Chapter 53

Chapter 51-Jaspal

They simply stared at each other in silence,seated in a private room.He had rushed to the conclave to see her speak immediately after the annual day celebrations only to find a very zoned out Gurleen awaiting him .As he opened his mouth to ask her about her injury,the door burst open and a man rushed in, concerned etched in every line of his face.Without warning,he took her hand in his,

"Gurleen,are you alright?You have no idea how worried I was about you."

Jaspal felt a stab of irritation at his behaviour.To his immense relief,she gave him an incredulous look and pulled her hand away,but the jealousy remained.After a tense face off,the other man sighed and left.

"I'll make sure you change your mind."

Gurleen simply rolled her eyes at his words.

"Do I want to know who he is?"Jaspal asked as the door shut behind him.

"Jasmeet Ahluwalia"

He raised an eyebrow.

She sighed and amended,

"College batchmate, was best friends with him,had a sort of crush which fizzled out.But he found out and humiliated me in front of his parents and mummy.Now he thinks he has made a mistake."

He blinked.

"Is there a reason you didn't tell me any of this before?"

"Same reason you didn't tell me anything about Harminder Bajwa."

"I....."

He was at a loss for words.

"I'll tell you everything the day you open up.See you at the mehendi tomorrow.And I should probably warn you,there will be articles about me cheating on you with Sunny and your brother tomorrow morning.You might want to be prepared."

She got up and left.He simply stared after her.Why did everything have to be so complicated?

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She was right as usual,he realised as he looked at the tabloids the next day.Daarji was positively furious and had called up the newspaper and threatened to sue them for maligning his eldest son and to be daughter in law.Bebe ,on the other hand was happy that daarji trusted his eldest son.Strangely no one was bothered about how he felt except for a pregnant Jasleen,who raised an eyebrow at his nonchalance.

She cornered him later in his study.

"Aren't you upset?"she asked him incredulously.

He simply shrugged his shoulders and resumed reading his proposal.She let out a frustrated huff.

"Look here,you can't be so passive about everything. Either clear this matter immediately with her or just break it off.This is your life,not Daarji's.If you don't like her just cut her off once and for all."

And she stormed off leaving him lost in thought. The confusion refused to abate despite his best attempts to distract himself and before he knew it ,it was time for the mehendi ceremony to begin.The whole evening was a blur to him as they refused to even look at each other,both weighed down by their own burdens.He only remembered daarji hissing at him to smile at her and pretend everything was normal in an effort to do some damage control.They had tried but he could tell she was in some place far away,a place he couldn't reach.

Deciding to swallow his pride he had decided to talk to her after the ceremony but her family had whisked her away , determined to protect her from the unforgiving public.

He locked himself in his room,lying on the bed and staring at the ceiling.He knew he was falling apart and if he were to continue, he'd pull her down as well.This marriage had to be called off,he realised with mind numbing clarity.Despite his profession of love,she clearly didn't return his feelings and to make matters worse,they were unable to open up to each other.

A deep pit of despair opened up within him,threatening to consume him.If he let go of her, he'd be alone again,with nothing to look forward to,just a lifetime trying to keep his family from self destructing.Finding his thoughts too painful to endure,he made the worst decision of his life.