Chapter 19 Frozen hearts....will they melt by Deepti
Chapter 19
There she was sitting all alone at the dining table, gulping down the samosas, as if she was taking part in an eating contest.While her right hand was stuffing a somasa in her mouth, her left hand was busy serving more somosas in her plate.
Since Anjali knew what was going on, she simply swayed her head saying, ” What should we do with this Kushi!!!”
“What’s wrong with her Di? Why is she eating like that?”, asked Arnav staring at Kushi without blinking his eyes.
“It’s nothing. You might have heard about many stress busters. And this one is Kushi’s. EATING. Whenever she is stressed or in tension she just eats. And eating means not the regular type of eating . There is no limit to how much she can consume when she is stressed. I always wonder how her lean frame is capable of digesting all that food”, said Anjali looking at Kushi.
“UNBELIEVABLE!!!”, was the only word which escaped his mouth looking at the women who was taking part in the eating marathon.
“Oh my God! Looks like today she is very much stressed. She is going overboard”, said Anjali rushing towards Kushi, leaving her brother behind.
“KUSHI!!!”, called out Anjali on reaching Kushi. But on getting no response from her, she caught Kushi’s right hand and stopped her from stuffing the samosa into her mouth.
“You had enough!! Now stop eating”, ordered Anjali, pulling Kushi’s hand away from her mouth. Coming out of her world with Anjali’s actions, ” Haa”, said Kushi, as she jerked.
” I said,Stop eating and get up”, said Anjali trying to pull Kushi up from the chair.
Coming to her senses, Kushi looked at her plate and realized that she had eaten a lot more than she usually does. Giving up her eating, she obediently followed Anjali and went upstairs to her room, leaving a shocked Arnav downstairs.
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That night was a sleepless night for most of the people in Shantiwan.
While Rishi was the only one who slept peacefully in his bedroom, the situation in all the other bedrooms was totally different.
Devyani who was an early sleeper was having a sleepless night that day. She became very restless hearing the Kapoor’s proposal since she had other plans for Kushi. The day she saw Arnav and Kushi, standing right next to each other, a new wish took root in her heart. She wanted to see them as a couple but decided to wait since it would be too early to bring this proposal in front of the others. But with the Kapoor’s match, knocking on their door, things have taken a different turn and Devyani was in a fix. She was not able to sleep thinking about what changes the next day might bring in the lives of the people associated with her.
The situation in Aaarthi’s and Aakash’s room was very much similar to that of Devyani’s.
” What do you think about the Kapoor’s proposal”, asked Aarthi addressing her husband.
“What is there to think about it. Let’s wait and see what’s going to happen”, replied Aakash.
“What if Kushi and her parents like this alliance. Will we get her married to that Abhay Kapoor and send her away”, asked Aarthi, expressing her doubts.
” If that is what she and her parents want to happen, that is what is going to happen. We have no say in this”, said Aakash in a very low spirit.
“How can we leave it like that…no one knows… but you do know it right. I always wanted to make Kushi my daughter in law. Now how can I send her away to someone else’s house. Can’t you do something about this? Why don’t you talk to her father. Or should I talk to Sakshi?”, asked a desperate Aarthi.
“Aarthi cool down. We can’t do that. If Shashi had that opinion he wouldn’t have told the Kapoors that he needs time to think about this match. It’s true that we both want Kushi to be our daughter in law. But we cannot put pressure on others to fulfill this wish of ours. I can’t do anything which might create tremors in my friendship with Shashi. His friendship means more than anything to me in this world and you are very much aware of it”.
“If you ask Kushi’s hand in marriage for our Arnav, how is it going to effect your friendship. It makes no sense to me”, said an annoyed Aarthi.
“Try to understand Aarthi. I don’t think Shashi has that idea about Arnav and Kushi. And if I take this proposal to him, just for my sake, he will accept and will also make Sakshi and Kushi accept my proposal. I don’t want to put him under any such pressure. If Arnav and Kushi are destined to be together then nothing can change that. Have faith in God and relax”, said Aakash trying to explain his wife.
Though she was not convinced with her husband’s explanation not wanting to prolong the conversation, Aarthi turned towards the other direction of the bed and kept thinking about Arnav and Kushi.
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In Shashi and Sakshi’s room, “I don’t want to get her married so soon”, declared Sakshi, addressing her husband.
“Neither do I Sakshi. Even the mere thought of her marriage is making me restless. I’m not even able to bear the idea of her getting married and leaving us”, said Shashi, thinking about his little princess.
“Are you planning to keep her with you forever”, teased Sakshi.
” I wish I could. But I’m aware that when time comes I will have to find a right person for her and get her married to him. But what I also know is…NOW IS NOT THAT TIME “, said Shashi.
“You do whatever you want to do. But I don’t want my daughter to get married in the next two-three years. This house will not be the same when she leaves.The laughter, brightness, happiness…is all because of these girls. Anjali will get married and will be leaving us soon. I don’t want Kushi to join her.Once they get married, these girls can’t come home and stay with us whenever we or they want them to. So I want Kushi’s wedding to happen as late as possible. We can start looking for a groom when she turns 24”, said Sakshi giving a clear-cut picture of her view.
“Don’t worry. Everything will happen just the way you want it to happen”, said Shashi assuring her.
“But what answer will you give to the Kapoors? I don’t want any kind of disturbance in Anjali’s life because of this proposal?”, said Sakshi expressing her fears.
“Nothing like that will happen. I will handle everything. You just sleep and leave the rest to me”, replied Shashi.
And they both retired to sleep thinking what the next day would bring into their daughter’s life.
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In Anjali’s room, Anjali couldn’t stop thinking about Karan’s teasing words and charming talks. She was all excited to meet him and his family and was trying her best to sleep, dreaming about her future with Karan.
And in Arnav and Kushi’s rooms the situation was pretty much the same. Both were pacing restlessly in their respective rooms, unaware of the company they had in the adjacent rooms.
Arnav paced up and down in his room not understanding what disturbed him more. Is it the news of Kushi’s wedding proposal or the news of Abhay coming to meet Kushi or both?
” You wanted this to happen as soon as possible. And now that it’s going to happen, why are you so worried about it”, his mind questioned him.
“OH SHUT UP!!”, he yelled to shut his mind.
“What’s wrong with me?Why am I so disturbed”, he questioned himself for which he didn’t get any answer.
He sprawled on his bed and stared at the ceiling as sleep was far away from him.
In the room next to his, Kushi paced up and down the length of her room restlessly, scolding Abhay all the while.”What does he think of himself…look at a girl once and declare an ultimatum that he will marry only her?? Is this the way marriages happen??”, she asked herself.
She was not against marriage but didn’t want to get married so early. She had some dreams which she wanted to fulfill at any cost and had no plans for a wedding until she achieves her goal. But now this proposal came as a blow to her.
She became more restless with each passing moment. “Think Kushi think.. you need to get yourself out of this mess”, she said, biting her nails. Suddenly an idea flashed in her head and grabbing her phone which was on the dressing table, she started dialing.
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Thank you so much dear, whoever you are for posting this story. Have read this n number of times but still love to read this. I would daily think how read this again and being very lucky I got this. Thank you very much
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