Part 8
Khushi lay awake in her bed, thinking of the decision she had just made. Why am I doing this?, she thought, why torture myself more?
She knew that she didn't see Arjun in that way. She would never be able to accept him as her husband. But Buaji was right - ever since she came back from Arnav's house people had been talking. They gossiped endlessly about her life and relationship with Arnav. They all thought that she was nothing more than a glorified live-in girlfriend, and that this "marriage" had broken up merely because Arnav had had enough of her and the two of them had broken up.
A million miles from the truth.
Khushi allowed herself, for a little while, to think about him. Think about their last days together as a married couple. She thought of all of the things she didn't tell Arjun; the love, the deep love she felt for Arnav. The fact that no matter how much torture he made her endure, a part of her would always belong to him - her head might be, but her heart was unable to let him go. She constantly thought of the amount of times he asked for her forgiveness, the pain in his eyes when she rejected him, the constant attempts at winning her over - roses, bangles, saris... he still hadn't learnt that gifts were not the way into Khushi's heart. He was repentant, and he tried to tell Khushi that many times. But she didn't want to hear it. Although she was crazily in love with him, a part of her wanted him to suffer too. Suffer like she did. The pain on his face when she had signed the divorce papers that day in front of him... the biggest fake smile she could manage plastered on her face, the tears plastered on his. She knew that it was over; no love that had such a poor start would have much hope of being successful, and she thought of this as the lesser of two evils - if Arnav completely removed her from his life, he could go on to find a wife that was worthy of him. As Buaji said, he could have anyone he wanted, someone more matched to him in terms of class and wealth. If they had remained married, there would have never been any trust between them - neither of them would be happy and their marriage would have broken up eventually anyway.
Khushi knew that this was all just a justification. Her head was trying to convince her heart that she had made the right decision. Arjun will take care of me, she thought. Just then, she involuntarily flashed back to all of the times when Arnav had taken care of her - when she had fainted whilst fasting and he gave her water, at the dhabba when he nursed her back to health and beat up the goons because they touched her, when he bandaged her cut finger at the mandir, when she cut her wrist and he bandaged it, when she fainted, the amount of times he caught her when she fell... Stop, Khushi. You have no more ties to Arnav - you're marrying Arjun, and that's it. Khushi suddenly started feeling warm in her room, and she glanced up to see the air conditioning installed on her wall. Reluctantly, she switched it on, and she found herself slowly falling asleep, thoughts and dreams of Arnav comforting her.
"Khushi!" Arnav woke with a jolt, sweat dripping down his forehead. He searched desperately around the room, but Khushi wasn't there. But his dream... it was so vivid. How could it not have been reality? Arnav got up and began pacing up and down in his room. Something was off, he knew it. Something had happened to Khushi... no Arnav, stop being stupid, he told himself. He couldn't help but worry, though. Something had changed - something big was bothering him. He just didn't know what it was. He looked at his alarm clock - it was 8am, so he went to get ready for work, trying to brush off any thoughts he was having about Khushi - a task that was much easier said than done.
As Arnav approached the breakfast table 20 minutes later, he heard whispers being exchanged between Anjali and Payal. Anjali looked concerned and she immediately fell silent at the sight of Arnav.
"Di, what happened?" Anjali wouldn't meet Arnav's eyes.
"N-nothing, Chote. Look, you're getting late for work, have some breakfast quickly." Payal shifted uncomfortably as Arnav looked at her, and she hurriedly went to busy herself with some work in order to escape from the breakfast table. Arnav tried to brush it off, but there was still something gnawing at the back of his mind. He went upstairs to get his briefcase, and on his return he heard whispering again.
"But Khushiji..."
"I know, I can't believe it..."
At the sound of Khushi's name, Arnav froze. Curious, he hid behind a pillar so he could hear what Anjali and Payal were talking about.
"Payalji, why would she do this?"
"I don't know, it seems so out of character for her. She's never thought of Arjun in that way before." Arjun? Arnav made a fist, jealousy and rage boiling up inside him.
"But now she's... she's engaged to him?"
Arnav froze, unable to comprehend what he was hearing. Khushi's engaged? To him? But she said there was nothing going on...
"Payalji, we can't tell Chote this. And I'm sorry, I don't think I can come to her wedding - after everything that's happened... it wouldn't be right."
Anjali stopped suddenly as she heard the front door slam shut, but it was too late; the damage had already been done.
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