5. Wedding (k)not

5 days ago

manjiri

@m4manju

Originally published on 14 March 2024

About this scene: Arnav and Khushi come home married amidst Payal-akash's post wedding rituals and everyone is already wondering about missing Arnav and Khushi. The families are shocked to see them with garlands and newly wedded looks. Arnav rigidly declares they are married. It is then shown in the flashback about why they had married and how. This chapter delves into the minds of Arnav and Khushi just moments before this biggest mishap in their lives...a mishap which crushed their hearts, their dreams that night for a long time and they assumed this was it for them. (Episode Season 6-Episode 7 on Hulu/Hotstar, Ep165 otherwise)

This is written more from Arnav's POV because we've had many versions of Khushi's pov on this night so far. Hope you all still like it.

Click here to watch ArShi scene

--~--

When she saw the message written on her mirror, to come and meet her on the terrace, her heart raced with an anticipation of the moment she had been dreaming about since past few days.

To be precise, since he cornered her around the kitchen wall and confronted about the 'A' on her mehendi or since the moment when he saved her from humiliation and helped her win the dance competition on the sangeet night or since the time when he challenged her with a kiss on her cheek and then she too did so-albeit inadvertently, or since the butterfly-inducing moment on the morning of haldi when he wiped the haldi on his cheek with her dupatta as if he owned it-as if he owned her- or from the jittery moment just this morning when he helped her serve the guests and behaved like a servant at her home. She had been anxiously waiting for him to finally confess what had been a worst kept secret between them already! Something that she had already read in his eyes and heard from his heartbeats...and finally, it looked like he had chosen today's day.

What will he say? What will she reply? Of course, she would reply yes, there was no question about it.

But after that she was going to ask him to behave nicely with her and mend his laad governor ways. She decided. He might have been the ASR until now, but after he confesses his feelings to her, she was going to ask him to behave little romantically. Maybe take a lesson or two from Salman Khanji!

Khushi's musings were something on those lines.

It is said that if you boast about your good fortune, it gets jinxed, nazar lag jaati hai, but her love, her Arnavji, she will happily boast about winning his heart! It was one such achievement to win over a man who self-proclaimed to be a non-believer in love (and God). She seemed to have already made him trust in love -her love- now she will make him trust in her Devi maiyya too.

And with those thoughts on her mind, with eager steps, she opened the door to the terrace, to finally meet the man who had her heart, her Arnavji.

.

.

He was climbing the steps impatiently. This was not just a step but a huge leap for him, a leap of faith! His long-held beliefs against this thing called heart and feeling called love, his notion against middle-class girls, everything was changed, every notion was broken by her, and he couldn't wait to tell her so. He was going to promise her that he would bring the entire world to her feet once she said yes.

But she would say yes, right? She must! He had felt her heart say so already and so far, Arnav Singh Raizada's instincts never lied! Not that he had much expertise in the field of love. His last so-called girlfriend was Lavanya (at least for the world), and he had never understood her heart rather, he never intended to.

Well, with Khushi he didn't need to try. His heart just heard her, listened to her, was attuned to her on its own. And now his feelings, his steps were like on autopilot!

His years-fatigued mind started weaving dreams. His long-suppressed desires started blooming. Desires that weren't limited to physical union but to small instances of affection that too were unachievable for him until now. Until she walked in his life, rather fell in his arms! He automatically smiled.

Now he would have all those things which he had only classified as unrealistic till now but a youthful Arnav inside him desired somewhere. Moments like, when he came home tired, rather overtired from work, he would be welcomed by Khushi's smiling face... Then, she would be eager to get him his coffee etcetera but he would just ask her to let him lie down in her lap and she would caress his head with her loving fingers...when he would be exhausted remembering his mother, he would hide his face in her neck or sit by the bed and hold her by her waist as she stood there and then bury his face in her soft stomach...Just. Sheer. Ecstasy. He would get to live all these moments, right?

Somewhere his mind kept telling him to stop, to not dream so high as most times his dreams, especially his sweet dreams about affection- whether about his maa or about Khushi- never materialized but he shushed his pessimist mind and kept going on...

And with eager steps he proceeded to the terrace.

.

.

Have you ever felt like getting everything you ever dreamt of and then losing it in an instant?

Khushi felt it that night. That moment!

The man she was hoping to see was not there but the man who gave her nightmares had caught her.

Instead of her prince in disguise of laad governor- Arnavji, a demon in disguise of a man- Shyam was holding her!

She felt suffocated, disgusted, bile rose to her throat as Shyam's vile hands held her close...

This was so unfair! Unfair to her! Unfair to her love! Why wasn't Arnavji here?

And why did she misunderstand that it was Arnavji who had written that message for her?

.

.

Have you ever felt like taking a huge leap of faith and then having that same faith mercilessly stamped under someone's feet?

Arnav felt it at night. That moment! When he saw Khushi in Shyam's arms. When he heard her tell Shyam to leave Anjali!

"Just tell me once, tell me once that whatever I am feeling, you were feeling it too? You were also going through sleepless nights, imagining me everywhere, eager to hear my voice, tell me, tell me that I am not the only one going crazy here. Please tell me that this – whatever this is – is mutual..." Arnav's heart kept crying in agony but none of it was happening. Because she was never his.

And he turned around.

To collect pieces of his broken heart...

--~--

An hour later:

"Tum apni behen se kitna pyar karti ho (How much do you love your sister)?" Arnav asked Khushi.

He had dragged her tightly holding her hand towards the poolside, where they both had many shared memories, many good memories.

Now it was getting tainted!

He probably read the question in her eyes as he asked next,

"You can do anything for her, right?"

This was not the question she had expected. Confused, already scared of the way he had dragged her upstairs, she looked at him.

"Huh?" she exclaimed, and he took it as a 'yes'. Well, the answer was 'yes' anyway.

The irony!

"Tumhe mujhse shaadi karni hogi. Aaj. Warna main tumhari behen ki shaadi mere bhai Aakash se nahi hone dunga (You will have to marry me. Today. For six months. Or else I won't let your sister marry my brother)."

What was he saying?

Was this some nightmare she was caught in? Why wasn't she waking up already?

"Why are you doing this?" She tried to reason with him, "You can't do this."

"I can do this, and you know it. Akash never denies what I tell him. And mami anyway doesn't want this marriage. She just needs one reason, and she will get it from me."

Khushi stood there, watching her dreams shatter into millions of pieces, watching her Arnavji turn into a heartless monster.

"So, you will marry me. For six months." he said, looking at her shocked face.

How he wished, this was not the scenario, and he would be claiming her heart in a better way.

She was crying. He felt his control of his heart slip for a moment but the next moment, his brain reminded him of what he had seen a while ago, her in Shyam's arms and what Shyam told him and Arnav knew her tears were for her possible separation from Shyam.

He clenched his fists, his nails nearly hurting his palm.

But right now, the hurt in his heart was much more than any other pain...

"Hum ye nahi kar sakte (I can't do this)." she said. She won't let him ruin her life like this. He didn't feel the same for her, never mind but she won't agree to his weird condition.

Arnav's anger knew no bounds hearing that. Was she so loyal to Shyam that she was refusing to even a six-month contract commitment? Like hell he would let it happen!

"Fine! Then watch another baaraat (wedding procession) return for your jiji." He said and turned around, knowing fully well she wouldn't let that happen.

Khushi stood there, her heart already dead in her body, she remembered how last time her jiji's marriage was stopped because of her. She can't let it happen again...

And thus, her decision was made.

"Rukiye (Wait)." He heard her say and he stopped without turning around, not knowing whether to laugh at his victory or cry at his fate... "I agree to marry you." she said.

And their fates were sealed.

In their minds their togetherness was for six months, but per God's plan, it was for eternity.

Only, they will know it months later. Months of agony, anger, fights, and pain later...

--~--

Present day (12 years since that incident)/CSD glimpse:

They were standing once again at the same place, where it had happened. The terrace of Shantivan.

Only, now they had miles away from the pain, had togetherness that only sweetened over the years and commitment to each other's souls for an eternity.

Khushi was in her Arnavji's arms, her back resting against his secure chest. Arnav was holding his precious khushi in his arms, as he stood railing against the wall of their terrace. His face hidden in her neck, her soft tresses caressing his stubbled cheek like a touch of velvet.

His dream was fulfilled. And this wasn't the first time, he had lived this blissful moment a million times in past few years and he knew he would for a billion more times...

Khushi's dream was fulfilled too. Her Arnavji had proved to be a romantic hero at heart. Only for her... and she too knew she would live these beautiful moments with him for many, many years, all their next lifetimes...

"Arnavji." She softly called him, after a long time.

"Hmm?" he asked, not bothering to lift his head from his favorite place on this earth!

"We should go downstairs now. Bacche (kids)-"

"-they are sleeping, Khushi. And we have brought this monitor too, right? So, don't worry." He said showing her the baby monitor he held in his left hand, while his right hand stayed wrapped around her bare midriff from her saree...

Khushi sighed and relaxed back on his chest as he kissed her neck.

They could see kids soundly sleeping in their room. And like many times in the past, Arnav and Khushi had sneaked out to the terrace for a few moments of solace in each other's arms. Most times, they used poolside but on some rare occasions, they would want to go the place where they shared a saddest memory and hoped to rewrite it with some sweet memories, color the black day from their past to red color of their love!

And the remaining shortcomings were fulfilled by their kids.

Kavish as a baby, had peed on Arnav's shirt here for the first time, making it a fun memory. Pari had drawn graffiti on the walls of terrace making it a proud memory! And Aru, well, she loved to practice karate(!) here for some reason!

In short, that black day of where they had once thought they lost everything, had given them everything they deserved, everything they owned.

--~--

A/N - This is the finale as well as main chapter of this series. This episode was epitome of their 'it should have been you' moment. And to be very honest, till date, I haven't mustered enough courage to watch it fully at one sitting, I watch it in bits n pieces, can't handle their heartbreak at once...Anyhow. I'll write an epilogue of sorts/CSD snippet of this one too if you all want. Please don't forget to vote, review, and share. Thanks

Update on 17/03/24 - CSD part is updated now. Enjoy