[Apologies for the delay, but the sole credit for this delay goes to the Electricity Board. I keep none for myself where it ain't due :)]
The day belonged to Khushi, though Khushi (unlike Arnav) is never shown on her own - she is always visible with respect to Arnav. So though the episode belonged to Khushi, it was still more of Khushi in relation to Arnav.
Progress Points
1. Khushi saw another example of Arnav the Good Samaritan - time for reflection, Khushi
2. Arnav though still unable to fight off the terrace scene, witnesses Khushi as a daughter - time for reflection, Arnav
3. Garima (Khushi's family) gets it from the horses' mouth that she is happy and how much Arnav loves her
Favorite Scene
Khushi: Arnav ji is the best husband in the world.
Eavesdroppers Anonymous
There is never a better way for someone to know how good the other can be unless they catch them at it unawares. The best (or the worst) aspects of a person are caught when they do not know they're being watched.
Khushi's Turn
Once again things had started to look up when the man transformed into monster. She saw him attempt to dance and a potential showed up that a probable settling down was round the corner, but no! All of a sudden, while he held her among the dancing relatives, she saw his eyes harden. The next thing she knew was that he pushed her and left the party. Khushi, as usual, was left in total confusion. There is total darkness and she has no ray of light to help her see the way.
The groom came to thank Arnav for the lesson he gave on being a good person, a good employee, and a good partner for his wife.
After a long time, Khushi sat down to face her aching heart. Why would this man so kind to others was a monster when it came to her. There were times when he was nice, but then there were times when he'd transform, without warning of any sort, into a nightmare.
Her confusion is evident in a small simple question - who is he? (Arnav would have been pretty proud of himself had he heard Khushi asking this question.)
Khushi has been a pretty much straightforward person all her life. Whatever she is within is what shows. With Khushi, what you see is what you get. It is hard for her to figure out a man who is prince charming a moment and the next he is a beast that breathes fire and inflicts pain.
She is quite right when she says that she'd probably never figure him out. A calm looking ocean often has deep undercurrents barely visible on the surface, but these are what make the ocean what it is. Unless Khushi gets to the roots of Arnav, she can never gauge his mood swings. But Arnav keeps his roots pretty much covered under his several layers. Khushi has been exposed to his different layers, which has not helped her as much as it has confused her.
The only conclusion that she has come to is that perhaps she can't figure out who Arnav is but she needs to get to the bottom of this wedding for a reason unknown. The many times Khushi has tried to get this detail out of Arnav, he has refused point blank, and at the most only dropped hints for her. Khushi however, is not so bright. Let's face it ' if Arnav cannot piece this jigsaw puzzle together, to expect Khushi to uncover the mystery is setting oneself up for disappointment. In fact, the last time they had a squabble over this matter (after the Heer-Ranjha fiasco), Arnav made it pretty clear that she would stay with him for the duration and never question him about the whys.
Love & Fear'There are times when I feel lo' and the next I am scared'
She nearly says the word 'love' when thinking of him, but catches herself in time. It's not really a love confession. There are moments when he endears himself to her such that she actually feels affection for him. She has not mapped this upshot of affection to deep-rooted love that she has for him. She gives the reason in the remaining part of her statement - because she is afraid. There is no place for fear in love.
Love knows no fear. But with Arnav and Khushi there is yet a holding back. The holding back is because there is yet no surrender because they are afraid - of being hurt. They have been at the verge of surrender at different times, but not quite gone through.
What that statement brings through is more fear than love. Love is something she would not let herself even think about. How can she - when she is afraid to feel even affection and tenderness for him? She has even told him once that she is afraid of him. He did nothing to remove the fear. At a different time, he asked her - seeming amused - why she was afraid of him? The next moment, he gave her the reason to be afraid, when he kissed her on a bet.
Any girl in her right mind would be afraid to love a man who had proved himself time and again as being two-faced. (Though on the face of it, it may look adventurous, IMHO, it is more dangerous than Tarzan swinging from a tree to another!) She cannot love a man in parts - Love the Arnav part and hate the ASR part. While Arnav has all endeared himself to her, ASR has given her no reason to love him.
Arnav's Turn
Arnav's surprise was nice - nice enough to give him nightmares - nightmares that make him look at his sleeping wife in something akin to horror - horror that his wife dreams of a loving husband - a husband that he is not - not that he wouldn't want it himself, but for the nasty surprise he cannot forget.
.
Arnav is not easily baffled. When something baffles him, he walks away, he thinks and he deduces. Whatever he has deduced, he believes in it firmly. Next, he acts on it. This process usually works.
Khushi, however, takes bafflement to a new level. He gets it that she needs to show her family a rosy picture of her marriage with him. She needs to do this else he would bring her sister's marriage to an end. But Khushi doesn't do something satisfactorily, until she has overdone it. So, on she spins a yarn about how her husband worships the very ground she walks.
Ideally, it should have made him happy, or at least content, that she complied with his requirements. Only it did not. When Arnav left the room, it was with a heavy heart. She'd drawn a picture of him that any mother would love see of a son-in-law for her dear daughter. Arnav knew that he'd failed on every single count of that perfect husband that his wife longed for.
Second time in the day Arnav has been brought face-to-face with pieces of Khushi's broken dreams - her dream wedding and her dream husband. Each time, unknowingly, she touched a raw nerve. While Arnav has been the man who has destroyed it all for her, he is the one man who wanted it all for too. He saw the pain in her eyes and heard her voice break as she uttered the words any married man in love would give anything to hear ' 'Arnav ji is the best husband.' He wanted it to be true, as much as she wanted it.
After all the wisdom he gave away to a new husband on being a good partner, this comes as a whack across the face, doesn't it.
When he left the room, I thought - yes, one day these overheard bits would come to haunt him like his pet mosquitoes. I didn't know the haunting would come the very night.
The In-Laws
It was beautiful moment that Amma and Bua Ji shared when they saw Arnav dancing with Khushi. To them it seemed that it was the crowning glory of the evening. Not only had the groom of the current wedding proved he had a voice, their own son-in-law was mingling with the Bhangra crowd.
The conversation between Amma and Khushi was an underline to the acceptance of Khushi's marriage by the Guptas. While Garima was able to reveal her fears and was relieved in turn, Khushi could do nothing but to make some more stories. If Khushi had to choose between comforting herself in her mother's arms and comforting her mother, she'd choose the latter. She had the opportunity to share her heart. Her family would have understood, stood beside her, solved her riddle, and she'd have been out of the mess in a jiffy. And then, the sister's marriage would be broken. If Khushi had to choose between her own happiness and her sister's happiness, she'd choose the latter.
Garima had some great moments in her conversation with her daughter. She could tell her daughter was thinking of her husband, she could confide how she'd worried that he'd not be able to adjust with them, she could rejoice that her son-in-law was a gem who had a heart of gold, who not only adjusted well, but also never complained. Yet, she could see that an unseen unspoken friction existed between the couple and she had to ask if Khushi was happy in her married life. Her fear was palpable as her heart stopped and so did the breath in her throat when Khushi said she wasn't. And then when Khushi announced that she was very happy, her relief and mild anger at her daughter's prank.
It'll be a hard day for Guptas when the truth is unfolded.
Precap
I see the questions in your eyes
I know what's weighing on your mind
But you can be sure I know my part
'Cause I'll stand beside you through the years
You'll only cry those happy tears
And though I'll make mistakes
I'll never break your heart
I swear
By the moon and stars in the sky
I'll be there
I swear
Like the shadow that's by your side
I'll be there
For better or worse
'Til death do us part
I'll love you with every beat of my heart
I swear
I'll give you everything I can
I'll build your dreams with these two hands
We'll hang some memories on the wall
And when there's silver in your hair
You won't have to ask if I still care
'Cause as time turns the page
My love won't age at all
I swear
Usually it's Khushi who needs a hand when she's had her nightmares. This time Arnav held onto her after he woke up bewildered. She was quite right when she said that he fears her going away. He does.
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