Silver Linings

Decisions

Once Anjali left, Arnav rested his head on the recliner.. he closed his eyes.. His sister's words came to his mind "Agar woh sach mai Mumma ko kabhi pyaar kiya hota.. ya thoda sa izzat karta tho woh aisa nahi karta" (If he had really loved Mumma at any point, or even respected her a little, he would have never done that) He knew his parents didn't love each other, neither did they respect each other. His mother stayed in the marriage out of a warped sense of duty and customs, and his father just went about his life as if he had never been married. Arnav always had the aversion to marriage in particular, and relationships in general because of the wonderful example he had seen in his formative years.

Trust and Respect were more important for a relationship to survive than love, love may fade and a relationship would still hold strong if there was trust and respect in it. Arnav was very certain that in his relationship with Khushi, there was both trust and respect in abundance.

Speaking for himself, He had never felt the need to re-examine his thoughts regarding marriage and relationships, until Khushi had come along - She had literally turned his world upside down. Marriage was something he had absolutely despised since his childhood, even then, he was willing to enter into that bond with her from the moment he decided he was going to confess his feelings to her only because he respected and trusted her.

"Aap Khushiji se pyaar karte hai na?" (You love Khushiji, don't you?) The answer to that was an unequivocal YES. He loved her with his whole being. He had never known what true love was until he felt it for her. He had never known the feeling of being loved unconditionally, until he was on the receiving end of her affection. Even after everything he had put her through, all she gave him was love, never expecting anything in return.

"Kya aap soch bhi kar sakte hai kisi aur ke baare mai?" (Could you even think of anyone else?) He scoffed shaking his head.. Being in the fashion industry, he had always been surrounded by beautiful women.. woman who were skimpily cladded and would gladly throw themselves at him.. but no one could illicit the reaction from him which Khushi had managed to, being cladded in a modest and simple red saree. He smiled to himself remembering how mesmerised he had been when he had seen her in that red saree for the photoshoot, the world had stopped revolving for a few seconds.

Her in a red saree was his kryptonite - literally made him loose all his senses.

Physical attraction came later, much later.. but he had felt a strange pull towards her ever since she had fallen into his arms. No one.. no one had managed to arrest his thoughts the way she did. His brains knew for a long long time that he was being very unfair to Lavanya.. she was planning their life and his thoughts only revolved around Khushi. 

Even though his brains knew it, his big fat ego had not allowed him to acknowledge that fact. So he did everything he could to push her away.. said the most awful things to her.. he shuddered as he remembered the hurt in her eyes, when he had announced his engagement to Lavanya. But Karma did get him back, and rightfully so, when he learnt about her engagement - he had almost stopped breathing.

From the look on her face, he was sure she knew how much it had hurt him, he was sure she knew even back then, that there was something between them, but both of them were being bull headed about it, and dancing around instead of actually voicing out their feelings.

The day he was brave enough to accept to himself that Khushi was the only one ruling on his mind and heart, he had broken things off with Lavanya - Even though, at that point of time, according to him, Khushi was still engaged to be married to another man, and he, Arnav, had absolutely no chance with her.