Finally binge read this ff! Was trying to do so since I dropped in my last comment on this thread. This is such a gripping plot, couldn't stop reading once I started. Loved Khushi here..total pataka as you mentioned :p but Arnav is often right when he bothers about her safety. Their basic personalities are alike and they protect their loved ones at all costs but the way the deal with situations is different..Khushi works more instinctively and Arnav works in a more calculative manner.
It was really fun reading the parts where the group is together pulling each other's legs especially ArHi's. Much like Checkmate, this has a lot of twists too and I'm sure you've planned the course really well as certain evil names have already been revealed.
Looking forward to reading the next part. Take care!❤️❤️
What happened dear r u okay..no update its more than 2 months
Waiting..waiting...waiting...😢
Waiting ya..atleast inform us ur tentative next update date ....plz..plz...plzzzz
From the author’s desk: Hello peeps! its been a long time, I know I am late, but AD has been very demanding. Not to mention the ever present pandemic... God, if you are listening, its time you turned on the antivirus and deleted COVID-19 from our lives please! For heaven's sake 19 was two years ago...
Coming to our story, I have made it up for the long delay with a long update, Hope you all get pacified!
Thanks and a big shout out for all the lovely comments, Jappies and puppies to all of you!
Happy reading!
__________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 18: Unexpected Turn
Part 3: Away from the Mansion
Arnav peeped into Anjali’s room and found Anjali, Khushi and Tanu in the room. Anjali trying to fit an over-sized dress of hers for Tanu. Khushi was standing in front of the cupboard looking for anything that could fit Tanu. Anjali and Khushi had been digging for change of clothes for Tara and Tanu from morning. While Tara’s problem was sorted, Tanu being younger they couldn’t find anything of theirs that could fit her.
“You called me Kiddo?”
“Bhai… We couldn’t find any dress that can fit Tanu.”
Arnav looked at Tanu standing there with Anjali’s oversized old dress.
“You don’t have anything smaller?”
“No, this is the only one that I had saved. This used to be my favorite turtle-neck dress 5 years back and I simply couldn’t throw it away”
“Get me a scissor”
“You are going to cut this? but this is my favorite dress” Anjali whined.
“which won’t fit you anymore” Arnav pointed out as he stepped in and walked towards Anjali’s cupboard.
“I sometimes use it.” Anjali muttered as she fetched the scissor.
He pulled out a skirt from the cupboard as Anjali handed him her scissor.
“Do you mind me cutting this one?” he asked.
“That’s Ok Bhai, you can cut that”
Within seconds, he styled the skirt and made it look like a frock
“Try this on” he said handing it to Tanu.
“This is still going to be over sized for her” Khushi pointed out as Tanu walked to the restroom.
“Let’s see how we can fix that” Arnav said peeping into Anjali’s cupboard again.
“If only I didn’t have college today, we could have gone for shopping for Tanu and Tara” Anjali quoted. She was hoping to bunk her classes today.
“No shopping today” Arnav told her sternly.
“Bro, you are soon going to turn into Dadi version 2.0 and lose all your cool”
“Firstly, this is not about you. The girls are supposed to be under strict safekeeping. Also, Abhi said he is going to be here soon to talk to Tara, so they are not going out anyway”
“Did you say Abhi is going to be here?” Anjali pretending as if she didn’t know about it already
Arnav raised his eyebrows at his sister’s reaction.
“you didn’t know?” Khushi asked her suspiciously as Arnav looked on.
“I was wondering if after the interview, if I can take them out…” Anjali said
“No, not happening today” Arnav said as Tanu stepped out of the bathroom still looking puny in that skirt turned frock
“Bro, look at her dress. Poor thing”
“Jiji, this is not bad, in fact I like it” she said swirling around.
“It’s loose and without shape”
“I have something to fix that” Arnav said pulling out a belt “Come here Hun, Let’s fix your dress”
Within seconds, outfit not only looked presentable, but fashionable too.
“Better now?” he asked
“Wow! Look at you now” Anjali exclaimed as Arnav stood up. “more than better. Bhai, you are the best”
“Impressive!” Khushi admitted as Arnav smiled at her as she bent down to give a hi fi to excited Tanu.
“you look beautiful” Arnav said as Tanu swirled and made a pose.
“I will get you something when I come back from office today” Arnav told Tanu. He was still kneeling on the floor.
“Promise?”
“Promise”
“Can you get me a pink frilled frock with a bow?”
“mm-hmm”
“and a blue jean too?”
“OK”
“Tanu!” a stern voice stopped her. It was her sister, Tara. She was at the door. “Don’t cross your limits” she hissed at her sister, who immediately fell quiet.
“Hey relax, that’s completely Ok” Arnav told her kindly.
“You don’t have to buy her anything” Tara came forward and pulled Tanu away and left the room.
Anjali and Arnav looked shocked as they turned to Khushi for explanations.
“What happened just now?” Anjali asked
“I will just go check on her” Khushi said as she followed the girls.
“Did I say something offending?” Arnav asked as he stood up.
“I don’t think so Bhai”
After some ten minutes, Khushi came out of the room
“Is she alright?”
“What happened to her? I didn’t do anything”
“No, it wasn’t you, Tara hasn’t really warmed up to trusting men around her or her sister”
“What, she was perfectly normal yesterday” Anjali said “If she is has already forgotten, bhai rescued her”
“I suppose, her past experience has impacted her more than what we really thought, I suspected that this morning when she had a sudden outburst for a very trivial thing, then the next moment she was completely withdrawn”
“Does she need medical help?” Arnav asked
“Perhaps, I think we should take her to a doc sometime” Khushi confirmed.
“Would you be able to handle her today?” Arnav asked her with concern. “I mean, Abhi and team are deliberately going to open up those wounds when they start to question her”
“I think so.” Khushi wasn’t very sure.
“Khushi, you may not be sufficiently trained or equipped to handle her medical condition or her outbursts.”
“we will be alright”
“I will call up Abhi and ask him not to come today, we need someone with experience to handle this case”
“It’s not as if I am Naïve, you speak as if I am inexperienced. I am trained in counselling”
“She needs a psychologist not a counsellor”
Khushi suddenly paused as the door opened and the girls stepped out.
“We will talk later about this” Arnav said quickly as the girls approached them
Tanu nudged at her sister as if encouraging her.
“I am sorry for earlier…” Tara told Arnav in a small voice as she kept looking down.
“That’s ok” Arnav said “Don’t mention”
“No, I am sorry, I don’t know why I behaved that way. I got scared and”
“Ok, apologies accepted alright. No hard feelings” Arnav said
“Breakfast anyone? I am really feeling hungry” Anjali asked trying to release the tension as she led them down.
The five of them were quiet as they started to walk down to the dining table.
“Hey, look at you, this skirt and blouse fits you perfectly” Anjali said to Tara, trying to bring in the mood to normalcy. “But didn’t I give you a different top for this skirt”
“Yes Jiji, you gave her a crop top, but Tara Jiji was not feeling comfortable” Tanu answered for Tara.
Tara was still quiet with no indication of any trace of the agitated state she was in only a few mins before.
“But I don’t remember having a top like this, is this mine?”
“It’s Khushi’s” Arnav replied before anyone else could answer, surprising everyone including Khushi.
“Khushi’s?” Anjali asked “But she has never worn a skirt and a blouse”
“yeah, it is mine. But how did you know?” Khushi asked
“He has been secretly looking into your wardrobe”
Arnav huffed “Nice imagination, but I have seen her wearing it” Arnav said as a matter of fact
“But I have never worn this blouse anytime in this house” Khushi was surprised.
“You were wearing this when we first met, If I remember right, with a maroon skirt and a black dupatta wrapped around you” Arnav told her, as Khushi gawked at him in disbelief.
“What? Oh yeah! oh my goodness, I remember now” Anjali said “Oh my goodness”
Khushi kept staring at Arnav, open mouthed.
“Are we going to sit and eat or what?” he asked as they all stood around the dining table
“Yeah, we are ready when you both have had enough of this staring game” Anjali said as she sat down the table. “You remember what she wore 3 months back?”
“That’s because I observe, and I have a good memory”
“Wow! That’s impressive… I don’t even remember what I wore yesterday. Remind me what I wore that day?”
“It was your birthday and you were wearing your new red palazzos and a white crop top”
“Do you also remember what Sheetal was wearing the day you brought her here?”
“Kiddo!” Arnav said rolling his eyes.
Khushi was quiet as she sat down at the table for the breakfast.
“How about your memory Khushi? Is it as good as his?”
“Memory of what?”
“What was he wearing on the day you first met?”
“I don’t know” Khushi said noncommittedly as a vivid picture of a well-dressed Arnav flashed across her memory.
“Do you know your nose has turned red right now?” Anjali asked Khushi “You are not particularly good at lying”
“Anjali, seriously I don’t remember” Khushi told her “And I am embracingly surprised because he remembers”
“Hmm, you girls have a memory of a fish” Arnav asked nonchalantly.
“Excuse me?”
As Khushi exclaimed in surprise, Anjali leaned back proudly and winked at Tanu and Tara.
“Watch the fun!” she mouthed to the young girls.
“Truth hurts” Arnav said smirking at Khushi
“That’s the most illogical thing that I have ever heard”
“Who forgets to charge their phone and runs out of battery?” Arnav asked
“I didn’t forget to charge, running out of battery was circumstantial”
“Jiji also forgot your dinner plans yesterday” Tanu said as Tara gestured her to keep shut, while Khushi stared open jawed at Tanu as Arnav nodded in appreciation.
“What dinner plans?” Anjali asked
Khushi didn’t answer that question.
“Did it cross your mind that I might have…” she started to say but then looking at Arnav smirking at her, just said “forget it”
“That’s alright Khushi, you don’t have to try very hard… Not everyone is good with remembering things…” Arnav said in a patriarchal tone, knowing well that she is going to blow her top.
“That’s not true”
“So then prove me wrong and tell us anything that you remember about me from that night”
“this is such an absurd argument, why am I even responding. I don’t have to prove you anything.” Khushi was getting annoyed.
“Khushi, this is pretty easy…” Anjali encouraged her friend “say he was wearing a black or grey you would still be right” Anjali huffed “It’s not like he wears a plethora of colors… he wears a white, black or grey most of the time”
“Hey, I wear other colors as well” Arnav said indignantly “In fact on that day I was wearing an Olive-green shirt”
Khushi looked at him sharply but remained quiet.
“Khushi wants to challenge that” Anjali interpreted.
“I told you I don’t remember what he was wearing on that day” Khushi was insistent.
“fish memory. Hence proved”
“Of course, not” Khushi said crossly “I have a fairly good memory, but I don’t want to waste it on things I don’t want to remember”
“Burn!” Anjali called out
Anjali’s comment didn’t bother Arnav.
“Oh, that’s how you cover up when your memory doesn’t support you… for the record it was bright teal green shirt”
“Excuse me, didn’t you just say you were wearing an Olive-green shirt?”
“No, I didn’t mention any color until now. Right kiddo?”
“Devimaiyya! How could you lie through your teeth” Khushi asked “you said you wore an olive green shirt only minutes ago, how can you deny it? That’s how much your memory is… and you are commenting about mine. But why do I even bother to correct you- even olive green was wrong”
“Don’t bluff Khushi, I know I was wearing a teal green shirt. We have pics of your birthday party kiddo?”
“We are not talking about the party; This is about the time when we met” Khushi got miffed
“I was still in my teal green shirt”
“No, it wasn’t even a green. You were wearing a white shirt with navy blue cardigan on that day” she said chagrined
“mmhmm…You don’t seem to have a fish memory” Arnav said as she bit her tongue the moment she realized what she had blurted out.
“Yup, you are right” Arnav smirked at her as she kicked herself.
“well played” Anjali told her brother.
Khushi glared at them but remained quiet as she picked up her plate and got up.
“I have got work to do” she said to no one in particular and left the table.
They watched as Khushi passed by and took the stairs to her room.
“You miffed her real big this time”
“She will be alright”
As Tara and Tanu too left the table, Anjali leaned closer to her brother.
“So, you knew that she knew?” Anjali asked “That was smart”
“By the way, do you even have an olive-green shirt or a teal one for that matter?”
“You are getting smarter Kiddo” Arnav winked at his sister.
“But I wish you make a move Bhai, ask her out. Seriously”
***
Arnav found Khushi at the Study after half an hour just when he was about to leave to his office.
The meeting for the day with Abhi and his team and Tara was planned to be held there.
She was preparing for the day when Arnav peeped in. Khushi looked up hearing the door opening.
“Hi, all set?”
Khushi glared at him, still reminiscent of the episode that happened that morning in the breakfast table.
“Oh, Ms. Drama Queen is still angry with me” Arnav said slipping a chocolate bar by her side
Khushi rolled her eyes.
“Why rub it off in the first place and why pacify now?”
“Who said I am pacifying? I am actually in need of pacification” he said slipping another bar
“You? Why should I pacify you?”
“It hurt to think that you feel embarrassed to say what you remember about me” he asked
“Eh... I was just… I don’t know… “
Arnav slipped in another bar of chocolate on the table.
“or perhaps, you were feeling shy to admit”
“of course not!”
“Maybe you are falling for me Khushi”
“You wish!”
“I know, it’s difficult to resist my charm”
“Hello, Aren’t you so full of yourself? Let’s get this straight. No, I wasn’t feeling shy or anything close to it, in fact the feeling associated with that night was, yew! how could father ask me to marry this man! I had to properly fix that figure in my mind, so that I can hate with precision”
“If only we had taken his suggestion” Arnav thought to himself as he chuckled at her dramatic answer as he placed a couple of more bars of chocolate on the table
“Oh my!” Khushi exclaimed in shock, noticing the chocolate bars…
“You have a wrong expression mapped with all the delectable stuff… like Yew! Oh my! The more appropriate ones are Yay! and Wow!” he said emptying his pockets of few more chocolates on the table.
“What’s all this? Did you empty the entire shop?”
“No, I emptied only my stash of chocolates – all of it”
“And why am I offered this treasure of yours?”
Arnav shrugged “peace offering”
“No, you are not forgiven, Go away!”
Arnav chuckled in gaiety before he sobered up with a question.
“Seriously, Khushi, are you sure you want to have this meeting today?”
“I was wondering when that question is going to pop up”
“Really? If you ask me, she should have preferred another question to pop up” Anjali called out from somewhere behind the book-shelf.
“We are not alone?” Arnav whispered to Khushi
“I had no idea” Khushi whispered back to him.
“Anjali?” Khushi called out as Anjali showed up from behind the book-shelf.
“Kiddo, you were here all the time? What are you doing here?” Arnav asked.
“Searching for a book I had borrowed from my college library that Ramu Kakka had thought belonged to this study and mis-placed here, I have to return it today. Didn’t realize today was Friday.”
“We didn’t know you were inside; you were so quiet”
“Seriously I didn’t plan to overhear you, but when a situation presents itself its so unlikely, I would not use it”
“We weren’t speaking anything that you shouldn’t have heard” Arnav said in a nonchalant tone.
“Oh, I did, and you are pathetic bhai, I can’t believe it”
“What the”
“It’s not that difficult” Anjali continued “Try the simple ones bhai, like: Do you want to go out for dinner with me… or how about us catching up for lunch today… or the more quicker, Will you marry me?”
As Khushi stared open mouthed at the cheeky Anjali “What the”
“Khushi do you realize that you are mirroring him?” Anjali asked “That is his trademark dialogue!”
“Are you not getting late for college?”
“Of course, I am, I was hoping if I can call in sick and stay at home”
“No way Anjali, I will give you a drop to the campus”
“I am still searching for my book and that librarian is going to charge me a fine.”
“You will be charged a fine either way” Arnav pointed out “serves you right for being careless
“Oh my, so many chocolates… Arrey wah! Bhai, you are finally getting on the right track… how sweet, Can I take one Khushi, only one”
“Alright, we are getting late” he said as he casually put his hand around his sister, maneuvering her to walk to the door “wait down, I will be there in 10 minutes”
“Am I being removed from this room on purpose?” Anjali asked “Bhai, you could have directly asked me to give you both some privacy”
“See you soon Anjali” Arnav told before he closed the door to the study
“That’s going to make her assume a lot of things” Khushi pointed out.
“As if she isn’t already”
“You are such a suborn ass!”
“Alright, back to what we were discussing” Arnav said seriously “I don’t think we should be doing this meeting today.”
Khushi contemplated before she answered him
“I have planned this well. I have experience dealing with traumatic patients. Its not going to be the all serious, ‘tell me all about it’ conversation. We have a way to calm the subject and slowly take it up to the point she will be able to speak freely about it. Trust me, I can handle it”
“It’s not about your capabilities that I don’t trust Khushi…” Arnav told her “I am just…”
“Concerned. I know” Khushi said looking up at him “But don’t worry, we will be alright”
Arnav looked at her for almost a minute before he said
“Do you think it would help if I stayed back?”
“No, that’s not needed” Khushi said quickly. She hadn’t expected him to offer his presence.
“Maybe I will ask Abhi to come over in the afternoon, I have a meeting that I cannot skip in the morning”
“We will be ok, You go ahead with your agenda today”
“hmm, Give me a call if you need me”
“That’s very touching” Khushi smiled at him. “But, Its going to be Ok”
“Look, I don’t know. I don’t feel good about today”
“What? Are you an oracle or what?”
“Call it intuition”
she knew he was extremely anxious for her and wanted to ease him a bit and knew how to snap him out of it “Who are you and what have you done to Arnav Singh Raizada?”
He glared at her before he huffed and stood up straight.
“Since you are this confident, I will not pick up your calls even if you call me today”
“I don’t think I will call you anyway”
“Righto, I will make a move”
“thanks for the chocolates”
“Hope it helps!” Arnav said as he walked to the door
***
As Arnav had predicted, the day was longer and exhausting for all the three of them, though the meeting itself didn’t last very long.
Abhi had come to RM at around 10.30 with his team but he also thoughtfully decided that the first session wasn’t grueling and Tara and Tanu were quite comfortable.
But they were not even half an hour into the session when they found their cosy meeting interrupted by none other than Dadi herself!
***
Arnav usually left his phone on his desk during meetings. If there was an important call, he had his iWatch indicating it to him. That morning, he was using his spare iPhone (his phone screen had crashed during the previous day adventure) and it had completely slipped his mind that he had not linked the watch and spare phone.
It was little after 12.30 pm when he was back in his cabin that he checked his calls.
Little alarmed at the fact that there were numerous missed calls from Abhi as well as Khushi, he tried to reach them immediately.
Since Khushi’s phone rang but she didn’t pick it up, he called his friend.
“Abhi, everything alright?”
He listened briefly as his facial expression changed from anxious to shock and angry.
“What? I mean, No, I was in a meeting. Ok, Tell me where are you now?”
…
“and Khushi?”
…
“No, you are not serious!”
…
“Ok, Stay until I reach. I am coming over right away”
***
Abhi was waiting for Arnav at his apartment parking lot.
“Oh man, why didn’t you tell me Dadi will be back today?”
“I didn’t know, she wasn’t expected back until two days later”
“Well she was back today and looks like she was kind of angry and upset when she arrived”
“Tell me what happened?”
“She was surprised, we were surprised. At first it looked like everything was fine and infact we did have a polite conversation, then she asked what was the meeting about, we didnt tell her everything, just a very high level stuff, given that the girls were also around, Dadi didnt take it well and then it started to turn really ugly. I tried to do the damage control, but situation escalated quickly but nothing helped. She said that RM is not a charity house to provide for every homeless and helpless person or something to that effect. I decided to take the girls to my house. I told her that I am moving out when it all started again.
Khushi wouldn’t sit back. She spoke up, I think she was trying to explain. You know Dadi isn’t used to that someone defies her wish. Obviously, that upset Dadi. She started to hurl abuses at Khushi, literally calling her wile, someone who has enchanted her grandson, breaking families and what not”
“What the?”
“yeah, and then I couldn’t help when Khushi asked me if she can join me too. I had to comply.”
“Where is she now?”
“All of them are upstairs, Geethu didn’t go to office today as we didn’t get a Nanny yet. I left the girls and Khushi with her” Abhi said “Look, I need to leave now, I have a meeting with my higher up this afternoon. I am already late; I should better get going”
“Yeah, thanks mate”
“No problem. Take it easy alright?”
***
When Arnav rang the bell, Geethu answered the door. Arnav found all the girls sitting around the table with a grim expression.
“Khushi, I am so sorry!”
“Why are you sorry? It wasn’t your fault anyway” Khushi said.
“Geethu, can we use a room for privacy please?” Arnav asked turning to Geethu
“Sure, you can take that room to your left”
“No, It’s not needed.”
“Khushi, I need to talk to you in private”
Geethu gestured the girls to get into the room.
“Guys, why do you both cool down a bit and talk like matured individuals? It wasn’t Arnav’s fault Khushi, why are you angry with him?”
Khushi didn’t answer.
“Alright, I will be in that room if you need me” Geethu said leaving both of them alone.
“But why did you leave?” Arnav asked her the moment Geethu closed the door behind her.
“What do you expect me to do? Keep quiet when I am called a manipulative, scheming witch who seduced her grandson?”
“Khushi, you know none of it is true and it is not in your nature to react so much for something that is not true”
“Why didn’t you pick up my calls?”
“My phone was not with me, I was in a meeting”
“I didn’t think you would literally do that when you said you wouldn’t take my calls in the morning”
“It wasn’t intentional. Look, I didn’t know she was coming today, or I wouldn’t have left you people to deal with her. You know I wouldn’t”
“That’s completely off the point”
“Khushi, Dadi is insecure about me. And she is turning it all on you”
“Are you defending her?”
“of course not. She shouldn’t be turning all that anger on you”
“Right, and Its not like we are in a relationship and I should shoulder all that hate for your sake”
“really?” he asked her slowly
“what do you mean?” she laughed “you want me to listen to all those abuses and keep quiet for your sake?”
He shook his head
“You could have waited for me to get back home.”
“Don’t speak as if we are a couple already”
Arnav looked into her eyes until she turned away.
“Khushi, don’t think I cannot see through what you are trying to do” Arnav said
Khushi remained quiet and she didn’t pull away when he reached out for her hands.
“Care to come with me on a ride?”
She shook her head.
“I insist”
“No, I don’t want to”
“Aren’t you punishing me for a fault that is not mine?”
“No. Its not about that.” Khushi said sighing at him “I know if I take that trip with you, you will somehow convince me to return to RM”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Because this time, I want you to listen to me and let me be” Khushi said as he tried to interrupt, she continued “No wait, let me complete. Please, this time for my sake, please don't ask me to go back to RM. Just this time, I want to stand up for myself and not lose my self-respect. Its not probably the nice thing to do, but just this one time please? ”
***
It was after an hour or so when Geethu found Khushi standing in the balcony overlooking the road sipping water from a bottle.
“Where is he?”
“He left” Khushi said calmly, gesturing towards the road.
“Oh girl!, come here” Geethu said pulling her into a hug, and that’s when Khushi started to break into sobs.
To be continued.
_________________________________________________________
Oops, sorry to break your hearts, but the story had to progress, right?
Cheers until we meet again. This time, very soon. I promise.
Oh my God... thanks a lot for the update... when I saw story updated literally my heart was doing dance inside of me... that's how much I love this story yaar....I can't explain it to you how much I miss this story...I literally a silent reader after reading this story i started to write my feeling in comment section..
Wowww what an update.. heartbreaking after reading the final part..hope arnav convince Khushi or Dadi.. waiting for Akash Payal returning...my heart fall down when arnav ask khushi .....really.... can't wait for the next update yaar...come back soon...
And finally you shouldn't stop the update like this yaar..what going to happen next...
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