Chapter 19

The next morning at breakfast Khushi made the announcement about her departure from Delhi.

"You are leaving in a week?" Anjali enquired, her eyes clearly showing her surprise.

" I would have left sooner Anjaliji, but the flight tickets were expensive." Khushi said for the benefit of Indrani Raizada.

"Oh, I wish you had told me I would have booked the tickets for you," Indrani said, "but it is good in a way that you are leaving on Monday because you will be able to attend the party on Sunday."

"What party?" Arnav enquired.

"Lavanya's parents are visiting us from UK," his father said, "we thought it would nice to have a party when they are here."

"Looks like I will miss you this week – " Anjali told Khushi, "I am going to Nainital tomorrow to bring Ananya back for her holidays."

"Shyam and you have to attend the party on Sunday evening." Indrani told Anjali.

"I am going to miss you Khushi -- let's go shopping for the party together!" Lavanya exclaimed.

"Sure."

Khushi noticed Arnav was silent except for the muscle ticking in his jaw.

"Arnav," Mr. Raizada stood up from his chair, "I want to talk to you in the study."

"You go ahead dear," Indrani said, "let Arnav finish his breakfast first."

Arnav looked at the smug face of his step mother and stood up. "I am done."

"What have you decided about Lavanya?" Arunoday Singh Raizada asked his son as he sat behind the huge study table.

"If you are asking if I am ready to marry her then the answer is no." Arnav stood near the bookcase.

"Are you telling me you need more time?"

"No." Arnav affirmed, "I will not her marry her."

"Why not?" his father was agitated, "what is wrong with her? She seems to be perfect."

"Yes, she is perfect," Arnav agreed, "but not for me."

"Then who is perfect for you?" he countered, "that other girl who is staying with us?"

Arnav looked up in surprise. "What?"

"Don’t pretend like you don’t know what I am talking about. I may be old but I am not blind."

"If you had understood so much then you wouldn’t be sitting there and asking me irrelevant questions."

"Have some respect!" Mr. Raizada chastised his son. "I am your father."

An ideal father should be a friend, philosopher and guide not a dictator, Arnav thought but kept it to himself. "It is because I respect you that I agreed to stay here this past month. Now, it is time for you to respect my decision."

Arnav's dad looked frustrated. "Arnav, you know how important this business deal with the Kashyaps' is."

"Yes, I do know that and that deal will happen – I will make sure it does. But for some reason it doesn’t go through, will it matter that much? I will bring you a better deal. So please stop trying to marry me off in exchange for a deal just like you did with Akash."

"Shut up!" Mr. Raizada bellowed, "how dare you."

"Dad, I didn’t mean to --"

"Why do always behave the way you want?" Mr. Raizada demanded, "You had a seat in IITD but you left Delhi to do engineering in some Godforsaken place and stayed with your aunt during the holidays. Then you went to Bangalore to work. You left for the US when Akash was recovering from the accident all those years ago. Do you know how difficult it was for me for three years? Then you came back only when I had that heart attack."

"Why do you have to be so adamant? Do you know that I married the girl of my father's choice without batting an eye-lid?"

"Yes, and you also cheated on her!" Arnav said with startling clarity.

Arunoday Singh Raizada looked at his son like he had grown two horns. "What did you say?"

"The truth." Arnav knew he was crossing his bounds by talking to his father like this but he was at the end of his patience.

"Do you want to know why I kept running away?" Arnav asked his dad, "It was because I was an unwanted person in this house who was given Akash's cast offs – from clothes to books. I was only given the toys that were broken. My room was in outhouse portion that Di and her dad was – which I am extremely thankful for because I was happier with them. I went along when I was pulled out of a good school. You knew what was going on but didn’t lift a finger to help me. I had to pay for the mistake that you and mom made!"

Mr. Raizada was lost for words. "I –"

Arnav continued. "But mom loved me so much – it was enough to last a lifespan. I am sick and tired of these promises!" Arnav exclaimed in anguish, "the promise I made mom is the only reason I have been so obedient to you all my life.

Sometimes I wish she hadn’t told me about you or vice versa. It might have saved us both a lot of trouble. I really feel sorry for my mother who loved a man who didn’t care for her."

"That's not true!" Mr. Raizada said in anguish, "I loved her. She was so beautiful – like her name -- Soundarya."

Arnav was taken aback by his father's words. He had never ever talked about her in his entire life.

He continued. "I wanted to leave my wife and come to her but my parents found out – my father threatened to cut me out of the business. I couldn’t leave. I explained it to her and told her I would take care of her but she didn’t want it. I wrote to her but she wouldn’t reply back."

His poor mom had understood his plight and continued to love the man all her life.

"When I found out about you, I gathered up the courage to tell my wife. After a big showdown, she agreed to let me bring you here but she had conditions. I had to agree. I am sorry son."

Arnav looked at his father who suddenly seemed older than his age. The old wounds would not heal overnight but at least his father had acknowledged and spoken to him about things he had never ever done before. It was a start.

On Saturday evening, Khushi stood in the office looking at it for the last time. She had managed to finish the work that was assigned to her as she had doubled up her work time. Arnav was traveling and she missed him like crazy, especially since she was leaving in a couple of days. He was sure to be back for the party the following day.

She quickly used the washroom and as she passed Shyam cabin she heard a woman's laughter. As it was weekend, there was nobody in the office except for the security guard at the entrance. Shyam hadn’t come in work the entire week, and she wondered if someone was misusing his room.

"Come here right now!" Shyam commanded.

"Yes sir." The woman replied in a husky voice.

It was clear that Shyam was inside with a woman and she was pretty sure that the woman wasn’t Anjali – it was Prachi. From the sounds that followed, there was no doubt about the relationship they were sharing at the moment.

Khushi realized she would have to leave the office quietly without revealing her presence.

She tiptoed back to her cubicle and grabbed her bag. She rushed to the elevators and clicked on the buttons. She heaved a sigh of relief when she saw the elevator door closing. But then they opened again and she saw Shyam standing there.

"Hello Khushiji."

"Shyamji –" Her heart was pounding so loudly that she wondered if he could hear it.

"I didn’t realize you were in the office," he said, "I didn’t see you when I came here half an hour ago."

She remembered that she was the in the storage room looking for an old file. "You didn’t see me because I had left," Khushi improvised, "I then realized that I had left my laptop back at work. I came back to get that."

"So -- you were coming in?" he looked skeptical with his eyebrows raised, "not going out."

"Yes Shyamji!" Khushi exclaimed hoping he would believe her, "I will just go in now and take my laptop." She passed him and went into the office shivering from head to toe.

She took the laptop and put it into the laptop bag. "I will get back home now." She smiled brightly.

"Why don’t you have dinner with me?" Shyam asked her suddenly, "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Dinner?" Khushi asked him, "Anjaliji will be expecting me at home."

"She isn’t back from Nainital yet," he reminded her.

"I have to pack Shyamji," she said, "I am leaving soon."

"You seem to be avoiding me Khushiji," his tone was beginning to scare her.

"Not at all –"

"Hi Khushi!" Manav's voice rung out loudly in the empty office, "I was looking for Arnav Is he here?"

"Manav!" she smiled at him with relief wishing she could run and hug him for his timely entry.

On Sunday evening, Arnav sat in the taxi thinking about his conversation with DCP Rathod. Ajay had been excited about finally apprehending the drug gang in the Mangalore-Udupi region. All his hard work had paid off. His trip to Udupi had been an introspection of sorts, triggered by the conversation with his father earlier in the week, and that helped him arrive at an important decision. He would have to talk to Lavanya.

His dad had been driving him crazy calling him over and over again for the last couple of hours. He wanted to know if you if you would make it in time for the party. He couldn’t understand why he was so worked up about a simple party. He had arrived at the venue of the party, the farm house that his dad owned at the outskirts of the city. His dad seemed to have gone all out for this party, when he could have simply held in in the Raizada house.

He saw her standing across the room, standing all by herself with a drink in her hand. Her long hair hung down her shoulders like a dark waterfall. She moved a strand of hair and tucked it behind her ear which she often did. Her eyes, lined with dark khol and her long lashes, made her look sensuous. Her nose pin shone on her slim and dainty nose while her full lips were painted a deep red. She wore a saree to match her lips as it draped around her slim curves. He was mesmerized. Only Khushi could make his heart beat with abandon. Only Khushi could drive him crazy with want. Only Khushi.

"Arnav!" Lavanya exclaimed, breaking into his thoughts. "You are finally here! My parents are waiting to see you. Come."

For some reason, they seemed to be in a state of excitement that he couldn’t understand and at this point he didn’t care as he wanted to see Khushi. He turned to look but she didn’t seem to be there in the spot she was standing earlier.

"Let's dance Arnav!" Lavanya was dragging him to the dance floor.

Just when the song ended, Manav came up to them, "May I have the pleasure of the dance with the pretty lady? Don’t worry I will introduce myself," he winked at Arnav as he twirled Lavanya away from him. Arnav began to look for Khushi.

A little later, he found her in lonely spot near the pool struggling to pin her saree to her blouse.

"Need any help?" he said huskily.

"Arnav!" She was startled. " I didn’t know you were here –my saree is giving me trouble today."

"Calm down Khushi," He walked up to her, " I will fix this." He took the pin and fastened it to her blouse, and then his fingers brushed down her smooth back, like the wings of a butterfly giving her goosebumps.

"Stop doing things like this!" Khushi exclaimed stepping away from him, "I don’t want you to behave so casually with me."

Arnav seemed to be taken aback by her sudden outburst. He took a step toward her."What else should I be with you?" he demanded, "Formal?" He took her hand and pulled her flush against his body, wrapping his strong arms around her. "I missed you."

When Rishabh had acted with propriety with her, she had hated it but Arnav's behavior didn’t bother her at all and if she could be honest with herself she enjoyed it. This wasn’t good for her mental health. She pushed at his chest with force, but he didn’t budge an inch continuing to hold her until she gave up albeit grudgingly.

A few moments later, he took her hand and led her toward the open doors of the party hall. The dance floor was full of people and no one noticed when Arnav took Khushi in his arms for a dance.

Tum mere ho is pal mere ho

Kal Shaayad yeh aalam na rahe

Kuch aisa ho tum tum na raho

Kuch aisa ho hum hum na rahe

He twirled her away from him….

Yeh raaste alag ho jaaye

Hum chalte chalte kho jaaye

Then he brought her to him, her back to his front. "I wanted to dance with you again," he said from behind her, "you looked so beautiful when you danced with abandon that night in Udupi."

"You remember?" Khushi couldn’t help asking.

"Yes."

Main phir bhi tumko chahoonga

Main phir bhi tumko chahoonga

Is chaahat main mar jaaonga

Main phir bhi tumko chahoong

He lifted her high up looking at her with his mesmerizing brown eyes.

Khushi's heart filled with unbound joy. To hear him say that was unexpected and completely enthralling. "I was totally smitten by your chocolate eyes."

"What?"

The song ended, Khushi ran out of the room back to the pool side.

Arnav caught up with her. "What was that?"

"You have the most mesmerizing eyes I have ever seen." She lay her soul bare to him.

Arnav's heart skipped a beat at her bold words. "I warned you the last time but you didn’t listen to me."

"About what?" she whispered.

"About the red lipstick." His voice was hoarse.

"Oh – I –"

 He didn’t let her finish as he took her lips in a scorching kiss. As he took her upper lip and the lower lip in turns, his hands quickly undid her hair, letting the long tresses fall down her shoulder.

"I couldn't do this to you when you were 16."

"You wanted to kiss me?" Her eyes went wide.

"Very badly."

As Khushi opened her mouth to give him full access, his tongue eagerly darted inside to explore the warm caverns of her mouth. As one hand held her hair in his hand, he made a wet trail down her throat to the nape of her neck, sucking and biting gently. Slipping her fingers through the hair at the back of his head, Khushi threw her head back in complete abandon as liquid heat began to pool in the pit of her stomach.

As Arnav's cellphone rang they broke apart. Arnav cut the phone in exasperation.

The shrill ring of the cellphone had brought her back to her senses. "You can call back."

"That's alright Khushi --" he tried to hold her but she stepped back.

"No!" She exclaimed, "this just doesn’t make sense anymore."

"What are you talking about?" He demanded.

"I am leaving tomorrow Arnav!" She exclaimed, "I came here to explain myself to you and I did that. I had hoped that there might be a future for us – but I guess I was mistaken. Don’t get me wrong. I am not blaming you here. It was my choice to come here."

"Don’t go." He cut the phone as it rang again.

"What the --?" Khushi stopped herself realizing this was something she had picked up from him. "Do you know how hard it has been to stay in this house for the past month? I know what your step mom thinks, I don’t know what your father thinks, but most importantly, not knowing what you think!"

She continued. "Stop joking, take your call and leave me alone. I need to speak to Anjaliji." She made an attempt to leave.

"Khushi stop!" He didn’t let go.

"Why are you doing this Arnav?" she grated in anguish standing at arms-length from him.

"I LOVE YOU!" He bit out his eyes depicting his agony.

Khushi was speechless. The words she had been waiting to hear for so long were finally out of his mouth.

"Arnav!" Manav's voice rang out in the distance, "why aren’t you picking up bro? You better come inside right now. "

Arnav looked at Khushi. "Don't go anywhere. We have to talk." He walked away in quick strides.

Khushi was still too dazed to react.

A few agonizing minutes later, Khushi's phone rang. "Arnav?"

"Hello." A muffled voice on the other side spoke, "please leave this place as soon as possible -- your life is in danger."

"It's a wrong number --" She tried to cut the call.

"It's not Khushiji."

"Who is this?" She asked angrily.

"That's not important right now," he said, "listen to me –"

"If you are not going to tell me who you are I don’t want to listen to anything you say –"

"Don’t cut the call," the man said emphatically, "Just walk up the stairs on your left and look through the window and see what is going on in the party hall." The voice suggested.

For some reason Khushi followed the advice. What she saw shocked her beyond her imagination. Arnav and Lavanya stood on the stage flanked by their parents posing for the press who seemed to be clicking pictures like they were on fire. It was Arnav's engagement with Lavanya!

"The Raizadas are the biggest liars on this earth." As the voice droned on in her ear Khushi walked down the stairs in a daze. Her head was reeling and the sooner she could get away from this wretched place, the better she would feel.

Ten minutes later, Arnav stood in front of the security guard enquiring about Khushi. When he hadn’t found Khushi where he had left her, he had a hunch that she might have left the party after witnessing his engagement with Lavanya.

"Madam just left in the taxi sir," the harrowed man told Arnav, "she asked for a vehicle to go the airport and all our vehicles were busy. When a taxi came up I arranged it for her."

"I was supposed to drop her to the airport a few hours later," Manav said looking at his watch.

"You put her in a vehicle without checking if that really was a taxi?" Arnav caught the man's collar and shook him, "you should be ashamed to call yourself a security guard!" he yelled.

"Arnav, I will get the car -- we don’t have time for this," Manav said before he rushed off.

Manav drove in the direction the guard had pointed out and they soon realized it was away from the city. After checking with a road side tea stall, they took a deviation toward an unpaved road and finally found the vehicle parked outside a lone house in the middle of nowhere. Not expecting anyone to follow them, the kidnappers hadn’t bothered going too far.

"Shall we call the police?" Manav asked as they hid in the bushes just a few feet away from the house.

"I don’t think I will stand and wait here until they get here," Arnav said, "I am going in." He was about to leave when two men stepped out of the house. They seemed to be agitated about something.

"What the problem, brother?" The short scruffy looking man asked.

"He is not picking up the phone!" he said emphatically, "He was supposed to tell us what to do next." The taller man raked his hand through his hair, "I don’t even get signal inside the house."

"Maybe it’s a network issue," the shorter man pointed out, "keep calling him. I will go inside and make some tea."

"We will be able to take them one at a time," Arnav whispered to Manav, "We can get this man first and then go in get the other one."

Manav nodded his head and they both sneaked up on the tall man. Arnav punched the man hard, knocking him on his knees to the ground. Having been caught off guard the man had no time to react. He seemed to be disoriented and as Manav caught both his hands behind him, Arnav punched him another time, and the man fell on the ground.

Just then the second man came out and the moment he saw what was going on, he ran to the side of the house and disappeared into the darkness.

"Get him Manav," Arnav said, "we need to know who is behind this."

Manav ran after him.

Arnav rushed inside the house and a room that was locked from outside with a padlock. He came out to search for the key and found the tall man missing. "F@#$!" he swore loudly as he picked up a large stone.

Arnav broke the padlock and opened the door to find Khushi in a corner, bound hand and foot with a tape on her mouth.

"Khushi!" He exclaimed as he rushed toward her.

He peeled the tape from her mouth and unfastened the ropes that were used to bind her.

"Are you alright?" he asked her with a shaky voice.

"I am fine." Khushi whispered back.

He took her in his arms and wrapped her in a warm embrace. "Thank God!"

As Khushi's knees buckled, Arnav caught her and picked her up in his arms. "I got you." He carried her to the car and put her in the backseat. "You are safe now." He told her.

Manav came up behind them and told Arnav that he had lost the goon as he couldn’t see clearly in the darkness.

"The other one's gone too," Arnav said, "we will inform the police. Let's go."

As Manav maneuvered the car back on the unpaved road, he said, "Anjali has been trying to reach you. I think she sent you a message."

Arnav read the message and all color drained out of his face. "F!@#!" He swore.

"What happened?" Manav asked him.

"Let's go back to the farm house first," he said, "after that you take Khushi and file an FIR."

"No!" Khushi's voice rang out loud and clear.

"You don’t have to be scared Khushi," Arnav said, "Manav will be there with you."

"I said – No."

"Look Khushi if you are angry about the engagement –" Arnav paused, "let me explain."

Khushi looked at him, her eyes spitting fire. "Do you want your father to go to jail?" she asked him.

Arnav's looked at Khushi in shock. "What the h@## are you talking about?"

"He is the one who arranged this kidnapping, didn’t he? Or was it Mrs. Indrani?"

"Why would they do something absurd like that?"

"Because they didn’t me to find out about their beloved son Akash," Khushi said, "he was the one Payal was seeing, isn’t it?

"You were trying to protect your brother all along and kept me in the dark!"

Arnav remained silent.

"Whatever!" Khushi said, "I just want to get away from this nightmare and go home."

"Manav, drop me to the farm house," Arnav spoke with a listless tone, "and then drop Khushi to Chennai."

"That won't be necessary!" Khushi protested.

"But Arnav, I am not sure I will get tickets this late --" Manav began.

"Both of you just shut up and do as I say damnit!" Arnav's tone bode no argument.