TUJHE BHULA DIYA` PART 26

It had been two weeks now, a couple of very uncomfortable and confusing weeks. Dhruv had returned almost two weeks ago on Holi, and so had Arnav, only to give rise to very uncomfortable and ambiguous dynamics among the family. Arnav had surprisingly not at all reacted to Dhruv’s return, in any manner expected. Given the kind of animosity he had shown every time Dhruv’s name had been mentioned, or linked with Khushi’s, everybody had expected a very aggressive and angry reaction from him. However, he was just as unfazed and unaffected as he usually was, and had embraced the return of his brother as a welcome change. And this was only the beginning of the unusual happenings around Shantivan. Not only did Arnav appear to no more have any issues with Khushi and Dhruv’s relationship, he was also okay with their sharing the same room and reprimanded Dhruv for leaving his ‘wife’ alone in such a delicate condition. Not only did this confuse everybody, but also alarmed them on a certain level.

If everybody else was alarmed and confused, Khushi didn’t even know what to feel anymore. On a level she was confused and worried, and on another level, deeply anguished by Arnav’s indifference. The love, the care was gone. Instead, he now treated her just the way he’d treat his brother’s pregnant wife. The passionate lover as though never existed. Even after his memory loss that unnamed bond had existed between them. He had never ceased to feel that invisible string that bound their hearts and their souls together. But now, as if the bond, the string had never existed. Starved of her husband’s love, Khushi didn’t know what to do anymore but just go along with it. There was his health to take care of, and then his out of ordinary behavior. It was just all too much for her to understand and work around, and she frankly did not have the energy anymore.  So she just decided to let things take their course, and leave everything to her Devi Maiyya, now it was her goddess’s to take care of things. She needed to take a break from everything. Living under the same roof with the man she loved more than her life, and being unable to claim him as hers, was taking its toll on her. being called someone else’s wife hadn’t turned out to be as simple as it had seemed.