A Journey From Tears To Happiness | ✔

Chapter Eight

The night had already fallen by the time Khushi and everyone else, with the exception of Madhumati, returned to Shantivan. Khushi had insisted for her parents to come and spend the night with her, knowing that they were too drained out to be left alone. They all needed rest, especially after crying buckets before as well as during their reconciliation with their daughter.

"It's quite late. I think we all should get some sleep." Akash said as they entered the hall and Khushi noted how he tried to drag his lips into a smile but failed. 

She sighed. Happiness had befall only on the Guptas for the time being as the Raizadas barely even got the chance to speak to Payal. Especially Akash, who hoped he could get a chance to at least ask his wife how she was feeling during the course of the night but faced disappointment when the said wife requested her Buaji instead to stay with her for the night. 

Needless to say, Payal being out of danger was a news enough to brighten his mood but Khushi could understand his overwhelming need to at least say a few words to the woman who had him on the brink of loosing his mind, just because he thought he would lose again and this time, to never see her again. 

Khushi had also noted the flicker of angst in Payal's eyes when she noticed Akash peeking inside her ward through the door that the Guptas left ajar and that led her to only one conclusion - Payal had also been wanting to meet Akash, but it was again the crack in relationships that prevented her from talking to him - that damned distance that grew between them over the years, that no one knew how to cover.

Khushi came back from musing over Akash's misery when she felt a little tap on her shoulder and when she looked up, there was no one in hall except for her and her husband. 

"Where are you lost? Come, let's go. You need rest." Arnav's arms were already around Khushi as he led her up the staircase by the time he finished talking. Khushi smiled, nodding slightly as they crossed over to the privacy of their room. 

She waited for Arnav to finish locking the door, before she spoke. "You can go freshen up first. I need to remove these first."

She gestured towards her messy hair, held up in a once beautiful bun with thousands of pins. Though the prettiness in her hairstyle was gone, the pins were still there - holding her hair up in a painful and rather uncomfortable instance. 

Arnav nodded. Pecking her cheek, he moved past her to grab some comfy clothes before disappearing behind the washroom door whilst Khushi moved towards the vanity table just next to their wardrobe. She sat herself slowly on the chair, then grimaced when she lifted her eyes to gaze at her reflection. 

She was an apparent mess. Apart from her hair, her makeup gave her a disheveled look for it was smudged all around over her face - partly due to crying and partly due to rubbing her face over and over again in restlessness. She sighed, shaking her head at herself as she started removing the pins - wincing at regular intervals as her scalp actually hurt after staying like that for over 40 hours. 

By the time she was done removing her hair from its misery and massaging her scalp to ease the pain, Arnav was already done. Wanting nothing more than a relaxing warm bath, she thus smiled in relief and went inside - only to come out after almost an hour. 

She smiled as she chucked her towel at the recliner, feeling her physical discomfort slowly easing away before she started looking around for her husband. He had been here itself ten minutes ago, knocking on the door and asking her whether she was fine or not. Where is he now?

Khushi bit her lip in confusion and was about to exit the room when she noticed a blur of white outside near the pool. She shook her head and approached him. There was a gust of icy breeze that hit her as soon as she stepped outside and she wondered what he was doing standing amidst such coldness.