Chapter 16
Anjali was walking down the stairs, carrying a puja thali in her hands. She had been fasting the whole day and had gone to offer holy water up to the sun god, as is the tradition. When she was almost on the last step, she felt her head whirl, and stumbled, trying to catch a hold of the railing.
"Di!" Arnav screamed, running over to catch her. "Are you okay?"
He caught a hold of her hand and walked her over to the sofa placed a few feet away. Nani, who had been sitting there, took a hold of the thali and placed it on the coffee table.
"Are you okay, Anjali bitya?" she asked, concerned.
Anjali placed a hand on Arnav's arm and smiled, letting him know she was fine. But he wouldn't be deterred, "What was that? Were you fasting again? Dammit, di! How many times do I have to tell you that, not eating because you believe some god will grant you a wish is stupid!?"
"Chotey," reprimanded Anjali gently.
Arnav looked at her angrily, and said, "Di, I don't care if you believe that there is someone out there who is going to save us all, I don't care about the money you spend on all these pujas and havans, and I don't care if you take trips to visit temples all over the world. But this is something I can't and won't let you do. Your health comes first, you come first, do you understand?"
Anjali looked at Arnav, guilt written plainly on her face. She knew that he was only trying to take care of her, and she didn't even want to contemplate what he would do if he really knew how much she fasted.
"Sorry, Chotey," she said, leaning back in the sofa to rest. "It's just that...everything has been so chaotic lately that I thought doing this would give me some peace."
Arnav winced mentally at the reminder of stream of unpleasant things happening around them, to them. His anger mounted as he realized that not only was his di disturbed due to the recent events, but also that he hadn't thought about how they would be affecting her.
"Di," he said, taking a breath to curb his anger at the one person who was at the root of everything. "Say the word, di, and I will make her leave. I will find a way."
"Chotey!" Anjali said, a pucker forming on her forehead in worry. "That's not what I meant."
"Don't lie, Di," Arnav said, getting up and pacing. "She must remind you of everything that happened, everyone we...you lost. I can't believe I didn't think of this. "
He could have punched himself for not thinking about how Anjali must be feeling, seeing Khushi back. She must have dredged up all the memories that were best left forgotten. He was so consumed with his own anger, his own pain, that he hadn't given a thought to how it must be affecting his sister, and for that he felt like the worst person in the world.
Anjali got up from her place on the sofa, and walked over to him. Seeing that he was beating himself up unnecessarily, she said, "Chotey, you misunderstand me. I wasn't talking about Khushi."
She didn't miss the way he stiffened at Khushi's name. Anjali sighed, "Chotey, are you sure...?"
"Don't," he said, turning towards her, his voice and eyes turning to ice.
"Chotey, it was all so..." Anjali said, pleading with him to reconsider.
Anjali had been devastated when the news of her husband's deceit was brought to light. She couldn't believe that the person she had loved, the one who had made her feel beautiful and wanted, the one who she thought she would spent the rest of her life with, had betrayed her. But unlike the last time she had lost someone close to her, her mother, she had come out of it stronger. She realized that her relationship with Shyam, while initially filled with happiness and outwardly perfect, had been the perfect example of a dysfunctional marriage.
Was she heartbroken to learn of the truth? Of course. But she was happy that she had come to know it, rather than living a lie for god knows how much longer.
The one thing that had always bothered her about the situation was Khushi's involvement in it. Arnav, Nani, Mami and even Khushi's own family had told her that she had chose Shyam over them, that she had confessed her love for him in front of them all. Maybe it was because Khushi was gone by the time Anjali had to come to know of the truth, or maybe it was due to the pure love and affection she had seen in Khushi's eyes for her brother, Anjali had never been able to quite believe that Khushi had betrayed them too.
They had been wrong about Shyam, hadn't they? Who was to say they weren't wrong about Khushi too? Just in an entirely different way.
Arnav shook his head at his sister. Here he was, trying to figure out a way to send Khushi away so that Anjali could be peaceful once again, and there she went being the devil's advocate for the one woman who should have been her worst enemy.
He turned his back to his sister, before she could launch into another argument as to why he should dig further into the past, and raced up the stairs.
Banging his door shut, he tugged at his tie and unbuttoned his waistcoat hastily, sending both flying onto the bed. Untucking his shirt, he opened the cupboard, and pulled out a nightshirt forcefully.
He felt something fall out, lightly hitting his foot before rolling onto the floor. Bending, he picked up the jewelry box. A flicker of pain flashed across his face when he opened the box and stared at it's contents, before schooling his face into a dispassionate emotion.
The light hit the diamond set in the center of the ring, mocking him, reminding him of his stupidity.
He slammed the box shut, and shoved it to the deep corner of his closet, much like he had shoved the memories of that time to the darkest corners of his mind.
-----
AN : Thank you for all the lovely comments. The next chapter will be up next Friday. Have a great weekend :)
Please buddy me for update notifications. Or you can follow me on twitter @ridz_mystique. Or drop me a PM with your email id and I will add you to my email notification list.
On-Going Stories : In This Moment | Snapshot
Index : Blooming world
Kabhi Neem Neem Kabhi Shahad Shahad
14