The Wait - Chapter 13

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CHAPTER 13



KHUSHI ARNAV SINGH RAIZADA


I can’t imagine Arnav walking out on me over this conversation. Does he think he can hide everything and give his lawfully wedded wife only the superficial bits she needs to know about him and his feelings?

“Khushi, toothbrush,” Arnav says again from inside the bathroom.

I march to the bathroom, push the door open and without even giving him a glance open the drawers below the mirror. Grabbing a new dental kit, I hand it over to him.

“Thanks.”

I swallow angrily looking at him without moving an inch from the bathroom. He opens the toothbrush, applies the paste on it and waits for me to leave but when I don’t, he knows I’m in here for the details on his nightmare.

“There is nothing more to tell,” he shrugs.

“Nothing more?” I repeat. “Last night one nightmare shook you so much that you didn’t bother informing anyone from your family and came straight to me here. You looked devastated and in need of some assurance that I would be forever with you. That doesn’t look like a ‘nothing more’ situation to me. We had an arranged marriage Arnav and just one night back you had agreed to give me the space I need for physical intimacy and yet last night, you couldn’t help needing that intimacy from me as an assurance that I am with you. No matter what, I’ll always be with you. And you want me to believe the nightmare you saw meant nothing more?”

Arnav clenches his jaw.

“I didn’t come here needing intimacy.. it happened..” he snaps. “Do you regret us kissing?”

“Of course not,” I mean it. “But-”

Arnav grabs my arm and pulls me to him.

“But?” he repeats.

“But that kiss…” I swallow nervously. “It didn’t feel like it’s the first time we.. we were kissing.”

Arnav’s pulls me harder to his body, sliding his arm around my waist. It’s hard to read the look in his eyes. It’s like he is challenging me.

“What do you think?” he asks. “Have we kissed before, Khushi?”

What is he asking me? He knows we haven’t. How can he even ask me that? Before I can retort, there is another knock, not at the bathroom door but our bedroom. It’s Mumma again. I think we will have to continue this discussion later. When I wriggle to get off his hold, Arnav lets me go. Why did he ask me if we have kissed before?


ARNAV SINGH RAIZADA

I watch Khushi leave the bathroom to attend to her mother. Khushi is suspicious about the kiss. She could feel it, didn’t she? Of course, she doesn’t know we have kissed before and this truth I have been hiding from long. It’s high time I tell her everything and come clean with my feelings for her, which I have been harboring in my heart from a long period. Only then she will be able to realize what I feel for her, only then she will understand why I am scared of seeing her walk away from me. Why everything about her makes me so anxious and possessive!!

When I come out after freshening up, Khushi is not in the room. I meet Shashi Uncle downstairs, who doesn’t leave a chance to tease me. And then he tells me how during his and aunty’s pag phera, he wasn’t able to sleep the whole night missing her. Khushi took a shower quickly while I was speaking to her father, and came down wearing another beautiful saree which is enough to melt me in her charm again. Why does she have to look so adorable every time that I can’t focus at all? She then assists her mother in arranging the breakfast table, but her ears and eyes are on us. I don’t leave a chance to admire her either, whenever she is out to keep the bowls and plates. Since uncle gets a call which he has to take, I make my way to Khushi who is arranging the plates on the table.

“Need any help?” I whisper standing behind her.

She jerks at my surprise intrusion and turns around.

“Just stop ogling at me for some time so I can pay attention to my work. That’s the help I need. Possible?”

I grin at her cheeky response.

“Nope. Not possible. It’s not my fault if you keep looking beautiful in almost everything you wear.”

Khushi’s cheeks turn red at my remark. Aunty reaches us and keeps the bowl of upma on the table which makes Khushi escape in the kitchen again. I follow her inside in the pretext of some water.

“Stop following me, everywhere.” Khushi warns softly turning around as she hears my footsteps in the kitchen.

“I need water,” I demand.

“The fridge is right behind you. Help yourself.”

I grin again. She looks cute when pissed off. Grabbing her wrist, I pull her to me and pin her to the refrigerator.

“Arnav….?”

“I want to kiss you again.”

Her jaw drops at my open desire. She looks at the kitchen door and then back at my face.

“Have you lost your mind? I’m not kissing you again, until you tell me what’s going on. You can’t expect us to be close physically, when I’m no effing clue what’s going in your head, Arnav.”

“What if I tell you everything?”

She swallows nervously.

“What’s the guarantee that you’ll not put distance between us after I tell you everything you want to know?”

She clenches her jaw.

“I promised you last night, no matter what, I’ll never leave you. I can’t promise you more than what I’ve already committed.”

She is right. Someone clears her throat intruding our moment. It’s her mother again.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to disturb you both but the breakfast is getting cold. Can we have the honor of having breakfast with our daughter and son-in-law?” aunty teases.

Khushi instantly pushes me away and makes her way to the dining room, dragging her mother too along. Huh!

We are almost done with the breakfast when my phone rings. It’s Di’s call. I couldn’t meet Shyam jeeju as he left for office early to attend some meeting. And from there he was going to Shantivan to pick Di. Though Aunty had told me a while ago that she had informed Nani and Di about me spending the night here, I know she must have called to tease me and check when I was reaching home with Khushi. I wipe my lips before answering the call.

“Hello, Di.”

“Arnav..” she sounds a bit anxious, panicked? I don’t know.

“Chotte, Just.. Just come back home. Soon.”

“Di, what happened? Why do you sound so uneasy.” I ask Di on the phone, pushing my breakfast plate away. “Is everything okay there?”

Her sudden call on my phone demanding me to come back home soon was scaring me.

“Chotte..” she gasps.. “Just come home. Right now. Get Shyam, and his parents too. Come soon.”

“I’ll bring them but what happened. Tell me something.” I demand to know, rising up from my chair. Khushi and her parents are equally confused what’s the sudden urgency that Di wants us all to reach Shantivan as soon as possible.

“You’ll see it for yourself, Chotte. Come soon. We are waiting.” She says and disconnects the call confusing us all the more.

“We should go. Maybe it is important,” Khushi says, turning to her parents. “Let’s go.”

“Yes. Yes we should hurry,” Garima aunty and Shashi Uncle agree and we all march outside to my car. I don’t know why I don’t get a good feeling about this. Is Nani okay? But if it was some medical emergency, Di would have told that on phone. She didn’t sound worried, she sounded a mix of being happy, nervous and surprised. I don’t know why my heart fears that whatever the situation was in Shantivan was going to bring a major change in our lives hereon. I hope it’s a pleasant one. I start the car and look at Khushi next to me. She’s holding the Mangalsutra on her neck like she needs it to face the unknown. I feel a wave of calmness as I see her squeeze the pendant of her Mangalsutra and bring it to her heart. Whatever the future holds for us, I know she’s mine. She’ll always stand by me.

We reach home and I’m the first one to almost sprint inside the house, with Khushi and her parents following me. The moment I reach the living room, I see Di and Nani almost in tears.. happy tears as they admire someone who is standing right before them, having his back facing us. The moment Di sees us, she turns him around, and my heart leaps.

“Dhrruuvvv?” I murmur stepping behind in horror.

As I saw my twin brother Dhruv standing at my home after eight long months, my mind is in utter disbelief. I can’t comprehend the fact that he is still alive after we all had mourned him as dead in that tragic accident. And now, he is back, right in front of me.

But my shock turned into turmoil when I remembered that Dhruv was not the same person who left us eight months ago. He had left behind his Ex girlfriend Khushi, whom he had no clue I’d fallen in love with and had eventually married. The guilt and confusion started eating me up from the inside, and I don’t know how to react to his sudden appearance.

Part of me is relieved to see my brother alive and well, but the other part of me is terrified of facing him. How could I face him when I am now married to the woman he had once loved? I can feel the tension building up inside me as I try to gather my thoughts and emotions.

But as I look at Dhruv's face, I can see the same shock and confusion mirrored in his eyes. He is probably struggling with the same inner turmoil as me. It is then that I realize that we were both victims of fate and circumstance, and it is not our fault that we had ended up in this situation.

I take a deep breath and walk towards Dhruv, unsure of how to greet him.

“Chotte, Dhruv is alive,” Nani says with excitement behind him. Maami and Maama, are equally thrilled, Akash has slid his arm around Dhruv’s shoulder, smiling back at me.

Seeing Dhruv again is a bittersweet moment for me, but though it is also a moment of closure for my family, it’s no less than a tsunami in Khushi and my life. And that reminds me of my wife, Khushi who was right behind me as we entered the house. If I had this reaction seeing Dhruv, what could be hers?

Dhruv gives me a cold stare before seeing past me and I know why his eyes blazed like that. He see Khushi behind me, frozen at her spot, looking utterly devastated. Shock and disbelief is written all over her face. I know that this is not an easy moment for her, as Dhruv was still the man she loved, the man she thinks she never broke up with and life just snatched him from her, forcing her to move on and marry me.

Khushi had always been a strong woman, but I can see that this unexpected encounter has rattled her. I can feel her hand gripping the saree tightly as she looks at Dhruv with a mix of emotions. Part of her is relieved to see him alive, but the other part is probably struggling with the past memories and feelings.

It is a difficult moment for me too, as I am torn between my love for Khushi and my loyalty to my brother. Now that Dhruv is back will Khushi let go of any residual feelings for him? Will she choose to embrace the present and the future? Will she still choose me?

Whilst everyone is sharing their excitement with each other for Dhruv being alive, my eyes focus on the way Dhruv is staring at Khushi, the sindoor that she has on her forehead partition, the mangalsutra she is wearing of my name. Tears roll down Khushi’s eyes and not even for once has she looked at me. She’s too lost in staring at Dhruv and its hurting my heart. Without a word to me, Dhruv makes his way to Khushi and stands two feet away from her.

“Hi, Khushi.”

She swallows nervously, unable to comprehend what to speak to him, how to react.

“You got married to Arnav, huh?” his tone is mocking.

The moment he reminds her this, Khushi’s eyes are on me, and then her eyes start blinking fast. She’s losing her balance. She’s fainting. I’m about to sprint to her when she collapses in Dhruv’s arms, falling unconscious. He is about to pick her when I reach them and stop him.

“Oh god, what happened to Khushi?” the family screams and starts circling us. Dhruv glares at me as I lean down and carry Khushi in my arms. She is my wife and only I have the right to touch her. I hope that look on my face is enough for Dhruv to read those lines. The moment I try to take Khushi away, I realize Dhruv had been holding her hand, halting my steps. We both see at each other, none of us ready to move our gazes.

“Take care of her, Arnav. She’s too weak.” Dhruv adds, clenching his jaw before leaving her hand and I swear if I didn’t feel like smacking someone.

He might have been her boyfriend once, but he doesn’t have to show me that he knows her better than me. Because the truth is, he doesn’t!! I know what Khushi is, and I wouldn’t tolerate anyone else, including my twin, trying to prove that they know her better than me.

“Arnav, take her to the bedroom. Maybe the sudden shock of seeing Dhruv got her fainted. I’ll call the doctor.” Di says, marching to make the call to the doctor.

As I carry Khushi up the stairs in my arms, I make a conscious effort to suppress my emotions. All I can think of is how I hope she will recover from this sudden encounter with Dhruv. His unexpected return to our lives is bound to stir up old feelings and memories, and it's going to challenge the foundation of our marriage.

We have never discussed our hidden past with each other, and now, we are faced with a situation that demands complete honesty and openness. It's a moment of truth that will test the strength of our marriage and the depth of our love.

As we reach our bedroom, I lay Khushi gently on the bed, her face still etched with a mix of emotions, though unconscious. I sprinkle some water on her face, trying to wake her up, and once she opens her eyes slowly, I sit beside her and take her hand in mine, silently reassuring her that I am here for her, no matter what.

I know that this is not going to be easy, but I am determined to face it head-on. If Khushi is on my side, then we have what it takes to weather any storm that comes our way.

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