Being The Missus

Chapter 10: Mirror

Khushi watched her husband in a tense meeting with Akash and Shanaya, discussing the product launch that was in two weeks due. If Khushi could count her blessings, this would be the apt time. Because, for once, she saw the effort of her husband to be distant from her source of pain.

Arnav looked up, feeling hesitant at the way the two corners of her mouth stretched to the ends. Her vacant eyes gave anything but reassurance. Why was it always like this? Whenever he felt like they took five steps forward, they stopped a hundred steps back.

Shanaya squirmed in her seat. She wasn't ignorant of the calm hostility Arnav exuded, neither from the safe distance Akash showed. Whatever happened had only happened amongst her, Arnav and Khushi.No one should judge her. No one can judge her.

"What are you doing?" Everyone looked on as little Aarav ran through the meeting room towards the outdoor kitchen, climbing into Khushi's lap.

"Let's take a quick break." Arnav put in, walking towards his wife. Khushi ruffled Aarav's wavy hair, laughing as the small boy growled angrily but refused to climb down her lap. "What's up champ? The doctor said that the stomach bug is gone." Arnav rubbed his wrist.

"Yesssss." Aarav grinned, lifting his shirt and patting his round belly. Arnav laughed, as Khushi put his shirt back down.

Yesterday Arnav and Khushi had come across a startling revelation - Aarav was an orphan. The reason he clung to Khushi was because he did not want to separated from his ‘father’ - Arnav. Initially furious, Arnav was about to blast off at Shanaya but Khushi told him to stay still. What could have been Shanaya’s motive?

Twisting to look at Khushi, Aarav said: "I just want to be like you." Khushi knocked his head slightly and nodded negatively, "No baby, you aren't going to be like any of the adults you see here. You will be Aarav. Although Akshay Kumar isn't a bad choice for fitness..." Khushi chuckled at Aarav who jumped out to display the art of 'parkour.'

Arnav looked on, grim, as Khushi's smile dimmed when the little boy ran away. "Khushi, anything wrong?"

"No, why?"

Arnav shuffled in his feet, shrugging his shoulders "I think you are a good example to follow." Khushi raised an eyebrow, shaking her head. "Thanks, though I believe he's turning out more to being like you." A soft smile lit on her face, watching the boy smoothen his pristine collars above his maroon sweater.

Just as Arnav was about to open his mouth, Khushi continued, "I wonder why, being no way related to us, he's so much like you. No, it's not a matter of distrust, never. I know he's not your son, and that concerns me further..."

"Why?"

"For a boy who has nothing to do with you, he just dresses and behaves like you. Also the fact that he has type 1 diabetes and initially referred to himself as ASR. Even our son would not follow you to such an extent. So I wonder how he imbibed the qualities from his “mother's ex” who - apart from his deals and flings - is absent from media." Khushi murmured, tapping fingers on the railing.

"Khushi, maybe he was inspired-"

"You're not a Salman Khan that you'd be an inspiration for kids. Also, I don't know whom Shanaya is trying to convince." Khushi's head throbbed with pain, the past few days falling heavy on her head. Agreed her heart broke when she saw the both of them kissing when she was about to get up from the bed, but she waited to see what her husband did in reaction.

And he acted like any man who's disgusted.

Aarav only extrinsically resembled her husband, apart from the gelled hair, carefully stylized clothes and copying habits that the whole world knew about (such as gardening and basketball) - the two were as different as chalk and cheese.

The little boy had a hidden passion for dancing, was soft spoken and wore his heart on his sleeve. Her husband, on the other hand, hated creativity, was brazen and locked his heart in prison cells - ever since childhood, according to his older sister.

So Shanaya could have never convinced Khushi, or even any of the family members that Aarav was Arnav's son, even before Aarav revealed the truth.

"Maybe that's why everyone thought it was so funny," Khushi whispered, breaking Arnav out of his torrid thoughts.

"Thought what was funny?" Arnav asked.

"The fact that how a boy so different would resemble you. If we weren't your family, we would have thought he's your-" Khushi stopped short, a flare of panic rising.

Shanaya never meant to convince the family Aarav is Arnav's son.

She just expected to convince the world.

---

Nowhere had Shanaya accompanied her son to her fashion shows or exhibits? Then why tag her child to the Roy household and for the company's fashion launch? This launch wasn't critical for her success; rather it would be the perfect platform where the entire world would watch the stunning resemblance between the six-year-old and Arnav Sen Roy.

It wouldn't be too hard to know they dated then. And Arnav was infamous for his relationships.

Mystery relationship?

ASR's illegitimate child?

Will the Roy family accept its heir?

If a false, botched news of when she fell into his arms could last for three months - this story would never die.

Her mind ached with the sudden influx of information. Shanaya's advances, her sob stories - these were all to distract them. Already on her social media Shanaya had begun to post pictures of her son gardening and playing basketball - raising a stir amongst her followers.

Clenching her fists, Khushi walked up to her husband, asking about Shanaya.

"Khushi, as you said, my lawyers will be incriminating her as you suggested. But she was pregnant right after I left. However, she faced a miscarriage." Arnav said, running a hand through his hair.

"You have an investigation team?" Khushi was puzzled.

"Yeah, we investig-"

"Why didn't you investigate me? Why did you make my life hell despite the fact that I told you a thousand times that when I discovered Shyam was cheating Anjali, I tried my level best to protect her, that I was not involved..." Realization dawned on Khushi; maybe her husband never had her investigated because he might have just... believed her.

Arnav swallowed tightly, never hoping this would be a part of their conversation. He hadn't dared to investigate because he knew Khushi was saying the truth and a year bag, ASR just would let it stride in his ego that he had made a false accusation .

Shyam had told him she's behind money, so why would she go behind a married man who borrowed money from his wife? Wouldn't she go behind ASR? And if that was the case, why did she never seduce Arnav when he would have never resisted?

"Did you believe me?" Khushi whispered, for the first time wishing he didn't.

"Yes," He croaked out.

"I see."

"Khushi I-"

"Nope, it's perfectly fine. I realize you chose to believe the lies because it was more... comforting. Though, just one last thing," Arnav held his breath, no words forming in his ever sharp brain.

"What if now, I choose to walk out of your life because I’ve had enough?"

---

Arnav stared at the bathroom where Khushi had locked herself in. His hands shook as he tried to make sense of his actions.

I'd make it up to her.

A mantra he had repeated to himself ever since the night he married her. Ever since the moment logic had knocked his head, telling him that Khushi stood no gain at the flawed lie Shyam delivered.

Now as his wife remained indoors, her soft sniffles leaking out, he hoped he could make it up to her. Suddenly he wished she wasn't so intelligent, so bright. The hurt wouldn't have come so hard. He meant to tell it to her.

Falling head in heels over Lavanya’s secretary had been the last thing in Arnav Sen Roy’s mind. But when he saw that the love of his life had a long acquaintance with Shyam Senghal, the fraud. Arnav had jumped to conclusions. It didn’t help that Shyam was extremely conniving, he had foreseen this and told Arnav a lie - that he and Khushi had been cheating Anjali for a long time. In a fit of rage Arnav married Khushi, but then and there he had known he had made a mistake when Khushi helped Anjali get divorced from Shyam.

So he never ended up apologizing nor telling her that he had believed in her innocence.

Folding his arms, he walked to the bathroom to find her walking out. Her hair was back in a braid, and her shorts and tanks were swapped with her usual salwars. Arnav grimaced at the defeated look on her face. The lessons she gave to Aarav were always a painful reminder of what he did to her. Her sudden makeover and jealous attempts stroked his ego, and now it felt as if she stopped trying. As if being with him didn't matter anymore.

"Khushi?" He asked, reaching out to hold her shoulder. "Yes," Khushi replied, her eyes conflicted.

"I didn't-" He stopped as Khushi placed her hands on his, "- I've always said, I understand you. But you've always managed to surprise me with something new." She tugged on her stole, looking back at his caramel dark eyes.

Khushi jerked when his hand caressed her cheek, the pads of his fingers brushing the few lone tears. "I'm sorry, I don't think I can be the woman you dream of." She whispered, blocking out his protests of how it doesn't matter what she wears.

"Tell me, why is it difficult? When I was alone, I thought I'm more than enough but now with you, even bringing the heavens down doesn't seem to work. Then I saw my perfection in the mirror, but now I see my fallacies. Being Khushi was all the mattered to me but now she's just an insignificant speck of dust." Khushi muttered, biting her lip hard enough to bleed.

Her soft, defeated whispers broke his heart. "Khushi, love, you mean a lot for me. How do I explain that?"

"You stopped looking at me. Can you explain that?"

---

Anjali spread the flowers before the temples, her cheeks glowing with the sudden rush of attention from Aman since the past few days. She hummed a tune as her fingers twirled around a thread. Their last interaction was the cherry on the cake! Nani would have a heart attack if she ever learned that Anjali walked into Aman mast-

"Hello Hi Bye Bye, finally Khushi steps down to do some household work-" Manorama sang, surprised as Khushi carelessly lighted a candle before the deity.

"Manorama!" Nani chided, patting Khushi's head. Payal quietly slipped in, grateful that her tyrant mother-in-law missed her delay thanks to the big mirror she was checking herself out in. As the five women sat before the temple, four chatted about several topics - from dolls to deities while Khushi's phone continually buzzed with notifications from Jai Prakash. Frustrated, Khushi silenced her phone, throwing it aside in a pile.

"Khushi?" All of them questioned, astounded at their lovely girl's short temper.

Anjali chuckled, holding Khushi's hand, "Looks like she's getting influenced by Chote-"

"Has it ever happened..." Khushi trailed off as all the women crouched near her, their faces scrunched at her lost face.

"What child?" Nani touched her chin, prodding her to continue.

"Has it ever happened that no matter how wrong the other person is, you feel inadequate because you’re not as pretty, intelligent or educated the other woman is?"

All fell silent at Khushi's question.. It just took one question for them to be in Khushi's footsteps, their senses heightened as the foreign girl - Shanaya - strolled around the house with a kid startlingly similar to Arnav.

Their eyes grew wide as Arnav and Shanaya engaged in a rapid discussion about some matter, her body close enough to touch - even though Arnav gave no invitation.

Their ears grew warm when Aarav skipped in to hold Arnav's hand; they almost looked like a family.

Their noses scrunched in disgust the moment Shanaya pushed Aarav away, clearly seeking time with the man alone.

They tasted bitterness as the realization of the child's age calculated to the time they both dated.

They all knew that it wasn't the fact. But it could have been. The 'ifs' were too strong. When they raised their heads to give their half-baked reassurances to the girl who had brought their family together, she was gone.

---

Khushi worked throughout the day, her hands working to whip one order after the other as the Prakash brothers struggled to aid her as much as they could. The initial investment from Arnav had drowned, and it looked like salvaging any of that money was impossible.

Work, work, work

Even though she had no energy left, she had made it a point to invite Aman over so as to discuss the media coverage and what options they could cover to dampen Shanaya's wishes to propagate Aarav as Arnav's child.

Also, to bring the results the detectives had. Aman knew better than to refuse.

In the midst of this, she hadn't forgotten to text her husband about lunch. Nor to text an old friend for help.

The Prakash brothers sang in the background, doing whatever possible to raise the mood of their favorite Didi but as time passed by and a few orders got suddenly canceled due to the availability of cheaper options, Khushi just stood beside the stove and cried.

She was a failure.

---

NK grit his teeth, firstly shocked when all the women of the Roy household turned up to him for help. Nani confessed her prejudices and thought that her strict rule of having no interactions between the couples in her presence might have hampered Khushi's life. Anjali lamented that despite having a cheating husband herself, how could she have been so relaxed with her twin and not knock his head straight. Payal berated herself for being too in love with Akash to not take Khushi’s sadness seriously.

"Maasi ji, don't you have anything to say?" NK asked, surprised that the loud-mouthed woman didn't have a penny to add. Manorama smiled weakly and shrugged her shoulders "What can I say, I've never been anything that your Mausa ji wanted."

They all sat in confusion, not knowing how they could help the titaliya (butterfly) of the house.

"Nannav can never cheat, we all know that." NK clarified, knowing his hard headed cousin had a strict rule of ethics. "But I don't know what to do... I advised Khushi to change, but I didn't know that this would give her an existential crisis!" Somewhere down the line, NK blamed himself.

The makeover game looked good, just until reality knocked in.

"I don't think we should do anything." Payal butt in, flexing her fingers. "You're half right Payal; we shouldn't do anything for Khushi. Rather we should talk to Nannav." NK sighed, "Where's Akash?"

Payal blushed as she muttered, "He fainted."

"Why?" Their eyebrows high in shock.

"Because I'm pregnant."

"And I thought that Nannav was complicated!" NK hit his head.

---

Day 3818

Notes:

- Aman suggested PR ploy from Shanaya's end. Need evidence to set restricting order but need to secure Aarav before she uses him as a blackmail mode for reputation.

- Aura's launch is in two weeks. But Shanaya isn't what she is... if I drop her, would the loss be covered? But what can I replace it with?

- Roy will let me know of Aarav's origins. What is Shanaya's motive? Why is she doing all this? She's rich!

- And Khushi. I wish I hadn't screwed up so much-

Arnav looked up from his journal as an exhausted Khushi walk back into the room.

"Khushi?" Khushi sat on the bed, her eyes weary. "Yeah? Oh wait, did Aman discuss with you about the probability of using Aarav for publicity?"

"Yes, don't worry... I'll handle everything. And th-thank you." Arnav whispered, holding her thin body in his arms. Confusion clouded her eyes. "For what?"

"For trusting me." He whispered, placing his forehead on hers. Khushi was lost, a part of her overjoyed that their passion hadn't ceased with her going back to her original ways, but the other part just held him close.

"Um, tomorrow I'm calling over my friend to help me out with my business. He's a catering expert, so I thought that we could probably tie up..." She paused.

"Who's he?"

"Bankeylal." Khushi stopped as Arnav burst into laughter. "Sorry, but isn’t he that snot faced boy who hoped of marrying you when you were like... fifteen? But seriously, I can invest if there's any problem." Khushi rolled her eyes and hit his arm, "Very funny but Arnav I'd like to do this on my own. Please." Arnav nodded, rolling off to sleep.

When Khushi felt him pull her closer, a soft smile settled on her lips.

---

Arnav frowned while he flipped through his files for the day. The detectives had done a great job, and for once he felt happy to share the details with Khushi who aptly advised him to postpone the product launch by a week. A smile hung on his lips as he thought about taking her to the States for his meeting with Tyra Banks.

He peeked into the kitchen, his eyes widening at the rate of her cooking. Well, she was always an efficient employee. A shudder went up his spine, recalling his days of being her boss's boss. To think of it, it was one of the best times of his life, even though he was a menace.

His musings came to an end with the bell ringing a billion times.

Has anyone lost their nuts?

"Didi best of luck, I'm sure Bankeylal ji would be able to help you out." Jai Prakash said. Khushi grinned, wiping her hands on a spare towel, "He better! But jokes apart, I hope too. Otherwise, I'd hate for the company to close. I don't want to be a failure."

It stung. Couldn't Khushi want to involve Arnav? Didn't he mean anything?

Before Arnav could butt in, Khushi walked towards the door, unclasping her hair from its messy bun. Arnav smiled, bowled by the radiance his wife had.

A solid year after their wedding yet Arnav waited like a fool for his kiss before he went to the office. Dressed in a pale pink saree that clung to her delicate frame, Arnav sighed. And his smile vanished the minute Bankeylal entered.

The man couldn't be him. Tall and muscular, he was dressed in a semi-formal kurta, black spectacles perched on his sharp nose. Gray eyes glinted in mischievousness the minute he produced a gift from behind. A box of freshly cooked jalebis.

"Khushi!"

"Bankeylal!"

What the fûck?!

---