Hello again my lovely readers...

A big big thanks to all of you for 200+ likes & awesomazing comments in the previous update...

Love u all lots 😘😘

Now here goes the much awaited update.... Enjoy 😃

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"BECAUSE I AM THE SON OF YOUR PARENTS MURDERER."

He shouted on her face, at the top of his voice, clutching her shoulders tightly. His eyes conveying mixed emotions of guilt, anger, pain, sorrow, helplessness & love.

There was a perfect silence in the garden. Only the sound of harsh breaths taken by them & the loud & rapid beating of their hearts could be heard.

But the words said by him seemed to resonate in air.

She was staring at him terrified out of skull.

She was breathing harshly. Her mind still trying to grab what he said. But when she couldn't, she said breaking the unnerving silence that had pulled at her insides.

"Wh...what did you sa....say Arnavji? My parents murderer!!"

He sighed closing his eyes, his lips thinning seeing the dread happening. But now he could do nothing accept unfolding the complete truth.

He slowly opened his eyes, loosened his grip on her shoulders & gulped hard before saying.

" I said what you heard Khushi. I am the son of your parents murderer." His words were wrung from deep within.

Still she wasn't able to wrap her mind around his words. She asked again.

"What are you saying Arnavji? My parents mm.... mu....murder!! No Arnavji, you are mistaken. My parents weren't murdered but they died in an accident." She tried to clear his misunderstanding.

He looked at her plight with pain & sorrowful eyes.

"Yes Khushi, they did die in an accident. But it wasn't a simple case of accident. It was a well planned & well executed murder, under the pretext of an accident." He hated himself for revealing this.

She looked at him perplexed, baffled by the shocking piece of information.

He understood her anxiety but she deserves to know the truth now. He will tell her but he will be there to share her pain & will comfort her.

He raised his hands from her shoulders to her cheeks cupping them. His eyes full of love & concern for her & repugnance for his scoundrel father.

He kissed her forehead, letting his lips linger longer then usual, slowly pulled her into his arms & inhaled her essence deeply, drawing courage from her, for her.

The silence was tense & pulsating between them.

He pulled away slowly, holding her hands in between his, protectively. He led her to the bench nearby the rose bushes, made her sit & himself occupied the place besides her, not leaving her hands.

Sweet smell of roses from the bushes was floating in the air. But not enough to grab their attention as they had other serious matter to deal with.

"Arnavji!!" Her voice piercing the silence.

"Khushi." His husky voice husker then usual.

"Khushi, whatever I am going to tell you now might shatter you within. But you deserve to know the truth which I was dreading, not wanting to give you pain of lifetime. But I guess I was wrong. You deserve to know the truth as it is related to your parents & their murder."

'MURDER' Hearing that word again she gazed into his eyes with puzzled expression.

" Khushi, right before our marriage, dadi revealed about your maasi being the other woman in my papa's life. She also showed me a photo of both of them together. I was completely shattered. All those painful memories of my childhood, my mamma's screams before suicide, my di's broken marriage, ear piercing voice of gunshots, me giving fire to my parents pyre, my chacha throwing di & me out of Sheesh Mahal, nani & mama taking us under their wings & then my struggle from Arnav to ASR everything started flashing through my eyes & mind which was enough for me to back out from the marriage as you were the niece of that other woman."

Tears filled Khushi's eyes & started flowing on their own accord.

Arnav didn't attempted to wipe them as he knew it's their day today. He caressed the insides of her wrists with his thumb pads to ease her pain a bit.

"I almost decided to not to marry you. But Khushi, along with those painful memories I also remembered all those happy & loving moments I spent with you. Above all, I remembered the fateful moment where you almost lost your life saving me & when I weighed both the memories, your love proved to be more heavier than my past because my past memories did nothing more than to increase my pain & your memories were full of happiness & love for me." His eyes pool of love & tenderness.

" Then I remembered the words you told me the night we became one in all sense."

"Hame bharosa hai. Aap pe, aap ke pyaar pe." (I trust you & your love)

"All my pain & sorrow vanished in thin air & my heart was filled only with your love & trust on me & that instant I decided to bury my past forever & embrace my present & future that was with you & our love. I set out towards the alter to marry you."

Hearing this a frown furrowed her brow as she was genuinely perplexed.

" But you didn't come to the alter Arnavji & that phone call of yours... "

He could sense her sorrow & could see the glint of sadness in her eyes remembering his harsh words over the phone call.

He drew a deep breath. "Khushi, I was coming to the alter when I got a phone call."

"Phone call!! Whose call Arnavji?" She asked, sounding more confused then before.

He hold her hand tighter & continued further.

"Phone call from my friend, who is also a private detective whom I had hired."

Khushi though still confused, nodded her head referring him to continue.

"Khushi, few days prior to our marriage, I had seen Shyam coming out of dadi's room with a sly smile on his face in the middle of the night, which raised doubts in my mind so I kept a tab on him & found him talking to dadi in her room at odd hours & everytime there would be the same sly smile on his face which confirmed my doubts of him & dadi planning something, which I believed to be regarding you as dadi was already against our marriage & Shyam's reasons you know very well. I had to stop their plans even before they execute. But I couldn't confront him. The way he manipulated me with his words last time & the consequences you had to bear, I couldn't take the risk of confronting him again & reveal him about me having doubts on him & dadi, which would alert them."

He paused for a moment & heaved a soundless sigh before continuing.

" Khushi, I couldn't follow Shyam everywhere. So I decided to hire a detective to know every damn thing. His past, present & his plans with dadi. The detective is my good friend too so he knew the gravity of the case."

"During his investigation he told me that the roots of this case are related to you & Lucknow. So I ordered him to dig all the possibilities & he did. He was ready with his complete report & he had phoned me for the same. But I asked him to come to the office next day as we were about to get married then. But he said that the information is urgent & it involves you & your family. This was enough for me to rush to him that very moment. Being a good friend of mine, he knew how important you are to me." His lips raised for a loving smile & Khushi resiprocated the same.

" Khushi, I so wish I could have hired him to investigate Shyam before di's marriage with him or even when I doubted you with him then none of the bad events would have occurred in di & our life." His voice & eyes full of guilt & remorse.

Khushi so wanted to tell him that if Shyam wouldn't have been there then they too wouldn't have been together. But this was not the time to change the track.

" What was there in the report Arnavji, that made you back out from the marriage?" She asked the question she was afraid to know the answer to.

He moved closer to her, not leaving her hands at all. He looked at her already distraught face which would get even worse after she knows the whole truth. But he has to say & she has to know, so he continued.

"Khushi, my father had trapped your maasi in his fake love. Your maasi didn't knew about him being already married & having children too. He had hid his real name from her as whole of Lucknow knew the name of Arvind Mallik, may be not his face. Your maasi was one of them. He just wanted to keep her & never had plans to marry her. Nobody of us had an iota of knowledge about his illicit affair. But dadi somehow came to know & she didn't want this news to come out in open. Not because she was worried for her daughter in law or grandchildren. But because of the name & status the Mallik's hold in Lucknow which was likely to be blotch due to her son's bigamy."

Arnav shut his eyes in disgust for his father. Khushi understood his pain & entwined her fingers with his giving her silent support.

Arnav opened his moist eyes gulped a lump formed in his throat & continued.

" One day there was nobody in the house accept dadi. So she called your maasi to Sheesh Mahal to warn her away. She accused her of trapping rich married man for her own good. That was when your maasi discovered about my father's treachery. She tried to prove her innocence but dadi didn't buy it. Heartbroken & humiliated, she went away from there promising dadi to never cross path of her son. Dadi thought that nobody was there in the house but she didn't see her younger son - my chacha listening to the conversation between the ladies."

"My chacha wanted to use that information about my father's bigamy for his own selfish motives by blackmailing his elder brother - my father."

Khushi frowned in contemplation. Then asked, "why would your chacha want to blackmail his own brother. Siblings are to love & protect each other & not blackmail."

His lips twisted into a sad smile.

"Khushi, you are the epitome of purity & innocence. You are too good to think bad even for your enemy, let alone your siblings. You sacrificed your happiness for your cousin. But the whole world doesn't work the same Khushi."

"According to my dadaji's will, his property was divided equally between his two sons - my father & my chacha. My father was a smart & intelligent businessman. He valued money & he knew the traits to pull money through money. Therefore he had his flourished business."

Arnav paused for a while as if remembering his happy childhood days full of whims & fancy's his father provided. Then he continued from where he left.

" But my chacha, he was not only a bad businessman but a gambler, a drunkard & a spendthrift. Even after having a beautiful loving wife at home he used to visit brothels & spend money on those women. But everything was tactfully hidden under the disguise of Mallik's influential name. But due to all his nasty habits, soon he was pennyless & expected help from my father. But my father denied & that pricked my chacha & he was in search of a perfect opportunity to put his hands on my father's money."

"But before going to my father, chacha went to dadi because he was not sure whether my father would bent infront of him. But my chacha knew that my dadi won't put the family's name & reputation at stake, so he informed dadi about his knowledge of your maasi & my father's illicit affair. He threatened her that if his demands weren't fulfilled then he would bring this secret out in the open. If needed, he would bring your maasi in public as proof."

Arnav shook his head in disgust. Not able to digest the dirty, disgusting ways of his paternal relations.

" Dadi couldn't let that happen. So she went to my father & told him about my chacha's intensions & his threat. Arvind Mallik couldn't neglect the threat as he knew his brother can turn it into reality. Now his reputation of a perfect husband, a loving father & a dignified personality in Lucknow was at stake. My dadi too warned him, if something sort of that happened then she won't side him. That was when the true, nasty, cruel face of Arvind Mallik came infront & he ordered his men to... Arnav gulped through constricted throat before completing the sentence to kill your maasi."

Khushi drew a shocked breath, her eyes widened, her limbs trembled & her heart skipped a beat.

Arnav wrapped his one arm around her shoulders, still holding her hands with his other & drew her closer, giving her strength to compose.

To be continued.....

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So friends, this was the half revelation. The remaining half will be in PART - B. Which I will update tomorrow itself as a token of gratitude for the love & support you showered on me & my story.

Thank you so much....

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Love - Kavita 💞