24

Sensitive content ahead. Reader's discretion is advised.

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Khushi

Fear coursed through my veins, threatening to paralyze me as Arnav started tying my foot to the bedpost.

Done with the right foot, he moved to the other side to tie my left foot, and I squeezed my eyes shut.

All the flashes of the times he forced himself on me, beat me, demeaned me, everything started playing behind my closed eyelids, and my whole body froze. Cold sweats broke out on my forehead, and my mouth suddenly felt dry.

I willed myself to open my eyes, to say something, anything to stop all this, but I could not even open my eyes, let alone open my mouth to say something.

I could now feel his hands roaming on my face, lightly caressing my cheek, making me want to move away from that disgusting touch.

But I could not move too.

It was as if I was in a trance. I could hear Arnav's voice, but it was too faint as if coming from a distance. I tried to focus on what he was saying, but it was as if my mind refused to cooperate. As if it wanted me to focus on something else.

And then it started again. The flashes of all my sufferings. It started from the day I witnessed Anjali's cruelty. The way she threatened me. The way she and Niranjan plotted against me. The way I was accused of being a characterless girl. The way Priya mistreated me. The way Arnav raped me and demeaned me. Everything played in a loop.

I wanted it to stop. The flashes making me relive those moments and feel the pain repeatedly.

It kept playing until I could not take it anymore. I wanted to scream and shout that it was enough. Enough of me being a victim. Enough of me crying and tolerating everything being done to me.

'ENOUGH, ENOUGH, ENOUGH.' I mutely screamed to my mind, making those flashes stop.

Once they stopped, only blackness replacing those horrid memories, I opened my eyes and saw Arnav's movement cease for a second before it resumed, and he clutched my salwar's shawl, trying to rip it off my body.

"Stop this madness, Arnav." I was surprised at how calm my voice sounded even though a storm was brewing in my mind.

I continued looking at Arnav as he loosened his hold on the shawl and moved his hand away.

"You are forcing me to do this madness, Khushi. If only you agree to be mine, I promise I will only give you love and happiness. No more of this torture."

I could see a hopeful light in his eyes, and I wondered how delusional a person could be.

How can Arnav think even for a moment that I would be his after everything he has done to me to date?

Still, keeping a straight face, I started speaking in the same calm voice.

"I will never be yours this way, Arnav. Never. If you think you would break me by forcing me and beating me again, you can try that by all means. But all that will do is make me hate you more.

"All these tortures might even break me one day, Arnav, but even broken, I will never be yours. I will keep trying to run away from you. I will keep trying to escape your prison.

"So, tell me, Arnav. Is this what you want your whole life? Raping me and beating me, scarring your soul every day, just so you can keep me with you? Tell me, will you be happy and content living this way?" I peered at him and noticed him looking thoughtful for a while before he spoke.

"I do not want to live that way, Khushi. But I do not want to live my life without you in it too. So, why don't you give in just once? Please agree to be mine. Please give me one last chance. And I promise you I will keep you so happy that you won't ever regret your decision. Please, Khushi. Your one yes can make us both happy. Just once, Khushi. Please," Arnav pleaded with me, and I felt like shaking my head at such a dumb person in front of me.

The wheels in my brain churned, trying to figure out a way.

I want to punish everyone who has wronged me so far. Anjali, Arnav, Niranjan, Priya, and other Rathores.

Yes, other Rathores, too, because they are equally guilty. They had been in the mansion when Arnav had locked me in a room there. They must have heard my screams, my pleadings every time Arnav raped me. But no one came to help me. No one ever came to stop Arnav.

So, yes, they are equally guilty because if doing a crime makes one a criminal, witnessing a crime mutely and doing nothing to stop it also makes one similarly guilty of that crime being committed.

Therefore, I need to take my revenge on every single Rathore and Niranjan. I won't spare anyone.

"Khushi, say something, please." Arnav's voice jolted me out of my reverie, and that jolt also brought an idea to my mind.

"Let's make a deal then, Arnav," I said to Arnav, and he looked at me with confusion marring his face.

"What deal?"

"Starting today, I will try my best to destroy you, and you can try your best to woo me. The one to bring the other to their knees first will win. If you won, I will stay with you and be yours forever, and if I won, you will confess to your crime and accept whatever punishment you will be given," I said, not knowing if I was doing the right thing, but I needed to start somewhere.

For now, this seemed like the best idea.

I know I won't ever get wooed by Arnav. After what he has done to me, the only feeling I have left for him is hatred, nothing else.

But if Arnav accepted this deal, it would give me time to think and decide how to destroy Arnav and everyone else who has wronged me.

"I will accept this deal—" Arnav began, and as I was about to tell him to untie me, he raised his hand to stop me. "—But I have a condition, Khushi."

"What is your condition?" I hoped it was something doable because I really wanted Arnav to accept this deal. After all, with his acceptance of this deal, my revenge will finally start.

"You will not try to escape from me," he replied, and I sighed in relief.

Of course, I won't try to escape from him. Because after I am done, I will walk away proudly with my head held high, leaving behind the destruction of the Rathore family.

"I give you my word, Arnav, that I won't even think of running away from you," I began, and when he nodded, I voiced the other thought that popped into my mind. "But I have a condition too."

"What is it, Khushi?"

"You will take me back to Rathore mansion," I put forth my condition.

It seemed appropriate too. After all, everything had started there, so it is only fair that everything ends there.