SS: Roses Won't Do Chapter 2 is UP! - Page 2

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Chapter 2

Arnav didn't know when he had drifted off while sitting up and gazing at Khushi's stars but now that he was slowly waking up he could feel the slight back pain due to spending the night on the lounger.

He thought back to last night before he fell asleep. Everything was so wrong in his life all due to his own doing. He always said that he controls his own fate and others' as well but this time he unknowingly made his life a living hell.

Shyam was picked up by some of his people before the emergency personnel arrived to take Khushi to the hospital. He had Shyam being held captive just like the scumbag had him but at least Shyam knew who was doing this to him.

Arnav thought about how badly he wished the creep never entered Di's life in the first place. How he wished he had spent a little more time being less trustworthy of the man that is solely responsible for all the mess now. He wish he had mistrusted him like he mistrusted her.

Thinking about all the pain Shyam will cause the other family members and his Di made Arnav's blood boil again. He tightly clenched his jaw and closed his eyes taking in a deep breath. Getting angry and thinking didn't match for him so he'd have to calm down in order to think effectively about what he wanted do with Shyam.

He wanted to kill him for all the pain he was going to cause everyone especially Di and not to mention the pain he had already caused Khushi. He quickly looked back into the room and his heartbeats slowed as he saw she was still there and sleeping soundly. His panic that she will leave him without him knowing was gnawing at him. She had already made it clear she didn't wish to stay with him after he had opened his mouth to ask her that obscene question in the hospital last week.

He had received a call from Aman last night letting him know that Shyam was awake and that his head injuries were minimal. Sure they had a long road ahead of them to get rid of the scoundrel but that all could wait for now. The main question that he was mulling over: how was he going to break the news to Di?

Khushi. She was all together another mission for Arnav. He would have to rectify his relationship and make amends to her, but what relationship? He knew they had an undeniable bond that linked them in so many ways but what they shared as a couple was nothing like he had in his previous relationships with girlfriends. He knew Khushi would take time to come around. He had to give her time. She was suffering through a lot of hurt and not just physically but emotionally too.

Self-hatred swirled in his being at the thought of how he wished he had trusted her a long time ago so that her emotional pain was not as much. He now realized how much she had shouldered all this time. She had carried the weight and burden of all the stress and pain Shyam was going to cause to his family on her tiny shoulders.

He now saw how brave and noble his wife was to suffer through all the turmoil of dealing with that scumbag all alone and to then not burden anyone with the problem. It was stupid of course since he could have helped a long time ago if he had known of the problem. It would have saved them from the dilemma that was occurring. But would he have believed her back then? His stomach churned as he heard a snickering No resound through his head.

Even though he knew he had wronged her in so many ways and so many times he couldn't let her go. She was everything to him and if she left he would be 13 years old again and this time he wouldn't find the will to go on.

He got up and lightly walked into the room grabbing his towel. He looked over at Khushi and made sure her arm was positioned comfortably. It took all his self-control to not move her hair off her face and lightly kiss her on her forehead but he resisted. If he wanted her to stay in his life forever he'd have to give her time to slowly realize that he was fully and irrevocably in love with his wife and that he trusted her first and utmost.

As he showered he thought about how peaceful it was now that Khushi wasn't talking but as amusing as the thought was, it scared him to the very core. A mad and spitting fire Khushi was someone he could deal with but even Arnav Singh Raizada couldn't muster the courage to face an indifferent Khushi. He'd have to get her to react to him and if getting her raging mad at him was the key then he would do it again and again. Today was the day he was going to bring his wife back to him. He would spend the rest of his life to gain her love and trust.

Today was Day One.

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"I love you Khushi," soft lips uttered his undying love to her as she gazed into molten caramel eyes. A silent tear rolled down her cheek. "Arnavji," softly slipped from her lips. Her ears heard his name laced with much pain and confusion. There was a catch in her throat and she awoke from her dream.

She blinked once again to let her eyes adjust to the bright light shining in through the windows. She slowly stretched her arms when she felt the radiating pain go up and down her right arm. The gunshot. She had forgotten just how much had happened in such a short period of time.

She thought about how her life had sped up the day she fell off the runway stage at Sheesh Mahal. Her whole life had turned upside down since the day she had met him. Sure he was rude, domineering, petulant, commanding, stubborn, incorrigible and all together unpleasant but her own stubborn self couldn't sit back and watch him live his life like he was doing so. She just had to butt in and let him know that what he did and how he thought was wrong. If she had just kept her mouth shut she would have been...without him.

Her heart had already forgiven Arnav but her stubborn mind wouldn't relent. Not so easily at least. Why did she always have to overlook his mistakes and his wrongdoings? She would forget to put on her seatbelt and would face his wrath. The nerve of him to voice his anger at her over and over again and she was expected to sit back and take it all the while forgiving him every time he committed an error. She would hold onto this for a while. Why was he always messing up with her?

He was smart businessman who ran an expansive empire, was worth billions, and yet he couldn't do right by a simple girl from Lucknow. She was not that hard to get along with, in fact, she was much liked and admired by almost everyone who knew her. Instead that man didn't treat her like the others and she still loved him desperately.

Activates in Shantivan would soon be commencing. She slowly moved to get up and out of bed when she saw him walk through the bedroom door.

"I brought you breakfast Khushi. I know you don't want to eat anything too heavy so I just brought you some porridge. Payal helped me make it. There's some orange juice too that you have to drink with your meds." He set the tray in front of her and moved to go sit on the recliner.

He opened up his laptop and started to go through his emails. "Khushi, why aren't you eating?"

"Oh I'm so...here." He got up and came to sit by her on the bed. He picked up with spoon and held it in front of her mouth. "Khushi please eat. If you won't let me feed you, then I'll have Payal do it."

He moved the spoonful toward her mouth again. Her face remained blank and she stared into his eyes never once relieving the sea of emotions that were going through her. She was touched and hurt at the same time. He was so caring and yet she knew it was because he felt guilty. She could bear all his other emotions toward her but he doing things out of guilt was the worst kind of pain she had ever known.

He looked into her eyes and sighed. He set the bowl down and went to move the tray when he heard a small knock on their bedroom door, "Arnavji? Khushi? Can I come in?"

Payal had come by to check on Khushi and subsequently ended up feeding her and helping her bathe. She helped Khushi dress and walked her downstairs on Khushi's request to spend some time with Nani and Mami.

Arnav had returned to his laptop and cursed at his bad luck for not being able to talk to Khushi. Although, relief had washed over when Payal had interrupted them, because he still had not figured out what to say to her; or rather how to say it to her. He wanted to say he was sorry and that had always been a hard thing for him to do; especially when it came to apologizing to Khushi Kumari Gupta...Singh Raizada.

He walked down to find Nani and Mami talking about a temple they wanted to visit for the sake of the family's wellness. What was unsaid was how they wanted to pray for Anjali. Arnav and Khushi had told the family that Arnav had been kidnapped and Khushi had saved him. But when they were escaping the kidnapper had shot Khushi (...while trying to kill Arnav was kept a secret because Khushi had insisted that the extra information would only cause Di more pain).

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Anjali had been inconsolable when she found out about Arnav's kidnapping. She had held onto him for hours in a tight embrace to reassure her mind that he was still alive. Shortly after she was told that Khushi had been shot and to top it all off was the fact that her own husband was missing throughout the whole ordeal.

He had called her last night to say that he was out of town on another "tour" but her heart seemed to mistrust his words of late. She was finding it harder and harder to lie to herself about her "god-like" husband's peculiar behavior.

She had started to feel that something was off a while back but it wasn't until recently that she decided to take action. Three months ago she had a private eye look into her husband's dealings and was shocked at what he had found.

She was devastated to find out that he had married and left three women prior to their marriage. Their names were etched into her brain forever. All three were young daughters of wealthy socialites from around India. The second wife had one child with Shyam. He had pursued, married, and used the women until he found himself a richer spouse.

He was a lawyer but at the moment wasn't practicing. In fact, he was dealing with some of the riffraff in the slums of the city organizing something. Anjali had the private eye stop his investigating and couldn't bear to hear any more of what he would find.

Only if she had continued her search into her husband's activities she could have prevented the kidnapping, what she believed was Shyam's doing. She knew Arnav and Shyam had their differences. Ever since the day of Akash and Payal's wedding everything had changed between the two men. She could see it in her Chote's eyes. His love and admiration for her husband had ebbed away into pure rage and hatred.

She was questioning herself and her faith in her marriage. She had caught Shyam lie to her numerous times in the past couple of months. Or had he been lying to her even before then? She was so blinded by her love and trust in him that she never had to think about him being anything less than the perfect husband her heart painted him to be.

She was a woman burned by her own relenting trust, blinded faith, and never-ending love for a man, whom she realized, she may have never known. He wasn't her heart's Shyam. He was a stranger that happened to con his way into her life and was taking away her happiness. She would find hard evidence against him and stop him from causing her and her family any further distress. She was going to put an end to his evil. Anjali Manohar Jha was going to have to die so that Anjali Singh Raizada could be reborn.

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After a quite cup of tea, Nani, Payal, and Mami left to the temple with Anjali. Khushi sat silently for a moment or two longer on the couch resting her head against the back of the seat. She closed her eyes trying to endure the hurt she saw in her sister-in-laws eyes when Nani asked about Shyam. It had caused the hairs on the back of Khushi's neck to stand on end.

"He's away on tour again Nani. I think he should be back in a week or two." Anjali had a beautiful smile on her lovely face as she told the group about her husband. However, Khushi noticed the small dip at the corners of her mouth and that the way Di's face used to light up when she would talk about him was gone. She could tell that Anjali Di had started to question the behavior of her husband but to what extent she didn't know.

As she slowly opened her eyes and was about to get up, there was the bronze god himself staring at her. He was sitting across from her watching intently. She closed her eyes once more hoping it would make him disappear. To her dismay he was still there. He raised one of his eyebrows and had an amused smirk on his face. Shaking his head slightly at her childish behavior, he leaned forward and asked, "When are you going to talk to me Khushi?"

She scoffed as she got up and made her way to the kitchen. "It's not that I don't like the peace and quiet...," he trailed off watching her shoulders stiffen and turn around instantly at his comment. "Yes? Khushi, do you want to say something?" His wife was so amusing. He wanted to laugh. He knew she wanted to yell and scream at him but her stubbornness kept her mouth shut. It was cruel to see her not enjoy her most beloved and favorite pastime, talking.

"Khushi...," he slowly started walking toward her as she at first stood her ground, but when he was an arm's length away she started to step back each step he took toward her. Their eyes locked and she could feel her heartbeats increase. No! I don't want him to make me love him again Devi Maiyya. Please do something to help me! Please! Khushi begged her goddess for an escape from her betraying heart that seemed to obey the enemy, Arnav Singh Raizada.

He stopped before she took another step back into the counter behind her. He watched her eyes flash from him to the counter behind, which was effectively trapping her there. Arnav leaned in a little and closed his eyes. His hands moved up to cup her face. He opened his eyes and saw her looking at him questioningly. "Khushi you", he paused, "you never". He stopped and closed his eyes.

Uff! This man was so frustrating. Khushi was already dying because she wasn't talking to him and now he decided to take excruciating pauses midsentence like an old person! Say it! Say what you have to say and FAST! She screamed in her head.

He looked back into her eyes and dropped his hands from her face but continued, "Khushi you never thanked me for saving your life." Khushi mouth dropped open into the perfect O and her eyes were comically big. He looked at her and motioned with his hand as if he was telling her that she should now thank him for his heroics.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?! Do you really think that I should be thanking YOU?!" She screamed at him. It felt good to voice some of her anger. Arnav looked at her a moment before he said, "No. And yes."

She opened her mouth to respond only to shut it again. What did he mean no and yes? She exasperatedly settled on asking him, "What?"

"No, I'm not crazy. And yes I think you should thank me," was his simple reply as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"You are the most...you have the...you can be so...argh you are...," she stumbled to express her thoughts.

"Yes? What am I Khushi?" He leaned in now and raised his mouth into a delectable smirk.

"Get out of my way! I'm going up to rest and don't bother following me Mr. Raizada!" She yelled as she pushed him aside with her left arm and walked out of the kitchen. Arnav smiled at her retreating back and decided that making his wife angry with him didn't take much.

He could pretty much be himself and she would always be mad at him. It was the sad truth but he was learning to be a better husband and he knew she surely would teach him. He leaned against the counter before he yelled out, "Hari Parkash!"

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Khushi had slept for most of the afternoon. The doctor was called in when she awoke from her nap and she was checked. Arnav had demanded to stay in the room but couldn't bear him being there, not yet. He had resented because he knew she wasn't ready yet but insisted that Payal remain so that she could see how to bandage Khushi properly.

After the doctor was walked out, everyone sat down to dinner. Arnav had plated Khushi's food to the shock and amusement of the family. "What?" He asked as all pairs of eyes were on him. "Nothing Chote, it's just that we haven't seen you being so...," Anjali trailed off for lack of finding the right word, when all of a sudden Akash finished "Nice." He gave Akash a stern look silencing him and then sat down next to Khushi. He tried to feed her again but she quickly turned to Payal and said, "Jiji, can you please feed me?" She had thereby effectively put a stop to his plan. But Arnav Singh Raizada wasn't one to give up easily.

Dinner had been a quite affair for the most part. Everyone chitchatted as much as usual but Arnav itched to talk to Khushi or at least hear her talk to him. She talked with everyone at the table sans him. After dinner, Arnav asked everyone to remain seated and got up and left toward the kitchen. When he returned he was holding a plate full of gloppy orange things. "What's this Chote?" Anjali was the first one to recover her voice, as everyone else had shocked expressions while staring from the plate of "food" and back at Arnav.

"Nothing Di. I thought everyone could use a little dessert, that's all." He shrugged as he sat back down after setting the plate in the center of the table. "No, that's fine. But what are these?" She asked both amused and a little confused by her Chote's surprise as she picked up one of the sticky globular maze-esque "dessert".

"Jalebies," Khushi slowly whispered while staring at her husband with astonishment written clearly all over her face.

"Yes, they're jalebies. I made them earlier. They may not look great but I had HP try them. These were the best batch out of all of them." He said after nudging the plate closer to Khushi.

"The best batch?" Nani asked shocked.

"Jalebies are tricky. I never gave credit to Khushi for being so good at making them." He looked at his wife lovingly and picked up a Jalebi and held it in front of her mouth. At that moment, all time stood still and they were the only two people in the room. She looked into his molten caramel eyes and slowly opened her mouth. She was so deeply touched by his effort to win her back that she was already melting by his one small gesture.

Arnav's heartbeat increased when he saw her open her mouth but he knew it was a small victory. He still had much ground to cover. Nonetheless he savored the moment and tried to convey as much love and admiration for his wife he felt in his heart threw his eyes.

"Poor HP." Anjali giggled thereby breaking their spell. Arnav put the rest of the uneaten jalebi in Khushi's plate before he wiped his hand on the napkin and left to go upstairs. Everyone laughed with Anjali and enjoyed the first dish they had ever eaten that was made by Arnav.

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Khushi walked into their room a little while later to find it empty. She knew he was there but she was glad for the privacy before she had to face him. She was falling and falling fast. She knew at this rate she'd give in and forgive him fully, but she wanted him to express to her that he wasn't doing all this out of guilt. No. She wanted to hear that he whole-heartedly was doing all of this.

She had her head in her left hand and was about to get up off the bed when she sensed him close by. She opened her eyes shocked to find him sitting before her on the ground. She moved to leave but he caught hold of her hand and held onto it with both of his. He settled their joined hands into her lap and looked up into her confused eyes.

"Arnavji?" Khushi softly questioned him as she saw the mistiness in his eyes. She was now panicked and worried for him and quickly asked, "What happened? Are you ok?"

"Why Khushi? Why? Even now at a time when you should be furious with me, you're asking if I'm okay? How do you do that Khushi? How can you love someone so much?" He looked at her longingly to receive the answer to his emotional distress.

"I...," she began when he cut her off.

"Please Khushi let me talk and get what I have to say out. I've been wanting to do this for a very long time but just couldn't find a way Khushi." He paused to take a deep shaky breath in before he looked back up at her and continued, "I'm so sorry Khushi."

"I'm sorry for not believing you that night when you showed up at Sheesh Mahal in your green lengha. And I kept you back not trusting the goodness and honesty in you by letting my own distrust and disbelief cloud my judgment of you. I kept you back when I should have let you go so you could've saved your sister's wedding. I'm sorry for releasing the video of that night to the media. I'm the one who threw you into danger and caused you to meet him. Not only that but I took you away from your home. I made you and eventually your family leave the comfort of a city they loved.

I'm sorry for letting you go that day in my office and causing you to fall out of my office and onto the boxes below. I caused you pain and humiliation because that's how you made me feel when you defied me at every turn. I'm sorry for making you stay late on Payal's birthday to manage the parking lot in the rain." He looked up at her tear-stricken face and shook his head in disgust at himself.

"I knew it was Payal's birthday. I had overheard your conversation when you had arrived at the office in the morning. I wanted you to miss her birthday because I knew that would cause you a great deal of pain and sadness. I don't know why but I felt that since you had turned my whole world chaotic and made me unhappy that you deserved the same." He looked back at her eyes which remained shocked and unblinking.

Arnav sighed but continued, "I'm sorry for sending you to the guesthouse. I truly didn't know that it was in such a wreck and it was unfit for anyone to be there. But that doesn't mean I should have sent you there in the first place. I'm sorry for tightly grasping your arms or your wrists and causing you pain and leaving bruises on your skin. It was never my intention to physically hurt you Khushi, it was just that every time I tried to express my confusing feelings you would always try and run away.

I'm sorry for abandoning you when you needed me the most when your Bauji was admitted to the hospital. I'm sorry for all of the times that I asked you to get out of the car and left without ever looking back. I was enraged by your audacity to talk back to me and say what was on your mind. No one ever had questioned me or my actions before you came along Khushi. It was so wrong of me to leave you in the middle of road and that too on many occasions, sometimes at night too.

I'm sorry I ever said demeaning remarks about your social status, character, or belief. I never had any right to question your motivations. I'm sorry for never letting you get too close to me when you wanted to help me or share my pain. I'm sorry for not recognizing that the pain others carry could be similar to the one I hold within me, in particular for not seeing that there are others dealing with the same pain I was dealing with.

I should have never said most of the things I said to you Khushi. It was out of pure anger and frustration. The anger too was directed at myself for not being able to control my feelings better. But now I know that this love I have for you isn't supposed to be controlled. I want to you to see much I love you Khushi and I don't care who knows it. Most of all I'm sorry I didn't trust you and instead believed what someone else had to say.

I'm so sorry Khushi for everything. I should have given you a chance but my love for you blinded my actions. I thought I was losing you to him Khushi and I couldn't bear it. That's why I had to marry you, but to save Di's marriage was why I married you.

I love you Khushi and I'm sorry." He looked up at her with tears down his face and could see her slowly letting his words sink in. He knew she would need some time to think it all over but at least he had said what he wanted to and would leave it up to her now to decide.

"Arnavji...I think it's time for bed now." Khushi said as she got up and went to the bathroom to wash her face and get ready for bed. She paused in front of the mirror before leaving and recalled every word he had just said to her. She took in a shaky breath and left the bathroom. She came out of the bathroom to find him standing by the French doors.

Arnav came over and helped a reluctant Khushi into bed. He tucked her in and leaned down to lay a soft kiss on her forehead. He looked down at her face and said, "Goodnight Khushi. I love you." Khushi didn't know when she fell asleep but she had a small smile on her lips when she did.

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The next morning brought bright sunlight beaming through the French doors waking Khushi up. Her head was feeling heavy and weighed down due to the pain medicines but her head felt physically weighed down too. She knew the meds would make her groggy so much so the doctor had advised her but physically heaviness couldn't be normal, could it?

As she went to lift her head up again she was pinned back down to a hard rock surface. She dared to open her eyes finally only to see the chest of her beautifully sculpted husband beneath her head.

Arnav made sure Khushi's right arm remained untouched where it lay across his abdomen but he had one hand on her head securing it to his chest. Khushi didn't realize when she had moved over in bed and onto him. Her leg which was on his right thigh was quickly removed as she became aware of their closeness.

Again Khushi tried to lift her head. "Khusshiii stop. Can't we sleep a little bit longer? What's your hurry to get up so early in the morning anyway?" Arnav said sleepily as he ran his fingers through her silky smooth hair and snuggled his cheek further into the top of her head.

"Arnavji what are you doing? Let me go," Khushi said this time using a bit more force to get out of his hold.

"OW!" Arnav was up in a split second tending to her right shoulder when he looked at Khushi with anger.

"What the hell Khushi?! Why did you have to get up so quickly and that too by applying pressure onto you right shoulder? Are you insane?!" His anger rose quickly at her stupid and rash movement.

"Well if you hadn't been holding onto me and keeping me captive I would have been ok and wouldn't have this stabbing pain going up and down my right arm right now!" She yelled back. All the while trying to nurse her poor shoulder and get Arnav's hands off of her.

"Stop fussing Khushi! Let me look at it", was his swift response after she tried swatting his hands away for the third time unsuccessfully.

"Do you have a M.D. that I don't know about?" She asked lacing each word in heavy sarcasm.

"Khushi why do you try and get me angry when you and I both know that I'm always angry and don't need any incentive?" He said as he looked at the bandage, which was ok for now but would need to be changed once before the doctor arrived in the afternoon.

Khushi looked at his worried face and felt her heart increase in speed until she remembered the hate she had been holding onto since that day in the hospital. She was willing to forgive him and move on with their lives after the whole ordeal with Shyam and the gunshot. She wanted them to move on until his insecurity and untrusting nature towards her showed up again by asking her that question.

She couldn't be with him especially since he continued time and time again to break her trust and show lack of trust in her as a human being.

"Look Arnavji I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me. I can take care of myself. And what are you-"

"Like hell you can! You're not moving until I get Payal to change your bandage. You can shower and put on another afterwards but I want this one changed since you seemed to have started to bleed a little due to your careless behavior," Arnav said while cupping her face to make sure she heard him loud and clear.

"It wasn't careless behavior! I was trying to get off of you! Which brings me back to what I was saying before, what are you doing in my bed?" She asked a little angry at him sleeping in her bed that was the cause of her careless behavior.

"Your bed? This is OUR bed pagal. Those meds are really messing with your head. I think I should have Dr. Taruj look at changing your prescription to something...," he trailed off when he noticed Khushi had gone quite.

He looked up to see her looking at him with a dumbfounded expression on her face and teary eyes.

"What Khushi? What happened? Are you ok?" He made quick moves to get to his phone to call the doctor when Khushi grabbed his hand and squeezed tightly.

"Why are you doing all this Arnavji? It's just too hard...," she chocked on her tears and sobbed while continuing with her raspy voice "I already told you that I'm not going to stay with-"

"Shhh we are not talking about this now. I don't want you to stress Khushi. I love you. I'm going to go get Payal and have her change your bandage then I'm bringing you breakfast in bed. Don't move until I get back," he said while turning over their holding hands and kissing hers before he grabbed a shirt and slipped it on while walking out of the room.

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He came back into the room a little later to find Khushi sitting up in bed staring out through the French doors. He came over and placed the tray of food before her. Khushi looked from the tray to his face before continuing to stare outside.

"Khushi you have to eat." He picked up the spoon and held it in front of her mouth. When she relented to eat Arnav could have jumped into the air pumping his fist, but he settled on smiling at his cute wife, who was trying her best to look annoyed.

After she had finished her meal Arnav took the tray and placed it on the table next to the door. He then came back and sat by Khushi on the bed. "I know you say you want to leave me Khushi and you have every right to do so. But I think we have a love so great that it would be a shame to let it go to ruin. Don't you think?" He looked at his wife's reddening face and could sense the mixture of shyness and anger emanating from her.

"So, you just want me to forget everything and accept you with open arms? And how do I know you trust me? If you can't trust me, you don't love me Arnavji. That's the fundamental element in any relationship. Surely you must know that since you are a businessman, and trust is a key ingredient in gaining allies and monetary reward in your line of work." Khushi spat out

"Since you want to talk business this morning, why don't we? Let's make a deal Khushi." Before Arnav could continue he saw Khushi's lips form a perfect O and her face started to blanch.

"What happened Khushi? Are you okay?" He quickly asked while bringing the glass of water to her lips. She pushed the glass away and stood up in a rush. "Khushi sit back-"

"No." She looked at him stubbornly. "How can you of all people ask me to make a deal with you?" She spoke each word slowly as if he was a small child and he didn't miss the fury evident in her question. She appeared calm but the rage was started to bubble up from within.

He knew now would be the best time to get his lioness to agree to open her heart up a little more to him and for him to get her to give him some more time to prove himself. "Yes, I want to make a deal with you Khushi." He continued swiftly before she could interrupt. "I know that it's going to take you some time to trust me again and for me to show my trust in you. So all I ask is for that chance to show you."

Khushi made a move to leave the room when Arnav got up and wrapped his arm around her waist. "Please just hear me out," his heartbreaking plead made her look up into his eyes and slowly nod. Arnav brought her to the recliner and made her sit down. He stood in front of her watching her intently for her reaction.

"So the deal is that you give me time and an opportunity to show you how much I love and trust you. The first thing I have to tell you is that the six month contract was false, it's not legal. I had to have you believe it was real in order to keep you from running away from me. Please try and understand Khushi I couldn't face all this alone. I need you by my side and that was one way to ensure that you'd stay. But I don't want to hold you against your will anymore. So...," he walked over to their closet and took out a file. "Here you go. This was the contract. You can do with it what you want." He said to her as she looked from him to the file but never reached for it.

"Ok then we'll just throw it out." He looked at Khushi for consent which she gave in a slight nod. So he took the papers out of the file, ripped them up, and threw them away in the dustbin. "I'm sorry Khushi." He looked at her ashen face but continued talking, "I know what you must be thinking, but it's not like that. We are married Khushi. I had a priest bless the mangalsutar and there was a witness to our wedding." She looked up at him shocked. Who could have been at the temple that night?

As if he heard her silent question, he answered, "Aman."

"Oh," was all Khushi could manage to say.

"We have a marriage license which we both signed." He said looking straight into her eyes.

"I never signed..," she tried to say, but he quickly responded, "You thought they were papers for AR to allow you to work in the cafeteria, but you were actually signing our marriage license." He paused for her reaction which seemed to be a slight nod.

"I need you Khushi and I can't do all this on my own. I need your support to fight Shyam and help Di. I know I hurt you immensely but I promise I won't ever-"

"Don't make promises you can't keep Mr. Raizada. I've heard everything you have to say, or is there more?" She stood up and looked at him with sternness in her eyes.

"I only ask that you stay here until the baby is born. That's going to be in three months. I want you to help me to soften the break of her marriage to that creep and get rid of him forever. And...I also want you to allow me the chance to win back your love." Arnav slowly walked over to her and extended his hand and asked, "Deal Khushi?"

"On one condition," she stated.

"Oh." Arnav's eyebrows shot up and his mouth quirked into a devilish smile. He had never thought that Khushi would give into making another deal with him let alone be setting conditions to the deal. He kept his hand extended and asked, "Yes?"

"I want you to draft up divorce papers for us. We'll both sign them and put them away in the safe. Once the three months are up and the baby is born, then I can leave easily." Easier her mind hissed at her. Nothing was going to be easy about leaving him especially since her whole existence was so strongly connected and tied to Arnav Singh Raizada. However, she needed to know that she had an escape if this all became too much for her to handle.

"Ok," he extended his hand out further and added, "But I won't sign the papers until, well if you do decide to leave at the end of the three months. I give you my word and swear on Di that I will sign them Khushi if you chose to leave me once the baby is born." He conceded to having the divorce papers drawn up but refused to sign them. He refused to admit defeat before he got a full shot as his second chance to love.

"Why do you look so lost Khushi? You know all the conditions and terms of the deal, so what's holding you back?" He asked as he started to walk closer towards her.

"N..n..no. I'm not lost. I know what the deal is and I...," she stuttered to say when she noticed Arnav stopped and looked at her with a curious glint in his eyes.

"Why won't you agree to the deal Khushi? Scared?" He said while casually taking a seat on his recliner. He knew challenging her would get her to agree to something she already wanted to do.

"Scared? Ha! I'm never scared. But let me ask you, haven't we made enough deals Arnavji?" She asked back shocked by his mention of making another deal with the women whom he wronged so much by making a deal with her in the first place.

Guilt, pain, anger, among many other emotions flashed threw his eyes before he settled back on flirty. She saw what her comment had caused him yet she couldn't help but give him a little pain for what she went through.

She felt good when her words hurt him but also sad and mad at herself for causing him the pain. Why was loving him so confusing? It was the hundredth time her mind had asked her that question today.

"So Khushi are you saying no or yes to the deal? What's it going to be?" Arnav said coolly as he looked at a nervous Khushi pacing the floor in front of his recliner.

Now Khushi extended her hand out to him, albeit a shaky one, but nonetheless, the gesture showed her decision was made. Arnav looked at the hand in front of his face. Thrilled didn't even began to describe the emotion he was feeling on the inside. He was getting his second chance.

He stood up and took her tiny hand in his and with a husky voice said, "Deal."

"Deal." She agreed.