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Hi everyone🤗
A new one from me; I'm not really sure what I've done with this one, it started off as some ramblings from Arnav's POV and then it somehow took shape into a slow realisation. It's in 3 parts (no part 4 planned for now) and it's just a slight shift in Arnav's thinking... making him re-think some things.
I wasn't really sure whether to even post this so apologies if it's not exactly fun reading! Please let me know what you thought if you manage to get all the way to the end still awake😉
Asma x
PS: Sorry for the slime content but it was needed😉
*Link to my Index:
'Misguided Truths'
Part One - 'Whispers in the Dark'
'What the ****?!' The house was empty so Arnav felt no hesitation in letting out his full frustration as his room was suddenly plunged into complete darkness. Everything was going wrong and even the littlest thing jarred his already heightened nerve endings. He was barely holding it together and today he felt ready to explode - damn Aman for messing up and them needing to hold an emergency meeting at such late notice, damn the thing for over-running by almost 3 hours and damn the stupid lights for going out right when he needed them!
He let out an angry breath and fumbled for a moment in the dark with the tie he'd been trying unsuccessfully to knot before the lights had gone; at last glance it had been loosely half-knotted and now he gave up and unbuttoned the top two buttons of his black shirt as well, leaving the grey tie as it was. He didn't have enough time anyway so he might as well be comfortable physically, even if he was losing it in every other sense. He took a side-step till his left foot hit the low bedside table and he felt around till he found his car keys and made his way out of the room in the dark.
He'd only come home to drop off some files after the meeting but Anjali had already called him half a dozen times from the function they were all attending to see where he was and to say people were asking why he wasn't there... As if I give a damn what they're thinking, he thought darkly as he moved through the house slowly, knowing he was late but wishing he could just avoid it altogether. He was in a foul mood and couldn't wait for this hellishly long day to be over... although he knew the night would be worse because inevitably, they always were.
'Why don't you think about why you're really so angry all the time..?' The voice in his head was dejected and broken, a mere whisper of what it had once been. But he hadn't been able to silence it completely and it kept needling away at him, making him feel guilty for all the hurts he'd caused her and continued to cause her. 'Think about it again... does it all fit? You know her...' Along with the words, came the fragments of piercing memory that seemed to somehow get clearer with time and unerringly surfaced whenever his resolve faltered or if he allowed himself a moment to breathe freely.
He felt his stomach knot painfully and he shook his head bitterly, refusing to listen to the hopeless voice, biting down hard on it. He knew what he'd seen and telling himself to think about it differently was foolish and only made way for more disappointment. It wouldn't change anything no matter how much he wished it; it was right there in front of his eyes... He tried to push the images away as he turned a corner carelessly and knocked his shoulder on a pillar. He closed his eyes pointlessly in the dark and swore again as a dull ache went through his upper arm but it wasn't enough to knock the vivid images out of his mind.
Arnav stopped walking abruptly and clenched his hands into fists, taking in a deep breath, willing his mind to go blank as he made his way more cautiously towards the front hall. He thought instead about his day and the grim evening ahead and sighed; he shouldn't really be surprised at how badly today was going because it was only following the same nightmarish tone as every day this past month had. Ever since that night... the night he'd got married in such a furious rage, the night he'd seen the girl he'd so foolishly fallen in love with in the arms of his lying, cheating brother in law... ever since that night everything in his life had gone to hell.
***
'Chote.. hum teek hai, humme koi bimari nahi hui hai!' Arnav ignored Anjali as he led her to one of the sofa's of the still dark house late that night. The family all came in behind them and he heard Mamaji say something jokingly about letting her husband look after her. Arnav's fingers unconsciously tightened on Anjali's shoulders at the mere mention of the man and he had to apologise to her when she winced slightly. It made his skin crawl to have to see her with that pathetic excuse every single day. He'd said he would give him a chance but as the days turned into weeks and he got to know his enemy a little better, he'd begun to think it was a lost cause.
'Nahi Jijaji, aap log yahi rukiye, hum dekh kar aate hai ke light ko kya hua!' Arnav came back to the present and looked up at the sound of his wife's voice. His brain registered the fact that she sounded brighter than he'd heard her in weeks but still not back to her normal self. And she was volunteering to help as usual. He watched her glittery form disappear into the darkness and wondered, not for the first time, what to make of her behaviour since he'd blackmailed her into marrying him.
She never complained to anyone; whatever he did, however many fiery battles raged on in the bedroom, however cold he was with her, when it came to the rest of the family, she remained the same as she always had, if a little subdued. Over the past month or so he'd watched her, slowly but surely and in her own way, turn Nani and Anjali around; he'd felt the atmosphere in the house lighten considerably as the days went by and somehow knew it was down to her.
He told himself repeatedly that it was all an act but that never stopped the churning mess of emotions he felt when he lay down to sleep at night. He'd seen her true face, heard her speak about his sisters ruined marriage like it was nothing and yet she still managed to get under his skin when she looked at him with those confused eyes; turning the tables, making him feel like he was the one in the wrong and he hated it.
Arnav heard NK make a comment about whether this meant he would have to leave for Australia in the dark next week and while the family laughed his eyes did a quick scan to find Shyam was also missing... His lip curled in disgust and his hands clenched in fury as he guessed where he was and without another word he headed towards where the fuse box was, cutting across the poolside to get there quicker. The faint light coming from the pool made it easy for him to see that for now Khushi was alone and standing on a low stool while she examined the open box in front of her.
She was dressed in a shimmery midnight blue saree and he'd noticed irritably that she'd been getting compliments all night. Right now though, she was holding a lit candle up to the open fuse box and for a few moments, Arnav was transported back to a simpler time when he'd been standing in the same spot, watching her face in the flickering candle-light while Lavanya fixed the fuse. Then Khushi had been looking right at him but tonight she was unaware of both him and the dark shadow he could now just make out on her right.
Arnav felt something fierce and bloodthirsty rise up inside him at the sight and he closed the distance between the two of them swiftly, demanding her attention and ignoring the sickening man still standing in the shadows. 'Khushi..!' He saw her jerk and freeze for a few seconds before turning to look at him, startled, and despite everything he told himself he no longer felt for her, he still hated the wary look that came into her eyes as soon as she saw it was him standing there. 'Aap..?!'
*Part Two below
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