Gurgaon, Haryana
Khushi surfaced to consciousness and felt extremely parched. The bedside table with a pitcher of water looked like manna from heaven. She heaved and tried to swing her feet down and reach the glass, but alas her feet seemed leaden and uncoordinated. Her left wrist was taped with an IV needle and the IV stand stood sinuously next to her bed like a sentry watching its prisoner. Amidst the stark white-washed walls and ceiling of the room, her husband was lying prone on the spare bed.
The next thought was - how long had she been unconscious? How did she survive this ordeal? When she had plunged the knife in her stomach trying to escape the lecherous attentions of Shyamji, it seemed the best solution for all. "Na rehegi baas, na bajegi baasuri". She thought by eliminating herself, she would put an end to the misery of all concerned, starting with her family, her husband and in-laws', Lavanya Kashyap and also Shyam Jha. But her Devi Maiyya seemed to have other plans.
The past two years had been one continuous on-going nightmare, starting with babuji's stroke followed by her almost marriage fiasco with Shyam, then the actual marriage fiasco with ASR. She had been banished to the family farmhouse in Sadharana by ASR immediately after their marriage and upon completion of mandatory rituals. Reconciling with fate, Khushi had started her new isolated life in Sadhrana. With ample time at her disposal, she had learnt Haryanvi and was able converse fluently.
Three weeks ago 2 days prior to her 2nd marriage anniversary, she had thought that finally fate was being kind to her. One thing led to the other and they had consummated their marriage. The hardest thing had been to see him in the eye the next morning. The waking hours were spent in stoic and uncomfortable silences, but under the cloak of darkness, ASR lowered every guard and was uninhibited. Khushi had thrown out every caution out of the window and had welcomed ASR's uninhibited behavior. Her happiness of four short weeks was short lived and was shot to pieces when Shyam Jha had turned up at the doorstep.
So engrossed was she in her thoughts, she did not hear her husband wake up and stand beside her bed.
24 hours ago, ASR, Arnav Singh Raizada and his board of directors has been discussing a very lucrative take-over. Suddenly the door had been opened and he was interrupted by his executive assistant, Parminder Kaur aka Pam. If looks could have killed, Pam would have been charred to cinders for interrupting on account of a personal call. What seemed to be a great day for business turned into a nightmare on the personal front. The caller, his otherwise cool and composed Jijaji sounded petrified and panic stricken over the phone and had informed him that Khushi had tried to commit suicide and was being rushed to Medanta in Gurgaon. He had summoned Aman to get him into Medanta within an hour. And the ever efficient Aman, had made sure that within the quarter of the hour, ASR was boarding the helicopter that had landed on AR group's helipad on the 22nd floor. He was still seething as he watched his wife who was vacantly looking at the ceiling. What was it about her that kept him coming back to her again and again. Soon after marriage, he had banished her to live at the farmhouse in Sadhrana. He never visited her or let her visit Shantivan or her parents place in Laxminagar. She was allowed to visit Shantivan only on the pretext of festivals, birthdays and other religious ceremonies and that too when he accompanied her.
ASR: "Yeh sab karne ki kya zaroorat thi tumhe. Main do din ke liye bahar kya gaya, tumne apne karnamon ka pitara phir se khol diya. Tum apne had se itni bad jaogi, maine socha na tha Khushi. Do saal ke baad bhi tum jijaji ko tung kar rahi ho''."
The cruel and harsh words dripping from ASR's mouth dashed all hopes of hearing some kind words. Khushi could not believe that her husband in whose arms she had come apart a few weeks ago, would believe that she was still hankering after Shyamji. It seemed the last straw.
CHAPTER 16: https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/1943876?pn=40
CHAPTER 17: https://www.india-forums.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1943876&TPN=46
CHAPTER 18: https://www.india-forums.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1943876&TPN=50
CHAPTER 19: https://www.india-forums.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1943876&TPN=55
CHAPTER 20 : https://www.india-forums.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1943876&TPN=61
CHAPTER 21: https://www.india-forums.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1943876&TPN=66
THREAD 2
CHAPTER 22: https://www.india-forums.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=2888473&PID=54443810�
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