Chapter 20

varanasi

@varanasi

Wishing belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my readers.

Chapter 19

"What the.." Arnav stood watching his always calm and composed brother lose his cool on a girl while beside him stood Khushi who was dumbstruck with the way her sister was hurling accusations with no relevance at that moment. Khushi wanted some reports from the marketing department and when Payal was not to be seen in her cabin she walked to Akash's cabin.

Arnav wanted to know the progress of the Mumbai deal and was continuously trying to Akash's number which went unanswered as he was busy trying to understand his PA, ASR finally decided to grace his brother's cabin with his presence to know what the issue is.

Both Arnav and Khushi reached the door handle at the same time and they were sure something is surely wrong with their siblings and standing at the threshold of Akash's cabin now they were confused with the fight.

...

"Jiji" Khushi rushed towards her sister, placing herself between them, she turned facing Akash.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

"I seriously don't know what is happening Khushi, she was ..." even before he could complete his sentence he saw Payal rushing out of the cabin with tears slowly making their way down her cheeks.

"Jiji? Jiji, please wait.." with that Khushi too rushed behind her sister, leaving both the brothers confused facing each other at both ends of the cabin.

...

Payal dashed into her cabin and banged the door, but before it closed to provide her the much-needed privacy, Khushi entered and hugged her sideways.

"What is it Jiji? Di...Did...Did he say something?" she knew Akash wasn't like Arnav but still you never know when the man's traits rubbed off on to his brother.

"I'm not able to handle it anymore Khushi, why is this getting harder day by day? As much as I try to avoid it it is been rubbed on to my face with a greater force," she said it between the hiccups. Later she went on to reveal what has transpired between their aunt and her in the morning.

"I'm tired of acting strong anymore Khushi, it's draining me a lot." she looked up helplessly at her sister showing how much pain she held all these days trying to behave as if everything is normal in her life when the pain is still pinching her at every possible opportunity.

Khushi's eyes started tearing seeing her sister in that state looking for someone to help her find a way, like a lost child unknown how to deal with the pain of rejection. At first, she doubted if Payal was putting up a facade of being normal for the family, but later she felt the need to give her space, she even agreed to accompany her to this city so that with some changes in her life everything will get settled. She let her sister be free but always stood on guard to see if anyone is advancing towards her with evil intentions. As time flew she assumed her sister is copping up with the past incidents, but with today's stunt by her aunt cleared all her misunderstandings, showing her that Payal is still standing at the same place where she was when the wedding got canceled. She needs to take a lead now to bring her sister out the sorrow she is muddled in.

"Then don't act Jiji" she waited for her sister to absorb the meaning behind her words when Payal looked up questioning what she meant by it she started explaining further.

"Why do you want to show anyone of us that you are normal when you aren't? It's okay if you are not still out of the past misdeeds, don't hide it, don't hold it close to heart as if it is something valuable, cry out, let it out, you always have me beside you for a shoulder, you may take more time to come out it's okay there is no time limit for this, but surely one day will come when you wouldn't feel the pain anymore. Time heals everything, isn't it?" Payal nodded with a teary smile and hugged her little sister who now surely isn't behaving like one.

...

Arnav and Akash stood outside Payal's cabin listening to Khushi's words. They rushed behind the girls when they comprehended the situation completely, as they saw Khushi handling they didn't interfere giving them privacy but stood out just in case a helping hand is needed.

As the conversation came to an end both the brothers moved to their respective cabins with different thoughts running in their mind. While Akash was upset about two facts one being known that her family is forcing her for a wedding and the other being her having a painful past, he is not sure what the later is but he would surely find out more on this.

Once Arnav was in his cabin all he did was simply rewind Khushi's words, the way she handled her sister, what a stark contrast between them, he never let Anjali grieve on her past misdeeds, he wasn't there for her emotionally, all he did was asked her to never cry in remembrance of past, With the sudden tragedy in their life he had to grow up in a mere span of one day, as he understood the downfall of a person always lies in their emotions, he took care henceforth not to reveal them. Locking all the sentiments he worked towards making it better for his family financially, Anjali always took to her Nani for letting out the burden of pain. While he blamed invisible almighty he never accepted sorrow as part of life, he took strength in building up a wall around his heart, Khushi is laying herself vulnerable to the society and is even encouraging her sister for it, isn't she afraid of someone taking advantage of it? Is it due to the possibility of being at liberty with no burden of the uncertainty of future? is it because of the presence of the family as support? is it because she doesn't have to take responsibility for the better future of the family at a young age all too unprepared? What is her strength? He had to find out.

...

A fortnight passed since this incident, Payal apologized for her behavior later that day and henceforth was much careful to keep a hold on to her emotions and Akash understood why Payal had behaved the way she did. Anyone in his place would feel bad for the pain the woman has to go through only because she gave importance to her self respect more than the society's look on it but surprisingly all he felt was relieved, relieved that the wedding got canceled, not that he didn't feel bad for her state back then but the feeling of her being single is outcasting his ethical behavior. He accepts that he liked her at first look but is he getting a bit psychotic by being happy about someone's pain? the girl surely is weaving an illusion around him and he is liking it. Something has to be done before it gets late.

...

With each passing day Arnav could see Khushi is improving, her idea of working out together surely worked, the only word which he spells most of the day is Ms.Gupta and slowly started looking up to her for updates in meetings, she thoroughly does her homework before handing it to him in all true senses she replaced Aman, to come to this point they had to spend a lot of time on initial days, all his free time (the time he makes out for a cup of coffee or the lunchtime) was taken away by her. She forced herself into his schedule and always was present from the morning coffee to late night coffee's, she explained that's the only time he is available freely and hence wants to use it to the fullest, on the first day feeling awkward at her having lunch too at his cabin he invited Akash over and along with him tagged Payal, from then it has become a habit now for the four of them to have lunch together while discussing some project or other. The reason Akash supplied him with on why did Payal too tag along on the first day still seems too good to be true but he let it be for the time being. He observed that the girl has a high appetite with a greater metabolism, she eats like an elephant and still complains of hunger in the next two hours. The only minus point for Khushi in all this was to stay up late until he calls it a day, he saw her mumbling to herself sulking when asked to visit the office on weekends too, it wasn't intentional they both knew the upcoming Mumbai project would need a lot of efforts from their side as they are spreading their base in that city for the first time individually, until now it was always through middlemen. Even Payal looks exhausted by end of the day with continuous back to back meetings, his brother is surely making the lady work until she drops dead. Not that Akash is letting her take the burden wholly but as much as he tries to ease her off it isn't possible and Payal was never complaining. Four of them along with the art department would sit hours together discussing different strategies on how to make it striking intro for their brand as this would help them in bagging the required client base to expand to the south of India and also for participating in international markets.

...

From the day her sister complained about feeling suffocated with the past memories all she wanted was to take an off from the work and go visiting places in Delhi as she wanted Payal to make so many new joyful memories that there would be no place for painful past, they never went out of Lucknow ever and they don't even know if they ever visited Delhi before in childhood. But her Devi Maiya is not on her side since she set her foot in Delhi, all they did from Monday mornings to Sunday night was work, work, and work, she is not an escapist of work but her boss is surely making them forget everything else, if possible he would make them breathe work and eat work. Who is she kidding isn't it what she started liking in him? to be frank, his hard work is what attracted her, when she first read about him in newspapers. Spending time with him slowly gave her a chance to know him better, he isn't that bad as he shows to others, he cares for others in the most silent possible way. She remembers how he orders her favorite food when they had to stay late unprepared, now she is neither a celebrity that her personal choices would be available to others on click of the internet nor they ever shared anything personal with each other, he wouldn't obviously go to her sister asking questions like this, and his taste doesn't match with her's so the only possibility left was he observed her closely enough to notice her likes and dislikes. He always sends a guard behind them when they get late and checks on them if they reached home. And man was she impressed with this quality of his? yes. And is she happy with these little changes in him? a lot more then she can express in words.

...

"Chottey, I need to have a word with you" Anjali stood at the threshold of his room with a sad look on her face.

"Di? Why are you standing there? come in, and what is it? why do you look upset? Did... Did Jeejaji said something?" as much as he shows as if he never cares about all the emotional stuff when it is about his sister, everything blows out of the window.

"No chotte, it's about you not me, why are you doing this? can't you see the longingness in her eyes to see you settled in life before she takes her last?" she said wiping her tears at the mention of her beloved Nani not being in between them anymore.

"Di please not again, what happened to Nani now?" will his family never understand his feelings on this particular issue.

"Nothing happened now Chotte, but what is the guarantee that it remains same all through our life? Life is unpredictable we never know when is our last second with our loved ones. She is fine now but her only worry is you"

"Di, you know me, still you are taking her side?"

"I know you that's why I'm saying this chotte, you can't be all your life like this, you need to move on, tomorrow if something happens to me, who would be there for you?" she knew she shouldn't emotionally blackmail him into it, but her brother is leaving no scope for having a better and positive conversation.

"DIII, don't you ever say anything like that again, you would always stay by my side and never leave like, like M...Ma" with that he was gone not wanting to show his unshed tears to her and Anjali stood to wipe her tears at the mention of her late mother.

...

"Good morning Sir, here is your coffee, shall we start..."Khushi was still speaking when with a simple look at Arnav's red eyes said that something is surely wrong with him.

"What, What happened? Were you? were you crying? " Khushi was about to place her hand on his elbow when Arnav jerked her hand pushing her hard to the floor and in the process the hot coffee mug she was holding spilled over his desk and some on to Khushi's dress, her hand, and cheeks.

"Aahhh, what the hell is wrong with you?" she said getting up rubbing her hand and cheeks, it looked red but other than that there was nothing serious but her dress was surely a disaster there were wet dark brown blotches all over back as she fell on the spilled coffee and on the front too. As she was wearing a light orange color salwar the stains were very prominent.

"GET OUT" he shouted fisting his palms turning his back to her.

"What? I ..."

Holding by her arms he pulled her: "Can't you understand two simple words? Why do you always try to grab my attention by doing something or other? Is this why you are here? You want to grab my attention and hence gain profit out of it? Low middle-class mentality. Aren't you tired always faking your emotions? I don't want to see your face can't you get it when I try to avoid you simply? Now just get the hell out of here, don't show me your face go and check what is the status of construction and other details at Aman's place and send me the report by end of the day there is no need for you to come here again send it from there only" once completed with his rant pushed her mercilessly back.

It took few seconds for Khushi to compose herself and absorb what he said, what the heck happened just a second before, everything was so good and he simply had to say such cruel words only because she simply showed her concern at his state, he for sure is not a human being, who gave him a right to say all that he blurted out about her character? and what is this new treatment of manhandling? she froze seeing his hate-filled eyes spitting fire so close to her as there was very little distance between them. Her hand is itching to give him straight one slap on his cheek for all that nonsense but she somehow controlled the urge and rushed out of the cabin.

...

Khushi was tired with continuously trying to push open the jammed door. Trying to control her sobs she looked towards her phone which is blinking with low light in a few seconds it will be dead, then there will be no chance for her to communicate with the outer world. Even now there is no chance for her to communicate, there is no signal from past one hour and she was struck in this room for more than 2 hours.

As asked by or to be more precise as shouted by Arnav, Khushi went over to meet Aman to get the updates from there, she knew that he purposefully sent her, if he wanted the updates she could have taken by calling Aman but no he wanted to simply send her away and hence this sudden visit. If he doesn't want to see her face even she is not dying to look at the rakshas. Once the purpose of the visit was completed she climbed nine floors, selected a silent room to work further. By the time she finished sending the report and decided to leave it was close to 7 and she decided to leave for the day as it is there is no one to make her wait till late. That is when she realized she was locked in a room nine floors above the ground where people were working. As still some painting and lock security systems were pending staff were all working on the single floor and some from the other office.

"what was the need for you to go on a search of so much peace Khushi? now there is no one to even hear your death calls, all because of that rakshas" at first she was hopeful that someone would remember her being here, come looking and let her out but as time flew the light went off and there was no one who came to help her, with that she started panicking and shouting for help banging the door with her fist, she didn't observe the door had the knob on the outer side and banged the door so hard with anger on Mr. Arnav Singh Raizada resulting in the door getting locked leaving her no chance to get out. When looked at her mobile to at least call her sister to let know her situation the signal was no longer available and even the battery was low.

Seeing the room completely dark and silence surrounding her, the past memories surfaced again, she started to self-talk trying to make sure not to get a panic attack but as minutes passed her hope of seeing her family again was lost and her condition deteriorated.

...

"ASR, by end of this week everything will be set, staff can finally shift here. And by the way, Khushi seems to improve a lot I can see that she no longer calls me daily asking doubts over something or other. I guess you are keeping her too busy to even let her give a call to me she said she would call me once she reaches there but there is no update from her till now..." Aman was still saying something but the moment he heard there is no update of Khushi's whereabouts he rushed towards Payal's cabin to know if she knew something on it. Seeing her worried and trying to call Khushi it was clear Khushi hasn't reached home too. If she isn't at home or here then where is she? He checked that she sent the mail he asked a few hours back. Grabbing the car keys he went in search of her.

Her number is not reachable and she isn't seen anywhere on the way to the new construction site, as a final try he went into the site to check just in case. He questioned the security guard if he saw Khushi going out and at what time she left? As the guard didn't remember seeing her leave the site he rushed up searching floor to floor for her presence.

...

I know the precap isn't there in this update and the update is little short too but I promise to be back at earliest with another update.

Precap- Gupta sister's meet Raizada family

All I request of readers is that it takes just a minute to let know your thoughts on the update if you really don't want to

write a comment at least hit the like button so that I know the people who are reading my story. Your likes and comments are my encouragement and inspiration.

Any resemblance of the storyline or dialogues to other is just a coincidence and please do let me know if any such thing is noticed.