Chapter 26: Make
Popcorn
Khushi looked over at the person who had grabbed Arnav’s hand
and stared at him for a moment in disbelief before she flung herself at him.
“Oh my God! I have missed you so much.” She said. She then
proceeded to kiss him.
Arnav stared with a broken heart as the love of his life
passionately kissed another man. It only got worse as the other man was the man
who he was collaborating with on the biggest project AR had ever done, Logan
Lawson Sr.
Payal looked over at Akash and they both silently agreed
that Krish and Nandani should go to bed now. Things were about to get messy and
they were too young to understand it. They grabbed the twins and headed for
their bedroom.
Mamiji and Mamaji had gone to bed early because of their old
age. And thank God, otherwise there would be a constant stream of inappropriate
comments added to the confusion.
Anjili, Viren, NK and Diane were all hanging around feeling
awkward and not knowing what to do. Anjili knew she had to stay to support her
brother and her husband stayed to support her. Whereas NK stayed to support
Khushi and Diane stayed to support her husband.
As for the kids; Priti had ordered one of the servants to
make popcorn. Max, Jake, Sanjay and Sachin had gone off to get some chairs so
they could watch the ‘show’ in comfort. Tara and Aarav were the only people who
were uncomfortable with this situation. They tried to leave but the rest of the
kids made them stay to watch as the drama enfolded.
Khushi and Logan had finally broken the kiss.
“How are you here?” she asked trying to catch her breath.
“Karan told me. I would’ve come sooner but I needed to make
sure that LJ could handle the business before I left. Also I couldn’t find any
flights later than this.” He replied.
Arnav turned to stare at Amba accusingly. “You never told me
that she was engaged!”
Amba shrugged. “Ok, A: I thought the constant warnings would
be enough. B: it’s none of your business. And C: you never asked.” She then
looked over at where the kids had sat down and chose to sit down with them. She
saw no reason in being extra uncomfortable in this uncomfortable situation.
Plus she knew that this was going to take a long time.
Even though Karan hated Arnav, he felt sorry for him.
“Arnav, that’s why I’ve been giving you countless amounts of warnings, I didn’t
want you or her to get hurt.”
“Karan, you don’t need to give him an explanation. Lets just
grab our things and go.” Said Khushi.
“Khushi the man loves you-”
“No he doesn’t!” she yelled. “He only ever wanted to own me.
He never really loved me and he said so himself.”
“I never said that.” Protested Arnav.
“Oh really? I have a dvd that says you did.”
“What?”
“One day I was sitting at home minding my own business, when
a letter comes addressed to me. I open it and find a dvd.”
Khushi held the dvd
in her hand. She couldn’t understand why anyone would send her a dvd. She
looked inside the envelope and she finds a note. The note said, ‘Watch the dvd
if you really want to know how Arnav feels about you.” She’s sceptical but she
puts it in the dvd player tentatively.
The video starts,
showing the Raizada house and its occupants. Naturally, Khushi is confused. She
watched as the events unfolded.
“Get out.” He said in
an eerily calm voice.
(That sounded like
her Arnav. Always telling people to get out.)
Garima froze. “Beta-”
(For some reason, he
was addressing her mother.)
“I said, get out!” He
turned towards Payal. “You too.”
(And her sister.)
Payal was confused.
“Arnavji?”
“You heard me. I
don’t want any of your filthy family in my house. You’re all gold diggers and
home wreckers. First your sister and now your mum. How do you expect me to
trust you Payal?”
(Khushi gasped. She
couldn’t believe that Arnav had called her family filthy. Or the fact that he
had called her and her mother gold diggers and home wreckers.)
“Arnavji, how can you
say something like that about Khushi and my mother?”
“Because it’s true!
She seduced my dad and your sister seduced Shyam. I think this kind of thing
runs in your family. It’s disgusting! But what else can I expect from a low
class family with desperate women. Get out of my house now!”
(Khushi was beyond
hurt at this point. She clutched her chest and tears began to fall down her
face.)
“Arnavji, that’s not
true and you know it. How can you say these things about Khushi, especially
when you know all that she’s been through? I thought you loved her.”
“If I really loved
her Payal, why haven’t I gone to look for her and brought her back?”
It was true. It was
all true. She didn’t want to hear anymore. She turned off the dvd player,
curled up into a ball and sobbed her heart out. From that day on, she promised
herself that she would never go back to India
Arnav was speechless. “Khushi-”
But Khushi held her hand up to stop him from speaking. “What?
Are you going to tell me that it wasn’t you? That it was someone else? Are you
going to tell me that you didn’t mean it and that you said it because you were
angry?” Arnav stared at the floor in shame. “I know you too well Arnav. Unlike
you, Logan is very reliable, he
never says anything that he doesn’t mean and that’s one of the many reasons why
I love him.”
Arnav looked stung when Khushi mentioned that she loved Logan .
“Khushi please.” He begged.
Khushi looked hurt. “I loved you so much Arnav. So much that
I didn’t want to leave you and when I did leave I wanted to come back straight
away.”
“Why didn’t you come back?”
“I got pregnant, I’m sure Amba told you how. I didn’t want
to travel in my condition and I didn’t know how you’d react. Plus I received that
dvd, I even called Jiji to confirm that you did actually say all of that and it
wasn’t edited. I loved you but you didn’t love me. So I moved on. I raised my
daughter and I went on dates. I don’t know if Amba told you but whenever
someone proposed to me, I’d always say no because even though I wanted to
believe I was over you but I wasn’t. Slowly, Logan
made me forget about you. Now I don’t feel anything for you. Not love or hate.
I had forgiven you for all that you ever did to me.”
“Who sent that dvd?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care. Come on Amba, we’re going.”
She bent down to pick up her bags.
Arnav was desperately grasping at straws. He did not want to
let go of Khushi. “But you said that you didn’t want to leave. Why did you
leave?”
Khushi put her bags down and turned to look at the person
who made her leave. “Because Anjili wanted me to.”
Alright guys, my college is going to start again this week so it means that I'm going to be updating this story a lot less, once a week or once every two weeks. AHEA will be updated every day because it's a short story. I really need to concentrate this year because I didn't get the grades I wanted. I'm sorry but this is how it is. I will try and get another chapter of HWGA before my college starts but no promises.
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