His Knife Her Chest

Chapter 26 |Apologies|

"I'm sorry Khushi."

The words from Anjali had broken the ice. Her face assuredly gave away how guilty she felt.

It didn't even matter to Khushi if she apologized to her anymore. She and the Raizada family held minor importance in her life, that too because they were her sister's in-laws and it possibly wouldn't make a difference to her if they apologized or not.

"I'm past that, from a really long time. I think we should all move on and forget about what happened in the past." She said, with a grave yet serene tone.

She could see their ashamed faces. She could see how uncomfortable this subject made them.

She didn't give a damn.

That was something that was swirling through everyones minds. Khushi had become so distant that she didn't care if they apologized for their wrongs. This was the biggest shame, biggest insult, ever thrown at their faces. Their heads bowed in shame. They couldn't meet her striking eyes.

"But I really want to apologize for hurting you so badly." Anjali stated, vulnerably.

"Dekhiye, that's your child sitting beside you. Uskay samne yeh sab karna theek nahi hai." Said Khushi critically. (That's your child sitting beside you, it would be upsetting if we continue this in front of him.)

Calling for his babysitter as soon as Anjali could, she ordered her to take Aditya away for a while.

An awkward silence fell upon them.

Here we go again with the tears, Khushi thought, feeling the urge to roll her eyes at the show that was about to go down.

"Khushi I don't know what I can possibly do to correct the wrongs." Anjali said, her eyes misty.

"I don't know either." Khushi whispered, unaware that she had just spilled her thoughts.

Payal almost spat the water in her mouth back in her glass of water from which she was sipping on, enjoying the apologies.

Composing her posture back Khushi said. "You don't have to do that. I have moved on from that a long time ago as I said earlier. I'd prefer you do too."

"But I can't. No matter how much I want to I just can't. Please just listen...I'm really sorry for what I did. I regret it, a lot." Said Anjali, almost at the verge of crying.

Nani and the others corresponded almost immediately, stating how sorry they all were.

"It doesn't matter if you forgive us or not. The sins we've committed are a lot to just be forgiven. Oh how I wish I can reverse time and just correct the wron-" Anjali was interrupted by Khushi before completing her whole apology.

"Reversing time is something we can't do, no matter how much we want to. We have to accept everything that happens to us. The good, the bad, we have to accept everything, even if we don't want to." She said, as calmly as she could.

"And talking about forgiving or not forgiving." She paused for a second. "I have forgiven all of you. In fact I had forgiven all of you the day I walked out, actually got kicked out. I hold no grudges against you. I'm not a person who would just sit still and sulk over the unpleasantries in their life. I had much better and productive things to do other than that."

"The way I behaved that day was horrible Khushi. It was absolutely horrible. I just... I just...I'm really sorry for misunderstanding you for that good for nothing man. The way I acted that day. I'm sorry! I apologize from the bottom of my heart." Anjali stuttered, pouring out her heartfelt apology.

"I don't hold you accountable for your act. You yourself were a victim. And the way you acted was errr understandable. Seeing, how depressed you were, and then the shock you got made it worse, than on top of that the pregnancy hormones. I uhhh understand." She looked at her embarrassed face because of her blunt speech.

"And to be honest, I too wasn't a saint. I was very much at fault. If I'd told you all about that fucking, disgusting fucker before-" She could see their eyes widening at the curses she'd thrown at Shyam. She too got appalled for a second at her abrupt speech, that to in front of Nani.

"Khushi, language!" Said Payal, sternly, giving her the 'don't curse, Nani's right in front of you' eyes.

Her lips curved at her own stupidity. She cursed a lot, especially when aggravated. Another habit she had unknowingly developed in the last years. But doing it in front of Nani or just the elderly was just really embarrassing.

Khushi put those curses on lock. You can curse all you want once you get home, just stop now.

She could see the slight smiles that were adorning their faces.

Passing an awkward smile their way she continued. "Sorry about that. But as I was saying. I too am sorry for hiding it for so long. I should've told you all the moment I came to know the truth but he threatened me, our whole family and I-" she was cut off by Nani.

"I understand Khushi bitya. You don't have to tell us that. We've known it from a long time." She said. It was after her that Anjali joined the conversation again.

"Exactly Khushi. Shyam is a topic we left behind a very long time ago. Nor do we ever bring him up, nor will we ever. He threatened your family, and knowing what he was capable of, you had to stay shut. And even if you told me, it wouldn't have helped because one day or the other I had to come across his real face. The disgusting face he was hiding behind that mask he wore everyday." She stopped for a fleeting second before continuing. "But let's leave all that behind. We will, from today never ever discuss about him again. He's dead because of the crimes he committed and there's no point in bringing up a criminal."

Khushi was not surprised at the revelation.

"It's what he deserved." Khushi said.

"Khushi bitya about your sudden marriage!" Nani expressed and saw the shock and uncomfortableness in Khushi's eyes.

"We're sorry for how we treated you, not knowing the real reason behind it. When we came to know how it happened and how you were forced into it." Devyani passed her grandson a disgusted look. "We were really ashamed of ourselves. I just... please forgive me of you can."

"Naniji what are you saying? Please don't embarrass me like this. You don't have to apologize. It wasn't your mistake. Yes I agree that things could've been better if all that hadn't happened, but again, we can't just sit and mourn over it, right? What happened, happened. We can't change it."

She continued. "Thankfully it won't ever be happening again nor would I ever be marrying Arnav so we don't have to worry about it."

And that was when Arnav Singh Raizada died a little.

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Well that was it for this chapter, let me know what you think about it.

I kinda had to get the apologies out of the way before starting the upcoming tracks. Poor Arnav! Let's see how he copes up with the last sentences Khushi blurted out.

I'll try to update soon! Till then take care and stay safe : )