Heartbeat - When truth strikes [Arshi] ✔

||Shot One - Intoxicated||

【All rights reserved ©Lucky】

Dedicated to my #Baccha Kiddo_Star & #Oldie aka #Asima

Kaan pakad ke sorry for the late birthday gift..

||Intoxicated||

Happiness. Khushi. 

Her name meant happiness. Her name defined her nature. And as per the people around her, she spreads happiness like its a present. Smiles and laughter followed her. And today, after a whole week of desertion from happiness, she finally smiled and danced as her family and Nani both accepted her. For a person like Khushi whose priority is keeping the people before her happy, seeing them sad with their eloped marriage saddened her more than she had let out. The fact that she is the reason for their miserable state made her more desperate to bring them back to happiness. And her wish coming true on Holi, the festival of colors, one of Khushi's most favorite festival - though she doesn't differentiate a festival to a day normally - only added to her bounce.

"Bitiya?" Khushi, with a wide smile, that split her face in two, which refused to leave her face today, turned around at her mother's voice. Tears filled her happy eyes as she heard the endearment after a whole week. Her mother didn't even like seeing her face these seven days and now finally hearing her mother calling for her only made her more emotional.

"Amma," Khushi's voice was a mere whisper as she crushed her Amma in her pliant hands, her happy tears on a free flow.

"Bitiya, you're happy right? Damaadji..." It's aptly said that a mother can never live in peace unless she gets the assurance of her daughter's well-being after she is married. Garima though understood that the reason a couple would give elopement a thought only when they love each other, she still felt the need to ask her daughter to reassure herself.

And rightly so. She knew her elder daughter's husband is timid and a respectable person. He like a gentleman came forward with the wish to marry their daughter. Garima knew how Akash is by nature and also knew Payal and Akash fit perfectly. All her sudden worry is for her younger daughter. Though she would never doubt Arnav's manners, she couldn't exactly assess him too. He is less spoken, arrogant from what her daughter always used to call him, but through all this he is also respectable. For a man in such a position he doesn't see down on them as low class from what Garima noticed. In fact he himself helped Manoramaji accept Payal and Akash's marriage, like Payal said. Respect is in his nature except Arnav is entirely different from Akash. And visibly so.

"Haan Amma, I'm good here." Khushi fought with the physical movement of her lips to hold them up in a smile to make mother believe in her words. Another thing that Khushi wears like her second skin after happiness is selflessness. She doesn't want her mother to worry now or never. She knew her family - Amma, Buaji, Jiji - are highly worried about Babuji. She doesn't want to say otherwise and worry her mother. Even then, isn't there a clause in the contract the laad governor drew up to not tell anyone about this contract? So she said otherwise and smiled like an obidient wife.

"Bitiya, you're safe in the house right?" Garima asked with fear that is palpable in her voice. "Shyam... he's not troubling you right?"

Khushi couldn't understand what to answer all of a sudden to that question. She didn't keep herself prepared for such questions right now. Khushi thought her answer silently as Garima tried to read her daughter's face. Garima finally sighed pressing Khushi's hands held in hers.

"Khusi, dear, now I think you've to tell Arnav Bitwa everything." Khushi frowned skeptically not really getting her mother's train of thought behind such comment. "I mean, Bitiya, about Shyam. Until Payal's marriage I didn't let you tell anyone because I was afraid of Payal's marriage getting cancelled. After what happened with her first time..." Both mother daughter remembered that cursed day when the groom troop went back because they couldn't give them the demanded dowry.