Arhi FF: Us Against the World

Chapter 10

Khushi could feel eyes on her when she walked to her house in Laxmi Nagar. From Happy ji to Vimla Mausi, everyone smiled at her uncomfortably. She instantly remembered Arnav ji's words from this morning about regretting it and took a deep breath. She was determined. He had argued with her and when she hadn't backed down, he had gone out slamming the door muttering a fine. On one hand, her heart had swelled with his protectiveness and on another, she was exasperated with his stubborn nature; something that they both seemed to possess. He had returned late last night and hadn't spoken a word about his meeting with Anjali ji. Although he had assured everyone that it would be okay and he had decided to wait for the investigator's report, she knew. She knew he was hurting and conflicted. Arnav ji kept his pain to himself so she had stood there by him in the balcony overlooking the stars holding his hand giving him strength silently. He had just smiled and kissed her forehead. It was new. Yet it felt that they had years of understanding. But all hell broke loose when she had put forth a demand to visit her family at the breakfast today. Preeto had to intervene and had offered to go with her. She had to use all her energy to dissuade Arnav ji from coming here, so he was grumpily sitting in the car muttering his 'What the'.

When she knocked on the door, it was opened by her Amma whose eyes widened and she looked outside to see people craning their necks and staring. Garima closed her eyes, gave her an angry look and stepped aside to let Khushi and Preeto inside to avoid creating a scene. Bua ji came holding her head inquiring about who was at the door and froze in her tracks.

'Haye Re Nandkishore! What are you doing here? Don't you have any shame?' Bua ji spat at her angrily.

'Bua ji...' Khushi's explanation was stopped by Bua ji's angry glare. Her Jiji had come into the room and her heart pained to see her sister's face. She had bags under her eyes and looked like she hadn't slept in ages. She was about to step forward to hug her when Payal's flinch and the accusation in her eyes made her stop in her tracks. Khushi tried not to let it affect her but it hurt more than anything else.

'You've ruined everything. Didn't I tell you Garima to not give her so much freedom? Look at what this girl has done.' Bua ji growled.

'What have I done?' Khushi asked timidly. She was genuinely confused as to what her mistake in this entire fiasco was. Did her family not know what Shyam's intentions were? Despite knowing the truth, how could they blame her for the entire mess?

'Didn't I tell you not to do anything to ruin Payal's wedding again? What was the need to go to that terrace and create a scene?' Bua ji was livid.

'If I had known that man was at the terrace, I would've never gone there.' Khushi sniffled. Ruined Payal's wedding again, the words kept ringing in her ears. The entire blame had fallen upon her once again. She looked at Preeto who was looking at Bua ji like she had grown two heads and was about to open her mouth but Khushi held her hand and shook her head. She needed to do this herself.

'And what was the need to shout at him to leave Anjali? Did anyone force you to say that too?' Bua ji argued.

'What else would I have said to a man that was confessing his love for me despite being married?' Khushi beseeched. It was beyond her that how one sentence uttered in sheer frustration was taken out of context and had become a curse for her. First, Anjali ji had misunderstood the situation based on these words and now Bua ji. The real question was that did this one sentence hold enough power to make everyone forget the kind of person she was?