35

Khushi

"The truth about my miscarriage, Arnav. That accident not only caused my parents to go into a coma. It also killed our child, who had been just four weeks old."

I fake a sob, smirking inwardly at the devastated look on Arnav's face.

"What are you saying, Khushi? Our child?" Arnav asks me, his voice shaky.

"Yes, Arnav. Our child, who did not get a chance at life because of that man," I sit on the couch and close my eyes to let the fake tears fall.

I have practiced crying countless times in the last ten days to make it look believable.

I hope Arnav does not see through my pretense.

Arnav slumps on the couch beside me, keeping his head in his hands. He stays that way for a couple of seconds before looking at me.

I feel immense peace in my heart as I see his red eyes with unshed tears. I know how much Arnav Rathore cherishes his blood relationships. That is why I came up with this plan.

After thinking about it for a few days, I realized only this lie would work.

Family is important to Arnav, and if he believed he lost his child because of someone, he would definitely punish that person.

Initially, my plan was to make Arnav punish Ridvansh and Vivansh only, but now, after knowing that Ridvansh was introduced to Arnav just a few days back by Anjali, this will also be a perfect plan to begin sowing distrust for Anjali in Arnav's mind.

It will take some more time to make Arnav completely doubt Anjali. But I need to start somewhere.

And this is the perfect start.

"But why would Ridvansh do it, Khushi? I don't understand," Arnav asks me.

"I know it is hard for you to believe, Arnav," I start answering tearily. "I met Ridvansh before our marriage. It was a week after I met Niranjan again in the mansion.

"When Niranjan first saw me, he warned me not to say anything about what had happened at the university. He told me he would break off Priya's and Aashish's marriage and paint me as the culprit in front of everyone.

"But when I did not bend to his warning, Ridvansh visited me in the market and threatened to kill me if I ever said a word about Niranjan's truth to the Rathores. He told me he was Niranjan's friend and would go to any extent to protect him.

"Still, when I did not back down, Niranjan portrayed me as the victim that night, and no one believed me when I screamed my truth." My teary mask momentarily slips as I look accusingly at Arnav. I realize it when I see him avert his eyes guiltily.

Pretending to sob lightly, I move closer to Arnav and hold his hand.

"It is still hard for me to think about that night, Arnav," I begin, not wanting Arnav to give even a moment to process my accusatory look.

"I understand now that Niranjan was too smart and doctored all the evidence in such a way that everyone was bound to believe him. That is why I have forgiven everyone. Even you. Because I now know you were only looking out for your sister. You thought I was the one who hurt her, so you did your best to hurt me." I lightly squeeze Arnav's hand to convince him of my lies.

"Do you know how I understood that and decided to give you another chance?" I pause, wanting Arnav to process that question and ask me the reason.

"Why, Khushi?"

"Because I lost our baby, Arnav. I did not know about his existence when I lost him in that accident. But when I found out about it, I sobbed in grief.

"I had nourished that child in my womb for four weeks, Arnav. He was a part of me for the whole four weeks before I lost him. If he had not died then, being his mother, I would have loved him immensely.

"The grief then turned into rage. I was angry at Ridvansh when he came to the hospital and told me he had paid the driver to cause that accident. Somehow, he also knew about the baby and threatened me not to tell about it to you. He said if I told anything to you, he would kill my parents.

"The anger I felt then toward Ridvansh made me realize why you did all those things to hurt me. Even now, my blood boils with rage when I think about how Ridvansh is why our baby is dead.

"So, I can understand how angry you must have been with me when you thought I was the reason for Anjali being in a coma. That was when I forgave you, Arnav.

"I had thought I would never tell you about our baby because I didn't want to hurt you with the news, but the grief has become too much for me, Arnav, and I needed to share it with you, the one I love, and the one I know will understand my grief. Because if I was the mother of that child, you too were the father," I finish speaking and look at Arnav's stunned face.

I keep holding his hand, no matter how much it repulses me. I know it will take some time to let everything I told him sink into him. So, I stay quiet, trying to look sad as I stare unblinkingly at him.

"Did he do that for Niranjan?" Arnav asks me after a couple of minutes, and I have to remind myself not to show any excitement as I feel overwhelming joy hearing that question.

His asking that question means he believed everything I told him.

"Initially, I suspected you knew Ridvansh and caused that accident to stop me from running away. But when he threatened me about not telling anything about my miscarriage to you, I started having doubts about that suspicion. Because if Ridvansh worked for you, he would not have hidden such vital information from you.

"Then I also thought he did it for Niranjan, his friend. But then, when Anjali introduced Ridvansh as her friend, it worried me further," I say, and Arnav abruptly stands up from the couch.

"What are you saying, Khushi? Do you think Anjali is involved in this? Don't you dare even think that. She is my sister. She would never harm me," Arnav says to me, looking at me with a stern expression on his face.

I slowly stand up from the couch and walk to Arnav. I then place a hand over his shoulder and blink reassuringly at him.

I know I need to tread this matter carefully. One wrong word from me and this sister's puppet will go to her and sing everything I told him to her. If that happens, my plan will get destroyed before I can even start executing it properly.

"I know, Arnav. I completely trust Anjali. I know she can never do anything to harm you or me. She seems like she cannot even hurt a fly." I inwardly roll my eyes at that absurd lie. "I think Anjali does not know about Ridvansh, which is why she thinks of him as her friend. That is what has worried me because I think Ridvansh is using Anjali to hurt me and ultimately hurt you too."

Arnav nods at me, his face thoughtful as if he is trying to figure out what to do next.

"I will go to Anjali and tell her everything. Then I will make sure to get Ridvansh out of our lives. He will be punished for killing our child, Khushi. I will not spare him." Saying that, Arnav is about to walk away when I stop him.

"No, Arnav. You cannot say anything to Anjali," I say, my voice calm despite the nervousness I feel at the moment.

"Why, Khushi?" Arnav narrows his eyes at me.

"Because I am concerned about Anjali," I reply.

When Arnav frowns and looks at me questioningly, I start explaining myself.

"Anjali recovered from her coma just a few weeks back, Arnav. And Niranjan has been missing since the day she came out of her coma. I can't imagine how devastated she must be feeling after her husband's betrayal.

"She does not show it to us because she is too good to trouble us with her sadness. But how do you think she will feel when she finds out her friend has also betrayed her? Don't you think she will feel guilty for bringing such men into our lives who have only hurt us?"

Arnav sighs deeply when he hears me. "When you put it like that, I understand why you don't want me to say anything to Anjali. But I can't let Ridvansh be in our lives too, Khushi. That is why I need to tell Anjali the truth."

"What if you get rid of Ridvansh without saying anything to Anjali?"

"What do you mean, Khushi?"

"I have been thinking about this, Arnav," I say and pause for a second. Then, I dramatically shake my head. "No, no. What am I even thinking? It's too bad of me."

Saying that, I wait for Arnav to ask me. After all, I must make him think everything is his plan, not mine.

"Tell me, Khushi. What is it?" Arnav asks me, and I turn to hide the smiling curve of my lips.

School your expressions, Khushi.

I berate myself for slipping but also feel relieved because Arnav didn't see it.

"The more I think about Ridvansh killing our child, the more I want to hurt someone dearest to him, too," I put the idea into Arnav's mind. "I know, Arnav. You want to punish Ridvansh for killing our child. But that won't be enough. He took away someone precious to us, so we also need to take someone who is precious to him away from him." I say to Arnav.

Although I want to give him Vivansh's name immediately, I know I cannot do that. If I tell him everything, he might doubt my intentions. So, it is better if he finds a few things out by himself.

"You mean we also hurt his family like he hurt ours?" Arnav asks me, and I pretend to be thoughtful.

"That would be too cruel for us, right? Let's not do so. Let's just call the police and hand over Ridvansh to them," I say to Arnav, not at all wanting to do that.

Sending that monster to prison would be the easy punishment for him. After how he locked up and toyed with all those girls and their families, he also needs to suffer the pain of having someone close to him get snatched away from him.

But I cannot say that to Arnav, can I? After all, I need to keep up the pretense of being that gullible girl, who feels terrible about even thinking of hurting someone, let alone going through with it.

"No, Khushi. Prison would be an easy punishment for Ridvansh. He won't understand the gravity of his crime if we hand him to the police. He killed my child, so it is apt that I roll out his punishment," Arnav says.

I had expected the same thing of this evil man. He has never believed in law and order, after all.

When he thought I was the culprit behind Anjali's coma, he took matters into his own hands instead of going through the path of justice.

So, I knew he would do the same thing today too.

Better for me. I will hit two birds with one stone. Arnav being the stone, and Ridvansh and Vivansh being the two birds.

"I am so glad that I told you everything. I knew you would understand me. Thank you, Arnav." I smile at him, more fake tears rolling out of my eyes as he pulls me into his arms to hug me loosely.

I hug him back, trying my best not to show any outward repulsion to his touch.

Once Ridvansh is out of the way, my path will be clear to target Anjali Rathore.

Then, my final target will be you, Arnav. I have indeed saved the best for the last.