Transcendental Love

Part 16

Arnav had read somewhere that the happiest people had the saddest secrets buried inside them. Khushi was a living proof of this statement. The bubbly and chirpy girl who was so full of life always... had been... abused? As a child? His throat constricted thinking about it. He wondered how she bore it all. Clearing his throat, he held her hand more firmly and broke the silence that had engulfed them.

"When?", he asked gravely.

"When I was 8.", she answered as if he had just asked her the weather.

"Khushi how... I mean...?"

"Arnav I don't want to talk about it. Telling you about it will impact me deeply. Especially after yesterday's incident."

"I understand, Khushi. It's just that you're just so full of life. I never thought...", he trailed off.

"So? Whatever happened was not my fault. It was a very very bad event and it has affected my life very deeply. I try to live my life as cheerfully as my past allows.", she shrugged calmly.

"You're a brave woman Khushi Kumari Gupta.", he smiled at her.

"I told you this because I didn't want to be dishonest with you. Although this happened many years back, I suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Complex-PTSD. It's under control mostly but I get anxiety attacks. I have been given this life. But I don't want to impose this on anyone else. That's the reason I have never been in a relationship. I don't expect to marry anyone ever. My mental state – whenever it worsens – is solely my responsibility and I have no intentions of imposing this on anyone."

"So, according you to you two people should only be together when they're perfect?", Arnav had made up his mind.

"No what I meant was..."

"What you meant was that two people should be flawless to be together. Khushi this is real life not some movie. It happens only in movies that two gorgeous and have-it-all come together and fall in life. Real people have to do with flaws. When I proposed this... this relationship... I did not approach you because you were perfect. I approached you because I felt that we complement each other well. All that matters is whether you like me enough to give it a shot?", he held his breath as he waited for her answer.

The few minutes that Khushi took to regroup her thoughts were like hours in hell for him.

"I will be lying if I say I don't like you. I do. There is something about you that speaks to my soul. Since meeting you I have hardly stopped thinking about you. In fact, for the past two days, I've been crying over the very fact that I can do nothing about my liking.", Khushi said in one go unaware of what she had just admitted.