9am.
At the shopping mall.
"Khushi bitiya can you take me to a jewelry store? It's my dear long time friend's birthday next week and I want to gift her something special and precious," Nani asked taking a seat opposite to Khushi's chair at the restaurant. They were almost done with Arnav's birthday party shopping, but Nani was getting tired of roaming around, so Khushi decided to take a break and took Nani to a restaurant so they could have something to refresh their energies to continue with the shopping.
Khushi was mostly excited to get Arnav's gift, but after getting to know the kind of relationship he shared with Lavanya, she decided that his gift would be the last thing she would buy from this place.. or better, not buy it at all.
"Of course Nani. I will take you to a nice jewelry store here. They have the best collection of necklaces," Khushi replied faking a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"I see you like necklaces.. I'll buy it for you as well then," Nani smiled at her.
Khushi shook her head, "It's nothing like that Nani.. the owner of that store is Arnav ji's friend. He keeps sending pictures of the new collections to Arnav ji to show it to me. That's why I know.. they're indeed beautiful jewelries, but I find it too expensive."
"So what? Chote earns money to pamper you only," Nani shrugged with teasing smile.
Khushi forced a smile on her lips. Why did she mention his name in the conversation? Now Nani will keep teasing her with his name, and she'll have a hard time controlling her tears.
The waiter approached them much to Khushi's relief, politely asking their orders. After he was done taking a note of their orders, Khushi excused herself and went to the washroom.
She opened the tap and splashed water furiously on her face, hiding the tears that slipped continuously from her eyes. She closed the tap and stood there, looking at her own reflection in the mirror, not knowing what to do or what to feel about the whole situation happening in her life.
She shut her eyes tightly and covered her mouth with her palms to control her sobs. She was so happy to celebrate her husband's birthday with him, his first birthday after their marriage. She wanted to do everything to make him feel special. She had everything planned in her mind, but ever since his family arrived, nothing has worked according to her plans. First, she had decided to keep a party for family and close friends for Arnav due to his introvert personality, she thought it was best to keep the celebration limited to people he felt comfortable with, but she was informed by Nani that her sister in law, Anjali wanted to throw a huge birthday party for her brother with family, friends, business partners, models, media people.. literally the whole fashion world. She didn't question nor objected Anjali taking control over the birthday preparations, understanding that Anjali stays for a long time without seeing her brother who lives in Mumbai, so if making the arrangements for her brother made her feel happy for doing something special for him, she wouldn't interfere in her decisions.
Second, from the time she has met with Anjali and Payal, she has been feeling negative vibes from them. She feels uncomfortable around these two women, who seemed to dislike her for petty reasons. Khushi had noticed how Payal seemed to get furious and jealous, whenever her mother in law, Manorama praised Khushi for her values, for her religious knowledge, for her cooking skills, her way of behaving with the elders, her simplicity and so on. The same way, she had noticed how Anjali is possessive about Arnav and how she looked unhappy with the fact that a girl like her is her brother's wife. Till now, she has been avoiding interacting with these two women as she doesn't want to spoil her husband's birthday, she doesn't want to make him choose sides on his special day. Even though, Anjali and Payal had been disturbing her peace of mind, she has been trying her best to maintain herself composed in front of Raizada family members, especially Arnav.
