PART 15
Arjun let go of Rashi's hand and he began to leave. 'Where are you going Arjun?' he was surprised that the question came from his mom of all the people. 'its pretty obvious all this is happening because of me. I don't regret me telling you the truth. You should know it. But I also know that I cannot stay here anymore. I can't hurt you any further.' 'and you think you leaving this house will not hurt me?' Arjun was tongue-tied. He didn't know what to say. 'Ajju I know you're not my blood. But you still are my son. Its not your mistake that this has happened. I'm proud of you that you told me the truth inspite of knowing the outcome. The person who is wrong, who's committed the mistake is the one who should be talking right now. Not you. So Rudra what do you have to say to your wife and to your son? Probably your entire family here is waiting for your explanation.'
Rudra looked around at his family. Rashi, there was disgust written all over her face, and he didn't notice her hand with were still holding Arjun's. Romit was looking around attentively though he had the same disgusted look pasted on his face, and there was surprise evident too. And Arjun he was sad. He didn't want to lose this family. His eyes came back to Savita's, hurt and anger evident in her look. 'Savita, I don't know where to begin from. I met Priyanka at the conference meet in Delhi. It was after ages and we went on talking about anything and everything. We never realized when it got late and things got a bit far stretched. I realized my mistake and came back home. I never kept any contact with her after that. After about 3 months she started calling me again but I didn't return any of her calls. My marriage, you were very important for me. You were pregnant with our son at that time. I got a phone call from a hospital where they informed me about Priyanka's death and that I was the father of a new born child. I was shocked. I realized why she had been calling me for the past so many months. If only I had returned those calls. But you were going to give birth to our first child, I couldn't possibly miss that. But soon when you got admitted in the hospital and our son died before he could even see his mother's face I was shattered. I couldn't let this news reach you. You wouldn't have been able to digest it. I knew. And the only thing I could think of was replacing our son with Arjun. probably that was what was to happen. Maybe it was destiny why else would such a coincidence happen?! That was what I thought would make you happy at that time. I tried my best to keep this secret from you for your own well-being. I'm sorry for everything Savita. Please forgive me.'
Deep silence crossed the room. It was time for some talk. For someone to say something. Anything. Savita left for her room. Rudra went out in the backyard. The three siblings didn't know what to do. 'Di, I know this is very serious, but there is only little that I can do. can i just go from here?' Rashi gave him a disgusted look and went to her room. 'Bro?' arjun went after his mom. He knoecked on her room before entering. 'Arjun?' 'you knew it would be me before you even saw?' 'like I said you may not be my blood but you're still my son. I know you very well.' She tried to paste a smile on her face. It didn't get the effect, Arjun caught the fake one. 'I'm sorry you had to go through all this because of me.' 'no, I'm sorry I even said something of you not staying here. How could i?! you're my son and will always be. It was not your fault at all. Infact you told me the truth. Come here. Give me a hug. Let me wipe my son's tears.' Arjun hugged his mother. And both of them started crying. 'this will always be your place. My first child. Don't even think about leaving from here.' Arjun kept on crying in his mom's lap. He felt it was heaven after today. He was not going to lose her. 'Maa, dad kept this from you because he knew it'd hurt you. It was a mistake. He never kept in touch with her after that. Are you going to forgive him?' 'I know it was a mistake. I know he kept it hidden for my well-being. But I don't know whether I'll be able to forget this. I will forgive him eventually, I know that. But there'll always be this wall in between us. I'm sure about that. But lets leave it to time.' Arjun didn't know what to say. hejust looked at his mom, his eyes full of tears. 'Come on now, we should go. Its Purvi's mehendi. And probably now that I'm going to a mother-in-law soon I should put mehendi on Arohi's hands as well. It's a ritual you know.' 'Maa, you know?' 'she came here searching for you a while ago. It was an easy guess.' 'only if you agree.' 'agree to what? Ofcourse I'm happy. You know that. I've been waiting for this since 5 years now. Though it'll be fun to play this game in front of Arohi.'
My mind was preoccupied. I didn't hear when mom told me to look after the guests. There was sangeet to look after as well. The ladies had started with di's hands. I saw Rashi enter with her mom then. I dashed to her. I pulled her with me. 'Slow down woman.' 'how's your egoistic brother?' 'oohh. Now he's my egoistic brother is he?' 'he was mean to me. I came over to talk to him in the morning. He was very mean.' 'your egoistic boyfriend is fine. And my sweet big brother is fine too.' I looked at her skeptically. 'I see you changing some pronouns.' 'It's because my brother is not egoistic. And he's here. You can talk to him if you want to.' ' No way. He'll come to me if he wants to now. I'm not going anywhere near him.' 'And you call my brother egoistic.' I couldn't help keep my mouth open at her reaction. I'm not egoistic. Whatever, she'll side her brother as always. 'Arohi, why didn't you put mehendi as yet?' it was Badi Maa. I hugged her. 'Are you waiting for your mother-in-law to apply it for you as well?' I blushed. What was she saying. My mother-in-law?! Who she? Just then she came across a mehendi cone. She picked it up a put a dot on my hand. 'See now the ritual is done. You can go ahead and sit in front of those ladies. I'm sure the colour of your mehendi will turn out to be as dark as black.' I blushed harder and ran out from there. I was so happy I didn't realize when I dashed into him. But my savior was fast for that. He caught hold of me and hugged me. 'I'm sorry for the morning. I didn't realize I had hurt you so much. Did you like my gift?' I looked up into his eyes. The blush still evident on my face. 'gift?' his thumb started tracing my cheek. While I was even more distracted. 'the mehendi ritual that I just got to know about. I talked to Maa about us in the morning. I heard the ritual for you is done as well. Did I make up for uncanny behavior in the morning?' I looked into his eyes and a smile played on my lips. He was creating a havoc of me on the insides by gently rubbing his thumb over my face. I nodded a yes without intending to. He kissed me on my forehead with a smile and left. As soon as he was gone I realized what had just happened. As far as I remembered I was angry with him. I was so not going to forgive him for his behavior in the morning. Uuurrrgghh Arjun Singhania you always get away with this. But as bad as he is, I love him more for the way he gets his way always.
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