Part 32 Fear

Laxmi was sitting on the floor, clutching her hip.

"Ahhhh..."

Dadi looked at Laxmi horrified. Kids also came there.

"What happened, Laxmi?" Dadi asked.

"I fell from the staircase," she said hissing.

Dadi called another servant and asked her to help Laxmi. She helped her to stand.

"Ouch..." Laxmi sighed.

At the same time, Arnav entered RM and frowned, seeing the scene.

"What happened, Laxmi Didi?" Arnav advanced her while asking the question.

"I slipped from the stairs, Arnav Babuwa"

"But, how?"

"My leg slipped..." She slowly walked to her quarters hissing. The other servant helped her.

Arnav stood looking at her.

"Arnav, call the doctor," Dadi said.

Arnav nodded and called the doctor.

"Poor woman, how she fell ...!" Dadi sighed.

Arnav stood thinking about something.

"What are you thinking? Laxmi will be all right in two or three days. Don't worry..." Dadi said.

"But, Badi Dadi, we are planning to go to a theme park on Sunday. How Laxmi Didi will come with us?"

"No way, she can't come with you. Didn't you see how terribly she fell? She will have to be in rest for two days. You can go to the theme park next week" Dadi said.

"Dad said, he would take us this Sunday," Shali said.

"Of course, he would have said that when you wanted it"

"No, we didn't ask him to take us to the Theme park. He is the one who said that" Shamli said making a face.

Dadi looked at Arnav who was silent.

"Is it, Arnav?"

Without answering to her,

"I will take you to Disney Land in Winter Holidays"

"No need Dad, you will cancel that program too if Laxmi Didi gets injured," Aarav said, making a face.

"Dad, shall we take Khushi Didi to the Theme Park?" Shali

asked beseechingly.

"She won't deny and the trip will be fun," Shamli said.

"Yeah, it's a good idea," Dadi said.

"She said she has some work," Shali said sadly.

"Did you ask her?"

"No, we invited her to RM this Sunday. That was when she said so"

"I think she will not deny if she gets to know the program is cancelling. I will talk to her if you want" Dadi said.

"No, Dadi, we should not take her for granted," Arnav said.

"What's there to take for granted, Arnav? I just am going to ask her to join you"

"She won't come..." Arnav said.

"Why are you concluding without knowing her stand? Let me try... then decide"

"No Dadi, please..."

Dadi looked at the kids.

"Leave it Badi Dadi... he says he loves us so much but won't do anything which makes us happy"

Aarav said and walked to his room. Shali and Shamli followed him with a hung face.

Arnav stood, looking at them shockingly.

"You sacrificed your life for the kids but they are not happy. They will not recognize your sacrifices if you are adamant. You have been giving them what they want so far. They are asking for something now..."

Cutting her,

"They were just asking for THINGS so far. Now they are asking for Khushi. She is not a THING but a human with expectations and desires. She struggled a lot in her life Dadi. She feels she has no one. Adding to it, we have a huge age difference. I don't even know what a woman of my age needs. Then how could I understand the need for a small girl who is fourteen years younger than me? If I can't satisfy her, she will be disappointed and I will become a failure. Do you want it to happen?"

Dadi became a statue. She understood why Arnav was scared. He was not wrong though.

"Arnav, your fear is justified but can't you judge people by their attitude? Touch your heart and say, do you really think, Khushi is tough to handle?"

"Dadi, you are seeing her outline... there is a lot beyond that, especially after marriage..." He stopped and looked at Dadi to see if she understood his point.

Dadi looked down. So, she understood.

"Arnav, you didn't go to her. It's she who likes to marry you. She would have analyzed all of this. She is an understanding girl. She knows what's important to live"

"Priorities differ Dadi. She is a normal human... not a log with no feelings... I don't know if I can cope up..." Arnav left the place.

Dadi understood the clear picture. Arnav hesitated to marry her because he was scared about their sexual life.

Yes, Khushi was a young girl whereas he was closing up to forty. He didn't know whether he could handle the girl who was so young and active. When he would become fifty, Khushi would be just thirty-four. He didn't know what was his condition at that time. Why should she control her feelings to marry him? How long she could control herself? Why should she?

...............

Dadi sent the doctor off who came to treat Laxmi and went to her room. She frowned seeing the kids going to the staff quarters.

*Why are they going to the staff quarters? To meet Laxmi?*

Dadi followed them. She was stunned to see Laxmi sitting on a chair casually. She smiled at the kids.

"Did our plan work?" Laxmi asked.

The kids nodded no.

"But, why? Didn't Arnav Babuwa ask Khushi to come with you?"

"No, he said he would take us to Disney Land on our winter vacation"

Laxmi sighed.

"you don't have to pretend. You can come to RM tomorrow" Aarav said sadly.

"Don't feel bad. We will find another way to bring Khushi to RM" Laxmi said and got stuck, seeing Dadi listening to them.

All of them were horrified.

"So... this is all your plan...from when did you start cheating your father?" Dadi asked the kids.

"We didn't do this to cheat Dad, Badi Dadi. To take Khushi Didi to the Theme park only we did that" Shali said fearfully and Shamli almost cried.

"Aarav, being their elder brother, you should teach your sisters good habits...but you are leading them wrongly"

Aarav bowed down.

"Go to your room"

They left the place silently. Dadi looked at Laxmi.

"You too?"

"Kids want Khushi to accompany them to the Theme park. They were talking about how Khushi accompanied them last time... They requested me to pretend like falling."

"So, you did that?"

"Yes, because they could have made me fall but they didn't do it. So, I helped them because I didn't want them to turn bad"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't want kids to get disappointed with me because I don't think their expectations are wrong. They are kids with no mother. What would they do if they found a motherly figure in Khushi? Will you say it's wrong?"

"I don't say it's wrong but we can't decide it. It's Arnav, who should think about it"

"Can't you make him understand?"

"Do you think I didn't try? More than that, how can we guarantee about Khushi?"

"About whom can we guarantee? Instead of thinking about the drawbacks, taking action will give us solvation. Arnav babuwa should marry her for kids if not for himself"

Dadi didn't know what to say. After all, she got to know what stops him. She left the place saying nothing.

Dadi came to Arnav's room. She saw him leaning on the recliner closing his eyes. She got in and closed the door. Arnav sat straight.

"Promise me you should not ask kids anything about it"

Arnav frowned.

"Laxmi is not injured. She just pretended"

"Whaaaat? But why?"

"Kids requested her to..."

Arnav closed his eyes.

"I don't have to explain why"

Arnav gulped down.

"Arnav, life will not go as we plan. It has its own plans and it would be better than ours. You lived for kids. Now also I'm asking you to do the same. Marry Khushi for kids. Leave the rest to Khushi. She will manage"

Arnav sat on the recliner, looking down.

"Let's go downstairs for dinner"

Arnav nodded and stood up. He stopped and looked at his phone that rang. He took it from the bed and attended the call.

"Haan Aman..."

"ASR, the Ad is extraordinary... the channels started telecasting it..."

That was when Arnav remembered about the Ad. Jeff would have sent it to him. He had forgotten about it as he was in another tension.

"I will check"

"Do it... you will like it"

"Mmm..."

Arnav checked the video sent by Jeff was there. he ran the video. He was stunned seeing himself so handsome and dashing in the Ad. He could not believe he had such aura. Even though Khushi told him that, he didn't believe it at that time. He didn't notice what she did, he supposed. He smiled, seeing Khushi's expression. Jeff was right. It was worth watching.

He thought something and sent the AD to Khushi. He called her. She attended the call in the third ring.

"Yes, sir"

"I sent the Ad video to you"

"Oh..."

"It was so fetching"

"I see..."

"Thank you for the idea. You made the AD special with your fantastic expression"

"Thank you, sir" she smiled.

That was when someone knocked on Khushi's room door. Arnav heard it. he was supposed to say, Goodbye, but he stopped as Khushi said,

"One minute, sir"

He waited and heard Khushi opening the door.

"You?" She asked.

The next second there was no sound. Arnav heard her phone falling.

"Khushi... Khushiiiii" he shouted.

There was no response. Arnav sensed something was wrong. Without thinking of anything, he rushed out while dialling the Assistant Commissioner.

To be continued...