Javed naam hai mera phir se

Chapter 2

... Arnav pushed away contract papers he was trying to read for the last hour. It was too hard - balancing the looming threat of Shyam's return and expanding business necessities of AR design. Exhausting actually. Every day he was coming back home in pieces... only to be resurrected by his family all over again.

There was something magical about Shantivan... now. The smell of jasmine and roses coming from everywhere... Khushi's singing while she was making him tea before dinner... NK's and Aarav's arguments while NK was losing yet another chess game to Arnav's son... Manorama reciting every TV show on air to Nani-ji... Di trying to distract her aunt long enough to let Nani-ji escape...

His house became his home... finally. A place of peace and happiness. Something he didn't deserve but got anyway - and wasn't about to lose it! Just... no!

Arnav's phone beeped - a message from Javed. "Finished for today. Will try to make it to dinner".

Arnav smirked sadly. He wouldn't. Arnav just knew that Jev won't be coming back home today. Because he hasn't come back home since... that day. For more than one month Jev had reasons after reasons.

Business trips he wasn't planning before, conferences he was suddenly invited to, meetings that should never have bothered him - empty excuses to avoid coming back to Shantivan... to Anjali.

Arnav felt responsible for what was happening... Especially in comparison - it took Jev five minutes to realize what Khushi meant to Arnav... and eight years for Arnav to see what Di meant to his best friend.

Khushi justified him saying that "Javed-ji had much more practice in loving somebody to see love around him" but still - Arnav's friend was hurting for so many years and Arnav didn't even notice.

And what made it even worse - Arnav didn't know how to go about it now.

Should he do something? But what if Jev is not the best man for his Di?

Or maybe he should stay aside? But what if one day Jev won't come back to Delhi at all and Anjali will lose the most devoted, honest, loving man she could possibly have met?

Khushi - his know-it-all wife - brushed Arnav's anxiety off saying that this situation will sort itself out when Di would be ready "to trust love again". Something that would happen really soon as per Khushi's assessment... Arnav has hoped with all his heart that his wife was right this time.

As for Jev... Anjali or not... Arnav was really hoping that his best friend will find a place to call home. Maybe he was even praying for it...