Malaal-Chapter 1 Matured

Chapter 1

“I should’ve known this...”, Rashi says, with a certain greyness in her eyes, her voice laced with a mixture of sorrow and anger. She looked frustrated, as if she felt that there’s no way she can move away from them.

“I should’ve known this, Mr Modi. It was all your plan, wasn’t it? My bad, that I trusted you again.”, she continued, but her voice had changed from helpless to certain.

Jigar looked at her, his expressions radiating helplessness and his voice choked.

“No, Rashi. It’s nothing like that..I..”

His voice was interrupted by Kokila, who was standing beside Hetal.

“Bas Rashi. You should’ve thought before doing this. Now, you’ll have to face the consequences. We won’t go anywhere now. We’ll leave only when we make sure that you and Jigar get married again.”

Rashi’s fists clenched and she came forward to face Kokila, looking into her eyes.

“I know you people would never want me to be happy, that’s exactly why you came here, and I am sure that you too are involved in what happened yesterday. But you know what, I would never get back with Mr Modi. Mark my words.” She smirked a bit and walked away, leaving a broken Jigar, a thoughtful Kokila and a worried Hetal behind.

It was late at night and Rashi still hadn’t returned to her home. Kokila was standing in the window of the room where she was dwelling and was in deep thought.

“Why does Rashi hate Jigar so much? I know what happened was very bad, but it seems that there’s something more to it. Something that suddenly appears in Rashi’s eyes when Jigar is around, something extremely painful. I can’t scold her and get the truth out of her, like old times. After all, she’s not the old Rashi. She looks like an injured lioness now, who doesn’t have an ounce of respect for me. Her every word seems like she’s throwing a challenge at me, and she almost always looks like she’s controlling an urge to hurt the Modis in ways that we cannot imagine. Rashi has changed, she definitely has..”

“Kokila.”, Hetal says, entering her room with a look of concern.

“Motabhabi, I know you are worried that Rashi hasn’t returned yet. But don’t both of us know where she would be?”, Kokila asks.

Hetal nods. She knows where Rashi would be. The same place where she and Kokila had met Rashi years after Rashi had moved away from them. The bar. With the wooden decor. That’s how they remembered it, because interestingly it had no name. It was more like an establishment created by heartbroken drunkard youngsters. Where they attempted to enjoy loneliness together with other lonely people. Rashi would return completely drunk, like always.

They heard footsteps and quickly ran to the huge lobby of the beautiful house that Rashi had built. 

There she was. Her all black outfit clung perfectly to her body, outlining her curves perfectly, and her hair let loose, making her look ravishing. The only thing that could say that she was drunk and distraught, was her uneven walk and her smudged eye makeup.

Something inside Kokila hurt again, although she had been seeing this for weeks now. She walked to her to make her walk properly, but Rashi moved her arm away.

“Wait, Mrs. Kokila Modi...I can walk myself. I have a habit of dealing with myself alone. I don’t need you.”, she said with an obvious tone.

She was right. She silently walked to her room and fell on her bed, recalling the memory that had brought her here. Recalling it like every night, so that she never forgives the Modis.

3 YEARS AGO

“ Arre Mummy, for God’s sake suggest some nice names. What’s Rajesh and Rakesh? These names are older than me.”, Rashi says laughing.

Her mother Urmila, along with the whole Modi family is surrounding her bed. 

“Hunh, jaa jaa ave. I’ve selected these names with so much effort, just for my grandchildren.”, she replies with huge excitement.

“I think we all should let Rashi take rest. Naming can be done later on,after some discussion, isn’t it, Urmila ben?” , Kokila says, with her usual poise and confidence.

They all give blessings to Rashi and left smiling. Rashi’s heart skipped a beat. Only Jigar was standing at his place, looking at her with a new feeling of possessiveness. Rashi shifted slightly, even his stare was making her nervous.

“Jigar ji. Umm, come na, sit.”, she said, pointing beside her. Jigar came closer and her heart raced. It sometimes surprised her that how crazy he could make her, even after a long time since they got married. 

He sat beside her with a longing look on his face. He hadn’t touched her for so many months because she was pregnant. He needed her badly but knew that he had to wait for some more time, until she was healthy enough to resume her normal lifestyle.

“Thanks for giving me such cute baby boys.”, he said with a smile, looking at the two peaceful faces, who were in deep sleep.

He came closer to her and observed her face carefully. 

“She’s so beautiful.”, his mind said, it always did. Since the first time he kissed her.

Rashi came closer and suddenly kissed him with passion. She held his hair smoothly and her lips were moving in urgency, as if she longed for him badly. It took Jigar by surprise. He looked in her eyes, they radiated a mixture of lust and love, his thought were interrupted by his need to breathe. They separated and looked at each other with confidence.

“I love you Jigar ji.”, Rashi said with a lazy smile on her face. 

“Jigar bhai.”, Meethi was standing at the door, her face clearly indicating that she was feeling awkward.

“What did she see?” Rashi’s eyes questioned Jigar.

“The ‘I love you’ or the whole kiss...or nothing?”, she couldn’t guess.

“Umm, yes Meethi.”, Jigar replied hurriedly, when his eyes went to the quilt and pillow that she was carrying. “What’s this for?”

“Actually Jigar Bhai, Nani bhabhi has said that Rashi bhabi should sleep alone with the babies today, because tomorrow their sleeping arrangements would be done. Till then, you should sleep in another room.”

“What!”, both Jigar and Rashi exclaimed.

                ***********************

“Gopi. I’ve never seen Rashi so happy, so content before.” 

Ahem and Gopi are sitting on their bed, while their months old daughter Meera is sleeping peacefully.

“Ahem Ji. That’s what motherhood does. It erases every greed, and replaces it with a need to fulfill the child’s wish, it instills a sense of sacrifice. And when one is ready to sacrifice, one feels content. Just like Rashiben. We all know that for a long time, she only longed for money and power, but slowly, as she kept on falling for Devarji, her priorities changed. There were days when she would wouldn’t even care for Devarji, and then there were days when she waited for him hungry, if he would be late from office.”, she says with admiration for her sister.

“Yes, love changes everything.”, Ahem says and looks at her. Both of them remember how their relationship had started and how, gradually, love changed everything.

Some days later

The beautiful babies had been named Sahir and Samar, that too after a lengthy exchange of opinions and suggestions. Everyone was surprised to see Rashi’s possessiveness for the children, which was natural. The family had understood that Rashi’s soul now resided in the kids. 

The family had gathered for dinner, while the children had been put to sleep already and Chirag thought that it was a good time to make the announcement, away from the cries of the kids.

“I have made a decision for the future generation of our family.”, Chirag started.

Every family member, including Gopi’s sister Radha was all ears.

“As we know our company is held jointly by me and Ahem, now that Jigar has become a father, I have decided to handover my part of the company to Jigar, so that he works for the welfare of his immediate family now. Also, I have seen that Jigar has improved a lot when it comes to work, so it is the right time to do this.”

Everyone was elated. Jigar suddenly felt a feeling of responsibility and he liked it. Rashi noticed that Kokila was trying to be happy, but her face had mixed feelings. 

“Why isn’t she happy for us? Oh Rashi come on, don’t overthink, you also know that deep down she cares for us. Relax.”, she thought and smiled. She had stopped getting manipulated by her mother and finally Urmila too had given up. She had realised that Rashi was in love with her family and even she couldn’t change it. So she concentrated on quarelling with Kinjal instead.

Kokila DID have mixed feelings. It was not jealousy, it was concern. She still doubted Urmila a bit, especially now when Jigar had the rights over the company, Urmila may try her way to get her hands over everything. She just had to be careful. 

Little did anyone know, that disaster was just a day away. The beginning of the end would began.