Chapter 20
"Actually, Aali, I think I'll talk to mummyji about…" Kripa sighs, stepping towards Naina, taking her coat to hang it up.
"Talk to me about what? You children are scaring me…Is everyone alright?" Naina sat rubbing her hands from the cold, at the dining table.
"Well mummyji, you know all of your children are adults. Except Aaliya that is…" Kripa's voice trailed as she looked to Naina. She wore a face of discernment and confusion. She nodded.
"And all of us are capable of making our own decisions, except Aaliya that is…" Aaliya glared at Kripa, she certainly did hate being the youngest.
"So me and Angad have decided to get married. But if you and Papa aren't okay with it, then we could totally cancel it…"
"WHAT?!" Angad said in surprise, "Okay, Kripa you're doing a terrible job of this. Maa, if you don't want me and Kripa to get married, then I'll move out. But I AM marrying Kripa, no matter what…But I'm sure you'll have no problem with it"
Naina smiled at her son's passion for the girl who he loved, the only girl in the world who could handle him. Angad saw him mom smile, but then her face went stern. Angad gulped, suddenly his phrasing seemed wrong. He was afraid of what his mother would say, he wasn't one to listen to his mother often but he still did love her.
"I want Kartik to get married first. " Naina said sternly. Kartik cut in, "Yeah, about that. I've BEEN married for a while now."
"Wonderful joke. How can you possibly be married and us not know about it. I knew that girl, Tanya was bad news."
"Tell me about it." Gemma sighed.
"I'm sorry, I'm afraid we haven't met." Naina said smiling, extending her hand to shake hers.
"I'm Gemma…"
"Gemma Khanna." Kartik said, correcting her.
"Oh." Naina said, confused. "Isn't she a bit…"
"White?" Gemma said laughing, Naina looked at her. "It's okay, I get that a lot."
"You do understand Hindi, don't you?" Naina asked gingerly.
"Of course, I'm half Indian. What? I only spent 18 years of my life in Mumbai." She laughed.
"Yeah! And she likes Shahrukh Khan!" Aaliya cuts in, "I like her!"
"Me too." Adds Angad.
"Well, me too. But she's my cousin so I don't count." Kripa says.
"I definitely like her too." Kartik said, smiling nervously. Naina looked at him.
"So when did you two exactly get married?" Naina asked, still quite confused.
"In London. Actually, we got married some three years ago. Before your idiotic son left me and never did come back. I was visiting India, or actually Kripa and she brought me here and…"
"You ran into your husband?" Naina asked, still lost.
"Basically, yeah."
"Kartik beta," Naina walked over to him smiling, "What kind of a moronic duffer are you, leaving this precious thing all by herself?" She smacked him over the head.
"Hey maa! She kicked me out first!" He said rubbing his head.
"Well you were only cheating on me…" She said calmly. Everyone looked at Kartik, wide-eyed.
"I said I was sorry." Kartik said with regret.
"Whatever. And then you wonder why I got mad at you when I saw Tanya over here." Gemma said. Kartik shrugged.
"So, since we know Kartik is married. Me and Kripa are free to get married." Angad said happily.
"WHAT ABOUT ME?!" Aaliya said, angrily.
"Oh yeah, Nikhil proposed to Aaliya and she said yes." Kripa said uninterested.
"Beta, that's great!" Naina squeaked, hugging Aaliya.
"Is there something I'm missing? You guys hate the Aroras, and I'm the youngest and Papa hates Nikhil, why are you so happy?" Aaliya managed to squeak from her mother's suffocating embrace.
"Because, I see some of the other boys you hang around with and Nikhil is actually a nice boy. We may have business rivalry with the Aroras but they are a very nice family, and we do not hate them…It's just that Nikhil's father and yours don't get along very well. But Geeta and I used to be best friends in our college days."
"Maa, that's great. So you're not mad at me?" Aaliya asked innocently. Naina shook her head. "Now let me see that ring," Naina said excitedly, turning to Kripa, "You too." They both lifted their hands, to show their diamond rings off. Though, Aaliya's was bigger and shinier, Kripa was very proud of hers.
"Mine's better." Aaliya boasted.
"Whatever, Angad got this for me. We had a lot of fun that night, therefore mine's better."
"Eww, Kripa! TMI." Aaliya said, teasing her.
"Not like that. We played Truth, Dare, or Drink. And then we went to a biker bar. And then I got really drunk and fell asleep. And Angad carried me back to our room." Gemma, Kartik, Aaliya and Naina raised an eyebrow at Kripa.
"What?" Kripa shrugged, and Naina left. Angad saw everyone's expression toward Kripa, so he decided to join them.
"What you doing, love?" Angad kissed her on the head, sitting beside her.
"Your family is being mean to me." Angad looked at Kartik and frowned.
"Bro, tell your wifey to stop being mean to my fianc." He punched Kartik.
"We're not being mean. It's just Kripa shared the fact that you stayed in the same room…" Kartik looked questionably to Angad.
"So?" he shrugged. Kripa got up and stood behind Angad, resting her hand on her hip, using the other hand to play with his hair.
"Isn't that a little bit…" Kartik looks for the word.
"Immodest?!" Gemma exclaims.
"Immodest, my foot?! Gem, you saw us. Angad barely touches me." Kripa mopes.
"Seriously, she yelled at me. She said 'Are you going gay on me or something, it's been five hours and you haven't even touched me.' Direct quote." Angad laughed at Kripa, "She's HIALRIOUS when she's drunk."
"Haha, very funny. He is worrisome." She says sarcastically. "I seriously thought he was going gay, you think it's funny but you know how sad it is when a guy that cute swings the other way."
"Very sad, Kripa. We know you'd be super depressed if I went gay. But you know my love for women is way too great for that to happen."
"Love for women? Love for THIS woman." Gemma corrected him, giving him the you-hurt-her-you-die look.
"Yeah, yeah. So we're gonna have a triple wedding?" Angad said, scratching his head.
"Basically yeah, Me and Kartik aren't technically married anymore though…so…"
"What?! Yes we are, we're still married…" Kartik said in a loud panicked tone. His tone went soft, near helpless, "Aren't we?"
"Kartik baby, it's been three years since we've seen each other. We're SEPARATED. Not married, don't tell me you don't know that." Gemma said calmly, Kartik was in shock.
"These three years, you never thought we were separated? So you thought we were still married?" Gemma asked, Kartik nodded slowly.
"So this whole time, when you were going out with Tanya, you were STILL cheating on me? The whole initial problem?" Gemma asked, Kartik looked like a deer in the headlights.
"I didn't think we were married, but I didn't think we were separated either, I thought you would have forgotten about us by then…" Kartik never did have a way with words. Being a lawyer, you'd think he did but he, most of the time, ended up putting his foot in his mouth. Which is what he did just then.
"Wow Kartik, I didn't know we got married for you to forget about. Thanks for telling me. I won't bother you from now on." Her emerald eyes pooled with tears.
"Gemma, that's not what I meant. I never forgot about us. I just didn't come back…"
"Cuz of Tanya. It's okay, Kartik. If you love her, then it's fine. I want you to be happy. Kripa, I'm gonna leave tomorrow." She said, turning away.
"What? Lekin tu abhi to ayi hai. Why are you gonna leave so soon? At least stay for my wedding." Kripa pleaded.
"Fine. Lekin mein sirf tere liye rukh rahi hoon. Tere aur Angad ke liye. Hopefully, other people in this family know that relationships aren't jokes." The words stung at Kartik's heart. Angad felt pity for both Kartik and Gemma. Kartik was terrible at expressing himself, he knew. Ever since he had come back from London, he was different. He was always lost in his thoughts, and he laughed and joked a lot more. The type of person Kartik was; the more he laughed and joked, the more worried you should be. He was only funny when he was hurt. It was a masquerade he had always used.
"Gemma…" Kartik started, Gemma didn't respond. She got up and left for her and Kartik's room. Kartik followed her.
"Gem, I'm really sorry. You know that's not what I meant." Kartik put his hand on her waist, she didn't flinch.
"I know. It's just that the reason you left was because I got mad at you because…"
"I was cheating. I know I was wrong. I should've never been with any girl but you, but I was dumb. Hell Gem, I AM dumb. But I know better now. Can't it be US?"
"It was us, but you brought someone else between us. You know what they say, once a cheater always a cheater. How can I trust you? I don't even know who all you've been with these years."
"I thought you wanted to forget about us, I tried to forget about us too, Gem. I tried really damn hard, but it didn't work. I was with Tanya, because I thought it would help me forget about you. She's…everything you're not. I hated being with her. God knows why I stayed."
"Why did you possibly want to forget about us?" Gemma asked in tears.
"Cuz you said we were over. I was afraid we were…and I'd have to move on when I really didn't want to. I'm really sorry."
"Like hell, you're sorry! You know how I spent those three years? It felt like a hundred! I kept on thinking when you'd come back, if you'd come back…Hell, I wondered what was wrong with me? That you had to go to some other girl, I kept on thinking 'Gemma, why weren't you good enough?' Do you know how that feels to not be good enough?" She took his collar. He looked at her and couldn't help but give a childish smile.
"Stop it! You can't do that and get out of everything!" Gemma punched his chest will both hands. She was a sucker for his smile, the way his thick dark curls fell across his forehead, and the way his dark brown eyes made her melt. He smiled again. He knew her all too well.
"KARTIK! I said stop it. It's not gonna work," she lied, it had already worked. Who was she to be mad it him, she loved him too much to stay angry any longer? She had held resentment those three years; she would explode if she did any longer. He pulled her into a hug.
"I hate you." She cried into his shirt.
"I know. I'm sorry." He said in a whisper, stroking her hair.
"It's okay, duffer." She sniffed.
"What did you just…" He sighed, "I love you."
"Me too, idiot." Gemma sobbed on his shirt some more.
"Gem baby." She looked up.
"Yeah." She sniffed.
"This shirt is expensive you know." He laughed. She glared at him, before taking her clothes and heading toward the door.
"Where are you going?" He asked childishly.
"To my room." She smiled sarcastically.
"Which is my room. Which is here," He toppled onto her, pulling her down to the bed. Staring into the deep brown eyes, she managed to say, "No the guest room."
"Wifey, why are you going there?" He says, gazing deeply into the green pools which were avoiding him.
"Because, I'm not here for you babe. I'm here for Kripa. Just because I forgave you, doesn't mean I'm staying in your room. After the wedding, I'm going back home."
"This is home. Isn't it?" Kartik pulled her down again, this time using his body to keep her down. Gemma could feel her stomach doing flip-flops back and forth, just like when he first touched her, but she couldn't submit.
"No. If this was home, you would've taken me with you." She swallowed back a lump in her throat, she couldn't cry on him again. She had cried too much in his absence to cry now, in his presence…that too, again.
"I should have, Gemma. Stay back, for me. For us." He softened, there was a whisper of space between the two, enough for him to move his head and kiss her. Gemma wanted him to, but at the same time she didn't.
"Why should I? Did you stay for us? How do we know that there even is an "us" anymore? How do you know I haven't found someone else?" She managed to choke out. She wished she had found someone else, this wouldn't be this difficult.
"Because I know you and you love me too much." He smiled.
"That's my f****ing problem. I love you too d*** much." She said looking away. Kartik could always tell when she was truly angry because if she got heated enough hen she began to curse. On a normal day, she would cover her ears upon hearing expletives. It took a VERY bad day to get her to actually use them.
"You do. But it's not your fault." She looked at him again, melting under his watch.
"Yes it is. I'm an idiot for marrying you."
"No one else would but you. You know where your problem began?" She shook her head.
"Somewhere between 'My name is Gemma.' And 'Hi. I'm Kartik.'" He sighed. Gemma wondered what it was that made him so damn charming.
"AHEM." Kripa cleared her throat loudly from outside the door.
"God, you people don't listen." Kripa sighed coming in. She looked serious and annoyed. "We have a problem."
"What?" Gemma and Kartik said at once, Gemma looked angrily at Kartik gesturing him to get up. Immediately, they both got up.
"I can't find Angad." She said moping.
"Did you try his cell?" Kartik said, picking the phone beside his bed up. Kripa, annoyed, held up a red RAZR.
"Idiot." Kartik sighed.
"Runs in the Khanna boys I guess." Gemma says, glaring at Kartik.
"Yeah, whatever. I know where he is." Kartik got up, put his coat on and looked to Gemma and Kripa, "You coming or what?"
They nodded and got into the car. They were headed to Madh Island. Kripa knew where they were going. She shuddered at the thought. "Kartik, let me off right here." Kripa said with a panicked tone.
"Why? Are you okay?" Kartik said, looking to her concerned.
"You go get him. I can't go. I…I…can't." she said shaking her head. She was practically crying.
"What's wrong? Kartik, where are we going?" Gemma looked frantically to Kartik and Kripa.
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