Lawful Sins - Season 2 - Part 31

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Chapter 31


Prem Nivas 


The good thing about Prem Nivas was that no one disturbed their privacy. This was their secret den and no one needed to know that. But though it might be Arnav’s place of solace, it haunted her. Every corner of this house had some bad memories in store for Khushi. But tonight, was not about her. It was about Arnav. She knew something bad was pricking his heart and she would try to ease it off by sharing his pain. 

The alcohol had influenced him too much so Khushi had to hold his hands to take him inside the house. He flopped on the huge couch while she took some rough breaths after settling him there. 

“Give me a minute, let me check if Naniji is waiting for me at home” 

She fished for her phone in the purse and dialed Gupta Villa. Maria, her servant picked up. 

“Maria, is Naniji still awake?” 

“She slept early tonight. It’s been two hours now” 

“Okay” Khushi turned only to find Arnav admiring something in his wallet. Tears shone his eyes as he hugged his wallet and Khushi knew that was a sign of worry. She dropped the call and rushed to him. 

“Arnav?” 

He didn’t react much, just kept hugging his Wallet. 

“If I knew you would still be the same here, I would have taken you to Nani instead. This place makes you happy, isn’t it? Then… why are you like this tonight?”

Arnav exhaled. He didn’t want to share. No one would understand this. Not even her.

“You know what I do to myself when people don’t act like I want them to?” she teased.

That was supposed to bring a weak smile at least if not cheer him up but instead worry gleamed over his face as he mistook her. He thought she was talking about self-hurting. Stumbling, he still stood up and clutched her shoulders.

“When I see you self-hurting, it reminds me of who I was.. 4 years back” he confessed.

There was pain all over his face. She wanted to hold his face, stroke his cheek and erase off that agony but before she could do any of that, he touched her. In the gentlest way possible. When his palm landed softly upon her cheek, she shut her eyes, giving into the moment, living the pain he felt while narrating his past, in the hope of sharing his suffering. What was this man doing to her? He melted her in the worst possible way. She couldn’t help but let all her defenses down when he was so close.

“After Dad’s death, the whole and sole responsibility of AR Group fell on my shoulders. I was just graduated and before I could understand how the Company works, Dad was no longer there to guide me. He was a genius Khushi. AR Group was his baby and I didn’t want to ruin it by my wrong decisions. You wouldn’t believe I almost worked for 16 hours in the office, grasping every function I could, knowing about every client that my father handled. I just wanted to maintain the reputation of this Company like my father would have”

Khushi was so proud of him. He really worked hard and AR Group was still one of the top companies she knew.

“And in all this.. I … I ignored my family” a lone tear rolled down his cheek. “I wasn’t there for my family, when they needed me the most. If I had… my Maa.. she would have been alive”

The sheen of tears in his eyes undid her. She stood immobile, her chest heaved and eyes burned.

“Maa met with an accident and lost lot of blood. The doctors contacted every blood bank. I had the same blood group as Maa’s. I was in the city and Nani called me like hundred times but I didn’t answer her calls. I was in a conference and my phone was in silent mode. When I took her calls finally after the meeting… it … it was too late”

The weight of that day crashed on his shoulders again. He dropped on his knees and hugged her waist. Khushi froze. He thinks it was his fault? No!! That was the worst kind of pain a son could give to himself. Her fingers brushed his hair as she drew him closer. But this wasn’t enough. She had to find words to soothe him down.

“Arnav…” she raised his head from her waist and forced him to meet her eyes. “It was not your fault”

He rubbed his eyes and somehow managed to get back on the couch. Khushi sat next to him.

“I was too broke to believe this” he admitted. “And … my mistakes started piling on each other”

Khushi didn’t intervene. She heard him out.

“Initially when I smoked weed, it was only to make me forget my pain. But soon it became an addiction. I didn’t even realize how much I was hurting Nani and Lavanya by my actions. I was breaking apart. One day I woke up and found myself on the road.. literally on the road Khushi”

He hid his face between his palms. He felt ashamed of his own actions. Khushi gripped his forearms, giving him the support, he needed.

“I couldn’t even stand up and … then I saw Maa..” he gulped. “She sat next to me on the road.. and brushed my hair and then she cried. She just cried and I couldn’t even raise my hand to wipe her tears. Its that instant I realized how much I was hurting her by my actions. She wanted me to look after Nani and Lavanya and what was I doing? That man on the road.. wasn’t me. She didn’t raise me for this Khushi. I realized it that day”

Khushi swallowed her tears in the throat.

“I enrolled myself in the rehab at London. Aman was leading that program there. When he heard my problem, you know what he did first?”

Khushi shrugged. She had no clue what happened at such places.

“He took me to a room. It had a boxing bag with my face on it. Aman asked me to punch that bag as many times I wanted to vent out all the anger I had within me for not being there for my Mom.. for my family”

Khushi was stunned. What kind of treatment was that?

“I punched that bag.. I punched it for like.. 2 hours. My hands bled and Aman just… just watched me. It should have hurt me more but nope. It unleashed the real me again. I felt lighter.. As if I had flushed all the bad I had in me and emptied my mind and heart to accept the good. That’s how my treatment started. It wasn’t easy though. For days I couldn’t eat… I needed weed badly. I couldn’t stand.. My body shuddered and.. at times I even felt I was dying”

Khushi processed it all but she too shivered in the process.

“The rehab released me after 2 years but I was still not prepared to face the world. I stayed back in London.. Aman and I had bonded enough and if he his professional help cured me, his friendship helped me face the society again”

Khushi was glad there was someone who could show him the right path again. Now she understands why he dotes on his family so much? He was not there for them once and he wouldn’t repeat that mistake ever again. Soon his eyes started shutting. Before he could sleep here on the couch, Khushi pulled his hand.

“Let me drop you on the bed upstairs.. come”

He didn’t reject her orders and allowed her to take him in the bedroom. As they stepped in the room, Khushi’s feet stumbled with the foot of the bed and she and Arnav both lost their balance and fell on the bed together. Arnav laughed. His laugh echoed in the room and instead of being annoyed about it, Khushi joined him in this laughter.

“You are laughing on me?” she pushed his chest.

“You pushed me?” he frowned.

“I did.. what will you do?” she pushed him again.

Arnav clutched both her wrists. His body tense and straining with desire. Her eyes glued on his hard face as he gripped her face with both his hands. Khushi had truly never seen him drunk and completely off his senses.

“God” he closed his eyes and pulled her face closer. Their damp foreheads touched. Khushi turned her head and pressed her lips to his cheek instead. She would never take advantage of him in this state. He softened and soon she heard him snore. She was already on top of him, inhaling his masculine scent and it felt right.. everything felt right.. This moment.. this position.. this closeness. She could have easily moved away and find another place to sleep but she didn’t. She cuddled him and closed her eyes, imprinting her heart with memories of tonight. How easily he had opened up his grief. Would she ever be able to do that?


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

The first few rays of the sunrise hit straight in the room, on their faces. They were still on bed and snuggled to each other. Arnav shifted in sleep and it almost robbed Khushi’s ability to think and move knowing they spent the night on the same bed. She wriggled to get off the bed before he would notice but failed. He opened his eyes and took a few seconds to absorb everything he saw. Her silver mini dress was raised and crumpled whilst the shirt he was wearing had come off his denims from every side. Before he could fuss about it, she cleared his doubts.

“We just slept together.. not that slept. Slept in a good way. So, you don’t have to think of marrying me”

She got down and adjusted her dress.

“Damn!! Where is my phone? I need to get back home before Naniji wakes up” she complained. Last night she left her phone in the living room.

“Why are you so afraid of marriage?” he queried raising to his feet and tucking his shirt back in.

“Out of everyone, I didn’t expect you to ask me that” she answered.

She brushed her hair with fingers to look normal again but when she stared in the mirror, she saw him standing right behind her.

“You will meet thousands of odd people in your life who mark a wrong impression on you and your ideas.. but the goodness lies in you…. here” he said pointing at her heart. “until you have enough faith in the goodness within you… you can do no harm to yourself or others..”

“That one was deep…” she teased. “But let me still stick to what I have believed so far. Love… marriage.. commitment.. is all bulshit. Two people can never stick to each other out of love in a marriage, for lifetime. Some or the other day they either give up and move on or cheat”

“You need a therapy too” he mocked.

Khushi gritted her teeth. How dare he advised her that?

“And Prem Nivas is a good place to start with. This place is full of love my grandfather had for his wife”

“Our memories about this place don’t match”

There was regret in her voice. He had heard she had lived in Prem Nivas during her childhood and things went odd between Khushi and her parents here. What? He desperately wanted to know.

“Will you drop me home? My car is at the Club”

She seemed to be in a hurry.

“Come down soon”

She made her way out and Arnav just wondered why she was so mechanical at times. Last night he opened up his past to her and though she handled him in the best way possible, today morning she behaved like it never happened.

“Arnav… please hurry up” she screamed from the living room. He strode down and saw her texting someone.

“Nani must have woken up already” he read her tension.

“The last thing I want is she suspecting we spent the night together”

“But.. that’s the truth” he teased again. “We slept Miss Gupta and it was the best sleep I got in years”

Khushi bit the insides of her cheek. What the hell was he doing to her? Flirting?

“Must be the vodka” she replied. “It gives sound sleep to everyone”

She got in the car while he started the engine. A message buzzed on her phone. She sighed reading it silently.

“See. I told you. Couples fall in love I am sure but momentarily. It’s just some chemical reaction in the brain that blooms for some period and then wipes off”

“Whose message??”

“Kishu. Seems they fought again last night and Lavanya thinks he doesn’t love her anymore. What a waste!!” she groaned.

Arnav laughed.

“Seriously?” she shouted in frustration. “Your sister is throwing tantrums on her husband and you are laughing?”

“Tell Nandakishore… its normal. Her pregnancy hormones are making her react like that. Hot and lovable at one moment and cold and brittle the next”

Khushi rolled her eyes.

“If pregnancy does that to a woman, I better adopt” she snorted.

“I don’t mind. At least an orphan will get a family”

His reply stunned her. Was he thinking she will adopt a baby with him?

“So? Kab chale?” (So? When should we go?)

“Where?” she still had no clue what he was talking about.

“Orphanage” he winked.

Khushi’s face turned red like a tomato and the blush was soon followed by a smile. She hadn’t felt like this before with any man. And this smile was like none before. It had a tinge of joy in it. This smile wasn’t fake. Arnav was delighted to make her smile even for a few seconds and continued driving. As he parked the car at the doorway of Gupta Villa, they both saw Nani plucking flowers in the garden. Khushi had no clue how to react. Nani would definitely know they had a sleepover last night.

“Good morning Nani” Arnav quickly rushed to her and took her blessings. Khushi on the other hand, tried to stay away.

“Morning Chotte. How is Aman? Met him?”

“Aman is fine. In fact, he happens to be Ruby’s friend too and she and Khushi were with us last night”

“I see” Nani smiled. “I am glad you all had a good time”

Khushi took a sigh of relief. So probably Nani thought the four were together and it just eased some of Khushi’s worry. For some reasons, she wanted to put a good impression on Nani, God knows why.

“I should head back to Shantivan”

“Why don’t you come for dinner tonight?” Nani invited. “If Khushi doesn’t mind”

Khushi would never mind. The closer he stays to her, the more delighted she felt.

“Please come” Khushi said as he watched her face.

“In that case it will be like old times. We will watch a super duper romantic movie.. old one. Whatever Nani likes.”

Khushi’s brow twitched at the thought of watching an old romantic movie with Naniji and Arnav. Nani told her how the family always watched a movie together every weekend and enjoyed spending time with each other. Khushi was impressed but such kind of agenda was never in her family. In fact she hardly recalled she and Kishu even dining together with their parents.

Arnav hugged Nani for her movie approval and head back to his car.

“And Arnav” she stopped him. “Please talk to your sister. I think she should loosen up a bit. Kishu really loves her and..”

“So you believe in NK’s love not others?”

She wanted to strangle him now.

“Alright.. I will speak to him” he assured and quickly got in the car. Khushi waited till he drove away. He had a point. She believed NK genuinely cared and loved Lavanya. Does that mean slowly her belief in love and commitments were changing?


To be Continued

NEXT PART
 

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