Hues of Love

Part 25

"No! Don't even speak of death! You will get to show your love both for our child and me yourself. Don't let your hope waver," whispered Arnav, pressing assuring gentle kisses on the back of her palm, which were more potent than any tranquilizer or aphrodisiac for the woman whose eyes never left his trail.

Rachna, one of the members of team guiding her delivery, was shocked to see the change in Arnav and the affection he showered on her. She had never imagined even in her wildest dreams that Arnav would look away from Rati and Khushi would get any kind of response from her love. She did not know if she were to feel happy for the same or listen to gut instinct of hers that Khushi was being lead on, but duty came first before her questions and she gladly drowned herself in it.

"Rachna, I think we should give her an injection of oxytocin, now that Arnav is here," wondered Geeta, looking at the couple in front of her.

"I guess it is time now," replied Rachna, picking up the syringe and the vial from the tray beside her and injecting the concoction inside the vial into Khushi's body.

A new, stronger and more painful wave of contractions took over Khushi's body instantaneously as she clutched Arnav's hand in a vice-like grip. Her nails left half-moon marks on his skin through which blood gushed out but he cared more about the pain in she was, feeling the waves of myriads of emotions tingling the base of spine to the point of saturation.

Her screams resonated in his heart and pushed him to the emotion he was most acquainted with over the years - love. It took a person deeply in love to understand that it was the same feeling which reverberated in her to undergo such turmoil to ensure his peace and sanity, and he felt his very soul shift and etch her name onto the canvas of his heart.

Her screams stopped suddenly and it was the cries of a newly born infant which reverberated in the room, but instead of happiness at his wish being finally fulfilled, he felt shock and fear knock at his mind.

"Rachna! What happened to Khushi? Why did she stop suddenly?" he questioned, rubbing her palm like an obsessed man who had lost the very source of water he had found after eons of wait and penance.

"She just fainted out of fatigue, Arnav. Her vitals are stable, there is no reason to worry. Especially since you have been blessed with a girl. Congratulations," wished Rachna, pointing towards the infant which was being cleaned and weighed by the head nurse.

Arnav wiped the sweat which had poured from her temples and patted her forehead affectionately as tears made their way out of his eyes. He freed his hand from Khushi's already loosened grip and walked towards the baby being forwarded towards him by Rachna.

"She is born with perfect weight and height, Arnav. Looks like you have taken good care of Khushi after all," mused Rachna, pressing a feathery kiss on the child's fingers affectionately.

"How would I not? It is impossible to not care for someone so admirable like her," replied Arnav, losing his heart for the second time in the past five minutes but this time for his infant daughter whose innocent hazel orbs like that of her mother's managed to enchant him and incite love at first sight.

The feeling of taking the life which one had created into one's arms was too heavenly for words to express. The ecstatic burst of emotions which began at the heart and spread out to every cell eliciting the fleeting and flattering bliss which only intensifies at the first time that life holds the fingers and the very soul awakes from its dormant state to welcome a part of it.

He walked out of the labor room to show his bundle of joy to the mother-figure in his life - Swati.

"Look at her, Aunty! Isn't she beautiful?" he wondered, bending around the corner to reach the waiting area of the specific room.

"She looks so divine! I will go have a look at Khushi," excused Swati, knowing well that Rati would surely have something to say to him.

"Congratulations, Arnav. I am so happy that your wish finally got fulfilled and you got a beautiful daughter in her form," wished Rati, caressing the head of the infant lovingly and as she bent to place a kiss on her forehead she felt Arnav moving away from her.

Her wish acted like a fuel to the madness he found himself in when his dream merged into reality after a wait of fourteen years.

"What did you say that night? I can find myself a surrogate mother if I want but you won't become the mother, didn't you? You loved cheating me right? How would you feel if I tell you that this child is conceived by the natural way and is a symbol of Khushi's love for me, something which you never had? How do you feel right now? Broken, shattered, cheated?" he questioned, tears rolling down her cheeks at the ruthlessness and heartlessness of the man who won her heart had showed.

"Looks like the answer is yes! This is a moment of double happiness because I finally get to see you broken and find my revenge," he spat, clutching the child close to his heart as maniac smile played on his lips.

It was a moment of shock when a slap sound resounded in the lobby and Arnav was nothing less than shocked. Rati was never the one for violence and she had slapped him?

"You wanted revenge? Understandable, Arnav, but you used Khushi for that? Someone so pristine and selfless like her does not deserve to be exploited like you had," lashed Rati, spitting fire from her eyes in the way Arnav had never witnessed.

"You are the one to speak.." he began, only to be stopped by the palm stopping him.

"Yes, Mr. Arnav Singh Raizada, I am the one to speak and since you hold such low view of mine it should mean much more to you that I am berating you. You had no right to play with her life and you drafted a contract subjecting it to our divorce. Let me take the responsibility of being your wife for one last time and correct your error, rather your sin," she rebuked, pulling the divorce papers signed by him from her handbag.

She placed the papers against the wall and signed above the dotted line where her sign was required.

"At least now she will get to be a part of her child's life and her belief in her love would not be shaken like you had broken my belief," exclaimed Rati, thrusting the papers in his hands and staging a walkout, leaving him in the turbulence of his own thoughts.

"Please forgive him, Beta, he is under the influence of raging emotions," apologized Swati with folded hands to Khushi who was lying on the stretcher to be moved to the private room when the confrontation of Arnav with Rati began and every sign of happiness erased itself from her.

"I had taken a decision long time back, Aunty, and your son just reinforced that my decision was correct in every way and erased whatever little guilt I was experiencing. Did you see that, Rachna and Geeta? Still question my decision? Because this was the reason why I had taken that decision."

_______________________________________

So what do you think? Obviously Khushi did not die and I officially dislike Arnav in this part and like Rati.

I was seeing the stats of the story and saw that men read this story so we have all seen a female's perspective on this so I was wondering if those guys would be ready to share their views to have another perspective.