Part 7
After they bid the family goodbye, Ahem lead Gopi to the art shop. She stopped outside the shop and looked at him curiously. He noticed her looking at him. "You wanted to shop in here right? I know you like to paint, so why not, go do your shopping."
She opened her mouth as if to say something, then just shook her head and went into the shop, muttering under her breath. He wasn't sure, but he thought he heard her say, "He is going to drive me crazy one day." Ahem was amused by her muttering and it reminded him of their days in college. Back in college, he had found out about her interest in art, as a matter of fact that's what she had wanted to study, and every time they went shopping she had always wanted go to the art shops first, and he had always made her wait till the end. She used to mutter about him the same way. He wondered what she has done with her art lately.
In the past eight months he had noticed her sketching several times, but never took the interest in what she was doing, but now he wanted to know what was in her sketchbook. He was so lost in his thoughts, he hadn't even realized she had finished shopping and was getting ready to pay for her purchases, before she could pay for them, he paid for the items, surprising her again. He took the purchases from the sales clerk and turned to Gopi, "Shall we go?"
Gopi was dumbfounded by his behavior, and wondered what's gotten into him, when just this morning he had turned away from her. In the end she concluded she will never understand his behavior and decided to keep quiet. She had more things to worry about than her husband's odd behavior.
Gopi's thoughts went back to what her mami had said earlier about her brother and how he had sent money for Rashi for Rakhi. This didn't surprise Gopi, her mami had always managed to show everyone how Rashi was the good girl and Gopi was the bad girl. She didn't care about the money that her brother had sent for Rashi, but it irked her because her mami always did everything for show, and not for any real caring in her part towards Gopi's family. She wished she could make her father understand her mami's true intentions, but her father had never believed her and never would.
Thought of her father reminded her of what Ketki kaki had said about her Kakima. Her kakima was returning soon, but will she want to see Gopi or would it be too painful for her? When her kakima had left India she had broken all relations with Gopi's father.
Gopi's kakima had been married to her dad's younger brother, who had died in a car accident at a young age, soon after that Gopi's mom had also died giving birth to Gopi. Her Kakima had raised Gopi as her own daughter and had also loved Gopi's brother just as equally, but all that had changed when Gopi's mami came to live with them with her two kids, after Gopi's mama died.
Gopi's mami had filled her dad's head with lies about kakima, and her father had swallowed each lie as a gospel truth, no matter how much her Kakima had defended herself, he had accused her of being after Gopi and Raj's inheritance, in the end Kakima's brother had insisted she leave that house, and then her younger brother had taken her to Australia to live with him, and her kakima hasn't returned in eight years.
Ahem had been watching Gopi from the corner of her eyes, and noticed she had once again withdrawn into her quiet solemn self. He had been hopeful when he had seen her smiling a genuine smile in a long time, and thought this is a good time to talk to her, and that's why he had sent his family ahead of them so he could talk to her alone.
But it seems Gopi has withdrawn into herself again, and he didn't know how to start a conversation with her. Its obvious something is bothering her again, but if he asks, she is only going to deny it.
His sister is coming back in two days from college, may be she will be able to help him. Kinjle has also been little mad at him from that night for jumping to conclusions. It all goes back to that night three months ago, if only he had paid attention to what was going on around him, instead of being so focused on the business discussion he was having with a colleague.
The party had been given by Umang, Anita's brother, for Anita's birthday, and he hadn't been able to refuse when she invited him along with Jigar and Kinjle also. Anita and Kinjle had become friends after she started working for him. Although she hadn't specifically invited Gopi, he refused to go without her. It had taken him Jigar, and the whole family badgering her until she had agreed to go with him. He didn't know why she had refused to attend this particular party, after all she had attended many business parties with him in the past.
When they arrived at the party he had been pulled into a discussion with some of his business associates, and didn't think about what Kinjle and Gopi were doing. He had noticed Gopi's friend Shruti along with her husband Ajay, so he had assumed Gopi was with them.
The party had been in full swing when someone asked him about Gopi who was nowhere to be found. He started to look for her, and ended up on the second floor. He was searching for her when he heard muffled noises coming from one of the rooms, he went towards the door and opened it to see Gopi was struggling with a guy on the bed, when the guy saw him he started pleading with Ahem to save him from the woman, he said the woman was forcing herself on him.
Ahem had not been in the greatest state of mind, all he kept seeing was Gopi laying on top of the guy and his temper had erupted. He hadn't paid attention to the bruises on Gopi's arms or scratch marks on the guy's cheeks. He had been unable to control his temper, and blasted at Gopi, in his temper he had said some things to her that he should not have said to her, just like he had back in college.
He had started to walk out the door in fit of anger leaving devastated Gopi behind, when he noticed Kinjle and Jigar standing behind him glaring at him. Kinjle had walked past him, straight to Gopi. He had watched as Kinjle wiped Gopi's tears and hugger her, she then walked out the room with Gopi followed by Jigar. He had stood there frozen realizing that something was not right. Kinjle, who had not liked Gopi up to that point, had taken Gopi to the hall bathroom to make her look presentable before going down the stairs and out the door. He had made his excuse to Anita and they had left the party.
Once they got home Gopi had gone straight to their room and locked herself in the bathroom. Kinjle had come in his room and blasted him for jumping to conclusion without knowing any facts. When he had tried to ask her what she meant, she had refused to tell him, and left in a fit of temper.
When Gopi had come out of the bathroom he had noticed her red rimmed, swollen eyes, as if she had been crying in the bathroom the whole time. She had done her nightly routine and walked out the room without once looking at him.
When he came out of the bathroom after his shower, Gopi had been in bed sleeping, or so he had thought at the time. It wasn't until the next day, when Jigar told him what had really happened, he realized that once again he had let his temper get better of him.
Jigar told him that someone had spilled something on Gopi's sari, and she had gone upstairs to clean it up. It was Kinjle who had noticed the guy watching Gopi the whole night and when she saw the guy following Gopi, she had come to find Jigar to take him upstairs, just in case the guy got too aggressive, and to their horror that's what had happened. Ahem had jumped to all the wrong conclusions because of his jealousy and past experience with Gopi.
Then week later Ahem had run into Gopi's friend Shruti and her husband Ajay. Shruti had starred daggers at him and revealed that she had overheard his friend Umang telling his sister how he had made sure Ahem hated Gopi forever, so that Anita could make her move on Ahem anytime she wanted to. She had also told him that's what they had done in college, it had been his friend Nick who had set up Gopi then and this time it had been Anita's brother Umang who had set her up, and Ahem had let her down both times.
Ahem had been too shocked to react or say anything to the couple before they moved off. He had walked to his car slowly and made few phone calls to his friends from college, who had confirmed what Shruti had said to him about Nick. He had drove to office and told Anita he was transferring her to another office without revealing to her he knew the truth about her birthday party fiasco and what had happened in college.
It had taken all his will power to not blast at Anita, but he had controlled himself, he knew if he revealed to her that he knew the truth, she and her brother would find another way to hurt Gopi, and he decided he would never let that happen again.
If only he hadn't waited so long to apologize to Gopi, it wouldn't be so hard now to get close to her. Instead there was more distance between them now then before.
In the beginning of their marriage, she had tried to bridge the distance between them, she had even tried to talk to him about what had happened in college, but he had always cut her off, by telling her he didn't want to talk about the past, and reminding her that he would never trust her. He had told this was only a marriage of convenience, and the day she gave him another reason to distrust her, that would also be the day of end of their marriage. Now that he wanted to bridge the distance between them, she had completely closed herself off from him, and it was his own fault.
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Hope you enjoyed the story. Sorry, it will be a week or two before I can update again.
Love Friendship Dating and Relationships
Bindi
