A Suitable Husbandan AU Pregnancy Track FF by -mina-
Part 3 | Index Previously: Daadi and the Daasis have come up with a plan to keep AbhiGya together (prologue), but when they announce the first step Abhi doesn't like what they have to say (part one). Pragya is ready to do as they ask, and a special someone named Angad suddenly makes his appearance on the scene (part two).
Where we left off:
"Hang on," Abhi snapped. "Just what's going on here? My Daadi invited you here Angad? Or Indu Daasi did?"
Abhi's Daadi answered before Angad could say anything. "Arre beta, ek hi baat hai na! ("My dear, it's the same either way isn't it!") And I have some things to explain to you too. So you come with me while Angad gets comfortable in his room. And Pragya puttar, you go upstairs and rest for now, you are looking quite flushed. And the rest of you, go back to whatever you were doing!"
Daadi spoke in such a commanding tone, no one could think of denying her. Angad was pleased to see such strength in his Indu Daadi's cousin. He was sure he was in for an interesting week ahead.
Resisting the urge to glance back at his prospective bride-to-be, Angad quietly followed Robin to get to his room. Mentally he made a list of questions to ask his Indu Daadi as soon as they were alone.
He knew the outline of the plan, but now that he was here it was definitely time for details.
Pragya sat in front of her vanity mirror, slowly brushing her hair on autopilot as her thoughts raced ahead.
Indu Daasi had come to see her a little while after everyone had dispersed from the family meeting. She had carefully explained that Angad had indeed come to Mehra mansion in hopes of marrying her.
Indu Daasi informed Pragya that Angad had made a love marriage in his early twenties, but it had ended in a bitter divorce several years ago. He was now ready to move on, and this time he was trusting his family to pick a true life partner for him. Daasi had told Angad about Pragya's situation with Abhi and Tanu's baby, and he was willing to marry her on short notice to help them deal with the family crisis.
But to be fair to them both, Indu Daasi and Abhi's Daadi wanted to give the two of them a few days to get to know each other. If they really liked each other, the marriage could go ahead. No one would force either of them to do anything, but Angad was already willing to give this idea a chance, and Indu Daasi hoped Pragya would be willing too.
Everything inside Pragya had screamed at her to tell Indu Daasi that she could never be willing for this. She loved Abhi, and she could not even begin to imagine a life with someone else, even though she knew that she would soon be leaving Abhi's side forever. That aside, the idea of another sudden marriage to a handsome celebrity certainly didn't appeal to her. She would have to be crazy to make that mistake twice.
But Pragya was good at ignoring the urges of her inner self, and even as she felt a range of negative feelings, she reminded herself that this was just something she had to do. This was Daadi's condition to accept Tanu and the baby, and so she couldn't possibly refuse.
Thus she had assured Indu Daasi that she was willing to give Angad a chance. Pragya agreed to spend the next few days in his company, and promised that she would seriously consider marrying him. She trusted Daasi and Daadi to have chosen a suitable husband for her, and all that remained now was for her to spend a bit of time getting to know Angad.
Indu Daasi had been very pleased by Pragya's answer. Before she left, she gave Pragya a reassuring hug and promised her that everything would work out just fine.
That promise was still echoing in Pragya's mind as she sat numbly in front of her mirror. She still felt conflicted about this new vision of her future suddenly presented to her, but she told herself that she'd just have to take it one moment at a time. Five days was not that long to make a life changing decision - but in five days there were countless moments, and somewhere along the way maybe she could learn to see Angad as her future.
She was still lost in these thoughts when Abhi finally came back to their room. The sound of him closing the door made her turn around in confusion. Neither of them usually bothered with that, so Pragya had to wonder what was going through Abhi's mind.
He still looked angry as he had down in the hall. She mentally braced herself for a confrontation.
Abhi slowly strode up to her, saying nothing even as she turned away from him to set down her brush. He met her gaze in the mirror. Pragya was acutely aware of his presence behind her. The heat of him at her back warmed her from head to toe, even though he wasn't touching her.
"So," he said, his voice low and dangerous. "They told you the plan?"
Pragya looked down at the vanity and tried to find a comb or clip or something else she could work into her hair. Anything so that she could avoid looking at him when his eyes were burning with something that made her want to shiver. "Yes, they told me," she confirmed curtly.
She found a jewelled hair clip she'd been meaning to return to Bulbul. It was not the kind of thing that she would usually put in her hair, but today seemed a better day than most to try something new. She found her comb too, and started to change her hair parting so that she could put in the clip.
But then Abhi tugged her to her feet. He turned her to face him. The comb and clip clattered from her hand.
"And you're going along with it?" His hand closed on her waist. She felt the same hot thrill surge through her blood that she always felt when he touched her.
She took a deep breath and looked up at him, determined to keep her composure even though being so near him made her feel unsteady. "Yes, of course."
They were already standing close, but then Abhi pulled her flush against him. She was distracted by how strangely good it felt to be crushed so tightly against his firm chest. But then his sharp tone cut through her daze as he demanded, "Do you really think you're going to have a life with him? He's going to take care of you and your family? He's going to make you feel like this?"
Pragya swallowed hard and leaned away from Abhi. She took hold of his wrist and pulled his hand off of her body. "Don't forget you're another woman's fiance, now. We're just roommates, and you need to stay away from me." She tried to step back, but the vanity chair behind her kept her in place.
"I'm your husband" Abhi growled, and at that Pragya couldn't repress a shiver.
"Y-you're not," she answered back, fighting to keep her voice even. "You're not and you never were. This was always a joke to you so now -"
"But it wasn't to you!" He reached out his hand, startling Pragya as he lifted the pendant of her mangal sutra between his fingers. His knuckles grazed the swell of her breasts, and her breath caught in her throat. "You've been wearing this every day in my name, haven't you?" He let the pendant slide lightly on his hand, treating it with a gentleness completely opposite to his dark mood.
Pragya remembered how Abhi had almost choked her when he snatched at the chain of her mangal sutra in Pune, when he thought she had helped Purab run away from marrying Aaliya. She recalled how he had cheerfully untied it before her would-be wedding to Suresh, and how Bulbul had to remind him to put it back on her. On both of those occasions he had treated the sacred necklace as no more than a meaningless prop.
But now...he was touching it with a reverence that she was shocked to see from him.
She realized that she couldn't afford to get lost in her thoughts at that moment, and with an effort she brought herself back to the present. "That doesn't matter now," she started, but then she stopped in confusion as he leaned past her to pick up something on the vanity.
"And this doesn't matter either?" He was cradling her pot of kumkum in his palm, and she watched with wondering eyes as he flicked the lid open with his thumb.
"This doesn't mean anything?" He took a pinch of the red powder between his fingers, and before she could stop him he pressed a streak of sindoor along her maang.
She clenched her eyes closed, overwhelmed by clashing feelings. Even though his hand had dropped away, she could still feel the whisper of his thumb against her forehead.
She was stunned that he'd done that. With his bare fingers. When he was angry. After everything that had happened, and when he was fully aware of how things were about to end between them.
It was more than she could process at once.
Her heart was beating double time. Something hot and quick rushed through her blood, swamping out all coherent thought. The last thing she needed now was to lose herself in a surge of hormones, but even though she wanted to - she couldn't control it.
At the back of her mind, sparks of anger and good sense told her to get away from him as fast as she could. But her overpowering natural reaction to Abhi drowned those out, keeping her rooted in place.
Then she felt his hand on her chin, and she had to open her eyes again.
He was leaning so close, she could almost feel his lips brushing against hers as he spoke. "You are already married," he said. "And this plan, like your plan, is utterly useless."
He finally stepped away from her, and the rush of free air brought some much needed oxygen to her brain. After a moment to catch her breath, she gathered herself enough to reply.
"Daadi and Daasi have arranged this possibility for me with great thought," she said, not meeting his eyes. "And like it or not, you and I are not meant to be together. You have a future ahead of you with Tanu and your baby -"
"It's not my baby!"
Abhi's anger became visible as the whole of his massive body went suddenly taut. He had that look on his face that meant he wanted to throw something, and with a pulse of alarm Pragya realized that he was still holding onto her kumkum pot.
But instead of throwing it, Abhi carefully set it down on the night table. He raked a hand through his hair, and the outrage in his face ebbed into frustration. "I don't understand why you don't believe me," he said.
Pragya could hear the plaintive note underneath the usual confidence in his voice, and internally she winced. She hated to see him begging her to believe him. She wished he would stop.
She made her voice harsher than she felt as she responded, "It's not about believing you. We have the reports -"
"They're not true!" Abhi suddenly grabbed her by her shoulders, and Pragya's nerves jumped to attention again.
She wanted to pull away from Abhi immediately, but the desperate look in his eyes held her still. Something deep inside her responded to the plea for understanding he was clearly making from the bottom of his heart. She really did want to believe him.
But facts could not be denied, and so she repeated to Abhi the same things she'd told him several times over the last few days. "Science doesn't lie, Abhishek. Every test says she's pregnant, and the first DNA analysis says you're the father. The next one will surely say the same -"
"Science doesn't lie, but I do?" Abhi let go of her and crossed his arms, a bitter expression taking over his face. "That's what you're saying? You'll believe some papers, but you won't trust me."
Pragya bit her lip. "Science doesn't lie, but men do. Men make mistakes and don't want to live up to their responsibilities, and women are left -"
"Again with your men and women dialogues!" Abhi interrupted, slashing his arm out in agitation. "We're not talking about all men everywhere, we're talking about me. Do you really think I could have done this? You know how much I respect Daadi, do you think I could have kept any relationship with Tanu that -"
"Look, I know you didn't mean to," Pragya said, trying to express a patience she no longer felt. "It was an accident but now -"
"Even as an accident!" Abhi reached for her again, this time lightly taking hold of her elbows. "I'm not so irresponsible. You know I'm not, you have to know I wouldn't -"
"The night you were drunk -"
"Nothing happened! I would know. You think a man's body could be used like that and he wouldn't know? That night -"
Pragya suddenly felt tired of returning to the same circular arguments they'd been having for days. Frustrated beyond endurance, she realized it was time to bring up something she had carefully avoided talking about in all the time since that wretched night. It was a reminder she didn't want to give him, but she felt in that moment that she no longer had a choice. She had to tell him, so that he would finally understand.
She interrupted his pointless talk about that night, her voice sharp but steady. "That night you could have made a baby with me and you wouldn't have known!"
Pragya watched Abhi's eyes widen with confusion. But he didn't say anything in response, so she forged on, "You were so drunk you couldn't remember anything the next morning -"
Abhi's hands fell from her elbows. "Make a baby with you? What is that supposed to mean?"
Pragya wrapped her arms around herself. She had never wanted to bring this up, but now that she had blurted it out of course she would have to face his questions. "See, you don't remember. You have no idea."
"No idea about what?" His voice was demanding but careful, as if he was afraid to hear her answer but still wanted to know.
Pragya closed her eyes for a moment, trying to banish the difficult memories flashing in her mind. She reminded herself that it was a long time ago now, and since she'd made the mistake of raising the topic she at least had to tell him the whole. She said slowly, "That night - that night, you came to me and - and - you wanted to - to assert your rights. You wanted to do what you thought Suresh did -"
"What?!"
"You grabbed me and you tried to - you wanted to -" Pragya was frustrated to realize that she couldn't find words to explain what had happened. She thought it shouldn't be so hard to talk about, but somehow even to herself, even after all these weeks, she had not let herself put a name to what he had attempted that night.
Thankfully, Abhi seemed to understand, and didn't prompt her to finish her sentence. Instead he just said in an aching voice, "Seriously? Did I really -?"
His incredulous reaction suddenly turned her angst to annoyance. "Yes, really!" she snapped. "And you don't remember, you have no clue -"
"But - why didn't you ever tell me -"
"Tell you what? That you came and groped me and wanted to take me to bed because you were angry and wanted to prove a point -"
"That I - that I touched you wrongly, that I -"
Pragya looked into Abhi's face then, and her irritation faded as she saw his stricken expression. Though the memories of that night still disturbed her, she didn't want him feeling upset now about something he never knew he'd done.
She answered, "I didn't tell you because it didn't matter. It doesn't matter. I pushed you out of the room, and you went to Tanu's place. The next day, you didn't remember and I had other things to worry about."
A flash of understanding crossed his face. "The next day...the next day you asked for the divorce."
"Yes. And the point is, you may not remember what you were like or what you did on that night, but I do remember, and -"
"And you think that because you wouldn't...give me rights, I went to Tanu?"
Pragya met his eyes, waiting to respond until he was looking back at her. "You did go to Tanu."
Abhi flinched. "But not for - not for that! I went just to see her, just to talk to her. I swear I didn't touch her, that or any other time after we got married -"
"But if you did, you wouldn't remember!" Pragya hesitated briefly and then continued in a matter of fact tone, "And it's not - not so hard to imagine is it? Tanu's your girlfriend, you love her -"
Abhi cut his hand through the air, as if to slash through her words. "I do not love her -"
Pragya shook her head and insisted, "Well you loved her then, or you thought you did. You needed comfort, and you'd - you'd had that kind of relationship in the past, so -"
Abhi let out a scornful laugh. "So I went to her when I was falling on my feet drunk and got her pregnant?"
The stark words hung heavily between them. They stood staring at each other, the weight of their situation burdening the air around them.
Finally Pragya said softly, "It's not impossible is it? Do you understand now, that maybe you just don't remember -"
"No. No, I'm still sure it never happened." Abhi spoke with conviction, but Pragya thought she could see the shadow of doubt in his eyes. He continued stubbornly, "I know it's not my baby. I don't think she's even pregnant, honestly! This is just her way of pressuring me -"
Pragya wrapped her arms around herself and looked away from him. "Look - I don't want to argue with you about this anymore. The next DNA results will be out in a few days, and you have until next week to - to prove your version of the truth."
"It's not a version of the truth, it is the truth!"
"And in the meantime," she continued firmly, pushing the words out of her throat even though she could barely acknowledge them in her own head, "We both have weddings to prepare for, and I have a groom to get to know -"
"No!" Once again, Abhi grabbed her, his hands curling tightly on her arms. "No - are you insane? Do you think I'm going to let my wife -"
Pragya pressed the flat of her palm against his chest and pushed him away. "You don't get to let me do anything. We both know what the reality is -"
Abhi let her step back from him. His fists balled at his side, but he didn't move. He countered bitterly, "No, you're stuck in some stupid delusion -"
"Ultimately," Pragya cut in, "We both want to do right by Daadi, so we are going to respect her plan -"
Abhi shook his head, his mouth twisting into an unhappy smile. "Daadi's plan is Angad. Me marrying Tanu is your plan."
"Just accept it, ok!" Pragya met his eyes, then her voice dropped to a whisper. "Just - just make it easier on all of us and accept it, please -"
Abhi's voice was equally low. "I can't. I can't accept -"
Pragya turned away, finally at the limit of her endurance. If he still wouldn't see reason, there was nothing more she could say. "Find a way," she said shortly. "I'm going to talk to Daadi now. See you at dinner."
She opened the door and stepped out before he could say anything else. As she walked blindly to Daadi's room, she tried to ignore the feeling that she was leaving her heart behind.
Thank you for reading. It means a lot to see your likes and comments 😳
Some explanatory notes are just below in the next post for some of the events AbhiGya refer to in their argument. Next update should be Monday, Feb 1. It will be from Daadi's point of view. Maybe a little bit of Abhi too, if the chapter doesn't get too long 😃
If you are interested in my other stories, an almost up-to-date list of my KKB fanfiction can be found at my index 😊 Edited by -mina- - 9 years ago
Cricket
7