Arnav picked up his phone and dialed Kushi's number.

He kept calling her, but they went unanswered

An hour later Arnav Singh Raizada started pacing to and fro in his room like a caged tiger.

How dare she ignore his calls?

The nerve of the woman to ignore him. Him? Arnav Singh Raizada?

He picked up his phone and dialed her again

"Pick up. Pick up damn it!!" He kept muttering willing her to pick up the call

Lavanya, who spent an hour crying over ASR's behaviour decided to talk it out to himself.

They are getting engaged for heaven's sake and the man doesn't have an ounce of respect for her.

How can she spend an entire life with him if he shouts at her and shuts her out according to his convenience

Is love enough?

As she reached ASR's room she saw him pacing the room angrily and trying to call someone on the phone.

She could hear him muttering 'pick up' and 'damn it' multiple times.

Who dared to ignore ASR's calls? Lavanya wondered in astonishment

What was even more surprising was that ASR kept on calling the person again and again.

As far as she knows ASR, the man would break a deal if the other party in question so much as delayed a few minutes in responding.

It has happened before too.

Lavanya could feel the fury emanating from ASR and chickened out of having the conversation now.

As Lavanya came downstairs, Anjali noticed the puffed and red eyes and concluded that the woman was crying

"Lavanya ji? You okay? Have you been crying?" Anjali asked

Lavanya hugged Anjali in desperation.

She so badly wanted comfort.

Someone to tell her everything would be okay.

"ASR aisa kyun hei di" Lavanya asked

Anjali sighed.

How could she answer the question?

When she herself doesn't have a clear answer to that.

"What did he do Lavanya ji?" Anjali asked and words tumbled out of Lavanya's mouth

Anjali was furious with her chotte.

How dare he treat the woman he is to marry with so less respect?

How can he love her and not respect her?

"Lavanya ji. If I tell you something, will you be offended?" Anjali asked

"Ofcourse No di. You can tell me anything" Lavanya said

"You have to be more stronger if you have to live with chotte Lavanya ji. A relationship should be between equals. If he shouts at you, don't back down Lavanya ji. Answer him in his own way. That's the only way to survive this relationship" Anjali said and Lavanya laughed

"You think I don't know any of this di? Everytime he hurts me, I somehow give me a prep talk to go face him boldly. And when I stand in front of him and his infamous glare, I lose my confidence. I so wish I had chamkili's guts in facing ASR" Lavanya said wistfully making Anjali laugh

"Kushi ji tho alag hi baat hei. Wo tho kisise bhi darta nahi. Khaas karke chotte se" Anjali said in amusement

It was real fun watching Kushi fight so boldly with the man, in front of him even grown men were known to shiver in fear.

"And she makes him do things no one else can make him do. I so miss her being around." Lavanya said and that's when the first seed of doubt formed in her mind.

How does ASR agrees to do things when asked by the woman he claims to hate her.

She remembered asking ASR a long time back about his obsessive behaviour with an employee.

He had shouted at her back then.

Lavanya shook her head to get rid of those rubbish thoughts.

ASR and Kushi? Have you gone crazy Lavanya. How can you even think that.

If she so much as hint such a thought, Kushi would die laughing. Or she might kill her for even trying to link their names together

And ASR. God! She can imagine him hunting her down and giving her a painful death.

Lavanya was amused at her way of thoughts.

"What is it Lavanya ji?" Anjali asked seeing the sudden smile on her to be sister in law's face.

"Nothing di. Di, shall we call chamkili tomorrow. Its been a week" Lavanya said

"Yeah. We will call her tomorrow" Anjali said because she too was missing having Kushi around.

What they both didn't knew was that, there was a third person who refuses to admit to himself that he missed her like crazy.

****

A week passed by on autopilot for Kushi Kumari Gupta

Something has irreversibly changed in her, that fateful diwali night.

She went through the motions perfectly.

She danced around. She did pranks on her family. She irritated the hell out of Buaji. She made jalebis.

Yet, her heart ached.

For a man who thought so low her.

Kushi chided herself for being such a mess

He doesn't deserve to have that power over her. And she refused to give him that.

That's when she decided she needs to get rid off everything related to him from her life.

The first thing she did was to dispose off that wretched red saree. She hates the sight of it.

The next thing she did was to send Happyji to Shantivan with ASR's mannat ki chaabi.

And she really felt better.

Geet was right. Sometimes doing something silly like this helps making you feel better.

Like how Aditya felt better after burning and flushing his ex's photo. Kushi Kumari Gupta felt better getting rid off the things related to Arnav Singh Raizada

'Koi maini nahi rakthi tum aur tumse judi koi bhi cheez' he had told her a week ago.

And now neither he nor does anything related to him means anything to her.

She wouldn't let it be that way anymore.

Her phone rang and she saw it was from the devil himself.

She kept her phone on silent and walked out of the room, leaving the phone ring away

"Oye titliya." Buaji called out loudly

"Hai re nanda kishore. Kyun chilla rahi ho Madhumathi ji" Kushi asked dramatically earning a wack from her aunt

"Guess who is coming to Delhi?" Buaji asked with a teasing smile

"Who Buaji?" Kushi asked in confusion

"Why should I tell you?" Bua ji said with attitude

"Tell me na bua ji" Kushi whined

"Teri mangetar aaraha hei titliyaa" Bua ji said with a loud laugh.