Part 34

Khushi could not sleep that night. She sobbed into her pillow, feeling lonely. She wanted to be with her family, with all of them.

 Till now she had accepted the fact that she would not be going back and would not see them. But this new possibility of going and meeting them made her impatient. She could not wait. "Why did he not find me out earlier? What was he doing? Had he come to take me earlier, I would have gone back with him...." She thought. She was desperate to meet them all. 

While going to the office, she had asked papaji, "When are we going to Delhi, papaji? I mean.. do you want me to book the tickets?" 

Papaji, glanced at her and said "Don't worry puttar, we will go soon" but he did not commit any date. He was smiling. She was disappointed and was upset looking at his smile. "He does not understand how desperate I am to go... " She thought bitterly. 

But papaji had understood her eagerness. He wanted to give Arnav some time to sort out his priorities. He wanted both of them to think about their priorities. He knew ... Knew that these two would hurt each other in desperation to be with each other. 

Khushi kept quiet and drove to office without a word. Papaji kept glancing at her. He felt sorry for her. "But this pain, despair, desperation, loneliness would ensure their happy future" he thought. 

Arnav kept himself busy throughout the day. He never wanted to go home. She had not called till late in the evening. She had no news to give him. Papaji had not given any date. Arnav was counting the days. Both of them had not called each other. 

On a bright Thursday morning, while going to office papaji handed over an envelope to Khushi. She looked at him questioningly. He asked her to open it. "Two tickets to Delhi on Friday..." She double checked the date. She looked at him smiling broadly. He nodded and said "Yes, we are going tomorrow afternoon. It will be late in the evening by the time we reach..." She had already started texting the message of their arrival...Papaji, kept staring at her, smiling. When she felt his gaze, she was embarrassed and tried to hide her phone.

 "Its ok puttar, I understand your excitement... but can we talk before we leave for Delhi for some time?" He asked. 

She looked at him and nodded. "What is it that he wants to talk to me about?" she mused. They reached office. She sneaked at her cell. The text message was not yet sent. She decided to wait. She attended to her duties but kept thinking about papaji all the time. In the evening papaji called her to his cabin.

"Khushi, I am glad that you are visiting your family. I am really happy for you. But puttar, please bear in mind that this is not your destination. You will have to go a long way and you need to be strong enough to handle any situation. No one knows what is stored in future but at the same time one can always dream about future and be prepared for the worst" 

She looked confused. "What is he talking about? What worst? What is stored for me in future?" and suddenly her confusion turned into fear.."He has not yet told anyone about the truth..." she remembered. She looked at papaji. He was looking at her piercingly. "I... I won't be able to.... Go..."

"No puttar! We are going and you will meet them all. But you will have to be prepared for this. Understand? You need to be strong enough to face the situation"

"No papaji, I won't be able to meet them... I cannot face the hatred anymore...I won't.." She started in a quivering voice. 

"Khushi, puttar, you are a brave girl... I am sure you can face this."

"But, papaji, I have told him that I won't meet him untill he tells his family members." She was heartbroken. She was sure that he had not yet told the truth, otherwise he would have talked about that to her. 

"Khushi, I know he has not revealed the truth. But try and understand him... he cannot do that without you. His sister means everything to him and he cannot see her collapse. A sense of getting cheated by someone you trust the most is more painful that sense of losing someone. You should understand this. He is not able to digest this fact that someone has cheated him and his sister and is still staying in their house. Probably, he is waiting for the right moment and situation to reveal the truth. He knows no one will believe him if he reveals it now. He may need your support... " she was aghast.

"Khushi, my suggestion is.... You forgo your resolution of not meeting him.. for the time being. You will have to meet him. You will have to try and help him to create the situation for the final revelation. Understand?" Said papaji in a calm voice.

"will you......Will you? Will you help us...Please...will you help Arnav ji to sort this out?..please?" She asked him earnestly. 

"Yes I will, if need be....!but i always feel one should solve one's own problems" He said assuring. 

"Thank you papaji." She hugged him....
She could not decide on sending the message to her Arnav ji. She wanted to tell him that she is coming. But at the same time wanted to give him a surprise by directly standing in beofre him. She smiled dreamily at this thought. She had butterflies in her stomach, her heart jumping out in excitement. She decided not to send the message that night. She went to bed musing on what papaji had conveyed to her. She wanted to think and help Arnav find out a way. Her conviction that Arnav had betrayed her by not revealing the truth, had vanished from her mind. She was thinking from his point of view now.. She was turning to his side…! 

In the morning when she was packing ... she could not resist the temptation... and sent him the message "Coming today..." And she decided not to take his call fearing that she might reveal her arrival time at Delhi airport. She did not want him to be at the airport. "I won't be able resist myself..." she thought.
He did not call. She had no time to brood on that as she was busy shopping for the family and talking excitedly to mummiji about everyone in the family. Whenever reference of Raizada House cropped up.. her heart ached. 

Arnav went to the office that morning and busied himself in the routine work. He had decided not to think about her. She had not called him. He did not know whether she had changed her mind. He remembered she had told him that she won't come back unless the truth is revealed. 

"She won't understand, I am caught in a deadlock and she has the key... she will keep blaming me for this...she does not understand.." He thought miserably.
"I will stop thinking about this and focus on my business." He thought resolutely. He did not even have time to take his lunch. He ordered some salad and coffee during lunch hour and had it in his cabin working on his laptop. He had to formulate strategy for closing the deal with a French garment company. He asked Aman to take away his phone and barred anyone from entering his cabin. He scrutinized the Joint Venture documents and made notes to discuss with his consultants. He was satisfied with the shape the document had taken after carefully drafting it. It was evening by the time he finished his work. He asked for coffee and called Aman for further discussion. He took the phone from aman and asked who all had called him. Aman did not take Khushi's name. He was disappointed. "So she has not yet decided when to come. Its already weekend. I will wait. There is no point calling her again on this. I may sound desperate that way...". He thought to himself. 

He sat in his car to go home. He had put on his Bluetooth and picked up the phone for its paring. He saw some unread messages. He hurriedly browsed through them. Several were some crap marketing messages. Two of them were from his clients, and the last one received in the morning which he had no time to view, was from Khushi...

He winced with excitement. "coming today..." He looked at his wrist watch... it was almost 9.30 in the night. He threw his Bluetooth in frustration. Had he missed her? She had not mentioned the time of her arrival.