Daayre | ✔

Chapter Twenty-One

Shyam was gone from their lives. He would no longer be there to manipulate anyone, to hurt anyone, to create misunderstandings and to spun webs of lies for others to get trapped into. But still, the traces of his evilness lingers in the family because there was one thing still left to do--there was one more ploy of Shyam left to resolve.

Arnav swallowed hard as he turned to face his family who were now fixating him - their eyes blurry with tears and etched with confusion, asking him the question which their constricted throat couldn't ask; What else was left to face? 

"Ar-Arnavji?" He heard the bare whisper of his wife but he did not dare look at her. He wouldn't be able to reveal his misdeeds if he saw her eyes. So instead, he looked at everyone else; His exhausted Nani was being held by an equally wearied Mamaji, Mamiji was standing in her place too appalled to speak, NK and Akash wore a puzzled look as they looked at him and Di simply flashed him a knowing stare.

This was the time.

"Shyam was right." He said at last, "I am a culprit too. I lied, I broke someone's heart and trust too."

He didn't hear anyone speak. No one asked him what he meant, no one asked him to clarify but their eyes were set upon him intently and he knew they were listening, eager for the mystery to be solved. 

"I married Khushi for a reason. A reason not even Khushi knows. I married her because of Shyam."

He heard a faint gasp somewhere and he didn't need to look to see whom it was. Once again, he made sure to fixate the wall and avoid Khushi completely. He can't see her just yet because he still needed his courage to reveal the truth--courage that he was sure will fade if he saw Khushi's eyes, holding hatred for him. 

And so, with his eyes still fixed on that wall, he babbled out everything. He didn't leave out anything this time; he said the truth, the complete truth. He said everything; he cleared her name, he cleared her off all the blames she did not deserve and for once, he owned up to his own mistakes.

As he spoke, with a sudden hit of fatigue, Madhumati held her head and slumped on the sofa with Garima who tried but failed to hold her as Arnav narrated the exact reason why Khushi couldn't make it on time to save Payal's wedding and how he released that footage to heal his wounded ego, leading Shyam to enter their lives.

Devyani stared at her grandson, aghast by his inconsiderate behavior; even Anjali seemed to have lost her voice as she heard how her brother treated Khushi. NK simply looked away in disgust and Akash's arms tightened around Payal who cried as she got a better picture of the ordeal her sister went through that night. Her eyes caught the sight of Manorama who was looking here and there, probably feeling ashamed for having once blamed her character for the broken marriage.

Garima held on her strength despite the continuous reminders of how she vented out her anger on her poor daughter who had already went through so much that night, and tried to console Madhumati but when Arnav started recounting the night of their wedding, she found herself breaking into tears of horror as the most damaging truth started crashing upon her.

His throat constricted, Arnav managed to retell that night. How he saw Khushi in Shyam's arms and how he reached Shyam for explanations. How he believed the latter when he said Khushi was involved with him and how, finding no other way to secure his sister's life, he blackmailed Khushi into marrying him, holding Payal's marriage as hostage. 

"Our marriage was not a real one. It was a contract. I told Khushi I would marry her but she will never be my wife; she will only pretend to be one in front of everyone and once six months is over, I will leave her. And all this while she didn't even know what she did to deserve--"