Arhi FF: Us Against the World

Chapter 1

The palatial home known as Shantivan had witnessed many moments but never had it seen the sweet and docile Anjali Jha née Malik breathing fire with her eyes like she was now. The woman looked possessed with a rage similar to her brother, glaring at someone with so much intensity that they could burn to ashes. The young woman at the receiving end cowered whereas the rest of the family looked on questioningly.

'Anjali ji?'  Khushi's call was interrupted with a cold hard slap on her face. She had never in her life expected the older woman, whom she treated like an elder sister, to act like this with her. A tear trickled down her face and she looked around the hall at the stunned faces of both of their families, feeling a tinge of disappointment at no one coming forward in her defence.

'How dare you even think of seducing my husband? You think that you can have an affair with my husband behind my back and I wouldn't know?'  Everyone in the room again gasped at the allegation being put forth but dared not to interrupt except the matriarch of the Raizada family. When nani protested at the disgusting accusation Anjali was throwing at the family's beloved Khushi bitiya, she was surprised to see her granddaughter putting her hand forward and explaining what she had seen at the terrace.

'Hello Hi Bye Bye! Didn't I tell you that these Gupta sisters are not as innocent as they look?' Mami exclaimed in a loud voice mocking the family instantly believing that the family her son was so adamant about marrying into was as devious as she had previously claimed.

'No, please. It's not Payal's fault in all of this. Please forgive us. Don't punish her for Khushi's mistake.'  Garima pleaded in front of the Raizada family, her thoughts going back to a similar event not sometime ago that had led to her daughter's baraat to return from the doorstep. Even a disbelieving whimper of Amma from Khushi couldn't stop her pleas.

'How can you destroy your sister's marriage once again?'  Buaji was the next to react and a little more violently. She gripped Khushi's arms tightly and shook her all the while glaring at her. Another mean comment from Manorma was what it took Madhumati Sharma's control to snap and she finally slapped her younger niece.

'How do you even look at yourself in the mirror?'  Anjali was on a roll and there was no stopping her.

'Anjali bitiya calm down. Listen to Khushi bitiya for once.'  Nani looked at the younger woman who was sobbing uncontrollably holding her bruised cheek in one hand. Her old heart refused to believe that the child whose eyes shone with so much innocence could do something so vile.

'No Nani! I don't want to listen to anything. She's a characterless whore...' Anjali's tirade was broken by a shocked whisper at the end, the person who had just entered the hall finally preparing for what he thought was the most important day of his life.

'Di?'