Queenly Values (Completed)

9 Khushi's Pretext

Khushi sighed.

"But the man is your husband, not a stranger... you can talk to him about anything... the world permits a wife to talk about anything to her husband. Tell me one thing, don't people taunt you for not having a baby?"

She nodded yes.

"What does that mean? The world didn't mind what you are doing with your husband but the RESULT"

"But, if I get pregnant, everyone gets to know what I did," she said nervously.

"Of course, you are the result of your parent's action... likewise, your children will be the result of yours"

"What my in-laws will think of me?"

"She won't think anything wrongly...because she too has a son"

"And six daughters"

"What?" Khushi frowned.

"She has not only a son but also six daughters"

Khushi dropped her jaw.

"Having more than half a dozen of children, how did she miss noticing your gesture?"

Ganga was silent.

"Where are her daughters?"

"They all are married and living in the nearby villages"

"Hmm...ok, think about what I said"

"No sister... I don't think I can do it"

Khushi rolled her eyes and sighed. It didn't seem working. She had no choice other than go with Arnav. She lay on the bed to sleep. But, Ganga didn't sleep. She could not. She felt her body heating up... she slightly had a fever...!

The next morning

Khushi woke up and saw herself in a new place. She remembered where she was. She sat on the bed and looked at the floor. Ganga was not there. She took her legging and wore it. She didn't want to roam in a knee-length gown in front of these people. She came out and saw a man talking with Prithviraj, sitting in the central yard. He must be Ganga's husband.

"Namasteji" She wished Prithvi.

"Namaste ji... I hope you had a good sleep" Prithvi asked.

"Yeah... had a sound sleep," Khushi said.

"He is my son Eshwar"

"Namaste" Khushi greeted him.

The man was looking at her awe-struck as she looked completely different. Prithvi nagged him.

"Jee, namaste," Eshwar said.

"Where is the commander?" Khushi asked.

"He is not here. Don't know where did he go. Don't worry. I will come"

Khushi became thoughtful. Where did he go? Did he run away after hearing her lecture about intimacy? If it was so, what would happen to Ganga? She thought for a while and decided to take the problem in her hand.

"Yeah, I think he would have gone to pass some orders to the villagers," she said.

"What orders?"

"On the way to this village, he dealt with a rape case and passed a few orders to the villagers. I think he wants to implement the same in this village too"

"What is meant by rape?" Eshwar asked the same question Ganga asked.

Prithvi looked at his son shockingly and then at Khushi.

"You too don't know? I too don't know" Khushi said making a sad face.

"What does she talking about?" He asked Prithvi.

Prithvi dragged Eshwar to the next room and closed the door. Khushi chuckled and turned to the doorstep. She saw Arnav standing, looking at her.

Arnav got stuck, seeing her in a plain white knee-length gown and white leggings. There was nothing on her face that was blameless. His country girls always wore ornaments, kohl in their eyes, Bindi on their forehead, flowers on their hair, etc., etc., Khushi didn't have any yet she looked fetching.

Khushi huffed in relief seeing him. He would have heard their talks. She guessed it from his facial expression. Khushi rushed to him and raised her thumbs up.

"Did you complete the task?" he asked her with a smirk.

She came close to him and whispered.

"Yes, I have done the job. What could I do? I thought you ran away from me getting scared..."

"Scared and me?" he asked angrily.

"Haan, yesterday night I saw your flushed face in the moonlight when I talked about intimacy"

Arnav sighed.

"I don't know how you are so casually talking about these things"

"Your country girls are not talking about it openly... what's the result? They know nothing... not even basic things. And you guys name it as moral. What did you gain? Nothing... Don't know how many families didn't have heirs due to a lack of knowledge"

Arnav nodded his head from left to right.

"Where did you go early in the morning? Jogging?"

"Jogging means?"

Khushi started running at the same place.

"This is jogging. In our country, men and women go jogging every morning. It keeps us fit and fine"

"I'm already fit..." he said plainly.

"Yeah... you are," she said looking at his bicep.

"Tell me where did you go?"

Before he said anything, they saw Prithvi and Eshwar coming out of the room. They looked disturbed. Their faces were pale. Khushi controlled her laughter. She understood what would have happened. The same conversation between her and Ganga would have taken between Prithvi and Eshwar. She smiled at Prithvi but Eshwar didn't look at her.

"Didn't I say, the commander should have gone to pass the orders to the villagers about the rape case?"

Arnav looked at her shockingly.

"Actually, I wanted to know about it from you because I too don't know about it, just like your son," Khushi said.

Arnav was stunned, seeing her acting so innocent.

"Will you tell me about it, uncle?"

"Actually, beta, you better ask Aunty about it"

"Why uncleji? Would you explain it to ONLY your son?"

Prithvi looked at her awkwardly.

"Ok, I will ask Aunty... where is she?"

"She is in the Cowshed"

"Oh...ok" Khushi walked to the backyard.

She saw Ganga's mother-in-law doing Cow Pooja there. Ganga was with her. Her mother-in-law looked at Khushi tip-to-toe embarrassingly.

"Aunty, Uncle asked me to ask you something"

"What?"

"What is mean by rape?"

The woman widened her eyes. So was Ganga.

"You know what? Your son also didn't know about it. Uncle explained it to him but he refused to do the same to me. Don't know why" she said making her shocked.

Ganga looked at her nervously. Khushi gestured for her to ask her mother-in-law.

"Rape? What's that sister?" Ganga asked, making her mother-in-law shaken to the core.

To be continued...