AryLie FF - Aryan&Imlie - Epilogue Page 32 (Dt. 13 Mar) - Page 13

Pankaj Tripathi, Papa, Imlie’s Ex-Father-In-Law

It has been a whole day since they had ousted Malini from their home.

A full day. Of thinking. Contemplating.

Malini had made them see something they were not wanting to see. Malini had revealed something they did not want revealed. Malini had spoken the truth they all wanted was false. Malini had left, but she had left something for him to ponder over.

Pankaj believed himself a good man and a good father. Yes, he made mistakes sometimes, but he believed that he recognised his mistakes, learnt from them and tried to rectify them.

At first, when he had realised the relationship between Aditya and Imlie, his thoughts and his views of Imlie had taken a turn. He had, like the rest of them, made Imlie the sole culprit in the crime against Malini, which Aditya and Imlie both had committed. Yes, he had been ashamed of his son, but he had blamed Imlie for enticing him more. Yes, he knew that an affair was the fault of both people, but he considered Imlie to be at fault more.

Where Aditya loving Imlie had been a shock, Imlie and Aditya being married had been a shock too.

Pankaj had reacted poorly.

But he had come around quickly too. When Imlie saved their son, he’d seen how Imlie loved his son. He realised that there would be no one else in this world who would love his son like that. He embraced their togetherness after that.

He even tried to make his wife understand that, and she too came around, eventually.

The period when Malini had hurt his son, in the worst possible way, Imlie was the only one standing by Aditya, the only one trying to fight for Aditya, despite the family’s taunts, despite the society’s insults, despite Aditya losing his job and blaming Imlie for it, despite Imlie being suspended from her college, Imlie stood by Aditya.

His son however, did not.

It was difficult to see his son suffer so much because of Malini, but he tried to put some sense into him time and again, only for it to turn to nonsense due to his son’s impatience and recklessness. It was difficult watching Imlie broken because of his son, and him not being able to do anything about it.

Pankaj had been clueless to the extent of what Malini had done to take Imlie away from Aditya.

That day, yesterday, they had come to know everything and it was not a hard leap to take, not difficult to assume that Imlie did all of it for their son.

After all, she has already done so much for their Aditya, it was easy to assume that Imlie would go to such lengths for him.

But what Malini had said to them, still reverberated around his head.

Was what she said held credence? Or was it just one of the other ways Malini was manipulating them? Did everyone else in the family really see it? Or were they just disappointed in Aditya so much that they would rather be happy for Imlie, her being with Aryan?

Regardless, he had sent Aditya to office today, with hope that Imlie would forgive Aditya. Slowly, but surely, Imlie was bound to come back home with Aditya.

But the doubt remained, and he went to Bhaskar Times for lunch that day, hoping to catch his son and Imlie together. Hoping to instil within Imlie that Aditya would beg for forgiveness if need be. Hoping to clarify all the doubts he had regarding Aryan&Imlie, in that they were Aryan and Imlie.

He was disheartened to know that both Aditya and Imlie were off to follow their respective leads. But he was quick to recover, and tried to devise a plan to make them both talk to him. He decided that he would wait for them and would make them sit with him.

He would feed them his knowledge and try to make them understand that what they had was hard to come by and they should not let it go.

Before he could even sit in the waiting room the receptionist was asking him to move towards Mr. Rathore’s cabin. He smiled, Aryan had been taught great manners by his mother. Pankaj was not always impressed by him, but meeting Aryan’s mother put a whole lot of perspective into him. She was another strong woman who raised her children right.

He smiled at the receptionist and moved towards Aryan’s cabin.

He was on his phone, and excused himself for a moment, indicating for him to have a seat. He smiled at him and took a seat.

Almost after a minute, Aryan was back in his seat and greeting him. Pankaj was always floored by the guy’s etiquettes. His son has spoken to Mr. Rathore and his family atrociously on more than one occasion, and never had Aryan spoken out of turn to their family, just Aditya and Malini.

Aryan asked then, “I assume aap Mr. Tripathi se milne aaye hai?(I assume you’ve come here to meet Mr. Tripathi?)”

Pankaj's smile thwarted then, unsure how much he could reveal to this person now that he had listened to what Malini had revealed, but he replied, “Aur Imlie se bhi. (And Imlie too.)”

Aryan raised an eyebrow, and asked, “Aap dono se milne aaye hai? How nice of you.(You’ve come to meet both of them? How nice of you.)”

Pankaj detected a hint of sarcasm in his voice, but he couldn’t guess it’s purpose, so he answered, truthfully, at least to some extent, “Haan woh, Imlie ne humare family ke liye itna kuch kiya, Adi ke liye itna kuch kiya—(Yes, actually, Imlie did so much for our family, and Adi too—)”

Aryan interrupted him in the middle, “I’m sorry, what?”

Pankaj was astounded with his behaviour then, never before having heard that tone of his being used on adults, well except Anu Chaturvedi, but she deserved it, and repeated, “Imlie Adi ke liye Malini ki sachai sabke saamne leke aayi—(Imlie, she brought out Malini’s truth in front of everyone for Adi—)”

But he was interrupted yet again by a snort of laughter from Aryan.

He looked into Aryan’s eyes and they were anything but amused. He could not read the emotion in them. Incredulity? Anger? Disbelief? Annoyance? He had absolutely no idea.

Aryan declared, “Oh, Mr. Tripathi, you could not be more wrong.”

Now Pankaj was annoyed, he asked, his tone turning bitter, “Kya matlab hai tumhara Aryan?(What do you mean Aryan?)”

Aryan, however, his voice still amused, answered, “Mera matlab yeh hai, Sir, ki Imlie ne uss din jo bhi kiya, woh Mr. Tripathi ke liye to bilkul nahi kiya.(I mean, Sir, whatever Imlie did that day, she definitely didn’t do it for Mr. Tripathi.)”

Pankaj, wary of Aryan, continued to ask, “Toh fir usne yeh kyun kiya? Kya zaroorat thi?(So why did she do it? What was the need?)”

Aryan, blinked once, and then smirked, “Kuch had tak aapki family ke liye, woh aap ki family ko apne bete se dur nahi jaane dena chaahti thi. But I believe, Imlie ne woh sab kuch apne liye kiya.(To some extent, it was for your family, she didn’t want you guys to lose your son. But I believe, Imlie did all that for herself.)”

Aryan’s vague answer did nothing to quell Pankaj’s wariness, and it may have shown on his face because Aryan continued, “You consider yourself as Imlie’s father figure, right?”

Pankaj nodded blatantly, unaware of his faults as Imlie’s father figure.

Aryan continued then, “Imagine now, Sir. Imlie is your only daughter. Mr. Tripathi jaisa koi beta nahi hai aapka. Imlie ki zabardasti shaadi ho gai, iss baar kissi aur se, joh aapka beta nahi hai. Aur woh insaan Imlie ko apne ghar mein uski rightful place nahi deta, uske saamne kissi aur se shaadi karta hai, fir jab usse Imlie se pyaar ho jaata hai, he leaves his new wife, only he does not leave her fully. Now, Imlie aapki beti hai, tell me, kya aap usse aise insaan ke liye kuch bhi karne denge?(Imagine now, Sir. Imlie is your only daughter. You don’t have Mr. Tripathi as your son. Imlie is married forcefully, this time with someone else, someone who’s not your son. And that person does not give Imlie her rightful place in his home, marries someone else in front of her, then when he falls in love with Imlie, he leaves his new wife, only he doesn’t leave her fully. Now, Imlie is your daughter, tell me, would you let her do anything for such a person?)”

Pankaj’s confidence in Imlie’s intentions staggered.

Aryan, however, was not done. He continued, “Ms. Chaturvedi constantly Imlie se jeet ti aayi hai. Pehle Mr. Tripathi ka pyaar. Fir unka parivaar. Fir unka bharosa. Fir unka naam. I think, aapka beta aapse dur nahi jaane dena uske liye sirf ek bahana tha. I think, Sir, Imlie needed a win. Desperately. Because jab se woh Mr. Tripathi aur aapke family ka hissa bani hai, she has been losing and losing and losing. Imlie needed to win just once. To get it all behind her.(Ms. Chaturvedi has constantly won against Imlie. Be it Mr. Tripathi’s love. His family. His trust. His name. I think not letting your family lose their son was just an excuse for her. I think, Sir, Imlie needed a win. Desperately. Because since she has been a part of your family, she has been losing and losing and losing. Imlie needed to win just once. To get it all behind her.)”

Pankaj had never quite seen it that way. But whatever he had said was the truth in every respect.

He looked at Aryan with this new realisation taking place within himself.

Aryan smirked, smug beyond belief, and kept up, “I think Mr. Tripathi, aapko yeh consider karna chahiye ki aap asal mein Imlie ke Papa hai hi nahi.(I think Mr. Tripathi, you should consider that you have never really behaved as Imlie’s Papa, not once.)”

Pankaj glowered at him, “Yeh kya keh rahe ho tum Aryan?(What are you saying now Aryan?)”

Aryan retorted, “Sahi keh raha hun main Mr. Tripathi. Agar aap Imlie ke Papa hote toh aapko yeh realisation hone mein meri help nahi lagti.(I’m speaking what’s right Mr. Tripathi. If you’d been Imlie’s Papa, you wouldn’t have needed me to help you to get to this realisation.)”

Pankaj was stunned once again. This man spoke truth like no one’s business.

Aryan, still not done, said, “Mr. Tripathi, Sir, you may have earned the right of being called Imlie’s father, but you’ve lost it more than enough times. Now, I believe, Imlie will call you that forever. Because for Imlie, having earned that right once is enough to make her obligated to call you that for a lifetime.”

Before he could answer that, Aditya was there, and he couldn’t even think to look for Imlie. He had lunch with his son in a daze. The contemplations after what Malini had said yesterday were nothing compared to the way his brain was overworking now in reaction to what Aryan had said to him.

But at least, his brain yelled, Malini had been right yesterday.

Aryan understood Imlie in a way none of them did. Aryan was there for Imlie when none of them were. Aryan was listening to Imlie even when she didn’t speak.

How could his son ever compete with that?

How could his son ever come between Aryan&Imlie?

There was absolutely no way Aditya could catch up to where Aryan&Imlie were now.

He looked at his son in pity. He didn’t know where he went wrong, but Aditya went wrong so thoroughly and for so much time that he got left behind while the love of his life moved on. Imlie moved on, and they were all to blame for it.

They were not nice people. He was not a good father. He was biassed at best, and blind at worst. The assignment was to be there for his daughter, and he failed spectacularly. He became someone who was there for his daughter-in-law, but only till his daughter-in-law was there for his son.

He hoped his wife had better luck than he did.