Mannat Har Khushi Paane Ki: Episode Discussion Thread - 24
Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai - 07 Aug 2025 EDT
SHIFTING BACK 6.8
GRUHA🏠PRAVESH 7.8
Dharma..what a downfall!!
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Legacy and Longing: Inspiring Leaders/Heroes You Want to See Back!
Ahaan's incredibly sweet insta post on the love he has gotten!!
will kareena ever win natiinal award?
Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. - Confucius
2 years later…
Cape Town, South Africa.
The cool sea breeze brushed against his face, ruffling the strands of hair on his forehead, as he sat on the soft lawn of the cliff and gazed at the deep blue expanse of sea in front of his eyes. The air had a sweet and refreshing fragrance to it and he suddenly felt an urge to swim against those mighty waves that crashed against the rocks at the bottom of the cliff. It was serene and quiet all around him except for the occasionally sounds of motor boats cruising through the waves or the noise of seagulls squawking above his head as they returned back to the shore with tiny fish in their beaks.
He carefully gazed at the horizon, the line where the sky seemed to meet the sea, giving it an appearance that it was the end, and nothing laid beyond it. But he knew it was just a mirage. There never really was an end. If you went closer to it, you would realise that it goes on and on, stretching infinitely until you reach a new land, a new beginning.
And who better than Arnav Singh Raizada would know it?
The horizon was just like his life. When he had thought that his life was perfect, his dreams were shattered without giving him a chance to gather those shards and piece it together.
But when he had thought it was the end, a new beginning had soon followed, a second chance at life, a chance he would never let go of.
Memories of that fateful day still haunted him. Every night, he could still see the face of his best friend dying in his arms. He could still see the love of his life sacrificing herself for him. He could still hear his biological father coldly admit to murdering his mother.
As hard as he tried to forget those memories, he couldn't let go of it and he knew it would never leave him. Instead, he had to make new happy memories to replace those old ones. That's what his psychiatrist had counselled him in one of their sessions. The pain would never go, but he needed to find happiness and love that would overshadow the sadness in his life.
People who said that the storm was the toughest part to deal with were lying. It was the aftermath, the remains of the destruction that caused the most devastation and pain.
The next three months after that fateful day were one of the worst periods of his life. It felt like the time after his mother's death all over again. Except that it was magnified and even worse than the last time.
Arnav had broken down completely, unable to distinguish between the reality and his hallucinations. Everything had been a complete blur for him, to an extent that even till today, he couldn't remember those three months. What else could you expect from a man who had dealt with so much loss and pain?
That was when Khalid Malik had stepped in, just like the last time and taken care of him.
Like a father.
The first month was the most horrible of them all, he remembered the elder man telling him months later, when he had recovered. Khalid had known that Arnav was shattered after all that had happened but when the young man had been discovered one fine day in his room, with the gun pointed at his head, ready to pull the trigger and kill himself, Khalid had realised that Arnav needed help from a psychiatrist. That had been the beginning of a long therapy for him.
Somewhere, Arnav had held himself responsible for all the loss and developed an intense hatred for his existence and wanted to kill himself for it. Thus, the psychiatrist had come up with only one solution to deal with his depression. Arnav and Khalid had been encouraged to talk to each other about all that had happened right from the very beginning.
For the first time in his life, Arnav had struggled to converse with a man who he had lived with for more than a decade. Talking to him meant opening up all the wounds of his past, which he was hesitant to do.
Ofcourse, initially, Arnav had held Khalid responsible for starting the entire mess. Somewhere, he had felt that if Khalid hadn't invited his mother and him to come to Delhi, his mother would have still been alive beside him and he would have been living an entirely different life.
But as Arnav had begun speaking about his mother, he had discovered the sorrow in the elder man's heart. Most of all, he had discovered the love that the elder man still cherished in his heart for his mother. And soon, a new bond had developed between the two, a bond of shared anguish and hurt.
They had talked about every single thing about his mother and their past, for days and nights, endlessly, finding relief in each other. They still talked about it even today. Afterall, there were only memories left to reminisce about the woman they loved the most. The recovery was excruciatingly slow, but things had changed, for better.
Khalid Malik had decided to shift Arnav to South Africa as soon as possible, away from Delhi and the criminal life.
Yes, Arnav couldn't remember the last time he had held a gun. He had quit all of it, especially after what happened to Khushi. That one experience of seeing his love losing the battle of life had changed everything in his life. It had been hard, really hard for him to come out of it. Once you entered the criminal world, there was no way to come out of it. But the miracle had happened and Khalid Malik had ensured it.
Till today, nobody in the criminal world, back in Delhi knew where Arnav Singh Raizada had disappeared to. It was all part of a secret mission to keep him in hiding and now, after two years, he was pretty sure that most people assumed he was dead.
Just like how his best friend had died.
Arnav couldn't remember anything much about Aman's funeral, except seeing the funeral pyre blazing against the sunset, as his family mourned for their loss. It was hard for him to accept that Aman was no more with him. He was gone. Forever.
Maybe even till today, the thought hadn't sunk inside him completely. He could still hear Aman's voice calling out to him during the day. Whenever he drank Vodka, he could still feel Aman's presence, as if he was watching over him. However hard he tried to forget it, his best friend's face didn't go away from his memories. Maybe because he never wanted it to.
Aman's family were devastated at their loss. Who wouldn't be, especially if their son was killed in a gang war? Lots of questions had followed. Aman's parents had only known that their son ran some business of his own in Delhi. They hadn't known that the business included working for the Delhi mafia. So that revelation had come up as a big shock to them. But Khalid Malik had once again stepped in and taken care of it especially by helping them out financially. Till today, every month, their accounts were deposited with what Aman used to send to them when he was alive.
As they say, time heals everything and the healing was on its way.
But the tears still didn't cease to flow from his eyes to mourn his loss.
Brothers for life.
Aman's last words had still echoed in his ears, even today when he was teaching kickboxing to his students at the Martial Arts Academy. That was what had made him come to this Cliffside, his favourite spot to visit when he was feeling low and sad. The calm yet powerful sea gave him some sort of relief to cope up with the pain.
And ofcourse, he loved the sea and the cool breeze.
His very own seven month old son, Ayaan, who now patted his tiny soft hand on his father's stubbly cheek as if he was trying to wipe away his tears.
Or that was what anyone who saw them would say.
But not Arnav, coz he knew his baby son very well. They little boy was hungry now and was trying to grab his father's attention to take him back home to his mother.
"Aah!" His son squealed out, starting to lick his lips, getting a bit impatient.
"Okay, okay, don't start crying now. We'll go home soon." Arnav told him and slowly stood up, holding him on one arm. "Mumma must be home by now too." He said to himself, checking out the time in his phone. It was already 5 pm and they had been out at the cliff for nearly an hour now. No wonder his son was hungry, he realised.
"But you like it over here, don't you?" he crooned in Ayaan's ears, kissing his soft chubby cheeks while his son grinned at him with his toothless jaws, placing an open mouthed kiss back on his father's face, the drool dripping down his face.
"Wait, what is that I see?" Arnav stopped in his tracks and reopened his son's mouth with his two fingers, trying to get a better look at it. "Oh! Look who is growing big. Someone is getting their first tooth." He exclaimed, tickling his son's tummy with his face while Ayaan giggled with delight. And as if that was not enough, Arnav threw the little boy up in the air and caught him back, trying to cheer up the hungry kid and Ayaan gurgled with excitement, enjoying the sudden rush of cool breeze on his face. And that one smile on his son's face was enough to wipe away all his sad memories.
Ayaan, the name literally meant God's gift. Maybe Arnav still didn't believe in God, but the birth of his son had been no less than a gift to him. Arnav could still remember the day Ayaan was born, when the nurse had transferred the tiny life on to his arms. The joy and happiness that filled his being, at the sight of the little boy had been the beginning of the transformation of his life.
Maybe this was what the psychiatrist had meant when he said that happy memories would eventually replace the sad ones. These memories with his son were so precious to him and that's why he had wanted to spend every single minute with his baby. He had wanted to give all the love and care of a father which he had never received when he was young. He didn't want his son to ever go through what he went in his life.
They walked towards his parked car as Ayaan held on to his father's neck with his tiny chubby arm and babbled something in his baby language to his father. "Yeah, yeah, I love you too." Arnav smiled back at his son, amused at whatever the little boy was trying to say and kept nibbling his soft earlobes and tickling him on the way back to the car. Reaching the car, he strapped him on the baby's seat, while Arnav sat in the front and drove back to their house, their tiny world which they called their home.
It was just five minutes away and soon, they reached the driveway and parking the car in the garage, Arnav took his son out and walked through the pebbled path surrounded with white lilies on each side which his wife had painstakingly taken care of for the past one year and nine months that they had been living here for.
He reached the door and turning the knob, he realised that it was already open. "Looks like Mumma is already home." He whispered in his son's ears and stealthily crept inside their small two bedroom house.
Arnav walked into the living room but was only greeted with Ayaan's toys scattered all around on the floor. Letting out a sigh at the mess, he peeped into the kitchen to check if she was there. But there was no sign of her. Thus, he walked towards the bedroom, the only room remaining and the sight in front of him left him completely dumbfounded.
There she stood in front of the mirror, only wearing his black shirt that covered upto her mid thighs, giving him a view of her creamy legs that followed after it. Her hair was tied up and she was humming some tune to herself, as she admired herself in the mirror, completely unaware of the two pairs of curious eyes that were watching her intently.
Arnav continued to gaze silently, an amused smile curving up his lips as he leaned on the door and admired her. She still looked beautiful to him just like the first time he had seen her. And he would have continued to admire her for eternity if it hadn't been for his son, who had excitedly babbled calling out for his mother and interrupted the silence.
Suddenly, she turned around, becoming quite aware of her husband's and son's presence and immediately, felt her cheeks burning with embarrassment at being caught in this state.
"When… when did you come back?" she asked, fidgeting with the shirt and trying to stretch it down to cover herself.
"So this is what you do when I'm not at home huh?" Arnav said, prowling towards her and within no time, he pulled her flush against his body, his hand travelling upwards underneath her shirt to grab her waist, only to realise she wasn't wearing anything inside it. "Khushi?" he whispered in a husky voice and he could see the immediate effect of his voice on her.
"Damn! You discovered this secret." Khushi pouted, wrapping her one arm around his neck and pulling his face forward as their lips met in a slow sweet kiss.
"So why were you wearing my shirt?" he asked amusedly.
"I always wear it whenever I miss you." She replied coyly, lowering her gaze, feeling her cheeks heat up.
"Hmm… it's good to know that my wife still misses me." And he earned a smack from her on his chest. "But you look quite hot in it." He added, breaking apart to smirk at her, as his hand travelled even upwards to caress her soft mounds.
"Really, I thought you didn't like me after I became all fat like this." Khushi replied.
"Yeah, about that you should join my kickboxing classes. You'll become fit in no time." Arnav told her with a serious face.
"Arnav!" Khushi punched him once again with an annoyed face.
"You know I was just joking right? I love you the way you are. You are my Khushi. That's all that matters." He said and pulled her into a warm tight hug only to be interrupted by the cries of his little son, who unfortunately got squeezed between his parent's hug.
"Aww… my baby." Khushi took hold of him, and kissed him all over his face. "Missed Mumma?"
"Urghh!" Ayaan waved out his chubby fists at her, scrunching up his forehead to show her that he was hungry, while stretching out his tiny arms to climb on to his mother.
"He's hungry and cranky." Arnav said as Khushi took her son and sat on the bed to feed him.
"Did he disturb you a lot at your work?" Khushi asked, as Ayaan began to suckle his mother hungrily, relieved at finding food finally.
"No, not really. He was fine for the whole morning. Infact, he enjoyed it a lot. The kids were excited to see him and they asked whether he would come tomorrow too." Arnav replied, sitting beside Khushi on the bed, as he caressed his son's soft hair.
"I'll pack more bottles of milk for him tomorrow. But Arnav, are you sure you can do this? We can put him in day care. Or maybe I shouldn't take up this job." She told him worriedly.
"No Khushi, it's alright. I can manage him. My boss has no problems with bringing my son to the academy. I've convinced him. And you should continue with your job. It was your dream to become an animator and design all those cartoons for kids. You should always follow your dream. And Ayaan has grown older now. He can stay with his Papa." Arnav assured her. "And anyhow, in another week Khalid Bhai is coming here to stay with us. That time, he'll take care of the baby."
"He really loves Ayaan, doesn't he?" Khushi asked, looking at Arnav.
"Yes, he does." He replied, thinking about the elder man's interactions with his son. When Ayaan was born, Khalid had been more excited than the parents at his arrival and it was heart-warming to see the elder man interact with the baby. And somewhere, Arnav knew that it was because Malik never had kids of his own in his whole life and Ayaan provided him the joy that had been deprived to him all these years.
"So how was the day for you?" Arnav asked, lying down on the bed lazily.
"It was good, but work pressure is mounting. I'm tired." She replied yawning.
"Want a massage?" he asked instantly with mischievous eyes.
"Do I even need to answer that?" she asked back winking at him.
Arnav slowly crawled behind her, positioning himself behind her back as he began to work on the stiff muscles of her neck and her shoulder blades, using his expert fingers, providing the right amount of pressure on her muscles. Khushi moaned with absolute pleasure as she closed her eyes to enjoy the soothing bliss. "You should quit being a kick boxer trainer and be my personal masseur. I'll pay you for it."
"Well, I don't take cash." Arnav replied with his husky voice and he was pretty sure, his wife had a wide grin on her face right now as they reminisced about their past memories.
"Alright, my laddoo is done with his meal and all ready to sleep, isn't he?" Khushi asked after a few minutes, pulling her son's chubby cheeks, as he chuckled at her with sleepy eyes."Aah.." Little Ayaan cooed responding to her, frowning a bit to leave his mother's warm chest. Laddoo, that's what his mother called him lovingly because whenever her son was done with his meal and ready to sleep, she felt like eating him up like her favourite sweet with all the extra love for him suddenly, coz his sleep time meant some free time for her to spend with Arnav. Otherwise, the baby hardly allowed them to spend some time together all by themselves.
"Come, let's put you to bed." She continued, getting up from the bed and going to his crib that was placed at one corner of their room. She covered him with his cosy woollen blanket and tucked their famous Pikachu toy beside him as Ayaan hugged the toy and slept peacefully with an angelic smile on his face. The yellow toy that stood for their love had become the favourite toy of their son, who now refused to sleep without it.
"Arnav!" she exclaimed, finally done with Ayaan and climbed back on their bed as she inched closer to him, placing her head on his warm chest while he stroked her back teasingly, drawing circles with his fingers. Her instincts suddenly made her prop up on her elbow and see his face and that was when she observed that his eyes were moist and red, as if he had cried recently.
She clearly knew the reason for those tears but she didn't want to bring up the topic all over again and hurt him. With so much difficulty they had moved on in life and now, all she wanted to do was bring lots of happiness in his life.
Bending over, she placed a soft feathery kiss on both his eyes, starting with the right one, and then proceeded to the forehead and cheeks, finally ending at his lips with a slow yet demanding kiss.
They didn't need words anymore to comfort each other. Their relationship had grown strong enough to know what the other felt just by seeing their eyes and little gestures like these were enough to wipe away all anguish.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you." Khushi suddenly said, trying to divert his attention. "Akash called today while I was at work."
"Seriously Khushi? Do you really have to bring in that man right now?" Arnav replied rolling his eyes.
"Aww… someone still feels a bit jealous, I see." Khushi said, pinching his nose, trying to pull his leg.
"Ofcourse not. Why would I be jealous? You are afterall, exclusively mine." He said, smirking at her. "But you know how it is between us."
"Arnav, Akash has helped us a lot. Remember how he took care of me after that incident?" Khushi said and instantly realised her blunder. She had tried to divert away her mind from that fateful day but once again, she ended up going to the same topic.
"Yeah, he did." Arnav had to agree.
"So, he called me to inform that he's getting married next week, with that nurse. What was her name? Hmm.. Payal. She was nice too, wasn't she? He asked if we were going to attend. Arnav, I also spoke to Nani. She said she wanted to meet Ayaan." Khushi told him with apprehension, fearful about Arnav's reaction.
"You know, you and Ayaan can go and meet them if you want to. I won't stop you." Arnav replied back calmly.
"I don't want to go anywhere without you." Khushi replied, burying her face in his chest. Ofcourse, Arnav could never go back to India. Hari Kashyap had made sure of it. Arrest warrants had been issued in his name, although, they didn't have any concrete proofs against Arnav to sentence him.
But with what Arnav had gone through in his life, they had decided to leave behind all of it and start life on a fresh slate.
"Then, we'll arrange to bring Nani here for a visit. Is that fine with you?" Arnav asked, and she nodded in approval.
"And there's something else too. I saw Lavanya on TV today. It looks like she's working for a big fashion house." Khushi said sadly, her eyes still moistening as she remembered her best friend.
It was two long years and Lavanya hadn't spoken to her even once. Their friendship was permanently broken and issuance of arrest warrants against Arnav by her father had sealed the fate. But till today, she hadn't forgotten her best friend, still keeping up a faint hope of rekindling their friendship.
Arnav nodded silently, not wanting to discuss about the Kashyap's anymore. But he did feel sorry for Khushi. He had been the cause for the rift between the best friends. But as they said, sometimes you had to lose something in life to earn something better.
Everything had a price and Khushi knew that her friendship with Lavanya had been the price to pay for a life with Arnav.
"Arnav, I was thinking maybe we could go for a picnic this weekend. The three of us and Ayaan will also love it." Khushi suggested, trying to lighten up his mood
"Sure, we'll go." Arnav replied as he pulled her hand and kissed her wrist. "Khushi, thank you." He suddenly said. He didn't know what made him say it, but he knew it was the right thing to do.
"For what?"
"For coming back to me that day. For marrying me. For giving me Ayaan. And most of all, for a new life." Arnav said, gazing into those hazel eyes, into his world. He hadn't really thanked her till today, but right now he felt like saying it aloud to her, although he was sure she already knew it.
"I had to come for you. I couldn't leave you all alone here. And we had our dreams to be fulfilled." Khushi replied, stroking his stubble. "Ok, we had enough of our serious talk. So Mr. Raizada, do you mind shifting our base to the kitchen? Otherwise, my laddoo with wake up with all the noise of his parents." She said, pointing at Ayaan's crib, as she sat up on top of him and started unbuttoning his shirt, grazing her fingers on his light chest hair.
"I thought you were tired right now Mrs. Raizada." Arnav asked, arching his eyebrow with a wicked smile on his face.
"I'm being an opportunist here. You should be grateful Ayaan isn't old enough to climb out of his crib and walk on us when we are acting like a bunch of horny teenagers."
"Oh so we are horny teenagers now, are we?"
"Yes. Do you have any doubts?" Khushi asked and immediately found herself being lifted up and carried to the kitchen, the entire house filled with their muffled laughter on their way.
"I love you Khushi." Arnav said, as he slid off his black shirt from her and put her down and pinned her against the kitchen door, pressing himself flush against her body.
"And I love you Arnav." Khushi replied smiling against his lips and soon found herself drowning in his love, all over again, just like their first time.
They had finally found happiness in their small world which they had thought impossible two years ago. Their lives were not perfect. Every day was a hard struggle for both of them to come out of the memories of that fateful day. But they were present for each other to pull the other out of the dark abyss and that made the entire difference.
There were so many things in their life that never went according to their plans. No, they hadn't married that Thursday. They hadn't gone to their honeymoon to Malaysia. The three months that followed that fateful day had been the worst of their lives. Khushi had taken those three months to finally stand up on her feet. Every day of those three months, Arnav had lived with the fear that Khushi would never be able to walk again given the injury to her spinal cord. Every day he had blamed himself for her suffering.
But Khushi had proved every doctor wrong. She had stood up back on her feet against all odds. She had brought back hope in Arnav's life. However, most of the credit to her recovery went to Akash. He had done everything in his capacity as a doctor to heal her. The best doctors of the country were brought in for her treatment and at the end of three months, his efforts had borne fruit.
And standing on her feet, the first thing they had done was to get married. It had been a court marriage but this time, Akash had agreed to be a witness from her side and Khalid Malik from Arnav's side. Akash still hadn't rekindled his relationship with Arnav but he had finally accepted the fact that Khushi was Arnav's and moved on in his life. And after their marriage, they had flown straight away to Cape Town to start a new life.
It was here that Arnav had found a new purpose in his life. To cure his depression, the psychiatrist had advised him to take up a job which he loved and that would make him happy. And what better than a job that involved his favourite kickboxing. Arnav had ended up being a kickboxing trainer to the kids in the Martial Arts Academy. On the other hand, he had encouraged Khushi to pursue her dreams too, a career in animation. This had proved to be best cure for both of them and helped them come out of their tragedies.
And a few months later, Khushi had found out she was pregnant. It was no less than a miracle for her, especially after the recent trauma on her body. Initially, they had been sceptical about the whole pregnancy wondering if it was the right time for them to start their family. But then, both of them had faced near death experiences and they knew life was too short to take it for granted. Both of them were given a second chance at life and they didn't want to miss any opportunity of happiness that life was giving them.
And today, seven months later, Ayaan was a part of their small family. He had taught his parents to love once again. He had resurrected his parent's hopes and dreams. Most of all, he had given them a reason to live this life for.
Khalid Malik still ruled the Delhi Mafia. No one had ever dared to topple him after that. He had finally found peace knowing that he had avenged Aarti's murderer. And somewhere, Arnav and Khalid had built a father and a son's relationship over these two years. Maybe Arnav never called him Dad, but when he had first held Ayaan, the elder man had been introduced to the little boy as his grandfather and that one word had shown him his prominence in their family.
After all these years, Khalid Malik had finally found a family who loved him. Even though he still lived in Delhi, he kept visiting Arnav every few months.
Unfortunately, Khushi hadn't remembered her little trip to paradise after coming to consciousness. Till today, whenever she looked out of the kitchen window into her garden, she wondered why she had chosen to plant lilies out of all other flowers. There were even nights when she kept dreaming about Arnav's mother, but she hadn't given much importance to it, coz her every night was filled with dreams and nightmares after that horrible day.
Maybe some things in life were meant to be a secret. But just because they weren't visible or heard, it didn't mean that they didn't exist.
Life is a mirage where the truth treads lies on a fine line. When we think we know the truth, we know nothing and when we think it's the end, happiness comes knocking when it is least expected to prove us wrong.
THE END.
Ok, so how was it? Do let me know in the comments for one last time. I gave you a happy ending against all odds just because you guys trusted me. So I need back love coz right now, I'm crying that my baby, my FF is over.😭 I will miss everyone of you.
And regarding me starting a new FF, I've decided not to write a new one atleast till the end of this year, simply because I have my exams on December and it would be unfair on my side, if I start a new story and take a break for my exams and keep you waiting in between. So if at all I write, I'll only post random OSs. So until then, goodbye to everyone!🤗
and yeah, to all those silent readers, atleast comment now. Please? I know I deserve atleast a one word comment from you for giving you this FF. 😃
Originally posted by: molten_lava
are you seriously asking me?😆Girl! don't you remember, my laptop crashed and my entire original copy of the FF was erased completely.the only copy of the FF I have is here on IF.😆About the pdf thing, you can do it yourself. Open the file in word and while saving it, there is an option called save it as pdf. Save it that way and the file gets converted to pdf format.And about publishing, nope, will not. There are so many errors in it.😆 if say after some 5 years I decide to publish it, I'll have to re edit the entire thing and some plots might change in between.
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Chapter : Melodious Encounter https://www.indiaforums.com/fanfiction/chapter/52348
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