Meethe Pal

6. 10 things- ArHi Holi anniversary March 22

This short OS was written around Holi last year (2022) but was limited circulation piece. Posting it here for this Holi. Hope you enjoy reading it. Wish you all a joyous, colorful, safe Holi! ❤

--*--

It had been just over 2 weeks of their marriage- contract marriage- Arnav's brain corrected him, and he was dragged to this Holi party with annoyingly excited family. He would have denied for he wanted to avoid any celebration at this point, certainly not until he secured his Di's future, but the same Di requested him and he couldn't deny. Not that it had ANYTHING to do with a need to be closer to a certain doe-eyed girl he now called his wife, NOPE, he had crushed all those feelings 2 weeks ago when he saw her in his bast*rd jijaji's arms...

He clenched his fists as he saw her almost blurt out the reason why they married in front of his entire family and managed to take her away from there. She had clearly had too many glasses of bhaang already and was totally high now.

And now she was asking him to drink a glass of bhaang with that puppy dog eyes of hers!

Just great! Un-f*cking-believeable!!!

Arnav looked at Khushi with an annoyed expression as she dared him to drink a glass of bhang. For a moment, he could almost feel his heart melting at her crazy antics too. Key word being almost...

But his heart didn't melt seeing her anymore...simply because he wouldn't let it. He hated her. That's right. Arnav HATED Khushi!

#1. He hated the way she made him feel like a lunatic lover who was set out to possess her even if his love was one sided.

#2. He hated the way his eyes were forced to look for her, any sign of her when she was not around.

#3. He hated the way his heart almost leapt with joy whenever he saw her in front of him.

#4. He hated the way he could sense her presence even before he spotted her, it was as if her soul had made a connection with his while he knew it was not true.

#5. He hated that she could make him feel like the most powerful person on this earth, with her one smile and then most helpless person in a fraction of a second when he realized that smile was probably for his brother-in-law.

#6. He hated her for breaking his heart, for being his yet not really his, for showing him what could have been and then breaking that dream mercilessly.

#7. He hated that even after marrying her for more than a few days, he was unable to figure out her game.

#8. He hated her that every time he was harsh on her, it was him who felt the pain, every time he tried to punish her, it was him who suffered.

#9. He hated that even after his atrocities, Khushi had her smile intact, and he hated how he felt relieved to see her smile, to see he was not able to ruin her, yet.

#10. And lastly, he hated the fact that no matter what her truth was, no matter what he had seen and what his brain knew was truth about her, his heart still- still wanted to beat for her.

The truth was Arnav could NEVER HATE Khushi...he STILL LOVED her!

--*--

Khushi was very happy for holi this year. Well, as happy as she could be in her current state! The man, the only man she ever had feelings for had made her life miserable and had vowed to make it more so with his ruthlessness every day.

Yet, today as she opened her eyes by the poolside, with the first rays of sun hitting her face, she found her vigor back. As if she got all her energy to stay positive back with a new daybreak!

Holi was one of her favorite festivals and she would not let her so-called husband dampen her spirit. Not today!

With that determination, she entered the Holi celebration party.

And just as she guessed she was happy as soon as she stepped a foot amidst the cheerful crowd with her family and her new family, who thankfully had started thawing towards her.

If only, same could be said for her shaitaan of a husband!

With his thought, her eyes automatically looked around for him, and soon enough, found the face that had power to both torment her as well as soothe her!

Khushi glanced over at her husband of a few days. He was being his grumpy best. She was still not sure what he was trying to achieve, why he had forced her into a contract marriage but one thing she knew, she hated him. Khushi HATED ARNAV!

#1. She hated the way he blackmailed into a marriage, when all he had to do was ask and she would walk with him to the end of the world.

#2. She hated the way she gave into his atrocious demands for a six-month contract marriage even after knowing it would destroy her life.

#3. She hated the way she was feeling happy being tied to him in a holy matrimony even if the said marriage was conducted without any family being present.

#4. She hated the way he made her feel like his queen for a moment and then his worst enemy the next, telling her that it was all drama to show his family.

#5. She hated that even when he was so close to her, there were millennia between them, impossible distance to cover.

#6. She hated that he was not there to protect her, help her when his pathetic jijaji was trying to hit on her.

#7. She hated that she never got a chance to tell him how sick his jijaji was, how he had played with her life and why she hid it from him until then.

#8. She hated the way she could sense his presence around her, as if he was her soulmate, her heartbeat would sync with his when she knew that could never happen. Simple because he was heartless.

#9. She hated the way his one blackmail changed her life overnight, snatched her family from her and yet she had felt as if he was her family, despite knowing it was a mirage.

#10. And lastly, she hated that despite everything he had done and was doing to her, to them, she still could not really hate him.

Because Khushi could NEVER HATE Arnav...she STILL LOVED him!

.

.

Much, much later, she dared to ask him something on those lines in her intoxicated state, "Aisa kyun hota hai (why does it happen) whenever you are close to me, my heart beats faster?"

and whether it was the Bambi like innocence of her eyes or his own inebriated state, he didn't know but he answered her truthfully, "Because my heart beats faster too when I am near you. Kyunki hamari dhadkanein ek ho jaati hain (Because our hearts beat at one)."

--*--

A/N - small piece, I know. but didn't want to change it much for larger audience, I liked its original essence as I wrote it. Hope you liked it :)

I have another OS I wrote last year, which also never posted here. Will post it, soon.