He Loves Me Not - Part 16

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Chapter 16

Time halts for Arnav Khushi as they protect the flame from the breeze, keeping their hearts susceptible to bruises again. The wind is blowing her hair too, making them tickle her face. But she is so lost in watching him, that she doesn’t bother. The flame touches Khushi’s finger, getting them out of their stance.  She hisses in pain. Arnav immediately pulls her arm and blows air on her finger. Aman notices all of this while the Raizada couple are busy talking to each other aside, having no clue what their son is up to.

“Sheetal” Revati suddenly shouts aloud with joy seeing her would-be daughter-in-law in the house and to welcome her. Sheetal’s smile diminishes watching Arnav healing Khushi’s wound. She is astonished to see Arnav giving so much attention to some other woman. Her body burns with jealousy. So far, neither Arnav nor Khushi have realized there are other people witnessing them.




“Is it still burning?” Arnav asks painfully to her.

Khushi though reads her pain in his eyes, she knows nothing of this is useful until he knows to speak his heart out. She shoves his hand and gets up looking around to check if anyone noticed them like that. Sheetal moves her gaze back on her mother-in-law.
“You could have come little early. The Puja just got over” Revati informs.
“Never mind Aunty. I will just be back”

She walks out again and Revati doesn’t understand why?

“What happened to her?” she asks her husband Ayush who has no clue either.

When Sheetal had drove to Shantivan, she had seen an unknown car parked, not at the guests parking area but the place where the family usually parks their private vehicles. Now she knows whose car it is. She comes out and calls out the security guard.

“That red car belongs to Gupta’s daughter?” she asks.
“Yes Ma’am”
“Good”

She walks back to her car, starts the engine and speedily hits Khushi’s car from behind, breaking the backseat glass of Khushi’s car. A wicked smile pops on her face as she sighs in relief. When anyone messes with her, she knows how to throw them back at their right place.

“What the hell” Aman comes out barking at his sister. “What have you done?”

Sheetal gets down her car.
“She was messing with my fiancé”
“What?” Aman is confused. Did Sheetal get to know about Arnav-Khushi?
“It looks like while I was away, she was trying to get attention from Arnav. Didn’t you see how Arnav was healing her bruised finger? She has to back off Aman and I just ensured she would”
“You silly girl. Why did you break her car?”
“I broke her car today, if she doesn’t stop loitering around my fiancé, I won’t mind breaking her to such an extent that she wouldn’t even be capable of flying back to London again”

Aman is terrified by Sheetal’s choice of words. He stops her before she could get back inside.

“Do you even know what you are talking about? Arnav is your fiancé agreed but who left him here and fled to Maldives? YOU!! You got to trust your partner, Sheetal. And if you were so much bothered of someone else snatching your place, you should have stayed back. And one more thing sister, Love should be given…it should be felt. You cannot rule it or over dominate it with such rage. Remember that”

Sheetal shoves his arm and strides inside. She doesn’t care what advise her brother got for her. Aman mutters a curse for the situation his sister, Arnav and Khushi have landed into. This has to stop somewhere. If they keep doing what they are now, things will become uglier. The only person who can bring a change in this is Arnav. He has to accept his feelings for Khushi and put an end to his engagement with Sheetal.

********************


“What happened to your finger?” Ayush returns back to Khushi and Arnav.

Khushi tries to hide her finger but Arnav explains what happened.

“The breeze was putting off the Diya, she saved it”
“Oh I see. You should have cared for your little finger as well Khushi. Let us get that bandaged before the pain worsens” Ayush mutters.
“No Sir. Thanks. I .. I will go home and dress it up”
“You sure?”
“Yes”

She doesn’t want to stay here anymore. Arnav and his mixed reactions are confusing her, breaking her own resolve to stay away from him.

“Arnav…” Sheetal comes back inside and puts her arms around Arnav’s neck. She even kisses his cheek.
Arnav freezes. Sheetal is back? Khushi feels her throat aching with pain seeing the two hugging. Though Arnav has not completed that hug, it still hurts her.

“Missed me darling?” Sheetal purposely asks trying to make Khushi jealous.
“Of course, he missed you Sheetal” Ayush replies on Arnav’s behalf. “we are glad you are back. Now take care of him. He seemed very upset without you these days”

Arnav grits his teeth. Yes, he was upset but that was nothing to do with Sheetal. Khushi feels suffocated.  She wants to go but Sheetal stops her.
“Hey Khushi.. How you doing?”
“Fine” she murmurs back.

Ayush leaves to check on his wife and Sheetal gets the perfect opportunity to warn Khushi.

“You are so fast Khushi. We had hardly met once, during my engagement and see now … you even got into my home.. I hope you are not trying to take my place here” she rubs her hand on Arnav’s chest, near his heart. Arnav grips her arm and gently shoves it back, not making it obvious that he is pushing her off.

Though Sheetal says this in a light way, Khushi and Arnav clearly knows she is mocking. Khushi is angered by her choice of words. This is her place that Sheetal has snatched. Wished she could openly say that to her. But by doing so, no one else but Arnav will be hurt. She doesn’t mind expressing her love openly to the world, but Arnav will have to face its consequences in his personal life which she doesn’t want him to suffer.

“I was invited here Miss Mathur. I didn’t come here intentionally. And if you really belonged here, you wouldn’t miss the Puja today, afterall this is such an auspicious day for your fiancé’s family, isn’t it?”

Khushi’s reply gets an unknown grin on Arnav’s face. He likes her bang on answer to Sheetal’s unnecessary accusations.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” she growls back at Khushi.
“Stop it Sheetal” Arnav interrupts. “Why are you getting so aggressive?”

Sheetal grits her teeth.

“Why don’t we talk about this elsewhere? It’s between you and me Arnav, I don’t think she needs to hear that”
“I was leaving..” Khushi pokes again. “It was you who stopped me. Anyways, goodbye”

Khushi heads out. Once again Sheetal feels insulted and Arnav is stunned at Khushi’s boldness. She knows to stand up for herself and others too if needed. He loves that quality in her. Is there anything he doesn’t like about her? Probably not!!

“We need to talk” Sheetal scowls at him.
“You have just arrived. Take the blessings of the Idol and the priest first”
“I don’t care Arnav” she shouts.
“Watch your tone” he snaps. “This is my house and no one speaks here in that tone. Go and take the blessings first, we will talk afterwards”

“Arnav” Revati notices their argument from far and reaches there. “What happened?”
“Nothing Mom. I was just telling Sheetal to take the blessings.. That’s all”
“Oh that’s okay if she doesn’t want to”
“No its not okay, Mom” Arnav denies. “You have done all of this with so much devotion. I don’t want anyone to disrespect it. This would be a direct disregard to your efforts and I will never let that happen”

Sheetal’s jaw drops. What the hell is wrong with Arnav? He is so much a Mumma’s boy? Does he even realize that Revati Raizada doesn’t love him equally? Revati is speechless because Arnav’s ways of protecting her honor is way beyond her expectations too. But again, this is not the first time he is doing this. He dotes on her and somehow she is still unaffected by that.. literally. !!

“I shouldn’t have come here” Sheetal groans.
“Sheetal please” Revati stops her. “Calm down. It doesn’t matter to me if you don’t believe the rituals and show equal participation. I had kept this Puja for you and Arnav’s better future though. I wanted you both to look happy together.. And seems like I have spoiled your mood.”

Sheetal is not touched by Revati’s idea behind the Puja but she knows if she leaves now, she wont be able to talk to Arnav and be with him for longer. She watches Arnav who is still persistent about respecting the occasion.

“Fine” she walks to the idol and takes the blessings without her will. Revati smiles.
“She is putting efforts too Son. Don’t shout her”

Arnav nods and then leads Sheetal to the guest room as she wants to talk to him privately.

******************

“What happened to my car?” Khushi shouts nervously, seeing the condition of her vehicle. Aman had purposely followed her out.
“Uhh… I will drop you home in mine. Come”
“No.. wait. Who did this?”
“Sheetal” he replies remorsefully.
“What? Sheetal? Why would she do that to my car?”
“We will talk on the way. Come.” Aman grabs her forearm and leads her to his car.
“But.. my car”
“I will get it serviced. Free of cost. I promise”

Khushi doesn’t understand anything until she sits in his vehicle and he tells her what conversation he and Sheetal had when she broke Khushi’s car.

“Oh!!” she sighs. “So she saw me and him gazing in each other’s eyes? Damn!! No doubt she was so pissed at me”

Aman nods
“I would have been the same if I was her. I … I feel so dirty Aman.. I am Sorry.. I.. never thought things would extend this far. I…” she keeps apologizing as tears roll down her cheeks and at one point she cries.

Aman stops the car at the side and turns to her.

“Khushi.. What is this? You don’t need to cry. Come on.. You are stronger than that”
“No..” she sobs. “I am not… I wish I was stronger Aman. But I am not. I am a woman and I can understand what a woman feels like when she finds her man showing interest in someone else and not her. I never wanted to be a second woman in a man’s life. I didn’t realize when things slipped from my hand.. I should have stopped. I should have controlled my feelings for Arnav knowing he was never going to give up on his family. I feel so bad right now..”

Aman feels her pain and doesn’t understand how to make her feel better.

“Khushi.. Fate doesn’t work the way we want. At times we do exactly what we never expected ourselves to do. We have no control over a lot of things, trust me. It is not only you. We all are like that.. That makes us human.. We cannot be perfect”
Aman’s words might have made her feel better for now but she still cannot forgive herself. Now she knows why Sheetal sounded so frustrated with her? Aman passes her a tissue to wipe her tears. She takes it.

“Feeling better now?” he asks.
She plainly nods and wipes her tears. Aman starts the engine again. Poor Khushi. He knows she is not truly at fault. She just loves a man irrevocably and loving someone is not a sin. Though earlier she had tried her best to get Arnav confront his love for her, she failed and now she has given up that task because she realizes she is breaking other woman’s home by doing so. But is Arnav doing the right? Khushi knows what she wants and tried to achieve it. Sheetal knows what she wants and she is holding on to it. But Arnav? He clearly knows what he wants and yet he is misleading everyone. He is the one to be blamed. This has to stop!! Today for some minutes Aman had sensed jealousy in Arnav seeing him favoring Khushi so much and it is this means which he will have to work upon to make that man bend before his love than his family.

To be Continued.


NEXT PART


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