PART 9
Arnav gazed down into the set of black eyes that had been haunting him these past eight months, day and night. He saw shock, confusion, realization, and then finally, pain flicker in their depths.
Khushi found herself looking into the eyes of the man whose memories she had spent the last eight months wiping away. Whose inflicted pain, misery, wounds and scars she had been trying to heal. Love for whom she had been trying to drown out in her tears. But alas, nothing had changed. As if time had stood still, and she was standing exactly where he had left her eight months ago. Humiliated and scarred. As if it was only yesterday that he had uttered those venemous words...
"...YOU ARE AS THICK AS AN ICE BERG! HOW WILL YOU UNDERSTAND?...
...SMALL PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF WORK ONLY FOR THEIR OWN PROFIT! I ALWAYS KNEW YOU HAD AN EYE FOR SHYAM, BUT SINCE I CAUGHT YOU TWO, AND RUINED YOUR PLANS OF GETTING MARRIED, YOU'RE TRYING TO FULFILL YOUR DESIRES BY GETTING TOGETHER IN MY OWN HOUSE!..."
"Khushi", Arnav breathed as he found his life staring back at him. But his voice didn't reach her ears. It seemed as if she was in a different world altogether, as she stared into his face with a lost faraway look on hers.
The scene that had unfolded itself that fateful night eight months ago was playing in Khushi's mind like a reel...
"...I, ARNAV SINGH RAIZADA, MARRIED YOU, A GIRL WITH NO CLASS, NO MONEY, NO CHARACTER, NO FAMILY AND NO CONNECTIONS!...
...BUT THEN YOU'RE USED TO ALL OF THIS, RIGHT!
YOU'RE USED TO OF CHARITY, THAT'S WHAT YOU'VE ALWAYS RECIEVED!...
...FIRST FROM YOUR ADOPTED PARENTS, AND GOD ONLY KNOWS WHOSE DIRTY BLOOD YOU'VE BEEN CARRYING SINCE BEFORE THAT!..."
"Khushi", Arnav whispered again. Afraid now of her delayed reaction to his presence. Afraid of the deathly pallor that had come to cloud her face as she remained submerged into deep thought...
"...WHY DID YOU GO WITH SHYAM, HUH, WHAT DID YOU TWO DO??... IS IT THE PHYSICAL SATIATION THAT I'M DENYING YOU THAT TOOK YOU TO HIM KHUSHI?..."
And then Khushi remembered how Arnav had strode towards her, torn apart her clothes and her dignity, and inflicted not just physical, but emotional scars deep into her chest, and her heart. As he had bared her, and molested her virgin soul...
Arnav witnessed with an aching heart, as tears emerged from her pained eyes, and slipped down her trembling lips. He saw her tremble in his arms, a sudden agony envelloping her body, as she pushed against his chest, and scurried out of his hold in aversion.
Kushi stood aghast forth Arnav Singh Raizada, as with one hand she covered her chest, as though it was bare like that night, and with the other her mouth, in an attempt to choke back the sobs that had come to accompany the bout of tears cascading down her eyes. She looked left and right, her mind in a sudden frenzy. Unable to come to terms with what she should do, she did the first thing that came to her mind.
Khushi turned around to run away. But instead, ran into a familiar comforting presence, that she immediately recognised as a safe pair of arms, the arms of a friend.
Nathaniel just in time caught Khushi as she turned around, and hugged her protectively to himself.
Khushi buried her face into his chest, clutching his T-shirt in both her fists, and cried into his arms.
Feelings in Arnav's chest had undergone a rapid change through a wide variety of emotions in the last few minutes. They were of relief and contentment on finding Khushi in his arms, then of guilt on witnessing the pain in her eyes. Of pain, as she shed tears. Fear, as she pushed him away and turned around to run away from him. And then finally of raging fury as he witnessed another man hold her in the realms of his arms, and comfort her as she cried into his chest unabashedly.
Arnav's fists curled in rage as he took in the site forth him. The blood in his veins boiled as he saw the other man stroke his wife's long hair. Why the hell were her hair open in the first place! He glowered. Only he had the right to touch her hair!
Anger numbed his senses, and Arnav was thus consumed with fury that no reaction emanated from him.
Khushi looked up into Nathaniel's worried kind eyes as she continued to sob. Still trembling as the events of that night refused to leave her mind, she felt her friend wrap a comforting arm around her, and help her out of the office.
Edited by mirnalini - 12 years ago
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