When she awoke the next morning, the events of the previous night replayed in her mind and shame gripped her. For the second time in her life she felt completely dirty and impious. How could she have humiliated him like that?! Not to mention herself. Arnav was right she had insulted his love gravely. He had every right to be angry with her for what she had done. When she recalled how close she had come to standing bare in-front of him she felt herself recoil from within. If Arnav had not pressed her against his chest in time her blouse would have slipped… but he would have never let that happen; afterall he was Arnav, always saving her from herself. She blushed with pride and shame at how he had held her so close to him, keeping the fabric caught between them whilst he fastened the strings and hook.
How could she have done that? Why had she done that? Why was it so hard for her to believe his love? His questions haunted her as she scrubbed her arms and legs once again, in the similar manner she had done in the suite’s corridor at Sheesh-Mahal, desperately wanting the traces of her fall to disappear. Wishing that she may be able to cleanse herself, enough to be worthy of Arnav. Arnav, who she had misunderstood so sternly. He had loved her and she blemished his love by suggesting it to be lust. How wrong she had been. How she wished she could go back and wring herself the moment she had construed such an appalling theory about Arnav in order to stop her from making a blaspheamous spectacle out herself, and thereby his love.
The realization she had been coming to the night before in his car, now flashed across her mind in high definition; on the other side of the appaling night: he loved her like no other. She had doubted his every action but his one act the night before, of dressing her, had ripped the veil of doubt, and clarity took her into its’ arms. Now every word, every action she played of his in her head, from the day he had confessed, and even the few days prior to it, she saw it laced with his genuine care and kindness – his love. How she could have misconstrued their meaning before, she didn’t know. Nani was right: his love was enveloped in his actions, not his words, even though lately they too had been singing the same tune only she had chosen to turn deaf towards them. But she couldn’t anymore, his love had broken the vaccum she had placed her ears in and boomed inside her ears like a cannon, filling her whole body with his love, making her feel as though his love and not blood ran in her veins now.
She was still scrounging her body, when a sharp pain originated from her left wrist, causing her to stop and look at it. She saw the white bandage he had dressed the night before and instantly scolded herself for hurting herself. The bandage was a reminder of how any pain inflicted upon her, pained him deeply; instantly her hands jerked away from her body, before they could cause any real damage to her skin by roughing it up in the manner she had been doing, for it would only hurt him, when he saw her bruised and red. Again he saved her from himself, without even being there with her, that was how much he loved her. She reprimanded herself yet again, for ever doubting his love.
These thoughts still playing in her head, she stepped down from her bed and her anklets jingled and she reminisced how he had dotingly fastened them around her ankles. Regardless of all she had done, the way she had behaved, he had still exhibited love towards her. Her heart was now drowning in guilt, from the way she had treated him and his love. She didn’t deserve him or his love. She wasn’t worthy of it. She would go straight to him today and beg for his forgiveness, as well as ask him to call off the wedding, not because she doubted him but because he deserved much better than her. Her heart may be turning to him, but it was too late, she would quench those feelings that were threatening to unleash themselves, because she didn’t deserve him, not after what she had done. She would ask him to call off the wedding and then spend the rest of her life trying to earn his forgiveness for her illicit conduct towards him. This grim resolve in mind she made her way to the bathroom to brush, freshen up and then make her way to LaANK, where she knew she would find him even though it was a Sunday.
She had just started her breakfast, when Aakash grabbed hers’ and everyone else’s attention by sputtering his tea from behind the news paper.
‘Aakash?! Are you ok? What happened?’ Payal instantly jumped to his side, for which she earned a curt reprimand from Garima and Madhumathi as swift movements in her condition were dangerous. Aakash took heed of their words and made Payal sit back down in her seat before, relating what had caused his sudden cough.
‘You ok?’ Aakash asked, concerned.
‘Yes. Yes. Are you ok, Aakash? What happened?’ Payal batted away his concern with hers’.
‘Oh yes, umm…just got a little, actually no, not little but rather a big shock from the news today.’ He said settling down.
‘Why? What does the paper say, bitwa?’ Shashi asked, over his breakfast.
‘Bau ji, Shyam’s in the news.’ Everyone let out a gasp. ‘He is facing an enquiry for embezzlement, fraud and harassment. He has got multiple cases filed against him and all his accounts are frozen, while his moves are being monitored. See.’ He gestured towards the article title, which read Lawyer caught in his lawsuit: Lucknow’s most re-known Lawyer face’s enquiry, everyone gaped, shocked by what their eyes’ beheld.
‘How did this happen?’ Garima exclaimed, in a startled whisper, as though saying it too loud would make the news disappear.
‘Who cares how it happened Amma, its’ good that it did. The man had it coming for the way he has played with our trust and many other’s according to this article.’ Aakash stated, harshly before he could stop himself.
‘You’re right, bitwa.’ Madhumathi agreed with him. ‘It is all DM’s doing. Everyone must pay for their crimes, he escaped scot free from hurting us but not this time. What goes around comes around.’ She humphed triumphantly.
‘Hmph.’ Shashi grunted, in agreement, as he finished reading the article. ‘It say’s here that he has a solid case against him. Good. He won’t be able to get off the hook.’ He threw aside the paper once done with it, as if the mere mentioning of Shyam’s name in the paper had contaminated it.
‘Good.’ Garima too, joined in, the shock now dissolving away and a mother’s wrath taking its’ place. They all continued to discuss Shyam’s comeuppance and then moved onto wedding preparations and luggage whereabouts as the Gupta’s were set to leave that very evening for Lucknow, in order to set up there for the wedding. Only Payal, noticed the ghostly white face of her sister, next to her as she cupped her hand and gave it a squeeze, understanding her position. It wasn’t that Khushi wasn’t glad Shyam would now be dis-barred, his reputation blemished and he ruined, because she was, for he had left her to that very fate. But she still felt a little sad, for the boy who had been her friend, whom she had trusted, though not for the man who had left her ruined. She was sad, as this reinforced his betrayal, just the way seeing him with the other woman and his awful words thrown at her in her own courtyard had done. It was another reminder, of all that had happened, that he had hurt her and now was paying for it.
She thanked her DM, once out of the shock of hearing his fall, for making him pay for his crimes and silently prayed that this was the last of Shyam she would ever see or hear. She didn’t want to know anything about him anymore, he was a thorn in her past that she had now managed to completely pluck out of her life and sincerely hoped she wouldn’t have to ever face him again, as he would only cause her pain nothing else. Pain for the way he had humiliated her family, their engagement and her friendship, for now she was certain she had never loved him, only loved the idea of being in love with her best friend; this again was credit to Arnav. Had he not entered her life like a blizzard, wrapping her up in the fierce winds of his love she would have never known what true love was. Thinking of Arnav brought her back to her mission for the day groveling in front of Arnav to forgive her profane mistake. As soon as her heart stirred at the thought of getting to see him, it sunk too when she realized that this visit would decide their future, a future in which she didn’t deserve to have him by her side for her offense. Afterall just the way Shyam must pay for his sins, by going to prison, so must she by remaining only an employee of Arnav’s nothing more.
Heart heavy with this thought, but slightly proud too, of her mustering up the courage to do the right thing by Arnav, she set out for LaANK, telling her family she had some work to do with regard to her line, but would be back in time before they left for the station.
When she arrived at LaANK a serious shock greeted her. As soon as she passed the reception desk and entered the office, she heard shouting from above, instantly she ran upstairs to see what the commotion was and who, other than her had the audacity to raise their voice against Arnav, but she hadn’t even reached the door to his cabin when she spied the intruder through the glass and found her feet frozen to the step she was on. She couldn’t believe her eyes, what on earth was he doing here?!! What was going on? Why out of all the places in the world was Shyam Manohar Jha in Arnav Singh Raizada’s office?
She felt like the ground beneath her feet had suddenly been ripped away and she was left dangling in midair about to drop into a bottomless pit beneath her at any minute. Her mind buzzed with questions as her breath choked in her throat. Why were these two men in the same room? What possible reason could lead to either ever conducting a conversation? Well no not a conversation but a shouting match? Why were they arguing? What was going on? She needed to know. Thus, she forced her paralysed feet to move closer in the direction of the man she loathed, to understand why he was in the same vicinity of the man she loved. She tip-toed up the last few steps and crawled across the door to the other side, crouched next to the glass walls from where she could see and hear the two better, but they couldn’t as the shelves inside Arnav office lined the set of windows she had taken refuge behind, thereby blocking her from view.
‘Just who the hell do you think you are? You think you can meddle in my business and walk away unscathed? You picked a fight with the wrong guy. You may be some hot-shot business legend, but that’s all you are. Just a suit behind a desk who thinks that because he got lucky with a few of his endeavors that he will get lucky this time too. Well you are wrong. Your luck has run out, for you are no match for Shyam Manohar Jha.’ Shyam spat at Arnav, rage making his voice sound almost inhuman. ‘Look I will give you a once in a lifetime opportunity that I give no one, drop this suit and I will forget you ever dared to cross my path.’ Shyam threatened in his silky lawyer voice, the voice he used against his enemies when bluffing them into making them think he had a case against them when he had none.
Arnav said nothing in response, but merely yawned from across the table, sending the message loud and clear that Arnav knew Shyam was rattled and had no chance of surviving the suit hence he had come to the source, to scare him into dropping it. Shyam stared incredulous. His bluffs had always paid off, no one had ever doubted his lies. It was his talent, to lie convincingly making the other doubt themselves, and yet it had no effect on this man in front of him. Ugh who was he? Why the hell was he pursuing him?
‘What the hell is your problem anyway? I have never harmed you, so why are you financing this lawsuit? What do you have, too much cash on you is that it? Want to make use of it? Then become a philanthropist! Instead of putting your nose in other people’s business!’ he shouted at Arnav, losing his cool now, seeing that Arnav wasn’t buying the “dangerous lawyer act”.
‘Well that’s exactly what I am doing…philanthropy.’ Arnav flashed his wicked smile at him. ‘I am ensuring the streets of our beautiful country are rid of vermin. Rats like you are poisoning the very fabric of our culture.’ Arnav too returned in a silky voice, but his was layered in amusement more than threat.
‘You-‘ Shyam launched at him, over the desk, making Khushi gasp from behind the shelves for Arnav’s safety, but he merely snapped open the screen of his laptop causing Shyam’s face to make contact with it, disorientating him.
‘Oh…my apologies, did you wish to say something to me in confidence…’ Arnav said archly, while Shyam glared at him from behind his hands that inspected his nose to ensure it wasn’t broken.
‘What the hell do you want?!’ he berated Arnav again, barely managing to keep his voice steady, with all the rage that was pulsating inside of him. He didn’t know why this man was targeting him and he had no knowledge of where to hit him hard that would make him back off. ‘What have I ever done to you that you are coming after me?’
‘You know I really wonder how you became such a big lawyer, considering your cross-examination is terrible. You cannot even get me to answer a single question.’ Arnav noted calmly, enjoying the frustration that was building up inside Shyam due to his cool composure.
Shyam snarled in response, unable to come up with anything to say. Arnav had judged him correctly, his skills as a lawyer were bismal, unless he had managed to get the opposition intimidated prior to a hearing. Plus generally he would have had his paralegals and associates do all his case work so that all he had to do was recite from a script in the courtroom, but this time round he had no script or any research on Arnav, only a name. Because this time he had lost his footing with his employees and they refused to give him any information, too glad to be getting rid of him. May be he should have heeded Khushi’s advice and treated them in a more friendly manner rather than belittle them, may be then they would have been the friends he really needed today, but he had scoffed at Khushi then, saying their friendship was the last thing he would ever need, they were nothing compared to him, now he realized just how much that friendship was worth. But screw that, he was still Shyam Manohar Jha, he would find a way out of this without their and that silly girls’ help. In fact her idiocy was what had landed him in this position, if she had just returned the damned ring he had given her than he wouldn’t have had to embezzle so much from his firm that it caught their attention, in order to pay back one of his dangerous clients’ from whom he had made the stupid mistake of “borrowing” the ring in the first place.
‘If that is all you have got to say, please leave. I have much more important work to do, as I have already told you I am working on an environmental project to cleanse the roaches and their likes from the sewers.’ Arnav stated in a bored voice, only it wasn’t bored but rather controlled for Khushi now saw he was desperately trying to keep his anger leveled. He didn’t want to lose control in front of Shyam. He wanted him to leave before the temptation to harm him over-powered his resistance.
Shyam glowered at him, but nothing intelligible came to his mind to say to him. This was going horribly wrong, he needed to find an upper hand on this man to get him to stop, for if he didn’t he would be completely ruined. He stood no chance in court, his lawyer had told him so much when he just about managed bail for him. His only chance was to get under Arnav’s skin and make him take the case back, that is why his lawyer had given him Arnav’s name telling him his manipulation, that he was so brilliant at. Would be the only thing to save him if he managed to break Arnav. But so far all he had done had failed. How was he to break him? He could see that his presence infuriated him, yet he maintained a calm persona, so there was something that did bother the man about him, but what was it? For the life of him he couldn’t figure out exactly what it was about him that had made Arnav target him, if only he could place his finger on that then maybe he would be able to turn the table in his favour.
As he racked his brains to figure out another angle to come at Arnav from, his eyes caught something on his desk. A figure in green. The subject of one of the photo frames on his desk. He knew that person. He turned and focused. A lady in a green lehenga was in this man’s arms. They both were staring at each other in shock. He gasped.
‘Khushi.’
Arnav’s stiffened as soon as Shyam uttered her name. He followed his gaze and saw that in having gotten up he now could see who held that position in side his two-door photo frame that rested on his desk. Khushi. Damn it. He should have removed the photo frame as soon as this man had barged in. He had never wanted for him to find out exactly why he had set his vengeful eyes on him. He wanted Khushi to be as far from this case as possible.
‘How do you know her? What the hell is she doing in your arms in that photograph? Wait a minute… that picture of her, in that outfit, it’s from her sister’s wedding, she was with you that night? My God, she acted so outraged when she saw me with another woman when she herself-‘
THWHACK!!
He didn’t get a chance to finish his disgusting thought about Khushi being in Arnav’s arms as at that precise moment Arnav’s fist came into contact with his jaw. A bone-crunching sound followed the impact that froze a tear, which had left Khushi’s eye upon hearing his filthy insinuation about her being in Arnav’s arms, on her cheek. She clapped her hands on her mouth to stifle the scream which threatened to explode from her throat. Neither men noticed her. They were too engrossed in each other.
Arnav spoke deathly into Shyam’s face, as he hovered on top of him, his hands crushing the folds of his dress-shirt. ‘Don’t. You. Say. Her. Name. Or. Another. Word. About. Her. If you know what is best for you.’ he punctuated each word dangerously, then shoved him away from him as he turned away to manage his anger once more. But Shyam didn’t take heed of the advice thrown at him. He now had the motive and therefore the means of a way to get under Arnav’s skin.
‘So this is about that bitc-‘ he began, only to have his sentence halted once again by Arnav’s fist, which now collided with his nose, breaking it. Shyam howled in agony, but Arnav ignored it, while Khushi watched in horror as the scene seemed to unfold in slow-motion before her.
‘You really don’t know what’s good for you do you?’ Arnav spat in his face.
‘So you have taken a fancy upon that whor- her.’ he amended as Arnav’s fist made contact with his abdomen, pummeling Shyam to the floor. Arnv took his stance above him, fisted the sickly green collar freckled with blood that Shyam wore and tightened his right fist over Shyam’s left eye, daring him to utter another filthy thought about Khushi.
But Shyam continued to bait, having finaly found Arnav’s weakness, ‘I don’t blame you. She is a fine thing. I would know.’ Khushi’s blood curdled at his words, while Arnav’s fist carried out the action she was incapable of, knocking the wind out of him as he lay now sprawled on Arnav’s cabin floor, gasping for breath but still not shutting up. ‘But that’s all she is: a thing.’ He sputtered out as dark blood oozed from his cracked jaw.
Arnav who had removed himself from him, now joined him on the floor to make him pay again for how he demeaned Khushi. ‘I said, shut the hell up about her. You don’t get to say anything from your filthy mouth about her pure soul.’
‘Pure?’ Shyam coughed up some more blood, as he gave a ridiculous laugh. ‘She’s a skank. A slu-’
‘She is my fiancée.’ Arnav punctured his body, with his punches and kicks as Shyam pathetically tried to defend himself. ‘My fi-an-cée’ he enunciated, ‘and you had the audacity to not only hurt her, but touch her. You want to know why I have made your downfall the sole mission of my life. Well there you have it: because you dared to touch my Khushi. My Khushi.’ he thundered over him. A tear trickled down Khushi’s cheek hearing him assert authority over her.
‘You dared to taunt her and humiliate her and her family in front of everyone. This, what I am subjecting you to at the moment is nothing, nothing compared to what I want to do to you. But I am bound. Bound by my love to her, because as much as you have hurt her I know she loves me more and so wouldn’t want me to turn into a criminal just to avenge her. It’s for her sake that I am letting you off with only criminal charges. If it was up to me. If I wasn’t bound by her love, or by my Di’s promise, I would have finished you the moment I laid my eyes on you!’ he roared, his livid face inches away from Shyam’s bruised face.
‘And now, you have made me break my promise to my Di: to never touch you. You have single handedly become the source of my betrayal to two of the most important women in my life. One I am already avenging, if you don’t want me to avenge the other, I suggest you leave now. Before the changes in your face I have made to better match your character become permanent and make this case go away on the grounds of the culprit becoming unrecognizable.’ He threatened dangerously. ‘Unless that is what you would rather I do. For that is why you came here yes, to make this case go away. I will gladly resort to the methods of the street, if you choose not appear and take your chances in this case like the man, your anatomy suggests you to be. The first choice was my choice of revenge but I was forced to go a different way, however, I wouldn’t mind resorting to it. The choice is yours. Never say Arnav Singh Raizada didn’t give you a choice, alas, I am a fair man.’ Arnav concluded as he threw his limp body back towards the floor, which he had picked him up from to grant him a choice.
Sputtering and spewing, Shyam slowly forced himself off the floor, clutching at his wounds he limped out of the office as fast as he could, choosing option two, coward that he was. He would take his chances in court, although he knew he stood no chance there, for he was no match for Arnav Singh Raizada in a physical or court fight. But at least he knew that the second option would allow him to walk away rather than be wheeled out on a stretcher. Loving himself more than his career, option two sounded better to him, to rot in jail rather than have to face the wrath of Arnav Singh Raizada. As he crossed the threshold he couldn’t believe this was all happening to him because of a girl he had lusted after. What was it about her? How did she have such an effect on men, flaring up their emotions? In Arnav she had fired up revenge and in him lust? Why had he made it his life’s mission to covet her, she wasn’t that special and it wasn’t like he was short on women to readily bed him, so why had he been so hell bent on bedding her? Probably because she was so hard to get; bit*h. He thought and immediately regretted it as scowling at her mental image raised a sharp pain in his jaw. He opened the door of the main entrance and clutched at his sides as he hobbled out of LaANK. Damn if only he had not preyed upon Khushi then may be none of this would have happened. Had he not manipulated her to sleep with him then maybe the first domino set in the path to his destruction would not have fallen.
How could she have done that? Why had she done that? Why was it so hard for her to believe his love? His questions haunted her as she scrubbed her arms and legs once again, in the similar manner she had done in the suite’s corridor at Sheesh-Mahal, desperately wanting the traces of her fall to disappear. Wishing that she may be able to cleanse herself, enough to be worthy of Arnav. Arnav, who she had misunderstood so sternly. He had loved her and she blemished his love by suggesting it to be lust. How wrong she had been. How she wished she could go back and wring herself the moment she had construed such an appalling theory about Arnav in order to stop her from making a blaspheamous spectacle out herself, and thereby his love.
The realization she had been coming to the night before in his car, now flashed across her mind in high definition; on the other side of the appaling night: he loved her like no other. She had doubted his every action but his one act the night before, of dressing her, had ripped the veil of doubt, and clarity took her into its’ arms. Now every word, every action she played of his in her head, from the day he had confessed, and even the few days prior to it, she saw it laced with his genuine care and kindness – his love. How she could have misconstrued their meaning before, she didn’t know. Nani was right: his love was enveloped in his actions, not his words, even though lately they too had been singing the same tune only she had chosen to turn deaf towards them. But she couldn’t anymore, his love had broken the vaccum she had placed her ears in and boomed inside her ears like a cannon, filling her whole body with his love, making her feel as though his love and not blood ran in her veins now.
She was still scrounging her body, when a sharp pain originated from her left wrist, causing her to stop and look at it. She saw the white bandage he had dressed the night before and instantly scolded herself for hurting herself. The bandage was a reminder of how any pain inflicted upon her, pained him deeply; instantly her hands jerked away from her body, before they could cause any real damage to her skin by roughing it up in the manner she had been doing, for it would only hurt him, when he saw her bruised and red. Again he saved her from himself, without even being there with her, that was how much he loved her. She reprimanded herself yet again, for ever doubting his love.
These thoughts still playing in her head, she stepped down from her bed and her anklets jingled and she reminisced how he had dotingly fastened them around her ankles. Regardless of all she had done, the way she had behaved, he had still exhibited love towards her. Her heart was now drowning in guilt, from the way she had treated him and his love. She didn’t deserve him or his love. She wasn’t worthy of it. She would go straight to him today and beg for his forgiveness, as well as ask him to call off the wedding, not because she doubted him but because he deserved much better than her. Her heart may be turning to him, but it was too late, she would quench those feelings that were threatening to unleash themselves, because she didn’t deserve him, not after what she had done. She would ask him to call off the wedding and then spend the rest of her life trying to earn his forgiveness for her illicit conduct towards him. This grim resolve in mind she made her way to the bathroom to brush, freshen up and then make her way to LaANK, where she knew she would find him even though it was a Sunday.
She had just started her breakfast, when Aakash grabbed hers’ and everyone else’s attention by sputtering his tea from behind the news paper.
‘Aakash?! Are you ok? What happened?’ Payal instantly jumped to his side, for which she earned a curt reprimand from Garima and Madhumathi as swift movements in her condition were dangerous. Aakash took heed of their words and made Payal sit back down in her seat before, relating what had caused his sudden cough.
‘You ok?’ Aakash asked, concerned.
‘Yes. Yes. Are you ok, Aakash? What happened?’ Payal batted away his concern with hers’.
‘Oh yes, umm…just got a little, actually no, not little but rather a big shock from the news today.’ He said settling down.
‘Why? What does the paper say, bitwa?’ Shashi asked, over his breakfast.
‘Bau ji, Shyam’s in the news.’ Everyone let out a gasp. ‘He is facing an enquiry for embezzlement, fraud and harassment. He has got multiple cases filed against him and all his accounts are frozen, while his moves are being monitored. See.’ He gestured towards the article title, which read Lawyer caught in his lawsuit: Lucknow’s most re-known Lawyer face’s enquiry, everyone gaped, shocked by what their eyes’ beheld.
‘How did this happen?’ Garima exclaimed, in a startled whisper, as though saying it too loud would make the news disappear.
‘Who cares how it happened Amma, its’ good that it did. The man had it coming for the way he has played with our trust and many other’s according to this article.’ Aakash stated, harshly before he could stop himself.
‘You’re right, bitwa.’ Madhumathi agreed with him. ‘It is all DM’s doing. Everyone must pay for their crimes, he escaped scot free from hurting us but not this time. What goes around comes around.’ She humphed triumphantly.
‘Hmph.’ Shashi grunted, in agreement, as he finished reading the article. ‘It say’s here that he has a solid case against him. Good. He won’t be able to get off the hook.’ He threw aside the paper once done with it, as if the mere mentioning of Shyam’s name in the paper had contaminated it.
‘Good.’ Garima too, joined in, the shock now dissolving away and a mother’s wrath taking its’ place. They all continued to discuss Shyam’s comeuppance and then moved onto wedding preparations and luggage whereabouts as the Gupta’s were set to leave that very evening for Lucknow, in order to set up there for the wedding. Only Payal, noticed the ghostly white face of her sister, next to her as she cupped her hand and gave it a squeeze, understanding her position. It wasn’t that Khushi wasn’t glad Shyam would now be dis-barred, his reputation blemished and he ruined, because she was, for he had left her to that very fate. But she still felt a little sad, for the boy who had been her friend, whom she had trusted, though not for the man who had left her ruined. She was sad, as this reinforced his betrayal, just the way seeing him with the other woman and his awful words thrown at her in her own courtyard had done. It was another reminder, of all that had happened, that he had hurt her and now was paying for it.
She thanked her DM, once out of the shock of hearing his fall, for making him pay for his crimes and silently prayed that this was the last of Shyam she would ever see or hear. She didn’t want to know anything about him anymore, he was a thorn in her past that she had now managed to completely pluck out of her life and sincerely hoped she wouldn’t have to ever face him again, as he would only cause her pain nothing else. Pain for the way he had humiliated her family, their engagement and her friendship, for now she was certain she had never loved him, only loved the idea of being in love with her best friend; this again was credit to Arnav. Had he not entered her life like a blizzard, wrapping her up in the fierce winds of his love she would have never known what true love was. Thinking of Arnav brought her back to her mission for the day groveling in front of Arnav to forgive her profane mistake. As soon as her heart stirred at the thought of getting to see him, it sunk too when she realized that this visit would decide their future, a future in which she didn’t deserve to have him by her side for her offense. Afterall just the way Shyam must pay for his sins, by going to prison, so must she by remaining only an employee of Arnav’s nothing more.
Heart heavy with this thought, but slightly proud too, of her mustering up the courage to do the right thing by Arnav, she set out for LaANK, telling her family she had some work to do with regard to her line, but would be back in time before they left for the station.
When she arrived at LaANK a serious shock greeted her. As soon as she passed the reception desk and entered the office, she heard shouting from above, instantly she ran upstairs to see what the commotion was and who, other than her had the audacity to raise their voice against Arnav, but she hadn’t even reached the door to his cabin when she spied the intruder through the glass and found her feet frozen to the step she was on. She couldn’t believe her eyes, what on earth was he doing here?!! What was going on? Why out of all the places in the world was Shyam Manohar Jha in Arnav Singh Raizada’s office?
She felt like the ground beneath her feet had suddenly been ripped away and she was left dangling in midair about to drop into a bottomless pit beneath her at any minute. Her mind buzzed with questions as her breath choked in her throat. Why were these two men in the same room? What possible reason could lead to either ever conducting a conversation? Well no not a conversation but a shouting match? Why were they arguing? What was going on? She needed to know. Thus, she forced her paralysed feet to move closer in the direction of the man she loathed, to understand why he was in the same vicinity of the man she loved. She tip-toed up the last few steps and crawled across the door to the other side, crouched next to the glass walls from where she could see and hear the two better, but they couldn’t as the shelves inside Arnav office lined the set of windows she had taken refuge behind, thereby blocking her from view.
‘Just who the hell do you think you are? You think you can meddle in my business and walk away unscathed? You picked a fight with the wrong guy. You may be some hot-shot business legend, but that’s all you are. Just a suit behind a desk who thinks that because he got lucky with a few of his endeavors that he will get lucky this time too. Well you are wrong. Your luck has run out, for you are no match for Shyam Manohar Jha.’ Shyam spat at Arnav, rage making his voice sound almost inhuman. ‘Look I will give you a once in a lifetime opportunity that I give no one, drop this suit and I will forget you ever dared to cross my path.’ Shyam threatened in his silky lawyer voice, the voice he used against his enemies when bluffing them into making them think he had a case against them when he had none.
Arnav said nothing in response, but merely yawned from across the table, sending the message loud and clear that Arnav knew Shyam was rattled and had no chance of surviving the suit hence he had come to the source, to scare him into dropping it. Shyam stared incredulous. His bluffs had always paid off, no one had ever doubted his lies. It was his talent, to lie convincingly making the other doubt themselves, and yet it had no effect on this man in front of him. Ugh who was he? Why the hell was he pursuing him?
‘What the hell is your problem anyway? I have never harmed you, so why are you financing this lawsuit? What do you have, too much cash on you is that it? Want to make use of it? Then become a philanthropist! Instead of putting your nose in other people’s business!’ he shouted at Arnav, losing his cool now, seeing that Arnav wasn’t buying the “dangerous lawyer act”.
‘Well that’s exactly what I am doing…philanthropy.’ Arnav flashed his wicked smile at him. ‘I am ensuring the streets of our beautiful country are rid of vermin. Rats like you are poisoning the very fabric of our culture.’ Arnav too returned in a silky voice, but his was layered in amusement more than threat.
‘You-‘ Shyam launched at him, over the desk, making Khushi gasp from behind the shelves for Arnav’s safety, but he merely snapped open the screen of his laptop causing Shyam’s face to make contact with it, disorientating him.
‘Oh…my apologies, did you wish to say something to me in confidence…’ Arnav said archly, while Shyam glared at him from behind his hands that inspected his nose to ensure it wasn’t broken.
‘What the hell do you want?!’ he berated Arnav again, barely managing to keep his voice steady, with all the rage that was pulsating inside of him. He didn’t know why this man was targeting him and he had no knowledge of where to hit him hard that would make him back off. ‘What have I ever done to you that you are coming after me?’
‘You know I really wonder how you became such a big lawyer, considering your cross-examination is terrible. You cannot even get me to answer a single question.’ Arnav noted calmly, enjoying the frustration that was building up inside Shyam due to his cool composure.
Shyam snarled in response, unable to come up with anything to say. Arnav had judged him correctly, his skills as a lawyer were bismal, unless he had managed to get the opposition intimidated prior to a hearing. Plus generally he would have had his paralegals and associates do all his case work so that all he had to do was recite from a script in the courtroom, but this time round he had no script or any research on Arnav, only a name. Because this time he had lost his footing with his employees and they refused to give him any information, too glad to be getting rid of him. May be he should have heeded Khushi’s advice and treated them in a more friendly manner rather than belittle them, may be then they would have been the friends he really needed today, but he had scoffed at Khushi then, saying their friendship was the last thing he would ever need, they were nothing compared to him, now he realized just how much that friendship was worth. But screw that, he was still Shyam Manohar Jha, he would find a way out of this without their and that silly girls’ help. In fact her idiocy was what had landed him in this position, if she had just returned the damned ring he had given her than he wouldn’t have had to embezzle so much from his firm that it caught their attention, in order to pay back one of his dangerous clients’ from whom he had made the stupid mistake of “borrowing” the ring in the first place.
‘If that is all you have got to say, please leave. I have much more important work to do, as I have already told you I am working on an environmental project to cleanse the roaches and their likes from the sewers.’ Arnav stated in a bored voice, only it wasn’t bored but rather controlled for Khushi now saw he was desperately trying to keep his anger leveled. He didn’t want to lose control in front of Shyam. He wanted him to leave before the temptation to harm him over-powered his resistance.
Shyam glowered at him, but nothing intelligible came to his mind to say to him. This was going horribly wrong, he needed to find an upper hand on this man to get him to stop, for if he didn’t he would be completely ruined. He stood no chance in court, his lawyer had told him so much when he just about managed bail for him. His only chance was to get under Arnav’s skin and make him take the case back, that is why his lawyer had given him Arnav’s name telling him his manipulation, that he was so brilliant at. Would be the only thing to save him if he managed to break Arnav. But so far all he had done had failed. How was he to break him? He could see that his presence infuriated him, yet he maintained a calm persona, so there was something that did bother the man about him, but what was it? For the life of him he couldn’t figure out exactly what it was about him that had made Arnav target him, if only he could place his finger on that then maybe he would be able to turn the table in his favour.
As he racked his brains to figure out another angle to come at Arnav from, his eyes caught something on his desk. A figure in green. The subject of one of the photo frames on his desk. He knew that person. He turned and focused. A lady in a green lehenga was in this man’s arms. They both were staring at each other in shock. He gasped.
‘Khushi.’
Arnav’s stiffened as soon as Shyam uttered her name. He followed his gaze and saw that in having gotten up he now could see who held that position in side his two-door photo frame that rested on his desk. Khushi. Damn it. He should have removed the photo frame as soon as this man had barged in. He had never wanted for him to find out exactly why he had set his vengeful eyes on him. He wanted Khushi to be as far from this case as possible.
‘How do you know her? What the hell is she doing in your arms in that photograph? Wait a minute… that picture of her, in that outfit, it’s from her sister’s wedding, she was with you that night? My God, she acted so outraged when she saw me with another woman when she herself-‘
THWHACK!!
He didn’t get a chance to finish his disgusting thought about Khushi being in Arnav’s arms as at that precise moment Arnav’s fist came into contact with his jaw. A bone-crunching sound followed the impact that froze a tear, which had left Khushi’s eye upon hearing his filthy insinuation about her being in Arnav’s arms, on her cheek. She clapped her hands on her mouth to stifle the scream which threatened to explode from her throat. Neither men noticed her. They were too engrossed in each other.
Arnav spoke deathly into Shyam’s face, as he hovered on top of him, his hands crushing the folds of his dress-shirt. ‘Don’t. You. Say. Her. Name. Or. Another. Word. About. Her. If you know what is best for you.’ he punctuated each word dangerously, then shoved him away from him as he turned away to manage his anger once more. But Shyam didn’t take heed of the advice thrown at him. He now had the motive and therefore the means of a way to get under Arnav’s skin.
‘So this is about that bitc-‘ he began, only to have his sentence halted once again by Arnav’s fist, which now collided with his nose, breaking it. Shyam howled in agony, but Arnav ignored it, while Khushi watched in horror as the scene seemed to unfold in slow-motion before her.
‘You really don’t know what’s good for you do you?’ Arnav spat in his face.
‘So you have taken a fancy upon that whor- her.’ he amended as Arnav’s fist made contact with his abdomen, pummeling Shyam to the floor. Arnv took his stance above him, fisted the sickly green collar freckled with blood that Shyam wore and tightened his right fist over Shyam’s left eye, daring him to utter another filthy thought about Khushi.
But Shyam continued to bait, having finaly found Arnav’s weakness, ‘I don’t blame you. She is a fine thing. I would know.’ Khushi’s blood curdled at his words, while Arnav’s fist carried out the action she was incapable of, knocking the wind out of him as he lay now sprawled on Arnav’s cabin floor, gasping for breath but still not shutting up. ‘But that’s all she is: a thing.’ He sputtered out as dark blood oozed from his cracked jaw.
Arnav who had removed himself from him, now joined him on the floor to make him pay again for how he demeaned Khushi. ‘I said, shut the hell up about her. You don’t get to say anything from your filthy mouth about her pure soul.’
‘Pure?’ Shyam coughed up some more blood, as he gave a ridiculous laugh. ‘She’s a skank. A slu-’
‘She is my fiancée.’ Arnav punctured his body, with his punches and kicks as Shyam pathetically tried to defend himself. ‘My fi-an-cée’ he enunciated, ‘and you had the audacity to not only hurt her, but touch her. You want to know why I have made your downfall the sole mission of my life. Well there you have it: because you dared to touch my Khushi. My Khushi.’ he thundered over him. A tear trickled down Khushi’s cheek hearing him assert authority over her.
‘You dared to taunt her and humiliate her and her family in front of everyone. This, what I am subjecting you to at the moment is nothing, nothing compared to what I want to do to you. But I am bound. Bound by my love to her, because as much as you have hurt her I know she loves me more and so wouldn’t want me to turn into a criminal just to avenge her. It’s for her sake that I am letting you off with only criminal charges. If it was up to me. If I wasn’t bound by her love, or by my Di’s promise, I would have finished you the moment I laid my eyes on you!’ he roared, his livid face inches away from Shyam’s bruised face.
‘And now, you have made me break my promise to my Di: to never touch you. You have single handedly become the source of my betrayal to two of the most important women in my life. One I am already avenging, if you don’t want me to avenge the other, I suggest you leave now. Before the changes in your face I have made to better match your character become permanent and make this case go away on the grounds of the culprit becoming unrecognizable.’ He threatened dangerously. ‘Unless that is what you would rather I do. For that is why you came here yes, to make this case go away. I will gladly resort to the methods of the street, if you choose not appear and take your chances in this case like the man, your anatomy suggests you to be. The first choice was my choice of revenge but I was forced to go a different way, however, I wouldn’t mind resorting to it. The choice is yours. Never say Arnav Singh Raizada didn’t give you a choice, alas, I am a fair man.’ Arnav concluded as he threw his limp body back towards the floor, which he had picked him up from to grant him a choice.
Sputtering and spewing, Shyam slowly forced himself off the floor, clutching at his wounds he limped out of the office as fast as he could, choosing option two, coward that he was. He would take his chances in court, although he knew he stood no chance there, for he was no match for Arnav Singh Raizada in a physical or court fight. But at least he knew that the second option would allow him to walk away rather than be wheeled out on a stretcher. Loving himself more than his career, option two sounded better to him, to rot in jail rather than have to face the wrath of Arnav Singh Raizada. As he crossed the threshold he couldn’t believe this was all happening to him because of a girl he had lusted after. What was it about her? How did she have such an effect on men, flaring up their emotions? In Arnav she had fired up revenge and in him lust? Why had he made it his life’s mission to covet her, she wasn’t that special and it wasn’t like he was short on women to readily bed him, so why had he been so hell bent on bedding her? Probably because she was so hard to get; bit*h. He thought and immediately regretted it as scowling at her mental image raised a sharp pain in his jaw. He opened the door of the main entrance and clutched at his sides as he hobbled out of LaANK. Damn if only he had not preyed upon Khushi then may be none of this would have happened. Had he not manipulated her to sleep with him then maybe the first domino set in the path to his destruction would not have fallen.
*****
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