THE WAIT - Chapter 5

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CHAPTER 5



KHUSHI GUPTA

When we finish the snacks in the evening, Shyam and Anjali join us at the pool. They had been for a walk, just the two of them, and the blush on their faces tell me they had a great one.

“There they are,” Dad exclaims patting Shyam’s back as he reaches and sits next to Dad. “We thought you both show up until dinner.” He teases.


Everyone laughs, including me, because no matter how much broken I’m inside, I want to be an active participant in every joy my family shares with each other.

“That’s exactly what I planned to,” Shyam replies turning to Anjali who takes the seat between Nani and Maa. “But Rani Saheba was skeptical if it would leave a good impression or not.”

“Oh Anjali,” Maa chuckles. “You don’t have to think so much. Your in-laws are very open-minded.”


Anjali shies before smiling happily seeing behind us.

“Chotte.. come.. join us.” She says patting the vacant seat next to hers.

I stiffen realizing Arnav is here. I don’t turn around.

“I’ve some work to take care of, Di. I’ll join you all for dinner.”

“No you are not working here.” She argues before getting up from her seat and dragging him to the couch. “Give some break to your work at least on a small getaway like this. In two weeks your Di is getting married and instead of spending time with her, you are busy with contracts? Not fair.”

I watch him roll his eyes, before taking the seat. I’d heard Arnav never ignores his family’s wishes. At times, even Dhruv used to tell me he felt caged when Nani or Anjali made him do things according to their choices, but Arnav, he never broke their hearts. He was the best son of this family, although very strict to the world. And Dhruv, the second best and the most coolest one amongst them.


As if Arnav senses my gaze on him and his eyes instantly meet mine. The intensity with which he looks at me all the time makes me press Dad’s arm .. hard.

“Oucch..” he shouts, driving everyone’s attention on us. “Your nails..” Dad rubs his wrist.

“Uh.. sorry… sorry Dad,” I sigh.

Dad laughs it out. Sliding his arm around me, Dad looks at Anjali.

“You know Anjali, when Khushi was small, I used to cut her nails all the time. But then you just don’t realize when your daughters grow up and they don’t need you anymore to take care of them.”

I swallow nervously, returning my gaze to Dad. He looks sad as he meets my eyes again.

“Just like Anjali is coming to our family, one day you’ll step into another family and takeover the responsibilities there, get engrossed with your husband, start a family and being your father, I’ll miss you all the more, Khushi.” He adds.


Dad’s eyes turn moist.

“I wish you always stayed right in front of me, where I get to see you every day.”

He kisses my forehead and all I do is try not to sob. I know this is the reason why Dad proposed my marriage alliance to Arnav Singh Raizada. So that I don’t really go away from him. Being two close-knit families, though I’ll stay in a different house, he will always have me around him.

“Shashi,” Nani intervenes. “No matter where Khushi stays, she’ll always be your daughter and you’ll have every right to meet her whenever you want. I’m sure whichever family she gets married into, will never have a problem with that either.”


Dad smiles at her reply while I wipe his tears.

“If you love me so much, why do you have to get me married at all?” I whisper.

Dad strokes my back lovingly.

“Because every father wants someone to love his daughter like he does or even more than he does, so that he can die peacefully without the fear of who will take care of her after him?”

“Dad..” I yell back pushing him away. “Please don’t say that.”

I rise on my feet, as silence spreads in the room.

“No one will ever talk about death here.. do you understand?” I shout.

Everyone looks quizzically at me.

“Khushi, I was just…”

Before dad can complete that statement, I walk away.

“Khushi, sorry baby. Come here..”


I don’t look behind or oblige to dad’s wish. I just make my way to my room. Even thinking about losing someone so precious to me makes me die a thousand deaths already. After fate took Dhruv away from me, I am not ready to let it snatch anyone else. If it still wants a life.. it can take mine.. I’ll be happily ready to give my life and return to the stars where I think my Dhruv is waiting for me.


ARNAV SINGH RAIZADA

She effing hates it when someone even talks about death. I know why! Only I know why! Khushi is still living the trauma of losing Dhruv and the reason behind it is that she could never share her inner feelings, her pain to anyone in the family because no one ever knew she and Dhruv were dating..

“She’s so sensitive to these topics,” Nani exhales. “Shashi, it’s hard for every child to hear their parents talking about their death.”

“I know,” Shashi uncle sighs. “I’ll go speak to her.”

While he follows Khushi, I quietly make my way to my bedroom, in the pretext of making a phone call. I wonder what it would have been if Dhruv hadn’t passed away? Of course our family would still be a complete family, but Khushi? Would she have sustained the fact that Dhruv wasn’t ready to marry her which was something she was desperate for? I get into my room, shut the door and lean on it recalling that night seven months ago, when Dhruv had returned to my London penthouse, where I’d been staying from a few weeks for a project.

I operated the AR Fashion from Scotland for years and travelled to and fro to London whenever there was a business need. Dhruv was still very much lenient towards joining the company and had left it in my capable hands because he had other plans from life. He wanted to enjoy his freedom, with his friends for a few more years before he could share the workload with me and take the business forward.


“Dhruv?” I was shocked to see Dhruv at my penthouse one evening when I returned after a meeting. We both had different properties to reside in London despite being brothers. That’s because no matter what, we both loved our privacy. In India, we had no choice but to stay in Shantivan where the rest of the family members stayed.

“Thank God, you are home.” He said, sipping his drink.

“What are you doing here?”

“I came here to meet you..” he said, shrugging.

It was on his face that he wasn’t here just to meet me. There was more. I could read my twin that much. Putting my laptop bag away, I made my way to the private bar where he was enjoying his drink alone.


“You telling me what happened or do I have to dig it myself?” I asked.

He rolled his eyes and let out a harsh exhale.

“How can you read me so well?”

“Because we are twins..” I reminded and he laughed it out.

“Yeah. And having you as my twin has always benefitted me.”


I swallowed realizing what he was talking about but I didn’t want to let my mind wander in that angle.

“What happened Dhruv? All okay?”

“All will be okay now..” he replied, smiling. “I broke off with Khushi.”


My heart skipped a beat as I heard that.

“What?” I screamed. “You… you and Khushi broke up?”


He nodded finishing off his drink. I couldn’t believe he was so cool about it. Just a few months ago, Dhruv had told me about dating Khushi Gupta which had given me sleepless nights for weeks. I knew Dhruv wasn’t the kind of man who would keep up with a girl for long. In fact, so far every woman he dated was always for a short period and I didn’t want his playful nature to create rift between us and the Guptas. I’d warned him not to break Khushi’s heart by taking things forward if he wasn’t really ready to commit into it and their relationship but Dhruv was adamant enough in telling me that he and Khushi knew what they were getting into.

“Dhruv?” I punch his arm. “Say something..”

He put the glass down and looked in my eyes.

“There is nothing to say, Arnav. We broke up. I’d to.. I mean.. I didn’t want to but she was really being too over sensitive towards our relationship. I was choking in it, Arnav. If I delayed answering her texts she would call me, if I skipped her calls, she would call me frequently until I actually answered. I’d no life of my own.”

“She was worried for you, Dhruv,” I yelled back. “Your life-threatening quirks and thrills scared her. And how long does it take to answer a text message or call?”

“Two minutes maybe,” he agreed. “And no I am not denying that I cannot call or text her, but I would do that at my pace. She has to trust me, Arnav. And a woman who can’t trust me, how am I supposed to spend my entire life with her.”


I wanted to punch his face. But I kept my hands off him.

“I’d told you about thinking wisely before getting into a relationship with Khushi Gupta. You can’t mess up with the ties we have with the Guptas. You know Di loves Shyam and Uncle has supported us enough all these years both emotionally and professionally.”

“Don’t worry on that.” Dhruv nodded. “Khushi never told her family about us dating. And now that we broke off, I don’t think she would ever tell them. So we are cool.”

“Cool?” I yelled back. “You broke a woman’s heart, Dhruv and you want me to believe she is cool with it?”


Dhruv exhaled before getting down the high chair of my bar counter.

“We broke off mutually. Don’t worry. She is not crying for me either. Yes, she loved me but when I explained to her that this kind of love is not what I am seeking for in my life, she realized we cannot be together if that’s so and hence we broke off. She is smart enough to not sulk for me. I promise.”


I was losing my mind. Did he even have a clue how much Khushi loved him? It definitely wouldn’t be easy on her to forget him.

“Anyways, I need a break from all of this. That’s why I am flying to Greece next week with a few of my friends. That should give me a change to start things afresh. Maybe when I return, I may even think of joining AR Fashion seriously.”


I clenched my jaw.

“Take your life seriously, Dhruv. You can’t keep roaming around, switching women and places as and when you want.”

“This was the last time I did..” he admitted. “Next time I get into a relationship will be only when I am sure of marrying that woman and coming to Business, I think after Greece holiday, I would really love to focus on work. Enough of my thrilling life. It’s time to settle down. I know. Believe me.”

That was the last promise he made to me. Only if, I knew it was the last, I would never have let him travel anywhere.. Dhruv met with an accident in Greece and then we never saw him again. But this was not the only mistake I did of giving him the permission of flying to Greece. The other mistake was even more lethal which I can never forgive myself. If only, I knew that one mistake from me would end up giving Khushi hopes of reconnecting with Dhruv again, despite their break off. If only, I knew that one mistake from me would make her believe that Dhruv was serious about her and wanted to give their relationship a chance. Had I not committed that sin, Khushi might have moved on from Dhruv and his memories long back. She’s still living in the false hope that Dhruv had returned to her between that period of their break up conversation and he flying to Greece. It wasn’t him.. It was me. I was the reason of ‘The Wait’ of her silly heart which still beat for Dhruv, thinking he was in love with her when he took his last breath. Only if I had the guts to admit that Dhruv had closed that chapter of his love life much before and had no plans of rekindling his love for Khushi. Only if I had the guts to tell Khushi that the man she thought was role playing that night in the club, wasn’t Dhruv.. It was me, Arnav Singh Raizada who despite of giving her subtle hints that she wasn’t getting touchy with her Ex boyfriend Dhruv but his twin, Arnav, failed to keep his feelings at check.


To be Continued.


NEXT PART

Note: The flashback of this Club scene in London will be in the next part.

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Rohan Oberoi

'Our Friendship was strong, but our Love?'

Adventurous, fun-loving and obsessed with my luxury cars, I knew exactly what I wanted from life until I met my college ex-bestie, Ishika Bhatia as the new lead designer of my jewelry brand, after a decade. Her reckless decisions in the past broke my heart and trust, ruining me for every other woman. Whilst I tried to shield my heart again from her, Ishika’s sassiness kept overpowering my tantrums. And then it happened. One unforeseen kiss and I knew this time she was in for more. A lot more!! But was I ready to reignite that love?

Ishika Bhatia

'I navigated the engine of our friendship, while he throttled the gears of his love.'

They say life is a race, and racing had been my only passion. So, when destiny played its card and brought me face to face with my best friend Rohan Oberoi, I didn't want to miss out on our only chance to rekindle our friendship. I knew I'd ruined what we had once. But don’t I deserve a second chance? No matter how much Rohan remained cold, distant and indifferent to my feelings for him, I was determined to turn his enduring grumpiness in my favour and fix our relationship, even if it meant snatching him against his will. And then it happened. One unplanned kiss and I knew this was just the beginning. But was I willing to cross the boundaries of friendship and ignite the flames of love?

Unrequited love is hard to live. But what if you get a second chance? Get ready for this super cute standalone romance of #Roshika (Rohan & Ishika) to race your hearts with their happily ever after.

Though this book can be read as a Standalone, to read Rohan and Ishika's Cameo roles, you can read the following books:

Mr and Mrs Kapoor (Vansh Kapoor and Vidhi Gupta’s Hidden Marriage Romance)

Love By Chance (Sameer Khanna and Tanisha Gupta’s Slow Burn Arranged Marriage Romance)