Chapter 7
"Mummy, will be back very soon, Adhwaya, please take care of yourself and don't cry!" Khushi said, as more to Adhwaya she tried to convince herself. She didn't want to leave him but she couldn't have afford to take him either with herself when she knew they were not going to a safe place.
"Do not miss, mumma, okay? Play with Adhi bhaiya, Gavy bhaiya. And if you want to talk to me, you can always tell nani, dadi mami, NK chachu anyone, to let you to talk to me!"
Adhwaya was simply looking at her as she spoke having no idea what she was saying.
"Khushi, don't even worry about Adhwaya, we all are here to take care of him, you only take care of Arnav and yourself. And it is not like you are going forever, you will be back soon. Do not think too much. You will only end up stressing yourself and that will not do any good at all! You know that you can't take stress at all!"
"Bhabi, I can't help it. After lot of problems Arnav ji has come out of coma. Bhabi, thinking of Darjeeling gives me chills."
"Again you are saying the same thing. Your bhaiya have talked to Karan and your security will be tight. My heart says that this time nothing wrong will happen. Khushi God is watching all this!"
"Bhabi, I only pray to Devi Maiyan that everything goes well. Because I can't take it. I gave up. First I lost our child..." she stopped when Arnav showed up at the door.
"Are you ready?" he asked. She nodded and wiped her tears.
"Khushi, let's go I will ask HP to take your luggage!" Payal said as she knew he had come to see Adhwaya not to call Khushi.
He pretended he was busy on phone when Khushi and Payal left the room and saw they had gone downstairs he went in the room to Adhwaya.
He picked him up in his arms and kissed his forehead. He had so many things to say to him but he knew he wouldn't have gotten himself to say them. He wished he could have gone with them.
"Junior, take care of yourself. Your mommy and I will be back very soon!" he said. He put him back on the bed and left. Adhwaya had started crying, but Arnav didn't turn, he knew he won't be able to go if he stopped.
***
"Do not worry about, Adhwaya, Khushi bitiya," Mami ji said, "we will take care of him. And you both please take care of yourself! Do not stress yourself much!"
Khushi nodded and hugged her and took blessings of her, Mama ji, and Nani's.
"Stay blessed, bitiya!" Nani said. "As soon as you get their call us."
"Bye, Bhabi!" NK and Dhruv said.
Khushi smiled. "Bye, you all take care of yourself."
She kissed Gavy and Adhi on their foreheads and Adhwaya, she was unable to see him.
She finally said bye and left with a heavy heart.
***
(Darjeeling)
"Hello, sir!" Security officer said.
"Hi!" Arnav said.
"Sir, your security is tight. Cameras are located in the main areas of the house and anything suspicious going on will be recorded, however, nothing will be able to get close to you anyways!"
Arnav nodded.
"When is Karan coming?"
"He will be here in just two hours, his flight was after you."
"Perfect!"
"She is my wife, Khushi Arnav Singh Raizada!" he said as he pointed at Khushi.
Khushi looked at him in shock.
"Hi, Mrs. Raizada!"
Khushi was all of sudden stunned to pay attention to anything else. She looked at Arnav thinking that he remembered something. Her hopes already raised, her blood rushed to her ears and she could hear it.
"Arnav ji?"
"Yes!" he said.
Khushi knew she heard it right, he had said what she heard.
"Don't be surprised I will let you know everything!" he said.
"You remember everything?" she asked.
"Officer, please inform us, when Karan is here! Please till then do not disturb us!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Let's go inside, Khushi!" Arnav said. His voice was a mix of sadness and seriousness.
Khushi was so numb that she just simply let him take to their room.
Upon reaching their room Arnav made Khushi sit on the bed, and he himself went to lock the room.
"Arnav ji, what I heard..."
"...was not your imagination, Khushi, I remember everything!" he finally said.
Tears flowed down her eyes as she looked at him wide eyed. Her head spun, and she clenched the bed sheet.
"And I can explain you why I did this!" he said.
She gulped the lump, and remembered the past one and a half month of period. Her legs were shaking.
"Khushi!" he said, when she stayed quite. Her silence spoke million words and he knew it was evident that she will go through all these emotions.
She still looked numb and lost.
"Khushi, you hear me?" he asked, and knealt on his knees. He cupped her face. "Khushi, please speak something!"
Emotionally she was paralyzed by now.
He shook her. "Khushi, I am asking you something."
"You have not forgotten me, your son, your family?" she asked, not looking at him.
He shook her head.
"Khushi, you, our son, our family is my life. Doesn't matter even if I have forgotten everything, my heart would have always remembered you!"
Arnav stood up, and Khushi too. "Were you kidding, playing with all are emotions till now? You think it was funny?" She yelled.
"Why? You did this, Arnav ji? Why? Answer me what took you this long to tell me this?" she said, and pushed him away when he was going to hold her by her shoulders.
"Khushi, I know you are angry!"
"Yes! I am angry!" She sobbed and hugged him.
Arnav rubbed her back. She wanted to talk but her cries weren't able to let her speak. And both were important. For seven months she had waited to talk to him.
"Khushi, enough cried!" he said. She was shaking her head. The thing was she never cried to let her pain out. She had kept that pain burried inside her. Until now she was breathing, but she wasn't living. How could she have lived thinking her husband didn't even know her and his family. The way he felt connected to Adhwaya, and he had kissed her and told her that he missed her, she should have understood, she should have guessed it, she thought. But this thought never came in her mind.
Why he was doing that was a major question, but even before that she had to make herself to believe she was experiencing the truth.
"I...I can't tell you, Arnav ji, how much I missed you..."she said, as she cupped his face, moved her hand in his hair, held his shoulders, to make sure he was perfectly fine.
He had tears in her eyes, he was dying to tell her this truth that he was fine, and he exactly knew what happiness at the heart content it had given to her.
"Arnav ji!" she cried, helplessly and hugged him and again shortly pulled back. "You are fine!" she said as she was unable to contain the happiness in her heart. The emotions on her face were so pure that clearly showed the condition of her heart. So innocent, so precious. Perfectly it described what real pain and happiness was. She had found her world and now she could have been died peacefully if death came to her.
Whether her eyes were crying, her heart was dancing, dancing in unmeasurable happiness.
"I am fine!" he said, "...Khushi!"
He embraced her in his arms to calm his wife.
She madly kissed him. His face, his neck, his forehead. She knew if she would have tried to talk now she would have failed miserably.
Scenario in their lives were hard, but such moments even out everything. And something that got them going.
Arnav pressed her lips on his, to make her forget all her pains for a while. Their breaths weren't in sync with their own bodies and needs, neither they cared.
He picked her up and walked to the bed, laid her ever so gently. As their lips parted away, they were looking into each other's eyes.
Arnav wiped her tears from her eyes and in the past seven months he always ached to do this. "They are too precious to shed!" as he would always say to her. But her tears were unstoppable. She had locked them inside her and now she just couldn't. Her weakness was right in front of her. He held her hands in his.
"Khushi, I never lost my memory. I was never in coma, but Khushi, I had to do this drama."
This revelation shocked her, but she knew he had his reasons, and she listened to him. It was something that she was the only thing she wanted to do.
"Khushi, listen me very carefully. Do not panic, there is still someone who is after my life," he said very measurably. Khushi shivered, and he held her hand tightly.
"Do not worry, the whole police team is looking for who could possibly be the person who is doing all this.This is the main reason I kept this from everyone that I was in coma and lost my memory."
"Arnav ji, why did you come here? Why not telling this to the whole family?" Khushi said.
"Khushi, I can't trust anyone. It's not I am afraid, but with me, your's, Adhwaya's, and our family's life is attached. This is why this whole drama so that we could find who is the culprit. More people would know about this more trouble it could create."
"Do you able to know who is still after your life?"
He shook his head, "Not at the moment!" he said. "But it will be soon. Khushi, the reason I brought you here is to tell you the truth, I cannot give you more pain. And I cannot involve our family because I believe it is someone from our family who is doing this, or helping someone who is outside from our family and want to harm me and you!"
Khushi looked at him in dread. "Arnav ji, I have full faith in our family."
"Khushi, this is the time to take decisions not emotionally, but practically."
"Who do you think could do this?" she asked. "Our Adhwaya, he is in danger. Arnav ji, please nothing should happen to him. I don't want to loose our baby this time!"
"Khushi, this is the promise that nothing will happen to our Adhwaya! You stay carefree. In just few days we will be returning back. Tell me one thing you had been taking medicines, right? After eating them you felt anxious?"
She nodded.
"Khushi, I got your medicines tested if you have had continued to take them you would have lost your mental imbalance!" he said. "The reason you get sick more often is not because of those medicines."
"But those medicines Dr. Sharma recommended!"
"The medicines that Dr. Sharma recommended were the right ones, but what you were eating were making you sick. That is done only by someone at home. Whoever it is doing is very smart. It's hard to tell who at this point. That person will soon be caught!
"Khushi, I have made many promises to you, and never able to fulfil them."
She shook her head. "No, Arnav ji, do not blame yourself. There was no fault of yours in this. You always did your best, it was only meant to be this way."
Khushi cupped his face as she was still somewhere unable to believe that everything was real.
"Khushi, I am sorry for all this drama. Yes, you were right that I would be asking for a forgiveness when I would know who you were. Khushi, you are my soul, you live in me. There is nothing in this world who can separate you from me."
"I love you, Arnav ji. I had no idea how would I make you realise who was I, and Adhwaya."
"Khushi, my accident wasn't fatal," he told her. "Remember you said you had that old lady telling you that my life was in danger, that was a warning sign. And no, Khushi, I didn't ignore it. When I have my wife to look after, I have one baby boy, I have my family, when I have to found who could still possibly be after my life, I wouldn't have afford to die."
Khushi never had felt this relieved ever. She was thankful to God for everything.
"Khushi, get up, wash your face and then I get something for you to eat."
"Please, Arnav ji, today, I do not want to eat anything. I just want you to be in front of me, in front of my eyes, every single minute of it!"
"My whole life is yours, Khushi!" he said and removed his shoes and the socks and his coat and loosened his tie and got up the bed.
"Let me inform Karan that I will see him little later because this time is of my and wife!"
Khushi finally smiled, and it was something he was dying to see on her face.
Right 7 months ago from now, on the same bed he had promised her that they will spend quality time with each other. And that promise he was fulfilling it today.
"It took seven months!" he said. "Isn't? Feels like it happened just yesterday!"
She was only looking into his eyes. He kissed her tears. "I hate tears, Khushi!"
"It must have been so hard for you to stay on that bed!" she said.
"It was necessary, Khushi. Those were hard times but you were there. The only person I have trusted. But I felt unfortunate that I couldn't wipe your tears."
"Arnav ji, you should have given me some hint!"
"Khushi, I can't forgive myself for troubling you this much. It was hard, believe me, without you, Adhwaya, it was hard, but I knew I had to pull out of it. It was hard to pretend that I don't know you and Adhwaya. It was hard to make you suffer. It was hard..."
She immediately shushed him as she kept finger on his lips.
"I have full faith in you, Arnav ji. I know whatever you will do will be good for us. We fought separately. This time we will fight together."
He leant in to kiss her. She let him kiss her. It was a short kiss, he paused for a while before he kissed her forehead, the tip of her nose, her lips.
"I have troubled you in the past few weeks, right? But I was surprised how you fought back. You truly proved that it's only you who can bare me!"
She giggled. She turned on to her side, Arnav laid flat on his back, and Khushi rested her head on his chest. She could listen to his heartbeat.
She was familiarising herself once again with the rhythm of his beats. His breaths in her hair. The smell of his body. More than anything she was making herself believe was this was where she belonged, in his arms. If she had these two arms around her she was protected. She arched her head up to kiss his cheeks. He smiled looking at her. He could tell she was way more relaxed the way she was eased beside him. He regretted to make her wait this much to give her this fair share of happiness. But it was for to be there to remain for the rest of their lifetime till their last breaths. She checked his neck he was wearing the taveez that she had gotten from guru ji.
"You wore this?" she asked.
"Why wouldn't I have? If my wife wanted me to wear it!" he said. She was tired he could tell, her eyes were heavy with sleep but she still was keeping her eyes open.
"Let's sleep for a while, then once we will be up we shall talk!" he said.
"This is not a dream, Arnav ji, tell me!"
"It's a beautiful reality!" he said.
She listened to him and closed her eyes. And this was the first time in eight months she was going to have a peaceful sleep. At least she had her reasons to sleep. She hugged him tightly and let slowly sleep overcome her.
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