River & Desert

Part 7

"What?!" she shrieked, her voice rising by several octaves after listening to her brother's announcement. "How is that the solution to any problem? The suggestion is a problem by itself!" she said, her eyes training her intense and furious gaze on Anurag, who nibbled on his lower lip with his joints turned stiff.

"Mitali, I'm clueless. Their physician informed them. We cannot question a doctor's knowledge now, can we?" he asked, trying to sound as convincing as possible. He acknowledged that his appeal had transgressed some intangible yet clear boundaries, but the constraining circumstances urged him to go beyond those limits.

"They need to know that I will not comply! There's no way I can agree to something like this, Bhaiyya. She hissed at him, her eyes shooting daggers, demanding him to return their contract money and cancel the contract.

In her life, Anurag Gupta had played many roles. Someone she could confide in and play with during her childhood. The person who watched over her as she grew up. A lurking shadow which looked out for her. His portrayal of an indifferent investor was not something she expected. Impervious to despair, immune to compassion.

He displayed humility as he said, "Mitali, it's not possible," and looked down while bowing his head. The intensity of Mitali's glare grew as tears of powerlessness stung her eyes. She sensed the walls closing in, making her bones feel chilled.

"What do you mean? Why can't you call it off?" He was met with a huff and a head shake from her. "Don't tell me you thought I would agree with this!"

Her unwavering stance in front of him started to falter. His silence eroded her altruism and faith. As bile rose through her alimentary canal, disgust and nausea overwhelmed her.

"I didn't think that you would accept it, but... but we don't have another option, Mitali. Returning the money is not possible."

"But why? Where is the money?" she demanded, stepping towards him with her eyebrows, kissing the furrows in her forehead.

"I used a significant portion of the money to pay off our student loans, which were two years overdue. Failure to pay the advance and canceling the contract will lead to a legal dispute."

The weight of realization caused her shoulders to droop. He requested Mitali, joining his hands together in complete surrender, and urged her to do it. He sounded demanding, but his tone betrayed a pleading desperation. Her lips trembled as she let out a derisive and condescending scoff.

The amount of information she had to process made her head spin. She condemned Destiny for blocking all exits, forcing her to submit to the dark abyss that awaited her.

"It's almost as if you're selling me to pay off this house's loan," she said, her eyes turning bloodshot and her eyelids fluttering.

"Did you think I saw this coming, Mitali? I did not want you to do this. You can trust me. I'm not cheap!"

His words intensified the already raging flame of her fury.

"Trust you?" She chuckled with no mirth from her chapped and quivering lips. "There's no one on earth I wouldn't trust, except for a brother who wants his sister to sleep with someone because of his carelessness. Is it possible to trust someone who used blackmail to make his sister a surrogate, destroying all of her hopes? Ridiculous!"

Perspiration adorned Anurag's forehead, and his heart raced in anticipation. The responsibility of presenting the reality to his sister fell on him as the ways out had already closed.

"Fine, don't do it. Amma needs to learn this! To know that the person she raised as her own daughter pushed her family into a legal suit will break her heart. She might even break ties with me. You want to break the family which sheltered and loved you," he said, using his final and deadliest weapon, against which he knew Mitali possessed no immunity - emotional blackmail.

Her foster brother's words left Mitali stumbling back. Her heart didn't follow, but her mind accepted the truth in what he said.

Brutal. Desperate. But, true.

She acknowledged he was right. She detested the fact that he was right. If a legal case were to arise, her dear Amma would disown her son upon hearing the news. Rather than solving their problems, it would only increase them.

Amidst an ocean of tears and turmoil, she took one last deep breath before letting go of her inhibitions. Warm drops of brine rolled down her cheeks, but she could not care enough to wipe them. She could wipe away the tears, but nothing could soothe her wounds.

"Anurag, let this be Mitali Pathak's last act of kindness. I won't let you exploit me for your benefit after this. The only reason I would stay in this house is for Amma, and the only reason I am doing this is for Amma. Let no sister ever get a brother like you because it is better to not have a brother than to have one like you," she said, walking out through the door.

The face that posed a threat to her most prized possession was something she refused to look at. She had tied him with the thread of protection, and as the Fate would have it, he was the one who pushed him to the wolves.

Tears formed in Anurag's eyes and he sniffled to subdue the sobs from spilling out of his throat. He did something he never imagined doing, but he justified it by believing he had no other way out.

In life, there are no principles to follow, only circumstances to navigate.

****

Sinha Mansion,

"She accepted it."

Adhrit almost dropped his glass of juice when he heard Purvi's statement. He stepped out of his room for a walk and to hydrate himself, only to hear the most shocking news of the day.

The unyielding woman who placed her self-respect above everything else just agreed to his sister's offer. How?

Maybe just as you did.

He was certain of the truth of the answer rising from his heart, thanks to a small voice in his brain. He realized that he wasn't the only one affected by expectations in that mess. She had to pay off her debt with her soul, without a doubt.

His mind's gears were working at their fastest. "Tell her to come here by eight," he said, his voice refusing to betray any emotion.

The response was not what she had expected. Shock was evident on her face as her eyebrows arched and her lips parted. "Tonight? But..."

Placing the glass on the table, he turned around to face her. "Tonight's the night or it's never happening. I'm sending a car to pick her up." The decision was left to her, and without delay, Purvi made her choice as he walked towards his room.

The sacred night would be that night. She phoned Anurag, choosing to ignore her conscience. It was her or Mitali, and she did not have enough courage left to invite that fate upon herself.

"Hello, Anurag! We expect her arrival by eight. Adhrit will send a car for her."