Birds of a Feather

Chapter 7: Anger

Khushi felt odd to hear that, but did as she was told.

"Do you drive?"

She shook her head in negative.

"Okay, I will arrange for a car and a driver for you. They will be present 24/7."

He pulled out his wallet and handed her a card. "This is my credit card. I will have you added to the account today itself. I will also get the bank to issue a cheque book for you."

He then took out a set of keys from his pockets. "These are keys to the apartment. Has Lata been taking care of your meals?"

She nodded in affirmative.

"Good, if you want, you can hire someone else too. Is there anything else you need?"

Khushi stared at him, blank. If he thought she would be satisfied by luxury, then he was very wrong. She grew up in wealth, her family was much more affluent than his, so giving her a credit card or a car did nothing more than bruise her already hurt ego.

"I don't get it," she finally said. "Did your family give you grief about not showing up yesterday?"

"Do you care?"

"Yes, of course I care."

"And why is that?"

"What do you mean?" she said, confused.

"Because you haven't said a word since we got married. You didn't confront me, you didn't complain about me, you didn't even object when I said this was all a pretense. For whatever reason, you want this marriage to work in front of everyone as much as I do. So, why do you care what my family said to me?"

Khushi was stumped. Apart from his business-like tone, there was something else in his voice. Was it anger? Was it disdain? What was it that made him look so cold?

She knew she couldn't expect much, because he was right. If she had issues with how this marriage was turning out to be, she would have voiced it out a long time ago. But what bothered her was how little effort he was willing to put in. Surely, no human, let alone a man who married her, could be so heartless.

"Okay good," Arnav said when she kept mum. "I'm glad we sorted this out. Why don't you take a shower and get ready, so we can head down to breakfast?"

Khushi simply looked at her lap, unable to move. She had long ago accepted that she was just an ornament, that would be kept at the center of the room for show, but not given the freedom to move. So why was it so hard to play along now? Did some small part of her actually hope that life with this man would be any different than the one she already lived?

Arnav seemed to understand her predicament, for he said in a much softer voice, "Look, I apologize if I was rude-"

She shook her head, gathering her resolve. "I have seen worse."

"Why don't we set some ground rules then? Just to be sure?"

Khushi stood up. "No need for that. I am not just a pretty face; I understand the rules very well. I don't bother you and you don't bother me. You are free to do whatever you like, and I am free to do whatever I like. As long as we make both our families believe that this relationship is working, we will be perfectly happy."

If he was surprised to hear her no-nonsense tone, he didn't let it show. "Exactly."

Khushi had no qualms with that. As long as her father was kept far away from discovering this secret of her marriage, she was willing to accept anything.

* * *

The game of hide-and-seek did not end after their conversation that day following karva chauth. Sure, Arnav had accompanied her downstairs to breakfast, asking her to serve him coffee and toast as though it was the norm and explaining to his parents where he had been the previous night; but once they drove back to the penthouse, things pretty much went back to the way they were.