Chapter 61
She then slept off. With all the stress, the amount of time she had thrown up and not enough water to hydrate herself, she kept going in and out of consciousness. She pulled herself out of the deep,to realise they were on a dirt road. The bumps in the road were making her even more queasy. But she kept herself awake, incase she gets a chance to escape. She knew she had to take that chance. Tanirika seemed to be getting desperate.
She had stopped en-route for Khushi had pleaded to go to the bathroom and after her attempt at escaping from the window had failed, Tanirika had hit her again. But Khushi was not giving up. A gun was not going to stop her. What was the worst she could do? But her thought of a possible baby, even if she did not believe Tanirika completely was the reason she did not want to take too many risks.
She had stayed put after Tanirika had slapped her and tied her up in the car with a warning of really beating her up if she were to try and escape.
They had reached a place that was like a cave. Off the beaten track, the place was in darkness except for the moonlight mixed with the predawn light. It must be around 3:30 or 4:00am she figured. They stood near the mouth as Tanirika did not seem equipped to go in as well. The headlights of the car were also switched off with just the parking lights on.
Tanirika had then called Arnav again and given some basic instructions. She had been surprised that there was network in this jungle, but then she thanked God for it as well, for how else would he find her?
Now there was nothing else to do but wait. And as she waited, things started going before her eyes. The first day of meeting, well falling in his arms. The first kiss. The wedding. The honeymoon. The first fight. The make up after that. Everything, each and every moment she cherished with him came to fore. She love him. She loved him so much. If only he loved her as well. She swept a hand on her stomach. What if she was pregnant? How would Arnav live with the woman who was daughter of the destroyer of his life and now she would bear him a child. How could fate, life be so cruel to him. She had tears running down her cheeks thinking about how he must be feeling, looking at the woman who came out Tanirika. Being married to her. He must hate her remembering the day her mother had destroyed their lives. She wished she could go away. Somehow stay away from him. But she needed him. She so wished she could leave him. It would be for the best.
She should escape and save Arnav from having to pay Tanirika. That was the least she could do. Begging Tanirika yet again to go behind the boulder to relieve herself, Khushi tried to find a way to escape in darkness, not knowing which way to head.
Just as she was trying to find her way through the shrubs, she felt an arm around her. About to scream, she realised it was a man's hand, moreover it was Arnav's hand. He had pulled her into his chest so that she would not be heard is she screamed.
"Shh! Shh! Its me!" Arnav whispered in his ears. "We have been here for over half hour but we have observing if she were alone or not. The police have surrounded the place. You are brave my love. You were trying to escape."
"Lets get out of here while the police do their jobs." Arnav whisked her away to a van standing a little away and made her lie down on the seat as he sat facing her.
"I' " Khushi tried to get up.
"Shh! Don't say anything." Arnav put a finger on her lips.
"I want water." Khushi whispered through parted lips against his finger. He gave her water from a flask and watched her gulp it all down.
He then inspected her face for the bruises and winced to see that one of them had turned blue. He ran his fingers over it and saw her clench her fingers.
"It will hurt. But you knew I was going to come, then why fight her. You are lucky she did not use her ' gun'" Arnav shuddered at the thought.
"May be she should have. Then I would have been out of your life. No more trouble." Khushi looked at him earnestly.
"Stop talking rubbish. You know that is not true." Arnav spoke through clenched teeth as anger seethed within him at the thought of what her mother might have done to her.
"You must surely hate me. The woman whose mother ruined your family, your lives and today, you are forcefully married to her. If your Nani had not forced you to marry me, you would not have to face me everyday of your life, living with you." Khushi vehmently argued.
"Yeah! But do you know that I can't live without you Khushi. I know who you are. I know who your parents are and I know you are a different person from her. You are the reason, I want to face my today and look forward to my tomorrow. It is your face I want to see every morning. You whom I want to grow old with. You who will bear me children, first of whom I hope has already been conceived." Arnav had a twinkle in his eyes as he talked about her probable pregnancy.
Khushi gaped. "You' You'" Khushi could not believe her ears.
"Yes Khushi, I love you and that is the reason I married you. You had given me a scare when you had fallen down those stairs. You are whom i want to live with and not live without. You!"
He then hugged her. Just then they heard a gun shot.
Arnav scrambled out of the van to find an officer rush to them and say, "Sir, nothing to worry about, the kidnapper killed herself with her gun."
Arnav looked back towards the van to find Khushi outside the door, taking in the news of her biological mother now no more. Arnav rushed to her and said, "It should not happened this way."
"You are my family Arnav. And she was not my mother, she has been dead for a long long time. Lets go home." Khushi went into Arnav's arms which she knew would always protect her.
The end.
comment:
p_commentcount