Chapter 218

Chapter 300: Cataclysm

"Shut the doors, Chacha!" directed Lord Arnav adroitly, and the butler promptly closed the doors of the ballroom where the guests celebrated the night, not discerning the family was absent within.

The disturbed Raizadas stood in the hallway, staring around speechlessly.

Kushi came and stood beside Lady Anjali, sensing what was coming. Kushi knew that the disclosure of the General's secrets were long overdue but now that it was here, she was uncertain and immersed in dread. She felt the tension in the room rise and bit her lip, praying earnestly for the ones she cared about.

Lord Arnav flanked his sister on the other side, his indignant gaze fixed on the General.

The appearance of the family made Mistress Madhumati and Master Shashi withdraw from the General but Lord Manohar stood unmoved, his hand on the General's shoulder, determined to get to the root of the matter.

Lord Akash noticed Ram standing across the room in a stumped poise, as he held the child. He indicated to the butler to take the children away. Rahim Chacha escorted them away to the kitchen and, deciding it wiser to be with the children, shut the door to the family tempest.

Agitated, Lady Anjali stepped towards her husband and Lord Manohar released his grip on the General's shoulder.

Lady Anjali had a glazed look in her eyes as she searched her husband's face, "Why is Master Shashi angry with you?"

His silence provoked her next query, "What did he mean by those last words?"

The General, in response to his wife's inquiry, only stared at her, his teeth gritting.

Lord Arnav's fists trembled with anger. If only he could tear his sister away from that revolting creature and kick him out without having to revisit those horrid memories. But he knew there would be no kicking out until reasoning was obtained. Lord Arnav's apprehensive gaze was on his sister, convinced that she wouldn't endure the entirety of the heart-wrenching narration.

The air was arrested in a precarious silence, no one daring to move or breathe.

Kushi looked at her husband uneasily. Who would find the courage to tell the truth? Who should be the first to spill the reality and consequently let it pierce Lady Anjali's gentle heart?

Lady Anjali looked at Mistress Madhumati, who appeared unwilling to hurt the kind young mother. Then, Lady Anjali glanced towards Master Shashi who was frowning at the floor, torn in his own tumultuous thoughts.

Lady Anjali's defeated gaze slid to her husband again, "What is going on here?"

From over the General's shoulder, Lord Manohar gazed at her with an anxious look on his fatherly face.

Annoyed by their refusal to answer her, Lady Anjali turned about and yelled to no one in particular, "Why isn't anyone telling me anything?"

Lady Deviyani was at her side, "There really mustn't be anything wrong, bitiya. They must have been arguing about something mislaid in the party."

Lady Anjali looked at her grandmother, unconvinced.

Trying to bring the cheer of the night back, her Nani asked calmly, "What else can it be?" She glanced around at the faces in the room, hoping to get their support.

And then she hesitated. Something about the way Kushi and Lord Arnav looked at each other brought a frown to Nani's countenance.

"Chotey," Nani called to him and he looked at her instantly, "Tell me there is nothing wrong."

Lord Arnav's eyebrows dipped slightly but he provided her no comforting answer.

Lady Anjali saw this and looked from her husband to her brother, "Has this something to do with-"

She stopped herself but too late.

"Something to do with what?" Nani asked, her gaze intense on her granddaughter.

Lady Anjali swallowed, "Nothing." And then she made as though to return to the ballroom when Lord Arnav, unable to keep it in no longer, shouted out, "This has to end tonight!"

Startled by his raised tone, everyone stared at him.

The General scowled at his enemy and then, raising his vain chin, pronounced coldly, "Yes, Master Menace, this will end tonight."

Everyone turned to look at the General.

Both Lord Arnav and the General stared at each other for a few fiery seconds until the latter addressed everyone in an intimidating voice, though his eyes were trained on his enemy alone, "If you have the courage to hear the truth, equip your ears."

His gaze slid over Kushi's face before he turned to Master Shashi and then proclaimed to the crowd, "I knew Miss Kushi before she knew this family."

Gasps echoed in the room as they looked at Kushi, who stared at the General, shocked by his blatant words.

"What?" Payal was stunned, and she looked at her husband, "No, she doesn't."

Kushi's hands fisted at her sides. Oh Jiji...

"She does!" asserted the General, dismayed that he was refuting someone he admired who would no longer look at him with the kindness she always offered him.

Lord Arnav stepped forward, glaring at the General, "Don't twist your words, serpent. She didn't know you! It was you who-"

"I'm not twisting my words," said the General, "You know that yourself."

"She didn't know who you really were," defended Lord Arnav, "Until it was too late. She thought you were a courteous gentleman, like how you made her family believe, helping her from a few scrapes and writing letters to her, all the while hiding the truth about your marriage-"

Gasps rose again and this time Payal gaped in horror, her words barely a fearful whisper, "You're... you're that General?!"

Gruffly, Mistress Madhumati muttered venomous curses at the General. She had a good mind to thrash him or punch his face flat, but she couldn't bring herself offend the family with such a vicious spectacle.

Reticently, Kushi looked at Lady Anjali who was standing beside a stunned Lady Manorama.

No distinct expression could be deciphered from Lady Anjali's countenance that had turned terribly white. What thoughts were raging in her mind, Kushi anxiously wondered.

Lord Arnav expounded further, "I was myself blinded, assuming them mutual acquaintances and, the night I found out, I forced her to marry me..." His voice trembled slightly at the last words.

Everyone stared at him and Payal frowned.

"But there is not a day I don't regret hurting her for something she was innocent of," he confessed, and looked over his shoulder at her, his eyes glistening with remorse. Kushi gazed sadly at him, her heart breaking at the sight. Her husband, the once cold-hearted beast, had apologized to her in the presence of their family.

The General noticed this exchange between them and was infuriated. He drew the limelight back to him.

"Yes, I never mentioned my marriage to them," he acknowledged with an unyielding look at his enemy, "But I had my reasons."

"Reasons?!!" Nani was concerted, "What sane reasons would make any man conceal the truth about his being wedded and consort with another?!"

Her words came like a slap to both Lady Anjali and Kushi, the victims of the betrayer, but the General stood impassive to the remark, though he noticed Lady Anjali stare disbelievingly at the air with a torn look on her face.

Calmly, he announced, "My reasons are justified on account of what I require."

"And what is that?" Lord Manohar demanded from behind him.

The General spoke inflexibly, his eyes on Kushi, "My cure."

"What cure?" Lady Manorama looked baffled, and she shot a look at Lady Anjali, "What is he talking about?"

Kushi's eyes widened. Oh dear. Another secret was being encountered. Di...

Lady Anjali only closed her eyes, drained of the strength to speak, think or defend.

The General smirked shrewdly, "Ah, you don't know, do you? You've all been kept in the dark by a very secretive set of siblings whom you trusted with all your lives."

That abominable serpent thinks he knows how to play his cards! Lord Arnav glared at him. But unruffled, the General continued, his eyes especially on Nani, "I am not entirely what you were made to believe."

Lord Arnav grimaced. One bad brick pulled out and the whole tower has to come tumbling down! He looked uneasily at his sister who refused to look directly at anyone.

Payal looked around cluelessly as did Master Shashi and Mistress Madhumati.

"Yes," repeated the General imperturbably, glorying in their reactions, "I am exactly as your favourite son is."

Kushi winced. Lord Akash blinked. Lady Manorama gasped. Lord Manohar took a step backward.

Lady Deviyani stared in disbelief and then, looked at Lord Arnav, "This is not true."

Lord Arnav frowned at the General, "Yes. It is true."

"Sacrilegious!" cried out Lady Manorama.

Lady Deviyani scowled at her grandson, "Why?! Why would you hide this from me? Why would you let this happen?!!"

Wrath rose in Lord Arnav's veins and he shut his eyes, but his Nani was beside him, shaking him violently by his arms, "How could you have let his happen to Anjalibitiya?! She-"

And then, Nani frowned at Lady Anjali, "And to think you kept this from me too."

Lord Arnav gritted his teeth. The focus was supposed to be on the treacherous General's misdeeds but here were the tables turned, accusations directed at him and his sister.

Suddenly, wanting to defend her husband and their Di, Kushi stepped forward, "If you accuse them, you must find me at fault too. I knew about his unreal form and concealed the truth from you."

Mistress Madhumati stared at Kushi, wondering what her niece was talking about, gibberish like the rest of the family.

Lady Deviyani looked at Kushi, "Undoubtedly, graver faults direct to you. You hide many truths, not just of the curse but of his acquaintance with you."

Immediately, Lord Arnav roared, "Don't you DARE doubt my wife!"

Nani glared at him, "I don't distrust her alone. All these years, everyone I thought were honest to me are discovered now to have kept colossal verities veiled from my knowledge."

Kushi tried to explain, "We only interred them because we didn't want to hurt-"

"Reveal and the reason for the hurt can be instantly confronted," elucidated Nani abstractedly, "Hide and you create greater hurts."

The grieving truth turned Kushi speechless but Lord Arnav was not to be back strapped. He thundered at his grandmother, "Why do you corner the ones who are trying to protect you! That foul General has tricked our family and the Gupta family, and HELL KNOWS, what other families! He-"

"THAT IS ENOUGH!"

Everyone was silenced by the loud edict, uttered by none other than Lady Anjali who had borne through the flagrant minutes in fraught agony.

Now, she emerged, cold and fierce, looking at the General straight in the eye.

A worried Nani and a concerned Arnav watched as Lady Anjali walked towards her felonious husband and then, as the General glowered defiantly at her, she raised her hand and struck him resoundingly on his cheek.

Everyone was jolted by this unexpected emotional outburst of the gentlest woman in Arhasia.

The General inhaled angrily, his eyes shut behind the hair that had fallen over his forehead in the sudden impact of his wife's violence on his cheek.

Then, he looked at her, rage burning in his eyes. She glared back at him, unflinchingly, and then proclaimed in a terse whisper, "I want you to leave."

Lady Deviyani was suddenly worried. She had not ever seen her granddaughter in this fierce avatar. She appeared almost struck by insanity.

Lady Deviyani tried to reason with her, "Anjalibitiya, let us first talk-"

"There shall be no more talking," asserted Lady Anjali, unblinkingly eyeing her husband, "Ever since you returned from the War, I knew you were not the man I married. What sort of man will despise his own daughter and name her evil! NONE! It is not the child, but her FATHER that is perilous!"

The General shook his head, "What will you ever understand about why I see things the way I see and do things-"

"The way you do?" Lady Anjali interrupted, "Yes, I will never understand the absurd lunacy that prompts you to mask your marriage and live like Anarkali does not exist!"

The General clenched his jaws, "I knew this day would come and, do you know what, I had already decided to leave this place forever. Without even warning you! What would you care anyway? Our marriage was nothing but a sham!"

Frozen by his heartless words, Lady Anjali stared at him, cold tears glistening in her eyes, "A sham? A sham!" She felt hurt to the core, "How dispassionately you pronounce this of our marriage! Did...did nothing that we had matter to you?"

"Not when I know what's in your heart for me," claimed the General, his gaze emotionless, "I know why you married me. It wasn't out of love."

Lady Anjali was taken aback. His voice betrayed no remorse, "You married me out of sympathy."

Heartbroken and angry at the same time, Lady Anjali asserted heatedly, "Take that back! Take that back, I SAY!!!" Tears careered down her pale cheeks, "Did you just utter this blindly in the heat of the moment? Or did you really say that after thinking it clearly in your head?" The General opened his mouth as though to respond but she held out a hand and avowed, "Whatever you do or say, I don't care. But don't you for once think that I never loved you!"

The General nostrils flared in annoyance, "You are too blind to see it now, but you will, once I leave your life for good. You will not mourn. For you never loved me." Lady Anjali shook her head, unable to hear anymore as fresh tears arose, but the General provoked futher, "Don't you remember the circumstances that led you to marry me? Is that memory not proof enough? You felt sorry for me like you felt sorry for your brother. You thought you could play the martyr damsel by nursing another inflicted man."

Lady Anjali stared at him, speechless by his torrent of ruthless words. Her tears were frozen in shock too, for they refused to flow, remaining brimmed in her eyes.

The General stepped closer to her, his livid eyes burning, "I don't want your sympathy any longer! What wife fails to understand her husband when he asserts that their child is not really a child and that there are reasons why I acted the way I did with the Gupta family?!"

Lord Arnav was infuriated, "Only an irrational woman would sway to your ridiculous words, you wicked rat! My sister carried the child in her womb and she KNOWS Anarkali is nothing you say she is! And there is NO way you can justify what you did to the Gupta family or the way you treat my wife, you lecherous worm!"

Suddenly, he stepped forward as though to attack the General but Lady Anjali held out her arm and obstructed his approach, "Chotey, stay where you are."

Lady Anjali closed her eyes and when she opened them, the cold light had returned in her stony gaze on her husband, "I want you to leave."

The General frowned at her, "I don't have to be told that. I hadn't dreamed of staying in this intolerable mansion a moment longer!"

Lady Anjali frowned, "Then leave! I don't want to see you ever again in my life!" Her voice had cracked when she said the last line, for it hurt her to push away the man she had always loved.

The General had heard the tremble in her tone too, but he refused to give any signs of having heard it.

Lifting his rebellious head, he looked around at the rest of the bewildered family until his gaze rested on Kushi, who looked away indifferently.

His gaze returned to his wife's face, and in a cold whisper, he uttered his final words, "Goodbye..." He paused, strangely grieved but too angry to reflect it on his face, and then added, "Anjali."

Lady Anjali's frown vanished and her lips parted in shock.

He had called her Anjali.

He had never before called her "Anjali."

By the utterance of that one word, it really felt like the end.

A cold, tangible snap of a marital life that she had believed to be beautiful. In a flash of a minute, shattered, made ugly and discarded.

At that very instance, like a sour twist to a bitter endurance, the ballroom doors were thrust open and the hoard of curious guests emerged from the ballroom.