Arhi FF: Destiny Games T6 (Chapter 21.2 Updated 19th July) - Page 2

One of the best ff on IF read all in one go...

Keep it bringing

Awesome story👏

Please update soon

Hi yaar.. waiting for the next update.,..toooo longgg... update soon.,

congratulations on new thread and I'm excited for upcoming chapters

Congratulations on new thread

From the author’s desk: Hello peeps! Surprise! Here is the next update for the story. Thanks to you all impatient heads, I have outdone myself when it came to punctuality. I need extra special comments for being this nice

Happy reading all of you and Jappies for all the lovely comments.

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Chapter 19: Games with no rules

Part 1: Close to the heart

When Khushi went down, rather than taking a turn to the parking lot, Arnav turned towards the gate.

“We are walking” he said

“What?” Khushi was more than surprised. “Am I dreaming?”

“Its just the parallel street” Arnav explained “More over with the traffic at this time, walking would be quicker”

“Wait, what is this all about?” Khushi asked Arnav as they waved a bye to Abhi as his jeep as it sped by.

“You will know soon. You don’t enjoy surprises. do you?”

“Looks like I am the only one who does not know what this surprise bit is…The rest of them know it”

Arnav laughed. “What gave it away?”

“The general talk. Why else would they know when approximately we will be back”

Arnav nodded, but didn’t comment anything.

“So, what happened yesterday at the Magic cauldron?” Khushi asked after 2 mins of silence.

“I will let Anjali do the justice to the story” he said non-committedly “It is after all her story”

Again, there was silence for a few minutes.

Khushi wanted to know what happened when he confronted Dadi yesterday, but she also did not want to get into a conversation which may steer them into the context of what Anjali had hinted her few minutes back. She tried starting the conversation twice, but in vain.

“This way” he said turning right into a residential lane off the main road and walked until the end of the lane and stood in front of a very old but well-maintained two storey building. There were two gates, the left gate led to a private clinic which was now holding a board which said, ‘closed temporarily’. The right gate gave way to a small front yard garden and then to a big door which served as the entrance for the two storey house. On the right side was a fenced garden.

The name board at the gate read Shantivan.

“Afsal” Arnav called out as he opened the gate and walked in.

A girl of around 20 years came from the backyard.

“Afsal has gone to the shop, he told me that you will be coming.” She said as she opened the house “I just cleaned the house and changed the sheets on the bed and the curtains.”

“Thanks, Saira. How are your studies going on?”

“As usual bhaiyya, its only distance education. I am actually looking out for a temporary job to help ends meet until doctor saab is back. I take tuitions in the evening, but not helping much. Clinic is shut and so Afsal is also doing some odd jobs… its difficult.”

“What kind of job?”

“Anything like receptionist, office assistant or even cooking”

“Actually, a friend of mine is looking for a Nanny, if you are interested, you can go see her.” He said handing her Geethu’s phone number.

The girl thanked him, took the phone number and left.

“Whose house is this?” Khushi asked

“Mine” Arnav said surprising her as he switched on the mains. “Come in”

The house was spacious and was equipped with old fashioned wooden furniture, but the antiquity added to the charm of the house.

“It has a very traditional aura” she said looking around but added quickly as he raised his eyebrows “but in a charming way”

“Its our ancestral property, My Nanaji bought this years ago when my mom had to shift to Delhi for her studies and soon mama followed as well. I have tried to update the furniture or change the outlook, But Nani never lets me. She is persistent that it remains the way it is”

“Its beautiful the way it is” Khushi said “So, the left wing is Mama’s clinic?”

“Yeah, This used to be a big house once”

“it’s big even now” Khushi intervened “and beautiful”

“It’s actually has a front foyer and a couple of bedrooms and a pantry but that’s been altered and used as Mama’s clinic. We are now left with this hall and kitchen and the other three bedrooms upstairs are usable and so is the rest of the house.

“So why are we here?”

“Abhi’s place is nice, but it can be too crowded for six people” Arnav said “don’t you think?”

“Did Abhimanyu Ji put you on this mission?”

“What, no. Why? Was he supposed to tell me something?”

“No, only this morning we were having a conversation about how it was very difficult for him with so many girls taking over his house”

“It’s actually Geethu’s house, so did that moron complain?”

“no, he didn’t. But I don’t think we should take advantage of that”

“right”

“So, you want me and the girls to shift here?”

“If you like it”

There were so many questions in Khushi’s mind. But before she could ask them, there was an interruption.

“Bhaiyya?” A young boy of around 20 came carrying two bags. “Groceries, vegetables and dairy.”

“thanks for the help Afsal, really appreciate it”

Khushi raised her eyebrows at Arnav.

“No problem bhaiyya, I will leave these bags at the kitchen”

As Afsal went into the kitchen, Khushi said “I have never seen you thanking your staff before”

“Afsal is not my staff. He is…” Arnav paused as he saw the boy coming out

“Khushi, this is Afsal. He works at mama’s clinic. He lives with his sister and mom in the cottage house at the backyard. And Afsal, this is Khushi, she is a family friend”

“Shout out if you need anything, didi, I or my sister Saira will come for help.”

“Sure, thanks”

Once Afsal left, they were alone again.

“So, is this house empty always?”

“Mama and Mami occasionally stay here”

she remembered Anjali telling her that Mama and Mami lived in a house in the city.

“When they want to visit the hospital- for her treatment?”

Arnav nodded. “This house is in proximity to the hospital and has good access to taxis in case of emergencies when Mama is not around, they find this convenient sometimes”

“you were so sure that I will say yes to shift here?”

“Nothing like that… It’s your decision”

“I can see that, especially when you have already asked Afsal to stock up groceries”

Arnav chuckled. “Afsal’s was such a wrong timing.”

“What if Mama and Mami are back tomorrow?”

“They are not expected to be back soon. Even if they are back, they will stay at the RM. Mami likes being around people and her comfort, she hates cooking and she prefers RM. That’s why this house is unoccupied mostly.”

“It’s a pity that this house should suffer such a fate”

“mmhmm… so it is a yes?”

She watched him switch on the fridge and put in the milk packets and other dairy products inside the fridge.

“What will you do if I say no?”

“I may have to switch off the fridge and take the milk packets out”

“I am surprised you know these domestic stuff”

“I lived on my own in the UK”

He went back to the other packages and peeked in

“Mami usually clears the house of all the groceries when they are not expecting to be back soon” he said opening the shelf to reveal colored glass containers, cookie jars and bowls which were usually used for storing the grocery items. They were all empty

“I asked Afsal to get the basic stuff… not sure if you would need anything else, if you need anything more … ask Afsal to get it for you.”

“They are cute” she said taking one of the glass jars in hand.

“My mom’s collection. That’s my favorite.” Arnav said pointing at a big cookie jar with beautiful glass painting on it

“Wow! it’s beautiful”

“What say?” Arnav asked as Khushi raised her eyebrows at him “do you want me to leave the milk packets in the fridge or take them out?”

She gave him a smug look

“I will think about it”

“Ok, come, let me give you a house tour, that will perhaps help you decide”

They climbed the steps to the second floor.

The first floor was also furnished with minimalistic antique wooden furniture. The stairs opened to a common hall, at the center of which was a huge traditional divan which Khushi first mistook to be a swing because of the four-poster fitting. There were a couple of big wooden armchairs near the divan. Other than those, there were no other furniture, giving the hall an impressive vastness.

“I am actually surprised that you didn’t try to persuade me to return to RM”

“Do I have a chance?” he asked cheekily as she stared at him surprised. “Actually Khushi, I did not want to force you when you told me that it was a question of your self-respect. I respect your decision.”

Khushi stood watching him as he opened the huge windows in the 1st floor hall.

“Then why did you confront Dadi on the matter?” Khushi asked

Arnav rolled his eyes

“Anjali spilled the tea”

“She just said that you both had a confrontation”

“My sister cannot keep secrets” he said as he opened the nearby bedroom. She followed him in to see the room vibrant with yellow and orange walls. This room stood out from the rest of the house in its décor, but still furnished with wooden bed and chairs and table like the rest of the house. Khushi predicted this was the room used by Mama and Mami.

"Actually, I forced her to tell me. It was not her fault, I was feeling anxious and..." Khushi started to say, then bit her tongue, trying to check herself, but question hit the mark.

He smirked at her

"About me? Oh that's good news!"

“I only hope it wasn’t as bad as the last time” she said ignoring his playfulness.

They peeked into another spacious bedroom. This one had a grandeur in its simplicity. Probably, Nani's room.

“Why do you think it was bad, it turned out to be the best”

“hmm I understand, you found a way to get rid of me”

“It was the other way around. I gave you a chance to get rid of my annoying presence”

“works either way”

Arnav opened the other bedroom. This was smaller than the other two rooms and there were no beds here, only a lone lounge chair which looked very comfortable and a shelf of books. There was a worktable and chair at one corner of the room and this room had ample light from the glass doors which opened to a small balcony.

“Wow!”

“Don’t get so excited, most of them are all medical books. I may have left a few books here, but you wouldn’t find any Jane Austen”

“I don’t mind a bit.” she said as she went closer to the shelf admiring them.

Arnav recollected that she had once aspired to become a doctor.

“I didn’t realize that this room could be my selling point” he joked.

Khushi laughed.

“I am tempted”

“Lucky me”

Khushi moved towards the table which had a big folder, stepping closer she realized that it was a photo album.

“May I?”

“I have no idea what it is” he said “feel free”

She opened it to reveal it was the wedding album of Mama and Mami. She flipped through a few pics and paused to smile one particular picture.

He peeped into the album and wasn’t surprised to see his family pic. It was a group photo of his Nani and the bride and the groom along with his parents holding a 4-year-old Arnav and 2-year-old Akaash.

“Akaash resembles your mother and you look like your father”

“Yeah, we have been told”

“There is one other place you need to see” he said as he pulled her downstairs

***

They were standing in the backyard which housed the cottage where Afsal and his family lived. The right side of the plot was fenced, and it stretched all the way from the front yard to the backyard. At first Khushi had taken it to be the neighbor’s plot, but now she was standing in front of the fence gate as Afsal fetched the keys for them.

“My Nana ji had dedicated almost half the plot to cater to my mother’s passion. Almost all the plants and trees in this garden was planted by my mother. A few were added later by me or Mama or Afsal” Arnav said as he opened the gates and took her inside the place.

Khushi was awed at the size of the garden, she wasn’t sure if she can call it a garden.

“Wow! I didn’t expect this to be so big, it’s like a mini forest… This is so therapeutic!” she said walking around. There were so many shrubs, plants and trees big and small, some of them carved with names of Arnav and his siblings.

“I know, it’s more of a grove.” he said “its as if these trees have a community of their own, we don’t do anything more than occasionally water them during summer but most of times they thrive on their own”

There was a man-made pond with greenish water and a few water lilies in it. At the center of the grove was a raised circular stone platform with a tree at its muddy center, giving the sit out ample shade.

Behind it were the rose plants big and small. Arnav sat on the stone platform facing the rose plants. Khushi sat beside him

“I have vivid memories of spending time here with my mother, planting trees, cleaning up”

“You lived here when you were younger?”

“We visited during weekends…”

“It was empty even then?”

“Nani and Mama were staying here.” He said turning to look at her. “They moved to RM after we lost our mother”

Khushi nodded at him.

They watched in silence as Afsal’s ducks jumped into the pond, splashing water everywhere.

“So, are you going to tell me what happened between you and Dadi or not?” Khushi asked him

“It doesn’t matter Khushi” Arnav said “I am really sorry that you had to go through Dadi’s antagonism for no fault of yours”

“That’s Ok. Maybe she felt uncomfortable with the crowd, wanted her privacy…”

“What are you talking about? RM is big enough to hold 10 times more than what it holds, and she has all the privacy she wants. I wish she had half the compassion you have”

“You are very kind to put it that way. Maybe it is was my fault. I put you in such a spot. I was a guest there, and I had no right to invite two other girls.”

“You were my guest and she had no right to throw you out. But trust me, you are not the first victim. Payal had her share of being chased away as well.”

“She didn’t turn me away. I chose to walk away”

“I know. That’s the tragedy of all.”

“Its not like I can stay there forever”

“You can stay here forever” he said as Khushi raised her eyebrows at him, he quickly added, “I mean, as long as you like, No one is going to say anything to make you leave”

“Ok, I accept on one condition” she said “You have to accept rent”

“Are you kidding?”

“No, I am serious. I don’t want to stay here free of cost. It’s a matter of my self-respect again.”

“Khushi, I didn’t force you to come back to RM because I didn’t want to give anyone a chance to treat you that way” he said raising hand as Khushi tried to interrupt “it is not an over protective gesture and I know you can handle it well yourself. But just in case, you felt you would rather want to walk away rather than give it back, like you did yesterday… for whatever reasons you did that, I don’t want to take chances again”

“So, respecting my self-respect was a lie”

“No, it’s a part of the reason as well”

“then, you will have to accept me as a tenant. There is no other way.”

“How much do you want to give me?”

“I don’t know, you should tell me”

“Let’s do this. Do you remember my mother’s big cookie jar in the kitchen? You keep putting in how much ever you want to pay me as a rent. One day, we will take it all to your favorite orphanage and donate them”

“This sounds like an anti-climax actually”

“You wanted to pay rent and I told you how you can do it. Chapter closed”

“So, I and the girls move here tomorrow?”

“whenever you want”

“It was a bit of a rush when I moved out of RM, I may have left some of my things there which I may need.”

“I will bring them over tomorrow”

“I was thinking if I can pay a quick visit to collect them myself.”

“Oh ok”

“If you feel it is not a good idea, then”

“No, I didn’t think you were ready to come back to RM so soon”

“It’s only a visit. Besides, I wanted to give a proper farewell to Ramu Kakka’s family who looked after me so well.”

“Khushi, you don’t have to explain me why you want to come. Its your decision. If you want to stay at RM, I can make it work.”

Khushi laughed

“I don’t want to be rude and call you a bluff”

“I am serious” Arnav said “You want to come to RM now, I will take you”

“By fighting Dadi? You are only going to make it all worse. She is going to grow more bitter towards all this. I suppose we let it be”

“How can it be a fight if we abide by what she said?”

“how in the world will you take me, and the girls there and still abide by Dadi’s condition?” Arnav looked at her as she continued “Anjali told me about Dadi’s condition. I know”

“I told that girl to keep quiet about this” he muttered

“What?”

“You think I brought you here because I wanted to abide by what Dadi wanted?”

“Is it not true?” Khushi asked “Probably the other reasons you gave are there too but”

“No. It is not right.” Arnav told her “Dadi’s condition is one of the lamest criteria that I could have fulfilled within minutes”

“Broken you mean?”

“Fulfilment of that criteria would have been a piece of cake, if, all I cared for was winning. But it is not”

“how were you planning to make the girls related?”

“You are not asking about yourself?”

“You know I wouldn’t come without the girls.” Khushi said carefully avoiding the talk about them.

“Yeah, I know. I mean, you are attached to the girls. I had plans for that”

“Like?”

Arnav remained quiet for a few minutes that Khushi almost started to smile at him sarcastically.

“Adoption”

“What?”

“Why? Does that bother you?”

“No” she said slowly “Are you serious?”

“Of course, the girls want a family. Why not mine.”

“This is a big step. Do you realize that? I think you should give it a thought. It is not like I don’t approve of it. But I feel you are acting impulsively on this.”

Arnav stood up facing her.

“I was only telling you that I had ways to satisfy Dadi’s condition, but I didn’t want to because of other reasons”

“You don’t have to do this just because you wanted to win the fight with Dadi.”

“That's what you think it is?” Arnav said shrugging at her “That’s why I am not doing what I feel is the right thing to do”

“What do you mean?”

He smiled mysteriously at her

"You think I want to do it because I wanted to win a point against Dadi"

"If that's not the cause then what is?"

He looked at her, contemplating on something.

"What are you thinking about?" Khushi prompted him.

“Some other time. I don’t want what is genuinely felt to be mistaken as a forsake action”

“what?”

“It’s time to go”

“Arnav please tell me what you mean” Khushi said standing up too.

Arnav turned to look at her in surprise.

“What?”

“This is the first time you addressed me with only my name and not a ji behind it”

“I suppose, yeah” Khushi said slowly “Do you mind?”

“No” he said “All my friends call me that way, why would I mind”

Khushi nodded.

“I don’t usually address anyone by their first name only”

“Hmm, I have noticed. Akaash ji, Abhimanyu Ji, Geethu Ji… But you call Anjali or Payal or even NK without a ji”

“They are either my own age or younger”

“Oh, so this is all about age?”

“hmm, either that or fondness.”

They started walking towards the house.

“Is Aman younger to you?”

Khushi smiled as she shook her head

“No. He is the only other exception besides you”

“Good to know” he said “at least I don’t feel that gloomy because I lost your respectful ji”

She giggled.

“Sometimes words don’t express that well the respect one feels for the other person” She said smiling at him "Nor the fact that there are times when affinity overrides respect"

He smiled at her back as he watched her get into the house, wishing Anjali had listened to him and had kept quiet about Dadi’s condition.

“Some other time” he muttered as he walked into the house.

To be continued.

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Hey all, Hope you are all safe. I have given a non- cliff hanger update after a long time. Do tell me what you think in comments, Stay safe until we meet again in another update. cheers!

Arnav arranged a house for khushi and the girls and that is his ancestral maternal house and khushi agreed on one condition that she will pay the rent bcoz her self respect doesn’t allow her to take anymore favours from him.

I can't tell you how glad I'm to read this update today.It was not a great day,I'm great full that my family and friends are safe and keeping well but mentally I had a awful day.
Your story put a smile on my face.The way you have shaped up Anrav's character is very nice.He respectful and considerate towards all the ladies and Kushi is strong character too.

Thank you for updating 🤗

Oh guess have to wait it is after all destiny awesome

No proposal, at least for now. That house would be just perfect for the girls. Knowing the history behind it makes it even more meaningful.