Malini Chaturvedi Tripathi, a.k.a Malini Didi, Sautan, Imlie’s Half-Sister

Malini Chaturvedi Tripathi, a.k.a Malini Didi, Sautan, Imlie’s Half-Sister

Malini watched as everyone turned against her, not realising that the way she was today was because of them. It was because of their son.

What had she turned to?

Malini missed those days, when she was carefree, loving, smart, and beautiful, inside and out. Nowadays, she feels so ugly. Oh, she justified it by being in love with Aditya, but she recognised that all she had done was wrong, to Aditya, to Imlie, but most of all, to herself.

She’d paved the path for her own madness by herself.

She missed her old self.

She missed the girl who knew love, family, respect, marriage. She missed the girl who was smart but never used it to hurt someone. She missed the girl who was good who understood people, who helped people, who fought for people and who stood by people.

She missed the girl she had lost.

All because of Imlie.

If only Imlie hadn’t entered their life, all would be well. Aditya would still love her. This family would still love her. She would still be that person, and all the ugliness that resided within her would not be out in the open.

Oh, who was she kidding, if she can hold Imlie responsible for the way her life has turned, she was able enough to realise that Aditya too, was equally responsible.

But how could she hold the man she loved responsible for the destruction in her life?

Seven years of friendship, seven years of love, down the drain because the man she loved, loved a teenager whom he had been forcefully married to. Malini scoffed. Imlie may be responsible for coming into their life, but Aditya was responsible for letting her come into it.

And what right did Aditya have to destroy their relationship? What right did he have to term their relationship a mere friendship? Who was Aditya to take the decision of their relationship alone when it was her relationship too? Why did Aditya get to be the one to be happy for their impending divorce, while she was breaking? So that he could live happily ever after with his teenage little wife?

And then came the truth of her being Malini’s sister. How could a sister betray her like this? Who was Imlie to claim her most meaningful relationships for herself? It wasn’t enough that Aditya loved her, now her father too cared for Imlie? And her father? He claimed what Imlie did was wrong, but then he too supported her and Aditya. Was Imlie so special that she could just come into her life and have the people most important to her? 

These, these questions led her to make the most questionable decisions of her life.

She, despite being of sound mind, and smart enough to believe in consent, had denied it to the man she loved. She had basically had the man she loved killed by playing out one of her plots to get her half-sister out of their life. She shot herself, harmed herself, to get Imlie out of their life.

When Imlie finally left the house, she spun a tale, a tale similar to one she had spinned when KC had come into her life. She accused Imlie of falling in love with someone else, using this person to move forward in life, so much that Aditya couldn’t even reach her. 

There was nothing, she realised, that man could not do once his ego is hurt.

The problem was that the tale she spun, like last time, came to life this time too.

Imlie and Aryan Singh Rathore bonded in a way that was straight out of her imagination. She saw Aryan Singh Rathore saving Imlie a thousand times, and she thought, what does Imlie has that makes these men go mad over her?

She didn’t know. She didn’t understand.

But today, today Imlie had won one battle, but it was a battle that before this, had always been Malini’s. Imlie had succeeded in one place where Malini has always been on top. There have been so many attempts, but Malini always came out winning.

The only thing different about this time was Aryan Singh Rathore.

The main lead of the tale she spinned.

She watched as all the family members ignored her. She watched as they asked Aditya to leave her. She watched as her mother-in-law asked Aditya to make the right decision.

She watched as she asked him to bring Imlie back home.

And she couldn’t resist, she burst out in laughter.

This woman, this woman just wanted what was best for her son. And according to her, Imlie was.

The funny thing was that she believed that Imlie would still come back to him.

Everybody turned to her, their accusing eyes finding her.

She looked at Aditya and scoffed, “Aapko lagta hai Imlie aapke pass wapas aa jayegi? Ke Imlie ne yeh sab aapke liye kiya hai?(You think that Imlie would come back to you? That everything Imlie did, she did for you?”

Aditya answered her, “Imlie aur humare beech jo bhi hai—(Whatever it is that is between Imlie and I—)”

Malini interrupted him again, “Kuch nahi hai aapke beech Aditya, kuch bhi nahi. Aapko seriously lagta hai woh aapke pass wapas aa jayegi?(Is nothing Aditya, it’s absolutely nothing. You seriously think she’ll come back to you?)”

Aparna spoke then, “Woh humare liye wapas zaroor aayegi. Aur fir, dheere dheere woh Adi ko maaf bhi kar degi.(She’ll come back, for us, absolutely. And then, slowly, she’ll forgive Aditya too.)”

Malini laughed at this woman’s delusion. She was blind. She was abso-f*cking-lutely blind when it came to any other person than her son. She didn’t even understand her so-called daughter.

Hoping to illuminate her, she did a little exposure of Imlie herself, she revealed, “Aaj jab Imlie zameen pe padi hui thi, jab woh marne ka natak kar rahi thi, tab aap ko maalum hai Aryan Singh Rathore kya kar rahe the? Woh mujhe Imlie ke pass aane se bhi rok rahe the. Woh Imlie ko  mara hua dekh khud mar rahe the. Woh toot rahe the.(Today, when Imlie was lying on the ground, pretending to be dead, do you know what Aryan Singh Rathore was doing? He was stopping me from even stepping closer to Imlie. He was dying watching Imlie dead. He was breaking.”

Aditya spoke then, “Hum ek aur shabd nahi sunenge aap ki iss man-gharat kahani ka. Unka rishta waisa nahi hai jaisa aapne humein bataya hai.(I won’t listen to another word of this imaginary tale you’ve spun. Their relationship is not like the one you’ve led me to believe.)”

Malini snorted, “Jab maine aap ko unke rishte ke baare mein bataya tha, tab unka rishta waisa nahi tha Aditya. Ab unka rishta waisa hi hai.(Sure, when I’d first told you about their relationship, then it was imaginary Aditya. But now, now everything is true.)”

Aditya exclaimed, “Malini! Woh aaj natak kar rahe the.(Malini! They were pretending today.)”

Malini, amused at the amount of obliviousness Aditya showed, replied, “Woh natak nahi tha Aditya. Insaan aisa tabhi toot ta hai jab woh kissi apne ko khota hai.(That was not pretend, Aditya. A person breaks like that when they lose someone that matters to them.)”

Aditya, furious, “Malini!”

Malini replied, “Kya Aditya? Kya? Aapko kya lagta hai, unke beech mein koi rishta nahi hai. Aryan Singh Rathore ne jitna Imlie ke liye kiya hai na, utna iss family ke saare members ka kiya hua bhi mila do, tab bhi kam pad jaayega. Usne Imlie ko support kiya hai, usse himmat di hai, usko hausla diya hai, uske saath khada tha woh. Aur aapko lagta hai Imlie usse chod aap ke pass aa jayegi? Ek aise insaan ke pass joh uss par trust nahi karta, joh kissi ke bhi baaton mein aa jaata hai, joh uski kaamyaabi par shak karta hai aur joh uske saath apne convenience se khada hota hai.(What Aditya? What? What do you think, that they don’t have anything between them. What Aryan Singh Rathore has done for Imlie is more than what this family ever did for her. He has supported Imlie, he has given her strength, he has given her courage, he has stood by her. And you think Imlie will leave him and come back to you? A person who doesn’t trust her, who gets easily manipulated against her, who doubts her success and who stands by her at his own convenience?)”

Aditya tried to stop her again, “Malini, bas bahut ho gaya, ab ek aur lafz nahi—(Malini, that’s enough, I’ll not listen to another word—)”

Malini interrupted him once again, “Kya aapko lagta hai Aryan usse wapas yaha aane dega?(You think Aryan will let her come back to you?)”

Aditya was stumped. 

Malini, recognising that she finally had these people listening to her, “Aap sab log, kya aap sab logon ne observe nahi kiya hai, ki unn dono ka rishta kya hai?(You people, haven’t you seen them, observed the relationship between them?)”

She turned her gaze back to Aditya, and said, “Woh uski fikr karta hai. Woh uski baatein sunta hai. Woh uske saath disagree karke bhi uski point ko samjhne ki koshish karta hai. Woh us par shak nahi karta.(He cares for her, worries for her. He listens to her. He tries to understand her point even when he disagrees with her. He doesn’t doubt her.)”

She looked around the family members, most of their heads down in agreement, and then continued, “Par woh bhi uski fikr karti hai. Uski wajah se woh uthna seekhi hai, uski baatein Imlie ko inspiration deti hai. Agar woh pareshan ho toh Imlie uski help bhi karti hai. Imlie uski family, joh uske liye sabse important hai, unka khayal rakhti hai.(But she too, cares and worries for him. She has learned to stand up because of him, his words are an inspiration for Imlie. If he is troubled, Imlie helps him. Imlie takes care of his family, the people most important to him.)”

She moved forward, her finger stabbing Aditya’s chest, and stated her last point, “Imlie ke saath Aryan Singh Rathore hasta hai Aditya.(Aryan Singh Rathore smiles with Imlie, Aditya. He laughs with her.)”

Malini sighed then, tired. 

She had seen all these things, these inexplicable little moments between Aryan and Imlie, that made her question the kind of relationship she shared with Aditya. Little things they did for each other that made no sense to anyone else but them, and she was jealous, once again, of Imlie.

Yes, these people were gonna throw her out of the house today, but they were wrong in the assumption that they could bring Imlie back here. Even if they did convince that stupid girl to come back here, she was sure Aryan Singh Rathore would stop her.

Time will tell whether he’ll succeed or fail, because she knew that Imlie was glutton for punishment, but one thing she was sure of was that Aryan and Imlie, they were endgame.

They were not separate anymore. They were, by all means, Aryan&Imlie.

Malini, before she went back to her room, before she went back to her house, before she was thrown out of her home, cleared, “Aankhe kholiye aur dekhiye Aditya. Shayad Aryan nahi jaanta ki Imlie uske liye kya hai, shayad Imlie bhi nahi jaanti ke Aryan uske liye kya hai. But ek baat, ek baat joh sabko clear hai, woh yeh hai ki woh ek dusre ke liye ab bahut kuch ban chuke hai. Yeh baat ab sabko pata hai ki Aryan aur Imlie ab Aryan aur Imlie nahi hai, woh ek hai, Aryan&Imlie hai.(Open your eyes and see Aditya. Maybe Aryan doesn’t know what Imlie is for him, maybe Imlie also doesn’t realise what Aryan is for her. But one thing, one thing that’s clear to everyone is that they have become much more to each other since they’ve been together. Everyone knows, that Aryan and Imlie are not just Aryan and Imlie anymore, they are one now, they are Aryan&Imlie.)”

With that, Malini turned away from these people. There would come a time where they would call her back to this house again, she was sure of it. If not because of her, then because of her baby.

But she was also sure that Imlie, Imlie was not coming back to this house again. She was a part of a whole now. Aryan&Imlie.