Chapter 36

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He turned to the side, only to see Khushi standing there looking at him and Sheetal with a blank look on her face. The only thing giving away her pain was the sheen of tears, glistening in her eyes.

And that's when Arnav looked down to see his close proximity with Sheetal, and realised what Khushi must be thinking seeing this scene in front of her.

He looked back at Khushi, desperate for her to understand. "Khushi it's not what you're thinking. I swear!"

If Khushi had cried, or screamed at him, or even if she'd come and slapped him he wouldn't have worried.

But she just turned around and walked away, without a word.

"Khushi! Listen to me! Khushi stop!" Arnav called desperately as he ran after her.

But she didn't look back even once.

Meanwhile Sheetal stood exactly where Arnav had left her, smirking evilly, silently rejoicing that her plan had worked perfectly.

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Khushi didn't show any sign of stopping or listening to Arnav until she got to the sitting room where Aman was waiting for her.

"Amanji, is it okay if Arnavji and I take your leave now? I'm actually feeling a little unwell... I just want to go home..." Khushi said, trying to speak through the lump in her throat and trying her level best to control the tears that were threatening to fall down.

As Arnav reached the sitting room, he heard Khushi's request and immediately added, "Haan Aman, even I have some work to do, so we'll take your leave now."

And with that he grabbed Khushi's hand and pulled her out of the door, towards the car, not giving Aman a chance to reply, nor Khushi a chance to protest.

By the time Aman had opened his mouth to reply, Arnav and Khushi were already out of the door, and Aman just watched on feeling extremely confused...

As soon as they were out of Aman's sight, Khushi shook Arnav's hand off hers angrily, freeing herself of his grip.

And when Arnav tried to move forward to explain, she took a step back, making Arnav feel hurt.

She almost recoiled away from him, not even wanting his shadow to touch her in that moment.

Arnav felt his chest constrict seeing Khushi cringe away from him.

Deciding it would be better to sort out the issue at the penthouse, he walked over to the other side of the car without another word and got in the car.

And within a few seconds Khushi got into her seat too, and they soon headed towards RM.

When they entered RM, they came face to face with Dadi.

Khushi was taken aback seeing her – she hadn't seen or heard of Dadi in so long that she'd almost forgotten her existence.

"Arnav! Where have you been all these days? You didn't call even once to tell me where you were, what you were doing, or at least when you were coming back! Is this what I taught you Arnav? Do you have any idea how worried I have been?" Dadi started her rant as soon as she caught sight of him.

"Oh cut the crap – we both know you don't give a sh** about where I was or how I was," he cut in harshly.

Khushi almost flinched hearing him, but she remained silent. She made no move to stop him speaking so rudely with Dadi – she was too hurt and angry to think rationally about anything else. Every second, the only image in her head was of Arnav and Sheetal standing so closely, with Arnav's lips on her forehead... No matter how much she tried to get the image out of her head, it just wouldn't go, slowly breaking her heart piece by piece.

"Is this how you speak to your elders Arnav?!" berated Dadi.

"Oh please – if you really cared about me, then you would have called me. You and I both know that you didn't even call me once since I left the house. So no need for your fake concern now, DADI."

And with that he went up the stairs, tagging Khushi along with him.

"This disgusting woman has already used her magic on you hasn't she? She must have slept with you – after all that's what middle class gold diggers like her do. And she is getting to you so much that you are disrespecting ME!!!" Dadi shouted after him.

Arnav who was walking up the stairs halted his steps, hearing Dadi's words.

"ONE. MORE. WORD AGAINST KHUSHI. AND YOU WILL BE OUT OF THIS HOUSE ONCE AND FOR ALL!!!!!" he yelled, his booming voice echoing off the walls. "DESPITE WHAT YOU DID WITH MY MUM I STILL KEPT YOU HERE WITH ME – DON'T MAKE ME REGRET IT. IF YOU SAY ANOTHER WORD ABOUT KHUSHI AGAIN, I SWEAR THE CONSEQUENCES WON'T BE GOOD. AND I MEAN IT!!!"

His voice had left Dadi speechless, while he turned back around and carried on walking up the stairs with Khushi following.

Had Khushi not already been in a trance, lost in another world of pain, Dadi's words would have hurt her. But she was not in a state to take in everything that was happening around her, so she wasn't affected by Dadi's cruel, verbal onslaught.

As usual, Arnav entered the pattern on the wardrobe and was about to help Khushi get into the wardrobe, but before that Khushi herself attempted to climb up and into the wardrobe.

Though she struggled, she didn't let Arnav help her even once. Every time she saw his hand inch towards her, she would just put up a hand to show him that she didn't want his help. And eventually, after quite a struggle, she managed to hoist herself up and onto the wardrobe.

Arnav felt hurt the second she denied his help, but then he immediately consoled himself thinking that this is only going to last for this short journey between RM and the penthouse. Once they get to the penthouse, he will talk to her and explain what happened over there and everything will be back to normal, he told himself.

Once they were in the dark tunnel, Arnav fished out his phone from his pocket and turned on the torchlight. Khushi still refused to come near him, but he also knew that she was afraid of the darkness and she must be shivering with fear right now. And he could definitely see that she would take no support from him at the moment, so he took the only option he had and used the torchlight on his phone, hoping it would ease up Khushi's fear – and luckily it did, to his relief.

As soon as they entered the penthouse, Khushi went straight to the bathroom to freshen up before Arnav could even open his mouth.

He sighed. This was not going to be easy, but he would not give up. Ever.

When Khushi came out eventually, he didn't utter a word and went to freshen up himself. This act of Arnav's made Khushi let go of the breath she was holding – she knew he wanted to talk about what she saw, but she certainly didn't. Her wounds were raw and the last thing she needed was to rub salt on them...

But unfortunately her prayer wasn't heard, because when Arnav came out of the bathroom and she made a move to go into the kitchen, away from him, he grabbed her hand from behind, stopping her from leaving.

"Don't touch me!" she said, jerking her hand away from his.

She saw the instant flash of hurt on his face at her words. And all she wanted to do was take him in her arms and take away all his pain. But she steeled her treacherous heart – he brought this upon himself. Let him live through the same pain she is feeling.

"Khushi," he called with a strangled voice. "It's not what you think..."

Khushi just tried to move away fast, as tears blurred her vision, but this time Arnav stepped in her path, making sure he wasn't touching her.

"How long are you going to run away Khushi?" he asked. "One day? Two days? A week? A month? Well I'm not letting you run away, Khushi. I'm not going to sit down and watch you suffer over something that didn't even happen! What you saw or heard isn't the entire truth Khushi! And you need to give me a chance to explain that! I love you, and I'm not letting this go without a fight!" he said, determined.

"But it's too late, Arnavji," Khushi whispered. "It's too late..."

Arnav felt a pierce in his heart as he saw her face etched with pain.

"My heart is already broken..." she whispered, brokenly. "And so is my trust in you."

"No no no! Khushi don't say that – don't do this to me. Just give me one chance to explain. Just one. Once you hear the full truth everything will be fine Khushi. Just listen to me once," he pleaded, his heart breaking at her eyes which looked like they'd lost all hope.

"I don't want to listen to anything," she said, turning to walk around Arnav and past him.

But this time as she passed him, she felt a harsh tug on her hand, making her spin and come crashing onto Arnav's chest, her one arm now pinned behind her back, and the other automatically holding onto Arnav's arm for support.

She looked up to see Arnav's jaw tightened and his eyes spitting fire at her.

"Is it this easy for you, Khushi? To let go of everything we have worked so hard to build together? Does our love hold no meaning for you? Forget that – did you ever love me, Khushi? Because with love, comes trust. And you don't seem to have any of that for me do you? Because if you did, you would give me a chance to explain – or better, you wouldn't have even needed an explanation because you would have trusted me!" he said, feeling betrayed.

At first, Arnav was sure that Khushi will listen to him and they will sort it all out. Khushi had every right to be hurt after what she saw and he knew that. But he had been sure that their love was strong enough to make her give him one chance. But here she wouldn't even let him tell her the whole truth. And that hurt. Like hell. And it also evoked his anger.

"Trust?! You have no right to talk about trust Mr Arnav Singh Raizada. Because you just broke mine minutes ago and that's not my fault but yours!" Khushi shouted, struggling to get out of his arms.

Her words just took Arnav's anger to a whole new level. "Is that what you think of me Khushi?! That I'm a cheating bast*** who is fuc**** around with women, while claiming to love you?!"

"Stop making this seem like it's MY fault, when it's clearly not!!! You were the one who kissed Sheetal! If I'd kissed another man, both you and I know that you wouldn't be handling this so calmly the way I am now – you would have turned the place upside down by now and you would have yelled at me with such harsh words that I would have no choice but to break down. So don't you DARE put this on me!" she retorted angrily, pushing him off her with all her strength. And this time he did let go – because he knew she was right. Had he been in her place, his anger would have had no bounds right now.

"You wanted a chance to explain what happened right? Fine. Shoot. I'm listening," she said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice as she folded her arms across her chest.

Arnav didn't like her sarcasm one bit, but nevertheless he calmed himself down and started to narrate the whole incident, right from the moment they left the living room to the moment Khushi herself had witnessed.

He didn't miss out a single detail, wanting to give Khushi a clear picture of what exactly had happened, and why.

When he finally finished, he looked at Khushi expectantly, hoping to see her eyes relax in relief or to see at least a tiny bout of happiness in them.

But he saw none of that.

"Done?" was all she asked. "Can I go to the kitchen now?"

Arnav stood stupefied for a moment, and taking advantage of that Khushi made to move away but was grabbed by Arnav again.

"What the hell Khushi! I just told you all this and you didn't even say a single word. React damn it!" he exclaimed, frustrated.

"You only react when you hear something you don't know. But there's nothing to react about with what you just told me," Khushi replied calmly.

Arnav was confused as hell. What did she mean?

Khushi crossed her arms and looked him dead in the eye as she said, "What did you think Arnavji? That I was angry at you thinking that you were cheating on me with Sheetal? That I thought that you were making a fool out of me while being with other women? No Arnavji. My love isn't that weak, and neither is my trust in you. I know that you wouldn't think of another woman in that way, even in your dreams. You don't have to prove that you're not a cheater Arnavji – I know that already. You were talking about trust right? I trust you Arnavji – I always have. But you are the one who never trusts me to trust you. Do you remember the last time you did this?"

The moment Arnav heard the words, 'you're not a cheater,' he felt a burden lift off his chest. He couldn't explain the relief that he felt in words...

But his happiness was short-lived as he felt the guilt settle in. Yes, he did remember the last time they had been in a situation like this. She had simply asked how he seemed so rich despite being a mere police officer and he had accused her of thinking cheaply of him and not trusting him. But the reality was that he had just jumped to conclusions while she was just genuinely curious about his life.

And today, once again he had made the mistake of not trusting her trust in him. He had not just questioned her trust but also her love for him. And he felt ashamed to the core for making that same mistake again despite all her attempts to show him how much he meant to her.

"When are you going to understand me, Arnavji?" she whispered, brokenly. "I do trust you – to not cheat on me, to love me with all your heart, to always be with me... But I don't trust you not hurt me – not anymore..." she said, tears escaping her eyes without her permission.

"I'm angry at you because you kissed Sheetal – it doesn't matter that you did it out of brotherly affection, because she loves you, and we both know that it's not in the way a sister loves a brother. And... you knew how I felt about Sheetal... I never liked her coming close to you, and you downright knew it!"

"And despite knowing all this, you still let her come close to you. And on top of that you did all this in my absence! You made sure that you both were alone and then you did this. What did you want me to think Arnavji? Oh wait, did you even think about me once while doing all that Arnavji? Maybe if you had, you wouldn't have kissed her. Maybe if you'd done all that in front of me, without going off by yourselves, I might not have felt so betrayed. In fact, I wouldn't have had any problem! I trusted you when you wanted to speak to Sheetal alone. I trusted you sort out the matter. But you... You took advantage of that trust..." she looked away as she couldn't speak. Her throat felt clogged up all of a sudden, and she felt her chest constrict as the image of Sheetal and Arnav so close popped up in her mind again.

"It hurts..." she whispered, before she ran away from Arnav into the kitchen, hoping against hopes that he wouldn't follow her there.

She just wanted to sit down and cry alone. She needed to get the feeling of betrayal off her chest – and she couldn't do that in front of Arnav. It made her feel as if she was weak. And she knew that is partially true when it came to Arnav – but what could she do? She loved him immensely and had trusted him immensely too. Maybe a little too much – and that's why it hurt now.

Of course it was going to hurt – she had been living in a fairy tale world in all this time she had been living with Arnav. He did everything he could to make her happy, he would spoil her rotten, he would shower his love on her and she would do the same. Misunderstandings and fights hardly came into the picture and when they did, they solved it between themselves quickly because it was only about them.

But this misunderstanding involved a third person – to be more precise another woman. And that too a woman who was in love with her man. And she had trusted Arnav not to do anything that might hurt her in this matter, but he had failed her.

She had already been feeling a little off whenever she saw Sheetal near Arnav – and he knew that too. And yet, he had suggested that he talk to Sheetal alone. That had been the first blow, but Khushi had trusted him, thinking he must have his reasons for doing so. But hugging Sheetal, and kissing her...?! How could he? Had it been his actual sister or at least a girl who truly considered him a brother, Khushi wouldn't have had a problem at all. But Sheetal?! He had known this would be her reaction if she saw him in that position with Sheetal – in fact isn't that why he had jumped to the conclusion that she would think he is cheating on her? And yet... that hadn't stopped him from getting close to Sheetal. He clearly didn't care about her feelings in this matter. And that hurt. In fact he hit her where it hurts most. And she would need time to get over that. Lots of time...

Hey guys, hope you liked the chapter! Many of you were blasting Khushi for not trusting Arnav, but I hope this chapter has cleared your doubts – personally I don't think Khushi is at fault here, and I guess Arnav's intentions weren't wrong, but he was acting incredibly stupid... Has this chapter changed your opinions? Or not? Do let me know with your comments and likes.

The thriller lovers, Arnav will start to really dig deep with L75 from the next chapter onwards – of course, while trying to woo Khushi too ;) So watch out for it!


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