FF : I Can't Let Her Go! Part 42

As they pulled up to the emergency entrance of the hospital, Akash was already standing out front waiting for them...

Khushi hastily exited the car and assisted Payal in helping Anjali out ...

Arnav pulled out her suitcase from the back and quickly followed everyone inside...

..............

Dark eyes watched everyone leave the RM.

They followed them to the hospital...

And hid in the shadows...waiting to strike...

................

Anjali had been taken in to the maternaty ward and her labour was progressing well...
 

Nani had gone in with her to offer her support...

The wait was becoming excruciatingly long...

Arnav heard Akash and Payal talk about starting a family of their own, and Khushi began to  tease them...

He couldn't help but smile and just pray that all the drama in their lives would end soon...

40 hours later...

"CHOTE!" ...Nani came bursting forth from the labour room...

"Chote! Anjali left the blanket in the car! It was the one she was wrapped in as infant! Go get it please!!!..."

"What!? She's talking about that now!? Do you have any idea how sleep deprived we all are!?"

"Chote! She's almost broken my hand while going through her contractions! GO AND GET THE BLANKET!"

Arnav turned to Akash..."Do NOT let Khushi out of your sight!"

"Ofcourse Bhai..."

Arnav leaned in and kissed Khushi full on the mouth, shocking her...

"I love you...I'll be back..."

Arnav sped away...

As he got closer, he saw someone appear from behind his car...

Stopping suddenly, Arnav felt pure hatred fill him...

Shyam...

As much as Arnav was out for Shyam's blood, he knew what his priorities were..."Get out of my sight...I don't have time right now for your insanity..."

Smirking, Shyam said..."Oh Don't worry about me Saale Saab...Go be with Rani Saba...she obviously needs you..."

Rage starting to boil over, Arnav lashed out..."You Bastard! She needed a caring husband! A Caring FATHER! I'm so glad I found out the truth......Now get the HELL OUT of my sight!!!"

"I see that my Khushiji is with you..."

Nerves now aflame, Arnav looked him square in the eye saying..."She's MINE, and you stay away from her..."

Shyam interrupted..."She's going to be mine Arnav...and you can't stop that!"

Fuelled with animalistic brutality, Arnav lunged at Shyam, grabbing him by the shirt and hitting him hard in the jaw...

The men struggled to gain the upper hand...

Arnav clenched his fist and punched hard into Shyam's ribs, grinning with satisfaction when he heard a faint crack...

Shyam cried out in pain and struck Arnav forcefully in the chest, knocking him back with sharp impact...

As Arnav flew backwards, he landed on the ground and slammed his head against the cold, hard pavement...

Instantly knocked out...

Shyam slowly approached him and began to laugh..."oooh the great and mighty Arnav Singh Raizada..."

Shyam dragged Arnav's body behind his car and set off, determined to find Khushi...

Heading towards the hospital entrance, he soon caught glimpses of the family in the waiting room...

He saw the police guards around..."Damn it...there is no way in...no way to get her...all i've got is...is...Saale Saab..."

He ran back to the car park...Arnav was still unconscious behind the car...

"Well Saale Saab...It's looks like YOU are coming with me..."

Shyam lifted Arnav over his shoulder...

His footsteps thumped eerily in the quiet car park..

He found an empty storage/Utility room behind the hospital and threw Arnav's body onto the floor...

Slamming the door behind him, he narrowed his eyes and smirked..."now Saale Saab...I will wait patiently for you to wake up...and I want to look into your eyes as I end you..."

...................

"where is he?! It's been ages..." Khushi said worriedly

Akash nodded, "I don't know what's keeping him..."

Locking eyes on the officer in charge, Akash told him to go and find Arnav...

Khushi got up and began to follow...

Payal and Akash simultaneously  reached out to grab her arm...

"Khushi, No...You can't leave..."

Her eyes now wild with worry, Khushi struggled to break free..."I HAVE to...I need to know where he is..."

Akash pulled her arm harder..."No. Khushiji, Bhai told me to keep you here. I will obey..."

Khushi was in tears now...

Payal quickly hugged her sister trying to calm her...

"Something is terribly wrong Jiji...I just know...My heart hurts..." Khushi tightened her grip on Payal and cried...

.........................

The policeman entered the car park...

"Mr. Raizada?"

"yes."

Arnav stood leaning against his car...

"Uh...sir, are you okay? You have been gone for sometime..."

Arnav stood up straight and glared..."I'm fine. Bring Khushi out to me..."

Completely confused, the policeman was about to update him on Anjali's labor, but Arnav stepped forward and snarled..."Did you hear what I said?"

"Yes Sir..." the man complied...

Arnav leaned back against his car...his anger and bitterness now becoming stronger...

The policeman wasted no time, he ran into the waiting room..."Mr Raizada is outside waiting at the car for you Mrs Raizada..."

Khushi's eyes sparked with anger...."What the! He's just waiting out there!"

She sped past the officer and straight to the car park...

The second she saw Arnav, her heart swelled with relief, while her mind filled with fury...

She ran, and threw herself against him...holding him tightly...letting all her worry fall away from her heart...

Now for the rage...

She pushed his chest and began to scream...

"HOW DARE YOU! WHERE WERE YOU!!!! I HAVE BEEN SO WORRIED..."

Arnav however, was completely hypnotised...

Shyam had told him that this 'woman' was a vile, betraying liar...

But the moment he saw her, his heart beat faster...

She was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen...and the instant she ran to him and their bodies collided, he felt a familiarity and gentleness overtake him...

Khushi held his face in her hands and tried to get through to him..."Arnavji...!? I'm talking to you!? Are you okay!? I have been so worried...where have you been?"

His mind zoomed back into reality..."Where have I been?" he said quietly..."I need you to come with me..."

Khushi was about to protest but was soon thrown into a nightmare of the past...

She was tugged by her hand into following him ...

Too mortified to speak, she stared blindly at her husband...who was now completely terrifying her...

He dragged her around behind the hospital and into the abandoned storage room...

As he threw her in, she came face to face with the devil...Shyam...

Screaming, she ran back to Arnav and clutched his shirt...

Shyam was the first to speak..."Oh Khushiji...Arnav isn't going to help you this time...He has brought you here for his final revenge..."

Khushi's gaze snapped up to seer Arnav's...

His eyes were blank...

She staggered back...now feeling completely alone and unprotected...

"...what...what have you done..." she said brokenly...

Her eyes shot up at Shyam..."WHAT HAVE YOU DONE SHYAM!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Arnav spoke up..."It's not what HE's done, it's what YOU'VE done...YOU CHEATED ON ME!"

Horror filled her...her lips trembled..."wwhhaat?? Arnavji...what are you saying...?"

Shyam began to walk towards her...

Khushi felt as if she would suffocate with fear..."NO! Stay away from me! Arnavji! Help me! I DIDN'T  cheat on you! I love YOU! I'm your WIFE!!!!!"

Hearing the word "wife" made something strike Arnav forcefully in the heart...

His eyes darted to the man stalking towards Khushi...

Just as Shyam was about to close in on her, Arnav stood protectively in front of her...

As Arnav came face to face with Shyam, he pushed him backwards..."She's my WIFE?! Why the Bloody hell didn't you tell me!"

"Oh Arnav...what does it matter... She cheated on you anywa..."

"What do you mean, 'why didn't he tell you'...? Arnavji what's happened to you!" Khushi interrupted starting to put the pieces together...

"Shut your mouth Khushiji or I'll do it for you!" Shyam bellowed out...

Arnav angrily grabbed Shyam's collar, "Don't you lay a hand on her...I don't know WHAT to believe now...But I don't fully believe you...and until I hear her side, I'm not letting you near her!"

And with that, Arnav wrenched Shyam towards the door and tossed him out...

Arnav slammed the door and pulled the lock shut...

Alone.

With a man who had no idea who she was.

Who was now ASR.

Only one small bulb lit up the empty room...

Khushi didn't dare move...her back was against the wall...her heart thundered in her chest...

"so...You're my wife..." Arnav stepped towards her..."Khushi..."

"yy...yeesss...I...I'm Khushi Kumari Gupta....Singh Raizada..." she strained to push her voice out...

Arnav came closer and looked into her eyes...

His studied her..."you...you were the woman that man was hugging..."

"Wh...whaaatt?"

"I remember only some things...I remember seeing a man hugging a woman...I felt...betrayed..." he rubbed his hand on the back of his head..."I don't know how, but I hit my head just before, and the first person to find me was...Shyam? You said his name was Shyam?"

Realization flowed through Khushi's heart..."You...You were hurt? You...Oh God..."

She pulled out a squeaky fold out chair from the corner and pulled Arnav to sit down...

He didn't resist...he sat down...his senses alert and his eyes cautiously watched her shadow that moved against the wall...

Khushi gently ran her fingers through his hair at the base of his neck...

The base of his skull was swollen and inflamed...

"Ar...Arnavji...You..." she tried to shake off her fear and asked, "Are you in any pain here?"

He stood up and turned to face her..."Why should you care?!"

She knew her husband was still inside, but his injury was making him forget...

"Now listen Mr. Raizada...I am your WIFE! Shyam was the liar! He lied to you the first time! And he's lied to you this time!"

Her onslaught of words stunned him to silence...

Khushi began to tell him as fast as she could of what had happened in the past few months...

Arnav experienced brief flashbacks when she spoke...

His life before her...

When she first fell into his arms...

His work...

His anger...

Her annoying habits...

But he still couldn't fit all the pieces together...

"AM I GETTING THROUGH TO YOU!?" Khushi said as she cried angrily...

"Shut Up Khushi Kumari Gupta! Just shut up...You've said enough...I have remembered some things..."

Khushi was hurting beyond belief at his condition...

Then when she heard 'ASR' in his voice, she knew that he still wasn't back yet...

She stormed up to him and lifted her Mangalsutra towards his eyes..."SINGH RAIZADA!" she exclaimed...

With her standing this close, he recalled a time when she was up against a wall or cupboard..."in my house maybe?..." he thought...

*flashback*

He leaned in and placed and open mouthed kiss on her cheek...kissing her all the way to her ear...and whispered..."I love you Mrs. Raizada..."

*end of flashback*

Arnav could remember saying he loved her, remembered hurting her, remembered kissing her, remembered yelling at her...

He grabbed her by her upper arms and pushed her up against the hard wall behind her...

"Don't! Get your hands off me! I don't like it!!"

"That's no surprise. I don't recalling you liking much of anything I do," he said angrily, "except for this," and he bent his head and kissed her.

His mouth was hot and hard, and terror swept through her like a flood tide.

"Don't," she said frantically, against his lips, and even though he was almost beyond control, he heard the fear in her voice.

The anger, whatever in hell had been driving him, fell away...

In its place, he felt a yearning so vast and deep it made him shudder.

"Khushi..."

His voice...it had changed...it  was husky and deep...

She whimpered and tried to twist her face away from his. 

He caught her face between his hands, his fingers spreading over her cheeks.

"...no no...Don't be afraid..." he whispered... "I 'm not going to hurt you...."

He kissed her temple, her hair, the soft curve of her cheek.

She was trembling; there were tears on her lashes and he tasted their salt as he kissed her closed eyes.

"Khushi..." he said, and he put his lips against hers.

She went still in his arms.

A need to protect and love her began to shake his insides...

He was about to pull away and reassure her when she gave a soft cry he knew he would never forget.

Her arms slipped around his neck, her lips parted like the petals of a flower and she gave herself up to the kiss...

She tasted warm and sweet, she tasted of hot, urgent desire...but most of all she tasted of a love that his heart was now completely aware of ... 

He felt his body tighten, he felt his groin thicken and rise, pressing against the softness of her belly.

It happened with a swiftness that shocked him.

He groaned, knowing he was at the edge of reason, knowing, too, that he couldn't let go of her.

He slid his hands down her back and gripped her waist, pulling her into him, wanting her to feel him, to know how primitive and urgently he needed her...

He thrust his tongue into her mouth, deepening the kiss, and then he slid his hands up over her skin, so hot and silky, and cupped her breasts.

She instantly went rigid in his arms.

He felt the change in her even before she jammed her hands against his chest and began to struggle against him...

"No...Please..." he said as alarm filled him..."Khushi..."

But it was over...

A sob of such awful desperation burst from her throat that he felt its impact in the marrow of his bones, and she twisted out of his embrace and slipped past him, trying to distance herself as far from him as possible...

He stood looking after her, a man lost in a dream of what had almost been.

At last, sanity returned.

He drew a long breath, pulling the knife-sharp air deep into his lungs.

He stood in the shadows while she tried to regain her composure...

Arnav's heart was thudding inside him...

The intensity of his emotions were scaring him...

He remember saying he loved her...

When he looked in her eyes, they reached his soul...

And even when he hadn't remembered anything of her yet, the possessive and protective power that filled him was so severe that he knew this was no ordinary woman...

He walked towards her...

She swung her hand out to him, her eyes as bright and wide as a cat's. "Get away from me...."

Her voice was steady and cold...

After a minute, he nodded..."I won't come near you..."

He backed up to the other side of the wall...

Her chin lifted... In the faint light cast by the flickering bulb on the ceiling, he thought he saw a glitter of moisture in her eyes...

"Khushi..." he felt more familiar jabs of pain as he recognized her tears...

"Khushi please...don't cry...your...your tears...they...I...I won't come near you...I dont want to hurt you..."

"You really expect me to trust you?" Her words dripped contempt and he felt he deserved every bit of it...

"And yet, you're still in here with me..." he said.

He saw her mouth tremble.

Khushi slowly walked to the door...she contemplated unlocking it...

"everyone is in the hospital...they are safe there...and Arnavji is here...Shyam can't get in...and if I left him here...I...I don't know what would happen..." her tears hit her hand that clutched the lock on the door...

"I...I don't know what to do..." She whispered...