Arshi FF: Entwined(T2)-- Completed! - Page 82

"So would you still want to marry me Arnav? Even after all that I said?"

Was the question that was going on in Khushi's mind, ever since she confided into him completely, but somehow, the question never took the form of literal words, or rather, her mind could never voice out that question. It seemed too perceptive, too distrustful and in a way desperate even. And it didn't feel right, to induce thoughts which rather seemed like a taunt, that might compel him to say what she expected him to say. And that again, didn't feel right.

And so she let the thought surpass in her mind, along with a lot of other life's uncertainties.

"So, they have this secret agent, who would take pictures of young girls..."

Her ears caught the bits and pieces of the ongoing conversation not quite concentrating on the spokesperson, but her eyes were attuned to Arnav, who was busily glancing through some files of pictures and information. She could tell he looked at home in a whole lot different way. He was dressed in those typical formal trousers, something she hadn't seen him wearing other than to his work; with it was a high collared t-shirt, his hair neatly combed back, his forehead clear of any messy hair, Arnav completely looked like the head of the family worked up and pretty much ruling the place.

Not that it was something new, that he was ruling the place, but he seemed different. It was like he was carrying this air of a sudden grown up man, someone who seemed elder than his age more in the way he walked and talked, and someone on whom almost everyone is relying on. He seemed even more uptight, strong and positively ravishing than usual.

"And uh, Khushi?"

She snapped her eyes away from Arnav, and looked at the person speaking, just as Arnav looked up from his file at her. Nk, Nand-Kishore, as he was introduced to her a while ago, a media person wanting to help them to proceed towards the revelation of the Singhanias.

"Yeah?"

"I just asked, would you be alright with it...?"

The way he was busily shuffling through the file, processing all the information, listening to bits and pieces of what was being narrated to her, he seemed completely worked up and in a mission. But there was something else about him that was missing. She had noticed. His face and the look in his eyes seemed unusual, like he is having an internal fight within, or like something was bothering him; of course the situation was definitely not something where he would seem relaxed, but yet she had this vague feeling that something else had changed, she just didn't know what.

"Khushi?" Nk called out to her.

"huh?"

"Would.you.be.alright.with.this?" he spoke each word clearly.

"-----With what?"

Just to recall she definitely did give him hell lot of reasons, for that something to change between them, not that she was in any kind of denial of it, but somehow from some corner of her heart, she just had this feeling that it wasn't what she dreaded it would be. More precisely, she just somehow knew that he wasn't judging her; she knew that her past didn't matter for him, if there was a future of course in his mind. She just knew, it wasn't sympathy and it wasn't judging, in the way he looked at her now. It wasn't even as if something was hanging in between them. She somehow just believed that the veil of her past didn't exist any longer between them, and it was lifted away, much before her own revelation happened, she gathered as much. And she just believed this instinct and it was too strong of an instinct to ignore.

Which is why, she found herself wondering, what was it that had changed? Or if anything did change at all? Was she looking too much into the implications of his body language? Maybe yes; This she didn't know.

"Looks like you've zoned out again.." she heard Shyam's voice, as he chuckled a little and joined beside her on the sofa, causing Khushi to look at him still having the confused look.

"Are you okay Khushi?" she felt a small clutching over her hand, and she shifted her eyes to meet with that of the concerned ones of Sheethal, who was now kneeling down in front of her, gently holding her palm.

"----Do you need some water?" Anjali asked from behind, and Khushi snapped a look at the sudden voice, her eyes pouring out warmth as she nodded a no.

"Oh just tell her what she needs to do and leave her alone, let her decide after properly thinking it through..." it was the warm soothing elderly voice, Arnav's nani talking from across the room, completely minding her own work, her eyes attuned to that the television, while Khushi knew her attention was at what the group had been speaking, maybe even more than her.

Khushi acknowledged her, and glanced around the room her eyes meeting each of the other pair of eyes pouring out concern for her. There was a look of normalcy in the elderly person, look of being there, in her friend's eyes, look possessed by a mission in the way NK looked at her and a look of sympathy and warmth at the way the Jha couple looked at her. Khushi looked from Shyam to Anjali and then looked back in between them, directly in search of those very pair of molten orbs that would never fail to sooth her nerves even from a distance. He was standing leaning onto a pillar, with a file in his hands and just as she met his stance, she found him staring right back at her, lifting his head only a little, his eyes fixing on that of hers, with such determination, the mere edgy expression in his eyes caused her heart to race faster.

"This is not happening NK" he spoke resuming his authoritative voice and NK turned around shifting his attention completely from Khushi to Arnav.

"What do you mean?"

"This more looks like your plan to get your Channel ratings completely high, Khushi will not do this"

That's exactly when Khushi gave her full attention to the conversation that was going. Her eye-brows narrowed, as her pointed gaze tried to ruminate the conversation her sub-conscious mind might have paid attention to, but nothing came back to her mind and so she gave up getting her mind back to fully pay attention to what was going on.

**

"Excuse me! Do you not see how much of my effort has gone into this Mr.Raizada?"

"----absolutely, which is why this is not happening, thank you so much for your time invested into this NK, and we really appreciate you giving us the needed information..."

Nk's jaw literally dropped to the ground gathering the nonchalant arrogant way in which Arnav spoke. "Oh no no! you don't get it..."

"I completely get it NK, and I'm sorry Khushi will not be doing this. We would rather directly proceed legally; I guess we have enough evidence Shyam?"

"Uh, yes we do..." Shyam just answered knowing better than to interfere when his brother-in-law gets into his typical ASR mode.

Nk again looked between the two other men in the room quite bewildered. He then looked away running his hands through his hair trying to think sensible ways of arguing through this.

"Listen Mr.Raizada, I'm going to be very honest with you. I'm doing my job, agreed. I might probably be doing it to get a good story for my channel, agreed. And I've invested more than half a year of my time secretly gathering all that information..."

"I appreciate it and I can pay you for that"

"Oh my god! No! It's a matter of public awareness Mr.Arnav! Other normal girls and parents should be aware of it. All those who had been victim and hadn't been brave enough to escape, should hear how Khushi did it. And the bloody burglar, who is now holding a position in the parliament, should be taken down. The truth running in the family should be out in public and they should all be sentenced to death..."

"I'm bloody capable of giving them what they deserve..." Arnav cut him off coming dead close to NK, his eyes throwing furious daggers at him.

"You sure are sir, but what about the other girls out there, if filing a case was all that was needed, they wouldn't be roaming victoriously in the city even today Mr.Raizada..."

"He is actually right Arnav" Arnav heard Shyam's voice and as on cue his eyes dropped from glaring at NK and he stepped away, letting out a deep breath.

"Khushi will not go through the whole drama of you people interviewing her, giving room for more and more unnecessary attention..." he spoke with his gritted teeth, his protective instincts and fear for her own fears overpowering him, but internally even he knew what Nk was suggesting is the ideal one. However, he just didn't want to impose any more pressure on her, more than what she had already gone through. Maybe he was being selfish and maybe it wasn't right to be selfish at this point of time, but yet his heart constricted to even imagine her going through all that process and yet again, he was stuck in between what's probably right, and what's right for her, in the way he looked at the whole thing.

"But Mr.Arnav, we can take care of that, and make sure it will not get too bothering for her..."

"Nk, I said..." Arnav spoke in his furious gritted teeth tone again, just when they heard a new voice amidst the discussion.

"I'll do it Arnav"

Arnav flipped his head instantly to meet his eyes with that of those very hazels, just as everyone in the room looked at her, giving her their sudden full attention.

**

There was anger, concern, possessiveness, protectiveness, determination, rage, and passion, everything of which poured out rightly targeting her, but his eyes hadn't smiled, like they always did when he looked at her, she had noticed. Swallowing hard, Khushi straightened herself, noticing which Shyam and Anjali moved away, giving room for Arnav to walk in. Just as they expected, he straightened from the pillar and took a few steps towards her keeping his eyes on her. He stopped one foot away from her and kneeled down, causing her eyes to follow his movements. The efficient way in which he had put the little distance between them, didn't go unnoticed by her, but she ignored the momentary disorientation and locked her gaze with him.

"Khushi...?"

"I..I'll do it Arnav.." she said again almost holding her breathe.

"You will have to tell everything in camera, to the world Khushi, and people will ask questions.."

"But the sinner will get his castigation..."

"-----and you will get your righteous justice too..."

Sudden silence occupied itself in the room, as they both continued their rest of the conversation through their eyes, little acknowledgements evident in the way they looked at each other, as the mutual decision was communicated not just to each other but everyone in the vicinity as well.

"You... You will be strong enough right?"

"I'll have you, right?"

He smiled at that and it was like all he needed was to hear the very words from her, for her to say it out and loud, and that did almost all instantly put an end to his protective instincts. He knew this might not be as simple as it sounded in practical sense, but like she had just said she will have him.

**

The mere fact that her thoughts was pre-occupied with what was going on in Arnav's mind rather than the ongoing discussion, which in fact was something completely concerning her, made her realize many things about her state of mind.

Even though the Raizada family acted quite normal to everything that was going on, she gathered as much that her past was now an open secret. And suddenly it didn't matter to her at all. She didn't know if people were judging her, or if people looked down at her or looked at her with sympathy, she wasn't sure of anything but suddenly nothing of it mattered to her, in any possible way.

Speaking about everything she had gone through, out and loud did help her to look at the whole fiasco in a completely different way. Pushing it behind, deeper into the shallow parts of her heart, had not been of any help to her. It was like this constricted, blood clot, inside the walls of her heart that ached each time she would touch it, which was now pushed out taking the form of her words.

Something that hurts can only hurt as long as it stays within you, once you let that out, gaining the momentum to speak about it, the intensity of ache eventually does reduce.

It had been like this shadow that was playing hide and seek with her senses, and despite her constant efforts, dealing with the reality of her past hadn't been much of an improvement. She had been sailing through life with an illusion of moving on, but what was accumulated since so long now, like a burden caused her to look back at it quite often.

Wounds hidden from the world will continue to hurt, the infection of it continuing to spread its roots, but once its open to some curing, healing wouldn't be far away.

Confessing it all, narrating the story of it all, to someone silently hearing, acknowledging and understanding her, finally felt like coming back home to her. It was like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders and it more seemed like it was now placed over his instead. Nevertheless, the intensity of the influence of her past reduced, as small as the change could be, she definitely felt lighter.

It's true when they say sharing sorrow reduces the intensity of it, coz when you let someone in, it would finally be the time to let go.

And so, everything that was going on suddenly didn't matter to her. All she was concerned was, to get rid of the danger that surrounded it and let everything go, for once and for all. So as to live a Happily Ever After with her Arnav---------- was something that awaited her at the end of it all, which again articulated as her driving force.

Adding to it all, it wasn't the question of her fears anymore. It was the question of spreading awareness about what she had gone through. She had once voiced out about the girls who had been captivated along with her, as feeble as her voice was back then and maybe she couldn't fight back properly back then. But now, she was getting another opportunity to do and maybe it's her responsibility even. She couldn't imagine another girl going through all that she had gone through or rather she had almost gone through. No other girl should go through the trauma which she had experienced, for there might not be many Arnav's out there, waiting for them to give another chance, back into life.

And, for it was finally the time for the bloody burglars to be ousted out of the society.

**

Which such strong determined mind-set, as Khushi Kumari Gupta walked into the office of the TodayYou news channel, guarded my Arnav's bodyguards as her boundary, Arnav, Sheethal and Nk walking along with her, as she lifted her head just a little, she have seen exactly what she didn't wanted to see.

People moved away from her way, giving her the extra-respect, females looked at her with empathy, and males looked at her with sympathy. Everyone in the vicinity paved way for her, making too much of an effort to make her feel good. There was weirdness, awkwardness, discomfort, hesitation and just as she noticed a kind of weird look in one of the men's eyes, or so she thought, her fears resumed, in one impulsive movement.

Her walking steps faltered a little, her eyes flipped down to stare at the ground, her forehead creased, her breathing became irregular, her palms clutched the duppatta she was wearing and nervousness combined with apprehension crawled into her stance, perplexing her completely. Even after such high level of self introspection, her self-esteem started to drop down, nervousness starting to captivate her.

Just as she thought she would give up, Arnav stepped ahead and started to walk ahead of her, his broad shoulders, shielding her completely and the next time she lifted her eyes, as they continued to walk, all she could see was his strong protective stance, acting like armor, defending her from whatever that started to bother her, irrespective of everything else. Glaring at his half-posture, his determined stance speaking volumes to her, somehow her nerves relaxed let alone just a little, but she now new, he would be there, quite literally.

**

So, people from the next one, Thread 3 it is...

I hope, I will meet you all there! Thank you so much for Everything! Love you all

Thread 3