Till Death Do Us Part

Part 12

"Do you really have to leave, Khushi?" he demanded, clasping her arm as she attempted to walk across him.

"Yes, of course. And even you have to," she remarked, her eyes gleaming, but not with any emotion like he had wanted, but with the glaring sunlight above their heads.

"Huh?" he asked, puzzled by her statement and her tone.

"My arm. Leave it, or I think you remember that night in the hotel. It won't take long before I use my training upon you," she lashed, the challenging edge to her tone daring him to try rousing the full extent of her wrath.

"Just one chance, Khushi. You had a reason to think before meeting Anvita that I was going this for her but now that I have met her and signed the bond sent by Sunidhi to never demand her custody, what makes you think that I am not serious about you?" he questioned, clutching her another arm in retaliation to her challenge. He knew that she would make every attempt to stay away from him if he let her go away from his home and he had no intention to let it happen.

"Wasn't the last experience quite enough to back my current beliefs? One chance for you has ruined my chance with love, happiness and even life. I don't want to take any more chances, especially with you. Also, why should I stay back with you? Now, don't give me that crap that you were once my husband because clearly you never had any intention to be one," she spat with condescending edge to her derisive tone along with a mocking smirk which graced her lips.

"I know that there is no true redemption to what I have done but I want to try undoing every wrong of mine. I...I love you, Khushi."

Khushi's eyes momentarily widened before she doubled over with laughter. As she erupted into peals of laughter in response to his confession, Arnav felt his grip over arms loosen and he found himself stumbling back. He had not been expecting her to accept his proposal with open hands but the cynical guffawing he received was beyond his expectations.

"So, you," she pointed at him, trying to control her sniggering, "love me? And you expected me to believe it? I thought you knew me better than that at least."

"I really do love you, Khushi. I know it is tough for you..."

"You know? Oh wow! I don't know which is a bigger joke now. The fact that you happen to know how tough it is for me or that fact that you love me. Thanks for the laughter though," she said, laughing mirthlessly before her expressions morphed into those of disgust and dejection.

"I can't change the past, Khushi, as far as I know. If you know of a way to change that, please enlighten me because I am ready to go to any lengths to undo that but I don't see any means to achieve that," he pointed, his voice quivering with the aftereffects of the heartless rejection by the one who had begun to own his heart.

"Just like you can't change the past, you cannot change the effect it has on me. Nothing can undo that and I don't want to be confronted by those tormenting emotions for the rest of my life. I need this so if you really love me, let me go," she stated, averting her eyes from him as she noted agony marring his features and sincere distress pooling and descending from his eyes.

"You will still continue working with the Police right? Don't tell me that you will be requesting for a transfer," he asked, finding his voice after a struggle. With every step she took backwards, creating more distance between them, processing and understanding became tougher and his breaths became shallower.

"No. I have no other means of livelihood and this is the highest paying job I can find for my educational qualifications so there is not really any other option," she answered, sighing deeply in disappointment at the restraints.

"You could stay back, you know, and never worry about money. I know you don't like violence at all, so you can't really avoid seeing violence when you are a part of police force. Please recon.."

The previously evident hints of pity for him had vanished with his statement which bruised her dignity. What did he think of himself and her, she wondered.

"You think that you can buy me with your money? You are wrong, Mr. Raizada, as always. If you don't remember, I had agreed to marry you when you were disguised as a prodigious orphan. Don't try to buy me with your money. About violence, you are the one to talk about it? When you are the one to drag me into this world of violence? I will be grateful to you if you just leave me to be, Mr. Raizada. Because every action and every word of yours shows how madly matched we are and I have had enough of this pain. Goodbye!" she said furiously.

She signed to the cab driver to begin driving towards the police quarters without sparing a glance towards the man she had left pining for her. She clutched the sides of her dress, much like the tumultuous thoughts holding her heart in their grip and shut her eyes closed, telling herself that what she was doing was necessary as she eyed her phone in contemplation.

Arnav raked his fingers through his hair before tugging at them in frustration. He cursed himself for ruining every single chance he had with the wrong timing of his words. He did not know how much time had passed since he was left stranded by every bit of hope when his phone began ringing and the custom ringtone indicated that it was from his immediate junior officer - Shrikant.

"Hello, is this important?" he muttered, trying to control the pace and rhythm of his erratic breathing.

"Very important, Sir. Do you remember how every attempt of ours to crack the network of that drug mafia was failing and we were concerned if there was a traitor in our ranks?" started Shrikant.

Arnav shut his eyes to regain his concentration and process the piece of information given by Shrikant. Juggling between his personal life and professional life had drained him and as failure waited for him in every aspect, it only drained him further.

"Yes, did you find someone?" he asked, opening his eyes, hoping that there was some good news finally.

"Sir, actually, it is Inspector Khushi Gupta. She was the one who was leaking the information to them..."

Arnav could not help it when he dropped the phone from his hands after the revelation, and it immediately cracked into numerous pieces upon impact. What was the phone in front of his trust, his beliefs and his heart which broke along?

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So, how was the surprise?