Chapter Twelve
"Aarti?" Prateek asked, touching Aarti's shoulder gently.
Aarti's eyes sprung open. Prateek looked at her swollen eyes and realized what happened. Of course his brother wouldn't accept a new wife so soon. Yash had brought Aarti home last night as his bride, telling them that Arpita's last wish was for Palak to have a mother.
He knew what happened last night. He knew that Aarti had been driving that car, but he didn't tell the rest of the family, since they did not know that it was Aarti driving the car. He was glad that Yash didn't tell either. Prateek didn't think he could bear Aarti getting insulted. She had been the only one who had supported him with his love for Paridhi.
"Aarti, please don't cry," Prateek said as she got up and wiped her eyes.
"I wasn't crying," Aarti told him, smiling.
Prateek knew that she was just pretending. There was no way that she could really be happy that Yash had thrown her out of their room.
"Don't lie to me. You don't trust me enough?" Prateek asked her sympathetically.
At that, Aarti's eyes welled up with tears. Prateek held out his arms and hugged Aarti comfortingly.
"It's my fault Prateek," she whispered. "It's all my fault."
Prateek rubbed her back soothingly.
"Aarti, it isn't your fault. It was an accident," he said, trying to comfort her.
She shook her head.
"No Prateek," she whispered again. "It's my fault. I should have been more careful."
Prateek sighed.
Aarti shut her eyes.
"Prateek, if I was careful, the car wouldn't have skidded. Yash lost his wife. You lost your sister in law. Palak lost her mom. Your family lost their daughter in law... and I lost my closest friend. And it was all because of my own stupidity."
Prateek patted her back.
"Come on Aarti, stop blaming yourself. Anyone could have made this mistake."
Aarti shook her head.
"It's my fault Prateek," she told him.
Aarti's thoughts wandered to yesterday's dreadful night.
"Aarti," Arpita said, smiling from the passenger seat. "You know, it's great that we're finally going out together after so long."
"Yeah Arpita... It's been years. I'm so glad we crossed paths again," she said laughing.
"I think Yashu wants to come to the movies too," Arpita told her, making Aarti feel slightly uncomfortable.
She wasn't sure if Arpita knew about her and Yash's past. She never told Prashant about it... would Yash tell Arpita?
"Mhm," Aarti said, forcing a smile.
Aarti still hadn't forgiven Yash for what he did four years ago. Now, four years later, they crossed paths again and Aarti felt that same hatred he left her with that night.
"He might come... he said he'll call me if he does come," Arpita said happily. "You know Aarti, it's been two years since Yash and I got married, and we were always careful because I didn't want kids. I wanted to get settled in my career first since a new doctor really needs to settle in. But Palak was a surprise. We weren't expecting her."
Arpita placed a hand on her belly.
"I love her so much. She means everything to me."
Aarti smiled at her friend, feeling happy for her. "She's going to be so cute," Aarti said with excitement. "I can't wait until she's born!"
Arpita grinned.
"When we found out, I knew we'd call her Palak right away. I've always been fond of that name. It means eyelash. She'll be the eyelashes on my eyes. She'll grow up and make me proud."
Aarti wondered what would have happened if her and Prashant's plan to have children worked out. They were married for a small period of time - barely two years. They had planned to have children, but then Aarti got into that ridiculous fight with him which only ended up with them divorcing.
"I'm sorry if I'm making you feel uncomfortable," Arpita said giggling, "I always thought it was weird when my parent's would talk about me all the time to everyone, but now I'm actually experiencing it. You just want to talk about your children forever."
"It's no problem, Arpita," she told her. "You can talk about Palak all you want. I love the name you chose for her."
Aarti wondered if she should ask the question nagging in her mind, because it could make Arpita uncomfortable. Since she really wanted to know, Aarti decided to ask.
"Arpita... you said that Palak was unexpected, does that mean you and Yash were using contraceptives?" she asked. "Sorry if I'm asking you something personal."
Arpita shook her head. "Nah it's nothing too personal Aarti," she replied, laughing. "After all, we used to vow to share every detail together when we were younger. We didn't use contraceptives towards the beginning of our marriage, but that was just us being irresponsible. We started using it later on because we realized that I shouldn't get pregnant this early on into my career. So Palak was definitely conceived when we were protected. Moral of the story, don't trust the darned contraceptives."
Aarti forced herself to laugh. She didn't know why hearing about Arpita and Yash's sex life made her feel uncomfortable. She knew it was her fault for asking, but she had a reason to ask...
Although it had been almost a year since her and Prashant's divorce, Aarti had come back to Mumbai to look for him. She used to stay in Bhopal with Shobha ma after Prashant moved out. Shobha ma was Prashant's mother. She and Prashant had ended their marriage mutually. They were both unhappy with the other one's habits. After the divorce, she started to feel lonely and realized that she really missed him. She had been the one who suggested the divorce, and now she regretted it. Hoping that Prashant felt the same way about her, Aarti had arrived at Mumbai. Usually, they'd have dinner together or just talk about getting back together. Prashant had agreed. He told her that he wanted to get back together with her, but it required a lot more thought, because their habits might just annoy each other even more later on.
Aarti knew that marriage wasn't a game. She couldn't choose to leave him and then get back with him whenever she chose to, so she cursed herself everytime when she thought about it. Even Shobha ma had given her and Prashant a long lecture on how they were irresponsible humans when she found out that they got divorced behind her back.
She was interrupted from her thoughts by Arpita's phone. Arpita picked it up with a smile on her face. "Yashu!" she exclaimed. "What do you mean you have a surprise for me?"
She looked away from Aarti and laughed. "Yashu be quiet. Stop teasing me! Okay sweetheart, I promise... yes, I promise that we'll put up the crib tonight... you know we still have three weeks until Palak arrives. Why are you in a hurry? Yeah... your daughter is going to be the death of me! She doesn't stop kicking!"
Aarti couldn't stop herself from smiling as she drove the car. The way Yash and Arpita spoke to each other was very sweet. From the corner of her eye, she noticed Arpita watching her. Aarti turned her smile into a neutral expression quickly.
"So tell me Yashu, will you come to the movies with us?" Arpita asked. "Oh - what? Don't tell me you're expecting a proposal!"
Arpita giggled, and Aarti couldn't stop herself from feeling slightly jealous. She didn't know why.
"Yeah... you will? Okay, where are you? Near us? Whereee?" she moaned, craning her head to look around.
Aarti got distracted for a moment when she noticed the black car in the mirror. Then suddenly, a car was changing lanes, and she hit the brakes hard. The car skidded as Aarti moved the steering wheel to save them from the other car. They were saved from the car... but, they hit a tree instead.
"Arpita!" she could hear through Yash's mobile as Arpita's tummy hit the dashboard hard, and she started to scream in pain.
"Prateek, Palak closed her eyes forever," Aarti whispered. "Her eyelashes, Palak closed her eyes. I'm horrible."
Prateek broke the hug and looked at her with a confused expression. "Huh?"
"Nevermind," she whispered. "Prateek... how are you so indifferent to all of this? You haven't shed a tear."
Prateek looked away from Aarti.
"Aarti... I don't know how. She was the best. We were best friends, Arpita and I. I used to tell her everything," he started, his voice croaking."It's funny right? Arpita seemed to know before all of us... she knew that she wasn't going to make it. Maybe because she was a doctor herself, she knew what the chances were..."
It was Aarti's turn to hug him now. She patted his head comfortingly. "It'll be okay Prateek," she said, unsure of how true her words were.
Just then Vidhi appeared with Palak and said, "Aarti, Palak is crying. I have to help prepare for the last rites. Please take care of her."
She passed the baby over to Aarti and left.
Aarti smiled softly at the baby. Oh she was so cute. Aarti had been right. Arpita would be so proud to see her child.
"Palak baby," she cooed, as the baby cried. Aarti bent down and kissed its forehead. "Oh you're so pretty."
Prateek stroked Palak's head gently and smiled. "She'll be the reason you get over this. Just you watch," he told Aarti with a sad smile. "And you'll be the reason that Yash'll get over Arpita."
Aarti looked at him, surprised. "Me?" she asked.
"Yes, you," Prateek said, before disappearing to his room.
Aarti mulled over his words and sat on ground, leaning on the wall beside the door while she held the baby.
"Don't cry my child," she whispered to Palak, rocking her gently.
Just then Yash opened the door and glared at Aarti.
"What's with all the noise?" he asked rudely.
"The baby is crying," Aarti replied, affronted.
"Well take her somewhere else then," Yash said angrily.
Aarti's mouth dropped open. "How can you behave that way Yash? She's your daughter."
"Not since you became her mother."
"Yash!" Aarti shouted, "How can you say that? She's your and Arpita's daughter. Just look at her once, she's so innocent."
Yash looked away from Aarti. "I'm never looking at her!" he snarled.
Aarti felt her lips press together in annoyance. "You aren't going to neglect her Yash. Arpita would have never wanted that."
Just then, Gayatri appeared and gave Yash a stern look.
"Yash, Prateek told me that Aarti was out here the whole night. If you couldn't respect her then why did you marry her? I'm appalled by your behaviour. She's going to stay with you, in your room. She's your wife. No excuses!"
Yash angrily looked away.
Gayatri stepped forward and held Yash's arm comfortingly. "Look Yash. We're all sad about Arpita. I'm sad too, but we can't stay stuck in the past. You have to move on Yash."
"I can't. I won't ever move on ma. I'll never forget her."
Gayatri sighed. "Yash, cry, cry all you want. But you can't stay like this forever."
Aarti watched tears fill Yash's eyes as he fell to his knees and hugged Gayatri. "Ma, I can't live like this," he whispered.
She felt a pang in her heart as she watched Yash hold Gayatri's midriff.
"Aarti, go into your room with Palak," Gayatri instructed.
Aarti nodded and entered Yash's room. She placed the baby on the bed gently and smiled at its innocence.
"Don't worry dear Palak, your father loves you very much. Just let him look at you once."
Then suddenly Mr. Suraj Pratap Scindhia, Yash's father, walked into the room and sat on the bed. Aarti bent down to receive his blessings.
"Be happy," he told her. "Can I hold her?"
Aarti nodded. "Of course! You don't have to ask," she told her father in law. She handed him Palak and his face lit up immediately.
"Aarti," her father in law said, sounding hesitant, "the circumstances in which you arrived here were not so nice. I'm sorry you had to see all this. But you were in the car last night, right? Were you driving? Can you tell me the whole story?"
Aarti looked down at her hands and narrated the whole story to him. She told him how she got distracted by Yash's car, and then all of a sudden, the car beside her was changing lanes, and she had to turn. She had no other choice.
After she finished telling her story, Suraj nodded. "It isn't your fault beta, you didn't do anything wrong. You were just trying to be safe... the circumstances were unavoidable. I hope you aren't blaming yourself."
Aarti forced herself to smile at him. Of course she blamed herself. She, herself, was the reason that Arpita wasn't there anymore. If only she had been more careful...
"Aarti, there will be a lot of if only's in life," Suraj said, as if he read her mind. "But you have to remember that the past is the past. We can't go back and change it. Arpita was a great daughter in law... I'll miss her a lot, but if we grieve her loss forever, we won't ever be able to live again."
Aarti looked away, unable to meet his eye. Why did Yash's father have to be such a nice man? He was trying to give her peace of mind, but Aarti knew better.
"That being said," he continued, "I want to assign you your first task as the daughter in law of this family. I want you to make Yash smile again."
Aarti's eyes widened. How was she going to be able to fulfill this task? Yash hated her. She might be able to cast aside her hatred for him in order to do this, but there was no way he would ever smile after what she did.
"I know that you and Yash might not be on good terms right now, but Yash won't be able to blame you forever. He'll realize that this was meant to be," her father in law went on, reading her mind once again. "Give it some time."
With that he passed Palak back to Aarti, touched her head affectionately, and left the room.
Aarti didn't know what had just happened. She cradled Palak in her arms, and pondered over her father in law's words. After some thought, she came to a conclusion. She looked at Palak as she whispered, "I'll bring your father back. I'll make sure you get all the love you deserve to get. I'll do it just for you."
But first, she needed to give him time.
--
I cannot believe my updating speed right now. I hope you don't mind these fast updates!
Edited by ilovepyaar - 12 years ago
Current Affairs
