Making Her Mine- An IPKKND story.

Epilogue - Diwali (Two Years Later)

"I want you to have a wedding with happy memories," Arnavji had said to Khushi, once.

He had given her the pearl necklace that was around her throat now, and asked her to marry him again. She ran her fingers along the cool, smooth pearls, which she hadn't been able to wear again, since the wedding.

Instead of the wedding, she remembered that night –the night he had given her this necklace. A beautiful night, which was now tainted by what it had led to. Arnavji had created a little dream for her – a roomful of stars, the exact necklace that she had seen him give her in a dream, and loving caresses.

And he had asked for the wedding — for her, he had said. So that she could have everything that she had ever dreamed of. He had made sure that every single thing in her wedding book would come true. He had even worn the clothes she had imagined her groom would wear on their wedding.

A wedding day she would never forget.

Khushi looked at her reflection in the mirror, with tears in her eyes.

"I talked to Di about Aarav." Arnavji walked into the room, making her jump. His brow furrowed in concern when he saw her, the way it always did whenever he saw her cry.

"Khushi?" he said. Her name was a caress when he said it. It never failed to give her goosebumps.

"What happened? Are you okay?"

She sniffed, and blinked away her tears —too late, because he had already seen them. And he had told her, every single tear she shed cut him a thousand times.

That was the kind of silly Bollywood – type thing he unexpectedly said sometimes, and it surprised her every time. She knew he meant it, because he didn't say it with that teasing, crooked little smile she adored to bits, but with a plea in his caramel eyes for her to stop crying.

"I'm okay," Khushi said in a murmur, and turned around to look at her incredibly handsome husband. She touched the pearls at her throat. "I can't wear this. It reminds me of the wedding. You only did it for me, and..." she could feel herself tearing up again. Their wedding had ended in a disaster, and Khushi had wished it had never happened in the first place. No wedding, no horrible attack.

Arnavji wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and kissed her cheek.

"Khushi, I told you, Panditji said our union has divine blessings. That means Devi Maiyya was looking out for us. There was no way something was going to happen to me on our wedding day."

"You don't believe that at all," Khushi said.

"I don't," he admitted, and smiled, that crooked half smile that she loved. "But..."

She narrowed her eyes at him. If he said he believed it, it would be an outright lie. She understood him now – he did not have faith in a higher power the way she did, and it was okay. That was her Arnavji. She didn't really want him to change, or pretend for her. She never wanted him to do anything he didn't want, just for her.

"...you know how I am Khushi. I just can't believe in these things. But, when it comes to you..." he seemed to be searching for words, and his crooked smile reappeared, and grew wider. "Logic doesn't work when it comes to you."

Khushi frowned, trying to figure out if he was teasing her.

He looked into her eyes, and burst into laughter. "Relax, I'm not insulting you," he said. "You have to admit, things don't make sense around you. Remember how you kept running into me so many times, I thought you were stalking me? You stumble and fall and faint all over me —"

She stood from in front of the mirror and whirled around. "I don't fall all over—" she began indignantly, and stumbled. Arnavji grabbed her, and somehow they both managed to land on his recliner in a tumble. Devi Maiyya was enjoying tormenting her today.