Hues of Love

Part 9

Confusion.

He had never felt that emotion as well as he was feeling in that moment. Her touch, her kisses, her moans and most importantly her love, they were still fresh in his raging mind and he could not help but play those perfervid moments on a loop. He felt dirty but the feeling also seemed blissful.

But what would he answer Khushi if she ever comes to know that he was trying to get back at Rati when he got intimate with her?

What would he tell her when she again questions the reason why he accepted her proposition nearly two months later after it was placed?

His mind shrugged away the guilt which seemed to enter his heart. His dear friend knew the pain of love and of betrayal. Surely she would understand his pain which forced him to turn at her doorstep and seek solace in her arms.

Surely she would understand someone whom she loved beyond conditions and limits, he thought.

His mind guided his thoughts to call someone and discuss something which was troubling him, since he had got his consciousness back in the morning.

Little did he know, the step he was going to take would prove to be lethal for all the parties involved.

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Loyalty.

The quality of his which ensured that she would never be able to come out of his love. That one quality of his that had weaved such strong web of love for her that she could not escape it, even if it was to save her sanity and heart.

Along with his loyalty, her heart broke into numerous shards which pierced right through her soul. She knew that it was her proposition that paved the way for his disloyalty but she was also aware that she was not the first one to offer carnal pleasures to that man. He had never accepted anyone's advances towards him in the past then why did he stumble on his path of fidelity?

Is it that his friendship towards her allowed him to think that his actions would erase her pain and help her move on from him, and compelled him to accept her condition?

Or the urge to procreate was so high and Rati's aloofness to his emotions so rigid that he resorted to the option he had disregarded? He had given his word to her that the proposition would not be presented to anyone else in his life, maybe he was living upto it?

Or was the loyalty a facade which she failed to see through?

Multiple theories made their way to her brain but the answers of every question seemed to plunge her deeper into sorrow. As the first theory brought upon a tumultuous wave of guilt and regret to her, the second one caused bile rise up her throat and sympathy churn her insides to an uncomfortable extent but the worst was the third and the last one. The basis of her attraction to him had been multiple things but the foundation of her love was always his loyalty to his love who always cheated him and she was never able to confess that to him, fearing his reaction for placing his love towards someone else as the base of her love for him.

She felt nauseous and fatigued as the third theory wrecked havoc on her brain and heart. It felt as if someone shook her very existence from core as she prayed for her last theory to remain just as a theory and never turn true.

She picked her phone up and ranged the one who knew everything about her, Arnav and them.

"Rachna, he came last night. He..he accepted my condition and fulfilled it," she spoke, without exchanging any pleasantries on the hardly pleasant morning.

Rachna's eyes turned into saucers as she deciphered the meaning of her friend's words. Arnav had finally looked away from Rati? What could have caused such drastic step?

"Are you okay, Khushi? Shall I come over?" she questioned immediately, hiding her concern for her other friend.

"No, it's fine. You have an operation later this evening right? Don't come over. But what happened to him that he looked back onto that road he abandoned months back? Did Rati do something obnoxious again?" she asked, wondering if her actions had driven his.

"Surgery is in the evening. I have plenty of time to go, Khushi. And no. I have not heard of anything she had done. Usually if Arnav as much as says that he cannot take her out, she calls all of us and complains as if he had done the most heinous crime but she didn't call me or inform me of anything. Even Arnav did not speak to me since last week," explained Rachna, knowing that something was off for sure.

"I will break down if I see you, Rachna. I am not able to understand him and it is frustrating me to heights. I just don't want to know that his loyalty was a facade. I want to know his feelings about all this. He did not answer me even when I questioned him last night," she revealed and before Rachna could muster a logical answer to placate her worries, the doorbell started ringing.

"One minute, I will just see who is on the door," said Khushi, straightening herself up and glancing at herself through the mirror to see if she was presentable and walked to open the door.

Silence rang in the house and reverberated in Rachna's ears. It has been longer than one minute since Khushi had said that she would attend the door and Rachna wondered if all was fine. She stood up to pick her car keys up while speaking into the receiver of the phone,

"Hello Khushi? Where are you? Who was it on the door? What happened?"

"Arnav has made his feelings very clear, Rachna. He has sent me a contract. A contract for being the surrogate mother of his child. It states that....that I will have no relation whatsoever with the child after the birth. It means that he can take legal action against me if I try to meet him or meet our child. How did he expect me to sign such an outrageous contract? What does he think of me?" she spat, letting tears roll down her flushed cheeks.

What was going on in Arnav's mind?