Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Khushi stood distrait, as her brothers were saying whatever came into their minds to Arnav. But she was only waiting to know the truth to hear from her brothers mouth.

"Didn't I warn you that dare you hurt my sister?" Khushi's elder brother, Ruhaan said, and held him by his collar.

She listened to them as long as she could, but her own body was giving up on her. Her head was spinning.

"If you have already decided to give my sister divorce, listen you, Mr. Raizada, take your sister home too. I have already said you that if you won't marry my sister I will leave your sister," Ruhaan said.

Soham and Rohan looked at their elder brother as he had revealed the truth.

Ruhaan looked at Arnav in dismay as he realised he had already said it, he released Arnav's collar.

Khushi too looked at her brother now. And Anjali almost fainted.

***FLASHBACK***
"Khushi, before taking any decision let me know what is the real truth. Chote, cannot cheat, he cannot have extra martial relationships, please you wait here. If really Chote has cheated you, this is the promise I will get him to divorce you."

Khushi didn't say anything, and Anjali before going inside the RM, as Khushi stood at the entrance door, said, "Khushi, please don't leave."

Lavanya kept hand on her Arnav's shoulder. They both were sitting in the living room.

"Khushi won't let Anjali di leave the house!" Khushi, heard Arnav saying to Lavanya. "I know she is hurt, but she won't let Anjali di be the part of this."

When they heard the footsteps Arnav got up the sofa and looked at Anjali.

"Di?" he said, Lavanya looked at him.

"Arnav, you gave Khushi her happiness, what about your sister's?" Lavanya asked.

Anjali looked at Arnav as she walked in.
"Di, please don't say anything. We can explain what happened?" Lavanya said.

"Chote, if you loved this girl, why did you mess up with Khushi's and my life?" she questioned.

"Di, it is nothing as you are thinking!" Lavanya said.

"Then what was it? Huh?" she shouted, and now looked at her. "Do you have anything better to say?"

"Chote, we didn't expect this from you. Before doing all this you should at least thought that how it could effect your sister's married life!"

"I tell you the truth," Lavanya said.

"Lavanya, no!"

Khushi moved to know why and what he had stopped her to say anything.

"No, ASR. I have too. Since situation has come to the point that it has already happened what we were afraid, I guess she should know the truth."

"What's going on?" Anjali asked.

"To save your marriage only he married to Khushi at first place!" Lavanya revealed.

Anjali looked at her in distress.
"ASR, did not marry Khushi out of love. He was forced to marry her. Because Khushi loved him, and Arnav has refused to marry her. Then Ruhaan jiju threatened him that he will leave you. Di, me and ASR, have no relationship. We are just friends. I only helped ASR, to pretend that we love each other because he hated that he was forced to get married to Khushi. Khushi told her brother's that she loves him and they forced him!"

"No, Chote, Khushi didn't tell this to her brothers, I told them. Khushi thought that you love her. It was all a confusion."

Arnav was shocked, and he heart felt it was knifed into pieces. Till now he was thinking that Khushi had asked her brothers to get him married to her.

"Di, that is why to save your marriage he asked Khushi to give him the divorce so that your marriage is saved."

Khushi's back hit the wall as she was completely broken to know the truth.

"Chote, what you have done? She loves you, and she wasn't this insane that she had asked her brothers to force you to get her married to you. You hurt her purposefully?"

"But, di, things are different ASR loves Khushi."

A vase fell that was at enterance everyone looked at the source of the sound, they looked at Khushi.

There was a pin drop silence once again as broken pieces of vase finally settled on the floor.

And in Khushi's mind the words were playing again and again of the revelation and her eyes on Arnav filled with shock.

"Di, what is she doing here?" Arnav asked.

"I got her here!" she said.

"Di, what you have done? Look, Khushi!" he said, and hurriedly walked to her. "Khushi, look I can explain everything. It was all a confusion. I am sorry I hurt you deliberately."

"You were forced to marry me by my own brothers!" she said, with dearth of her own soul, as she was not even looking at him.

"Khushi, I love you. I promise that is not fake."

She moved his hand away from him and walked out of the house. Arnav followed her. "Khushi, where are you going?"

She didn't answer. Arnav stood in front of her. "Khushi!" he said and held her by her shoulders. She looked at him in his eyes.

"Not even once you bothered to tell me why were you doing this?" she qualmed. "May be I had been a help to you lessen your pain, Arnav. Instead of causing yourself a pain you should have at least once, only once told me the cause of your pain. It was my promise that I had not let di's marriage to be in a problem. Or I would say my brother don't even deserve Anjali Di. Arnav, if you have killed me then, I would have not questioned you.

"Khushi, please don't say so. I am sorry. I was selfish to save my sister's marriage I ruined your life. I am sorry, it was misunderstanding, I thought you, you told your brothers, but Khushi after hurting you I realised that I was hurting myself. Khushi, I love you. I realised too late!"

"But what about the guilt that I am going through after knowing that you didn't marry me out of love. Arnav, once I want to know the truth from my brothers mouth that they forced you to marry me."

***END OF FLASHBACK***

As now the truth was in front of everyone, Khushi knew it, infact Arnav was forced, she was dead. It was worst than knowing that Arnav loved Lavanya.
Her faith on relationships had ended.

"Chutki, you know this we all love you. And for your happiness I could have done anything!" Ruhaan said.

"What did you get?" she asked. "Today, you lost me, bhaiya. For forever."

"Not only, Khushi, but me too!" Anjali said.

Ruhaan looked at her in shock. "Please, Anjali, you know that how much I love you!"

"Yes, I have really come to know that how much you love me," she said, looking into his eyes, but she could no longer look at him, and left from there.

"Anjali, bitiya!" her mother-in-law said. But she was too hurt to listen to her.

"Arnav, go from here!"

"Nani, when Anjali Di will get hold of herself take her home!"

"Chutki, at least listen me!"

"There is nothing to hear or even say, bhaiya."

Arnav fell on his knees when he saw Khushi leaving to her room, he spoke, "Khushi, I did a mistake by hurting you. I admit it. Please, Khushi. Give me one chance. I will prove myself that you didn't do a mistake by loving me. I will prove that I deserve you."

Khushi turned around and laughed. "It's too easy for you men to do mistakes first and then simply say sorry. For six months you didn't even talk properly to me and then came up with a plan to hurt me, and telling me you don't love me and then you realise that you love me. Mr. Arnav Singh Raizada, the hurt you have given me had killed my heart and love that I had for you, it will not come back if you will try to take care of me when I was sick, and saying those few apologetic words."

Arnav knewit was her hurt speaking.
"Khushi, I know that by saying that you don't love me won't make you hate me. Khushi, in return of the pain I have given you, you can give me the pain too. I promise I won't even hiss."

"Sorry, Mr. Raizada, here we are not playing any hurt game. You can live the way you have thought to live after giving me the divorce. Yes, you are right my love will not lessen but you are forgetting my love for you is my strength not my weakness. Even if you had real relationship with Lavanya then also my love for you wouldn't decrease, that is true. Now you may please get up and leave. And don't worry Anjali di, will go with Nani to London," she said looking at Ruhaan and he too looked at her with pain in his eyes. Realising that he had actually lost Anjali.

***
Khushi switched on the light of Anjali's room and closed the door behind. "Khushi!" she cried. Khushi went to her and hugged her.

"I am sorry, bhabi, because of my own brother you have to all go through this!"

"Khushi, what about my brother? He has hurt you a lot too."

Khushi broke the hug and wiped Anjali's tears. "Di, what Arnav did was, he had reasons for it. He actually thought that I made my brothers to get him married to me. If I was in his place I would have done the same. But it doesn't make him or even my brother right. They made us the puppets."

"This should not have happened..." Anjali stopped in between of her sentence that made Khushi worried.

"Di, are you okay?" Khushi asked.
"I...I feel light headed!"
"Di, you wait, I get water for you."
"Khushi, please don't go."
"I am only going to get water!"
"Nothing to worry about, Khushi. I am expecting!"
Khushi kept her hand over her mouth. "Oh my god, Di. You serious? You mean I am going to be bhua and Mami?"

Anjali nodded.
"Does bhaiya know about this?"

"No!" she said and wiped her tears. "I got to know today. Remember I had said that I won't be able to attend the party, on that day to get my bio test done and today I got the results."

Khushi hugged her. "Di, I am so happy for you. Congratulations."

"Thank you, Khushi."

"Bhabi, I know after whatever happened today, it has turned everything sour, however, I promise everything soon will be okay. But right now these men need to learn their lessons. Please do not take stress. Stay here I get something for you to eat here in the room then you can rest!"

Anjali held Khushi's hand and made her stop, and kissed her forehead. "Khushi, thank you for tackling the situation."

"Di, I know it is really easy to break relationships, but hard to make them. I know the foundation of mine and Arnav's relationship was weak and not every relationship is well founded, we can make it work but I promise not this easily. We are not going to give our relationships a chance without knowing it is something that we both really want it."

"You have really grown up, Khushi."

"They say maturity does not come with age but experience and hardships. Don't stress you see how we both make our men pay for what they have done," she said.

***

"Nani ji, Anjali di is not feeling well, so she will eat her food in her room."

"What happened to her, Chutki?" Ruhaan asked.

"Ma, please tell him to not to worry about her!" Khushi said.

"But, Khushi, what happened to Di?" Arnav asked.

"Mr. Raizada, please have your dinner and kindly leave!"

"Khushi, I am not leaving until you are ready to go with me!"

"As you wish, Mr. Raizada, I will ask Ramu kaka to get one of the guest rooms ready for you. You can stay here as a paying guest."

"But did Anjali eat?" Ruhaan asked, cutting her off.

"Ma, tell him that it is not only about his wife but his child too!"

Everyone looked at her wondering what she had said.

"What?"

"Yes, ma, you are going to be dadi soon."

Ruhaan smiled and was going to get up his chair to meet Anjali, "She doesn't want to see you," Khushi said. "And by the way, right now she is sleeping. Please let her sleep peacefully. Her husband and brother has not left any stone unturned that didn't hurt her," she said and was going to leavewhen Arnav spoke.

"But, Khushi, you eat at least too!" Arnav said. "You have not eaten anything for the past few days."

She stopped and turned around. "Do not give yourself this much importance that because of you I will stay hungry," she said.

"Thank god, your father is not here, if he will see what is happening behind his back, he must be very ashamed," Mrs. Gupta said.

Arnav kept the spoon in his plate. "Excuse me!" he said and left. Ruhaan was next followed by Rohan and Soham.

"Congratulations, bahu, Deviyani ji, we are soon going to be grandma!" Khushi's dadi said.

"Congratulations, I hope our children soon realise their mistakes and tie all the loose ends that they had in their relationships."

"Don't worry, bitiya, our kids are responsible enough. If they have made a mistake they will defiantly make up for it too, our daughters are more mature than these stupid sons of ours!" Nani said.

"I agree with you," dadi said.

***

Arnav, Soham, Rohan, and Ruhaan sat in the backyard.

"I am going to be a father, but I am so unlucky that I can't even celebrate the happiness!" Ruhaan said as he gulped down the glass of drink down his throat.
"And I am so unlucky that I had such a beautiful women in my life and I distanced myself from both of them!" Arnav said and he drank from the bottle.

"Ruhaan, bhaiya, this is all because of you," Rohan said. "Because of you my sister is not talking to me. Khushi, Di, never ever got mad at me. Not even when I used to steal her pocket money."

"He is right!" Soham said. "And, we are going to be a chachu (uncle) and we can't celebrate!"

"One more thing, I never drank, Khushi will be so hurt!"

"Hello, jiju, didn't you hear what Khushi said? Don't give yourself much importance. The truth is we have lost the trusts of two beautiful ladies!" Rohan said.

"Salo, it's all because of you!" Arnav said.

"Jiju, don't swear!"

"What else should I call you then, unfortunately you all three are my brother-in-laws. Because of you my wife hates me!"

"Oh hello, if we didn't have made you marry our sister how could she even be yours? And you hurt her!"

"That's true. But when I need her in my life, she doesn't want me. How I tell her that I love her?!"

Khushi looked at all four, as they were laying on the chairs drunk. She called the servants.

"Kaka, take Ruhaan bhaiya to his room. And Prakash and Hari, take Soham and Rohan to their rooms. And Arnav, please you can go to the guest room!"

"Are, why guest room? I will sleep in my wife's room," he said.

When everyone left, Khushi went to him. "I am not your wife, Mr. Raizada."

He snaked his arms around her waist and try to look into her eyes in a drunk state. "Listen, Khushi, I am sorry. I really mean it. I am sorry that I hurt you. Okay, you can give me any punishment."

"Will you be able to take the punishment?" she asked.

"Say it once, Khushi."

"By tomorrow divorce papers will be ready. Sign them and leave me alone."

"Okay, but will you be able to live without me?" he asked.

"Do you think you are doing any favour on me by living with me? But, Mr. Raizada, I wouldn't have been able to live when you didn't want me. What then? What would you have done? It was so easy for you to leave me."

"I am sorry, Khushi. I am really sorry!" he held his ears. "I promise I won't ever hurt you."

"Why do I live with a person who give me so much hurt, Arnav?"

Arnav looked down when he saw tears in her eyes. "You have nothing to say, Mr. Raizada!" she said and freed herself from him and left.

"Kaka, please take Arnav to my room," she said when he was coming from dropping Ruhaan to his room.

Kaka nodded.

***

Arnav woke up with a headache when he looked at Khushi, he held her arm and got up the bed, and made her look at himself, but she looked away.

"Khushi, I totally understand what you are going through. You asked me why you should live with the person who have hurt you deliberately. That's right. Why would you, Khushi? But please look into my eyes, first," Khushi looked at him. "My words can be a lie, but the pain and love in my eyes that is their for you cannot be false. I can say this again and again that I have hurt you for that I am ready to take the pain that you will give me. I will happily take it. But please don't hurt yourself. You don't deserve this pain, and I know in no way your happiness is in leaving me. Khushi, in the past four days I have actually understood that what my life would be going to be without you. Lifeless, without any meaning, and colour. If you want to know after leaving you if I had chosen anyone else? No! There was no one before you, and there will be no one after you!"

"Khushi, bitiya," Kaka said.

Khushi moved back from him and wiped her tears. "Yes, kaka."

"Bitiya, here are the papers that you were waiting for!"

Khushi took them, "Thank you, Kaka!" she said as she weakly smiled.

Khushi looked at the papers and walked to the bed and sat. Arnav looked at the papers in her hand.

Khushi crumpled the papers and burst into tears. Arnav sat on his knees. "Khushi, what happen? Why are you crying?"

"I hate you, Arnav!" she sobbed. "You have only hurt me! I don't want to talk to you!"

Arnav smiled, but had tears in his eyes. "I am sorry, Khushi," he got up and hugged her. Papers slid down her lap and she hugged him.

"Khushi, if I ever hurt you that would be my last day that's a promise!" he said and cupped her face. She looked at him and he kissed her tears.

"Thank you, Khushi. I am seriously in love with you!"

She moved him back and picked up the papers. "Arnav, sign these papers, please!"

Arnav looked at her. "Chances are not given, they are earned, Arnav. You didn't do any good. Also, some mistakes are not easily forgivable!"

"Khushi, you can take as much time you want!" he said at Khushi's back. He looked at the envelope but was too scared to even look at the divorce papers, he now understood what Khushi was actually going through and have gone through when he had given her divorce. This thing no one understands if not gone through the same pain as the other.

***

"Anjali, how are you? And how is our baby?" Ruhaan asked, as he first helped her sit and tucked pillows behind her back to make her comfortable.

"We are good," she said, but the happiness from her tone was lost.

"Anjali, I am sorry. Do believe me that I wouldn't have left you even you know that."

"Yes, I thought that too, Ruhaan. But you proved me so wrong. The way you had asked me to leave, what should I get out of it? Today, we have such a big happiness to celebrate for, but an equal reason to mourn over the pain that you have given. What shall I would say to our baby that his father would have left its mother?"

"No, Anjali. I wouldn't have..."

"Why I believe you, Ruhaan? Okay, for a moment I believe whatever you are saying is the truth but Ruhaan, once arrow leaves the bow whether it is meant to hit the specific target or not it will do it work. Similarly, your words have. I really don't have much hurt that you said you will leave me, but, Ruhaan, look at your sister and my brother. I am sure you must have understood forced relationships doesn't go far."

"I am sorry!"

"With sorry, forgiveness can be earned, but not trust, Ruhaan. You have lost it. Mine as well as your sister's. Go and ask her what has she is going through."

"Anjali, you please take care of yourself and our baby. I promise I will fix every mistake!"

"Ruhaan, unfortunately, it's too late. You need not to worry about me, or your sister. All you can do is please leave us alone!"

"Anjali, what you are saying?" Ruhaan said. "Please don't give this big punishment for my mistakes."

"You should have thought of these consequences first, Ruhaan," she said and got up the bed to leave.

Ruhaan may be seven months ago simply said words he didn't mean, but he understood the real meaning of his words.