Silent Whispers-CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE-Perfectly Imperfect "Sorry, sorry!" Anjali gasped, hurriedly sitting in the sleek white Mercedes car, waiting just outside the gates of Shantivaan.
Shyam waved off her apology. "Is everything okay? It's never like you to not pick up my calls."
Anjali stared out the window. The lazy Sunday morning was slowly drifting off into the afternoon, while the sun continued to play hide and seek with the pearly white clouds. It was the perfect day for a picnic, and Anjali might have convinced her brothers of the same, had Akash not ruined it all.
Akash.
Where should she even begin with him? Anjali had always known her brother to be emotionally naive, and not to mention, insecure, but she had never expected him to burst out like he did, especially at Arnav.
"Anjali?" Shyam called. "What's wrong?"
She shook her head. "I was with Bhai - that's why I didn't pick up the phone."
"But that's not what you are upset about, is it?"
Anjali glanced at him. She really shouldn't be surprised to see him pick up on her turmoil, but she was. And more than that, she was confused. What could she possibly tell him? After all, Khushi was his sister.
"What? Is it a secret?"
"No," she replied, finally. "It's... it's Akash. He is... pissed."
"About what?"
"About life. He came home today and found that article they published about Bhai and Khushi and he just blew up. About how unfair we have been to him all this time, about how Bhai has been unfair to him... the list is endless."
Shyam looked at her. "Well, did you tell him what really happened?"
"I tried... but he wouldn't listen. He was so angry that anything I said made it worse."
"I don't blame him."
Anjali turned to him, staggered. "What?"
"I don't blame him," Shyam repeated, calm. "Anyone in his place would think the same."
"Of course not! It's Bhai we are talking about here!"
"And I'm talking about Meeti."
She stopped short.
"She doesn't love him Anjali," Shyam explained. "She never did."
"And how do you know that?!"
He glanced at her, incredulous. "She is my sister. What don't I know about her?"
Anjali rolled her eyes, being strongly reminded of Arnav and her conversation with him earlier that day. "Why are all brothers stalkers?! Does it hurt to give some privacy?"
A line appeared on Shyam's forehead.
"Bhai," she explained, catching his look. "He knows about us. He knew since the day I said yes and he has been in the loop ever since!"
Shyam nodded, as if making a note to himself. "Clever man."
Anjali was now flabbergasted. "Clever man?! I just told you that my brother knows about us and the fact that we have been lying to his face all this time, and all you can say is "clever man"?!"
"Yes," he answered, with an infuriating smile. "Because he is looking out for you, to make sure I'm not some psychotic killer, just like any good brother. I would and have done the same thing."
She shook her head in disbelief. "So what? You have been snooping on Khushi and Akash all this time then?"
"Don't have to. Meeti tells me everything."
"Really?"
"Yeah, which is why I know she doesn't love him."
Anjali stared at him for a full minute, before saying, "How does that even make sense?!"
He let out a sigh. "When Meeti first told me she and Akash were dating, she had this casualness in her voice. The whole proposal was a part of her day, just something that happened... she didn't care, the way she should. The issue wasn't as important for her to think twice about before just recounting it to me over dinner."
Anjali was quiet.
"So I knew... I knew this wouldn't last. And if I could see that, there is no way Akash couldn't and didn't. I'm sure he knows better than anyone what Meeti feels for him. He knows it will break, he knows they aren't going to last. It was just a matter of how and when it will happen."
"And you find nothing wrong with that?"
Shyam was surprised to see her contempt.
"Khushi was basically just stringing Akash along and you didn't think it was important enough to tell her that it was wrong?"
"Like I said, I know my sister. She is not the type of person to listen to someone. She does what she thinks is right, and no one, and I mean no one, can change her mind."
Anjali pressed her lips, but didn't reply. She found that hard to believe.
"Maybe except one person," Shyam added, absent-mindedly.
"Who?"
He looked at her with a cryptic smile. "Are you sure you want to know?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I mean that I know my sister is a complicated person. But I also know that she is a self-made woman. She makes mistakes and learns from them. And that is unfortunately the only way she learns. Yes, I feel horrible letting her do what she wanted to with Akash, but I understand why she did it. And maybe even better than that, I understand why Akash did it too, why he let it go on, instead of confronting her like he should have."
Shyam glanced at her, before saying, "That's why I didn't interfere. It's their life and they know what to do it. It's just unfortunate that Arnav became the reason for them to understand what was right from wrong."
It took Anjali a moment to understand that, but when she did, she didn't know how to react. "So... you are telling me that Khushi loves Bhai too?"
He didn't reply, forcing Anjali to look out the window, trying to work through the mess her brother got himself into. It was when they pulled up in front of the airport that Shyam finally answered:
"The signs were always there Anjali," he murmured. "You just had to pay attention."
* * *
Akash stubbornly stared at the swatch of orange in the setting sky, not wanting to listen to the angry growls of his stomach or the anxious burns of his throat. He had sat there on the hard bench for most of the day, overlooking a small lake amidst the famous urban village of Hauz Khas. Ever since he had settled in Delhi, this place was his solace.
He had lost track of the number times his feet dragged themselves here, but every time he had come, he left with something new. It was a memorable place, not only for it's scenic view, but for the reminiscences it carried. In a way, it was a collage of his life.
And yet, today wasn't like those days. Despite staring endlessly at the lake in front of him and the sky behind it, he found no answers. The torment ripping him apart from the inside was still there, growing stronger as the evening aged.
"Erm excuse me," came a voice from behind him.
He unwantedly turned around.
"Your phone is-" the girl broke off as recognition spread coldly in between them.
It was Payal Sharma, the girl he had unwillingly out casted with Khushi and Lavanya.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
She blinked, coloring under his scrutiny. "Um taking a walk..."
"Oh."
An awkward silence fell between the two.
"Um... your phone is ringing," Payal said after a few minutes.
Akash glanced down, and sure enough his phone was flashing wildly with Anjali's name. Of course, she would call. What surprised him was her assumption that he would pick up.
"Do you mind if I sit?" Payal asked unexpectedly when he didn't answer the phone.
He slid to the corner of the bench, making room for her.
"Thanks," she said, sitting down.
Akash didn't reply. He resumed staring at the reddened sky, being in no mood to talk.
"So do you come here often?" Payal asked, after a while.
"Kind of... you?"
"Yeah... I like the sunset. It's-"
"-beautiful. Yeah, I know."
They settled into silence once again as his phone continued to ring mercilessly; he didn't even bother looking at the caller-id.
"Who is so desperate to talk to you?" Payal asked, jokingly.
"My sister."
"Oh... maybe it's something important?"
"It's not."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not really."
Payal nodded. "Right... I should get going then," she said, standing up to leave.
Akash felt a pang of guilt run through him. She was trying so hard to make a conversation and he was being as difficult as ever, just to brood over a fight she had no part in.
"I'm sorry," he said. "Today is... just not a good day."
"No, I get it. I didn't mean to pry."
"You weren't."
"Okay... but whatever it is, you should tell someone. It makes hell of a difference knowing that you are freaking out about something that is nearly not as bad as you think it is."
He was taken back to hear that. "Really?"
"I think so... my Papa always says people exaggerate their problems. So, we should always take a step back and think whether it is worth it to be upset over it."
"Sounds like you have a good father."
"He is. So do I finally get to tell you that everything will be okay?"
And without even knowing why, a small smile lit up his face.
Payal grinned. "See? I'm not that bad after all."
"You were never bad," he replied, patting the seat next to him. "I always told Khushi that."
She obliged. "I bet she didn't like that."
"No, she didn't. But there were a lot of things I said she didn't like."
"Why date her then?"
Akash didn't know what to say. It was a question he had avoided for the most part of the last five months, but he could no longer run from it. It was at the root of the mess he was thrown into.
"If you have to think so much about it..." Payal began.
"Then it's not a good sign?" he finished with a snort. "Yeah, I heard that before."
She was quiet.
"I asked her out because I liked her... I liked the way she broke the rules, I liked how she did what she wanted to without a care in the world and most of all, I liked her because she wasn't controlled by my family. She was mine, someone I didn't have to share, someone I could trust with my life... It was relationship completely on my terms."
Payal listened, intrigued.
"But of course, sooner or later I realized that having a relationship on my terms, meant that I was the only one in it. I knew that, but I didn't want to accept it."
"So you let it go on..."
He nodded. "I let it go on because I knew she would come around one day. At the end of it all, we both were lost..."
"But now she moved on."
Akash curled his hands into fists. Yes, she moved on to a man he had spent his whole life trying to outshine. Really, his fate was seriously messed up.
"So what now?" Payal asked.
"For starters, I'm leaving," he answered with a sigh. "I got a restoration project in Jaipur."
"Oh... for how long?"
"I don't know... a month, two months, a year... all I know is that I can't stay here anymore."
Payal nodded, her shoulders falling as if in defeat. It was very off setting. "Good luck then," she said, standing up to leave.
He didn't answer.
She had almost made it to the end of the road, when she suddenly stopped and ran back to him.
"Maybe I'm wrong," Payal said, skidding to a halt in front of him. "But do you really need her to remind you that you are free? That you can make your own decisions? If you can lose her to any random person at any random moment, then how is it that both of you are "meant to be"? And if you are not supposed to be together, then why are you upset that she moved on?"
He looked at her, perplexed.
"You are better off without her Akash. Fighting for something that was never yours to begin with might sound romantic to some, but is foolish to most. You deserve much better."
She smiled, before setting off again down the now darkened road.
Akash watched her leave, feeling as if his turmoil suddenly came to a standstill. Just on the cue, his phone buzzed with a new message. It was from Khushi:
We need to talk.
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