AAD Chapter 9: New Plans

Hey guys! I finally found someone to take over my story Angels and Devils. The writer will be Zondra from now on. This is the first chapter she's written, it starts off where my last chapter finished. So go back and brush up your memory if you've forgotten. Enjoy :)

Chapter 9: New Plans

What the hell! thought Arnav. He was fuming at the way Aman had talked to him. No one dared to question ASR and his actions.  No one dared go against his authority and Aman knew that damn well.  What’s wrong with him God damn it?! Arnav thought.

“How dare you Aman?!” he said with deadly calm. Aman immediately recognised Arnav’s tone.  He knew his Boss’s current mood was more dangerous than one of his murderous rages so, he tried to do some damage control.

“Sir...” pleaded a contrite Aman. But Arnav was beyond listening to any word.

“Shut up and listen to me well.” Arnav warned. “This is the first and last time you speak like this to me. And how dare you destroy those recordings? Do you think you can stop me? I have copies of that, you utter fool! Trust me there will not be a next time for such behaviour from you or you will find yourself out of a job for life. And you know well what I am capable of. Are we clear Aman?”

“Yes Sir. I am sorry Sir. I don’t know what...”

“Shut it, Aman. And get on with the work I pay you for. The Gupta family is leaving Lucknow. I want you to find out where they are moving to. And get all the details on their financial state. Do you understand?” Arnav was not in a forgiving mood but he had more pressing matters on his mind; notably getting Khushi.

Aman was well chastised now so he just replied with a meek “Yes Sir”.

“Good.” Arnav said and went on, “You either get the best team on this or you go and follow them yourself.  I don’t care, I just want the intel.  You get that Aman?” And without giving Aman time to reply, he said “And where the hell is Lavanya?  She should have been here an hour ago.”

“Sir, I’ll get you the intel.  And Lavanya said she was picking up some stuff.  She should reach here any minute now.” Aman tried to explain

“Ok” Arnav said and ended the call.  He was so pissed off, with Khushi, Payal, Lavanya and now Aman dared to question him.  He was frustrated and in a fury. Lavanya can’t get here soon enough, he thought.

This made him remember the other night when he tore off Lavanya’s lingerie and took her without any preliminary.  He had remembered protection just in time. All the time it was Khushi’s face in his mind’s eye.  Even after Lavanya had satisfied him, he still wanted Khushi.  And that had put him in a black mood, such that he got mad at Lavanya’s subsequent seduction attempt.  He had left her in the room and went out and got drunk.  When he came back, Lavanya had left for the flat where ASR had put her up.

No women were allowed to sleep over.  Arnav Singh Raizada sure had sex often and with lots of different women, but he never actually slept the night with any of them; nor were they allowed to stay over.  He always approached women in a cold and businesslike manner. Contracts were drawn and limits clearly set and explained. The women were happy with it since Arnav was a legendary lover and generous in all manners except emotionally.  Also, they never dared to crowd ASR or cross him in any way.  They knew their place in his life and were happy with it, until ASR decided that the affair had run its course. The women were then bid goodbye with gifts, but with no heartbreak and no drama. 

Next morning

Arnav woke with a splitting headache. He downed painkillers to get rid of the hangover and proceeded with his daily business. He found, however, that he was not able to concentrate on his meetings the whole day. His mind kept going to that girl, that temptress of a show wrecker! He would teach her, he thought. He would make her regret ever trying to sabotage him. He was more concerned with teaching her a lesson than trying to find out who paid her.  He knew no one could harm him in business. So he concentrated on teaching this girl never to mess with him. No one messed with ASR and got out unscathed.

He was certain he would get her. He was sure that Khushi could be bought. He knew she could be persuaded to sign a contract with him. All she wanted was for him to further sweeten the pot. Arnav was sure she wanted more money than he offered in order to have sex with him. He was rather enjoying blackmailing her and he could foresee her willing capitulation in front of him. How he would enjoy an arrangement with her!  He thought with his trademark smirk.

Arnav always entered such arrangements with women with a cool mind; so his recent fascination with Miss Khushi Kumari Gupta had him in a fix. He had never lusted so strongly or desperately after a woman. The fact that she seemingly rejected him just made him want her more. No one said no to ASR, so what was this Lucknowi girl up to? Arnav thought.  Having Khushi had become a goal for him now. No other woman would satisfy him until he had Khushi in bed with him, tamed and responsive to his demands. He remembered Lavanya and her failed seduction attempts of the previous night.

Lavanya had come to him and tried to seduce him, as she usually did. Unlike all previous times, Arnav had found himself completely uninterested in her and immune to her charms.  Lavanya had been touching him but his mind had been conjuring up images of Khushi. He was seeing her, hearing her voice. He had even caught her scent, damn it.  He was so put off by Lavanya’s attempts, that he sent her packing.  He had to buy her a gift and terminate things with Lavanya, he thought.

Now only Khushi would do. He would not rest till he had her under him, moaning out his name in wild abandon. He wanted her tamed and shown her place. He wanted her meek and responsive to him. She would be a real firebrand in bed, he knew. Arnav smirked and pictured Khushi’s capitulation in his bed.

Arnav took out his phone and called Aman: “Get the jet ready.  I am going back home to Delhi. Did you get the info I asked for?”

“Okay Sir. We’ll be clear for take-off in half an hour. I am emailing you the info now.”  Aman replied, his previous rebellious attitude tamed.

“Good. See you in thirty. Get a gift for Lavanya and have it delivered.” Arnav ordered, satisfied that Aman was toeing the line once again.

“Ok Sir.”

Arnav hung up and got his stuff ready to leave for Delhi, while again thinking of Khushi.

In the train

Khushi was so worried seeing the way her family were behaving. Only Payal was speaking to her normally. Her Amma, Babuji and Buaji were so angry with her that they had completely ignored her all this time. Buaji and Amma were talking about her and cursing her at times.

“Hai re Nandkishore! This girl has brought us to shame with her affair with this businessman.  Our honour is completely destroyed. Everyone in Lucknow has lost respect for us. We are done for. Besharam girl.” Lamented Buaji, looking at Khushi with murderous eyes.

“Haan jiji. I regret so much having brought her into this family. All she has brought us is disgrace. I wish we could have left her behind.” replied her Amma tearfully.

Khushi’s heart broke hearing this. She was unable to stop the tears which filled her eyes and overflowed. 

“Please do not talk about all this here. We are outside, have some care.” Cautioned Babuji.

Payal comforted Khushi and wiped her tears, smiling faintly at her.  Khushi knew Payal believed her, even if the elders were ready to believe the worst about her.  Khushi was so disappointed. She had never expected her family to ever believe a stranger’s words against her own. They had broken her heart by trusting all those lies.

But Khushi was a strong girl. She mentally comforted herself and decided she would explain everything and clear all misunderstanding once they reached Buaji’s house in Delhi. So she concentrated on the scenery outside and chatted with Payal about the big city. Her worries were forgotten for a while. 

She was as yet unaware that Mr Arnav Singh Raizada was not going to give up. The family did not know that their worry would only double once they reach Delhi.



By Zondra Triana Alexakis

AHEA Chapter 9: Acceptance

Chapter 9: Acceptance

Arnav lightly knocked on Nani’s door.

“Come in.” she said.

Arnav opened the door and peered in. Nani was sitting on the rocking chair, petting Lakshmi and looking at a photo album.

“What are you doing Nani?” he asked.

“Looking back on simpler times.” She said showing him the pictures she was looking at. “I’ve always hated the concept of growing old but I despised it when I had children.”

“Why?”

“Because you constantly worry about them. You can take care of your kids until they become an adult, then they take care of themselves. But they never really grow up in your eyes. Even when they get married and have kids of their own you still see them as that baby that needed your constant attention. You don’t trust them to make the right decisions because you think they’re not old enough. You want to supervise everything they do but you can’t.”

Nani turned the page and it was full of pictures of her daughter with baby Anjili smiling at the camera.

“I always thought your mother was too young to marry.” Said Nani. “She was only 23 when the proposal came. I tried to talk your Nanaji out of it but he said it didn’t look good to have an unmarried woman in the house. She was happy enough to get married and soon, loved your father very much.”

Arnav fisted his hands and clenched his jaws. He hated speaking about his father.

“I don’t want to talk about him-”

“I know you don’t.” interrupted Nani. “But there was a time when she was his whole world and he hers. And they both loved you very much. You and Anjili. I don’t know who cast an evil eye on our family because this thing just keeps happening.”

“What thing?”

“A married man in our family will seduce an innocent girl and everything will be ruined. First it was your father and now Shyam. Of course Anjili is taking this better than your mother did in some ways.”

“She didn’t try and kill herself.” Arnav reminded her.

“She killed her child.” She snapped.

“Would you have preferred it if both of them were gone?” he retorted.

“I would prefer things to go back the way they were.”

“Everyone would prefer that Nani.”

“I worry about her Chote.”

“So do we but we need to support her in this.”

“What if it’s not the right thing to do?”

“We need to take a leap of faith. We need to let her know that we are there for her if she needs us.”

“Do you really think this is wise?”

“Di is a Raizada which means she’s strong willed and stubborn and I can see it in her eyes that she really wants to do this. She will do this whether we support her or not. So isn’t it best to just support her?”

Nani thought for a while before she spoke again. “If anything goes wrong, I blame you.”

Arnav shrugged. “That’s ok. Now let’s go and tell Di before she cries another river.”

IAL Chapter 9: The Tape

As always thank you everyone who likes and comments regularly, you make me motivated to continue. A small note; I might not update until Monday because I finally got over my writters block for Angels and Devils. Unfortunatly I still haven't got over my writters block for Here We Go Again but hopefully soon so I can continue with all 3 stories. Anyway, I hope I'll post the new chapter for Angels and Devils before Monday so I can continue with this on Monday. Enjoy :)

Chapter 9: The Tape

NK ran to his room with the camcorder still in the box.

 

Oh God, I hope it’s not too damaged.

 

He placed the sodden box on his bed and look at the clock on his wall.

 

Great, I still have an hour before the guests start arriving. Hopefully I can fix the camera in time. Or better yet, maybe it’s not broken at all so all I won’t have to do anything.

 

He quickly got out of his wet clothes and changed in to dry ones. He didn’t want to inflict the camera with more damage than it had already been subjected to.

 

He pulled the camera out of the box and dried it. He then tried to record something but unfortunately the camera wouldn’t budge. He tried again and again but it just refused to record.

 

Nice going NK. Thank God, Nanav was smart enough to hire a professional to record the wedding. At least Payalji and Akash bhai will have some memories of their wedding. But I wanted a more personal, behind the scenes kind of take on this wedding. The professionals always seem to make the videos too impersonal and not at all intimate. Oh well.

 

NK sighed and started pushing random buttons out of frustration. To his surprise a clip started playing. He smiled.

 

At least I captured the pooja, breakfast and the decoration stages of the wedding.

 

He sat there enjoying the tape. Soon the footage showed him and other people on the roof with decorations everywhere. He saw himself putting the camera down on the swing and helping put the decorations up. He watched himself and other people decorate the roof and then after that nothing happened. He fast forwarded the tape to see what else had been captured. Towards the end of the tape, Khushi and Shyam appeared. NK was confused.

 

What is Khushiji and Jijaji doing on the roof? Why are they there in the first place?

 

He paused the tape and rewound it until it showed Khushi coming on the roof and then he played it again. Needless to say, NK was beyond shocked to see how the events unfolded on the rooftop.

HWGA Chapter 9: Nand Kishore

Purple bits are Hindi. Italics are thoughts. It's 12 am here plus I'm ill so if there's mistakes I apologise. 

Chapter 9: Nand Kishore

She gave Logan (jr) a once over and concluded he was heavily drunk. He was still wearing his suit so it made her believe that he had been drinking since yesterday. She had been expecting him but defiantly not in this condition.

She sighed. “What do you want Logan?”

“Why did you cut off my call yesterday?”

“Because I felt like it. Stop being such a girl about it!” She snapped.

Then she realised her mistake. He was very drunk and she was provoking him. He slammed her against the door and took her lips into a fierce kiss but she didn’t relent. She pushed him with all her might but he was much stronger drunk. She punched, kicked and slapped him but he wouldn’t stop. Then all of a sudden he was ripped from her. She stood dazed from the kiss and watched as Karan threw a strong punch that connected straight with Logan’s jaw and he went sprawling across the floor. He looked at Amba and tried to control his breathing. Amba was shocked, she had never seen her father act like that, he was usually calm and collected and tried to handle a situation without violence. He was the modern day Gandhi.

“You can’t do that in this house any more Logan. And next time you do that to my daughter without her permission, I’ll kill you. I’m letting you off because I know you’re drunk and so were we this morning. Go home and get sober, you’re useless like this.” He then proceeded to drag Logan out of the house and shoved him out the front door.

“Dad?” Amba asked hesitantly.

“Have you completed your assignments?”

“Yes, but-”

“Then help me bring in the cloths I brought for your mum.”

He went out the front door and straight to his car. Amba didn’t continue, she had learnt not to ask too many questions from a young age, especially about her parents’ pasts.

She helped Karan take the cloths to Khushi’s room. They were silently removing all of Khushi’s western cloths and putting in Khushi’s desi cloths when he spoke. “I’m sorry for being so harsh.”

“To me or to Logan?”

“Both. I think I should go apologise to him.” He started for the door when Amba stopped him.

“No dad, what you did was right. But why so violent?”

“It’s just this whole situation and on top of that my work won’t let me take some time off until I finish my contract which won’t be for another 3-4 weeks. And then the hospital called me-”

Amba’s eyes widened with concern. “What?! Is there something wrong with mum?”

“She’s been having nightmares again. And she doesn’t understand why she keeps having them and I can’t even tell her.” Karan sat down on the bed and rubbed his face. He was aging by the minute.

“Dad you’re not going to tell me the significance of the nightmares, are you?”

“I want to tell you everything, honey. I’ve wanted to since the day you could understand how messed up the world is but your mum wouldn’t let me. She’s sacrificed so much so you wouldn’t be burdened by her past so you wouldn’t have to suffer. I want to tell you but I can’t. I’ve sworn to silence by your mother. But I think it would be better if you knew so when your mother gets better, I’m going to convince her to tell you everything so she can stop running away from her past.”

“It’s ok dad, I haven’t known for 22 years another couple of months won’t hurt.”

“Let’s hope your mother gets better in a few days, forget months.” After a pause he continued hesitantly. “Amba, does your mum know about Logan?”

She gave him a confused look. “Why would she know about Logan, she’s lost her memory, remember?”

“No I mean about you and Logan.”

She rolled her eyes before getting up. “There’s nothing to know about me and Logan.” Before she could exit the room, Karan grabbed her hand and made her sit back down on the bed.

“Amba, tell me the truth.” He said looking into her eyes.

She sighed. “No she doesn’t. Dad I promise you it’s all casual. We don’t have any feelings for each other.”

“Oh because that makes everything better!” He said sarcastically. “No dad wants to hear his daughter saying she’s only in a ‘casual relationship’ and there are absolutely ‘no feelings’ involved. Amba what were you thinking?”

“When did you find out?”

“Answer my question.”

“I was stressed with work, so was he. He wanted to drink his stress away, I suggested a better idea.”

“Sex was the better idea?!”

“Would you prefer me and him being alcoholics?”

He rubbed his forehead. “Why do you do this to yourself, Amba? What’s wrong with a normal healthy relationship?”

“Dad I don’t have time to date people, you know how busy I am.”

“Your mother would never have agreed if she knew.”

“She doesn’t need to know. Please dad. We promised to stop after we found out about the wedding.”

He threw his hands in the air and pulled his hair in frustration. “I need a drink.”

“Dad-”

“Don’t. We’ll deal with this after your mum gets better. Do you realise the consequences of this? Are you being careful?”

“Very careful. Extremely careful. I promise.”

He groaned and rubbed his forehead again. “You’re going to turn me into an alcoholic.”

“You could always-”

“Don’t even suggest it!” He warned.

She decided to change the subject. “Dad we still haven’t told mum’s family about her condition.”

Karan groaned and flopped down face first on the bed. Amba winced, she knew how hard this was for him.

“Umm dad,” she poked him but he refused to move. “Dad I could call them for you.”

He sighed and sat up. “No I’ll do it. In fact I’ll do it now.” He whipped out his mobile and dialled a number, put it on speaker and threw it on the bed. After some time an old but loud voice answered.

“Hai re Nand Kishore! Who is it?”

Karan rolled his eyes. “Namaste Buaji, it’s me.”

“Me who?”

“Karan Malik.”

“Arre Karan! How are you? How are Khushi and Amba? How’s Nikil? How is he enjoying married life?” Buaji was overjoyed that Karan had called. She hadn't talked to them in a long time.

“Actually Buaji, there’s something I need to tell you.”

“Hai re Nand Kishore! Is everything alright?”

“Um actually um, Amba!” Exclaimed Karan and pointed at his daughter with a pleading look.

“What about Amba?”

“Yes dad, what about me?” asked Amba with a pointed look.

“Amba would like to talk to you buaji.”

“Oh course, how is my favourite grandchild?”

Amba sighed. “I’m ok buaji.”

“Speak Hindi! You can understand it but can’t speak it. What’s wrong with you?” Buaji continued on her rant. Amba mouthed translate to Karan and Karan began translating everything Amba said.

“It was nice talking to you Buaji but da- I mean Karan has something important to tell you.” With that she left the room before Karan could stop her.

“What do you need to tell me Nand Kishore?”

“Buaji is Mausaji and Masiji home?”

“Yes they are, why?”

“Gather them around the phone and put it on loud speaker please.”

It took Buaji 2 minutes to round everyone up and another 5 minutes for Karan to explain how to put the phone on loud speaker.

“Before I tell you anything, I’d like to say that Khushi is fine. In fact everyone is fine.” But hearing this made the Gupta’s more nervous than reassured. “Khushi was in an accident but now she’s fine.” He said quickly. There was a silence before a rush of questions came through the phone. “Please calm down, it’s nothing to be worried about she’s fine. She just can’t remember anything since Payal’s first wedding.”

“How is that fine!” shrieked Buaji.

“Look, you need to cooperate with me because she thinks she’s here on holiday. As soon as she gets better she wants to go back to India.”

“Karan you have to stop her from coming back at all costs.” Begged Khushi’s father.

“Mausaji, I’ve tried everything but you know how stubborn she is. If she doesn’t regain her memory in 3 weeks, we’ll have to come to India to see if anything can jog her memory.”

“She can’t come back, I won’t let her be harassed again!”

“Mausaji, please try to understand the situation. She won’t have to go near the Riazada’s at all.”

“How is that possible when they were a really big part of her life? Not to mention they’re Payal’s in laws. What if her memory comes back by seeing them?” said Garima.

“If seeing you guys won’t jog her memory we’ll have to go to them.”

“No! Absolutely not! I forbid it!” Shouted Shashi.

“Mausaji-”

“Not after everything they made her go through. Karan you can’t change my mind on this matter.”

Karan sighed. I’ll try reasoning with Mausaji another time. “Are you going to tell Payal?”

“We’ll have to. She has a right to know, it’s her sister.” Said Buaji.

“But-”

“Payal has a right to know!” Buaji stated firmly.

They all knew the consequences of telling Payal. Ever since the Shyam incident, Payal hasn’t kept anything from Akash. And if Akash knows then sure enough, somehow Arnav Singh Riazada will find out. And if Arnav finds out… Well no one wanted to find out the consequences of Arnav finding out, there was too much to lose.

“How is Amba handling the situation?” asked Garima.

“She’s fine apparently.”

“That one is exactly like her mother, always so strong. Karan we trust you to take care of both our girls ok. From now on I want to know how Khushi’s doing everyday.” Said Shashi.

“Yes of course Mausaji.” Then Karan proceeded to tell the Gupta’s the lie he had created to protect Khushi. “She’s going to want to call you, so make sure you stick to this story. I have to go but I’ll call again tomorrow to let you know how Khushi’s doing.” With that Karan cut the call and went downstairs.

He went into the living room and saw Amba busy on her laptop with the tv blaring in the background.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

“Ordering Hindi language kits. Buaji’s right, I should learn how to speak it as well as understand it.”

British Airways, First Class

Arnav Singh Riazada was on a plane half way to Dehli. He was working, as usual, when he finally realised where he had seen Amba before.

“NK.”

Delhi, Riazada Mansion

Payal Raizada was busy getting her children ready for school when her mobile rang. Having 5 children meant that she wouldn’t be picking up her phone for sometime.

“Krish stop teasing Nandani and eat your breakfast for God’s sake!” she yelled trying to pry the twins apart.

“Maa, Chin and Jay and still sleeping.” Said Tara as she came down the stairs. She was fully dressed and ready to go.

“You’d think because they’re in university they’d wake up by themselves but no! Tara, can you please make sure that these two finish their breakfast and get them ready soon.” Payal said and rushed up the stairs.

Tara sighed and started separating her siblings as they got into yet another fight. At the age of 16, she was already the more mature one out of her other 4 siblings.

Payal rushed into her sons’ room, ripped the cover off both of them and flung open the curtains.

“Sachin Singh Riazada! Sanjay Singh Riazada! If you two don’t get up right now, so help me God, I’ll kill both of you!” She screamed.

Hearing their mother shout their full name meant she was well and truly pissed so the twins rushed out of their bed and started getting ready as quickly as they could. Payal left their room massaging her head.

“Hello hi bye bye. Why is you shouting so early in the mornings?!” Asked Mamiji as she came out of her room.

Payal was about to snap at her when Tara came to the rescue.

“Wow Dadi! You’re looking so beautiful today. I guess that beauty sleep must really be helping you.”

“I know.” Mamiji smirked arrogantly.

“You know what Dadi? If you sleep for another hour or two, people won’t be able to tell the difference between you and AR’s top models.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Ok but keep the noise down!” She sauntered back into her room and Tara let out a sigh of relief.

By this time Payal has calmed down significantly. “Thank you Tara.”

“No problem maa. Ni and Krish have finished their breakfast and are currently getting ready.”

“I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Just promise me you won’t have any more kids.”

“Believe me I won’t.”

It was another 10 minutes before she got all her children together and sent them off with the driver before she checked her phone. She panicked when she saw the 17 missed calls from her parents’ house. She called them back immediately. Someone picked up at the first ring.

“Is Babuji ok? Amma? Buaji?”

“Yes yes Nand Kishore everyone is fine.” Replied Buaji.

“Thank Devi Maya, I was so worried. Why did you miss call me so much if everyone is fine?”

“Because your sister’s not fine”

Payal froze. She barely talked to her sister these days after what happened in the past but that didn’t change the fact that she loved her. “What’s happened to Khushi?!”

“She’s been in an accident.” The Buaji began retelling everything that Karan told her. “Look Payalia, I know Akash is your husband and you have the right to tell him everything but please keep this away from Arnav.”

Payal hadn’t kept anything from Akash since the incident between Shyam and Khushi had been cleared up. She had been completely honest about everything. But for the first time she wanted to hide this matter from her husband, not because Akash couldn’t keep a secret but because Khushi had done everything in her power to ensure Payal’s happiness and now she wanted to return the favour.

“Buaji I’ll make sure Arnavji never finds out, even if it means hiding this from Akash.”

“No Payalia, you have to tell Akash.”

“But Khushi-”

“No! Hiding things has always brought misfortune to our family.”

“Ok Buaji, just keep me up to date on how Khushi’s doing.”

“Ok Payalia, take care.”

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.