arshi -the bride [blog story] ch16 1 Jan 18 - Page 14

chapter 3

scared part 2

khushi had never missed her parents as she had missed them in past few days .it has been just few weeks but she felt like eternity has passed .as her mother advised her to be a good girl and do as told by her in laws she has done accordingly or atleast to the extend she was capable of . she had tried cooking whatever she knew , in the process she cut her fingers a few times or end up burning them a little accidentally . she had cried but no one came to sooth her pain like her mother used to do instead all she got is taunt to her and her mother not teaching her anything .

patience has never been her biggest virtue so she gave back as good as she got . she quarrelled back and tried to explain how small she is and how big big works are to much for her small hands. pooja had manged to save her from devyani's wrath a few times citing her childish behaviour as the reason but one day when she had broken her twelfth earthen port which was too heavy for her to carry filled from water from well which around two kilometres from home. all hell had broken lose that day . devyani had been so angry at her . she even slapped her twice and had locked her in small room covered in darkness . she had cried and pleaded to get her out but no one listened to her . she saw everyone ignore her pleas when dadi had dragged her there .

she was a brave kid ,never afraid of anything in her life .but that day with her cries part of her soul had broken down. she prayed to let her mother and father come to save her but no one came . she had banged on the door continuously , she screamed her husband's name to help her out which only ended in extending hours of her punishment as she once again broke the rule of a daughter in law to not to call her husband's name . why nobody understood that she was a kid and most of all she was human being who can make mistake , who will take time to learn to adjust ,why no one saw those burn marks on her skin, those cuts on her fingers. why her mother has sent her to such evil people .why her husband who was suppose to be god didnt came to help her. why only she is being treated like this . is she wrong on raising her voice to which she found wrong or to reject the work she knew she cant do.

no one came no one ,she cried the whole day and slept empty stomach .

she remembered how her mother said that now her husband was her everything. how he will protect her , give her name . the next morning when dadi has let her out with a firm warning , she just followed her orders mechanically. she had tried to tell arnav how hurt she is and to tell her to protect her from such torture as it is his duty but he had ignored her pleading eyes , didnt listened to her . she had felt helpless and angry at his behaviour .

he had went to give his exam when veil from face fell of accidentally in front of dadaji which has resulted in another punishment .she might have been mischievous but had never done anything to deserve such cruelty from anyone. the sticks that has landed on her back with much force with increasing frequency while she had just laid on the floor folded like baby crying . she had sobbed and no one came to put her on their laps to tell her that everything will be ok that they will stop them from hurting her no one.

she was coming from the well when she saw him looking at her with something akin to sympathy but all she felt within her is the anger .she has ignored if he didn't care for her neither would she . he didnt wanted to see her face be it . she didnt want to see him either . her childish ego has cut all ties of friendship with him if there ever was those ties. when he had declared that he was going to delhi for few weeks till his exam finishes , she had cared less . his existence didn't matter because all she here is alone.

as she now stood helping pooja make lunch . she stood their all attentive to learn make the dish she was preparing . khushi is a survivor and competitive if someone said to her she cant do it .she will put her best to prove them wrong . she took deep breaths to control those horrible memories of past haunt her . as advised by pooja she had learned to be calm and learn and do things properly which was appreciative by others . the less mistakes she made or went against anybody's orders the more she felt happy and content on able to adjust . it has been two months since arnav has gone and in the meantime she has learned to perfect as much as she was capable of . no one have hit her or punished her from the last time.

khushi got scared as she saw pooja cry in pain clenching her stomach.

'baby is coming khushi . go call mother in law fast.'

khushi had run as fast as her tiny feet let her . she informed mother in law and grandma as soon as she saw them in vicinity screaming .

she saw how few more ladies came and dai ma came and took pooja to a room . khushi put fingers in her ear and sat down on the floor closing her eyes as the screams increased with each passing second .she felt scared thinking what was happening inside that pooja was screaming so much. she just prayed she get fine soon and also baby come soon . she didn't wanted to lose one friend she had made here.

as soon as she hared the small cries of baby . khushi jumped in enthusiasm. she was feeling so happy to finally have small baby to play with , she has already made so many plans of what toys she will buy for it ,what dresses she will help wear .she has never felt this happy from past few months .

she saw how every member of family was now standing outside the door waiting to welcome the first child of the house . as the door opened she saw a women come with a dejected face .

'its a girl ...again'

khushi's heart has jumped in over joy on listening those words . a girl wow, she can play house house with her , buy her a doll, make her hairs , help her wear pink frocks. in excitement she didnt see all male members disperse outside with sad faces and all the other ladies went away with same expression of gloom.

she first felt confused to see devyani carrying the small child towards kitchen but khushi followed her jumping in joy nevertheless . her small mind didnt comprehend what was going to happen in the next few minutes as it was still busy in dreaming about the baby.

she saw her mother in law put a big tumbler of water on the burning fire .while devyani stood their like a statute with no expression on her face . khushi felt angry as she saw how no one made a move to stop the crying baby once . khushi's eyes went to towards the water which was now boiling with full heat . it was at that moment when khushi felt as something was wrong but what she didn't knew what. she never understood adult and their behaviour sometimes .

khushi screamed as devyani threw the crying baby girl in boiling water . she has felt her heartbeat stop , her body shaking as her innocent eyes still remain glued on the burning baby in shock. how could someone hurt god's gift ,a baby like that. how cruel a person can be .

devyani has been shocked to see khushi there and she felt angry seeing her .looking at her angrily she said to her in firm voice.

'if you ever gave birth to a girl . she will die just like this'

khushi cried looking at her ,anger building inside her .she thought she has mastered the art of silence in last few months but it was just not in her blood to stay silent at injustice or maybe it was the innocent , unbiased pure heart of a child that urged her to speak

'why? why would you kill her?'

'because she is girl . she will be just a burden and nothing else'

'NOOO... she just a small baby who dont know how to fight against evil like you'

'khushi stop it otherwise i will throw you with her to die'

'why dont you jump too because you are a girl too .why the partiality there'

devyani slapped khushi making her small body fell on the floor . her cries became more louder and her heart pained all the more.

'i am your husband's grandmother . learn to treat with respect'

'NOO... you are a sinner to have killed god's gift . you deserved to die'

'ENOUGHH' arvind raizada angry voice echoed in the whole house . he looked at small khushi with anger filled eyes . he signed devyani to take her away and teach her a lesson. but before devyani could get hold of khushi . khushi got up and ran towards the gate of house . she ran to save herself ,crying and praying. she knew they soon will catch her but she wont gave up without a fight.

as she crossed the gate ,she saw arnav getting off the car and look at her with confused expression. her sobs increased on seeing her in front of him . she ran and hugged him with all her might while he just stood shocked. her head laid on his stomach while her hands encircled his legs and she kept on crying . arnav ran a soothing hand through her hairs and asked 'what happened?'

they killed her .h..how could they' her voice accompanied with sobs . she held him tight as child does to his mother hoping she will protect him from any pain. arnav didnt needed to know who has been killed . he had heard the news of pooja babhi in labour pain when he had entered the village few hours back.

its a girl again fifth girl to be precise . they born and died the same day . arnav felt tears making their way to his eyes , his voice choked in guilt and angry. guilt to have been born in such a family who put their honour and status above all, they wanted a boy first no girl can born in there family as his grandfather says. angry on himself to have not been able to save anyone of those innocent baby .

'you give her a lesson or we will'

arnav looked at his brother surrounded by his family who looked at the small child in his arms in anger while she sobbed with no break. arnav gave a cold stare of indifference and anger to his brother who had uttered those words. arnav knew fighting with them will be of no use and would only aggravate things for him and her .

arnav tried to calm khushi with his soothing words assuring her everything is fine . he took her arm gently in his hand and walked towards the entrance . khushi tried to snatch her hand away in fear that he will take her to them who will hurt her.

'no one will hurt you khushi ,i promise. ok shh... bas... its ok . trust me' arnav knelled down in front of her and whipped her tears trying to stop her cries.

'you wont be able to do it . a few belt stinks and she will never raise her voice again' shyam walked towards them angrily to snatch khushi away from arnav and hit her but before he could reach them arnav stood in front of him.

'AEE! STOP there brother . if you laid one finger on her , i will brake your hands.' arnav threatened him. his eyes turned all red and fingers clenched in fist.

'you are a scared baby who cant even teach his wife some manners' shyam yelled in anger .

'much better than someone who kills his own child' arnav said not even blinking his eyes. he caught his brother's arm before he could punch him . arnav caught shyam's throat in his hands tightening his grip .

'STOPP IT' arvind raizada screamed . arnav's father pulled shaym away from arnav's grip and held him tight while trying calm him down .

'she is my wife and how i treat her is none of your business' arnav said loud enough to let everyone know that he wont take anyone's interference in his life. he took khushi's hand leading her inside the house.

stop crying will you?' arnav scolded fed up of her continuous crying . it had been six hours since they have entered their room and arnav have been trying to stop her crying since then. he hugged her , whipped her tears, said soothing words ,even told her that he would punish all of them for making her cry but she just wont budge .

after few more more angry and scolding words she stopped . arnav tried to open her veil which had now become like second skin to her so that he can feed her dinner but she just shook her head in negative . she took plate from his hands and went to the corner of the room and ate silently.

arnav looked at her filled with guilt . he has hurt her too with his behaviour , his ignorance, his rude behaviour. he had been no less than any other member of his family . if they had hurt her physically he had heart her emotionally . he should have protected her . he had let a mere child suffer for his selfishness.

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arnav felt someone poke his arm with light touches. avoiding the disturbance which he thought was a dream he pulled the pillow closer and slept . the poking increased tremendously , who was disturbing him so late at night. still feeling lazy enough to open his eyes ,arnav cuddled more to the pillow.

*slap *

'what the ' arnav woke up with a jolt as someone slapped his arm with force. though the impact was small but it felt more to his sleep ridden body. arnav looked sleep eyes to khushi standing beside him still covered in veil holding blanket tight in her arms. he had advised her to sleep on bed but she had ignored him and slept on the floor .

'what?' arnav asked not able to understand what is wrong with her.

i can't sleep ...i am scared' khushi said in small voice .

arnav didnt needed to think why she cant sleep . seeing something so horrendous with your eyes could never be erased from your memory.

arnav shifted a little to make some place for her and made her lie down next to him . he cuddled her close as one does to scared child and patted her head softly . she needed to feel safe and he wanted to protect her .

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sorry for the delay. do share you views . now i will be sending pms for this tory and also a poll that i conducted . to let me know which two stories i should continue .

please buddy me for PMs . next chapter will be posted here .

but the fifth chapter onward it will only be available on the blog .

precap i will post soon . 😳

Originally posted by: dis_arshi

feel bad for that little girl

not for arnav only because his dreams are broken n he lost his love

he is one from the devils and those genes are in his body

he is no different from others

he cant do anything i know that but that doesnt make him an innocent

how ever all of them need to pay for their deeds including arnav

she is a kid and they are treating like a slave

hate such people

Originally posted by: jagrutid

Thank you for this enjoyed reading it however i felt a little disconnected to the happenings in this chapter maybe because there wasn't any direct interaction between Khushi and Arnav as such although actually the part where Arnav catches Khushi with the book as a nice portrayal of Khushi's fear after whatever she has been through recently. Had we read about whats actually been happening to her to make her feel the fear than maybe i would have felt different but there are stuble hints that are also enough.
I'm surprised at Arnavs ability to overlook khushi's torture and when he shouts at her telling her he doesn't want to see her face poor thing.
i thought towards the end Khushi may plead for him not to leave but she seems withdrawn from him like she feels he is the same as the others in his family. He to will mistreat her, beat her, punish her or whatever they have been doing to the poor girl.
looking forward to the next part as ever.