The Silenced Echoes

Chapter5

"You can stop pretending, he is not here. I already saw you waking up sometime ago." Arnav casually remarked as soon as Nikhil stepped out of the room for attending a phone call. Smirking from inside Khushi put up a guilty and exhausted face on outside and turned to face him. Trying to get up she purposefully slipped to watch Arnav's reaction. Well he would think that didn't react but Khushi saw his subtle movement as he involuntarily rushed forward but stopped just in time before making it obvious,& she got to know what she wanted from that action. " I.. I saw a glimpse of you earlier when you people brought me here but I was barely conscious. I just couldn't gather enough courage to face you." Khushi muttered looking down, scrunching her dress in nervousness. Arnav was observing her actions continuously. By looking at her appearance and attitude he had already concluded that she was suffering in her life and in no position to fight or protest with him. The poor condition of her clothes and faint marks of scars on her arms and feet, were clear indicators of her misery. Well that would make his plan more easier thought Arnav.

Little did he know that those scars didn't indicate her misery, but were reminders of her courage and bravery. "Why are you here after all this time? Weren't you supposed to be dead for us!! Arnav said to her in a cold dead voice which was equally threatening.. Pretending to be scared and continuing her act of helpless person Khushi answered him in a stammering voice " I dind't have anywhere else to go... I wanted to come back home but didn't know how to show up after all these years..".

" Don't you dare call it your home !!" came Nikhil's voice from the door way. Although she had been keeping a watch on them from months and but seeing him so close to her Khushi couldn't help but feel a little vulnerable. Quickly getting a hold of her emotions she continued to play her role. Slowly she got up from the bed and walked towards him." Bhaiya, please don't say that" she cried. Almost flinching from her touch as she came towards him, he moved back a step. "How could you think that we would welcome you back now after what you put us through, after abandoning the house and running away like that." Nikhil almost shouted on her.

She already knew the story which had been fed to them after her disappearance. She was framed as the culprit in their eyes all these years and there was no way she could deny all those blames instantly without creating a nuisance in her plan. Hence she had decided that she would neither deny or accept any accusations , just continue to play dumb. The less she spoke the better were chances of them making assumptions about her and not getting near reality.

Looking at her after all this time and that too in this condition Nikhil was deeply hurt. But just Arnav did he vented out all his emotions in the form of anger. "Now that you are standing on your own feet just leave from here. We did all this out of humanity don't consider this as our acceptance or care and concern." Nikhil spoke turning his back towards Khushi as she stood their with bowed down head and stooped shoulders.

"You are wrong Nikhil , we cannot decide this on our own. Let the family decide what to do with her." Arnav said trying to buy some time to plan his next move. Now that he had found her he was not going to let her escape again. Looking at Arnav's stern face and his tone, Nikhil failed to guess his motive behind the statement. The way Arnav had said this Nikhil knew that there was no scope for discussion and somewhere even he agreed on this. He could not take away their family's right to know about her. While Khushi was content that her assumption of Arnav trapping her was proving to be right.

Right when she was about to speak, both the men left the room locking it from outside. Khushi was prepared for this situation. She knew that once she came across them there would be no way to communicate with her team till she settles down the drama in the house. Well of course she had not walked into this alone. She knew the kind of danger she was going to tackle and that she will be needing support in the future. She had already planted her team mates in the correct positions and they knew what to do once she gave them a signal which indicated that plan had started. Well Arnav could have easily bugged the room and hence not wanting to be caught she discreetly pressed a small button on her old and outdated watch in fixed pattern to send the signal. Now all she had to do was wait for them to take her to the house where her target was waiting.

Shantivan

Sleep was far away from Shyam's eyes after receiving the phone call from Arnav. He couldn't believe his ears when he heard that she was back. Now he knew that the feeling of restlessness he felt before was not wrong. Although her condition which Arnav described on the call was a good sign but still her coming back was going to reopen old matters which he had so pain stakingly buried. Raizada name and support was very important to him for his dual life. He couldn't risk anything after coming this far. The devil's mind had immediately started the further planning and moves of safeguarding himself which also meant degrading and demeaning Khushi to such an extent that anything which she said would be considered a lie. Years ago he had made up a story to explain her disappearance and since no when was there to refute it, all had believed it to be true. But Khushi knew the reality and the minute she opened her mouth it was going to cause chaos. Arnav had told him that they didn't talk much to her and were bringing her home in the morning. He had to make sure that all his stories were backed up before she could even try to deny them. Another way of handling this was controlling her by means of threatening. He thought of having a private chat with her and making her a puppet in his hands, but that will need him to talk to her alone and ditching Arnav and Nikhil. He would decide after meeting her which way to follow. He just hoped the second way worked since it was much easier.

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Hello guys !!!

The next part is here. Although much didn't happen here it was important to set up a stage for Khushi's entry in the house.

Stay tuned for whats coming next!

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