42 A strange creature

Khushi broke the kiss and drenched his face with numerous kisses. Arnav stood smilingly. She again hugged him.

“Do you know it was your grandfather who cursed me?”

“Not until you told me about the curse. I know my granny hated my grandfather but I didn’t know the reason. She strictly said he should not even see her face even after she dies. So, he didn’t even attend her funeral. My granny kept someone’s name in her Pooja. I unintentionally opened the box and saw the name ARNAV. At that time, we are not friends.”

“Did your Granny keep my name in her prayers?”

“Yes… you were the only one who was always in her prayers. She could not tolerate the curse given by her husband to a little boy. She hated that man”

“How do you know it’s him?”

“When I came back home after meeting Preethi in the hospital, I saw an Aghori waiting near SP Bungalow and my father went to him looking here and there which made me suspect him. I silently reached the place and overheard their talk. They talked about the curse but didn’t elaborate on it. That was why I ran to my house when you told me about the curse to know if the Aghori was my grandfather who cursed you”

“Did you ask your father?”

“No, I read my Granny’s diary. She wrote the incident in it and I confirmed it’s you…”

“So, you wanted to do…” Before he completed the sentence with REDEMPTION, she closed his mouth and nodded NO.

“I started loving you even before knowing about the curse. Even though it was not my grandfather, I would not have backed off because my love is true, Arnav”

“I know, that’s why I don’t care about your grandfather”

“You are my sweetheart with a good heart”

“Not sweeter than you… I don’t know even I would decide to make such a decision of marrying a werewolf, like you do”

“Will your parents get angry with me?” she asked restlessly.

Arnav nodded his head from left to right.

“I don’t know…”

Khushi became sad.

“Will your father accept me if he gets to know the cursed boy is none other than me?”

“I don’t care if he accepts you or not”

“What will you do if he doesn’t?”

“I will come to your house…(she was stuck for a while and asked) If they don’t accept me, what will you do?”

“I will make them accept you. it’s my responsibility… I know how to make them accept you. Don’t bother about them”

She kissed his forehead.
“Let’s go…”

“Mmm”

Arnav dropped Khushi home.

“Come in…”

“It’s ok, Khushi…”

“Please…” she pleaded.

Arnav sighed and went inside. She called the servant. She came from the kitchen.

“Jee…”

“There is a wooden box in the Pooja room. Go and bring it” she said.

She didn’t enter the Pooja room as she was coming from a funeral.

The servant brought the box. Khushi gestured for her to give it to Arnav. Giving it to him, she left the place.

“Open it,” Khushi said.

Arnav opened it and saw a paper in it. He unfolded the paper and saw his name being written on it. He looked at Khushi, raising his brows.

“My Dadi kept your name in her prayer. This is how I got to know the boy’s name”

“Now, you are continuing the prayer… right?” Arnav kept the paper in the box back and gave it to her.

She nodded yes and again called the servant. She asked her to keep the box in the Pooja room.

“Come…” She took him to her room.
She took her Granny’s diary and gave it to Arnav. He read it.

“I don’t know what to say. Husband cursed me and wife prayed for me…”

“And, granddaughter is ready to die for you…”

Arnav closed her mouth.

“Don’t you dare talk about dying”

She kissed his palm which was closing her mouth.

“I have to go. Your father saw me leaving the place. He may think wrong if he sees me in your house”

She nodded ok.

“Bye…”

“Bye”

Arnav left the place. He came home and took a bath. He knew his father would have known about the Aghori’s death by now. Shashi didn’t declare the Aghori was his father. Only he and Khushi knew the truth. Then why should he let his parents know the truth and make the issue critical? He decided to do anything accordingly in the way they reacted to it.

As Arnav expected, Arvind got to know about the Aghori’s death. He came home, calling Ratna.

“Ratna… Ratna… where are you?”

Not only Ratna but also Arnav came to the living room. Ratna didn’t know the reason for his urgency but Arnav.

“What happened? Why are you shouting?” Ratna asked.

“The Aghori is dead…” he said not beating around the bush.

“Whaaat?” Ratna frowned.

“Yes, the same Aghori who cursed our Chotte died two days ago”

“How?”

“Natural death…”

Arnav was silently listening to them.

“You know who did his funeral?”

Arnav was alerted.

“Who?” Asked Ratna.

“SP sir”

“Whaaat? But why?”

“For the virtue… he should have thought he was a great man. That’s why he took the responsibility to do his funeral, I suppose”

They looked at Arnav who was silent.

“Chotte, don’t worry...everything will be all right”

Arnav nodded yes.

“Actually, I was there at his funeral”

Arnav didn’t hide it from them because he knew however Arvind would get to know about it. After all, he was a policeman. His department guys would speak about his presence at the funeral. Then Arvind would surely get to know that.

“Whaaat? Why did you go there?” Ratna asked.

“SP uncle asked me to bring Khushi there. I took her there from the college.”

“Did Khushi also come to his funeral?” she frowned.

“Yes, Shashi uncle wanted to… but Khushi didn’t like to participate in it”

“Why?”

“She has no faith in such things I suppose”

“Oh…”

“Dad…”

“Mmm?”

“What will you do if you meet the Aghori’s family?” Arnav asked.

Arvind and Ratna looked at each other with confusion. They didn’t understand why Arnav asked them the irrelevant question. They didn’t know what to reply to him because they never thought about the sequence of meeting his family.

“Why do you raise this question?”

“Actually, Shashi uncle did his funeral as the Aghori had no one. That was when I thought about his family” he answered simply.

“What can we do to them? What did his family do with his curse?” Arvind asked.

“We don’t even know if he had a family…” Ratna said.

Arnav nodded his head as he didn’t want to extend the conversation.

The next day

Aman was sitting in the jeep with a deep thought. He was going to the man’s house who was killed in the deep forest on the full moon day. He didn’t know why his family members didn’t insist the police speed up the investigation. Usually, people would get angry with the police if they didn’t find the killer but in this case, nothing happened like that.

Aman got out of the jeep and looked at the house that was on the slop. He headed to the house, climbing sand stairs. He knocked on the open door. An aged woman came out and looked at him. She was horrified to see the man who had a short haircut, brown boots, and a rigid expression on his face.

Aman frowned seeing her changed expression. He didn’t know the reason.

“Are you Kumar’s mother?”

The woman nodded yes, fearfully.

“I’m sub-inspector Amanullah”

“Oh…”

“I want to ask you something about the case”

“What sir?”

“Why did your son go to the reserve forest at midnight?"

“I don’t know sir…”

“Didn’t you ask him anything regarding?”

“He didn’t tell me anything, sir”

“It’s been more than two months since he died. Why didn’t you come to the police station at least once to know the progress of the case?”

“What’s the use of knowing about it, sir? Will my son come back?”

“Mmm… Who else is there in your family?”

“No one, sir”

“What was your son doing?”

“He was working in a tea factory, sir”

Aman frowned. What did the man who worked in a tea factory do in the reserve forest at midnight? He was confused. That was when something attracted his attention. He got into the house and pulled the sheet at the corner of the room. He saw deerskin being kept there. Aman looked at the woman unbelievably who gulped down hard.

“What is this? How did you get it?”

The woman’s face let out fear.

“Answer me…”

“It was my son who brought it,” she said fearfully.

“Oh… so, this is what he was doing. He went to the reserve forest on the full moon night for deer hunting, right?”

The woman was silent.

“If you don’t tell me what happened, I have no option other than taking you to the police station”

“I will tell you, sir. My son hunted deer for their horns and skin…”

“This is why you didn’t question the police about the investigation progress?”

“No sir… I know you could not catch the killer”

“What do you mean?” Aman drowned.

“The killer is not a wild animal but a strange creature, sir”

“I didn’t get you”

“It was a werewolf”

Aman was shocked as he didn’t expect his guess to be true.

To be continued…