Arshi OS - Alive

Saij ... I wanted to give this to u only on April 16th but unfortunately family functions came up so yeah I have to open the surprise early. 

I dont know how this turned out , but since its ur bday u know I cant just let it go like that. 

Happy Bday big sister  

for always being my perf elder sister ... for being my best friend ... for being one of the biggest strengths in my life .. for always being there. 

I love you  

banner credit to Tammy 

Note to all readers : this OS basically revovles around Arshi's Heer-Ranjha track. its April and so yeah its the month of Heer-Ranjha. the events have been slightly modified, just added a bit of my imagination to it but the main plot remains the same.  

It was a full moon night and the stars added to the glory of the night, far from Delhi, far from Raizada Mansion, they were at the place where life had started out for him, the place where they were both born, they were in Lucknow, they were in Sheesh Mahal.

Arnav looked around their room, it had been re-decorated to resemble their room in Shantivan, with the poolside, the French windows , the gardens. Somehow for both of them, their idyllic bedroom was also home to their love story, they have so many memories attached to the room that they were both unwilling to go without it when they shifted base to Lucknow.

And tonight as he waited for his wife to join him, his mind wandered back years, to that fateful evening when he had literally told her what she meant to him, the evening where she played Heer and he became Ranjha. At that time neither of them had realized the implications or depth of their words, they thought it was just mere dialogues but as he recited each one of those words, despite the assumed hatred towards her, every word had fallen from his heart and she absorbed it.

And today as he looked back to everything they had to face to reach till this point, he knew their life was nothing short of magical .. Arnav & Khushi .. they are meant to be and always will be.

Just then he heard the jingle of her anklets, a sound that went with her wherever she went, a sound that announced her presence, and he turned towards her with a smile which she returned in equal measure, clad in a skin color transparent sari, adorned only in his mangalsutra and sindoor, her tresses flying in the air, she was nothing short of an angel .. his angel. Closing the door and locking it, she reached for his outstretched hand and went willingly into his arms.

They stood there for long, listening to their heartbeats, tonight he wanted to tell her everything that was always in his heart, which she always understood but he knew she craved to hear it from him, tonight he would tell her, the man of few words would speak today. He took her to the poolside where he had laid out a soft mattress and blankets, gently he lifted her in his arms and placed her down, lying down next to her, he pulled the blankets, wrapped himself around her, shielding her from the chill of the night.

" remember the date Khushi ?? " asked Arnav as Khushi looked at him confused. Smiling at her he replied without making her wait too much , " 9 years ago .. this very evening ... we played Heer & Ranjha. "

Realisation dawned on Khushi, her eyes misted as she thought about the fateful day when her husband had bared his heart only to shield it again too quickly,

" I know what you are thinking, in all ways possible, that was the day when I truly confessed my love even without saying the 3 important words, and you knew it wasn't Ranjha speaking to Heer, it was Arnav talking to Khushi, telling her he couldn't live without her. Ever since the day you fell into my arms, I have fled from you Khushi, as far away as possible,

You

Your love

The possibility of a life with you

After all the mishaps in my life, everything you had to give me seemed like the forbidden fruit for me.

You were too pure ... too beautiful ... too ethereal.. for me to even think about. I was too scared to taint you with the mistakes in my life.

But even then that evening, despite the hatred, the pain, the denial, I bared my heart but I closed it again. "

Arnav fell silent when he saw the tears that misted in her eyes, she cupped his face,

" why now Arnav ?? why talk about all this when we have come so far ? "

He caught her hand in his and kissed it lightly, "because it's hightime I spoke Khushi, you have always understood my heart in it's silence, but you deserve to hear it from me, atleast once I want to tell you how much I love you. "so don't stop me today. " her gripon his fingers tightened as he shifted to lay her head over his heart, as she let her husband speak.

" the evening passed, the days passed , but I broke your heart again in my ignorance. Despite knowing , despite my heart telling me how wrong I was, I walked away from you. The London trip, I was running away from you, my stupid brain as always messed up, assumed that the trip would give me the space to forget you, hate you if possible so that when I come back, I could end everything between us and then throw you away from my life, assumed that we could go back to hating each other. You could have your old life back while I went back to my life of mistakes and ruthless darkness.

But the minute my fingers left yours and I walked away, the pain crushed my heart Khushi, I couldn't push the trolley, my feet lost the strength to walk away from you into a life where I intended to kill your memories, I was walking closer to my old life, a life that held nothing but dark memories of pain and deceit and fake relationships, I was walking away from love, love that you held out for me, love that you wanted to give me and  halfway into the airport, I turned back, my heart wept Khushi, I needed you to wrap me in your delicate embrace, I wanted to be home in your arms Khushi.

But life had other plans, we had to be separated, we had to live through the darkness to know where our true happiness was.

The chance I got to tell you, maybe my one last chance I thought it would be, I told you what I had to ... I love you. "

As he spoke, Khushi's heart tightened in the fear that she had buried away as she remembered those days without him, she had their family around her but his absence had seemed to choke the life out of her, it had been impossible to live through each painful second ...

Arnav continued speaking,

" but you rescued me again Khushi , you came for me when all hope was lost, you gave me the will to live , you reached out for me, that night with you , the little time we got, I knew then that I would do anything it took to come back to you, and again you found me, when we came back, problems upon problems awaited us, the deceit was revealed, the truths had to be faced, the decisions had to be taken and we did.

But the accusation and mistrust didn't stop, my own family failed to understand me, to understand us, my whole life was about my sister and yet she chose her deceiving husband over me, she lied to me, boiled and cooked stories just so that she could meet him in secrecy, their clandestine meetings continued right under our noses, to the extent that she got her child killed and our wedding jeopardised.

I know you wanted me to forgive her Khushi, she had lost her child, you wanted me to forgive her, and I did. But I could never love her the same Khushi, and can you blame me ?

Unconditional love is given to those who give you the same love back and till date in my life, you are the only one who loves me unconditionally, you were with me even when I didn't deserve you. And I am telling you again Khushi ... its with you I have my home and no one else.

Di knows the reality of her life today but she will not have me back like before, I love her and I will protect her but our relationship waned that fateful day when her lies threatened to mar our wedding, it waned the day she and her lies cast a dark shadow on our love, when it threatened the reason for my existence. "

Khushi closed her eyes as Arnav placed a light kiss on her lips before continuing,

" but the troubles didn't end there, my past had to return, a lingering trail of the family I left behind returned in the form of Dadi, and again Di's trusted love was the reason, Dadi tried to rouse guilt in me by revealing our pasts, the inextricable links that connected us, she made it look like a crime for me to love you ignoring the past but Dadi never understood the intensity of my feelings. She expected me to hide in the mistakes of a past life I had always wished to erase.

The reality in my life is that no matter how many reasons the world puts up against our togetherness, I will always love you Khushi and only you.

Your family had all the rights to take you away from me, after everything that happened. All the pain that I gave you, leaving you, making your life hell, hurting you beyond repair, Nani and Mami supported us but they are from my family, but to have your family supporting us when they could have taken  you and given you a life that was less complicated and more happier with someone else, they had the right to do it but they didnt and ... "

"and they didn't because everyone in my family could see that I could love only you. They knew I didnt have a life without you ... I could only exist with you Arnav ... I would never be the same without you .. I would never be complete ... I would never be ALIVE " said Khushi as kissed him lightly.

And the memories rushed through, Arnav spoke,

"when we thought that things had settled down, as life moved on, the disaster didn't end, Sheetal arrived with Aarav. A scandal that could tear us apart, tear our entire lives down, when we refused to fall into her trap, she went public, she went to the media, ASR's illegitimate child, his love child she called Aarav.

The media celebrated, the very media who celebrated our marriage, who call Khushi Arnav Singh Raizada as the angel in ASR's life called you a witch who kept a father away from his son, they accused you of being a home wrecker, those days were dark days Khushi. Even today I do not know how we faced the storm but you were my anchor, you stood firm by me, together we worked through the lies that Sheetal had spun around us.

But we proved it in court , we proved her truths to be nothing but blatant lies, we exposed her planned trap and the Sheetal chapter was closed.

I never understood from where you got your courage Khushi to fight it all out even when I broke down, when I felt life coming to a standstill ... "

Khushi interrupted him , " I got my strength from you Arnav, from your love, from the truth that no matter what happened, your love for me is true and this truth gave me the courage to beat all the odds together with you, I knew you would never abandon me or our love against the darkness. "

" and here we are today Khushi ... in Sheesh Mahal, where it all started for us. Once again you gave me the strength to go back to where I came from, where we came from, where our journey began.

I never thought I would return to the place where only dark memories existed. I never wanted to but you wouldn't let me run away, you took me back to my roots, you made me find happiness in everything that I once thought I had to give up because of the pain it had given, you brought me home Khushi, and you rebuilt our home again.

The day you agreed to join AR and work along with me, Khushi it means the world to me because, everything that I am today, everytime the world recognises my achievements, the achievements of a self made man, I want the world to know that you are the woman, the force behind the mighty ASR, I want the world to know that ASR is born out of an Arnav who belongs to Khushi, that ASR is completed by KASR, the world knows today that if ASR is an international icon then its only because of the demure angel who fell into his arms on that fateful night in Sheesh Mahal. "

Arnav shifted slightly so that he could face her, he cupped her face and brought his lips closer to his, his words only for her to hear, his lips caressing hers,

" I love you Khushi Arnav Singh Raizada.

For the life you gave me.

For the love you shower on me unconditionally.

For giving birth to my children.

For building our home together along with me.

For making me believe in my heart.

For erasing the darkness in my life forever.

For making me walk away from my wretched past.

I love you Khushi for taking me home with you.

I love you. " and he took her lips is a soul searing kiss, a kiss through which he intended to reiterate all his words and that he did and much more.

Hours passed and in the middle of the night, Arnav & Khushi content being wrapped around each other made their way towards the place that held their world of love personified in beating pulsing life.

They gently opened the door to find their world sleeping blissfully, the 4 lives they had created together, tangled around each other just like how their mother tangled would tangle around their father, Arnav always used to joke that their children had inherited their mother's sleeping habits to the T.

Their youngest angel, aged 2 was sleeping in the baby cot surrounded by her siblings sleeping on bed placed around the cot, forming some sort of an imaginary shield against their youngest sister. Arnav loved his children as much as Khushi did but he had always stated flat out that their kids would have to learn about sleeping on their own, and he had 2 reasons, one he wanted them to be independent on their own 2 feet in every way possible and this applied to all facets of their lives and second for a more selfish reason that he could never share his wife , his Khushi with anyone else in the warmth of the night, not even if it was for his kids, their kids had her attention 24*7 in the daytime and so it was justified according to him that he had her attention through the night.

Watching them for a while, placing light kisses on their forehead, Arnav & Khushi made their way back to their rooms to finally catch some sleep.

The night soon passed, bringing with it a new dawn, life continued as always for the Raizadas, the beautiful stretch of lawns in front of Sheesh Mahal which Arnav and Khushi had remodelled, raising high walls around their home so that the world wouldn't invade their privacy, was now the playground to their children and Khushi sat on the swing watching them enjoy their childhood with a serene smile on the face, she gently pulled back as she felt a strong pair of arms wrap around her waist, gently leaning into the warmth of her husband's arms, his voice whispering in her ears,

" Heer-Ranjha may have had a tragic end and we played them onstage but that doesn't mean there is a curse attached to anyone who enacted their roles , because we did and our life today is another day of our beautiful forever Khushi and our love story is even more beautiful than Heer -Ranjha or any other love story for that matter.

Heer Ranjha died together ... "

" But Arnav-Khushi lived together forever and ever " completed Khushi as she turned around and kissed her husband full on his mouth, uncaring of the fact that their children were rushing towards them.

They jumped onto their parents lap who immediately wrapped them all into their hug as they hugged and cuddled each one of them, from faraway it was a beautiful sight to watch.

Sheesh Mahal, the birthplace of their love against the backdrop, the beautiful gardens surrounding them, Arnav & Khushi on their well landscaped porch , lost in their world and their lives which they had created and nourished together.

And they lived happily ever after.

Picture Perfect.

Together Forever

ALIVE.