Raghav walked outside of the hospital and found Pallavi sitting on a bench. Her eyes were puffy and red, even though she had been crying she still looked beautiful, like nothing could break her.
"Maybe if you—" Raghav started to suggest Pallavi talk to her mother alone but she interrupted him.
"I can't bother Baba again, if he doesn't want to see me, that's his wish. He just needs to get better." Pallavi stood up, not meeting Raghav's eyes.
"I can drop you back home—I mean well to my house," Raghav stammered, what was wrong with him, how could he ever say out loud that his house was now her home.
"No thank you, I have some work with Krishna at the shop, even if Baba doesn't want my help, I'll have to find a way to make sure that the shop stays afloat until—" her voice trailed off and she started to walk to the main road, absentmindedly looking for an auto.
Raghav ran behind her, "Fine, the saree shop is on my way, I'll drop you and—"
"No. I'll go on my own." Pallavi said flatly. An auto stopped for her, and she climbed into it and told the driver the address.
Raghav stood in the middle of the street, watching as the auto sped away. What the hell was this woman made of? Why did she even want to go to that shop again? Raghav thought that if he were in Pallavi's shoes, he would set fire to the shop and enjoy watching it burn. But it seemed Pallavi was made of stronger stuff than he was.
Raghav drove to Jayathi Jewels, wondering if he could spend his life with this woman, barely speaking two words to her here and there. Not meeting her eyes. He thought back to how that Saanki Baba had insulted her and his knuckled went white clutching the steering wheel. Then he shook his head, why the hell did he care? None of it really mattered, all that mattered was that Amma and Keerthi were home with him now. If that Saree ka Dukaan wanted to avoid him for the rest of his life it was no skin off his back. She didn't even want to sit in the car with him.
At Jayathi Jewels, Raghav absentmindedly flipped through some new designs Farhad had sent over. He had managed to kick the thoughts of Pallavi out of his head, and now all he could think about was keeping Amma and Keerthi happy. He would redecorate the house just the way Amma wanted it, he could help Keerthi find a new job, hell, he might even be able to convince the both of them to take a vacation with him, (Amma had always wanted to travel out of India but had never had the chance). At around seven Raghav left the shop and let the manager lock up. Despite the decision that Amma had made, Raghav was in a good mood. Perhaps everything would be normal.
When he got home, Amma was directing Reddy in making dinner while Keerthi was doing some work on her laptop.
"Raghav, you're back...where's Pallavi?" Amma asked, looking around Raghav, perhaps expecting her to pop out right behind him.
"I don't have her coordinates with me at all times, Amma. She must still be in her stupid saree shop, why are you asking me?" Raghav snapped, his good mood fizzled out at the mention of that Saree ka Dukaan's name.
Amma folded her arms, "What do you mean why am I asking you? She's your wife—"
"It's the twenty-first century, Amma, I don't have to know where she is every minute of the day, nor do I care to."
If Raghav could be stubborn, Amma could be as well.
"Sure sure, but it's almost time for dinner, I think it's best if you call her and ask her when she'll be able to come home, or I can send some dinner to her."
Raghav groaned, "Fine." He dialed her number, it rang five or six times and then went to voicemail. He tried again. After two more tries his anger bubbled up, "Amma your precious daughter-in-law is extremely busy it seems, so you can yell at her for being out so late when she gets home! I have work to do." Raghav went into his study and slammed the door shut.
He was going over the accounts for his Bangalore shop when Keerthi knocked on the door and walked in around an hour later.
"Raghav, Amma and I have both tried to call Pallavi multiple times, but she's not answering. Krishna says she left Pallavi in the store two hours ago, Amma wants you to go get her."
"Do I look like a goddamn chauffeur? If she wants to come back she'll come back on her own, it's not like she has anywhere else to go." Raghav muttered the last bit under her breath.
Keerthi put her hands on his desk and glared at him, "Listen, I know you pulled some nonsense to get Pallavi to marry you, I even bet you it was nonsense that Amma will not be too happy with, so if you want to keep up this charade with Amma to keep her and I in this house, I suggest giving your so called 'marriage' a chance to last longer than a day. Listen to Amma and go pick up Pallavi."
Raghav groaned and slammed his laptop shut, "You know Keerthi, sometimes I think I made a mistake deciding to live with my family. I should have realized you two would eat me alive."
Keerthi laughed as Raghav sulked out of the house to his car. This Saree ka Dukaan had made him her driver and family lawyer in less than a day, Raghav thought, if he kept letting her get away with this, she'd be getting him to press her feet next.
