Bride of Sheesh Mahal - Season 3 - Part 6B

(BANNER TO BE POSTED SOON) 

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Chapter 6B


Arnav’s POV


I am driving back to Sheesh Mahal thinking how I broke Khushi’s fast, how I carried her in my arms when she was unconscious and how much I loved the food she cooked for me tonight. Her paintings were another thing that I liked about her. The only thing that troubled me was her touch-me-not attitude. Wish that could change too. I take a Left-Turn on the road. Sheesh Mahal is some 3 kilometers away from this lane. Suddenly I see a woman on the road, walking from the edge. She’s wearing a black Saree and her hair is all messed up. I suddenly remember she is the same woman who had scared me the other day when I met Khushi for the first time. As soon as she hears the car sound, she waves at me to stop. Should I Stop? Does she want a lift? I don’t know but this feels shit scary. I don’t stop the car and accelerate the vehicle. She’s pissed when she realizes I am not going to stop the car and the next instant, she picks a stone from the road and throws it towards the car. Luckily I miss the stone and it doesn’t touch my car at all which I am thankful for. Gosh!! I think that woman is mad!! She can hurt anyone. It’s unsafe for the people of this town to have her around them. I have to do something and I will. With that promise, I finally reach home. Sheesh Mahal has now five guards who secure the front gate. The property itself is so huge that we couldn’t afford to keep less people manage it. I have heard our family has not even seen upper half of this mansion yet.

I park the vehicle and then get inside the house hoping no one bothers me at this hour to know how the dinner went with the Guptas. Obviously, I had told my family everything before going for dinner. They were happy that I hadnt declined Shashi Gupta’s dinner invite. I walk inside and there, my family is already waiting for me in the living room. Each one of them are impatient to know what happened. My brothers Akash and NK surround me to know if I got to speak with Khushi alone while my sister Anjali is more concerned on how the food was. Daadi pulls me away from them.


“Stop over crowding him. Let him breathe..” she shouts at my siblings who sigh in disappointment.

“Thanks” I exhale. “I can’t believe you all were awake only to hear how my dinner at the Guptas was?”

“Chotte, that’s because this is the first time we didn’t have to force you to accept the invite. Shashi uncle proposed and you were more than willing to accept the offer.”


That’s true. I don’t like going for dinners like this, alone without my family. This was first and I thoroughly enjoyed it. All I didn’t like was that Khushi fainted. She looked weak. Her father later told me such fasts were common for her but I knew it that she fainted today because she took this extra load of cooking for me a proper three-course meal.


“Forget all this, tell me did Khushi talk to you?” Daadi interrupts my terrain of thoughts. “She did, yeah, but nothing related to the proposal. Plus she had her fast today so only me and her father ate dinner.”

“Oh. That girl keeps so much of fasts. I want her to look after her health first” Daadi sighs.

“Daadi, let her come here as Bride of Sheesh Mahal. We will make sure she doesn’t ignore her health anymore.” Di teases.


Again my brothers get a chance to tease me more and they do but all I am thinking about is how I broke her fast. How I made her drink water. Could it be some sign of her Devi Maiyaa? God!! What am I thinking? Since when did I start believing in all this?


“Anyways, you both have two more days to acknowledge to this proposal,” Manorama chachi adds.

She is right. But I have something to convey to my family right at this instance. So I tell them that.


“Daadi, you said if one of us rejects this proposal, you wouldn’t pressurize us again.”


She nods in agreement at my reminder.

“Yes, but why do you ask?”

I take a long breath before I confront.

“That’s because I want you all to know that if Khushi accepts this proposal, I am ready to marry her too.”


There’s suddenly ‘oohhs and ‘aaahs’ in the room and everyone is happy. It means they have 50% approval from my side already for this marriage. Now all they are waiting for is Khushi’s acceptance which is tricky. I don’t think she has any reason to say Yes to marry me but I hope her Devi Maiyaa gives her one.. Because no idea why but I am really curious to crack this mysterious touch-me-not devotee of Devi Maiyaa..


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

Khushi’s POV

Next Morning, I am back to the office but before me I find Arnav Singh Raizada speaking to some people of the staff. I didn’t know he would come here today even. I keep my purse in the small drawer of my tiny desk and start my work. Ever since he has given me a hint that he is ready to marry me if it’s a yes from my side, I am tensed and confused. I don’t understand why a man like him who has stayed abroad all these years, who is so modern from his thoughts and living will choose a simple middle-class woman like me who upon that is such a fond devotee of Devi Maiyaa. He knows I keep fasts and I have my own beliefs which I follow strictly. Yet, he was ready to choose me? Why? The issue is, my father already heard that conversation last night and now he was only waiting for my approval. Arnav Singh Raizada had made my decision all the more difficult. If he and I both had denied, my father wouldn’t have felt the pain that much.


“Hey Miss Devotee. Did you open your fast or are you keeping a new one day as well?”


Arnav’s voice pulls me out from my reverie. He is sitting on my desk and suddenly I feel overcrowded.

“Why do you ask? You have a problem if I fast?”

He nods in agreement.

“Very much. I don’t want you to fast at all after we marry..”


Did he really say that? I am mortified. He is talking as if I have already given my approval for the proposal.


“Then you gave me a very good reason to decline your proposal. I’ll never marry a man who doesn’t respect my beliefs.”

“I don’t support your silly beliefs but that’s doesn’t mean I don’t respect you. Everything has a limit Khushi. Your father told me you fast for any silly reason?”


My jaw drops. Babuji told him that? I won’t spare him.

“Look,” I mutter. “You don’t get to decide what I should do and what I should avoid. It’s my life.”

“And that’s why it’s precious” he adds, making me completely speechless.


He suddenly realizes he went over the line by saying that and quickly amends it.


“Life of everyone who works for my company is precious to me. You all are doing a fabulous job and I want to retain you all for as long as I can.”


I roll my eyes and login on the desktop.

“Will you please excuse me now? I have work to do.”

“Not yet” I answer. “Today you are coming with me to the temple where the digital lockers are getting installed. Your father is also aware of this and he is already sent there. As I said, I can only trust you two to have access to those lockers which mean I need your biometrics. Like your fingerprints and retina scan. That’s all.”


I am amused by all this technology he is using to make sure the precious items of the temple are safe. His trust on me and my father is really commendable and I would do anything to keep it that way.


“Okay, lets go.” I say, grabbing my bag again.

“You don’t need to take the bag everywhere. We will be back in an hour,” he suggests.

“Wherever I go, this bag goes.”


That’s right. I mean it. He glances at my bag and then shrugs.

“Fine.. What does it have by the way? Anything precious. Like a life saving mantra or something?”


He is making fun of me, I Know.

“Mr. Arnav Singh Raizada, don’t forget this bag has helped me save your life the other day from Uttara…”


He goes silent for a second.


“Uttara? You mean that lady in the black saree with messy hair?”

“yes” I nod.

“You know her?”

“This whole town knows her.”


We start walking out.

“What’s her story? Why is she like this?”

“I don’t know much because ever since I have grown up, I have seen her like that. Not in her real senses and always loitering on the roads, scaring people. But the people of this town says she is possessed.”


Arnav laughs aloud.

“I am serious. They say that.”

“Of course. !! I am not laughing on you but there’s nothing like possessed.. It’s all fake.”

“She is possessed.” I repeat. “She has two voices.. she doesn’t behave normal at all and the only thing that can scare her is Devi Maiyaa’s idol. Remember when she scared you? I showed her Devi Maiyaa’s idol and she ran away.”


Arnav shrugs.

“Maybe she ran away getting scared of you..” And he laughs again.


Hey Devi Maiyaa.. Can this man stop teasing me? I don’t speak to him hereon until we reach the temple.


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

Arnav’s POV


It’s really fun to hear Khushi Gupta talking about things I can never believe in my life. Can someone really be possessed as she claims Uttara to be? I don’t know. That happens only in movies. This is one of the major differences between my thoughts and her but that still won’t stop me from accepting the marriage proposal if she doesn’t mind taking me as her husband. Whats the fun marrying someone exactly like you? The fun is when you marry someone who amuses you, who makes you laugh and think about a situation from a complete different angle. Khushi is definitely a woman who makes me feel all of this. I watch her giving the biometrics to my team who are here to install the digital lockers.


The whole day passes with me loitering around the temple and office which is not very far from each other and making sure that all the work is getting done there the way I want. I am not in India for long. I have promised Daadi that once she gets me married, I will not be able to stay in India for long. After all my entire business is in London and I cannot handle it so easily sitting here. I wonder if I marry Khushi Gupta, will she be willing to settle with us in London leaving every attachment she has for this place behind? I don’t think she will be happy. But that’s an issue to be sorted for later. For now, I am busy checking the old files in the store room and with the help of my men trying to segregate which ones could be trashed.


Khushi comes inside with our evening tea. She didn’t had to bring it but she did which is appreciable. She serves me first and then asks the rest of the staff to take theirs too. So in short we are taking a short tea-break.


“Ummm..” I sip the tea. “Best tea I had..”

“I didn’t make it.” Khushi grins. “Ramu Kaka did.”

“Is it?” I frown. “That’s why its so sweet.”


She glares at me while I hold my laugh. I finish the hot tea in one go and hand her the cup again.

“Thank him on my behalf please.” I say and get back to work.


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


It is almost night when we finally complete this work. It’s pouring outside but luckily I have got my vehicle so I can drive home. When I come out, thanking the men who helped me to manage the Store room files, I see Khushi struggling to start her scooter.


“Should I drop you?” I ask, reaching her and she denies.

“No thanks. I will manage.”


I knew it. So I wait for her to try starting her scooter. When she fails and loses all her energy, she finally sighs in disappointment.


“Fine, Please drop me home.”


I am about to get to the car when I see a small boy, around 13 years, shirtless and shivering in cold. Damn!! I quickly rush to him and taking off my Shirt I make him wear it. The boy smiles at me and I ask him where his parents are and where he stays. Khushi reaches me by then.


“He is the guards son. They stay here in the nearby shade” she informs.


I realize the guard doesn’t earn enough to even manage giving proper clothing to his family. There are so many things I can’t overlook before heading back to London. I call the guard, give him some money and then strictly ask him to buy some warm clothes for his children and then stride back to my car. Luckily the rain has stopped. Since I gave my shirt to the little boy, all I am left now with is a White vest and I am pretty sure Khushi Gupta is highly uncomfortable to travel with me alone. She hesitates to get inside the car and keeps looking away from me.


“What?” I frown. “Never seen a man’s muscles before?”


I know that one sentence will ignite her. She throws me a cold glance and gets in the car at the front seat. I shut the door and quickly take the driver’s seat to drive us away. It is only when I am starting the car engine when she asks me her next question.


“What… what is this?”


Her tone makes me think she is scared.. or rather.. confused and worried. I look at my upper arm where she is pointing at and shrug.


“I don’t know. Ever since I have come here these bruises have started showing up on my arm. Just the left arm though. Why? Have you ever seen them before?” I mock. “do they mean anything..?”


She looks away, as if trying to assimilate her thoughts. I don’t poke her again. Maybe she is shy again to see me shirtless but so be it. I am enjoying it for sure. I drive on the roads and during the entire drive I find her quiet and not staring at me at all, even for once. Something is wrong. My mysterious bruises have created some impact on her but I don’t go to ask. Maybe I am overthinking.


As soon as I park the car before her house, she gives me a pained glance before getting down. I obviously cannot get down in this half-dressed state so I just wait for her to leave but not without a reminder.


“Khushi..”

My voice breaks her trance.

“One more day left!! I hope you are ready to share your marriage decision with my Daadi..”


She swallows painfully and without a word, she scurries to her house. What happened? Did I hurt her? I was just reminding..! Then why is she so low suddenly?


To be continued

NEXT PART 

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Standalone Enemies to Lovers Romance Novel

Jhanvi Sikand
I was supposed to marry my childhood friend, Mohit Raichand. Call it fate or destiny, I tied the knot with the Forbidden Heir of the Raichand family – Aarav Raichand, instead. I knew nothing about him except that he used me as a pawn to start a war to snatch from the Raichands what was legally his.

Aarav Raichand
Despite being the firstborn in the Raichand family, they forbade me from the rights and tags I should legally own. My father was secretly married to my mother, his middle-class lady love. Yet my egoistic grandmother got him re-married to another woman from her rich circle. She considers their offspring, Mohit Raichand, as the true heir of the family now. I would have ignored it all had her actions not taken my mother’s life. I pledged on my mother’s grave to crush the ego of my grandmother and snatch what is rightfully mine, including the woman she was getting Mohit married to.

A Fight for dominance altered to War for Love. One war, Three Lives, Only Two could survive.

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