While his hands were still in the process of knotting, I drew them away from me and moved to stand in the shadows. Turning around to have my back out of his view, I tied the blouse and hoped he would leave before Naanaji or the others returned home - from their last minute wedding details they were working on.
"Rishabh," I called to him as I looked over my shoulder to reach for the last of the tassels, "If this is about the book and the media, you should know it wasn't intended at all..."
"For the record," His voice hovered from above me and I refused to look at him, keeping my gaze fixed behind me, "Let's be clear that you brought it up..."
"Congratulations," I said and a mild surprise made me pause for a beat as I heard myself soften to a whisper, "You just made it past the mental maturity of a 5th grader, by quoting that disclaimer..."
"And the games begin..." He bit out his words and hauled me by my elbows to pull me against him once again. Ruffian!
He had to stop doing that, but oddly, I was convinced that speaking of such objections will only fetch me an outcome of an opposing nature and so, I took his hands off me, showing as little of my annoyance as possible.
"You know what? I don't even care anymore," I said.
"Don't care because what you wanted has been accomplished?" He followed me as I found one dupatta to fold into a clothes pile, his voice raising to a crescendo as did his ire, "Tainted my name and now, it will forever remain in question that I was the bas***d son of some bitch who gave me away"
With his allegation, it was as if all my livid fears that I had failed to acknowledge after hearing the media frenzy, were realized.
"Rishabh!" I spun around and shook him, as if that would allow for him to hear my reasoning without judgement, while I still had the dupatta in my grasp, "Don't tell me you believe that."
I scoffed as his eyes gathered a sardonic look. "I'm beginning to doubt you would care even if it were to be true," I said. Well, in that moment of distrust, he'd proved what was of material to him,"You are just bitter that the scandal has managed to maim that damn thing you hold dearest than anything on this earth...Your name..."
"So this is where you tell me you said so?" It was his turn to jolt me into feeling his animosity,"That its payback from fate for the night I kissed you...For all those scorned curses you sent my way"
"Correction: the night you assaulted me." I said averting my eyes with as much disgust as I can muster.
"Fine," He was yelling then,"Let's set the record straight then. I assaulted you and you kissed me back..."
He was quiet after that outburst. Whatever it was that had made him look at me for a long minute in silence had also mellowed him.
"Just answer a few questions for me, Madhu and then I will let you go," He said when I tried to break his hold around my arms and instead, with some force raised my chin to him, "Was the man, this chap, in your mother's diary a new assistant and from Shimla. Was there a name mentioned too?"
It was the last thing I expected him to ask; to run facts by me.
"No name but yes, he was from Shimla," I said, unwilling to avow when he spoke to me with a steady vehemence, "Why do you ask?"
An inhale and then he closed and opened his eyes in quick, as if in prayer; a desperation suddenly came on into his steely glare.
"And you did your share of looking into the production books that were kept from that time?"
"Yes...Rishabh we did," My words sounded piqued when his line of questioning was nothing short of harassment, "But what are you trying to get at?"
Something changed in his eyes then and his eyes remained fixed on me, a sharp disgust bared itself in the manner he narrowed his one eye.
"Then, stop acting like a bitch!" His grip tightened as if there was every intent for it to hurt and the next second, he pushed me with such exertion, that I hit the wall and tripped to fall over the base of the bed. "Rishabh!" I cried, rubbing my elbow.
But, he wasn't there and was leaving the room already. Only, this time he exited my bedroom through the door and padded through the hallway.
"No!" Getting to my feet, I cried.
"Rishabh! Stop!" I ran after him, "You are going through the front door. Stop!"
With my dupatta grazing the floor along the way and my lehenga hiked up to enable with my running, I made it to the front door just in time to find him fling the doors open and cross the threshold to come face to face with Naanaji, Aparna aunty and Trishna.
He stopped there, but it was also then my legs buckled under me and I slumped against the wall closing my eyes down.
All sounds faded in my ears, for it was apparent there had been a grave mistake with the details he'd asked about. If only I had overseen everything, myself...
Now, this was one more thing I would have to see to its end, before I left for France. Surely, I could make him see reason, when I have enough proof to show that I had not brought about the scandal as revenge for his torments.
Oh! I held my chest as I felt a burn flay my insides. Torments...
Despite that initial affirmation, beyond redeeming it appeared and I saw that from the discretion he no longer wished to keep when he'd chosen to take the front door. The man who had climbed in through the window, was perhaps long gone.
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