An hour later, Khushi was still sleeping on Arnav's lap while Arnav was sitting supported by the headrest, running his fingers through her hair at regular intervals.

The door opened rather unceremoniously, making Arnav look up at the door surprised. 

A man in his mid twenties was standing at the threshold of the room, His eyes flitting between Arnav and Khushi. A few seconds later, Bharat and Drishti also reached her room.

Arnav gestured towards Khushi's sleeping form and motioned for them to keep quiet for her sake while he gently shifted her head from his lap to the pillow and tucked her into the blanket amid her sleepy moans of protest and she scrunched her face

A smile formed on his lips watching her cute antics and he patted her head.

"Its okay.. I'm here only go back to sleep." Arnav whispered to her before kissing her forehead with all the love in the world but before he could leave, he felt a tug at his blazer. 

Khushi was clutching an end of Arnav's blazer in a tight grip. Arnav closed his eyes for a second before an adoring smile lit up his face. 

Arnav removed his blazer at once, keeping it beside her and watched as she snuggled into it in her sleepy state. 

Arnav kissed her forehead once before leaving her room and facing the young man in front of him.

"You lack manners, you know." Arnav said flatly "You were entering a girl's room and you didn't have the basic sense to knock before entering." 

"Who are you to tell me that?" Rishabh snarled.

Arnav shrugged, "Someone with a lot more manners clearly." His tone was nonchalant. 

"Do you allow such indecency in your house Mrs. Rathore? Khushi could have been changing or doing anything private. She's a girl, her room is meant to be her own space, am I not right?" Arnav asked drishti curiously.

"You're right, maybe but you seem to forget that you were inside the same girl's room and she was sleeping-"

"On my lap. Yes, Rishabh, she was sleeping on my lap. She wanted to sleep like that. She was comfortable with me being in her room while she slept. I was inside there by her permission. There is a big difference." Arnav said calmly.

"Who are you?" Bharat asked "What were you doing inside my daughter's room."

"I was inside Khushi's room with her permission, I've said that before Mr. Rathore and as far as the 'who' is concerned, I'm Khushi's boyfriend." Arnav said smiling softly.

Rishabh and Bharat looked at Arnav shocked while the man himself had a smirk on his face. 

"How dare you suggest something like that?" Bharat exclaimed.

Arnav's smirk broadened into a mocking smile. "Surprised?"

"She's engaged to me you as*** . She's going to get married to me in this week." Rishabh informed him with an air of superiority.

Arnav nodded thoughtfully, "You've finalized the wedding dates too? Made the bookings yet? She was telling me earlier that you want to marry her off to this 'as***' like a princess." Arnav said sarcastically.

"Don't you dare abuse me." Rishabh lunged forward to grab him by his collar.

"If. Your hand. Reached my collar. You'll not be able to go back home on your own feet." Arnav gritted out dangerously.

Rishabh stepped back instinctively.

"So Mr. Rathore, When were you going to tell Khushi, on the day of her marriage?" Arnav asked sarcastically.

"That's none of your business." Rishabh said firmly.

"Of course it is my business So Called Mr. Groom to be." Arnav said calmly. "Khushi is my life."

"She is going to get married to Rishabh." Bharat said firmly.

"You would force her into marriage as well Mr. Rathore?" Arnav asked. 

"This is our family matter, you are no one to tell us what to do and what not to do. We don't even know you." Bharat said.

"Of course you know me sir, even though you don't recognize me, blame my hatred for media attention and limelight. I'm Arnav Singh Raizada, your-- no.. actually, I have nothing to do with a person like you. I am Khushi's boyfriend as I've said before, and her to-be husband." Arnav said nonchalantly and the three occupants of the room gasped visibly.

"A.. ASR." Rishabh literally shivered in his place.

"Mr Rathore, Khushi doesn't want to get married to Rishabh and no one, not even you, her father, or god himself can force her to do something that she doesn't want to do." Arnav said firmly. 

"Look, I understand that Khushi doesn't want to get married to him, but she is a child. She doesn't know what is good for her. I am not her enemy Mr. Raizada, I'm her father. I want her happiness."

"You think Rishabh is her happiness?" Arnav asked incredulously.

"Khushi will be treated like a queen in that house Mr. Raizada." Bharat defended his stand "She will be happy."

"She will be treated like nothing more than a piece of flesh after she gets married to this so called 'Good Boy'. She has been facing sexual molestation at his hands since after her engagement with this man and I believe she has tried to tell you the same repeatedly while you keep on ignoring her genuine fears, genuine reasons for rejecting the idea of marrying a slimy b***d like himself for over two years now." Arnav said irritated at the man's stubbornness.

"Stop telling yourself that you're doing this for your daughter's happiness because you are not. She is going through hell and you don't care. Mr. Rathore, you don't care about what your daughter wants. All you care about is your reputation, your business and your money. That is all that you care about." Arnav said bluntly. 

"You are forcing your daughter into hell only because in exchange for this marriage, you are getting a big chunk of Rishi Kant Panth's property, shares and goodwill. You keep ignoring her deafening screams of protest, her desperate pleas, her heartbreaking cries just because you're too dazed with the…" 

"She's your daughter, your own blood and she's in so much pain, so damn broken. How can you not understand her? How can you not know.. not see what your ignorance is doing to your child? How can you blatantly ignore her pleads and.. term them as her childishness?" 

"How can you trade her happiness, her life, her peace and her sanity for your own?" Arnav asked incredulously. 

"Mr. Raizada, Rishabh is not a molester-"

"HE BLOODY WELL DAMN IS." Arnav shouted, not being able to contain his anger within himself anymore. "KHUSHI ISN'T MAD TO ACCUSE AN INNOCENT MAN OF SOMETHING SO HEINOUS." 

"Maybe she is, or maybe she was just trying to keep her own heinous sins under wraps. Who knows she might've been physically active even before she got engaged to me. Maybe she's just trying to cover up for her own charaxterlessness by accusing me." Rishabh said slyly.

"HOW DARE YOU POINT AT MY KHUSHI'S CHARACTER." Arnav roared in Rishabh's face making him flinch.

"Maybe she has had physical relations with other boys, may be she was in a relationship before she was forced to get engaged to you, maybe she loved someone else before me and before you got engaged to her, maybe I have been intimate with her, maybe but it all happened, whenever it did, with her consent. She was ready for it to happen, willing for it to happen. Are you trying to instigate me by saying that? Too bad, because its not working. What if she was in a relationship with a boy before me, it was her past, I am her present while you, Mr. Rishabh Panth, are someone she loathes with all her life. I am not concerned about whether she was touched by other men or not, I'm only concerned about whether or not her consent was asked for when it happened, whether or not she was willing to share her personal space with the said person." Arnav said.

Arnav's eyes were shining with unshed tears. His vision slightly blurred as a result. Arnav closed his eyes, rubbing them furiously.

"There's a child in her, an innocent child who is on the verge of getting killed and if that happens, all that will be left of Khushi will be a living corpse, don't you see that?" Arnav asked Bharat and Drishti as more tears replaced the ones that he'd just rubbed away. 

Bharat looked defiant while Drishti had tears in her own eyes.

"Arnav.." Drishti sighed.

Arnav rubbed his face, tired and exasperated. 

"I can't.. I can't leave her here. She's not safe here. She's going to die if I leave her here for another minute." Arnav said more to himself than to anyone else but everyone heard him.

"It's her home." Drishti said softly.

Arnav shook his head, smiling sadly at her. "No Mrs. Rathore, it's not her home. A home is where a person feels the safest, it's not the place where a person dies a thousand deaths everyday. She was going to commit suicide, and she might've even succeeded if I hadn't reached there in time to stop her." Arnav informed Drishti who gasped.

"What?!" Bharat blurted shocked.

"You find that surprising?" Arnav asked sarcastically.

"I'm not her enemy ASR." Bharat said earnestly.

"You have a very weird way of showing that Mr. Rathore." Arnav said sounding tired. 

"She.."

"I don't want your reasons, sir. I don't have the energy to put up with your bull***t. I am not even asking for your permission to take her with me because I know you wouldn't care." Arnav said shaking his head mockingly.

"She's my daughter Mr. Raizada." Bharat retorted furiously. 

Arnav took in an exasperated sigh, "No sir, she isn't. You don't deserve to be called the father of a girl like her. She doesn't deserve to be called your daughter because fathers are not like you. Fathers can keep their lives at stake for their daughters. A father would prefer to die before witnessing his daughter's ruin and there you are, the one causing your own daughter's ruin, breaking her apart to serve your own selfish purposes, watching her die bit by bit everyday, ignoring her anguish, her pain and her tears." He said sadly

"She's had enough now. She said she is tired and I know that she is. She is damn tired of everything that's been going on. I am taking her away from this hell." Arnav announced confidently.

Rishabh, who was silently standing in a corner enjoying the show chose this moment to remind everyone of his presence. 

"Now that the fate of my fiance has been decided by ASR, I should be leaving too, before I'm accused of some more heinous crimes and degraded." Rishabh said suddenly attracting the attention of the other three occupants of the room.

Arnav gave him a sympathetic smile. "Not that soon Rishabh." He said kindly "Let the police arrive first." 

"Police?" Rishabh widened his eyes in fear 

"The police. Yes. Delhi Police." Arnav confirmed

"Why would you call the police?" Rishabh asked.

"Simple. So that they can arrest you." Arnav shrugged casually.

"But.."

"Let me explain. I, along with my friend and a famous private investigator had managed to gather a few proofs against you. I have more than ten videos of you molesting Khushi which were shot, 1. at your engagement party in the security cameras overlooking the garden of this mansion and Khushi's room. 2. At a dinner party hosted by your father in Hotel Hayyatt. Another security camera 3. Rathore Industries, main branch office security cameras and many more such such places. I am surprised how you always managed to fail to spot a freaking CCTV camera. Anyway, I had planned to show all the videos to Mr. Rathore hoping that he will at least believe the proofs but after what happened today, I don't think he deserves so much respect. If he doesn't want to believe Khushi, he's most welcome to do that and remain oblivious all his life. So instead of showing him I sent all the proofs straight to the police." Arnav said calmly

"Yeah, the police are arriving shortly to arrest for the crime of molesting Khushi and tampering with her modesty. Khushi has already agreed to get her statement recorded at the police station as soon as possible and I'll make sure she testifies in court as well, if need be. In conclusion, Mr. Rathore, even if you didn't believe Khushi when she told you about the abuse that she was facing, the police believes her and is willing to take immediate action. When Khushi told me that Rishabh was going to be here today, I thought what's better timing than this." Arnav said coolly.

"I am her fiance, I've done nothing wrong if I have initiated any intimate advances." Rishabh said arrogantly.

Arnav chuckled, "Consent Rishabh. You initiated intimacy without consent and that is a crime. Even after marriage, if you try to force a girl into physical intimacy against her will, it punishable by law and you aren't even married yet so.." Arnav smirked stopping mid-sentence as the doorbell rang.

"That must be the police." Arnav said smirking.

***

Okay so, Another day, another update.

I can't seem to help it. I write even though I shouldn't. Exams are the worst enemies of concentrate and best friends of creativity I suppose.

So.. as you can see, This isn't the last part either. So, next part will be last I promise and DISCLAIMER: There's no epilogue intended for this story as far as I'm concerned. So hopefully I'll be able to concentrate where I really should at least tomorrow or you'll probably get another update 😅😅

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