Reawakening

Part 27 - Outing..

Outing

She looked at him, relieved to hear his voice though it was only a few minutes of silence. "Sorry. Sorry. It all meant something.. everything to me.."

She raised her eyebrows not able to fully understand where he was coming from. But she was too tired to probe further, rather too scared to fully understand what he meant.

Only when he was half way back home did he come to a sudden halt. "Did I say that to her loud?"

"Did I really say that loud? Did she understand what I was on about? Is that why she looked confused? And what did I mean by, ' It meant everything to me.' Diwali day I was not able to hold myself, infact she as well and what followed was what our hearts always wanted. Yet I crumpled everything in a split of a second. I betrayed myself by agreeing to marry Lavanya. Is that what she is doing now? But she is not me. She will listen to her family, she feels indebted. Does she have a choice? Will she accept me after all that I have told her? .. " questions raced through his mind.

"Khushi khushi khushi,.. What have you made of me? I am going mad." he said it aloud. Hearing his own voice, he felt it was real. Yes Khushi it was who his heart always yearned for. Khushi it was who made his heart race. Khushi it was who invoked all the buried feelings of love he had. But how do I get this across.

"You cannot simply marry anybody.." again he spoke to himself and made his way home, though he was not sure how to proceed.

Back at Sheesh Mahal Anjali had had a long conversation with Nani. When Akash had accidentally walked in beaming, content, after spend some quality time with Payal, he stood shocked hearing Anjali proclaim "Nani, Khushi likes Chotte and about Chotte, you don't even have to ask. "

Anjali stopped and looked at Akash, when she heard, "Di, Dadi,.."

Well, it took some convincing for Akash to believe, yet he had second thoughts. He was in fact the witness to all the atrocities Arnav had done and to an extent tried to mend it. It WAS hard to believe what they were saying, but again, he had hardly noticed what Anjali had, since he was too busy wooing his lady love. With his marriage settled and nothing more to do on that front , he agreed to support Di in whatever she had planned..

And so it was, at dinner, Akash brought up the topic. "Di, Did Khushi tell you about her alliance? Payal was saying, that if things go right, her amma babuji are eager to get her married really soon."

As expected, Arnav's attention was all in the conversation . Nani saw him fidgeting the spoon and playing with food.

"No Akash, she refused to speak. I strongly believe she is not happy, but you know how their Buaji is, their circumstances, her Babuji's health. It will not take much to convince her and she will sacrifice anything to keep her family happy. Oh, what plans I had for her..." Anjali whined, while Mami and Arnav looked at her questionably.

Nani interrupted, "What can we do bitiya? We did not act quick enough, now she will go away from all of us. Marriage is all destiny. Just like how not every business is a success, even marriage is similar. You have to put your heart in it and make it work. And if both hearts are in it, then every deal will be successful. You have to trust each other." Nani did not want to stress on failed marriages in view of Anjali's presence, but her Chotte had to understand that and move on, leaving the past behind.

Even though Mami could not get head or tail of the marriage business, she failed to see the curious eyes of Arnav watching his Nani and understanding her language. In deed Nani was clever. With Khushi's thoughts having taken over his thinking, he failed to notice that his Nani was trying to work her way through his mind.