FF: It's Not Right - Chapter 38

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Chapter 38

‘Khushi what do you want to do now?’

Khushi twisted slightly from where she was leaning against Arnav to look up at him, ‘it’s your birthday; we should be doing things you like!’

Arnav grinned and kissed her lightly, ‘I am doing what I like. Go on, anything you want.’

‘Anything?’

‘Yes.’

Khushi jumped up immediately pulling on Arnav’s hand to make him stand up as well. ‘Come on then! I want to ride the motorcycle!’

‘What?!’

Khushi ran in front towards the bike unheeding of his protests. ‘I already know how to ride a scooter, this is practically the same,’ she said as she swung one leg over and pulled up the stand.

Arnav ran forward to hold onto the bike, afraid that she wouldn’t be able to handle the weight. ‘Oh yes, I’ve seen your scooter-riding skills and let me tell you I wasn’t very impressed.’

Khushi blushed as she remembered hitting Arnav’s car when she’d first moved to Delhi while he sat down on the bike behind her, putting his hands over hers on the handles.

They rode very slowly at Arnav’s insistence and only to the end of the road before turning around again. He flatly refused to allow Khushi to drive on a road where there would be actual traffic and other cars. Khushi parked the bike back in its original position and looked behind at Arnav with a huge smile. She expected him to be looking back at her with a smirk or an indulgent smile but instead his mouth was set in a grim line and his eyes were distant.

‘Arnav? Arnav, what’s wrong?’

Arnav shook his head and blinked almost as if he’d just realised Khushi was in front of him. ‘Oh it’s nothing. Come on, we should go.’

‘Where are we going?’

‘Home.’

The drive back was silent as Khushi tried to think what she had possibly done for Arnav’s mood to change so quickly. As they reached Delhi again she tried to lighten the mood. ‘It’s such a good thing we hardly know anyone in Delhi otherwise Buaji would have known already that her Sanka Devi was seen on a motorbike with some man. Do you know one time in Lucknow my scooter broke down and it was raining and Rajeev, he used to live right by us he offered me a lift on his bike. Buaji was visiting at that time and somebody had seen us together. I barely got inside the house before she grabbed my ear and demanded to know what was going on with me and Rajeev.’

‘Oh right. Well that’s good,’ was all the response she got and so Khushi sat back this time only resting her hands on Arnav’s shoulders.

They finally came to a large apartment block and parked in the car park. Khushi got off and waited for Arnav to do the same with a quizzical expression on her face.

‘It’s just apartment I use sometimes to stay overnight.’

‘Overnight? But Shantivan is only an hour away. Why do you need...’

‘If you tell Di I will deny this until I’m blue in the face,’ there was a hint of a smile again on his face as he held her elbow and led her towards the elevator ‘but sometimes I pretend to have business trips to avoid a pooja or just get away from everyone for a while’

‘What?!’

‘Akash uses it too!’ He said as if it legitimised the situation somehow.

The apartment was minimally decorated in creams and neutral colours with a large living area, fully furnished kitchen and two bedrooms. After she’d thoroughly examined the apartment Khushi sat down on the couch where Arnav was typing something into his phone. She sat a few inches away, unsure as to what his mood would now be but he looked up almost immediately before abandoning his phone on the armrest and pulling her towards him and kissing her.

When they broke apart Arnav continued to cup her face and sighed. ‘I’m sorry Khushi.’

‘Sorry? Sorry for what?’

‘When you hit my car... with your scooter. The things I said to you, I should have...’

‘Arnav!’ Khushi put her hands over Arnav’s and pulled them down onto her lap. ‘Is today the day you apologise for every single meeting we’ve ever had?’

‘Khushi, I have to. I’ve done so many horrible things to you ever since we met that I’ll probably never stop apologising.’

‘But Arnav...’

‘No Khushi,’ he lifted their hands and kissed the back of Khushi’s hand ‘I have to. Please let me. Even the first time we ever met, I misunderstood you and it’s been so long but I’ve never even said I’m sorry. It’s just when you mentioned Di. When you asked how I’d feel if her marriage broke I just saw red.’

‘I’m so sorry Arnav, I didn’t know then about Anjaliji’s first wedding, if I had...’

‘Di told you?’ Arnav’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. Di never liked talking about that subject and the fact that she had spoken to Khushi about it showed just how much she trusted Khushi. He felt as if there was a hand over his heart squeezing it painfully but it was a good sort of pain.

‘Not all the details but she did tell me about him and that your parents erm... that they died on that day.’ Khushi hesitated, knowing that this was a sensitive subject for Arnav.

The hand over Arnav’s heart tightened making it almost hard to breathe as Arnav remembered that painful day in his past that he always tried so hard to repress. He closed his eyes and forced himself to breathe in and out. Khushi lifted one comforting hand onto his cheek and Arnav felt himself relaxing immediately. He opened his eyes again and nodded moving Khushi’s hand away from his cheek to his rest on his chest above his heart.

‘Do you... Do you want to know what happened that day Khushi?’

There was an almost pleading look in his eyes and Khushi was unsure if he was imploring her to say yes or no. ‘I... of course Arnav. You can tell me anything.’

Arnav lowered his eyes so he was focused on Khushi’s lap where he was still holding her left hand in his right hand. ‘My father... my father had an affair. He was in love with the woman but she... she had been faking. My Chachaji had... he’d paid her. He paid this woman to make my Dad fall for her and that’s just what happened. He was so deep... so in love with this woman that he signed everything over to her. Our house, the business everything. Then... we didn’t know this then but he... he was waiting until Di’s wedding was over and then he’d planned to divorce my Mom to be with this... with that woman.’

Khushi squeezed Arnav’s hand to reassure him and leant closer into his body but stayed silent.

‘She had... the woman she’d signed everything over to my Chachaji but then she found out she was pregnant. So on Di’s wedding day she came... she told my Dad the truth about everything. That she’d been paid to seduce him, that she’d never actually loved him and my Dad he... he was... I don’t know just so in love with her or.... maybe he was ashamed. Di thinks he was regretful for what he’d done but I... anyway he killed himself. My Di’s wedding and that... that selfish bastard killed himself! Mom she... I don’t know Khushi. Chachaji told us at first that Dad had gambled away all his money and Mom had killed herself too after seeing my Dad’s body but... she wouldn’t... Khushi, she wouldn’t leave me and Di like that. My Dad he... but not my Mom...’

‘Of course not Arnav, there must be some other explanation.’

‘We believed him at first. Of course we believed him, he was our Chacha. We had no reason to. The wedding was cancelled... it was supposed to be rearranged later after a suitable time but one month later my Uncle kicked us out of Sheesh Mahal. By then the property papers had come through and everything was in his name. He told us... he said he couldn’t look after two cripples because of Di’s leg and my diabetes and we... we cried and begged but he wouldn’t listen. It was only a year later that we found out the truth. The woman... she’d had the baby and she... she wanted money. She hadn’t changed. So she told us the real truth in exchange for practically all of Mamaji’s savings. I decided then and there that I would get back Sheesh Mahal, I would give Di back the home she had lost and I eventually did. I bought it back from my Chachaji and he didn’t even recognise it was me. That was... That was the day that I met you.’

Khushi freed both of her hands from his grasp and put them around his neck drawing his face into her own as she kissed his cheek and hair. ‘Thank you so much for trusting me with that Arnav. I’m so sorry you had to go through so much.’

The control that he had been holding onto for the past half hour snapped as Arnav felt Khushi’s soothing touch on his hair and he hugged her to himself tightly as his tears soaked her dress. A problem shared is a problem halved had always seemed like a ridiculous saying to him until that exact moment. Telling Khushi his past seemed to relieve him, he felt as if he was 10 pounds lighter in weight.

Arnav pulled away and Khushi wiped his face of tearstains with the end of her dupatta.  ‘Arnav? What happened to the baby? Your father’s baby. Do you know?’

He nodded hesitantly always uncomfortable when even thinking about his father’s mistress. ‘She died and he... Di made me find him. He goes to a school in England now. His name’s Dhruv. Dhruv  Malik.’

‘You mean you... he lives with you? But you’ve never mentioned him before! Nobody has.’

‘He goes to boarding school, the best one in England’ Arnav said defensively.

‘You send a little boy to such a far country for so long? How old is he even? 11? Shouldn’t he be on holiday now Arnav? Why isn’t he here?’

‘Khushi calm down! England’s school holidays start later than ours. Besides he... he might not even come. Last year he stayed with a friend’s family over the summer.’

‘What? And you let him? But Arnav why would you...’

She lapsed into silence and after a minute Arnav shook her lightly, ‘Khushi?’ When she looked up she had tears in her eyes and Arnav lifted her chin so he could look into her eyes. ‘Khushi sweetheart what’s wrong?’

‘Arnav, he must feel so alone! No parents, no family and...’

‘What are you talking about Khushi? He has a family. Naniji, Di, Mamiji and Mamaji. We never make him feel like he’s not our own blood.’

‘But you do Arnav! Don’t you see? You do! Why have you never mentioned him before? If I had a little brother I wouldn’t want him a million miles away, I’d want to see him every day, speak to him every day. Talk about him every day.’

Arnav shifted uncomfortably and attempted to change the topic, ‘Khushi I...’

‘What’s your company called?’

‘What? Where did that come from?’ The non-sequiter surprised him but he jumped at the chance to talk about something else. ‘AR Fashions of course.’

‘Why AR? Arnav, Anjali and Akash Raizada right? But where does Dhruv fit into all this?’

‘What are you saying? Look Khushi you’ve never even met Dhruv. He doesn’t feel excluded at all.’

Khushi couldn’t explain the instant bond she’d felt to Dhruv. Orphaned at a young age and sent away to a foreign place with no friends. ‘How do you know Arnav? My name used to be just Khushi Kumar and I hated that Jiji and everyone had a different name to me. Then one day Babuji took me to the Registry Office and had my name officially changed. It was one of the happiest days of my life Arnav! Do you understand?’

The thought of Khushi as a young girl feeling excluded from her new family caused a lurch in his chest, ‘Khushi I...’

‘Please Arnav, don’t let him go anywhere this holiday. Make him come here. Please. For me? I want to meet him.’

Arnav looked at Khushi’s eager face and her still moist eyes before he pursed his lips and nodded. Khushi flew at him, throwing her arms around his neck again thanking him with kisses on his forehead and cheeks before finally arriving at his lips.