Daayre | ✔

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The Guptas had left the celebration abruptly, yet no one seemed to have noticed their absences. Intoxicated by the bhang, hardly anyone had any idea what was going on and by the time the party ended, they were all so tired that they went straight to bed; unaware of the newly broken dispute between Arnav and Khushi. 

Same was the case with the Guptas; they were so drunk, they did not even notice Khushi's tear-stricken face when she dragged them from the party and returned back home with Mohan, the Raizada Family's driver. It was the next morning that they started noticing the oddness in Khushi's behavior. Though she refused to admit that something was wrong, the Guptas knew better than to believe her because, firstly, she didn't quite meet their eyes when she said that everything was fine and secondly, it was already noon and there were still no signs of Arnav. And the weirdest of all was that Khushi showed no worries over Arnav's absence as if he wasn't making sure to visit her at least once every day since a month. Even Madhumati, who wasn't as fond of Arnav as before, began to worry.

Garima had then picked up the phone when Khushi wasn't looking and dialed the Raizada landline number but alas, the phone was picked up by Manorama, who was still very much drunk and who did not make quite sense. Khushi, having heard Garima's voice from her room, reached out and in an instant, cut the call before reassuring them again that everything was fine and that Arnav was probably still sleeping after drinking bhang. Then, still not meeting their eyes, she announced she was going to the temple. 

And so now, here she was; standing in front of Devi Maiya and trying hard to conceal her tears. Her heart was heavy, not just with pain but also with guilt because she knew she was futilely lying to her family. Sooner or later, they were bound to find out that Arnav would not be coming to visit her anymore; that they were done, forever. 

Khushi closed her eyes and tried hard to stifle the sob that had rose in her throat at the thought. Buaji had been right when she warned her; she told her not to trust Arnav but yet, naive and stupid as she was, Khushi decided to do the opposite. And now, god knows how she will face her family when this time her heartache was solely her fault. She should have known better than to trust Arnav after whatever he did.

Khushi's mind continued racing throughout the Aarti and finding none of the strength she was hoping to find at the abode of Devi Maiya, she folded her hands in front of the Goddess one last time and turned to leave; exhausted as well as disappointed. 

It was then that she saw it, or rather, her. A familiar blonde was in front of her, walking up to the idol of Maa Durga with two unfamiliar people by her side. Khushi assumed they were her parents because they both had the same color hair, but still, she couldn't bring herself to respect their presence. Contorting her face, Khushi then flashed the blonde a disgusted look before storming away, meanwhile perplexing the said parents.

"Hey, listen!" A British accented voice called from behind her but instead of halting, Khushi increased her pace. She hoped to get out of there at the earliest but the blonde reached to stand in front of her, blocking her from leaving. 

"What do you want?" Khushi snapped, annoyed and pained. It was hard to look at her face knowing that just yesterday, she was there in that room alone with her husband, doing god knows what. It was disgustingly hurtful and Khushi made another quick effort to get away but the blonde did not let her go. 

"I wanted to apologize. Please, listen to me once." She pleaded.

"I don't want your apology." Khushi chewed on her words, aghast by her audacity. Did she really think she could just come up to her and simply apologize for kissing her husband so shamelessly? "I just want to leave. Now, move out of the way."

But the girl did not comply. Instead, she started to speak earnestly, "Look, you need to listen to me. I, I really want to apologize for yesterday. The truth is, I was not in my senses and I did not realise what I was doing. I was just attracted to him and when he did not take interest in me, I'm sorry, I sort of took offense and followed him." She fidgeted with her hand and hung her head low, ashamed of what she did, "As soon as I regained my senses I wanted to go and say sorry to him but I was too mortified to do so. What I did, it was outrageous. He kept telling me he's married but I did not listen and then you came. You're his wife, aren't you. I'm sorry for the trouble but of course, I understand if you don't want to forgive me. Just tell him I am most aggrieved of what I did and please, it's a request--tell him I requested for him not to, not to break the contract with my father's company. He doesn't even know what I did. He is innocent, you know."