Lekha (Completed)

Lekha 22

"What...! What kind of question is that? ... When kakisa asks me something I never say no." said Rudra drowning my hopes even further.

I had not accepted him to marry me for love but at least there could have been a better reason something more humane. Something more knightly, like wanting to save me or something else in that tone.

"But you hate me so much, so how could you bear marrying me?" I persisted, now not expecting anything gentle about the answer. I felt myself on an emotional suicide mission.

"There was no other option. I can't let Vikram destroy his life by marrying you. So it had to be me."

It was even more brutal then what I had expected.

"So I better tell maasa that I can't marry because I don't want to destroy your life too for my own benefit. I can't marry a person who hates me so much. It will be a living death for me. I simply can't..." A sob escaped my mouth involuntarily, even though I tried to hide my tears.

I heard him move towards me but I stayed my ground and didn't turn around.

"I don't hate you." He said in a gentler tone.

I turned around to verify his words but was taken aback by how close he was standing. I tried to take a step away from him but as luck would have it I lost my balance. Strong arms held me tight saving me from the fall. I looked up at his face and saw him staring back. For a while I was almost hypnotized by the gentleness in his eyes but reality struck as he slowly put me away.

Something fluttered in my stomach, I suddenly felt nervous and confused.

He turned his back towards me and said "I don't hate you. I just can't burden my brother with your kind of background. I can't see him kill himself with despair if after marrying him you vanished suddenly."

I tried to assemble these thoughts in my mind in a logical order trying to find if there could be a hidden deeper meaning in them.

"Don't expect any kind of love in this marriage. I don't believe in it. I promise to protect you from all difficulties and give you the security of my name. As my wife you would have all the privileges I can afford." 

There you go I thought , painfully clear words with no hidden depth.

"But what if I fall in love?" I murmured.

He turned around all of a sudden and closed the distance between us. He grabbed my arm tightly.

"Then you will inform me about the privileged person before you run away with him" he hissed through his clenched teeth. "I promise to get you married to him even if I have to take the blame on myself. I expect complete fidelity in a marriage. You will meet lots of people during the two months before marriage. Find whosoever you like. I will not break my promise but after marriage I would not tolerate a wandering eye from my wife. Do you understand?"

He shook me as he spoke with his eyes blazing in anger. I had asked about falling in love with him and not somebody else, but then again I didn't correct him. With his kind of attitude it would indeed be difficult to fall in love with him. If it was possible I would have taken him up on his offer, but I could not betray maasa's trust so I was stuck with him.

He still stared at me with so much anger that I felt frightened. His hand had also tightened painfully around my arm.

"You are hurting me "I whimpered looking towards my arm where he held.

I could see mild confusion in his eyes at my words but he quickly released his hold as if burnt when realization struck him. I had been watching him intently through all this, otherwise would never have believed these myriad display of emotions as he made his face impassive again.

"You will appear happy in front of all for the sake of kakisa. You will not disclose our agreement to anyone. Not even my sisters." His voice cut through me like steel but who was I to question his one sided agreement.

I wanted to provoke him for his insult as he enunciated that I would betray all the kindness I got from everyone and run away like a self-centered hussy.

"When I fall in love I would rather approach maasa directly then hatch plans with you." I said tilting my chin up, challenging him to say otherwise. I could have used the word 'if' in place of 'when' but I wanted to shake the confidence of this arrogant man.

He turned away again at that but said in a low steely voice "You will come to me. Do you understand? I don't want kakisa to get hurt by your bumbling ways. I will handle the matter in a proper fashion, so that no one is hurt and the family honor is intact ."

I simply nodded my head.

The situation which I would never let arise was being discussed as if it had already risen. Many innovative points came to my mind to irritate him further but I felt it better to let the matter finish then and there because if I was actually stuck with him for a lifetime, I didn't want my life to be one great big mess.

"What...! You agree or not." He said turning around, making me realize that his back had been towards me.

I again nodded my head and looked towards him.

He stared at me as if accessing if I could be trusted or not. I stared back at him defiantly to show him that I was not scared of him. A whole minute must have passed when I saw a slow smile trying to creep up his lips, which he tried to subdue.

Our staring contest was suddenly interrupted by a knock and before I could normalize myself, two bodies rushed towards me hugging me tightly.

Please do comment. Its always a pleasure to know the thoughts of all regarding the progress of the story. The likes and dislikes .     :)