The family had finished the aarti by the time Arnav came downstairs, it was true that he had bowed in front of God when it came to Khushi however this was not something he intended to make a regular occurance in his life. Khushi took the taal and raised it before him and he looked at her questioningly. Khushi widened her eyes and looked from him to the taal and back to him again.
"Aarti." She said and he simply looked more perplexed.
"Yeah, Khushi I know what it is." He said and she frowned.
"Toh loon nah!" Khushi said angrily and Arnav understood what she meant, he sighed and waved his hands around the little diya on the taal and then waved his hands over his head.
"Happy?" He asked in an exasperated tone.
"Extatic!" She replied with a grin as she went to give everyone else the aarti. Arnav grinned to himslef as he watched her hop away merrily. She was completely unaware of how precarious a situation she and he were in. Arnav had taken no immediate action against Shyam because he didn't know how to. How was he supposed to catch this man out? He was so precise with every detail, he never let anyone cotton onto his secret adultrous life until he had an unfortunate slip of the tongue in front of Arnav. That's all he needed, one mistake, one time when he didn't cover his tracks and Arnav would have him. Akash saw the worried look on his brother's face and walked up to him and put his hand on his shoulder.
"Bhai." Akash said bringing Arnav's attention back to his surroundings rather than Shyam, Arnav looked up at Akash. "Di was telling me that Shyam stormed out of the house before the pooja, apparently he had some, "work" to attend to." Akash said and Arnav could see how distraught his sister was from here. "I think something happened between him and Bhabi." Akash speculated after his conversation with Anjali. Arnav nodded and looked at Khushi again. He should have seen it. Her smile was too wide, her eyes gave an unnatural warmness and she was messing with the pallu of her saree. Of course something happened with Shyam, why else would she be acting in such a forced manner. After the family had dispersed to their respective rooms Khushi decided to make her way to see Payal and catch up when Arnav suddenly grabbed her arm and pulled her into the kitchen. Khushi looked at him with shock, what did he have planned now?
"Arnav, choriye humara haath, humein kaam hai." Khushi said as she tried to release her wrist from his grip.
"Khushi don't lie to me." He said simply.
Khushi looked at him blankly and Arnav shook his head slightly breathing long, concentrated breaths. Khushi noticed this and realised he was either angry, stressed or both.
"Did Shyam say anything to you today?" Arnav asked and Khushi began to panic, she didn't want to think of her exchange with that man. She genuinely wished she could forget him, forget all the pain, sadness and stress he'd caused in her life. But everywhere she went he was there and when he wasn't there in person people said things that reminded her of him.
"Arnav mujhe iss baath par discussion nahi karna. I have a headache please." She said and she tried to shake him off but he didn't let go.
"Khushi..." Arnav said as he looked at her with painfully longing eyes, she knew he needed to know this after all it wasn't just Khushi who was in Shyam's destructive path there was Di too. She took a deep breath and began to explain how he had cornered her in the Mandhir and tried to talk to her and how she had flatly rejected him. This shocked Arnav, he knew Khushi was bold but it took real bravery to say all that in the face of a psyco like Shyam.
"Mujhe daar lagra, kahi woh kuch...karna jaye." Khushi said her eyes welled up at the idea of anymore pain in her life. Arnav immediatley wrapped her in his arms and soothed her.
"Hey, come on Khushi. You know jab takh main hoon, I wont let anything happen to you." He said as he stroked her hair, he pulled away and brushed the tears off her face. When he saw a flicker in her eyes from worry to relief to confusion. He felt her body go slack in his hands and her eyes closed as she slipped into darkness. Arnav caught her and lifted her into his arms.
"KHUSHI!" He shouted trying to wake her up but she was out of it. Arnav shouted to the entire household as he lay her down on a lounger in the living room. Payal hurriedly rang the doctor as Arnav held tightly onto her hand and stroked her face. The Doctor took a while to get there by which point Khushi had regained concioussness.
"Arre, I've said I'm fine haven't I? Uff iss saab ki kya zuroorath hai?" Khushi complained and Arnav glared at her.
"Oh yeah right, two minutes ago you were unresponsive and now you're fine. Yeah like I'm going to believe that." He said and looked away from her to the Doctor. The Doctor simply stated what he had previous times, that it appeared to be a one time occurance and Khushi should try to take care of herself more and stay away from stressful situations and he left. Arnav stood with his arms crossed.
"I think we need a new Doctor." He said and everyone gawped at him.
"Chotte yeh Doctor humare khandani doctor hai, yeh poore sheher ki best doctor hai." Naniji said.
"Then why does Khushi keep getting ill?" Arnav challenged and Khushi exhaled deeply.
"I don't know maybe its because my pathi makes a mountain out of a molehill about everything!" Khushi complained and Anjali hid a snigger. Arnav clenched his jaw.
"Fine! Whatever I have work. Akash come with me." He said and they both headed up to Arnav's room.
"So much anger in one man, its actually unbelievable." Khushi said in awe.
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