HOME IS WHERE HEART IS.

Chapter 2| MAZE.

The trap that confounds efforts to escape.

Arnav leaned onto his office chair, eyes shut and hand pressing on his forehead. This happened frequently on days when his dinner time had been inadvertently delayed. One of the very characteristics of his health condition.

He inhaled sharply. It was already late. He had to get to home. But, he couldn't. If he did, he knew he wouldn't be able to face her. Not after what he'd done that morning.

He'd gotten to know from his sister that his wife had only gone out with the snake to get medicines. And, he'd immediately felt regret. Not wasting any time, he'd rushed to make up with Khushi and in return he'd gotten a cold reply from her. It had fueled the intermittently dormant fire in him and her silent treatment that followed after hadn't helped with his rage too, and he'd berated at her- had told her not to come to his office, not to leave the room and that she'd made his life hell.

Now, he was feeling guilty, for slipping all those harsh words at her. Arnav sighed. It was only the previous night, he'd seen her anguish. It had broken his heart and yet, he'd let the Khushi-loathing part of him get better over Khushi-loving part of him.

At the tender age of fourteen, he'd been introduced to the cruel, brutal reality of life. The betrayal of a father he'd looked up to, the loss of a mother who had been his world, the treachery of his own blood relatives had made him lose trust on the world. Well, his lack of trust on people had helped him make accurate judgements about them. But, with Khushi it was different. From the very moment he'd met her, she'd disapproved all his assumptions of her. His judgement on her had gone wrong, not once, not twice but more number of times than he could count.

But now, he was beginning to doubt himself.

Why cant you stop thinking of her. She is a deception. Period.

The icy voice hollered at him. Except that, the voice wasn't as loud as it used to be and this for some reason didn't bother him as ot should.

You have to go home. She is alone, remember? Plus, you have get some food in your system before you pass out.

It was his nice voice. His heart. He was reminded of why she was alone. The rest of his family had gone to a Satsang. Di had cheekily gloated over the phone that Khushi had given excuses to stay behind and she was sure that it was to spend time with him. He wasn't particularly aware of the reason she'd not gone, but, he didn't ponder over it.

His phone buzzed, breaking away his conflicting thoughts. He put it on speaker and leaned back on his chair.

"Bhai. I called to inform you we've reached." Aakash, who was on line, spoke.

"Alright Aakash.. Take care... And...Was there heavy traffic? Technically, you should've reached earlier.." Arnav asked, as a sudden thought popped in his head.

"No, no, Bhai.. It's just we had to come back halfway because some work cropped up for Jijaji."

Arnav's senses heightened at the mention of his vicious 'Jijaji'. He'd come back half way. Khushi had decided to stay home. As much as he despised the thought, his mind didn't stop coming to the most probable, ugliest of the conclusions.

"Aakash..I'll call you back." Arnav abruptly cut the call. Texting Aman to find about the snake's whereabouts, he grabbed his phone and car key and raced out his office with his monster face on.