Chapter 10: Want
Payal ended the call. She could
sense she wasn’t alone so she turned around and gasped. There, stood by the
entrance, was Arnav Singh Riazada. Payal was frozen to her place, she didn’t
know what to do, she didn’t how much he’d heard.
“A A Arnavji?” She said
hesitantly.
Before Arnav could say anything
he’s phone rang. Payal sighed with relief, hoping that this would give her a
chance to get away. But all her hopes were crushed when Arnav said, “Hold on a
minute Payal.” She was forced to stay.
“Arnav Singh Raizada. Who? But he
barely knows what he’s doing, doesn’t Lawson have any one else for the job?
What happened to the girl that was in charge? I don’t give a damn, it’s either
her or I’m cancelling my deal with you. You have 2 weeks to make a decision and
get back to me.” With that he cancelled his call and regarded a fidgety Payal.
“Payal I need to ask you a question.”
Payal straightened herself out and
stood tall. “What is it Arnavji?”
“Where’s NK, I need to ask him
about something.”
Payal sighed with relief and
smiled. “He hasn’t returned yet.”
“How’s that possible? He boarded
before me.”
“He’s flight got held back because
of bad weather, he should be here in an hour.”
“When he comes, let me know.”
“Of course Arnavji.”
The two went their separate ways;
Payal went to the kitchen and Arnav went to his bedroom. Of course Arnav had
heard the entire conversation that happened between Payal and Buaji. He knew
something had happened to Khushi and he wanted nothing more than to go
downstairs and scare her into telling him everything but his hands were tied in
more ways than he wanted. How he wished things had been different. Did he even
have the right to ask about her? He sat by the poolside and reminisced about
all the times he had had with her. He was about to doze off when he heard a
knock on his door. He slowly got up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He
opened the door to find Payal standing there.
“NK just arrived. He’s in his
room.” She informed him. Arnav nodded and headed for NK’s room.
Over the years the Riazada Mansion
“Nanav! What’s up bro? Payal babhi
said you wanted to ask me something.”
“Yes I did. NK you travel every
year to the UK for your holiday, right?”
NK tensed but kept his smile in
place. He didn’t know where Arnav was going with this but he hoped it had
nothing to do with Khushi. He turned back and started unpacking again.
“Yeah I do. Why’d you ask?”
“I want to see your holiday
photos. Don’t tell me you don’t have them with you because I know you carry
them everywhere.”
NK was caught. He didn’t know what
Arnav knew about the photos, he’d always been careful not to show the ones with
Khushi in them. He wanted to deny him but if he did Arnav would know something
was up.
“But Nanav, you saw them a couple
of weeks ago when I came back.”
“Yes but I never paid attention to
them. Now show them to me please.” But NK knew it wasn’t a request it was an
order.
“Nanav I’m offended that you don’t
pay any attention to me.”
“Ok, I’m sorry, now will you show
them to me?”
“But why do you want to see them?”
Hoping against hope that some how, he could stall Arnav.
“Because I need to clear something
that’s been bothering me. Why are you asking me so many questions NK?” Arnav
asked suspiciously.
NK didn’t say anything. He got out
his holiday photos and handed them to Arnav. He watched as Arnav flicked
through the photos until he came across the one he wanted and smiled. NK’s
heart stopped beating. He wondered if he’d some how managed to mix one of
Khushi’s photos in there. But it was impossible, he had checked so many times
to make sure Khushi wasn’t in any of them.
“Why are you smiling Nanav?” He asked
steadily.
Arnav thrust a photo in NK’s face
and NK recognised it immediately. It was of him, Amba, Nikil and Natalie in Nik
& Nat’s reception. NK studied the picture carefully for any signs of
Khushi, when he didn’t find any he looked at Arnav in confusion. Arnav sighed
and pointed at Natalie.
“Who is this?”
NK was beyond confused so he
decided to just answer his questions. “It’s Natalie.”
Arnav frowned and looked back at
the picture before he pointed to Amba.
“Not her, this one.”
“Oh that’s Amba. Why do you need
to know this?”
“Because she’s handling the new
project and I wondered where I’d seen her before. I must say it’s a shock to
see her in desi cloths.” After a pause Arnav asked, “NK, why do you travel to
the UK every year?”
NK wanted to burst out laughing.
After all these years, Arnav finally noticed. For the first few years, he had
been extremely careful but as the years went on he realised Arnav didn’t really
care what he was doing so he went over when ever he felt like it.
And I thought the great ASR was supposed to
be intelligent.
“Because Karan is a very good
friend of mine.” He said truthfully.
“Why don’t you take your family
along? You always seem to go by yourself.”
NK answered easily as if he’d been
planning what to say when he was confronted, which he had. “Now look who’s
asking all the questions. The kids and Diane don’t like cold climates.”
“Speaking of, where are they?”
“They’re coming a week before the
wedding to avoid all the pre wedding drama. To be honest I wanted to do the
same thing but business got in the way and when Di found out I was coming she
insisted I stay. And when I say “insisted”, well we both know how Di is like
now-a-days.”
They both shuddered. Anjili had
turned into a crazy monster because of the upcoming wedding. No one wanted to
piss her off at the risk of being eaten alive.
“You know, Amba reminds me so
much-” But before Arnav could finish his sentence his phone rang and he went
off to answer the call in private.
NK let out a huge sigh of relief.
He had thought Arnav would grill him about Khushi’s whereabouts but thankfully
he hadn’t. He relaxed and started whistling. He was about to continue unpacking
when he heard a knock on his door. He answered the door to find Payal standing
there.
“May I come in NK?”
“Of course.”
Payal looked around and locked the
door. NK looked at her in confusion.
“NK I need to talk to you.”
“Is it that important that you
need to lock the door?”
“It’s about Khushi.” She stated
simply. That caught NK’s attention as he stopped what he was doing and
listened. “I don’t know if you know but she’s been in an accident.” And then
Payal proceeded to tell him everything.
“Oh God! We can’t let her come
back! Nanav won’t let go of her this time.”
“She’s adamant on coming back.”
“I don’t care! You don’t know what
I know Payal-”
“That’s because no one will tell
me!” She shouted. “Just because I’m a bahu if this house doesn’t mean I don’t
care about my sister!”
“Payal, only me, Karan and your
Babuji know the entire truth. If Khushi wanted to tell you she would’ve
herself. Just do anything to make sure she doesn’t come back. Stall as much as
you can.”
“But we all know the truth-”
“No Payal, you don’t. There is so
much more to it. Once Khushi regains her memory you can ask her about it.”
“Fine!”
Payal stormed out of NK’s room. NK
dialled a number on his phone.
“Hello.”
“Amba?”
“Uncle NK?”
“Yeah, Amba I just heard about the
accident-”
“For God’s sake, why don’t we just
put it in the fricking news! The amount of sympathy calls I’ve had these past
weeks is ridiculous. You’d think my mother was dead by the way everyone’s been
going on about it!”
“How is she?”
There was a pause. “I don’t know.”
Amba whispered.
“What do you mean?”
“You should really talk to dad
because I don’t know how she is. I’ll pass the phone over to him.”
“Wait wait Amba-” But it was too
late.
“Hello?”
“Karan, it’s me NK. How’s Khushi?”
“You knew her before Akash and
Payal got married right?”
“Yeah.”
“She’s exactly like that now.”
“Wow!”
“Yeah.”
“How’s Amba?”
“She’s learning Hindi.”
“Why?”
“Because Khushi’s English isn’t
that good anymore.”
“Oh. No I meant how is she coping
with all of this?”
“She’s fine apparently.”
“She’s taking it hard and bottling
her feelings as usual.”
“Apparently she’s found a way of
losing the frustration.”
“So you found out about her and
Logan.”
“How did you know?” Karan was
surprised.
“It’s obvious.”
“Really?” Asked a shocked Karan.
“No, I saw them making out after
the wedding.”
“Oh dear God. Did you tell anyone?”
“No because I know they’re not
serious, it’s casual.”
“Why does everyone think casual
sex is ok!?”
“I think it’s better than letting
it build up and then her collapsing and being bedridden for days like that one
time. If this is how she’s dealing with it then let her.”
“No. I’m going to find a much
healthier way for her to deal with her problems.”
“Karan haven’t you got enough on
your plate as it is?”
“NK, she’s my daughter. There will
always be room for her on my plate no matter how full it is.”
“This is why I admire you Karan.”
“Thank you. NK, I have to go and
pick Khushi up from the hospital. I’ll let you know how she’s doing later.”
“Alright, bye.”
“Bye.”
Karan put the phone down and looked over at Amba who was
busy reading a Hindi book. He picked up his coat and went over to her.
“Amba?”
“Mmm?”
“I’m going to go and pick your mum up.”
“Ok.”
“Honey, change into something that covers your legs, we
don’t want your mum to worry about-”
“I understand dad, I’ll go and get changed.” She closed her
book and made to move out of the room.
“Oh Amba! Did you tell Logan- ”
“Both of them know the situation. And Logan
has promised to come by and apologise for his behaviour the other day.”
“Ok, I’ll see you in a bit. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
With that Amba went to change and Karan went to get Khushi.
Arnav Singh Raizada was not a person who gave up easily. If
he saw an opportunity he took it. For the first time in 23 years he’d heard
about news of Khushi and he wasn’t going to let her go this time. If ASR
wanted something, he’d have it. He knew Payal wouldn’t tell him about Khushi’s
condition so he had hired a private investigator to see if they could find out
something from the Gupta’s instead. The bad thing was that he had to wait 24
hours for any kind of information. He was contemplating going over to Lucknow
to do some of his own research but with the wedding preparations going on, Di
would kill him if he left again for anything. He was thinking of ways to avoid
Anjili’s wrath and go to Lucknow
when someone waltzed in to his room without knocking.
Arnav smiled. “Yes Neha, what can I do for you.”
“I want the Sheesh Mahal.” She demanded.
Arnav raised an eyebrow. “I’m afraid it’s not for sale.”
“Uff Mamu, I meant I want it for my wedding.”
Arnav’s smile widened. Neha had just given him the perfect
opportunity to visit Lucknow . “Of
course honey, whatever you want.”
“Thank you thank you thank you! You’re the best!” She hugged
him and ran out of the room.
Arnav picked up his phone and made the necessary
arrangements for his family to move.
“Khushi Kumari Gupta Singh Riazada, I’m coming for you.”
Khushi was sitting in Karan’s car, staring out the window
and marvelling at London .
Everything seemed new and exciting except the weather. She didn’t understand
how people could live in such gloomy conditions. But she pacified herself my
saying that she was going to go back to India
soon where the sun is always shiny.
Well nearly always. At
least it’s not as bad as this.
The car suddenly came to a halt. “Khushi, we’re here.” Karan
got out and helped Khushi out of the car.
She stared at her house. “Is this your house?”
“Yep.”
“It’s beautiful.” She said sincerely.
“I’m glad you think so because you designed it.”
“What?” She stared at him in disbelief.
“Yep. You did everything. You chose everything that should
be in and outside the house. Believe it or not you practically live here.”
“Now you’re exaggerating.” She began to move towards the
house.
Karan sighed. “I’m not exaggerating, it’s the truth.” He
said under his breath and then followed her.
Khushi was climbing the steps to the door with Karan
following behind her when a deep voice caught her attention. She turned around
and her heart started fluttering in her chest, her eyes widen and her mouth
fell open. She then noticed she was shamelessly staring at the man who was now
climbing the steps to the house next to them. She lowered her eyes and blushed.
She didn’t know who he was but she wanted to know more about him.
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