"Your hatred for me is your weakness."
Her words rang in Abhi's head, hours after they had first been uttered and shaken his world. Truer words had not been spoken. Earlier, he may have tried to deny them to himself, to envelop himself in the security blanket of his hatred. But Abhi was too exhausted. It was amazing how a furious scuffle and the subsequent arrest could take the stuffing out of a man, even the great rock star Abhi. He had no energy left in him to conjure up his familiar hatred of Pragya. It had become harder and harder to do so lately, and if he had to be honest with himself, it longer brought him the comfort that it once did. Hating the Chashmish had brought purpose to his life, and seemed the key to mending his sister's broken heart. But ever since he discovered that she wasn't really Purab's girl friend, the charm of his revenge had been lost. Yes, he still clung desperately to that anger, relying on it to protect him from the crushing guilt at the bottom of his heart. He had ruined an innocent girl's life, solely based on the testimony of his sister, without bothering to do the slightest bit of research. In the days following that dreadful revelation he had raged and acted petty with her - anything to hold off the guilt. But it had continued to chip away at his conscience, bit by bit, until he could take it no longer. And that's how he had landed in this mess.
When Aliya and Tanu had gloated about Kumkum Bhagya marriage hall being demolished, Abhi had felt sick to his stomach. Aliya had never worked a day in her life so she could never comprehend what it might feel like to lose your life's work in one day. But Tanu? She worked as hard for her career as he did. Abhi shook his head. Her cold beauty, which had once impressed him, scared him now. Anyway, after all that had happened between him and Chashmish, he knew that he would never be able to live with himself if, she had to go through the pain of her mother's death when he had the means to prevent it. And he could always see his own Daadi's face reflected in Rockstar Daadi's anxious eyes. So he had decided to help. And then look what had happened. Of course, his motivations had not been entirely altruistic. Abhi had wanted to smack that arrogant smirk from that slimly corporator's face from the moment he met him. He had relished baiting Neil with his theatrics. And then everything had gone to hell.
Why had he been so incensed when that disgusting frog-face insulted all the Arora women? That was only what he had tried to do for months. And the corporator's insults had been so evidently untrue. Sarla was so far from the stereotypical image of a pimp that he had been momentarily amused before being angry. And who in their right mind could accuse his prudish wife, no strike that, that prudish professor of being a prostitute. Why the Chashmish had once drunkenly proclaimed to him that she had never even used her lips for kissing! Abhi's own lips broke into a reluctant smile at the memory. She had been rather adorable in her drunken innocence. Suddenly his smile vanished. Why he had once convinced himself that she was a gold-digging seductress! Of course, her eyes were mesmerizing enough to lend credence to that idea...
Where had that thought come from! Abhi jerked himself out of his half-doze to glance at the clock. Hardly any time had passed so he indulged in his thoughts once again. What he couldn't understand was, why had he become so incensed at that frog-face's accusations about his wife (he was too exhausted to label her anything else now)? After all, in the darkest hours of Aliya's heartbreak, he had entertained equally bad thoughts about Pragya. Why had blind rage and fierce protectiveness enveloped him like a forest fire? Why had he felt the instinctive need to shield her from the policeman's baton? Why did she feel so right in his arms?
For a moment, Abhi wished he could unburden himself to Daadi but he knew that was not possible. She knew nothing about the truth of his marriage. In fact, no body knew, not even Tanu and Aliya. They had no clue that the anger in his heart had been replaced by clammy regret. They didn't know how much he enjoyed jousting with Chashmish, how thrilled he was at her wit and refusal to pander to him. They would never know how much fun it was to rile her up and how funny he found her prudish innocence. The only person who could probably understand the nature of their relationship was Pragya herself, but she was probably safely tucked in at home, relishing the opportunity to have the bed to herself.
"Abhishek! Abhishek!" Talk of the devil...It was the Chashmish herself, frantically hurrying towards his cell. Funny how the drab walls of the lockup could make even her a sight for sore eyes.
"Couldn't resist my hot self Chashmish? Come to make another attempt on my honor?" He drawled, falling back into the familiar teasing banter. "How did you get in here anyway?"
"There's no time for all your nonsense now." For once she didn't smile at his teasing. "And I made up a sob story about how much I missed my husband."
"The constable must have been a real idiot then, or you must have done you jadoo on him too."
Now she did smile. "Shh! There's no time! He only allowed me five minutes." She leaned in so close to the bars that he could practically feel her warm whisper on his face. Suddenly, the cell seemed a lot more constricting. Unfortunately, she seemed to be unaffected. "Now listen to me carefully. I overheard that corporator - "
"F@#$ing frog-face!"
"Listen!! I didn't like the looks of him so I followed him home. He's more dangerous than we thought. He's determined to take revenge and kill you the minute you get out of here. Now Purab managed to get your bail so you will be out tomorrow but I think the safest thing is for you to stay in the lockup a little longer. I have a plan."
Abhi rolled his eyes. "Of course you would want me in the lockup for as long as possible Chashmish. Chain milega tumhe. And you think that gutter-born sarkari naukar can lay his hands on me? You clearly don't understand the power of the rock star."
"You don't understand! He has connections in high places! And if you still don't believe me, I took a recording of what he was saying on my phone. I just can't play it here because I don't know which of the policemen are on his side. I just need to get this recording out in public and then he'll be behind bars and you'll be safe. But for that we need time!" "
Abhi was touched by her concern. Apart from what had happened today, he had really given her no reason to feel it. "So what do you suggest?"
"The lawyer said that they'd need my statement tomorrow to release you. I can neither give a true statement that will free you nor a false one. I think it's best for me to feign a sadma over today's happenings to buy us some time."
In the scant few minutes that they had been given, they sketched out a plan. Since they didn't know which of the policemen were on Neil's side, they decided that the best course of action was to release the recording to the media and let them and Abhi's numerous fans hold the police accountable for Neil's arrest. Then Abhi could be freed without any fear.
Later, after Pragya had been ushered out, Abhi allowed himself to slip back into his musings. Although they had hardly spoken for five minutes, it was nice to finally have some open communication between them after so many misunderstandings. And it felt good to have a shared positive goal with someone. To his surprise, he realised that he hadn't had that in a long time. Even with Tanu, their shared goal was usually satiating their mutual lust and not much more. This had felt different, and nice...
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