**********

Take Some Tissues... Khushi's POV is here...

Not Proof Read... Ignore the mistakes..

***********

48 ~ Bowing Down Before The Devil : 2 ~

Two Weeks Later..

Somewhere outskirt of Delhi...

Khushi's Point of View...

The constant tears had dried my eyes out. Two weeks, I was locked down in this place for almost two weeks now. It was cold, dark and unforgiving. It become my nightmare, that no one was waking me up from. Two weeks of mental torture, pain and suffering. I saw it every time I closed my eyes. I felt locked, suffocated. I could not breathe anymore but I was.

The pain that I felt was the evidence of my survival. Every time I got too much, I wanted to give up. I wanted to end all the pain and suffering. But when I closed my eyes, through the dark clouds of torture and misery would peak through Their face.

Like a ray of hope.

My Arnav and My Advay...

I know Arnav will find me.. He will come back to me, like he always do. I won't let Sheetal and Shyam win. I won't lose my life because I have spent it with Arnav and my baby Advay. I had found my reason to live in you and in my Advay.

And I had also found a reason for me and Arnav to not only fight, but to survive.

Our love.

Our Love is growing within me...

I closed my eyes , his face flashed in front me. Everything became less painful. " Please come soon Arnav. I am waiting for you.." I whispered.

"Waiting for who?" my eyes snapped open. Sheetal was standing at the door, smiling. Her smiles scared me, she scared me. I bit my lip as I saw the scissors in her hands. My toes curled in anxiety. I hugged my knees harder and hid my face from her. I tried to protect myself from her, but I failed every time. She walked closer to me, placed the scissors on the floor, then slid them in my direction. I refused to make eye contact with her in the fear of what I would see there.

In this two weeks Sheetal had tortured me to no end, but she did one good thing.. She saved me from Shyam's lust.. I don't know why, but Shyam had complied with her and though every day his lustful eyes roamed over my body, but he did not touched me...

But I don't know how long I can save myself from him and his lust...

I hope Arnav will find me soon before it's too late.. Because if Shyam touched me by any means, I will not able to hold up anymore.. I will die...

Sheetal sighed, and it brought me back to reality... Sheetal then took a step towards me. "Arnav loves your hair," she whispered. "He finds it beautiful." I looked at her through my fearful eyes, she was staring at me. Her head was slightly tilted, she was scratching her already bleeding arms. She pointed at the scissors, then my hair. " Cut your hair."

I held onto myself tighter , " No.. no.' I stuttered.

She shrugged, ' Fine. How about I cut Veer instead? Poor guy. All he wanted was to help his brother's wife out and look where he ended up."

" Veer Bhai?" my eyes stung with unshed tears. " Sheetal please," I begged. "where is he? What did you do with him?'

"I injected him a drug. He is still alive and breathing, but he cannot move. He is basically a breathing dead body." she whispered like she was telling me a secret.

" Why?" I cried, " why are you doing this?"

" because I want Arnav. And it's not my fault. You started this, all this is your fault. You took him away from me. You did not leave me a choice. Why did not you refused him? Why did you allow him to make love to you? " She screamed.

" Giving other people pain won't take yours away. Please." I begged. " let Veer Bhai go."

" I will. But first." She pointed the scissor again, then my hair, " cut all off your hair and if you don't Veer gets it. How would he feel when he wakes up, if he wakes up." She laughed, " to see all his hair gone." She smirked, " cut it or I will cut his head off and gift wrap it for you."

"Sheetal please..." I cried not knowing what to do. The only thing I did know was I could not put Veer Bhai at risk because of me. His life is in danger because of me and I could not do more damage. With my shaking hands, I held the scissors.

"Arnav. Where are you?"

" I want it all off." Shania repeated, finding her peace in my tears.

I closed my eyes and grabbed a handful of my hair. I clutched the scissors in my hand, crying. But with no one to listen to my cries. Before I could close the scissors on my hair, Sheetal's phone rang.

" It's Arnav." Sheetal whispered, a huge smile on her face. " hello husband to be. Missing me already?" I bit my lip, fighting hard to keep myself from shouting and screaming or his help. But for Veer's sake, I stayed numb. I stared at Sheetal as she laughed, smiled and flirted with Arnav.

I knew Arnav enough to know he would blame himself . He would have hurt himself because he would hold himself responsible for what happened to me. But I did not, I never blamed him. If his love meant going through this torture, I would do it all again. I was willing to take every ounce of pain for his love . which I knew belong to me.

Sheetal tried to make me jealous again and told me that he was going to marry her. I knew Arnav was falling weak, he was falling weak in his quest to protect me. But I would not let him. I would not let him sacrifice himself for me.

I watched as the color from Sheetal's face drained before she hung up. She looked at me, then smiled. " Arnav will be mine," her eyes teared up. She came towards me and sat next to me on the floor. "He will be mine, right?" she looked at me through her hopeful eyes. The anger from her face vanished and instead I saw traces vulnerability.

" I am sorry, I don't want to hurt you. But what can I do? I don't want to lose Arnav... You may keep the family of Arnav, friends like Aman, a brother Like Veer and that little boy Advay.. You can keep them all to yourself.. I just want Arnav... You have everything but Arnav is all I have. You don't need him, but I do. I know no one believes me when I say I did not want to hurt you, but I swear I did not. I only did it to get Arnav back. I have to make a choice, my happiness or your's. I am choosing my own happiness, why is that so wrong to everyone? Why does not Arnav understand me? If I let you go, Arnav will leave me. Even if he marries me, the second I release you he will run back to you. I cannot let that happen. I have to kill you. I will never forgive Arnav for making me kill you. It's all Arnav's fault, please don't hate me."

She was breathing hard, looking around to find a way to release her aggression. " I will never forgive him, never." And in a blink, she went silent. The vulnerability that I just saw vanished in thin air. She looked ahead silently. It was like I was seeing five different people rolled into one. " Arnav refused to sleep with me."

I froze in my place...If she dared to force herself on Arnav, I would lose it. "because he does not love you," I gritted my teeth.

" Not today," she whispered. " when we were engaged, he refused to sleep with me."

I gulped, " what do you mean?"

" I had always dreamed About Arnav.. When me and Shyam joined hand with Subhadra Mallik, since then I want him..though our dirty plan was to snatch the property from him, but I insisted that I will only help them if he get married with me.. I had always desired him.. But he refused the marriage proposal when Shyam bhai first brought it... Then without finding any other way, I just scare Anjali that if Arnav refused to my proposal, I will kill him... a scared Anjali blackmail Arnav emotionally to marry me to save his life.. though Arnav was ready to get married with me, but he was always distant.. One day I found out that he loves someone since his childhood.. and he desired her...I tried to seduced him after our engagement but he clearly told me that his heart belong to that Girl... I felt insulted.. and then I used Veer, I slept with him just to make Arnav jealous... But he was never bothered with this, he never asked me about my whereabouts.. I used to come to meet Arnav when there will be visible Hickey on my neck, I thought he will confront me but he never asked any single question.. As if My existence never meant anything for him, while he was my entire world, my fantasy... Then when the accident happened, I never thought that Arnav will be there... Subhadra Mallik ditched us... she played dirty ..." Sheetal said while I felt to slap her hard, but I control myself and she continued..

" I was shocked to see Arnav's burnt body.. His charming face, his that sexy body had became so scarred.. I thought that he will at least accept me now in his life, because he had no one to go on... But he still refused me to love, to sleep with me... that day he found me cheating on him, was my revenge on him.. I wanted to hurt him... Because before that night, when I wanted to get close with him, he once again refused me saying that he need time, that he loves someone else from childhood... That he does not have any feelings for me.. that he is not ready for me... I felt insulted.. It enraged me and I insult him back... I thought no one will ever love Arnav because of his physical marks.. But.. You... You changed everything..." Sheetal looked at me with venom in her eyes..

" You have hurt his self esteem when he had just lost his sister and his appearance was so damaged.. What if he would do any self harm??" I asked while a sudden rage was replacing my helplessness..

" I would not have let him die. Arnav cannot die, not unless I want him to. Like I said, he is my doll. I decide what happens when in his life, only me." Sheetal said in a trance..

I clenched my hands and stood up, my aggression needed to be released before I lost it. " You have hurt him enough Sheetal... Enough..."

I fought hard against the lump in my throat, refusing to cry. "I won't let you hurt him anymore, you bitch." I started slapping her like a madwoman. I pulled her hair out, using my knee to kick her in the stomach. She started chocking. But I could not hold the fight longer as my body lost the energy. I had not eaten in two days and Sheetal had cut down my water intake too. Sheetal used the advantage and pushed me away from her.

I was still breathing hard when I glared at her, wanting to claw her eyes out. "The minute I get a chance, I will kill you. I will kill you bitch."

Sheetal held my hand and injected something straight into my arms. "This will shut you right up." Throwing me one last smirk, she walked out.

I stood up, trying to run after her to chase her but she locked the door. When my body finally gave up, I collapsed on the floor, crying.

The place that was supposed to be our heaven, turned out to be my hell.

I struggle to open my eyes, finding it hard to move around. My arm still ached in the place Sheetal injected me and had been injecting me since the past week. The bright light almost blinded me. Through my hazy vision I stared at the familiar face I saw ahead of me, staring right back at me.

I lost my breath, just as soon as I found it again. "A...Arnav ?"

He was smiling, staring into my eyes. Mine filled up with tears. " Arnav?"

I repeated, unable to believe my sight. He did not say anything, he just stared at me, smiling. I struggled to pick myself up, my body fell weak, but I still threw myself in his arms. " Oh my God! Arnav..."

" Hey," he whispered in my ear. " its okay, you are going to be okay."

" I missed you," I cried. " I missed you so much".

" I missed you too baby," I could hear the smile in his voice . I broke the hug to look at him. Hot tears stung my eyes as I touched his face, trying to make myself believe this was real.

" I was so scared. I thought I would never see you again.. I am trapped here." I looked around the suffocating walls of the basement. Arnav's gaze followed mine. " please get me out of here..."

The smile from his face did not fade. " You are not trapped. You know this place better than you think. Sheetal can not trap you in your own home."

Home..

Our home, our dream, was now my biggest nightmare. I did not fight the tears as they streamed down my face. "I can not get out.."

" of course you can," he cupped my cheek. " You can and you will, for me , for us."

I shook my head, " I don't know what to do. I feel like I am going to die in here." I sobbed in his arms.

" Hey," he held my face gently. " I won't let that happen.

" I am scared," I whispered. " I am so scared Arnav. I tried to be brave, but I have been brave for too long now. Sheetal said she would break me and I can see her succeeding.."

"Shhh," he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, shaking his head lightly. I leaned into his touch. " That won't happen."

" Yes it will," I cried." I am losing my mind. I feel like I am on the brim of insanity, like I will explode and.."

" She can not win," he interrupted. " I won't let her break you. You can not break, you have to fight. You have to keep going. If not for yourself, then for me. Every time you find yourself at the brim of insanity, you will find me around you to pull you back. Every time you explode, you will find me by your side to put your pieces back together. I won't let you lose this."

" But what if I can not? What if I am not strong enough? What if I fall weak?" I said while tears were continuously flowing from my eyes..

" Then you remember what I always say. You are the strongest woman I know. You can do this. If you put your mind to it, you can do anything. Even the sky is not the limit for you Khushi," he kissed forehead lightly. " Your strength has no boundaries. You have pulled me, the devil, out of the dark many times. You saved me from myself. Now it's your turn to save yourself and I will be by your side through it all", he smiled. " always remember that the darkest nights, bring the brightest morning."

I tried to mirror his smile, but failed. " why does this always happen to us? Why is this happening?"

He looked down, sadly smiling. " I don't know baby. May be, because we can get through it, because we are stronger than anyone can ever know. We have been through so much together and we always survived. We will survive this too. We are stronger than anything that wants to hurt us. Arnav and Khushi are forever, right?"

I nodded, staring at his beautiful face through my tearful eyes. " forever," I repeated after him.

He smiled, then kissed my hand ever so lightly. " Get some sleep, you need your strength."

Before he could get up I held his hand. " No!" I shook my head frantically, afraid I wound lose him again. " Please don't leave me." I begged.

He gently held me in his arms, " you need to sleep baby."

" Will you stay with me?" my voice came out as a whisper, I hoped he would listen to the plead in my voice.

He kissed my lips ever so lightly . " Always, love."

He helped me lie down. I placed my head in his lap, holding onto his hand, refusing to ever let go. He smiled at me, gently caressing my hair at the same time. " if this is a dream, I don't ever want to wake up from it." I whispered.

Arnav placed his hand on my eyes, gently closing them shut. " a dream is an experience and an experience is real. Our dreams are our reality Khushi."

" I love you." I held on to his hand a little tighter as I felt my sleep getting heavier.

" and I love you." It was the last thing I heard him say before I fell back in the deep sleep Sheetal had put me in.

To be contd.....

**********

Author note:

Hello, lovely people over here...Hope You all are doing well..

So, here is Khushi's pov... I know many of you may be crying but wait for few chapters more.. Our beauty is strong enough to fight with the evil...

Share your thought about this part...

As I have already mentioned, I have drafted the whole story... So, now it's upon you, how regular the update will be....Next chapter will be updated, after 350 + votes...

Only 5 chapters left to complete the story...

**************

Be safe...keep everybody safe...

Pray for all...

***********

Love,

Your Story teller

Mamree

18.04.2021