The Business Trip (Arshi FF)

Regrets galore

Sheetal then takes Arnav's hand and places it just below her hip and before he has a chance to respond, she leans forward and kisses him.

Arnav takes a second to process in his tipsy state before grabbing Sheetal by the shoulders and pushing her away, causing her to fall back a few steps. "What the fuck, Sheetal? Don't you fucking know I'm married?!", he fumes, registering her actions from two seconds ago, staring at her in disbelief. It was in the middle of a noisy club, but that didn't stop people around them from staring at the commotion.

Sheetal walks towards him, "Come off it, Arnav. You want this just as much as I do. Who cares if you're married or not? Married men can't have some fun?", she asks smirking while pointing to his open buttons, trying to get closer to him again. Arnav steps back this time, with both his hands in the air, warning her not to take another step closer. He turns around haphazardly to find the reserved table to grab his blazer, and stops just before on the way out. "They were right about you. They were fucking right about it all.", he spat before rushing out of the club and booking himself a taxi back to the hotel.

Arnav banged the door of the taxi shut, much to the driver's annoyance and his head fell into his palms. Every time he shut his eyes, all he could think of was the events of the club. He had fucked it all up. How could he have been so naive to miss all the signals?! Why had he allowed her to come that close to him, that she was able to lean forward and kiss him? How could he ignore all the signs, especially after Khushi warned him, especially after they argued about it for weeks?! He groaned inwardly at his foolishness, as his fingers gripped the root of his hair, while the driver looked at him strangely through the interior mirror.

The moment Arnav got back to the hotel, he poured himself a jug of water to help him think straight. By this point, Arnav only had one person on his mind. Khushi. She was right. Khushi was right all along. He had fought with her over that woman. He had told her to stop reading page 3 magazines and believing gossip columns. He had convinced her it was all in her head. Turns out, it wasn't. He had somehow portrayed her as insecure and jealous. And now he was sat in an empty hotel room in downtown Manhattan, realising what a jackass he had been. He had left his wife of barely 6 months, who had stood with him through thick and thin, to chase this dream and while today was supposed to mark a new chapter of professional success, it had now been marred by Sheetal making a move on him. Arnav felt guilt beyond measure. To think that all of Khushi's worst fears had come true. The pain of separation had been tough on both of them. Arnav's route of escape from dwelling on his longstanding feud with Khushi had been to throw himself in to work, but it was no longer a solution. He had to see her.

Arnav knew he could no longer carry on like this. So, in a flash of a second, he made a decision. The decision to leave everything and go back home to Khushi.

He wanted to come back to Delhi having reached new heights as an established businessman again. I mean practically everyone from the fashion industry dreams of making it big in New York City. Arnav felt he was on the cusp of achieving it, but it would mean nothing at all if by the end of it, Khushi wasn't by his side. Pushing him even after he was left with practically nothing and supporting him every step of the way. Giving her final seal of approval to any suit he wears before an award night. Always assuring him that he'd be just fine.

That night, sleep eluded Arnav even after he had checked in online and all his bags were hurriedly packed. Sheetal had been trying to call him but he hadn't picked up a single one of her calls, eventually turning his phone off, lest he says something inappropriate to her in a fit of rage. Arnav drafted an e-mail to his investors and designers while he killed time before he had to leave for his flight.

Once Arnav was sat in the flight, he felt a moment of desperation overcome him while he blankly stared at the travel destination map in front him, telling him they had only been flying for 24 minutes. He had to see Khushi. He wondered how he had gone a whole month without seeing her, with no social media updates to let him know how she was doing. He closed his eyes in frustration, realising how immature he had been. He felt desperate to see her and the thought of the 14 hour long flight was not helping. He stared at his locked phone screensaver, a picture of Khushi making a funny face, the faintest of smiles creeping up on his face.

Just then, reality hit. Arnav ran through the potential scenarios in his head multiple times. First, he thought he'd surprise her at work. Hmm, probably not the best idea to create a scene and embarrass her in front of her coworkers, he thought. Then he figured he'd wait for her to leave for work and decorate the house and make all of her favourite things before she gets back. He'd buy her favourite batch of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, get some fresh Jalebis from Shukla's stall and her favourite Chole Bhature from Sunny's Dhaba. He then realised he would be landing late at night so that wasn't possible. After which, he also realised he better get in touch with reality. Khushi wasn't going to be won over that quickly. So he went for a simple plan of action. He would grab a bunch of her favourite white lilies, but that was that. He'd go home, surprise her, and they would..talk. He looked up at her Devi Maiyya helplessly, knowing there would be very little talking and a lot more arguing. He figured, when he had apologised enough, he would then tell her about Sheetal's move on to him.

14 hours later, after the most sub standard cold aloo paratha and slightly strange tasting orange juice, Arnav had finally landed back in Delhi. He sighed, thinking about all the lost opportunities but he knew he was doing the right thing. The security checks had been long and painful at Indira Gandhi Airport but when he finally made it out, he made a quick stop to the florist shop at the airport and picked up the white lilies as planned.

On the taxi drive home, Arnav's mind went in to overdrive once again. He wondered what he would say to her. Hope she'd forgive him for almost a month of silence. He'd do whatever it took to make things right. As Arnav left the taxi and walked to his front door with his bags, he felt a strange sense of nervousness. He turned the door, so as to not wake her if she wasn't already up, but when he turned around after locking the door, Arnav was greeted with a sight he least expected.

Arnav dropped his bags and the bouquet of flowers and rushed to the floor seeing Khushi passed out, with drops of blood from her head.

In his moment of panic, he failed to see a posted brown envelope with multiple pictures not far from her frame.