Chapter 2 – Rekindling The Fire – Arshi FF
ARSHI FF
Arnav Singh Raizada, Khushi Kumari Gupta, Iss Pyaar ko kya naam du, IPKKND, IPKKND FF
The entire terrace was littered with twinkling oil lamps. There were lamps everywhere, all over the poolside, over the edge of the terrace, even in between the pots. Fairy lights twinkled from around the trees too.
The terrace looked exactly like how it had done on the night of Diwali.
The one difference— where she had once been kneeling beside the pool, lighting the lamps, Arnav was leaning over and arranging the lamps.
“Yeh sab…” Khushi stepped outside and stopped in her tracks when Arnav glanced over his shoulder.
She froze. Arnav froze too.
They locked gaze with each other.
They were back to that night of Diwali when they had stood in front of her each other. She had been wearing the same red saree that night, and he had being gazing at her with the same heated eyes with which he was now.
While Arnav gazed at her in pure awe, Khushi eyes filled with tears. For the memory of that night also brought back all her heartbreak.
Arnav slowly got up to his feet and stretched his hand out for her. She hesitated for a moment. But as she took a step, she tripped on the pleats of her saree and stumbled forward.
Arnav leapt, catching her in time against his chest. Khushi shot her eyes to him the moment she was crushed against his chest.
Time stood still as soon as they were in each other’s arms.
Suddenly, they were back in time, to where it had all began that night.
“Why?” she whispered, glancing around at the twinkling lights.
“Like it?” he asked, running his hand through her hair so he could sweep it away from her face.
“Its beautiful.” She smiled. It was all very romantic, and that was exactly what was scaring her. Arnav blew hot and cold all the time. It was at this precise spot where he’d once gazed at her like she was the only woman in the universe. Yet, the very next moment he’d gotten himself engaged to some other woman.
Over the months, she had come to learn one thing— Arnav Singh Raizada never stopped to think twice before trampling over her heart.
He was like a burning flame. He kept her warm, but he scorched her too.
He’d scorched her so many times, she was too scared to get too close to him lest he burn her again.
“What’s wrong?” Arnav cupped her cheek.
“It was at this very spot where just a few days ago you called me your worst mistake.” She had hoped things would change after the abduction, especially after the way in which he had fought for her in front of his family.
While everyone had questioned her intentions, he had believed her regarding Shyam. He had even slapped Shyam for disrespecting her, and had thrown the lecher out of the house.
But the very next day he’d wished he’d never met her.
“You said you wished you’d never met me,” she whispered.
Arnav stiffened, his eyes flickering to the spot. There were so many times he’d hurt her over the weeks, he didn’t know if a lifetime of apology would be enough to wash him of his sins.
“I had come to Sheesh Mahal looking for my sister’s ex-fiance and ended up in your show and in your arms. How was any of it my fault?” she asked, wiping her tears. “Yet you….”
He didn’t know how to apologise for how badly he’d behaved with her that night. All he did was draw her into his arms and pressed his lips to her forehead.
“I’m an impulsive man, Khushi.” Arnav sighed. “Some of the events of my past have made me bitter.”
Khushi lifted her chin to stare at him.
“There is so much I want to tell you about myself.” He smiled, cupping her face in both his hands to kiss her eyes one after the other.
“But not tonight, please,” he pleaded. “I haven’t felt this happy in a very long time. I want to keep smiling for a little while longer.”
Smiling at him, Khushi caressed his cheek. “I want you to keep smiling forever.”
“Then promise me you’ll never leave me again.”
Khushi’s heart stopped.
“You’re my Khushi, Khushi. You’re my happiness. And when you’re gone all my happiness goes with you.”
It was all so heartening, she wanted to believe it all. But she was also scared.
Her gaze caught the tens of flames dancing in the cool breeze.
“Why the lamps,” she asked?
“Want to show you how that night should have ended had I not….”
As Khushi frowned, he took her hand and led her towards the chair.
“Sit.” He eased her on top of the chair.
Khushi’s eyes widened when Arnav knelt at her feet.
She stared on when Arnav held her eyes for a moments. He then reached for her feet and rested one foot gently on his knee.
Khushi blushed when he pushed her saree up to her calves and caressed her anklets. They were her mother’s. The only possession she had of the mother she had lost.
His fingertips stroked her around her ankle making her shiver. He then moved his hand further up to stroke her calves. She clutched his shoulder, never having felt anything so electrifying and sensuous.
Arnav turned his head to gaze at her hand that was clutching to his shoulder. Everything was like that night.
“Why did you want me in a white shirt?” he asked.
Settling her heart, she gazed at him and smiled. “You don’t seem like a Laad governor in white.”
“Ah!” He smiled, but his hands continued stroking her ankles.
“I love how sweet they sound,” he whispered.
As she smiled, he slid his hand into his pocket and removed a pair of anklets.
Khushi raised her brow and glanced at her ankles to ensure this was a different pair and not the ones around her ankles.
“These were my mother’s,” Arnav choked, holding her eyes. “Will you wear them, Khushi?”
Khushi was lost for words.
“Arnavji.” Her eyes stung with tears. It was so overwhelming, she didn’t know what to say.
“Will you?”
She nodded, but watched him with unshed tears as he gently began clasping the anklets from over her mother’s anklets. It was so heart-warming to be wearing two sets of anklets, belonging to both their mothers.
Wanting to admire his mother’s anklets, she was about to pull her leg away, but he caught her heel in his hand.
Khushi shot her eyes to him, feeling a thrill at the reminder of that night all over when he’d caught her heel.
She waited with heart in her mouth to see what he’d do. Arnav tightened his grip around her heels. He then stroked her soles gently with his fingertips.
“Arnavji,” Khushi squealed, gripping tighter to his shoulder.
“Kya hua?” His eyes glittered with mischief as he stroked her all over her soles.
“Arnavji,” Khushi curled her toes and laughed.
“Ticklish?” He smirked.
“Stop it.” She kicked her feet, desperately trying to pull it away from him. But he continued tickling her till she laughing and begging. Her anklets jingled, now twice as sweet as before, and Arnav sighed, tickling her all the more just to hear the sound of her anklets.
“Please…” she pleaded.
Arnav chuckled but he then gently lifted her leg and leaned to kiss the anklet.
“Sorry,” he whispered again.
“Why?” she asked, but she was trying not to shiver or jerk her leg every time he kissed them.
“I lied that night.” He pressed his lips to her anklets again.
By that night, Khushi knew he was referring to Diwali night and she froze. She had lost one of her mother’s anklet a while back. But on the night of Diwali Arnav had surprised her by producing the lost anklet from within the fold of his jacket.
For a moment her heart had fluttered, assuming he’d been holding onto her anklet.
But he’d crushed all her hopes, by insulting her later and telling her she’d never meant anything to him.
Was he referring to that moment? Had that all been a lie? Her heart leapt in her mouth.
But she waited for him to elaborate.
“I found this on my poolside.” He smiled. “I was angry, not with you but with myself, with the way my heart leapt in delight to possess something of yours.”
“Angry with yourself,” she asked in awe? How had she not realised there was this side to Arnav?
“Jhoot bola that, Khushi maine — I told you a lie.” He gazed at her. “For weeks, I carried it within the inner fold of my jacket. I stroked it whenever I missed you.”
Holding her eyes, he continued stroking her anklets again. “Seene se laga ke rakha tha maine issey— I’d keep it pressed to my heart.”
Don’t delude yourself into thinking it meant anything to me. His gut-wrenching words from that night echoed in Khushi’s head, as she gazed on in utter disbelief. Yeh mat samaj baithna ek ameer admi ne issey apne seene se lagake rakha tha— Don’t once assume I a wealthy man like me had kept it pressed to my heart.
He’d said those hurtful words moments after almost kissing her. He had also declared he’d wanted to marry Lavanya in front of all the guests invited to the party.
The hurt was so deep and raw, she’d wept for days. She still wept whenever she thought of that night.
“I had no intention of returning them Khushi.” Arnav cupped her cheek and gazed into her glimmering eyes. “Had I not realised they were your mother’s, I’d have never returned them.”
“Why did you lie?” she choked.
“I’ve been lying to myself for too long.”
“Is it because I’m poor? Middle-class? Aukad nahi hai hamara— I cannot match your status?”
“Khushi.” He took her hand into his, soundly apologetic. “I’m so sorry.”
Would a sorry heal the wound still bleeding within her?
“Apna humain bohut thes pohunchayee— your hurt me deeply.” She sniffled, so tears didn’t fall. She didn’t want to cry, she wouldn’t ever show her vulnerability to him ever again after that night, she’d vowed to herself.
That rejection had cut her so deep, it had left her questioning herself for days. Her love had been so innocent until that night when she’d worn stars in her eyes. She missed being in love like that.
She hadn’t even expected him to declare love. She’d herself been so confused with the way her heart fluttered in his presence, she had only just wanted to ask him if he had felt it all too.
But he had crushed her heart under those expensive shoes he wore everywhere, that now although he was here, kneeling at her feet, she wasn’t willing to let herself get carried away.
“Why did you hurt me, Arnavji?”
“Because I wanted you gone,” he choked, running his fingers in his hair and pulling them.
That cut her heart all over. “I had gone back to my aunt’s house, Arnavji. I’d left. You blackmailed me again and brought me back here. Why?”
“Because I cannot live without you,” he snapped.
“You confuse me.” She glared.
“I wanted you out of my life, because I’m not myself when I’m with you,” he snapped. “The man I become in your presence terrifies me.” He touched his white shirt in a way to explain how he transformed in her presence.
“I’ve lived in darkness for so long, even a tiny ray of light is terrifying,” he explained, sighing in despair. “And you’re not a beam of light, Khushi, you a floodlight. You are like the Sun at the break of dawn. Bright, warm, mesmerising.”
Taken aback by his words, Khushi stared at him. Never had she been compared to the break of dawn. But Arnav wasn’t darkness. After having lived in the dark, lonely void of this room when he’d gone missing, she’d come to realise Arnav was her light. He was the reason she was now able to breathe again.
“I don’t know about me, Arnavji,” she whispered. “But all the light disappears from my life when you’re not in it. Every colour loses its meaning without your around.”
“I’ve made friends with black now, a colour I once detested.” She smiled sadly.
Arnav moved closer to rest his forehead to hers. Khushi rested her hand on hss chest. It felt good to be this close to him. But she was still not sure if all this was real or if was a beautiful dream. But for him to confess to his insecurities so vehemently now gave her some assurance. At least, he was willing to discuss that night. They had come a long way.
And she didn’t hold back either.
“Arnavji,” she whispered.
“Hmm.”
“Would you really not have returned my anklet had you not realised how much they meant to me?”
“No.”
Pulling back from him, she gazed at him.
But she then bent forward to release the anklet he had once clasped around her ankle.
“I want you to keep this,” she whispered. “My Amma’s blessing for you.”
She reached for the inner fold of his jacket and slid it inside.
His eyes glistened, and he slid his hand into the inner fold of his jacket and removed the anklet.
“I kept it here.” He kissed the anklet tenderly, and slid it into the inner pocket of the left side of his jacket. “Pressed against my heart.”
He patted his chest from over his jacket and smiled when it tinkled sweetly.
“Will you always keep it with you?” She asked.
“Hamesha.” He gazed at her.
“I have something of yours too,” she whispered, her eyes lighting up in mischief.
But Arnav’s gaze turned warm.
“Of course you do,” he whispered. Taking her hand into his, he rested it upon his heart.
A spark of current rippled down her spine as she gazed at his heart. The gesture meant so much, but she stopped herself from getting carried away.
“I have a kerchief of yours, Arnavji.” She smiled. “I have a broken cuff-link too.”
Arnav raised a brow.
“I have a button from your shirt too that came off loose.”
Arnav chuckled, but he got up to his feet and strode back into the bedroom. When he came back he handed her a velvet, ball-shaped tassel of one of her dresses.
“I had pocketed this the day I left you crying outside the airport.”
Khushi widened her eyes when she realised it was from that bright pink dress she had worn that day, that day before he left her, only to be later abducted.
She had begged him not to go while standing outside the airport. She had cried her heart out, yet she had left.
“This kept me sane when they’d kept me locked in that dark room.” Arnav kissed the tassel.
Khushi’s tears slid down her cheek. “You hated me,” she choked. “Why did you keep these.”
“I tried, Khushi.” He nodded. “I’ve tried hating you, but I cannot.”
He had said he loved her over the phone when he’d gone missing. But to realise he had never hated her overwhelmed her so much, she covered her face with her hands and wept.
Arnav knelt at her feet and drew her into his arms.
“Sh!” Stroking her hair gently, he kissed her on top of her head.
“What is all this supposed to mean?” she choked.
“What do you think its supposed to mean?” He cupped her cheek and kissed her tears tenderly. As his gaze shifted to her mouth, Khushi trembled. Arnav rubbed his thumb to her lip, gazing at them with dark intense eyes.
“I never told you why I went with those men, did I Khushi?”
Khushi stiffened, for she knew what he was referring to. In the airport CCTV camera footage of that moment when he’d gotten abducted, Arnav had willingly walked out with the men who had kept him hostage.
In all the confusion, she had forgotten to find out why he had gone with them willingly.
“They threatened to hurt you.” His eyes glistened.
Her eyes grew wide in horror.
“They showed me a video of a man standing behind you with a gun.” He smiled ruefully. “It was so crowded, but you were still waiting outside the airport for me to come for you. You were still crying.” He sniffled. “I was so cruel towards you…”
“You let them abduct you for me?” She stared at him.
“Yes.”
“How did you know they wouldn’t hurt me, Arnavji,” she hissed, wanting to shake him violently at how stupid he was.
“The moment I saw the man with his gun pointed at you, I mind went black,” Arnav choked. “I offered to pay handsomely if they let you go. They said they didn’t want money. That they didn’t want to hurt you. That their business was with me alone. They asked me to leave with them without creating any commotion….so I did.”
“You willing walked into their trap for me?” Hot scalding tears slid down her cheek. “You let them hurt you for me?”
“I’d willingly take a bullet for you, Khushi” Arnav folded her into his arms and closed his eyes.
But Khushi wept in his arms, unwilling to come to terms with what he had done. Had he not returned safely, she’d have never found out about his sacrifice. She’d have believed all her life he’d resented her till the end.
But she didn’t want to think of end, she wanted to think of the beginning.
“Don’t cry, please.” Arnav cupped her cheek. “I cannot bear to see you cry.”
“Every drop of tear that escapes your beautiful eyes, fall upon my heart like drops of acid.”
“Liar.” She wiped her eyes. “You’ve always made me cry.”
Arnav smiled ruefully. “It wasn’t intentional most of the time.”
“Declaring to the world that you planned on getting engaged to Lavanyaji wasn’t intentional, Arnavji,” she asked?
“Like I said, I was lying to myself.”
“And now,” she asked?
Arnav held her eyes for a moment. He then cupped her cheek and rubbed his thumb to her lip. His eyes turned darker, making Khushi shudder.
“Arnavji,” she whispered.
He moved closer, his face hovering over hers, his mouth just a kiss away from hers.
But that was when his phone rang.
Khushi shot her wide eyes to Arnav, but Arnav clenched his eyes shut.
Hissing a curse under, he let his phone ring.
“Answer it,” she whispered, as she got up to her feet and began adjusting the wick in the oil lamps.
“I’ll get myself tea.” She smiled at Arnav, seeing he was on a call from Aman.
Arnav sighed in despair but nodded at her.
Author’s note
This chapter is up and running. Hope you like my take on it.
I know some of you wanted ‘You are my worst mistake rewritten,” But I had already written an apology of sorts for that here, so for me I feel there is no need to re-write it, as it was said in a moment of extreme distress.
The kidnapping reasoning was one I needed a closure to. It was doing my head in to why Khushi never asked him why did you go with those men.
Arnav getting the anklet back also was one gesture I had hoped for. But that too never happened.
There is one more chapter hopefully.
Keep reading. Keep commenting. Stay safe guys.
Lots of Love
Chitra.
PS: AND is coming up.
