146. OS: 6 An Unwanted Wife (Part 19)

Section 19

Khushi walked in to their room. Arnav followed, shutting the door after him.

She had been silent throughout the ride back. He looked at her, worried.

“Arnavji,” she held out the jewellery box. “Will you place it in your locker?”

“Yes,” he assented. “You like it, Khushi?”

“Very much,” her lips trembled slightly. “Geetaji loves you so much.”

“Yes,” Arnav smiled slowly. “Her doctor told me not to visit her once she left the hospital, to force her to come to Delhi once a month so that she would get out of the rut of work, treatment and more work. She is a very social person who loves spending time with friends. He wanted to save her from slipping in to depression after Anand’s demise and her own illness began.”

“She will be alright?” Khushi’s voice was low, scared.

“Her doctor believes she has won over the disease. There will be regular monitoring, but she should be alright,” Arnav smiled.

He took the box from her and placed it along with the documents and the key in his safe.

He turned around to see Khushi sitting on the bed, her hands clasped on her lap. He walked towards her on silent feet and sat down. He took hold of her hand.

“Don’t be sad, Khushi. She will be alright, perfect,” he comforted her.

Khushi leaned against him, her head on his shoulder. Her fingers tightened on his.

“Arnavji,” she asked softly.

“Hmm?” he asked, resting his cheek against the top of her head.

“Arnavji, why didn’t you invite Geetaji to our wedding?” she asked.

ASR felt his heart shudder to a stop.

“It was all so sudden, Khushi...” he whispered.

“Sudden?” Khushi asked. “The two families discussed the marriages for one full month before the date was fixed.”

ASR drew in a deep breath. He had no answer to give her. If he told her the truth she would feel he hadn’t wnated to marry her...not that he had wanted to marry her....He mentally hit his head against the nearest wall. What a coil he had trapped himself in! Damned if he replied. Damned if he didn’t.

“Arnavji,” she began without waiting any longer for a reply that wasn’t coming. “Did you want to marry some other girl?”

“Marry some other girl?” he frowned. “No,” he said. “I never had the least intention of marrying any girl.”

“Then why did you marry me?” Khushi asked.

ASR felt scared. There was something in her voice, some sense of fatality, a tragic tone of acceptance that terrified the life out of him.

“Khushi, we are married,” he cupped her face in his hands. “That is all that matters.” He tried to reassure her.

“No, Arnavji. You never wanted to marry. Your family tried to force you to marry me. You refused,” she recounted.

He stared at her with wide eyes.

“Nani pretended to fall ill so that you would feel guilty and agree to marry me. Their plan worked. Furious that you had been forced to marry me, you stormed to Lucknow at the last minute and married me unseen. That is the truth, isn’t it, Arnavji?” Her voice was low, soft. There was no sense of injury or recrimination in her tone.

ASR parted his lips to respond but he could not find his voice. How could he refute the truth?

“You didn’t even look at me during the wedding. I thought it was because you were shy like Jiju...but it was because you hated me, waasn’t it?” she asked, her sad eyes on his.

"Khushi," he whispered.

“It is alright, Arnavji. I just wish...I just wish I had known earlier. If I had been told the truth before our wedding, I would never have married you. I would have kicked up a hungama and our marriage would not have happened. Both of us would have escaped this trap,” she sighed.

“Khushi,” he pulled her to lie against his heart.

“I didn’t know. I thought...I thought you saw my photo and were willing to marry me. Arnavji, did you even look at my photo?” she asked directly, lifting her head to look at him.

“No,” he admitted. “I threw it away when they showed it to me. I was angry with them, Khushi, never with you,” he tried to comfort her.

She moved back and pulled up her feet to sit cross-legged on the bed. She dragged a pillow on to her lap and sat clutching it.

“I...I didn’t know, Arnavji. I thought ours was a marriage like Jiji and Jiju’s. I didn’t know you were unwilling to marry me, that I was dumped on you,” she whispered.

“Khushi, all this doesn’t matter. Let’s look forward. Let’s see how to take our relationship further,” he tried to drag her mind away from the mess of their marriage.

“Yes, Arnavji. Our future. Yours and mine. It is time we planned it. This time we will decide what is going to happen to us, not your family, not mine,” she agreed.

He drew in a deep breath of relief.

“I would like to leave Delhi, Arnavji...take up a job.. be independent. But not in Lucknow,” Khushi said clearly, joilting him out of his comfort.

“What the!” he exclaimed.

“What would you like to do after we separate?” she asked him, her eyes on his astounded features.

“Separate? Who is going to separate?” he asked.

Khushi frowned. “We,” she said.

“Why?” he gasped. “Why should we separate?”

“Because this marriage was not wanted by you. Because this is not the marriage I wanted,” she said.

He stared at her, trying to make sense of what was happening in his life.

She looked down at her fingers holding the softness of her pillow.

“I didn’t have a lot of dreams to start with, Arnavji. Even when all my classmates looked at handsome boys and sighed over them, I never wished that I would meet someone and fall in prem with him, fight my family for him or run away to get married against the wishes of my family. Nor did I dream of a prince riding on a horse and coming to take me away from my mundane life or of marrying a wealthy businessman and moving to Delhi...or leading a life different from my ordinary middle-class one.  I just never, never wanted to humiliate the family that had adopted me. All I wanted was to obey them, make them feel they hadn’t made a mistake in adopting me. I knew that when it was time for my marriage, my family would find a boy, an ordinary boy. But I had one expectation, Arnavji. Just one,” she sighed. “I imagined, dreamed that I would be marrying a man who was willing to marry me, who wanted to spend his life with me. I never...not in my wildest dreams thought that I would be tied to a man who hated the very sight of me, who had no desire to marry me,” she said softly.

“Khushi,” he whispered, tears clogging his throat.

“I thought we would have an ordinary life in our own choti si duniya,” she said. “I never thought I would be a burden after marriage too, Arnavji.”

“Khushi, you are not a burden,” he protested.

“Ten years, Arnavji. I spent ten years in Lucknow as Sasi Gupta’s adopted daughter, as the homeless orphan he had taken in out of the kindness of his heart,” she sighed. “It is not that they were unkind to me, Arnavji. I am not complaining about them. They were very kind, very generous. But an outsider is always an outsider. Everything good I did was seen as my duty, as paying Babuji back for his generosity. If I got good marks, my teachers used to tell me that it was good that I had a keen sense of gratitude to Babuji. If I was mischievous and got caught, the teachers would ask me if I was not ashamed to repay Babuji with such ingratitude. If I played with fireworks during Diwali and hurt my hand, the neighbours would say that I was adding to Babuji’s problems. If I laughed loudly, the chachis near our house would say that I was trying to attract the attention of boys and dishonour Babuji.  I thought...” she choked to a halt. She drew in a deep breath and continued with difficulty, “I thought I would escape this vicious cycle after marriage, be free of this burden of obligation, finally live a life with a man who was not doing me any favours by marrying me, would see me as an equal in our marriage, would want to lead a life with me...” she shook her head at her unrealistic expectations. “I should have known...I should have known...” she choked to a halt.

“Khushi, Khushi, listen to me, please,” Arnav caught hold of her shoulders. “Please.”

She nodded.

“Listen carefully, Khushi. I...” he began.

There was a knock on the door.

He turned angry eyes toward the shut door.

“Chotey, Khushiji, Nani wants to talk to all of us. Come down, please,” Anjali called.

He grit his teeth.

“Chotey, it is urgent,” she urged him. 

“We will come down,” he bit out.

Anjali left.

 He looked at Khushi. “Our conversation is not over, Khushi. Let’s finish the nonsense downstairs and get back to talk this out.”

She nodded. He dried her cheeks with his fingers and helped her up.

Arnav led Khushi down to the hall.

Nani looked at her family with pride on her face.

“I am planning a pooja and a get-together here, Chotey. Today is Monday. We can hold it on Wednesday evening,” Nani declared.

“Whatever,” Arnav replied.

“It is for Akash bitwaa and Payal bitiyya and their unborn child. I am thinking of inviting all our friends. You are happy, aren’t you, Payaliyaa?” Nani asked.

Payal smiled.

“How many guests have we included in the list, Anjali bitiyya?” Nani asked.

“Two hundred ladies, Nani,” Anjali smiled, taking a look at the list she had compiled.

“I want to give the guests silver coins as gifts,” Nani said. “Khussi bitiyya, I want you to order them.”

Khushi nodded.

“Catering has to be good, better, best, Saasumma. Or my friends will make fun of me,” Mami said.

“Khussi, Anjali bitiyya will help you fix the menu. You call the caterers and fix everything with them,” Nani smiled. “Dhyan rahe that the sweets are Lucknawi sweets.”

Khushi nodded.

“The decoration should be done with jasmine, rajnigandha, red roses and marigold,” Anjali looked around the hall. “Our house will look stunning. “Khushiji, you must accompany me when we go to meet the florists.”

Khushi nodded.

All smiled in satisfaction.

“No, she will not,” ASR declared.

All, including Khushi turned to look at him in shock.

“Khushi is my wife, not your maid. If you want to organise an event but don’t want to get your own hands dirty, then employ event organisers,” ASR ordered, his eyes cold and cutting, fury banked inadequately in them.

All gasped.

“I am glad that you are pregnant, Payal. I am delighted for you, Akash,” he continued. Akash looked at him and nodded, smiling. He knew his brother well. “It will be a happy day when your baby joins our family, but I am afraid Khushi will not be available to lift and carry at this particular function or any other event in the future,” ASR laid down the rule.

“You must excuse us from attending your function. Khushi and I will be leaving for our honeymoon tomorrow morning,” ASR stated.

All stared at him.

Then finally Akash said, “That is wonderful, Bhai. Is there anything you want me to do?”

“No,” ASR said. “I will be in touch with Aman and you. I will manage the business. Don’t worry about work. But there is one thing I want you to do,” he said.

“Yes, Bhai?” Akash asked eagerly.

“Help our family shift to the house we own in Rohini,” ASR said. “I am renovating this house.”

“Chotey!” Anjali exclaimed.

“We will need more space as the children come, Akash. Nani, Mama & Mami and Di will have rooms on the ground floor. Akash and Payal will have the next floor for their exclusive use. Khushi and I will be living on the top floor. We will have common and separate entrances, kitchens and prayer rooms. The plan has been sanctioned. Work will begin on Thursday,” he said.

All stared at him, including Khushi.

“Khushi and I will be away till next week, Akash. I will transfer the valuables to our bank locker before we leave and lock the door to our room. You don’t need to shift our belongings. I will see to everything when we get back,” Arnav said.

Akash nodded.

“Chotey, what...why?” Nani asked.

“As I said, we need space,” ASR remarked.

“How could you decide all this without even discussing it with us?’ Anjali asked. “Chotey, you never used to be like this.” She pouted.

ASR sighed in exasperation. “I never consulted any of you when I built this house or the other three we own in Delhi. You never complained about them. Then why are you fussing about this? Our family is growing. We need more rooms and privacy. And it is true that I have changed. I am not a small boy any more. I am thirty years old.”

Akash smiled.

“Khushi, take their blessings now. We will be leaving very early tomorrow morning. They won’t be awake to see you off,” ASR told his wife.

Khushi bent and touched the feet of Nani and Mami. They hugged her. Anjali threw her arms around her sister-in-law.

“Chotey, where are you going?” Nani dared to ask.

“Coorg,” he said shortly.

“Take care of our Khussi bitiyya,” Nani said.

ASR frowned. “Of course I will. We are married, aren’t we? You were there at the wedding, weren’t you?”

Nani blanched.

“Arnav bitwaa, Saasumma was saying that you should not be angry with Khussi...” Mami began.

“You knew about my temper when you took my proposal for Khushi to the Guptas, didn’t you?” ASR asked. “If you trusted me enough to marry her, why don’t you trust me to look after her?” His fury was evident in his eyes.

Khushi slowly placed her hand in his and pressed his fingers. “It is getting late, Arnavji,” she said softly.

He looked down at her.

“I am feeling very tired. Can we go to bed?’ she asked in a low voice.

ASR cooled down as though some one had pushed him in to an ice-cold fountain.

“Good night,” he wished his family before leaving, his fingers safe within Khushi’s.