His heart was a fortress, haunted by the warmth he pushed away, scarred by the silence he forced between them, all because he believed she deserved more than the broken pieces he could offer.
And, her heart was a battlefield, bruised by all the word...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
DISCLAIMER: The story is set in the early 20th century. While I have made efforts to capture the essence of the era, there may be inaccuracies as this is a work of fantasy. I do not own the characters Arnav and Khushi, and this story is purely fictional with no relation to any real individuals, living or dead. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is purely coincidental.
WARNING: 18+, MATURE CONTENT
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The next few months brought a hectic change to Khushi's life. As their return to India was delayed, she finally enrolled for her last semester at the University of London. Living in a foreign country was one thing, but attending university with people from different cultures was a completely different experience altogether. Though the experience was terrifying at times, it was also profoundly wholesome.
She also met two of her best friends, whom she would cherish for the rest of her life. They would become her partners in establishing the charitable foundation "Little Happiness" which she would build later in her life from scratch. They would also be the first people, besides Arnav, to read the first draft of her debut book, actually almost every book, she would write in future.
One of them, Nithin Kingsley, "Hamari dost hume pyaar se NK bulate hain"-that's his words, not Khushi's, was someone she met in the neighbourhood actually. NK was Devyani Ji's grandson, the son of her daughter who lived in Spain. NK wanted to visit India, so he came to see his grandmother to refine his Hindi. During his stay, Nani Ji, Khushi, and NK embarked on a hilarious journey to sharpen NK's Hindi skills. Through their amusing and sometimes chaotic attempts, NK and Khushi formed an unlikely friendship that lasted a lifetime.
And the other best friend she met, was in university through the extracurricular society she had reluctantly signed up for to earn extra credits. She chose the literary society, driven by her lifelong aspiration to become a writer. The members were divided into groups of ten, each tasked with staging a play in collaboration with the theatrical society. Her group was assigned the play "Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare.
It was during the preparation for the play that she met Lalita Kensington. Lalita was the leader of the team, barking orders at everyone. She appointed Khushi with the duty of setting up the fairy lights on the stage to set up the right mood for the actors. Somehow, unbeknownst to anyone, Khushi got entangled in the fairy lights, which were accidentally switched on. From that moment, the team started calling her "Chamkili" to tease her. One day, when Lalita called her by that name, Khushi stood up to her and said she didn't like being called 'Chamkili'.
