Part 32 Doubt

"Chotte... I have found her...! Finally, I found our Khushali" Arvind rushed inside happily.

Arnav straightened himself and looked at him with an unbelievable stare whereas Khushi was confused.

"What? What did you say?" Arnav asked.

"I said, I found your Khushali"

Khushi was confused. How did he find HER? When she was there, why didn't he see her face while talking about Khushali? Didn't he know it was her? But, how did he find her? Did Shashi tell him?

"How did you find her?" Arnav asked glancing at Khushi excitedly. He too was curious to hear about Khushi from him.

Ratna and Lavanya came from the kitchen with tea cups.

"Ratna, our Chotte's waiting came to an end. I found our Khushali"

"What are you saying?" Ratna asked, keeping the teacup on the tea table with an unbelievable look.

Arvind looked behind.

"Come in, beta..." he shouted.

They saw a couple entering with a young girl. She headed them with a smile.

"She is our Khushali..." Said Arvind, making Arnav and Khushi shocked.

They looked at the girl unbelievably. Arnav was disappointed as he thought Khushi was his Khushali. Khushi was disappointed because she understood Arvind was lying. She didn't know whether she could tell them the truth. Her mind was struck. She stood gazing at the girl as she felt like she had seen the girl somewhere. But where? She didn't get it.

"They are her parents... I mean they brought her up. He is Kishor Bijlani, she is his wife Ankita Bijlani... and she is..."

"Hi, I'm Hilma aka Khushali," the girl said.

Arnav frowned. Khushi's eyes broadened. HILMA...! She knew this girl. She had heard her name. where? If it was some other time, Khushi would have easily caught the point but now, as her mind was in confusion, it didn't work.

"We named her Hilma because we felt Khushali is an old model name," Kishor laughed as if it was a big joke.

"Did she agree?" came from Ratna who knows about Khushali's nature.

"No... at first, she fought a lot. Then she agreed"

"How?"

"We promised we would call her Khushali at home. Then only she agreed" Ankita said.

"How did you get her?"

"We found her in Kedarnath. She was crying all alone having no one. So, we took her to our home"

"Didn't she tell you about us?"

"Of course, she did..."

"Then, why didn't you bring her to us?" Ratna asked.

"We were not blessed with kids. So, we thought to keep her with us as our daughter. That's why we didn't bring her to you but she always remembered you. Her every step was in the search of you. Wherever she went she searched you. Finally, we went to Lucknow but you guys shifted to Delhi. That disappointed us. She intentionally participated in the interschool competitions only to find her friend Lavanya" Ankita said.

Khushi's mind sparkled. Now, she got the point. She remembered who the girl was. She met her in an INTER SCHOOL competition. Both their schools were finalists. Hilma's school failed in the final round. She hit her schoolmate for making a mistake that led their school to lose points. She shouted like a maniac, "This is my last year of participation. If our school won the overall trophy, that would be the TWELFTH cup of my life. Because of you, I missed it" she said while hitting the girl. Khushi could still remember the incident.

"She still remembers everything. She is so smart even in that little age" Kishor said.

"By the way, where did you meet them?" Ratna asked Arvind.

"Khushali is helping her father in his business. So, she came to attend the conference on behalf of her father. I was sitting next to her. She got a call and she attended it. she said Khushali speaking..."

"You said her name is Hilma?" Ratna asked.

"It's because the call was from her father. Didn't they promise her to call Khushali...?"

"It was her parents who promised to her then why did SHE tell her name? At the same time, when she knew it was her father's call, why did she say Khushali speaking?" she asked logically.

"It's because I like to say the name," Hilma said with a grin.

Ratna got stuck. In all this, Arnav was observing only Khushi who looked restless like hell. She was not like this a few minutes ago. She looked so cool and cute with a teasing smile.

"How are you Lavanya?" Hilma smiled.

Lavanya frowned.

"One minute... we are two girls here. How do you know who is Lavanya among us?" Lavanya asked.

Himla was stuck. She managed herself and said,

"This girl is so fair... but you were not... so, I guessed you must be Lavanya"

Lavanya was not satisfied and Hilma understood that.

Hilma looked at Arnav and asked,

"I heard you are waiting for me... I thought you would be excited to see me after a long but you too don't trust me it seems..."

"Just because you said you are Khushali, I can't accept it," Arnav said making all of them dumbfounded.

"What do you mean, Chotte?" Arvind asked shockingly.

"I mean I need time"

"For?"

"To get confirmed whether she is a REAL Khushali" Arnav said looking at Khushi.

"Chotte, she is indeed our Khushali. She knew every detail about us. If you have doubt, question her"

"Multiple choice question or, paragraph type question?" Arnav asked sarcastically, making them spare a glance.

"Don't you trust me, Arnav? Do you think I'm lying?" Hilma asked emotionally.

Arnav looked at her sharply shrinking his eyes. Hilma looked at her parents and said,

"See, my husband is not trusting me... it's because of you. If you guys were not selfish and took me to them immediately, I would not have stood in front of them helplessly now" she said with teary eyes.

"Chotte, you were not ready to get married because you waited for Khushali. Now, when she is in front of your eyes, you are not ready to accept her. Why are you doing this, Chotte?"

"Don't you understand Dad, it's because he doesn't think, she is Khushali" Lavanya said.

"But why?"

"I think he doubts that SOMEONE taught her everything about Khusha... am I right, Arnav?" Lavanya asked.

"What rubbish? Who knows about Khushali? How could anyone teach her? This is illogic" Arvind said.

Ratna came to Hilma and tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Khushali had a MOLE on her right cheekbone... here...(Ratna pointed to the particular place) but, it's missing"

Arnav looked at Khushi who touched the same point gulping. That made him shrink his eyes.

Hilma and her parents were speechlessly looking at each other. Ankita's face sparkled.

"Haan, I remembered it. when we found her in Kedarnath, there was a wound on her right cheekbone. It took a month to heal. I think the mole would have disappeared with the wound" Ankita built up a suitable story.

"We thought we would see our daughter's wedding soon. It seems you guys are suspecting us" Kishor said feeling sad.

"Uncle, Arnav, and Khushali are already married. They don't have to marry again. If we found our REAL Khushali, we will bring her to our house without marriage" Lavanya said reading their faces where there was shock.

"She is right. We don't have to get married again. I can still remember how I cried when the police stopped our wedding. But Arnav tied the Mangal Sutra to my neck as he could not see me crying... am I right uncle?" Hilma asked Arvind.

"Wow... how beautifully she remembers everything! I'm sorry beta. I don't know why my family became heartless. I don't know what will I answer to my friend Rishi when I meet him in heaven. I'm sorry Rishi, I'm sorry for not being able to give justice to your daughter" Arvind said showing a lot of emotion.

"Dad, we really want you to answer him without repentance. That's why we are trying hard" Lavanya said.

"Will you please shut up, Lavanya?"

"Why should she be? What's wrong she said? If she is Khushali, she should prove it" Arnav said.

"Prove? But how? What proof could they have? Rishi is dead... Khushali went missing. Then what proof they could submit?"

Arnav looked at him and said,

"They don't have to prove. I will prove whether she is Khushali or not"

Arnav saw nervousness on their faces.

"But, Chotte..."

"Dad, this is MY life. I want to be clear that the girl with whom I living is REALLY my wife. Understand?"

Arvind gulped down. He didn't know how Arnav would prove.

"By the way, do you have any problem if I ask you to stay here?" Arnav asked them.

They glanced at each other and then at Arvind.

"Chotte, he is a big businessman. Don't you know the problems of a businessman?"

"What's the big deal, Dad? The world shrank in our fists. We can do anything sitting at home. That was how the world worked at the time of COVID"

"I would have stayed if I had made arrangements in prior. Give us some time. We will stay here"

"Give me your phone number" Arnav asked.

Hilma was happy as she thought Arnav would call her but for her disappointment, Arnav noted their phone numbers in a paper instead of saving them on his phone.

"As you came to our house, you should have dinner with us" Arvind demanded.

Kishor and Ankita looked at each other and nodded ok. Hilma came to Lavanya and smiled.

"I'm so tired. Could you take me to your room?" She asked.

Lavanya was annoyed. She didn't like the girl at all. So, she looked at Khushi and said,

"Khushi, could you please take her to my room?"

Khushi was glad. She wanted this chance. She nodded yes readily. Hilma went with her disappointedly as she sensed disinterest in Raizadas. She thought Raizadas would celebrate her like anything but completely opposite to it was happening there.

To be continued...