tee shirt and closes the lid of the trunk jamming the latch back into its grove in record speed. Then he quickly walks away from there towards the source of the commotion.
He sees Dadi standing at the end of the stairs looking furiously at his two brothers who looked extremely uncomfortable. Behind Dadi, Dinanath was standing looking extremely worried and further behind him stood Raghav, looking extremely embarrassed.
"I asked to have the dungeon opened, Dadi," Arnav says coolly. Dadi looks momentarily shocked to see Arnav there as if she thought only Aakash and NK had snuck in somehow. She readjusts her expressions.
"It's forbidden to come here, Arnav," she repeats firmly, trying to keep down the irritation in her voice. Arnav raises his eyebrow.
"Dadi, this is my house, remember?" he reminds her politely. "And I can go anywhere I want in my own house." Dadi's anger returns. She opens her mouth to reprimand again before Arnav continues, "We just came here to check if we can use this place as a story room. That is if I decide to use this property for business purposes later," he says smoothly. Dadi glares at him.
Arnav turns to Aakash and as if resuming a conversation they had been interrupted in, he says conversationally, "Aakash I don't think we can use this place. It's too suffocating." Aakash understands what his brother is trying to do and immediately nods in agreement.
"Yeah Bhai. And there will be a ventilation problem. There are no ducts or openings here. It's all closed up." Aakash replies indicating the ceiling of the room.
"And it smells bandi (girl) too," NK also enthusiastically joins in. Arnav and Aakash glance at each other and then at NK in exasperation.
"Bandi nahin NK bhai. Gandi (Gandi (foul smelling) NK Bhai, not Bandi)," Aakash quietly corrects NK. Dadi listens to their conversation disinterestedly. She suddenly raises her hand indicating them to stop.
"Fine. It's time for the Pooja. Please go upstairs and get freshened up," she says sternly and leaves as abruptly as she had arrived. Dinanath also leaves with her. NK lets out an audible sigh of relief. Raghav slowly ambles towards them, looking apologetic.
"I'm sorry Sahib, I didn't know Baba will fetch Badi Malkin. I had just gone to him to ask for a torch," he mumbles embarrassedly. Arnav slaps his back gently.
"It's alright," he says assuringly. Then turning to NK, he adds teasingly, "So NK, is your adventure trip over?" Aakash lets out a guffaw of laughter telling Arnav how NK almost shit his pants when he came face to face with Dadi, and they slowly start walking back up the stairs.
[King George's hospital, in the evening]
Khushi has been sitting outside the Operation Theatre for almost five and a half hours. Although she had been told by the specialists that the operation would take time due to the intricacies involved, she is starting to feel worried. No one has come out in all this time to tell her what was going on. She guesses all she can do is be patient and hope for the best.
Finally, after another 15 minutes a man walks out of the OT wearing a pale blue gown and a mask. As he notices Khushi, he purposefully walks to her and pulled off his mask.
"Khushi?" Khushi springs up from the seat and nods her head vigourously in response. "The Operation was successful. We'll keep him in the ICU for a couple of days under observation. But your father is doing fine." Khushi immediately whispered a prayer of thanks to Devi Maiyya. The doctor continues, "he is still unconscious. It'll take a few hours for him to gain consciousness. We'll be able to know only then what is the success rate of the operation." They start walking towards his office. On the way the specialist explains that the next stage of the treatment would be speech therapy as Shashi would still have trouble talking for a few days. After having a discussion about recuperative therapies with the doctor, Khushi goes to the ICU to check on her father.
The nurse shoos her away saying ICU visiting hours were very strict, stricter than the normal ward visiting schedule. She advises Khushi to go home and get some rest, and assures her that she'll take care of her father till she returns.
[Purani Haveli, later in the evening]
The Shradh Pooja has finished. The Priest is speaking to Dadi about what needs to be done with the items of the Pooja. Arnav is sittin on the swing in the Haveli's courtyard and gazing towards the sky, a look of sadness in his eyes. He feels someone squeezing his shoulder tenderly from behind. He turns around to see Anjali walk over and sit down beside him on the swing. She too looks extremely sad. Arnav pulls his sister into a half hug, both quiet allowing their grief to pour out of their bodies.
There is no need of conversing, because both of them are feeling the exact same thing.This one day of the year serves to be a painful reminder to both of them that despite so much time having passed by, despite having a loving family, despite having a doting Nani, they were still alone.
Arnav stares at the steadily darkening evening sky. He can see some stars blinking up at him. Anjali also follows his gaze towards them.
"Do you know, Di? Khushi always used to say, that our parents have become stars," Arnav mumbles. Anjali looks at him, surprised to hear such a lovely statement and the reference to Khushi. Arnav seems to realise it a moment too late and bows his head down.
"Chotey..." she starts when Arnav suddenly gets up from the swing. "I'm going up to my room, Di," and walks away. Anjali stares at his retreating back sadly, praying to the almighty to bring some relief to her brother's pain.
Writer's note: Just a reminder! We are getting to the interesting part folks. I can promise a big confrontation scene in the next chapter. Promise! Stay tuned and bless me please with your feedback.
cheers! 😊
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