||Forced to be Yours||

Chapter 12

'Khushi,
I know you are going to hate me for this. I know I am breaking your heart another time by taking a decision that will hurt you again. I know I am your only family now, and you cannot imagine your life without me. But trust me. I am doing this for your good. I have done all the arrangements for your higher education there. Call Akash when you land in Delhi. I can’t come with you, but I am always with you, Khushi. I know you won’t agree to go if I come to drop you at the airport. So the driver will come to pick you up tomorrow morning. He has your tickets. We will not contact each other before you do something in life. We’ll meet after you become successful, even more, successful than me. See you, after a few years.

I love you.

Arnav.

“Why?” Khushi screamed her lungs out and fell to her knees after reading the WhatsApp message from Arnav.

He had done it again. When the hell was he going to understand that he couldn’t decide for her? It’s her life, and she would decide what to do with it.

Arnav had hurt her a lot of times before, but for the first time in her life, she felt so hurt that she couldn’t even express it. 
All her life, she had been alone. Her mother left her while giving birth to her. Her so-called father was ready to sell her to some stranger for a few bucks. And the man with whom she fell in love hurt her so much. It was as if she wasn't destined to be loved without suffering.

Khushi got up and went inside the bedroom. It was decorated with roses, hearts, and candles. She was going to surprise him. She held Arnav's photo frame. After looking at it with passionate anger, she threw it to the ground, breaking it into pieces. She broke every decoration and destroyed everything in maddened rage. As Khushi looked at everything in the room broken, she felt like her heart and soul were broken too.
But she decided that she would never feel weak in front of anyone again. She would not make herself vulnerable again. She would never forget the pain that Arnav gave her. Wiping her tears, she looked at the mirror with determination for a few seconds and then got ready for the airport.

Five Years Later

It was already midnight and Arnav Singh Raizada sat on his terrace as he looked up at the sky, gazing at the moon. It has been five years since he was doing it every day. Five years since his life had changed completely. Five years since he was away from Khushi. He gazed at the moon every night, hoping that Khushi would be doing the same somewhere.
Who would believe that one could repeat the same mistake twice and turn their life upside down? He could still feel the sweet reminiscence of the day he saw her for the last time. She wore a yellow top with a white scarf, and blue jeans. He saw her from a distance as she was entering the airport, and her eyes were swollen. He had assumed that she was crying all night. He had cried all night too. He still does.

Since then, he had felt like a broken soul. Devoid of love, happiness, and family. For a month Akash kept him updated about Khushi's whereabouts, but then he stopped. He didn’t know why, but he guessed that Khushi might have told him to do so. He had loved her with all his heart. He had always wanted the best for her.

Separation from Khushi made Arnav vulnerable. His emotional vulnerability affected his professional life, and there was loss after loss in his business, and as much as he tried, he couldn’t fix his life back.

He tried as much as he could, and his last resort was the business party he was going to attend tomorrow. If he got an investor there, then he might be able to revive his company.
_________________

Arnav opened his eyes to an unknown surrounding. He looked around but couldn't recognize the room. His head was pounding, and he couldn't remember anything from last night.
Telling himself to relax, he held his head tightly, trying to recall.