Making Her Mine- An IPKKND story.

Chapter 62 - Visitor

Arnav saw Nani sitting with their family Pandit in the living area early morning as he was returning from his jog.

"Chotay, I've called Pandiji to look at Khushi Bitya and your Kundalis," Nani said as he made his way towards them.

"Why? I'm already married to Khushi, it's not like if the stars don't align we will separate," Arnav said.

Nani glared at him. "When you don't understand something, there is no need to voice an opinion about it. Panditji is advising us on auspicious dates. And if there are some problems in your birth charts, we can do some pujas. You and Khushi bitya have already—"

"Devyani ji, there is nothing to worry about," the Pandit said, looking slightly alarmed. He had seen Arnav versus Nani play out before. "Their charts are a perfect match. It's like they have divine blessings for their union." He squinted at the papers. "There are some small external forces... but I'll recommend a havan, that should take care of it. They will have a long and happy marriage."

"Great," Arnav said. He wasn't going to argue about havans. If he was going to sit through some 20 rituals for the wedding, what was one more puja? Besides, Khushi would be thrilled to hear about divine blessings. He quirked his lip, picturing her glee when he told her.

"I've recommended a date for next month – a very auspicious day," Panditji was saying.

The phone on the side table rang, and Nani answered it with her usual haughtiness. "Devyani Devi Raizada speaking."

Arnav was turning around to leave, when he saw Nani's face turn to shock. "What? When?" She looked at him as she spoke. "All right," she said finally, her face ashen, and hung up.

"Nani...? What happened? Who was that?" Arnav asked, going quickly to his grandmother.

"Chotay..." she looked around, as if checking to see if someone was listening, and lowered her voice. "It's ... Subhadra Devi. The ashram called. She has left – to attend her grandson's wedding."

Arnav felt like he had run headlong into a brick wall. "For my wedding? How did she know?"

"I don't know, Chotay. I told relatives, maybe your Chachaji..."

Arnav clenched his jaw.

Subhadra Devi. His other grandmother.

—-

"She — she's coming to your wedding?" Di asked, eyes wide and fearful. He had gone straight to his sister with the news.

"I don't know what she wants. After all these years..."

"Don't say that, Chotay. It's been so long... we can't turn her away. She's our grandmother!"

"Turn her away? We've been supporting her for years, that's hardly –" Arnav said, breaking off in anger. It wasn't a huge amount, sure, but after all that had happened, he hadn't been obligated to pay for any of her expenses at the Ashram, But he had, immediately after AR was established. He had even gone with Nani to visit her, to tell her about Di's wedding. Di had wanted her there. Dadi had refused to even see them.

When she had blamed them for everything that had happened, when she had refused to intervene when he and Di had been turned out of their father's house, when she had held on to her grudge for so many years, why was she suddenly so interested in his wedding? Why now?

Arnav had been uncharacteristically compliant when it came to Dadi, willing to pay for her and speak to her, even after what she had done to them – blamed him and abandoned them, for what had been a tragedy that affected them the most. It had all been for Di's sake. Because she had been close to Dadi, once. Arnav had never gotten along with his grandmother, even in his childhood. She was stubborn and prone to tempestuous rage. She didn't allow anyone to contradict her, and expected deference from all her children and grandchildren. She was the type of person everyone was terrified of.

Even then, if this was any other time, he wouldn't have minded it so much. But right now, Dadi's impending arrival threatened whatever peace and happiness they had finally found. Her, and the shadow of the past she was going to bring along.

—

Arnav knew he should tell Khushi about Dadi. She was coming for their wedding, they would meet eventually. But the thought of talking about his grandmother, veering so close to the things he had still kept from her... he couldn't do it.

He had spent years sunk in the tragedy that had marred his and Di's lives. It had spurred him to be both aspects of ASR- the successful fashion tycoon, and the heartless monster. But somehow, in this last year or so, he had begun to think of it less. Since he had bought Sheesh Mahal, he had believed a chapter had closed. Then, he had begun obsessing about Khushi, and memories of the tragedy had been crowded out from his thoughts.

They were finally putting away the whole thing with Shyam.  Impossible as that sounded, it had seemed like he could finally be happy. He had Khushi, he loved her, and she loved him back. A new generation of Raizada children were already coming along. Maybe there would be his own someday. It had felt like there was to be a new beginning to both his and Di's lives, removed from what had happened to them.

But now Dadi was threatening to bring it all back.

Khushi was finally happy in this house with him, shaking the dust off of Shantivan with either whirlwind preparations for their wedding or her budding business, which she was getting the hang of surprisingly fast. She didn't need bad news.

Khushi was in the bathroom when he got to their room. He asked Hari Prakash to help lug in the desk that had been delivered early morning, and set it up against a wall in the room, along with a chair with a plump cushion, He put the brand new MacBook he'd got for her on the desk, the box tied up in a giant red ribbon, and arranged an assortment of random stationary around it to give the whole thing a professional air — he knew that would please her. He sat on the recliner to wait, unable to be happy anticipating her reaction, because the news about Dadi still lurked at the back of his mind.

Khushi reacted in exactly the adorable gleeful and surprised way he had hoped for when she saw the whole set-up. She squealed in excitement as she picked up the computer box to examine it.

"Pre-wedding gift," he said, grinning at how happy she looked. "I thought I'd set up your office in one of the other rooms, but I don't want you to be sitting somewhere else all evening."

She hugged him and kissed his cheek. "Thank you!"

He pulled out the laptop from the box and set it up at her new desk.

"I can show you how to use —"

"I don't need help, I have done a computer course," she said confidently, sitting at her desk and squinting at the screen, clearly ready to be the hotshot businesswoman.

He laughed. "Okay."

And that was that. She was too happy for her day to be ruined. He couldn't bring himself to tell her.

—

Arnav paced in his office. Dadi didn't have a phone — the Ashram people confirmed this, and they didn't know her exact whereabouts. He didn't know if she was going to just show up at the house — most likely she would. Behaving exactly as expected, she hadn't even bothered to tell them herself that she was coming.

He had been forced to go to work — they had back to back meetings he couldn't cancel, especially after weeks of missing work. He had a freaking empire to run, if only his family would do him a favour and stop having one crisis after another.

So he had asked Jai Prakash, the eldest and most sensible of the Prakash brothers, to call him immediately if one Subhadra Devi arrived at Shantivan.

His two grandmothers had been childhood friends, his parents married because of that connection. But after what had happened — Nani had been as estranged from Dadi as he and Di had been. He didn't know what Nani thought of her old friend anymore. There was a lot to put aside between them.

When his final meeting ended, he glanced at his phone, saw half a dozen missed calls from the house, realized his phone had been on silent, and panicked.

"Akash, I have to go home," he said picking up his jacket and slapping his brother on the back as he strode out of the conference room. "Take care of everything here, I'll talk to you later."