This chapter is brought to you by Zondra. Enjoy :)
Chapter 10: ‘I will have you’
On the plane
Arnav settled himself in his seat and fastened his seatbelt. He opened his email before the captain announced take off and read the information Aman had got him. As he read, a smug look came on his face, and the corners of his mouth curled slightly in a shrewd smile.
Where will you run off to, Khushi Kumari Gupta. You just got out of the pan and into the fire. You are coming in to the Lion’s den all by yourself. Well, it seems that I do not have to take the trouble to bring you to Delhi since you are coming there by your own free will.
Arnav was planning his next move to give Khushi a welcome surprise that neither she nor her family members were expecting.
“How will you run from me, Miss Gupta?” Arnav said out loud. “I am determined to have you, so have you I shall.”
With that, he picked up that day’s business papers to read, his mind never far from his plans of revenge for Khushi.
Delhi, at Buaji’s house, the next day.
“I am telling you, Shashi, this girl is going to ruin the family. You should never have adopted her. It is not too late; you and Garima better leave her in a reform home for troublemaking girls. That way, we’ll all be free of the shame she has brought us.” Buaji told to Garima and Shashi, pointing her finger at Khushi.
Payal was the one who still had the same faith in Khushi and she rose to Khushi’s defence. “Buaji, Khushi did nothing wrong. It is all lies, you have to believe...”
“Do not defend her, Payaliya! You are blind to her faults. We all know what she did.” Buaji would not hear to any word of Payal’s and she kept on trying to convince Shashi to throw Khushi out of the house. Shashi, however, was unwilling to do that. He had been silent since the accusations of Arnav, neither had he defended Khushi, nor did he confront her. He was confused and did not know what to think. He was unable to believe that his beloved daughter could be capable of behaving like a cheap person for monetary purposes. He knew Khushi had no hunger for money. But then, Shashi could not understand what that man would gain by saying lies about Khushi. Furthermore, Shashi was worried about Arnav’s real intentions behind all this.
Garima, on the other hand, had believed the worst of Khushi and was behaving in full dramatic mode. She was no longer talking to Khushi. In fact, she acted as if Khushi was not even present in the house. At other times, she would sit and cry and curse fate. As for Khushi, she felt betrayed by her family. She had always thought Garima and Shashi as her real parents and she loved them more than her biological parents. And she loved Buaji as much as Payal did. Khushi was heartbroken over all of this. Overnight she had become so silent, which was completely against her nature. It was as if her fire had gone out.
They had reached Buaji’s house the previous night. Buaji had a small house in Laxminagar that she and her late husband had taken on rent. She had been living in that same house since decades, only coming to Lucknow to visit her brother Shashi and his family. Khushi had not eaten that night; because she didn’t have an appetite. Also, she preferred to keep herself out of the sight of her parents and Buaji in order not to cause them more pain. She and Payal decided to go to bed early, since they were exhausted from the train journey.
“Khushi, are you sleeping?” Payal asked a couple of hours after the lights were turned off. Khushi did not reply, even though she was wide awake. Good that she slept. Oh Devi Maya, bless Khushi with a peaceful sleep and let her forget our problems, even if just for tonight, Payal prayed. Then she turned on her side and tried to sleep too.
Khushi heard Payal’s breathing even out after some time, indicating that she was asleep. Then only did Khushi let her tears overflow, the dams burst then. Khushi had been holding back the tears, mainly so she didn’t worry Payal further. But now, the tears fell without stopping. Khushi cried till she got exhausted and fell into a disturbed sleep. She had a very uneasy night, waking up from nightmares several times, and each time it was more difficult to go back to sleep. All the nightmares were the same: she was crying and running away from a man. She could not see his face, but even in the dream she was aware that Arnav pursued her relentlessly. She kept running as fast as her legs could carry her, and yet he caught up with her each time. She felt his hot breath on the back of her neck right before he pounced and brought her down. In some of the nightmares, he held her tight within the cage of his arms, and she struggled and struggled, but he would not let go. And she could not break his hold on her, no matter how much she tried. His arms felt like steel bands around her.
Sometimes, she would wake up right as he caught her. In other nightmares, she would wake up when he smirked at her, after catching her, and telling to her, “You can run, but I will catch you and make you my prisoner forever.”
In one particularly scary nightmare, Arnav had caught her under his body on a bed. He was kissing her and asking her to surrender to him. She cried and pleaded with him to let her go, but he promised never to let her go until he was satisfied with exacting revenge from her. Then she would cry, and the feel of tears and the sound of her own sobbing brought her out of the dream.
The whole night passed like this. Khushi woke up more tired and worried than she was before going to bed. The thought of another day like the previous made her weary. She prayed that her parents would believe her and talk to her again. But she did not know how she could make them believe her.
Raizada House
“Chote, how was your trip” Anjali asked Arnav, as she brought him his morning tea. She was always mothering him. “It has been too long since I’ve seen my dear brother. How can you forget your only sister, Chote?” Anjali asked.
“Please Di, do not start with emotional drama early in the morning. Or else I will stay at my apartment every night this week, then you will not see me at all.” Arnav threatened his elder sister, half-heartedly.
“Ok, baba. I won’t.” said Anjali with a smile. “Get up now, lazybones and drink your coffee before it gets cold.”
“Thanks di” He took his coffee and gulped it down. “What the...” Arnav exclaimed on seeing the time on his watch. He was late. At this time he is usually in his office, working on securing new deals for his company. “Di, I got to go.” said Arnav, getting up and moving to his en-suite bathroom. “I am late.”
Anjali replied: “I know, Chote. That’s why I came to wake you. Being late is not in your nature. Are you okay?”
“Haan Di. I just slept very late last night, due to planning a new deal” Arnav quickly reassured her.
Anjali was relieved that her Chote was fine. She left him choosing his clothes for the day and made her way out of his room to go and check on her husband before he leaves.
She turned before exiting his room and asked, “Chote, were you serious about staying in your apartment?”
“Maybe, Di. I might have some new deals coming in. And you know it is always easier to sleep over there after working late into the night, as compared to coming here and waking up the whole family. But I will meet you often, Di. And I know you will come to AR to see me, as you usually do when I stay out of the house.” Arnav explained to her.
“Okay, Chote. Have a nice day. See you later.” With that, Anjali finally left.
Arnav quickly got ready and left for his office. On reaching he called Aman and asked him for Khushi’s address in Delhi, along with her mobile phone number. With Khushi’s address in hand, Arnav moved to the next step of his plan for Khushi.
He took out a CD from his desk drawer and put it in an envelope, which he handed to Aman. He told to Aman “Deliver this to Miss Gupta, at her home. Get a trustworthy person to give it in her own hands. It’s better if you go yourself. And when she has the package, the delivery person is to call me in front of her. Okay, Aman?” Arnav made sure that Aman had understood what he wanted done.
“Yes, Sir. It’s all clear.” Aman replied, although he had reservations about Arnav’s plan. He knew better than to argue with his Boss this time around.
“Good. Now go and get it done.” Arnav ordered and sat back in his chair as Aman closed the door behind himself, with a smug half smile playing on his lips. “I will have you, Miss Gupta. I will get my revenge. And you will capitulate; you will not show your entire attitude then. I know how to tame you and I will not rest until I have you meek and willing under me, begging me for release.” Arnav smiled, and then decided to pay some attention to his company until the call came.
Laxminagar
“Hello, is Miss Khushi Gupta here?” Aman asked Payal, as she opened the door to him. Aman had decided to deliver the package himself, in order to avoid any mistake. He knew his Boss would kill him in case of any mistake happening in the Khushi Gupta ‘deal’.
“Aap? What are you doing here?” Payal was angry and worried on seeing this man on their doorstep. “How did you find us?” Payal was frightened. She knew if this Aman knew their address, then that awful man ASR would also know it.
“Ma’am, I have a delivery to your sister from my Boss. Will you please call her-” Aman was interrupted by an angry Payal.
“No! I will not call her. She will not talk to you. And she wants no package from your Boss. What do you people think of yourselves! Get out of here!” Payal tried closing the door after saying this.
Aman had however kept his foot, and prevented her closing it. “Please believe me, I find no pleasure in disturbing you. My Boss simply wants this delivered to Miss Khushi. And if I go back without doing it, he will sack me. And then he will come to meet your sister himself. Do you want that?”
“What’s happening, Jiji?” Khushi asked from behind Payal. She had heard the commotion from the kitchen and came to enquire.
On seeing her, Aman thrust out the package to her and said “Sir sent this for you. If you will not take it, he will come here himself.”
Khushi was afraid of Arnav coming here, so she accepted the package. She wanted Aman gone before her parents and Buaji came back from the pension office. Aman immediately called Arnav, spoke to him to inform of delivery, and then swiftly passed on the phone to Khushi.
Khushi reluctantly took the phone with shaking fingers and pressed it to her ear, saying “Hello..?”
“Hello, Miss Gupta. You ran away. I found you. You see, you cannot get away from me. I will always run after you and I will catch u. Until I have my revenge from you for ruining my grand show, I am not going to leave you alone. You get that?” Arnav said, without pause.
Khushi was shocked. His voice had such an effect on her! All her hairs were raised, and her heart was hammering away. The phone was nearly slipping from her grasp; her palms had become moist out of nervousness. She was unable to answer.
“Khushi, I know you are listening. If you wish not to talk to me, check the package. It contains a gift for you. Watch it. I hope u get the message. For your information, I have many such copies of what the disc contains. So, watch it. I will call you in 10 minutes” With that Arnav hung up and Khushi handed the phone back to Aman, who left right away.
“Khushi, what did he say?” asked a worried Payal.
“Jiji, he said it’s a gift..”
“What? Here, give it to me.” Payal took the envelope and took out a DVD.
Both the sisters looked at the DVD, and then looked at each other without comprehending Arnav’s purpose of sending a DVD. “Let us check it before Buaji comes” said Payal. She immediately went and asked their neighbour Mr Happi for his DVD player.
They both sat down and inserted the DVD. The scene which played brought shock to Payal’s face and mortification and fear on Khushi’s. It was the video of what had happened between Arnav and Khushi in the bedroom of Sheesh Mahal. A couple of minutes into the DVD, and Payal took it out. “That’s enough. You do not need to live through that again, Khushi. Do not worry, we will destroy it. No one will see this ever again.” Payal tried to reassure Khushi.
But Khushi looked at her sadly and shook her head “No, Jiji. It will make no difference even if we destroy this DVD. He told me he has many copies of it.” Khushi had nearly given up. Her face showed no emotion. She was not even aware of what she should feel. She was weary of her situation; she had grown tired of life in just two days. She did not know what she should do. She was so lost at trying to find a solution. She cursed herself, for her family was suffering because of her. At that moment she hated herself more than she hated Arnav.
Both Payal and Khushi were in a state of shock, and they sat there trying to think how to avert the disaster they both felt was coming.
Their musings were interrupted but the ringing of Khushi’s mobile phone. She quickly answered it, noting it was an unknown number. “Hello?”
“It’s me again. I told you I would call, didn’t I? So, did you watch the video? How did you like my gift? Imagine how it would look to your parents when this comes in the news. How would...” Arnav’s voice was smug. He was certain that his victory was forthcoming. He was, however, interrupted by Khushi.
“What? News? What do you mean? How dare you?” Khushi fired away at Arnav. Talking to him, being angry with him had brought back all her fire.
“Lower your tone, Miss Gupta.” cautioned Arnav. “I am merely warning you that this is coming in the news today. You can however attempt to change my mind if you come to me willingly. You have till 4 o’clock today. So, I shall wait for you. Otherwise, you wait for the news. I will call you again. Do not think to change your number, I know your whole family’s mobile phone numbers. And if you change the number, it will be so easy for me to get the new numbers. Save yourself all the trouble and just come to me.”
“Never” was the only word Khushi could say.
“We’ll see, Khushi. Never is a long time, as you will realize. You might change your mind on seeing us being intimate on the national news this evening. Be aware that this is just one step. I will not accept defeat. I will not stop hunting you. I will not let you go. You will come to me. I can do worse that leaking this video. You will find out if you do not give in to me. You better give up fighting, and give in to me. Make no mistake, I will keep at this till I have you beneath me in my bed and we complete what we started in Sheesh Mahal. I will have you, Khushi Kumari Gupta. You can be sure of that. I promise I will have you.”
