Unwanted ~ Part 35

Khushi

 

Coming back to my senses, I pulled myself out of Arnav’s arms and wiped away my tears. I can’t be letting myself fall so weak. I put some distance between me and Arnav again before turning my attention back to him.

I watched as he wipes away some of his own tears.

 

“When I was looking at Arushi’s file and trying to put all the pieces together. But there’s one thing… When did you find out you were pregnant with Arushi?”

“I found out a couple of months after I left. If I had had any idea when I left that I was pregnant, I don’t think I would have ever left. After finding out, I did consider telling you, maybe coming back. But then I found out you and Nimisha got married and I… I couldn’t…”

“I get it, it makes sense.”

 

He placed his hand back on my knee and gave it a little squeeze. There was nothing romantic or sexual about the way he was touching me today. He touched me like an old friend, being supportive and understanding.

As much as I knew it wasn’t the time to think that way, all I could think about was if he still loved me the way he used to or not? Did he still want me?

More than six years had passed, but there hadn’t been a single day when I hadn’t thought about him. When I hadn’t thought about the way he used to touch me. I’d lay in bed, and I’d remember the way he’d come over me and kiss me. The way he’d ease into things before undressing me and making love to me. I remembered all the times when we didn’t make love, when we just had sex. Raw, intense, fast, passionate sex. How good it had felt… Did he still remember all that? Did he still think about it as much as I did? Did he still want me the way I wanted him?

 

“So I guess I want to ask now is… When do you think… How… When…”

 

I watched closely as he struggled to word whatever it was that he wanted to say. I saw a slight blush take over his cheeks.

 

“When do you think we… When do you think Arushi was conceived?”

 

I couldn’t help but feel a little stunned. Is that all he wanted to ask? Was he struggling just to ask that?

 

“I may not be correct, but I’m pretty certain she was conceived that last night we spent together.”

“You mean the night you left?”

“Yes. I think she’s a result of that night.”

 

I watched as he took this information in and he nodded slowly.

 

“I did think that maybe it was that night. But I just wanted to ask.”

“You had every right to want to know.”

“I’m glad she’s a result of that night.”

“Why?”

 

He paused for a moment and I watched as he gathered his thoughts.

 

“I made love to you that night and I’m sure you made love to me too. It was all love between us that night. There were other times, when I felt like we were just having sex, that it was the lust and the attraction that we felt for each other that was taking over.

And that’s fine, there’s nothing wrong with that. But that night… It was all love for me. So I’m glad she’s a result of our love, not our lust.”

“It was all love for me too.”

 

He looked at me then. Really looked at me. I felt like he could see straight into my soul and it was then that I realised just how much I missed him. Just how much I wanted him to take me into his arms and for him to kiss me. But he remained in his seat, maintained our distance.

 

“She’s a lot like you Arnav. A lot. I feel like she looks like me, but other than that, she’s all you. Her temperament, her attitude… There’s no doubt that she’s your daughter. When I named her, I didn’t know she was going to be such a mix of us both, but I’m glad I named her the way I did. Arushi, the daughter of Arnav and Khushi. Ar from Arnav and Ushi from Khushi. She’s the perfect blend of the both of us.”

“That makes sense and I like the logic behind the name. But why… Why didn’t you give her my name? My surname?”

 

His words caught me off guard, but of course it made sense. He would know, he saw her file. And he had every right to ask that.

 

“I did want to call her Arushi Singh Raizada, but then I thought about it and decided against it. You’re the only Raizada’s in India, I didn’t want people to realise my little girl was a Raizada. I didn’t want it to draw attention to us. And then there was also the thing that if I gave her the Raizada name, if you were looking for us, you’d find us sooner.”

“So on her birth certificate…”

“She’s Arushi Singhania and her father isn’t listed.”

 

Maybe I shouldn’t have been so straight forward and blunt. I saw the hurt that clouded his eyes. I watched as he shook whatever it was that he was feeling away and he put a smile on his face again.

 

“I can understand why you did that.”

“I have a friend that’s a lawyer. She knows my history and she said that if ever I wanted to have Arushi’s name changed legally or if I wanted to put your name down, she can do it for me.”

“Will you do it?”

“I don’t know… I mean, now you know, there’s no reason not to. The only reason why I hadn’t was so you didn’t find her. But now you know… Do you want me to have her details changed?”

 

I watched as he thought about it, as he tossed the ideas around in his head.

 

“At the end of the day, whether she has my name or not, she’s still my daughter. It doesn’t bother me if my name isn’t there, but I would like it to be.”

 

I nodded. I’d get it changed as soon as I could.

Taking my phone out of bag, I checked my messages and saw that I had one from Raj.

 

“Hope the catch up with your friend is going good. Arushi is fine, she’s just doing her homework with me. Take your time.”

 

Sending a quick reply, letting him know that I’d be home soon, I put my phone away again.

Arnav was watching me and I couldn’t help feel slightly uncomfortable under his heated gaze.

 

“I want to meet her.”

“Hm?”

“I want to meet Arushi.”

“But you’ve already met her?”

“As her father.”

“Oh.”

 

Why did he request catch me off guard? Of course he wanted to meet her. Why wouldn’t he?

 

“I mean yes, of course. But I’ll need to speak to Arushi first, make sure she’s prepared to meet you.”

“Of course, there’s no rush.”

 

There was a pause. I guess he was thinking about how to proceed with the conversation in the same way I was.

 

“You’ve not changed a lot. I mean, I didn’t expect you to. But seeing you… You look exactly the same Arnav. Just your stubble isn’t stubble any more.”

 

He laughed and I smiled too.

 

“I stopped maintaining my stubble after you left. At first it was because I felt so shit about you leaving, I didn’t want to do anything. After that, I became accustomed to my beard so I just kept it”

“It’s a good look.”

“You haven’t changed either. You look exactly the same. Looking at you, I’d never be able to tell that you were ever pregnant.”

 

Now it was my turn to laugh.

 

“Oh trust me. You can tell.”

“I really can’t.”

 

And I guess he couldn’t. He couldn’t see the stretch marks and I guess he couldn’t really tell like this that my breasts were much bigger than they used to be.

Motherhood had taken a toll on my body. I also had a lot more weight on me than I used to, my stomach never went back to being as flat as it had been.

Maybe he was being nice, or maybe he really couldn’t tell. Thinking about it, I suddenly felt so self conscious about my body. I was nothing like what I used to be. Would he still be attracted to me if he saw me now? Would he still think I was sexy? Would he still love my breasts the way he had done before if he saw how much they’d grown and the stretch marks on them?

Maybe that’s why he wasn’t coming near me. Maybe he didn’t think I was sexy any more?

Pushing all those thoughts aside, I checked the time and realised that I should really think about starting to leave.

 

“Arnav, I need to start making my way back…”

 

He looked at his watch and saw the time. Looking back up, his eyes were wide.

 

“How did it get so late? Where did the time go?”

 

I laughed and got to my feet. He too stood, came over to me and took my hand in his own.

 

“Thank you for coming round.”

 

He placed a small kiss on my cheek before pulling away. His lips were soft, as soft as they had always been and I couldn’t help but remember how his lips used to feel against mine, how they used to feel on my naked body… Would I ever feel those things again?

As I picked up my bag and got ready to leave, he stopped me.

 

“Wait Khushi. Can I have your number so I can call you and you can tell me what Arushi says?”

“Oh yes, of course!”

 

Taking my phone out of my bag, I handed it to him and he handed me his. The first thing I noticed was the fact that his home screen wallpaper was me. It wasn’t the same phone he had all those years ago, but the picture was one from our honeymoon. Me in my red bikini laughing at something he’d said.

 

“Arnav this picture…”

 

He looked up and there was a tinge of red on his cheeks. But that was gone a moment later when he slowly started walking towards me.

Placing his hands on my waist, he walked right up to me. I looked up as he closed the gap between us. He moved in towards me, pressed a lingering kiss on my cheek.

 

“Six years may have passed Khushi, but how I feel about you is still the same as it was all those years ago. I never stopped thinking about how sexy you are, or how much I love you. I never stopped thinking about how it felt to be buried deep in your body, how it felt when your body clenched around mine. I remember your moans of pleasure when I hit just the right spot…

 

He brushed some hair away from my eyes and placed another kiss on my other cheek.

 

“You have no idea how many times I’ve used sexy pictures of you to find release.”

 

His voice was low and husky now. His hands on me tightened as he pulled me closer.
He wants me. He still wants me the way he used to. It was evident.

 

“I’ve spent years looking at your pictures, thinking about all the things you used to do to my body… Khushi I know we should probably take things slowly, take time to reacquaint ourselves, but I’m going to tell you now, I want you Khushi. I want you really badly. I can’t wait until I can take you into my arms and when I can kiss the daylights out of you…”

 

He let me go and I took a step away from him.

 

“It’s not just the sexy stuff I remember, I remember everything about you. All the little things. Your jalebi obsession, your Salman Khan obsession. Your love of water and the beach. The little expressions you made when cooking something…”

 

He came back towards me and cupped my face. He stroked my cheek with one finger, letting it brush over my lips. He placed his other hand on my shoulder and slowly ran it down my arm before taking my hand.

 

“As much as I want to touch you, I won’t. Not until I’ve sorted things with our daughter. It’s going to be killer, but for now I want Arushi to be my priority.”

“It means that much to you that you meet Arushi and get things in place with her?”

“Of course. She’s my daughter. Our daughter. The symbol of our love. She’s immensely important to me.”

 

His words touched me. He didn’t even say much about our baby but his words meant so much. He wanted to make things right for us all.

 

“I can’t wait for us to be a proper family. The three of us.”

 

*****

 

As we wrapped up our conversation, I remembered one last thing.

 

“Arnav, can I make a request?”

“Go for it.”

 

I didn’t know how to ask him, would he think I was being rude?

 

“I… Do you think maybe we can keep all this to ourselves for now? I mean you finding me, about Arushi, can all this just stay with us for now and we can tell everyone at home later.”

“Sure we can! I wasn’t actually thinking about telling anyone yet any way. If I told them about you and Arushi, they would demand I bring you home right this instant. And right now my priority is to sort things with my family, ie you and Arushi before anything else.”

 

It really did touch my heart how he was so concerned about wanting to make things right for us. He really cared.

Picking my bag up and placing a quick kiss on his cheek, I took his leave.

 

“I can’t wait to finally meet our daughter officially.”

“I’ll call you or text you as soon as I’ve spoken to her.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

 

*****

 

Upon reaching my car, I just needed to sit down for a moment. Sliding into my seat, I locked the doors and then just rested my head back and closed my eyes. I could not believe what had happened today.

I’d left the house thinking I was leaving Mumbai, getting as far away from Arnav as I could go. But now… I couldn’t wait to see him again, couldn’t wait until we could be a proper family.

Earlier, I had thought running away would be the best for him, that if I left, I wouldn’t be having a negative impact on his relationship with Nimisha and her child. But now I knew it didn’t matter. Nimisha and her child didn’t mean anything to Arnav, they weren’t his family. Me and Arushi were.

 

*****

 

When I finally arrived home, I had Veera mausi asking if I had a good day, I had Raj asking when I was leaving and I had Arushi going on about something else.

As they all calmed down, they all dispersed once more, leaving me with just Raj.

 

“So I’m guessing your day went well with your friend?”

 

I needed to tell him. Pulling out a chair, I sat down and Raj did the same.

 

“I was with Arnav.”

 

That caught him completely off guard. I don’t think he was expecting me to say that.

 

“Arnav? As in your husband? What?”

“Yes Arnav, as in my husband, the father of my child.”

“But how?”

 

I explained to him the series of events that had taken place and he listened. I told him about what me and Arnav had spoken about and the decision that we had come to.

 

“Wow! Considering earlier today you were ready to leave… I can’t believe…”

“I can’t either. It just made me think that if I’d listened to you and Veera mausi before, I would’ve known about Nimisha sooner and me, Arushi and Arnav could have been a family sooner.”

“So this is what you want? You want to tell Arushi about Arnav and you want to try and sort things with him?”

“Yes. That’s what I want. I want us to finally be a family the way I’ve dreamt about but never thought was possible.”

“And you’re certain that’s what you want?”

“100%.”

“So are you going to go and talk to Arushi now then?”

“Yes, but I don’t know what to say.”

“Just ease her into it. Do you want me to come and help?”

“Yes please.”

 

I appreciated Raj more than I could ever express. He always knew what to do and what to say.

As we made our way to Arushi’s room, I felt myself feeling more and more nervous. Raj sensed this and placed his hand on my shoulder. As we got to Arushi’s room, I saw that she was sat on her bed, reading a little book.

 

“Arushi, can I speak to you dear?”

 

Looking up, she closed the book and nodded. Walking into her room, I sat down on her bed and Raj remained at the doorway.

 

“Ari, you know I’ve always told you your dad loved far away and that if he ever came to Mumbai I would let you meet him?”

 

Again she nodded, only this time, she frowned a little.

 

“So would you like to meet your dad?”

 

Eyes widening to the size of discs, she nodded her head frantically before jumping to her feet and giving me a big hug.

 

“Yes yes yes yes yes! Yes please mama! When can I meet him? Can we go now?”

“No baby we can’t go now it’s late. I’ll call him and ask him when we can go to see him.”

“Thank you thank you thank you! I can’t wait to see my papa! You’re the bestest mama in the whole world!”

 

Holding my baby close, I smiled. Things were changing for us, and I definitely liked this change. Things were changing for the better and I couldn’t wait to see how things progressed.

Jalebi ~ Part 32

 

When Arnav got home, it was safe to say that his aura had completely changed. If over the last couple of weeks he had been walking around with a dark cloud over his head, today he had a rainbow over his head.

The moment he walked in through the door and Anjali saw him, she knew things had changed for the better.

 

“Chote, where were you last night? I called you so many times.”

 

Rushing to his sister, he gave her a big hug, lifting her off her feet slightly.

 

“Chote! What are you doing, put me down!”

 

Hearing the commotion, Shyam came out to see what was going on.

 

“Arre what’s going on here?”

 

Letting go of his sister, Arnav went over to his brother in law and gave him the same treatment.

 

“Saale Saab! Have you go crazy! What are you doing? Put me down right this moment!”

 

Putting his brother in law down, Arnav sat down on the sofa and pat the seats next to him. Shyam and Anjali came over and sat down on either side of Arnav.

 

“Will you tell us what’s going on? And I still want to know where you were last night.”

“I was with Khushi.”

“What? You spent the night, with Khushi?”

 

Blushing slightly, Arnav nodded. Anjali gasped whereas Shyam slapped Arnav on the back in a laddish manner.

 

“Shyam ji! Don’t encourage him!”

“Di! Come on, you know it’s not the first time me and Khushi have spent the night together.”

“I do know, but that doesn’t mean I approve. You know how I feel about premarital sex.”

“Rani Sahiba, go easy on him. He thought he lost her, so to have her back…”

 

Anjali shook her head as she watched her husband pat her brother on the back. Boys, such idiots they were.

 

“Okay forget that. Did the plan work?”

“It did Di! It worked like a charm. What was Akash like when he got home last night?”

“He was very quiet, but he seemed at ease. He hasn’t looked that relaxed in a long time.”

“So he’s okay?”

“He’s alright. I don’t think he’s going to be a bother any more.”

 

Stretching his arms, Arnav placed his arms around his sister and brother in law, pulling them close to himself.

 

“I can’t believe everything is working out again. I thought…”

 

Anjali placed her hand on Arnav’s shoulder.

 

“The bad period of your life has passed Chote. Things are only going to get better now.”

“I hope so. I hope her fiancé isn’t too mad at her about last night…”

“Wait! Was her fiancé… Please tell me you didn’t sleep with her while he was in the house!”

“Of course not! Come on Di! What do you think of me. He’s been out of town for a while, but he… He kind of walked in on us this morning.”

 

Anjali groaned and put her face in her hand, while Shyam laughed.

 

“Were you both… At it?”

“Yep.”

“Oh god!”

 

Shyam was in absolute stitches with laughter and Arnav smirked. But Anjali was not impressed at all.

 

“In glad that you both find this so funny. Do you understand how much of an issue this could cause for Khushi? Her fiancé walked in on her, sleeping with another man! Do you understand how vulnerable you have left her?”

“It’s not ideal but I think it’ll be okay. I’ll call her in a bit to make sure that everything’s okay.”

 

Getting up, Arnav took his leave from his sister and brother in law and made his way over to his bedroom.

 

“I can’t believe Chote…”

“Go easy on him Rani Sahiba. He’s had a hard couple of weeks.”

“I know… I just hope he hasn’t made more of a mess of things.”

 

*****

 

“I need you to pick. Either you’re with me and you marry me and you forget about him. Or we end our relationship now and you can go back to him. It’s up to you. But bearing in mind, if you pick me, you can’t ever see him again.”

 

Stumped as to what Rohan had just said, Khushi felt herself lose her balance slightly, but she regained her strength. Why was she surprised that Rohan was asking this of her? She should have known this was coming.

Sitting down on the sofa, Khushi placed her hands on her face, trying to fight back the tears that threatened to fall. Rohan’s expression softened as he came and sat down beside Khushi, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Putting her arms around Rohan, Khushi held him close as she cried. She wanted Arnav, she still loved him but…

 

“I pick you.”

 

Wiping her eyes and breaking the hug, Khushi looked up into Rohan’s eyes.

 

“I pick you.”

 

*****

 

Rushing back into her bedroom, Khushi leaned against the door, letting her tears fall.

Was she making the right decision? She knew Arnav was innocent, that he hadn’t done anything to hurt her or to cause her to distrust him. But how could she go back to him now? Rohan had accepted her, despite knowing her past. Rohan was willing to marry her even after seeing her with Arnav today. How could she betray Rohan like that and go back to Arnav now? How could she do that to Rohan when he had accepted her time and time again despite being aware of everything she had done?

Much later the same day, Khushi had spent most of her day in her room, trying to get over the decision that she had made. She was still weighing it all up, making sure that she had made the right decision.

Just as she was getting ready to leave her room and to face Rohan, her phone began to ring. Walking over to her bedside table to pick it up, Khushi saw that it was Arnav calling. What was she meant to say to him?

Taking a deep breath, Khushi answered the phone.

 

“Hi…”

“Khushi, hey! Are you okay?”

“I’m… I’m alright.”

“He didn’t say anything to you did he?”

“No, not really. I mean he was angry, that was a given, but he was okay.”

“I’m sorry that we were in that position.”

“It’s okay. What’s happened has happened.”

 

There was a silence as they both tried to figure out what to say.

 

“Arnav…”

 

Arnav felt himself tense up. The way she said his name, it caused a shiver to run up his spine. He could tell something wasn’t quite right.

 

“What’s wrong? Khushi, tell me what happened.”

 

Trying to fight her tears back, Khushi composed herself before saying what she wanted to say.

 

“I… I can’t… I can’t speak to you any more, I’m sorry.”

 

Ending the call, Khushi threw her phone aside me collapsed down onto her bed. Everything was over.

Looking at his phone in disbelief, Arnav couldn’t believe what was happening. After what they had been through, after everything, she was still willing to let him go?
No, he couldn’t allow that. He couldn’t just let her go like that.

Calling her right back, Arnav was disappointed to find that his call went straight to voicemail.

He waited a few moments before calling right back. He called over and over again, but his calls went straight to voicemail every single time. Had she blocked his calls?

Anger coursed through Arnav’s body. How could she let him go like that over and over again. Did he mean so little to her? Maybe Rohan had said something?

Trying to call her a few more times, Arnav realised that it was futile. He needed to go over to see her, whether she and her fiancé liked it or not.

 

*****

 

“You can’t be here.”

“I need to see Khushi.”

 

Barging passed Rohan who had opened the door, Arnav walked into the living room, of Khushi’s apartment.

 

“She doesn’t want to see you.”

“My ass she doesn’t want to see me.”

“She doesn’t Arnav. She picked me over you. So how about you take the hint and you leave.”

“She’d never pick you over me. She loves me.”

“I hate to break it to you buddy, but she did pick me. So I suggest you leave quietly before I call the police.”

“I’m not leaving until I see her.”

 

Door opening, a puffy eyed Khushi walked out of her bedroom.

 

“What’s going on…”

 

As her eyes fell on Arnav, any thought that was going through her head fell away.

 

“Arnav…”

“I tried to tell him that you don’t want to see him, but he won’t listen.”

“Can you give us a few minutes please Rohan?”

 

Rohan looked high unimpressed at the request Khushi had just made, but he wasn’t about to argue. After all, she had picked him over Arnav. He didn’t have anything to lose.
Nodding, Rohan placed a hand on Khushi’s shoulder before making his way over to his room.

The moment the door shut behind him, Arnav was on Khushi.

 

“What the hell are you playing at Khushi?”

“I’m not…”

“This morning, everything was fine between us, you were all over me and now… You’re not taking my calls, Rohan is claiming you don’t want to see me. What the hell is going on?”

“I… I just realised that me and you, our relationship, it isn’t sustainable.”

“Not sustainable? What kind of nonsense is that?”

“Arnav please.”

“No! What kind of bullshit is this Khushi? You keep playing with me like I’m some kind of toy.”

“How…”

“Last night, everything that happened was initiated by you. You came onto me, making me think that we were… You wanted us to make love, YOU wanted that more than I did. And now you’re blocking me out again!”

“I made a mistake.”

“That’s the thing with you Khushi. When you want me, you’re all over me and then you ice me out! You did that to me in London. Spend the night with me and then the next morning you completely block me out and ask me to leave. I don’t hear from you for days and then when you’re ready to talk again, you’re all over me. You’ve done it so many times and… I’m being patient with you. I want to be with you but you… Do you even know what you want Khushi?”

 

Arnav hadn’t wanted to be so harsh, he didn’t want to bring the past up. But she was getting under his skin, driving him insane.

 

“Arnav…”

“I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I love you more than you can possibly imagine. Please… I know you love me too. Don’t make us both suffer like this.”

“I can’t…”

“You can!”

“Rohan…”

“Ugh! For gods sake Khushi, you don’t love him! You know in your heart you don’t really want to be with him.”

“But I do. I mean… I…”

“You what?”

 

Looking at the beautiful man stood before her, Khushi was struggling. But she knew she had to do what was required of her.

 

“I have picked Rohan. I’m marrying Rohan. I’m sorry.”

“Khushi…”

“Despite everything, Rohan has accepted me. I can’t go back on him now when he accepted me.”

“But what about me?”

“I’m sorry.”

“So that’s it? Everything we’ve been through, everything between us, it doesn’t matter?”

 

Looking down, Khushi fought back the tears that threatened to fall. Turning away from Arnav, she looked at nothing in particular and hoped he would leave soon.

 

“You’re really going to pick him over me?”

“Yes.”

“Do I really mean that little to you?”

 

Looking away, Khushi refused to comment. She couldn’t lie to him, nor could she tell him the truth.

 

“Then I guess we’re done here.”

 

He moved towards her, only to stop midway and turn back. Moving back over to the door, he looked at her one last time before slamming the door shut behind him.

 

Turning, Khushi had to stop herself from running after him, taking him into her arms and telling him that she picked him. But she knew she couldn’t do that. Moving back towards her bed, Khushi sat down. Why was everything such a mess? Why was it so hard? Why couldn’t they just be together?

Letting her tears flow, Khushi soon noticed a little box that was sat on her bedside table. Picking it up, she opened it up to find a beautiful ring nestled within. A flower shaped diamond ring, with multiple little diamonds making up the petals for the flower and going along the band, while a larger diamond sat at the centre of the flower. Was this…
Khushi looked between the beautiful ring in the box and the one that was already on her hand. The one from Rohan was a simple solitaire diamond ring. It was stunning but it wasn’t anything special or personal. Whereas this one from Arnav… It was evident he had really thought about her when he had brought it.

Slipping the ring from Rohan off of her finger, she placed the one Arnav had left on. It for perfectly and it looked beautiful. The ring was made her for in the same way that Arnav was made for her… But she couldn’t go back. She couldn’t accept Arnav and leave Rohan.

Slipping the ring back off, Khushi put it back in the box and snapped it shut. Opening up her drawer, Khushi pushed the ring to the back, along with all her memories and feelings for Arnav.

Unwanted ~ Interlude III

Nimisha

 

Tucking Pari into bed, I made my way back to my room and got changed.

Once changed and ready to get into bed, I turned the TV on and slipped in between my bed sheets. Laying back, resting against the headboard, I watched TV, letting myself unwind after a long day.

This is generally how my evenings went. After getting everything done and getting Pari off to sleep, I’d spend the evening either watching TV, reading a book, or getting work for the next day done. It wasn’t like I had to wait around for a husband. I could do what I want, when I wanted.

Just as my television show was getting to an interesting point, my phone started ringing. Sighing, I picked it up and checked caller ID. Ranveer.

 

“Hey…”

“How are you?”

“I’m good Ranveer, you?”

“I’m missing you and my baby girl. When are you both coming to see me again?”

 

I paused to think for a moment. Switching off the TV, I settled myself down, smiling to myself.

 

“Maybe we can come tomorrow. Pari has vacation from school now so…”

“That sounds great! I can’t wait to take both of you out.”

“I can’t wait to see you again.”

“Nimi maybe we should…”

“I agree, we should.”

“But how? Arnav won’t be pleased…”

“He’ll probably kill us both, but I’m tired of this. I just want to be with you so the three of us can finally be a proper family.”

“I want that too… When is Arnav coming back?”

“He’s meant to be coming back within the next couple of days, but who knows. Di’s been saying he’s been really preoccupied recently so who knows?”

“Hmm. Well let’s think about it. I’ll call you tomorrow morning and we can talk some more. Take care of yourself and give my baby a kiss.”

“I will do. Goodnight Ranveer.”

“Goodnight babe.”

 

I disconnected the call and I couldn’t help but smile to myself. For the longest time now, me and Ranveer have been trying to undo the mess that we had created 6 years ago. And now, finally, we were making headway.

I met Ranveer for the first time over six and a half years ago, not very long after Arnav and Khushi’s fake marriage. I had been upset, paranoid and insecure about my relationship with Arnav, fearful that he would fall in love with the woman that he’d married. I was filled with sorrow that his family didn’t like me. So I took my sorrows and insecurity to a bar.

And that’s where I met Ranveer.

We got talking, well… We got flirting. We both hit it off almost instantly. Maybe we should have realised then that we should just forget about our respective relationships and give a shot to whatever it was between us.

But any way, we got talking, one thing led to another and we ended up spending the night together.

People would assume we moved to fast, and perhaps we did. But we were two individuals who were in love with different people and wanted to be with them, but couldn’t. We wanted attention and we craved intimacy. Something we weren’t getting from our respective partners. So when we found each other, we took the opportunity with both hands.

That night we spent together was such a beautiful night.

The next morning, I was awoke by Ranveer’s phone constantly going off. So I took it upon myself to deal with the issue. I told his girl about us and hoped she’d back off.

But to my dismay, when Ranveer awoke, he expressed his regret regarding what we had done. I was shattered. Maybe it had been naive of me to assume that he would want to give our relationship a go, to assume that I had meant something to him. But I had assumed those things. He apologised, was courteous, But ultimately explained he loved his girl too much to let her go.

Fast forward a couple of days, me and Ranveer meet again. In Bali. When we had met it Delhi, we had briefly explained our situations to each other, but we hadn’t realised that our partners had gotten married to each other. That changed things between us.

We sat down and really spoke. Talking about our feelings about Arnav and Khushi and we realised that as much as we clicked with each other, we wanted to be with Arnav and Khushi. So that’s exactly what we tried to do. We went back to Arnav and Khushi and tried to make things work out with them, but I found that something had changed in Arnav. He didn’t want me anywhere near him. Ranveer too found that Khushi didn’t want to be with him.

He told me he and Khushi had a bad argument, that it was over between them. We’d both been rejected. We were both hurt. It was then we spent another night together. If our first night together had been perfect, this night was heaven. And as a result of that night, god blessed us with a beautiful baby girl. Not that we knew at the time.

Maybe I should have realised then that it was Ranveer that I wanted. But I was stupid, I still went back to Arnav, tried to convince him that I still wanted him, that I still wanted us to be together. But I was stupid. I was trying to convince him when I wasn’t even convinced myself. Maybe I should have avoided the situation altogether because Arnav spotted a love bite and he ended things with me there and then.

Maybe I should have backed off after that. I almost did…

 

*****

 

Time passed and me and Ranveer chose to embrace our relationship. Everything was going well, until we found out that we were pregnant.

Now neither of us really had an issue with having a child together. My family already knew about me and Ranveer and they had no issue with him, and he didn’t mind us having a child. We should have just accepted what was happening and just given your relationship a name. But instead the both of us tried to be smart.

We were stupid. We spoke about what we wanted and we spoke about Arnav and Khushi again. For some reason, both of us decided that we wanted to try to get back with them.
We decided that I would go to Arnav’s house, claiming that my baby was his. And Ranveer hoped that Khushi would leave Arnav and run into his arms.

We were stupid. We should have realised how we felt about each other. We should have embraced our relationship and left Arnav and Khushi alone. But we didn’t.

I went back to Arnav and he straight up denied that my child was his. I lied to him about how Pari could be his and he didn’t buy it. He didn’t buy it for even a moment. After Pari was born, Arnav demanded a paternity test. And that’s exactly what I did. We took a paternity test, but I made sure I swapped Arnav’s sample with Ranveer’s. The reports came back showing a match, but Arnav still failed to believe it. Our plan was futile.
And Khushi didn’t go back to Ranveer either. So we screwed up.

Both me and Ranveer quickly realised that we should have left things as they were. We made a mess for ourselves and we made a mess for Arnav and Khushi. But instead of just telling Arnav the truth, I chose to long out the lie, carry on living it. I should have backed away the moment I realised that it wasn’t going to work, but I didn’t.

I regretted my decision and I still do. We should have left Arnav and Khushi, we should have just carried on and moved on. But we didn’t. We were both stupid, fighting for a battle that was lost. We should have admitted that Arnav and Khushi were just extras in our lives, extras who led us to each other, but we were stupid.

But things were going to change now. Me and Pari were going to go to Ranveer. We were finally going to be a proper family. As soon as Arnav returned, this game was going to end.

 

Jalebi ~ Part 31

 

By the time Khushi awoke the next morning, it was nearing 11am. Smiling to herself, she turned in the arms of the man that was holding her close and smiled as she looked up at his face.

Arnav was still fast asleep. Tucking herself into his body, Khushi smiled as she recalled the passion they had shared the night before. After making love the first time, they had done it a few more times after that.

For the first time in a long time, Khushi woke up truly happy. Her business was hers again, and she had the man of her dreams back in her life.

Hearing her phone beep, Khushi reached out for it. It was a text from Mohit.

 

“Congratulations, you’re the sole owner of Khushiyan again! I’m just checking everything now and getting it all in order, but we’re ready to get back to work!”

 

Locking her phone, Khushi didn’t bother with the rest of her messages as she put her phone back. Her business was hers again. Arnav had sorted it all just as he said he was going to. He kept his promise, didn’t let her faith in him break.

Hugging him, Khushi couldn’t hold back. She placed light kisses on his face, moving closer to his lips each time. Feeling the sensation of soft lips on his face, Arnav slowly roused from his sleep, smiling as he slowly opened his eyes.

 

“A man could get used to being awoken like this.”

“Good morning.”

“Morning.”

 

Locking her lips with his, Khushi pushed Arnav onto his back and moved over him, straddling his body with her own. Placing her hands on his chest, Khushi rubbed her body against Arnav’s, letting him know she wanted him. Her hands moved down his body, down towards his crotch, feeling him over his boxers.

 

“Take them off.”

“I love it when you get bossy.”

“Take them off Raizada.”

 

Reaching for his boxers, Arnav pushed them off as Khushi leaned back in, placing kisses on his face.

 

“They’re off.”

 

Moving down his body, Khushi placed a line of kisses all the way down. She placed light kisses on his chest, his nipples, his pecs, just above his belly button. Grabbing hold of her hair, Arnav pulled her closer to himself as she moved further down his body.

 

“Khushi…”

 

Pressing a kiss on his waistline, it was obvious where she was headed.

 

“You don’t need…”

 

But before he could finish what he was saying, she took the top of his length into her mouth.

 

“Fuck.”

 

Holding the base of his length, she took a little more in and then some more until she could take no more of him.

 

“Khushi…”

 

Running her tongue over the tip of his length, Arnav felt his body on fire, all his sensitive nerves on fire. Moving back, Khushi let some of his length out, she then moved back in again. Arnav took a fistful of Khushi’s hair in his hands and guided her head to help her with what she was doing. They carried on, Arnav helping her to build her confidence.

A few moments later, Arnav could feel himself close so he tried to push Khushi away.

 

“Khushi I’m going to cum.”

 

Moving away, Khushi moved back over Arnav and took his lip between hers in a relatively aggressive kiss. Arnav could taste the slight saltiness of his pre release on her tongue. His hands roamed on her back, holding her close. He rubbed himself against her, needing his release.

Flipping Khushi onto her back, and moved over her, still kissing her hard. His hands rested on her breasts, massaging them as he rubbed his length against her opening.

 

“Do it Arnav.”

 

Guiding his length into her, Arnav held still for a moment, just letting them enjoy the connection between them.

 

“You like it when I just hold myself still in you don’t you.”

“Mmm.”

 

Arnav started to move slowly, a moan of feeling content leaving Khushi’s lips. Arnav moved his hips slowly, making sure to hit Khushi’s most sensitive spot.

 

“OH.”

 

As he hit her little bud every time, or even if he just brushed over it, it caused Khushi to moan out in pleasure. Hearing her moan out in pleasure, calling his name and holding him closer each time, it pushed Arnav nearer to his climax.

Pressing his lips back to hers, Arnav kissed Khushi intensely as he penetrated her body.

 

“Arnavv…”

 

Just as Arnav began to move faster, to help them both get their release, Khushi’s bedroom door banged open.

 

“What the f***!”

 

Both Arnav and Khushi jumped, but Arnav’s first reaction was to make sure Khushi was covered properly with the sheets. Covering her up, Arnav rolled off of Khushi, lying beside her, holding the sheets to himself.

 

“What the actual f*** is going on here?”

 

Rohan. Rohan had arrived.

 

“Rohan…”

“What the actual hell Khushi? I come home after weeks to find you in bed with him!”

“Let us get dressed and then we can speak…”

 

Slamming the door behind him, Rohan left angrily. Arnav turned his attention back to Khushi, who had sunk into the sheets, her hands over her face.

 

“Khushi… Are you… Don’t cry…”

“Oh god Arnav. What have… What have we done!”

“We haven’t done anything. We haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Of course we have!”

 

Arnav tried to reach out to Khushi, to touch her, but she scooted away, holding the sheets close around her body.

 

“Khushi…”

“I’m engaged Arnav! I shouldn’t have… I can’t… I shouldn’t have slept with you.”

 

Arnav looked slightly appalled at what Khushi had said, the way she worded what she had said.

 

“You didn’t just sleep with me Khushi. We made love! There’s a difference!”

“Whether we just had sex or we made love, it doesn’t change the fact that I’m engaged.”

“It makes all the difference in the world! It means you still love me and you want to be with me.”

“Arnav please just take a shower and get ready to leave. I need to talk to Rohan.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

“Arnav you don’t know Rohan like I do. He’s got an intense temper. If you stayed, he may just get more angry.”

“More of a reason to stay with you.”

“Arnav please. Just listen to me for once.”

 

Sighing, Arnav got out of bed and made his way to Khushi’s bathroom. Before going in, he turned to see Khushi still in bed, holding the sheets close to herself.

 

“Jump into the shower with me.”

“Are you being serious? Arnav my fiancé is standing right outside!”

“Okay okay.”

 

Shaking his head, Arnav went into the bathroom and Khushi prepared to get out of bed. Walking over to her wardrobe, Khushi took out a nightdress and a dressing down and went outside to retrieve Arnav’s clothes for him. Rohan was sat on the sofa, looking highly unimpressed.

 

“Rohan…”

“Take his clothes to him, get rid of him, take a shower yourself. You can use my bathroom to have a shower. You stink of sex.”

“I…”

“Please. Just go.”

 

*****

 

Showered and fresh, Khushi pulled her clothes on and went back to her own bedroom to find Arnav changing the sheets and making the bed.

 

“You didn’t need to…”

“I just thought I’d do it while you were still in the bathroom.”

“Thank you… Arnav, I know this is harsh but, please can you leave now.”

 

Nodding, Arnav moved close to Khushi, placed a kiss on her forehead and then turned away.

 

“Call me. I need to know that you’re okay.”

“I will.”

 

Pressing another quick kiss on her forehead, Arnav walked out of the bedroom and into the living room where Rohan was sat.

 

“I’m sorry you had to see what you saw Rohan.”

“Just leave now.”

 

Nodding, Arnav respected both Khushi and Rohan’s requests and left. As much as he hated Rohan he knew he needed to respect his wishes. If he were in Rohan’s position, he probably would have killed someone.

As soon as the door shut behind him, Rohan rounded on Khushi, looking at her with angry eyes.

 

“Before you say anything…”

“Shut up Khushi! Don’t you dare try to justify yourself.”

“Rohan I…”

“I said shut up. I don’t want to hear anything. I come home, after weeks and weeks and want to spend some time with you, but the moment I walk into the house, I see clothes all over the house. And if that wasn’t bad enough, I could hear you both from out here!”

“I didn’t know you were coming home.”

“You would have done if you answered my calls or checked my messages. But I guess you were too busy fucking him to realise…”

“Don’t speak like that.”

“What do you expect me to say?

 

Tears prickled in Khushi’s eyes as she realised how much the situation she was in sucked. She hadn’t wanted this, hadn’t wanted to cause so much of a mess.

 

“So what, have you been sleeping with him since I’ve been out of town?”

“No! No no! Last night he came over to tell me… That my business, he got it back for me. And I guess I got caught up in the moment and we ended up…”

“So out of happiness you ended up sleeping with him.”

“I didn’t mean it to happen…”

“But it didn’t stop until this morning. So it wasn’t just a moments slip.”

“I got caught up in the moment. It felt like before again…”

“But it shouldn’t have! You’re engaged to me! Okay, I get it happened but by this morning you should have realised. If it was just a one off last night I may have understood but… The fact that you carried on until this morning means you have absolutely no respect for me or our relationship.”

“I’m sorry…”

“Sorry doesn’t change what happened Khushi. You don’t let me come anywhere near you, not even a kiss. If I try to come near you, you freak out. Yet with him, you jump straight into bed with him again.”

“But you can understand why it’s like that.”

“I understand but it doesn’t mean I agree.”

 

Looking down, Khushi felt ashamed. She knew what Rohan meant and she also knew he had a point. She shouldn’t have let herself get caught up in the moment like that.

 

“I’m sorry, I promise it won’t happen again.”

 

Rohan moved towards Khushi and placed his hand on her shoulder, his expression softening.

 

“Look Khushi, I understand. I do. You’re relationship with him, how you feel about him, I get it. But I need you to decide what you want.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I need you to pick. Either you’re with me and you marry me and you forget about him. Or we end our relationship now and you can go back to him. It’s up to you. But bearing in mind, if you pick me, you can’t ever see him again.”

 

Looking up at Rohan, Khushi get slightly thrown. But she knew this was inevitable. And after what happened today, Khushi should’ve known this was coming.

But the real question was, what was the right decision to make? Which decision would make her happy and would be best for everyone involved?

Unwanted ~ Part 34

 

Arnav

 

“Khushi?”

 

Wait. What?! I’d been searching high and low and now… Here she was! She was actually here! Right in front of me! Basically in my arms. I’d done it! I’d found my Khushi.

 

“Arnav…”

 

She looked shocked, but not shocked enough. Raj must have gone home and told her that he saw me, that I was Arushi’s teacher.

 

“Hi…”

 

Tucking a strand of hair behind her ears, she looked down at her bag and then up at me again.

 

“I…”

 

I couldn’t believe it. I came here today to start considering tickets so I could go back home. I never in a million years thought that I’d bump into Khushi here.
I took her in. She hadn’t changed much at all. Her face was a little more rounded than it had been before but other than that, she looked pretty much the same.

Finally pulling myself out of my trance, I moved in and took her into my arms, hugging her.

 

“I can’t believe I’ve found you.”

“I…”

“Why did you leave me like that Khushi? I searched the world for you but you managed to vanish into thin air. But it doesn’t matter. It’s late but at least I found you.”

“You we’re looking for me?”

“From the moment I woke up to an empty bed to now. I never stopped.”

 

I wanted to mention Arushi. But I wanted Khushi to tell me about her herself.

 

“So… How have you been?”

 

Really Arnav? Really? I sounded like a teenager, trying to talk to a girl I fancy.

 

“Listen Arnav, I’m really busy, I need to…”

“We need to talk Khushi.”

“I know but I…”

“What are you even doing here?”

 

Now I find my voice. She looked around a little anxious.

 

“I… I came to get tickets…”

“Oh are you going on holiday?”

 

She hesitated for a moment too longer before nodding. She was planning on running away.

 

“Let’s go to my place so we can catch up.”

 

She looked horrified at the idea, and shook her head. I reached out for her, taking her hand into my own.

 

“Please. I need to talk to you.”

 

It was obvious from her expression that she didn’t want to go home with me, but there was no way I was going to let her go today. There was so much we needed to talk about, I needed to make sure that she came with me.

 

“Khushi…”

“Okay, but I need to make a call first.”

“Of course.”

 

I moved away a little to give her some space. This was actually amazing! I found my Khushi! Pulling my own phone out of my pocket, I thought to text Payal, to tell her the good news. But then I thought against it. It would be better to speak to Khushi first. I waited, and in no time Khushi wrapped her call up and came towards me.

 

“My house is only a five minutes walk, but if you want I can call us a cab.”

“Actually, I’ve got my car with me…”

“You drive now?”

 

For the first time, a little smile played on her lips and her cheeks went the lightest shade of pink.

 

“I passed about 3 years ago.”

“Wow! That’s great Khushi! Well I guess lead the way to your car my lady.”

 

Fishing in her bag, I watched as she pulled her keys out and she walked in front of me, leading me back to the car park. I waited until she clicked the car and I saw a little silver Toyota unlock.

 

“Nice car.”

“Thank you. It’s not quite your SUV but…”

“I love it. It’s very you.”

“Do you still have your SUV?”

“I do, although I rarely drive it now. I brought a newer SUV, which is my everyday car, but I didn’t have the heart to part with my original SUV.”

 

She gave a little nod as she got into the car and then I got in too. In no time, we were off.

I’ll admit, I was a little apprehensive about her driving, but the moment she got the car going, it was evident she knew what she was doing and that she was a fairly experienced driver.

I directed her towards my place and she got us there in less than five minutes.

Getting out of the car, I made my way over to the door and waited for her as she locked the car and followed me. Placing my hand on the small of her back, I led her in and shut the door behind her. I felt every single muscle in her back tense under my touch.

Leading her into the living room, I told her to take a seat while I went over to the landline and checked voicemail. I had one message.

 

“Hi chote, I’m calling on your landline because I couldn’t get through to you on your phone. Just a quick message to say everything is fine at home but call me when you have the time.”

 

Di. She needed to check in everyday, and if by chance I didn’t speak to her, she’d be sure to leave a message on voicemail. Turning my attention back to Khushi, I asked what she’d like to drink.

 

“Tea or coffee. What am I saying, you want tea of course.”

“No, I’ll have a coffee please.”

 

I felt like she’d hit me round the head.

 

“You drink coffee?”

“Not as much as you used to, but yes. I drink coffee now.”

“Well damn. Let me just go and quickly make you my special coffee and then we can talk.”

 

Going back to the kitchen, I made the coffees as quickly as I could and took out some cakes and biscuits. Putting everything on a tray, I went back into the living room and set the tray on a table. Putting her mug down in front of her, I sat down beside her, keeping a respectable distance between us.

 

“Thank you.”

 

Picking up her cup, she took a sip and smiled.

 

“How did you make this? It’s great.”

“I put my secret ingredient in.”

“Well whatever it is, it tastes great.”

 

She smiled and then turned back to her drink. I watched as she slowly drank her coffee and I too drank mine. I wanted to talk to her, ask her about herself, ask her about our daughter. But I didn’t know how to broach the topic. More than that, I just wanted to take her into my arms, kiss her senseless, maybe take her to bed and make love to her the way I’ve been dreaming about for the last six years. But we needed to take things slowly, we needed to talk about a lot of things first.

When she finished her coffee, she put her mug down and I put mine down too.

 

“So… What did you want to talk about?”

“How have you been?”

“I’ve been okay. How about you Arnav? And how is everyone at home?”

“Everyone at home is good. Did you know, Akash and Payal got married?”

 

I knew this was new information to her, but watching her expression, watching her jaw drop in shock, I got the reaction that I wanted.

 

“Jiji and Akash… No way?!”

“After you left things were hard for Payal. Me and Payal both tried to help each other through you leaving. And somehow, somewhere along the lines, Akash managed to provide her with the support that she needed and they fell in love. So they got married.”

“I can’t believe…”

“They have a beautiful little boy together now. Akshay. He turned two a couple of months ago.”

“Oh my goodness, I can’t believe…”

 

Pulling out my phone, I showed her a picture of little Akshay with Shalini.

 

“Oh he’s gorgeous! He looks so much like Akash… Wait I guess I have to call him jijaji now! But he has jiji’s eyes.”

“He’s Payal’s happiness. After the wedding, it took her a while to settle. I think she found it hard to be at Shantivan, knowing it was your home but not having you around. But things really changed when she got pregnant. We actually saw Payal smiling and since Akshay was born, she’s always happy.”

“I’m so glad. Who’s this little girl? Is she yours…”

“That’s Shalini. She Di and jijaji’s. She turned five and half recently. Just after you left, Di found out she was about 3 months pregnant.”

 

I watched as Khushi smiled, taking in the two little angels on my screen. Tears gathered in her eyes and she pushed them away.

 

“I can’t believe…”

“Shalini asks about her Bari Mami all the time. And I’m sure little Akshay wouldn’t mind being spoilt by his maasi.”

“I can’t believe… When did so much time pass?”

“You walked away and you never looked back Khushi. But for us, the last six years have dragged on. And I… I’ve missed you. Every second of every day for the past six years.”

 

She looked away from me and looked down, letting out a little sigh.

 

“Have you not missed me Khushi?”

 

Her head snapped up, eyes looking at me questioningly.

 

“Of course I have.”

“Then why did you leave me?”

“You know why.”

 

And I did know why. But that didn’t mean that I agreed.

 

“Did you guys have a boy or a girl?”

“A girl. Nimisha named her Pari.”

 

She gave a little smile, but it was a sad smile. What was she thinking about? What was going through her head? Was she thinking about how much our daughter lost out on because of another little girl?

 

“That’s lovely. I also heard you and Nimisha got married. Congratulations. Do you guys have any other children together? Or are you planning another child?”

 

Was she being serious? Did she really think that me and Nimi…

 

“Pari isn’t mine.”

 

The smile that had been on Khushi’s face a moment ago slipped away.

 

“What?”

“Pari isn’t my child. Me and Nimisha don’t have a child together, nor are we planning a child together. I’m married to her but our marriage doesn’t mean anything, nor is it even accounted for in the eyes of the law. I married her to save her name and to save the Raizada family name.”

 

I moved closer to Khushi, places my hand on her knee.

 

“You’re my wife, my legally wedded wife. The only woman I want to be with, the only woman I want to have a family with. Nimisha and Pari may have my name attached to theirs, but they don’t mean anything to me. They aren’t my family.”

“But… Why would Nimisha say…”

“I don’t know what Nimisha’s game is, and frankly I don’t care any more. I know Pari isn’t my child and Nimi doesn’t even try to convince me that she is any more.”

 

Khushi looked completely confused, she didn’t know what to think and I didn’t blame her. Taking her hands into mine, I turned her face so that she was looking at me.

 

“I told you six years ago and I’m telling you now, I know Pari isn’t mine. I don’t feel for her the way a father should feel about his child. I don’t feel anything towards her. I don’t feel about her the way I feel about Arushi.”

 

Eyes wide, Khushi took her hands out of mine.

 

“W.. Wha… What?”

“I know Khushi.”

“Arushi… She’s not…”

 

Was she actually going to try and convince me that Arushi wasn’t mine? That Arushi wasn’t our baby?

 

“The moment I met her, I was attached to her. The more I looked at her, the more I saw her in you. I was so dumb, I thought she was a relative of yours, maybe a cousin or a niece. I didn’t for a moment think she was your daughter. And then I started speaking to Arushi, I looked at her file and… I started putting the pieces together, tried to make sense of it. And it finally fit me. On parents evening, I expected you to walk through that door with Arushi. But then Raj… But speaking to him also helped because I got a better picture. That evening I was certain that Arushi was our child and I knew I needed to find you.”

“Arnav…”

“How could you do that Khushi? How could you keep me away from my child like that? You left me so that Pari would get her fathers love, but then you let our child grow up without her dad? How could you do that?”

 

Tears started falling and I shuffled closer to her, holding her. I felt tears prick my own eyes.

 

“Not only did you deprive me of having you in my life, you took my daughter away from me. You kept our daughter to yourself, didn’t even give me an indication that she existed… How could you?”

“I… I’m sorry… Raj and Veera mausi kept telling me to talk to you, to tell you about Arushi. But I found out about your marriage and I thought… I was scared… I thought maybe… I thought you didn’t want me any more. And I was scared that if I told you about Arushi, you’d take her from me and raise her with Nimisha… I left you, Arushi was all I had. If I had her taken away I…”

“I’d never have taken her from you.”

 

Placing my arm around her, she tucked herself into my arms, holding onto my collar as she let herself cry.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

I barely heard her little mumble, but I heard it. Pressing a light kiss on the top of her head, I held her close to myself. After years and years, I felt content. This is where she belonged. With me, in my arms. My world was complete.

Well… Almost complete. All that was missing was our little girl. But soon, she too would be in my arms. I was sure of it.

Jalebi ~ Part 30

As the weeks went on, Akash carried on struggling with the businesses. He had thought that as time went on, it would get easier, but it wasn’t. The files were piling up and he found it harder and harder to get through the workload. Everyone expected him to have the answers, to know what to do, but he didn’t know! It was too much! And Arnav had completely washed his hands on the businesses. He couldn’t deal with it any more…

 

*****

 

Initially Rohan had gone for a couple of days, but he extended his trip and so Khushi had been alone at home. She hasn’t spoken to Arnav since that day when she’d invited him over to her house, but she had wanted to reach out to him. But it didn’t feel right. He still wanted to be in a relationship with her but she was now committed to someone else. It felt wrong to reach out to him, maybe give him hope when she knew that there was no hope. Not any more.

 

*****

 

“Yes Aman, perfect! Let’s see if he finally breaks this time. I think he will. He’s been struggling since the beginning and the last couple of days… Well done Aman, you’ve done me proud brother. If our plan works, you can be guaranteed a promotion.”

 

Ending the call, Arnav put his phone down and grinned to himself. If Akash thought that he was smart, then he underestimated his brother. Did Akash really think that Arnav was going to let him win? That he was going to let him sail smoothly?

 

Akash had been struggling from the beginning, Arnav took advantage of that. He got Aman to manipulate Akash’s workload to overwhelm him. Arnav hoped that Akash would break, that he would ask Arnav to take the businesses back. So far Akash had been resilient, but Arnav was certain that he would break, and he could tell his breaking point was near.

 

*****

 

“Aman, where is that god damn file? I have a major meeting with investors and I haven’t got the file!”

“I checked it for you and I gave it back to you tomorrow. You’ve probably put it into your briefcase sir.”

“I have checked everywhere a million times! I don’t have it. You must still have.”

 

Aman shook his head, trying to suppress his smile. He knew exactly where the papers were, but he wasn’t about to tell Akash. He could tell Akash was very stressed about the meeting with the investors and if they wanted him to break, today was the best day to do it.

 

“Aman, please go and check again. If I don’t have that file then we’re going to be in big trouble.”

“Yes sir.”

 

Exiting the room, Aman dialled Arnav’s number, he was sure it was almost show time.

 

*****

 

There was ten minutes to go, and Aman hadn’t returned with the file. Akash felt like pulling his hair out. If he didn’t have the file, then they would lose out on a major investment.

With just five minutes to go, Akash was pacing the office, sweating profusely.

Knocking on the door, Arnav walked straight in.

 

“Bhai, what are you doing here?”

“I just came to see how you were doing. Big day today. This meeting has been booked for over three months. I just wanted to check that you were okay.”

“I can’t do it. Aman has lost the file and I don’t have all the information. Please… Please bhai, you go in and speak to them. You’ve been preparing for this for almost a year, you know all the details from top to bottom.”

“I’d love to. But this meeting can’t be taken on by anyone other than the owner of the business and that’s you.”

“But I can’t do this meeting! I’m not prepared! If I go in there, we will lose a million dollar investment guaranteed. And we need this investment!”

 

Sitting down opposite Akash, Arnav put his feet up on the desk and smiled.

 

“If you can’t do it, quit.”

“Wh… What?”

“You heard me. If you can’t do this simple meeting, then quit. Hand me everything back and I might even be gracious as to let you keep your old job.”

 

Looking at his cousin and then looking at the clock, Akash realised that he was now late for the meeting. Either he had to get himself to that meeting pronto and make himself look like a fool, or he could have a clean shave and put it all back on Arnav.

It was a hard decision for Akash. He had been planning this takeover for the longest time, and to now even think about giving everything back.

 

“Tick tock Akash.”

 

Looking between the files of papers that he needed to get through and the clock, Akash realised he was way out of his depth. He couldn’t manage it all. The longer he left it , the further the businesses would sink. There was no use being the owner of a sinking business, he’d make less money than he was when he was working alongside Arnav.

 

“Come on, decide. The investors are waiting.”

“Okay! Fine! I’ll hand the businesses back over. Please just go to the meeting.”

“Nuh uh, I’m not going anywhere until all paperwork is signed back over. Aman!”

 

Walking into the office, Aman handed Arnav a file. Opening it up, Arnav had a quick skim of the papers, making sure all his clauses were in place and everything was just as it was meant to be. Once he was satisfied, he put his signature on the papers and then handed it all over to Akash who looked wary.

 

“Don’t worry, there’s no foul play. These papers just state that you are giving back what is rightfully mine and you are handing back rights for me to have ultimate power to with anything off.”

 

Passing the file across the table, Arnav handed Akash the pen and all. Looking completely defeated, Akash looked between his cousin and the papers. Reading through them thoroughly, Akash finally signed the papers grudgingly. As soon as it was done, Arnav snatched back the papers and handed them over to Aman to have filed immediately.

Getting to his feet, Arnav walked round to Akash side of the table.

 

“Right. I think it’s time for you to get off my chair. I have businesses to get back into order.”

 

Getting to his feet, Akash packed up his things as Arnav took his seat and rearranged his desk.

 

“Meeting…”

“If you had stayed on top of things, you would have known that that meeting was rescheduled and it isn’t until next week.”

 

If Akash had looked defeated before, he was now completely shattered. He’d been played.

 

*****

 

A rapid knock on the door brought Khushi to her senses. Looking up at the clock she saw it was almost 8pm. Who would be coming at this time of evening?

Grabbing her dupatta, she made her way over to the door and opened it.

 

“Surprise!”

“Arnav…”

 

Smiling, Arnav showed Khushi the food and the champagne that he had brought with himself as he entered her apartment.

 

“Arnav you can’t be here…”

“I think I can. We need to celebrate.”

“Celebrate what?”

 

Putting the food down, Arnav handed Khushi a file over. Taking it, she opened it up warily. The moment she saw “Khushiyan” at the top of the papers, she shut the file again, handing it back over to Arnav.

 

“I can’t look at this.”

“Khushi, look at it.”

 

Shaking her head, Khushi pushed the papers away but Arnav took her hands in his own.

 

“Look at them.”

 

Taking the papers, Khushi took a deep breath before opening the file again.

 

*I, Arnav Singh Raizada, hereby sign all rights of ownership to Miss Khushi Kumari Gupta…*

 

Arnav watched expression as she read the whole document. Tears welled up in her eyes. Once she read through all the papers, she looked up to Arnav.

 

“You…”

“I told you I would sort it.”

“I can’t believe…”

“Sign the papers and we can have them filed. Aman’s waiting outside so he can get them to the courthouse.”

“But they’re closed now…”

“Arnav Singh Raizada has connections. We can get them filed tonight and by tomorrow afternoon, everything will be back to how it should be.”

 

Wiping away her tears, Khushi quickly checked everything over once more and then signed the papers and handed them back to Arnav. Getting up, he went over to the door and handed Aman the papers and told him to get it all sorted as soon as possible.

When Arnav returned, he found Khushi coming back from the kitchen, two champagne flutes in her hand. Putting them down, she gestured to Arnav to open the bottle of champagne.

 

“No, you open it.”

“No you should, after all you are responsible for sorting it all.”

 

They went back and forth but ultimately Khushi won and Arnav proceeded to open the bottle. The poured then both a glass and raised his glass for a toast and Khushi did the same.

 

“To the successful futures of AR and Khushiyan. Whether together or apart, may they always prosper.”

 

Clinking their glasses together, Khushi took a little sip before putting her glass back down.

 

“I still can’t believe… Khushiyan…”

“I promised you I would sort it. I couldn’t let you down.”

 

Arnav put his glass down as Khushi shuffled closer to her. She placed her hand on his cheek, letting her fingers graze over his slightly unkept beard.

 

“Thank you.”

 

She placed a gentle kiss on his cheek, letting her lips linger, feeling the warmth of his skin beneath her lips.

As she began to pull away, Arnav grabbed hold of her hand, keeping her close to himself.

As they looked into each other’s eyes, their need and desire for each other was evident. Arnav’s darkening hooded eyes met Khushi’s soft hazel ones as he cupped her face, brushing his lips against hers.

 

“I love you Khushi… Come back to me.”

“I… I love you too…”

 

All thoughts of the businesses and the fact that this was no longer appropriate, were completely forgotten about as their lips met for the first time in a long time. Initially, it was a brief meeting of the lips, gentle, light… But then Arnav pressed his against hers with more force, pulling her further into himself as he kissed her like a man starved. Khushi reciprocated with the same amount of intensity and heat as her hand trailed down from his face down to his neck.

Pushing her back, Arnav lay Khushi back against the sofa as his hand moved from her face to her neck and then further down to her breast. Her kameez was a light cotton one and so he could feel the little bump of where her bra was. He moved his hand, continuing over her breast until he felt one of her erect nipples. Brushing at it, Khushi felt herself go a little breathless and she hooked her leg onto his.

Her hands found their way to his tie and she pulled it off before proceeding to take the buttons of his shirt off. Arnav broke the kiss and moved off of Khushi, who groaned in protest.

He got up, and then lifted Khushi into his arms. Khushi wrapped her arms around his neck, and placed little kisses on his exposed chest. Walking into the bedroom, Arnav placed Khushi down on the centre of the bed and sat beside her on his knees. Khushi too got onto her knees and moved towards him, taking off the rest of his shirt buttons and then sliding his jacket and his shirt off. Once his shirt was off, she moved towards him once more, pressing her lips onto his and placing her hands on his ass, pulling him closer to herself. Arnav’s hands found the dori of her kameez, pulled it undone and then pulled her kameez off.

 

“Arnav…”

“Are you are sure?”

“Yes.”

 

Lying her back, he pulled her shelwar off and freed himself of his own trousers. He left their underwear on and lay her back against the bed, moving between her legs.
His hand trailed down her body, tracing every curve in slow motion, while his lips travelled down the column of her neck, and then went further still until he found one of her pebbled nipples. Pulling her bra away from her breast, he took it between his lips, his tongue grazing the sensitive tip. Khushi’s hand tightened in his hair and her leg brushed against his.

His hand carried on its travel, feeling the inside of her thighs before resting on her panties. He stroked her over her pants, running his hands along the front, putting slight more pressure on the finger that traced her entrance.

 

“Complete me…”

 

He looked into her eyes, which now were much darker than what they had been a little while ago, her need mirroring his.

Arnav wanted to play with her, prolong this moment, but he too wanted to be within her, feel her warmth around his length.

Unclipping her bra, Arnav pulled it away and tossed it aside. He pressed a quick kiss on both breasts, before lightly suckling on each nipple. He then carried on to pulling her panties away and made light work of his own underwear.

Coming back over her, Arnav gentle pushed a finger into her, to check if she was ready and was glad to find she was. Her body was wet with need, ready for the taking.

 

“Baby are you sure?”

“Yes.”

 

Lips pressed between each other’s, hands locked above Khushi’s head, Arnav carefully lowered himself into her, a little at a time. Even before pushing his entire length in, he could feel her body adjust around him, squeezing him as he made his way in.

Wrapping her legs around his waist, Khushi melted into the bed, a content sigh leaving her lips. Arnav held himself still for a moment before slowly moving, taking long strokes, making her feel her full length, pushing all the way in before pulling all the way out again.

He went excruciating slowly, savouring the feeling because up until a short while ago, he’d believed he wouldn’t experience this level of intimacy with her again. Khushi lifted her hips to meet his each thrust, her legs tightening around his waist.

 

“Faster…”

 

He had known that he’d been moving to slowly for her liking, but hearing her verbalise what she wanted turned him on, making him up his speed, move faster and harder. But he made sure that he didn’t hurt her by moving too aggressively.

Once they’d established a speed and intensity that they were both happy with, Arnav kept going, holding Khushi to himself, placing kisses on her neck.

They were both getting close and Arnav moved faster. A moan of intense pleasure left Khushi’s lips and Arnav smiled against her neck. He loved knowing that he provided this much pleasure to her.

 

“Ah… Arnav… I…”

“Sh, I know.”

 

Her muscles clenched around his length tightly, she was so close. He could feel his release coming too and moved faster, lifting her hips so he was guaranteed to hit her most sensitive spot each time.

Her head turned from on side to the other, her hands clenching the sheets below her. He could feel it, it was far more intense than anything they’d ever experienced before.

With one last thrust, they both came undone. Breathing heavy, Arnav held himself still as his length emptied its content into her body. Khushi body went slack under his and Arnav gathered her into his arms, tucking her into his chest.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

Hiding her face in his chest, Khushi gave a little nod, placing light kisses on his chest.
Arnav felt his body get heavy with sleep and Khushi too felt herself becoming light.
Soon enough, they both drifted off into the world of sleep, content for the first time in a long time…

Unwanted ~ Part 33

Khushi

 

I couldn’t believe what Raj was telling me, how could it be true. How could it be possible?

 

“What are you saying Raj? How is that possible?”

“I didn’t think it was possible but he was there, I spoke to him!”

“Are you sure?”

“Khushi, I know what Arnav Singh Raizada looks like. Even before you came into my life, I’d been following Arnav’s work closely. I know who he is.”

“But why would he be teaching five year olds?”

“I told you, he said he was helping a friend out.”

 

Sinking my hand into my hair, I sat down on the sofa. None of this was making any sense to me, how could it be possible…

 

“Has he realised?”

“I don’t think so. I mean, he asked me about Arushi’s dad because he’s read her file and I told him that her dad wasn’t in the picture. He didn’t really ask anything else.”

 

It was clear what I needed to do. Arnav wasn’t dumb, if he had any suspicions, he would start putting pieces together and he’d be able to figure it out. And Raj had told him more than I was comfortable with him knowing. I needed to get out of here.

 

“I need to leave Raj. I need to take Arushi and I need to get out of Mumbai.”

 

My words had caught Raj off guard. I don’t think he thought that I would consider leaving, but I needed to. Arnav couldn’t find us. He had his own life now and his own family. There was no space in his life for me and Arushi.

 

“Leaving… You can’t.”

“I have to. If he finds us…”

“Then we’ll deal with it! You can’t just leave!”

“I have no choice Raj.”

 

He took a step towards me, reaching out to me.

 

“Look, Arnav said he’s leaving soon. How about we all just lie low until he’s out of town. You can’t just uproot your life and move away.”

“I’ve done it before, I can do it again.”

“But things are different this time. It’s not just you. You have to think about Arushi too. This is her home, her life, me and mom, we’re a part of her family. She has friends here. Taking her away will mean having to start all over again and she’s only a child. Starting over for her isn’t as easy as starting over for you.”

“I know but…”

“Please Khushi.”

 

Looking up at Raj, he was practically begging. All he needed to do was get onto his knees and hold his hands together.

 

“Please don’t leave. You and Arushi are a huge part of my life, I don’t know what I’d do if you both weren’t around.”

“But Arnav…”

“He’ll leave soon. And even if he doesn’t, I’ll protect you and Arushi. Even if he wants to take you both back, or if he tried to take Arushi from you, I will protect you both and I’ll fight him. I’ll do anything, just don’t leave.”

 

Over the years, Raj has done so much for both me and Arushi and he’s never asked for anything. He cared for us without asking for anything in return. I realised it was unfair just to walk away from him now but… What if Arnav found us?

 

“I don’t know…”

“Marry me Khushi. I know, I know how you feel regarding this idea, but I’m not asking you to marry me because I want marriage. I’m asking you to marry me so I can have some form of legality over you and Arushi. That way even if Arnav tried to do anything, it would be harder.”

“But marriage…”

“Please just think about it.”

 

What do I say, what do I do? I don’t want to get married. Can I even get married? I’m still married to Arnav. But Raj had a point. If I was married to him, it would change a lot. But I couldn’t marry Raj. I wouldn’t be doing it for the right reasons.

 

“At least think about it.”

“I will.”

 

And I meant it. I would think about it. Because at the end of the day, if I wasn’t going to go back to Arnav then I would have to start thinking about what I was going to do and how I was going to spend the rest of my life.

Still highly confused, I made my way up to my room.

There was no doubt about how Raj felt about me and Arushi, he really cared for us both and we cared for him. But did I care for him enough to actually want to get married to him?

Instead of going to my room, I walk passed Arushi’s and saw that she was sat doing her homework. Whatever decision I made, I needed to make sure that it was the best option for my daughter. I had to put her first. My little girl did need a dad. As much as she had Raj, she needed a real dad. Maybe Raj could be a real dad. As real as he can be without being her biological father?

Thinking about everything that Raj had told me about his meeting with Arnav, there was no doubt that Arnav wouldn’t be a good father. He was a teacher of five year olds and he was able to handle them all so well. But then he does have his own child… Maybe it’s because he’s a good father to his child, that’s helped him to be such a good teacher.

I felt so confused. So so confused.

Feeling a hand close around my shoulder, I turned to find Veera mausi looking at me intently.

Guiding me away from Arushi’s room, she led me back to mine and sat me down.

 

“What are you thinking about dear?”

“I’m just thinking about everything Raj has told me today.”

“It must be a lot to take in.”

 

That was an understand statement. It wasn’t a lot, it was an insane amount.

 

“He’s here mausi. Right here! And he’s been in such close proximity to our daughter. In my heart, as much as I say I don’t want Arushi bear Arnav, I’ve always wanted her to meet him, to know him. And to find out that she has been around him, has got to know him…”

 

Placing her hand on mine, she made it clear that she understood what I was trying to say, what I was thinking.

 

“What are you going to do now?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, from what I heard from you and Raj, it sounds like he’s thinking the same way I am. But I do understand your dilemma. Well regardless of whatever decision you make, I’ll stand by your decision. You’re like a daughter to me any way, so whether or not you marry me son, I will still support you.”

 

I know how much it means to Veera mausi that I marriage Raj. But the fact that she supports and respects what I want, means a lot.

 

*****

 

Days passed and I started to feel slightly more at ease. The school term had ended so Arushi no longer had to be in such close proximity of Arnav and soon he’d be leaving.
I had thought about Raj and his proposal, but I realised that I couldn’t. No matter what security I could get by marrying him, it wasn’t worth it. I would never be able to give Raj the love her deserves and I don’t want him to have to sacrifice the chance of finding true love and happiness for my sake.

Moving further on from that, I realised that regardless of whether Arnav was still here or not, me and Arushi needed to leave. If we stayed, Raj would never be able to move forward with his life. And I wanted him to be happy, to get married, to have children of his own. It was due to all that of that I decided me and Arushi were going to Goa. Next week.

 

*****

 

“Raj, Veera mausi, I would like to speak to you about something.”

 

It was after dinner and Arushi had already gone to bed.

 

“What is it dear?”

 

Putting my spoon down and pushing my plate away from me, I took a deep breath.

 

“I have decided that… I… I have decided that me and Arushi are leaving here.”

“What?”

 

Mausi looked at me with big eyes, and Raj dropped his spoon, which clattered onto the floor.

 

“Khushi…”

“I know this wasn’t the response that you both were expecting, however, I think this is the best option for myself and Arushi.”

 

Veera mausi was the first to recover, while Raj continued to stare at me dumbstruck.

 

“But where will you go? And why?”

“I’ve been looking into moving to Goa. And it’s because I just feel like I need to move on with life. I have burdened you and Raj with my problems for so long. I think the time has come for me and Arushi to start our own life.”

 

Pushing his chair back, Raj got to his feet.

 

“What the hell Khushi!”

 

He wasn’t impressed.

 

“How can… How can you just decide that you’re going to leave like that?”

“It wasn’t an easy decision…”

“Arnav’s going to leave, that’s if he hasn’t left already. Why can’t you stay? Why are you…”

 

He didn’t finish what he was saying because he’d already turned away from me. Walking over to where he was standing, I placed my hand on his shoulder.

 

“Raj… Please look at me.”

 

He shook his head and remained with his back to me.

 

“Raj I know you’re angry and I know you weren’t expecting this, but I really think…”

“No I get it, you don’t see me and ma as being a part of your family, that’s why you’re leaving us. I told you how much you and Arushi mean to me and you’re still… If you were telling me you were going to back Arnav, I would accept that. But to leave us just to go somewhere else…”

“I’m sorry…”

 

He turned to face me, and looked me straight in the eye.

 

“You can leave, I won’t stop you, but I hope to god Arnav finds you. You haven’t even left and I already feel betrayed. Only god knows how he would have felt when you walked out on him without even telling him.”

 

I was gobsmacked. Raj had never spoken to me like that. But he was angry and I could understand why he was reacting like this. He loved Arushi as if she were his own and I was taking her away. I understood.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

Shaking his head, he left the dining room and made his way up to his room, leaving me with Veera mausi.

 

“Mausi…”

“I have always said that I will respect whatever decision you make, but I will have to admit, I am disappointed you have chosen not to marry Raj.”

“I can’t mausi. You know that and you know why. I’m still married to Arnav. And more than that, I still love Arnav. It would be unfair on Raj. I’d never be able to accept him or love him the way he deserves. In fact… I am leaving for his sake. While I am here, I don’t think he will marry. Maybe once I leave, he will start considering his own marriage. I will forever be grateful to the both of you, and it is due to how much I care about you both that I have come to this decision.”

 

I could tell that mausi was taking in what I was saying, that she was comprehending and she was understanding.

 

“I just wish you weren’t leaving. You really are the daughter I never had.”

 

Rushing over to her, I wrapped my arms around her and gave her a huge hug.

 

“Thank you mausi. Thank you so much.”

 

Tears rolled down my eyes as I realised what this meant. I was leaving. Really leaving. I was leaving the people who accepted a complete stranger and loved her and her child like their own. I couldn’t believe I was actually doing this.

 

“Our home is going to be incomplete without you and Arushi.”

“And my life is going to be incomplete without you and Raj, but I think this is the best for all of us.”

 

Me And Veera Mausi hugged each other, realising that this was the end of a chapter in both our lives. And although this wasn’t the happiest of endings, it was an ending still full of hope. There was no way I was going to forget about Raj and Mausi, nor would I lose touch with them, but there comes a point in everyone’s life when we need to leave our comfort zone and move forward. And it was time for me and Arushi to do just that.

 

*****

 

Waking up early the next morning, I got my stuff together and grabbed my keys. I needed to go and buy plane tickets for myself and Arushi.

After Raj had calmed down, he’d come to find me. He’d asked me what my plan was, where was I going to stay, and more important, how was I going to get there.

Initially I had thought that I would just drive there, however after looking at the route, and looking at how long it would take, I decided against it. Me and Arushi were going to go to Goa via plane and Raj was going to drive my car down there and then come back via flight. I told him about the flat that I had found that was up for rent and told him that I had already spoken to the landlord.

I think he was quite surprised when he realised just how much I had actually decided and sorted in the short space of time.

Letting Veera Mausi know that I was going to get our tickets sorted and after asking her to keep an eye on Arushi, I left to go to the travel agent that I had spoken to. Taking my leave, I left the house, got into my car and made my way into town.

 

*****

 

Parking my car, I got out, locked it, and then made my way down to the travel agents office. Upon arriving at the door of the travel agents, I stopped to take my phone out so I could tell the agent exactly which flight it was that I had looked into and that I wanted.

Fumbling with my bag, I dropped my keys in and tried to locate my phone. Just as I managed to fish my phone out, someone bumped into me, causing me to drop it back into my bag.

 

“Dammit.”

“Khushi?”

 

Shit. Shit shit shit. Even without looking up I knew exactly who I’d bumped into. SHIT.

 

Slowly looking up, I found myself looking into a pair of molten brown eyes. A pair of eyes that didn’t look necessarily surprised to see me, especially because he’s seeing me after six long years, but still surprised.

 

“Arnav…”

 

 

Jalebi ~ Part 29

Khushi lay in the bed, staring up at the ceiling. Rohan was still out of town and so Khushi had been spending a lot of time around the house. She’d been tempted to take the calls of the Raizada’s but she wasn’t sure if she was ready to speak to them just yet. All her thoughts, all her feelings were troubling her the more time she spent alone. When she closed her eyes, she could feel Arnav’s hands and his lips on her body. When she opened her eyes in the morning, she thought Arnav was lying beside her. It was driving her insane and she couldn’t deal with it.

As time passed and Khushi remained idle, she got more and more angry at Akash. How could he take everything away from her like that? The business, fine, his greed got the better of him, but he should have realised that taking the business would lead to her losing the love of her life, her soulmate. The more Khushi thought about it, the more she realised that she couldn’t stay mad at Arnav. But how could she not? If he hadn’t accommodated the idea in the first place then this wouldn’t have happened.

Sitting up, Khushi ran her hand through her hair, tugging on the ends. This was all driving her insane! She couldn’t deal with this any more. She needed to do something to get it sorted.

Looking at the clock, Khushi realised it was only 2pm. Jumping out of bed, Khushi got dressed. It was finally time to sort this.

 

*****

 

“Khushi? What are you… Who let you in?”

“Hi jijaji. I’m guessing you weren’t expecting me.”

 

Looking around, it was obvious that Khushi had caught Akash off guard. He hadn’t been expecting for her to come to see him and it showed on his face.

Waling into the office, she shut the door slightly, and sat in the seat opposite him.

 

“Listen…”

“No. You’re going to listen. Why would you do this to me jijaji? I respected you so much, I thought you were such a nice person and you… You conspired against me the whole time.”

“I didn’t…”

“You stole my business. The one I put my heart and soul into for five years. How could you? And then Arnav… I thought he… I believed he did this to me, I thought the worst of him… How could you mess with my love and my life like that?”

 

Looking at him, Khushi waited for an answer. Akash opened his mouth and then shut it again as he felt something snap within him.

 

“You want to know why and how?”

“Yes, please tell me.”

“You deserved it. You deserved to have everything you held important taken from you. Call it revenge.”

“Revenge for what?”

 

She looked at him quizzically, trying to make sense of what he was saying.

 

“Revenge for what Akash? What have I ever done to you that’s so bad that you felt the need to ruin my life in this manner?”

 

Remaining silent, Akash played up his options. Either he could remain silent and maybe she’d leave, or he could tell her exactly how she ruined his life. Akash decided to go for the latter.

 

“I ruined your life, because you made a mess of mine.”

“Excuse me?”

“Remember when I asked you on a date in high school?”

“No? When did you ever do that?”

“It was just before I started dating Payal. I asked you out first and you completely ignored me. You said no and then left.”

 

Her forehead creased and Akash watched as she took in the what he was saying. He could tell she was confused, really thinking hard and then her expression softened.

 

“It was a dare though?”

“Yes it had been a dare, but I was generally interested in you and I actually wanted to date you. But you shot me down in an instant, you didn’t think anything of it.”

“I didn’t realise you were being serious. How was I supposed to know?”

“Would it have made a difference to your decision?”

“No. Probably not.”

“Then you deserved what you got.”

 

Looking up, Khushi tried to understand Akash and his actions.

 

“Are you… Are you actually insane?That was in high school! And besides, you got with jiji after and now you’re married to her. It all worked out for you. Why did you need to ruin my life?”

“You don’t get it do you? I was in love with you and you turned me away. I went to Payal to make you jealous. But it never worked.”

“I don’t… Why did you feel so strongly about me back then? I was so basic, so… I was invisible.”

 

Khushi felt genuinely super confused. This was insane! So Akash had been in love with her and went to Payal to make her jealous?

 

“You may have been invisible to everyone else, but I noticed you in classes. I saw how smart you were and I found that attractive. Boys back then only cared about boobs and butts. I cared about brains.”

“But you’re with jiji now! You’re married to her! How could you do this to me and to her?”

“I couldn’t just let you get away with it Khushi. And then you got with bhai. Do you know how hard that was? Maybe if you and bhai didn’t get that close, maybe I wouldn’t have done anything. But knowing you were sleeping with him when I…”

“Don’t.”

 

She wanted him to stop. This was crazy. Akash wasn’t right in the head, there was definitely something wrong with him.

 

“Okay so I screwed up when we were kids, but Akash, you’re married to my jiji now and you’re happy! Why would you…”

“Because we needed your business! AR was sinking…”

“And I could have helped you! There was no need for you to steal my business from me.”

 

Waiting, Khushi watched as the cogs in Akash’s brain spun and he tried to think of something to say, but nothing came. Letting out a sigh of exasperation, Khushi threw her arms in the air and turned away.

 

“This was a waste of my time. You aren’t worth it. You can have Khushiyan and you can shove it up your ass. I hope jiji sees what kind of trash you are. She deserves so much better.”

 

Turning to look at Akash one last time, Khushi took in his slumped figure and just shook her head and made her way to leave. Reaching the door, she was shocked to find Arnav stood in the doorway.

 

“Arnav…”

 

Akash looked up from his desk, his eyes wide as he took his brother in.

 

“How long have you been here?”

 

Walking into the room, Arnav walked over to Akash.

 

“You did all this for revenge? You used me as a pawn so you could get revenge?”

“Bhai…”

“How could you Akash! Does my happiness mean that little to you? At the beginning, okay fine, I didn’t know Khushi, she didn’t mean anything to me. But when you realised I was falling in love with Khushi and you knew that I didn’t approve, you still went ahead for the sake of your revenge?”

 

Khushi looked between the two brothers. Akash had his head down, and Arnav was seething with anger but it was evident that he was hurting.

 

“Arnav leave it…”

“No! You may be able to leave it because you’ve moved on, but I haven’t! And so I can’t leave it.”

 

He marched over to Akash and pulled him out of the chair by his collar. Khushi rushed in after him.

 

“How could you do that to me? I’ve always loved you and treated you like my own little brother and you.”

“Arnav let him go!”

“If I was as low as you, I’d probably beat you up now, but I respect family.”

 

Letting go of his collar, Arnav threw Akash back into the chair and stormed out of the office.

 

*****

 

“Arnav! Arnav wait!”

Running after Arnav, Khushi needed to make sure that he was okay. Akash had looked drained and slightly mortified when she had left but he didn’t matter. But Arnav did.

 

“Arnav!”

 

Finally catching up with him, Khushi caught Arnav by the elbow, turning him to face her.
She saw the tears that had gathered in his eyes.

 

“He used me and my feelings for you to achieve his own twisted schemes…”

“Let’s go somewhere and talk.”

 

As much as Khushi didn’t want to be alone with Arnav, she knew that she needed to talk to him, he seemed a mess at this moment.

 

“Let’s go back to mine.”

“No thanks. I don’t want to get beaten up by your fiancé.”

 

Turning away, Arnav was prepared to make his way back over to his car when Khushi stopped him again.

 

“Rohan is out of town.”

“Why are you insisting we talk? Aren’t you the one who wanted to cut me out of your life for good?”

“A lot has happened and we found out a lot today, I know you’re feeling confused, so am I. So I think it would be us both good to sit and talk about it.”

 

Turning his attention to Khushi, he saw her outstretched hand, her caring look in her eyes. It was evident that no matter what happened between them, she still cared and maybe, just maybe, he had a chance of winning her back.

Nodding, Arnav led Khushi to the car and they made their way back to Khushi’s apartment.

 

*****

 

“Take a seat, I’ll get you some coffee.”

 

Putting her keys down, Khushi went into the little kitchen while Arnav took a seat on the sofa. He looked around and he couldn’t help but feel nervous. The last time that he’d been here, he left finding out that she was engaged to her arsehole of a childhood friend.
She reemerged moments later, much faster than she had done the other day and handed Arnav his coffee cup and took a seat beside him. Arnav noticed how when she initially sat down, she was relatively close to him, and then she scooted away from him. She took a sip of her own tea before turning to Arnav.

 

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m not as mad as I was initially. But I’m still mad. How could he… I can’t even begin to comprehend.”

“I can’t either. I can’t believe something that happened so long ago fuelled so much hate and anger in him. If I knew this was to happen, I would have just gone on that date with him.”

“He’s insane. And forget about us, he played Payal too.”

“Don’t tell jiji anything. She’d break down if she found out what he was doing and her reasoning behind it all.”

“Well she already knows he’s the reason why you haven’t got Khushiyan any more. I told Di any way but I got drunk the other day and told Nani who took it up with mama and Mami.”

“You got drunk?”

 

Khushi’s eyes widened as she turned to him fully.

 

“You don’t get drunk?”

“That was the old Arnav. This Arnav drinks to drown his sorrows. Although, I’ve promised Nani I won’t get drunk again.”

“But why were you so drunk that you told Nani something like that?”

 

Arnav took a sip of his coffee and put the mug down, turning to Khushi.

 

“Why do you think I was so drunk?”

“I don’t…”

“I handed my business over out of anger, the only woman I’ve ever wanted to be with is engaged to someone else and my brother is a piece of shit. Is it hard to see why I’ve been getting drunk?”

 

Turning away, Khushi looked down.

 

“You act like you’re the only one that’s hurting.”

“It seems like I am.”

 

Unable to contain herself, Khushi looked Arnav in the eye, and he could see the anger in her.

 

“Just because I’m not getting drunk and I’m not lashing out doesn’t mean I’m not hurting. You chose to give your business up, mine was taken away from me! Yes, I may not be with you any more, but you’re not with me either any more. You act like you were the only one in love in our relationship, but I was too. I had to let you go… Do you think that was easy for me?”

“You went and got engaged to someone else.”

 

Shaking her head, Khushi realised there was no point talking to him about this. He wouldn’t understand. He couldn’t see.

 

“You don’t get it Arnav. I gave myself to you and I thought you betrayed me.”

“I didn’t…”

“I know that now! But at the time I was hurting and confused and Rohan was there for me. I thought that maybe our parents knew what they were doing when they had fixed our rishta…”

“But Khushi, you know now that I didn’t play you, or cheat you. Take me back.”

 

He’d put the cup down and leaned closer to her, taking her hands in his own. He looked into her eyes, searching for an answer, pleading almost for another chance.

 

“I love you and I know you still love me. Take me back Khushi.”

 

He leaned closer, his lips almost touching hers, waiting for a response. She looked into his eyes, and could see the sincerity, the need, the desperation almost.

 

“I can’t…”

 

He leaned closer, wanting to close the gap.

 

“You can…”

“Rohan…”

 

She moved back, pulling her hands out of Arnav’s and looked away.

 

“I can’t! I can’t do that to Rohan. Not after the way he supported me at my time of need. I can’t…”

 

Getting to her feet, she turned away. Arnav too got up, his hand reaching her shoulder.

 

“We’re in love. Rohan will understand…”

“I can’t do that Arnav! Please, don’t make this harder for me.”

“So what, that’s it? Despite knowing I never wanted to hurt you, you’re still willing to turn your back on me? Does what we shared mean that little to you?”

“Please leave.”

 

Tears rolled down Khushi’s face. She wanted to be with Arnav, of course she did! But how could she just go back? How could she do that to Rohan? She couldn’t. Her bed was made and she had to lie in it now. Without Arnav…

Unwanted ~ Part 32

Arnav

After the initial paranoia on my birthday about what was going on with Nimisha and Pari, I realised that I really didn’t care. It didn’t bother me what was going on with them. If they weren’t bothering me, then that was a good thing.

My time here in Mumbai and at the school was almost over. I had a week left and after that, I would be in my way back to Delhi, back to my usual life. In a way, I was looking forward to going back, but at the same time I wasn’t. I was going to miss the kids. There was a little boy, Sumit, who I really got along with. He was a funny little guy, always knew the right things to say.

And then of course there was Arushi. The stranger who didn’t feel like a stranger. Even after all this time, I didn’t know why this child felt so familiar, like I should know her.

I’m sure if I said this out loud, or if I explained how I was drawn to this child, people would think wrongly of it, that they’d disapprove of it. Probably never let me work with kids again. But it was nothing like that. This child felt like someone close to me, like a relative. It’s an indescribable feeling. If anything, I guess it’s the way a father would feel towards his child. But there was no reason for me to feel paternal towards this child.

 

*****

 

I was in full flow, teaching the children how to put letters together to make new sounds. I was teaching them the concept that s and h together make a “sh” sound. And it was then that my phone started ringing. Reaching over my desk, I muted my phone so that I could carry on. Just as I was getting back into my flow, my phone started ringing once more. This time I picked my phone up off the desk. Payal was calling me? Why was Payal calling? And why was it so urgent that she needed to get hold of me right now? Had something happened? Khushi?

As it dawned on me that Payal could be calling me with something regarding Khushi, I knew I needed to answer the call.

But I couldn’t take a personal call while in the middle of a lesson. Looking at the time, I saw that there wasn’t long until the children would go for their lunch. I’d have to call Payal back then.

 

*****

 

Time seemed to crawl along, but soon enough it was lunchtime. The moment I got all the children to the canteen, I ran back to the classroom and called Payal back.

 

“Payal…”

“Bhai! I only realised after the second call you were in class but…”

“Is everything okay? What’s going on?”

“I got a letter. From Khushi.”

 

I felt like I stopped breathing for a moment. There must have been something in that letter. Otherwise why else would Payal have been so desperate to try to get a hold of me?

 

“What… What did the letter say?”

 

There was a pause, maybe it was for only a few seconds, but it felt like eternity.

 

“Payal…”

“She said she saw you.”

 

Now I really did stop breathing. Khushi saw me? Meaning Khushi was… She’s here? In Mumbai.

 

“Should I read the letter to you?”

“Yes please.”

 

There was another pause and there was some rustling, but then Payal came back to the phone and she started reading the letter out to me. The moment she started reading and as I started taking the words in, it was abundantly clear that Khushi had seen me and that she didn’t want to be seen. I understood her insecurities and I understood her confusion.

 

“Payal, whatever you do, don’t tell anyone at home about this. About the fact that Khushi saw me and that I know where she is.”

“Of course.”

“Let me find her and then we’ll decide how to go forward. But for now, let’s keep this between us.”

“Okay bhai. Please, find her. She’s close by. Please find her.”

“I promise you Payal. I am going to find her and I’m going to bring her back.”

 

At that point, I wasn’t just making a promise to Payal, but to myself and Khushi as well. I was going to find her regardless of anything else. Even if it was the last thing I did, I was going to find her. But how was the real question.

 

*****

 

After thinking about all things Khushi related for a while, it became clear that I could leave Mumbai like I planned to. So I’d be leaving this job still, but I couldn’t go back to Delhi yet. I needed to find her. I wasn’t going to go back to Delhi without her.

But how was I meant to find her?

Just as the lunch break was coming to an end, Veer walked into my classroom.

 

“Hey, you okay?”

“I’m good Arnav, yourself? How do you feel that you’re leaving at the end of the week?”

“I’m glad that I’m nearly done, but at the same time, I’m really going to miss the kids.”

“I’m sure they’re going to miss you too. Any way, I came to let you know that on Wednesday evening, you have to hold a parents evening and meet with the parents of the kids. As it’s the end of term, you need to give progress reports.”

“That’s fine. What do I need to do to prepare?”

“Just take out the file for the kids of your class, write the letters to the parents and specify what time you’d like to come in.”

 

It seemed straight forward enough. I told Veer that I’d get it all sorted and just as he was about to leave, I decided I should try my luck.

 

“Hey Veer, random as it is, I just wanted to ask, have you seen Khushi around Mumbai?”

“You wife?”

“Yeah?”

“No I haven’t. Why? Is she here?”

“I don’t know, was just curious.”

 

I watched Veer. He seemed to be racking his brains, trying to remember if he had seen her. I told him not to worry about it and he left just as the kids started coming back to class.

I turned away, and it was then then that I heard a little voice behind me.

 

“My mama’s name is Khushi.”

 

Turning around, my eyes widened as I saw the source of the little voice. Arushi.

 

*****

 

For the rest of that afternoon, I was completely dazed. Arushi’s mother was called Khushi. Once the children left at the end of the day, I remained in the classroom, in my chair, thinking.

Slowly all the pieces of information I knew about Arushi started fitting together.

The mother who made amazing jalebis, single mother. Father with the same birthday as me. A father who wasn’t in the picture because he was working in Delhi. A diabetic…

Running a hand through my hair, I realised that this was insane. Was Arushi… Was she… I couldn’t even think about it, couldn’t comprehend. It felt like a huge bag of bricks had just been dropped on my head. I recalled everything I had thought and felt since I first met Arushi. That feeling of knowing her. I thought back to how I thought she was a relative of Khushi’s. Never for a moment did I even consider that maybe this child was… I couldn’t even say it.

I needed to check my facts before I got ahead of myself. Getting to my feet, I pretty much ran down to the office and asked for the staff for all the files on the kids in my class.

Once I got them, I took them back to my classroom and dug out Arushi’s one first.

 

Name: Arushi Singhania.

Singhania? Where did this name from? I carried on reading.

Mother : Khushi Singhania.

This must be how Khushi went under the radar. She used a different surname, one I would never have thought of. I carried on reading through her file, looking for any details that could refer to her father. But there was no father listed, no contact details for a dad. The only mention of her father was in the notes, where it said that Arushi had diabetes and that it was inherited from her dad.

Leaning back in my chair, I put my hands on my head, taking it all in, trying to comprehend.

Looking at the date of birth, I counted back 9 months. And sure enough, it went back to around the time Khushi left me. If this was my Khushi and I was right, then it means that Khushi was very, very early pregnant when she left me. Too early to tell. She probably hadn’t known herself at the time that she was pregnant.

Putting all the pieces together, I had conclusive evidence to believe that Arushi’s mother and my Khushi were the same person. And that Arushi… Arushi was my… My daughter.

I couldn’t believe it. COULDN’T BELIEVE IT. I had a daughter. Arushi…

Oh my god.

 

*****

 

Parents evening time had arrived and I met one parent after another. As I ticked the kids off, I got closer and closer to Arushi’s name, meaning closer to Khushi. How would she react when she saw me? Would she turn and bolt? Or would she just freeze up?

Time went on as I carried on meeting with the other parents until finally, I was awaiting on Arushi and her mother…

Sitting in my chair, I leaned back, shut my eyes, and tried to steady my breathing.

It was then there was a knock on my door.

Sitting up straight, I smoothed down my tie and ran my hand through my hair.

 

“Come in.”

 

This was it. If my suspicions were correct, then Khushi would be walking in now.

Arushi rushed into the room, and following close behind her was… A man? Arushi said hi, but my eyes remained fixed on the man in front of me, who also looked taken aback upon seeing me.

Who was he? Where was Khushi? Pulling myself together, I got to my feet and put my hand out to the man.

 

“Hi, I’m Ar…”

”Arnav Singh Raizada.”

 

As he walked towards me, he shook his head, pulled himself together and came and shook my hand.

 

“I’m Raj Singhania, Arushi’s father.”

 

Arushi’s father? But I thought Arushi didn’t have a dad? What on earth? What was happening?

 

“Please take a seat.”

 

Raj sat down opposite me, while Arushi went to the back of the classroom and started playing with the little toys that I’d left out.

 

“I didn’t realise you teach Mr Raizada.”

“I don’t. My friend owns the school so I’m just doing him a favour. This is my last couple of days.”

“Oh I see. Well seeing as I’ve had the pleasure to meet you, I’d just like to say that I’m a huge fan of your work and your business. I’ve been following the performance of your business very carefully.”

”Thanks. But we can discuss that later, let’s talk about Arushi.”

 

I still didn’t understand what was going on. Who this guy actually was. Nothing was making sense, but for now, I needed to do my job.
So I opened up my file and I started talking through all the notes that I’d made on Arushi over the past couple of months.

 

“So all in all, you have a very talented child and she’s a pleasure to work with.”

 

Looking up from her toys, Arushi smiled at me and then looked away again.

Now that I’d actually thought about it, her resemblance with Khushi was striking. She had to be my Khushi’s daughter. And she had to be my daughter. I was sure if it.

As the meeting neared it end, I realised that I needed to ask Raj more otherwise I’d never be able to rest in peace.

 

“I’m sorry if this is intrusive, but when I was looking at the records of children when inviting parents, I didn’t realise that Arushi had a father. I mean, you’re not listed as her father. I was under the impression her dad wasn’t in the picture?”

 

I don’t think Raj expected me to ask this because he looked slightly taken aback. But I knew I had to ask him. Given everything that I had learnt, I didn’t understand how he fit into the equation.

 

“I… I’m not really her dad.”

”What do you mean?”

 

I watched as he turned to Arushi who was in her own little world before he turned back to me. Letting out a little sigh, I watched as he recomposed himself.

 

“Arushi and her mother are paying guests at my house. They live with me and my mother, have done for over 6 years now. Well her mother has been with us for over six years, Arushi came into the picture afterwards.

A couple of years ago, Arushi got teased by the children in school about how she didn’t have a dad. So I guess you can say I stepped up for the role. But she knows I’m not actually her dad so it’s okay.”

 

If my suspicions were correct about Arushi being mine and Khushi’s child, then that means Arushi suffered a whole lot because I wasn’t around. But in my defence, I didn’t even know she existed.

 

“Where is Arushi’s father?”

 

Raj hesitated. Did he know who Arushi’s father was? Did he know that I was her dad?

 

“He… He doesn’t live around here.”

 

Looking at his watch, Raj got to his feet.

 

“I’m sorry to call out meeting short but I need to get going.”

 

He was escaping. My questions were making him uncomfortable and that further solidified my suspicions. I was damn sure Arushi was my Khushi’s child. Mine and Khushi’s child. She had to be. Answer Raj knew Arushi was mine.

I needed to find Khushi and I needed to find her soon. If this really was my Khushi and if Arushi really was my daughter, it means I’ve missed out on years with her and I need to fix things to make up for lost time. I needed to find Khushi.

 

I needed to.

Jalebi ~ Part 28

As days pass, it became abundantly clear that Arnav was struggling to come to terms with the events that had taken place. By 5pm every day, Arnav is completely drunk. Anjali had thrown out all the alcohol in the house, but despite that, he still managed to get drunk.

 

“Anjali bitya, what are we to do? Chote can’t carry on like this. He was hurting so at first I didn’t say anything despite being completely against his actions. But now. This is too much.”

“I know Nani. I’m trying, but I don’t know what to do.”

“Have you been able to get through to Khushi?”

“No. But I know Payal has been talking to her.”

 

Nani nodded and then sat down. She was stressed. Seeing her grandson like this was really hurting her. Arnav was always so strong, so kept together. And now all of a sudden he was a complete and utter mess and there seemed to be no way to help him.

 

*****

 

“But Khushi…”

“Jiji please. How about you come round and meet Rohan? He’s really nice, I’m sure you’ll really like him.”

“Khushi, I told you Akash doesn’t want me to contact you. He’s holding you responsible for Bhai being such a mess.”

 

Gritting her teeth, Khushi stopped herself from telling Payal that Akash was the cause of the condition Arnav was in, not her.

 

“There’s nothing I can do jiji. I’ve moved on and he will too. Any way, I have to go now.”

 

Before Payal could say anything more, Khushi put the phone down. She didn’t want to speak about Arnav any more or hear how much he was struggling. She had received a number of calls from the Raizada household and a tonne of messages from Anjali. She understood their concern for Arnav, but at the same time there really wasn’t much she could do. She’d made her bed and now she had to lie in it. It was hurting her, knowing Arnav was a mess and that’s she was the cause of his state, but she just couldn’t bring herself to face him.

Sitting down on the edge of her bed, Khushi scrolled through her camera roll and found a picture of Arnav. It was one she had taken of him while he was asleep in bed. His hair was over his eyes and his bare chest was on show. Looking at the picture, it hurt Khushi’s heart as she realised just how much she actually missed him. How she wanted to lie beside him again, to be able to push his hair out of his eyes and cuddle into his chest. But she couldn’t. That phase of their life was over and she was trying to move on with Rohan.

Locking the screen of her phone, Khushi put it down and got to her feet before turning to fix the bed. As she leaned down to fix the pillow, a strong pair of arms came to hold her, their body pressed against hers.

 

“Hi.”

“Rohan let me go please.”

“Nope…”

 

Pushing her hair over to one shoulder, Rohan pushed Khushi’s kameez off her shoulder and attempted to kiss her exposed skin.

 

“No!”

 

Moving out of his grip, Khushi fixed her clothes and moved away from him.

 

“I can’t… I’m sorry. I can’t.”

“We’re getting married soon, we don’t need to worry.”

“It’s not that. I just can’t do this… With you… I…”

 

Clenching his jaw shut, Rohan looked to Khushi. He didn’t say anything, but his eyes said it all. He wasn’t impressed.

 

“Right. Okay. Whatever. I just came to tell you I’m going out of town for a few days. I need to get some work related stuff sorted. I was going to ask if you wanted to come with me, but I think it’d be better if you stayed here and tried to get your head sorted.”

“I’m sorry…”

“I’m being patient with you Khushi, you know I am, but you’re starting to test my limits. I get that you’re not ready to get intimate with me, but I need you to at least start trying to accept me.”

“I am… I will…”

 

Grabbing his things, Rohan said goodbye to Khushi and then left her room. Sitting down, Khushi realised that she really needed to find closure, if she didn’t, she’d never be able to move forward. She realised with Rohan out of town, now was probably the best time to get anything done.

 

*****

 

“Sir, do you know where the file is?”

“If I knew where it was, I wouldn’t be asking you! Find that god damn file! I have a meeting with the Mehta’s in less than an hour.”

“Maybe you should ask ASR…”

“I am ASR.”

“I mean Arnav sir…”

“No. I can do this myself. I don’t need his help.”

 

Akash dismissed Aman who shook his head and walked away. Ever since Akash had taken over, the whole company was a shambles. Even though all the employees were slightly scared of Arnav, at least they knew that he was fair and that if he got angry, there was a reason behind it. But Akash… If was unable to do something, he’d take it out on everyone else. And he never was able to do anything. If Arnav was a natural born charismatic businessman, then Akash was the complete opposite. He couldn’t lead a business when he didn’t even have business knowledge. No matter what his qualification stated, his business’s acumen was zeeo and he couldn’t control his temper at all.

Aman had never minded having Arnav as a boss, but right now, he prayed for Arnav to return so they wouldn’t have to deal with Akash any more.

Akash was struggling. Nothing was going right for him. Since his time here as the owner, he had failed to close any deals successfully and he was constantly messing up at meetings because he seemed to always have the wrong files on him.

He had never struggled this much when he was working alongside Arnav but now, nothing was going right. But he wasn’t going to admit defeat and go to Arnav. He would manage this. How hard could it be to manage two businesses that were fully equipped with more than capable staff. If Arnav and Khushi were able to do it, then surely he would be able to do it too.

 

*****

 

Arnav was sat by his bar, drinking his sorrows away. Nani walked in and wrinkled up her nose. Arnav was just attempting to reach out for the bottle and was about to pour himself another glass when Nani stopped him.

 

“Enough is enough Chote. This isn’t you! You aren’t a drunk. You need to start coming to terms with what had happened in your life and you need to start working through your issues.”

“I’ve tried Nani, but I can’t get anything sorted and I can’t make things right. I’ve failed Khushi and I’ve failed myself.”

“Chote you can’t blame yourself.”

“Oh I don’t. I mean I do, but I blame my brother too. How did I ever trust that scum?”

 

Devyani Raizada looked at her drunk grandson, her eyes wide. What was he saying?

 

“Chote, what do you mean?”

“I mean, I didn’t steal Khushi’s business, Akash did. He took advantage of the fact we were both distracted from the night before and used that against us. I trusted him despite knowing he had bad intentions and now I’m suffering while he’s living the life.”

 

Devyani knew that she should be angry at Arnav. She didn’t miss what he meant when he said they were distracted from the night before. And she knew exactly what he was insinuating happened between him and Khushi the night before. But she wasn’t angry. If anything it hurt her more because she realised that Arnav’s feelings for Khushi were very much real, otherwise he would never have slept with her. He knew what their families rules were and he wouldn’t go against his Nani for the sake of any old woman.

But more than that, she was concerned about what Arnav was saying about Akash.

 

“Chote, are you sure about what you are saying about Akash?”

”It’s the only thing I’m sure about any more. He went against my wishes, stole my girlfriends business and ruined my relationship with the woman I worked so hard to win over.”

“Arnav, I will sort this. I’ll sort it all for you, but you need to stop drinking.”

”There’s nothing that can be done Nani. To give Khushi her business back, Akash needs to sign off the papers and he’ll never do that. And even if he did, she’s getting married to someone else. My life is destroyed.”

”We will sort this Chote. Just please stop drinking.”

 

Arnav looked into his nani’s eyes. It was evident that his behaviour was hurting her and he couldn’t bare to see that hurt in her eyes. He put down his glass and pushed it aside.

 

“I’ll try Nani. Only for you.”

 

Thanking Arnav, Nani turned around. She needed to go and speak to Anjali. If there was any kind of funny business going in, Anjali would know. Arnav wouldn’t be able to hide anything from his Di.

 

*****

 

Slumped over on the Anjali’s bed, Devyani couldn’t believe what she was being told. How could one brother do that to another brother?

 

“Anjali bitya, we need to get this sorted.”

“But what can we do Nani. Akash won’t hand the business back over and Khushi is about to take Chote back.”

“We need to talk to Mamorama and Mahendar”

“I don’t know Nani… Chote wouldn’t want to cause problems within the family.”

“I know he wouldn’t, but this needs to get sorted. Chote is a mess and I’m worried… I’m worried that if he can’t pull out of this, he’ll do something stupid.”

“He wouldn’t do that Nani.”

”At this moment I don’t know what he’d do. He’s hurting so much.”

“Maybe if you spoke to Khushi…”

”I’ve called her as you have, but she isn’t taking our calls. No Anjali, I think we need to sort our house first before trying to contact Khushi.”

 

Getting to her feet, Nani walked out of Anjali room and made her way over to mama and Mami’s room. Anjali knew this probably wasn’t the best thing to do, but maybe Nani was right, maybe this was the only thing left to do. Getting to her feet, Anjali went after Nani, but made sure she stopped by Arnav’s bedroom first. His door was open and so Anjali could see him lying on his bed, facing the ceiling.

She’d never imagined her brother would fall in love to this extent. But then she never expected her other brother to stoop to such an extent. Sighing, Anjali left Arnav and made her way over to mama and Mami’s room to find Nani already there, speaking to them.

As Devyani and Anjali explained what was happening, the colour fell from both Manorama and Mahender’s faces.

 

“Sasuma… Are you sure? Our Akash bitwa… But he never goes against anything Arnav bitwa says. Why would he do something like this?”

“That’s what I don’t understand Manorama. If Akash wanted a share of the business or if he wanted more responsibility, then Chote would have given it to him, but why… I don’t understand.”

“Anjali bitya, you tell us, Arnav bitwa tells you everything.”

 

Explaining everything she knew, Anjali talked them through everything Arnav had told her. Both Akash’s parents were in disbelief, but they didn’t disbelieve what was happening. They had senses the tension between the two brothers and seeing how Arnav had been, all the stories fit together.

Manorama turned to her husband.

 

“Call Akash home now! We are going to sort this.”

 

As Akash’s father dialled his sons number, Anjali turned and found a pale looking Payal stood at the door.

 

“Payal…”

”He… He’s the reason…”

“We didn’t want you to find out like this.”

“He’s caused this? My sister’s life is a shambles because of…”.

 

Payal felt her world come crashing down around her as she turned away. How could Akash do that? How could he do that to Khushi? How could he do that to Payal!? Did he not for a moment think that he was hurting her if he hurt her sister? How could he?

 

*****

 

“Okay yes! I am responsible for everything that’s been happening between Arnav and Khushi and with the changing ownership of the business, but I had a good reason for it.”

“What reason could you possibly have for cheating your brother like that and ruining his life? Akash, have you seen Arnav bitwa recently? Have you seen the state he’s in? If you wanted more share of the business or more responsibility, why didn’t you just ask him? Why…”

”Ma please. I did what I needed to do to protect myself and secure myself a future.”

 

Anjali and Nani remained quiet as they watched the face off between Akash and his parents. Admittedly, they had been worried that Manorama would react badly, that should would side with her son and refuse to believe what was going on. But if Manorama loved her son, she loved her nephew equally.

 

“Akash bitwa, he’s your own brother!”

“He’s not my own brother! He’s my cousin! Everyone acts like…”

“Don’t! Don’t you dare say anything against my Arnav bitwa. He has always loved you like a brother, always cared for you. He would do anything for you.”

 

Turning away from his mother, Akash was fuming. How dare his own parents tell him he was making the wrong decisions and that his actions were wrong? Shouldn’t they be telling him that he did a good job, he secured their family a stable future?

Turning to leave the room, Akash saw his wife standing in the doorway and she looked livid.

 

“Payal…”

 

Walking towards her, Akash stretched his hand out, urging her to take it. She didn’t. Coming up to her, Akash stood before Payal, waiting for her to say something. Remaining unmoving for a moment, Payal thought about everything she’d learnt that day. Pulling her hand back, she slapped Akash across the face, hard.

Everyone in the room gasped as they took the seething Payal in.

 

“Payal…”

“How could you? How could you do that to my sister? You may not accept bhai as your own brother and may not care for what you do to him, but Khushi is my sister and I love her! Did you not think…”

“I did it for us! So we’d have a better future!”

“Right. So for our happy future, you destroyed my sister’s life?”

“She seems fine to me, she’s getting married…”

“Are you stupid? You know as well as I do that it took Khushi so long to accept her feelings for bhai, to give their relationship a go. It took her so long to admit that she loved him, she was ready to spend her life with him and you… You took that happiness away from her.”

“Again, she seems fine, she’s getting married…”

”She’s only doing that because she’s trying to run away from all this! She’s never been good at dealing with her problems and this… I can’t believe you…”

 

Shaking her head in disgust, Payal realised that there was no point arguing or trying to explain anything to Akash. Entering the room, she approached both Nani and Manorama.

 

“Dadiji, ma ji, I would like to go home for a couple of days.”

 

Akash turned around to protest, but he saw his mother and grandmother had already given her permission to go. Turning away, Payal left the room, throwing one angry glance at Akash before she left.

Did he do the wrong thing? Had he made a mess? Why was everyone so angry when all he was trying to do was make a future for himself?