“Karan, we have a problem. Khushi
found out that we came to Delhi and I think she is on her way. She might have
left Lucknow after she called.” Priya was scared. She had never lied to Khushi
before but this was for her own good. Karan was signaling to Priya to shut up
but Priya was to pre occupied babbling on and on about what Khushi was going to
do to her when she got there and didn’t realize she was standing right behind
her. “Oh really, I can chop you up into pieces and feed you to Jai’s dogs if
you want me too.” Priya froze. She recognized that voice. Only one person in
the world sounded like that when they were angry. “Khushi?” Priya asked scared.
“No, I’m your mother. Don’t you want to turn around and give me a hug. I’ve
missed you.” Priya could hear the sarcasm in Khushi’s voice, that can’t be very
good. Priya turned around slowly not wanting to look Khushi in the eye because
she knew she was wrong. It should have been Khushi’s choice on whether or not
she came to Delhi. “I’m sorry, I…” Khushi cut her off. “There’s no point
apologizing now. It’s not going to change anything. Let’s just get this show
organized, it starts in 45 minutes. I’ll deal with you later. That doesn’t mean
you’re off the hook, Karan.” Khushi said as she glared at Karan. Khushi was
busy with Priya and Karan doing the last bit of work that needed to be done
before the show started. When they were finally done Karan had gone off to
change into his suit while Priya stuck around with Khushi. She was scared
because Khushi still didn’t know whose fashion show she had been organizing.
The AR signs were covered because they had been told by the manager that the
signs were to be unveiled right at the beginning of the show.
“Khushi, don’t you want to go back to
the hotel and spend the night there. Karan and I can take care of everything
else here. Besides you probably don’t even have clothes to wear for the show.”
Khushi stared at Priya. “You know me better than that Priya. I brought my bags
with me. I haven’t even been to the hotel and I have a sari in my bag. I knew I
was coming for a fashion show surely I would have packed clothes. I’m going to change.
When the manager and the owner get here make sure everything is as they wanted
and if there are any problems then come and find me if you can’t sort it out.”
With that Khushi turned around and walked to the change room backstage for the
models.
The fashion show had started and
everybody in the audience had seemed pleased. Khushi had been watching from
backstage in case there were any problems that needed to be dealt with. She
hadn’t seen the catwalk or which company had done the fashion show and decided
that seeing as the show was almost over she would go out front to see what it
was like from the audience point of view. It had been a minute that Khushi had
walked to the audience when Arnav walked backstage. It was time for them to
draw the curtains. Khushi was watching the last few models walk down the ramp
and admired the clothing that they wore. This company wasn’t like the others
that designed clothes normal people would never wear, but something seemed
familiar about the clothes. Almost like she had seen them before. She tried
look at the company logo that was placed on either side of the catwalk but it
was too dark. The only light was the spotlight that was shining on the models.
Khushi was about to give up playing the guessing game when she heard the
announcement, “It’s time for our designer and his beautiful models to take to
the ramp for the last time tonight.” Khushi turned around and froze when she
saw the AR on either side of the stage that were lit up. She held her breath as
she heard the MC speak again. “Let’s give Mr. Raizada of Arnav Raizada
Industries a big round of …” Khushi didn’t hear the rest. She was just shocked
at what she saw. There he was walking onto the stage down the ramp like he did
at every fashion show. She turned around and ran backstage to look for Karan
and Priya before he walked off the stage. She searched everywhere backstage and
couldn’t find them anywhere. She needed to get out of there. She wouldn’t be
able to face him again. Only god knew what he would do this time. Khushi had
walked around the entire hall and still couldn’t find them. “Where could they
have gone?” Khushi thought to herself. She decided to check backstage one last
time, praying to her Devi Maiya as she went up the stairs.
Khushi looked everywhere backstage and
still couldn’t find them. She was walking towards the backstage door when she
thought she heard Priya’s voice behind her. She turned while she was still
walking not realizing what she was doing until she walked into a hard chest.
She had taken a step back and was about to fall over when she felt a strong
grip on her. She knew that feeling. Her hair had fallen across her face and he
couldn’t see who she was but she knew all too well who she had walked into. She
moved her hair from her face and looked up at the face she hadn’t seen in 8
months but was longing to see. Nothing had changed. He still looked the same,
drop dead gorgeous with those chocolate brown eyes that always made her melt. Arnav
was surprised. He had never expected to see her ever again. He thought she
would never come back into his life. Still he couldn’t forget those honey eyes
that he had stared into so many times in the past. He would never forget those
memories, they were the best he had but the most painful too. The moment he
realized what he had been doing and who he had been holding he let go
immediately almost pushing her over. Khushi managed to catch her balance and
not fall over. She knew he would do something like this. All he ever did was
torture her. Khushi braced herself for what was coming next.
“What the… What are you doing here?”
Arnav asked through gritted teeth as he was walking towards her. Every time he
took a step forward she took a step back. “I told you to get lost didn’t I. Why
did you come back?” She could tell he was getting angrier by the second. “I…
You… Fashion” Khushi mumbled. She was scared. She remembered what he had done
to her the first they had met when she accidentally ruined his fashion show.
She remembered how he stopped her from leaving, how he had pulled her hand and
held against the wall. How he had broken the doorie on her blouse. “Have you
come to ruin another fashion show?” Arnav questioned her as he cornered her
into a wall. Her heartbeat started racing. She could hear the dhak dhak despite
being scared of him. Was this possible? Could it be? After everything that had
happened. “I didn’t know it was your fashion show” Khushi said with a shaky
voice. Arnav grabbed her arms tightening his grip as he spoke. “Don’t lie to me
Khushi Kumari Gupta. You know very well what I’m capable of and what I can do
to you.” Khushi eyes were welling up with tears. From the pain he was causing
her or from what he was saying she couldn’t tell but it hurt. “I’m not lying to
you and let go of me. What right do you have to talk to me like this. You are
MY client Mr. Raizada. Your company hired us to organize YOUR fashion show. I
still have work left to do before the assignment is complete.” Khushi pushed
him away and walked towards the door.
She was an arm’s length away from him
when he grabbed her hand and swung her around holding her hand behind her back
and pulling her towards him with a look of satisfaction on his face. Khushi
struggled trying to loosen his grip to no avail. It was no use. He could feel
her struggling and saw the look of frustration on her face. She had tried
loosening his grip on her before and she had never managed to do it. He didn’t
know what made her think she would be able to now. “Stop trying, Khushi. You
know I won’t let go.” Arnav said with a smirk on his face. It was nothing new
to him. He knew how to manipulate her. He had done it in the past. “Some things
and some people just never change Arnav. You’re one of them. A person would
think you’d know how to behave with a girl, especially when she is doing your
work. But you just never seem to care.” She could see the look on his face
change. She got exactly what she wanted. “I can’t say I’m surprised. You’ve
always been like this and asking you to change is like asking the sun to stop
shining.” Arnav tightened his grip on her. “You obviously changed. You’re a lot
braver now than you were when you left.” Khushi ignored the throbbing in her
arm from him squeezing too tight. “What can I say? Circumstances were such that
I had to change with time to survive. But I’m used to it now.” She smirked at
Arnav because he knew exactly what she was talking about. The look on his face
was worth the pain she was taking but something deep inside kept telling her
that what she was doing was wrong. She shouldn’t hate someone so much but she
couldn’t forget what he had done either.
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