Arhi : This Time Forever ~ Chapter 6 ~ 18/03 - Page 28

Me and Lyraa had no idea when we started this FF that life would suck us in, giving us no free time to continue writing our baby... 😭
And then I got some free time, but Lyraa got even more busier with her studies.. 🤓
Thanks to dilectus who took so much effort and made us write it again. But the sad thing is that Lyraa won't be able to write as much she would originally have liked to.
Though she'll be helping me with the emotional bits that she's so good at writing!! 👍🏼

I'll be updating more frequently after March. Until then enjoy the updates!!

Clarifications, in case you've forgotten what this story is about...

This story is based on the original IPK plot line... Khushi has amnesia and doesn't remember Arnav at all... She doesn't remember staying in Delhi.. the only memories she has of the place are of 5 years ago when she used to visit buaji.

Shashi has passed away. Anjali has remarried and stays at her husbands place. Khushi, Payal, Garima and buaji have shifted to Laxminagar, Delhi, again.

Chapter Three

Khushi stood, waiting for the man in front of her to react in anyway. She had seen him through the glass door and had thought that he looked forlorn, sitting with his head resting against the headrest, his eyes closed. Ignoring the curiosity to know the reason behind his loneliness, she reminded herself that she had a job to find and nothing else mattered, and she opened the door, poked her head through it and called out for him, "May I come in, sir?" To her surprise, the boss stood up immediately, his eyes wide and filled with what seemed like hope and a small hint of a smile on his face. Khushi waited for some sort of a response from him, only to find the same unblinking stare from him too. 'Seriously?! What's with this staring with the people in this company??' Khushi thought, starting to feel annoyed now. "Sir??" Khushi's voice turned doubtful, before she plastered a smile and spoke as if she was speaking to Chutki, the five-year old girl in her neighbourhood, spelling out each word, "May I come in?"

Arnav smiled too, nodding minutely, and blinking once when absolutely necessary. He saw Khushi nodding to herself and took a few steps towards him in a confident gait. And maybe he would have bought it, had he not known her so well. He knew that a thousand butterflies flew in her stomach due to the nervousness she felt. The same butterflies which would vanish at the sight of a single jalebi. "Good morning, Sir. I am Khushi Kumari Gupta." her voice brought him out of his thoughts, and he felt a flash of irritation. 'No Singh Raizada in the end?' he thought. Here they were, meeting after eighteen months and she had to stick to some stupid prank of hers, addressing him as "sir" and skipping his surname from the end of her name. He decided to play along just to see how long she would take this and nodded towards the chair. She took it with a timid smile and handed a copy of her resume to him, once he sat too.

The name on the resume was "Khushi Kumari Gupta".

Just that.

Not even a trace of a "Singh Raizada" in the end. Her maiden name on the paper seemed to mock him and it was all he could take. He threw her resume on the table, making Khushi stare at him in shock and when he stood, she stood up too. He could not be blamed if he lost his patience with her behaviour, and he barged to where she was standing, and held her arms in a vice-like grip.

Khushi had been preparing to talk, when she saw him throw her resume, which she had just handed to him, and she looked up to see him stand up and was rushing to where she sat. She stood involuntarily and saw his hands shooting towards her arms, and his eyes, which had been warm until a second ago were now spitting fire at her. Khushi's mind registered the pain first. She bent to see his hands capturing her arm in each of them. She started to struggle against his hold and looked up in confusion, not understanding the reason behind his behaviour. "Sir, aap batthameezi kar rahe hai." Her voice stayed firm and her eyes showed her anger too, as she managed to pry her arms out of his grasp, fuelling his anger to newer heights. She felt the butterflies in her stomach turn into something more horrible and she started to feel nauseous, not eating anything other than the jalebis and chai from yesterday, taking its toll. Her knees felt weak and she felt herself giving into the darkness that seemed too welcoming.

"Sir, aap batthameezi kar rahe hai." Khushi had told him. But before he could protest to her assertion, he saw Khushi's fight stop and her hand touched her temple. The red filling his gaze immediately disappeared and he noticed how pale Khushi had become. "Khu. . ." Before he could even complete her name, she was falling down, losing consciousness, and he grabbed her to himself before she hit the ground.

____

It took a minute for Payal to overcome her shock when she saw her husband climb an auto! Her auto at that!! She heard the auto driver ask her if she was okay. She turned to look at him and saw that he was a burly guy. She could get her "husband" thrown out if she wanted. She raised an eyebrow as she turned to Akash with an evil little smile. As if knowing what she was thinking, he answered the driver, "I am her husband. Chalo." Payal gave a snort at his assertion.

"I don't get the reason behind that snort of derision!" Akash said looking at the lady he had missed like hell, trying to make her speak to him, and she answered, "Are you really as stupid as you look or are you making all this innocent act up?!" Payal spelled her words out, her eyes spitting fire now. "We meet after so many days, and my intellect is the topic you want to talk about?!" Akash asked in a dry voice, and Payal replied with carefully practiced nonchalance, "I never prayed for this meeting, trust me!"

"Is this the way to greet your husband when you meet him after so many months??" Akash repeated, making Payal reply tartly, "Of course not! The right way is to push him out. I am just being polite!" Payal said but after a moment she ate her own words and began to push him, and Akash, trying to dodge her shoves, tried to calm her down, "If you push me any further, its going to cost my life!" Payal stopped pushing him altogether, and turned away as she murmured, "If I don't push you, it will cost me my sanity!"

"I never knew you had such a temper, Payal." Akash said, somewhere liking this taking-charge facet of his wife. "I always had it! I never got a chance to exhibit it until now! And its not like hiding it did me much good!" Payal muttered, a sweet smile in place, and her voice dripping with sarcasm. Akash clenched his jaw, as he almost yelled, "I was not going to stand there watching!" And Payal too raised her voice when she demanded to know, "And what exactly were you waiting for?! Christmas??!!"

Akash decided being doubted by his own wife was the worst of insult that a man could face, and he muttered through gritted teeth, "I was waiting for the right time to intervene!" Payal made a face as if she had had an epiphany at that moment. "Ooh!! Right! And this right time?? Has it come until now??" Payal questioned. Akash looked down, thinking of the daily squabbles that he had with his "Bhai", not really wanting her to know about the situation in his family. And he was brought of his thoughts only when he felt the rickshaw come to a stop in front of AR building. Payal paid the driver and rushed out of the vehicle, sprinting to the elevator. Hoping that the pincode had not changed for the executive elevator, she punched the number, and tried to neglect her husband, who still stood next to her. Luckily the code had remained the same and the elevator was soon taking her towards her sister. "Why are we here??" Akash asked, feeling a sense of deja vu take him over. Payal, not even sparing him a glance, muttered, "I am here to take my sister home. Not really sure or care about you."

Ignoring the weird glances that the staff shot towards her, she rushed to his chamber. She felt a dead weight in her gut when she spotted Khushi sprawling half on the floor and Arnav supporting the other half. She ran the last few steps and kneeled down next to her unconscious sister, chanting her name repeatedly.

_____

Arnav heard one more voice utter Khushi's name and he looked up to see Payal run towards where he awkwardly held Khushi, her face determined and concerned at the same time. She took Khushi out of his arms with one of her arm, while her other hand patted Khushi's cheek and shook her shoulder. Akash stood watching as Payal, not losing her calm once, tried to carry Khushi over to the couch. When Arnav tried to help, she looked at him with hateful eyes and said through clenched teeth, "Don't you dare." And she angled her head to where Akash stood and asked, "Well! Are you helping or not?!" Akash woke from his trance and lifted Khushi easily and laid her down on the couch. Payal fanned Khushi's face with a newspaper while Arnav collected the glass of water from his desk and sprinkled her face with a little water.

Khushi woke up with a start and a hand at her temple as she still felt woozy. "Khushi! Khushi, Tu theek hai na?!" Payal asked, cupping her baby sister's cheek. "Jiji?? Tum yaha kya kar rahi ho??" Khushi asked, not answering Payal's question. And Payal easily ignored Khushi's question as she asked, "Yeh kaise hua, Khushi??" Khushi thought for a while and said, "Woh. . . Humne kal shyaam se kuch bhi khaaya nahi. . . Tho. . ." Payal felt irritated at that. She took care of Khushi like her own child, and even more so after her accident, but a little effort from Khushi herself would be appreciated! But she had more pressing matters to attend to.

Like keeping Arnav Singh Raizada away from Khushi.

Arnav had just called someone from the canteen and ordered food for Khushi, whenPayal stood up and led Arnav out of the chamber, and into the conference room. "What did you do this time?" Payal questioned, and Arnav, for reasons unknown to himself, felt like a child being scolded and punished by his mother. He shook his head and said, "She fainted and was about to fall, and I grabbed her." Payal felt exhausted as she ran her hand through her face, before she looked directly into Arnav's eyes, and said, "Khushi is suffering from Amnesia. She has completely forgotten what has happened over the last two years or so. She has no idea who you are, or anything related to you. Her mind has gone back to the days before she ever met you."

Arnav blanched, his hand sought the support of the nearest chair and he murmured, "Impossible. She cannot just forget me."

Payal laughed ironically, as she explained, "Human mind has a power to make miracles happen, we've heard. You think it can't protect itself from hurtful incidents??" Arnav winced at Payal's choice of words, but Payal relentlessly continued, "What the mind does not know.. the heart cannot grieve. I hope you understand." Payal turned around and left Arnav alone, letting him to come to terms with this scenario, hoping that he would leave her Khushi alone. At least, this time.

__________________________________________________________________

Read and review, please?! 😳 😃

NOTE : Please DO NOT send buddy requests to get PMs. I haven't yet figured how I'll be sending PMs for this FF.