Arshi TS: Wait

Part-2 - The past

PART-2

It has been 2 weeks since kushi came to Nainital. Everything is well settled and the children have now started to read with kushi while Varun is continuing his studies through on line. The house now echoes the laughter of children and witnesses the pranks of the children. The house has once again gained life.

Arnav has left to Delhi to look after his business, and planning his move to woo back kushi. But was confused about Varun, he doesn't look like kushi nor like Shyam. He has met Shyam while he was in relation with Kushi, he seemed nice, and then why did they marry? And how could Kushi bore a son to Shyam? Why should Kushi work for him in a mere salary, when she is still a one of the board members of shyam's charity? Shyam has treated them with care love and respect; kushi had been leading the women's wing of the charity since 11 years why should she leave that position as soon as Shyam died?

It was raining heavily in Nainital and Varun was at Payal's house with the kids and will come once the rain slows down. Kushi saw the pearl drops pouring down; it was a similar rainy day that marked the start of their relationship. It was a rainy morning in Mumbai, it had rained right from the dawn; the roads were flooded with hefty traffic. Only the two wheelers were moving forward; kushi looked at the time, she has to reach the college in one hour it will take 20 minutes to reach her college, she has to attend this seminar and present her paper to acquire the credit, being in the final year of her bachelors she has to gain the credit to top the class and this was the final semester.

Kushi started walking putting on her rain coat and the umbrella to save her from the heavy rain. As she walked for 5 minutes she heard a bike stop beside her and a familiar voice call her "Kushi", she turned around to come face to face to Arnav, a PhD scholar of her department. She has seen him in library and had a crush on him. He was the student coordinator of today's seminar, so she had interacted with him for the past couple of weeks to get help to complete her paper.

"What happened kushi you used to come by car right?"

"Yes but we got struck on the traffic, so I thought of walking to the college."

"If you don't mind I'll drop you."

"Yes sure. Thank you."

Thus a bond was formed. Kushi and Arnav were found together most of the time since both were interested in Finance, they spend most of the time together completing their project. Arnav had already completed his thesis and waiting for the approval of his guide, he spends most of the time helping Kushi to shape up her project. Their friendship slowly bloomed into love but neither of them expressed their love but it was evident for both of them and the world. Meanwhile Arnav met Shyam when he dropped Kushi to their Charity head office where she was working as an intern one afternoon since her car was punctured. Shyam too liked Arnav and showed green signal to their love in his own subtle way. Kushi too met Akash, Arnav's cousin who was doing his Masters in Agriculture, when he came to attend the seminar organized by the department of Agriculture in their college.

It was the last day of their college before the college breaks for the study holidays; Arnav had planned to express his love to kushi and vice versa. Arnav took Kushi for a date after the college with the permission of Shyam on condition that they have to return before 10. Half way through their destination it started to rain, and Arnav took Kushi to his house, an independent house in a developing community in Mumbai. He never took her to his home, but had told that their care taker HP is staying with him. They reached home to find it locked Arnav opened the door and led her inside.

At first everything was normal and they expressed their love for each other and Arnav gifted her chain with a beautiful pendent while Kushi gifted him a platinum love band. The sudden change in the weather brought down a huge down pour. They called Shyam and explained the situation, he told them of the upcoming storm and told them to stay where they are and he would reach them. Arnav took Kushi to his parent's room and asked her to use his mother's wardrobe since she has left some cloths behind. Kushi changed into a plain red sari that felt comfortable and cozy. As she came out dressed in the saree he had gifted his mother and she had refused to wear that since she felt too old for that saree and saved it for her dil, Arnav lost himself and started approaching him and a sudden moment of passion was shared between them. None regretted their deed they felt that their bond has strengthened. As the rain came down nearly at late evening Shyam informed that their area was cut down from rest of the town due to flood and he could reach only the next day, they felt happy to have the house for themselves as HP too had informed them that he is struck and will return the next day. Shyam came and picked Kushi the next day.

It was nearly a week since that rainy night and Arnav never came to visit her nor did her return her calls to his landline. Kushi went to meet him but his house was locked, when Shyam came to know that Arnav was missing he made an attempt to search him, they couldn't track him down because he has given his Mumbai address as his permanent address and had already finished his PhD viva. Kushi went into her shell but Shyam coxed her to finish off her exams first and then can worry about Arnav. As the exams came to an end, Kushi became violently sick and Shyam nursed her back to health.

But the next trail was her unexpected pregnancy. She couldn't look Shyam in his eyes since she had broken his trust on her. But he calmed her down, this was the time his younger brother's family came to visit Shyam. They started to taunt Kushi so Shyam sent her to Ooty where he had some properties and came down after a month to Ooty to look after her during her pregnancy. He also made her to study a PG Diploma during her stay at Ooty. After the birth of Varun they returned back to Mumbai, but then came the biggest issue, how would they introduce Varun to the society? And Shyam's younger brother Prathap and his family who were living in the Mumbai house for the past one year since Shyam and Kushi left to Ooty made a bigger issue out of it. Then Shyam came up with the idea of marriage and it seemed to be a better solution since Arnav never returned and they couldn't trace him down. Shyam arranged for a register marriage since he could see no one but Anjali as his bride.

Then the life was good for both the parents and the son. Kushi did her MBA and other courses to increase her qualification and started to help Shyam in his NGO. Everything was fine but before two years Shyam got a heart attack and was confined to home as he was week. After his attack came the 9th birthday of Varun and Shyam wanted a big party like every year but Kushi wanted a simple celebration but at last Shyam had a big party organized for Varun. Prathap and his wife who came to the party made a big mess taunting Kushi for organizing such a big party when Shyam was so sick. Shyam and Prathap got into a big argument when at last Prathap caught hold of a shivering Varun and told him that he was not the Biological son of Shyam, that was the limit for Shyam and he broke off all his ties with Prathap and threw him out of his house. While leaving they taunted Kushi to have trapped Shyam for money.

After they left they confronted a shocked Varun and told him all about his birth except about his father's identity. This truth didn't hamper the relation between Varun and his dada. But Kushi made Shyam to write a will, returning all the ancestral properties to his brother and forming a board of directors to look after his NGO, with the revenue from his properties much to the dismay of Shyam as he wanted to leave everything to Varun. But shyam made sure that he left enough for Kushi and Varun. He forced her to accept all the jewelries that he had purchased for her and Anjali stating that he will return the ancestral jewelry to Prathap only if she accepts it. He also deposited a hefty amount on both their accounts and also started investing on shares for Kushi and Varun.

he also called Prathap and made everything clear and made a clause that if Kushi returns any of the properties he leave for her then all the properties he gave for Prathap will go in for the charity, that made Prathap to remain silent. Just after Varun's 11th birthday Shyam crumbled to his disease and died of a massive heart attack. After his funeral, kushi moved to a posh apartment that was left to her by Shyam with Varun, both of them had lost the father figure in their life, kushi lost her protector who protected her all his life and even protected her after his life by leaving his name for her son to carry forward.

It was during her search to shift to escape from the known people she came across the adverti****t which gave the perfect solution for her problems. She had already planned to leave the country after this academic year for her son. Working for the NGO had given her an ample experience to get jobs easily and she has got connections to make her job easier. She accepted this job to be the care taker of the children as it would provide her a comfort and peace of mind. But now she regrets coming here since she had to meet Arnav. What has the future hold for her is a mystery yet to be broken.