[Arhi FF] Silver Lining..link to thread 2 pg 151 - Page 35

The huge clock chimed 12 o' clock and a lone figure came out of the church. She was wearing a brown gown and her head was covered with a white cloth. Clutching the cross and muttering her prayers, Sister Avantika crossed the threshold of the church as she walked silently to the other side, to where her convent was situated.

It was her 45 year of serving as a nun in the St. Sebastian Church, Dehradoon, and she had her share of happiness and miseries, some of which she was still unable to get over. Painfully remembering her past memoirs, she silently walked when she heard another sister calling her name. She turned to find Sister Angela coming down the stairs, clutching a phone in her hand.

"Sister, you have a call," Sister Angela said handing her the phone.

"Ah..." Sister Avantika smiled as she took the phone, "Hello..."

"I finally got you!" came the excited voice of Matthew Dales, once a shy boy, now a daring investor.

"Matthew, my boy..!" she exclaimed, "How are you?"

"I am good, thank you, Sister," Matt replied, "Do I have the permission to ask how you are?"

"Before you ask, I am fine my boy..." Sister Avantika replied smiling. "Then where do I have the permission to ask you?" Matt sulked. Avantika laughed, "Oh my boy. You don't need my permission to ask my wellbeing. You have the right."

"Yeah, but not as much as right as him!" Matt exclaimed, "By the way, you know what? I saw him in New York the other day! He is one of India's leading fashion tycoons now!"

"I know that!" Avantika smiled. Matt grew confused for a second before he almost yelled, "you are in touch with him till now?"

"That's not fair!" Matt complained, "you didn't tell us!"

"He didn't want it to be disclosed," Avantika explained, "you know how picky he was about his privacy even back then, right? By the way how did you know it was him?"

"Oh, only on his face one can find a perpetual frown..." Matt smirked, "He was yelling at some girl in the airport that day. It was epic."

"Are you making fun of him?" Avantika chided.

"Oh no..." Matt smirked, "why would I make fun of him? But it was hilarious to see him bite someone's head off in annoyance. He hasn't changed a bit!"

"Well, yes..." Avantika muttered to herself, sadly, "he hasn't changed a bit. He is still stuck in the same place where he was before 15 years. He doesn't wish to move on..."

"Sister..." Matt's voice snapped her, "Are you alright? Why did you fall silent suddenly?"

"I am fine, my boy," Avantika replied, "and please don't tell anyone that him and I are in contact. He might not like it."

"Yes, I will not..." Matt assured, "don't worry. But I don't know...why is he still so annoyed and frustrated? He is one of the leading businessmen in the world! He has everything!"

"He lost everything before he got everything, my child..." Avantika said sadly, "the pain of his losing is deeper than the joy of gaining..."

"I don't think I can ever understand him..." Matt said seriously.

"Even I haven't been able to understand him yet..." Avantika sighed, "no one will ever be able to understand him again. Not even his adopted family. There was only person who understood him and she's gone..."

"That was a big blow to him, wasn't it?" Matt asked, "he was never the same after her..."

"You met him, didn't you? Back then?" Avantika asked.

"Yes, I was there that day when he came..." Matt sighed, "He just crumbled to pieces when he heard the news."

"I know..." Avantika wiped a tear out of her eye, "he still hasn't been able to join all the bits..."

"The rules of Jesus are strange," Matt said, "on one hand, he is now a top businessman, stinking rich with a doting family to take care of him, on the other, the only person he considered his family is gone... I feel so sad for him."

"And that is what he detests..." Avantika smiled sadly, "he hates when someone sympathises him. He hates when someone pities him. Why do you think he still hasn't changed? Why do you think he is arrogant, annoyed and irritated all the time? Because he doesn't want people to pity him. That is why he is hiding his pain behind the mask of anger."

"I cant believe I saw him so happy just moments before the news broke out to him," Matt closed his eyes remembering his friend's suffering, "he was so excited. He was jumping in joy, bounding the stairs of the church yelling her name. But after, he just sank down. Why did it have to happen to him..?"

"Nobody has the answer to it, my boy..." Avantika said, "Jesus has his reasons..."

"I don't know what the reasons are but he certainly didn't deserve any of them..." Matt said, "sure he was bossy and arrogant but he was one of the true friends I had seen. He was even ready to give up his life for the sake of his friends."

"I know he didn't deserve...but..." before she could continue the rest, her cellular phone got another call, "Matthew, my child. Someone's on the line. Do you mind if I call you back? Do you have anything important to tell?"

"No Sister...no problem," Matt assured, "You carry on. I will call you sometime later in the day..."

"Okay, god bless you my child," she said before she cut the call and proceeded to dial another number.

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"Chhote...," Anjali panted as she caught up with her brother. "Chhote, what did you just say?"

"Nothing, Di!" Arnav replied curtly, "You should go in now..."

"Aren't you coming?" Anjali asked, blocking her brother's way. "Where are you going to go at this hour?"

"Di, please leave me alone..." Arnav pleaded, "I want to be myself for some time, Di. I just want some time to gather myself up. Please."

"I will also come with you..." Anjali said instantly, "I can't leave you alone. I don't want you to suffer and be lonely anymore. You have done it enough for the past fifteen years."

"No. you can't come with me..." Arnav refused his sister, "you go back home."

"I don't want to go back home..." Anjali almost pleaded, "I am in no mood to talk to Vinay."

"Chhote, how can you say like this?" Anjali asked disbelievingly. "He made a person lose his home and you are telling me to go back to him?"

"Di, as much as I hate him, I also respect him because of the love he has for you..." Arnav whispered earnestly, cupping Anjali's face in his hands, "he might have done anything to me but he loves you more than anything in the world, Di and that is enough for me. I have already lost everything and I can't bear to lose you also. I can't make you choose between us, Di. Please go back to him."

Tears spilled out of her eyes as she choked, "how can you be like this, Chhote?"

"I am like this, Di..." Arnav smiled sadly, "go back to him. He needs you..."

"Don't forgive him, Di...just love him..." Arnav caressed her cheeks and went away leaving a sad but immensely proud Anjali behind.

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The game was on, the pawn had been moved but the progress was extremely slow and Shyaam was furious. Payal had behaved so stupid when she was drugged and that was exactly what Shyaam wanted. In her intoxicated state, Payal had done everything Shyaam had asked her to right from stripping her clothes, doing a pole dance, seducing him and sleeping with him and she had no clue about how she had behaved. The whole Payal-gone-crazy video was now comfortably stored in his laptop and he couldn't wait to use it against her to get what he wanted. He was tired of waiting all these years. Yet, his men had failed to get the information he had asked and he had to be patient till that came else he could achieve nothing.

"Avi!" he barked into the phone. "What happened to the work I told?"

"It's taking more time than anticipated, Shyaam...the number is quite hard to trace..." Avi muttered.

"I don't care!" Shyaam howled, "I want it done as soon as possible!"

"We are trying Shyaam..." muttered Avi exasperatedly, tired of having to deal with this man's tantrums. Avi knew Shyaam for four years now. Being an amateur fashion photographer himself, Avi frequently met Shyaam on photo shoots and various events. Being an experienced photographer, Shyaam was a man from whom you could learn many things about being in the glitz. Yet, it came with a price. Avi had spent the last 5 months in satisfying Shyaam's sexual desires which evidently weren't enough gratified by his many girlfriends. And not to mention, he had to deal with this constant burst of irritability and attitude that Shyaam threw his way. But he was silent because according to him Shyaam was awesome in bed and in money which was way useful to him many ways both for his personal and professional life.

"How many days will you keep trying?" Shyaam snapped, "when are the results going to show up?"

"Very soon, Shyaam..." Avi said earnestly, "this is an international number, hence the delay. But it is going to be tracked very soon. Just give me a few days. I will give you some good news."

"Not pregnancy, I hope..." Shyaam chuckled, "anyway, I am in mood tonight? Shall we meet?"

"Oh.." Avi's smile faltered a little, "oh..um..sure..."

"You don't sound very excited, are you?" Shyaam said sarcastically. Avi flushed before blurting, "Oh no Shyaam. I am very excited. Let's meet at my place, shall we?"

"Excited, ha?" Shyaam chuckled evilly, "okay...be ready by 8. You know how I like it."

"Yes, Shyaam..." Avi muttered; his mood totally off, "I will be waiting for you."

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Driving like a maniac in anger never agreed with Arnav. He was usually those people who drove very slowly when in anger which perfectly contrasted the race of the raging thoughts in his brain. But the leisurely pace of his Range Rover (an insult to that vehicle, agreed!) did little to calm his inner turmoil. He wasn't exactly furious. He was just confused and bewildered with all the things so chaotic in his life. One wrong moment and that frenzy was just a moment away from being blown up into full blown anger. He knew he wouldn't be able to rein it, hence was trying extremely hard to compose himself.

But as the fights and the arguments played in his mind, he unknowingly picked up the speed as he hurtled across the empty streets, desperately trying to cling on to something for his life support. Somewhere he knew he would break soon. He would be reduced to bits and pieces with everything pulling him apart, his family, his promises, his guilt, everything. This anguish, he knew but never wanted to feel again. Never did he want to feel that utter helplessness that he felt when he stood in the middle of the road, yelling and screaming for help. Trying to escape into a safe haven with all the riots breaking. That bloodshed, cries, laments of pain and losing never left his soul. They reverberated from inside his heart, shredding his soul and he could do nothing to control it. "Dammit!" he yelled and swerved his SUV dangerously into an empty road.

Frustrated with the constant attack of her past, Khushi escaped the claustrophobic confines of her home into the night. The air of Delhi was cool and the streets were empty, giving her much needed privacy and space but also a sense of threat to travel alone in the night, especially in a city as unsafe as Delhi. Though she knew something might seriously go wrong, it didn't stop her from reaching the point of stupidity anyway. She wrapped her jacket around her tightly and set on to explore the nightlife of Delhi, occasionally stopping by for some rest.

With her earphones plugged in and music blaring in her ears, the outside world was completely blocked and she continued to walk, happy and content in her bubble, glad that her wounds weren't cropping up again to hurt her more. She was so busy that she didn't notice a black Range Rover until it screeched to halt right in front of her, positively alarming her.

Arnav banged on his steering wheel in fury and got out of the car to see the same annoying face of the woman he constantly had a problem with. After seeing her, his irritation increased tenfold as he shouted, "What the hell woman! Now who's blind and deaf? Idiot!"

Khushi gulped down hard as she tried to control her racing heartbeat and muttered in a shaky voice, "I am sorry. I was lost..."

"Yeah of course you were lost!" Arnav snapped, "your brain's gone for a holiday I guess. Why do you always come in my way?"

Her fear now changed into chagrin with this man constantly hailing insults at her and even though it was her mistake to walk on roads without consciousness, she wasn't ready to get shouted by some loser of a stranger. "I am not coming in your way and neither do I have any interest in doing that! It is you who are stalking me!"

"How dare you!" Arnav said furiously as he caught hold of her shoulder roughly, "do I look so desperate to you that I have nothing better to do than to follow a cheap woman like you? Who do you think you are?"

"Excuse me!" Khushi burst out indignantly, "mind your attitude, mister!"

"I won't!" Arnav muttered furiously as he pulled her closer, hurting her as he shoved her to his chest "what will you do?"

"You bloody moron!" she shouted into his face as she struggled against him, desperate to free herself from this man who had lost himself completely in a pool of anger and wasn't thinking straight, "What the hell do you think you are doing?"

"What the hell am I doing?" Arnav jeered, "You should have thought what I can do before you started arguing with me. I told you to lay off me. Didn't I?"

Khushi bit her cheek in anger and struggled harder, "You sick pervert! Just who do you think you are and what can you do?"

Arnav thread of control snapped as he heard her call him a pervert and he muttered in a very cold voice, one that brimmed with fire and fury, deathly cold rage, "What can I do? I will show you what I can do!" and crashed his angry lips on her soft, pliable ones...