Part 2

Part 2

"So are you going to blackmail me into going back to Shantivan too Mr.Raizada?"

He had only once been privy to a glimpse of this feisty side of Payal but never this sort of full on hostility; it was unnerving to say the least. 

"How do you possibly expect me to accept a relationship that was established at the cost of my innocent sister?"

"Innocent?"

"Ha!" She turned around sharply and looked at him disdainfully, "You have not changed at all. Come back when we are on the same page"

Payal motioned him to give him some space, she switched off the shop lights and he followed her out. It was unlike him. Very unlike him to do so, she was aware but time for reconciliation had passed. Now only one person and one person alone had the right to make that choice. No one was going to force that upon her. When she was done locking up the shop, she hailed an auto, but just before she boarded, she looked back at Arnav, "You know, even if she was seeing Shyam, you had no right to force her like that. She was not your bonded slave. It cuts me in half every time I think of everything she went through those few months there, do you remember anything?" She stepped dangerously close to him, looking straight in his eyes, searching for something, he stared back stoically, "Payal, Aakash is a mess without you and I know you miss him too but please, don't punish him, don't punish yourself for something that was not your fault"

That elicited a snort, a cynical one, "Of course you don't remember! You left her alone, like a lamb in front of a pack of wolves; everyone shred her to pieces that night. She suffered alone while you took off to the safety of of some dark corner. And unknowingly, I became one of you; I let my sister down, I hurt her when I should have been protecting her instead. I love Aakash, but there is no way I can go back to ShantiVan. May be this is my penance. Arnavji, go back to your castle and let me serve my time"

"Payal wait!" She did not turn back this time but waited for him to say his piece while she held on to the auto, "I didn't plan on doing it like this but seeing things the way they are, you need to know. Aakash is unwell and ..." Payal's heart skipped a beat, she was certain it did, for she felt breathless for a moment, "He will go into depression. Payal, he needs you. Please reconsider your decision. He does not know I am here, in fact no one does but I felt that you had the right to know"

At this she turned around, "how did he?" The auto driver was getting impatient, Arnav shoved a hundred rupees note in his hand and motioned him to remain quiet, Payal starred at him for answers.

"Ever since you left, he's been quiet but after he found out about the pregnancy reports, he has gone into a shell"

"So that's why you are here" she asked after a long drawn out silence had engulfed them. He stared back impassively, "so unlike you, what do you have in all this. What do you stand to gain? Oh wait! I get it; you don't want your Raizada heir growing up in a slum?"

That got to him, really pinched him where it hurt acutely, "What do you mean!" He exclaimed loudly attracting unwanted attention from people around so he sobered down before creating a scene further, "I care for him, for you. I'm not a cold hearted beast Payal. I love my family"

She hung her head in despair, "If only you had loved Khushi as well... it was all she ever asked for from anyone" It hurt him. Deep at some dark crevice of his tormented heart, that hurt because the truth was far from it. And he knew that's what made everything worse.

She watched him walk away, he looked different Payal noted. "Why did everyone lie to me Arnavji? Everyone kept me in the dark for years. And I actually felt pity for you. I was misguided...I was so wrong. I should have walked out with her... instead..." She stilled herself unable to say anything more.

He turned around once more, his face was still an impregnable mask, "Because we didn't want to lose you too"

"I can't go back..." she shook her head adamantly, "I won't go back as much as it hurts me" she spoke softly now, clutching on to the auto, she fought back the urge to ask more questions about Aakash fearful that her resolve may be weakened further. He could see how all this was breaking her from within.

Arnav spoke, "The only thing your sister feared..." He gulped slightly, "More than herself, she cared for your happiness... That was why she agreed to the marriage Payal. It would break her heart to see you two like this"

Payal looked at him, she had so many questions, "She bore everything for your sake and if you leave it all behind... You will be disrespecting her and her sacrifices... One more time"

She looked like she was going to break down anytime, "Don't you see Arnavji, I never asked for those sacrifices and it kills me every time. You won't understand the price she had to pay is far greater... The price my little baby sister, barely twenty one had to pay... It was not hers to make... She shouldn't have suffered,"she wiped those errant tears resolutely, "This guilt will not let me live peacefully and the last place I want to be is at Shantivan whose very existence in my life reminds me of that colossal sacrifice Khushi had to make. You made her my dowry Arnavji, do you even know how gutted it makes me feel?" And with that she got in the auto and it drove away, slowly blending into the evening rush hour traffic.

He stood there for a while till the auto took a right turn and disappeared from his vision. The purpose of his visit had been fulfilled but her parting words reverberated in his mind, you made her my dowry Arnavji. It made him sick too. Like most things in his life made him at this point. There really was no escaping it, anywhere. And the one person who could make it right was nowhere in sight.

---

Khushi held the pristine white cotton jacket in her hand running her palm through those embedded letters, it was all hers. Finally after three years of hell, she was going to step out into the world, as herself, Khushi Kumari Gupta, now an apprentice Chef, at one of top restaurants in the country. Tossed on the other side of her bed was a brand new Toque with a logo of the place she was going to start her work from tomorrow morning, Italian food, Pusta, she chuckled; Pasta, she corrected herself, she was going to apprentice at a top Italian restaurant and she couldn't miss the irony of it all. Yes, a few things were hard to forget but she had come a long way and was determined not to let her past act as a roadblock. When she had joined Culinary School, she was a wreck, an emotional wreck and the last thing she wanted to do was to cook Pasta, mainly because it reminded her of one person, and one person alone. But things had changed now, she had moved on. And was no longer a slave to her past. She had in other people's words, transformed from a nervous unpolished- loud-small-town-flamingo-klutz to a sophisticated cook, who was now mostly seen in black and white. Of course, these were not her words but of those few people who had stuck with her throughout those past three years and helped her pick herself up from those sorry depths of despair and nudge her towards normality. She had a lot to be grateful for. Khushi was brought out of her own thoughts by her ringing cell phone. She responded gleefully, "Why didn't you call me? And why weren't you here for the ceremony?"

---

Four years ago.

Everything had turned hostile in one grand sweep, every nook, every corner, every face and every relationship she had so carefully built over the past few months shattered in the process. She did not know how long she had been like that, a broken helpless person, forlorn and dejected lay on the floor of the huge Raizada Mansion. Once the initial deluge of tears had stopped and her cheeks had stopped stinging from the slaps of her mother, she looked up and realized how small and insignificant she was in this place. Not a single soul was around her to comfort her, to help her or even try and understand her. She had well and truly been abandoned, for a second time in her life; a tiny part of her brain reminded her. She wiped her tear stained face and got up resolutely and like an unwelcome person strode towards the closed doors of his room, which by default of being his wife, had also become hers. She was now Mrs. Arnav Singh Raizada, to the world at least. Khushi did not bother knocking on the door, instead pushed it open to see the man who had effectively ruined her calmly seated on the green recliner. She walked in and closed the door firmly shut, and spoke for the first time since she had been forcefully married, against her wishes, "I need to know why you did this"

He leapt up towards her and held her by her arms, digging his fingers onto her flesh so hard, it hurt her; his eyes were burning red, "I don't owe anyone any explanation... least of all you" And then he pushed her away ruthlessly like she were some piece of useless trash that she reeled back and slammed onto the closed door hurting her back in the process. He softened momentarily when he saw that he may have hurt her physically but that was for a fleeting moment before the all consuming rage was back in his eyes. She stood there stunned at the face of this extreme cruelty, "Who is this demon?" she asked him. The physical pain was nothing in comparison to the emotional torture she was being subjected to.

"Good" he snarled back at her, "Now that we have established that I am that, stay away from me. For the next six months, we have to honor our commitment then I am free. But don't try to do anything behind my back or your sister will suffer" His words scarred her, she could not recognize this monster anymore, he was not the same man, who she thought was about to confess to her only a few hours ago.