Hearts Unfettered💞

6

The next morning Arnav woke up from his sleep to find Khushi snuggled in his arms in that weird taekwondo pose and he chuckled. She is such a cutie. Her fingers clutched his tee in a tight grip as if he is going to run away somewhere. And with that his thoughts went back to last night. Something was definitely bothering her, but he decided to give her some time and space to open up about what it is.

He had so many things lined up for today, first things first, he should call Aman and ask him to hand over the files related to Shyam to Mamaji. Nani and Mamaji had really taken the situation into hands and handled the issue so well yesterday. Even Mamiji who he thought would make a huge fuss of the situation surprised him. His family once again stood by his side, he felt eternally grateful for them. Akash- Payal, NK, everyone showed so much strength and grace and were extremely resourceful yesterday. And most importantly, his Di, she finally saw the true colors of that bastard and decided to let go of that monster.

He knew she must be hurting like hell from within. He now understood heartbreak is heartbreak nevertheless, it doesn't matter if that other person is an asshole or a hardcore criminal. And more importantly, now not just her love was not reciprocated, but also her trust was broken and she was made a fool out of. She took the right decision for herself, she stood up for what is good for her. He decided he will be there for her, help her, and support her in any way possible, in rebuilding herself.

Khushi slowly opened her eyes and yawned making Arnav look at her with a small grin playing on his lips. She looked at him first thing and licked her lips making him want to kiss her senseless. Slowly getting up, she started tying her hair when he stopped her and pulled her back on the bed and propelled herself on top of her and gazed at her intensely.

"What-what is the time?", she asked trying to look out of the French doors.

She should really put a wall clock in front of their bed, she thought.

"What are you thinking?", he asked seeing her thinking of something else, what the.

"Hmm?", Khushi looked back him, all the thoughts lost on her, his single-day stubble was making him look really handsome. What if he grew a mustache?

*Why does he look at her like that? Oh, his wound seems better now, should she tell him now that she doesn't want to marry him? What? Is that what she wants? No? No. Yes. What? But...yes, she ..oh, she wants him. Not the wedding though. How to tell this? What would people say? No, people ..people...screw people.*

"Khushi...", Arnav shook her to pull her out of her thoughts.

"Haan...why are you shaking her subah subah...I am awake only.", she yelled at him irritated for disturbing her thoughts, while Arnav looked at her befuddled.

What did he do now? She was the one lost in thoughts. Anyway, he thought and lay back in the bed and watched as she went around the room, pulled the curtains away completely letting all the sunlight in, put their used towels and laundry bag outside of their room, next slowly started folding their wedding couture and thinking of ways to fit them in their closet and then took out a small duffle bag from the bottom-most rack.

Alarm bells rang with in his head seeing that bag, that was the same bag she uses when she goes to Laxmi Nagar.

He waited patiently to see if will be proven wrong, but no, she slowly started taking her clothes and started packing them.

He immediately launched from the bed and held her hands stopping from packing further.

"No. Don't.", he said in a low hiss making her glare at him.

"What?", she asked wriggling her hand out of his grip and ofcourse, it didn't bruise but there was a pale mark as expected.

"Don't.", he said and then took a deep breath and spoke calmly.