Part 45 Moving Cards

Garima was sitting shockingly, keeping the receiver in her ear. Someone threatened her. He told her something that no one knew. She thought it was the deadliest secret of their life but someone knew it. Who was he? How did he know about Khushi? How did he know Arnav Singh Raizada was searching for his wife and Khushi was his wife? She thought she could hide the truth from Khushi, but it seemed she was wrong. What Arnav Singh Raizada would do if he got to know Khushi was his wife? Would he snatch Khushi from them? What would Khushi think of them? She would definitely get upset with them for hiding the biggest truth of her life. She might hate them too. Garima gulped down hard.

She shook Shashi who was sleeping peacefully.

"Shashiji... Wake up..."

Shashi opened his eyes jerking.

"Garima... What happened? Don't you sleep? Why are you waking me at this hour?" He looked at the clock.

"Someone called on our landline a few minutes ago"

"Who called you at this hour?"

"I don't know"

"What do you mean?"

"He threatened me"

"Threatened? What did he threaten you?"

"He spoke about Khushi"

"Khushi?"

"Yes, he knew everything about her and her husband Arnav Singh Raizada"

Shashi was alerted.

"But how?"

"I too don't know. He asked me to go to Arnav Singh Raizada because he was searching for his wife"

"But how does he know Khushi?"

"He said in two or three days, Arnav Singh Raizada will find her"

"Maybe, but how will he prove to her she is his wife? Khushi knows nothing about him..."

"The man said, Khushi's biological Bua is at Arnav's house now. He will easily prove if he tests their DNA"

"Oh... then the issue is really complicated"

"What will we do, Shashiji?"

"What could we do now? I told you many times not to be selfish. See, what happened now..."

"I'm already confused. Don't make me nervous. Tell me a solution to this matter"

"We have no choice other than turning good"

"What do you mean?"

"We should go to Arnav Singh Raizada before he came here"

Garima was horrified.

"What will we tell Khushi?"

"We can tell her we just got to know about her husband"

Garima was silent.

"Thank God, you didn't bring any alliance for her. She would not have forgiven you if you had done such stupidity" Shashi said.

"Will she get angry with me?"

"She won't... even though she gets angry with us, we should not think about it. We have no choice other than revealing the truth"

"How will we meet him?"

"I will enquire his whereabouts... then we will go to his house"

"Mmm"

"Now, go to sleep. Don't be upset in front of Khushi. Show yourself happy, like; you are happy finding her husband"

Garima said nothing and lay down. Shashi smirked inwardly. Finally, Arnav Singh Raizada started the mission of getting his wife back.

On the other side, Khushi was on cloud nine. She didn't expect Arnav to move the card that way. Now, Garima would not have a chance other than going to him. So, this was why he wanted her to keep the mangal Sutra back. So, they would take that to Arnav as proof. How brilliant her man was! She didn't know what Garima's condition would be...! She had to wait till tomorrow morning to know her reaction.

The next day

Shashi came back from walking and went to Garima.

"I found ASR's residence"

"ASR?"

"Arnav Singh Raizada"

"Is it? How?"

"He is a big shot in Delhi who runs a program organizing company..."

"That means, Khushi may know him because she is also working in a program organizing company only"

"Yeah, maybe..."

"We will go to his house and tell them about Khushi"

"Will they believe us?"

"Why not? We will show the Mangal Sutra to them. Then they will have to believe us"

"We will take her childhood photo also..."

Shashi smiled inwardly.

"Yeah, that's a good idea. Get ready. Before he goes to the office, we should meet him"

"Ok..."

They saw Khushi coming from her room.

"Be cool... don't show difference..." Shashi warned.

"Khushi, beta, wait I will bring you coffee" Garima smiled brightly.

Khushi was stuck. She thought Garima would be upset about the phone call. She was confused to see Garima opposite to it.

"Khushi, don't you want coffee?"

She nodded yes.

Garima went to the kitchen and brought coffee for both Khushi and Shashi.

"What's the matter Garima, you look brisk today?" Shashi asked intentionally.

"Don't know why... it feels like, something good is going to happen"

"Is it?"

"Yes... from the morning, I'm getting good signs"

"Oh..."

Khushi drank the coffee listening to them. What happened to Garima? Was her mental condition good? Or, she became mad due to stress?

"Shashiji, you go and take a bath. We will go to temple" Garima said and smiled at Khushi.

"Do you want me to come?" Khushi asked.

"No no... no need. I prepared lunch and breakfast. Please eat it and go to the office."

"Which temple are you going to?"

"Chandni Chowk Shiv Temple"

"Oh..."

"Do you have a problem in eating alone?"

"No, Amma, I will eat"

"Will you?"

"Yup"

"Thank you beta"

Were they going to meet Arnav? She thought.

Having the coffee, she came to her room. Closing the door, she called Arnav. He smiled to see Khushi's number flashing. He attended the call smiling.

"Hi, sweetheart... good morning"

"What did you do to my Amma?"

Arnav got stuck for a while.

"What did I do?"

"My Amma is behaving oddly... and going to temple with my Babuji leaving me alone at home. You must have done something to her"

"What do you think?"

"You should have called her last night and spoken to her that made her stressed"

"Didn't you hear what I spoke to her?" he smiled.

Khushi was stunned. Did he know she heard their talks?

"How would I hear after you told me not to attend the call?"

"Is it? Didn't you REALLY attend the call?"

"No..."

"Khushi, why did you turn into a nice girl? It seems our life won't have space to relish..."

"Oh... do you want me to fight with you clutching your hair?" She mocked.

Arnav was shocked. Clutching his hair?

"Oh, do you have such wishes in your mind?"

"I don't have any wishes in my mind... it's you who have...! Poor you, without knowing me, growing your expectations in your mind..."

Cutting her,

"In my HEART..." he corrected making her stuck.

"You don't know how tough your future would be," she said with attitude.

"Why?"

"Don't you know how shrew am I?"

"I know how to handle you" his voice became huskier that churned her stomach.

"Don't change the topic" she stammered.

"What do you want me to say?"

"Nothing... I'm cutting the call"

"One minute..."

"What?"

"If you didn't hear the talks, how do you know I'm the reason for your mother's changed behavior?"

Khushi bit the corner of her tongue. She realized the mistake.

"You asked me not to attend the call. So, I guessed you must have called her"

"Mmm... smart"

"I'm cutting the call... Amma and Babuji are going somewhere" She hinted that to Arnav and he understood they were getting ready to come to RM.

"Khushiiii..."

"Haan?"

"I love you"

Khushi was stunned. She said nothing and Arnav didn't expect her to say anything though.

"Bye..." He disconnected the call smiling.

Khushi blushed, biting her lip.

RM

Arnav took a bath and came downstairs neatly dressed up to go to the office. He saw Arvind reading the newspaper.

"Good morning, Chotte..."

"Good morning, Dad... give me Mr. Bijlani's number"

"Why Chotte?"

"Didn't he say he would bring the photos and Mangal Sutra before going to Kolkata?"

"Yeah... I called him in the morning but he didn't attend my call" Arvind said not taking his eyes off the newspaper.

"Ok, give me their address"

"Let them come, Chotte... why should we run behind them?"

"It was not me but they who came behind me, Dad and you were also so keen on making me trust them"

"If they come up with the proof, we will trust them. If not, just let them go..."

Arnav snatched the newspaper from his hand and threw it away wrathfully. Arvind stood up from the couch.

"I won't let them go... I want to know how they got to know my story and why they came to RM"

"Chotte, why are you thinking unwantedly?"

"Unwantedly? Is it unwanted? Does my life become unwanted to you?"

"When did I say so, Chotte...?"

"You didn't say but behaving, Dad...! A gang of people came claiming me as theirs and you are saying I'm thinking about that unwantedly... mark my words, Dad... I will not leave them. I will put them behind bars"

"But why, Chotte... they left... just leave them..."

"Left? How do you know?"

"They didn't attend my call when I called them... So, I guessed..." Arvind said and looked at Ratna who was glaring at him.

Arvind averted his gaze immediately and could not stand her glare. He knew why she glared at him. When Arnav went to GH last night, Arvind went to Arnav's room and searched for something, thinking that Ratna slept. She searched for him not finding him on the bed. She saw him searching for something in Arnav's cupboard.

"What are you searching for?"

Arvind jerked to hear her voice.

"I didn't get sleep. I thought of seeing the old albums"

"Do you want to see the old album or, do you want Khushali's childhood photos to morph them with Hilma's?"

"What are you talking about, Ranta? Why should I morph?"

"Chotte will come and ask you why you are searching in his cupboard when he is not at home. Answer him" She walked off.

Arvind ran behind.

"Ratna, please don't tell Chotte about this"

"Why?"

"Please..."

"So, you searched it with the wrong intention..."

"No, Ranta... I just"

"It was you who brought Hilma here... you were the one who taught her everything about the past... right?"

"I want Chotte to be happy"

Ratna gritted her teeth and walked to their room, saying nothing. She didn't talk to Arvind no matter how hard he tried.

Arnav was supposed to say something, but he stopped hearing the calling bell sound. Without wasting time, he walked to the door.

He opened the door and found Mr. and Mrs. Gupta standing. Garima was dumbfounded, seeing the same man who came to GH asking for Shashi.

To be continued...