5. Revelation



Khushi looked at the man smiling at Anjaliji, spouting soothing words and reassuring her. Shyamji...Anjaliji's husband...and her own fiance...Shock clouded her brain. Her body seemed to freeze in place.
Shyamji...Shyamji in Raizada House? The Jijaji...the woh...the damad she had heard so much about but hadn't seen...How could he be Anjaliji's husband?...He was Buaji's PG...He had got engaged to her...Babuji, Amma, Buaji, Jiji had all been there...Was she dreaming? A nightmare? Then why couldn't she wake up?
She felt cold, very cold. All alone. Her eyes travelled up the stairs to Arnavji's bedroom door. She had  to get there. She had to be safe, warm...She slowly made her way to his room on unsteady legs. How? Why? What was happening here? The world as she knew it was tilting on its axis. There was only one steady being, only one source of warmth. She pushed at the door. It opened silently. He was sitting, working furiously on his laptop. The sight of his frowning and tired face calmed her.
Arnav had been working non-stop for hours. The back of his neck ached and his eyes were gritty from lack of sleep. Years of slogging to get where he had reached had taken its toll. But it was all worth it, he thought. His family was comfortable, financially secure. That was all that mattered. Happiness...what was it? He had lost track of it a long time ago...Khushi... He heard a sound at the door, and lifted his head to see Khushi standing there as though he had conjured her up. Khushi, his heart murmured. She stood holding on to the door, her face white as paper. Arnav stood up and looked closely at her. She looked terrible. Her eyes were calling  him, troubled beyond measure, yearning for support. He called softly, "Khushi...".
She let go of the door and moved towards him as fast as she could. Arnav lifted his arms and gathered her close. She was cold and trembling.
What was Shyamji doing in Buaji's house when he had a home in Shantivan? Why had he got engaged to her when he had a wife waiting for him at home? That too a wife like Anjaliji...spending all her days praying for her husband and family. The husband who was known to love her. The man Anjaliji was deeply in love with.
"Khushi, what happened?" She was unable to speak and slow tears trailed down her cheeks. "Did Mami say something to upset you? Khushi..", Arnav questioned her. But Khushi was lost in her thoughts.
Anjaliji's tears on her wedding anniversary when her husband had abandoned her to face the invited crowd...waiting eagerly at the temple for him on Teej evening...starving for 2 days to tie a raksha dhagah around his wrist to protect him...the expression on her face as she spoke of him and their courting period.
"Did Buaji phone you? Is your father OK?" Khushi just buried her face in his shoulder. Another thought flashed through his mind. Her fiance...had something happened to him? "Khushi...your mangetar...is he OK?"
Khushi lifted her head from his warm shoulder and looked into his pale face and concerned eyes. Eyes that were suffering along with her, silently. Her fiance... She lowered her arms from around his waist, and frantically started pulling the engagement ring from her finger. The stupid thing refused to budge. Tears of anger and sorrow blinded her.
Arnav watched her hurting herself to get rid of the engagement ring. He quickly stalled her, and held her left hand with the ring in his. Why did she want to remove the ring? Was her...was her engagement cancelled? What had her fiance done? Had he...some other woman...no, never...no man could be so foolish as to leave Khushi for another woman...impossible. But then...He slowly removed the ring from her finger, and stood looking at her. She, in a fast movement that surprised him, snatched the ring and threw it out through the window into the pool. The ring sank without a trace. It was as though it had never existed at all.
Arnav's heart leaped with joy he had never felt before. He hadn't known that such happiness existed. Khushi threw herself into his arms and burrowed her face in the vee made by the couple of shirt buttons he had undone before starting to work. Her arms were around him, almost choking him in her search for warmth and reassurance. He held her tight, wanting to protect her from any harm that might befall her.
She had almost seen him once, on Diwali night. But he had cowered under the covers, laid low by an allergy attack. She had almost seen him at the wedding anniversary party, but he had left to attend to some friend's medical emergency. She had seen him outside RM one day. She had even asked him why he was there and he had said that he had come to escort her home. On Teej she had missed seeing him at the temple. He must have arrived at the temple after she had left. Shyamji had phoned and asked her to leave the temple and go home before it became too late in the evening. Shyamji had phoned...he had phoned to make sure that she was nowhere near the temple when he reached there. He could appear only when she disappeared from the spot...At the party, he must have left in a hurry seeing her there. He hadn't known that she was supplying the sweets for the party...He had wanted to hide his real identity. He had tried very hard to get her to leave the job at the office and Raizada House.
What could she do now? Shyamji had fooled everyone at Raizada House and her own house. Her Babuji was too sick to help. No one would believe her. Not Buaji, not Amma, and never Anjaliji... Only one person would...her laad governor.
Khushi slowly lifted her face from the base of his neck. Her left hand automatically clutched his jacket, holding on to him as she always did when she was scared. She looked into his eyes and started speaking. Two victims of an unscrupulous scoundrel!