Betrayal Part 4

~~~~~~~~~~PART 4~~~~~~~~~~
When Arnav and Khushi reached home they had a pleasant surprise waiting for them.

Pleasant you may think!? Not really!

Khushi's parents sat in the sofa in the lounge area, ASR's servants had already served them the refreshments.

"Mom dad!" Khushi breathed as she rushed towards them.

As she ran, she tripped over the rug.
The file of her pregnancy fell on the coffee table. Arnav quickly strolled towards her and held her before any particular harm was done to her or the baby, itself.

Khushi gasped in fear.

"Khushi, you alright!?" both of her parents asked as they came forward.

She nodded to them. And she stood on her feet without considering Arnav's gesture, but looking down at him. It wasn't a look on her face that told she was pleasant that Arnav saved her, but neither she was angry.

Arnav looked at her parents and said, "Hi!"

Even her parents really didn't acknowledged him at first place they didn't even bother looking at him.

Khushi's dad bent down and took Khushi's pregnancy report.

"Khushi you are pregnant!?" her dad asked, his expressions of pure shock.

"Is she!? her mom asked with no tone of happiness in her voice too just like her husband. She took the report from his hand and interrogated it to know if it was right.

Khushi nodded timidly at them. Bile rose to her throat and she feared Arnav will reveal that it's not his baby. Would he!? Why would she expect him not to!? He had every reason to reveal.

Khushi's dad came forward in quick strides and held Arnav by his collar, "How dared you to touch my daughter you scoundrel!?" he asked.

Khushi's eyes widened in shock, not because of her father's actions, but because of the fear that Arnav will tell that it's not his child.

"I only agreed to marry my daughter so that people stop talking sh*t about my daughter and you, that became the gossip of the town. Not so that you could use my daughter as a..."

"Stop it, Mr. Gupta!" Arnav yelled.
Khushi jumped into the conversation. "Please dad, leave him!"

"Mrs. Gupta take Khushi away from here!" Mr. Gupta yelled.

"How dare did you use my daughter!? Didn't I say that you better stay away from her!?" he punched his nose. Arnav's fist tightened, but he remained unmoved.

Khushi got scared. She came forward and pushed Arnav back and stepped in between. "Dad relax! You don't have to touch him. It will be only your hand that will get dirty," she snapped.

"I know he forced me," she lied. "But this child cannot be his."

Half lie, half truths.

"No, Khushi. You are not living with him anymore. I will get both of you divorced. I will appoint the best lawyer in the town you see!" he shouted.

"Yes, dad. But please ma calm him down!" Khushi turned to her mom for assistance.

"Please Mr. Gupta, come. This is not your house that you can treat him like this," she said as she held placed her hand on his shoulder.

"To get him married to my daughter was my biggest mistake!" he said still out of breath. "Who knows if he will deny that this child isn't his, to embarrass my daughter in front of the world, once more!?"

Arnav didn't say a word. His nose was bleeding. A funny thing, it didn't matter him.

"Mrs. Gupta just take Khushi bitiya inside I want to talk to him."

"No, we are leaving from here," Mrs. Gupta said.

"I.said.take.her.inside," Mrs. Gupta took a sigh of exasperation.

"Fine. Come Khushi!" Mrs. Gupta said as she held Khushi by her arm and took her out of the there.

Khushi looked at Arnav and her expressions were begging him to not to tell them about her pregnancy.

***

"I want you to set my daughter free," Mr. Gupta said as they stood in the study.

"I can't!" Arnav replied.

"You know that I can destroy you in every possible way!" Mr. Gupta warned.

Arnav let out a long sigh and continued to stare in the distance.

"You too may try that," he said.

"You know what Arnav, this is your problem," Mr. Gupta said. There was no trace of anger in his voice, surprisingly.

"I can believe everything but, not my daughter's words that you forced her," he said. Arnav was surprised listening to what Mr. Gupta said, but he showed no sign of it on his face and thus, remained neutral.

"Is he your baby!?" his dad asked in fear. Again he didn't look at him. His body language was perfectly still, and beads on his forehead showed he was trying way too harder to stay neutral.

"What makes you suspicious that it isn't my child!?" he asked as casually as it indeed it was his child.

Mr. Gupta took out his handkerchief and offered to Arnav. So that he could wipe off the traces of the blood from his bloody nose.

"Thanks!" Arnav said denying and took his own handkerchief and wiped the blood off his skin.

"I am sorry, I hit you in front of Khushi. You can put it into words, that it was needed," he said sadly.

Arnav had no idea why did he made that statement at first place. Even Mr. Gupta's behaviour was quite lot different.

There was a silence in between them for a while.

"Why did you blame Khushi of such a cheap act!?" he asked. "As far as I knew, you belonged to a very respectable family. If your parents were alive they must have been really shameful."

This was one truth that Arnav was aware. He knew his parents would have been shameful.

"May I know the reasons, why did you do that!?" he asked.

"Reasons remain pretty much the same that you know off," Arnav said.

"You know I am not angry for what you did. Because you were young, violent, in ignorance; youngsters do make mistakes. When you agreed to marry Khushi I knew you were truly sorry for everything. But I guess what I learnt is...Khushi still hates you! She never loved you."

Arnav let out a sad laugh.

"You can live your life. You can leave Khushi."

The above made statement did strike Arnav like a bullet. Not wanting to answer it, he changed the topic completely.

"Why did you think that I can't force Khushi!?" Arnav asked. His question surprised Mr. Gupta, but he shrugged his shoulder.

"Your gut to ask me that question, Mr. Raizada. I have seen the world much more than you have. Young generation forgets that their elders once had gone through the phase. Life goes around in circles. We pretty much experienced the same life, and quite same situations!" he explained.

"You know why did I agree to marry you and khushi!?" he asked.

Arnav shook his head. Even though he had few guesses, but he was just too tired to voice them.

"Because I could tell Aditiya was never a good guy for Khushi. I didn't care about my reputation over my daughter's rights. My experience tells that Aditiya was never a good guy. Not only for Khushi, but for any good girl out there."

Arnav felt a tug in his heart. For the first time he thought Khushi did wrong, by taking an entire wrong step just to take a revenge from him.

"You can tell her you love her!"
Arnav looked at him, Mr. Gupta knew he might say something contrary."I know you love her!" he said as he was 100% sure of it.

Arnav again shook his head. "Let her hate me. Let her think that I ruined her life. Let her think that I destroyed her reputation. This is what people think who knows, that I was a bad person. But now it's not just about khushi, it's about her child too."

"We can take her home. We will take care of her and her baby. You don't have to live a suffocated life. You don't have to bear all this pain. I guess you have gotten enough punishment for what you did," Mr. Gupta said.

Arnav's heart felt a pain, again. He wanted her to stay in front of his eyes. Then let her hate him, accuse him of whatever, but he can't her go away from his eyes. It was impossible!!!

Arnav didn't say a word regarding his proposal. He had the answer, but he didn't want to say it aloud.

"I talk to Khushi and see what she wants. I hope she wants to be with you, hopefully, she will forgives you!"

"I have no intentions of making myself good in her eyes."

Mr. Gupta kept on staring at him, wondering what mud this guy in front of him was made up of!?

"You can leave her here. I am sure she has lot of revenge to take from me," he joked to ease the tension in the conversation. But pretty much he told what he wanted. Khushi's taunt didn't matter.

"Why!? Why are you doing so!? Tell me that you love her!?" Mr. Gupta said.

"It shouldn't matter."

"As far as I can understand, to you it matters in every possible way. But it's my daughter who doesn't appreciate your love. And I am really sorry for her."

"Remember, she hates me!?" he said.

"Why don't you tell her that Aditiya was never a good guy for her!?"

"For all those years, to be honest I couldn't find any reasons why Aditiya wasn't a good guy for Khushi. He hated me, but for Khushi he was the best guy. I am sure he loved her."

"If you think he was a best guy then why did you blame my daughter!? For the stupid revenge!? As far as I know Khushi was never ever in your battle!"

"Indirectly, she was. She was related to Aditya."

"But what about the revenge!? He wanted revenge from you because you complained to the university principal when he stole the exam!"
Arnav looked at him with questioning looks.

"Don't ask me how do I know. Looks like you are far far away from the reality!"

"6 years ago in Dehradoon College, a girl was killed, or we would say it was a suicide!"

Arnav's chest thudded. He looked way too scared. "It was a rape attempt. The case was closed. You were quite young and inexperienced to fight for it. Everyone stayed quite."

"I don't know anything such!" Arnav denied.

"No, you do because that girl was your sister, Mr. Arnav Singh Raizada!" Mr. Gupta shouted loosing his control.

"Stop it!" Arnav shouted.

"Then why the case is reopened Mr. Raizada!?" he asked.

"I think it's really important to tell you, because you are quite strong to know this. Ready or not not, embrace yourself. Because what I will be telling you, will shatter your world into pieces."

"Do you know who did that!?" Mr. Gupta asked not waiting for his answer he continued. "It was the same person with whom my daughter loves!"

"Aditiya, the son of the corrupted politician!"

The land slipped under Arnav's feet. His head filled with his said words echoing again and again and again and it spun.

"You say you forced my daughter no you can't. Because it had happened with you. It had happened with your own sister and you doing the same thing would never have happened. I know that you lied that you slept with my daughter. I knew the truth for quite a while! How come you just let go of that Aditiya guy!? How could you!?"

"How do you know, about Aditiya!?" he asked as his head came to an abrupt stop. But he was only filled with enrage. A pure rage.

"Aditiya is the same person who played with your sister...and now with Khushi!"

"And how do I know about all this!? I came to know about this last week. At the party. Where I met Aditiya's father. I didn't know him, but I heard the conversation between Aditiya and his father."

"Aditiya revealed that your sister, Ananaya was...by him. He was talking about the case that had been reopened."

Once again, Arnav was totally broken from inside. His pain had again seeped into his veins. Anger, that he never ever felt. He no longer wanted to live, but right now he had a motive to live. He had to do justice to his late sister. For all these years, he had been looking for that person, who had ruined his sister life. Now, finally he knew.

He walked absentmindedly, to the sofa and collapsed on it, as his spine had all of sudden broken.

"Son, you know the criminal, you have the power, use it. I don't want my daughter to fall prey of that bast***d."

But the harm was done already. Wasn't it!! In a way, Ananaya was a victim to Aditiya, but Khushi!? She had done a big mistake. Of which, she had no idea of! To his sister, Arnav never able to provide justice when she was alive. But Khushi, she will die. She will die just thinking that she ruined her own life. Without any thought, by bearing child of a rapist.

The brutal truth, she will have no one to excuse of it.
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WHEN THE WORLD WILL BE AGAINST YOU, I WILL BE THE ONE YOU WILL FIND BY YOUR SIDE!