Dark Night Dawning Chapter 15

I wanted to protect to you from everything bad and here you are Di -not seeing, not talking, not hearing. I want you to come back. You have got to come back to me. Please Di.’ Arnav said these words, unshed tears in his eyes, holding his dear sister’s hand. Anjali lay motionless, strapped to machines that monitored her condition, unable to respond. Arnav’s heart wrenched at the sight of her looking so weak and defenceless.

He had landed in Delhi around 12 AM and driven directly to the hospital. He had sent his family members home as he wanted to spend some time alone with Anjali. He had made it clear that he didn’t want to talk about anything else other than Anjali right now.Knowing Arnav’s nature, everyone went home without any argument.

After he had sat by Anjali for a hour, a doctor came up to him and told him to go home and get some rest. He assured him that it was highly likely that she would come out of the coma pretty soon.

Arnav then went to the ICN to take a look at his little niece who was sleeping peacefully in her crib. I will not let anything happen to you ever. Having made that promise he headed toward home.

Arnav stepped into the dark recesses of his bedroom and switched on the light. There was something wrong with it. He realized what it was. It had become his room again. Gone were the chimes that tinkled when he stepped in, the stars hanging on her side of the bed, the pink and white half bed sheet, the lights and even the Salman Khan poster. He opened the cupboard to see all her clothes were gone as well. She really had left.

In the past two months he had thought a lot about his relationship with Khushi. After the Nainital trip, he had even wanted to turn the 6 months temporary marriage into a permanent one. But she had betrayed him again.

He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her. About the way she had taken care of him when he was injured, the way she had saved his life in Mussoorie, the way she responded to his touch and finally the way she had confessed her love for him. He didn’t know what to believe. Somewhere in the corner of his heart he wanted to believe in her.

Couple of days ago, when he sat in the conference room in the middle of a meeting he had experienced an odd sensation as if she was calling out to him. He had felt restless the entire day. It was the same day he had received a call from Akash, telling him that Di was having the baby a week earlier than she was due. In the 24 hours that it took to get back to India, he had made up his mind to get into the root of the matter. Now that Di had safely delivered the baby, he had wanted to confront Shyam about the issue along with Khushi, so that the matter could be resolved one way or the other.

But he had come down here to find her gone. She had just up and left without so much as a good bye, leaving him to explain this entire mess to the family. Dammit! What was he supposed to tell them? That a saali had eloped with her jeejaji? How would he explain it to his Di of all people? She had put that two-timing twerp on a pedestal. She had loved Khushi like her own sister. AsArnav sat on the bed, he wondered how he was able to think about all this so calmly and realized that his mind had gone numb with shock. Then, his eyes fell on an envelope on the dressing table.

Arnav went up to the table and picked up the envelope on which his full name was scrawled in hindi. As he opened the flap, he found 300 rupees and a letter that looked all too familiar. His temper rose as he read the letter.

“Hum Khushi Kumari Gupta Singh Raizada! Arnav Singh Raizada se 300 rupiyeudhaar le rahe hain.”

That was not all. He found another letter that in which there was more money.

Arnavji,

I have re-paid the loan that I took from you some time back. You will also find more money in the envelope. Though it is not much, I hope it will cover some of the expenses of my stay at your house in the last six months.

Khushi

It was after he had read that letter that he completely lost it. How dare she? His rage knew no bounds as he threw the envelope across the room, the notes flying out in different directions. His hand swept across the surface of the dresser, its content smashing to the ground here and there and when he spotted a shiny little dot on the mirror and realized that it was her bindi, he took a vase that was close and threw it into the mirror, splintering it into a million tiny pieces. He paced the room like a man possessed. He looked at the immaculately made up bed and pulled out the sheet and threw the pillows on the floor. He could never sleep on that bed. F!@#! he could not stay in this room. He saw her everywhere. He could smell her fragrance. He could hear the khan- khan of her bangles and the tinkling of her payal. She had ruined everything. He walked out of the room his bags in his hands. He needed to get away from here!

More than 400 Kms away somewhere in the outskirts of Lucknow, Khushi sat on a cot in the small, dingy room that was her cell since the morning. She had no more tears left in her eyes. Her thoughts went back to the events of previous night. After the birth of the baby, she had wished everyone and had excused herself to go back home to arrange for some food. She had not returned after that. She had gone home and packed her bags quietly. Shyam had come sometime later and had taken her to the bus station and together, they had caught a bus to Lucknow. After reaching Lucknow they had taken a taxi to reach the outskirts, where Shyam had deposited her in this small house owned by an old couple. Shyam had left right after, promising to return soon. The couple had not asked any questions as they showed her to the small room in which she was currently locked up in. The old lady had given her some lunch and then finally some dinner which she had left untouched.

She didn’t know what Shyam was trying to achieve by bringing her here. She didn’t even care anymore. When she had found out that he was responsible for her dad’s condition, for Di’s accidents and then finally Arnav’s fall from the cliff, she had made up her mind right away. The look in his eyes had told her that this monstrosity would continue unless she gave in to his demands. What else could she do? There was no proof of the evil things he had done. The only eye witness was her dad who couldn’t talk. And when the most important person in her life didn’t believe her, who would?

She knew Di would be extremely hurt when she found out. Especially, knowing that she had been silent even afterAnjali had confided her doubts to her in Musoorie. But Anjali was better off without Shyam. She had a new life to look forward to – as a mother to the most beautiful baby.Arnav would help her recover from her trauma.

The other members of the family would be shocked at first, but they will eventually erase her from their lives like an old unpleasant memory. Arnav would make sure of that.

Arnav would handle everything - because he was the one person who knew that it was actually a good riddance. He would convince the entire family that they were better off without them.

The people who would be most hurt would be her mother, father, Buaji and Payal. This was the second time,the first being her hurried marriage to Arnav. At that time, standing on the threshold of the Raizada mansion, her Buaji had told her she had proved that she was not their own blood. But eventually they had forgiven and forgotten. This time there would be none. But still, she knew they will be okay; they had Payal – the good daughter who would manage to salvage their honour.

And finally Arnav - she dared not get into what he was thinking.But, she would rather have him think this way than not have him exist in this world.

**

The next day, the Raizada family assembled at the breakfast table, an awkward silence filling the air as they ate. Everyone was perplexed and worried about the events that had taken place in the last couple of days. ‘Akash, where is Chotte? Did he not return from the hospital last night?’ asked Naniji, her forehead creased in concern.

‘He did Dadi…...’ Akash squirmed a little as he told her, ‘He left within one hour though. He just called me. He has checked into a hotel near the hospital. He has asked us to bring the baby home as she is getting discharged today. He said he will take care of Di. He doesn’t want anyone to disturb him.’

They were so worried that they had forgotten the little bundle of joy that was in the ICN waiting to be taken home.

‘Yes of course! We will bring her home today and take care of her until Anjali recovers. But why is Chotte doing this? Why doesn’t he want to talk?’ she wondered aloud.

‘Dadi, you know it is a big shock for him that Di has gone into a coma,’ said Akash, ‘let’s give him some time to recover from it.’

‘You are right Akash,’ agreed Naniji, ‘We will wait until Chotte is ready to talk to us.’

That night, Payal paced about in her room, wringing her hands in anxiety. Khushi’s disappearance along with Shyam was already giving her sleepless nights. And earlier in the day, she had stepped into Arnav’s room and seen the devastation that had occurred there. She knew it was time to break her silence. I hope you are alright Khushi!

It was the middle of the night by the time Payal and Akash were able to meet Arnav in his hotel room. He had just got back from the hospital, and it was very evident from his face that he had not had a wink of sleep since the time he had got back.

‘May I know what was so important that it couldn’t have waited until tomorrow?’ Arnav’s irritated tone did not forebode well to Payal.

‘Bhai, this is very important!’ exclaimed Akash. ‘Please listen to her.’

Payal quickly regaled whatever she had told Akash beginning with Shyam’s entry into their lives, about his engagement to Khushi and eventually how they had discovered his fraud.

Arnav listened to everything in absolute silence and then asked one question.

‘Why did your family hide this information from the Raizada family?’

Payal paused for several seconds before answering, ‘Be…..because of mother…’ she stuttered in her nervousness,‘she didn’t want my alliance with Akashji to be jeopardized.’

Arnav realized that Khushi had not revealed this information to him. She had protected her family in spite of the trouble she was in.

‘Great!’ he exclaimed sardonically, ‘It’s wonderful to know that you are the kind of person who was ready to hide such an important truth from your future husband for a personal gain. How do I know you are telling the truth now Payal?’

‘Bhai!’ exclaimed Akash, ‘what are you saying?’

‘I am just saying that this might all be a big master plan by the Gupta family to trap two members of the Raizada family, one sister for the son-in-law and the other sister for the son ------ and that would be you Akash!’

‘Stop it Bhai!’ The usually quiet Akash raised his voice. ‘Please don’t talk about Payal that way. Payal had actually rejected me because of our difference in status. You are very well aware how much difficulty I had in trying to convince her to accept my proposal. I trust Payal completely. I understand you are under a lot of stress because of Di. So let’s talk when you are ready to listen to us calmly.’

Akash and Payal got up and left the room leaving Arnav standing by the window his back turned toward them.

**

It was one week since Arnav had returned from the US. Days had begun to fall into a pattern. He worked from morning till night and then went to the hospital to sit by Anjali’s bed talking to her about everything and nothing. This morning as he sat at his desk, looking blankly at a file his phone rang. It was the hospital. His heart lurched as they told him that Anjali had regained consciousness. She was out of her coma!

Arnav immediately rushed to the hospital where they told him that though she had recovered completely, she was still weak and they would like to keep her another day for observation.

Arnav went into Anjali’s room to see her lying on the bed her eyes closed. Just as he wondered if she had really come out of the coma, she opened her eyes slowly and smiled at him. The relief that washed over him was so immense that he fell on his knees by the bed, caught her hand in his and broke down. Anjali gently ran her fingers through his hair as tears streamed down her eyes.

‘Shhh chotte, everything is going to be ok.’ Anjali said in weak voice.

The next day Anjali was in her bedroom with her little daughter resting gently in her arms. Arnav looked on, a little smile playing on his lips, not ready to hold her yet. She was so tiny that he was afraid he would break her. Arnav looked at Anjali cooing to her baby gently, donning the role of a new mother with ease. After all, she had experience, hadn’t she? She had just been that to him in past 10 years. After he had gone to see her at the hospital he had avoided being with her for as long as he could. This morning he had brought her home and then immediately rushed off to the office to attend an important meeting. He had given standing instructions to the entire family not to say anything to her. He couldn’t bring himself to tell her what had happened. Strangely she didn’t seem to be asking either. Maybe she was still not completely recovered yet.

Naniji walked into the room just then and announced, ‘Anjali bitiya, the Guptas are here to see you and the baby.’

The moment Arnav dreaded had come. He quickly said, ‘Nani, please tell them that Di is resting. Please ask them to come back another time.’

Before Naniji could say anything Anjali’s calm voice rang with clarity, ‘Please ask them to come in Nani. There is something important they want to tell us.’

‘Di listen, this is not a good idea, I -------‘Arnav sat by her side, desperation showing clearly in his eyes.

Anjali touched her free hand to his cheek; her eyes filled with love as she said softly, ‘Chotte, don’t you think it is time we talked about what you have been avoiding since yesterday?’