part 33

Arnav came with Raj next day. They had lunch. It was time for Arnav to leave for Delhi. He kept on glancing at Khushi. He wanted her to accompany him which was not possible. He could not bear the thought of going back without her. 

Khushi wanted to go with Arnav. She missed her family so much. And now that everything is settled, there was no point hiding herself from others. But she could not ask this. She knew papaji would not agree. She kept quiet. 

“Arnav Puttar, do you want to take her with you now?” Papaji asked piercingly and Arnav winced.  His heart leaped.  “Yes!” he wanted to say… but before he could open his mouth, Papaji went ahead.  

Puttar, after all it is your decision.  You two decide what you want to do and how are you going to face the family! I don’t want to put her in more trouble.  I know, you will handle it but think about Khushi! Can she live where that Sham is…!”
“No!” came the response from Arnav and Papaji looked at Khushi’s ashen face. 
"Puttar.. go back to Delhi. You may want to give this good news to your family and may be plan for your wedding.... " He paused for a while and then said with twinkling eyes.. "May be Khushi will come to Delhi next week to meet her family, with me and I will be honored to meet your family..." He looked at both of them smiling... 

"Khushi and Arnav exchanged looks. He was happy that he would meet her next week again. But Khushi was in a trance. When she heard the name Sham... She remembered the scene when she left Raizada family that early morning and she could not forget the hatred in everybody's eyes. She shuddered and looked at Arnav. 

Unable to understand her frightened looks he asked her.."What..?"
She blurted "family... When did you tell your family? Anjali ji... How is she? When did you tell her about Shamji? How did she rea...? She looked at him and stopped in the middle. He avoided her eyes... 

She asked him in hollow voice... "Did you....?" He said "No..." and hung his head... his shoulders drooping. "What..?" She clutched her mouth with her hand horror struck pacing backwards. He had no answer. “Why? Why didn’t you tell her.... ?” Khushi was hurt beyond limit..

  Arnav had no answer… he had not told his Di…!He had not told anyone about Sham. He reacted.. “Why? Are you asking me? Why did you leave me, Khushi? This is all because of you…! You didn’t..!” he went overboard in anger…Khushi clutched her mouth holding her breath..

“You don’t believe me.. Don’t you?” she was aghast.  “Khushi….!” Arnav chocked. She was in shock. Papaji raised his hand to stop Arnav. Khushi sat there thunder struck. She could not even notice that Arnav was ready to leave, Papaji came to her and said in a kind voice. "Khushi, puttar, he is leaving...would you like to go to the airport? Raj is going to drop him at the airport.."

"hunn? No!" She said coming back to her senses. 

Arnav left, dejected! Again, she had not given him any chance to explain. She was not ready to listen to him. She heard only once side, heard only what she wanted to hear. She did not understand his situation. 

"Khushi... again you have turned your back on me! Again you have hurt me... Khushi why did you not listen to me? Why did you have to leave me that day? I would have handled everything, had you not left me. You don't understand, I cannot do anything without you, Khushi..." He stopped at this thought wondering what he was thinking. For the first time he realized he had not taken any major decision after she left. And the one he took was a failure as Lavanya left him. For the first time he was on the verge of admitting that he is incomplete without her.
He pushed these thoughts away. He, as usual started brooding on the same incident when she left him after their marriage and again thought of teaching her a lesson when ...

"We are at the airport, Jija ji !" said Raj. Arnav got down and Raj went ahead to park the car. When he returned, Arnav was ready to check in. They said goodbye to each other shaking hands. "What magic she has played on this family...!" Arnav wondered.

"He does not know what she has done for us...!" Thought Raj while returning home.

"You should have gone to see him off, puttar" said papaji sitting next to her. She looked at him with tearful eyes and said, "Papaji, he has not told anything. That.. that man is still in the house. Why, papaji...? Why did he not tell? Why can't he understand? He is not saving her marriage, he is putting her life in danger...Papaji, I am unable to understand" she sobbed..

"Puttar, try to understand his condition..." Said papaji in a kind voice. For the first time he was taking Arnav's side. She looked at him shocked. 

"Try and understand, Khushi. I am not saying what he has done is correct. But I can understand his situation. He was left with no support after you left. He had already messed up with your life along with his. He loved his sister more than himself. He wanted to save her marriage at any cost. He did not know how to convey her husband's truth. She has a blind faith on her husband. She would not withstand. She would have blamed Arnav for this and would have left his house. This would put her in more danger. He had cut himself off from the family. He could not take the risk, with you gone and he was left alone. He could not take the decision without you, Khushi... Try and understand... he is very lonely... he is incomplete..."

Khushi looked at him in surprise... "Incomplete?"

"Yes, puttar... he is incomplete without you. He may not admit this but you should understand..." He said kindly. 

Khushi sat there looking at him. She did not understand what he was talking. "Mr. Arnav Singh Raizada... could not take decision without  me..impossible !" she thought. "Papaji, does not know him well, and that's why he thinks like this...I know, Arnav ji  thinks he is almighty.. " She said to herself. 

Arnav sat in the plane brooding over his situation. He repented for not telling his family. He was not sure how they would react. He decided to reveal the truth of Sham to his family immediately. He loved his sister and he could not hurt her. He had no one to talk to except for Khushi. But she had already gone. He could not tell anyone. He had to keep mum. He felt trapped. He could not find his way out.
His anger  mounting. "Khushi! she is responsible for all this. She is the one who put me in this situation. I will not spare her. I will not tell anyone about the truth. I will wait for her and make her to disclose the truth. She should tell this to everyone, not me... and she will. I will compel her to do it. I will...!" He thought. He had made up his mind not to tell anyone anything about Sham.

"Papaji, how can I go and face them? I have seen hatred in their eyes. If that man is still there, he must have poisoned their minds and thoughts. I will not go there unless he clears all this. I cannot go... I cannot meet them." She felt helpless, broken down completely. 

"Puttar, you are going to meet your family. You will meet your babuji and payal jiji. Don't go and meet his family if you do not want to. But think about your family..." Said papaji.

Khushi thought for a while... "Yes, I am going to meet my family. I am going back to Delhi to meet them. To tell them everything that happened during these months. I will meet them and comeback. I will not meet him unless ..." she said aloud and looked at papaji smiling. 

"That's like my child!" papaji said reflecting the same smile on his face and said "Now go and get ready. We need to attend to lot of work before we leave for Delhi, next week" She ran to her room to get ready. 

Khushi went to office with papaji. She had to complete all the pending work. She attended meetings with papaji. It was already late in the evening when they were ready to return home. They had the last meeting to attend. All the department heads of the Kolkata Fashion House were present. Papaji spoke to all of them introducing Khushi as their new Director. Khushi was shocked, she looked at Papaji, not understanding anything. Papaji said, "All the other positions will remain same. The only change will be, She will be the director holding 78% of the shares and that she will be responsible for the business. 

"Sir," Said Khushi in denial tone, "No, I don't accept this. I won't take this responsibility. I cannot".

"Its my decision and that's final. You understand? Gentlemen, please raise the objections now only, if you have any. " He sounded authoritative. No one had any objection, in fact they welcomed this decision as if it was all decided long before. Papaji, asked her to sign the papers and the share transfer warrants. She obeyed his orders wondering, why was he doing that, knowing that she will go home soon. But papaji had this as a fall back plan for her. 

He knew the going would be tough for her. Both of them came home for dinner. She was tired and wanted to go to sleep without dinner. But mummiji forced her. Papaji, gave the news that Khushi would be the new director of one unit of his group. Raj was particularly very happy. He congratulated her. She was flabbergasted. "But.. its you. You should have papaji's shares, not me...!" she said. She looked at papaji and said. "Please, do not transfer them to me. Its his right to have your shares. Please, papaji, don't do this." 

But Raj said, "Khushi, its your right not mine. You have turned the situation around and I do not deserve this. In fact it should be all yours not only this unit but everything, that we have." He went ahead " Khushi, i have ruined so many years of our entire family and its only you who could bring us together. We owe you so much. This is nothing." He said looking at papaji for approval. Papaji and mummiji nodded in acceptance.

Mummiji said "Khushi, you will be always in touch with us and meet us because of this. This will keep bringing you to us. Please accept this." Khushi looked at her and said "Mummiji, I do not need this all to come back to you. I will always be yours and will come here anytime you want me to." 

"No arguments on this... this is final and she has already signed the papers.." papaji said this in stern voice.

She went to her room. She was tired and nervous. She tried to sleep. "Arnav ji must have reached Delhi by now. "She thought. She dreaded to call him. He too had not called. She brooded over the day's events. She thought of papaji's conversation about him. She wanted to believe papaji, that he really wants her, that she would be really happy with him. She wanted to help him, to be with him, to tell him not to worry and everything will be alright. But she was not sure about his feelings. She said to herself "I will not call him. I will wait for his call.."
He landed on Delhi airport and on his way back home he thought of calling her up only to say "He had reached..." but he remembered her refusal to see him off and decided otherwise. "She will call if she has any work..." he thought

He came home late and realized that he had not given any idea to anyone where he was going, except for Aakash. Aakash had called him for some work and came to know that he was in Kolkata. It was really late when he reached home. He wanted to have dinner with the family but it seemed that they all were already gone to bed. He came into the kitchen to see if there is something to eat. He switched on the light and opened the fridge. He found the box of sweets. There were jilebies in it. He inadvertently put one in his mouth remembering Khushi. He desperately wanted to be with her.

"Chote.. what are you doing in the kitchen?" Anjali was standing in front of him. "When did you come? Where had you been, chote? We all were worried about you. Are you alright?" she was concerned. 

"I am ok Di." I just wanted to have some food before I go to sleep" he said.
"Chote... wait at the table, I will get you some food... and what is this? Were you eating jilebies? " she asked in astonishment looking at the box in his hand. He just said avoiding her eyes "I felt little weak so.." 

At the table she served him food. He looked around and asked "Di, is everything ok, here? I mean how are you all?" She looked at him piercingly and asked bitterly "Chote, do you remember when did you last dined with us?... You just seemed to be cut off from us all. You know.. since that episode for your so called marriage with that Khushi..." 

"Please di... stop it!" he said in a stern voice. "I was asking you about our family. How is everyone? Is he .." He hated to take his name and call him jijaji... "I mean is everyone at home?" 

She said, " chote everyone is worried about you. Nani says you are ruining your life. Payal said, she will not get married till Khushi comes back... and Aakash said he is ready to wait... And your jijaji is worried about you too. He always talks about you... he says its all because of that Khushi, she is responsible..."

"Stop it Di... don't blame her. What do you know about her? Why do you listen to people who are.." he stopped, not knowing what to say. "Di, I will go and have some sleep. Tomorrow I will talk to payal and aakash." He thought "Khushi is coming back ...." His spirits lifting, he went to bed to think about Khushi and his life ahead...

He remembered Khushi had not called. He thought of calling her and lifted his cell but then he decided not to call her. There was a new message in his inbox. "When did you reach?" It was from Khushi. A smile appeared on his face and he dialed her number.

"Could you not call me when you reached? I know you never wanted to call me. But you should have at least sent a message that you have reached. You never care about people.." she started off in a angry tone. But she was very happy that he had called. "Khushi... stop fussing... if you are continuing with this, I have plenty of things to blame you for, understand?" he retorted with the same tone, thinking "Why do we have to fight every time we meet or talk?"

"Ok. Now that I know you reached safely.. so... Good night" she hung up. 

"Goodnight, Khushi.." He said smiling ... He knew, she was going to call him back. 

He threw himself on the bed clutching his cell phone in his hand and waiting for her call.

He went back to their last night's conversation. He had called her back. "Khushi..." he had said in husky voice. "hmm" she had replied. "Khushi, do you know, how happy my cell phone was for not flashing your name for such a long time..." he had said in a teasing voice. "What? And now? Ask your cell to delete my name..." she sounded hurt. He laughed and said "Khushi... I am talking about my phone.. not me.. you do not know how I spent all these months without talking you, without fighting with you, without seeing you." He had said in a serious tone. She had said "Same here...I did not have my phone." 

"Khushi its almost midnight and I want to meet you, now...!" he had said longingly. "Oh my god! Arnav ji, hurry up.. low battery ... I may not be able to talk to you for long.." She seemed panic. "What? Don't you have a charger, you silly, stupid girl?" He had yelled. 

"Had I not put it on charge if I had one? She asked angrily. "Papaji game me only the cell and forgot to give me the charger. Now what do we do? Hello... hello Arnavji... hello...?"

"Khushi... are you still there? Khushi... Khushi... damn it... you silly girl...." Her phone had gone dead... He had switched off his cell in frustration.

This time he never wanted this to happen. He had the charger ready and was waiting for her phone call.

He closed his eyes thinking about her and longing for her. When he opened his eyes it was seven in the morning and his cell flashed two missed calls and a text message. He had missed her again. He got up in frustration and thought of calling her but decided otherwise. He had a lot of work to do to keep himself free for next week. 

He had another task on his list. He needed to talk to his family members about Shyam's truth. He had no clue how he would manage this. He could not bear the thought of her sister heartbroken. He knew she would not sustain this blow. She had blind faith on her husband. He was not sure whether that was love or gratitude. "It is not love, its only gratitude towards him" he thought. He remembered the time and circumstance when his sister and shyam got married. when she was just eighteen, her baarat had gone back because of his parents' past. which had shattered her completely. This caused their mother's death. Arnav was just fourteen at that time. He had not understood why his sister's marriage broke. Both of them had gone through a very humiliating and tough time during that period. Since then she was his world and his top priority and he could do or sacrifice anything for her happiness. When he understood what his father had done, he had lost faith in god. Money and Power became the only purpose of his life. He had built this business empire without anyone's help.