Smitar's: Loving Khushi #1 Link to # 2 on Pg 1 - Page 65

lovely update

Amazing hunt...!
I hope arnav succeeds in wooing khushi!
Thanx for the pm!

LOVED THE UPDATES

Smita,😊

Here is the interpretation to Part 3.

This is about a network of paths through which one has to find a way. It is also about being dazed and confused, in a word MAZE.

Khushi had a wonderful sleep and woke upto the feeling of warmth and cosiness and wanted to snuggle and curl in her blanket. The feeling was so good that her smile was like a glowing sunshine. When she yawned she could not lift her hand and wondered, why it was so and her body felt weighed down. Puzzled, she looked down to find ruthless Raizada sleeping almost on her. He had his face buried in the crook of her neck, his arm wound around her gathering her to him tightly and his legs entangled with hers. It was nearly a honeymoon hug. Khushi felt her throat go dry. Her heart started to beat so rapidly that it reached a deafening roar like that of a thunder. She thought she better slip out of bed before he woke up, lest she gets embroiled in the intricacy of his eyes, as his eyes had the capacity to lure her into submission. His gaze on her lips was always like hers, when she would look at jalebi, fully mesmerizing. However much she tried to push and nudge him off her, it was of no use. His arm tightened all the more, while Khushi was left panting. Arnav woke up, his senses fully alert and seeing her struggle and his body wrapped around her, he shut his eyes once more. She tried to move by slowly edging out but Arnav was not inclined to let her go. Adjusting his legs twined around hers and nuzzling deeper into the warm hollow of her neck, inhaling her fragrance, he murmured Hhmmm... feeling heavenly. Khushi irked by it, pushed his arms and tried to disentangle her legs by squirming vigorously.

As Arnav deigned to open his eyes, it was to look into Khushi's stormy eyes with his dreamy ones. His husky, good morning, sent ripples along her body, echoing inside her. As Khushi looked into his warm twinkling eyes, she demanded him to let her get up. Arnav countered her with, why should he when she was the one who used to complain that they never share the bed. His cheeky statement baffled her. He reminded her of the time, when they stayed at Buaji's house they had woken up with her all over him, and he had asked why she was sleeping in Taekwondo pose over there while she slept properly at RM. She had countered then with, how was he to know when he had not even shared a bed with her at RM. Khushi paled at the memory, cursing herself for possessing a good vivid one, looked away and tried to get up. Arnav not wanting to let go of her, tightening his hold around her waist asked, whether she wanted to get up? Khushi nodded mutely. Arnav coming up with a compromise said, if she could give him what he wants she could get up. She was startled and knew, his deals off late with her were all based on naughty thoughts, and as she looked into his eyes she found that it was glowing like two bright stars with naughty thoughts twinkling in it. As his eyes slid on her luscious lips that looked soft and pliant with sleep, they lost their naughty twinkle and took on a wicked glint. Khushi's protest, No, was passively accepted with a, fine, and a rider, then they could stay as they were the whole day long. Khushi tried to cow him down with her glare but to no avail. Her puny attempts to wrestle with him and get out of bed were ineffectual against his superior strength and tactics honed by training. He stated that there was only one way and that was his way, yielding to his simple request, she would succeed in her quest. A bewildered Khushi as usual, in her distress prayed with her eyes shut to her friend, Devi Maiyya, to come to her rescue. Her eyes shut tight like a child brought in a smile on Arnav's lips. He lowered his lips on her tender, enticing ones to sip, but before he could even nip, it was by a knock on the door clipped, making both turn towards it. They heard Nani calling out to Arnav that she needed to talk to him for a moment if he is awake. Khushi, for whom it was a quagmire of emotions, using this distraction to her advantage, slid off the bed and rushed into the bathroom picking her clothes on her way.

A worried Nani, with a sigh told him she thought, that Anjali Bitiyaa should join them for breakfast at the table as her copious tears and melancholic frame of mind are not healthy. She needed to get around. Arnav agreed with her and said that they would get her down, and at ten, the doctor too would be coming for her regular check up. Nani nodded at his words and left. When Khushi came out of the bathroom, Arnav informed her about Di coming down for breakfast saying that, it was not good for the baby if she stays alone and crying all the time. Khushi just nodded.

When the three brothers came down with Anjali, only Mami, Nani and Payal were in the hall. Arnav's eyes searched for Khushi. At the table, seeing that it was Payal and HP who were serving the dishes, Arnav asked loudly where Khushi was? Nani and Mami with frantic eyes looked at Anjali but to their bewilderment, she was sporting a closed expression as though benumbed. When Payal murmured that she had gone to temple, Arnav frowned. His hopes of sharing his meal with her had been dashed. He wondered why had she left without letting him know? After the meal, with Anjali in her room, the rest relaxed in the hall, while Akash left for the office and Arnav in casuals walked out of the house. When Nani asked whether he was going to his office that day, Mami in her Hinglish and her own flavoured accent, added without his coat and boot? Arnav's reply, that he was on his way to the temple to fetch Khushi, earned a smile of approval from Nani.

In the temple, Khushi sat in a corner of the big hall where the idol of Devi Maiyya had been placed with her chin on her hands that were resting on her lifted knees. She was a bundle of confusion. She was wondering what was happening to her life? From a seemingly carefree life as a girl in Lucknow, she was caught up in an imbroglio, a contract marriage in Delhi. And from the fifteenth of August she would neither be a spinster nor a married woman. What would she be? Her mind was muddled up. The hall was bustling with sound and activity. But Khushi's mind was flowing in the sweeping meanders of thoughts, on what her life had become. She heard not, the walk of the people traversing through the hall, chants of the people, cry of the baby, ringing of the bells as the aarti began, cooing of the pigeons as they pecked at grains, fluttered and perched on the rafters. Her mind was engrossed on, what next? Would they have to get a divorce? Would they have to confess the truth to their families? How would they react? These hodge podge thoughts made her heart quail. The very thought of giving pain to her family, the tears, the disappointment on their faces, made her apprehensive. Moreover what would she do after eleven days? With the tangled skeins of explosive truth out, if her Amma, Babuji and Buaji threw her out, where would she stay? What could she do? Her future stared at her, looking bleak and dreary, as bleak as the vast ocean, her mind convoluted with the thought of how to survive?

But the cause of perplexity was the state in which her heart was responding! She realized that she would never have a moment of respite all through her life, worrying about the man who would be living far away from her, longing for him with unrequited love, having no claim over him, not even for a thought. Even while her mind was going through the endless labyrinth of tunnels of thoughts, this particular thought was searing through her heart and it had twisted itself into a Gordian Knot. The unshed tears clogged her throat. It singed her to think that he would forget her, maybe, even marry again, while she.., she would spend all her life clutching at the strands of his memory to her heart, reliving the few months they had spent together. Her unconscious touch on her mangalsutra, reminded her of yet another thing that she would have to relinquish, along with the sindoor that was adorning her maang. It would be for just six months that she would be adorning them in her lifetime and in eleven days time that part of her life would have its closure too. This baffling jungle of thoughts led her to one place that she was dreading, loneliness. She knew with only her parents for company, as they shone brightly in the night sky, she would be spending her endless life in the labyrinth of memories of a short period of her life. These thoughts made her fingers curl around her mangalsutra.

Arnav who had come to collect her, saw she was sitting in a dark corner with her fingers curled around her mangalsutra and her face that was like an opening rose, so fresh and bright to look, was now like fallen snows, gone cold, dead and wan. The sight of the cheerful, never say die attitude girl, shriveled into a pale shadow of herself, sitting in a corner, made him swallow hard and berate himself for being the source of her sad state. His bad judgement, impulsiveness, thoughtlessness, convoluted sense of righteousness, had brought her to this point, of hiding in a corner in the temple, worrying about the future... As he watched, he saw her wipe a lone tear that fell like liquid silver on her cheek and clasp her knees closer to her chest. He just could not bear to see her look defeated, scared and lost as though there was no path out of the quandary. Marching upto her he called out, Khushi.. So lost was she in her misery, that she had not noticed him and his call shocked her.

She wondered what was he doing in the temple when he was an atheist! He also neither believed in love nor marriage. He was free. He was so bullheaded and arrogant that he forged ahead with whatever he wanted, unmindful of its repercussions on others. Storming into her life like a hurricane, twisting her life out of synchronization, now in eleven more days she would be spiraled into oblivion. For him, it was like a game of twister, but for her, it was an invisible web that would tangle around her making her incapable of living with her head held high. The images of him dragging up the steps, tying mangalsutra around her neck with absolute loathing, dabbing sindoor on her maang with his eyes spitting balls of fire, his face livid like an active volcano, with contempt oozing out in every deed and word he uttered, at the vile women who had the guts to destroy his Di's perfect marriage, the femme fatale, who not only enchanted Shyam, an epitome of loyal husband, a devoted family man, but also trapped him with her lures into betraying his Rani Sahiba. She was the reviled 'other woman' who dared to upset his precious Di's applecart.

She thought he and his contract marriage! Marriage for six months! Utter preposterous! What did he really know about marriage? What did he know about the significance of the mangalsutra or sindoor? Next to nothing. What did he know about, how this contract marriage would reflect on her family and her character? What does he know about how it had destroyed her life? Nothing. In fact, he knew nothing, and he cared even less. Voicing out the words of love over the phone had been an act of desperation. The pressure had taken its toil and his thoughts had been clouded. Maybe, at that point of time it was heartfelt. But now, she had become a burden to him, she being the pole star of Shyam-Anjali-Khushi triangle, the one who led them to the doom. She was the dispensible one of the lot. His pursuit of her, was the result of the hurt that his ego suffered by her decision to leave him, before the stipulated contract period and no, it was never by love. Though she could not find a way out of the current morass, it built up a fire within her that blazed out enough to dry her tears. When she asked him tersely, yes?, he queried what was she doing there and asked her to come home. She countered him evenly with, was there any stipulation in the contract that forbid her from praying in the temple? perplexing him. At his protest, she asked him, what was the reason behind him entering the temple, when usually Anjaliji had to resort to emotional blackmail for him to do so. When he asked her to come home with him, she countered, whose home? and in all seriousness, his home? Of course she would accompany him, after all for eleven more days she was bound by the contract.

Getting ready to accompany him, her poser with a wide smile pasted on her face, that looked like the one painted on the face of a Kathakali artist, was he now happy? was like a tight slap on his face. His heart hurt seeing the bitterness, pain and desolation etched on her face that was as solemn as a mask, the copyright of which was exclusively his. His fierceness at extracting his pound of flesh for his perceived sense of betrayal had resulted in repainting the canvass of her face. He asked her not to talk to him in that manner, and she defied him asking, what would be the repercussion for not toeing the line? Arnav stared helplessly at this belligerent Khushi. Then shocking him with her chuckle, she knocked the wind out him by asking, What else is left for him to do? He has destroyed everything she ever had. There was nothing more he could take away from her. Her words pierced his heart as straight as an arrow, bleeding at the hurt he had caused. He was being tangled in the web of his own making. By questioning his decisions she was subjecting him to torsion which was winding him in a twist of remorse, guilt, self-derision and above all self loathing. For a person who prided on flawless judgement it was like being thrown down the precipice along with an avalanche following behind. She was about to walk away from him, when the purohit called her to have the prasad.

While she received, he turned to Arnav, but he did not lift his hand. Khushi with a smile told the astonished man, don't worry Panditji, He does not need Devi Maiyya's blessings after all he is Arnav Singh Raizada, who makes his own destiny. Don't you know? Purohit, looking at the couple wondered why they had brought their differences to the temple. He prayed to the Godess to get them out of the muddle, show them both the right path to happiness and protect them from all evil.

As they both entered RM, Khushi silently moved towards their bedroom, leaving Arnav to talk to his family. Remembering to collect her clothes that were on the terrace for drying, she moved into the terrace taking the staircase through Arnavji's garden. As her hand went to unclip the billowing red saree she cleared it from her face, only to see Shyam slinking away from Anjaliji's room up the steps. She was shocked and bewildered at the sight and stood still with her eyes following his movement. Shyam using another set of stairs after ascertaining that the coast was clear, slipped away. The saris and duppatas were billowing across making a pleasing scene. But Khushi, all muddled up, feeling her legs give away, slumped down, unaware of everything but the ramifications of what she had just witnessed. She sat there thinking, that the tangle was getting complicated as well as murky. Possessing miscellany of links about what you never really wanted to know, she was in a dilemma. She sat there in a stupor with the thought as what to do, unmindful of the breeze and the sunshine, until Arnav came in search of her.

When he admonished her asking, what was she doing there? Was she feeling dizzy? She had not even had breakfast when now it was nearing lunch time! her query as to how was Anjaliji, had him frown at its strangeness. Though perplexed he answered, both she and the baby were fine as per the doctor, but just weak as she was not taking enough food. Helping Khushi to stand, he led her to their room and made her eat her breakfast that HP had got at his behest.

When Nani came later and said to Arnav, that Anjali Bitiyaa was refusing lunch and just crying for Damadji, Khushi was a silent spectator. Even with the rest of the family, Arnav, Akash, NK, Mami, Nani and Payal coaxing Anjali to eat, she was adamant. It worried Arnav and he was baffled by his Di's stance. While he was trying to get a grip on this perplexity pacing the room, Khushi went on with the mundane task of folding her clothes and stashing them away in his wardrobe. She was absolutely silent on that matter. Dinner time too saw the repetition of the melodrama that took place in Anjali's room at lunch time. Arnav ended up pacing his room, wearing out the carpet in frustration, wondering how to get his Di to eat. Khushi was silently watching him sitting on the bed. Sensing a movement near the door, both of them turned towards it, only to see a weak and fragile Anjali hanging on to the door to stop herself from swaying. Nani, Mami, NK, Akash and Payal came running after her to prop her up. Arnav whispered, Di! and was so surprised to see her there, one could have knocked him over with a feather! As Anjali called him, Chotey! he rushed and hugged her. Anjali too holding him close to her asked, he could make everything alright, could he not? He had always been doing so since childhood. Now too he would make her happy, won't he? When Arnav nodded not really understanding where this headed to, Di dropped her bombshell asking him, to get her Shyamji! Without him she would not be able to draw her breath! Arnav could just stare at her. She wanted that dastard two-timer of a weasel, who was hell bent on cheating her, with a penchant for kidnapping her brother, back in her life! She beseeched him, to make everything as it was, life filled with happiness, with Shyamji back in the fold and so saying, collapsed due to exhaustion. She knew, her brother would move the earth to fulfill her wishes and he had been doing so for her till now. Taking this weakness of his as her strength, she pleaded with him resorting to the usual emotional blackmail, not even giving an iota of thought to the quandary she would be pushing him into. For Arnav who had placed his sister in the pedestal as his mother it was a traumatic experience. He was bewildered with her convoluted sense of happiness and muddled sense of security.

Khushi watched the entire family helping Anjaliji walk to her room. As they left she went to stand by the pool looking at the reflection of the night sky. After settling his Di, Arnav baffled at her demands and worried about her health came to Khushi, sitting by the pool. She was looking into the water that reflected the lights in his garden. Her face was like the Milky Way in the sky, a meeting of gentle lights without a name. She looked serene and her inner turmoil was not to be seen. It looked as though she was a source of comfort and seeing her Arnav called out to her, Khushi.. as though she was the only source of comfort for him. His desperate call to her, seeking comfort from her, made her say, Shyam had been here, while she was on terrace, she had seen him coming out of Anjaliji's room, sneaking across the garden and take the way out via terrace that had a different set of steps leading to the outside entrance. Her words left Arnav shellshocked so much that one could play marbles with his eyeballs. He was left in a maze by his own sister, for whom, he had made his love the scapegoat, and had placed the girl whom he loved between the hammer and the anvil.

That is why this is titled MAZE.

"That's the funny thing about mazes: what is baffling on the ground begins to makes sense when you can begin to rise above it, the better to understand your history and fix yourself"

~ Wally Lamb, The Hour I First Believed

That's it from me. Hope you enjoy it.

WOW...me and first position!!!!Today sun set in the south...
beautiful update Smita...loved it...
their morning...her pushing...his not letting go...reminding her complaint about not sharing the bed...Khushi could remind that it was not a complaint,but statement...but how can she think straight when she in THIS position...
Oh God,Raizadas and their interruption...Naniji thodi der baad nahi aa sakti thi...
So Khushi went to temple without even her breakfast...loved it when Arnav followed to get her back...
Khushi's sitting in the mandir...thinking about everything...painful to even watch...what had u done Arnav...
I love Khushi's replying back in this story...he so deserves to heard those...
So Anjali and her bhook hartal...and her "Shyam ji lota do"...I may sound rude,par ek din naa khane se kuch nahi hota...
So Khushi saw Shyam and later told Arnav that...I just loved it...I always wanted her to do that...
this is awesome...waiting for the interpretation Rashmi...and thanks in advance for the pm...

It was heartbreaking when Khushi was saying that she will wear it for her real husband and not for the contract one which is Arnav. A wonderful update.👍🏼