He Loves Me Not - Par 39

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Chapter 39





Flashback continued



The next morning when he woke up, she was gone, back home. Those days, Shashi Gupta and his family used to stay in the same vicinity. It wouldn’t have taken long for her to get back to her home, before they coming to find her absence in the house. It felt void not to have her besides when he woke up. He never thought his 22nd birthday would end up giving him the most surprising gift of his lifetime. But this was just the beginning. She was too young and naïve and he had to keep up his parents’ expectations from him by sparkling in AR Group Business, which he had recently joined. They both had their share of responsibilities towards their families. Until they complete those, he decided not to think upon any further developments to their innocent love story.




Khushi had kept the box of ring, his birthday present, on the bedside table. It reminded him how much she loved him. That silly girl saved for 2 long years to buy him that. Now it was his duty to do something for her.



He showered and went down for breakfast where his mother Revati Raizada was busy talking over the phone call. By the time Arnav joined his parents on the table, she finished the call.



“I cannot tell you how much happy I am, Ayush. Arnav has suddenly become a star of this family. Do you know Mrs. Bhatia? Her daughter had come in the party last night?”



Ayush nodded.

“She wants her daughter to be Arnav’s wife. Can you imagine that? Arnav is not even 22 and he is getting marriage proposals”



Arnav stiffened.



“Revati, our son is a gem” Ayush patted Arnav’s arm. “And such decisions should not be taken by us, but him. He is a grown-up man. He must have his own choice for a life partner”

“We made him a gem, Ayush. Don’t forget that” Revati scowled. Arnav had not even started his breakfast and now his hunger quenched too. “I didn’t have a say when you decided to adopt him, but let me tell you one thing. Whom Arnav marries and gets in my house will be solely my decision. I will bring a high-class woman in this family, who suits our modesty. After all, even I have my desires to stand tall with pride, flaunting the richness and sophisticated culture of my Bahu. And I know Arnav’s choice. His simplicity will make him fall for any hanky-panky girl which I won’t tolerate. So, before anything of that sort happens, let me warn you both. Arnav will marry the girl I point out, without any further arguments”



Arnav felt his body losing balance. Just when he had thought he found his mate, his mother made plans for his future, something he can never avoid or deny.



“Arnav” Revati placed her hand on Arnav’s. “Are you going to respect my wishes or should I stop expecting anything from you?”



He was blank. He wanted to scream and tell them that he had feelings for Khushi but will they understand? It would complicate Khushi’s life and her risk her father’s job. If Shashi Gupta was made to resign, how would he earn well again and handle the responsibility of his daughter’s future? It would devastate him to see Khushi and her family being destroyed by his mother’s unnecessary resolutions. It was time he makes a decision for her.. the one which will be profitable for her whole life. He has to forget whatever happened last night and make Khushi do the same. She has to move on.. from him.. from this place.. before things complicate lives of people they care about.



He placed his hand over Revati’s as a promise.



“Whatever you say, goes Mom”



His reply brought back Revati’s smile but he had lost his appetite. He got up from the table on the pretext of calling up Aman who was missing in the party last night. The Raizada couple couldn’t trace he was lying and hiding his pain.



Again, that morning, Khushi returned back to him, hoping they would make some constructive plans for their relationship from hereon but he broke her heart by giving her that box of ring again and asking her to forget everything they had last night.



“I know why you are doing this” she blushed. “because I left in the morning without waking you up” she bit her lip.



Arnav swallowed the ache formed in his throat. This girl is innocent and so much in love with him. He is showing her signs of pushing her away from his life, forever whereas she thinks it’s a prank?



“Take this ring back, Khushi and remove me from your heart. I cannot have any kind of relationship with you. I am saying this much politely, don’t make me lose my calm”



The smile on her face wiped off as he said that in the roughest tone possible. Is he really serious?

“You said you like me too”

“I don’t remember saying that. And even if I did, there is a difference between liking someone and loving. I have no time for all this nonsense”



How could he say this? She spent all her precious time in loving him, thinking about him and he calls it all a nonsense?



“Why are you doing this? Did I .. did I hurt you somehow?” she questioned him innocently.



Arnav tried his best to show no feelings on his face. He didn’t want her to read what was going in his head and heart right now. But looked like she was not taking him seriously. He had to tell her something worse to draw that seriousness out of her.



“Why would I be hurt because of you?” he snapped. “You are not that important in my life, Khushi” he lied. Only he knew how much pain he went through to lie something so cold.

Tears sprung in her eyes. She came ahead and placed her palm flat on his chest, right where his heart beat for her.

“You are lying” she murmured.

Arnav shrugged her arm.

“I lied last night. I was drunk and whatever I told you or did was irrelevant. Nothing is possible between us ever”



His words bruised her heart again.



“I spent the night here… ” words choked in her throat.

“So?” he didn’t let her finish. “I didn’t ask you to, neither I pleaded. It was your decision. I had asked you to leave. It was your mistake not mine”



She gulped the tears from flooding her eyes again.



“This can’t be you” she muttered with surety. “Definitely someone has made you deny your love for me. Who is it? Is it your father? Or mother? That’s why you are speaking so rudely with me. Tell me who it is?”

“Enough” he shouted. This was the first time he had raised his voice at her. “You are not my type Khushi. You are just Dad’s Personal assistant daughter. Only because I showed sympathy on you and allowed you to befriend with me, doesn’t mean you can rule my heart or this family. You mean nothing to me. Now before I ask the guards to show you the exit door, LEAVE”



Khushi felt weak. She wanted to crumple down, but not here. Not in his room. She ran out from there, promising herself never to turn back and see him again. Only if her heart could support her decision. The next two days she spent home, weeping in her room, in her father’s absence. Slowly she realized it that Arnav was incapable to hurt her so brutally. That man was so sensitive towards every relationship of his life. He has never been so harsh and cold to anyone. And it was impossible for him to behave so with her. It had to be his parents who might have unknowingly made him change his mind about her. But if that is so, what would she do now? Obey his commands? Forget him? Move on? Can she forget her first love? Only time had that answer. A week passed. She still didn’t come face-to-face with Arnav again and she was happy that way. She didn’t know how would she face him again after spending the best and worst moments of her life, both of which he showered on her. Suddenly that evening when her father returned home, he had a news for her. She got a Sponsorship to do her further studies in London. She didn’t know how to take the news? Her father was happy and there was no chance she could spoil his excitement. This distance would give her enough time to think too which is why blindly she took up the offer. She decided to go away from him.. forever.. and though she was thousands of miles apart from him for the next few years, her love for him remained stagnant. There was no change in it. She met new boys, made friends, got proposals too for dating but she couldn’t. As maturity nurtured her, she got enough clues by her heart which confirmed why Arnav broke her heart. He must have come under a lot of pressure and hence took that irrational decision. He must be in remorse for doing that to her and she couldn’t wait to get back to India and mend their broken ties. But fate played another dice this time and she got the news of his engagement. He was getting engaged to his best friend’s sister Sheetal Mathur. There were pictures of them together. But it didn’t break her this time. Her love for him had outgrown every bitter feeling and suspicion about his feelings for her. She could now read his mind and heart even through his picture. And she knew one thing.. he wasn’t happy with this alliance, which meant she had to go and fix it.



The music changes, bringing Khushi out of her stance. She was lost in the past memories and so was he. She can say he was thinking the same. Though she has been very strong in hiding from him, how much his cruelty had affected her, tonight the bruises of past were open to him and he could see them on her face, read them in her eyes very clearly. He grips her waist tight while raising the other hand to wipe the lone tear just popped out from her eye. She flinches when he wipes the drop of tear away.



“We should get back on the table” she murmurs.

“We should get away from this place. That’s the plan” he reiterates.

“I don’t think that’s possible. I don’t want to go out anywhere with you tonight” she pleads.



He looks sharply in her eyes.



“Because it reminds you of how bad I hurt you, isn’t it?” he questions. “I was a jerk back then.. to let you go away.. from me..”

“You sponsored my entire education to send me away from you, Arnav. How about that?” she snaps.

“That’s because I didn’t trust myself” he grips her forearms, drawing her close. “If you would have stayed back around me, I wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on anything else”

“I was your distraction” she rephrases but not positively.

“You still are” he clenches his jaw, speaking the truth.

“Then why are you letting me in your life again? Send me away, just like you did last time”

“Because I am tired of running away from you”

“Then don’t run” she sobers down.

“I wont” he brings her wrist to his face and kisses her knuckles. It makes her body tickle but at the same time she becomes conscious of their surroundings.

“We might be watched” she reminds.

“Aman is taking care of that” he makes her turn and see how Aman is busy chatting with the rest of the team.

“He has always watched your back” Khushi smiles satisfied.

“Hmm.”

“What is he doing here? In London?”

“Work and of course to see if I am fine”

“You are not fine, Arnav” Khushi shares openly. “You have changed”



He inhales sharply as if unprepared to start this conversation again.



“I had to” he mumbles. “I was suffocating there, not anymore”

“Would you like to talk about it?” she asks hopefully. “I need to know what went wrong between you and them”

“Everything” he completes the sentence in just one word and stops dancing, even though the music is still On. “Lets go”



He drags her gently away from the dance floor, back to the team at the table. Khushi joins the group, away from Arnav. They mingle up with the rest until the party finally ends. Arnav thanks the team for celebrating this day for him and making it memorable. The team gifts him a bouquet and card which reminds Khushi about her gift to him, the white shirt. She has secretly kept it in the car, she has to give him without delay.



As everyone finally disperses and while Arnav is busy talking to Katherine, Khushi rushes to her car. She unlocks it and is about to take the gift out when she hears his voice.



“Slipping away? Not a good sign Miss. Gupta”



Khushi pulls back from the car and crosses her arms. Aman joins them in the parking lot.

“You guys are still here? Go get some time alone” Aman shouts.

“Ask your friend not to dream so high” Khushi mutters to Arnav. “I am not going anywhere except my home. It’s late”



Arnav reaches her.

“It’s my birthday” he groans.

“That’s why” she pokes his chest. They both exactly know what that means. The memories of his 22nd birthday night is refreshed at this hour every year and Khushi somehow still hasn’t got the courage to face those memories again with him. It would be both emotional and painful. Why spoil his mood and ruin this moment? He already is hiding a lot of pain within, why add more to it?



She turns around and takes out his gift from her car.



“Happy Birthday” she passes him the box.

“Whats in it?”

“You will know when you open it. But please don’t do it here. Go home and check. Let me know if it fits or else we can exchange”

“Shirt?” he guesses.



She frowns. Did she give him any clue? Probably!!!



“Good night, Arnav. Bye Aman. Take him home” she shouts waving a goodbye to the two boys.

“You seriously leaving?” Arnav stops her again from getting in the car.

“I have to” she pleads.

Arnav clenches his jaw looking elsewhere, directing his cheek subconsciously towards her. Khushi’s fingers tickle to touch him again. She gently pecks his cheek once which grabs his attention back on her.



“Happy birthday again”



It was like a drop of water in desert. He swallowed the ache of seeing her leave and shut the car door once she got inside her vehicle. She turned on the engine and drove away.



To be Continued.

NEXT PART

 

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