Chapter 9

3 years ago

chaoticmind2021

@chaoticmind2021

Standing outside his Di's room, Arnav couldn't help but feel nervous at facing her. He was grateful to know that Shyam had left for work. He could really kill the guy if he saw him. When he knocked and heard a meek come in, he peeked inside to find his sister lost sitting on her bed and hugging her knees. Her teary eyes tore him apart and the guilt that he'd been feeling from last night started gnawing at him again. 

'Di?' He called out to her tentatively. 

'What are you doing here?' Anjali asked in an emotionless voice. Everyone had been coming in to check up on her last night and now, she just didn't have the energy to give any false hopes to anyone. What could she say?  

'I'm here for you.' Arnav replied sitting beside her and keeping a hand on her knee assuredly. He tried to ignore a pang of hurt that he felt at her reaction, knowing that he probably deserved it. 

'Didn't seem like that last night.' Anjali snorted. 

'Di, I know things got out of control last night. I wasn't here but I kept checking in with Akash. I wanted to have all the evidence before I came to meet you.' Arnav explained. Last night it wasn't just about taking care of Khushi. He had hounded NK about what was going on at Shantivan and even then consistently kept messaging Akash regarding Di's health and how she was holding up. He had hoped that the investigators would've collected all the proofs by the time he talked to Di but it didn't seem possible. He needed to know how she was doing. 

'What did you find out?' Anjali's question gave Arnav a ray of hope that his sister might be willing to listen. 

'Shyam was a paying guest at Gupta House. He emotionally manipulated them to get engaged to Khushi. When Khushi got to know that he's your husband, she broke it off.' Arnav tried to keep it as minimal as possible knowing how sensitive she was at the moment. When Anjali continued to look at him with a blank expression on her face, he held her hands in his and spoke guiltily, 'I'm sorry I failed to protect you, Di. Shyam isn't the man that you think he is.'

'Do you think I'm a fool, Chotte?' Anjali suddenly asked and looked him directly in the eye. He seemed to be bewildered at her sudden question but shook his head indicating no. Taking a deep breath, she whispered, 'I know everything.' 

To say Arnav was shocked, would be an understatement. He had thousands of thoughts running in his mind. His sister's impassive state didn't help either. She seemed fine physically but there was something eerie about her aura. A sudden fear gripped him. She wasn't okay. What if she took the same step as their mother? He couldn't lose her. He was so busy in his thoughts that he didn't notice Anjali removing her hands from his grasp until she started speaking again. 

'I didn't believe it when the Guptas told us. I hoped Shyam ji's answers held some truth. But a wife always knows. All the unexplained business trips, the jeweller's receipt...' Anjali stated. Shyam ji had an answer for everything. He had told them how he was just helping the family, saving Khushi from the goons, solving Bua ji's pension case, taking her Babu ji to the hospital and finally being blackmailed into a fake engagement by Khushi. He had called the Guptas opportunists and asked forgiveness for trying to 'protect' her. But the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. She might have been ignorant till now but she wasn't naive. 

'Then why...' Arnav couldn't quite understand why his Di was so calm about it. As far as he knew, Shyam was still living here and had happily gone to work knowing that the family believed in him.

'You know what makes a marriage work? Compromise.' Anjali spoke with determination, hinting at the decision that she seemed to have taken. 

'He doesn't deserve you.' Arnav insisted. He could deal with his sister not knowing the facts. He had a team working relentlessly on this case and he was sure to uncover information that would make his Di see sense. But this was getting out of hand. The decision to forgive that cheater wasn't right and he didn't know how to get that across her looking at her resolve.  

'Let's leave what he does deserve and doesn't on me. Maybe he was trapped, maybe Khushi knew him already, maybe...' Anjali wondered. 

'She didn't know.' Arnav cut Anjali off in the middle knowing where this conversation was going. 

'So much trust in the woman you just realized your feelings for? Why can't I give the same benefit of the doubt to my husband?' Anjali probed. 

'He was deceiving two families, destroying the sanctity of marriage that you hold so close to your heart.' Arnav retorted. She made it seem like Shyam was forced to get engaged to Khushi at gunpoint. 

'All I know is that I want to make my marriage work. I'm willing to overlook his mistakes.' Anjali replied calmly. The decision was made. She knew what she wanted to do. He had cheated on her but he was her husband at the end of the day. They had seen such wonderful times together in these 3 years of marriage and Arnav wanted her to throw them away just like that?  

'This isn't just a mistake! He didn't come home late or forget your anniversary. He was planning on marrying her.' Arnav growled. He closed his eyes, taking deep breaths, willing himself to keep his anger in check. 

'Exactly. Do you know that the husband you could give your life for is planning to marry another woman?' Anjali cried. No one could ever understand what she was going through. Everyone could sympathize with her, speak words of encouragement, give her a shoulder to cry on but no one could understand the helplessness she felt. She felt her heart breaking every minute she thought about the time they might have spent together. She shuddered thinking about the gifts he would've given her, the smiles, the care, and maybe... love? Bile rose in her throat every time she imagined her husband touching another woman. The husband that she had fasted for, prayed for day and night, the husband that she could take a bullet for was going after another woman. 

'Di, trust me, you don't deserve this farce of a marriage. This will suck the life out of you. You'll always be reminded of what he did.' Arnav pleaded. The look on her face was breaking his heart. The sister who loved the concept of marriage and love, who practically worshipped the ground her husband walked on, claimed to have her heart stop if her husband went far away. She was going through so much and he had no idea how to make it alright. His money and power were not enough to make his sister's life perfect the way she wanted. But she had to understand that this was wrong. The man was clearly obsessed with Khushi from what he knew and he didn't want his sister to live with a deranged cheater.  

'And seeing Khushi won't? A girl who had the power to make my husband forget the vows of our marriage and even make my brother forget his Di.' Anjali countered. Even the image of Khushi hugging her husband on the terrace gave her goosebumps. If that wasn't enough to make her insecure, Arnav's unwavering support for her did. Her world was crumbling and she was unable to do anything. At his hurt expression, she continued, 'You couldn't see beyond her last night, Chotte.' 

'I love her. But that's not the reason I stood by her. It's because she's right.' Arnav gulped. He had a hard time imagining what his sister thought of Khushi. There was a time his sister had left the house because he had yelled at Khushi, she had gone out of her way to make sure Khushi stays. Did his sister genuinely believe that Khushi could do this to a woman? 

'She kept us in the dark.' Anjali wasn't backing down. 

'Yes, but did she deserve the insults everyone threw at her last night?' Arnav was quick to answer. On seeing a tinge of remorse flash in her eyes, Arnav knew that he had hit the right note. He still couldn't get over the heinous accusations she had laid on Khushi. His sister's feelings weren't entirely baseless. He knew everyone needed time to recover but making one person the villain wasn't going to do it. Why should Khushi be the only one to suffer and Shyam gets scot-free when he's the one to blame? He asked her the question that had been bothering him. 'You know what it feels like to have your baraat returned from the mandap, right? And Payal had to go through the same twice. You know what it's like to be abandoned, then how could you see the same happened to Khushi?' 

He could see his sister's resolve breaking with his every word. His sister wasn't heartless, she cared too much and that was her only fault. She couldn't be selfish to anyone around her so he continued, 'Remember that you noticed Khushi's unhappiness on her engagement. She was forced. She saw your mangalsutra break and wanted to protect you. Do you think Shyam left her alone after that?' It made his blood boil when he thought that one man could be so evil to concoct a plan to con the people who gave him respect and love, something that he didn't deserve. That man had destroyed everything. He croaked, 'He was following her, harassing her, trying to manipulate her but she didn't give in. Its because she cared about you!'

'Stop it, Chotte!' Anjali yelled covering her ears and closing her eyes to block the words her brother was uttering. She could visualize every scenario that he had explained and it didn't help lessen the unexplained feeling that she tried to suppress within her. She swallowed her emotions and protested, 'All I know is that I owe this relationship one chance. I want to forgive him, be a better wife so he...'

'Are you kidding me? You are the perfect wife. He's the one at fault. This.. this happened with Maa.' What started out as a roar ended up in a voice of a broken child. He didn't want to bring it up. 14 years later, the subject was still a sore point for the entire household. He wanted his sister to understand that she could be the epitome of a perfect wife, which she already was, but it wouldn't matter. Just like it didn't matter with their parents. Their father had still turned out to be a cheat regardless of the ideal wife their mother had been. 

'And yet you're favouring the other woman?' Anjali implored. The protectiveness that he showed for Khushi irked her. Knowing that the same tragedy had occurred in their lives once before, how could he stand up for that girl? 

'She's not the other woman. She didn't have an affair with him.' Arnav said with a finality in his tone. He wanted his sister see the other side of the story, Khushi's side. He didn't expect them to hug it out and start living as best friends again but at least acknowledging that Khushi was also suffering would be a good start. If not, then she had no right to insult Khushi as well. 

'I have a right to make a choice for myself. I choose Shyam ji.' Anjali stated decisively. She was getting tired of this argument. She had to make it clear to her brother that she wasn't going to back down from this decision so she spoke her next words, 'And if you love me, then you'll let Khushi go.' 

'What?' Arnav asked in disbelief, hoping that what he was hearing was wrong. 

'Seeing her will always remind me how my perfect world broke. Please do this for your Di.' Anjali bawled. 

'And if I don't?' Arnav asked with dread filling his veins. There was a time when his Di would just have to say the word and he would do it without even asking her why. But this seemed like ripping out and giving away a part of him.

'Then I'm dead to you.' Anjali blurted. Although she found it hard to utter the words knowing that she couldn't possibly stay away from her brother but she didn't know how she could make him understand that she needed him more than ever, without the presence of Khushi in his life. She had to know that he was solely there for her. On seeing him frozen with uncertainty, she felt hope surge in her heart so she added, 'It's true, Chotte. I don't want the shadow of her near my house. If Akash can let Payal go then why can't you?' 

'Please Chotte.' And with that, Anjali finally broke into the arms of her brother. Sobs racked through her body and she kept on chanting how much she wanted his support at a time like this. 

She didn't look up to see her brother's own eyes moist with tears. She didn't see the dilemma she had put him through. Although he took his sister into his embrace to soothe her, his hands clenched into fists that made his knuckles turn white. On one hand, there was his sister who had loved him like a mother, the sister that he had vowed to protect at any cost and on another was the woman that he had finally found love and peace with. How could he choose between the two important women in his life?