Chapter 21

As Arnav tried to understand what Khushi said, his phone rang. It was Anjali asking him to come over to the main house immediately. When they reached the house, they saw a small crowd assembled in the living room, with Mr. and Mrs. Raizada, Akash, Anjali, Shyam and his parents. Shyam Manohar Jha was standing in front of Akash, rage apparent in his eyes.

 "How dare you do that?" he yelled. "You didn’t think of asking me before you did that?"

"Shyam – you don’t understand –" Akash said looking pensive.

"What's going on here?" Arnav walked up to them.

"You are in on it too, isn’t it?" Shyam turned to Arnav, "Were you the one who told him stop giving the medication to my sister?"

"This is outrageous!" Mr. Jha exclaimed.

Mr. Raizada spoke. "Calm down Mr. Jha!" he said angrily, "why would Akash do that deliberately?"

"Sia stopped the medication herself," Akash said in a rush, "We tried to force her but finally the doctors said there would be no use. That is why I came back to Delhi. You have to believe me!"

"I don’t believe a liar like you Akash Singh Raizada!" Shyam said derisively.

"Shyam!" Mr. Raizada said, "that's enough!"

"Why uncleji?" he asked her, "do you think you can do whatever it is that you like -- just because you are rich and influential?"

"I want to know what is going on here?" Indrani looked at her husband, "what is Shyam saying?"

"Don’t pretend like you don’t know what is going on!" Mrs. Jha hit back.

"Your son wants to kill my sister so he can be free of her!" Shyam said, his face twisted with derision.

"Shyam!" Arnav warned him, "stop this nonsense! Don’t accuse Akash without knowing the truth."

"Truth?" He looked at Arnav, "you of all people shouldn’t talk about truth."

"What are you taking about Shyam?" Indrani asked.

"Do you know remember the case eight years ago when Arnav was arrested because of the death of a girl?" he asked Indrani.

"What has that got to do with Akash?" Indrani asked, "Arnav was the one who was in a relationship with her and he was responsible for the girl's death."

"Ma, Arnav was not responsible for her death!" Akash exclaimed, "it was –"

"It was a misunderstanding!" Mr. Raizada cut off Akash, "Arnav was released after a thorough investigation and case was closed. "

"Was it really a misunderstanding?" Shyam asked Arnav, "if the case was closed, what is her sister doing here?" He pointed to Khushi.

"Sister?" Indrani looked at Khushi, her eyes wide with shock.

"Let me introduce Khushi Gupta – younger sister of the dead girl Payal. Arnav did not tell you all about her, did he?" he looked at the Raizadas and Anjali. "I found out when I looked into her back ground, recently."

"Arnav?" Mr. Raizada looked at his son in shock, "is this true?"

"I knew there was something wrong with this girl!" Indrani said scathingly.

Arnav's face went black with anger as he looked at Shyam.

"Stop it Mom!" Akash admonished her, "Dad, please take mom and leave. I will explain to you both later."

"Did you know you were sleeping with the enemy?" Shyam asked Khushi.

"Mind your tongue Shyam or else I will rip it out!" Arnav's voice held a menace that chilled the room.

"You seem to have a violent streak in you Arnav!" Shyam provoked him.

"No one is responsible for her death!" Khushi said tears streaming down her cheeks. "My sister was a grown woman who made her choices -- good or bad, for her own reasons. Whatever happened was the consequences of her actions."

"Wow!" Shyam scoffed, "do they teach you all this in college?" He clapped his hands, "How to turn any situation into something that is convenient?"

"Stop it Shyamji!" Anjali implored.

"You stop Anjali – you lied when you told everyone that she was your guest!"

"Leave her alone Shyam," Arnav grated with a barely controlled temper, "she didn’t know anything about it."

"This had gone too far Shyam!" Akash yelled, "you are angry with me. So, talk only to me. About the medication -- check with Sia's doctors if you don’t believe me."

"How can I talk only to you when you have people covering up for you?" Shyam stared at him.

"What about your cover up?" Arnav demanded, "Sia had this condition even before marriage but you and your parents, hid the issue," he pointed out, "wasn’t it wrong to do that?"

"There – there was nothing wrong with our daughter!" Mr. Jha stuttered.

"Uncle please -- can you just stop and think about what Akash has done for Sia?" Arnav asked them, "He has taken care of her with the utmost dedication for the last seven years."

"That's the right thing to do, isn’t it?" Shyam retorted, "he is her husband after all."

 Arnav continued, "But what about you?" He looked at the Jhas. "You practically stopped visiting her after she left for Sikkim with Akash. You distanced yourselves even from our family."

"After marriage, the girl belongs to the husband's family." Shyam's mother sounded nervous.

"They told people that her in-laws were demanding dowry--" Anjali said, "they didn’t like it when Sia visited them. It was like they wanted to forget that she existed. Sia herself put up a Facebook post about it."

"Shut up!" Shyam yelled at Anjali.

"What are you going to do if I don’t shut up?" Anjali asked him, "will you leave me and go to the girl – Prachi – the one you are having an affair with?!"

Everyone turned to look at Shyam.

"What nonsense!" He yelled, "Did this cheap girl tell you that?" he asked looking at Khushi, "do you know what kind of a girl she is Arnav? Ask Mr. Desai --"

"That's it!" Arnav's hand landed on his jaw sending him staggering backward.

"I knew about it even before Khushi told me," Anjali said, "I know you have had affairs before. I just put up with all the nonsense for Ananya's sake and for the fact that I don’t really have family support. I wanted to be independent and now that I am – I am leaving you. I want a divorce!"

He wiped the blood at the corner of his lip. "You are all psycho!" he exclaimed, "I cannot let my sister be with you even for a moment." He turned to his parents. "Let's take Sia home."

An hour later, Khushi sank into the bath tub, letting the hot water soothe her body into relaxation. As Anjali didn’t want to stay at her apartment even for a night, Arnav had dropped her to his apartment and then taken Anjali to hers so she could pack her bags.

"I have ordered food for us. It should be here in an hour." Manav told her when she stepped into the living room.

"That's fine." Khushi walked to the huge glass sliding door that overlooked the city. The AC had made the room very cold and she shivered but it would be too hot to step into the balcony. She missed Bangalore.

"Khushi, I wanted to tell you on the flight but you were already so upset. I am sorry about your sister," Manav said, "I had left India when all that happened, and later Arnav refused to talk about it. If I had said anything to offend you please forgive me."

"I am sorry I didn’t tell you who I was Manav," Khushi said earnestly, "I am very thankful to you for telling me things about your college life that Arnav would never have disclosed. You have no idea how much it helped me understand Arnav."

When the doorbell rang Manav went up to the door. "They must be here."

Arnav walked with Anjali's suitcases, followed by Anjali and little Ananya. As soon as dinner was done, Anjali took Ananya and retired to her room.

"I will move my things from the guest bedroom to your room Arnav," Manav said and left the room.

"Khushi – about my engagement with Lavanya –" Arnav said tentatively.

"I know," Khushi said, "Lavanyaji called me. She was upset -- that you told her during your dance at the party."

"I thought she took it well," Arnav said, "Anyway, my step mom had convinced Lavanya's parents to spring an engagement surprise on us, last minute. Even my dad didn’t know. I didn’t want to make a scene with so much press around. The next day, Lavanya spoke to her parents and we announced our break-up."

"Really?" Khushi said, "did Lavanyaji's parents take it well?"

"No," he said, "they backed out of the deal."

"I am sorry."

"Khushi, I am going to out of town for a couple of weeks," he said suddenly, "Manav will be here but can you stay here until I get back?"

"Why?"

"Tomorrow we will be going to file an FIR at the police station," he said, "you will need to be around if they need you."

"But I --"

"Di needs support at a time like this –"

"Alright." Khushi agreed knowing she couldn’t refuse now.

A week later, Arnav sat across from DCP Rathod.

"You were right Arnav," Ajay told him, "We got valuable information from that driver Satish."

Satish was the taxi driver who had driven him from the hotel to the hospital on the night of the farewell party. He had suddenly remembered him when he was relating the past incidents to Khushi. He had asked the driver to wait for him outside and had completely forgotten about him as he had left the hospital in the ambulance with Akash. Since there weren’t too many people in the hospital at that time of the night, he had wondered if the driver had seen anything.

He wasn’t quite sure what he expected to hear from him, but when his PI found the whereabouts of the driver, he had informed Rathod who had called him in for questioning.

"What did he say?" Arnav asked nervously.

"That night he dropped a girl to the Udupi railway station," Ajay said, "in fact he was the one who bought her the ticket to Dehradun."

"Who was the girl Ajay?" Arnav was nearly out of patience.

"It was Nandita Shanbogue."

"The missing girl?" Arnav was shocked, "What was she doing there? How does he know it was Nandita?"

"According to him, the girl was too shaken up to talk. She just wanted to go somewhere far. So he took her to the railway station. When they asked for her id, Satish had to take her driver's license out of the purse and show it to the ticketing agent. He remembered the name as Nandini but he said she was wearing a red salwar suit. When we showed her Nandita's picture he confirmed it."

"I guess her mother will be happy to know that." Arnav said.

"We have contacted Dehradun police," Ajay said, "they will begin their search for her. Thanks for your help Arnav."

When Arnav returned to Delhi a week later, the news of Sia's death reached them. Sia had continued to resist her medication, insisting on returning to Akash and in the next couple of her days, her parents had sent her back. After that her condition had deteriorated rapidly and all there was do was to watch her fade away day after day.

Akash had performed her last rites and at the end of the day, Sia's parents had come up to him and thanked him for taking care of her. They had also apologized to the Raizadas about Shyam's outburst while Shyam looked absolutely subdued as he stood next to his parents. He had been calling Anjali asking her to forgive him but Anjali had been determined and had sent him a divorce notice.

After the guests left, Akash came up to Arnav."I told mom everything Arnav," he said, "she is upset with me."

"I am sorry Akash." Arnav said.

"I am the one who should be sorry," Akash retorted, "To both of you." He looked at Khushi. "The way she spoke to you the other day --"

"That's alright," Both Arnav and Khushi said in unison.

"I was thinking of going back to Sikkim --"

 "I don’t think you should leave your mom now," Arnav said, "give her some time. Why don’t you stay at my apartment?"

"Thank you, Arnav," Akash said, "But Di, Manav and Khushi are staying with you. I don't think you can accommodate me as well."

"Don’t worry about it." Arnav said, "Khushi and I are going to Udupi in a couple of days." The principal of the government school in Tonse had asked her to do an art project for another school and Arnav had insisted on accompanying her to Udupi.

Khushi tossed and turned on her bed unable to sleep due to the heat. She put on her robe and walked to the living room. As the power was out, Arnav had lit plenty of candles and had put them inside glass enclosed lamps. He had opened the sliding door so the sea breeze could cool the room. She walked to the sit-out overlooking the ocean and stood watching the waves crash onto the shore with force.

"Couldn’t sleep?" he asked her as he walked toward her.

She turned around. She looked beautiful in the golden glow of the candle light from the living room.

It was almost three weeks since Akash had told her the truth about Payal and in that time, she had been able to do a lot of thinking. The only person who was driving her crazy was standing in front of her.

She placed her hands on his chest and pushed him. "Why did you bring me here to the beach house?" she asked him, "the school is close to Tonse. You have been dropping me and picking me up, going up and down all the way from here --"

"The house isn’t clean since Ma isn’t there." He stepped back.

"Why did you even come with me when all you do is ignore me?" She pushed him again.

"I told you I had work in Mangalore." Arnav said as he took a few steps back, "What's bothering you?" He asked her.

"After I went to Chennai you didn’t bother to call me!" She stepped forward, and pushed him once again.

"Akash was going through a tough time – and I thought you needed some space."

 "Then when I came to Delhi you were so cold with me," she said, her eyes wide with anger.

"I didn’t know how you were going to handle the truth Khushi!" he explained, "I was worried."

 "You were so worried that you left me alone for two weeks!"

"I had something very important to do," he said knowing he was pushing it.

"Why are you doing this?" she demanded in anguish.

Arnav caught her hand and pushed her against the wall. "I am still waiting for your explanation."

"What explanation?" she looked clueless.

"Back in Delhi – I asked you if you hated me -- and you said it's too late."

"Yeah so?"

"What exactly does it mean Khushi?" he asked her, "does it mean that - Yes, I hate you – it’s too late or -- No, I don’t hate you – it's too late. Can't you just give me a simple answer?"

Khushi was relieved to hear him say that. "Oh God!" she exclaimed, "why didn’t you ask me earlier instead of torturing me all these weeks?"

"You were the one torturing me with your cryptic answers!"

He looked so cute when he was frustrated and a devil inside wanted to make him squirm a little more.

"Arnav," Khushi began, "When I was in Udupi I got some of Payal's stuff from her hostel.

"There you go!" He retorted, "Khushi answer the damn question!" He slapped his hand on the wall next to her.

"Arnav this is important!" she exclaimed "Amongst those things, I found a lot of notes that she had written – about you."

"She wrote about me?" he asked in surprise.

"Those notes gave me an insight into my sister's nature. That is how I knew that she was infatuated with you – it wasn’t love but more of an admiration for the person who had saved her from danger."

"Why didn’t you tell me all this?"

"In Udupi?" she asked him, "you weren’t listening!"

"But I didn’t read about Akash until I went through her stuff again in Chennai few weeks ago -- I happened to open a note book in which she had written down her class notes in the first few pages. After that, she had written everything about Akash. " She remembered how the breeze had turned the pages that night as she sat in her mother's apartment balcony.

"I realized the difference when I read the notes she wrote about your brother. Her writing seemed more mature. She was crazily in love with your brother and it wasn’t one sided. If I had only opened that notebook earlier, I might have found out a long time ago."

"Or if I had just told you the truth!" He said.

"Arnav, don’t do this to yourself. My sister was in a relationship with a married man. It couldn’t have ended well. It never does – most of the time."

"I was so angry with them – " Arnav held his head in his hand, "I may have over reacted --"

"Arnav, your father had entered into a similar relationship and that had so many repercussions. It's natural for you to react this way."

Khushi continued. "When I found out, I was also angry – first, she was infatuated with you and then – she consciously entered into an illicit relationship with your brother. It was only after I heard the entire story from Akashji, that I am able to understand why they both did what they did."

"But –"

"Arnav, if you want to blame yourself for not taking care of Payal then there are others who also have to take the blame. My parents who were so involved in their own fights that they didn’t know that their daughter was going through, our family friend Vibha for trying to lure her into a wrong path, her friends who shut her out when she needed them and probably even me for not trying to understand her better.

"Come on Khushi – eight years ago you were just a kid."

"You protected her in the absence of her family --when she might have gone wayward with the drug gang. Even after her death you were protecting her -- when you made the newspaper agency apologize --"

"How did you know that?" He seemed genuinely surprised.

"I didn’t -- but my hunch was right."

Arnav shook his head. "I was so livid when that newspaper article came out but at the time I was so caught up with many other things. After I returned from the US that's the first thing I did."

Khushi smiled. "After I came to Udupi, I got the chance to understand Payal more than I ever had before. Payal was a restless soul who finally found what she was looking for in your brother. After reading her notes I can say that my sister was deeply and irrevocably in love with your brother. It is heart wrenching to know how deliriously happy she was."

"It was the same for Akash," Arnav agreed, "When my step mother begged him to divorce Sia, he refused. I am sure he thought this is what he deserved in life for whatever he had done –" He paused, "He has been punishing himself all these years."

"Under different circumstances they might have been made for each other." Khushi sighed.

"I wish Akash had told me –" Arnav lamented, "I could have helped them."

"I wish Payal had come home," Khushi said.

"Khushi there is something I have to tell you," Arnav paused, "About why I didn’t tell you about Akash–"

"I know you promised your father."

"That was at the beginning – then later it was because I was afraid – afraid of what you would think about me," he said, "but after I spoke to my dad I went to Udupi and did a lot of introspection and realized I should stop being a coward. When I came back to Delhi that night I planned to confess my feelings to you and tell you the truth, but we both know how that went." He paused.

"Now I will tell you why I said it was too late." Khushi looked at Arnav, her hazel eyes wide. "On the first day, when we met in Tonse, and you told me you were Arnav Singh Raizada –

"If I had told you I was Khushi Gupta -- Payal's sister. If I told you I had come to Udupi to find out if you were responsible for Payal's death – you would have said –

"You are fired from your job Ms. Gupta! Get the hell out of here."

None of this would have happened if you had only told me the truth in the beginning. We would have gone our separate ways and lived peaceful lives….

"Khushi I didn’t mean that –"

"I know you didn’t mean that when you told this a month ago in Delhi but that is exactly what would have happened." Khushi pointed out.

"F@#$!" Arnav exclaimed, "we would have gone our separate ways, wouldn’t we?"

"I would have hated you then – but it's too late now."

"Bulls^&*!" he scoffed, "As though you would have let it go that easily! Now it if you don’t answer my question with a yes or no –"

She let go with a heart stopping smile. "I love you dammit!"

When he captured her lips, he wasn’t gentle and she welcomed it.  It was a while when they came up for air.

"The reason I stayed away was because I was worried – " he whispered as he placed tiny kisses down her jaw.

"Look Arnav if you are going to say once again about that snake getting bewitched –"

"No that's not what I meant this time –" he said, "I was worried you wouldn’t be able to handle me in my crazed state." His lips were on her neck.

"What?"

"Do you any idea how hard it was for me to stay away from you in Delhi?" he asked her.

"Well you didn’t exactly stay away," She was out of breath as his lips reached the neckline of the robe.

"That's even worse – to stop at just a kiss when I wanted to do so much more." He said huskily sending shivers down her body. He undid the ties of her robe and let it drop on the floor.

Khushi wore a white slip, similar to the black one she was wearing the other night in Delhi. His eyes moved from her face to her delicate neck, down to her shoulders and the gentle swell of her breasts just above the neckline of the slip.

As he took her lips once again Khushi opened her mouth craving to feel his tongue inside.  His hands brushed down her shoulders, to her chest, down to her breasts, kneading the soft flesh urgently.

He made a wet trail from her jaw, to her neck to her collar bone until he reached the lacy neckline. As the cool air of the ocean touched her heated body she writhed each time Arnav's lips met her skin.

Arnav slipped the straps of her slip down her shoulders and he bent his head, taking one erect nipple in his mouth while his hands wrapped around her slender waist.

Khushi threw her head back, arching her spine as heat spread through her blood stream and pooled at her core. Her hands moved urgently all over his muscled shoulders. As he moved his attention to her other breast, his hand moved down to push her slip down to her waist, brushing his hand over her flat stomach. As his hands dipped lower, the slip fell to the ground and his fingers slipped into her panties, stroking her molten core with a feather light touch. Khushi grabbed a handful of his hair unable to bear the double onslaught of his mouth and fingers.

When he left her mouth, and stopped momentarily to discard the last piece of her clothing, Khushi almost couldn't bear it, until he moved and legs apart, and his tongue touched her most intimately.

"Arnav!" She jumped up in shock.

"Shhhh Khushi – relax!" he kneeled on the floor, stroking her softly at first creating sensations in her that were familiar yet different -- more intense than anything she had ever felt before, and as he quickened his pace, unable to withstand the pressure building up, she tried push to him away but he continued his ministrations until waves of pleasure hit her akin to the waves crashing to the shore. When her knees buckled, he lifted her to wrap her legs around him and carried her into the living room and sat on the sofa holding her as she held on to him breathing hard, tingling from head to toe.

As she came back to consciousness, she took his lips, stroking him tentatively with her tongue. She moved her hands to peel his t-shirt off him. She moved her hands all over his shoulders, moving down to intersperse her fingers into the matt of his hair on his chest. She bent down and touched her soft lips to his neck, placing soft kisses down his chest as her brushed down his hard abs.

"Khushi –"

 When her hands moved down to touch his arousal, he caught her hands and pushed her gently to on the sofa.

He discarded his track pants, pinned her hands on the sofa, even as he moved her legs to enter her slowly. Khushi dug her nails into his back as she moved her hips to accommodate him, Arnav took her lips as he thrust into her faster and Khushi adjusted her pace to match his rhythm until a kaleidoscope of sensations burst in her once again as they reached the pinnacle together.