ArHi : Living and loving ~ Pt.14 Pg.20 17/09

Shiva had tried. She had tried her level best to handle the issue. For being the harbinger of bad news was the last thing Shiva wanted to be. Especially at such trying times! Hope's bank account had finally ran out of balance. The day had arrived, when the whole family had to go to their beds with empty stomachs. Not that they would complain. The elders all loved Khushi like their own child. More than their own blood, if truth be said, for it was her, who had provided them a roof over their head, and a reason to live on, when their own children had thrown them out mercilessly. But that did not mean that they could be kept starving. Hence, Shiva had called each and everyone of the potential donors of Hope, but to no avail. None were ready to help them immediately. And when she thought that this was something which was not in her hand anymore, she called Khushi. In fact, when Khushi had called her to inform her that everything was alright, and Shyam was dead and that Anjali had given birth to a healthy daughter, Shiva had listened to it all and had not informed of the problem in hands, hoping that some solution could be found. Not anymore, though. She heard her friend say in a voice which voiced her inner doubts, "Don't worry, Shiva. Hum dekhlenge..."

*****

Khushi's shoulders slumped when she heard that the residents of Hope were to sleep without food that night. "Don't worry, Shiva. Hum dekhlenge..." she said, not bothering to console Shiva with a confidence that she did not possessed at that moment. "What happened, Khushi?" She heard Arnav's voice from a very far away place. But so filled with worry was her mind, that she did not answer. Arnav looked on, concerned for her and when she did not answer his question, he shook her shoulder and asked, "Khushi! Kya hua?!" She blinked a few times, as if coming out of a trance, and explained what the matter was. He smiled wryly, and took out his phone, and barked, "Aman!" That was the last of worries Khushi felt, as she victoriously smiled and thanked her Devi Maiyya for bringing Arnav to her life, and Aman along with him too. "There! Problem solved!" Arnav announced as nonchalantly as if he had just said that this was the most normal thing for him. Arnav had locked the display of his phone and was keeping it back in his pocket when he heard her say, "Don't you think you depend on Aman way too much??" "Of course not! He's my general factotum! That is what I pay him for." Arnav answered and had stepped forward when he felt her hug his arm. His heart literally skipped a beat at this simple contact, though his face never showed any surprise and he questioned, "Khushi. . . .??" "Thank you..." Khushi murmured and Arnav smiled at her. Khushi would have personally preferred a happy smile instead of the one where his eyes was actually showing pain while he smiled his fake smile. 'Don't worry Khushi! Humein inhe bhi jald hi badalna padega!!' Khushi thought, as they started walking towards the ward again. Did Arnav really hesitate to enter the room and face his family or was it her imagination? And when they finally entered the ward, they heard everyone admonishing Anjali for leaving them all, especially at this state.

And as soon as they saw Arnav entering the room, there was silence. Arnav looked at Anjali, handing her the food he had bought, and Khushi saw Anjali looking at Arnav and then give a pointed look to Nani. She also saw Arnav frown in annoyance, and she barely stopped herself from giggling. He turned to Nani, and cleared his throat, and asked, "Aap kaisi hai, Nani?" when he did not get any reply, he looked up, realizing then that he had looked down, indeed feeling guilty. He saw Nani consider his with a stern face and then her face broke into a reluctant smile, which converted into a full fledged grin, before she hugged her grandson - her foolish yet lovely grandson. "Aap aisan kyon karte ho, Chotey?" She asked, her eyes brimming with tears – the tears anybody possessing a maternal heart would shed, for punishing their children. Arnav was privy to the fact that no answer was expected of him and he indulged in one of the rarest hugs that he got, which reminded of his mother, the most. Khushi, standing at the door, smiled happily. But the sight unfolding in front of her reminded her own family. Her amma, buaji, buaji. . . . . Oh, how she missed them!

She got a call from Shiva then, bringing her out of the sad thoughts. Shiva informed that the kitchens of Hope were teeming with groceries enough to feed an army for over a month. She smiled and ended the call before she started thinking over how easily Arnav had solved her problem. But now that she thought about it, she did not know whether she wanted to take Arnav's money any longer. Sure she was using it for the greater good, and she could never be called "THE gold digger". But the thought of the past where Arnav had been hell bent on misunderstanding and him virtually throwing money at her made her feel nauseous. "So should I take his money or not??" she thought, and was surprised to hear a voice question her back, "Whose money??" She looked up, surprised to see Anjali staring at her in confusion, even as Arnav stared on. 'I spoke so loud that Di heard it?!' Khushi thought, mentally covering her face with her palms, in embarrassment. "Who are you talking to, kid??" Ajay quipped behind her, before he turned to Anjali, and almost immediately, the connection which Ajay and Anjali possessed was tangible to everyone inside the room. Even Manorama! The gentle cooing made Ajay lose his focus from the woman he loved and rush to see the baby looking around with wide eyes – which looked exactly like her uncle's, Ajay noted. But even before he reached there, Manorama had taken the baby in her arms, and the baby started bawling immediately! Probably scared by the one too many layers of colorful makeup the woman wore. Ajay threw a withering look in her direction, before he almost snatched his baby, made her rest against his chest, and started patting its back in soothing movements. Manorama, not ready to back down, gave an equally annoyed look to him, and muttered, "Hello, hai bye bye!!" Ajay turned to Anjali at this, his eyes wide, shining with a mixture of shock and mirth, as if he had heard the weirdest thing ever. Anjali pursed her lips, shrugging it off easily, for this might only be the gazillionth time, listening to that strange mix of words.

The baby was still crying, and everybody understood that she was hungry. A nurse came in too, shooing away the people, telling them not to scare the new-born. As they waited outside, so that Anjali could feed the baby in peace, they were enlightened about Khushi's new profession, how she had helped Anjali, how Shyam kidnapped Anjali, and how he got killed. They were ever grateful to Khushi for doing such a humongous favor by taking care of Anjali. And it was Arnav who mentioned how his friend was not to be left out! After all, it was he who had saved Anjali from the clutches of Shyam! The Raizadas, exchanged meaningful glances at this revelation. Their earlier doubts regarding this man were thrown away. Soon they heard Anjali call out for them, and all of them entered to see the baby fast asleep right next to Anjali.

"Waise, whose money were you talking about, Khushiji??" Anjali asked again, and felt Arnav's intense gaze on her. "Arnav's..." Khushi said in a low voice, and felt the waves of frustrated anger roll from him to her in huge waves. She knew that she should not be thinking of affecting the lives of the residents of Hope with her own personal problems. Those people, after all, deserved as much of happiness as she could give them. But she was suddenly too doubtful. Money was after all her primary motive that Arnav had thought of, when he had doubted her to be having an affair with Shyam. Did she still want it from him? "You could and always should take my money!" Ajay declared, for he knew of the problem in her hand too. Yes, Shiva had informed him, but he had been unable to help her much because of the stupid clause that his father had made – Marry or be disowned! Not that he had any objection regarding marriage. Not especially, since he met Anjali. It was the fact that his father thought of him as incapable of taking care of himself, and had been forced to tie the knot, that irked him to no end!

Khushi gave a very unladylike snort as she reminded him of that same clause, "Right! You're as penniless as me until you get mar. . . ." "I know!" Ajay cut her there, not really wanting Anjali to know of this issue like this, he did not want her to start thinking that he was marrying her for his convenience. Khushi saw the glint of irritation in Ajay's eyes and wondered why would he get all worked up for. The family, who were amused by the camaraderie that Ajay-Anjali-Arnav-Khushi group possessed, were ushered out by the nurse, citing that the visiting hours were now over. Nani wanted to stay back, but Khushi, after she saw how Ajay frowned with disappointment, made Nani leave, telling them all that she would take care of her. And now, it was just them. And Arnav decided it was high time he knew what Khushi had been thinking about money.

"Now will you tell me??" Arnav asked, turning towards Khushi, who blushed and looked down guiltily. Ajay sat next to Anjali, making himself comfortable, for he knew this would be interesting. Anjali held his hand and he looked at their intertwined fingers and smiled up at her, before they both turned towards the other pair in the room.

"I don't want to take your money."

Arnav ran a hand through his hair in frustration, "Why."

"I will not take it from you anymore..."

After a pause, where he had understood her reasons for this decision, he said, "Fine! But let me at least help in another way!"

A frown made its way onto Khushi's face, as she asked, "How?"

"We'll organize a fashion show after a month. A fundraiser kind, and we could auction the designs. It will have the residents of Hope as its models, and I have the perfect dress for our princess, here." He smiled as he glanced at the baby, making Anjali gasp. "My doll will be a model??! I love you, Chotey!" But Ajay frowned at this, "I do not think that this is a wise choice of profession for her..."

"Relax! Its not like she will be destined to be a model for her whole life just by doing this one show! And even if she wants to become a model, you can't stop her!" Anjali complained, as Arnav and Khushi looked on with amused eyes. They were practically behaving as if they were married for years now! And Ajay seemed genuinely worried, as if princess was his own child, a fact that Arnav neither missed, nor was he ungrateful for.

Ajay's frown deepened, but he relented to Anjali's words.

Satisfied that he was able to help Khushi cope in some way, he turned to Ajay now. Ajay raised his eyebrows at his friend for a moment before he understood Arnav's reason to stare at him like this. He almost blushed before he started to explain, "Look, dude. We both lo. . . ."

"I know!" Arnav muttered, not really wanting to listen to a proclamation of love between his sister and Ajay.

"But I know why you want to marry her..." Arnav sneered, and Ajay narrowed his eyes, glaring at Arnav. "Di... His father has set a condition that he should..."

"Hey! I thought we were friends!!"

"Surprisingly, we still are! But that does not mean that I would let you off so easily for falling for my sister!" Arnav announced, and Anjali's eyebrows scrunched in confusion as she listened to this exchange. She raised her eyebrows as she felt her name was called and she looked at Ajay who was holding her hand with both of his, turning fully to her. "My father has laid a condition that I should get married within this year or he would disown me. This detective agency is my life, Anjali, and I would NEVER want to be out of it. But that does not mean that I would force you to do anything that you are not ready to do!"

So this is the matter! Anjali thought, as she sighed and smiled. "We'll talk about this later, okay?" she asked, and saw that Ajay breathed a sigh of relief, grinning, showing his tongue to Arnav. Arnav gritted crossed his arms, looking wryly at him, even though he still was not comfortable in accepting one more man as his brother-in-law. "Hey, Bharadwaj!" he called out, gaining the alleged brother-in-law's attention, and said, "This is how you'll always be addressed as. Don't expect anything more."

"Of course, Raizada!" Ajay gave his cheekiest grin.

Arnav sighed once, before he left the couple in their happy place, before he turned to Khushi. "Let's get to work, shall we? There is too much to work to do."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There's a fashion show and that was the surprise I was talking about! 😆

Nooo!! I was kiddin'! The surprise is yet to come! ;)

I also had promised Arnav's perspective when he threw Khushi out. But I could not fit this in here! But you will definitely get to read it! I pwomise!! :D

READ AND REVIEW, Y'ALL!!! 🤗

Harshuuu<3<3<3...Finally I am here with my comment😳...I know ,I know  I am late this time but I already told u the reason and I assume that I am forgiven also😛...So lets just not get into it and start the celebration...Ab celebration toh abnta ahi na boss..What? U know the reasons...ohkk..So here I goes...😉

 a) We are on the second thread of My Fav F...yahoo🥳

B) aare I got first spot ion the second thread of my fav FF...

C) I got the latest chapter of My fav FF...🤗

itne kafi hai ya aur dun...ok ok...Got it ki they are sufficent😆..So a very Huge C-O-N-G-R-A-T-U-L-A-T-I-O-N-S my Harshu for 2^nd thread of Loving & Living👏...You and most importantly This FF truly deserve it...I was in love with this FF from first chapter itself...And as story proceed my interest and craziness for this story also increased like anything😊. I love all the characters...Be it's our ArShi, Anjali, Siva, and of course Ajay😉...Now coming back to the latest update...Well LOVED IT as always...Khushi said so true...Arnav is surely dependent on Aman like anything😆...So our ASR had solve the Problem in a friction of second...after all its ASR we are talking about😳..Nani is a sweetheart...love the way she forgive Arnav...Awiee..I just admire Arnav and Ajay bond...Their repo and attitude towards each other is just out of the world... I so want to read more about their friendship... Finally everything is settling down...Looking forward to fashion show...So plz try to continue soon...Thanks for the PM..Take care

PS: Where is the surprise Dammit?😛

Lots of Love

Geet