Chapter 10
Khushi stood there just trying to absorb the words Arnav had said. I don't know how you ended up on my bed that night but all I do remember is seeing a form of a girl on my bed before I collapsed onto my bed fully clothed. Was he telling me the truth? Khushi thought.
She pondered over everything she knew about him from what she had heard from other people around the campus plus what his sister, her best friend had told her.
Ooo Arnav is so hot' one of the girls in her class had said as she was trying to listen to the teacher giving them a talk the various types of clothing materials.
Yeah I know he is very hot, plus he is awesome in the bedroom' the other girl whispered back as the girls giggled making Khushi's eyes open wide as she had never been use to this kind of talk before. Of course when she was a young girl in Lucknow she was a part of a mixed school but none her friends use to speak like that.
She could remember when she had first joined the college and on the first day how she and Anjali had become instant friends. Who wouldn't become friends with Anjali? If Khushi was bubbly and chatty, Anjali was just as bubbly and chatty plus she was also a great listener. Even though Anjali and Khushi were the same age Khushi had a little more maturity compared to Anjali who was a little more spoilt, well she would be a little after all she did happen to the youngest child of Amit Singh Raizada, a well renowned businessman.
Anjali was the first one of her friends who use to talk about boys in that manner which used to shock Khushi a lot. Ooo that guy's hot' pointing to a guy on his bike wearing a red biker jacket with cool shades, surrounded by a lot of other girls. Wonder what he would be like to kiss or other things' Anjali just said. Khushi looked at Anjali shocked while Anjali winked at her.
Over time Anjali had realised that Khushi was not like typical city girls who were all like this but Khushi really was a very traditional Indian girl who always kept her distance from guys.
Anjali on the other hand use to go chat with the guys even if it was just casually. Anjali always had a mixture of friends including a lot of guy friends but she would get annoyed even angry with them if they talked bad of Arnav. Sometimes with the girls she would also shout at them if they were bad mouthing Arnav.
Khushi knew Anjali loved her brother a lot so all the bad things being said about him would upset her but she would admit that most of them were true.
Sometimes when Khushi was on her own in the canteen or just outside sitting on her own, in the garden areas of the campus, she would overhear girls go into explicit detail about Arnav Singh Raizada and how their night went after the party especially about what was happening in his bedroom. Before they got into more detail Khushi use to get up and walk away just so she didn't have to hear all this.
Khushi was with Anjali sometimes and even though Anjali knew what her brother was like even she didn't want to be anywhere near other girls who would go into explicit detail about her brother.
Khushi was still thinking about what she knew about Arnav when Anjali had come looking for her.
"Hey Khushi" Anjali began as she shock Khushi a little by placing her hand on Khushi's shoulder. "You ok?" Anjali asked with concern. "Huh!" Khushi just said as she came out of her thoughts. "Ummm! Yeah I am ok" Khushi answered even though her thoughts were still on Arnav. "You have been here all this time; I have been looking for you for a while. Everyone is looking for you. It's time for the bidaai" Anjali said. Khushi turned to look at her friend smiled at her weekly and they both went out.
Khushi went over to where her family were but she couldn't help but glance towards Arnav who at that moment was too busy talking to Akash about something.
The moment Arnav had left the room he was in a foul mood. In his entire life he had never been accused of rape nor had his sister ever been bought into a conversation with any girl. When he would break up with a girl he would normally be abused in front of his face or there would be things thrown at him. The amount of girls he had dated let alone who had ended up in his bed all either hate him or love him but not one had ever accused him of rape.
Arnav just went near his brother and just talked to him about work. He didn't even look in the direction of Khushi. He knew if he would look in her direction he would do or say something which would put his brother's wedding in jeopardy let alone ruin the name of both families which is what he didn't want.
The bidaai ceremony started. Payal first hugged her father and cried into his arms. She couldn't believe she was leaving. Shashi also had tears in his eyes as he realised his eldest daughter was leaving forever. Payal pulled away from the hug before she hugged her mother and the pair of them were crying. Khushi was just watching but she couldn't help but cry herself. Anjali came near Khushi and side hugged her. "Don't worry Khushi, Payal bhabhi will be well loved and you can visit anytime. You are in Delhi yourself you know" Anjali said to try and cheer Khushi up. "Your forgetting Anjali I have left Delhi now. Exams are over for our last year and I came back to Lucknow for good" Khushi said still very teary. This shocked Anjali. "But Khushi why?" Anjali asked turning to her friend. "That is what babuji and amma wanted and so did I" Khushi answered. "How about a job after your studies?" Anjali asked trying to get Khushi to change her mind. "I can't think about that now. With Jiji gone permanently babuji and amma will need me to be at home" Khushi answered still very upset.
Payal then made her way towards Khushi. She stood in front of Khushi and before either of them could stop they were hugging each other and crying their hearts out. Both sisters pulled apart after a while. "Take care of amma and bauji" Payal said to Khushi. "I will" Khushi replied before she hugged Payal again and they both became emotional again.
Arnav had been watching the scene, watching Khushi especially and he couldn't understand why in that moment he wanted to go near Khushi and wipe her tears from her face. He had to turn away as he remembered the argument they had.
The gupta's left after a while.
The grah pravash rituals began.
Aparna came forward and did the arti and Payal was asked to push the kalash full of rice with her toe inside. Payal followed the instructions and pushed the kalash inside. A big tray full of water mixed with kumkum was bought in front of Payal. Payal placed her feet into the water and then entered the house leaving her footprints behind her but the Raizada's had another ritual which Payal didn't know about. Akash was asked to then pick Payal up in his arms and lead her towards the seating area which he did. Payal was suddenly embarrassed while Akash just looked towards his blushing bride making him smile.
Akash then put her down helping her stabilise. The family came over again with another tray, with water, kumkum and flowers. Akash and Payal sat opposite each other while they were asked to find the three rings inside the tray. While playing Akash had caught a hold of Payal's hand and he wouldn't let go but his mum stopped him. Akash then went back to playing but before he could realise it Payal won the game. Everyone cheered while at first Akash looked shocked then winked at Payal making her blush.
Afterwards Payal was shown towards Akash's room.
Akash went up after a while but was stopped by Anjali who demanding money. At first Akash only was willing enough to give her a hundred rupees which made Anjali call her brother stingy. They banter for a while. In the end Anjali won and got around thousand rupees from her brother. She left after that enjoying her victory while Akash entered his room.
That night the rest of the household were all asleep with only two hearts beating and two souls meeting.
Early next morning Payal was already in the kitchen making something sweet for the family which everyone had praised.
Arnav had been very distance all morning.
Aparna was the only one who noticed that her usually witty son was very quiet and in his owns thoughts. He was so quiet that he hadn't even been teasing his own brother throughout the whole grah pravesh ceremony nor the rest of the evening and certainly not this morning.
The whole family were leaving for Delhi that very day.
While Payal helped Aparna, Anjali was at the gupta household busy saying her goodbyes to Khushi but the shocking thing was Arnav was actually helping packing without saying a word. Akash had started noticing his brother being very quiet and broody. Akash had seen this look before but not since they had been kids together.
Arnav had done nothing since the time he had spoken to Khushi but think.
The previous night he had hardly slept. He carried on thinking about Khushi's words. ? I know your reputation. The whole my college knows. Maybe even other colleges do. You sleep with whomever you want to not thinking about who gets hurt in the process. His reputation! Humph! He thought.
Arnav started thinking about how he had become the way he did.
As a child just like Akash, Arnav would do really well but their father would always compare them. If Arnav use to get 98 percent in an exam Akash would just beat him with 99 percent. That one percent made all the difference with his father.
"Papa look I got 98 percent in my exam" an excited Arnav would say coming running towards his father. "That good's Arnav but not as good as Akash. He got 99 percent on the same exam when he had taken it three years ago" Amit said not looking towards Arnav. Arnav whose face had been lit with a smile suddenly became upset. Aparna walked into the room with Akash as they both heard what Amit had said. Arnav turned on his heel and stormed out of his father's study ignoring both his mother and brother. Aparna and Akash felt very bad for him.
Arnav just like his mum had a love for gardening and when he was upset you would find him in the back garden, planting or weeding. That was how sometimes Akash or Aparna would find him over the years especially if his father would upset him.
Arnav got used to the fact that his father would never see him more than just average not in front of Akash. Arnav did try harder but only for his mother. He had eventually beaten Akash's score but he didn't bother boasting. Nobody in the house ever knew about it. Arnav had won many sports awards that even Akash hadn't but Arnav just kept it to himself. His friends were the only people who knew.
As Anjali was becoming older even she would want approval from her father but Arnav who knew what had happened to him didn't want his sister to go through the same thing. So when Anjali would come home with less marks then him or Akash, Arnav would first bribe Anjali with chocolate not to tell their father until he said so. Arnav would then with the help of his friends change Anjali's score's making them look better than Arnav's or Akash's and then allowed his sister to tell their father. Anjali did become the apple of her father's eyes but nobody else ever knew except Anjali, Arnav and his friends.
Over the years Arnav hated his father for always comparing him to Akash so he became the black sheep of the family. He knew that would irritate his father but Arnav didn't care by then.
Aparna was always worried about her middle son. She knew he was never seen by her husband and this upset her a lot. She had over the years tried to talk to her husband but he just told her that he was just shaping both Akash and Arnav to becoming men. Aparna didn't see that. All she saw was that her husband was being partial towards Akash. She use to just thank god that Akash didn't allow her husband's partially behaviour towards him give him a big head. Instead Akash would try to make his father notice his brother but that never worked. So Akash, over the years tried to become Arnav's friend, maybe not his best friend but at least a friend that Arnav could get advice from.
Arnav had been thinking about his past a lot during that night unable to sleep.
During the day while helping with the packing Arnav hardly spoke.
Once Anjali had come back everyone headed back to Delhi.
As soon as everyone got to home Aparna again did the grah pravash for Payal as this would be her sasural.
Arnav bought everyone's luggage in and instead of getting involved with all the chatter he went straight to his room, went to the poolside and attended to his plants. All he wanted to do was have some peace and think. He really couldn't believe that his reputation had become this bad that a girl like Khushi had accused him of r****g her. He also needed to start thinking about his sister and thinking maybe Khushi had been right. If someone had ever touched his sister like that he would track them down and kill them.
Life after that night had become very different for everyone.
Akash and Payal had gone on their honeymoon. One week in Singapore and the second week in the Maldives.
During this time Arnav had become serious about work. He had started to attend all the meetings, took over Akash's projects while he was away, not to get noticed by his father but to stop his wayward ways. Arnav would not bother consulting his father on the projects; instead he would just get onto the phone to his assistant and get the work done. He would be on his phone first thing in the morning and sometimes wouldn't be home until late. Half the time he would on his laptop checking his email and answering while trying to get the projects done as soon as possible.
Aparna would have to coax Arnav into coming downstairs just to eat. Aparna was always worried for her son. To her he had changed. He hardly ever went out, he was always working or in his garden and he had given up his partying ways. He had also become more broody, angry and very quiet. Aparna didn't like this side of her son.
Anjali had also noticed her brother change. The famous parties he had stopped. She had girlfriends who would ask her when the next party would be but all Anjali could answer was she didn't know.
Arnav's friends had all tried to coax Arnav back into his partying ways but he didn't budge. He would just say to his friends that it was time they all grew up.
Amit in his own way had started to notice Arnav working a lot more. He was thinking maybe he was wrong about Arnav but he wouldn't admit to it.
Khushi on the other hand was helping her family more. She was starting to become more of her normal self. Her bubbly nature was coming back. She would be helping her father in his shop, helping him make the best sweets in Lucknow. Khushi sweets were becoming popular making her quite happy that through her, her father's sweet shop was making some money.
Her father and mother were a little worried about Khushi as she had studied very hard for her dream and now that her results which had arrived showing she had passed with flying colours Khushi was just busy helping her father. Her father had wanted her to try and get a job at least in Delhi to do with her studies but the mere mention of Delhi Khushi would change the subject.
She had been avoiding thinking about going to Delhi. The last time she had been there a lot of things had happened in her life and now she didn't want to think about going back.
Her argument with Arnav at the wedding didn't help. She still didn't believe him fully. She just wanted that whole chapter of her life closed and that she would never have to face Arnav ever again but little did she know that their path was about to cross again.
Early one morning two envelopes with the names of Khushi Kumari Gupta and Arnav Singh Raizada arrived at their homes.
Khushi had bought the mail over to her parents and took her letter into her room thinking that maybe Anjali had sent her something. She went to her room, opened the envelope and found...
Over at RM Arnav had taken his mail from his sister who was being playful. He then headed to the office with his mail but not before seeing Akash and Payal arriving back from their honeymoon. He went and gave Akash a hug, acknowledged Payal by calling her bhabhi and left to go to work.
Once in the office, he went and sat on his chair, set up his laptop before starting to open up his mail. First he got busy with the mail sitting on his desk. He was going through them when he remembered his phone in his bag. As he went to get his phone he found the letter that he grabbed from Anjali. He opened the envelope and all he said was "Oh hell."
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