Previously...
"Aakhir kis baat ke lie maphi mang rahi ho Jhanak?" Anirudh's question jolts him back to reality...
Jhanak's hand suddenly halts on Anirudh's forehead, and she locks eyes with him, silently urging him to find the answer. But this time, Anirudh is in no mood for riddles.
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Jhanak swallows nervously, her heart racing as she gets up quickly and turns her back on Anirudh. Fidgeting with the napkin in her hands, she answers in a trembling voice, barely audible amidst the tension,
"Kashmir me jo hua usake liye..."
Anirudh's voice cuts through the air, tinged with sarcasm, "Aur kya hua tha Kashmir me?... oh, tum Tejas ke sath shaadi karane ke liye ready ho gayi thi iss liye?.. Koi baat nahi... bhool jao!"
Jhanak senses the bitterness in his tone, her heart sinking. But she gathers her courage and responds with a hint of defiance, "Nahi usake liye nahi..."
Anirudh's gaze softens, his eyes searching hers, as he realizes there's more to her words than meets the eye.
"To phir kis liye?" Anirudh immediately asks, drawing closer to her without giving her a moment to evade his questions further.
Jhanak bites her lower lip and momentarily closes her eyes, contemplating what to say next. As she senses Anirudh approaching closer, she quickly composes herself and slightly raises her gaze to find him standing much closer. Their eyes meet, and she exhales a nervous breath. With a pretense of confidence in her eyes, she decides to become the questioner instead.
"Kya aap iss shadi se khush hai?"
Anirudh figures out Jhanak's plan to play word games with him. The audacity of this woman to question him instead of opening her heart to him infuriates him. Anirudh takes a step closer, his feet slightly touching hers, his face only inches away, looking directly into her eyes, he asks with a low but firm voice...
"Saval pehale main ne pucha tha, Jawab bhi pehale tum dogi..."
Jhanak, taken aback by the closeness she never experienced before, stands motionless for a moment, and the next moment takes a step back, barely keeping her balance. Feeling Anirudh's breath on her face for the first time has paralyzed her thoughts.
"Aap Kashmir kyu aaye the muze bachane ke liye?" the pretense of confidence is missing in her voice this time
Anirudh is baffled at yet another question, take a step closer, his expression intense, anger brewing in her eyes... Jhanak feels her hands weaken as they drop the napkin, now clutching onto her yellow saree, she steps back hastily...
The question-answer session continues as Anirudh advances towards Jhanak, prompting her to step backward with each advance.
"Aur Tum jo meri jaan bachane ke ke liye Tejas se shadi karane chali thi vo?"
"Wo wo majboori thi...."
"Kaisi majboori? Meri Jaan tumhari zindagi se zyada zaroori thi?"
"Ye sawal main aapase bhi kar sakati hoon..."
Jhanak hits the study table at the other end of the room, her hands gripping the edge of the table tighly. There is nowhere to escape now...
Anirudh leans closer placing both his hands on the table on either side of her... Jhanak instinctively leans back supporting her body on the table almost sitting on it.
"Jhanak......Kyu?" Anirudh's voice is calm and soft, filled with hope as he asks. There's a glimmer of expectation in his eyes, yearning for a response from the woman he cherishes more than his own life.
"Aapane mere liye itana kuch kiya hai... Aapake ke bohot ehasan hai muz par, Sirji"
Even at this moment, her resolve is not broken. "How can someone be this cruel?" Anirudh thinks to himself. With his eyes filled with tears, he nods his head slightly in disappointment before pulling away from Jhanak.
Seeing this Jhanak's heart aches, "Are you going to keep hurting him till the end?" Jhanak resents herself.
She immediately holds Anirudh's little finger to stop him from moving any further from her... Anirudh looks at the hold, a tear rolls down from his eyes, then he turns his gaze towards Jhanak with a single question in his eyes, "Jhanak, will my heart be broken again?"
"Kyuki aapko kuch ho jay main ye sah nahi pati... main mar jati.." She manages to keep her gaze steady on Anirudh when she says this.
Anirudh sobbing softly, takes a breath, determined to get all the answers to his questions.
"Kyu? aakhir kya rishta hai hamara? Tum hi to kehati thi, ke hamare bich koi rishta nahi hai.. To phir meri itani phikr... kyu?"
"Bolo Jhanak, kya rishta hai hamara?" Anirudh asks, growing impatient with each passing moment. He stands again in his previous position, leaning closer to Jhanak, who is supported by the top of the table.
"Kya tum sach me chahati ho ki main Arshi ke sath shaadi karu?" As he says this, the restraint that was once holding him back from touching Jhanak leaves his body. He runs his fingers down Jhanak's face, disturbing the haldi on her cheeks, which has managed to remain intact so far. Jhanak closes her eyes as she feels Anirudh's fingers on her face, her heartbeats racing faster than her breath, gripping tightly onto the table as if she would fall otherwise!
"Kya tum seh paogi.. main agar Arshi ke itane kareeb..." Before Anirudh can complete his sentence, he finds Jhanak's eyes staring back in fury. The breath that was out of her control, now also carries a feeling of anguish...
"Kya kaha aapane?" asks a wife giving her husband a chance to correct himself before she explodes in anger
"Kyu? Kyu nahi soch sakata? Aakhir Arshi ke sath shaadi honewali hai meri..." Anirudh feels a sense of triumph, thinking he has finally struck a nerve.
Crowded by feelings of anger, Jhanak begins "Kyuki... kyuki....kyunki....aap"
Before she can complete her sentence, Anirudh taunts her even further. "Bolane me takaliph ho rahi hai? Koi baat nahi likh kar bata do.." sliding the diary and a pen closer to her.
Jhanak observes in disbelief, her mouth slightly agape as she stares down at Anirudh. Her anger is screaming through the roof now...
"Aaj haldi ka bowl tumane jaan kar giraya tha na?" Anirudh asks as if he knows the answer, the pure cunningness of this man...
"The audacity to bring this up now..." Jhanak thinks to herself. She sits still, her eyes betraying no sign of denial, yet trembling with anger, barely able to stop her from shouting back at Anirudh.
He takes her hand, which was supporting her body as she leaned back on the table, into his hands, and slides it down from the side of his forehead to his cheek, still covered with haldi...
"Kyu Jhanak?" Anirudh asks in a shaky, low voice, a tear rolling down his cheek...
The feeling of anger suddenly seems to seep away, as she feels Anirudh's haldi on her hand. The chains holding her down start to rust away, and the walls start crumbling little by little. Overwhelmed, She starts sobbing...
"Bolo Jhanak... reh paogi mere bina...?"
"Nahi.." She immediately pulls Anirudh closer to her, holding him tightly by his shoulders, and puts her head down on top of his shoulder ... tears run down her eyes as if they were waiting for this moment...
"nahi ... nahi..." Jhanak speaks trembling and crying
"Nahi reh sakati main aapake bina... Nahi dekh paoongi main aakako kisi aur ka banate... Nahi chahati aap muzase door jaye... Please Sirji aisa mat boliye... Muze aap se door nahi rehana... nahi rehana muze aapase door...Nahi jee paoongi main..." The great wall was broken and tears ran down freely, relieving her of all her burdens.
Anirudh could not stop the tears of happiness either when he heard the confession he had longed to hear for the longest time. Anirudh caresses his crying wife's head with his hand and embraces her with the other. He kisses the back of her head, tightening his embrace to calm her down...
At last, love conquered the once unbreakable wall that was Jhanak's resolve to live life away from Anirudh.
To be continued ...
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