147. OS: 6: An Unwanted Wife (Part 20)

Chapter 20

Arnav and Khushi walked in to their bedroom holding hands. Khushi stopped to shut the door. Arnav waited with her, not wanting her to let go of his hand.

When she turned to him, he said, “Khushi, you are tired, aren’t you? Let’s go to bed. You change your clothes. I will arrange with Aman to transfer the valuables in the locker.”

She freed her hand and placed her fingers on his shoulder. 

“Arnavji,” she said timidly. “They are your relations. Your Nani, your Di, your Mami, your brother. How can you be so angry with them? So rude?”

“I can be ruder still, Khushi. You haven’t seen me at my best,” he said wryly.

“Arnavji!” she protested against his ill-timed levity. “I agree that they should not have forced our marriage, but...but they are your blood, your family,” Khushi tried to make him understand.

“They are my family, Khushi. Now yours too, whether you want them or not. That is the only reason I decided to build a top floor here. Otherwise I would have have taken you and moved in to one of the other houses we own in Delhi,” he sighed.

“Arnavji!” Khushi gasped.

“They are our family, Khushi. But they are not God. They had no right to blackmail me in to this marriage or lie to you. How could they have known how this marriage would turn out, Khushi? I could have taken out my frustration against you, made your life a living hell,” Arnav admitted. “I would have too if you hadn’t spoken up on our wedding night. I realised that you too had been fooled, that you were a fellow victim. That is why I didn’t lose my temper with you or blame you for the mess.”

“Arnavji, Nani is old...” she began.

“Yes. Her age and her bitter experiences should have stopped her from playing with our lives,” ASR grimaced. “My mother was her daughter,” he said, swallowing hard. “Khushi, there are a few things I wanted to tell you. A few horrible things that will tell you what kind of a man you married.”

Khushi looked at him anxiously.

“I come from bad blood, Khushi. My father was one of the infamous lechers of Lucknow,” he confessed, his eyes on Khushi’s face to gauge her response.

Khushi blinked in shock. “Your home is in Lucknow?” was all she asked.

ASR laughed harshly. Khushi could always be trusted to surprise him.

“Yes, Lucknow. And my Mama committed suicide when I was fourteen,” he said softly.

Khushi gasped.

“She found out about my father’s affair. The venue was my home, Sheesh Mahal. The time, late evening. The date...that of Di’s wedding,” he said wryly.

“Di’s wedding?” Khushi frowned.

“It didn’t happen. It is not every family that will willingly take on a girl with such a scandal tainting her. Our father had a brother, our Chacha. He took the chance and threw us out of our house. Nani and Mama came to get us. We lived with them. Then I went abroad, returned and started my business. Mamaji and Akash joined me,” ASR said bluntly.

Khushi stared at him in horror.

“Khushi, our family has been through hell. That alone should have taught us not to poke our nose in to other people’s affairs,” he grimaced. “But it didn’t. Nani, Mami and Di still think they can order things and circumstances to suit themselves.”

Khushi sat down on the bed.

“I spent my childhood listening to people mocking me about my father and mother. I heard people wonder if I was made in the same mould as my father. It was a hellish childhood I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy,” he smiled wryly. “It turned me against marriage and love. To my adolescent mind, love meant foolishness and marriage a compromise, something temporary. This fear of emotional commitment grew as I got older and I resisted all attempts to get me to marry. I was scared, terrified.”

He walked to sit by her.

“My family lived through the experiences I had, Khushi. Was expecting them to understand me too much?” he asked.

Khushi tried to swallow through a dry throat. “They..they wanted you to be happy...not alone...”

Arnav smiled. He took hold of her hand. “Khushi, to them you and Payal are the same, the two daughters of Garimaji, Mami’s friend. Just think about this scenario. Mami meets Garimaji, finds out she has two daughters, informs Nani and Di. They go down to Lucknow to meet you both.”

Khuhsi nodded, her eyes on Arnav’s.

“They have two boys in their family to marry off. Garimaji has two daughters,” Arnav said softly.

Khushi nodded, not comprehending where this was going.

“I am the elder one in this family. Payal is the elder daughter in yours. They could have planned Arnav-Payal and Akash-Khushi marriages. Akash would have given in. I would have been blackmailed  in to it,” Arnav said softly.

Khushi stared at him, horrified.

“Imagine yourself as Akash’s wife. Just think about how I would deal with Payal. Don’t get me wrong. She may be a wonderful person but she would have been a terrible wife for me. She would have been terrified of me and I would have killed her spirit with my foul tongue and my anger. She would have run away to Lucknow, back to her family and I would have continued with my work and life here. What would Nani and the others have gained from this marriage?” he asked.

Khushi tightened her fingers on his.

“It was pure dumb luck that threw us together, Khushi. Mami happened to see Payal first and as she wanted to turn her friendship with your Amma in to a bond, asked for her hand for Akash. It was after they had fixed the  Akash-Payal wedding that they found out that Payal has a sister, you. Babuji asked Nani why I was still unmarried even though I was older than Akash. It was then that this brilliant idea popped in to their heads,” he informed her.

She leaned her head against his shoulder, exhausted.

“Khushi, I am rude. I have a bad temper. I have a hundred faults. But I am scrupulously honest and painfully direct. I don’t manipulate people and hate being manipulated. I don’t bend facts to make others feel better and I hate it when people do this to me. I prefer the truth to falsehood, however bitter the truth might be. That is why I was mad on our wedding night,” he said softly.

Khushi curled her arms around his, hugging his arm for comfort and warmth.

They sat in silence for a while.

Then Khushi said, “Where do we go from here, Arnavji? Shall I return to Lucknow?”

“Khushi, do you want to leave me?” he asked honestly.

She frowned at him.

“Am I so bad a husband that you feel you can’t live with me?” he asked.

“Of course not, Arnavji. You are not a bad husband at all,” she rushed to console him. “I..I don’t want to be a burden to you, that’s all.”

Arnav smiled slightly. “You will never be a burden to me, Khushi. Never.” He passed his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him. “You are the gift I got for having lived through the past terrible sixteen years.” He dropped a kiss on her hair. “When I married you, I had no idea what marriage was all about. You opened my eyes, Khushi, made everything so easy. You accepted me without any questions, warts and all.”

Her eyes filled.

“I had no idea, Khushi, that marriage could be so good, such fun,” he whispered against her forehead. “That it could change ordinary days in to extraordinary. That I would find a friend in you.”

He hugged her tight.

“I didn’t want to trap you, Khushi. That is why I didn’t touch you or kiss you as I wanted to. I was scared you would find out the truth of how our marriage came about one day, that you would know about my past and hate me. I was fearful you would leave me. I was so scared that I forced your family to visit Delhi than have you go over, leaving me behind...” he admitted.

Khushi threw her arms around him and hugged him as tight as she could. She kissed his cheek.

“I will never leave you, Arnavji. Never,” she promised fervently.

“We will live in our choti si duniya, Khushi,” he promised, his face buried in her silky hair.

Part 21