FLAMES: Of Revenge And Love

14. PAGHPHERA

" Good. " Abhi ruffled his hair while saying that, " Not you too jiju. "
" Huh, who else does that. "
" Of course di, she's jealous that my hair is better than her so she always messes it up. " Rajveer said while arranging his hair.
" I'm not jealous. " Aradhya said while messing his hair again.
" Di.... See that's what I was talking about. " He shouted and turned to abhimanyu, again trying to bring his to their previous condition. But all in vain with abhi's next ruffle, "
She's not jealous. "
" I'm not gonna set it again. Hmph. "

Abhi and aastha laughed while a smile formed on aradhya's face.
" Let's go. " She said and abhi nodded, " Hm. "
" Wait. " Aastha called from behind and went to abhi handing an envelope in his hand. " What's this maasi? "
" It's your shagun. You're here for the first time after your marriage. I can't let you leave empty handed. "
" But.. "
" Shh, take it. You'll deny your maasi? "
" I won't dare. " Aradhya was giving aastha the look that told her, you didn't have to do this. And aastha gave her one in return that said, I want to do this.
Kissing her forehead once she let them leave.

They got in the car and buckled their seatbelts.
" Here. " Abhimanyu said to her while handing her the envelope.
" Huh? "
" Keep it. " He said while stuffing it into her hand.
" It's yours. " She said while forwarding it to him and he looked into her eyes before saying, " And I'm yours. "
Turning his eyes to the road he said to her, " Keep it for me. I don't want to lose it. "
Aradhya kept the envelope in her purse without saying anything further. She wasn't ready for anymore flirting from him. She had enough for today.

" What do you think maasi? " Rajveer asked her as he saw their car leave. " You tell me. " She passed the question to him.
He looked out in the direction where the car went before saying, " She brought him here. That's a progress I will say. "
" Indeed it is. " Aastha nodded while remembering them both.
" So now? " He asked as if in mood for gossip.

" Now, you do your homework while I cook. Get it. " Aastha flicked her finger on his forehead as she said it. She turned around to go to the kitchen when he said, " I'm in college maasi I don't have homework. "
" But you have assignments, go and do them. " She replies without looking back.
" You're too boring maasi. " Rajveer pouted at her.
" You.. " She turned around and he ran away like a cat.
" I'm going. "

*

They reached Singhania Mansion by 7, abhimanyu handed the key to the valet to park the car before holding her hand and going in.
" You guys are back? " Devanshi asked seeing her children back.
" Yeah mom.  You should go and freshen up. I'll be up soon. " He said the last two sentences to his wife who nodded before going up.

" What do you want to say mom? "
" I... Uh.. Actually it's just that it's been two weeks since you guys got married, she has to go for her paghphera too. " Aradhya hadn't gone to the Sinha house after marriage, and so the ritual was still pending. Abhimanyu understood her mother's worry, and told her, " We already did mom. "
" Huh? "

" We went to meet her maasi today. That's her home, we completed the ritual. " Devanshi had never heard of any sister of Vartika sinha, so she didn't know who this maasi was.
" Maasi? "

" Yeah, she lives in gurgaon with her younger brother. I invited her here, you'll like her. " Devanshi knew that there were relations more important than blood and she was happy that her daughter had someone with her.
" That's good then. Go and rest, be on time for dinner. "
" Yeah mom. " He replied before going to his room.

" You're happy. " Aradhya said seeing abhimanyu grinning from ear to ear.
" I am. " He replied while removing his watch.
" Did something happen? " She asked him. While he replied to her while looking in the mirror, " Yeah. My wife took me to visit her family today. "

" You must be the first person to be so happy over visiting your wife's family. Don't all husbands not like'em usually? " She mumbled softly but loud enough for him to hear her. He turned around and hugged her waist pulling her closer to him.
" Well I don't know about other but my wife is the best and the people she considers family can't be anything less. "
She looked into his eyes and saw something there, it made her say something she never thought she would, " I'm not a good person. " He was shocked at his words but smiled soon after, " I'm not one either. "

" You're not understanding. I.. " She started but he stopped her by placing a finger on her lips.
" Shh, I don't want to understand. I just know that I love you, no matter how you are, I do. You could kill a person before me and I would only love you more not less. Never less. "

" Why? " She breathed out the question against his fingers.
" Does it matter? " He asked her, " Does the reason really matter? " She stared straight at him, she knew if she asked he'll tell her. Tell her things she wasn't ready to hear, his eyes spoke volumes. They already gave her the answer and it didn't matter, " No. It does not. " No matter what the reason was, it doesn't matter, what matters is he is here, with her. She laid her head on his chest and he reveled in the feeling.

*

Weekend was gone in the blink of an eye, and everyone was back to work. The burden in office was increasing a bit so shlok had decided to cut his retirement short and join his sons in the office.
Aradhya spent her day, working in her room or talking to Devanshi or dadi. The days were peaceful to say the least.

While the Singhanias were living peacefully, the Sinha house was a mess, the compensation for the plagiarism was 78 lakhs, even after combining every year's revenue from the time it opened, it was still 50 percent less. Bhavana wasn't ready to fork out that much and dhairya was getting exhausted of her tantrums.

If it had been some other time, vartika would've reveled in bhavana's misfortune but she herself was in muddy waters, she didn't have the energy to care about someone else.

**( Mentions of abuse and violence ahead. Skip if it makes you uncomfortable.)

Archit was getting irritated by the mess at his home so he moved out with his wife. Ahaana had came to visit one day but she too didn't have anything she could do. So just after meeting her mother once she was out. No one knows what vartika said to her but she left in a really bad mood. It's not like it was something new, being the first child was the only privilege ahaan ever had and after her brothers were born, she was eventually forgotten. Fights and unreasonable scoldings weren't a big deal. At least she never got beaten up by her family, that was never the case for aradhya.

If anyone in the family was in a bad mood, there was one person who the dumped it on. Aradhya, she was their punching bag, verbal, physical mental, every kind of abuse was handled by the girl. It was only when she turned 18 and moved out that it stopped but they never stopped trying to manipulate her.

Well now they are receiving their retribution. Without anything to burn their frustations, ashutosh and dhairya had made it a habit to hit their wives. They were villains before too but they never raised their hands on their wives but now, it was their daily routine. Vartika had stopped protesting, while bhavana still shouts until she realizes her husband won't stop till she does.