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“Khushi, this is exactly what I am worried about.” Rudra’s words broke my trance. “Aarav will keep giving you mixed signals and you will be a fool to believe all of that. That’s why I wanted to get engaged so that he gets this in his head that you are off-limits.”
I didn’t extend that engagement conversation and diverted Rudra asking him when he would return from New York. He promised to start the next immediate day and I was relieved. But he had a point. Until Aarav saw me single, he wouldn’t stop stalking and interfering in my personal life. Getting engaged to Rudra was the only option I had.
I couldn’t sleep throughout the night and the flashes of the moment I had with Aarav in my room kept haunting me until morning when I finally packed everything to check out and met him again. Obviously, the news of losing the MKB deal didn’t go well with Aarav but I didn’t know he was diverting part of his project profits to some Charity Trust.Sikand Charity Trust.
I quickly open my laptop and connect to the in-flight WIFI and surf the website of Sikand Charity Trust. After almost half an hour, I realize what commendable efforts Jhanvi must have put to bring smiles to the lives of so many single mothers. I wonder why she chose an initiative for supporting and strengthening single mothers in particular? But again, as I surf further, I come to know that’s because Aarav’s mother was never given her true rights by her in-laws which is why after Aarav’s father’s death, she had to raise Aarav single-handedly without any moral and financial aid. So, this initiative was a way for Jhanvi to show her love and support to all those women like her mother-in-law who needed aid in leading their lives. Suddenly, a pang of guilt hits my heart. Did I do anything wrong by snatching the MKB Deal from AR Group? If they had won it, Aarav would have used some of those funds to continue the operation of Sikand Charity Trust which is already doing so much for women.
But that’s how I’ve given business to RS Group so far. Where one person’s loss is another person’s win. I shut my eyes for a few seconds to cope with this thought and whatever I did so far for raising RS Group to new heights. Everything is fair if you want to see your business flourishing. Sure, Aarav Raichand would have done the same with his competitors too. I don’t have to be guilty for anything except for the Sikand Charity Trust. A part of me wants to contribute to their initiatives and I’ll do that by all means.
Apart from all this, what scares me still is the challenge that Aarav promised to me during our argument today morning. I don’t care what he did to win Jhanvi before but he can’t repeat those tactics on me. I’m not an easy woman who would give in to his maddening theories of me being his wife or that electrifying chemistry I’ve started feeling whenever he is around. The only thing I want now is to get Aarav off my back and as Rudra suggested, I think the engagement is the only option. I open another web page and surf for the best engagement ring for myself. Aarav Raichand, I am going to blow your mind this time. Be ready.
CHAPTER 15
Aarav
“Seriously? Khushi Thakur is our Jhanvi?” Aman queries me while Daadi, Mohit and Jaya are speechlessly staring at my face. After returning from Bangalore, I told them whatever updates I had so far from Akash so that they too take this matter seriously. Of course, I skipped the details of my romantic encounter with her in the hotel room which was proof in itself that she is my wife because I could forget myself but not the way her body blooms under my touch, but that part was only for me to memorize and not for my family.
“But, how did Rudra Singh find her? And what about the real Khushi Thakur then? Where is she?” Mohit adds his concerns.
“I don’t know. That’s what Akash is finding out,” I answer.
Jaya bursts into tears.
“Oh my god. Jhanvi is alive. She is … she is really alive.? I can’t wait to meet her.”
“Jaya wait,” Aman interrupts. “I think we are all missing the very important fact here. She has lost her memories and is in a denial mode to accept her real identity and now supporting our strongest business competitor is making things even more complex. Aarav, we have to handle this matter sensitively.”
I don’t say a word because so far, I have tried to handle this matter sensitively. But not anymore. Not after she refused to come back to me even if she was Jhanvi. That hurt me the most. Does she even know what she is ready to give up? She’s not just ignoring me, this family or the Sikand Charity Trust but also our daughter, Aarvi. The creation of our undying love. I might forgive her for everything else but not this.
“Aarav.” Daadi interrupts my thoughts. “I think you have to be patient and sober with her hereon. The more you hijack her life, she’ll grow distant from you. Give her the proof she needs and I am sure she’ll come back to you. Forcing her cannot be an option. I hope you know what I mean?”
I shake my head but whatever Daadi is suggesting right now cannot be implemented. I won’t force her to come back to me, but I won’t make it anywhere less than she running into my arms willingly. I’ll hijack her heart, mind and body in a way that she wouldn’t ever be able to think of living without me ever again.
*************
AR Group
Akash told me that from two days Khushi didn’t leave her house and there was a small party at their Juhu Villa last evening which is a bit suspicious. What was that party for? What was Rudra celebrating? It cannot be related to the deal they won recently as according to Akash’s sources the party was only for close family and friends of the Singh family and no business associates were invited. While I am at the board meeting, my mind is racing with many possibilities when my secretary notifies me that Khushi Thakur has arrived at my office to see me. For a second, my heart flips at the prospect of welcoming her but the thought of the woman she has become reminds me she isn’t here with any good news. I ask my secretary to get Khushi seated at my cabin while I wrap up this meeting fast.
The prospect of seeing her in my office cabin where Jhanvi and I had spent a few cute moments during our togetherness heats my body for a repeat of those moments. Only if that was possible.
Fifteen minutes later I stride into my cabin only to find her standing at my desk, holding the photo frame of Jhanvi and one-year-old Aarvi in her hand. The softness in her expression as she admires that picture brings satisfaction to my face too. It makes me believe she is not too far from accepting that she is my Jaan. Khushi is so lost in the picture that she doesn't realize I’ve returned to the cabin. I reach behind her and my reflection in that picture breaks her stupor.
“We clicked this picture on Aarvi’s first birthday.”
She instantly puts the frame on my desk and turns around, a bit hesitant to talk about that chapter of our life. She has no clue how many beautiful memories we have made so far which she is so brutally ready to give up.
The next instant Khushi picks the box of sweets and extends it before me.
“For you,” she smirks.
The expressions on her face, and her confident grin warns me this is not good news for sure.
“What for?” I swallow the painful lump in the back of my throat.
“I got engaged to Rudra last night.”
She shows me a shiny ring on her finger and anger shoots in my chest. As if satisfied by my reactions, she takes out a sweet and tries to feed me.
