16
Tia Kapoor watched her fiance as he sat across her. He was replying to his emails, getting some urgent work done before their friends arrived for this informal dinner party. She wondered if he had even noticed that she had worn the diamond set that he had gifted her on their first anniversary of being together as a couple. He had barely given her a glance even as they had gone through their routine of polite kisses and dry hugs. She couldn't complain really. She knew he was working on a large acquisition deal and had still kept his word and come for this party. He was a man of his word in every sense of the term. She remembered the thing her mother had told her after meeting him for the first time when they had started dating.
"He'd be a good husband."
Yes. Shivay would never let her down. He would respect her wishes, her desires. He would never force her to change or change for her. Never promise her something he wouldn't give. And she had been happy with that till now. Happy to have found someone who wasn't suffocating in his demands or possessiveness. She was prepared to play second fiddle to his work, which she knew would always come before her. But that was before she had seen that fire within him. The fire that seemed to change his very aura whenever Anika came into the picture. What months of reiki had not made possible, she had seen happen with a simple exchange of glances, a few barbed words thrown at each other. She had witnessed his vibes change from the usual stressed, tightly wound up energy he generally carried with him to one that was as unfamiliar to her as it was beautiful. And it had not happened because of her. Tia Kapoor watched Shivay as she wondered what it would feel like to live a lifetime married to him, always knowing that it was she who was the 'other woman'.
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Anika banged the front door shut and then pushed the latch in place, locking it. Saahil watched her with a nervous expression on his tiny face. She somehow managed to muster a grin and walked up to him. Then standing there with hands on hips she brought that mock stern look of hers.
"Saahil, homework nahi karna hai?"
The nervous expression disappeared and Saahil looked at her with his usual cheekiness. Without further ado, she handed him his bag and left him to solve his daily fix of a dozen sums. Then she went to the kitchen to battle with her demons as she prepared dinner.
It had been sheer foolishness from the outset. To think that she could simply bypass all the rules that society had laid down over generations. Prinku, bless her heart, had meant well. But after all, none of her friends really knew anything about her. She had never confided to anyone about her past. How could Prinku have known? But she should have known! She should have not allowed any of this to happen. She had been so careful all her life but increasingly she was forgetting her own rules. What happened between her and Billuji had changed everything. Why had she agreed to meet Nishanth? Wasn't it actually to show HIM that those kisses meant nothing? She had gone down a road she had long forbidden to herself simply to prove a point to a man who didn't care two hoots what she did with her life. And today she could blame no one but herself for this humiliation.
The cause for Anika's distress was the fact that it being a Sunday, Nishanth had finally accepted her invitation and paid them a visit. The moment she had opened the door to welcome him in, she had noticed that his usual cheeriness was missing. He looked around him with an edgy wariness and weakly smiled at her before entering the house. And things had simply gone downhill from there on. Throughout his stay, he had sat at the edge of the sofa, barely speaking. She had joked about the fact that he must be setting foot inside a chawl for the first time in his life but he hadn't really joined in her laughter. At first, Anika had been too busy in bringing in the tea she had arranged for him but once she had sat down across him, it had slowly dawned on her that there was an unusual restlessness in him.
"I didn't realize--" he had said with a faint chuckle that had no humour in it. And she had seen it in his eyes. He had seen her home, seen her for the first time within her reality and had judged her to be beneath him. His eyes darting around the room were looking for an escape. His pose was of one who was waiting for the first opportune moment to leave. And she had felt red hot anger spiral into being within her. To have her lifetime of struggle so written off with one prejudiced glance by a man SHE had allowed into her life made her bile rise. It was as if she had always known this would happen. Still she had given him a final opportunity.
"Did you have difficulty in finding the place?" she had asked picking up her cup of tea, trying to bring a normalcy to the situation.
He had replied but his veneer of politeness was too thin to mask the discomfort and contempt that ran through him. And then she had fallen silent and allowed the silence to stretch. She had looked at the man squirm in his seat, trying to hide the disgust that was coursing through him, almost as if to punish herself for indulging in foolish fancies.
When he had risen to leave, it was he who had asked, with such stiff politeness, when they could meet again. For the first time since they had started dating, Anika found herself making up an excuse. She would salvage whatever was left of her dignity. As she told him that this wasn't working for her, she could see the relief dawn in him. His politeness had not allowed him to take this step but he took the straw she threw at him like a drowning man, ready to write off their shared moments as a failed experiment. Perhaps mildly relieved to not have to share the responsibility of breaking up with the girl who had some kind of connection with the Oberoi family. And then Saahil had returned from the playground with Ali, another kid from their neighbourhood. She had watched his awkwardness increase, his nervous glances towards Saahil's crutch. It was all too much for him, she grimly realised. Whatever he had felt for her was sinking before such social realism that one visit had thrown upon him. And then she knew for certain he was no match for her. As she watched him walk towards his car carefully stepping over puddles and the muck, her anger had turned upon her, lashing at her for her own weakness.
By the the time dinner was ready, her smile was back in place. Looking at her none would suspect the storm that still raged within her, chastising her, making her rebuild those walls she had allowed to crumble over the last few weeks.
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The brothers had sat down for breakfast with Daadi when Prinku rushed in.
"Daadi, Choti ma is having a nervous breakdown!"
Everyone looked alarmed at this news and then immediately all of them turned and glared at Shivay.
"What?" He said shrugging his shoulders. "I only said that I will not have a ridiculous procession of dancing baraatis at my wedding."
He turned back to his plate even as he could feel their reproachful stares on him.
"Billu," Daadi began in a stern voice, "you know how important this wedding is for your mother."
"Daadi, it's not like I'm refusing to get married! I just don't want to do it sitting on a horse!"
Shivay said hotly as he stabbed his fork through the Spanish omelette he had so carefully prepared just a while back.
A collective gasp ran though the room and for a second it seemed like the Battle of Panipat would be reenacted then and there. However before things could escalate, a voice broke in.
"Good morning!"
Anika beamed at Daadi as she stepped into the room.
"Puttar!" Daadi greeted her, relief shining through her face.
"Didi!" Rudra stood up and walked over for his hug.
"Ani," Prinku turned to her friend. "Bhaiya is being so difficult."
With a quick glance in his direction, Anika rolled her eyes and laughed as she said, "Arrey iss mein nayi baat kya hai? Tell me something new."
Priyanka caught hold of Anika's hand and led her out as she filled her in on Shivay's declarations about the wedding which had so floored Pinky. Those sitting at the table heard her saying, "Don't worry yaar, I'll have him sitting on a ghori yet!" before the two girls went out of earshot.
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