The Bride

25. When it rains ,it pours!

khushi rushed towards her home ,her eyes fixed on the cloudy sky. it is going to rain soon ,she saw every one rush towards their field to put the harvested crop in the small store houses to protect it from the rain. arnav has gone to his college and he won't be returning until tomorrow. their  crops in two fields are yet to be cut and thrashed to pull out all the seeds. If rain comes ,all crop will go waste. As she pass by fields ,she can see a lot of farmers trying to  cut the crops and hoard it into storerooms.

she ran to different families to help her cut the crops ,but everyone was busy in their own fields.kala massi family was also busy.

khushi felt disappointed ,what is she going to do now. As thunder roared like a tiger in the sky,she felt her heart sunk deeper. if crops get ruined ,they won't earn any money ,nor would they have anything to eat. she felt tear drops down her eyes ,as she thought that arnav would probably have to drop from  his   college,he will be so shattered, he have sacrificed so much for this. 

what should i do? i don't know how to cut the crops ! she panicked in her thoughts.

After thinking for a while ,she decided to try cutting the harvested crops by herself.she has seen arnav and other farmers in field using the sickle.she sat down and tried to mimic the action as others but she failed miserable ,she  tried again and again ,sickle caressed through her hand ,making it bleed .she cried in pain .

ahh!!!!!!!!

she cradled  her wounded hand in her lap , her sobs came in hushed whisper. kala massi's daughter in law came to her rescue in the right time ,khushi hugged her crying .After cleaning and dressing khushi's wound ,she tried to cajole her into going back home. growing and cutting of crops a feat that was like second breath to all small farmers in india was but for khushi who was  the  daughter in law of such big landowners, it seemed like Hercules task.

khushi managed to somehow learn how to cut the crops and with the help of usha ,she started to cut it down and store it in house nearby ,so that it don't get ruined.usha had to go after few hours and khushi ends up working alone.

khushi's palm pained with sudden harsh labor but she continued , she won't let arnav down . she knows how important it is for him to go to college,and if their crops get ruined ,they won't have any money or food to eat.

she continued cutting down the crops till dawn without any rest ,even in heavy rains  which came with hail.she didn't stop even when she felt her body go weak and feel fever consuming her body. she hoard the heap of cut crop in the  storeroom,her tiny self felt every step as heavy as climbing a mountain as she sometimes dragged and carried the bundled crop.

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arnav felt as if his soul left his body ,when heavy  rain pouring in the evening ,when he was siting in the library. he wasn't expecting it  to rain for at least few more days. what will happen now, he will lose his only source of income.he can't travel back to his village ,because there is no bus service late in night. he kept praying and wishing for minimum loss.

'what he will do if his reaped crop floods with water , it will impossible to drain all the water and damage will already be huge.ahhh!' he kept thinking that adn didn't sleep a wink all night.

arnav rushed to his field the first thing in the early morning as he manged to catch the bus in still continuing rain. he felt shocked looking at field sane the crop ,field with rain water. he didn't knew how to feel about this. he felt happiness surge in him.

'is this samar bhai doing?' he thought .

is it possible that samar bhai manged to cut all crop from his field even when he had his own crops to cut. it felt like such a far fetched thought , is it even possible.

arnav clutched his mouth in euphoria ,his eyes glittering with unshead tears .he ran towards the small storehouse near the field ,hoping to see the heaps of cut crops inside and he wasn't disappointed. 

he felt rush of relief in his body ,but moment of happiness soon turned into grief and shock as his eyes landed on khushi's fragile and pale body shivering  , laying unconscious. he rushed to her ,picked her up in his arms,her body burning with fever ,her clothes looked torn , her hands were covered in bruises .

as he rushed her towards home, all kind of horrible thoughts went through his head,he just prayed his worst fear isn't coming true.he felt angry on himself ,he shouldn't have left her all alone .But what is she even doing here,she should be home with kala massi not in field. he have told her so many times not come alone in the fields ,why don't she listened to him.

as he rushed to the house ,he saw kala massi who ran towards them with worry.

'what happened to her? is khushi ok' she asked .

arnav rushed towards their room without answering kala massi's question. he was feeling anger build up inside him along with worry.he felt like shouting on everyone and everything .he laid khushi down on bed , brought towel and dry clothes . he stopped in his way to change her clothes ,he ran frustrated hand through his hairs and turned to kala massi.

'massi change her clothes, i will go call the village doctor' he said controlling his anger. how could kala massi be so careless ,she left a teenage girl alone. why didn't she tried to find her own time.

arnav came back with the doctor , who checked khushi's temperature and gave her some medicine. arnav hands were shaking ,all the negative thoughts kept rushing to him ,even when he tried to push them away.

what happened to khushi? how she went there? has some cruel man has ruined her for life?

ahhh!he sat clutching his head between his heads waiting for khushi to gain consciousness and put him out of his misery negating his horrible thoughts.

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sorry for such an extremely late update ,this year has been full of ups and various downs ,so just getting the motivation to write felt such a heavy task. thank you for sticking around for so long and appreciating my armature writing skills .