Khushi gasped in low tone when she heard his voice suddenly, but soon she composed herself and the words he said rang in her heart again and again, as she stare into his chocolate brown eyes intently.
For a moment, no one spoke anything. They just kept staring at each other and let their hearts do the talking.
"Th-Then why are you angry with your life?" Khushi whispered breaking the silence between them.
"You hurt me." he whispered back with a broken tone.
"What did I do?" she asked softly, rubbing his chest as if to lessen the pain she inflicted on his heart.
Arnav looked away holding his breath for a moment.
"Arnav ji look at me.." Khushi said lovingly cupping his cheek, she made him look at her side, "You weren't like this before our marriage. Remember you used to share everything with me, even that day Sim and Pam instigated me to check your phone and when I did, you became upset with me and you made it clear to me that you don't like what I did. Is it our marriage that changed everything between us? You weren't ready for this marriage. You felt forced by my parents to marry me, right? And you might distance yourself from me even more, now that I'll say to you that Bauji was just acting when he came to talk with you about us and asked you to separate from me till you're sure about your feelings for me. He wanted to make you confess your feelings to me."
"Despite knowing I might distance myself from you, you still broke my heart.. you chose to be a part of this plan of your family." he said in disbelief.
"I wasn't aware of their plan Arnav ji. Do you think I would ever do something like this to you after knowing about your past and your insecurities? I might be childish and immature, but I wouldn't ever take part of this plan. In fact, I was the only one who was angry and hurt with you for this step when you're not ready for it. I always told you that I'm willing to wait for you Arnav ji." Khushi sat on the bed, still staring at him.
"Okay.." Arnav too sat on the bed, to continue the conversation with her, "I can believe that you weren't a part of their plan, but you shouldn't have taken this matter so lightly when they revealed this to you. For God sake, you guys were making a joke out of my insecurities."
"I wasn't laughing at you Arnav ji. I was amused and shocked to know how things turned out to be. It started with a plan to make you confess your love to me and it ended in us getting married at the same day. Neither I nor my family expected you to take me to mandap that day and get married to me Arnav ji. It was my family's efforts to help us make a move in our relationship, but it was your fear of losing me that touched my heart. I remember I even compared the whole scenario to a movie, because it was unexpected that all this story was behind our marriage." Khushi said.
"I expected you to understand my feelings as well. You're my better half Khushi. You understood your family had good intentions behind this plan, but why can't you understand that I don't take marriage and love matters so lightly like you all do?" Arnav asked.
Khushi looked at him confused for a while but before she could say anything in her defense, his phone rang disturbing their conversation.
Arnav looked at side table and took his phone, then glanced at Khushi: Just a minute.
Khushi nodded. Arnav got up from the bed and walked to the poolside, picking up the phone, "Namaste uncle.." he said after clearing his throat once.
"Namaste beta. Woh.. I'm sorry to call you at this hour.. but before leaving to Sydney Akash bitwa called us and in between our conversation he told us that today is your birthday. He also told us that you don't like to receive birthday wishes on this day. So respecting your decision, I won't wish you but I also couldn't stop myself from calling you to give my blessings to you, may you always be happy and healthy in life, may you get success in everything you do and may you always get what is right for you." Shashi said.
