The Royal Fling - Part 9

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Chapter 9


Shantivan 

“Whom is the Royal Bride searching for in this crowd?” Anjali Singh Raizada breaks Khushi’s trance. “Are you looking for Devarji (brother-in-law)?” she whispers coming closer to Khushi.

Khushi fakes a smile.

“He is not home” Anjali sits next to her, admiring the Mehndi drawn on Khushi’s palms. “He looked very agitated when he left home in the afternoon today. Still isn’t back”

Left home? Agitated? Why? Where could he go?

“How irresponsible of him to leave his own wedding functions?” Anjali continues to poison her mind against the groom. “But who can stop him? He is short tempered and hence no one tries to question his decisions here. I wonder how you will cope up with him after marriage”

Khushi clenches her jaw. She knows what Anjali is trying to do.



“Don’t bother about me Anjali” she replies faking up a smile again. “And neither put any efforts to brainwash me against this marriage or Arnav Singh Raizada. It’s waste of time. I am a Professional Model; whatever you are doing right now, I have seen it many a times before in my career. It is called back talking. And definitely doesn’t suit to someone from a Royal family. You should mind your own business, that’s good for all of us”

Anjali frowns at her straight forward reply.

“You have a big mouth” she snarls.
“Not big as yours” Khushi winks back at her as Anjali slips away looking for her husband.

She is glad Anjali left because she had seriously started to piss her off. Such women are family breakers and she doesn’t appreciate it. But out of all this, one thing still confuses her. Where did the Royal Groom actually go?

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

The Sangeet begins. Suhani reaches Shantivan and hugs Khushi.

“You are looking pretty” she praises but seems like Khushi has other things to ask about.
“Where is Angad?” Khushi questions her.
“Angad? Why?”
“Just tell me where he is?”
“He is outside talking to someone on the phone. He asked me to get in”
“Oh”

Khushi goes back in a thoughtful mode.

“What happened? Why did you ask about Angad?”
“I thought he might be with Arnav and you would know where they are”
“Arnav Singh Raizada is not here?”
“Nope”
“That’s strange. I am not sure if Angad is aware of that either”

Angad and Arnav Singh Raizada seems to be good buddies. There are no chances that he would not have told Angad his whereabouts.

“Daadi” Khushi stops Subhadra Raizada who is busy with the guests. She comes to Khushi.
“Where is Arnav? He isn’t seen around”

Daadi doesn’t fumble or look shocked by her query, as if she has a reply prepared.
“He got some urgent work. He will be back soon”
“What can be more urgent than his own wedding functions? I mean, he himself told me how particular he is about the Royal tag and culture. Wont his absence ruin that and give another chance for people to back talk?”

Daadi sighs, she looks little annoyed too.

“It was a priority work for him. Don’t blame him unnecessarily. Sangeet is about to begin, participate in it fully if you wish to cover up his absence for the Royals; something you should be doing being his fiancée. Fill in his place and ensure that people don’t get a chance to back talk.”

Daadi leaves to attend the other guests. Khushi fumes. Daadi handled her query so intelligently without leaking Arnav’s whereabouts.

“She is one smart lady, Suhani. I wonder how she must have been in her younger days”

Suhani chuckles.

“What will you do now? Seems like your fiancée has turned out ghost for tonight”

That word ghost reminds Khushi of the picture on the Royal wall. The two other boys with Arnav and Shyam Singh Raizada whom Anjali termed as Ghosts. They don’t seem to be in this house either.

“Do you know anything about Akash Singh Raizada and Aman Singh Raizada?” she asks Suhani.

Suhani swallows the lump of fear formed in her throat.

“No, I just know that they don’t stay with this family anymore. A hug rift enforced their separation from this family”
“Rift?” Khushi mumbles. What kind of rift?
“And according to my sources, they had a problem with the eldest Royal.. Arnav Singh Raizada. He broke this family, Khushi. That’s all I know”

Damn!! What kind of man was he? Broke his family? Pushed two of his brothers away? Kicked them out of this Palace? Why? What is his motive?

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

Everyone is enjoying the Sangeet. Khushi’s interest picks when Anjali and Shyam take the dance floor. They seem to be a very romantic couple, just like made for each other. But despite all this, the wickedness on their faces was so noticeable. Anyone could say that they are not happy with the Royal wedding of Arnav Singh Raizada with Khushi Gupta. While dancing on some Bollywood song, Shyam pulls Garima and Shashi Gupta to shake a leg with them. Garima hesitates at the beginning but when her husband holds her hand and twirls her around, she gets the motivation needed and grooves over the song. A smile props on Khushi’s face as she watches her parents dance. Her mother seems so happy and so is her father. It’s very rare that her mother experiences the joy of being a happy wife like she is behaving one today.

“She is going to come for you, beware” Suhani points out to Khushi, seeing Anjali advancing towards them.

Before Khushi could do anything about it, Anjali reaches them and pulls Khushi for the dance. She denies but to no use. Another two girls surround her and force her to join the dance with them. Khushi is dragged to the dance floor and unwillingly Khushi performs few moves with her mother and Anjali alongside. Everyone cheers the Bride for her performance which makes Anjali jealous and infuriates her. Amidst the dance, Khushi notices the same woman in the crowd, whom she had seen earlier, hiding her face with a veil. Why does she look so familiar? Who is she and why is she only concentrating on her and no one else? The moment Khushi and her eyes meet, the woman panics and starts moving away, pushing the crowd aside. Khushi stops dancing to follow that woman. But suddenly Anjali stretches her leg in between, making Khushi stumble. She is about to collapse on the ground when a strong pair of arms grip her body in his hold like never before. A faint stench of alcohol from his body didn’t go unnoticed by her. It was Arnav Singh Raizada, the royal groom, back to attend his pre-wedding rituals. Their bodies have collided together, gelled like they are one. His palm glued at her bare back. People cheer them up with whistles and claps to dance together, now that he is back. The noise gets her out of the trance recalling what she was supposed to do before all this happened. She has to find that woman.. follow her. She pushes him gently away.

“I have to go” she mumbles looking everywhere to see if she can find that woman again.

“Not before a couple dance” he doesn’t leave the grip on her back. “Didn’t you hear? Everyone wants us to dance together”
“Dance? And that too with you?” she mutters. “Never”
She struggles to leave and when that doesn’t succeed, she decides to pretend her feet is hurt.
“Aahh” she bends down to try soothe her feet. Garima comes rushing to her.
“Khushi.. what happened?”
“I think I got an ache, Mom”
“Oh, then you should sit down. Come with me”
Khushi grins at Arnav Singh Raizada for tackling the situation according to her choice and then allows her mother to lead her back to the Couch she was sitting earlier, ignoring the brooding groom behind. There was no way she could have danced with Arnav Singh Raizada.

The Sangeet continues with no signs of the strange woman. Guptas decide to head back home. The next day was Haldi and there were still a lot of preps they had to do from their end. As they all get up, Shyam and Anjali joins the Gupta couple to escort them till the door.

“Khushi. Why are you so quiet now?” Anjali pokes. “When Arnav was not home, you were so desperately asking for him”

Arnav raises his brow at the mention of Khushi’s sudden interest in him.

“Is that so?” he asks.

Khushi bites her lip. Now if this topic is opened, why not clearly ask the man himself? As the family heads ahead, she grips Arnav’s wrist and slows him down so that they could talk privately.

“Where had you been today?”
Arnav glares at their handhold and then raises his gaze back to her face.

“Did you miss me?”
“Oh please” she snaps. “I will be the last person to miss you. You keep lecturing me about the Royal rules and cultures. I just want to know what made you break them?”
“I didn’t break any rule. I just got delayed. And don’t act like my wife before marriage”

He slips away without giving her the answers she needs. Khushi sighs in disappointment. He will be the last person to give her the necessary answers. But that doesn’t mean she won’t find them. Day by Day she is getting a strong intuition now that he is the one responsible for Payal’s sudden disappearance. She just needs proofs and once she gets those, she will ensure he pays for all his sins.

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

Gupta Mansion 

At night, Khushi turns on her laptop and starts researching about Akash Singh Raizada and Aman Singh Raizada. There is no much information about these two brothers on the internet. It’s like the Royals have erased their details so as to stop any fingers pointing at them. She doesn’t get a single clue which could strengthen her allegations on the Royal Groom, Arnav Singh Raizada. Everything is so confusing. Her sister’s sudden disappearance and now the missing Royal Sons of this family. Can there be a connection? But what sort of connection? Where are these missing Royals? Alive yet or not?

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

Next Day – Haldi Ceremony

Guptas are back to Shantivan for the Haldi. Khushi comes out of the washroom of the guest room which has been allocated to her for dressing up, all set to head downstairs where the ceremony is about to begin. She takes a final look at herself in the mirror. Her Mehndi clad hands and feet, the floral jewelry specially designed for tonight’s function and the White lehnga which is enhancing her curves makes her dizzy. She is looking stunning and no less than a beautiful kissable bride. Tomorrow she is going to get married in that Royal family and she still has no clues what happened to her sister; the sole reason why she chose to go ahead with this alliance. Plus, the stalking of that strange woman has been haunting her since last night. That woman wasn’t a threat to her. Khushi felt like she wanted to tell her something and if by any chance she could have met her alone, she would have found out. But Arnav’s sudden intrusion in the Sangeet failed her plans. She exhales the frustration and decides to leave when suddenly her gaze drops on the piece of paper neatly kept below her mobile phone on the bed. What’s that? It was not here when she had been inside the washroom. It’s like someone came in her room and placed it there for her to read.

She picks the paper and starts reading its contents. Blood drains out of her head as she completes the reading.

Arnav Singh Raizada barges in the room to check what is taking her so long to come down. But when he sees her so terrified, he strides inside and snatches the paper from her to read. His fingers form a fist by the time he finished reading it.

“Who gave you this?” he snaps

“You should be more worried about my reactions to this. It is enough proof to stop this marriage for me”
“Shut up and tell me what I asked. Who gave you this? Did you see him/her?”

Khushi is confused why he is asking her that? Why so much interest in the person who handed her this little piece of information than the information itself? He is insanely mad as if someone touched his painful nerve but he is not even bothered of her reactions to this?

“Whoever gave it to me, wants to save me from a heartless man like you” she shouts. “How many more lives have you taken because of your irrational decisions?? How many?” she scoffs at him in anger.

He buries his face in his hands disbelieving. He was so close to this person and yet he missed that opportunity. His unmoved attitude towards her state and queries frustrate her even more.

“It’s over Arnav Singh Raizada. I declare not to marry you”

He watches her stride to the Door as if to inform others downstairs about her decision. Before she could open the door, he presses his palm over it to ensure the door remains closed.

“How much do you love your sister?” his voice is nothing like she had ever heard before. She turns around, meeting his heated gaze.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“She meant something to you, didn’t she? She still does, I know”

Khushi’s eyes turns moist with tears.
“If you care to get her back in your life, then you will do exactly as I say”
“Where is my Sister?” Khushi clutches his Kurta strongly. “What did you do to her?”

He goes quiet. It fumes her all the more.

“Khushi… Are you in there?” Garima knocks the door intervening their intense conversation.

Khushi is too blank to measure her next actions.
“People are waiting for us. Let’s go” he moves her aside and opens the door. Garima is shocked to see Arnav inside Khushi’s room. Passing a quick smirk to his mother-in-law, Arnav makes his way out. Garima rushes inside and shakes Khushi.

“Khushi… What was he doing here? It is not right to meet the groom alone like this before the wedding.”

Khushi doesn’t respond. All she recalls is Arnav Singh Raizada’s warning of doing as he says to get her sister back. Horror strikes her face imagining the consequences if she doesn’t obey him. A man who can push his own brothers out of his family can cause any harm to others. But the question remains, is she willing to make such a big sacrifice or should she take her mother’s earlier advice and run away from this place?


To be Continued.


NEXT PART


To Read THE ROYAL FLING from start. Click HERE

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Taking a lift in the dark? Beware!! Sonia loved thrillers. Liked to Blog about them too. But little was she aware that it could all turn back upon her. How far can you go to trust a Stranger in the dark? A short story which explores the dark side of over trusting your instincts and making wrong decisions which can even take your life. 

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