ArHi SS: Never Say Goodbye Thread 1 - Page 79

hi Rima...came across your FF today...its simply awesome...continue soon

Waiting eagerly for next part..

So Arnav din't actually betray her!!! m glad!!!!

he did hurt her nd regrets too...he does feel a lot for her...nd all those years he is still ben yearning for Khushi !!!!

so Lavanya was with him the entire time!!!! nd now they were even engaged...!!!!! but really more happy abt your last line

"His obsession with Khushi had enraged Lavanya, till one day things came to a head---"👏

idiot Arnav... hope atleast he rectifies his mistake now..

Me too waiting eagerly! 😃

Note to my readers

It is my firm belief that many normal people are neither black nor white. There is a grey area, where people reach when pushed to extremes.

Arnav and even Lavanya are fine examples of such people.

Read on to know, what makes them do harsh things

Thanks for the wonderful response.

It is truly a pleasure writing this every day for you all.

Your comments and likes make it worthwhile.

My only regret is that I am not able to reply to all comments due to lack of time.

PS: I don't pm. I update everyday at 8 p.m. IST. So, please don't send buddy requests. I don't have the time to pm.

Chapter 17

That day, he had been in a pensive mood all day. A common friend had told that he thought he spotted someone who looked like Khushi, somewhere in Mumbai. He had been waiting for news all day.

His nerves were stretched tight. He sat in his office room twirling around a paper weight, waiting for his friend to give him some information.

He was feeling restless, as if a part of him knew something was wrong with her. He tried to tell himself she was happily married and settled, but her utter quietness over the years, made him pensive.

It had been nearly 5 years and there was no news of her-nothing.

Perhaps he wanted closure? Perhaps he wanted to know how much she had moved on? He did not know why he was so obsessed in finding out about her. But his heart did not seem to find peace till he did.

Lavanaya had come in them, dressed to kill with champagne bottle in hand.

'ASR don't you remember what day this is?' she asked.

'No' he said absently.

Her face fell instantly. He felt guilty, but for the life of him he did not remember.

'ASR you asked me to marry you on this day 3 years ago. It is the day of our engagement,' she said.

'Oh,' he replied absently, looking at his phone to hear it ring, with the news he wanted.

'ASR are you even listening? I think I have had enough. I am a laughing stock. I have been engaged to you for 3 years and given you five years of my life, and what do I get? You don't even remember such an important day,' she wailed.

Arnav had closed his eyes and sighed. He knew he was being unfair to her. But he had not been able to help it. Yet he knew, he would have to do something soon.

He could not play with her emotions any longer.

But his heart had not been in it.

'Lavanaya, I was busy. It is not as if I don't care,' he had tried to pacify her and she had started smiling when the phone rang.

Immediately he got up and walked towards the window,

'Yeah---tell me---and? So you had her house located? And you also saw her again?---Oh. So it was not Khushi----Umm Ok.. Talk later. Thanks for the help buddy,' he said, hanging up.

He leaned his head against the window wanting its cold feel on his head, which seemed to be burning again with anguish and rage. Where was Khushi? was the only question, he had asked himself again and again.

'So, it's her again. Your obsession has reached its peak Arnav. All for that two timing b****' Lavanya had screamed, jealousy and anger overtaking her senses.

An unknown rage had possessed hi. He had crashed the paper weight on the opposite window, shattering it, 'Don't you dare Lavanaya! Don't you ever dare call her that,' he had said in a dangerous voice.

He hadn't known why it hurt to hear abuses against Khushi, but he hadn't been able to.

Normally, Lavanya would back down from a confrontation due to her fear of him. But perhaps she had reached the end of the endurance that day.

'To hell with your dos and don'ts. Five years I have waited in the shadow. Five years I have given my life. Five years I have invested in this relationship. And you still hanker for that woman who destroyed your life and my own future with you? Why shouldn't I call her names? She deserves it. In fact b*** is a mild word. For what she did she deserves to be called a sl****'

'Enough!' he had bellowed, his voice echoing across the empty office.

'Enough Lavanya. I have heard enough about her.

You know why I could never give my heart to you and why I can never forget her? Had Khushi been standing here in your place, she wouldn't have bad mouthed you. She would have fought with me, reasoned with me and told me that you are right and I must have been mistaken.

She never had a bad word to say about a single soul. She never demanded, just always gave herself.

Do you know something Lavanya, when I had stopped dating you and had insisted on seeing her, she had refused and resisted for a long time.

She had told me:

'You can't keep changing your mind and expect people to give in. People have a heart. They get hurt. La must be hurt due to your decision. I can never add to it.

You are not even interested in me. We are just friends. I am not even your type. You only want a change and you think I am that change. Go back to La, Arnav. Don't break her heart'

That is Khushi for you Lavanya. She may have left me; she may have done what she has done. I don't know why.

But as long as I knew her and much after she has gone from my life, I have been trying to find a person with half her goodness and half her sweetness and I have never found that in any woman, mot even you,' he finished.

Lavanaya had become a deathly quiet as he spoke. He began to feel he had gone too far. He stepped closer to her and said 'Lavanaya---'

She looked up then, with tears in her eyes,' So it was you who chased her and not her?' she asked.

'What are you talking about?' he asked.

'Back in college. When you broke off with me, you said she had refused you at first?' she said.

'Yes she did,' he said.

Lavanaya cried then unable to control the flood of her tears,' And all these years I had held her responsible for backstabbing me, for going behind my back and snatching you away.

I always thought you were interested in me and she tried to allure you away using your friendship and her 'nave' charms.

I had never imagined it was the other way round,' she said, more to herself than to him.

Suddenly, she had gotten up and taken his hand, 'Arnav I am sorry. I don't know what happened between you two and what happened to her that she left you. But for the first time, I have woken up to the fact that she was never two timing you.

You are the only person she would talk about when we were in our room.

She always made sketches of you all over her notebook.

She would watch you from afar, when you were not looking.

She had collected so many things you dropped, from your pen to your hankies to even the wrapping papers you discarded.

I had thought, her obsession for you had made her pursue you when you dated me.

But I had never, ever thought she had been willing to give you up for me.

I have wronged her Arnav. Along with you, I have hurt her. I had always believed that first she took you away from me and then she did not even bother to hold on to you when she went for NK. I had hated her, for ruining my only chance of finding love, because she knew I hated men and only trusted you.

Of course, she did not know, I had nurtured any feeling for you, because when we broke up I told her, I never liked men anyway. Perhaps that's why she even accepted. I am happy that even then she had tried resisting and tried giving me a chance.

She is genuinely nice Arnav. I had greatly misjudged her,' she said.

Then sliding off her engagement ring she took his hands, turned over his palm and placed the ring on it, 'I know you will never love me Arnav. Not the way I want you to. Not the way you love Khushi. I don't know where she is and what she is doing, but having been her roommate I know she has not forgotten you. You were her life, Arnav. It must have cost her a great deal to leave you.

This ring does not belong to me. It feels heavy now when I know it does not have any emotions from you and perhaps never will.

I think it is a bad idea to get engaged. We were and always will be good friends. I hope you find happiness someday, with some other women. And if some day, you find Khushi, do tell her that you pretended that day in the hotel room. Because that image must be haunting her. No one knows better than you and me, what it is to feel betrayed by someone you love,' she said.

She had hugged him then and he had hugged her back, two people doomed in love.

After that Lavanya had become a good friend and she had moved back to India. She still kept in touch and still asked about Khushi.

How strange that Khushi thought he had married Lavanaya and moved on.

He had never moved on. Not in the real sense. Because he had never found happiness again and never shared 1/4^th of what he shared with Khushi. His heart too had been in cold storage from long and today he had felt it live again.

He knew now that this is love.

Because nothing had destroyed it-

Time

Betrayal

Pain

Distractions

Anger

Distance---

He had come a full circle in life going through all emotions in the past 7 years and yet he was at that point from where he had begun-madly, hopelessly in love with Khushi.

So what chance did his love stand? Did it have a future?

Khushi had said goodbye.

He had been so deep in thoughts that he just realized he had reached his house.

Due to all the emotional exhaustion and a sleepless night, he wanted to rest for a while. As sleep overtook him, a faint smile touched his lips and he said 'No Khushi. You can never say goodbye to me. It is time for a new beginning----'

When he woke up it was late evening. He freshened up and drove towards her hotel, picking up fresh flowers on the way.

When he reached her room and rang the bell there was no response.

When he came down and enquired in the lobby, the lobby assistant said 'Khushi Gupta? She vacated the room a long time ago and no she hasn't left a forwarding address.'

Loved Lavanya's maturity.

loved the update..
Lavanya realised tat khushi is not at fault.
Now khushi is gone frm there.
Waiting for nxt part

Very nice... Rima... I loved it..Arnav is feeling the pain..lavanya was good too