Dark Night Dawning Chapter 16

 Shyam was on his way to meet Khushi. He was pleased that his plan was going well so far. Khushi’s interference had foiled his opportunity to get rid of Arnav along with his dream of getting his hands onhis property. He had thought deep and hard about how he could get back at them and he had been running out of time. Then, when he had found out that Arnav had left Khushi without believing her, he had come up with the new plan. Arnav had threatened him that he was going to kick him out after the birth of the baby. So he would be doing him a favour by leaving himself. But he couldn’t just get out of Arnav’s life just like that, could he? He would take away from him what he wanted most – his Khushi.

 And thanks to his cleverness, there was no way Arnav was going to come looking for them. Hehad made sure that Arnav believed that Khushi was having an affair withhis dear jeejaji. After years of living in the family he was very well aware of Arnav’s nature – his distrust issues, his ego, his temper and most importantly, his blind devotion toward his sister. He had played well on his weaknesses. He wondered if the messages he had sent through her phone to himself might have had a role to play here.

He thought about the Gupta family who knew all about him. But, they had maintained a silence till now and would continue to do so as they knew that Payal’s married life was at stake. Why would they want to jeopardize the life of their own daughter for the sake of an orphan like Khushi? And the only eye witness, Khushi’s dad was never going to talk in his life. His devoted wife and her brother were completely unaware of the “accidents”he had caused. He had all his bases covered. People were such fools!

The only person he had confessed all this to was Khushi ------but she would be in his allegiance……. from tomorrow.

**

Naniji had ushered the Gupta family into Anjali’s room. Theyconveyed their heartfelt wishes on the birth of Anjali’s baby. They also wished a speedy recovery to Anjali. Payal and Akash had also come into the room along with mamaji and mamiji. An awkward silence filled the room as everyone began to look at each other uncomfortably. Anjali broke the silence.

‘I wanted everyone to be present here for a reason. The Gupta family is here to tell us something very important. Especially, for you chotte.Buaji, please begin.’

‘As, the oldest member of the Gupta family I would like to apologize to the oldest member of the Raizada family. Please forgive us for keeping very important information about your son-in-law.’

As the Raizada family looked on in shock, she explained how Shyam had insinuated himself into their lives and manipulated them into believing that he was an eligible suitor for Khushi.

‘I am the one who is completely to blame here,’ said Buaji, a deep regret on her face, ‘Shyam had me completely under his thumb even before Shashibabua and Garima came to Delhi. I am the one who railroaded Khushi into agreeing to Shyam’s proposal on Diwali night when the poor girl was already agitated when she came back home.’

Arnav’s heart wrenched at that……

‘That’s enough jiji! ‘ Garima interrupted her sister-in-law. ‘You are not the only one to blame. I was the one who stopped Khushi from telling the truth to the Raizadas because of my fear that Payal’s alliance with Akash bitwa would be at stake. I didn’t want her marriage getting cancelled a second time.’

When Arnav saw his sister silently crying, he exclaimed, ‘This is exactly why I didn’t want them to come here! After the lengths I went to protect you from knowing the truth!’

‘Yes Chotte!’ exclaimed Anjali her eye flashing with anger, ‘Would you please explain the “lengths” to everyone? That is exactly why you married Khushi, didn’t you?’

‘Di how --------?’ Arnav looked at Anjali wondering how she knew all this.

‘Tell us Chotte!‘ pleaded Anjali, ‘Everyone needs to know.’

‘Yes …….I married Khushi so that I could save your marriage!’ he declared. As shocked gasps went round both the families, he continued, ‘The night of Payal and Akash’s wedding I saw Khushi in Shyam’s arms and thought that they were having an affair.’

‘How could you do this Khushi?’ Anjali was horrified to hear it from her brother’s mouth.

‘She could have told me the truth, but she decided not to!’ he said in his defence, ‘I just wanted to protect you Di!’

‘She decided not tell you the truth the same way you decided not to tell me the truth!’ Anjali pointed out.

‘You were pregnant Di, I thought you might not be able to withstand it!’ his eyes pleaded to her for understanding.

‘Did you ever think that Khushi might have thought the same thing?’ countered Anjali, ‘you didn’t believe her when she told you the truth finally, did you?’

‘How do you know all this Di?’asked Arnav baffled at Anjali’s words.

‘I know all this because, in spite of all your attempts to protect me, you failed miserably!’ she declared, ‘The day he took Khushi away from here, I heard their entire conversation!’

As everyone looked at Anjali in shock, she recounted the events of the fateful evening.

‘That evening, we had all left for the mandir on his “suggestion”. Only I knew that the suggestion had bordered on force. I had already begun to suspect his behaviour for some time now. I had even discussed this with Khushi in Musoorie. Poor girl, she must have felt so miserable then.

When we reached the mandir, I made an excuse to go back home. When I reached home, I heard voices coming from the pool side. ‘

Anjali told them everything she had heard, explaining how he had emotionally blackmailed Khushiinto going away with him.

‘Oh no nono! I should have never left you alone!’ Arnav was horrified when he thought this might have been a reason for her to have slipped into a coma.

‘It’s alright Chotte, you can’t be here to protect me all the time,’ Anjali said in her calm voice, ‘Luckily Khushi found me in my room when I went into labour and we reached the hospital on time.’

‘She only left after she had seen the baby’s face,’ recalled Naniji, ‘I remember the way she hugged us all congratulating us, as if she was never going to see us again. Poor girl!’

As Arnav stood rooted to the spot trying to process all the information he had just received, Anjali spoke again, ‘Buaji, I think you should show Chotte the letter now.’

‘Arnav bitwa, we spent the last one month in an Ayurvedic treatment village in South India, as we wanted to see if it would help Shashibabua. Luckily the treatment worked, he regained the use of his hands. The first thing he did after that was that he wrote this letter explaining everything that Shyam did to him.’

As Arnav began to read the letter, he realized that Shyam was not only a liar and a cheat but also a man capable of murder. A chill went down his spine as he realized the kind of person they had harboured under their roof all these years. As he looked at Anjali in horror, another thought hit him.

‘Di…….all those accidents you had?’

‘Yes chotte,and the one you had as well. That is the reason why Khushi willingly went with him that night.’

‘Hai re Nandakisore!’ lamented Buaji, ‘what have we done? What is going to happen to my titaliya?’

Arnav finally had no more words. The truth was finally out in front of him. The truth had been staring him right at the face and he hadn’t realized it. Arnav closed his eyes as an array of sensations assailed him all at once.  Anjali realized that she needed to talk to him alone. She looked at Naniji who immediately understood.

‘Khushi’s  DeviMaiyya will protect her. Everything will be alright,’ declared Naniji with determination. ‘I think we should go and have some dinner now. Payal bitiya, please show your parents and Buaji to the guest room. I think they should stay with us tonight.Anjali bitiya, why don’t I take the little one with me?’

‘Akash…?’ Arnav rasped as he looked at Akash hesitating to continue further.

‘Don’t worry about it bhai, I am going to be right on it,’ said Akash understanding exactly what Arnav wanted him to do.

**

After everyone had left, Arnav sat on the floor by Anjali’s bed, self-loathing evident in his eyes.

‘Yesterday, after you left I talked to Payal and Akash and they told me everything,’ explained Anjali, ‘Payal had already called her parents who had reached Delhi two days ago. I told her to call them here today so that you could hear the truth from all sides..’

‘I did all this to protect you Di. I couldn’t let anything happen to you …..you know like mom.’

‘I know that Chotte,’ Anjali touched his cheek with affection, ‘You were the one who brought me out of the coma, you know? I know you came every day and spoke to me though I couldn’t hear you.’

‘Di ------‘ he began as tears threatened to drop from his eyes,‘I have been horrible to her from the first moment I met her……she was just a happy-go-lucky simple girl, full of life…... But I hurt her again and again. I blackmailed her into marrying me without giving her the real reason. I kept the truth from her even though she repeatedly asked me. Then finally when the truth came out and she explained herself to me I rejected her and practically handed her over to the monster. What’s wrong with me Di? Why am I like this?’

‘It’s not just you Chotte,’ Anjali’s voice had gone hoarse from all the crying. ‘I am to blame here as well. I was the one who brought the monster into our lives.I was such a bad judge of character. I put him on a pedestal and trusted him so blindly and I refused to see the signs that were so evident in our relationship.’

‘Di, don’t say that, please.’

‘No chotte, I have to say this today,’ said Anjali her voice taking on a serious tone, ‘the fact is that we are both the way we are because of our disturbed childhood. The troubled relationship between dad and mom shaped our characters. I was older than you and by nature I was calmer.I had created a fantasy world around myself where everything was nice and beautiful, where I could escape to when I was hurt, where I could forget all my pain. I also found solace in God. I think somewhere on the way I lost the ability to think by myself, depending on you for everything. Then after he came into my life I began to lean on him.

You, on the other hand, have always been a little temperamental even as a child,and you had less tolerance for the things that were going on around us. You were the most affected by the night my baraat went back. You were just 16 years old when our world came crashing down. You were the most closest to mama and so you couldn’t get over what happened to her. You decided then that you would never allow anyone to hurt you like that.

You had to grow up overnight shouldering responsibilities, normally an adult would have and in this process, you built a wall around yourself, which no one could penetrate, sometimes not even me. But she managed it somehow, didn’t she?’

Yes, she had penetrated through the walls and had embedded herself into his very being.

‘Will she ever forgive me?’ asked Arnav, his eyes desperately seeking assurance.

‘Yes Chotte, she will forgive you …..’ Anjali smiled through her tears as she took him in her arms, ‘because she loves you.’

How could she ……..after all that he had done to her?

**

‘Are wereally going to be married?’ Khushi asked Shyam in horror.

‘Yes Khushiji, what did you think? I am a very honourable man you know. I am not like Arnav.’

‘Why are you doing this?’ she asked him wearily, ‘You know I am already married!’

‘I don’t consider that a marriage. He just dragged you off somewhere without any respect. There was no date, no witness and no customs. We will have mehendi, haldi, sangeet and then our wedding will be solemnised by a pandit. We will take our vows around the fire. I have made all the arrangements. We will be getting married tomorrow.’

That night Khushi sat by the window thinking about Shyam’s words. No customs …… how would he know that fate had already decided that she belonged to Arnav……. when the thaal with sindoor had fallen on her when they had clashed, how he had accidently broken her fast on teej, how the chunri he had thrown in anger had fallen on her head, how he had bandaged her finger on the auspicious time of engagement and how the letter ‘A’ got written on her hand on the day of the Mehndi.

Hey Devi Maiyya! Why are you testing me like this? She looked at the broken piece of mirror in her hand, which she had found in the room.After looking at it for a long while, she put it away thinking that she was not a coward. She would face whatever life had in store for her tomorrow.

**

‘Has there been any progress Akash?’ asked Arnav walking up to Akashwho was just finishing his conversation on the phone.

‘Bhai, I was just talking to a PI regarding this as I wasn’t sure if you wanted to go to the police. He has begun his investigation at Shyam’s office to see if he can find some clue about his whereabouts.’

‘Ithink I know how we can find him.’ Arnav picked up his laptop and opened the web site of HDFC bank. ‘If he has used his credit card we should be able to trace the transactions. Since I was the one who had the card issued for him, I have the login details.’ Arnav logged in to the web site and clicked on the account details.

‘He is either very brave or plain stupid…… because …..I found him!’ exclaimed Arnav, ‘He is in Lucknow!’