For the past few years, Khushi has lived her best life, gotten the job of her dreams and has an amazing family to return to when all is said and done, to be honest, she has no complaints, well except one. Her childhood bully is returning from the army and seeing him again reminds her of the many years of torment she faced at his hands. She’s adamant on not allowing them to return to old times again and wants nothing more than to be as far away from him as possible.
But, Arnav has different ideas. The only thing that got him through the years away from home and fighting for his country was the thought of returning to the beautiful, brown eyes he’d fallen in love with when he was young. Now he’s back for good, he’s going to do everything he can to prove to her and their families that no one is better for him than her.
In the mix of two very close families, past memories and Khushi’s desperation to be anywhere but near him, will the duo ever find solace within one another or will the past hold too much pain for a future to ever be possible?
*Note* For the sake of this story, Khushi and her family are Muslim and Payal is Khushi’s younger sister, and Akash is Arnav’s younger brother- this is simply because on Wattpad this story is wrote on Adiya and I’m too lazy to change major parts of the story.
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[1] K-I-L-L-I-N-G
"It is in your best interests to return my possessions or Allah as my witness I will use my secret weapon against you" Khushi held the spatula up threateningly, her caramel toned hair floating in the breeze like she was a model on a catwalk, perhaps the only thing about her appearance that seemed put together since her baggy t-shirt was covered in cheeto dust and chocolate spread from a late-night binge.
Payal rolled her eyes "These are for my lunch tomorrow at college, you have already eaten four packs" she hissed between her teeth, curls bobbing around her as she shook her head in distaste.
"Payal, please?" She needed these crisps like a drug addict needed a fix, see the thing was, her high school bully was returning to the small village of Fordwich where not only did everybody know your name, they also knew your business and tended to know more about the secrets of your life than you did. Unfortunately, as if life couldn't get any worse, her family and his were the best of friends and since her younger sister was dating his younger brother, it wouldn't be long till her parents started dropping hints for the two of them to do the same. It wasn't like she was scared of him, but another round of mocking jokes, teasing and name-calling and she was sure her next night's sleep would be in the safe confines of a mental institution and now, to top it all off, he was returning from the army with a lot more baggage than he left with, both emotionally and physically which would only make her more of an easy target as she was as you'd call it, so unfit that even going to the bathroom from her bedroom made her breathless and he was likely able to run a few flights of stairs without breaking a sweat. The plan was to leave before he returned, but as it was becoming increasingly obvious fate was never on her side.
"Aapi" she growled, "It's just one party, it's been fifteen years, he probably won't even speak to you" she adored her older sister, more than she would ever admit to her of course, but this was getting silly, she couldn't understand what the big deal was, so what if he used to be a bit mean? They were kids then, he had to have matured while fighting for his country, right?
"Urghhhhh" she sagged against the side, an inch away from tugging her own hair out. "You don't get it, this man-made my life a misery, people like him don't change, seeing him again will only bring back the years of torment and it's not normal to have your sister fall in love with your bully's younger brother, what happened to hoes before bros? To woman empowerment? To girls stick together? Chicks before dicks?"
"Uh, Aapi, I believe it's bros before hoes not-".
"Oh fine" she threw her hands up, "Take his side, you know if this was 1903 you'd be one of the women sleeping with your rich husband's gardener rather than marching for our right to vote" with that she grabbed the crisps and ran back up the stairs. She was surrounded by fools, absolute fools. Was she really the only person who saw the issues with this?
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"Khushi, time to wake up" Garima nudged her arm, "Come on, we have to start preparations for Arnav's welcome home party".
Really? Why was her whole family so obsessed with him? Grumbling, she faced the other way "Five more minutes".
She giggled at her daughter's antics "You said that two hours ago, now up" pulling the curtains across, she stripped the blanket from her body and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Ammi" she pled, lips in a pout "I'm ill, I can't go" she fluttered her eyelashes in hopes her mother would take pity and allow her to return to her private Netflix and binge time.
"Khushi, you're twenty-five, not five, that trick doesn't work on me anymore, Payal even got your clothes out ready, if I have to warn you again I'll invite Arnav over for dinner to-".
"Alright, alright" she jumped to her feet, body swaying as her head rushed, "I'm up, I'm up, don't say things like that, you'll give a young girl a heart attack". Slogging toward the bathroom, she grabbed her toothbrush and toothpaste and got to work, at the very least she could show him that she was all woman now, no longer that little girl he picked on.
Payal was lying on her bed when she returned, arms by her side and knees bent "Arnav and Khushi sitting on a tree, K, I-".
"L, L, I, N, G" Khushi completed. "This is not a story you can spin into a romance, he hates me and I hate him and if we're ever stuck in a tree together, I guarantee he'll be pushing me off". It wasn't until later that evening that she learnt the very important lesson of never jinxing herself because the future had a very similar scenario in-store and twigs, curly hair, hairspray and wet leaves were never a good combo, especially when you're sat beside the Devil himself.
"Don't be such a killjoy, you can hang with Akash and I" once again that same old dreamy stare returned to her face.
Knowing that trying to converse with her younger sister anymore on the topic was futile, she trailed down the stairs. "Abbu, how upset would you be if I decided to run away?"
Shashi blinked, then looked over his lenses at her "Are you that worried about seeing him that you'd risk facing my anger?"
She didn't even have to think about it "Yes" she even nodded for extra confirmation.
He sighed, tapping the seat beside him "Khushi, I have always known that you and Arnav did not have the best of relationships, but for my sake, I would like you to at least try and get along with him in front of everyone else, things change, people change, the boy you knew before is no longer here, this is a man and I'm sure he wants to forget all about your past together just as much as you do".
Whereas she didn't exactly agree, she kept silent, she didn't want to bring him any embarrassment, but the way her stomach churned at just the mention of his name was enough of a warning that tonight would be traumatic at the very least.
Part 2~ Page
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