Seeing the Light

When The Bough Breaks

Shyam was in a much better mood after his conversation with Anjali, for a couple of reasons - after Garima had refused to allow Khushi to go out with him, Shyam had really not been in a mood to entertain Anjali with dinner, so when she herself cancelled their 'date' he had been very happy. Of course he pretended that he was upset, and then came the best news for him, Anjali informed him that Devyani had finalized a date for Arnav's engagement and Arnav had also agreed to it, The engagement was to take place in 2 weeks time.

2 weeks.. just two more weeks and then Khushi will no longer have to go to Shantivan.. that was the biggest relief for him. It was getting very taxing handling his dual life with Khushi always going to Shantivan.. he just had to put up with everything for 14 more days. He walked into the house with a grin on his face. He saw that Sashi was all alone in the hall, he walked up to the man and taunted him, then sat on the sofa, with his legs crossed and hands behind his head, with a Cheshire smile plastered on his face.

The next four days passed in a jiffy, Arnav made it a point to keep his presence scarce in front of Khushi, Anjali questioning him that day had been a teaching moment, and he wanted to make sure there were no more incidents that would make Anjali suspicious. So he kept himself busy at the office and if by chance he happened to be at home, he spent most of the time in the confines of his room. There was only one occasion when he had to spend time in the company of everyone, it was to select the design for the invitations and He made sure that he made no remarks that would alert his sister.

On the other hand Khushi had made her presence scarce in her own home, she left early and came back really late. When Madhumati questioned her about it, she would just shrug and say that she was busy with the engagement preparations. However in reality, she was spending a couple of hours in the mornings and evenings at the temple, just so she could avoid being at home - more specifically, avoid being in the company of Shyam. In some corner of her mind she knew she was being unfair, she was after all engaged to him, but her gut instinct just told her to keep away.

Shyam knew she was lying, because whether he wanted it or not, Anjali kept him in the loop everyday. Though he didn't have specific timings, he knew Khushi was not spending all her time in Shantivan like she claimed, but he could not call Khushi out on it without exposing himself. He wouldn't have any answers if he was asked how he knew that she was lying. 

He could say that he was following her, but that would make him look bad in front of the family. Payal and Garima were already not too pleased with him and Khushi disliked him. Anjali had also been pestering him to come back from his 'work trip' soon, He thought she was calling him back because of Arnav's engagement and so he decided to go back to Shantivan for a few days, he didn't know that his wife was having second thoughts about the engagement.

"Buaji.. aaj shaam hume kaam ke silsile mei Delhi se bahar jaana hoga kuch dino ke liye" (Buaji.. today evening I have to go out of Delhi, for a few days for work purposes) Khushi was pleased, but didn't let it show on her face, she just continued to have her breakfast quickly because she had to leave soon for 'work'.

Madhumati looked thoughtful, after a few seconds she spoke "Acha teek hai NandKishore.. aur jaise hi tum laut aaye.. hum shadi ke liye muhurat nikaal lenge" (Okay fine NandKishore.. and as soon as you return.. we will fix an auspicious date for the wedding) 

Shyam had been pleasantly surprised at that and he smiled with a nod. Everyone else were shocked to the core and Khushi almost gasped out loud but she covered up with a small cough, Garima looked at her sister in law, wondering what had gotten into her suddenly, "Itni jaldi kaa hai Jiji?" (What is the hurry Jiji?) 

Madhumati took a deep breath and explained that it was not good to drag out an engagement for too long, she did not like the fact that Garima had now started to question each and every decision regarding Khushi. Garima, for her part, pointed out that they needed to do a lot of preparations for the wedding, most importantly they needed to save some money so that they could buy jewellery for Khushi, for which they would need a lot of time.