Hi guys! I also had a lot of fun penning down the 9th chapter! Here is chapter 10 for you!
I hope you enjoy this as much!!
10
"What is wrong with you Abhishek prem Mehra!?!" a spoke aloud in exasperation as we finally drove a little far from the caf.
"What is wrong with you Mrs. Pragya Abhishek Mehra?!?" he replied back with a mixture of a scorn and a smirk. I wanted to laugh, but I kept a tight face.
"Why did you need to beat that man? I was handling it nah" but his face got clouded.
"He is a pervert and was looking at you in a way I haven't allowed myself even to look at you" he said through gritted teeth.
"Abhi."I started calming him, but it was a futile attempt.
"And why were you stuttering? Couldn't you just say Harmeet I cant marry you and walk off? I would have taken care of the rest!!" he shot at me.
"Abhi.."but I couldn't continue, I had tears in my eyes, he was admonishing me for no apparent fault of mine, all I wanted was to reject that Harmeet gracefully, I was already guilty of flirting with him and giving him hope, but no. Now it ended in an ugly way and when he told my family about it, Abhi would be hated more for ruining my potential marriage! How will I ever redeem him in their eyes, I wondered helplessly.
My tears seemed to jerk him back to his senses, he stopped her car and side hugged me and apologized and then to my surprise he turned his car back towards the caf.
***
I knew why she was crying, in the heat of the moment I had made the situation worse for us, but I was tired, and seeing a man so close to Pragya, and fully knowing, if we hide our marriage, if not Mr. Tree many such men will follow suit as her family is trying to get her married - knowing all this something in me had snapped. No Pragya was mine, and I didn't want fake potential grooms around her - we are married, and there is nothing that her family can really do about it - we wanted to spare the heartbreak of her mother and daadi and also we wanted them to stop hating me first - but at what cost? At the cost of Pragya's discomfort? NO.
Time was ripe to come off clean - before everyone, and claim what is rightfully mine - my wife - Pragya. And if Sarla ma and RoDaadi had to be told what happened to Harmeet, they'd better hear it from the horses mouth in front of me.
So I turned the car and reached the caf, that cartoon was still there, a waiter was tending to the blue-black in his eyes with ice-pack - he saw me and his entire frame trembled, I found it funny for a moment but remembering Pragya's paper white face, I stopped. I slowly walked to him. The idiot again opened his mouth.
"Ok ji, I wont marry her! Please don't beat me anymore!"
"Get up"I replied, and he promptly did so.
"Come with me" I said, holding his elbow. He looked more intimidated.
"Sorry ji, I said nah, if you like her and she likes you, I wont marry her ji. I wont go anywhwere with you"
"We are going to the pharmacy to buy a few painkillers for you, then to Pragya's house from where your family can collect you" I replied quietly.
He was shocked again. "Thank-You ji" he mumbled and followed me to the car - he saw Pragya sitting next to the driver's seat and folded his hand in greetings and said "Hello behenji"
I swear how much ever I tried, I could help let a snort escape me.
***
I was sitting with Sarla and watching television, it was around 5PM in the evening, when the door bell rang, Janki opened it and gasped. I turned to see a trio of the most unexpected people together - Abhi, Pragya and Harmeet! I glanced at Sarla and saw she was shocked too - but when they entered the room, that I actually noticed, Harmeet was wounded, his right eye was blue-black, his turban loose, and his shirt had shoe marks on it.
"Harmeet beta, what happened?" Sarla exclaimed and rushed forward.
"He got beaten Ma, hence Abhi decided to get him medicines and drop us here" said Pragya from behind.
"Where did Abhi find you two?" I asked suspiciously
"At the caf daadi. He had come there with friends" she replied emotionlessly.
***
So far things were going according to my plan, on the way I convinced both guy to weave the story in such a way that it put Abhi in positive light. So Harmeet was with me, some guys teased me, and Harmeet tried to stop them and got beaten, when Abhi found us, he helped us.
But daadi's next question changed everything - I didn't know, even though ABhi had agreed to my game plan, he was parallel playing his own game.
"Who has beaten our Harmeet thus and why?" daadi asked.
I was about to reply as per the plan when Abhi spoke surprising all,
"I have beaten him daadi, and I did so because he was flirting with my wife"
Cricket
622