Love is not always Sweet

chapter 25

Sangeet ceremony got completed... Khushi was with Lavanya and continued teasing her on the name of Amit because of his special dance performance on the stage which was dedicated to Lavanya...

Khushi: aashiq surrender hua... (she kept singing only to tease Lavanya)

Lavanya: stop teasing me Chamkeli and tell me what is going on between you and ASR...

Khushi was taken aback by that sudden question...

Khushi: what? Nothing...

Lavanya: you expect me to believe that? Come on Chamkeli... I am not blind... I could see the difference in ASR... in you... there is something that has changed in between you... and it is for better if I guess... ASR was totally sad and even refused to speak anything till yesterday... and today... He looked contended... happy... He sat with you during sangeet ceremony and kept admiring you... smiling at you... and you didn't say anything... You think I don't know that...?

When Khushi still didn't speak anything, Lavanya waited for a while before holding Khushi's palm in hers...

Lavanya: I know what ASR did to you Khushi and I know how much he regretted doing that to you... He always blamed himself... He wanted to help you by removing the pain within you... even if it meant separating from you... but that day at the coffee shop, when he saw you... ASR was completely broken... I never thought I would see ASR like that... but it was just one side of story... because as a woman, I could understand what you went through... You were right in your own place... ASR said that he wanted to bring back the original Khushi residing inside you... the Khushi whom he saw before the marriage thing... but I wanted different... I wanted you both get back to yourselves again... with no pain... no bitter memories... the Chamkeli who lived a free-spirited life... and the ASR who didn't give a damn about anything except for his family and his company...

Lavanya chuckled a bit at her own words... She took a deep breathe like she remembered something and continued speaking again...

Lavanya: when ASR said that he should be out of your life completely for bringing you back to your original self, I didn't believe it... but at a point I questioned myself whether ASR had to really move out of your life for you to be happy...

Khushi looked at Lavanya and understood that Lavanya was expecting her to comment on her previous words... When Khushi was still thinking, Lavanya placed her question again...

Lavanya: tell me Chamkeli... Do you also think that ASR should step out of your life for your own good?

Lavanya waited nearly for a minute after which Khushi nodded her head in a no...

Khushi: No Lavanyaji... Though I realized it a little late, I know for a fact that I couldn't forget Arnavji in my entire life... and the pain would never go away...

Khushi stopped for a while thinking whether to tell Lavanya about her recent decision or not... Anyways, it was out in open because of their behaviour today... Lavanya herself told that she observed changes in Arnav today... So, Khushi thought to explain Lavanya...

Khushi: the pain would never fade even if Arnavji go away from my life... So, I thought of a solution... A solution which could help me to lead a happy life ahead instead of walking in pain... The contract marriage was all where it started and I decided to end it...

Lavanya realized it now why Khushi's appearance changed suddenly when she came to coffee shop...

Lavanya: that's why you removed all the signs of marriage... (she said in realization)

Khushi(nodding her head): yes... and I wanted to build the missing trust between us... I wanted to treat my bruises called yesterday with a medicine named tomorrow... To be clear, I wanted to start afresh with Arnavji so that I could forget what went wrong in our love before and look forward to the right things that could define our relationship perfectly in the future...