Man, your khushi is the epitome of goodness and innocence. everything about her makes me feel like defending her against every evil in this world. just like arnav did. but, she is also not a showpiece. she is a person., and somehow your arnav just never treats her like one. khushi's love for arnav is absolute. he is everything a good man should be and a bit more. her love makes sense. Her devotion and belief in his love make sense. Their relationship is the way it is because Arnav Khushi complimented each other in the best possible manner. but, all of it was for nil. i can't believe khushi lost herself so much in this love. a love that should have been her safety cost her being. The chapter - Smithereens is beyond powerful. her devastation and muted explosion gut you beyond repair. you feel so profoundly for her loss of self and trust. and, just like her - all this while I have questioned if arnav truly loved khushi. did he? coz, even his pov has not sold me. khushi's words were laced with reality I'm gripping by threads. Did Arnav just consider khushi a long-standing responsibility, in a life filled with innumerable ones? She was just another addition, pleasant but just an additional. khushi's insecurities make sense on every objective level. Would Arnav go for someone like her? A village belle, who after 10 years is left to wonder - all she was a botheration for a husband. a responsibility he enjoyed from time to time. you don't do what he did to the one you love. i do know arnav loved khushi in his own way. but, habit is not love. need is not love. only after losing her arnav understand her value. but, like the parable shared. the price was the parrot's voice. here is the cost is khushi herself. she has no identity beyond arnav. and, for the first time ever, khushi understood what people looked at when they looked at her. not a devoted wife and a good woman, but just a beautiful accessory. meant to be enjoyed but not valued. The way you have depicted her struggles, and the undertones in her actions leave you wondering how we can best help her. but i wont decide for her. whatever khushi does in the end - get back with arnav, Vidit, a third guy, single, or just a wife in name. i will support her. the girl doesn't need anyone else making a decision or judgment on her behalf. what a powerful, female character you have written.
arnav. Now he is what i have been meaning to discuss with you. to revel in his choices. What an impeccable but flawed character. He is everything i never thought would come to accept. A cheater. Your story has given him a dimension that makes me oddly feel like an akash in all of this. someone who wants to support arnav in his quest to gain some semblance of control over his life. After a series of upheaval, you feel vindicated in his success. they seem personal. you admire his quest and want to see him reach the top. but, he did lose himself somewhere. by the nature of his life and position, he took all the decisions. an by taking so many decisions, he seems to have started taking them all. And somewhere along the way he forgot to take consensus for them. somewhere he forgot to enjoy life. because life was always a battle. arnav's second nature never left him. and. now there is another battle where he has already lost. how will he win, when he has already destroyed everything? it is not cheating alone, like khushi said. it is arnav's apathy. his disregard and unintentional nonchalance. He is a good person, but like he pointed out to khushi - that shouldn't be the qualifying factor for a partner. Payal's words sum him up perfectly. khushi's scale for arnav was at the bottom, and arnav still dug himself further. arnav resented khushi. she was a reminder of his incapacities which he left behind. The one khushi helped him overcome, and she became the worst of them all. it bothers me that arnav could take so many such steps in all of this and he is still only reeling from it. i don't know what is ahead for him. Salvation is too early. i predict purgatory has just started and will not end anytime soon. it is the way Payal and khushi deduced arnav. it sums up his failing perfectly. and, that is why it is so hard to understand how he could even begin to be the guy for khushi. who could deserve to be even in her shadows, let alone by her side.
This story is beyond amazing. after so long I have found an arshi ff that is beyond brillance. you know what you are writing and I hope you keep writing.
If you can share how many more chapters there would be, that would be great. i do feel we have just reached the middle, but I would like to be prepared for the journey.
i do have to read this story again coz I feel I have barely scratched the surface. This one is a wine, that will only age better with every re-read.
thank you for sharing this with us.
p.s. i love the songs you have chosen for these stories. they go so well with the chapters. like for this chapter - kitne baatein.
i would have another recommendation if it has not been made already. Ignore if otherwise:
Oddly, the female parts work with arnav's character
" यूँ देखो तो मेरेदामन में क्या नहीं
दौलत का चाँद है,
शोहरत की चांदनी
मगर तुम्हें खो के, लगे है मुझे ऐसा
के तुम नहीं तो, कुछ भी नहीं"
and, khushi's with the male audio -
"वो दिन थे क्या हसीं,
दोनों थे साथ में और बाहें आपकी, थी मेरे हाथ में
तुम ही तुम थे सनम, मेरे दिन रात में"
Maybe you can share it sometime or just let it join a list that may exist.
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