ARHI SS : Trapped-Thread 1 - Page 9

Sleep eluded her tired eyes.

She hadn't slept properly in a week.

In a week her whole life had gone astray.

Every dream lay shattered in pieces,

Like every girl she had dreamed of being wooed. Not to be told 'I never wanted to marry your daughter. Never even thought about it'.

Like every girl she had expected the man to walk up to her father and beg for him to marry her. Not her father to beg the man 'Please, please marry her and save her reputation'.

Like every girl she had expected her parents to give her a fond farewell after marriage and cry for her. Not for them to say 'We don't ever want you to come back to this house.'

Like every girl she had dreamed of seeing love in her husband's eyes. Not the blazing hatred and the declaration 'I hate you'.

If today she was to crawl into a corner and die, not a single soul would shed a tear for her.

Not the parents who had raised her.

Nor the man who had married her---

Three of the most important people in her life.

How ironic that she had done everything for them.

How ironic that she had put everything at stake for them.

And yet, here she was horribly alone.

Had she imagined she would ever end-up like this when she had first met Arnav and had an instant crush on him?

She still remembered their chance encounter in the lift, when she had been looking for AR Advertising, where she was going to work,

She hadn't known he was the boss when she met him.

Link to chapter 1&2 Mirage and Oasis (if you want to read about first meeting)

Chapter 1: https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/fan-fictions/3057685/the-mirage-and-oasis-new-ff-chapter-13-updated

Chapter 2: https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/fan-fictions/3057685/the-mirage-and-oasis-new-ff-chapter-13-updated?pn=8

She still remembered how mean he had been on the first day he had decided to grill her with a mock interview.

'So tell me, you are here to do copywriting right?' he asked.
'Of course. It is something I am very passionate about,' she said beaming.
'Ok can you come with copies for things suddenly, under pressure with very little time?" he asked.
'Yeah I sure can,' she said, still beaming.
'Ok I will do a quick round with you since I did not have the pleasure of interviewing you. I will tell products...mind you they may be bizarre' but you have to come up with a slogan for each. Ready?" he challenged.

Khushi was nervous. Well what did he mean by saying 'bizarre' products. She chewed her lower lips in stress.

Arnav gave a smirk of pure satisfaction.

'Ok first product: Men's underwear' he said brazenly.
He almost laughed when her mouth fell open and her cheeks flamed a crimson red and her eyes rounded as saucers.
'You have a minute Miss Khushi,' ASR said.
After the initial shock, Khushi's spirit was back. No one, but just about no one challenged her talent and she would show him how good a copywriter she was.
'Makes you feel like a man, inside-out' she said triumphantly.
This time ASR was shocked but he did not show it.

'Shit,' he said.
'Why what happened?" Khushi asked.
'That is the next product,' ASR almost grinned seeing her wrinkle up her nose.
'Love it or hate it. But do it' Khushi said.Then he threw the next word at her 'Sex'

Khushi blushed and was unable to meet his eyes. She was unable to utter a word...it brought to her mind a lot of things...especially her parents telling her about what she should never talk about in front of a man. She just could not say anything and stood there tongue tied.

'Cat got your tongue? You have an extra minute to come up with something', he had said

(For detailed reading, here is link to Chapter 3 M&O: Chapter 3

https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/post/60724372)

She had known he was capable of cruelty.

She had known he was a hard man.

Yet why had she let herself dream and hope and love and care?

Why hadn't she killed that budding attraction?

Like a fool she had believed he cared too.

Like a fool she had read or perhaps misread too much into his actions.

Now she knew, he had never felt that way about her.

Words from a week ago floated back to her.

'What gave you the impression that I love you?

What made you think I give a damn.

An emotional kiss?

A touch?

Some tender caring?

Let me tell you something.

These things are normal between a man and a woman.

Love hasn't got a thing to do with it.'

How long she had cried that day she did not know.

And the tears still continued.

Would this endless night ever see a dawn?

And what did a new dawn have to offer her?

More hate?

More pain?

More rejection?

Tears filled her eyes again, as she remembered the expression of hatred in all the faces she loved,

While leaving she had turned around time and again to see her beloved parents face.

One smile of reassurance is all she needed. One loving look to say they would miss her. One word of courage for the new life she was going to begin. One small gesture to show they would be there for her, if something went wrong.

But the stoic expression on their faces gave her nothing but grief.

In the car, on the way to her husband's home, her new life, she had glanced many times at her husband's stern profile.

All she wanted was one look to say things will be fine, one gesture to say he acknowledged her presence, one sympathetic look at her, as she cried for her parents----anything to make her feel she at least mattered as a human being, if not a wife.

But he remained hard as a stone, not even turning towards her.

She wished now she could run away and hide. She wished she could just die,

But something stopped her. And it was her spirit to fight, Her courage. Her determination to never break. No she would not give in to her wishes.

She looked up at the sky then. It was pitch dark, like her life. But after every night came the dawn---and if not the people she loved, perhaps she could give something to this world?

With that thought she felt a peace descend on her and her eyelids began to feel heavy,

But she would not sleep on this bed. Would not stay in this room. She had no right to it.

She was a forced intruder into the life of her husband and she had no right to his bed.

Gathering a pillow, bed sheet and a mat, she stepped into the cool night air beside the poolside.

Lying down on the cold hard floor, she looked up at the sky and said 'You made me God. And perhaps some day you can let me know, why you planned my fate in such a way that I can neither love nor hate the man I am married to---'

He must have driven all around Delhi, aimlessly. He never wanted to go back home. He never wanted to see her face.

God, he had been such a fool to almost fall for those innocent gullible eyes, the charming but cunning beauty, the sweet talks.

Perhaps he had not learned the lesson well from the life of his sister and parents. He had not learned enough that there was no such emotion called love.

It was as fake as the woman who was his wife. As fake as his parents marriage. As fake as his scoundrel brother-n-law.

But for sometime, he had almost begun to soften. He had almost cared for her. He dashed his hands in anger against the steering.

Why was he always used and abused? Once his mother had broken his innocent heart on a daily basis. And now the woman who claimed to love him and was his wife.

He looked up at the sky questioning the powers that created him 'Why can't you make me so strong that I can hate her more?'