Part 14:
Arnav pulled back
and saw the faint smile spread across his wife's face. She kept her eyes closed
as she asked, "Hum apne bachche ka kya naam rakhen, Arnav??" Arnav's smile,
which had started to grow as he saw her smile, disappeared at once, as his
breath hitched. And as suddenly as his breathing had stopped, he started
gasping for air, and his eyes filled up. Khushi opened her eyes as she smiled
up at him, having been expecting the same reaction from him. "Tum. . . . Sach.
. . .?? Khush. . . . ." He stuttered, not knowing how to voice the many
emotions that her statement had managed to burst out in him. She simply pulled
his head to her shoulder and then put her arms around his waist and held him
close.
"You. . . You have
no idea of how happy I am feeling at the moment, Khushi. . . ." Arnav murmured
against her ear and Khushi nodded as she replied, "I do, Arnav. I do." Parents
to be or not, such a display of happiness from his end would never not make
her happy. Arnav captured her lips in another tender kiss, and Khushi could
still make out the hesitation in each move of his. As if he was afraid that she
would be offended by him if he did anything wrong and she would leave him. But
what he did not understand and Khushi had, from the past few days was the fact
that Arnav must be there with her. She had simply forgotten how
she had lived all these years without him. She was addicted to him in so bad a
manner; she would surely go insane the next time he was not there with her. 'As
if she you were not insane the last time he was not there with you!' A
voice reminded in her head and she whimpered as she broke the kiss and hid her
face in his chest. He held her close, with a hand splayed over the small of her
back, and the other on her head. And Khushi smiled at the amount of security
the man gave her just by being there with her.
Arnav held her hand
as they walked back to her apartment, and had a silent dinner, which, was
sitting on the dining table, waiting for them. They knew Anjali must have
brought it in for them. After dinner, they laid down on the couch, as Khushi
chattered non-stop. It was as if she was making up for all the days that she
had spent talking so less to everybody. And Arnav was not the one to complain
tonight. He did feel a little blessed by the divine powers that he did not
believe in, that she was finally, slowly getting back to her normal self, and
he could not help but to feel amused as he wondered how a person could talk so
much! And he watched as she slowed her rant and finally fell asleep on him.
He had just laid
himself down on the couch, with her on top of him, and had started thinking
about how his life had turned into the cold, black hole that it seemed to be,
to a warm, sunny day. He did not know how much of the night he spent that way,
but was brought out of his reverie when he felt her whimper and squirm. He
lifted his head and saw the frown that marred her beautiful face. She must be
having a bad dream, he thought as he rubbed her back, trying to get her out of
it. But she gasped for air, as her palms fisted on his shirt, and she woke up
with a start, pushing his hand away. She stared at him, with wide, fearful
eyes, as her hands clutched each other and was pressed against her racing
heart.
Arnav stared at her
with concern, barely stopping himself from standing up and hugging her tight,
as he did not want her to get scared than she already was. When she visibly
calmed down a little, he held up his arms, into which Khushi immediately ran
into.
It was the same
nightmare that troubled Khushi. The one, where Shyam had tried to molest her.
And when she had felt a pair of masculine arms tighten around her, she had
stupidly thought them to be Shyam's. It was when she stood in front of Arnav,
gasping for air, that she realized what had happened. She saw her husband open
his arms for her, where she gladly went into. "Want to talk about it?" She
heard him question her, and she gave her answer in a word, "Shyam. . . ." The
response from her husband for her answer was immediate and expected. He
stiffened in her arms, and she stiffened too, at his response.
"There is no need to
fear him anymore, Khushi. . ." Arnav said, as he tightened his arms around her,
wondering, for how long Shyam had starred in her nightmares and had troubled
her. Khushi, on the other hand, pulled out of his embrace at the tone of
finality in his voice. She saw the hatred in his eyes for the man who had, to
an extent, managed to screw all their lives. But it was comparatively less to
what she had expected. She cupped his cheek, and when he looked down to her,
she searched for something in his eyes for a while. Arnav sighed in to her
touch and looked at her as he said, "Shyam is dead. . . ." Khushi gasped, and
then narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him. "Did you do something, Arnav?!"
Arnav jerked back in
surprise, as he stared at her with shocked eyes, and Khushi got her answer that
he did not have anything to do with Shyam's demise.
"Khushiii!! No! He
died in an accident. How I wish you were right, though!" He said, and Khushi
smacked his stomach with the back of her hand, which he held and explained, "He
had fell on the road, drunk, and fully unconscious when some truck passed over
him. . ." Khushi flinched at that, and Arnav rubbed her back to calm her down.
"I was called for
the body's recognition and as he did not have anybody else for his family, I
did his last rites too." Now it was Khushi's turn to look at her husband in
surprise. "What?! Okay, it was not like I did anything. They
pushed his body into the electric furnace and I watched it. . . ." Arnav
explained, and his face had got this cruel smile on his lips as he remembered
Shyam's lifeless body being almost thrown into the electric furnace and the
flames licking onto him. He would have loved to see it fully too, but the doors
of the furnace had been closed then. Khushi looked at his face, scared by the
intensity of hate he displayed at the moment, and she gulped once to reduce the
uneasy feeling that was rising in her.
"How did Di react?"
Khushi asked, and Arnav looked at her in confusion. "Why would Di react to this
at all??" Khushi gazed in confusion for a while. Had Di become so cold-hearted
that she did not even give a second thought about the death of the man who was
her husband? But it was so unlike Di. And then it dawned on her. Arnav must not
have told Di at all! "You never told her!" Khushi exclaimed, and Arnav looked
at her with unsure eyes, before he asked with unease, "I should have??"
Khushi raised her
eyebrows and looked at him as if the answer was obvious. Arnav frowned and
sighed, as he looked down, and mumbled, "Alright, I will tell her!" Khushi
smiled at her miffed husband before she thought of what kind of a death Shyam
had to face. And when she voiced this to her husband, he simply shrugged as he
replied, "That is probably the best he got." 'Had he been alive, he would
have probably wished such a death too' He thought, hiding the fact that he
had used all his powers to hunt the dog down. He was a man of extremes. If he
loved with all his being, he hated with each and every cell in him too. He had
wanted Shyam nothing less than dead. But the fact that he had died without any
of Arnav's help had peeved Arnav a little.
Not anymore though.
He had the woman he loved in his arms, and his Di seemed to be faring well too.
Things seemed to be finally falling into their proper places. And he would soon
settle everything else too. . . . . . . . .
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I did not have the time to proof read. . . So please pardon the errors if you found any. . . 😳
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