Chapter 29
Font:
Text Size:
Theme:
[MEMBERSONLY]
[NOCOPY]
(Thank you, Naughtymallu, for this wonderful banner!)
(Thank you, RabbaVe for the banner!)
Part 6: Day 8
Arnav got up in the morning, all alert. His arms were empty, Khushi was not in bed. He looked at the time on his phone. 8.30am. She must be in the bathroom. He looked at the closed door of the bathroom.
He phoned Akash and spoke to Mami, Buaji, Akash, & NK at the hospital. There was nothing to report. Di was still asleep.
He strode towards the bathroom and pushed open the door. There was no one inside.
He ran down the steps to the living room. Khushi was not anywhere around. He rushed to the kitchen. HP was making tea.
"Where is Khushi?" Arnav asked.
HP jumped and dropped the strainer. "Who..woh... Khushi Bhabi... I didn't see her today morning..." HP stammered.
Arnav turned to leave, ready to look for Khushi in every nook and corner of the house, when he came face to face with his Nani.
She smiled. "Khussi Bitiyaa ko dhoondat ho, Chotey?"
Arnav flushed. "Yes, Nani. Did you see her?"
"She went to the temple. The one near the banyan tree." Nani pulled the pallu more firmly over her head. "Anjali Bitiyaa is still asleep, Chotey. I talked to Akass Bitwaa."
"I called him." Arnav nodded.
"Anjali Bitiyaa will be fine. It will take time, but she will be fine." Nani comforted him. She cupped his face gently and asked him fondly, "How can she not be fine when she has brothers like you, Akass Bitwaa, and NK Bitwaa and sisters like Khussi Bitiyaa and Payal Bitiyaa?"
Arnav smiled slightly and nodded.
"Tum sahi kiye rahe, acha kiye rahe..." Nani nodded. "You got the Shaitan out of our house and Anjali Bitiyaa's life. How he fooled all of us!"
Arnav nodded. "Nani, I will... I will just go and get Khushi from the temple." He felt an unusual urgency to see her, make sure that she was alright. Shyam was in prison, but still...
Nani smiled gently at him.
"Then we can go to the hospital. I will come and pick you..." Arnav offered.
"You don't worry about your Nani. You worry about your wife. See to it that she has her breakfast. And have yours too. I will take Payal Bitiyaa and go with Mohan to the hospital." Nani said.
Arnav nodded, grateful to his Nani for sparing him.
Arnav ran up the steps to Devi Maiyya's temple, his eager eyes looking for Khushi. The pigeons, the chudiwale, the devotees, the purohits... he saw none of them. His eyes searched for his Khushi. She was not in the crowd praying to Devi Maiyya. He looked around anxiously. Had she already left?
He walked around to make sure that he had not missed her. And then he saw her.
In a corner of a dark hall, she was sitting with a purohit. The priest was chanting, sitting on one side of the holy fire. Khushi was in white, looking like a burning candle in the dim light. Her hair was in one plait, her face looked paler than usual. Her hands were folded in prayer, her eyes were shut in piety.
Why was she conducting a pooja? How come she was alone? Why hadn't she taken Nani or Payal with her? Arnav looked at her silently, the very air around her still, filled with her pain.
And then he saw the small photo with a garland around it.
His breath hitched. Barsi. Her parents' barsi. His eyes moved from the photo of a smiling couple to her wan one. His heart ached for her, for the 8-year old child whose life had been shattered by her parents' accident, leaving her still scared of the dark, needing the security of stars hanging from the bed frame, peeking many times at night to see if he was still in the same room with her, sleeping on the recliner... The photo in the frame faded as moisture pooled in his eyes. The picture merged with the one of his parents that he used to bring down to the hall every barsi, to be placed on a stool and garlanded.
He slowly walked towards her on silent feet.
"Beta, are you sure that your husband won't join you?" the kindly priest asked, his eyes having taken note of her mangalsutra and the sindoor in her maang. It was very rare for a person to come to him, all alone, and ask him to do the barsi for his or her parents. Normally the entire family would turn up. And here was a lone figure in white, fighting tears...
Khushi felt her heart weep. Her husband! Arnavji's face swam in front of her eyes. How could she tell the purohit that her husband was not an ordinary husband but a contract one, that the mangalsutra and sindoor had a life span of only 8 more days, that she had always been alone and would always be alone till the end of her life... Images of her forced marriage flashed through her mind... the dark night... Arnavji dragging her up the steps of the temple... the sindoor and the mangalsutra... the hatred and contempt on Arnavji's face as he had looked at her...
The muscles of her throat protested as she tried to swallow.
A gust of wind blew back the strands of hair hanging down her cheek. Her heart picked up its beat... dhak dhak... dhak dhak... What was the use of longing for a man who was better off without you? Khushi shut her eyes for a moment, lifted her lashes, and opened her mouth to tell the priest that nobody was coming.
But her parted lips didn't form any words.
Arnavji, dressed in his white T-shirt and black trousers slid in to place beside her. Khushi stared at him, speechless, her heart pounding, her eyes wide...
"I am her husband. Shall we...?" Arnav asked the priest.
The purohit beamed and continued the pooja.
Khushi sat looking at Arnavji, unable to believe that he was here. Maybe she had conjured him up, maybe her longing for him was making her imagine that he was sitting by her side, looking at the flame.
Arnav turned his head to look at her shell-shocked face. He swallowed. She expected so little from him. He caught hold of her hand and pressed it gently.
Khushi looked down at her fingers trapped in his, held in his warm clasp, and then turned to look at the purohit.
Once the rituals were done, Khushi took her parents' photo and the prasad that the purohit had given them and walked out of the hall. She looked at Arnavji, walking silently by her.
"How...?" she finally asked.
"Nani said you had gone to the temple. I came to get you..." Arnav confessed.
Khushi wanted to ask him why he had taken the effort, but was scared of the answer. It would make their cheap, tarnished contract marriage appear more lustrous and precious than a diamond to her... It would weaken her determination to leave at the end of 8 days... It was better she did not hear it...
Arnav waited to see if she would ask him why he had come to get her. Her silence spoke volumes.
Arnav drove to Laxmi Nagar, and parked his car in front of Buaji's house.
Khushi looked at him, an eyebrow raised in question.
"I thought you might want to meet your Amma and Babuji today." Arnav said softly. Khushi swallowed and looked away. "And you must be hungry after fasting..."
Khushi looked at him. "Did you have breakfast?"
"Err... no.. I wanted to get you..." Arnav confessed.
Khushi fumed. "Aap ko shakar ki bimari he! How could you be so careless as to miss breakfast? Agar chakar aa jaati to? If your sugar levels had fallen and you had felt dizzy...?"
Arnav smiled. "I am afraid I need you to take care of me, Khushi..."
Khushi looked away immediately. She fumbled with her seat belt and the door and beat a hasty retreat towards the house. Arnav followed.
Amma hugged Khushi, tears in her eyes, both of them remembering the departed couple on their death anniversary. She looked at Arnav, and wiping her wet eyes, said, "Arnav Bitwaa! What a coincidence! Khussi's Babuji was asking me to call you."
Arnav frowned.
"He said that he wants to meet you, speak to you..." Amma explained.
"I will see him now." Arnav said.
He accompanied Khushi to her Babuji's room. After Khushi had taken her father's blessings and hugged him thoroughly, she went to the kitchen to help her Amma prepare food for Arnavji and herself.
Arnav looked at the frail man in the wheelchair.
"You wanted to see me? Is there anything I can do for you?" Arnav asked.
Khushi's father said, "You... caught... Shyam... ?" His words were slurred, but Arnav could understand them.
"Ji."
"He... tried... to... cheat us...PG in Jiji's house... sagai... Khussi..." Babuji struggled.
"I know. Buaji & Amma told me. Khushi explained everything." Arnav said.
"I... found...out..." Babuji gasped.
Arnav stared at him.
"I saw him... and... Anjali... Bitiyaa... in the... temple." Babuji whispered.
Arnav's eyes widened. His sharp brain grasped what Babuji was trying to tell him. "You found out that he was already married." Arnav stated.
Babuji nodded.
"You must have asked him..." Arnav surmised.
"I... did... He... hit... me... made... me..." Babuji looked down at his form in the wheelchair.
Arnav gasped.
"He... threw... away... the medicine..." Babuji said, looking at Arnav's face with helpless eyes.
Arnav caught hold of Babuji's arm, seeing his Jijaji fully in the pure, strong light of the whole truth for the first time.
"That is why you had a fit when Di came here with Payal's proposal." Arnav thought aloud. "You realised that she was my sister..."
Babuji nodded. "What... could... I do...? My Khussi..."
Arnav nodded. "Babuji..." he said. "You don't have to worry about Shyam anymore. He is safe behind bars. I promise that Khushi & Payal will never have to deal with him again. He will never trouble you again."
Babuji drew a breath of relief.
"Khushi, Payal, Amma, Buaji... do they know?" Arnav asked.
"No..." Babuji said. "When... I... woke up... I couldn't... speak..."
Arnav nodded, understanding and sympathising with the degree of helplessness Babuji must have experienced, watching the scoundrel get engaged to Khushi while being married to Di...
"Would you like to file a case against him?" Arnav asked.
Babuji nodded eagerly, his eyes lighting up.
"I will send a police officer and my lawyer to you. Today. They will do the needful." Arnav said.
Babuji said, "Thank... you..."
Arnav bent his head in shame. "I and my family have caused you and your family a lot of trouble. I will never be able to..."
Babuji placed his hand on Arnav's arm to console him. "You... are... our Damadji... and Payaliyaa's... Jetji... Whatever... happens... we... suffer... together..."
Arnav and Khushi returned to RM to freshen up before leaving for the hospital.
Arnav watched Khushi place her parents' photo in her cloth bag.
"Khushi...?"
She looked at him.
"Why do you want to hide the photo in the bag? Why not hang it on the wall of our room? You can see them all the time." Arnav suggested.
Khushi swallowed. She had no wall of her own to hang her parents' photo. In eight days, her parents would leave with her to the cupboard in Buaji's house. And then... only Devi Maiyya knew... Thank God there was a sky for them to shine at night, Khushi thought.
"Give it to me. I will hang it." Arnav offered, holding out his hand.
Khushi shook her head in the negative.
"Khushi..." Arnav insisted.
"I will have to take it down..." Khushi whispered "...in eight days..."
Arnav swallowed the big ball of pain in his throat.
He strode to her and gathered her in his arms. "Do you really think I will let you go, Khushi?" he asked softly.
"You won't have a choice." Khushi said. "After 8 days, I will not be your wife. And you won't be my husband. Our contract will be over." She moved out of his arms, his numb arms letting her leave.
"Will you let our marriage die, Khushi?" Arnav whispered, pain in his eyes.
Khushi smiled sadly. "I won't have to let it die. It will die on its own at the end of six months. You made sure of it when you made me sign the contract."
Arnav stared at her, pain racking his body and soul, the pain reflected in her eyes.
"Is our marriage legal?" Khushi asked.
"Yes." Arnav replied.
"Acha he." Khushi murmured. "Woh kya he, we didn't marry according to our vidhi... No purohit... no family... no witnesses... no saat phere..." Khushi swallowed hard, all the dreams she had cherished right from childhood about getting married lying shattered on the ground, trampled upon... "At least it is legal. People won't laugh at me calling our marriage a live-in, like they mocked Lavanyaji..."
Arnav swallowed. Hard.
"Atleast the sindoor and managlsutra are really mine, till the 15th." Khushi consoled herself in a low voice.
Arnav's heart wept bitter tears.
Meeya & Supriya, a big thank you!
Meeya, for your brilliant ideas and fertile imagination, and Supriya for your timely help even when busy. And most importantly, thanks to both of you for being my friends!!!!
Smita
Smita
Sign here to petition for change of IPKKND 2's namewaa!
https://www.change.org/en-IN/petitions/star-plus-4-lions-demand-sp-to-change-the-name-of-ipk2#share
https://www.change.org/en-IN/petitions/star-plus-4-lions-demand-sp-to-change-the-name-of-ipk2#share
Your reaction
Nice
Awesome
Loved
LOL
OMG
Cry
Post Your Comment