Bride of Sheesh Mahal - Season 3 - Part 17

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Chapter 17


Arnav’s POV


As soon as I get down from the car to meet her father and tell him that we are calling off the wedding, Khushi blocks my way.

“Arnav you can’t cancel this wedding now.”

“I am not risking your life, Khushi.” I shove her arm and march ahead but Khushi blocks my way once again.

“It’s too late,” she pleads.

“I’ll tell the families that I am not interested.” I debate, walking ahead when she finally shouts from behind me.

“If you call off the wedding now, you are risking my life right from this moment, Arnav.”

The moment she says this I come to a halt. I turn around and find Khushi staring at me.

“What?” I snap.

“Yes,” she nods. “I am tied to you by this ring on my finger. You calling off the wedding is not going to change anything. What is meant to happen will happen. Now you have a choice to either buy some time to fix this or you can go inside and risk my life right now.”


What the F*ck! Is she serious? It’s hard to believe that something so bizarre is happening in my life which I have never heard of before. I step away from her house, back to Khushi who is waiting for my reply.


“I don’t want to believe any of this is true,” I mention. “And if it is true, then I want us both to fight this together and come out of this situation unscathed.”


Khushi nods in agreement.

“This is exactly why I had been to the old temple today. To perform a special Puja for us. And when I finished it and was returning, I felt someone following me.”


I stare at her with concern.

“Did you see that person who was following you?” I ask.

“No.. And I don’t think whatever was following me was human either. But I could feel it.. And before I could do anything about it, a thick smoke circled around my body and I fell unconscious. When I opened my eyes again, I saw that couple tending me and the man telling me he has already called you there to pick me up.”


I nod.

“But everything went in vain, Arnav. My sling bag is gone and it contained the ashes of the ritual I did in the old temple. Those ashes could protect you.”


Though its hard to believe, I give her some boost seeing her depression.

“You can perform that ritual again, we can get those ashes again.”

“We can’t.. Today was a special day to perform it and the next mahurat to do that ritual is next month.”


I sigh in frustration and cup her face. She is taken aback when I draw her close to me again.


“Khushi, for once, can we just stop thinking of all these issues and face the marriage with happy mood? Let’s just forget that my life is in danger. You believe so much in your Devi Maiyaa then trust that she would save me from any problems.”

“But..”

“Please..” I cup her harder. “For me.. Till the marriage happens, can you promise me not to go out anywhere alone or perform such rituals either without letting me know? We will tackle it once we tie the knot. Not now. Please..”


I know she is not happy with it but that’s the only way we can get our normal lives back. Everything was so perfect so far. I don’t want Khushi to be overstressed and enjoy the pre-wedding rituals without thinking of other problems.

“Okay..” she murmurs.


Glad she agrees with me. I lean forward and place an open-mouthed kiss on her forehead, still cupping her face.


She flinches when my lips don’t show any urgency to lose the contact of her skin. I realize this is all too much for her to bear considering she has recently started allowing me rights on her, so I withdraw myself and smile.


She quickly pulls away from me and rushes back to her home. Hmm!! I don’t know about the horror lurking around us, but even then, I can’t wait to make her mine.


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

Khushi’s POV


I am aware it’s hard for Arnav Singh Raizada to believe in whatever I am telling him but I am glad he is at least not rejecting the problem. And he is right. If Devi Maiya has shown me signs of the issue, she will also give me some resolution.


“Bitiya” Babuji knocks at my room door.


It’s late night. Arnav had dropped me almost three hours ago.

“Babuji? You didn’t sleep yet?” I ask, worried why he is still awake.

He comes inside and sits on the bed. He has a small wooden box.

“I had to give you this.”


He hands me the box.

“What is this?”

“These are your mother’s stuff. She always had this box with her and…” he pauses to gulp his tears.

Everytime he talks about my mother, he is in tears recalling her. He wipes his tears this time and speaks again.

“When she was on her death bed, she wanted me to give you this when your wedding fixes. But she had also told me to inform you to open it only when your wedding is accomplished. I had almost forgotten about it but today while I was cleaning my cupboard, I found it and remembered.”


I smile at him and press his hand.


“Thank you, Babuji. For keeping this for me all these years.”

“It belongs to you. I don’t know what it contains. She never told me and I never asked. She wanted only you to see its contents. You can check them on your wedding night and keep it safe with you.”


He blessed me and then left the room to call it a night. I stare at the wooden box and though the urge to open it lingers in my mind, I refrain from doing so. If my mother desired me to open it only on my wedding night, I will honor her wishes. I pack it in my luggage which I am going to carry to Sheesh Mahal after my wedding. Payal had come too help me pack this as we won’t find much time to do so from tomorrow. My pre-wedding rituals begin from tomorrow. It’s my Mehndi and everyone from the Raizada family are going to come here to celebrate it.


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

The Mehndi function begins. Babuji introduces Buaji to the Raizada family and after meet and greet Buaji leads them to the sofa to get them seated. Payal is great at drawing Mehndi and it was my wish that she draws it on my palms too. So, while she is busy doing that, I smile at the Raizada family who are meeting my other relatives.


“Your Arnav will come later..” Payal whispers.

“What? How do you know?”

“Through his brother, Akash,” she blushes.


I am stunned.

“You are in touch with Akash? How? Have you exchanged numbers?”

“We have” she nods. “He is a nice man.”


Maybe but I am worried how fast Payal and he are leading this.

“Seems Akash and Arnav got some work to do. So they stayed back in Sheesh Mahal and will join here later.” Payal adds.

I nod and continue admiring the Mehndi.


“Find where I have written Arnav’s name here?” Payal pokes and I try looking at my mehndi clad palms intently. It’s hard for even me to find that out but something keeps me glued to this task. I keep staring at the Mehndi for no idea how long until something happens and I see the face of that blue-eyed version of Arnav in my palms and I jerk behind in fear.


“Khushi?” Payal holds my arm. “What happened? You okay?”

I swallow nervously. Me suddenly seeing him on my palms means something ill is going to happen. Soon!!


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

Arnav’s POV

“Alright Mike, thank for the update. Aman will get back to you with the contract details. We’ll speak soon”


I hang up the phone call with Akash taking a sigh of relief.

“The call went good” Akash smiles. “But we are very late for Khushi bhabhi’s Mehndi. We should go.”


I check my watch. He is right. It’s around 08:00 pm now and we are invited for dinner at Laxmi Nagar where my family is already present. It is just me and Akash now left to drive there.

“Is the car ready?” I ask.

“I’ll check that. You come out soon.”

“Yup. In ten minutes” I say, quickly scrolling through the emails one last time before logging out from my laptop.


The moment Akash leaves, I hear the same ticking sound in the room which I did the other day. It’s strange how only I am the one able to hear it. The noise might be feeble but its still too disturbing. I ignore it for a minute but then it starts getting louder than before. What the hell! I turn to the wall to my left from where I believe the source of this noise is. What is behind that wall? Because I am damn sure that noise is from that side. I shut my laptop and take steps towards the wall. Something moves behind me and I stop and turn. I am so sure of feeling someone moving behind me but there is no one else in this basement except me. Was it my imagination? Could be. The moment I turn to the wall again, I hear Akash. He is standing at the door.


“Bhai, should we start? I have got two calls already from Di and others.”


I exhale, holding the sudden nervousness I felt and probably.. even fear. Nodding, I walk out with him. I have almost reached the door when I freeze seeing Akash standing by the car, talking to our driver. What the F*ck.!! He is here then who am I walking with? I turn around and I am alone. How the hell did that happen? I hurry to Akash who smiles at me.


“You came inside to call me, didn’t you?”

“Me?” Akash is confused. “No Bhai. You asked me to check if the car is ready, so I am here. I never came back inside to call you.”

“Akash, stop fooling me.”

“Bhai, why will I fool? You can ask the driver. I am here with him from past 10 minutes.”


I swallow nervously as the driver confirms the same. This is not normal. I can’t hallucinate Akash like that. It felt so real.

“Bhai, lets go. We are getting late.”


I nod absently at him and turning back at Sheesh Mahal again, I give it a thorough glance before stepping in the car.


To be Continued.

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