"Arnavji.. Aap ko hum par bharosa karna hi hoga.. Aap toh humein jaante hain na? Jaante hain ki hum aisa kuch kabhi nahi kar sakte (Arnavji.. You will have to trust me.. You know me don't you? You know I can do nothing of that sort)" Khushi defended.

"Nahi nahi Khushiji.. Arrey iss se bhi kaheen aage jaa sakti hain aap! Arrey.. Aap ek behad makkar aur giri hui ladki hain, Jo iss ghar ko todna chahti hai. Barbaad kar dena chaahti hai iss khaandaan ko.. Aur uske liye, Aap kuch bhi kar sakti hain! Kissi bhi had tak gir sakti hain!! Yahaan tak ke apne hi jeeja par aap dore bhi daal sakti hain Khushiji? (Oh No Khushiji.. You can go way beyond that! You are a cheating and characterless girl who wants to break this house. Ruin this family.. And for that you can do anything! Stoop to any lengths! Even if it takes seducing your brother in law)" Shyam screamed in her face trying to remain in the good books of the family.

Arnav glared at him angrily for trying to tarnish his Khushi's character in front of the family and moved forward a little with the intention of shutting him off but then remembered Anjali who was standing supported by him and helplessly stepped back.

Khushi looked at shyam, She wasn't a bit surprised at what he had just said. His desperation to defend himself was evident in his demeanour. She roamed her eyes towards the other family members everyone had tears in their eyes, They lowered their heads in shame when their eyes met with hers. Were they ashamed of her? She risked a glance at her husband, Scared to find him averting his eyes from her too. But he didn't, He stood there holding onto Anjali looking straight into her eyes.

"Hum jaante hain ki inke khilaaf humaare paas koi suboot nahi hain! Koi suboot nahi jo saabit kar sake ki kyaa sach hai aur kyaa jhooth, Lekin hum jaante hai.. Ki hum sacche hain! Aur agar aap humaari aankhon mein dekhenge, Toh aapko bhi yeh sacchai dikhegi. Arnavji.. Bas ek baar humaari aankhon mein dekhiye.. Aur faisla kijiye.. Ki kya sach hai, Aur kya jhooth. (I know that I don't have any proofs against him. Nothing that can prove what the truth is and what is the lie. But I know that I am honest. If you look into my eyes, You'll also see the truth. Arnavji.. Just look into my eyes once and decide what the truth is and what is the lie)" Khushi said. Arnav saw her talking directly to him. It didn't matter what the other family members thought, She just demanded his trust. Her husband's trust! She has trusted him to believe her just one last time. Arnav also saw a strange fear in her eyes, Fear of being left alone like she was when he had jerked her hand away from his at the airport.

For once, Both his heart and mind were at agreement over something. The girl in front of him wasn't the culprit. His heart always knew that and it had finally, Made his mind accept the truth too. He could not let her succumb to her fears. He was not going to repeat the mistake that he had committed in the past. He walked up to her direction taking predatory steps towards them, Glancing once at Khushi.. He shot an angry glare at Shyam

(PS who loves the BGM which had played at this moment??)

And SLAP!!! (Surround sound Please)

Every eye in the hall widened in shock including Khushi's. Payal and NK looked pleasantly surprised at the action, Satisfied that at least ASR had believed Khushi.

Shyam held his cheek with one hand and let out a low grunt before looking back at the beast personified glaring at him with PURE RAGE

"Yeh.. Meri Di ko Dhokha dene ke liye (This.. For betraying my sister)" He said through gritted teeth.

SLAP!!!

"Aur yeh.. Meri patni se badtameezi karne ke liye (And this.. For misbehaving with my wife)" He said. Khushi looked at him confused, surprised and grateful. Isn't this what she had always wanted, Him to stand up for her. Him to believe her

"Yeh dono meri zindagi mein sabse important insaan hai.. Aur tumne inn dono ko dukh pahunchaane ki galati ki hai! (Both of them are the most important people in my life and you have dared to hurt both of them)" Arnav added.

Anjali shook her head in negative, Noticing which shyam tried to walk past Arnav to Anjali but Arnav stopped him.

"Not anymore SMJ. I won't let you hurt my family anymore! Out of this house!" Arnav said in a deadly low voice

"I SAID GET OUT!" Arnav roared

Shyam flinched at his loud voice and Arnav gripped him by his collar.

(Oh How much I love it when this scene happens with that snake)

"Akash call the security" He ordered

"But bhai.. Jeejaji!" Akash tried to intervene.

"Akash I said call the damn security now! I want this man out of my house. Now!!" Arnav said. He dragged shyam towards the entrance and threw him out of the house shutting the door on his face.

"What have you done chotte. How could you misbehave with your jeejaji?" Anjali asked outraged

"Di.. I believe Khushi. Shyam is a cheat di. He is a bastard who can harm us. Especially you!" Arnav said firmly.

"But Bhai.. What proof does she have?" Akash asked.

"Yes Chotte, Maybe she is just misunderstanding the whole thing. Why would Shyamji do something like that??" Anjali asked desperately.

Arnav closed his eyes. This was going to be a tough fight.

"She is not misunderstanding anything di. Shyam had confessed his deeds to me months ago! Both Khushi and I have given him a lot of chances to change his ways but that b***d didn't mend himself." Arnav said

"Then why didn't Khushiji tell us everything early on?" Akash questioned.

"Woh darr gayi thi. Di ko taqleef nahi dena chaahti thi woh. (She got scared. She didn't want to hurt Di)" Payal said

Arnav looked at her, "Kyunki baat aapki hai, Farak padta hai.. Kisi aur ki hoti toh nahi padta! (Because it relates to you, It makes a difference, If it weren't you, It won't have mattered!)" He recalled her words spoken at the airport.

"Aur aaj, Achanak uss ne sacch bataane ka faisla kar liya? Kyun? (And today, suddenly she decided to reveal the truth? Why?)" Mamiji said.

"Kyunki baat meri thi Mamiji! Kyunki iss baar baat meri jaan tak pahunch gayi thi! Ussne kidnap kiya tha mujhe! (Because it relates to me Mamiji! Because this time the thing at stake was my life, He had kidnapped me!)" Arnav exclaimed

"What proof does she have that it was Shyamji who had kidnapped you?" Anjali asked

"We had gathered all the proofs against that man Di! But the cunning bastard that he is, He flipped everything in his favour. Trust us Di, He is very dangerous!" NK tried to make Anjali believe him.

"Maybe, Shyam Bitwa is right! Maybe she did try to seduce him. She had talked damadji into signing the divorce papers" Mamiji said

"Masiji.. woh-"

"Mamiji.. Aap yeh sochti hain humaare baare mein? (Mamiji.. Is this what you think of me?)" Khushi asked in disbelief, Tears cascaded down her cheeks.

"Khushiji.."

"Khushi.. Don't cry" Arnav wiped her tears

"Arnavji.. I didn't.. I never tried to sed..seduce him. Believe me Arnavji" Khushi whisper pleaded.

"I know. I believe you Khushi, It's okay." Arnav said caressing her hair soothing her.

"Usne jo kuch kia.. Mere liye kiya. Mujhe yaqeen hai uspar. Agar usne divorce papers sign karwaaye bhi.. Toh bahut accha kiya, Di doesn't deserve him! (Whatever she did.. She did for me. I believe her. If she got the divorce papers signed, It was for good)" Arnav said firmly

Anjali looked at him shocked

"Tum unhe defend kar rahe ho? Unhone humaara ghar todne ki koshish ki! (You are defending her? She tried to break my house)" Anjali said

"Nahi di.. Usne apne peace of mind ko sacrifice kar ke aapke ghar ko itne maheenon tak bacchaye rakkha! (No di.. She sacrificed her own peace of mind to keep your household intact for months)" Arnav whispered sadly

Payal smiled sadly. Was she not one of the reasons why Khushi didn't tell everyone the truth about Shyam

"I know.. Khushi has no proofs against him. She cannot prove her innocence, But I still trust her. I will produce proofs in front of you. I will prove her innocence to you people. My khushi is not wrong and I will prove it to you by the end of the day" Arnav said

Khushi looked at him gratefully. "Thank you Arnavji" She whispered.

"I'd be a fool to repeatedly commit the same mistake Khushi" Arnav said softly

"Mere shyamji aisa kuch kabhi nahi kar sakte chotte. (My shyamji would never do something like this chotte.)" Anjali argued.

"I've seen the worst of him Di. Khushi almost died trying to save me, I have no reasons whatsoever to doubt her. It's a pity she had to risk her bloody life to get me to trust her. But after almost losing her, After seeing her on threshold of death. I won't dare doubt her anymore!" Arnav said

"I can only present all the proofs in front of you. If you still decide to.. trust your husband over your brother.. Your chotte, I won't stop you because in a way I'm doing the same. But.. then you'll have to leave this house. I won't tolerate that scumbag back in this house. I won't risk Khushi's peace of mind anymore." Arnav said

Arnav looked at Khushi and held out his hand to her

"Why?" She whispered

"Whether I accept it or not, My heart had never even once doubted you. Just that ASR always managed to overpower the Arnav in me. I am sorry for being a jerk to you Khushi. I'm so sorry" Arnav said guilty.

"Arnavji no" Khushi held his hand

"I'm sorry" He buried his face in her neck.

"It's.. Okay Arnavji." She ran his fingers soothingly through his hair.

"Let's go. You need to rest Khushi" Arnav said and gently escorted her towards their room

"Thank you for standing up for me Arnavji" Khushi whispered

"Always Khushi." Arnav assured

"I love you" Arnav said

"I love you too Arnavji" Khushi whispered hiding in his arms. Arnav hugged her back

"Mujhe kabhi chodkar nahi jayenge na? (You'll never leave me alone right?)" Khushi asked in a cracking voice

"Never Khushi" Arnav kissed her forehead, She snuggled closer

*Fingers crossed*

I had hated the fact that Arnav had done nothing to defend her even after being the mighty ASR. He could easily gather all the proofs and defend his wife. Even if he did slap shyam he hadn't done anything else to help Khushi prove her innocence which I felt was unfair to Khushi. So this is something I've written mainly to.. ease the nagging feeling in my brain.

I hope that you like it.

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Vinny