Authors Note: Thank you all for the wonderful comments.
P.S. ' If your reading and not reviewing/commenting please take time out to do so, we writers put a lot of time and effort into these fanfics and our only return on them is the satisfaction of knowing someone like you is reading our work and appreciating it.
SO- Do like and comment if you like the work. Thanks in advance.
P.S. And as this is a song inspired SS, the song for this chapter is -
Always on My Mind- Elvis Presley
Chapter Three
-Always -
As ridiculously cliche as it was the truth of the matter was that even half dazed with sleep, Arnav knew there was no way he would be getting back to sleep. For as was with all men, Arnav Singh Raizada too had an Achilles heel, and as was with all great men his was a woman.
His wife.
If asked, he would, not only, never admit it, but he the truth was she was more than merely his better-half, she was his absolution. She was the reason he'd cut down so much on his overseas business trips, the distance was hell, and yet on the other hand she was the reason he would increase the trips, like a terrified addict whose moments of fear would slip in.
And more than that -moments of realization of how badly that need existed.
Denial.
Any other day, any other night and he would pretend to sleep, his eyes closed as he would wait as she would vent her frustration on her much loved jalebi's. He would wait for her muffled footsteps as she would sneak back into their room, and under the covers, snuggling up to his chest, her hand splaying over his heart as she would slowly feather a kiss and say in her oh so soft voice, "I love you."
But not tonight.
Earlier today, when she'd been berating him for his tardiness, he'd seen something in her eyes, that shook him to the core.
He'd seen ... hopelessness.
And in that split second he'd realized his ego, his fears, his pride...none of it was worth it if that was what he was doing to her. Somehow the anger the tears he had always been able to deal with, had always been able to accept but for a spirit like hers to even know what hopelessness was ... that was more than even he could bear.
Maybe I didn't treat you
Quite as good as I should have You were always on my mind
Maybe I didn't love you
Quite as often as I could have
Little things I should have said and done
I just never took the time
Tears rolling down her cheeks, his brave beauty had a fist pressed to her mouth muffling her heart wrenching sobs. And all at once he was helpless. Arnav Singh Raizada the man who was known in the business world for his apathy, felt destroyed.
Frozen at the doorway to the kitchen, he watched in horror as the woman he had wanted to do nothing more than cherish, tore herself apart. He had come down here expecting to find her laboring over the stove making her perfect little jalebi's but the sight of her standing there clutching what looked to be a crumpled piece of paper in her hand sent ice down his veins.
"Khushi?"
She looked up, her eyes pools of molten chocolate, and then just as she looked like she was about to collapse, he was there. His arms locking around her, crushing her to him. "Baby?"
Maybe I didn't hold you You were always on my mind
All those lonely, lonely times
And I guess I never told you
I'm so happy that you're mine
If I make you feel second best
Girl, I'm so sorry I was blind
Ironically it was as if his endearment had brought on a fresh onslaught of tears and his vivacious wife crumpled in his arms, oblivious to everything around her but the warmth of her husband's arms. A husband she didn't deserve, she admitted silently. It wasn't as if she'd never heard the taunts, but her being the person she was had always held the statement in little to no regard, but now as she finally stood in her husband's arms for the last time she admitted if only in the privacy of her own mind, how selfish she had been in doing so.
He deserved someone who was better...smarter...he deserved so much more...then it hadn't mattered, because she had thought he wanted her. Had wanted what they had together.
Eventually, as her husband continued to rock her tenderly and oh-so-gently in his arms, Khushi Raizada ran out of tears, at least the ones on the outside.
Tell me, tell me that your sweet love hasn't died Little things I should have said and done
Give me, give me one more chance
To keep you satisfied, satisfied
I just never took the time
You were always on my mind
Arnav Singh Raizada, was said to be invincible.
His reputation of brutality was surpassed only by his own reputation of apathy, and mercilessness. In short it was said he was a man who the business world claimed to have a calculator for a mind and a circuit board for a heart.
Perhaps such statements were proof of how off track journalism had become in today's world.
One look at him as he stood now helplessly cradling his now limp wife in the kitchen of his own home, and his reputation as a ruthless business magnate would be reduced to cinders. And yet, none of that was n his mind then, all he knew, all he cared about was that his wife, had voiced some half formed doubts up in their bedroom out of what seemed to be the absolute blue, only to come down here and cry herself unconscious.
Maybe I didn't treat you
Quite as good as I should have
Maybe I didn't love you
Quite as often as I could have
And somehow he was to blame.
That beyond anything else tore at him.
He was responsible.
Maybe I didn't hold you
All those lonely, lonely times
And I guess I never told you
I'm so happy that you're mine
Just as he'd failed his Di so many years ago, his mother before that. No matter how successful his business ventures would be he would always be the reason people fell apart. He'd even succeeded in breaking the most beautiful spirit he'd met.
He'd failed her.
Maybe I didn't treat you'
Quite as good as I should have'
A/N::
P.P.S - the faster the comments fly in the faster my next chapter comes out. Yes I am saying I accept bribes in the form of comments. =P Hope you enjoyed it 3