Combinations
Akash gave a sound drubbing to Dadi after he returned from work, Dadi realized it was Viveka who had snitched and told Viveka off in turn
Dadi demanded to be dropped off at Savi Bua’s “immediately” promising to never return
Akash just shrugged it off and went to his room
Dadi did the drama of bullying Dadu to call a cab. Dadu ate dinner expressed sympathy at Naina’s action and just went to bed
Savi Bua called to “ask what happened”
Akash told her off as well and requested her to focus on harshu’s wedding planning
She called Dadi and whined about how “Bhai is so mean”
The second and third gen Mathurs did not sleep much Monday night, Waiting to hear from Naina
Hoping for phone call
Viveka called Inder, he did not answer
She texted him instead
“I am sorry Inder but this was not the right approach, my parents are worried sick, Naina told no one at home about her plans, if you were encouraging her to do this, you owe my parents an apology. I am sorry about being so direct but my parents don’t deserve this” Viveka howled in her bathroom as she texted those lines
“I hope you will read my text and have her call us and please call my parents apologize! Thank you”
When there was no news next morning until everyone left for work, Viveka asked Dadi if she wanted a ride to Bua’s
Dadi said she didn’t want to go
Why would she
All the drama was brewing here. There was nothing except the occasional visit from samdhi Asthana over there.
“Viveka?” Raanav asked gruffly as she drove to work
“Haan” she said quietly without any perfunctory greeting
“I got a hold of Inder” he said quietly
She wept openly
“Viveka?”
“Hmm… umm… hmm” she sniffled “Thanks Is Naina with him or is this all a hoax?” she whispered
“Are you driving?”
“Jee”
“Pull over we can talk”
“IS SHE OKKKKKKK?” Viveka howled
“She is Viveka…. She IS… goddamn it” he was pissed
“Why should I pull over?”
“So you can TALK u fool”
She pulled over and wept and wiped off her tears
“they left for Dubai this morning”
“she has her passport?” Viveka was stunned
He didn’t answer
“Paasport tha?”
“I thought that was a rhetorical Q” he mumbled
“Tumhe pata tha?”
“I didn’t know she had her passport nope” he said confidently
“Kya karti hai yeh”
He didn’t answer
“Do your parents know?” she asked cringing
“Umm.. they do”
“Oh?” “Um” she whimpered softly
She didn’t even want to imagine what Smrita must be saying
So shameful
“Oh why Naina”
She wanted to run after her and bring her home, and slap her across the face she felt violent for the first time in her life
“Umm” she cleared her throat trying to control her tears
“Vive”
“Raanav do u talk to Inder everyday?” she asked swallowing the boulder in her throat
“Not everyday” he said
“When did you discover they were heading to Dubai?”
“Are you interrogating me?” he was astounded
“Hes your cousin right?” she was furious
“You think I encouraged them to elope?”
“Oh no, you just made sure it never happened, Naina is a fool to believe what she believes”
“what do you mean Viveka?”
“You had a low opinion of her hooking up with Inder Raanav, I can jog your memory if you want, remember Jaipur?” she shut her eyes and let hot tears flow
“You can blame me all you want for this fiasco but I had nothing to do with it” he was not happy
“Its nobody’s fault” she said calmly wiping hot tears, and dabbing her face with tissues and wearing her glasses again trying to focus
Took many deep breaths
“I am trying to help you” he said quietly
“I appreciate that, if I haven’t thanked you yet, here it comes… “Thanks” she said as she choked on her words
“You need to separate yourself from Naina”
“Chhod doon chinta Naina ki? Yeh keh rahe ho?” she asked softly
“You can spin it anyway you want but you are not Naina” he said flatly
“Are you uncomfortable with my worry raanav?” she asked quietly leaning on her seat calming down significantly
“No” he dodged it
“I am not going to put words in your mouth, but I sense this whole Naina issue is not not your favorite”
“For the same reason its not, for YOU” he said cleverly
“Naina meri behen hai, Inder tumhara cousin hai”
“So I should worry less?” he cackled
“Naina left home umm.. due to some instigation or I should say encouragement, right?” she quickly corrected herself
“You are contradicting yourself Viveka, you initially accused me of not wanting them to be together, now I detect an accusation, “
“I didn’t accuse you of encouraging her” she laughed unfunny “Just Inder of doing it”
“Look I don’t know what Inder’s plans were, I spoke to him I promised you I would let you know, hence the call”
“I appreciate it, thank you, I better head to work” she said quietly
“If You want to willfully drive a wedge between us using Inder you can do it Viveka”
“Main NAHI kar rahi hoon Raanav tumhe aisa lag raha hai” she pleaded
“That is not the truth, sorry”
“I hear an undertone of disgust from you when we talk about Naina, kaho main galat hoon” she challenged
“I don’t require you to like Inder, just like you should not require me to like Naina (in order to progress this courtship)” he spoke succinctly like a lawyer cutting a deal
“Wahin galat ho aap” she said sadly suddenly seeing
“Uh.. umm” he tried to come up with an answer
“I don’t expect my husband to hate her. I don’t expect him to support or encourage her but I don’t expect revulsion Raanav” “naina bewaqoof hai, par evil nahi hai” she said firmly
He just breathed
“Well this whole thing might be for some good I guess” she said calmly
“Vive..”
“Tumhe Naina ko jhelne ki zaroorat nahi, na hi meri taraf se detective ka kaam karne ki. I will wait for her to call home”
“Is that IT?” he was pissed
“I am driving to work” she said softly merging with traffic
“Its either your way or the freeway?”
“Naina is my sister Raanav, we are like twins, at some point we went around fooling people that we were twins” she chuckled sadly “You are expecting me to be selfish and shun her”
(“Oh how could you suddenly turn so secretive “9” that’s what Veev used to call her when little, Viveka wailed silently)
“she still seems to be good at fooling people as an adult” Raanav thought but didn’t say it
Instead he said “Naina is utterly selfish I mean”
It stung her like anything
Viveka wanted to agree badly but her love for her sis took precedence, how close they were and how much like twins they were,
“That’s a horrible thing to say Raanav” she said in a biting voice “I am sorry” she hung up speechless
Viveka hung up the call and drove to work
He used the opportunity to offload his true feelings about Naina, if he cant do it now when would he right?
Oh wow!! Wow!! everything was so messed up now!
The writing was on the wall all along, Rhea and Neha, Harshu and Piyush, her own parents no one was willing to say anything to her when she accepted Raanav’s proposal. Viveka wanted them to say to her what she struggled to say to herself. She was weak and drunk in love.
Smrita would make mince meat out of Naina not to mention pulverize Viveka for marrying Raanav
How could her nephew and son both be destroyed by the same middle class floozies all from the same family?
Outrageous!!
She didn’t know how she was going to tell Ma and Papa where Naina was
What it meant , how will it play out? What happens if she returns home crying again in a month?
Naina = Unmarried and twice heartbroken, or pregnant and twice heartbroken
Viveka = Unmarried, not pregnant and heartbroken
What would they say to her? Poor Papa…. And Ma? Dadi would dance on her grave
Book Talk
Shiv Shakti
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