Hello guys, firstly I would like to thank you for being with me the ought out my fiction and giving it so much love. I usually right a lot of emo-angsty stuff, but I got bored of that genre :P so I thought of putting down something that is light hearted and fluffy! I love you all for encouraging me with such lovely feedbacks! With your love and support, what began to be a story of 4-5 chapters max, completed the journey of 11 chapters and an epilogue! I hope you like this last leg as much as you've adored the rest of the story!
Love you all!
Annnd HAPPY READING!!
11
"Wife" almost every spoke in unison.
Abhi looked at me apologetically and repeated "Yes wife"
"Ex-wife" Sarla repeated through gritted teeth.
"How dare you?" growled daadi and came forward to face him.
Pragya just stood there numb, to dumbfounded to react.
Daadi faced Abhi and shook him holding his shoulder, "Why cant you let her be? You ruined her already, she has moved on, stay away from her!"she screamed.
Bulbul and Purab who were coming were entering the house just then got stumped seeing the scene before them - Purab rushed to Abhi's side after hearing daadi.
"Daadi please, he loves her, they both---"
"Love my foot, how can you say all this Purab, don't you know how he has treated her through out the time of their marriage - he is not human enough to love anyone" snarled daadi.
"Daadi, even di loves him" whispered Bulbul gently facing daadi.
"No she doesn't, she loves Harmeet and wants to marry him!" spoke Sarla in agruff voice of eerie disbelief.
"Ma---" Bulbul began but Abhi cut her midway.
"Fine aunty ji, I have been miserable with her and you don't want her to be with me, I somewhere understand from where that comes but then this cartoon? You think this is what your Pragya deserves?" he spat in disbelieve. "If you can find a man who can love her more than me, I will not stop you, but him!?!" Abhi asked in anger.
"Who are you to contest our decision? Why should we seek your opinion in choosing a husband for our girl? What gives you the right to come here and give us your opinion? A loser like you who couldn't stop Pragya's tears and ripped her sould day in and day out, he comes here to decide what is good for her, and we, her family will let him? I don't know if you will ruin her intentionally this time, but you sure will betaji, so I implore you to leave! You have no right to decide for anything in Pragya's life" finished Sarla with disgust in her voice.
***
I saw him receive my mother's venomous verbal assault silently - my mother was smart, she handpicked all the incidents in reference to her claim, the incidents that brought guilty memories to Abhi, I could see his resolution faltering and for the life of me, I couldn't see that happening. I saw Abhi take two steps back, filled in self-loathing. For a fleeting second I hated ma for doing this to him. Then her last statement rang in my head - You have no right to decide for anything in Pragya's life.
It was time to break my silence and shove off with all the ambiguity in our lives, I loved Abhi and he loved me. We were married. How did anything else matter. I gently held Abhi's elbow and pulled him with me to face ma and daadi - he seemed to come out of his reverie at my touch, as I pulled him to fore ground. I looked at Purab and he looked at me encouragingly.
"Ma, he has every right to decide about everything in my life, he is my husband" I said calmly, while firly holding his elbow.
"Do you remember you had a divorce you mad girl?" my mother reminded me. "He may still have an emotional hold on you, but not legal" she clarified.
I took a deep breath, I was surprised to see the poise with which I was handling this, "Yes, I remember our divorce. And yet he has both emotional and legal right to opine about my life. Because we are married - again - legally."
Ma, daadi and Janki ma and even Harmeet whose existence I had forgotten for a while gasped together and spoke in unison, "Married again"
"Yes. We eloped. I knew it will take time to convince you all and show you that Abhi has changed, but you all wanted to get me married, and I couldn't run the risk of agreeing to marry again due to some misplaced sense of guilt - I love ABhi and I intend to uphold this relationship, hence we ranaway and got married and decided now when you are convinced of his intentions in good time, we will tell you this. But if you purposely refuse to see the reality and purposely hurt my Abhi by taking him on a guilt trip, I cant stand aside and let you. You are family ma, daadi - but Abhi is family too." I finished.
There was pin drop silence in the hall for a few minutes as everyone tried absorbing the news, Bulbul spoke first.
"Ma, di and jiju are married but jiju still said, if you find someone who loves her more than him, he will not come in between - doesn't that prove his love for her? Why bring the past and waste their beautiful future. Ma they were always in love, why do you think the separation didn't affect di? Didn't you ask me so many times why she was so happy? It was because they were never separated ma, they were just honouring your feelings an anger, they wanted to win all our hearts and that they did, accept them ma" pleaded Bulbul, followed by Purab, Janki ma and after a while even daadi and funnily enough, even Harmeet gave his nod of approval to Abhi and me.
***
I looked at Pragya, my sensible child with a no non-sense attitude, I saw how deeply she loved him, I cant deny seeing undying love in Abhi's eyes too, for my bacha - I had seen it the night of their separartion only, but you know a mother's heart, I was only looking out for my daughter, I didn't want to risk a heart break for her, what if Abhi was acting? But today seeing them, and seeing my Pragya standing against me to defend him, I was finally convinved, whether they were happy together or sad, they definitely belonged to each other. With that thought in my I took both their hands in mine and then joined their hands and smiled.
THE END
Anupamaa
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