THREAD 1: To Love or not to love: An ArHi FF Chp 32 - Pg 138 / Feb 14

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Khushi Gupta would have died of fatigue if a poor watchman who was to keep watch on her did not smuggle food and water to her from time to time. The guard was an old man who felt really sorry for her. He also somehow believed her story. He had seen a lot of life and he didn't believe that this girl could be capable of either blackmail or extortion. But he didn't dare voice his opinion. He needed the money.

However, his conscience wouldn't allow the poor girl to suffer for no fault of hers. And so he would quietly carry to her a glass of water, apiece of bread, some biscuits, a fruit whatever he could manage to get hold of and she gratefully accepted it.

For 48 hours she was alone in a room with just one window, sunlight filtering in at dawn and the reflection of the moon on the windowpanes at dusk. The room had a small bench attached to a desk that Khushi used to sit in whenever she got tired of pacing the floor. She had questions and she demanded answers.

She was also worried. Worried that her parents might be looking for her and they wouldn't know where to start. Worried that her sister might be crying her eyes out thinking something unholy had happened to her. Well, something had definitely gone wrong. And for reasons she couldn't imagine she was being held captive in a small dark room of the Sheesh Mahal.

Khushi was scared of enclosed spaces. And she was scared of the dark. She had lost her parents to a car accident at the dead of the night. Ever since the night Khushi was extremely claustrophobic. She would gasp for breath in a perfectly ventilated small room and would often have dizzy spells and faint in dark spaces. Khushi was scared. She didn't know how to deal with it. It petrified her. She held her stomach and wept. She wanted to stop the rising fear in the pit of her stomach. She needed a source of light from somewhere.

*****

Arnav Singh Raizada was watching Khushi's reactions through the camera that was installed in the room. It was meant for Arnav to know how his competitors behaved in his absence. And he used this as a tactic to break his competitors down. Whatever Arnav had been prepared to see, it had not been a girl clutching her stomach weeping profusely. For a moment, Arnav thought all this was wrong. This girl was innocent. Then the images of the fashion show flashed in front of his eyes. How she was the only one wearing a green dress in a fashion show with a theme of red. How she slipped instead of completing her walk on the ramp and how she landed straight into his arms. And Arnav flinched.

She was no nave 24-year-old girl. She was probably paid by the competition to ruin his fashion show. AR had a reputation in the market and the amount of damage control he would have to do to keep this news away from the media was bad enough. He could not allow himself to be emotionally swayed at this juncture. Clearly, whoever this girl was, she was a very good actress. She didn't deserve any sympathy. Surely, whatever was there to know he would know in the next six hours. She would tell him, he thought while he stomped away from the monitor room.

There was another person standing behind him who was observing the entire scene silently. He chose to disagree with the conclusion drawn by Arnav Singh Raizada and therefore, against his better judgment he asked security to switch on the lights in that room.

The lights came on and the weeping on the monitor reduced to spasms finally stopping within a few minutes. The other person smiled to himself. Although he might have angered Arnav, he felt good. Something told him this girl was innocent. And although he might not be able to do anything right now, he was sure going to make these 48 hours for her as bearable as possible. 

Keep writing i love your story,will look foward to it.😊

Will he regret what he has done or not . 

What will happen when he find out it was not her. 

Thank you sooo much for the likes and comments. It really made my day - I am almost smiling. Your likes and comments truly inspire me to write more. 

Therefore, without further ado, presenting Chapter 3 of To Love or not to love

As usual, a humble request, please let me know what you think of it and any suggestions you might have in terms of style / content. All compliments / comments / criticisms are always welcome!

A Big Thank You to Nidz for this amazing banner!!!

Chapter 3

It had been two days since Khushi had felt the rays of the sun touch her skin. Her skin felt parched and her first encounter with broad daylight had her squinting trying to save her pupils from overexposure of light. She had been locked in a room for two days. She didn't know why. But she had tried to find out in vain. The guards didn't seem to know anything and the person behind this forced imprisonment didn't want to talk to her. Try as she might, she could not even find out the name of the person who was behind all of this, let alone his intention.

She walked out dejected. As the sun's rays hit her skin, so also realization hit her that she had been away from her family for the last two days. She didn't know what had happened there. Had her sister gotten married? Did the groom's side agree to go ahead with the wedding despite the lack of dowry? She rushed home in clothes that she had worn day and night for the last two days, her disheveled state evident to every passerby on the road.

When she reached home, she was greeted with worried faces. The wedding had fallen apart and Khushi had been missing for the last two days. Her parents didn't her know what to make of it. They had tried getting in touch with the police but the police had asked them to wait for 72 hours before they could launch a formal investigation. And so they had waited. Each minute Khushi had not turned had made them dread the outcome of the investigation even more.

And therefore when they saw Khushi at their doorstep, in a state one could barely call presentable, they didn't know whether to thank God that their daughter was alive or worry as to why she had turned up in dirty crumpled festive clothes after 48 hours.

Before they could ask Khushi spoke. "Where is Payal?"

"She has gone to the temple."

"Did she get married?", Khushi tried to give voice to her concern, dreading the answer she might get.

"She didn't. The baraat went back because we couldn't give them the dowry they were asking for."
Khushi mentally cursed herself for the loss of reputation and money that Shashi Gupta had to undergo. Before she could confess to her crimes, Shashi asked: "Where have you been the last two days?"

"Dad, I had gone to Sheesh Mahal to reason with Mayank about the entire exorbitant dowry situation. But somehow I got directed to the wrong room and ended up walking and slipping down a ramp in a fashion show. Apparently, they felt that I was sent by some spy to ruin the image of that company and so they kept me enclosed in a small dingy room for two days hoping to find out something. When they realized that I was not part of any of their rival organizations, they let me go.", she finished in one breath.

Khushi was glad she had gotten everything off her chest. She felt lighter and less guilty. Her mother gave her worried looks and asked her to go take a hot water shower. As soon as Khushi was out of sight, Shashi Gupta's dam of patience broke. "How dare they treat my daughter like that", he roared. I want to know who those filthy human beings are who are capable of torturing a 24 year old girl. If they didn't believe what she said, they could have investigated. But trying to scare her into a confession. Hasn't my Khushi already suffered enough in life for this to happen to her?"

Garima tried to placate her husband. But Shashi was beyond trying to see reason.

Unknown to them, a black Mercedes had followed Khushi all the way home and now Arnav Singh Raizada knew that for the first time in life, he had been wrong in judging someone and that the girl had indeed told him the truth. He rolled the windows of his car up and made his way back to Sheesh Mahal, his temporary headquarters in Lucknow. Although the fashion show might have turned into a debacle, AR was still launching its fall collection in Lucknow and he had plenty of work to do.

He didn't think even once about apologizing to Khushi and her parents. It was her tough luck he felt. ASR never felt guilty about any of the decisions he took. 

Chapter 4: https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/4343261?pn=2

loving it.

continue soon...