FF: Unloved (Complete) - Page 39

Even though Parvati had demanded the separation, Fate had other plans. It was mid-afternoon and she had left home to go to the mandir. It wasn't something she did often, but her restlessness lately had made her decide to go today. She caught a rickshaw and was in the back, watching as they made their way through town. She brushed the strands of hair from her face. There were so many people out today. Then again, the streets of Delhi were always crowded on the weekend. The rickshaw driver suddenly slowed down as a crowd of people were standing around in the middle of the street, blocking his path.

Parvati looked ahead and then at the driver, "Bhaiya, what is going on?"

"I don't know," he replied casually. "Maybe some protestors? Or an accident? Either way, we'll be here for awhile."

She sighed and continued to look ahead. The crowd wasn't large, but it appeared they were all circled around something or someone. She wondered what could be going on. The best thing she could do right now is wait for them to dissipate. Parvati leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes. Her mind has been in utter chaos, and all she wanted was to go to the mandir to find some peace. But it seemed that even Bholenath didn't want her on His doorstep today. She found tears pooling her eyes and quickly wiped them with her purple dupatta. Just as she was about to close her eyes again, Parvati heard people shouting from the crowd.

"Hey! Someone stop him!" a man's voice shouted.

"Somebody intervene!" another man commanded.

"He's beating the poor boy senseless!" a woman shouted. "Stop him!"

"Isn't that the BSD General's son!" another woman yelled.

At that sentence, Parvati shot forward. A fight had broken out. Someone was being beaten. The BSD General's son.

"Rudra," Parvati breathed.

And just like that, she dashed out of the rickshaw, tossing a random sum of money at the driver, and made her way through the crowd. She shoved and squeezed her through the various people until she reached the center of the circle, where Rudra was pummeling the life out of another man. She watched, completely horrified as he punched and kicked the other man. The two of them were going at it like wild animals, and it looked like Rudra had the upper advantage. She couldn't believe this was the same person who had been her friend. Parvati didn't know who started the fight, but she had to put a stop to it. If it continued, Rudra would definitely murder the guy, and she didn't want him to face the heavy price for his actions. As she tried to shout at him to stop, the voices of other bystanders drowned hers out, and it took all her energy to be heard. Rudra now had the guy on the ground and was on one knee, punching him over and over again. No one intervened, but continued to shout for someone to stop the madness.

"Somebody stop this!" a random woman shouted.

"Call the police! Break it up! Do something!" an elderly man screamed.

"He's going to end up killing that man!" a teenage boy stated.

Finally, Parvati's voice was loud enough to reach Rudra, "Rudra! Stop!"

Rudra stopped mid-punch. He was panting heavily as he slowly contracted his hand back. He shot a look in the direction where Parvati was standing, and when his gaze locked with hers, he stood up. His exterior hardened as he stared at her, trying to control his anger. His jaw locked and his fists remained clenched by his sides. His focus remained on her, completely disregarding the man who he was beating just moments ago. The crowd had fallen silent as they watched the madman snap out of his frenzy after hearing the innocent woman's plea.

"Just stop," Parvati said again. "Please."

The random citizens watched as Rudra took a few steps forward, and how Parvati didn't retreat. Seeing that the other man was back on his feet and had fled, the crowd dispersed, leaving the two of them on the street. Traffic resumed flowing in its normal bustling routine. Parvati strode forward, grabbed Rudra's arm, and pulled him to the side so they wouldn't get hit by oncoming traffic. The entire time he was trying to tame his anger, which was still boiling over. So he didn't say a word and let her do what she wanted for the moment.

When they made it to the side road, Parvati let go of his arm, faced him and yelled angrily, "What has gotten into you!"

"What?" he asked, rather taken aback by her angry outburst. It was the first time he had seen her mad.

"I can't believe you did that! Have you gone mad?!"

He shouted, "It's none of your business!"

"It is my business! You could have killed that man! Or he could have killed you!"

"What does it matter to you?"

"It matters! It matters a lot! What if something happened to you?!"

Rudra's gaze softened. Despite the fire in her eyes, she couldn't hide how she felt. Even though she was angry, Parvati's eyes clearly revealed the pain she was going through. She was worried about him because she still cared for him. This only confirmed it. Had she not cared, she wouldn't have stopped him from pummeling that idiot. He took a deep breath, shutting a lid on his bottled anger. If he let it get the better of him, he would end up hurting Paro, and that was something he would never be able to forgive himself for.

In a calmer tone, Rudra asked, "So what if something happened to me? Why does it matter?"

"Of course it matters! I care about you!" she shouted without thinking. When she realized what she said, she gasped. But it was too late, Rudra had already heard her. His body instantly relaxed as the words left her mouth. Her anger vanished as she now found herself unable to look him in the eye. She, however, knew he was still looking at her contemplatively. In the time she had been around him, Parvati had this weird ability to sense when he was staring at her or wanted her attention.

"If I matter so much to you, then why did you ask me to stay away?" he asked.

She shook her head and looked up at him, "You won't understand."

"Yes, I will."

"No."

"Please, Paro."

"Rudra, stop. No."

"I deserve to know."

"You deserve to know?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Why?"

"Because I love you."

Parvati was at a loss for words. This was the second time he had told her he loved her, even after she had specifically told him not to. He shouldn't love her, he was only going to get hurt. Why couldn't he just understand that? Something in her finally snapped. Rudra watched as the expression on her face changed from anger to something he couldn't quite put his finger on.

In a firm voice, she commanded him, "Take me home."

"Why?" he asked.

"You want to know the truth? Fine. Take me home. I won't just tell you the truth. I'll show you the truth."

~

To say mami-sa was surprised would be an understatement. The scene that she had stumbled upon was certainly unexpected. She had been casually looking out the window, mentally noting that her flowers needed to be watered, when she saw Parvati had returned. It was odd because she had just left not too long ago. What surprised her even more was that she was not alone. She was with Rudra, whom she hadn't seen in quite a few days. But what made mami-sa realize something was amiss was the way Parvati dragged Rudra inside the house. She had never seen such behavior from her, ever. When they finally entered, mami-sa saw the enraged look on Parvati's face and the puzzled look on Rudra's.

"Paro, what are you doing?" Mami-sa asked. "What is going on?"

"He wants to know, mami-sa," Paro stated as she let go of Rudra. He now stood in the living room with mami-sa.

"Know what?"

"He wants to know the truth. I'm not just going to tell him the truth, I'm going to tell him every single detail."

Mami-sa gasped. She looked at Rudra, who was looking back at her, trying to understand what was going through Parvati's mind. This was something she had not expected. She knew something must have happened between the two of them for such a result to come about. Parvati had kept her past locked up in a steel box. She had promised herself that she would never reveal it, but now? Mami-sa could see the pain behind the anger that was clouding her judgment. From this, she knew Parvati was on the verge of breaking down. It was taking all her strength to not fall apart.

Parvati looked from mami-sa to Rudra before running into her room. She made her way to the closet and pulled out a box that was buried beneath a pile of junk on the ground. Her hands trembled as she looked at it. Her memories flashed through her mind. Her past. It was all in this box. With sweaty palms and clammy hands, she opened the box and pulled out a large, black photo album. When she returned to the living room, Parvati shoved the album into Rudra's chest, causing him to let of out huff at the impact.

He saw her fighting back her tears and wanted to reach out to her, but he was more focused on the object in his hands. The album looked perfectly intact. The black leather still smelled fresh, almost as if it hadn't been touched in years. He wondered what this album had to do with her past.

Rudra looked at Paro, "What is this?"

"The truth about me."

Rudra opened the album, and the first picture he saw shook his very soul. He looked at Parvati again, then back at the album. His eyes widened. The image that was on the first page was a wedding picture of Parvati, in bridal attire, next to a young man dressed as a groom. He turned each page, hands shaking and mouth agape as he did so. He flipped through the pages and realized that they were all pictures of one occasion in Parvati's life: a wedding. Her wedding. There were pictures of her on a mandap, putting a garland around the groom's neck, taking pheres. The last image was of Parvati as a newlywed bride, with a mangalsuthra around her neck and sindoor in her maang. A folded paper peeked out from the back of the album. Rudra pulled it and opened it. It was a wedding invitation card. Written in it were the words that only confirmed what he had seen in the album. The card was a cordial invitation to the marriage of Varun and Parvati.

He felt everything spinning around him as reality sunk in. Rudra felt like he was going to be sick. These pictures. The invitation card. Wedding. Marriage. Varun. And...Parvati.

"P-Paro," he stuttered, still in a state of disbelief. "You're...y-you're married?!"

She shook her head. The tears finally escaped, "I was."

"What?"

"My husband died. I'm a widow, Rudra."

**********

I bet none of you saw that coming! Well, there you have it...Parvati's secret has been revealed! Trust me, you'll understand better with the next chapter, which will be an entire flashback of Parvati and Varun's marriage. Let me know what you think by leaving your comments and feedback below.

Next update: Parvati and Varun: a marriage or a sham?

Thanks for reading!